@#$%&*???!!!

[ksmith]

For the first time in several years, I have let my fingernails grow. They are at this point about a quarter-inch long. This includes the thumbnails, which in the past I have used to turn screws.

Of course, I am now attempting to insert batteries into a desk clock which can only be opened by someone with thumbs like flat-top pistons. It's one of those "press down these two buttons on opposite sides of the base and twist the whole thing ccw" arrangements. I don't see how I'm going to accomplish this without cutting my nails.

I think I know why this clock was on sale.

FWIW, Levengers has a sale on atomic alarm/desk clocks. Including the one I'm currently trying to open. Don't buy that one unless you possess thumbs as described above.

Comments

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I quit guitar in January due to lack of time, but for a year and a half, I had lopsided nails--on my left hand, they were filed down to the quick, while on my right, they were longer so that I could pluck. If I want to resume playing, the nails Have To Go.

They are just about too long as it is. They look great--good nails are one thing I've always had--but they get in the way of living. They're starting to slide across the keyboard keys.

I finally got the damned clock open, though. I cut two small pieces off a thick felt caster, the type with an adhesive side for sticking on the furniture, and stuck them on the buttons. That gave me the height and leverage I needed to push down and twist. Honestly, I think I would have needed to do it even if my nails were short. It was just too unwieldy.

[battle-of-one.livejournal.com]

I don't practice on it nearly as much as I ought, I love playing though. :/

I'm the same way. Good nails are like my best feature. Must be the vitamins!

Man, that seems complicated to open a damn clock. That's ridiculous. Why would they make them like that.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

If the hair on my head grew like my nails, I'd be one happy person. You'd think the two would be related--dead protein is dead protein--but I have dark lint atop my head and slivers of sheet metal growing out my fingertips.

Man, that seems complicated to open a damn clock. That's ridiculous. Why would they make them like that.

The designers won out over the engineers in this case, I'm guessing. Aesthetically, it's a pleasing device--symmetrical base, streamlined design. But in order to make it work, things needed to be offset in certain ways. Tweaks of an eighth of an inch in another direction might have made a difference.

I should also add that raised 3-point graphite-colored lettering on a roughened graphite-colored surface does not contrast enough for the middle-aged eye. Even under a bright lamp. Even when tilted at an angle.