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?
Sunday, February 26
Saturday, February 25
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.
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.
Thursday, February 16
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 15
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.
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.
Thursday, February 9
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.
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.
Monday, February 6
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.
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.
Sunday, February 5
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 1
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 31
It All Starts Tomorrow
Greetings. First off, this might be one of those rambling posts, so bare with me.
Well, it all starts tomorrow. It seems like forever since I got the call from my new boss, back on December 15, when he offered me the position. I remember wondering back then how I was going to fill a month and a half and what I would do in the time. I knew I would be moving, but I didn't know about the downtime. Now, I sit on the eve of employment, again, and oh the thoughts that are going through my mind. Thoughts of: where I've been, how I got here, the last 2 and 1/2 years at the ATC in Dallas, the process of getting to and from work tomorrow, what I'll do all of tomorrow, what it might be like to work from 8 to 5 (I know many people that do this, but so far, its not something that I've gotten to do and it seems strange in a way), working at the same training center that I went to as a consumer, and many other things. It's going to be neat to look at and talk with former teachers and now have them be coworkers.
For a long time, I've been taking Melatonan to help me get to sleep. When I started taking it regularly in September of 2004, I always hoped that I would reach a point when I wouldn't have to take it to get to sleep. Now, I think I have reached that point. I can honestly say that I feel more rested after a night of regular sleep, rather than sleep induced sleep. Besides, I always have a Melatonan hang-over the next day when it takes several hours, sometimes until lunch, for all of the drowsiness to fully ware off.
A funny thing happened this morning. For several weeks now, I've been gradually getting myself used to waking up earlier and earlier, to simulate what it might be like for me to wake up and get ready for work. Yesterday morning, my alarm went off at 5:45, and I promptly got up and got ready. By 7 I was ready to go, aside from changing into work clothes. Now by 8:30, the previous night's Melatonan sleep hang-over caught up with me and I crashed, but I was ready to go by 7 and, if I had to go to work that day, then I would have made it to the bus stop by 7:30 for the bus. This morning, the alarm went off again at 5:45, and having a successful run yesterday, I decided to sleep in, wanting to savor one last weekday where I could. From 5:45 to shortly after 7, when I finally went back to sleep, I kept wondering if I was going to be late for work. It took me a few times to realize that this was Tuesday, not Wednesday. I guess my attempt to get up earlier worked, :)
Anyway, like I said in the beginning, I don't really have any clear direction for this post. I mainly wanted to put my thoughts out and see what happens. It seems that writing is a kind of therapy for me, and others. Where we feel better after writing a few paragraphs, and feel like we can go and tackle the world, or in my case, that I can tackle my first day at work. I'm not worried or stressed about the next 24 hours. Anxious, sure, but not stressed. No use getting tied up over nothing. On the other hand, some people thought it odd that I wouldn't start work until midweek. From my point of view though, I get 3 days of work, then 2 days off, and then a full week. Of course, it probably wouldn't go over too well if I were to ask for more 3-day weeks after this one, :) Even so, its a way of easing into full time stuff, at least initially. I'll write again in a day or two and talk about the first few days. Until then.
Well, it all starts tomorrow. It seems like forever since I got the call from my new boss, back on December 15, when he offered me the position. I remember wondering back then how I was going to fill a month and a half and what I would do in the time. I knew I would be moving, but I didn't know about the downtime. Now, I sit on the eve of employment, again, and oh the thoughts that are going through my mind. Thoughts of: where I've been, how I got here, the last 2 and 1/2 years at the ATC in Dallas, the process of getting to and from work tomorrow, what I'll do all of tomorrow, what it might be like to work from 8 to 5 (I know many people that do this, but so far, its not something that I've gotten to do and it seems strange in a way), working at the same training center that I went to as a consumer, and many other things. It's going to be neat to look at and talk with former teachers and now have them be coworkers.
For a long time, I've been taking Melatonan to help me get to sleep. When I started taking it regularly in September of 2004, I always hoped that I would reach a point when I wouldn't have to take it to get to sleep. Now, I think I have reached that point. I can honestly say that I feel more rested after a night of regular sleep, rather than sleep induced sleep. Besides, I always have a Melatonan hang-over the next day when it takes several hours, sometimes until lunch, for all of the drowsiness to fully ware off.
A funny thing happened this morning. For several weeks now, I've been gradually getting myself used to waking up earlier and earlier, to simulate what it might be like for me to wake up and get ready for work. Yesterday morning, my alarm went off at 5:45, and I promptly got up and got ready. By 7 I was ready to go, aside from changing into work clothes. Now by 8:30, the previous night's Melatonan sleep hang-over caught up with me and I crashed, but I was ready to go by 7 and, if I had to go to work that day, then I would have made it to the bus stop by 7:30 for the bus. This morning, the alarm went off again at 5:45, and having a successful run yesterday, I decided to sleep in, wanting to savor one last weekday where I could. From 5:45 to shortly after 7, when I finally went back to sleep, I kept wondering if I was going to be late for work. It took me a few times to realize that this was Tuesday, not Wednesday. I guess my attempt to get up earlier worked, :)
Anyway, like I said in the beginning, I don't really have any clear direction for this post. I mainly wanted to put my thoughts out and see what happens. It seems that writing is a kind of therapy for me, and others. Where we feel better after writing a few paragraphs, and feel like we can go and tackle the world, or in my case, that I can tackle my first day at work. I'm not worried or stressed about the next 24 hours. Anxious, sure, but not stressed. No use getting tied up over nothing. On the other hand, some people thought it odd that I wouldn't start work until midweek. From my point of view though, I get 3 days of work, then 2 days off, and then a full week. Of course, it probably wouldn't go over too well if I were to ask for more 3-day weeks after this one, :) Even so, its a way of easing into full time stuff, at least initially. I'll write again in a day or two and talk about the first few days. Until then.
Sunday, January 29
Interesting Diabetes Article
Greetings. This was in the news a couple of days ago. Here's an article from the Associated Press on a new inhalable insulin just approved by the FDA. Enjoy, and as always, please excuse any formatting errors.
FDA Approves Inhalable Version of Insulin
By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 27, 2006 4:00 PM EST
WASHINGTON - The first inhalable version of insulin won federal approval Friday, giving millions of adult diabetics an alternative to some of the regular
injections they now endure.
The Food and Drug Administration said the Pfizer Inc. insulin, to be marketed as "Exubera," is the first new way of delivering insulin since the discovery
of the hormone in the 1920s. Pfizer jointly developed the drug and dispenser with Sanofi-Aventis and Nektar Therapeutics.
Use of rapid-acting inhaled insulin will not replace the need to occasionally inject the hormone, according to the FDA. And diabetics will have to continue
pricking their fingers to test blood sugar levels.
The FDA delayed its decision by three months so it could review chemistry data on the diabetes treatment. The European Commission approved Exubera for use
in adults on Thursday.
Analysts have said the inhaled insulin could eventually become a $1 billion-a-year seller for Pfizer, which recently agreed to pay Sanofi-Aventis $1.3 billion
to obtain full worldwide rights to the drug for use by both Type 1 and 2 adult diabetics.
"Until today, patients with diabetes who need insulin to manage their disease had only one way to treat their condition," said Dr. Steven Galson, director
of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "It is our hope that the availability of inhaled insulin will offer patients more options to better
control their blood sugars."
Clinical trials found that Exubera managed blood sugar levels just as well as injected insulin, but an independent FDA panel in September stressed that
use of inhaled insulin will not mean diabetics can toss out the needles, pens or pumps used to inject the hormone.
The review panel also expressed concern about the bulkiness of the Exubera dispenser and about some patients who experienced coughing or a slight decrease
in lung capacity when using the drug. Pfizer will conduct studies on the long-term effects of Exubera on the lungs, as well as the safety and effectiveness
of the drug on patients with lung disease, the FDA said.
The American Diabetes Association estimated that nearly 21 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, although about one-third do not know it. The number
of people with diabetes is believed to have tripled in the past quarter-century.
Diabetics with either type of the disease could use the rapid-acting inhaled insulin before or after meals to manage their blood sugar levels. However,
the drug would not replace the longer-acting insulin injections that some diabetics, particularly those with Type 1 diabetes, need to take in the morning
or before bed.
"You're not going to eliminate the needles in Type 1. For Type 2, it really depends on the stage," said Dr. Will Cefalu, a clinical investigator for both
Pfizer and Eli Lilly and Co., which is developing its inhalable insulin system with Alkermes Inc.
Most diabetics have Type 2, a condition linked to obesity that occurs when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it makes. Sometimes the disease can
be treated with pills instead of injections when matched with a diet, exercise and weight-management plan.
Pfizer believes Exubera will encourage diabetics who are squeamish about needles to take the insulin they need to tightly control their blood sugar levels.
About 15 percent of diagnosed diabetics do not take the insulin or pills they should, according to American Diabetes Association estimates. Better control
of blood sugar levels allows diabetics to ward off other serious complications, including diseases of the eye, kidneys and nerves. The latter can lead
to ulcers and infections in the legs and feet and, in some cases, amputations.
The Exubera device is about the size of an eyeglass case. It delivers insulin, as a dry powder packaged in one- or three-milligram inhalable capsules, to
the lungs through the mouth, according to Pfizer.
Diabetics with poorly controlled or unstable lung disease, or who smoke or recently quit, shouldn't use Exubera,
the FDA said. And patients should have their lungs checked before using the drug, as well as at six to 12 month
intervals after that.
The world's largest pharmaceutical company initially will have the inhaled insulin market to itself.
"We will be the first out there and for a while," said John LaMattina, president of global research and development for Pfizer. Eli Lilly and Co., Kos Pharmaceuticals
Inc., MannKind Corp. and Novo Nordisk A/S all are developing their own versions.
FDA Approves Inhalable Version of Insulin
By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 27, 2006 4:00 PM EST
WASHINGTON - The first inhalable version of insulin won federal approval Friday, giving millions of adult diabetics an alternative to some of the regular
injections they now endure.
The Food and Drug Administration said the Pfizer Inc. insulin, to be marketed as "Exubera," is the first new way of delivering insulin since the discovery
of the hormone in the 1920s. Pfizer jointly developed the drug and dispenser with Sanofi-Aventis and Nektar Therapeutics.
Use of rapid-acting inhaled insulin will not replace the need to occasionally inject the hormone, according to the FDA. And diabetics will have to continue
pricking their fingers to test blood sugar levels.
