The one-armed man

broken arm one hand

It's astounding how many things in your day-to-day life require the use of two hands. Since breaking my arm two weeks ago, I've had to adapt to this bi-handed (what's the equivalent of "bipedal" for arms/hands?) world. Here are a few things that become very difficult with one hand:

Typing is an obvious one. The stickler to this is keyboard shortcuts, though. A command I use pretty often is cmd-opt-shift-s in Photoshop to "Save for web." Hitting all four keys at once takes some manual contortionism.

Zip-Loc bags are another toughie. Try it. Some bags aren't so bad, but the name-brand ones with crazy quadruple-seal tops require some creativity -- also known as teeth.

Opening a sealed envelope can be a pain. It takes many times as long if you're only using one hand.

Even if you've got your dominant hand free, writing can pose some difficulties. On a big enough piece of paper, you can use your forearm to keep it in place, and paper on a pad is held steady by the weight of the pad. Writing on small pieces, like credit card receipts or checks, is an order of magnitude more difficult.

Speaking of credit cards, getting them out of and into a wallet requires some extra dexterity. And then carrying your wallet, keys, etc. becomes harder because you can't use half the pockets on your pants. It's really hard to get into the left-side hip pocket on a pair of jeans with your right hand.