GPS and the Blind

Check out this interesting article on GPS and the blind. As the article says, GPS is not a mobility replacement, but rather a complement or enhancer to the mobility method you currently use, such as cane or guide dog. Enjoy.

Seeing-eye satellites: GPS devices earn the confidence of blind users
By Erica Noonan
The Boston Globe, March 16, 2006

WATERTOWN -- When Brian Charlson walks out his front door, he's
guided by satellites hovering 11,000 miles above Earth.

In an instant, a tiny Global Positioning System receiver he carries in a
pocket can pinpoint where he is and offer step-by-step directions verbally
or via a Braille display.

Charlson, who is 50, lost his vision at age 11 in a household
accident. Thanks to a GPS system he bought in January, he is navigating
the
streets he's walked for decades in a whole new way.

Instead of painstakingly memorizing routes, he just types in a street
address. If he's hungry, he calls up a list of nearby restaurants and
chooses on a whim.

The lightweight laptop, which he slings over his shoulder, contains
software locating schools, ATMs, stores, cafes, and just about any
other possible destination.

''It's not that I couldn't go to these places before," said Charlson,
vice president for computer training services at the Carroll Center for
the Blind in Newton.

''But now I don't have to concentrate on counting cross streets when
I walk. If I get disoriented, I don't have to ask someone passing by.

''There's a lot I have learned about my own neighborhood, places I
have walked by for years but never knew were there."

The blind community is among the latest beneficiaries of GPS
technology, which was developed by the military in the 1970s and has
become
popular with pilots, hikers, boaters, bicyclists, and motorists. The
network
relies on two dozen satellites orbiting the Earth that beam low-power
radio signals to determine a user's latitude and longitude and other
location information. It provides directions measured in feet, yards,
or meters.

Each GPS device for the blind comes with its own street-mapping
software, designed with safe walking routes in mind, which most companies
update annually. Users can also add their favorite destinations and share

customized maps.

Charlson's laptop, a PAC Mate manufactured by Freedom Scientific of
St. Petersburg, Fla., also allows him to do the previously unthinkable:
Head out for a stroll in a random direction with only his guide dog,
Keegan, for company. His software features a ''breadcrumb" function, which

can automatically record his position every 10 seconds and plan a route
back home.

He has used his GPS system on several cross-country business trips.
It guided him on a tour of Capitol Hill. It even allowed him to walk
alone to a wine shop near a friend's house in Alexandria, Va.

''It does make everything we do better, " said Joe Lazzaro, director
of assistive technology for the state Commission for the Blind. ''Blind
people have been mobile for a long time and would continue to be
without GPS, but this is a lot nicer, and offers more sureness and a
greater
comfort level."

Lazzaro said he uses his GPS to direct taxi drivers and track his own
progress through downtown rush hour while commuting aboard the MBTA's
shuttle for disabled customers, The Ride.

With the GPS droning in the background, he knows when to pack up his
work and prepare to step off. ''It lets me have a lot more familiarity
with what's around me, when I used to wind up asking other people."

GPS would have come in handy two years ago, when Lazzaro walked out
of a Green Line station and stumbled into a deserted, fenced-off area
covered in two feet of snow. He eventually found a way out, but GPS would
have made the detour a lot less frightening. ''It offers tremendous
freedom," he said. ''Turn it on, and it will tell you where you are."

It's not known how many of the state's 35,000 blind residents have
GPS devices, but industry pioneers say the market for the blind is still
extraordinarily tiny -- probably fewer than 5,000 specialty units
sold nationwide.

Only about 2 percent of blind people who already use adaptive technology
-- such as talking computers and personal digital assistants --
use GPS, estimated Mike May, founder of the Sendero Group, based in
Davis, Calif., which in 2000 became the first to market GPS systems for
the
blind. May said his company has sold 1,500 BrailleNote, PDA-style GPS
devices.

The main obsticle is cost. A stripped-down GPS for sighted people
sells for less than $100, but the least expensive devices for the blind
are
nearly $2,000.

Sophisticated systems like Charlson's that come with Braille display
keyboards cost more than $6,000.

Advocates for the blind say most potential users can't pay that much,
noting that many visually impaired people are unemployed or elderly
and living on Social Security.

The potential benefits for blind people of all ages, however, are
enormous. Children as young as 6 are using Sendero devices, May said.
The Carroll Center soon will launch a program to teach blind
schoolchildren to use GPS. Lazzaro said the state commission can afford to
subsidize
about a dozen GPS setups per year for people who meet special work or
educational guidelines.

May and others in the industry hope that government agencies that
subsidize assistive technology will soon cover GPS equipment. ''I
think we've turned the corner in the past year and it's being recognized
as
a tool that's necessary for life," he said.

Technological advances, such as providing GPS via cellphone, are
expected to bring the cost down dramatically, but not for another few
years,
May said.

Bob Hachey, 45, of Waltham, has been using a PAC Mate-type system
since December. He said he particularly appreciated it when his office was
moved and he was breaking in a new guide dog.

''I was able to confirm where I was and negotiate some strange street
crossings that confused the dog," Hachey said.

Without the GPS, he said, ''I might have had to call someone on my
cell to ask questions along the way." Hachey is a caseworker for MAB
Community Services, a nonprofit agency that helps blind seniors. He makes
frequent house calls and finds that he can better direct drivers in
unfamiliar
neighborhoods. The device also helps him direct his wife when she
drives him around town.

GPS will not replace the white canes that some blind people use for
navigation, or the traditional German shepherd guide dog. Sidewalk
obstacles, errant drivers, and low-hanging branches are hazards far
too small and temporary for any GPS system to detect.

Nor is the technology perfect. The location-plotting system can be
off by up to 100 feet, and it is only as good as its mapping software,
which
may not include every point of interest or updated to account for new
construction or road changes.

The limits of GPS became amusingly clear to Charlson during a
Business trip to Jacksonville, Fla. He led a group of six blind friends to a

barbecue restaurant at an outdoor market near their hotel. But when
they walked through the doors at the GPS-specified address, they found
themselves standing in a Hooters franchise.

Everyone had a good laugh, and Charlson quickly deduced that the
restaurant they wanted was one flight up -- on the second floor of
the same building. ''The women in the group gave me a hard time about
that for days."

Erica Noonan can be reached at
enoonan@globe.com
.

The ABCs of GPS

The nation's Global Positioning System, or GPS, was developed by the
US
government in the 1970s for military use.

The system relies on radio signal transmissions from 24 satellites
orbiting the Earth twice daily some 11,000 miles high. The
satellites,

which measure about 17 feet across, run on solar power and have
rocket

boosters to keep them from veering off course.

Using four to eight of these satellites at any particular time, GPS
uses a
complex triangulation calculation-- measuring the speed of the radio
waves
from each satellite -- to pinpoint within 50 feet the position of
anyone
holding a GPS receiver.

Once the receiver has determined a user's latitude, longitude, and
altitude, the unit can calculate other useful information like speed
and
distance to any destination in feet, yards, meters. By combining GPS
technology with detailed street and city mapping software, a user can
plot
just about any journey on foot or by vehicle.

GPS works anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, under nearly all
atmospheric conditions, although a clear day without tall buildings
or

mountains nearby is optimal for accuracy.

Week 5 in Immersion

Greetings. Well, we've come to the end of another weekend, which means another immersion summary of highlights from last week. Starting tomorrow, will be week 6 for me, which means it is my last week for this phase of my training. For those wondering, more training has been talked about but as of yet, no decisions have been made. I'm guessing that I'll talk with some people about that this coming week. Anyway, on with the update.

Monday. I started my wooden Braille cells in shop class, which meant using the eletric tools that I had gotten familiar with the previous Friday. These included, among others, the table saw, the ban saw, the mider (not the correct spelling) saw, drill press, and another one or two. Out of all of them, the table saw was the one that made me the most anxious, and it still does, to some degree. However, an instructor was right there with me the entire time I was getting familiar with it and went over plenty of safety procedures with me. We even did several walk throughs in the method I would use to cut the wood. Even after all of this preparation and watchfulness of the teacher though, she still let me operate the saw and handle the wood all on my own. Sure, she was there to watch, and she told me that she would tap me on the shoulder if anything went wrong (to which I was to immediately stop and step back), but she never put her hands on my hands or on the wood. This did, and still does, impress me. Fortunately for my anxiety, I didn't have to run the table saw on the second cell I made since the wood was already cut. For the record, they say that they will help us make the first one, but then they want us to make the second on our own. The student isn't totally on their own though, since there always has to be an instructor in the room with the electric tools, to make sure everything goes right and to answer any questions. Other than that though, you're on your own and doing it independently.

