An Unseen Story

Inter Views

2012-01-21T10:04:00.001-08:00

I've met some very helpful people on my way to and from the Genealogical Research Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania. When I'm in downtown Scranton a few people have asked me what bus I'm waiting for; someone actually once asked me if I was waiting for the Carbondale bus, so I'm assuming I had asked this person more than once about the bus over the preceding weeks. Sometimes for exercise, I walked home from Walgreens which is about nine blocks from our house, and sidewalks are occasionally blocked because of construction. At these times construction workers are more than happy to help me across the blocked areas.

Now I'll review some movies.

These won't be in order, since I don't remember the order in which I saw them. First comes The Help, which was a pleasant surprise. The Help is based on a book about the fictional travails of a number of maids in the pre-civil rights South. My mother wanted to see it, so I grudgingly went along. The movie told an engaging story, and probably a fairly accurate one. Next comes the Three Musketeers, which I wanted to see because I read the book. As of yet, I haven't listened to the entire book, but not for lack of interest. I have so many other books to listen to, and I'm always getting new ones. The character portrayals are fairly good, but creative license took its share also. I don't want to say too much because I obviously don't know who's seen what movies.

Along came The Debt, which seemed a good movie to see at least by the previews. The movie is a fictional account of an Israeli covert ops team sent after a high-level Nazi after the war. However, the reality proved different from the expectations. The characters just didn't seem that believable. We saw J. Edgar fairly recently, and it was very good. They aged Leo fairly well, and if a legally blind man can say that you know the makeup artist must've done an excellent job. I know people would rather see something inconsequential by the fact that the film was never number one, but people should see it.

Two disappointments came next, in the forms of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and the Iron Lady. One of my biggest complaints about both movies was that I couldn't always tell when a flashback occurred, and when we were back to the present. When we went to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy I asked my mother if I could say at the ticket counter that we wanted two tickets for the alliteration, but she said no. I thought this unfair. I didn't find the movie very thrilling, even though it was billed as a thriller. It was especially difficult with the Iron Lady to tell when flashbacks occurred as their ages grew closer together. Iron Lady is the story of England's first and so far only female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

To close where I begin, I recently had an interview with The Valley advantage, one of our local papers. Joe Bryer, the head of the Genealogical Research Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania thought it would be a good idea for someone to come over and interview me, and I agreed. Joe thought it would be a good idea for the same reason I'm writing this blog, to show that people with disabilities can do much more than sit at home and twiddle their thumbs. The web address is www.thevalleyadvantage.com.

Turkeys

2011-12-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

I had a nice Thanksgiving; I'm supposed to say it because I got to see my brother, but in reality it's because I like turkey and homemade peanut butter pie. Unfortunately, I had to put up with my brother for 3 days, but on a happier note, I got to see my three little cousins. My father always gets up at 5 or 6 AM to start the turkey, so it's always ready by the time we sit down to eat at 2:00p.m. I like the drumsticks of the turkey, but last year my cousin Michael decided that he wanted to try one. I ate one, and he ate most of another. This year too he had one and I had the other, so I think it's become a tradition.

After dinner Brandon, the youngest, started playing with a rubber ball and a catchers toy that my dog has. He wanted to play catch with me, and when I asked Bryan, his father also my cousin, he said it was fine. For the most part, I threw the ball at Brandon, obviously not very hard because I could only generally aim. A few times Brandon threw the ball, and I used the bat. However, I did my best to avoid this because I don't really like having things thrown at me for obvious reasons. Once Brandon's older and can understand what visually impaired means, I will make absolutely certain I remember to tell him this story.

Eventually, they left, so we only had one houseguest and that sadly was my brother. Since he didn’t leave until Sunday mayhem ensued. My parents and brother went out shopping on Black Friday, but at a normal hour not 5 AM. For dinner we ordered pizza from Revello’s, and all five of us thought it very good. I say five because Max had some too, just not that day. Saturday found a full 12 cuts of pizza left from the previous night, and six cuts of white pizza.

For my breakfast Saturday morning I had three pieces, and then we got ready to leave to get our Christmas tree. Both boxes of pizza were on the oven, which is pretty high up, and we thought this sufficient. I imagine by now you can all see where this is going. At the same time we were finding our tree, Max was finding how to get the pizza. One of Mark’s mayhem -causing incidents had occurred, but the second had yet to. We ate hamburgers for dinner that evening and being refrigerated they weren’t accessible to Max. However, that Saturday night Mark killed my mother's dryer because she was washing his clothes at the time. Thus after causing all this mayhem he went home the next day. On that note, I'll say farewell until my next entry.

Interlude

2011-09-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

Continued from previous entry
It was around 1:15, so I prepared to leave. I shut down my computer, said goodbye to everyone, and went outside to sit on the bench. It basically is the bus stop, so if you're waiting a long time, you at least get to sit while waiting. There was paving going on further along the bus route, so it was 10 or 15 min. late. When the bus arrived, I took it back to downtown Scranton, and because we were concerned that I had missed it, my mother drove me home.
The rest of the day went fine, except for the ending. Mark came home around 11:30 that Thursday night. Friday he went for a walk with one of his friends around Lake Scranton, and after they were done she dropped him off. No Appalachian Trail stuff, it was strictly above board. She also knows me fairly well, knows I'm visually impaired, but still she waved at me. Mark said in an incredulous voice, you waved at my brother, my brother. She started laughing, and I just shook my head, turning away. I enjoy making fun of people who wave, beep, or in some other way try to catch my attention that is totally useless. Of course it's only funny if somehow I find out who they are, so I can tell them later of their utter foolishness.
While he was here, we went to our summer place, which was fun. We didn't really do anything on Friday night, but on Saturday night we made s'mores. On Sunday we went to the Wyoming County fair, and all had gyros. Then Monday afternoon we came home.
We came home Monday afternoon, and then Mark and I went to see Cowboys and Aliens. Both of us thought the movie was pretty good for its kind. The movie won't win any Oscars, but then it was designed to entertain, not win awards. It fulfilled its task of entertaining admirably. Then we had leftover pasta salad and pasta for dinner. Then my mother and Mark went for ice cream, which I heartily approve of. Then on Tuesday we went to Revello’s Café Pizza for dinner. The next day my mother and Mark went for Chinese food, and I was forced to have seafood salad. As anyone who knows me can tell you I truly despise shrimp, pasta, and olives. My Wednesday night was very nice because they took Mark back to the bus station.

GRSNP

2011-09-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

I got up a little before the alarm clock buzzed, had pizza for breakfast, performed the rest of the morning routine, and headed for the bus stop. When I need to take the bus, it is very convenient for me because it goes right past my street corner. The COLTS (County of Lackawanna Transit System) bus dropped me off, and then I walked across the street to get the bus that went to the GRSNP. The acronym stands for Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and for my next trick, see if you can pronounce that five times fast. My mother followed behind the bus as sort of our version of a mobility instructor.
When I got dropped off, I went inside, and asked for Joe Bryer. He showed me the computer I would be using, and I got to work trying to find the full screen magnifier. I looked for one because I thought it would be Windows 7, but I found out the hard way that the operating system was Windows XP. So I downloaded a trial of Zoomtext because I didn't have my copy with me.
Joe gave me some instructions to run PDF searches using Adobe Reader Professional, and it was fairly easy. One function Joe wanted to show me, but couldn't, involved showing me how to search on the I:\ drive. The drive was an external hard drive, but as far as the computer was concerned it didn't exist. He left me so he could go back to other work, and to give me more time to familiarize myself with the system. I put my hand on the hard drive, and felt around for the cords between the hard drive and the computer. I found the two cords, and made sure each one was in properly. Sure enough one of them must've been loose because I heard the tone that indicates a USB device has been plugged in. The computer now not only detected the I:\ drive, but it also detected the H:\ drive.
When I got Joe's attention, he asked how come no one else could figure this out, but a blind guy did? He asked it in a humorous way, and I indeed found it very funny. After the computer said yes the I:\ drive does exist, I looked at the instructions Joe had given me to see what came next. I copied PDF files from the My Documents folder on my computer to the I:\ drive, and the whole process took about 28 min. Speaking of instructions, Joe had printed them larger, for which I was very grateful.
I told Joe that I was copying the files, and he came over a bit incredulous because he said no one had been able to figure out how to do that. He said again humorously that they've been saved by a blind guy, which I also found funny. Even though all his quips were meant to be humor, some people would still have taken offense to them, but I have an irreverent sense of humor.
Well, next time I'll finish my story, and tell you all the things that happened to me while my annoying brother was home. The website is www.grsnp.org if you want any more information.

Still Here

2011-05-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the apocalypse didn't get me. I've heard it didn't happen because two of the Horsemen got stuck in the mud, and the other two got into a fight with Gandalf and lost. I hear the date’s now October 21, and I hear the headless horseman is dying to get into the action. Enough about the apocalypse though.

My mother and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides yesterday, and we liked it very much. I haven't seen anyone reviewing it on TV, but I can't imagine the reviews are pretty. Since it's a movie about pirates, mermaids Blackbeard, and general works of imagination, therefore it should be panned. I can almost guarantee you without seeing any official reviews that this is their opinion. Not all movies can be the King’s Speech, and not all should be. When it first came out, the critics panned Independence Day, and that made a lot of money. I think to be a movie critic, you must have your imagination removed.

I don't want to give too much away because I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone. Those who've seen the three prior movies will enjoy this one as much as the others, and I think those that haven't seen any previous installments will enjoy this one as well. I don't think I'm giving too much away when I say they're searching for the fountain of youth, and no they don't meet Indiana Jones or his father at the fountain. Another thing I'll tell you is stay until the very end, meaning until the credits are done. That's all I'll say. I forgot to say, Pirates of the Caribbean was also in 3-D, but there were very few scenes that I could imagine being enhanced by 3-D. We saw it in normal mode, and that was fine by me.

I also rented Tron Legacy a month or so ago, and that was excellent as well. How it was described, I thought there'd be a greater difference between the real world and the world of Tron. When they were in Tron, everything was outlined in light, and that to me seemed to be the only difference. Tron is a world that exists in computers, and is reached by stepping through a door from our world to that one. For being such an odd concept, it turned out to be a pretty good movie. It's not necessary to have seen the previous movie, since I didn't. I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

When it came out, a few months ago, we went to see The Conspirator. This is a movie about the woman charged in the conspiracy to kill President Lincoln. It too was a good movie, and I think it paints an accurate portrait of the times.

The rapture

2011-05-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Happy doomsday everyone. I've only noticed one effect of doomsday so far, I've gone blind. Oh wait! I was blind anyway, nevermind. I'll check back in tomorrow, but for now over and out.

Windows 7

2011-05-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

I recently got a new computer from Dell because some of Dragon’s higher commands were disabled. They were by no means critical in nature, but I would’ve liked to see how they worked. I don’t have a money tree, so I couldn’t afford a top of the line computer. I looked in the Dell outlet store, and got an Inspiron 570. I got Windows 7 because unlike Windows Vista, I heard good things about the current windows operating system.

I must say it works really well, and the accessibility options were fairly easy to setup. For one thing the magnifier option is right on the start menu, and you can change the level with a simple plus or minus sign. Also, you can choose between a number of views similar to Zoomtext, such as a scrolling magnifier, a docked magnifier that only enlarges part of the screen, and the full screen magnifier which I have on. Next to the views tab is an options menu where you can invert colors, have the magnified view follow the mouse, keyboard, and text insertion point. A number of narration options are also available, but I don’t need them. I’ll look at them at another time, and tell you my readers what I find.

Another feature that I really like is the speech recognition option, and this really is recognition. In Windows XP you could only dictate documents, and if you chose to do that then you might as well type the documents, it would go faster. With Windows 7 you can switch between programs, open programs, and dictate documents with a fair degree of accuracy. One has to set up the microphone, and then train it. If it’s a quality program, then it is worth the time.

I also setup my new computer, and put the other one in Mark’s old room. They were fairly easy to set up, even though I did most things by feel. I plugged everything into the surge protector I also purchased a monitor, and the other computer went active too. The only annoying part involved hooking up the cable running from the back of the monitor to the computer.

In the next entry, I’ll elucidate more of what I did in the previous two months.

Interlude

2011-03-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a few weeks off to finish my book to be called Sense of the Dark and it will eventually be released on CreateSpace.

CBWA

2011-03-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, March 3, I went for my first career based work assessment (CBWA), and I found it to be an interesting experience. Courtney from AHEDD picked me up at around 8 AM, and she drove to the Hazelton center for independent living (ARCIL).

When we got there, we met with the director who explained in general the services that ARCIL offers. Her name is Denise, and I would like to express my thanks to her.

Then we met with Susan who is in charge of the services side of ARCIL. Peer mentoring, which in my case would be a blind person mentoring a blind person, but more generally it would be a person with a disability mentoring others with that same disability. Peer mentoring sounds like something I might be interested in because I want to pass on to others what I had to learn the hard way. If I could pass on what I've learned through experience, then that would be an opportunity I would jump at. We also discussed information and referral which helps direct callers to the resources that may get their questions answered. Susan also talked about advocacy which I think is self-explanatory.