The FDA delayed its decision by three months so it could review chemistry data on the diabetes treatment. The European Commission approved Exubera for use
in adults on Thursday.
Analysts have said the inhaled insulin could eventually become a $1 billion-a-year seller for Pfizer, which recently agreed to pay Sanofi-Aventis $1.3 billion
to obtain full worldwide rights to the drug for use by both Type 1 and 2 adult diabetics.
"Until today, patients with diabetes who need insulin to manage their disease had only one way to treat their condition," said Dr. Steven Galson, director
of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "It is our hope that the availability of inhaled insulin will offer patients more options to better
control their blood sugars."
Clinical trials found that Exubera managed blood sugar levels just as well as injected insulin, but an independent FDA panel in September stressed that
use of inhaled insulin will not mean diabetics can toss out the needles, pens or pumps used to inject the hormone.
The review panel also expressed concern about the bulkiness of the Exubera dispenser and about some patients who experienced coughing or a slight decrease
in lung capacity when using the drug. Pfizer will conduct studies on the long-term effects of Exubera on the lungs, as well as the safety and effectiveness
of the drug on patients with lung disease, the FDA said.
The American Diabetes Association estimated that nearly 21 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, although about one-third do not know it. The number
of people with diabetes is believed to have tripled in the past quarter-century.
Diabetics with either type of the disease could use the rapid-acting inhaled insulin before or after meals to manage their blood sugar levels. However,
the drug would not replace the longer-acting insulin injections that some diabetics, particularly those with Type 1 diabetes, need to take in the morning
or before bed.
"You're not going to eliminate the needles in Type 1. For Type 2, it really depends on the stage," said Dr. Will Cefalu, a clinical investigator for both
Pfizer and Eli Lilly and Co., which is developing its inhalable insulin system with Alkermes Inc.
Most diabetics have Type 2, a condition linked to obesity that occurs when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it makes. Sometimes the disease can
be treated with pills instead of injections when matched with a diet, exercise and weight-management plan.
Pfizer believes Exubera will encourage diabetics who are squeamish about needles to take the insulin they need to tightly control their blood sugar levels.
About 15 percent of diagnosed diabetics do not take the insulin or pills they should, according to American Diabetes Association estimates. Better control
of blood sugar levels allows diabetics to ward off other serious complications, including diseases of the eye, kidneys and nerves. The latter can lead
to ulcers and infections in the legs and feet and, in some cases, amputations.
The Exubera device is about the size of an eyeglass case. It delivers insulin, as a dry powder packaged in one- or three-milligram inhalable capsules, to
the lungs through the mouth, according to Pfizer.
Diabetics with poorly controlled or unstable lung disease, or who smoke or recently quit, shouldn't use Exubera,
the FDA said. And patients should have their lungs checked before using the drug, as well as at six to 12 month
intervals after that.
The world's largest pharmaceutical company initially will have the inhaled insulin market to itself.
"We will be the first out there and for a while," said John LaMattina, president of global research and development for Pfizer. Eli Lilly and Co., Kos Pharmaceuticals
Inc., MannKind Corp. and Novo Nordisk A/S all are developing their own versions.
Saturday, January 28
Virus Warning
Greetings. I heard on this week's Kim Komando radio show that there will be another serious virus making it rounds. The difference with this one is that once activated, it disabled antivirus software, and then on February 3, it destroys all data on your computer. If Kim mentioned it on her show, and says its serious, then I take her word for it. She indicated that it would arrive via email as an attachment, and with a sexual or pornographic related subject line.
Even though it seems like common sense, it bares repeating: Don't open attachments from people that you don't know, or if you're not expecting them. Especially in this case, use extreme caution if you get an email with subject lines like the ones I described above. Your best action would be just to delete the email and save yourself tons of time and trouble, especially since we're talking about a virus that can destroy all data on your computer.
Even though it seems like common sense, it bares repeating: Don't open attachments from people that you don't know, or if you're not expecting them. Especially in this case, use extreme caution if you get an email with subject lines like the ones I described above. Your best action would be just to delete the email and save yourself tons of time and trouble, especially since we're talking about a virus that can destroy all data on your computer.
Thursday, January 26
Another SBC Complaint
Greetings. Complaints against SBC are fairly regular, especially if you've been with them long enough, but I had another one come up this past weekend that's notable.
I had called SBC a couple of weeks ago to setup my Austin home phone for January 20. I was assured that the number would be activated on that day. I even called them last Thursday to see what time the number would be turned on. I was told it would be 5pm. Well, 5pm came and went. When I picked up the phone to see if things were working Friday evening, I didn't hear anything. I tried the other phone jack on the outlet near my bed with the same result: nothing. My parents later said that they tried the phone in the living room with no luck.
So, I've just moved into my new apartment, but my phone line wasn't working. And, since SBC is a phone company, they're only open business hours, which meant that I had to wait until Monday morning before I could call them to inform them of the problem. Thankfully I had my cell phone last weekend and could make and receive calls on that, otherwise I really would have been stuck.
On Monday morning at 7:30, I called the repair services line and requested a repair for my line. I then used a trick that my friend Carman Fan1 told me once. I call the repair line back, got a human, and told them that I wanted to add some information to my service request. That information was: "I am blind and need my phone for communication purposes. So, if it can be ready sooner than the 5pm deadline, that would be great." The representative did add this information to my order and I hung up. I made these calls at 7:30 remember. 2 hours later, at 9:30, someone from SBC was at my door and ready to fix the line. It took him longer than he expected, but 20 minutes later, he had a dial tone on my line, which was great.
So, in the end, SBC had a fast enough response to resolve the issue, but my main complaint is that since they're only open business hours, I wasn't able to call them over the weekend to let them know of the problem. Carman Fan says that the line was turned on at their office, but not at my apartment. Actually, truth be told, someone from DART Paratransit was able to call me Friday afternoon and leave a message on my Call Notes voice mail, even though the line didn't ring in the apartment. Go figure.
I had called SBC a couple of weeks ago to setup my Austin home phone for January 20. I was assured that the number would be activated on that day. I even called them last Thursday to see what time the number would be turned on. I was told it would be 5pm. Well, 5pm came and went. When I picked up the phone to see if things were working Friday evening, I didn't hear anything. I tried the other phone jack on the outlet near my bed with the same result: nothing. My parents later said that they tried the phone in the living room with no luck.
So, I've just moved into my new apartment, but my phone line wasn't working. And, since SBC is a phone company, they're only open business hours, which meant that I had to wait until Monday morning before I could call them to inform them of the problem. Thankfully I had my cell phone last weekend and could make and receive calls on that, otherwise I really would have been stuck.
On Monday morning at 7:30, I called the repair services line and requested a repair for my line. I then used a trick that my friend Carman Fan1 told me once. I call the repair line back, got a human, and told them that I wanted to add some information to my service request. That information was: "I am blind and need my phone for communication purposes. So, if it can be ready sooner than the 5pm deadline, that would be great." The representative did add this information to my order and I hung up. I made these calls at 7:30 remember. 2 hours later, at 9:30, someone from SBC was at my door and ready to fix the line. It took him longer than he expected, but 20 minutes later, he had a dial tone on my line, which was great.
So, in the end, SBC had a fast enough response to resolve the issue, but my main complaint is that since they're only open business hours, I wasn't able to call them over the weekend to let them know of the problem. Carman Fan says that the line was turned on at their office, but not at my apartment. Actually, truth be told, someone from DART Paratransit was able to call me Friday afternoon and leave a message on my Call Notes voice mail, even though the line didn't ring in the apartment. Go figure.
Wednesday, January 25
Moving Summary
Greetings. Here's the long awaited moving summary. Too much happened over the weekend to detail everything, but here are the highlights, broken up by day.
Thursday. In mid afternoon, my parents came over to my place with the truck so we could load all my stuff in it. This whole process took about 2 hours, plus another hour or so that it might have took to get the truck and load a few pieces of furniture in before they came to my place. That night, I went with them to my older brother Neil's house for dinner. That was fun. Among other things, I showed my new camera phone to my two nephews. The younger of the two, Cameron, didn't quite know what to make of it. However, the older one, Finley, loved it and wanted to take pictures with it. That didn't go over quite as well with me, since letting him take pictures meant giving him the phone, and I wasn't about to do that. However, we did take a few shots with him and Cameron separately, and one with the two of them in my lap. Incidentally, that last picture is now the wallpaper of my phone.
Shortly after I got back home, my good friend Heather came over to pick me up for an evening out. That was fun too. Even though some of the schedules conflicted that night, it was fun to go out with Heather to dinner at our/my favorite place, the Cheesecake Factory.
Friday. My parents and I got up early that morning to drive down to Austin. They took a regular car in addition to the truck, so they would have a car to drive back after they turned the truck into the rental place. Anyway, we made fairly good time and were in Austin by 11 or so. We immediately went to the apartment complex and picked up my keys. Here's where things went astray from our original schedule. The complex didn't have the new carpet in my apartment so we couldn't move in right away. We chose to have them put the carpet in that afternoon. Although the leasing person told us that the carpet wouldn't be in until at least 3-7 or so, the carpet installation people got right on it and had it in by 2. The entire process only took them an hour. I don't know if that was the norm, but we were glad all the same. Meanwhile, to make up for the error, the leasing agent bought us lunch from Blempie's, and that was good. After that, my mother and I did some beginning orientation to the complex, showing me the way from the office to my new apartment. My mother did a great job over all in her orientation. It's safe to say that I think she now has a new respect for people that orient blind folk for a living. Over the course of the weekend, she oriented me from the office to my apartment, and back; to the laundry room, the dumpster, the mailboxes, and even to the nearby bus stop and transit station.
After we went back and forth from the office and apartment a few times, we started unloading things and checking out where to put things in my new place. The largest item which took the most man/woman power and was the most challenging was the 7-foot couch from my grandmother. I now have a new respect for movers, who carry this kind of stuff all the time. Moving things in took a few hours, and before I knew it, it was nearing 6:30. My mom ran out to get dinner, in the form of a frozen pizza, and some other things while my Dad and I stayed behind unpacking and getting things put together. I don't remember what we did after dinner, but think it was more of the same.
Saturday. This was a busy day of shopping, grocery and otherwise, orienting, putting things together, learning about the community shuttle that runs by my complex, and many other things. When I look back on it, its like a blur of activity to me. One of the things that stands out though was dinner.