Anyway, I finished my two Braille cells in 3 days. Here's a good segway into Wednesday. When I finished my second cell, I went into the main room to tell the teachers. There were several new consumers in there, listening to an introduction from the two teachers there that day. When I went in to tell one of the guys that I was done, he told me to come over to the table and asked me if I'd mind showing my Braille cell to the students sitting there. Of course, I didn't mind at all. As I passed it around, the teacher talked about me with the students, saying things like: "Here's a guy who thought he wasn't very mechanically inclined, and after a couple of weeks of instruction, went out and bought his own toolbox and some tools." As I stood there, answering some independent living questions from the teacher, all in front of the new consumers, I felt like I had come full circle. Instead of sitting at the table as a consumer, I was standing at one end, telling them that, "It can be done. You can be an independent adult. Look at me--I am." The teacher echoed my sentaments. In the words of my good friend, OGV, that was a "cool feeling."

Another cool feeling happened on Wednesday. I had gone outside to make a long distance call on my cell phone. As I walked down the sidewalk a ways, I heard someone with a guide dog pass by. I knew they had a dog since I overheard them saying something to it. Since there are, to my possibly limited knowledge, only 2 or 3 people that work at the main part of the Center who have dogs, I struck up a conversation. To my utter surprise and her amazement, it was one of my former rehab caseworkers. The next few statements went pretty much like this:

Former caseworker: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "I work here."
Former caseworker: "You do? When did you start?"

The cool feeling I referenced above was in the pride of telling her, "I work here." Anyway, we talked for a few minutes, and as it turned out, she was at the Center for some of the periodic training that caseworkers often do in the state agency. I saw her again briefly Thursday morning when entering the building. That was neat though, to see a caseworker that meant a lot to me, and one that I knew would work on my behalf.

Friday. On Friday, I made some potato salad in my daily living class. This was significant since, I'm pretty sure the two instructors met before hand and agreed to assist me as little as possible. They kind of had to since about 10 new consumers had arrived at the Center earlier in the week, though only two of them were in my class. However, in the words of one of the instructors, more or less, "I wanted to pull back and let you do as much as of it as you could without my help. And, you did. Do you realize that you did almost the entire exercise on your own? Independently?" She told me this last part toward the end of the time when I was getting ready to do the dishes. I then stopped and thought about what she had said, and realized she was right. I had done nearly the whole thing on my own. The times I asked questions were to locate a few things, or estimates on how long it would take to do something. Other than that, I had done it on my own. I remember smiling and thinking, "Well, if I don't have another daily living class in immersion, that's fine. I've arrived at the place I had been at before, with making things in the kitchen and feeling confident about it." I haven't yet told this to my teachers, since I'm afraid that if I do, then I won't have anymore cooking time. After all, I have really liked the cooking times. But, all good things must come to an end I suppose.

One other item before I close this entry. I had some adventures in my mobility class in week 5. Most days, I was sent to some specified places, most of which were in my neighborhood. One day, I was sent on a discovery trip, and asked to go down the line of stores in a strip mall area, see what they were, and make note of them. That was fun. I think I might have spent too much time at the mattress store, but that's the store's fault for making the ones I tried out, so comfortable. I'm thinking of getting a slightly bigger bed at some point, so I was pleased that this store was on the strip. There were other stores I found as well, some that were relevant to me and some that weren't.

Last Thursday though, I was sent to what ended up being one of the largest grocery stores in the state, an H.E.B., to do some shopping and get back to the Center. My instructor has written out the instructions in Braille for me, on several index cards. I made it to the store fine and did the short shopping. The way back was interesting though, mainly because the bus I was to catch, didn't go to where my instructor thought it went. I chatted with the driver for a few minutes, and then started to back toward the door, but he assured me that everything would be fine. To myself, I thought, "No it won't. I'm going to a place that I know nothing about, to streets I know nothing about, and you're saying it will be fine?" To clarify, since there may be someone reading this who might be saying, "But isn't that what you're being trained to do: handle unfamiliar places?" To which I would say, yes. However, and I suppose this is a work in progress for me, but I get real nervous about routes and streets that I am forced into and know nothing about. I'm fine about going to specific places though, like an airport, and problem solving to do what I need to do.

Anyway, my instructor ended up coming up behind me (since it was around 5:00 and I was real late getting back, and she didn't want me to miss my home bus), and taking me back to the Center by car.

The notable thing though was while I was sitting at the bus stop. There were several other men there, who might not have all been waiting on the bus. One of them came over to me at one point and said, "Can I ask you something? Why are you wearing those shades? Are you conducting an experiment?" I thought I'd have a little fun with him, so I said, "Well, I'm seeing what it might be like to be blind." He said, "Oh, that's what I thought. It must be a drag." I said, "Not so much. You might be surprised." Then, our conversation took the stereotypical turn into the following:

He said, "I guess your hearing is a lot better, ey?"
I said, "No. That's one of the big rip off myths that's floating around." (I had to speak "hip" with him since he sounded like one of these 30-something geeks; oops, just described myself, :)
He said, "Well, I don't know if it's a rip off. But, your hearing does improve, you know, like Stevie Wonder?"
I said, with a slight sigh, "You know, not all blind people are musicians like Stevie."
He said, "Really?"
I said, "Sure. There are blind: computer programmers, electricians, mechanics, teachers, lawyers, and the list goes on."

Our talk ended there, for all the education he might have gotten out of it. One funny thing though is that he thinks I'm just wearing this blindfold to "see what its like." What will he say, if and when I happen to come across him again, when I'm not wearing the blindfold but am still using a cane?

Well, that's about all for now. I'll write more next weekend on week 6, and then an over all summary of my immersion experience. Several impressions and thoughts have come up in past weeks that I've wanted to include, but will save for the over all summary, since they fit better there. Until then, have a good week.

Important Article for Parents of Teens

Greetings. In this weekend's Kim Komando weekly newsletter, she has a column on Assessing the dangers on MySpace. This is one article every parent of a teen or young adult should read. In recent months, there have been quite a few news items about kids that have fallen pray to sites like MySpace, as well as items about the people who try to catch them. I usually don't put up articles like this, since I think the Net is more than what you see on the nightly news. However, this particular site has raised red flags with many parents and other people, like Kim Komando, and it should be publicised. So read, take note, and pass on the information.

Beware of Viruses for the Cell Phone

Greetings. Though viruses for the mobile or cellular phone are a ways off, take note of what the article, Wireless: Ominous sign in new phone virus, from the International Herald Tribune. Also note that these supposed viruses will only infect your phone if you intentionally download or run the virus. So, as always, common sense goes a long way in protecting yourself.

Amazon Considering Video Downloads

Greetings. Here's an interesting article from todays' New York Times Technology section, entitled Amazon Considering Downloads.

Week 4 of Immersion

Greetings. Here are some of the highlights of week 4 in immersion, which was last week. By the way, my apologies for the larger second audio post. I guess that the largest those posts can be is 800 or 900 KB instead of the 500 KB that I previously thought. Now that I know how long I have though, I can better measure my time. Anyway, on with the recap.

First off, the week was a weird one since we had a Braille celebration all Wednesday afternoon and Thursday was Texas Independence Day, which was a state wide holiday. Though if you look at it another way, we worked 3 days, had a day off, worked one more day, and then had the weekend off. Not a bad schedule. I wouldn't want to do it every week, but not bad. Though, Friday felt weird since it seemed like it should be Monday, since we had Thursday off.

Last Monday on mobility, I went by bus to the neighborhood near my apartment, to one of the local grocery stores. My instructor met me when I got off the bus and we worked on the street crossing leading to the store. To my chagrin, the street crossing ended up being one of those complex ones I am gradually learning, with right and left turn lanes and different segments of traffic surges. I'm beginning to get more comfortable with these types of intersections, but I don't yet feel like I can cross them independently. We then crossed the parking lot, eventually (it was a big parking lot), and made it to the store. By that time, it was late in the afternoon and we had to leave. She got me back to the bus stop and assured me that I would go straight home, like I normally do. I was taking a different route of bus and wasn't sure of the ride back. Anyway, she said that I wasn't far from the complex and I'd be back there in no time. She was wrong. I didn't time it exactly, but about 40 minutes after I boarded the bus, I was let off at the stop at my complex. I told my instructor about it the next day and she apologized, several times, for the longer trip. It was no problem, but now I know for sure that if I go to that store on my own, I'm definitely not taking the bus back. Not just because I might have bags of groceries, but because the ride back took so long.

I did meet an interesting man on the bus who asked me the typical "sighted person" questions, such as if I've been blind my whole life, what I can see, how I lost my vision, etc. I'm fine about answering these types of questions, since let's face it, I'll be asked them the rest of my life. However, at one point he hit me with a totally unique question/statement, which I instantly marked down in a special category I have for people that ask questions without fully thinking them through. He said,"I guess its hard to walk when you can't see." I paused a moment, and then replied, "No. No harder than it would be if you could see. What does walking have to do with not being able to see?" He paused, stuttered, stammered, and never really answered my question. I don't want to talk badly of him, since he was very nice and simply didn't know. He was also very informative, telling me the names of streets every so often when I asked (remember, I had not been on this particular bus route before). However, all that aside, he was one of the many people that have asked me questions or made statements without fully thinking them through. In fact, this man's question reminded me of one that someone asked me when I was in college at the University of North Texas in Denton. The woman, while walking with me briskly to class, asked, "How do you get around campus without going up steps?" I felt like saying, "Look at my feet! What are they doing?" But I actually said, "Well, I guess I don't." And I left it at that. Anyway, another one for the books.