On our way to and from Hazelton I talked about what I was writing and Courtney asked me about what I was going to do about publishing it. I replied that I was concentrating on writing the story first, and she said she'd put me into contact with one of her friends that writes children's books. I of course said thank you very much because I don't really know the first clue about publishing. With Dragon though, everything becomes much more manageable because I can dictate my story now not just proceed at typing speed. I have plenty of ideas for stories, so no worries there.

On a different subject, my mother and I recently saw the film Unknown, and it was pretty good. Despite it being a good movie, it's pretty much a rehash of the Bourne movies. There was nothing wrong with any of the acting, but it wasn't terribly original.

Breathing fire

2011-02-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

I don't remember when it was, but sometime in January, I went to a job fair. I obtained some very useful information there. The presenter in the morning talked about SSI and SSDI. After all the complicated explanations were over the participants were allowed to wander around the room. Five or six tables were scattered throughout the room and were manned by people from several different industries. They were Goodwill Industries, AHEDD, Home Depot and a few others.

My mother, who was my driver, my family still won't let me drive even though I'm almost 29, and I walked around the room to the various tables. We obtained information at each one, but the job coaching agency AHEDD seemed to me to be the most interesting.

The concept of job shadowing was explained to me. It involves going to a workplace environment and performing the tasks you would normally perform for that job. I contacted AHEDD for further information.

I called the number on the card I was given and met with someone from that agency. They explained more about what services they offer, such as job shadowing, actually more accurately called Community Based Work Assessment. I then contacted my OVR counselor and that's where it became interesting.

We eventually sorted out our differences, and my counselor wrote a referral for AHEDD. I then met with the person from that agency to complete some final paperwork and then we got down to business. I then explained my choices for the CBWA service. I wanted to shadow a customer service position at Walmart because I don’t know what that job would entail, but I think that's a good entry level job. I also wanted to shadow a position at a newspaper to see what it involves. I wanted to shadow a position in the admissions office at a college campus to see what it would involve. Finally I wanted to shadow something at the Center for Independent Living.

The meeting concluded, the person from AHEDD told me that in the next few days they would be making phone calls to various job sites. I currently have two CBWA placements, so in my opinion that's a good start. I wish I had known about this a few years ago but wishing won't make it so.

On a different subject, my mother likes QVC and orders a few items from there. Most recently Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 11 by Nuance was a today's special value and there was a good price. My mother got it and I tried to install it. It installed but then told me that a speech file could not be found. Yesterday I tried a number of things but it still didn't work so this morning, I logged into the customer support center. I typed in my questions and before it was sent, four topics came up that the site said might be used to assist me. One of them actually was helpful. It told me that I had to download and reinstall a Microsoft speech file. Good old Microsoft but the download worked. I tried Dragon again and was taken to a series of training exercises.

I'll finish reading the tutorial later but for right now, I just wanted to see how it works. I dictated this whole blog entry so I guess it worked just fine. This will help me write much faster, which will mean you will see more stories from me sooner rather than later. Woohoo

Between the Dark

2011-02-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

This is an excerpt from one of the two stories I'm working on, so I hope you like it. Comments are welcome.

Even though Jacob gripped his white cane, he still swore when he tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, made by the roots of the chestnut tree. He silently fumed at his parents for what they had denied him. It’s the year 2050, but I’m stuck in the Stone Age. There are devices that let you know when you’re approaching obstacles, flying one- and two-seat vehicles that drive themselves and so much more I could be using. Will they allow me to use any of them? No, for some unfathomable reason, and I’m suffering the consequences. He let out his breath in a leaf-stirring gust, and set his face into a ferocious scowl. He didn’t know, and couldn’t really ask, why his parents didn’t like technology. If looks could kill, birds in trees all the way down to the corner would’ve dropped from their branches.
He turned the corner, and heard a roaring sound. I wonder if he does that for my benefit, or if he likes deafening people as a hobby? The roar grew closer, and eventually Jacob saw him. As usual, his friend was going to land on his head. The hover car, also as usual, missed by inches and came to a stop about a foot above the street.
As the door opened, Jacob asked, “When are you going to stop doing that? It’s not like I actually believe that you’ll land on me. The first few times maybe.”
“How do you know?” Max asked, laughing. “You can’t see. You may think it’s me, and then find out the hard way by getting squished that it isn’t.”
“I don’t think so,” Jacob responded, chuckling as he got into the car. “Your vehicle is the only one I’ve heard that makes such a racket, and I think you can count on my hearing. Who overheard those girls say that you were cute, and who overheard the answers to that math test from half a hallway away, I might add? As I recall you got 100 on that test, and you’re currently going out with a nice-looking girl. Trust me, I can tell when your hover car is coming.”
Max punched him in the shoulder lightly, saying with a smile, “You’re too clever for your own good. One of these days, I’m going to shove you out of this hover car, and then I’ll see if any of your gismos will let you fly.” He passed Jacob a bag that would’ve gotten both of them in boiling water if Jacob’s parents found out. It contained all the illicit technology that he was forbidden at home.
And I couldn’t care less what my parents would do if they ever found out.
He reached in to make sure it was all there, and it felt to him that it was. The BookIt was a device that, when passed over an open or closed book, would instantly save the entire contents to its memory, and read it back at any time. When he took it out, and waved it in Max’s direction, nothing happened.
“I guess that must mean there’s nothing up there,” he said, tapping Max’s forehead.
Max grabbed for the BookIt. “Let’s see how you fare under its gaze.” But finally he fell back without the item.
Jacob would always be grateful that Max was one of only a few who treated him like a normal person, and not like porcelain. But he wouldn’t tell his friend how much he appreciated him.

2011-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

One year I heard reindeer on the roof when we were living at our previous house, but I didn’t hear any this year. Neither did I hear Santa drop the presents off, but they were there in the morning.

We got up and then went down to open them. I got Sherlock Holmes, the recent movie, a Star Trek ships of the line calendar, an Oral-B electric toothbrush, new poochies(bedroom slippers), a new dvd house, an itunes gift card, a cinemark gift card and some cash. Everyone else opened their presents, and then we went upstairs for ham and eggs. After breakfast, we didn’t really do much for a few hours except clean up.

Lunch was homemade ravioli which is always very good. While I wasn’t responsible for making the sauce, it was still homemade and scrumdidliumptious. The antipasto was very good too, and there was plenty for the four of us. Max doesn’t get ravioli, since they will never be left unattended in beagle range. Post ravioli there was a lot of cleaning up to do, after which I watched Sherlock Holmes. We were going to the Bendowski’s the next day, so after Sherlock I went to sleep.

Now I’ll describe some more of my book collection. I know I said this before, but it’s worth repeating. I didn’t like to read when I was younger; that may have been a function of the fact that there weren’t as many books on tape when I was growing up. So here goes:

Gilgamesh and Beowulf are two favorites even though they’re old. Gilgamesh is worth listening to I think because it’s a myth, and to some extent it gives us a glimpse into a vanished culture. I have actually fallen asleep listening to Beowulf because I enjoy it, not because it’s boring. Understanding Beowulf can be challenging; it took me two complete listens before I understood it. The tale isn’t as coherent as it could be, but a good monster-slaying tale is always fun.

The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are my original favorites, and will always be on my list of favorites. Personally, I think the unabridged non-dramatized versions are better than the dramatized performances. The narrator is the best possible one they could’ve gotten. The Hobbit is the original modern quest story involving dwarves, elves, goblins, a dragon, and of course a hobbit. Incidentally a few years ago there was an announcement of a discovery of a fossil of a 3-foot or so tall people on an Indonesian island I believe.

The Lord of the Rings comprising Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers and Return of the King are a continuation of the story begun in The Hobbit. The story is expanded, but now the hobbits want to lose something not find anything. While I have my issues with the movies that came out several years ago, they do give a good overview. Some of the depictions of characters are different than I imagined them, but I take exception to some of the plot deviations. I highly recommend you listen to the audiobooks before reading the physical books.

Alexandria

2011-02-05T09:38:00.001-08:00

I thought of telling you about books I like one or two at a time at the end of each post, but as consistently demonstrated, brevity isn’t one of my strengths. A list of favorite books is in my facebook profile, but you can only put the books there. I will summarize them as best I can, and I’ll use as many entries as I have too.

I like all the books by Brandon Sanderson: The Mistborn Trilogy, Elantris, Warbreaker, the Alcatraz series and Way of Kings. Mistborn(The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages) is basically a good vs. evil story, but with a lot of twists. Mistborn also has a very unique magic system.

Elantris is about a magic city that’s fallen into ruin, and its inhabitants have to fix it. Warbreaker is a fun story to read, and that really is the best I can do. It’s really difficult to describe, but it does have a unique magic system. I haven’t listened to Way of Kings yet, but I expect it to be as good as the others. Way of Kings is part one of a 10-part series called the Stormlight Archive. The Alcatraz series(Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians, Alcatraz Versus The Scrivener’s Bones, Alcatraz Versus The Knights of Crystallia, Alcatraz Versus The Shattered Lens) is for Young Adults. The onIy one out on audio is the evil librarians, so I’ve only listened to it. The book was hilarious; it’s about a boy whose talent is breaking things. As long as I’m doing a plug, Mr. Sanderson’s website is www.brandonsanderson.com

The Wheel of Time is on Book 13 of 14, so it’s almost finished. Unlike Mistborn and Alcatraz, I won’t list the titles in the series because that would be a paragraph in itself. It’s my favorite book series of all time, and it almost didn’t get finished. After Robert Jordan, the original author, was diagnosed with a rare disease, he didn’t want anyone to finish the series if he passed away. Luckily for the majority of fans, he changed his mind, and after he passed on, Brandon Sanderson was selected to finish the series. The Eye of the World is the first in the series, and Towers of Midnight the latest.

There are 5 science fiction books by Peter F. Hamilton that I really like. Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained are the first two, and they’re a duology. Essentially they’re about an interstellar war, but it’s far more complex than that. Politics, espionage, hedonism, and much more all have a part.

Dreaming Void, Temporal Void, and Evolutionary Void comprise the Void Trilogy which is about saving the galaxy from humans that want to travel into it. This trilogy has a series of new characters, but several reappear from Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. Again, politics, war, espionage and more are all involved.

I highly recommend any or all of these books, but parents might want to glance through them before letting children read them.

Christmas

2011-01-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

After we got home from Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the making of Christmas dinner commenced, and the Great Beagle Caper happened while we were gone. The Great Beagle Caper has been enacted by all our beagles, and it’s one of the ways we can tell that we got the right dog. My mother put a table cloth on Christmas Eve morning, now no one get ahead of me please. We put a full plate of cookies on that table, and also there was a stick of butter in the butter dish. Everything was fine while we were there, but once we left to see Narnia, the caper began.

Apparently, Max our 13-inch beagle pulled the table cloth either with claws or teeth until it was half off the table. Needless to say, the cookies were now closer to him, but they never ended up on the floor. Somehow, he pushed out one of the chairs far enough to jump from the floor to it, and from there to the table. He then instituted his own Christmas dinner. In addition to the cookies, he also snacked on the stick of butter. See, if he’d eaten lobster, he could’ve had his own butter sauce.

When we got home, the butter dish was on the floor with a chip in it, the cookie platter was still on the table, and Max probably wasn’t so happy he’d eaten those cookies any more. Oh well, who am I kidding if I could eat a dozen of my mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies, I’d do it. Even with being sick, it’d be worth it. Max was pretty under the weather for a few days after that, but having it to do over again, I’m sure he’d do the same thing. I know I would. That chipped butter dish, and the intact cookie platter are Spode. Max was in my mother’s dog house for a little while for the chipped spode.

Back to the humans, and their dinner. My dad started the lobster; my mom started the baked potatoes. While the lobsters were broiling, my dad made the antipasto. For those of you who don’t know, there used to be an unclepasto, but he was an ally of the titans. He’s locked up in Tartarus, and now there’s only auntie left. Everyone else had wine with dinner, but I just had apple juice. I have enough issues seeing singularly without the added attraction of alcohol-induced double vision; I also don’t like the taste of alcoholic beverages.

We sat down sometime later to dinner with Christmas music in the background, and an unhealthily satiated beagle for company. The lobster was very good as usual, but the unfortunate thing was that Mark was there. I’d tried to convince my parents to get four lobsters without Mark, and I’d eat his for him. No dice. After dinner, the dishes were cleaned and put away, and everyone relaxed for a few hours. Then my parents and Mark went to midnight mass, and I kept Max company. Max is now a proper Taticchi beagle, Fred and Barkley got illicit cookies in their turn. and now Max has too.