My Dad had told me that he wanted to take me out to dinner and treat me, as a celebration of my new apartment and over all new beginning. He said that we'd go wherever I wanted, whether it was really cheap or really nice. This was quite an offer, and it took me while to decide where I wanted to go. This decision process was made all the more complicated since I had no idea of the restaurants in Austin. I ultimately settled on barbecue, and we found ourselves at one of those neighborhood places that seem to have everything. I ended up with a sausage poorboy sandwich, fries and Cold Slaw. All of which were very good. I couldn't finish the Slaw, actually I got full long before I ever got to it, so I took it, along with my Mom's leftovers, which she graciously offered to me, in a box and had them for lunch on Sunday. One other highlight. Before we went to dinner, we had a champane toast to my new success and beginning. They suggested that I should keep the small bottle as a momento, so it now sits near the Cable box on the shelves in my living room. All in all, it was a busy but satisfying day.
Sunday. In the morning, my Mom and I wrapped up our orienting, but I was clearly beginning to hit the wall of exhaustion. Two days of unpacking and memorizing and internalizing lots of information, and trying to keep all of it straight in your mind, wares you out. This was how I felt. By the end of it, in the remaining half hour before my parents left, I had a look on my face like, "Don't bother me; don't ask me to make any decisions; I've had it." We went over a few more things, through one of those Move-In checklists from the complex, and said our goodbyes, or as I call them, the "See you laters."
I freely told my Mom that after they left I was going to crash. This wasn't exactly what I did immediately, but I did move into relaxed mode. I dozed on my bed for awhile, got up and had the leftovers from the previous night for lunch, and generally took it way easy that afternoon. Lunch was a time of realization for me, since it was the first lunch I've had in my new apartment, at the new dining room table. So, there I sat, eating the remaining brisket, Slaw, and hash browns, wearing a Walkman and listening to "A Prairie Home Companion." It was mighty good, and I'm not just talking about the food.
During all of this time, throughout the weekend, Tony (my former yellow Lab guide dog), had been walking around the apartment, trying out various places in the rooms as laying down places. He was even spotted in the closet, with only his head sticking out. I think he was getting acquainted with the layout as well. Even now, he goes from laying by the couch, near the coffee table in the living room, on his mat in the bedroom, and probably other places. I think he liked laying in the walk-in closet, with all those clothes around him.
Sunday afternoon and evening I listened to the NFL conference championships and did more relaxing. That night, I talked with my Mom and Finley on the telephone. The talk I had with Finley was fun and was a great comfort.
At one point, we were talking about Austin--the city and his friend named Austin. This was a hard concept for him. Here's a small clip of this talk:
Finley: "Where's Austin?"
Me: "Austin is when you get in the car and ride for 3 hours. That's a long time, but its where I am."
Finley: "Are you in Austin's house?"
Me: "No, I'm in my own house in Austin."
We went back and forth like this for awhile, until he asked me, "Where are Austin and Barbara?" I then understood and said I didn't know where they were. After asking me the same thing again, and repeating my answer, he gave the phone back to my Mom.
Monday. Not much to write about this day. It was a long and boring day. Remember, I didn't get Cable TV and Internet until yesterday, so Monday I figure I was still decompressing from the weekend.
It's been cool to walk around my apartment thinking that its mine. At various times, I'll walk from room to room and marvel and what I now have, mainly for the fact that its way more than I had before. I can now put things straight up in my regular fridge, fill a shelf in the door with sodas, and have lots more freezer space to store things. I experienced this feeling again of ownership this morning when in the bathroom area. My sink, vannity and cabinets under the sink are outside of the closed off bathroom area, which is nice. I was standing in front of the sink, running my hands over the vannity, admiring its width and inner storage space. It's good to have a place to call your own.
That's about it. I'm sure I've left out things, but that's enough for now.
Thursday. In mid afternoon, my parents came over to my place with the truck so we could load all my stuff in it. This whole process took about 2 hours, plus another hour or so that it might have took to get the truck and load a few pieces of furniture in before they came to my place. That night, I went with them to my older brother Neil's house for dinner. That was fun. Among other things, I showed my new camera phone to my two nephews. The younger of the two, Cameron, didn't quite know what to make of it. However, the older one, Finley, loved it and wanted to take pictures with it. That didn't go over quite as well with me, since letting him take pictures meant giving him the phone, and I wasn't about to do that. However, we did take a few shots with him and Cameron separately, and one with the two of them in my lap. Incidentally, that last picture is now the wallpaper of my phone.
Shortly after I got back home, my good friend Heather came over to pick me up for an evening out. That was fun too. Even though some of the schedules conflicted that night, it was fun to go out with Heather to dinner at our/my favorite place, the Cheesecake Factory.
Friday. My parents and I got up early that morning to drive down to Austin. They took a regular car in addition to the truck, so they would have a car to drive back after they turned the truck into the rental place. Anyway, we made fairly good time and were in Austin by 11 or so. We immediately went to the apartment complex and picked up my keys. Here's where things went astray from our original schedule. The complex didn't have the new carpet in my apartment so we couldn't move in right away. We chose to have them put the carpet in that afternoon. Although the leasing person told us that the carpet wouldn't be in until at least 3-7 or so, the carpet installation people got right on it and had it in by 2. The entire process only took them an hour. I don't know if that was the norm, but we were glad all the same. Meanwhile, to make up for the error, the leasing agent bought us lunch from Blempie's, and that was good. After that, my mother and I did some beginning orientation to the complex, showing me the way from the office to my new apartment. My mother did a great job over all in her orientation. It's safe to say that I think she now has a new respect for people that orient blind folk for a living. Over the course of the weekend, she oriented me from the office to my apartment, and back; to the laundry room, the dumpster, the mailboxes, and even to the nearby bus stop and transit station.
After we went back and forth from the office and apartment a few times, we started unloading things and checking out where to put things in my new place. The largest item which took the most man/woman power and was the most challenging was the 7-foot couch from my grandmother. I now have a new respect for movers, who carry this kind of stuff all the time. Moving things in took a few hours, and before I knew it, it was nearing 6:30. My mom ran out to get dinner, in the form of a frozen pizza, and some other things while my Dad and I stayed behind unpacking and getting things put together. I don't remember what we did after dinner, but think it was more of the same.
Saturday. This was a busy day of shopping, grocery and otherwise, orienting, putting things together, learning about the community shuttle that runs by my complex, and many other things. When I look back on it, its like a blur of activity to me. One of the things that stands out though was dinner.
My Dad had told me that he wanted to take me out to dinner and treat me, as a celebration of my new apartment and over all new beginning. He said that we'd go wherever I wanted, whether it was really cheap or really nice. This was quite an offer, and it took me while to decide where I wanted to go. This decision process was made all the more complicated since I had no idea of the restaurants in Austin. I ultimately settled on barbecue, and we found ourselves at one of those neighborhood places that seem to have everything. I ended up with a sausage poorboy sandwich, fries and Cold Slaw. All of which were very good. I couldn't finish the Slaw, actually I got full long before I ever got to it, so I took it, along with my Mom's leftovers, which she graciously offered to me, in a box and had them for lunch on Sunday. One other highlight. Before we went to dinner, we had a champane toast to my new success and beginning. They suggested that I should keep the small bottle as a momento, so it now sits near the Cable box on the shelves in my living room. All in all, it was a busy but satisfying day.
Sunday. In the morning, my Mom and I wrapped up our orienting, but I was clearly beginning to hit the wall of exhaustion. Two days of unpacking and memorizing and internalizing lots of information, and trying to keep all of it straight in your mind, wares you out. This was how I felt. By the end of it, in the remaining half hour before my parents left, I had a look on my face like, "Don't bother me; don't ask me to make any decisions; I've had it." We went over a few more things, through one of those Move-In checklists from the complex, and said our goodbyes, or as I call them, the "See you laters."
I freely told my Mom that after they left I was going to crash. This wasn't exactly what I did immediately, but I did move into relaxed mode. I dozed on my bed for awhile, got up and had the leftovers from the previous night for lunch, and generally took it way easy that afternoon. Lunch was a time of realization for me, since it was the first lunch I've had in my new apartment, at the new dining room table. So, there I sat, eating the remaining brisket, Slaw, and hash browns, wearing a Walkman and listening to "A Prairie Home Companion." It was mighty good, and I'm not just talking about the food.
During all of this time, throughout the weekend, Tony (my former yellow Lab guide dog), had been walking around the apartment, trying out various places in the rooms as laying down places. He was even spotted in the closet, with only his head sticking out. I think he was getting acquainted with the layout as well. Even now, he goes from laying by the couch, near the coffee table in the living room, on his mat in the bedroom, and probably other places. I think he liked laying in the walk-in closet, with all those clothes around him.
Sunday afternoon and evening I listened to the NFL conference championships and did more relaxing. That night, I talked with my Mom and Finley on the telephone. The talk I had with Finley was fun and was a great comfort.
At one point, we were talking about Austin--the city and his friend named Austin. This was a hard concept for him. Here's a small clip of this talk:
Finley: "Where's Austin?"
Me: "Austin is when you get in the car and ride for 3 hours. That's a long time, but its where I am."
Finley: "Are you in Austin's house?"
Me: "No, I'm in my own house in Austin."
We went back and forth like this for awhile, until he asked me, "Where are Austin and Barbara?" I then understood and said I didn't know where they were. After asking me the same thing again, and repeating my answer, he gave the phone back to my Mom.
Monday. Not much to write about this day. It was a long and boring day. Remember, I didn't get Cable TV and Internet until yesterday, so Monday I figure I was still decompressing from the weekend.
It's been cool to walk around my apartment thinking that its mine. At various times, I'll walk from room to room and marvel and what I now have, mainly for the fact that its way more than I had before. I can now put things straight up in my regular fridge, fill a shelf in the door with sodas, and have lots more freezer space to store things. I experienced this feeling again of ownership this morning when in the bathroom area. My sink, vannity and cabinets under the sink are outside of the closed off bathroom area, which is nice. I was standing in front of the sink, running my hands over the vannity, admiring its width and inner storage space. It's good to have a place to call your own.
That's about it. I'm sure I've left out things, but that's enough for now.
Custoemr Service Experiences
Greetings. In the past day, I've had some interesting customer service experiences. They started with the technician from Time Warner that came to my place yesterday morning to install the digital Cable and Internet service.
