Matt Keally's Blog

Normally, I’m one to complain about my packages taking too long to arrive. Not this time.

My watch band broke and I wasn’t able to find a replacement band except for online, where it was about a third of the cost of a new watch anyways. So I went ahead and just ordered a new watch and found a good deal online. It came yesterday, but the LCD wasn’t displaying correctly and replacing the battery didn’t fix it. So, back to the vendor it went. I took it up to the UPS store last night and sent it ground to Baltimore.

I check the tracking this morning and it had already been delivered. That’s probably the fastest ground shipping I’ve ever had. I’ve had FedEx overnight a few times and even that isn’t that fast. Normally UPS ground is okay, but this is an exceptional case. The watch came to me the same way (but in reverse) and was shipped on Monday and didn’t get here until yesterday (Thursday). There was a holiday in there, so it was really like three days. So why did I get lucky this time?

At this point I just hope I get a replacement that works. I’ve already searched about ten stores for a band for my other watch and didn’t find anything, then to order something online that was broken. And, it’s nothing special, just a Timex.

I did look for cooler watches online, but didn’t find anything that really stuck out. Suunto has a couple cool ones — the Core, for example. The Core has an altimeter, depth gauge, thermometer, and digital compass. It has a cool looking LCD face, but reviews said it’s hard to read (bad for running when you want to glance at it). It also doesn’t have a good chronograph with lap counter, which is what I really need in a watch. Suunto does make a running watch, but it’s three times as expensive as the Timex and comes stock with the same features. You can add a heart rate monitor or GPS pod for extra. I also heard the Suunto T3 scratches easily and is also hard to read. So both of those, while sounding cool, were out of the running.

I would wear the Garmin 205 that I have more often except that it takes quite awhile to acquire the satellites when it turns on (and I left it at school). It can take several minutes to start up and sometimes I have to restart it. When I go run, I just want to go and not stand around waiting for the thing to fire up. I’d also wear it more if it had a battery that would last more than a few hours before needing a recharge. Otherwise, I have to carry around two watches. It is cool, though, and I get distance and altitude change as well as a rough pace estimate. Apparently, Garmin is releasing a new version that is slimmer and more watch-like in appearance rather than having a small cell phone strapped to your wrist. Maybe its GPS reception is better, but probably not. Suunto also makes a slim GPS watch which has received horrible reviews due to poor reception.

Speaking of watches, it appears as though I have the original Timex Triathlon, circa 1984. My dad gave it to me a long time ago. Of course, it also needs a new band and battery. This watch was made even before they licensed the Ironman name. Considering just about everyone I know has owned a Triathlon, this is pretty cool to have the first style. They’ve definitely gotten a lot bigger since then.

Speaking of other things that are on the fritz and need replaced, this keyboard is getting to me. The R key doesn’t work about half the time. It seems the membrane beneath the R key has stretched in such a way that the key doesn’t contact with it all the time. It’s a nice keyboard, too, a Saitek Eclipse 2, and of course it’s out of warranty. If I were to replace it, I don’t know what I would get. I probably wouldn’t get another Saitek since the keys on this one are kind of hard to press. The Deck 82 key seems cool, but it’s also really expensive. Of course, the Optimus would be great, but at $1600, it’s way out of my league. The company that made the previous generation of Apple keyboards is still selling those and I really liked them, but those are a fair amount of dough as well. I don’t know about the new generation since the keys look spaced out like they are on my Macbook. The plain old Dell keyboards we have at school on the department systems have a great feel to them and are cheap, but lack the coolness factor.

I want something that’s easy to type on where I don’t have to slam down my fingers to register a keystroke as well as something that looks somewhat cool. Space is also a factor — I like the Logitech G15 — it’s easy to type on but is a monster. I really have no need for dozens of extra function keys and would prefer something that gives me extra desk space.