Hanz and Franz

2011-01-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

A few days after Thanksgiving we went for our Christmas Tree, which is usually a big production. Surprisingly, this year it wasn’t because my mom discovered a new place. We went there, and found a blue spruce Christmas Tree in short order. We didn’t even have to walk up or down any mountains to get there. I don’t think there are mountains where we usually go, but almost universally there are very, very steep hills.

We got it home, and over the next week or so it was decorated. I was running my train one day, and stopped with the horn blowing. Even when I shut off the transformer powering the train the horn wouldn’t shut off. Someone had to actually come downstairs, and take the battery out of the engine. Hopefully someone will eventually show me how to set up the train and so forth, or at least attempt to. I may not be able to since everything is small, but I’d like to try.

Most unfortunately, Mark came home on December 22nd, and stayed until the 26th. He mostly did absolutely nothing on the 22nd, but the next day he and I went to see the Deathly Hallows. I must admit it was a pretty good movie, but I have the same complaint about Harry Potter that I always do. The movie itself was well done except for the wedding at the beginning. That came out of nowhere for anyone who hasn’t read or listened to the books in my opinion. The movie moved along nicely, at least when compared to the book because there were long stretches where nothing was going on.

Now for the complaint. I understand why until book 3 or 4 the books were solely focused on Harry. The books were for young kids, and it’s easier to focus on one character. After book 4 is where my annoyance starts, and it crystallizes in the Deathly Hallows. The book could be mainly about Harry, but there are plenty of other perfectly good characters that could have points-of-view. As I said before, in the Deathly Hallows book there are extended passages where nothing is going on. I don’t have the book anymore, so I’m going from memory. I believe a few of these yawn scenes take place after Ron has left, yet the books remains centered on Harry. I for one would’ve rather read about what Ron was doing, or what was going on at Hogwarts. Do we really need to read how Harry tripped over a root and swore, and not once but 500 times. When the second part comes out I’ll finish my complaint.

The next day all four of us went to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was also a very good movie. The biggest problem was the only showings were in 3D, and it ended up being a waste of $10. I have no idea, nor does anyone else why that was 3D except to get more money. I’ve seen good 3D, and there was nothing 3D about Dawn Treader. One of the audience members had to complain because they had Gulliver’s Travels in the projector. That wasn’t even scheduled to come out until the following day. This was the second time we’ve been to a movie that needed changing because they tried to show us Expendables instead of Despicable Me.

Sigils and scissors

2010-12-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

It’s a good thing the kids knew what they were doing in finding the web games because other than getting them to the site, I was of very little help. The one that wasn’t playing was either watching the other one play, or he was being amused by me. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was on HBO, so sometimes they were watching that. I don’t remember when this was, but Michael asked if the Area 51 poster I have was my sign or something. I said it was my sigil, and then had to explain what a sigil was. I think I said it was one’s symbol.

At some point, Bryan, my cousin, came in to see what everyone was doing, and he told his Blind babysitter that I was doing a fine job. This was sarcasm because he then took scissors away from Brandon who’d just grabbed them. I put some stuff away that I thought a 2-year-old might get, but I apparently missed a few items. When Michael was playing his computer game, I was able to assist him a little, but not much. At some point we were all called to dinner.

Michael had a turkey leg (he ate some of it and I finished the rest), some of my mother’s homemade stuffing, some mashed potatoes and gravy, and some corn. I usually eat the turkey legs, but it looks like when Mikey gets a bit older I’ll have to share. That or we can arm wrestle. I’m not averse to arm wrestling a future 8-year-old for a turkey leg. Brandon had some mashed potatoes and apple sauce. My mother said he didn’t feed the floor, and thus our dog, that much. Michael and Matthew both had peanut butter pie, and ate all of it.

After dinner there was a little argument over who got to play on my computer, so I simply tossed them both off. When they come again I’ll set time limits. After that there was some more of me being the alien, and then it was time for them to go.

P.S. On the headlines segment of the Tonight Show last week, Jay Leno had a headline reading “Woman Arrested in Wal-Mart for Running with Scissors.” So maybe I’m not such a bad babysitter after all.

Turkey Day

2010-11-29T10:05:00.001-08:00

I haven’t posted in a while because I ran out of ideas, and I didn’t want to post just for posting’s sake. I’m back now, and as long as I have ideas, I’ll post about them. Obviously, my last post was incorrect and it has been more than a few weeks.

In the interim my brother is in California and doesn’t like it very much that I have a driver’s license out there. My brother is currently clerking for the 9th Circuit, and thus still has his soul. However, he'll be selling it in a year when he gets back to Washington D.C.

My brother couldn’t come in for Thanksgiving, so it was just my parents, me, my cousin and his family. My cousin, his wife and their three sons arrived between 1-2pm. Since Mark wasn’t here, it fell to me to be the nanny, and I only got fired once. For a blind guy, I take that as a compliment, but I’ll explain later. They like to play the alien game; I think that became the name because I have an alien Area 51 poster on my closet door. Basically, they run by me, and I try to pick them up to eat them. As an aside, they don’t taste very good, so I don’t recommend it. They also found a new game where I drag them back and forth and then send them down the hall on their momentum.

Then they discovered my computer, so I deactivated Zoomtext for them to play. I can’t really at first tell the difference between Matthew and Michael, the two older ones because most of the clues I use to tell the difference between people are the same. They’re roughly the same height, at least seen at a distance, and for me that’s not to terribly far. Voices are very similar, especially when they talk fast and both have the same amount of hair. Michael’s voice is a bit deeper though, so when they speak slower, it’s easier to tell them apart. Their 3rd child, Brandon, is easy to tell apart. He’s short, fast, at least from my perspective, and still talks mostly baby talk. He’s only two; oh, and he’s relatively light to pick up. I’m going to have to stop doing the alien game in another year or two because Matthew and Michael are approaching too heavy to pick up.

Next time I’ll talk about sigils, running with scissors, and so forth.

Interlude

2010-08-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a little break, but I'll be back in two or three weeks. I'll post the last graduation entry, and then continue on a weekly schedule.

DC6

2010-07-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

After all that I was able to see what there was to see, I was in the third row. When the presumptive graduates filed in, they played something else not Pomp and Circumstance. Mark was sitting in the first seat of the first row because he was numero uno, and was the first to go up to receive his diploma. There a lot of J.D.’s some Master’s of Law and one super doctorate as I called it. I thought it kind of stupid that they didn’t play any music while the graduates went up, not really loud but low background music.

After the ceremony, we waited for Mark and then left. Outside, we met Matt, a friend of Mark’s, and then walked to Mark’s journal office. We were also told that it is exceedingly rare for the editor of the law revue to also be numero uno. I don’t want Mark to get a swelled noggin from me saying that, but I must report the truth. Mark showed us around the building, which involved going up narrow, winding stairs, but I was fine. He said soon the law review is moving to a new building, which will hopefully be more accessible to people with disabilities. Going up those stairs reminded me of the Old Main Building at Penn State where around a century ago I think some students as a prank brought the school mascot, a mule, to the very top. I’m sure no alcohol was involved.

Next we met up with Betty, Mark’s girlfriend and her family, and took the metro to Chinatown. There were 12 of us: my mom, dad, Mark, Betty, her mother and father, her sister, her maternal grandparents, her former roommate Michelle, Matt, and me. We decided to take the metro because we would’ve had to take three or four cabs or been like those cartoons where car doors open and people keep coming out. I like going on the metro; I think it’s really neat to be underground. Also the tickets and escalators remind me of Disney World, but unfortunately the cars don’t take one to Fantasyland.

Chinatown was really cool; it was very lively as compared to the rest of DC, which was dead. We got to Clyde’s, www.clydes.com, relatively on time; our reservation was at 6:30, and were seated soon thereafter. We were seated in a room with one long table and some booths, so I assume this room was set up for large parties. I anchored one end of the table, and Mark anchored the other. I just drank water; I drink mostly water now and a side benefit is it’s free. I was going to order the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, but mom pointed out that vegetables or something were part of the entrée. That ended that, so I got a Caesar salad and seafood fra diavolo without the mussels. My dad got that too; because we had no mussels we got some extra shrimp. They weren’t as big as the ones at Luigis, but they were large enough.

DC5

2010-06-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Next we decided to walk to the Korean memorial which I’ve only seen once. We passed the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial all lit up. I also saw the moon and what we think was a planet. Well I really only saw two bright dots, but that’s what they were. I thought the crescent shape to the moon, but when I know what something looks like, I’m never able to tell if I’m actually seeing it for what it is or if my mind is filling in the blanks. Also, I don’t recommend sightseeing while blind; it usually doesn’t work. Other people can look from side to side and keep walking, but I usually trip or walk into something when I do.

We arrived at the Korean Memorial, but I couldn’t really see anything, though my father got some good pictures of the memorial for a friend of his, so that was good. Then we took a taxi back to the hotel, and I got an ice cream sandwich from the gift shop. That ended our second night in DC, and Mark still hadn’t graduated.

My parents and Mark went to church on Sunday morning and brought me back an egg sandwich from a place called Cosi. It was pretty good, and it was delivered. Then we watched the TV broadcast of the University-wide GW graduation where Michelle Obama was the commencement speaker, but we had to listen to an infomercial for the school first.

Soon after Mrs. Obama’s speech, we left for Mark’s graduation. We took a cab to the Charles E. Smith Center, where the graduation was. Mark departed, and we waited outside. We entered when it was time, and presented our reserved tickets. Mark had been able to get two reserved, and this was appreciated. Wait, I’m not supposed to be nice to my brother, nevermind.

There was a problem. Luckily we’d gotten there early enough and were near to the front of the line. It turned out that the seating was far back with wheelchairs. It’s nice that they have areas for wheelchairs, but being that far back doesn’t do me a whole lot of good. Being near the front of the line, we were able to get a seat near the front, but what if we hadn’t been? I wasn’t there, but I’m sure Mark said at least once that I was visually-impaired. He said I need a seat close the front, but he says that the person he talked to seemed confused by that. It wasn’t that there was that much to see; it was more that it was a special occasion. Had we not have come early, I guess I would’ve made do with the back.

DC4

2010-06-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Then I think we walked back to the hotel, and conversed for a while. At 6:30 or so we went to the second reception; this one was at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. See what I mean about lawyers not doing anything small; they needed a whole museum for a party. We took a cab to get there, and we didn’t set off any buzzers or anything going through the detector. It was nice to be able to walk through an airport-style metal detector without having to fold up my cane and put it on a conveyor belt.

I’ve been to Air and Space before, but it’s always cool to see space vessels, cruise missiles, and such. Unfortunately, Ahkmenrah’s tablet was gone, so none of the exhibits talked or moved. They had a jazz band or something playing for the whole night and that was a little annoying. We saw some of the sites, such as the lunar lander, various space vessels, a cruise missile, etc. Mark introduced us to more of his friends, and then he wandered off to go socialize. There was food all over the place, so I had some. Once I had something in a tortilla that mom claimed was an eggroll, but it wasn’t because when I had something that I knew was an eggroll, it tasted terrible.

The most annoying part of events like the reception is lack of tables. I don’t do so well balancing everything, but we were at least able to find flat surfaces when I was eating. Mark is way too tall, otherwise I would’ve used his head as a flat surface. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get anything on my dress clothes in the way of ice cream or other foods. After walking around for a bit, we made our way to the second floor and there were dessert tables up there. Yum

There was a WWII aviation room up there, which we walked around for a little. In general, I was better able to see the big things from this floor, such as the space capsules and missiles. I had some gelato that was pretty good and some brownies, and these snacks upstairs and downstairs constituted dinner. At a certain point we went back downstairs, and they dimmed the lights on us. This was probably a signal to get out.

We left and tonight we decided, since the weather was nice, to check out some of the monuments at night. We walked first to the WWII memorial, which is my favorite. All the water and fountains and everything are very cool and grand, as they should. It’s too bad my grandfather couldn’t have lived to see his memorial, but I think he’d approve of it. I can’t really see the inscriptions, but someone will read them to me.

DC3

2010-06-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

I put on a dress shirt and khakis for the awards ceremony. I didn’t have to cut off my air supply with a tie yet, but that would come tomorrow. We took a bus to the Dorothy Betts Marvin theatre, and it seemed that we could’ve gotten there faster by walking. Oh well, we got there eventually, waited to go inside the actual theatre. In the meantime, we went to the bookstore where we browsed. Well, they browsed; I offered immoral support. Then we went back upstairs and into the theatre.

We went into the theatre, and Mark went to an undisclosed location where he encountered Dick Cheney. There was a string quartet there that was very good, or at least we thought so. After a time listening to them, the award recipients processed in, and—surprisingly—“Pomp and Circumstance” was played. Then the awards began to be handed out. Award category after award category passed; then it was time for the awards for academic excellence. Three students were called up in succession: Lisa, Mark, and Anthony. They all got awards for having the highest GPA in successive years, and then all of them were told to remain. Mark got two more awards: one of them for having the highest overall GPA in the graduating class, and the other was for a top 3 GPA in the class.

