Introduction

Why does this blog exist?

In my young and impressionable years, I gradually became a big computer geek and fell in love with gadgets by proxy. I always felt comfortable in front of computers for long periods of time, and spent what I thought was a considerable amount of time teaching myself how to use them. It wasn't until I moved from working at CompUSA to professional computer jobs (read: sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day) in the late 1990's that I started having trouble with my health.

I gained weight, my wrists started hurting, and I would sink, unmoving, further and further into my office chair as the day progressed. I tried many different positions and configurations in front of my computer, trying to alleviate some of the pain and discomfort. The keyboard moved from on top of the desk to an under-desk keyboard tray and back. My chair moved up and down, closer and farther away. I took the armrests off the chair.

I eventually settled with the keyboard on top of the desk, my chair at a height where my arms rested on the desk surface, and the keyboard pushed back far enough to allow my arms from the elbow down to rest comfortably on top of the desk. This was the best thing I could come up with after all my experiments, but at this point, I had started looking into alternative ways to send input to my computers. After much research, I decided the Alphagrip AG-5 sounded like the best solution to my problems with the traditional QWERTY keyboard.

Two features of the AG-5 especially won me over:

1. It is mobile - I can stand up with it, sit down, and recline, all without compromising ergonomics. Futhermore, I don't have to dedicate a spot on the desk to the AG5. I also don't have to mess with a keyboard drawer under the desk that I'm always bumping with my legs.
2. No reaching! I don't have to stretch my pinky for the backspace key or a backslash. I don't have to stretch my arm for the mouse, only to lose my place on the keyboard (especially in the dark. I don't have to pick up my hand and move it to a numeric keypad. I don't have to look down to find the function key I'm looking for. All the buttons and functions I need are all in one place, with one hand position.

There was the first of a few big problems: It wasn't for sale.

Not yet, anyway. They were still working on prototypes, and looking for a way to get it manufactured without having to search for investors with millions to risk on them. Finally, they found a manufacturer with a low minimum order requirement, and the technology necessary to mass produce the AG-5. This leads us to:

Problem #2: Enough pre-orders had to be secured before the manufacturer would agree to commit to mass-producing the first batch. This meant committing to an unknown timeline.

That is fine with me though. I'm really interested in the product, and I'm a patient guy. If this has the potential to be a permanent QWERTY replacement for me, then it will be worth the wait. Besides, at this point I had started some correspondance with Mike, the Alphagrip president, and I was reasonably certain he wasn't going to take my $99 (the pre-order price) and run.

As for my health, do I expect the AG-5 to be a cure-all? No, but I do expect more productivity (assuming I can get my typing to the claimed 50-60 WPM in a reasonable amount of time), and less massaging wrists and forearms. Note I have minor health complaints at this point; I'm not morbidly obese, I don't have full-blown carpal-tunnel syndrome, etc...

So I put in my pre-order for an AG-5 on November 10th, 2004, and waited.