A few years ago I was assembling my main computer from scratch. Trying to keep the insides nice and compact, I used zip ties to bind the wires together. After assembling the insides of the computer I started working with my external accessories. I had a keyboard, mouse, microphone, and webcam. I figured I would use the same principles as I did inside the computer. Using some more zip ties I bound all of my accessories wires together. This worked great up until this week when my new keyboard arrived.
I unwrapped my new keyboard from its packaging and instantly tried to remove my old keyboard from my desk. The problem was that every time I tried to remove the keyboard, the mouse would be dragged off the desk with it. When I tried getting my mouse more slack, the microphone would fall over.
I realized that I had to cut the zip ties I had put on years ago, but there was yet another problem. The ties were bound so tight that I couldn’t get he scissors around the tie, without being dangerously close to cutting the wires of my accessories.
After a couple hours work of using knife from my kitchen I was finally able to remove my old keyboard without pulling the rest of my equipment off of my desk. What was supposed to be a relatively easy task, replacing a keyboard, turned into a nightmare because I couldn’t replace one external dependency without touching the rest of them.