I suppose that I should have picked up on his reluctance to put the Cable in as a sign of things to come, but I didn't. He didn't want to put the Cable in because, for whatever reason, he would have to string the cable across the floor and didn't want to be held liable if I tripped. I understand this, but finally I told him, "Look man, you're giving me access to several hundred TV and digital channels. If I trip, its my fault. I'm not going to blame you." He then complied.
I think that there was something missing upstairs though with him, since after putting the cable together and getting the system up and running, he toyed with the remotes. I should say that I have an older TV, about 8 years old, so I have a remote for the TV and one for the Cable service. Anyway, this guy finally says that the system won't work since he can't change the volume with Time Warner's remote. I then explained to him that that was normal; that I had the same situation with Comcast when I was with them.
He then starts to put his stuff away and tells me what I owe him, but I quickly remind him that my Internet service isn't setup yet, and his response: "Oh yeah." So we go into my bedroom where my computer is setup. I told him several times that I use adaptive software on my computer that reads the screen to me, and that was what he heard talking from, if my computer were to talk. So he hooks up the Internet Cable modem (of which I have no idea where he put), and attempts to install the software and configure the connection. I'll skip some of this stuff for the sake of not boring the reader.
The last bit of frustrating contact with this tech, who obviously hasn't taken his Computer Programs 101 class, comes when we attempt to setup the email configuration. He tells me that I have to use the Road Runner site to check my email. I personally know quite a few blind people who are on Road Runner, and able to use email frequently, so I wasn't as concerned about this. I should also say that the Road Runner site has lots of unlabeled flash content on it, making it nearly impossible to use with JAWS. Anyway, this guy is telling me on which button to click, and I then attempt to explain what I want to do, of using the email through Outlook Express. Not an odd request. Apparently though, through further talk, this tech has never heard of this widely used email program, much less that its used for email. This is when I really labeled him a nerd in my mind. So we struggle with the Road Runner site for awhile and he even calls back to his supervisor, who instructs us to refresh the Road Runner page and that will make it work. At one point he tells me to open Outlook Express and type in a web address, to which I explained (hopelessly) that OE is an email program, not a web browser. I kid you not, his reply was something like, "oooooh." I finally turned to him and said, "See, this is why I want to use my email through Outlook Express; if I'm having this much trouble with the Road Runner site, then how am I going to use email?" And then, I asked him how he used email, and he said he uses web mail. That explains everything. Well, not everything; I'm still struggling with how this guy can be a daily technician, deal with people of lesser computer knowledge than me, and still not have even heard of Outlook Express, much less know what it does.
That was my first customer service experience. The other two are thankfully more positive. The second was when I called Road Runner with trouble setting up my settings in Outlook Express. This time, I got a very nice gentleman who was very patient and understanding; a model CS agent. Anyway, he walked me through various settings and had me send several test messages to myself. Finally, when reading an error message to him, I started laughing, and he said, "Uh-oh, whenever the customer laughs like that, I know that they have realized that they made the mistake. Is that right?" I answered that it was and he asked what the error was. I told him that I had misspelled the name of my own city, in my haste of writing the outgoing mail address. He said, "How did you spell it?" I answered, "A U N S T I N." To his credit, he laughed right along with me. He even said that he's had people ask him how to spell Houston.
The last experience I had was last night when I called Time Warner because my Cable wasn't working. I got a very nice woman, Sara, who was great about walking me through various steps. I told her right up front that I was blind, so couldn't help her with the visuals. She was super about telling me which buttons on the remote to press, such as, "... the one under the rectangular power button," and others. Finally, after nearly an hour, and some working on her computer, we got it back on and working. She also answered my questions about the Time Warner Cable system. I can't say enough about Sara and her abilities, especially since I was beginning to wonder if I would have to have another technician come out and fix my Cable, which probably wouldn't have been until Friday or Saturday, since those techs are never available the next day. Thankfully though, this didn't happen.
Its positive experiences, like with Sara and the Road Runner guy over the phone, that help me forget the bad ones, like the initial tech and his knowledge, or lack thereof. I still find myself coming back to the question of how he could not have heard of Outlook Express? Anyway, given that all of those happened in the first day of service, hopefully I'll be trouble free for awhile to come. Then again though, with my luck, I'll be calling someone this afternoon, :)
I suppose that I should have picked up on his reluctance to put the Cable in as a sign of things to come, but I didn't. He didn't want to put the Cable in because, for whatever reason, he would have to string the cable across the floor and didn't want to be held liable if I tripped. I understand this, but finally I told him, "Look man, you're giving me access to several hundred TV and digital channels. If I trip, its my fault. I'm not going to blame you." He then complied.
I think that there was something missing upstairs though with him, since after putting the cable together and getting the system up and running, he toyed with the remotes. I should say that I have an older TV, about 8 years old, so I have a remote for the TV and one for the Cable service. Anyway, this guy finally says that the system won't work since he can't change the volume with Time Warner's remote. I then explained to him that that was normal; that I had the same situation with Comcast when I was with them.
He then starts to put his stuff away and tells me what I owe him, but I quickly remind him that my Internet service isn't setup yet, and his response: "Oh yeah." So we go into my bedroom where my computer is setup. I told him several times that I use adaptive software on my computer that reads the screen to me, and that was what he heard talking from, if my computer were to talk. So he hooks up the Internet Cable modem (of which I have no idea where he put), and attempts to install the software and configure the connection. I'll skip some of this stuff for the sake of not boring the reader.
The last bit of frustrating contact with this tech, who obviously hasn't taken his Computer Programs 101 class, comes when we attempt to setup the email configuration. He tells me that I have to use the Road Runner site to check my email. I personally know quite a few blind people who are on Road Runner, and able to use email frequently, so I wasn't as concerned about this. I should also say that the Road Runner site has lots of unlabeled flash content on it, making it nearly impossible to use with JAWS. Anyway, this guy is telling me on which button to click, and I then attempt to explain what I want to do, of using the email through Outlook Express. Not an odd request. Apparently though, through further talk, this tech has never heard of this widely used email program, much less that its used for email. This is when I really labeled him a nerd in my mind. So we struggle with the Road Runner site for awhile and he even calls back to his supervisor, who instructs us to refresh the Road Runner page and that will make it work. At one point he tells me to open Outlook Express and type in a web address, to which I explained (hopelessly) that OE is an email program, not a web browser. I kid you not, his reply was something like, "oooooh." I finally turned to him and said, "See, this is why I want to use my email through Outlook Express; if I'm having this much trouble with the Road Runner site, then how am I going to use email?" And then, I asked him how he used email, and he said he uses web mail. That explains everything. Well, not everything; I'm still struggling with how this guy can be a daily technician, deal with people of lesser computer knowledge than me, and still not have even heard of Outlook Express, much less know what it does.
That was my first customer service experience. The other two are thankfully more positive. The second was when I called Road Runner with trouble setting up my settings in Outlook Express. This time, I got a very nice gentleman who was very patient and understanding; a model CS agent. Anyway, he walked me through various settings and had me send several test messages to myself. Finally, when reading an error message to him, I started laughing, and he said, "Uh-oh, whenever the customer laughs like that, I know that they have realized that they made the mistake. Is that right?" I answered that it was and he asked what the error was. I told him that I had misspelled the name of my own city, in my haste of writing the outgoing mail address. He said, "How did you spell it?" I answered, "A U N S T I N." To his credit, he laughed right along with me. He even said that he's had people ask him how to spell Houston.
The last experience I had was last night when I called Time Warner because my Cable wasn't working. I got a very nice woman, Sara, who was great about walking me through various steps. I told her right up front that I was blind, so couldn't help her with the visuals. She was super about telling me which buttons on the remote to press, such as, "... the one under the rectangular power button," and others. Finally, after nearly an hour, and some working on her computer, we got it back on and working. She also answered my questions about the Time Warner Cable system. I can't say enough about Sara and her abilities, especially since I was beginning to wonder if I would have to have another technician come out and fix my Cable, which probably wouldn't have been until Friday or Saturday, since those techs are never available the next day. Thankfully though, this didn't happen.
Its positive experiences, like with Sara and the Road Runner guy over the phone, that help me forget the bad ones, like the initial tech and his knowledge, or lack thereof. I still find myself coming back to the question of how he could not have heard of Outlook Express? Anyway, given that all of those happened in the first day of service, hopefully I'll be trouble free for awhile to come. Then again though, with my luck, I'll be calling someone this afternoon, :)
Tuesday, January 24
Thoughts on Austin Radio
Greetings. My moving summary is coming, but first, I wanted to give some thoughts on Austin radio.
First off, those who know me well, or even remotely, know that I'm a sports fan. In Dallas, there was a super sports station called Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. Though the Ticket is not for everyone, they do a great job of blending "guy talk" with sports. A popular phrase seems to fit well here: "They are often immitated but never duplicated." I've listened to other sports stations around the country, and they don't seem to hit that perfect blend of sports and nonsports stuff like the Ticket does. Anyway, after only a day or two in Austin, I can already tell that it does not have a "Ticket like" station. Of the sports stations I've found, there are two ESPN Radio related ones (no clue why they have two), and the big local station, The Zone, which broadcasts Fox when local programming is not on. Granted, I haven't listened much to them, but I've already been able to tell that they dont' measure up to The Ticket. So far, the only broadcaster that I've heard that I can listen to for any length of time is Craig Way, who does a show from 2-4 on weekdays. I remember Craig from when he was at KRLD, News radio 1080 in Dallas. Back in the day, Craig did a high school football game of the week, and a post game wrap up show on the area games. There were others involved too, but you could tell that Craig was the driving force behind it all. Now, Craig is the voice of University of Texas football and basketball games.
Anyway, I love his voice. He's one of those people that has a voice for radio, and you can tell he's got his own style. I'm sure the other people on The Zone as well as those on the ESPN stations are good as well, but Craig's the only one that's jumped out at me so far.
Another station that I'm finding myself listening more often than not is the local public radio affiliate, KUT 90.5. I love listneing to their national public radio programs, especially All Things Considered. Regardless of their political affiliations, NPR does some of the best reporting that I've heard. There are some places that a radio reporter can go with a tape or digital recorder that you can't get to with a camera. I like some of their other programming too, such as "A Prairie Home Companion," heard on weekends. I'm not going to attempt to spell the host's name, but he has a deep voice and you'd know him if you heard it.
