Perhaps I should say "keyboard" or "touch-type." I've always found it odd to suggest that the way I have been typing is not touch-typing. After all, I don't look at the keyboard, and I can knock out upwards of 90 WPM (the last time I was tested.) It's a system I've perfected over time. Back when I took my job as an Administrative Secretary at Mellon Bank, I found out the day before -- no one had told me along the way -- that all new secretaries had to take a typing test. Forget the fact that I had been doing the job as a temp for several months prior! Anyway, the minimum for the job was 40 WPM, and I came in at 80 WPM corrected, around 85 WPM raw. On an unfamiliar keyboard.

So, why change? Well, I've been feeling symptoms of carpal tunnel on occasion. It's really only come up since I've started using laptops as my primary systems, especially sitting around (as now) on the couch with a laptop on my lap, pounding away at the keys, my hands flying all over the keyboard. However, the problems really started to bother me after going to school. With class 3 or 4 nights a week, I'd run from a day of being on the keyboard at work to 2 or 3 hours of taking notes, typing at a feverish pace (given that I likely take too many notes.)

And so, based on a history of seeing people fall in love with them, I've started using a Kinesis countoured keyboard. The only problem is, I'm not a true touch-typist. Certain keys are very difficult for me, because I may use different fingers on different hands to type them. For instance, just in this paragraph, I've used two fingers on two hands to type 'g' and 'y'. I tend to use whichever is closest, and because I move my hands around as I type, that means that different fingers can hit those keys.

Obviously, this random use of fingers doesn't work on the Kinesis, which separates the sets of keys by 7 inches. Well, I suppose it sort of works; I'll always be hitting the key with whichever finger is closer. The problem is retraining my instint that I can use either index finger for 't', 'y', 'g', 'h', 'b', and 'n'. And so, I'm using two different typing trainers. The problem is, I'm slow. It's only been a week, but I'm also maxed out at around 40 WPM, when I don't let my fingers get away from me.

I need to get this all figured out in the next 3 weeks, before school starts. Whee!