A long overdue update: past 9 months at a glance
I rarely blog anymore, but today is the eleven-year anniversary of my
creating this blog, so I thought I'd jot a quick entry. I suspect that if
ever there comes a day where someone reads this thing from beginning to end,
the reaction after reading will be, "Wow, there are sure a whole lot of gaps
in the narrative." True enough, dear reader, true enough.
For the past year, I've been attending courses at the
University of Minnesota with the thought that I might get a bachelor f
something in computer science. I met with an advisor a couple weeks ago, and
we determined it would take between 3 and 4 years due to the university's
math requirements. A different university system has a degree in computer
science. I believe the degree has a much lower math requirement, and also
teaching more practical and less theoretical information. I have an
appointment this Tuesday to discuss what receiving an education at this
university would entail as well as discuss what sorts of career options I
would be in for after I graduate.
The American Council of the blind convention just ended. I
did not go this year. The convention was in Louisville, KY. I attended the
2008 convention in that city, and loved it. Money is tight though, and
since I'd been there before, I decided I didn't need to go there again. I
listened to most of the proceedings on acb radio, and tweeted much of it.
For me, the highlights of convention included:
Introducing a resolution asking Sirius Xm radio to make all of its radio
platforms accessible,
Hearing about the amazing state of audiodescription in the UK.
Watching the unfortunate handling of a resolution brought by an acb member
to support an nfb initiative
Being proud of the fact that acb was able to get signed into law
requirements for accessible medical labels.
I listened to the nfb convention stream. Hearing that stream made me proud
I am associated with acb. NFB has initiatives ranging from braille literacy
to ensuring all disabled people get paid at least minimum wage. According to
a convention presentation, they have 100 office staff and over 27 million
dollars. The fact acb can get three major pieces of legislation passed in
three years (accessible currency, 21st century video and telecommunications
act (I'm sure I have the name wrong on this one,) and the food and drug
safety act) with perhaps 10 office staff and well under 5 million in total
assets speaks volumes to me about what a hard working group of people can
accomplish.
I've had a few people over the years tell e I should get
into voice over work. Over the past few months, I have been able to
co-author and voice some material (not yet publicly available.) I have
begun to take a small amount of pride in my voice. I feel my braille
reading skills need a great deal of improving. I can read to myself fine,
but for reading out loud, I must be much faster, and accurate. There is a
lot of do over work that happens for the moment. I'm concerned because of
this I couldn't yet market myself professionally. Because I am going to
school, the rehab agency is going to help me obtain a Braille Edge. It has
support for memory cars, so I can use it as a standalone notetaker, but it
also has Bluetooth, and an act as a braille display. I feel I will be
getting the best of both worlds. I hope having this 40-cel display will
improve my accuracy.
Around September or October of last year, I bought myself an iPhone. I am
loving it. I have a currency identifier app, I just found a scanning app
(text detective,) which seems promising, and I love being able to listen to
podcasts with a hand held device. Son, NLS books will be readable with the
iPhone. A GPS solution for individuals who are blind should be out in the
next couple months. There are already some, but I find they don't work
nearly as well as did mobile geo. I also question the accuracy of the
built-in iPhone GPS. Time will tell. I am loving this device. Patti bought
me a dock for the unit, so I can carry around a very portable set of
speakers and listen to radio, podcasts, or books converted to mp3.
I suspect I will not be teaching this fall. The institution where I taught
is planning to hire a full time instructor, and that person is slated to
teach the course I was teaching. I loved teaching a single course, and would
love to do so again someday, but there is enough going on in my life that
I'm not going to be overly sad if I don't teach for a while.
Patti and I are doing well. We did spend a night camping at a park. We set
up a tent drank beer, roasted hot dogs, listened to the wind in the trees,
talked languidly. It was a very enjoyable evening, and I hope we do it
again in the coming year.
I will be turning 40 in a little under a month. This bothers me more than
it should, I expect. I feel a great deal of apathy and some days have
trouble finding the energy and excitement I know exists out there for me to
find. I have structure in my life, so I know apathy won't get the better of
me, but still.
I wish I could end on a positive note, but not sure what to say. I'm
getting together with friends tonight at a pizza place I really enjoy. That
will be cool, as I don't see these friends as often as I'd like.
Also, I had 2 people over on Friday for dinner. One came early and listened
to the acb convention coverage with me. The second came after work. We had
chicken, biscuits, and salad. It was an enjoyable day.
Here's hoping I write more later. It's amazing how hard it can be to make
even small changes in your life into habits. Two weeks ago, I said I'd
exercise more. The first week, I did great, the second, I didn't exercise
much, though I did walk outside when I had errands to run.
