Trackpad kerputten.

The trackpad for iMac died last week, or half died. It was still sort of responsive but I couldn’t force-click it anymore. I guess the haptic feedback carked it. Annoyingly, it was perfectly functional except for one task - clicking and dragging.

I put up with it for a couple of days before finally surrendering and going in to the Apple Store on Saturday. No, there was no diagnostic test. Yes, of course they would replace it, if it was less than a year old.

I think it’s about three or four. So, shit out of luck there. Then followed about an hour of decision paralysis where I tried to talk myself out of buying any sort of replacement for the busted arse trackpad.

Then more paralysis while I tried to decide whether just buying a mouse (sixty bucks cheaper) was a step-down.

I went with the mouse in the end because I was still pissed at the trackpad. I worried that I was about to lose a bunch of muscle memories for two, three and four-finger swipes. But honestly, I really only use one all the time - a four-fingered swipe to move between desktops. And it turns out the mouse does that with just two fingers. I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed using it after years on a trackpad. It’s older, cheaper technology and yet… better. That doesn’t seem possible.

Anyway, these are the things that consume me here at the end of our civilisation.