[saltcured]

This is why some of us are Thinkpad devotees... We use the pointy-stick between the G, H, and B keys to shove the cursor around during keyboard-heavy interaction. I use the thumb to click three button zones on the top of the trackpad. To drag, you hold down the thumb and keep steering the stick with your index finger.

I also change the settings to use the edges of the trackpad for scrolling rather than requiring a multi-finger gesture. This allows me to do brief bouts of scrolling with much less relocation of the hands. I would even turn off the trackpad mouse behavior if I could do so without also losing the scroll function. It's only ever a mistake when I brush the across it and move the mouse.