The recycled mousepad.

A few months ago I decided that if I was going to get the most out of the Logitech G500 that I bought for far too many dollars, I was probably going to need to relinquish many more dollars. I ventured out to an arts and crafts shop and picked up some cork roll to cover my, at the time, useless glass table in an effort to free my cursor from it’s 8 by 10 inch prison. The cork proved to be a poor investment, tearing easily and providing uneven traction for the mouse, causing it to snag occasionally on the cork’s natural impurities.

But this article is not about the cork-covered table.

I recently picked up a 30 year old Apple OneScanner flatbed scanner from a relative wishing to dispose of it. While their intention was for me to use it, as their intentions always are, in practical terms the camera in my phone is capable of greater resolution and clarity in a dark room than this scanner is in optimal conditions. Still, I recognized some potential at least for the pane of glass, which makes a great writing surface for wax pencils or dry-erase markers. After pulling off the lid and setting it aside, I placed my hand on it’s surface for a moment and realized that the thick piece of laminated plastic was suspended by a generous depth of foam, creating a comfortable deflection around my palm without causing the nearby surface to crease or warp. It was also a smooth and consistent white plane that I was certain would support a laser without much beam wandering.

I placed it on my desk upside down, attached two gel inserts that I salvaged from the trash at our local bike shop to the side closest to my inner forearm and put it immediately to work. It works fantastically, with the addition that it also has a very large surface area, approximately 10 by 14 inches.