The Braille celebration on Wednesday was lots of fun. They had various tables setup with different games, all in Braille. There were games like Uno, Black Jack (which I ran this table for part of the afternoon), Scrabble, Monopoly, and others. There were also people that, at various points in the afternoon, stood up front and read things in Braille, talked about what Braille meant to them, or sang songs about Braille. Probably the best one, and funniest, was the first song. The director of the training center came out, and with a drummer accompanying him, did a rap on Braille. I think everyone got into that and had fun listening to him.

One thing that impressed me was a UT student at my Black Jack table who played with us as well. He said that he was getting a degree in rehabilitation and that he was visiting the Center for our celebration. He also managed to learn the beginnings of Braille from one of the Center's students. That was cool to watch. The UT student would close his eyes or wear his blindfold, and try to read the cards while we were playing. He did pretty well, for only having learned the dot configurations that afternoon. At one point, I asked him, "So, this is what you do in your degree: play Braille Black Jack?" He said that unfortunately, there was a bit more to the program than that, such as homework. All in all, it was a fun afternoon.

Friday morning in my cooking class, I made beef tacos, which was fun. I remember browning ground beef on the stove when I was a student at the Colorado Center some years ago, so this ended up being a refresher activity for me. However, after doing it, I feel like I can brown meat on the stove here in my apartment. I only had a few small tacos, in the small taco shells, so I put the rest of the meat in a freezer bag, which was about half the meat or more. I had the rest in tacos, or actually what ended up being some burritos, last night. That was quite good, and it was very satisfying to know that I was eating food that I had made myself. I'm gradually getting some cooking items together, so I can make things on the stove again. This coming week, I'm going to expand my stove cooking even more with omlets, chicken salad, and other things.

A realization hit me Friday morning that I tried to communicate to my instructor, but I don't think I did a very good job. It was: for myself and I'm guessing many students that go to training centers like this one, they enter the cooking class and other classes, with people (like their families) having told them what to do, how much to dish out, how to sprinkle on their food, and so forth. At the training center though, instead of them telling you how much to dish out, they say, "Whatever you want." In other words, they leave the choice up to you. This makes sense, but coming from a background where I've largely been told, at least by my family, how much to dish out, its refreshing to have a say in the matter. This realization led me to the thought, that this is another part of the freedom that I've written about in other posts: the freedom to choose. And, if the serving is too much, then I make note and do less next time.

Shop class on Friday was another matter. My choices weren't taken away, but I was given a tour of the big tools or the electric tools in one of the rooms. These included such things as the table saw, radio arm saw, plainer, and other things. The ones that I touched were turned off, but I was encouraged to touch and explore them, and to see where the all important blades were located. In my final two weeks of immersion, I will be making at least one, and perhaps two, miniature Braille cells out of wood. I learned that the first one, they will help me with and instruct me on how to do, that there will be someone there when I use the table saw and other equipment. However, the second cell I will be expected to do on my own, as much as possible. The thought of operating the table saw itself, much less some of the other types of saws in there, gives me the willies. Something about that spinning blade and running wood through it, and the possibility that I could lose a finger, or two. I'm guessing that this feeling is similar to one that many of the other students and staff that have gone before me, and ones that will come after me, have felt or will feel. I've done it before though in Colorado, and I'm sure I can do it again ... hopefully, :)

Last Wednesday, I got my first pay check. That was a good feeling. I've since deposited and am in the process of paying bills or setting up automatic payments for my bills. Wednesday also marked the one month point since I started working at the Center. Honestly, the two week point felt more meaningful and reflective then last Wednesday did. I suppose though that the Braille celebration was a good way to mark the time, grin.

That's about all for now. I'm sure I'm missing some big thing or two, but if it comes to me later, then I'll add it. Until next time, which probably means next weekend, have a good week.

Missed Highlights from Week 3 in Immersion

Greetings. Here's another realization from me: since I'm working during the week, the weekends are becoming more and more valuable and enjoyable to me, since I can do what I want and not worry about working. I'm sure this is a simple truth that most Americans have realized long before now, but remember, I'm new to this full time work thing. So, with that, here are a few highlights I missed from week 3 in immersion.

On Friday, February 17, I had a funny experience on my mobility lesson. I went to a nearby mini-grocery store with my instructor and one other student in immersion. This other student was one of the many sighted people that was going through immersion, so cane travel and keeping track of where you are, your direction, and such things, were all new to her. After we crossed the last street, where the store was located, the student and mobility instructor had an intense conversation of direction and how to locate the building. I had already been told to go inside when I found the store, so I decided to go on ahead and let the instructor handle things. I must say here that when the instructor wasn't around, I would often ask the student, when she was confused or even when she wasn't, "Where are you," or, "What street is this?" I've since learned that this was very helpful for her and she gained a lot from it. Anyway, I quickly found the building and entered the store. I then reached up to my blindfold to adjust it, since it often gets hot while wearing it. Suddenly, I heard a loud voice off to my right which said, "Don't take it off yet!" This caught me off guard and I turned towards it and starting moving in that direction. I replied with, "I'm not taking it off, but adjusting it. Do they have you guys planted in here to make sure that we don't take the blindfolds off?" The man chuckled. I then asked him, "How long have you been watching us?" I meant the people wearing blindfolds during training, immersion and regular students alike. He answered with, "Oh, I've been watching you all for the past 5 and a half years." I then asked him, with a confused look on my face I'm sure, "Who are you?" He answered, "Oh, I work here." The full impact of what had just happened then hit me, and I grinned from ear to ear. By this time, I had made it over to the counter. After further conversation with him, I learned that this gentleman, named Steve, was a cashier at this store. I also took the opportunity to say, "Well, its good to meet you. Before you totally chastize me for adjusting my blindfold though, let me show you this," and I pulled out my state ID badge that was under my coat. I also told him that I was totally blind, so even if I had taken the blindfold off, it wouldn't have done me any good. Steve laughed. I've told this story to several people since it first happened, and I think its one of those "experiences" that everyone has in immersion, or even if they're a regular student, that you remember for years to come and look back upon with fond memories.

The other thing that happened in week 3 was the next day when I went to the Feburary meeting of the Austin chapter for the National Federation of the Blind. Let me briefly say that over the past 2 years plus in Dallas, I've been a little lax in my independent travel and thus have lost some of the confidence that comes from that. One of my goals early on in my mobility classes has been to attempt to get some of this confidence back, since here in Austin, I don't know hardly anyone and I can only depend on myself to get things done, at least at first. Leading up to this meeting, I had asked several people how to get from the bus stop to the meeting location, which was in downtown Austin, at a place I had never been to before. I first asked some of the members of the organization if someone would be willing to meet me at the bus stop and walk with me to the meeting. This didn't seem to work out. However, as I talked with different people about how to get to the meeting location, I became more comfortable about doing it on my own. I was assured by my mobility instructor that there were no complex intersections, ones with right and left turn lanes, etc., in the area. So, when the time came, I caught the proper bus, took it downtown, and successfully made it to the meeting with time to spare. I ended up not going back on my own since I went out to lunch with some people, one of whom drived. But mainly because it was very cold that weekend. I don't think we got out of the thirties that Saturday. So it was good to get a ride back. If I had to go back on my own though, I'm confident that I wouldn't have had any trouble. After that experience, my confidence sharply rose and I've felt better about traveling independently, even in locations that I've not been to before.

A few days ago, I talked with my mobility teacher about the remaining time I have in immersion. Even though we have a couple more things to go over in my neighborhood, and even though more students (regular ones) are coming to the Center this coming week, she assured me that she would give me more of those confidence building experiences. Truthfully, as long as someone doesn't send me to an area with intersections or places that are beyond my abilities, or that they know I'm not fully confident with, such as those complex intersections I mentioned earlier, I love those types of confidence building assignments. Ones where I'm sent to a specific business or location, and told to bring something back from it. In fact, I was sent on one of those assignments two days ago, to the same store I went to in week 3, and I was back within an hour with several items that I had bought while there. Some of those were chocolate related, and I made an executive decision to leave the receipt on my instructor's desk--not the chocolate, :) For those that don't know, I'm a big chocoholic and part of an unofficial chocolate lovers club (which I can't talk about, so don't ask, :)

So, those are the big things that I missed from the last round of highlights. Both of them were significant in their own ways, the downtown trip and being busted by Steve at this grocery store. I'll write later about what happened in week 4.

House Approves Louis Braille Coin, Now Its on to the Senate

Greetings. I received the following story a few days ago and thought it appropriate to post here. If you want to know more on this commemorative coin, then read the 2006 Washington Seminar Legislative agenda which explains it in more detail. Enjoy.

House Approves Coin to Commemorate Braille - Forbes.com

Louis Braille, the inventor of the most widely used reading and writing
method for the blind, will be featured on a commemorative U.S. silver
dollar.

