My work recently provided me with an all-expenses-paid Blackberry Curve 8300. Yay.

That’s both a good and a bad thing.
Good: I have a free phone that I can always check on my work email, personal email, sports scores, talk with people, take pictures of products, etc.
Bad: I have a device that keeps me always in contact with people that need my help.

So I’ve had it for about a month now. I stopped using the silly leather holder they provide in favor for a easier approach: I just lock it and throw it in the pocket.

Then, just yesterday, I stopped being able to move the ball to the left. Correction, I could move the ball to the left, but the cursor wouldn’t recognize any of my efforts. Up, down, right – they all worked just fine.

I’m not one to just sit around sulking, so I jammed a skinny flat screwdriver under the plastic (but metal looking) ring that holds the trackball in place. You can do the same – just above the T and Y keys. Just slowly pry it up, then the ring comes out. Then you can flip the whole phone upside down and the trackball assembly falls gently into your hand.

This is when I noticed a piece of crud (technical term, I know) on one of the wheels that spins. Crud free is the way for me!

Needless to say it all works now. Pretty sure I put the wheel back in upside down, but it doesn’t matter to the phone.