The last station that I'm really liking is 590am, KLBJ. I have a link to them on the Media Page of my website. Anyway, I listened this morning to their morning drive program and it's really good. They do a great job of blending topics of the day with news, traffic reports, sports, and regular announcements of the current time. The time announcements are what I'm looking for in a morning show, since I often am too busy getting ready for work to bother with checking a clock or watch nearby. I think there's something to the weekday morning show as well, since you want to hear people that really like each other, instead of having some sort of forced chemistry on air. The people on the KLBJ morning show seem to be these kind of people, or the ones who really get along and work well with one another.
That's about all for now. All these points seem to work well together in their posts, instead of being mixed into the over all summary. And, at least for now, the KLBJ morning show gets my vote for the station that I'll have on my clock radio in the morning.
First off, those who know me well, or even remotely, know that I'm a sports fan. In Dallas, there was a super sports station called Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. Though the Ticket is not for everyone, they do a great job of blending "guy talk" with sports. A popular phrase seems to fit well here: "They are often immitated but never duplicated." I've listened to other sports stations around the country, and they don't seem to hit that perfect blend of sports and nonsports stuff like the Ticket does. Anyway, after only a day or two in Austin, I can already tell that it does not have a "Ticket like" station. Of the sports stations I've found, there are two ESPN Radio related ones (no clue why they have two), and the big local station, The Zone, which broadcasts Fox when local programming is not on. Granted, I haven't listened much to them, but I've already been able to tell that they dont' measure up to The Ticket. So far, the only broadcaster that I've heard that I can listen to for any length of time is Craig Way, who does a show from 2-4 on weekdays. I remember Craig from when he was at KRLD, News radio 1080 in Dallas. Back in the day, Craig did a high school football game of the week, and a post game wrap up show on the area games. There were others involved too, but you could tell that Craig was the driving force behind it all. Now, Craig is the voice of University of Texas football and basketball games.
Anyway, I love his voice. He's one of those people that has a voice for radio, and you can tell he's got his own style. I'm sure the other people on The Zone as well as those on the ESPN stations are good as well, but Craig's the only one that's jumped out at me so far.
Another station that I'm finding myself listening more often than not is the local public radio affiliate, KUT 90.5. I love listneing to their national public radio programs, especially All Things Considered. Regardless of their political affiliations, NPR does some of the best reporting that I've heard. There are some places that a radio reporter can go with a tape or digital recorder that you can't get to with a camera. I like some of their other programming too, such as "A Prairie Home Companion," heard on weekends. I'm not going to attempt to spell the host's name, but he has a deep voice and you'd know him if you heard it.
The last station that I'm really liking is 590am, KLBJ. I have a link to them on the Media Page of my website. Anyway, I listened this morning to their morning drive program and it's really good. They do a great job of blending topics of the day with news, traffic reports, sports, and regular announcements of the current time. The time announcements are what I'm looking for in a morning show, since I often am too busy getting ready for work to bother with checking a clock or watch nearby. I think there's something to the weekday morning show as well, since you want to hear people that really like each other, instead of having some sort of forced chemistry on air. The people on the KLBJ morning show seem to be these kind of people, or the ones who really get along and work well with one another.
That's about all for now. All these points seem to work well together in their posts, instead of being mixed into the over all summary. And, at least for now, the KLBJ morning show gets my vote for the station that I'll have on my clock radio in the morning.
First Austin Post
Greetings. This is a brief post to let everyone know that I'm in Austin and am getting my cyber feet back under me. I had someone from Time warner over earlier, and have been getting back in the cyber stream of activity. I wanted to put this quick note up to let everyone know that I made it to Austin just fine. I'll write later about the last 5 or 6 days, which will cover the move, settling in, and the time after my parents left. Until then, ...
Tuesday, January 17
Phone Access is Great!
Greetings. Now that I've come up for air for awhile since I've been playing with my new phone, I wanted to post a brief message here. I was successfully able to install the Talks software with the help of a kind gentleman from Missouri. It took us a couple of tries, but that was mainly my fault for accidentally pushing buttons and not realizing it. Anyway, I got Talks on the phone, and while I thought of it, I installed the light and color identifyer, and an expanded file explorer. Ever since that point several hours ago, I've been toying with the phone, adding contacts, listening to a tutorial I got for Talks some time ago, and other things. It's great to be able to put contacts, some with more than one number, in my phone independently. Currently, I've got 8 people in my contacts. I can understand why the blind people I know that have Talks or software like it, say that they will never go back to just a "regular" phone, where you can only dial a number. I can already see that I'm going to love this new phone and Talks. What's going to be really good is picking names and then numbers, and not having to remember all these various numbers for people. Kind of like when I went from typing in email addresses, to using the auto complete feature in Outlook Express. Similar thing here.
Well, I'm off to enter more contacts and generally have a good time with the new phone and software I have, not to mention the greater access.
Well, I'm off to enter more contacts and generally have a good time with the new phone and software I have, not to mention the greater access.
The Final Blog ...
Greetings. This will be my final blog, or at least from Dallas. My next blog will likely be in Austin.
Last night I had my gaterhing, or farewell party, at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. That was fun. Of the 40 people I invited, about 30 showed up, some only for a few minutes but most for dinner. I think everyone had a great time talking with those they did not know. I felt better about being the host/guest of honor at this party, verses the graduation party that I had about 2 and 1/2 years ago. My parents and I got there about a half hour early, so I could at least start my dinner. It was a lovely dinner too, which for me was three crispy beef tacos, with the standard rice and beans. The chips that dotted the tables had a certain flair to them as well, and they were hard to resist.
It was good to talk with people, those that came up to me, and those that I went around and spoke to after I finished eating. Over all, it was very encouraging, satisfying, and uplifting to see that many people there, but also to know that I have a special relationship with each person there. Toward the end, it was somewhat sad. However, now that the party is over with, I feel like I can move to Austin without any trouble. In other words, now that I've said "See you later," I refuse to say (goodbye), I can move on. And, that's how I should feel I think. I'm still sad about leaving Dallas, no doubt, but there are better things ahead.
On a slightly different note, I received my new Nokia 6682 phone yesterday. I am in the process of getting things up and running on that phone, so that I can install some screen reading software on it, called Talks, which will speak all parts of the phone to me, and I can interact more with the phone. The previous phone I had, I could only dial a number. In recent years, I've begun to want to do more. Picture not being able to see simple things on the phone display, like who called or if there were any missed calls. This Talks software will give me that ability. Plus, I figure that if I'm going to a new job where I might be called after work, by colleagues or friends from Dallas, I want to know who's calling me. Anyway, I will also be able to send and receive text messages, and could do email or web browsing on it, though I'm not interested in the email and browsing at the moment. This particular phone is one of those newer camera phones, and that gives more flexibility, since there is a freeware application I can put on the phone which acts as a color identifyer and light probe. I find the color identifyer application a particularly interesting use of the camera phone. For those interested, you can find a link to the light and color identifyer application on the Computers page of my website.
So long for now and I'll write again when I'm up and running in Austin.
Last night I had my gaterhing, or farewell party, at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. That was fun. Of the 40 people I invited, about 30 showed up, some only for a few minutes but most for dinner. I think everyone had a great time talking with those they did not know. I felt better about being the host/guest of honor at this party, verses the graduation party that I had about 2 and 1/2 years ago. My parents and I got there about a half hour early, so I could at least start my dinner. It was a lovely dinner too, which for me was three crispy beef tacos, with the standard rice and beans. The chips that dotted the tables had a certain flair to them as well, and they were hard to resist.
It was good to talk with people, those that came up to me, and those that I went around and spoke to after I finished eating. Over all, it was very encouraging, satisfying, and uplifting to see that many people there, but also to know that I have a special relationship with each person there. Toward the end, it was somewhat sad. However, now that the party is over with, I feel like I can move to Austin without any trouble. In other words, now that I've said "See you later," I refuse to say (goodbye), I can move on. And, that's how I should feel I think. I'm still sad about leaving Dallas, no doubt, but there are better things ahead.
On a slightly different note, I received my new Nokia 6682 phone yesterday. I am in the process of getting things up and running on that phone, so that I can install some screen reading software on it, called Talks, which will speak all parts of the phone to me, and I can interact more with the phone. The previous phone I had, I could only dial a number. In recent years, I've begun to want to do more. Picture not being able to see simple things on the phone display, like who called or if there were any missed calls. This Talks software will give me that ability. Plus, I figure that if I'm going to a new job where I might be called after work, by colleagues or friends from Dallas, I want to know who's calling me. Anyway, I will also be able to send and receive text messages, and could do email or web browsing on it, though I'm not interested in the email and browsing at the moment. This particular phone is one of those newer camera phones, and that gives more flexibility, since there is a freeware application I can put on the phone which acts as a color identifyer and light probe. I find the color identifyer application a particularly interesting use of the camera phone. For those interested, you can find a link to the light and color identifyer application on the Computers page of my website.
So long for now and I'll write again when I'm up and running in Austin.
Sunday, January 15
Snapshots of Church
Greetings. To me, snapshots are brief memories of things I've been through, whether they be one scene or doing something with others or even a snapshot of my environment. Well, below, I've listed a few snapshots of church, specifically Scofield Memorial Church, where I've been going for the last year and a half and some. These snapshots have been popping up in my mind for most of the day. Today was my last Sunday to go to Scofield before I move to Austin. I'll probably leave some things out, but then again, I'm doing this so that I and others can remember. Here goes:
Meeting Scott and his family, and riding to and from church with them. I have several snapshots with Scott, which include in no particular order: going grocery shopping with him and his Dad, and that one time I went with shopping with his 11 year old daughter. That was fun since his daughter really enjoyed shopping (not surprising I suppose but I was surprised, no kid likes grocery shopping, or so I thought), and she was really helpful. Riding with Scott to drop one of his kids off at baseball practice during the spring and summer, and then going through drive throughs to get lunch, or even finishing the kids' lunch, grin.
One thing that impressed me about Scott right off was his willingness to serve and help. Scott has 4 kids, and had I known that, he probably wouldn't have been the person I would have asked to drive me to and from church. However, when Scott was asked, he agreed. However, I suppose that if Scott didn't respond, then I wouldn't have gotten those snapshots.
I also remember having brief, but meaningful, talks with Scott about various things. And, going out to lunch with Scott, his family, and his parents, a few times. Those were fun.