After the ceremony, there were two receptions. Don’t ask me why they couldn’t be satisfied with one; I think it must be lawyer thing. They have 8-page notes, 25-page memos and things called briefs that are anything but. Enough with poking fun at lawyers, or this will never get done.

The smaller reception was held on the first floor of the law school; I can attest it wasn’t dark and stormy in there. I didn’t even run into Dante in there. It seemed pretty crowded already, so I sat in a lobby area while my mom went to get me something. I was waiting for what seemed forever when Mark’s friend Jocelyn came over. She asked if I was Mark’s brother; I grudgingly admitted that I was. She asked if I wanted anything in the way of food, and I said that my mother was going to get me something. I thanked her anyway, which I always do when people offer assistance. Even if I don’t need it, I appreciate the gesture from perfect strangers because it so seldom happens. Usually it happens that when I don’t need assistance people are there to help, but when I do need assistance no one is there. Of course I can’t see, so sometimes no doubt I just don’t see when people offer assistance.

It seemed as if I waited another eternity and then my parents and Mark came back. I drank the water that they brought, and mom drank her diet coke. Then we left; there was nothing really good foodwise, and it was very crowded. Mark had run into some of his professors I think, but he said it didn’t hurt. Mark did introduce us to some of his friends before the reception.

DC2

2010-05-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

My parents got up around 8:30am Saturday, and I got up at 8:45. Normally, I wouldn’t get up that early, but I was finally going to meet my friend Adrian, live and in person. Thus far, I had only talked to him over the phone, since the few times I was in Washington one thing or another led to us never actually meeting. That was finally about to change at 9:30 in the lobby.

My parents and I went down to the lobby at 9:15 or so, and I waited in the seating area facing the doors. In the meantime, they went to the 10th floor to check out the breakfast offerings at the VIP. They have a free continental breakfast, and we got free tickets to it because the room wasn’t ready. I was in the lobby and Adrian called just to confirm the address. I think it was 9:40 or 9:50 when he showed up, but the point is I got to meet him.

Adrian is visually-impaired himself, but at least one of his eyes is 20/100. My eyes are 20/200, so meeting Adrian showed me how much difference there is between 20/200 and 20/100. He was able to get through all the years of school and college without assistive technology. He uses some assistive technology now for law school. I’m positive that with my vision I wouldn’t have been able to constantly read regular print books and school papers. I can read regular print if it’s not too small, but I would’ve gone blind if I did it day in and day out.

He arrived and it was good to finally see him live and in person after only talking to him on the phone for so long. He introduced himself and we shook hands. We sat down at the table I was sitting at waiting for him. We talked of this and that for about an hour, and my parents and Mark came by. I introduced them to Adrian; then we decided to go to Potbelly. We were going to go to Founding Farmers for lunch, but apparently Mark couldn’t get reservations. We asked Adrian if he wanted to come along, and he said yes. All of us walked down to lunch then.

I must say the food was very good at Potbelly, but the ordering system is kind of weird. I suppose if you’ve lived in DC and gone there often enough it isn’t so weird. You give your order at one place, and then give it again later. That’s where they make the actual sandwich or salad or whatever you get. I got a T-Rex (actually a Wreck, but T-Rex sounds better) salad, which is basically an Italian hoagie in salad from. The Wreck was very good, and I was able to have apple juice with it. Apple juice is my all-time favorite drink. I think we had to go back to the hotel at that point and get dressed for the afternoon awards ceremony.

DC1

2010-05-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

We left at 9:30 a.m. on May 14 to go to Washington D.C. and see, or not see, Mark graduate and become a liar, I mean lawyer. I listened to a book on the walkman I have. Walkmen were ancient devices that one played tapes or CD’s on before the advent of i-everything and the kitchen sink. We got down there at 1pm or so and had lunch at his place. Naturally, it was terrible, but I suffered through. Met some very nice people who are under the illusion that he’s a nice person, but more about that later.

After I got finished choking down the food he gave me, we went to the Capitol Hilton to check-in, but there was a problem: the room wasn’t ready. I’m sure Mark called and arranged the whole thing to inconvenience me. Our luggage trolley was stored somewhere until the room was ready. My father decided to sit in the lobby while my mom, Mark, and I went to see some of the sights. We walked down to the White House, which I could see somewhat, but I can see it better in movies. You can’t get close to it in person. We saw the Treasury building and the courthouse where Mark worked last year.

We got back, and after some more argument between my mom and the person at the front desk, the room was ready. It was on the 9th floor, and I will say one thing, the elevator beeped at each floor. We got to our room, and it really wasn’t impressive. There were two double beds and a couch bed, a flatpanel-widescreen TV, and a bathroom. The really annoying part was that the sink was in the bathroom and not outside it.

For dinner, we went to Luigi’s which is an Italian restaurant near Mark’s school. The website is www.famousluigis.com, and no, King Koopa is not a waiter there. We got a personal pizza for the table just to try and dinner. I got linguini with shrimp in a spicy marinara sauce, and it was very good. Everyone else liked what they got, but I didn’t think the pizza was anything to write home about. However, I’m used to being close to the pizza capital of the U.S.: Old Forge, PA.

We were going to go see the monuments lit up at night, but the weather didn’t cooperate. It rained off and on while we tramped back to our hotel. I must say I was a little miffed because everyone was telling Mark how special he was, but he couldn’t stop it from raining. Anyway, we got back to hotel, and then Mark ditched us to go to a party. My parents watched TV, and I listened to a book on my new tape player. The tape player is from the library for the blind like the bigger one I have, but this one is a sort of USB player. There’s only one cassette per book and it has a USB drive on the end of it. After 2 hours or so, I shut it off and went to bed. I was slightly annoyed because my parents had NCIS on, and I was sort of listening to it. They shut it off before the end, so I don’t know what happened in that episode.

2010-05-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

I don’t remember if I did this but I’ll say it again. I sit in the fifth row at the Cinemark movie theater, which has stadium seating, so I can see over everyone’s heads. If I went to a regular movie theatre I’d probably sit in the second or third row.

My mother and I saw Alice in Wonderland a few weeks ago in 3D, and I must say it was very good. I didn’t think there was anything to prevent young kids from seeing it; of course, I can’t see. In my opinion you wouldn’t have gotten a lesser experience seeing it in 2D. There weren’t any flying creatures of note that would be better in 3D, but I suppose falling down the rabbit hole was interesting in 3D. All together I recommend either seeing it in theatres or renting it.

A few weeks later we went to see Clash of the Titans, but we saw it in 2D. At that point it was in 3D XD and 2D because Alice was still in Real D 3D and in 3D XD; Clash would have been around $22 or so all together in 3D XD. That’s compared to $10.50 total for both of us on the Early Bird special. I like mythologically themed anything, books, movies, etc., but I must say Clash was something of a disappointment. Since it Clash of the Titans, I was expecting Titans: Saturn, Prometheus, etc. But Zeus, Hades, and I think Apollo were the only ones that appeared. Also there wasn’t very much clashing; a Kraken did a little damage but that’s it.

Then Mark, who deigned to come from his tower to see us, and I went to see Iron Man 2 in XD. After seeing it though, neither of us thought it was worth the price; the screen was larger and it may have been somewhat louder. It didn’t sound that much louder, but it was large enough that I could read the captions. It was only a small part, but I usually can’t read them. It wasn’t as good as Sherlock, which Robert Downey Jr. was also in, though it was pretty good.

Next week I’m going to Washington D.C. to not see Mark graduate. I will, however, be seeing plenty of the monuments, and I should get a few blog entries out of that.

Final note: I got an email from someone at http://printerinkreplacement.info/ saying that my blog was featured on their site because they stumbled across it and thought it looked interesting. I want to thank them and return the favor.

Triple Trouble

2010-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

I can’t argue with that. In the car they watched Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. It seemed like they were baking the cake because they were gone for an hour or so. Apparently, the cake wasn’t quite right; it just said Happy Brandon instead of Happy Birthday Brandon. Also, some picture was squished, so that icing had to be redone as well.

They got back, and we had another change of movie: the squeakuel was put in. Shortly thereafter Dave started dinner, which was steaks and baked potatoes. In the meantime, Brandon made a mess by pulling all his toys out of the closet. Matthew and Michael were sword fighting. Michael had a sword that made drawing and sheathing noises, while Matthew had a lightsaber. It didn’t make any noises, but that’s what it looked like.

When everything was done, we sat done to dinner, Brandon tried to turn the TV back on a few times, but Karen made him shut it off. Dinner was excellent; then we had cake. The singing of happy birthday by everyone sounded like a funeral dirge. I’m not saying I have a good singing voice; on the contrary, I could probably do a funereal march all by myself. Everyone, including the children, were given cake, and though I couldn’t see, I’m sure cake and icing got lots of places cake doesn’t normally go. While we were having cake, Kelly was given a piece of steak. Needless to say, Houdini probably would’ve been proud at how fast that disappeared. Granted, I didn’t see it, but I could use my vast deductive-reasoning powers.

Then it was present-opening time, and this was painful. At first Brandon seemed interested; his first present was a ball. He was 100% distracted by it and had to be called several times to open each present. Matthew and Michael were going to open them, but Karen insisted on calling Brandon. He was chasing after his ball, which prompted Beth to say we should’ve just gotten him a ball. Finally, Karen did allow the 2M’s to partially open Brandon’s presents and the ripping of paper got him interested.

This painful process was repeated 5 or 6 times; I felt like saying just let them open Brandon’s presents. After all his other presents were opened, he (and most everyone else) went outside to see his new basketball hoop. I didn’t go because I really wasn’t that interested, and watching things isn’t really my cup of tea.

The Masters golf tournament was on, but it was highlights at first. I always like when I can do this: I was able to identify four of the background songs they were using. Some time later, I was told to get ready because we were going, and then Mark called. My Mom and Dad talked to him for a little; sniffle, sniffle, I guess he doesn’t like me anymore. Well he hung up and we left, saying our farewells.

Max was happy to see us. A neighbor lets him out and probably gives him way too many treats, at his prompting, while we’re gone.

Visitations

2010-04-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

First part of this entry will be Easter, and second part will be our trip to see 2M’s and a B. For Easter my mom makes pickled eggs and dyes hard-boiled eggs; this year she also made chocolate peanut butter eggs. The pickled and chocolate peanut butter eggs my mom made without assistance, while I, the blind guy, helped her with the dyed eggs. The dyed eggs are gone. I like eggs, but one peanut butter egg and some pickled eggs are left.

We had kielbasa and ham for dinner Saturday night, then ham and versions of eggs for breakfast Sunday morning. Then I got my Easter basket. (Yes I’m infantile, but I love chocolate.) This Easter it lasted four days, instead of one or two. My brother, though he claims to like chocolate, too, still has some of his chocolate left from CHRISTMAS. Sacrilege!

We went down to see the 2 Ms (Matthew and Michael) and a B (Brandon) yesterday and stayed for most of the day. We went because it was Brandon’s birthday. My parents are his godparents, so they didn’t want to miss it. I got up at about 8:30 (AM) on Saturday—a little too early for a weekend—got dressed and had breakfast. In the car, I listen to my walkman. Better than staring at the scenery. For anyone who doesn’t know, a walkman is an old-fashioned portable device that plays CD’s (or—gasp!--cassettes and has headphones. I don’t have an ipod, but my lucky soon-to-be liar, I mean lawyer, brother has one that he won. I don’t really need or want one because right now I don’t really have any use for one. Even if and when I do, I really wouldn’t use it because listening to music while walking would interfere with my hearing. Hearing is very, very important to someone who is blind or visually impaired, especially in this day and age when people don’t pay attention to traffic rules. I’ve probably said this before but it really does annoy me that I, as someone who has a white cane, have to pay extra attention because drivers are on cell phones rather than paying attention to their surroundings.

We got there at 11:30 or 12:00 and were greeted by Kelly, the barking dog. She’s a black lab and is therefore big enough for the kids to ride if they wanted to. When we came in, Cars (the Disney movie), was on, but no one really watched it. It was basically the first backdrop. We gave Brandon his present, and we also brought Toy Story for them. They like the ride in Disney World, but I don’t know if they’ve ever seen the movie.

I’m not sure whether Cars, which is a good movie, was over or not, but at some point Toy Story went in. It was the first one, so they watched that for a little while. At some point, Brandon went for a nap, and then at 2pm Karen, my mom, Matthew and Michael went for Brandon’s cake. Before they left, Karen’s parents, Beth and Dave, came for dinner.

I was in the recliner in their living room, and Bryan and Dave were sitting on the couch. At some point, Toy Story was stopped and Seinfeld was put on. I don’t remember when this transfer happened because they said I went to dreamland. Like I said, I was up at 8:30, and that’s just too early for a weekend.

More on my cousins (and the end of this story) next time.

Disney XXV

2010-04-01T11:23:00.001-07:00

Our second trip to Walt Disney World was in 1997 and it happened to be the 25th anniversary of Walt Disney World. Cinderella’s castle was decorated like a cake, and there were many other decorations that I am no doubt forgetting. I couldn’t really tell that it was a cake; I could tell that the castle’s shape had changed. I could also see some different colors, but not that the changes amounted to a cake. That’s all I can remember about that.

