My Keyboard is Covered in WHAT?!

The computer keyboard on my black HP laptop looks pristine every time I type there (and you know how I feel that this laptop is charmed by angels). So, when I heard the NPR report on grimy keyboards, I walked quietly over to a computer with a less heavenly pedigree...my company's file server, steaming cuppa tea in hand, and gave that off-white keyboard a look.

It was disgusting. There was some kind of junk on the most used keys and the color...well, wasn't exactly factory fresh (to describe it, I'd say a brownish-gray crayon had melted on it). I've washed it but have resigned myself. over the years, to the junk as a cost of doing business.

Hospitals and other health care centers, routinely scrub down their keyboards for more than aesthetic reasons: "The average keyboard harbors 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat" -- germs that can lie in wait for the unsuspecting typist for an entire day.

So, what have people done to ease the microbial burden on their keyboards? Of course, put them in the dishwasher! The keyboard comes out spotless...yay! But after it's scrubbing, it doesn't work...boo!

Enter in the Seal Shield company, whose keyboards are dishwasher safe (I kid you not). Now, rather than worrying that the hospital staff will be passing along colds, flu's and other contagions, they can be easily scrubbed every day.

For those of us who share keyboards, this is something to consider. Unless, of course, you like looking at that yearly accumulation of the sweat, tears and Diet Coke from projects gone by.