Under a House bill passed by voice vote Tuesday, the U.S. Mint will issue
400,000 silver dollars commemorating Braille in 2009, the bicentennial of
his
birth. Funds raised from a $10 surcharge will go to the National Federation
of the Blind to promote Braille literacy.

"Blind people today would be far less likely to achieve the goals of
independence and productive living without the positive contribution of
Louis Braille,"
said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, a co-sponsor of the bill.

The front of the coin would depict Braille, and the reverse would include
the word "Braille" written in Braille code.

Braille, born outside Paris on Jan. 4, 1809, lost his sight in a childhood
accident. He later built on a nighttime code used by the French Army to
create
the pattern of raised dots that is named after him.

Similar legislation introduced in the Senate earlier this month has 23
co-sponsors. This type of legislation requires 67 Senate co-sponsors,
according to
Senate Banking Committee spokesman Andrew Gray.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Article on Merging Technologies

Greetings. Here's an article that Carmanfan1 sent me a couple of days ago, on merging technologies. Specifically, it tells of the pending cooperation of several Cable, cellular and broadband companies. Read on for more. The formatting on this particular article is weird. If you use a screen reader, set your reader to "read all" or "say all." If you can see and you're reading this, then my humble apologies. Enjoy.

Tens of millions nationwide to have access to the 'Quadruple Play'
integrating video, voice, Internet and wireless capabilities

NEW YORK, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:
S), Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Time Warner Cable -- a unit

of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse
Communications today announced they will form a joint venture that will
accelerate

the convergence of video entertainment, wireline and wireless data and
communications products and services to the approximately 41 million
customers currently

served by four of the country's largest cable companies as well as to
Sprint's nearly 46 million wireless subscribers. The venture has the
potential to

serve approximately 75 million homes currently passed by the cable
companies.

The companies in the joint venture will work to develop converged next
generation products for consumers that combine the best of cable's core
products

and interactive features with the vast potential of wireless technology to
deliver services anywhere, any time. Leveraging the expertise, technical
leadership

and customer focus of Sprint and four of the largest, most successful cable
and broadband communications companies will provide millions of customers
access

to the most advanced integrated entertainment, communications and wireless
products available anywhere in the United States.

Terms of the Agreement

The joint venture, which is mutually exclusive for three years and has a
20-year term, calls for a combined initial financial commitment of $200
million,

$100 million of which will be committed by Sprint and $100 million of which
will be committed collectively by the cable companies. The investment is
expected

to be used to fund the development of the converged services, national
marketing initiatives and back office integration. The companies contemplate
additional

participation from other cable companies.

Beginning in 2006, the companies in the joint venture plan to:

-- Offer consumers access to the expanded four element bundle, or

"Quadruple Play," or any combination of services including video,

wireless voice and data services, high speed Internet and cable phone

service

-- Serve growing consumer demand for a wireless "third screen" beyond the

TV and computer screens

-- Develop and introduce new co-branded wireless devices that will provide

new and unique features that integrate cable and wireless services all

on a single device

-- Sell and market these co-branded products and services to customers

through a combination of 1,600 Sprint retail stores, cable retail

outlets and other third-party distributors, including thousands of

RadioShack stores

Unlike MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) or other wholesale
relationships, the companies participating in this joint venture will retain
full economic

benefits of the acquired customers, similar to what they currently enjoy
through their direct retail channels.

Next generation wireless products and services

The next generation wireless phone will be designed to connect customers of
Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Advance/Newhouse Communications to
Sprint

through Sprint's nationwide high-speed Power Vision(TM) EV-DO (Evolution
Data Optimized) network and integrate products from each cable company.
Customers

using the converged services will be able to seamlessly interface between
email, home and mobile voicemail, Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and photo
programs.

An interactive demonstration of these capabilities and services can be found
at
http://64.207.132.216/.
The parties plan to implement and sell Power
Vision(TM)

EV-DO-enabled handsets and service packages that will enable customers to:

-- Use interactive features like remotely programming their home DVRs

-- Have a single voice mailbox that serves both the home and the wireless

phone

-- Access innovative new calling plans which allow for unlimited calls

between the home and the wireless device

-- Surf the Internet using their cable Internet portal

-- Send and receive e-mail from their cable high-speed Internet account

-- Access unique content like streaming television programming, music,

video clips, games and pre-recorded DVR programs

In addition, the five companies have agreed to work together to explore
potential next generation wireless technology business plans for new
services that

could be provided using Sprint's Broadband Radio Spectrum (2.5 GHz), with
the goal of further integrating wireline and wireless services. This
spectrum

has the capability to provide high-speed data connectivity that can help
deliver an even wider and richer array of entertainment and communications
services.

In each market, the price of the integrated offering will be agreed to by
Sprint and the cable company serving that market. Each cable company will be
responsible

for billing customers and for customer service in its territory for the
converged offering. Customers can enjoy the convenience of a single bill for
all

of their services, including video, data, phone and wireless.

Gary Forsee, president and CEO of Sprint Nextel said, "The new Sprint- cable
partnerships will forever transform what used to be merely a cell phone into

an indispensable third screen in customers' lives. By giving consumers more
access to information, entertainment and data from their cell phone, we will

create more loyal customers, and we'll further drive our growth. With the
convergence of technologies and capabilities accelerating, we will create
personalized

content, useful innovative applications and easy-to-understand navigation
required by consumers. Together with our cable partners, we will have the
unique

content and distribution assets to realize this opportunity."

Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation said, "This
agreement, which represents the most expansive technological convergence of
its kind,

will deliver to our customers an unprecedented level of real-time,
high-speed mobility and access to content all in a single package. We have
always believed

cable provided the best available entertainment and communications
experience, and by teaming up with other leaders of our industry, we will
now take that

competitive advantage to the next level. Together with Sprint Nextel, we
look forward to developing fully integrated products that give our customers
an

even better entertainment experience whether they are in the home or on the
move."

"We believe this joint venture is the right way for cable operators like
Time Warner Cable to fully engage in the wireless business in the most
customer-friendly

and least capital intensive manner," said Glenn Britt, chairman and chief
executive officer of Time Warner Cable. "This is really about much more than

adding a fourth element to our existing video, data and telephone bundle. It
is about developing a wireless platform that connects all of our services

for the customer both inside their home and when they are on the road."

Jim Robbins, president and CEO of Cox Communications said, "This
revolutionary partnership will forever change the way Americans consume
entertainment,

communicate and exchange information. With more than 3 million Cox customers
already choosing to bundle at least two services, and more than 1 million

bundling cable TV, high-speed Internet and telephony, our company has been
realizing the benefits of bundling for some time now. We look forward to
further

increasing our customers' satisfaction by adding new wireless services,
increased integration and portability."

Robert Miron, chairman and CEO of Advance/Newhouse Communications said, "We
welcome this opportunity to join our partner Time Warner Cable, as well as
Comcast

and Cox, in this very worthwhile initiative, which will enable us to offer
our customers a wireless addition to our product line of digital cable, high

speed data services and digital phone, and future cutting edge innovations
to be developed by the venture."

Media Luncheon and Product Demonstration

The CEOs of Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications
and Advance/Newhouse Communications will hold a luncheon for the media and
product

demonstration today at 1:00 p.m. ET in the Le Trianon room on the second
floor of the Hotel Plaza Athenee, located at 37 East 64th Street in New York
City.

Reporters who cannot attend may call into a teleconference to listen to the
event and ask questions. U.S. reporters should call (866) 297-4539 and
international

reporters should call (706) 679-9046. The conference call ID number is
2067146. A replay of the call will begin at 5:00 p.m. today and will be
available

for 24 hours. To access the replay, please call (800) 642- 1687 or (706)
645-9291 and input the conference call ID number 2067146. The conference
call

will also be webcast and can be accessed at
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=31227.
The interactive
demonstration of these capabilities and service

can be found at
http://64.207.132.216/.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (
http://www.comcast.com)
is the
nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications
products

and services. With 21.4 million cable customers, 7.7 million high-speed
Internet customers, and 1.2 million voice customers, Comcast is principally
involved

in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks and
in the delivery of programming content.

The Company's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment
Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, OLN, G4, AZN Television, PBS
KIDS Sprout,

TV One and four regional Comcast SportsNets. The Company also has a majority
ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the
Philadelphia

Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two
large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia. Comcast Class A common stock and

Class A Special common stock trade on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the
symbols CMCSA and CMCSK, respectively.

About Cox Communications

Cox Communications, a Fortune 500 company, is a multi-service broadband
communications company with approximately 6.7 million total customers,
including

6.4 million basic cable subscribers. The nation's third-largest cable
television provider, Cox offers both analog cable television under the Cox
Cable

brand as well as advanced digital video service under the Cox Digital Cable
brand. Cox provides an array of other communications and entertainment
services,

including local and long distance telephone under the Cox Digital Telephone
brand; high-speed Internet access under the Cox High Speed Internet brand;

and commercial voice and data services via Cox Business Services. Local
cable advertising, promotional opportunities and production services are
sold under

the Cox Media brand. Cox is an investor in programming networks including
Discovery Channel. More information about Cox Communications can be accessed

on the Internet at
http://www.cox.com.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services to consumer, business and government customers.
Sprint Nextel

is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative
technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering industry
leading

mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie
capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For
more

information, visit
http://www.sprint.com/mr.

About Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems serving subscribers in 27
states, which include some of the most technologically advanced, best-
clustered

cable systems in the country with more than 75% of the Company's customers
in systems of 300,000 subscribers or more. Utilizing a fully upgraded
advanced

cable network and a steadfast commitment to providing consumers with choice,
value and quality customer care, Time Warner Cable is an industry leader in

delivering advanced products and services such as video on demand, high
definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed data, wireless
home

networking and Digital Phone. Time Warner Cable is a subsidiary of Time
Warner Inc.

About Advance/Newhouse Communications

Advance/Newhouse Communications manages Bright House Networks which serves
more than two million customers in several large markets that include Tampa
Bay

and Central Florida (Orlando), Indianapolis, Birmingham, Bakersfield and
Detroit, along with several other smaller systems in Alabama and the Florida
Panhandle.

Bright House Networks offers its customers a wide range of cable television
services including Video on Demand, high speed data and Digital Phone
services.

For more information, visit
http://www.mybrighthouse.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning
of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding the
business

outlook, expected performance, as well as other statements that are not
historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words "estimate,"
"project,"

"forecast," "intend," "expect," "believe," "target," "providing guidance"
and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting
management's judgment and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause

actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the
forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward- looking
statements, management

has made assumptions regarding, among other things, customer and network
usage, customer growth and retention, pricing, operating costs, the timing
of

various events and the economic environment. Future performance cannot be
ensured. Actual results may differ materially from those in the
forward-looking

statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include:

-- with respect to Sprint Nextel, the uncertainties related to its

contemplated spin-off of our local telecommunications business;

-- the effects of vigorous competition and the overall demand for the

services offered by the parties in the agreement as well as the

converged service offerings described in this release;

-- the costs and business risks associated with providing new services and

entering new markets;

-- the effects of mergers and consolidations in the communications and

cable industries and unexpected announcements or developments from

others in the communications and cable industries;

-- the uncertainties related to investments in networks, systems, and

other businesses;

-- the uncertainties related to the implementation of business strategies

(including those described above) the impact of new, emerging and

competing technologies;

-- unexpected results of litigation pending or filed against the parties

included in this release;

-- the costs of compliance with regulatory mandates;

-- the risk of equipment failure, natural disasters, terrorist acts, or

other breaches of network or information technology security;

-- the risk that third parties are unable to perform to requirements under

agreements related to our business operations or that the parties

described in this release are unable to finalize definitive agreements

surrounding the contemplated activities (including, but not limited to,

the distribution relationship with RadioShack);

-- the possibility of being impacted by changes in political or other

factors such as monetary policy, legal and regulatory changes or other

external factors over which the parties have no control; and

-- other risks referenced from time to time in each of the party's filings

with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

-- The parties believe these forward-looking statements are reasonable;

however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking

statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as

of the date of this release. No party is obligated to publicly release

any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the

date of this release. The parties regularly disclose in their

respective public SEC filings a detailed discussion of risk factors

including their respective 2004 Form 10-Ks as amended, and you are

encouraged to review these filings.

SOURCE Sprint Nextel Corporation; Comcast Corporation; Time Warner Cable;

Cox Communications; Advance/Newhouse Communications

Comments on Dog Guide Legislation

Greetings. I've been reading on some email lists about some proposed dog guide legislation, which would in essence required a charge for dog guides when traveling with their owners on airplanes. Before everyone gets all upset, I've also heard that this charge would not happen if the dog could fit under the seat in front of the user, or in the bulk head area. Further, this legislation and its purpose is false. It might exist, but people with dog guides would not be charged extra. I've gotten confirmation on this from people at both the Seeing Eye and the National Federation of the Blind. Besides, if there was a charge, I'm sure that consumer groups like the NFB and American Council of the Blind would undoubtedly have something to say about that.

I'm saying all this to say that if you hear or read about this legislation, rest assured that you will not be charged extra if you have a guide or service dog and want to fly. If I am wrong, then I trust that someone will constructively correct me.

Jury Duty Scam

Greetings. I recieved the following from an email list and it looks to be for real. If you get a call requesting the listed information, proceed with caution. As always, please excuse any formatting errors.

So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio,
Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state.

NOTE: It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught
off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant
being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less
likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential
information. See details below.

Most of us take those summons for jury duty seriously, but enough
people skip out on their civic duty so that a new and ominous kind of
scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS.

In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who
threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because
you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator.

If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the
scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so
he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest
warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out
any of this information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen.

The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma,
Illinois, and Colorado.

This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation
over the phone to try and bully people into giving information by
pretending they're with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on
their websites, warning consumers about the fraud.

New Tool from Google, But Can We Use It?

Greetings. I was just reading this weekend's edition of the Kim Komando newsletter, and she mentions a new tool available from Google. This time, they're offering a web page creation tool. Sounds great, right? But, in order to use it, you need to have a GMail account, which you (a blind person) can't get independently unless you get someone to help you read and enter the visual/word verification code that they have in their sign-up process. If you haven't done so yet, please go to Blind Web Access and sign the Google Word Verification Petition. Right before I wrote this post, I checked the number of signitures, and they're up to 4100. This petition has gotten some coverage in the media and has been highly promoted by Darrell Shandrow on his blog. You can read more on Darrell's blog about the different sites and media outlets that have done coverage for this important petition.

Again, if you haven't signed the petition yet, or even if you have, please go sign it or tell your friends and colleagues to do so. Let's try to get up to 5,000 before the week is out! Google might shut themselves out to the blind, to our mentioning that we don't have access because they (Google) doesn't offer an alternative to the visual code, but can they shut us out after we show that 5,000 people support this access effort?

This Past Week in Immersion

Greetings. First off, I think its kind of funny and a reflection of my current lifestyle, to look at the kinds of posts I was doing before I started working full time and the kinds I'm doing now. Before February 1, I was putting up many links to interesting articles, and a few journal like entries. Now, after February 1, my posts are mainly of the journal variety and not much, if any, linked stories. I'll still put up a link to a story, or an article in its entirety, but the main reason why I haven't done so is because--I don't have any time left to do that anymore. Funny how that thing called time disappears after you go from not working hardly at all, to working full time. Anyway, I've kind of come full circle, since when I started this blog about a year ago, I never thought I'd be journaling very much, and look at what's happening now.

Anyway, on with the summary. I must say that its hard for me to recount everything that happens to me in a week, since my days are full of different classes, experiences, and incidents that happen. And I simply wouldn't have space, or well, time, to recount everything. Perhaps I will if we ever talk on the phone or in person. Until then, here's the highlights from this past week, ending February 24.

Monday of the week stands out, mainly because it was one of those all staff holidays: President's Day. I haven't had this particular holiday off in several years, since my early days of college in fact, but I got it off now. I've since learned that as far as holidays go, my agency didn't used to take many of them, preferring to let them pile up and then give the staff an extra week at Christmas time. Now though, since the consolidation of many of the state agencies under the Health and Human Services Commission, more holidays are taken. Therefore, the trade off is taking the holidays as they occur instead of in a larger slice in December. As for me, I can definitely appreciate that extra week in December, but I also think its a good idea to have them in doses and take them as they come. Besides, this way, you get 3-day weekends, and everyone likes those. Another interesting note here: I've also since learned that we don't get Good Friday off. Now, why we get President's Day off and not Good Friday is beyond me, but that's the way things are. I've yet to verify this with my boss, but I've read that though we don't get Good Friday off, we do get the following Monday off. So it all balances out in the end I guess.

Tuesday was an interesting day, since in my shop class, I moved to learning how lamps work and working with wires. This is another one of those things that I never could have imagined that I'd be doing. But there I was, trying to split twist and wrap the electrical wires around some screws on a socket. At that time though, I did not know some tricks to get the wires around the screws, so consequently, it was very frustrating for me. I never completed the task in the hour I had, because each time I thought I had it done, I'd test it by pulling the wires on one end, and they would pop right off one or both screws on the socket.

One note from the previous weeks' shop activity: on Friday, February 17, I successfully put together a toilet's inner workings (without the water inside, thankfully), a fauscet, and the sides to a box fan. The instructor I was working with, made the observation that I was very mechanically inclined. Here's another personal revelation, since I've never thought of myself as mechanically inclined. Here's something I never knew about myself. I still don't consider myself a big time handy man, but I suppose I can do what needs to be done. Several times thus far in the home repair portion of shop class, when someone's made the comment to me of, "Looks like you're doing a good job," I've always replied with something like, "Yes, but I have no idea of what I'm doing." Though I was kidding, there's some truth to that. In other words, I think that I could have successfully taken apart the fauscet and put it back together if left alone, but I wouldn't know what any of the pieces were called. Anyway, something else to mark down in the personal revelation category of my immersion training.