When we went in 2000 it was the millennium, or maybe this last decade has just been a Y2K induced hallucination and it’s still 12/31/99. Well, first thing I noticed was the music. Background music was probably always playing; I think I just noticed it more. Especially in EPCOT, music seemed to be coming from everywhere, and I have the millennium CD with some of the music that was playing.

The first track on the CD called “Reflections of Earth” is the musical accompaniment to Illuminations. Disney premiered a new version for 2000 that’s been there ever since. I think pre-2000 it was just a laser and fireworks show, but now it has a theme. This goes back to the name I used to write my blog under because when I hear the song, I can see the fireworks display.

The third track on the CD is called Tapestry of Nations, and I think it was just done for the millennium. It was a nice parade, but they don’t do it anymore. Anyway, the parade itself had lots of dancers and floats representing various world cultures, or at least that’s what I was told. I could see some stuff; as for the rest, they could’ve been jumbo jets. The other tracks were just part of the background music. I also really liked the musical fountains, and anything else cool they can do with water. I don’t like Fantasmic, however, which is kind of Illuminations with water. I think they paint a screen of water using lasers and fireworks to tell a story or something. I was dragged to it once; I think everyone else liked it. I couldn’t make ears or tails of it.

There was an International pavilion in World Showcase that represented other nations not included in the main areas. This pavilion was neat, at least for me. I got a lot of mini-flags there representing various countries.

On another subject: in the next day or so, I should be putting up what will probably be my last Fallen Empire episode on www.friedfiction.com. Also, I’d like your feedback either there or on my blog. Tell me what I’m doing right or what you think I need to improve. That’s all for now, but I’ll have a blog about Easter. To all my readers, have a hoppy Easter or Passover. Buenas Noches.

Disney XXIV

2010-03-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

Time for the last set of Walt Disney World entries until I go again, waah! For our ’97, ’00 and ’03 trips we stayed at Wilderness Lodge, which is a deluxe resort, and very cool at that. In the lobby there’s a six-story totem poll, and there are also large chandeliers. In the lobby too there’s a small wooden footbridge to cross to get to other side, where the big-screen TV is. You see now the chickens have to cross a bridge, not just a road. Anyway the bridge spans a small man-made hot spring that flows into one of the pools, I think.

A large fireplace and some rocking chairs also adorn the lobby. From the lobby you can walk down a series of ramps to Roaring Forks or the arcade. Don’t remember if I was ever in the arcade, but we were in Roaring Forks a lot. Roaring Forks serves mainly snacks cookies and stuff, but you can also get soups and things.

Whispering Canyon Café is another restaurant, but we only went there once. The menu consists of mainly roasts and other meats. Don’t get me wrong, I like my meat, but I also like my salad, pasta, seafood, stuff like that. Also the theming was annoying; the waiters were dressed like cowboys and talked to you as if they were cowboys. Artists Point is the third restaurant, and the menu consists of unpronounceable words. The Pop Century food court puts all three of these to shame.

Wilderness Lodge also has an outer deck area, which is over water I believe and this deck is where I spotted the water pageant first. Actually, I think I heard the music first and then looked. The reason I keep coming back to this is I very seldom if ever spot something first, and I’m very pleased when those rare occasions occur. The giant lighted sea gods and monsters were neat to look at too.

From the Lodge there’s ferry transport to the Magic Kingdom and bus transportation everywhere else. Usually the buses go other places before going to EPCOT or wherever, which is sometimes frustrating. The buses at Pop Century were direct to the parks. Granted, I haven’t been to Wilderness Lodge since 2003, so bus schedules could’ve changed.

Most of the rooms have balconies, and a few times when we came back to the hotel early, for some unknown reason, we saw the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Wilderness Lodge is in the Magic Kingdom area, so we could see them.

An Unseen Story

2010-03-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time a beginning to a story was born, but that beginning has become cliché. Unless you’re writing a time travel story, you should probably start a story some other way. For instance, the story that got accepted at www.friedfiction.com didn’t start that way.

I wrote for a middle school, I think, writing contest and won honorable mention. Sadly, I don’t know what happened to that story, all I know is I don’t have it. This was before the days of massive hard drives and flash drives; you could only store so much on a floppy disk. I wish I still had it, but I don’t so no use crying over spilled milk. I already wrote something else probably as long as or longer than that one, and another one somewhat shorter. Both are only fragments, so that’s why they’re not already out there.

I didn’t always like to read, for one, it was tedious to keep adjusting my big electronic magnifier whenever I turned a page. There weren’t many audiobooks when I was growing up; also I think I was too lazy to go to the library.

I ordered a lot of abridged Star Wars books on cassette, but I eventually traded them in for credit with www.audiobooks.com. I got Hunt for Red October from there and most of the Dune books, which I still have. All the Tom Clancy books I have now and most of the Dune books are very good. As I said in my earlier audiobook entry, my favorite books will always be The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Some other books that I really like are The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, which will be 14 books when completed. I like Brandon Sanderson’s books too; he’s concluding the Wheel of Time series because Mr. Jordan passed away before completion. I have a lot of histories and biographies too. If I listed all the books I had, I’d still be typing the list when the world ends in 2012.

To one degree or another all these books have given me inspiration. One degree was that I’ve often read something and wanted to be like those authors. Other times I’ve thought, I could do better than that. That’s what I’ve set out to do. My first episode at www.friedfiction.com is just a beginning; Minas Anor wasn’t built in a day. I’ll post another episode over there next week, so stay tuned and I won’t bite. If you wish you can post a comment about it there or you can post a comment to my blog. Keep Reading.

Disney XXIII

2010-03-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Again boring educational stuff, I want thrill rides, but that’s not what World Showcase is. That’s where I went after we finished Future World. There were and still are only two rides in World Showcase, plus a number of shows. We wandered in and out of shops, and went on the two rides. When we rode the Maelstrom, the ride in Norway, on this and future occasions, in the part where the troll forces you backward, your boat almost falls over a waterfall. It seemed that previous to the 2009 trip already described, the boat hung over the waterfall further. We ate at a restaurant in Italy that had very good food, but as of 2009 they have a new one where Alfredo’s was. That concludes our visit to EPCOT, next up MGM.

Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, weren’t there when we went for our first time, and I believe mostly everything else was the same. Now this was my kind of park, but the Magic Kingdom was and is still Numero Uno. We went to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, with its giant grass(and before you ask no, there aren’t giant marijuana plants there), slides and such. Forget what else we did. We ate at a restaurant called the Soundstage, and some characters were there. I believe Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger(not Tiger, Animal Kingdom wasn’t there yet), were there. I can’t remember much else of MGM.

I believe those are the major highlights but no Animal Kingdom or Downtown Disney. I’ll touch on fireworks and parades. I believe we did see one daylight parade, but I didn’t really see it. The floats are big and lots of colors but it’s hard to see because of the sun. I think we saw SpectroMagic and the Fireworks, and they were a lot easier for me to see. We saw Illuminations; I think it was a little different. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have the floating globe, and the music was different.

As I said earlier, we’ve stayed on the Walt Disney World grounds ever since this trip. That’s all for now from Disney. Stay tuned

P.S. Today a baby Gorilla was born at the Animal Kingdom(Hey, I didn’t know they cloned Mark).

Disney XXII

2010-02-25T16:45:00.001-08:00

In Tomorrowland, we rode Space Mountain which was neat but I felt like I was going to be thrown out of the ride vehicle. The lapbar was secure but it still felt that way. I forget if we saw Carousel of Progress but my brother and I saw Timekeeper. It was a Circle-Vision 360 hosted by an animatronic robot with the voice of Robin Williams. I can’t remember very much now but the movie was neat. That’s pretty much it for the Magic Kingdom.

Epcot was next and seeing Spaceship Earth for the first time was really cool. I liked Spaceship Earth from the start, just the sights and smells of the past were cool, not to mention the fact that the ride was inside a giant sphere. Honey, I Shrunk the Audience wasn’t there; we did ride Journey into the Imagination, I think.

Next we went to Wonders of Life, which closed in 2002, I think. We all saw Cranium Command, which was a show where different people controlled different body parts. The show was very entertaining and I think it should’ve remained open. Then, Mark and I rode Body Wars, which was a simulator that took riders into the body.

Next we rode Living with the Land, which I think is very popular, even though it’s a slow boat rode. I don’t think I liked it the first time I rode it. I was 12; I wanted thrill rides, not dumb educational boat rides. Soarin’ wasn’t there at that time; as for the dumb educational boat ride, I changed my opinion.

From The Land we went to the World of Motion and I can’t remember a thing about it; not even if I liked it. Maybe sometime Mark can post a comment if he remembers more; though he was only 9 and I think the swelling of his head probably pushed such mundane things out. This ride was replaced by Test Track, which I very much do remember since it’s still there and neat.

We went to Horizons next and I’m pretty sure I liked this ride as I think it closed in 2002. Don’t recall very much except that before the end of the ride, there was an interactive part where you choose between three environments; desert, under sea and space. Then you watch on a screen as you travel through that landscape. This ride was replaced by Mission SPACE, to my mind not a very good trade; I can’t ride it because of my vision so that’s an even greater reason for me. If you like Mission SPACE that’s fine with me.

We saw Universe of Energy and it was slow so I think I put it in the dumb educational ride category. All around I don’t think I appreciated EPCOT as much as I do now; I was 12, this was Walt Disney World, learning was for school.

Disney XXI

2010-02-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

Our first trip to Walt Disney world was in 1994 but we did make one trip to Disneyland when I was 5; I don’t remember a thing but Mark, who was only 2 ½ at the time, swears he can remember everything. I guess that’s practice for when he’s a lawyer. Truthfully, I can’t remember very much from our ’94 trip either and most of what I can remember, I’ve already discussed.

We took regular flights, not a charter as with our most recent trip and thus didn’t arrive until evening, even though we left in the morning. We stayed off the grounds in Kissimee at the Holiday Inn Maingate. This was the first and last time we stayed off the grounds. For me, I don’t know about anyone else but it took too much time; you had to go from your hotel to the TTC, Transportation and Ticket Center, then from there, one took a monorail or bus to the parks. I think all we did was get there, have dinner and go to sleep. We went in June, since we were in school until then, and it was crowded.

Most of the rides at the Magic Kingdom I’ve already described but some we did our first time that we don’t do and others that aren’t there anymore. Of the ones that are gone, even though I prefer its replacement, I wish they kept both. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride it was called and it was pretty neat; I can’t remember very much other than it always seemed as though you were going to crash into everything. It was replaced with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which I previously described in a Disney post.

In Adventureland, we went through the Swiss Family Treehouse and didn’t do it again; lots of visual stuff that I either couldn’t see or wasn’t that interesting. I don’t think we saw the Tiki Birds the first time; we or I thought it would be lame. One of us was wrong because the Tiki Birds were very neat.

In Frontierland we didn’t see Country Jamboree because my mom, brother and I thought it would be stupid; my father wanted to see it but was overruled. While not as neat as the Tiki Birds, it’s worth seeing, in my opinion. We also went through the Frontierland shootin’ Arcade, which was fairly dumb. Unlike Buzz or Toy Story Mania, the shootin’ arcade just has you shoot at various targets against a wall.

I can’t remember if we saw the Hall of Presidents or not but we did ride the Haunted Mansion; I don’t know if it was love at first crash or not. In Fantasyland we rode Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, I have always disliked carousels, especially climbing on the stupid horses but I think I was at the wanting to be like everyone else stage, so I rode them. I don’t ride them anymore and if I do, I’ll sit in one of those cars. We also rode the mad tea cups, don’t ask me why, all they do is spin around; I think we wanted to try everything at that point. Selectivity would come later.

So much for only one entry on our ’94 trip; oh well, I did warn everyone that brevity isn’t my strong suit.

ode to lawyers

2010-02-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

This for my brother, who asked for it; it’s one story I’m writing, I was going to make it a bit longer but decided to add the last paragraph instead.

Cicero stepped off the shuttle in Hamrabar and looked around; after all, he thought, this is going to be my new home for the next two-and-a-half years.” He knew that law school normally took three years, but I’m going to complete it in 2½, he promised himself. He wasn’t impressed by the spaceport: there was just one building, and he guessed you picked up your luggage and hired transportation there, if necessary. Luckily my bags were sent ahead to the school, he told himself. He boarded the bus that would take him to his new home and then waited, tapping his foot on the floor, while the bus slowly filled up. He took out his i-world, plugged in his head phones and put on his Rock playlist to make waiting easier.

When he next looked up, the scenery was rapidly moving by; he looked around within the bus and saw that every seat, including the one next to him, was occupied. The young man was giving him a dirty look; he gave one back, with interest. Just because I move to my music, he thought with a scowl, that doesn’t entitle him to complain. He added a gesture, to make clear his disapproval and turned to look out the window. The view out the window was mostly trees and grass, so he disappeared back into rock ‘n roll, not caring what the idiot in the seat next to him thought.

