Great to see our country members, Eric Meacock and Amanda Lovitt at our
Inaugural DPS Mouse Ball today. Goodness knows what they thought when
Ken Stewart walked in in a rugby top, with mousestyle soccer ball! His
rather over-large mouseball had ears and a noticeably dirty part, but help
was at hand.
Thanks to Chris Uphill's innovative newsletter launched by the devilish Joan
O'Donovan at the same time as our demonstration, our other country,
interstate and overseas Chatterers were given a taste of things to come.
Chris and Rob must have the same warped sense of humour, as incredibly Rob
wore a surgical green gown, face mask and hat. However, his surgical
precision was indicated by his badly ripped rubber gloves. I feared for the
mouse, if this was the indicator!
Carolyn Harris provided the specimen on which to operate. A docile little
chap with pipe cleaner whiskers and pom pom nose. He didn't even put up a
squeak as his underside was examined, and ball was removed. The operation
was almost a success but mention was made by Rob (scalpel in hand) of the
enormous amount of dirt poor Squeaker had accumulated, perhaps rendering him
permanently disabled. Squeaker has been kept for the DPS archives - perhaps
a model of how bad things can get without regular ball cleaning.
Now Rob, whose technical excellence is well-known, then continued with a
demonstration of keyboard maintenance. He showed us how to tip our boards
upside down and to give them a good shake. He then used a kitchen knife to
prize off a key, which flew through the air and landed on the floor. On
retrieval, it was found to be damaged, but undeterred by his now ruined
keyboard, he then went on to pull apart his laptop, with the same metal
knife and the power on.
Chris Uphill offered a round of thanks to Rob for the excellence of his
demonstration. A card was presented "To our DPS Guru, Who is often the Butt
of our Humour, but always turns the other cheek". He was also presented with
Gingernuts.
It was lovely to see so many new DPSers, and we wish them all a warm
welcome. I wonder if they'll come back after that useful demonstration.
Thanks also to all those Chatterers who sent private emails to Rob on
mouseball tips.
