Exhibiting Ourselves - No, I'm Not Naked

So many things in our lives are left subject to interpretation. How we perceive one another, how our family perceives us, and how our co-workers perceive us are all good examples of our multi-faceted existence. Though we inhibit one being, we constantly exhibit ourselves to others. First impressions are extremely important, but not forsaking who we are as individuals is far more important in my book.

I remember this as I picture a young couple in a retail discount store last weekend. There was a guy and a girl in the greeting cards section as I was picking out a Mother's Day card. The girl was wearing dark clothes, jeans, and a studded, metal belt with matching bracelets. She wore her jeans, and belt, literally on the thighs just above where I imagined her knees were. I had to look twice, despite the hair and makeup, to determine that it was indeed a female.

Of course, she probably has a great personality. Maybe even plays online games like the rest of us. After all, she was in the greeting cards section. Still, that's no excuse for poor style, or am I wrong? -@

Feeling Prolific? What's Your Profile Say About You?

Do you have a social networking page or perhaps a blog? Most websites today have some form of a profile or biography page in which the user is given the task of describing him- or herself in a few brief sentences. Twitter has become one of my favorite social networking sites by forcing users to make a statement (or pose a question) in 140 characters or less. How many things can you describe with a character limit?

For decades television shows have catered to the drama of suspense and mystery. Everything from finding the culprit in a Scooby Doo episode or reliving the stories through enactment on Unsolved Mysteries or Rescue 911, there's a common trend involved-- people like filling the gaps.

I find myself always trying to flesh out entire profiles, even for the most mundane websites. Websites you may only ever visit once. It got so bad that I just took a Notepad file and copy-pasted my profile for each site. Of course, now I need change. Now I feel different and can't believe I wrote what I did about myself. Now I have to go and write some kind of a masterpiece which, hopefully, doesn't turn people off to how wonderful a person I really am. 

"Wow! He's arrogant," or "Man, he's got issues."

"Well, he sounds boring," or "Look--another wanna-be!

Can I just be me? How do I put that into words so everyone can understand?

The Secret Art of Palm-Pressing

Wishing you had a way to get more keys in games? I had a tough time managing key binds over the years. Eventually I developed a method I like to call palm-pressing. Through this technique, I am able to multiply the amount of buttons my fingers push. Interested?

A Word on Keyboard Etiquette

I recommend using a keyboard rest or an ergonomic keyboard wherever possible. Of course, when playing games for any length of time the bottom of my wrist begins to fall onto the keyboard rest. This is against etiquette, but with proper moderation and a good ergonomic keyboard little harm ensues.

Onto the Palm Press!

As the name implies, it involves using a part of the hand most people probably don't use on a regular basis, at least not for typing. As a conventional typist, I often have my fingers on the asdf keys, the home row for the left hand. This also means I keep my wrists off of the table or keyboard when typing.

The most efficient use of the palm press which I have found is the Windows "Control" key, located on the lower-left hand side of a standard US keyboard. This key is pushable by the side of one's hand as shown above. Majority of pressure on the key comes from the pinkie finger's knuckle, see image above. When not in use, the hand can use the wrist as a pivot back onto the keyboard rest.

Doubling the Available Keys

We have just doubled our available keys by holding down the CTRL button with our palm. For me, I can hold down the CTRL key while I push 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, q, w, e, r, t, a, s, d, f, c, v, b. And, if I try I'm able to also push 6, z, g, and x. That's pretty darn good in my book.

Even More Keys!

Remember the SHIFT key? Using the palm and pinkie approach, I can hold down CTRL+SHIFT and push all of the same above keys, effectively tripling the amount of keys available to me. But wait, that's not all! I can also use CTRL+ALT and gain even more keys. Combine that with SHIFT and ALT separately and that's one heck of a combination of keys.

So there you have it, the secret palm press jutsu. Ninja--VANISH!

*poof*