He was partially concentrating on the bus’s movement, so when it began to slow, he realized it immediately. He shut off his i-world, packed it back in its stainless steel case—can never be too careful with my baby—and made his way forward. Wanting his first view of the Douglas MacArthur Law School, he thought it odd that a law school should be named after a general, but as long as it was a good school, he didn’t much care. Not even noticing the people he bumped or the looks and words that were directed at him, he grasped the bar on the ceiling and gazed out the windshield.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the huge rotunda on the new technology building. The bus came to a complete stop, and he nearly went through the windshield. That’s why I’m holding on to this bar, he reminded himself. A MacArthur school ambassador greeted the bus and its passengers, of which he was the first one off.

Then a death star—Hey, I didn’t call for a death star—appeared above the planet that was home to the most prestigious law schools and law firms. Hey this planet isn’t Alderaan. The massive weapon powered its laser and fired. Having no jedi to save the day, Hamrabar was vaporized and a cheer went up from the rest of the universe.

Note: no actual lawyers were harmed in the writing of this piece.

Excerpt of conversation between Mark and me:
Me: you'll be happy to know that, in the stories I've written and am in the process of writing, I haven't killed any lawyers.
Mark: What's stopping you? Sheesh
Me: I can't just put all lawyers on a planet and do it Alderaan style, it has to fit. This is the relevant part of my conversation.

2010-02-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

My mother reminded me of another book I read in one of the years, Catcher in the Rye. As I remember (though it was 10 years ago), Catcher wasn’t as good as 1984, but still it was a pretty good book. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and The Hollow Hills (I think that was the title), were others. Don’t know how I forget this, but Lord of the Flies was another one; now, it’s probably deemed politically incorrect but interesting book, not for everyone, though.

Some of these I got as audiobooks from our local library, others I read with my big electronic magnifier. In class, we also read some Shakespeare; at one time I could recite from memory the Antony eulogy in Julius Caesar, the Tomorrow and Tomorrow speech in Macbeth, and others. I have all of Shakespeare’s works on audio now, but they’re dramatized so the volume shifts so it’s hard to listen to them everywhere.

One of the classes that I really didn’t see, in the literal sense of the word, the need for was geometry. I never, and still don’t, understand why I of all people had to take geometry. I don’t know about any of you, my readers, but I certainly wouldn’t want to spend any time in a building I constructed. As soon make me take the drivers’ safety class that I was excused from. Maybe I could crash into a building and then attempt, badly, to rebuild it; that’s about all I see with geometry.

Don’t remember when this was but it was on my last day of orientation and mobility, my instructor gave me a little flying dragon figurine. When Mark went on his study abroad in college, he brought be back a coliseum (the original) miniature back. Now, I put the dragon in the coliseum, and I think it looks really cool.

When I went through school, excluding college, I didn’t bring my cane. One reason was I wanted to be like everyone else, even though I wasn’t;t another was that I’m fairly sure, when I folded it up to sit down, it would’ve walked away on more than one occasion. I did use my cane in college because there’s more walking involved but also, I was confident it wasn’t going to misplace itself.

I think next time I’ll do a Disney entry from our first trip. That trip will only be one, I think, because I can’t remember that much from it.

Mazes

2010-02-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

I think it was 4th or 5th grade that I had a vision teacher that brought mazes for me to play with. The mazes did actually have a purpose although they were just fun to me at the time. They were on a magnetic board(if anyone gets this, they didn’t involve animal stampedes) and the piece I used was basically a magnet. Anyway, before anyone says, not fair, you got to have fun in school, they were for hand-eye coordination, which still isn’t good but at least I got to have fun, ha.

Obviously, I didn’t drown in my swimming class in 6th grade, since I’m still here. In 7th grade I had sewing, I won’t make any jokes because I don’t know how many female readers I have and I can’t recall stabbing myself; they never had to surgically separate my fingers either. I made, wonder of wonders they all looked like what they were supposed to, a pillow shaped like a football, a small football, 2-class of 2000 decorative pillows and a butterfly magnet. I’ll grudgingly admit that some of the reason the things looked like they were supposed to was because I had help.

These blend together but another elective I had was woodwork, with hammer and nails and I wasn’t hospitalized for this class either. I’m better at destroying, but this time I built something; don’t know if I made anything else but I do recall making a wooden pickup truck. Next, there was woodworking with power tools but I guess someone realized that was a disaster waiting to happen; I was excused from that.

I think it might have been intermediate school where I read a book, either my mom read it to me or I put it under my large electronic magnifier. I don’t remember the title or much of the plot except, I liked the book and there was a guy that had North, South, West and East as aliases.

Everything else was basically ordinary in those grades. Then we(the royal we) moved on to high school. I remember for English I had a reading list and you could choose three or four books; one book on there was Fellowship of the Ring but I didn’t read it because I’d already read it. I should have lied but instead I was stuck reading so-called classics, classic misprints if you ask me. Though I did read one classic that I liked very much and now have on audio CD, 1984 is its name.

1984 is a very odd book and not everyone will like it; I do, however, recommend it and it is still very much relevant. I also chose Wuthering Heights, The Sun Also Rises, A Brave New World and other bad ones; this list is for all 4 years, since I can’t recall which books belong to which year. Well, next time I will continue with high school. Thanks for reading

Last gasp...for the moment

2010-01-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

Just a few final notes about Walt Disney World; I know, I know, you’re probably all thinking, shut up and talk about something else. I have four previous trips to talk about and no, before everyone starts shouting, they will only be the highlights since there are no lowlights at Disney. On our return to Epcot (to redo certain attractions or do some we missed) I got a Viking Donald at Norway. I don’t really collect plush animals, but I do have a number of them. Just so you know, before you call me names, my attack squirrel (and shut up, Mark) can take your Spongebob any day. Also, I got a shirt that says, “I’m grumpy because I’m with dopey”; dopey being Mark, aka MakeItSo. I must not have been feeling well when I asked him if he wanted to be a contributor.

I never described my room, and since I don’t have a webcam, I’ll do it the so-called old-fashioned way. I have a Star Trek calendar on my door; I have an Area 51 poster on one closet door and a flag poster on the other. Then, above my bed I have two pictures of my grandfather, a film cell from Independence Day, my black-belt certificate, a Star Trek film cell (from the original series), and a picture of Cinderella Castle. On the back wall I have a poster of Jamestown, then my window and then my framed Diplomas from Marywood and Penn State (Worthington Scranton campus).

Close to my bed I also have my clock, with a really annoying alarm (I’m still surprised it never took flying lessons), and my portable WMA player. The bed is the same one I’ve had for the last 20 years or so; as you’ll see, I’m not big on getting rid of something just because it’s old. If it works, I keep it. Besides, with most things, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to . . . .

The wall opposite my bed is where my TV is, it’s on a shelving unit that has some DVDs and my CDs on it. Then my dresser, with a mirror (so useful to me) and my big stereo on it. Then, I have a picture of the Argonath, for you non-Lord of the Rings people, those are huge stone statues of kings, then a pre-9/11 picture of the Twin Towers and, below that, my computer table.

I have a fairly old, but not a pin, printer, which I am very proud of because it’s worked for 10 years or so and my parent’s computer has gone through three I think. On my printer I have a bald eagle, a leopard (again, shut up, Mark) and a snowman. Next to the printer, I have Frankenstein, then my monitor and keyboard.

My monitor is a 20in LCD; the trim on it is black in color; my keyboard is black with white letters. Then, I have a darker-colored mouse, a lighter-colored Dell computer, my portable hard drive, and a “this day in history,” desk calendar, which I like very much.

Darker colors are easier on my eyes, even though I type without looking. The portable hard drive, named it Alexandria, has the books I’ve downloaded from www.audible.com on it, as well as a story I’m working on. Then, on the door wall I have a picture of my dad’s destroyer—well, the one that he worked on while in the Navy—next to an aircraft carrier. I can’t even see the destroyer because the carrier is so large. Then there’s another shelving unit with the remainder of my DVDs and audiobooks on it.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Disney XX

2010-01-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

I would’ve happily stayed until the end of time but unfortunately, we had to leave on day 7. The rest of us had to leave on day 7 but my expletive deleted brother stayed an extra night, I think it was just to annoy me. If he wants to he can say what the real reason was but I enjoy my persecution complex. Anyway, we bade farewell to Walt Disney World for this time and were taken back to the real world. I mean really, what is it good for, staying in Fantasyland seems just fine to me.

Went through security again at the airport, fun times. Then we sat in the waiting room until our flight was called. To pass the time, my father and I went to see if we could find some lunch. Next time we go, I’m going to see if they have a list of the restaurants they have at the airport and their menus online. I just hope I don’t get put on the no-fly list for trying. I do have a handheld electronic magnifier that I’m pretty sure could help me, at least to some extent, but I’m also pretty sure that I’d get security called on me. Anyway, I forget what I had but I do recall that it was pretty good for airport food; then our flight was called.

We boarded the plane to take us away from Florida. I think I said this before but I’ll tell it again because it was rather irritating. I had my cane in the seat pocket, it was folded up but it was out. The flight attendant had had no problem with my cane on the flight down but not so on this flight. One of them came by and asked me to put my cane in a compartment. We said that there was no problem on the flight down and that I did need it but she was insistent.

Now the episode with American airlines and the orange juice hadn’t happened yet but it lends credence to why I put my cane in a compartment. I didn’t feel like getting a federal warning or being thrown off the plane for my cane unless I thought it was necessary. I was with my parents, so when the flight landed they could get the cane since we put it in an overhead bin. If I was traveling alone, I probably would have taken my chances on being insistent but I don’t want to end up on the no-fly list. You see and read all these stories of people who have no business being on the no-fly list but, for one reason or another, they are. If you can get a federal warning over politely insisting on a cup of orange juice, what chance does a blind guy have.

2010-01-20T20:29:00.000-08:00

Wishes is the Magic Kingdom’s fireworks display and, if I remember correctly, it goes off at 10pm nightly, although it adds something when you watch SpectroMagic first. First, the castle is lit; I’m not really sure if this is done before or after SpectroMagic, then comes the narration about wishes coming true. Then come the fireworks, they’re really cool to watch, and they’re so big and so loud that even I can see them, by echolocation if nothing else. Sometime during the fireworks a person dressed as tinkerbell “flies” to the castle. At most I see a moving point of light and sometimes not even that. Even without seeing her, the fireworks are really cool and again, it’s something I can see, which is always nice.

I don’t know how but I left out the Tiki Room. There are animatronic statues in the ferns where the queue area is or maybe they’re just speakers, I can’t really tell. When you go in you sit down and look up because the action is above you, they are birds after all. Jose the Parrot—I like the name—starts narrating and then Iago interrupts him, to liven up the show, he says. He does a few acts and then the totem polls come alive to make him disappear. The Tiki Gods do their part of the show, and then Iago reappears, miraculously in (more or less) one piece. Then, the show finishes and you leave. The show is mostly either the birds talking or singing.

Haunted mansion is my favorite ride at Walt Disney World. The area on either side of the queue is supposed to symbolize a graveyard and the tombstones have funny epitaphs on them. I can’t remember clearly what they but I think more than once Mark talked about sending me to join them. There is a cast member at the door who says something corny then opens the door and directs you down a hallway. It’s pretty dark when you enter so I usually grab Mark’s arm; I’m using my cane too but for the sake of keeping together it’s easier to use Mark. At the end of the hall, you enter a room where you ghost host introduces himself and asks you if you would like to join the party. Then the doors open and you board your doom buggy. After repeated ridings, I’m pretty much able to see everything in the Haunted Mansion; the skeleton orchestra, the ghosts down in the ballroom and the candle floating at the end of the hallway. I really only see the candle as a shape but I see it; at one point there is a crystal ball doing a séance and then ghosts floating up from the graveyard. Then you go past trick mirrors that show that a ghost or something has entered your buggy and will follow you home.

Sniffle, Sniffle, I think that’s it, we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to but then again, there’s never enough time. Though I think we’re done with pricy restaurants with dress codes, that was a total disappoint except seeing the fireworks from there. Give me Cosmic Ray, the Pop Century food court, etc., as I said it was nice that we tried it but that was just a waste of time. Next entry, I’ll complain about going home and then combine it with something else.

New Year

2010-01-18T16:16:00.001-08:00

My mother and I went to see the 3D version of Avatar yesterday and it was pretty good. The scene where the Na’vi shot at the helicopters with bows and arrows before Jake came along was a little much but that’s about the only part with which I found criticism . Having a history degree, I could see lots of parallels between the situation in Avatar and other contacts between Western and native cultures. Even though the 3D version of Avatar was cool, I much prefer giant brooms, Muppets shooting cannons, dogs sneezing on you, etc. When you come out of the theater, there’s no splash mountain or haunted mansion to ride, oh well.

