I got an optical mouse and shrugged off the yoke of mousepads forever! LIVE FREE!
I always use optical mouses, once you've had one there's no going back. I still like having a mousepad though rather than running them across my desk surface.
And Marc, that's a nice mousepad but I hate math. My mousepad shouldn't involve math or learning of any kind.
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Talent, vigor, drive...
You'll eat peanut butter the rest of your life.