Other snapshots include, from the singles class: going to the Sunday night Bible studies with the singles; hanging out at the house the studies were at back in May, at the last study of the spring; and generally getting to know the people in that class. One big snapshot that must be mentioned is getting songs from the worship leader on a regular basis, and then being able to put those songs on my note taker and read them during the singing period, just like everyone else. Along with this, I regularly got the songs that were sung in the main service from Daniel, and was able to sing and follow along in that service. This has been a big snapshot for me, since before I got these songs, there would only be one or two songs I'd recognize that they would sing. But when I got the words, I could really act like I knew the songs and sing with everyone else, or at least read along.
Also from the singles group: the fellowship that we always had before we started class; this past Christmas party and going carolling; praying with Brent and Bill after class on the Sunday following my lay off, about my future; going swing dancing in September with Sharon and others; teasing Sharon about her butter dish; teasing Helen about her violin; and generally getting to know the various people in that class.
In the main service: listening to the people sing in that service, such as Daniel; giving a consistent offering to the Lord; listening to Pastor Matthew's vivid story illustrations, where I could feel like the characters he would describe; and others.
Another big thing that constantly and consistently impressed me about Scofield and its people was that I was accepted without question by everyone I met. This shouldn't be out of the ordinary, since you'd think that this would be the norm, but I'm sad to say that this hasn't always been the case in some churches or with some people. With the people from Scofield though, I didn't have to prove myself or try to minimize my blindness; everyone accepted me as I was, and I like that.
Anyway, I'm sure I left some snapshots out, but these are some of the ones that have been in my mind today, and even over the past few days. Scott asked me today if Austin will be my new home, and I really didn't know what to tell him. Ultimately I answered along the lines of, "Well, I hope so, but up until now, each time I wanted to call an area my home, I've moved on or my environment has changed. So I don't know." Truthfully, around September last year, I really felt like Scofield was my home, and then a couple of months later I was laid off, and here we are. Time will tell I suppose.
My best wishes to everyone from Scofield. As I told another friend a few days ago, "It's been a good ride." And, I'll definitely stay in contact with you and visit when I'm in town; count on it. When I visit, I might even call Scott for old times sake, and ask him if he can pick me up for church, :)
Meeting Scott and his family, and riding to and from church with them. I have several snapshots with Scott, which include in no particular order: going grocery shopping with him and his Dad, and that one time I went with shopping with his 11 year old daughter. That was fun since his daughter really enjoyed shopping (not surprising I suppose but I was surprised, no kid likes grocery shopping, or so I thought), and she was really helpful. Riding with Scott to drop one of his kids off at baseball practice during the spring and summer, and then going through drive throughs to get lunch, or even finishing the kids' lunch, grin.
One thing that impressed me about Scott right off was his willingness to serve and help. Scott has 4 kids, and had I known that, he probably wouldn't have been the person I would have asked to drive me to and from church. However, when Scott was asked, he agreed. However, I suppose that if Scott didn't respond, then I wouldn't have gotten those snapshots.
I also remember having brief, but meaningful, talks with Scott about various things. And, going out to lunch with Scott, his family, and his parents, a few times. Those were fun.
Other snapshots include, from the singles class: going to the Sunday night Bible studies with the singles; hanging out at the house the studies were at back in May, at the last study of the spring; and generally getting to know the people in that class. One big snapshot that must be mentioned is getting songs from the worship leader on a regular basis, and then being able to put those songs on my note taker and read them during the singing period, just like everyone else. Along with this, I regularly got the songs that were sung in the main service from Daniel, and was able to sing and follow along in that service. This has been a big snapshot for me, since before I got these songs, there would only be one or two songs I'd recognize that they would sing. But when I got the words, I could really act like I knew the songs and sing with everyone else, or at least read along.
Also from the singles group: the fellowship that we always had before we started class; this past Christmas party and going carolling; praying with Brent and Bill after class on the Sunday following my lay off, about my future; going swing dancing in September with Sharon and others; teasing Sharon about her butter dish; teasing Helen about her violin; and generally getting to know the various people in that class.
In the main service: listening to the people sing in that service, such as Daniel; giving a consistent offering to the Lord; listening to Pastor Matthew's vivid story illustrations, where I could feel like the characters he would describe; and others.
Another big thing that constantly and consistently impressed me about Scofield and its people was that I was accepted without question by everyone I met. This shouldn't be out of the ordinary, since you'd think that this would be the norm, but I'm sad to say that this hasn't always been the case in some churches or with some people. With the people from Scofield though, I didn't have to prove myself or try to minimize my blindness; everyone accepted me as I was, and I like that.
Anyway, I'm sure I left some snapshots out, but these are some of the ones that have been in my mind today, and even over the past few days. Scott asked me today if Austin will be my new home, and I really didn't know what to tell him. Ultimately I answered along the lines of, "Well, I hope so, but up until now, each time I wanted to call an area my home, I've moved on or my environment has changed. So I don't know." Truthfully, around September last year, I really felt like Scofield was my home, and then a couple of months later I was laid off, and here we are. Time will tell I suppose.
My best wishes to everyone from Scofield. As I told another friend a few days ago, "It's been a good ride." And, I'll definitely stay in contact with you and visit when I'm in town; count on it. When I visit, I might even call Scott for old times sake, and ask him if he can pick me up for church, :)
Saturday, January 14
American Printing House Featured on the Travel Channel
Greetings. I received the following announcement from an email list I'm on. Refer to local listings to find out what time the program is on in your area. Enjoy, and as always, pardon any formatting errors.
Made in America Showcases American Printing House for the Blind
Tuesday at 9:00 PM on the Travel Channel
(Louisville, KY - January 17th, 2006): John Ratzenberger's Made
in America came to Louisville in August of 2005 to profile local firm
American Printing House for the Blind. On Tuesday, January 17th, 2006,
we can finally watch the behind-the-scenes coverage that John spent the
day shooting. The program will follow the production of several
products the firm makes for the visually impaired, from books to
software equipment. John (Cheers, Pixar Films) will finish the program
by reading a Braille cowboy novel Braille aloud.
WHAT: Nationally televised program Made in America showcasing
American Printing House for the Blind and its President Tuck Tinsley,
III
WHEN: Tuesday, January 17th, 2006 at 9:00 PM
WHERE: The Travel channel - Please check your local listings
Airing Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on the Travel Channel, John Ratzenberger's
Made in America celebrates the people, places and products that are
uniquely American. John honors the men and women who work with their
hands and skillfully make the products that are the backbone of the
American economy. Each year the program visits roughly 40 manufacturing
facilities throughout the country. This week John will profile 2 other
companies including Tom's of Maine and Herman Miller Chairs. Please
visit www.travel.discovery.com for more information on Made in America's
schedule, companies profiled and host John Ratzenberger.
American Printing House for the Blind (APH) is the world's largest
nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent
living products and services for people who are visually impaired.
Founded in 1858 in Louisville, Kentucky, APH is the oldest organization
of its kind in the United States. The American Printing House for the
Blind promotes independence of blind and visually impaired persons by
providing specialized materials, products, and services needed for
education and life. Please visit
www.aph.org
for more information
Roberta L. Williams
Public Relations and Special Projects Manager
Works with: Media information, Tours
InSights Art competition, Events
Address: American Printing House for the Blind
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, KY 40206
Telephone: 800-223-1839, ext. 357
APH- A local landmark, a national resource, since 1858.
Made in America Showcases American Printing House for the Blind
Tuesday at 9:00 PM on the Travel Channel
(Louisville, KY - January 17th, 2006): John Ratzenberger's Made
in America came to Louisville in August of 2005 to profile local firm
American Printing House for the Blind. On Tuesday, January 17th, 2006,
we can finally watch the behind-the-scenes coverage that John spent the
day shooting. The program will follow the production of several
products the firm makes for the visually impaired, from books to
software equipment. John (Cheers, Pixar Films) will finish the program
by reading a Braille cowboy novel Braille aloud.
WHAT: Nationally televised program Made in America showcasing
American Printing House for the Blind and its President Tuck Tinsley,
III
WHEN: Tuesday, January 17th, 2006 at 9:00 PM
WHERE: The Travel channel - Please check your local listings
Airing Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on the Travel Channel, John Ratzenberger's
Made in America celebrates the people, places and products that are
uniquely American. John honors the men and women who work with their
hands and skillfully make the products that are the backbone of the
American economy. Each year the program visits roughly 40 manufacturing
facilities throughout the country. This week John will profile 2 other
companies including Tom's of Maine and Herman Miller Chairs. Please
visit www.travel.discovery.com for more information on Made in America's
schedule, companies profiled and host John Ratzenberger.
American Printing House for the Blind (APH) is the world's largest
nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent
living products and services for people who are visually impaired.
Founded in 1858 in Louisville, Kentucky, APH is the oldest organization
of its kind in the United States. The American Printing House for the
Blind promotes independence of blind and visually impaired persons by
providing specialized materials, products, and services needed for
education and life. Please visit
www.aph.org
for more information
Roberta L. Williams
Public Relations and Special Projects Manager
Works with: Media information, Tours
InSights Art competition, Events
Address: American Printing House for the Blind
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, KY 40206
Telephone: 800-223-1839, ext. 357
APH- A local landmark, a national resource, since 1858.
Friday, January 13
Good News About the USPS
Greetings. I wanted to report a positive visual/word verification incident. The USPS has their act together with regards to making their site accessible. I just changed my address from Dallas to Austin, and had a great experience. When I reached the screen where you enter the visual/word verification code, right above this form, there's a link which says something like, "If you use a screen reader, then click here to be redirected to an alternate page." When I did, the code was displayed on screen and I was informed that an email would be sent to the address that I had filled in on an earlier form, with the link to click on to complete the process. When I found the email and the link and clicked on it, a secure page opened up where I could write or paste in the verification code, then check the box authorizing the $1 transaction for the change of address, then hit the Continue button. I was able to complete the address change process completely on my own. This is the way it should be.
This is the first time I've come across this method of giving the code, but it worked for me and as of next Friday, my mail will be forwarded to Austin.
This is the first time I've come across this method of giving the code, but it worked for me and as of next Friday, my mail will be forwarded to Austin.
If You Care About Access, Then Take Action
Greetings. If you care about access, then take action. Darrell Shandrow has formulated a petition against Google for their inaccessible word/visual verification practices. You can view and sign the peitition at his blog, the Blind Access Journal, in the 1/12/06 entry.