On Wednesday, I got quite a scare, when my mobility teacher took me down to a complex intersection and asked me to evaluate, and then cross, it. We're talking about an intersection where one 4-lane street crosses a 6-lane street. Throw in some right and left turn lanes, and cordinated traffic patterns when the lights change, and you've got one confusing intersection. Looking back, I think the goal for my mobility instructor here was not necessarily to teach me how to cross this type of intersection. After all, there's only so much mobility work you can do in a 6 week immersion session. Rather, I think it was to evaluate my prolem solving and O&M skills, and to see how I might handle an intersection like this. Personally though, even though in the end, I successfully handled this intersection, I'm not going to walk back to one and attempt a crossing on my own. That's too complex for my tastes. In fact, I'll avoid one before I have to cross it. That said, a few hours after the lesson, I did have a since of pride for having conquered that type of intersection.

On Thursday, I conquered the lamp exercise in shop class. The instructor that was there, since there were many that weren't for various reasons, showed me some tricks in working with the wires and getting them around the screws in the socket. Thus, I almost completed putting a lamp back together, after taking it apart and learning what the pieces were called and where they went. When I had the lamp totally apart, and the instructor then told me, "Ok, now put it back together, and while you're doing that, I'm going in the other room to cut some wood," I felt very confident about doing so. When she came back in about 15 minutes later, I was wrapping the wire around the screws and tightening the screws in the socket. I was even able to thread the electrical wire through the lamp before class ended. This Monday, I'll complete the exercise. I'm not sure what's after this one. I've heard that the final thing is to fix a belt on a vacuum cleaner, but I'm not sure if that's right or not. Some people have said that the lamp is the last thing in the home repair course, so we'll see.

The other interesting thing that happened Thursday was in the morning when quite a few students met in the main lounge area, to split into groups and go to explore an Amtrack train station and a Greyhound bus station. I was in a group with 4 other students and 2 instructors. Both stations were very interesting, though I think that the Greyhound might be more useful to me than Amtrack. After all, I don't see myself taking Amtrack anywhere anytime soon, I could be wrong though. Anyway, the goal here was to problem solve and in a controlled manner, to discover the different stations and figure out how to get around them and accomplish several different tasks. Such as, buying a ticket, locating the proper bus/train to board, etc. At the Greyhound station, I found out that a round trip ticket to Dallas costs $59 for a weekend trip. This is good to know, though I much prefer flying to going by bus. Its the way I've always done it, and I don't see any reason to change now. Besides, as far as actual travel time, Southwest gets there quicker. But who knows; perhaps one weekend I'll take the bus just to see what its like.

One funny thing that happened was at the Amtrack station when we were trying to locate the train tracks and where to board. We (the students), found the tracks with little problem, but then someone heard a train coming. Imagine the sight we portrayed to anyone looking out the lobby window: about 5 or 6 blind people wandering, some reaching down to feel, the train tracks, when a train was in the distance. I can imagine their nervousness and anxiety, and that might explain the announcement that the ticket agent made a few minutes later, warning those close to the tracks to move back closer to the building. He didn't refer to us specifically, but I have a feeling he was probably worried about those weird blind people.

Yesterday, in mobility, my instructor had me walk in essentially what turned out to be a capital letter P, as far as the street configuration of the streets I walked on. She said I didn't have to cross any major or complex intersections, but she did want me to follow several streets and make a square, and then come back to the center. I thought, "Fine," and after talking about the route several times, I set off. She used street names and directions, such as north, west, etc., in her route description, so it took me several run throughs to fully understand what I was to do. I usually don't have a problem with this, but I'm not familiar with the streets in that area around the Center, much less in Austin at large, so that's why it took a few times. Anyway, starting out on the route, I had to walk down to 45th street, which was the same path I took when I went to Chipotle a couple of weeks ago with my coworkers. I had forgotten how far that was and how much my calves and feet hurt, before I even got to 45th. In fact, even though I didn't actually cross many streets in my square/P configuration, I actually ended up walking between 10 and 12 blocks in total. To say that I'm not used to walking that much would be an understatement. I had to stop twice in the route to sit down and rest because my feet and calves were hurting.

In part of the route, my instructor said that I'd come to a brick wall with a gate spanning the street. She told me how to go through the gate, in following the brick wall back a ways, but I didn't fully understand. So when I finally got to that point in the route, I was stumped. I looked at the gate, every inch of it, the brick walls on both sides of it, read some signs in print that had raised or bolded letters, which said, "Visitors Only," and something about unauthorized entry. Anyway, suffice it to say, I couldn't find the opening that my instructor was talking about. I finally went back to the gate and felt the number and placement of horrizontal bars on it, and thought seriously about climbing over it. It would have been uncomfortable, and I did wonder if climbing over it would have been considered as part of that "unauthorized entry." Finally, my instructor came over and gave me a clue, which when I followed one of the brick walls a little farther, I finally found the opening she was talking about, and successfully finished the route. While looking at the gate, the walls, and talking with my instructor, I made the comment to her, "I feel like I'm trying to sneak into the castle."

I took a hot bath last night, at the suggestion of my mobility instructor, to relax and sooth those muscles, but I'm not sure it helped. My feet started hurting while I was going over to the apartment complex's office today to pay the March rent. It might take me a little longer than I had thought to get used to this exercise and walking thing.

I have some other thoughts about my immersion so far, but I'll put those in another post. This one's long enough. Until then.

Today in Immersion

Greetings. Here's the news of today.

This morning, I met with my O&M (orientation and mobility) instructor, which for those that don't know, its the "cane travel teacher." Anyway, she had a couple of hours free and had scheduled me in for this morning, so we could have some personal work time. Which I very much appreciate. If there's anything that I know I could benefit from in my immersion training, its learning the layout and how to get around Austin. Today, as in several past trips, we went to my neighborhood and walked around some of the streets, locating places and practicing street crossings. I mention all this because I learned where a health or organic food store, called Sun Harvest Grocery, is located near my apartment. This morning I learned where it was, and this evening after I got home and fed Tony and took him out, I went to Sun Harvest to pick up a few essentials--all on my own!! There are several turns in the route over there, but all in all, its about 2 or 3 blocks or so. That felt real good. On the way there, I was talking with my friend Heather from Dallas on my cell phone. I really haven't shopped before at many health food stores so I'm not sure if this is the standard or if Sun Harvest stands out among them. I'm thinking their selection and variety is the standard, as far as having lots of health food and not many "regular recognizable" brands of things. They are kind of a mini-grocery store, where you can get milk, frozen foods, a few ice creams, cereal, and other things. They even have a bakery. I didn't explore that since it was in the evening and I was ready to get back home and put my feet up.

Austin has been and will be different, from Dallas, for me as far as doing errands. In Dallas, I had several people that "helped" me do my errands. Here, I don't know anyone, or anyone sighted anyway. I'm starting to get to know a few people, but not like in Dallas. I mention all this to say that I'll be getting back to doing things and going places on my own, because I have to. If I don't, then it doesn't get done. I flourish in places with good layouts and bus systems though, such as Austin and Denver. Going to Sun Harvest this afternoon reminded me of that freedom of travel and independence I had back in college and in Denver when I was at the Colorado Center for the Blind. I think I'm going to like this kind of freedom, :)

I'm experiencing that freedom in other ways as well, like in my daily living class this morning after mobility. Today I was going to make macaroni and cheese, which I successfully did. That gave me a little anxiety, especially when bringing the pot to boil, before I put the noodles in, since I had the usual fear of burning myself. I learned some cool nonvisual techniques though, such as using a long handled fork or other cooking utinsil, to help center the pot on the burner, instead of touching the burner and possibly burning myself if it was on. As always though, the best part was doing the taste test afterward. I will be making other things in daily living too, such as chicken salad, pancakes, and more. It reminds me of when I used to cook in Colorado, and I'm beginning to remember how to do some of this. The big thing though is that after making the mac and cheese today, I feel like I can make it on my stove in my apartment, and that's another part of the freedom I mentioned above.

This afternoon was spent at Lowes, looking at cabinets, washers and dryers, and buying several screw drivers and a good looking plastic toolbox to put them in. I'll probably get other tools later, but only when I learn how to use them and have a need for them.

Over all, it's been a great day. For much of my immersion training thus far, I've been busy, taking one thing at a time, figuring out where things and places are, and basically getting the lay of the land. However, now that I'm nearing the end of my second of six weeks, I'm starting to relax and enjoy the training, as many of my coworkers have been telling me that I would.

I still feel that pride of working full time, much less as an instructor (sort of), when I feel my ID card that hangs around my neck. Every so often, when I get caught up in the tasks or classes that I'm doing, I'll reach down and feel the ID card, and then be reminded of that pride and satisfaction of working where I do.