Here's hoping this week, I can exercise a bit more, and blog a bit more as
well. I need to start writing about my life again. I'm sure many small
pleasurable things have happened about which I haven't written, and about
which I will forget because of this fact.
creating this blog, so I thought I'd jot a quick entry. I suspect that if
ever there comes a day where someone reads this thing from beginning to end,
the reaction after reading will be, "Wow, there are sure a whole lot of gaps
in the narrative." True enough, dear reader, true enough.
For the past year, I've been attending courses at the
University of Minnesota with the thought that I might get a bachelor f
something in computer science. I met with an advisor a couple weeks ago, and
we determined it would take between 3 and 4 years due to the university's
math requirements. A different university system has a degree in computer
science. I believe the degree has a much lower math requirement, and also
teaching more practical and less theoretical information. I have an
appointment this Tuesday to discuss what receiving an education at this
university would entail as well as discuss what sorts of career options I
would be in for after I graduate.
The American Council of the blind convention just ended. I
did not go this year. The convention was in Louisville, KY. I attended the
2008 convention in that city, and loved it. Money is tight though, and
since I'd been there before, I decided I didn't need to go there again. I
listened to most of the proceedings on acb radio, and tweeted much of it.
For me, the highlights of convention included:
Introducing a resolution asking Sirius Xm radio to make all of its radio
platforms accessible,
Hearing about the amazing state of audiodescription in the UK.
Watching the unfortunate handling of a resolution brought by an acb member
to support an nfb initiative
Being proud of the fact that acb was able to get signed into law
requirements for accessible medical labels.
I listened to the nfb convention stream. Hearing that stream made me proud
I am associated with acb. NFB has initiatives ranging from braille literacy
to ensuring all disabled people get paid at least minimum wage. According to
a convention presentation, they have 100 office staff and over 27 million
dollars. The fact acb can get three major pieces of legislation passed in
three years (accessible currency, 21st century video and telecommunications
act (I'm sure I have the name wrong on this one,) and the food and drug
safety act) with perhaps 10 office staff and well under 5 million in total
assets speaks volumes to me about what a hard working group of people can
accomplish.
I've had a few people over the years tell e I should get
into voice over work. Over the past few months, I have been able to
co-author and voice some material (not yet publicly available.) I have
begun to take a small amount of pride in my voice. I feel my braille
reading skills need a great deal of improving. I can read to myself fine,
but for reading out loud, I must be much faster, and accurate. There is a
lot of do over work that happens for the moment. I'm concerned because of
this I couldn't yet market myself professionally. Because I am going to
school, the rehab agency is going to help me obtain a Braille Edge. It has
support for memory cars, so I can use it as a standalone notetaker, but it
also has Bluetooth, and an act as a braille display. I feel I will be
getting the best of both worlds. I hope having this 40-cel display will
improve my accuracy.
Around September or October of last year, I bought myself an iPhone. I am
loving it. I have a currency identifier app, I just found a scanning app
(text detective,) which seems promising, and I love being able to listen to
podcasts with a hand held device. Son, NLS books will be readable with the
iPhone. A GPS solution for individuals who are blind should be out in the
next couple months. There are already some, but I find they don't work
nearly as well as did mobile geo. I also question the accuracy of the
built-in iPhone GPS. Time will tell. I am loving this device. Patti bought
me a dock for the unit, so I can carry around a very portable set of
speakers and listen to radio, podcasts, or books converted to mp3.
I suspect I will not be teaching this fall. The institution where I taught
is planning to hire a full time instructor, and that person is slated to
teach the course I was teaching. I loved teaching a single course, and would
love to do so again someday, but there is enough going on in my life that
I'm not going to be overly sad if I don't teach for a while.
Patti and I are doing well. We did spend a night camping at a park. We set
up a tent drank beer, roasted hot dogs, listened to the wind in the trees,
talked languidly. It was a very enjoyable evening, and I hope we do it
again in the coming year.
I will be turning 40 in a little under a month. This bothers me more than
it should, I expect. I feel a great deal of apathy and some days have
trouble finding the energy and excitement I know exists out there for me to
find. I have structure in my life, so I know apathy won't get the better of
me, but still.
I wish I could end on a positive note, but not sure what to say. I'm
getting together with friends tonight at a pizza place I really enjoy. That
will be cool, as I don't see these friends as often as I'd like.
Also, I had 2 people over on Friday for dinner. One came early and listened
to the acb convention coverage with me. The second came after work. We had
chicken, biscuits, and salad. It was an enjoyable day.
Here's hoping I write more later. It's amazing how hard it can be to make
even small changes in your life into habits. Two weeks ago, I said I'd
exercise more. The first week, I did great, the second, I didn't exercise
much, though I did walk outside when I had errands to run.
Here's hoping this week, I can exercise a bit more, and blog a bit more as
well. I need to start writing about my life again. I'm sure many small
pleasurable things have happened about which I haven't written, and about
which I will forget because of this fact.