If you've been reading this blog or others like it for any length of time, then you've undoubtedly seen references to Google's word/visual verification. Or, perhaps you've experienced it yourself on another site. If you care about access, then sign this peitition. If enough people sign it, then Google will have to respond.
If you've been reading this blog or others like it for any length of time, then you've undoubtedly seen references to Google's word/visual verification. Or, perhaps you've experienced it yourself on another site. If you care about access, then sign this peitition. If enough people sign it, then Google will have to respond.
Monday, January 9
Austin Moving Update
Greetings. It's been a busy day as I've been working on the move down to Austin. Depending who will help me move, I'll either move on January 20 or 21. Consequently, posts to this blog might be less frequent than usual, but that's understandable.
I've been calling many people on the phone, like doctors for recommendations, the leasing person I'm working with at the new apartments (I've talked with her several times today), my new boss, and others. Thankfully, much of this preparation can be done over the phone or by computer, which is good. However, it seems like the more I do, the more errands that appear on my To Do list. Oh well, I guess that's how it goes.
Depending on the time and what I'm up to, I bounce between being excited about the pending move and new job, to wondering how I will get everything done. I plan on having a local get together, or as I call it a gathering, for friends I've made in Dallas, sometime early next week, so they can say goodbye. Long sentence, grin. Anyway, amidst the planning for the move, I'm also attempting to plan that. Like I said, it's been busy.
One note worthy thing worth mentioning here is that I ordered and received a new clock from Independent Living Aids. This is their talking electric clock radio. I believe the product number is 835895. Anyway, like many adaptive products these days, for whatever reason, the product doesn't come with any instructions on cassette or disk, so the user is left to figuring it out on their own. Or, possibly getting a patient sighted person that can walk you through its operation. Well, I called the company this morning and was informed that they've placed instructions in Word files, for many of their products on their website, and that I could find such instructions for the clock radio there. I went to the site and then clicked on the Product Instructions link, and then it was only a matter of finding the product number and then saving the file to my system. After about 10 minutes of reading the manual, I had the time and alarm set. This is a great idea for these types of companies that sell these daily living products for the blind and vision impaired. And one that other companies should look into.
I still think that the method of finding about the web manuals could be improved upon, like a note in either large print or Braille that is included with the product in question, saying that the manuals can be found online. But a great initiative all the same. I've been wanting this particular clock radio for sometime, but haven't been able to justify it for an efficiency, since I already have a radio and what's the point of having two in the same room? Now that I'm moving to an apartment though, I can easily justify it. For those interested, the clock is only about $27 plus the $7 or so of shipping charge. I'll put the link to the product instructions page up on my site tonight or tomorrow, probably in the What's New section on the home page.
Talk soon.
I've been calling many people on the phone, like doctors for recommendations, the leasing person I'm working with at the new apartments (I've talked with her several times today), my new boss, and others. Thankfully, much of this preparation can be done over the phone or by computer, which is good. However, it seems like the more I do, the more errands that appear on my To Do list. Oh well, I guess that's how it goes.
Depending on the time and what I'm up to, I bounce between being excited about the pending move and new job, to wondering how I will get everything done. I plan on having a local get together, or as I call it a gathering, for friends I've made in Dallas, sometime early next week, so they can say goodbye. Long sentence, grin. Anyway, amidst the planning for the move, I'm also attempting to plan that. Like I said, it's been busy.
One note worthy thing worth mentioning here is that I ordered and received a new clock from Independent Living Aids. This is their talking electric clock radio. I believe the product number is 835895. Anyway, like many adaptive products these days, for whatever reason, the product doesn't come with any instructions on cassette or disk, so the user is left to figuring it out on their own. Or, possibly getting a patient sighted person that can walk you through its operation. Well, I called the company this morning and was informed that they've placed instructions in Word files, for many of their products on their website, and that I could find such instructions for the clock radio there. I went to the site and then clicked on the Product Instructions link, and then it was only a matter of finding the product number and then saving the file to my system. After about 10 minutes of reading the manual, I had the time and alarm set. This is a great idea for these types of companies that sell these daily living products for the blind and vision impaired. And one that other companies should look into.
I still think that the method of finding about the web manuals could be improved upon, like a note in either large print or Braille that is included with the product in question, saying that the manuals can be found online. But a great initiative all the same. I've been wanting this particular clock radio for sometime, but haven't been able to justify it for an efficiency, since I already have a radio and what's the point of having two in the same room? Now that I'm moving to an apartment though, I can easily justify it. For those interested, the clock is only about $27 plus the $7 or so of shipping charge. I'll put the link to the product instructions page up on my site tonight or tomorrow, probably in the What's New section on the home page.
Talk soon.
Saturday, January 7
Austin Apartment Summary
Greetings. As I did when I came back from my interview in November, I thought I'd put up a short summary of my apartment search over the past two days, and then put up a longer narrative later. So, here goes:
* My parents and I drove to Austin early Thursday morning and met with the first apartment leasing people at 11.
* We met with several more apartment leasing people on thursday and Friday.
* By Friday afternoon at 3:30, we sat down and wrote down the pros and cons of my two finalists.
* We were then able to decide on the right apartment for me.
* I will move in and get settled and acclimated on the weekend of January 20-22.
There were several interesting things we saw and some celebrating as well, but as I say, all that will come later today or tomorrow when I write the longer narrative. Until then.
* My parents and I drove to Austin early Thursday morning and met with the first apartment leasing people at 11.
* We met with several more apartment leasing people on thursday and Friday.
* By Friday afternoon at 3:30, we sat down and wrote down the pros and cons of my two finalists.
* We were then able to decide on the right apartment for me.
* I will move in and get settled and acclimated on the weekend of January 20-22.
There were several interesting things we saw and some celebrating as well, but as I say, all that will come later today or tomorrow when I write the longer narrative. Until then.
Sunday, January 1
The Boys' Are Done
Greetings. I'm writing this in the third quarter of the Dallas Cowboys game against the Rams. As the title says though, the Boys' are done, but then again, is anyone really all that surprised?
For one of the few times in the season, I'm having trouble staying interested and glued to this game. In order for Dallas to move on into the post season, Washington or Carolina had to lose their games today, and neither one of those happened. So, by game time, there were no playoff implications for either Dallas or St. Louis. It's hard to get excited about a game when you know it will be your last. However, the Cowboys have only themselves to blame for getting in this position. If they'd won some of their early games back in September or October, and taken care of business, then they'd probably be in a better position to move on. One game in particular that I can think of right off is their first game against Washington, where they gave up 2 touchdowns in the last few minutes of the game, and ended up losing by one point. That hurt.
I consider myself a realistic fan/person. So from my point of view, even if they had made into the playoffs, did anyone really expect them to go to the Superbowl? Some people locally talked about it, but let's be realistic, especially in light of the last half of the season. Even if they had made it to a wildcard game, I'm pretty sure that they would have faced off one of the really good NFC teams, and gotten blown out.
I don't want to be misunderstood; I'm not real upset that Dallas didn't make it into the playoffs. I'm more upset that the outcome was determined by other teams, one of which is at about the same level as Dallas (Washington), who actually won their game. Granted, I didn't watch the Washington vs. Phillie game, so I may not be able to comment effectively on it. The fact remains that they and Carolina won their games, and Dallas missed its last chance.
It doesn't really matter to me whetehr Dallas wins tonight or not. Truthfully, I heard on one of the radio pregame shows, the people talking about the implications of Dallas winning or losing, as it related to where they'd end up in the first round picks of the NFL Draft in April. That about sums up other people's interest in this game, grin.
In other NFL news, the clock is ticking for how long it will take various teams to fire their coaches, including the one down south in Houston. I heard one person say earlier that that firing should happen sometime before lunch tomorrow. I've also heard talk that houston will likely take Reggie Bush in the NFL Draft, since they will get the first pick due to their worst record in the league. That would be a good find for Houston, to get Bush, though I dare say that they probably need to do a lot more to that team to get them back in the hunt for a good season's record. In today's NFL though, even though they stunk this year, Houston will probably be in the playoffs next year, which I'm sure would make OGV happy, grin. In other firing news, it took the Vikings until just after their game ended to fire their coach. They didn't waste time, :)
But don't despair OGV and every other Houston or Dallas football fan, there's plenty of ball left to play with the remaining bowl games, the NFL playoffs and the Superbowl. Once again, good luck to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns in their bowl games.
For one of the few times in the season, I'm having trouble staying interested and glued to this game. In order for Dallas to move on into the post season, Washington or Carolina had to lose their games today, and neither one of those happened. So, by game time, there were no playoff implications for either Dallas or St. Louis. It's hard to get excited about a game when you know it will be your last. However, the Cowboys have only themselves to blame for getting in this position. If they'd won some of their early games back in September or October, and taken care of business, then they'd probably be in a better position to move on. One game in particular that I can think of right off is their first game against Washington, where they gave up 2 touchdowns in the last few minutes of the game, and ended up losing by one point. That hurt.
I consider myself a realistic fan/person. So from my point of view, even if they had made into the playoffs, did anyone really expect them to go to the Superbowl? Some people locally talked about it, but let's be realistic, especially in light of the last half of the season. Even if they had made it to a wildcard game, I'm pretty sure that they would have faced off one of the really good NFC teams, and gotten blown out.
I don't want to be misunderstood; I'm not real upset that Dallas didn't make it into the playoffs. I'm more upset that the outcome was determined by other teams, one of which is at about the same level as Dallas (Washington), who actually won their game. Granted, I didn't watch the Washington vs. Phillie game, so I may not be able to comment effectively on it. The fact remains that they and Carolina won their games, and Dallas missed its last chance.
It doesn't really matter to me whetehr Dallas wins tonight or not. Truthfully, I heard on one of the radio pregame shows, the people talking about the implications of Dallas winning or losing, as it related to where they'd end up in the first round picks of the NFL Draft in April. That about sums up other people's interest in this game, grin.
In other NFL news, the clock is ticking for how long it will take various teams to fire their coaches, including the one down south in Houston. I heard one person say earlier that that firing should happen sometime before lunch tomorrow. I've also heard talk that houston will likely take Reggie Bush in the NFL Draft, since they will get the first pick due to their worst record in the league. That would be a good find for Houston, to get Bush, though I dare say that they probably need to do a lot more to that team to get them back in the hunt for a good season's record. In today's NFL though, even though they stunk this year, Houston will probably be in the playoffs next year, which I'm sure would make OGV happy, grin. In other firing news, it took the Vikings until just after their game ended to fire their coach. They didn't waste time, :)
But don't despair OGV and every other Houston or Dallas football fan, there's plenty of ball left to play with the remaining bowl games, the NFL playoffs and the Superbowl. Once again, good luck to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns in their bowl games.
