But then came Mark Pilgrim, and my introduction to Unicomp. I now have a $70 Unicomp keyboard at home and one in the office, and it’s GOLDEN. It’s like typing on chocolate. (But, you know, without the mess. And with clickiness.)

But the click is much more than JUST the sound — the reason I love these keyboards is the tactile and audio feedback I get when I type. You KNOW when it’s registered a keypress — something that you do NOT know instantly on a mushy keyboard.

It’s loud, though. My computer is in my bedroom, and my girlfriend can’t sleep when I’m typing, even with earplugs.

All of this, by the way, leads up to my puzzlement about an article in TidBITS. Apparently the author is a big fan of clicky keyboards, but rather than get one, he’s raving about a software utility that clicks the speakers every time you hit a key.

I can see — sort of — why you’d want that, but as the owner of a Unicomp keyboard, I get to look down on that sort of kludge. Seems to me you’re missing out on the best part of the keyboard (the tactile response) and emphasizing the sound, a less important part of why the keyboard works so well. (Although, I must admit I like it when I’m on a roll typing and it sounds like I’m operating a chainsaw.) Still, there’s not much you can do about tactile response in software — this may be the only part of the problem they could fix.

This, however, is a first for me — traveling for business to a number of different places. I’m having to haul a fairly large amount of gear with me, and I wanted to write down my thoughts while they’re fresh. This is not a general analysis of geeky travel stuff — just a review of what I brought.

• Swiss Gear Maxxum from Wenger: I really like it. I weighed it before heading for the airport and the pack and gear rang up at 30 pounds. It handles that weight with aplomb. I had to have a fairly heavy external hard drive shipped to me, and with that in the bag as well, it kind of crosses the line to “elephant on the back.” Still, at smaller loads, it’s extremely comfortable. It’s really more of an urban thing than a hiking backpack – it’s got so many pockets and dividers and other stuff that the damn thing weighs four pounds empty. Still, when it’s full of laptops and hubs and electronic gear, you appreciate all those dividers. (It may be discontinued — I couldn’t find it on Wenger’s site.)
• Speck Toughskin for Video iPod: Love it. Has already protected my iPod from a number of bumps and drops. (I’m willing to forgive it not QUITE fitting exactly around the screen.)
• Kensington Pico FM Transmitter: I’m not as crazy about the Pico. I borrowed K’s for this trip because it’s much smaller than my Monster RadioPlay 300. It’s hard to be sure, since I don’t have both with me — but the Pico works MUCH more poorly in my rental car than my Monster does in my own car. (Too much static.) Plus, it is NOT compatible with the Toughskin — doesn’t fit. I ended up listening to the iPod with my earbuds — only one of them at a time — while driving.
• Philips SHN2500: I’ve grown to dislike my Apple earbuds, (not because of sound quality, but because of comfort) and I wanted something noise canceling for the flight — so I picked up these babies. Two thumbs DOWN. If I had four thumbs, it would get four thumbs down. The “noise reduction” I paid for seems to consist of adding white noise to the signal. No apparent reduction in outside noise at all — and with them unplugged from the iPod and noise canceling turned on, you hear a strong hiss. With audio playing, you can still hear the hiss. With the noise canceling turned off, they’re acceptable earbuds — significantly more comfortable than the Apple ones.

Other travel-related lessons learned:

• I need to learn how to pack withOUT getting my clothes all wrinkled. It was a lot easier when I was riding buses around and only carried one change of clothes with me. Since this is business, I need to look respectable – but as the trip progresses, I look increasingly homeless. If this goes another two weeks, I predict people will start giving me handouts.
• Taking two laptops was stupid. No, that’s not right. It was STUPID. (On the other hand, taking a full-size keyboard and mouse was brilliant. The keyboard, by the way, is the excellent Macally iKey. Say what you will about Microsoft’s software, but their hardware is generally excellent. That’s certainly true about the InteliMouse Explorer.)
• Don’t take so many books. It turns out I have considerably less energy in the evenings than I thought I would — I tend to talk to K for a while, and then pass out.