Continued from November entry Unseeing Eye Beagles. Fred liked to be outside but as I said before, his illustrious bloodlines went for naught because he didn’t chase Anything, except cats. It was interesting because at out summer place he would smell cats and bark but it would be the bark he was supposed to use for rabbits. He wasn’t very active other than liking the outside; when he came inside, he would usually lay somewhere and sleep. He didn’t like to go for walks or really to play with toys. Altogether he was a really nice dog despite being a wuss but unfortunately he got cancer or something and had to be put to sleep.

We were without a furry friend again and my mother didn’t want to get another one. It was a few months but my father saw a picture on the humane society’s website and talked my mother into going to see him. A few more trips and they got Max the 5-year-old beagle. Something he has in common with Barkley, our first dog, is that he’s on the noisy side; he likes to bark. He likes to go for walks in the morning and he also likes to go for car rides. The way that Fred kind of was my mother’s dog, Max has become my father’s dog but he likes me more. Max likes to play with toys, especially the soft kind with squeakers or other noisemakers inside them, though he does like to rip the stuffing out of them. He has had one soft toy that has lasted a fairly long time. He doesn’t like the rain or cold and sometimes he shivers; he isn’t out long when it’s cold but for some reason he still shivers. He has the habit from somewhere, of getting the place where he’s sleeping exactly right; he flips his blanket in the air, bunches up the sheet my mom has on the couch and much more. He likes to be covered, so he throws his blanket over him and once he rolled himself in the sheet that covers the couch.

Repaired

2010-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've gotten over my cold so I will restart entries tomorrow.

break

2010-01-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a brief break because I have a cold but also to let the college students that are reading this to get back into their studies. Thank you for reading.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

I want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year.

P.S. As you know my cousin and his family came to visit this week and my gift from him for amusing his children (Matthew and Michael not being light) is a cold. Way to go, Bryan.

That's a Wrap

2009-12-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

My cousin and his family came yesterday for a visit and dinner; I was most of the entertainment for the two older ones, Matthew, nearly 6 and Michael, 3 1/2. I was a snarling, vicious alien that sat in its computer desk chair, while they tried to get me out of it and/or blast me to smithereens. Needless to say, I’m writing this which means they didn’t succeed. I also pretended to pick them up and put them on the ground with various wrestling moves; before everyone calls child protective services on me I didn’t land on them, I put them on the ground from my chair. I had to do normal speed, since I don’t have the quickest reflexes and such. I don’t have the ability to speed up and then slow the motion abruptly. That’s why I can’t pretend to drop stuff and salvage it at the last minute; I WILL drop it.

My being an alien all started when my cousin and his family were here for Thanksgiving. I have an Area 51 poster on my closet door which is a picture of a little green man on it and one of them asked me what it was or something. I replied in a different voice that it was my cousin or something and we went from there.

My cousin’s wife, Karen, called about a month ago and wanted to talk to my mother; I said she wasn’t home yet. So Karen and I were talking for a little while and then she asked me, “Does your mother wear jewelry”? I think I rolled my eyes or something and I said that she wears earrings; I also said that maybe I wasn’t the best person to ask. She thought that was funny but I thought it was hysterical; I always find it funny when people, usually those who should know better, ask questions, make gestures or anything else that requires close to 20/20 vision.

Mark came in on December 19th and is here(physically, at least) for the remainder of the decade. As his away message said, he raced a blizzard and won. He came in from Washington D.C. and his train left just in time. Nothing much to report until Christmas Eve; we had lobster tail, shrimp cocktail, a salad for me and baked potato. Unfortunately, everyone ate their lobster tail, so I didn’t get to be Mikey but I did have lots of cookies; they are homemade and in Great supply. There are two kinds that I really like; chocolate chip and cut-out. My mother says they’re sugar cookies, just homemade but ever since I was little, I’ve called them cut-outs and I don’t really have the inclination to break this 20+year old habit.

I got an Audible gift certificate, Itunes gift cards, some money, new running clothes, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Stargate Atlantis Season 5. I gave Mark the new Star Trek and the ultimate edition of the first Harry Potter movie. I gave my mother two books and my father 2 CDs. We had homemade Ravioli and antipasto for dinner. My contribution was the sauce; I always make the sauce now.

Karen said that she doesn’t think of me as being blind, she thinks of me as just like everyone else; I’m sure that’s how most of the people that ask questions or make gestures at me that require sight think of me. That’s the point of equality; however, these episodes aren’t any less funny.

Disney XVIII

2009-12-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

Before I start this entry, which will focus on entertainment at Walt Disney World, I want to take note of an airplane incident that happened recently. I am speaking about the American Airlines Frequent Flier who got a federal warning because he asked for orange juice. This is a link to the story http://www.khou.com/home/Frequent-flier-asks-for-orange-juice-ends-up-with-federal-warning-79223987.html. I regard this as an indication that my attitude concerning taking my cane on flights or through security is well-founded. As noted in an earlier entry, I don’t want to make a federal case out of folding up cane for security; I just didn’t think I meant it literally. On to happier things and places.

One afternoon we went to Downtown Disney; there are shops, restaurants, night clubs and other entertainment areas. There’s a huge Virgin Records store there, a movie prop store and many others. We ate at Planet Hollywood, which is positively huge and Very loud. The food was good and, after a little while, I got used to the ambiance; it was just Loud. I’m sure the décor was nice but I couldn’t see all that much of it.

Then, we went shopping for a little, yuk; then, we went to DisneyQuest. DisneyQuest is along the lines of a five-floor (or so) arcade, chock full of advanced games and virtual reality. The best attraction here is CyberSpace Mountain. It features a full-motion simulator, where you can design and ride your own rollercoaster; Mark and I designed Thrillers twice but unfortunately neither of us can remember what we called the coasters. All I can say is mad scientists would be proud of our design. That’s all for Downtown Disney; now, for the rest of the show.

I was going to wait to write this in the order I did it but, oh well. It was a previous trip, we were staying at Wilderness Lodge and we were down on the walkway by the Seven Seas Lagoon. There is a water pageant on the Lagoon, with large, lighted sea serpents, King Triton and others; I saw it first and I like that.

There is a sometimes-nightly parade in the Magic Kingdom called SpectroMagic. SpectroMagic features floats with lights on them; Jiminy Cricket narrates the show but my family also points characters and floats out too. For some reason, there are a lot of, what look to me like lit butterflies.

Parades always annoy me. For one thing, you have to get there an hour (or more) before to have a good spot to see the parade, which is annoying but worth it (at least for SpectroMagic), though sometimes we must be forceful to defend our spot. Sometimes, people come 15 minutes or less before the parade starts and expect to stand in front of us; I am not tall (5 ft 5) and most often standing with my cane out, yet they still try to stand in front of me. Most times, they are miffed that they can’t stand in front. Parades are also annoying because people in scooters and wheelchairs can be in the front for some unknown reason, but I, who have a cane, cannot. (I have a permanent disability, and with no amount of work would I be able to be able to see properly.) I’ll refrain from further comment about scooters.

I hope everyone has a good holiday and has lots of good food to eat.

Disney XVII

2009-12-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

For a value resort, the food court was very good, a whole lot better than some of the resorts at the deluxe resorts we’ve been at. On our last full day at Walt Disney World, why?, we went to the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort. I think the Contemporary is cool, partially because the monorail runs through it. Anyway, there was supposedly a dress code for this restaurant and we foolishly believed them. Naturally, we had to take dress everything, which added weight to our suitcases and with the restrictions on all that stuff, suitcase weight can become an issue. So, we had to go back to the hotel, taking valuable time away from rides and change into the dress clothes. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, I think, and then the monorail to The Contemporary. We checked in at the appropriate area, then were led to an elevator up to the restaurant. We picked night time because you can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the outside balcony.

First, I think we had to wait a while to get seated, then it took a while to get served and it was difficult for me to find something to eat. I don’t mean reading the menu was difficult, just that it was hard to find something. I’m one of those people that prefer ordinary food, like spaghetti and meatballs or chicken, etc. Chicken fried caviar, diced with eggplant, sprinkled with vodka and liver, with a side of something I can’t even pronounce, doesn’t appeal to me very much. Anyway, I got some kind of chicken which was probably way too expensive for chicken. The best part was there weren’t very many people in dress clothes there; there were plenty of shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops but not many button-down shirts. A lot of kids were running around too and how you can even feed a kid at a restaurant like that is beyond me. My point is, if you’re going to have an, expletive deleted, dress code, then enforce it or don’t have one. I, at least, will not be going back to any Disney restaurants with supposed dress codes; I prefer to have more room in my suitcase and to spend more time at the parks.

I must say, the fireworks were nice viewed from the balcony but not worth whatever the price of admission was, not to mention the annoyance factor discussed above. We tried it once and will not be going back. Personally, I’d prefer Pop Century’s food court, Cosmic Rays, etc.

Disney XVI

2009-12-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Last park is the Animal Kingdom. While this park is not my favorite, there are some very neat rides there. The symbol for Animal Kingdom is the gigantic Tree of Life. It is a huge tree with animal faces on every side; I can’t see the carvings but they’re there.

Inside the Tree of Life is the 3D show It’s Tough To Be a Bug; this is another show that requires those 3D glasses. The queue is just a line outside, with no scenery, at least none that I can see. The theatre is in the tree and the seats are crafted to seem like they’re made of wood. There are many effects, like smelly fog, running bugs, simulated stings, etc. My 6ft 3, 200 lb, former high school football player, brother chose not to see the show; he has no limitations to prevent him from seeing the show, so make of that what you will.

Next is the Festival of the Lion King, which is a truly awesome show. It’s a show of music, lights and lots of props. It is a circular theatre with groups of seats on two sides and the performers come from the sides that don’t have seats.

After the Lion King is Kilimanjaro Safari, which is not my favorite ride but I do see some animals; as for the rest, if I can see moving lumps I know they’re animals. I see the lumps clearly but I do only see lumps.

Next is the newest attraction, Expedition EVEREST and it is a good coaster; it isn’t Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster or Splash Mountain, it’s more like a snow version of thunder mountain. As with Thunder Mountain, I can’t see very much of the scenery; there was supposed to be a moving abominable snowman but due to technical difficulties, it is static.

The Kali River Rapids come next and, as the name implies, this is a water ride. You get rather wet during this ride; there doesn’t seem to be much scenery in this ride or, I can’t see it.

Next comes Dinosaur; it’s a ride through the end of the dinosaurs to rescue a specific kind. I forget what kind it is. Your time machine vehicle must dodge falling meteors, carnivorous dinosaurs, etc.

There is a new attraction called Finding Nemo: The Musical, which is another show. It’s not anywhere near as good as Festival of the Lion King but we tried it once, which is what trying is for.

We had lunch at an the Flametree BBQ, an outdoor restaurant, which is not always pleasant for me. It’s not that bad when it’s a cloudy day or at night but during the day, when it’s sunny, I have a hard time seeing, up to and including the food on my plate.

Disney XV

2009-12-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

There’s a new ride that just got added called Toy Story Mania. It’s along the same lines as Buzz Lightyear in the Magic Kingdom and as with Buzz, I enjoyed this attraction. This attraction is based off an arcade concept but with two differences: you are riding and you wear 3D glasses. You are much closer to your targets than Buzz; the screen is directly in front of the ride vehicle. I can see more than I can in Buzz, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that I still can’t see that much of what I’m shooting at. A very nice ride for the above reason; for me, not seeing somewhat enhances the experience because I can’t really see what I’m doing and so more of a challenge.

Last, at Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s is Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Before I begin, let me say that there is an Ariel ride planned for Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom. This, however, is Voyage of the Little Mermaid. As with all shows, I sit up front but not too close; the stage is raised and made of stone. I sit relatively close and have a very good view. Ariel narrates her own story but I can’t see if the Ariel is a real person in a costume or an animatronics figure. She tells the story and from time to time movie clips are shown on the screen in the background. One effect is if you sit close to the screen you get wet, which always cool.

We went to Mama Melrose’s for lunch that day and the food was good. It was basically a normal restaurant with movie props and pictures, most of which I can’t see.

We caught a bus back to Pop Century, got our refillable mugs and had dinner at the surprisingly good food court. Then Mark and I walked around outside for a bit; I saw the lit up bowling pins as well as the lit up rubics cube.

Disney XIV

2009-12-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Beauty and the Beast show is next. This attraction violates one of my dislikes, it’s a musical but even I can have a few exceptions. It’s a show, so I have to sit closer but I can show my card and sometimes say something anyway; the card is for all disabilities or a broken leg. The seating for the card is in the back but obviously that is worth nothing to me; the cast members don’t seem to always know what a cane means but many do, more than previous trips. Anyway, it’s just a live show based on the movie, with people dressed up in colorful costumes.