Resolutions
Greetings. I usually think that New Year's resolutions are kind of subjective, or for show, since you always hear of the regular ones like dieting, stop smoking, exercising, etc. Unless the resolution is not one of these, then it stands out. Such as the one I make every year: to increase my independence in some way during the year. Let me first put forth a definition of what I think independence is, since it can be over used in certain circumstances. To me, it means being able to do things on your own, but also knowing when to ask for help if needed. I'm not so over confident that I think I can do everything on my own, but I do try to do as much on my own as possible. Mainly because there may not always be someone around to help. I do recognize that I will need help at one time or another, and I have allowed for that in my definition.
I purposely make the definition very broad, so that many different things could fit in this category, such as walking down to the corner bank and opening up an account, going to a travel agent's office and getting airlines tickets for an upcoming trip, moving in to a new living place, such as an efficiency, or even cooking a meal for 40. Ok, so this last one might seem a little far fetched, however, it along with all the previous things are things that I have done in prior years that I think fit my annual resolution.
As for things from last year that fit my resolution, I think that my interview at Starbucks with the sales representative from VisuAide, and my interview in Austin a few months ago both fit this resolution quite nicely. Especially the Austin interview, since I literally traveled to the airports and to and from the interview location on my own.
This year it might be a little interesting to achieve this resolution, but I'm sure I will in some way. I probably can't count my move to Austin in a few weeks, but I'm sure that there will be other things that I can count.
So, cheers to a new year and may you meet all your New Year's resolutions.
I purposely make the definition very broad, so that many different things could fit in this category, such as walking down to the corner bank and opening up an account, going to a travel agent's office and getting airlines tickets for an upcoming trip, moving in to a new living place, such as an efficiency, or even cooking a meal for 40. Ok, so this last one might seem a little far fetched, however, it along with all the previous things are things that I have done in prior years that I think fit my annual resolution.
As for things from last year that fit my resolution, I think that my interview at Starbucks with the sales representative from VisuAide, and my interview in Austin a few months ago both fit this resolution quite nicely. Especially the Austin interview, since I literally traveled to the airports and to and from the interview location on my own.
This year it might be a little interesting to achieve this resolution, but I'm sure I will in some way. I probably can't count my move to Austin in a few weeks, but I'm sure that there will be other things that I can count.
So, cheers to a new year and may you meet all your New Year's resolutions.
Saturday, December 31
Interesting Story from ABC News
Greetings. A friend sent me this story from ABC News. It aired on their 20/20 program last night, as well as once before. The story is called, Myths, Lies and Straight Talk, and discusses a list of the 10 most popular myths that have been circling around for years. For whatever reason, the story doesn't list number one, but the other nine are quite interesting. Enjoy.
Pet Care Recommendation
Greetings. I wanted to offer a recommendation for a site to order pet care products from. You can get products and medications for your dog, cat, or horse, and possibly other pets too. The site is Pet Meds. They also have a phone number which is very easy to remember: 1-800-pet-meds, or 1-800-738-6337. Their site is very accessible and easy to use. They have categories of products you can browse through or a search field to go directly to that item you're looking for.
The big thing that impressed me about this site was the ship time. I ordered some more of the Frontline Plus flea medicine for Tony a couple of days ago. Earlier this morning, there was a knock on my door, but no one was there. When I opened the door though and stepped out, I found a box on my front stoop. When I opened it, I found the flea medicine inside. So, from the time I ordered it on Thursday and it was sent on the same day, it only took a couple of days. The site uses USPS priority mail for their standard shipping method, though you can choose another method (for extra cost) if you like. And, for orders more than $40 I believe, they offer free shipping. I consider this a definite reason to return to the site.
Anyway, after this first experience, I highly recommend Pet Meds. For those wondering, the Frontline Plus from Pet Meds saved me a good $12 or $13 verses buying it at the vet. And I bought a 3-month supply. They also offer 6 and 12 month supplies too. In the check out process, they offer to send you a reminder to get more medicine. You can choose what month you want the reminder in. I consider this a great additional service, since we all know how busy we can get. Plus, they give you a free dog bone or cat nip in the box with your product. I'm not sure if this is done for all products or just the flea medicine, but cool all the same. The dog bone is about the size of the average milk bone or treat you'd see in a pet store, maybe a little longer, but not too much.
The big thing that impressed me about this site was the ship time. I ordered some more of the Frontline Plus flea medicine for Tony a couple of days ago. Earlier this morning, there was a knock on my door, but no one was there. When I opened the door though and stepped out, I found a box on my front stoop. When I opened it, I found the flea medicine inside. So, from the time I ordered it on Thursday and it was sent on the same day, it only took a couple of days. The site uses USPS priority mail for their standard shipping method, though you can choose another method (for extra cost) if you like. And, for orders more than $40 I believe, they offer free shipping. I consider this a definite reason to return to the site.
Anyway, after this first experience, I highly recommend Pet Meds. For those wondering, the Frontline Plus from Pet Meds saved me a good $12 or $13 verses buying it at the vet. And I bought a 3-month supply. They also offer 6 and 12 month supplies too. In the check out process, they offer to send you a reminder to get more medicine. You can choose what month you want the reminder in. I consider this a great additional service, since we all know how busy we can get. Plus, they give you a free dog bone or cat nip in the box with your product. I'm not sure if this is done for all products or just the flea medicine, but cool all the same. The dog bone is about the size of the average milk bone or treat you'd see in a pet store, maybe a little longer, but not too much.
Friday, December 30
Reflections on 2005
Greetings. Well, we've reached the end of another year and I suppose some reflections are in order.
This year has been an interesting one for me. First of all, I fully discovered blogging and have had this space on Blogger. Its been interesting to watch the various challenges and how they were hhandled by Blogger and Google in general. At this point, I don't see any real progress, in terms of accessibility, with Blogger or Google. Hopefully that will change at some point, in terms of the visual verification code. At least they could offer an audio code that could speak the code to those that can't read it on screen, something like what Live Journal does. Anyway, it's also been interesting to keep track and put links to some interesting technology articles on this blog, such as: cities getting Wi-Fi access, the continuing battle between the Cable and phone companies for customers, and countless other articles of personal interest to me, and I hope to you as well.
On the personal level, this year has presented me with quite a few memorable moments/events, such as, in no particular order:
* Going to Guatemala to visit my parents: not just seeing them but also learning about another culture and traveling internationally, and recording all those things on the blog/website.
* Practicing my interviewing skills with countless phone interviews and even a few in person ones. One in person interview that sticks out to me is one I did back in March, when I met a sales representative for VisuAide at a nearby Starbucks, and interviewed for an 8-10 week position promoting the Maestro handheld digital assistant. Though I didn't get that job, I think that it improved my interviewing skills. And, well, it was just fun to go to Starbucks after church and sit there with my PAC Mate and connecting to the Starbucks free wireless network, not to mention talking with this salesman.
* And, probably one of the biggest things to happen to me in my career thus far, being laid off from the Assistive Technology Center. Though its not a pleasant highlight, and though I had been looking for a job sometime before that and had planned on leaving the ATC eventually, it did lead me to the next highlight.
* Pursuing, interviewing for and getting the technology trainer job down in Austin. This is one highlight that is not fully completed yet since I have yet to move there. Though next year's year end reflections should be interesting, in light of the fact that I will have nearly a year's worth of full time work to reflect upon.
Some lesser highlights, but highlights all the same include, in no particular order: going to the farewell concert for Petra in November, starting active and regular attendance at my local church (Scofield Memorial), and taking care of my former guide dog, Tony.
There are likely things I'm missing here, but that's ok. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time and know me fairly well, then you probably already know what those things are, even if I can't remember right now.
So, here's to a good end to 2005 and a great 2006! Good luck to your favorite team in the annual bowl season, which for me means: "Hook 'em Horns!"
This year has been an interesting one for me. First of all, I fully discovered blogging and have had this space on Blogger. Its been interesting to watch the various challenges and how they were hhandled by Blogger and Google in general. At this point, I don't see any real progress, in terms of accessibility, with Blogger or Google. Hopefully that will change at some point, in terms of the visual verification code. At least they could offer an audio code that could speak the code to those that can't read it on screen, something like what Live Journal does. Anyway, it's also been interesting to keep track and put links to some interesting technology articles on this blog, such as: cities getting Wi-Fi access, the continuing battle between the Cable and phone companies for customers, and countless other articles of personal interest to me, and I hope to you as well.
On the personal level, this year has presented me with quite a few memorable moments/events, such as, in no particular order:
* Going to Guatemala to visit my parents: not just seeing them but also learning about another culture and traveling internationally, and recording all those things on the blog/website.
* Practicing my interviewing skills with countless phone interviews and even a few in person ones. One in person interview that sticks out to me is one I did back in March, when I met a sales representative for VisuAide at a nearby Starbucks, and interviewed for an 8-10 week position promoting the Maestro handheld digital assistant. Though I didn't get that job, I think that it improved my interviewing skills. And, well, it was just fun to go to Starbucks after church and sit there with my PAC Mate and connecting to the Starbucks free wireless network, not to mention talking with this salesman.
* And, probably one of the biggest things to happen to me in my career thus far, being laid off from the Assistive Technology Center. Though its not a pleasant highlight, and though I had been looking for a job sometime before that and had planned on leaving the ATC eventually, it did lead me to the next highlight.
* Pursuing, interviewing for and getting the technology trainer job down in Austin. This is one highlight that is not fully completed yet since I have yet to move there. Though next year's year end reflections should be interesting, in light of the fact that I will have nearly a year's worth of full time work to reflect upon.
Some lesser highlights, but highlights all the same include, in no particular order: going to the farewell concert for Petra in November, starting active and regular attendance at my local church (Scofield Memorial), and taking care of my former guide dog, Tony.
There are likely things I'm missing here, but that's ok. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time and know me fairly well, then you probably already know what those things are, even if I can't remember right now.
So, here's to a good end to 2005 and a great 2006! Good luck to your favorite team in the annual bowl season, which for me means: "Hook 'em Horns!"
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