Blurred Keys on the MacBook Air

Nope, your vision isn't blurry.  It's my keyboard:

The letters have slowly started wearing off my MacBook Air.  Much as I'd like to attribute this to the hours I spend typing my novels--a number that's not insignificant--I suspect there's another cause.  I don't wear any lotions, oils, etc. on my hands.  I don't clean the keyboard with anything caustic.  Any Mac aficionados who know what could be causing the worn keys?  Or--better yet--anyone have a fix?

For the record, this isn't my first worn-out keyboard.  I wore through three keyboards on my iBook about eight years ago.  Apple told me it was a freak occurrence.  In that instance, I was able to take apart the iBook and replace the keyboard myself.  Can't do that with an Air.

Anyone else experienced this?  Ever discover the cause?  What was your solution? 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: Tonight's episode of Survivor. I cannot WAIT. Last week's ouster of Randy was the most hysterical tribal council of all time. (Crystal is not my fave, but I was rolling when she intentionally made her "confessional" comments so loud that everyone at tribal council and on the jury could hear.)

I'm hoping that Sugar, Matty, Bob, or Kenny win it all. Susie wouldn't be so bad. Crystal would garner an eyeroll and heavy sighs. A Corinne victory would constitute a crime against humanity.

The Bad: Only one more episode left of my beloved Boston Legal. Last week's episode was laugh-aloud funny, so if you've ever seen this show and enjoyed it, do NOT miss the finale next week. Carl Sack and Shirley Schmidt are getting married! Denny and Alan are going to the Supreme Court! Jerry and Katie may actually go on a date! What more could you want? (Aside from another season, of course.)


If you want to catch up before the finale, check out online episodes right here.

The Ugly: Sadly, the "ugly" is my MacBook. I was online when the AOL froze. Couldn't force quit. Clicked over to iCal, which I also had open. No dice quitting iCal, either. So I shut down the MacBook and waited awhile. Went to turn it back on, and got a flashing gray file folder with a question mark on it. Not. A. Good. Sign. If you ever see this, know that it's quite possible your hard drive is dead:



I took my MacBook to the Apple store Genius Bar, where the guys tested it and concluded that yep, it was fried, and yes, it can happen to any computer with no warning whatsoever. They couldn't tell me how it happened (or, more importantly, how to prevent it from happening again.) However, since I wisely purchased AppleCare when I bought the MacBook, they're replacing the hard drive for free.

While having a hard drive crash is a major catastrophe for most writers, I am lucky enough to also have a desktop computer. Though I use it far less than the laptop, I had about 95% of my laptop info backed up to the desktop (and, being neurotic, I then have my desktop backed up to BOTH the Apple .mac server and an external hard drive every night.) Lesson of the week, kids: BACK UP YOUR WORK. Daily. Even when everything is working wonderfully. You never know when an ugly crash will happen.