Midweek Update

Greetings. I've been wanting to put up an update for a few days now, but the past two nights, I was watching the Westminster Dog Show on USA Network, which was great as always. I don't really tune into these dog shows, since they run all the time on Animal Planet, but several years ago, I started watching Westminster, and well, there's just something about that show that keeps you watching. Not only to see your favorite breeds of dogs in each grouping category (working, herding, toy, terrier, hounds, nonsporting and sporting), but the insight and over all feel that the broadcasters bring to the table is something to behold. Anyway, by the time those were over, it was 10, and shortly after that I was headed off to bed. So, that's my excuse, in part, for not getting the update up sooner, not that anyone's keeping count aside from me, :) I'll start from last Friday, since that was when I tackled the door with the two locks in shop class.

Friday. In a way, the door was easier I thought, since it was stationary, more or less, than the movable blocks of wood that I worked with leading up to the door. However, since several hundred people have worked on the locks and door before me, it wasn't in tip top shape. And, finding the holes that the screws went into, inside the door, was challenging as always. I completed the project within the 2 hour period, but much of that was spent poking and prodding the screws around inside the door, where you couldn't have used sight even if you had it. However, I stil feel like I can fix the dead bolt on my apartment if I had too, and I couldn't have said that at the beginning of last week. Tomorrow, that's Thursday, we're all going to Lowes where I'll buy some screw drivers, and look at some tool boxes. Not sure I'll actually get one; it depends how much they are. Not much else happened on Friday, that I can remember anyway.

Saturday and Sunday. Not much happened here either, mainly rest. This was the first weekend after a full week of work for me, and I quite literally spent at least half of Saturday sleeping. Saturday night I had an interesting mishap at the laundry room. I put my money in the first washer and pushed the button, but nothing happened. I had used these same kinds of washers and dryers in college, so I knew how to work them. So, I got a few quarters returned, and put them back in and pushed the button with the same result: nothing. I then reluctantly moved the clothes, dripping with detergent, to the next washer and repeated the process, with the same nonresult. By this point I was getting pretty frustrated. So I did what any other normal person would do: I pulled out my cell phone and immediately called the apartment complex's after hours answering service to inform them of the problem. I expected to hear a whoosh when I pushed the washer's button, but I didn't hear anything, except a slow drip of water. Then I was faced with the task of what to do with my clothes. I went back to my apartment, eventually--after I navigated through the maze of sidewalks that always seem to be around the laundry room, and retrieved a plastic trash bag to put the clothes in. I figured that I could either remove the clothes, which I didn't want to do, or I could go down the line of washers and try each one, which I really didn't want to do, since that would mean putting in $0.75 each time, and probably losing it.

I returned to the laundry room, and to my astonishment and partial relief, the washers that I had attempted to start, were both running fine. Remember though that one had clothes in it and the other was full of water and detergent. I then called the answering service back and apologized and explained what had happened. Sunday night I did a load without any trouble, except for struggling with the sidewalks that led everywhere. The good thing about the sidewalks, is that they were in right angles. The bad thing was that there's more than 3 of them. It was not uncommon for me to turn down a path, run into a T-intersection, not know which way to turn, and then retrace my steps. To add to the confusion, nearly all of them are very narrow. By the last few trips back and forth, I started to figure out the pattern, but I still wonder each time I try to find the laundry room.

Monday. This day started out interesting, mainly because I accidentally knocked the basket I have on the top of my kitchen bar, off and spilled the contents into the sink. Most of the items, which were just odds and ins, landed in one half of the sink. My spare keys however, which were still in the small envelope they came in, landed in the other half, with the open disposal. I must have reached down at just the right angle because I nudged the envelope just enough to make the keys slip into the disposal. I have large hands, so it took me a good 5-10 minutes to get them out. I thought about leaving them there, but was afraid that I'd forget they were there and turn on the disposal at some point. Plus, I wasn't exactly sure how I'd explain it to the complex if I ground up my spare set of keys. Fortunately the bus driver saw me come out of my apartment and waited for me. When I told one of my coworkers on the bus what had happened though, after we got finished laughing about it, she said that she was concerned about putting her keys on her bar now. As a side note, I asked her yesterday about this and she said that she had moved her keys to another place. I've moved my keys as well, to one of my kitchen drawers.

One other notable thing happened on Monday: I went out to lunch with several people in my department, to Chipotle, which was great. We walked down there from the Center and that was fun as well.

Tuesday. I used a circular saw in shop class. This was a little nerve wracking, since I knew in the back of my mind that the instructors wouldn't let us get cut and would be watching closely. But then again, there's that nasty thought that creeps back in, which says, "Yes, but its still a circular saw." It was a good experience though. Not sure I'll buy one at Lowes though, grin.

Today. The big thing that happened today was I finally was able to file my benefits with the state benefits group. For various frustrating reasons, this has been delayed since I've been hired, but I finally got it done this afternoon. It feels good to be fully covered, even though some of them don't start right away.

One final thought before I close: I realized this afternoon that I've been at the Center for 2 weeks now. I'm settling into the deily and weekly groove of full time work and about two weeks into my immersion training, and am enjoying immersion. There are two things that I don't think I'll lose sight of, no matter if I'm at the 2 week, month, or year points. First, my comfort and fondness with the place I work at, especially since I remember being a consumer there and feel like I can better relate to the consumers. And second, the process, answered prayers, and circumstances that brought me to this point and to the Center in general. I only hope that I can live up to the high standards that I've set for myself, and to the consumers' expectations.

Emersed in Emersion

Greetings. I've started my blindfold, or as they call it "emersion," training and things are going good so far. I started on Tuesday. The first couple of days were tiring and a little stressful, mainly because I was still learning where things were in the building. Today I felt more confident about where things were, or at least the places I frequent, than I did the previous days. I'll be the first to admit that I may not be able to find a room right away, but at least I feel confident about finding it in a reasonable amount of time, instead of getting lost, which is bound to happen several times anyway.

Two things have already come up that are challenging to me. The first happened today where I got chewed out by one of my coworkers about not wearing my blindfold. I've had discussions with a few of the staff members about this very topic, of whether the staff who are blind should wear the blindfold. My thought is no, since it seems redundent for a blind person to wear a blindfold. However, the person that I was talking with today said that we wear them to support the people who are either fully sighted or have some vision, since they have to wear them. A different person I was talking with yesterday at lunch put it well. She said, "Is the point to training people in the skills of blindness, or to make a statement." The staff here are split on this issue, and I'm sure the debate will go on. For my part, I'm wearing my blindfold. Not to support the people who have to or the nonvisual techniques (even though I do believe in nonvisual techniques), but mainly to appease the people who say that it's a statement. And really, after the first hour of wearing it this morning, I didn't think about it. I went through my classes, which are the same as the students take (Braille, cane travel, daily living skills, industrial arts, and others). There were a few times in the day when I did think about it, but only briefly.

The other thing that happened was in industrial arts where I had to take apart and then put back together several locks which are embedded in wood. I should say right off that I've don't considered myself to be mechanically or home repair inclined, so this activity has been very challenging. The first simple lock took me 25 minutes, to disassemble and reassemble. The second lock, which was a dead bolt, took the rest of the time on Tuesday, which ended up being around an hour and a half. Disassembling wasn't hard, but putting it back together and lining up the screws, was very hard. I did the third lock today, and that took about the same amount of time as the second. Today's lock was a standard lock, but with a switch on one side to flip one way or the other, to lock and unlock.

Even though I was royally frustrated by the end of Tuesday's time, after dropping some screws several times, and having to line up the screws, two hours after that, I thought to myself, "I feel like I can now go to a home improvement store, get several screw drivers, and fix the screws on my apartment door." As it happens, next Thursday, the people who have industrial arts are scheduled to go to the Lowes Home Improvement Store, and I now have my chance to get those screws, and perhaps other tools. I might even look for a toolbox for them. I still may not be very home improvement oriented, but at least I will be able to fix some of these things myself, instead of asking for and waiting for someone to come over and do it for me. The next lock is on a make shift door, which I'll have to take apart and then reassemble. I'll do that one tomorrow, and it will probably take the entire 2 hour time too, but that's ok.

Everything else is going fine. I'm gradually getting into the groove of a 5 day work week. I'm still tired at various parts of the day, but that will go away in time, hopefully. I think that I'm going to learn more about my neighborhood from one of my coworkers again this weekend, so that will be nice.

Until then, this is the tired, but satisfied, Wayne signing off.

The Advantage of Busses

Greetings. This afternoon I realized the true advantage of busses over ride share programs, like DART Paratransit in Dallas and Special Transit Services here in Austin.

I was getting ready to leave work. I've been having some trouble with my work voice mail, mainly not knowing how to use it. I finally got a gentleman from another department on the line who offered to come over right away and show me how to use the phone and setup my voice mail. He asked if I was going to be there, and I replied with, "Sure man; the busses run quite frequently." The man came over and showed me the phone system, and I educated him about the software that blind people use. It occurred to me when I was waiting for the route 5 bus I take, that I probably couldn't have done that if I was using ride share services. Meaning, I would have had to run out the door instead of been flexible. This is the true advantage of busses over ride share services, especially during rush hour when the busses run once every 20 or so minutes. The route 5 bus that comes at 5:15 goes the same direction as the one at 5:35. Besides, if I had caught a ride share ride, then I would have had to take a no show and try to get another ride, which could have come anywhere from a few minutes to as much as an hour later. That's not as convenient as taking a bus.

