Shun the Mouse

I am a keyboard fan.  I find switching between the keyboard and the mouse irritating.  I love vim. I find the extensions provided by wonderful netziens make vim go from useful to amazing. Add vundle to the mix as a package manager, and it's a match made in geek heaven. I even use the vinium extension for Chrome when possible (excluding, of course, the Google suite as it provides its own shortcuts in a number of its products).

So, it's a problem when it comes to me using Apple products. Yes, I'm sure there are key commands that I can use. I'm also sure that I could script some new ones if necessary. At it's heart, however, Apple is a consumer UI company. It might have disability access leanings (and be good at it), but it is so very different from everything else I use on a regular basis that I'm inclined not to learn them.

Thankfully, I did find a solution for things like checking my email or my calendar without having to use the mouse or fuss with window management. A wonderful person posted an AppleScript snippet to open webpages in Chrome without duplicating them. By tying this into a Quicksilver, I can quickly open anew or go to an existing gmail or calendar tab in Chrome with a few quick commands.  I've used this a lot in the last few days and enjoy it quite a bit.

I also found that setting my default mail composer to Google Mail also helps avoid the mail app; I think there's something in Quicksilver to do this as well.

The only thing that is missing is a good way to quickly add appointments in Google calendar without having to fill out the form (and get confirmation that they were added quickly).  There used to be a quick add API on the calendar, but I think it's been removed.  However, for now I am happy with my keyboard-focused workflow... until another mouse-driven annoyance pops up.