P.E.: Attempting to Take Care of your Wrist Health with a Tracking-Ball Mouse is Worse than Puberty

So I spend a lot of time on the interwebs. I'd say it's all for the good of my 'writing career,' but let's be real; about 1/3 of the time is spent being jealous of wittier tweets than my own, another 1/3 is spent clicking on articles I've written on a website that pays one cent for each of those clicks, and the last 33%...well, there might be children present.

For good or ill, though, I surf, and the results have sped up the downfall of my wrist to an alarming degree.

I know I'm going to have carpal tunnel someday - frankly, we'll probably be a generation of CTers by the age of 35, but for me, it's worse. CT comes about through repetitive stress slash use of the wrist. My hobbies? Writing, by hand, of course, as well as knitting, jewelry-making, playing the piano, and trying to achieve zen simply by clapping with one hand.

So my wrist has been sore lately.

And my boyfriend, romantic that he is in his very soul, decided to use the occasion of my birthday, 2 weeks ago, to show his love for me...with a tracking ball mouse.

"It will improve your wrist health!" he told me.

Problem is, to improve wrist health with one of these things, using it isn't enough. You must use it with your wrist at a proper angle, namely in line with your arm, which extends back into space, quiveringly telling you that you really should start some upper-body lifting at the gym.

Me, I stack pillows underneath it.

So now, sitting on my couch, working my web magics, I'm covered by two massive pillows from the couch, balanced on one thigh, so that my wrist hits the tracking-ball mouse exactly straight-on, and all the benefits of not-having-constant-pain are mine!

...or they would be, if I didn't bring my computer, but not my mouse, other places with me and just use the track-pad.

It does beg another question, though: today is Ben's birthday, and how can I possibly top the sweeping epic romance of my suspended red-balled mouse? A weed-whacker, perhaps? Maybe I'll get really sappy and buy him a toaster oven. Or - and he would be embarrassed that I told you this meant a lot to him - a charging hub so that all of his devices can be tangle-free and battery-full...

-Posted by Jilly