I've always known the value of busses, but its at times like this where they take on new menaings for me.

Weekend Review

Greetings. Its been a busy weekend for me. Let me recap.

Yesterday I went to the nearby Chase bank all on my own--well almost. I had been shown how to get to the bank by one of my coworkers that lives in my complex. I suppose it was a little gutsy of me to think I could go to the bank after only being shown once, but I tried. At one point, after crossing a street and looking for a side street, I got lost and couldn't find the side street. As it turned out, I was probably only a few yards from it. Anyway, after going back and forth looking for the darn street, I finally frustratedly pulled out my cell phone to call someone from the apartment office to help me out. When I didn't get them, I do what I always do when I'm hopelessly lost and/or frustrated: pray and ask for God's guidance or an angel, whichever comes first. I should say here that whenever I've done this, 9 out of 10 times, someone approaches me anywhere from when I'm in mid prayer, to about a minute or two later. This time was no exception. Shortly after I stopped praying, a nice man came up to me and offered his assistance. He said he saw me walking back and forth and thought he'd help. I gratefully accepted and we began to talk about the immediate area. To make a long story short, he ended up walking with me to the Chase bank, which was not far away. When we got there and went inside, he asked me if I wanted him to wait for me and walk back with me. I started to say no, but then I remembered that this was my first try on my own, and figured, "Why not?" So I asked him if he'd mind, and he said no. While he waited, I was able to setup several bank accounts and take care of other business. 40 minutes later, we left Chase and made it back to my apartment. So, from this experience, even though I got lost on my first try, I made a new friend. We exchanged phone numbers and said we'd keep in touch.

Early in the afternoon, I went grocery shopping, which was interesting. By the time I had returned and put all my groceries up, it was 3 and I had had enough of running around. Not much else notable happened yesterday.

Today I visited a local church, Grace Covenant, which was interesting as well. I had called the church last week to request a ride with someone, and I got a call a few days ago from another single guy who offered me a ride. I liked the church all right, but was a little confused by the pastor's presentation style. In my opinion, if you don't like the presentation style of the minister, then its not very likely that you'll listen to the sermon. This man made some great points, but I thought he left some of them loose and didn't tie them back into his main theme. Plus, he used some PowerPoint slides during his sermon. I have no objection for using technology to complement one's sermon. This pastor though seemed to struggle or wander a bit with the slides. It didn't seemed like he mixed the slides in very well to me, not to mention his method of covering the content on the individual slides. I'm not an expert on this presentation stuff, but after hours of listening to professors in college use PowerPoint, some that did it well and some that didn't, I'd like to think that I've picked up a few things of what you do and don't do when making a presentation. And, just because I can't see the presentation, doesn't mean that I'm at a disadvantage. A good presenter will cover everything on the slides, no matter if there's a blind person in their audience or not. A good presenter does this by accommodating all the learning styles (visual, audio, and kenesthetic). I could go on about learning styles, but I won't. Also, for those interested, a blind person can make a PowerPoint presentation. I've done it for many of my classes and got good grades because of it.

These are just my own thoughts. Anyone who wants to dispute me or bring up constructive counter points is more than welcome to with the under utilized comments feature of this blog.

Anyway, I'm going to visit another church next Sunday. If I can arrange a ride, it will be First Evangellical Free, which is another large and popular church in the area.

After church, I went with my new church friend to one of those once a month luncheons that introduce people to the church. I thought that some of the people here did a better job of explaining the church's purpose and structure than the pastor did. After that, we went to get me some new shoes. I don't know why it is, but every time I go to buy lots of clothes (which isn't that often) or shoes, I always get the ones on sale. Not that I'm complaining. But, God watches out for me. Today was no exception. The shoes I ended up getting are usually sold for $69, but they were marked down to $49. Actually though, when I went up to pay for them, another discount was applied which brought the price, before tax, down again to $39. My friend said the shoes looked good, even though they were cheap, which you don't see that often when buying shoes. Also, I have flat narrow feet, so buying shoes can often be stressful. This time though, the shoes I got were the first pair I tried on. The store didn't have anymore in my size. I did try on another pair, but rejected them.

So, there's my weekend. Eventful but productive. Now, my only task is to learn more about my neighborhood and where things are, so I can do more things. But that will come in time. Stay tuned for further updates.

First Day Reflections

Greetings. My hope is that those that want to call me tonight would read this blog entry first and then call if they need any more details, but I realize that this might not happen, :)

Well, I'll attempt to hit some highlights of today, but please excuse me if I miss some things. I can honestly say that it feels good to put in a full day's work. In my part time job in Dallas, I got off work at 3. Around 3 today, I kept looking at my watch and wondering if I had to go somewhere. In part of my mind, I wondered how I would fill 2 extra hours. I need not have worried, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last night, I faced much the same thoughts that I had the first night or two after the lay off, this time though, they were about starting a job instead of leaving one. In short, I had a hard time getting settled down enough to get to sleep. I kept thinking of the upcoming day, transportation, getting to and from the bus stops and to the Center, and other things. It seemed that 5:45 came too early, but I got up and drug myself to the bathroom for the daily ritual.

I made it to the bus stop on time, in fact, I was slightly early. I met up with the man I was going to meet with at the bus stop across from the Center and I was shown the way to the Center and to our cubical area.

One funny thing that happened when I got on the bus this morning is worth mentioning. The busses in Dallas all had 3 steps that led up to the bus level. This morning, I quickly found out that this was not the case in Austin. I stepped up once, then attempted to step a second time, only to have my foot crash down on the floor. I then felt like one of the biggest idiots ever, and apologetically looked to the driver and chuckled, saying it was my first time on an Austin bus.

Anyway, it was quite cool to sit in my cubical. I had a cubical, not just a table with a computer on it, like at my other job, but a real cubical. A tight one for sure, but there were metal drawers to put things in, a generic computer and flat panel monitor, some slightly comfortable state office chairs, and the thing that was almost as impressive to me as the cubical was: a phone! I never had an extension at my old job, much less a phone. So to get a generic phone was quite cool. This one did me one better though, since it not only had the 12 touch-tone buttons on it, but it also had 27 other buttons on it. I have no idea why all those buttons are there; you could probably launch a rocket with it, :) Hopefully there's a button for voicemail. It would be funny if there were all those buttons, but you had to dial into your voicemail box.

Shortly after that, my boss came up to me and welcomed me. That was a good feeling.

Much of the day was filled with the usual first day stuff, but magnified 10 fold in terms of forms. I made a lot of progress in terms of getting the initial things done, and had a few small miracles happen, such as getting my computer setup and ready. Remember that I've said that I've been a consumer at this training center before? There's still quite a few people that are still there that remember me. Anyway, one person I saw said that some people she's known, haven't gotten their computers up and running for 3 or 4 days. So it was quite good that I had mine setup and configured by the tech person by 10 this morning.

I must say that it was quite cool being taken on a tour of the immediate parts of the Center by my boss, meeting new people and seeing ones that I've known from before, and generally remembering my time there. It was not uncommon for me to think, after passing a particular room or hallway, "I remember (fill in the blank)." Many people have said it to me in the past month or so, and I've said it to myself, but after taking the tour and remembering those places, I can honestly say that I'm going to like working there.

On Monday, I start a big phase of my orientation training, which they call emersion, or blindfold, training. Basically, its where the new employee or staff person wears a blindfold during operating hours and learns how to live and cope as a blind person. The training period is not just a day or two, or even a week, but 6 weeks. I think that this is a great idea, since it gives sighted people a chance to see, in a manner of speaking, "How the other half lives." For the blind people, who probably already know how the other half lives, it gives them a chance to brush up on their skills, or develop new ones. In terms of travel (also called mobility), I will definitely be taking mental notes, since I haven't lived in Austin for any length of time for nearly 10 years. Some of the classes that the person goes through, which are the same classes as the students go through, include: Braille, daily living, cooking (I probably need lots of work here), industrial arts (woodshop), and some recreation, such as rock climbing. Like I say, even though I've been through much of this before, at this center and one in Colorado, I see it as an opportunity to update my skills and get the lay of the land. So, it would probably go without saying to say that I'm looking forward to my blindfold training. And yes, even though I'm already blind, I'll still have to wear a blindfold, from what I hear anyway. Fine by me. Doesn't make much difference if the blindfold is on or off; the result is the same, :)

So, that's about it. After only a day of this 8 to 5 work thing, I can already see how people come home tired, but hopefully satisfied and with a sense of self worth. In my case, I think I'll finally be able to have that satisfaction, but more so, I will feel useful, which is something that I never really got on a regular basis at my last job.