Next up is the Great Movie Ride, which is a tram ride. The façade is a replica of the Mann Chinese theatre and this is one of the original MGM attractions. I think there are movie props along the queue but I can’t see all that much. You board the tram next and you have a driver, which comes into play later. You travel through movies and their scenery from various decades. I don’t like all of the movies but the scenery is always nice to look at. There’s a point where you come to the gangster movies and a gunfight. Your driver goes to break it up and one of the gangster’s hops into his place; the ride starts again and you head out. The gangster breathes a sigh of relief when you pass out of the area but the next scene is the ship from the Alien movies; needless to say the earthbound gangster isn’t very happy to see some of the bad boys of the universe. You pass out of that room and into a room with a big jewel of some kind Indiana Jones); the gangster gets out to retrieve the gem and you hear an ethereal voice. It tells you that the stone is cursed but the gangster doesn’t hear; just as the gangster puts his hand on the gem, he goes bye-bye and your driver returns. You proceed through several more scenes and then to a movie clips room. When the clips are over, so is the ride.

The Backlot Tour is the next stop and this is another calm ride. It’s a tram ride that takes you on a tour of the process of making a movie. You go through a functioning costume store, see facades of actual buildings that appeared in movies and so on. I can’t see very much but it’s nice to listen to the driver’s narration.

Next is Muppet Vision 3D and it’s really cool. This is another attraction for which you wear 3D glasses. Along the queue there are displays of the latest from Muppet Labs. There is a pre-show and it involves the set up for what the actual show will be; you do not wear the 3D glasses for this pre-show. Next is the show itself and it is awesome. You put on the 3D glasses and everything comes alive. There are other effects too, such as bubbles and sound effects, etc.; at one point, Kermit the Frog opens a bottle of champagne and you get wet. This is a capital MUST SEE!!!

Disney XIII

2009-12-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Next day we went to Disney Hollywood Studios; until very recently it was MGM studios and if I call it that, know that those two are the same. Enough with disclaimers, on to falling elevators and muppets.

You enter the park down Hollywood Avenue, passed lots of themed shops. The Hollywood Tower Hotel, Tower of Terror is at the end of the block but I can’t really see the building from the beginning of the block. The Tower of Terror is an elevator ride. The façade looks ill-maintained or, I think that’s what it’s supposed to be. The card I got on the first day allowed me to use alternate entrances or fastpass lines but sometimes I like to use regular lines if the queue area has interesting scenery. I have no doubt that I miss most of the scenery anyway but what I can see is good enough for me. Tower of Terror is one such place. There are old boilers and the like scattered beyond the barred area of the queue. When you get to the end of the queue, you proceed through doors into another room of the supposed hotel. There’s a TV in there where Rod Serling comes on and gives a narration of what happened at the hotel. I won’t tell you what he says, if you want to know, you’re going to have to go somewhere else. There’s some illumination in the queue area but it’s completely dark in the pre-show room except for the TV. When it’s over, thunder cracks and pitch blackness descends; the doors open and your path to the Twilight Zone is almost complete. I usually grab Mark’s arm to make sure I don’t try to go through the entrance or a wall. You proceed through a little line and then the cast member assigns you to a specific elevator. You go into the elevator, strap yourself…, “hey wait, I thought this was an elevator?” The doors close and you go up like a normal elevator; the doors open and you look out onto a hallway, with people walking down it. Then lightning strikes and electricity sizzles in the hallway; the people turn to ghosts and the hallway slowly changes to a starscape. The window at the end of the hall remains unbroken, despite the starscape but then, you hear glass shatter and it breaks. The doors close and you go to the top; the doors open and you proceed along a track, with scenery changing along the way. Then you enter the drop shaft and the real fun begins. SNAP!!!

If you survive, it’s on to a nice, calm limo ride to an Aerosmith concert. You walk through the queue, where there’s some stuff to see and hear but not that much. Then you come to the preshow area, where you get briefed on arrangements for the concerts but then you are told you are almost last. You then proceed to the boarding area and your superstretch limos. You get in and the restraints…, “Why do I need restraints for a calm limo ride. The limos start moving, music starts blasting and you roar your way into the night. You go from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds and have close encounters with signs and loops.

Hello to Jennifer from Ireland and thanks for reading.

Disney XII

2009-12-05T17:24:00.001-08:00

We had lunch at Le Cellier in Canada. We used to have our Epcot sit-down lunch in Italy but the restaurant that we ate at closed. A new restaurant did open but it was very expensive and the food didn’t look good. Le Cellier wasn’t spectacular, so I guess it’s back to the drawing board. It wasn’t that the food was bad; it was just that there wasn’t a great variety.

After lunch, it was more attractions. I described the attractions in EPCOT in order but, obviously, we did not do them all before lunch. Next time we go, I’ll keep better track of what we do when. The group Off Kilter would perform sometimes, no relation to Mark and it was nice to hear the music. Indeed all the music was very good; for me, at least, it adds flavor to the experience.

That leaves Illuminations, the fireworks and laser nightly show at EPCOT. We get there roughly an hour before time to get a good spot. It’s relatively light out when we get our spot but then, the sky, as if on queue, begins to darken. At some point electric torches come on and the buildings around the lake, light up. When I see some lighted building I ask what it is and, by the end of the night, Mark is probably ready to toss me in the lake. Just before the show starts, the torches go out and the buildings darken. Then the music begins; the whole presentation is set to music. The music rises and the fireworks begin. Floating through the display is a giant globe on which you can see scenes from around the world. I can’t see the scenes but the fireworks are just fine.

When the show is over, we make our way to the exit to catch a bus back to Pop Century. When we got back, we got dinner from the food court, I admired the lit bowling pins and then we went up to the room.

***

Readhowyouwant, I don’t read Braille mostly because I have enough vision to read magnified print and I use mostly audiobooks now. I don’t use DAISY; I had never really heard about it until you mentioned it. It looks interesting and I will check further into it.

Winter

2009-12-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

I like when it gets dark outside earlier, everyone else I hear complains that it’s depressing because they get up when it’s dark and come home in darkness. I don’t “see” the problem with that.

I like and dislike snow: I like snow because it looks cool and I don’t have to drive in it but it is annoying to walk in. My cane functions best on pavement or other hard surfaces and its use is limited in grass and snow. I still use it and it does help somewhat but not as much as on hard surfaces. As I’ve said, the cane I have now has a roller tip but even when it didn’t, the most utility was gained from tapping it on one side of you then the other. If there is more than a coating of snow on the ground, it becomes harder or nearly impossible to use the cane properly. For instance, you cannot feel if you are wandering off into grass; I did this more than once when I was walking between buildings in college and had to retrace some steps. When all is covered in white, everything looks the same and when landmarks are covered in white, it makes that much more of a challenge. So, to summarize, I like snow except when I’m walking any distance in it.

I like Christmas lights too; houses look neat when lit. Mostly, I can only see the lights, not the other decorations, unless those decorations at a house we’re driving by are relatively large and lit or play music. If the car windows are down I might be able to locate the decoration playing music. To me, Christmas lights seen from the car kind of run together; they don’t look like a solid line to me but neither can I see individual lights.

We put the tree downstairs, in our finished basement and we have a platform for it. The tree is put in a stand on the platform and since it’s a live tree, it must be watered everyday. To my recollection none of our dogs have ever watered the tree, I think Barkley took a drink out of the stand once, but that’s it. We put lights and ornaments on the tree. My father puts the lights on and this always reminds me of the 12 pains of Christmas. There is a line in the song about putting up the lights and then in one of the refrains he says, “Why the hell are they blinking”. This is hilarious, since my father doesn’t like blinkers but there are always a few. Fake snow and houses are put on the platform. Mark and I each have a train that encircles the tree.

I will post a comment response entry on Saturday.

Disney XI

2009-12-01T20:28:00.001-08:00

World showcase is the other section of EPCOT and it is composed of 11 countries. As far as the scenery goes, I can’t see all that much but the ethnic music that is played is nice to listen to as you walk through the different countries. The countries ring a manmade lake that is home to IllumiNations, the nightly entertainment. There are two rides and a show that we go to and also we had lunch there that day.

The Maelstrom is in Norway and it is a boatride. It takes you through some history of early Norway, complete with Vikings, trolls and other things. There is a narrator for the attraction, which is always good, and, as usual, Mark supplements the narration. The ride vehicles are boats with a dragon prow. It is a slow to medium speed boat ride until shortly after you meet a troll, who decides you are tresspassing and casts a spell on you. At that point, your boat starts going backwards and continues until it looks like you are going to fall over a waterfall. Then, the spell lifts and you rocket forward. Since at that point you are going fast, I really can’t tell individual parts of the scenery. The ride ends and you step out; to exit, you pass through the area where a movie on Norway is showing. I think someday I will see it, when I am taking a 2 or 3 week vacation at Walt Disney World but right now there’s a lot to see.

For some reason I can’t remember anything about the Gran Fiesta Tour, the Mexico ride, except that it’s a boat ride and the sky looks real to me. Maybe my contributor can post some of his thoughts sometime.

The American Adventure is the USA movie, there are no rides here but we always see the movie. With my pass we were able to wait on the 2nd floor and look down in the Rotunda. There is an acapella group performing while you wait and among the songs done this time was Old McDonald. They sung it normally, until the duck and then one of them, after the last duck goes quack, quack, said aflac. That was hilarious, which, I suppose, is why I remember it. The group finished and it was time to go into the theater. We got a seat relatively in front, even though it is a movie, there is a stage and it is raised a little. I don’t have to crane my neck. Two animatronic figures come up onto the stage, Mark Twain and Ben Franklin and start speaking. A sort of slideshow of the USA’s past is showing in the background. Then there is onscreen narration. Finally, a very nice song begins to finish the show. There are statues on the side of the theater and, at the end, the black backdrop behind them rolls back. I think the backdrop that is revealed when the other one rolls away is meant to simulate the sky. I can’t see the statues and I forget what they are.

Sight Unseen

2009-11-28T17:11:00.001-08:00

These are a few more examples of what it actually means that I am legally-blind. I know everyone knows that I can’t see but what does that precisely mean?

I can’t see what feet shoes go on just by looking, I have to feel for the raised area inside the sneaker to determine which foot the shoe goes on. To further complicate matters, sometimes, there are two raised areas in the sneaker or Boot that makes it harder to tell. The black sneakers that I have, have white. I think, rubber soles and the way the sneaker is made, the rubber rises beyond the black part. For these, at least, I can tell without feel, at least, most of the time. Socks are also difficult, at least the ones without identifying marks are. Unless the heel is a different color than white, I can’t tell where the heel is. Fortunately, enough socks are made with colored heels to make them much less of an issue.

Plugs are another difficulty; the two-pronged kind, not the three-pronged ones. I usually use the trial and error method; after all, there are only two ways to try. My mother recently said that one prong of the plug is slighter larger than the other one and on which side that prong goes; so far, I have plugged them in correctly.

Running children in restaurants are Extremely annoying but since some of my readers may be law students I will refrain from insulting lawyers. These days little children always seem to be running in restaurants. This is annoying for me in any setting since I can’t see and the children don’t know any better because they aren’t controlled by their parents. This issue is particularly irritating in buffet-style restaurants. I already have enough trouble with carrying plates and keeping them level because of a combination of my sight and balance issues; I really don’t Need little children running around, whose way I have to get out of. I haven’t dumped anything on anyone’s head yet and I never plan to; yet, with an increasing number of children running in restaurants, there seems a greater and greater likelihood that I will. When I go up to a buffet-line, I don’t have my cane with me because I need two hands but, even still, children should not be running in restaurants.

Disney X

2009-11-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

I had the DAS(descriptive audio system) with me, just in case but the Epcot version didn’t work any better than the Magic Kingdom one. It worked in the Circle of Life but I didn’t use it because I can hear fine. The funny part is we left the Circle of Life and went down two floors to Living with the Land(ride) and the DAS was still on Circle of Life. That seemed funny to me.

Living with the Land is just a boat ride through the pavilion’s greenhouses but it’s fascinating nonetheless. The boat itself is slow enough that I can board without assistance and I don’t need to fold up my cane. There is a driver for the boat and he/she is also your guide, pointing out the sights and talking about the projects at the Land. These include trying to find a way to grow plants efficiently enough in space to feed the astronauts or growing more nutritional plants. They have behind the scenes tours of the Lands facilities and I can hear the people walking, sometimes, even voices.

Soarin’ is also part of the Land Pavilion. It was part of the park in California and now is part of Walt Disney World. It is a fantastic attraction; it’s a movie-type attraction, or rather, the scenery is on a giant movie screen. It is a simulated hang gliding experience over California. This would have been a very good attraction for the DAS to work on; alas, a few of those pesky bugs were still in it.

In addition to moving the seats a little, there are other effects such as smells and the wind. You fly over The Golden Gate Bridge, an aircraft-carrier, a forest, some hot-air balloons and much more. You can smell the forest and feel the wind of your passage through the air. I can’t see it all but Mark points out what he can. One more thing; you glide over Disneyland and see the fireworks light up the night sky.

Last in the Future World section of Epcot is the Universe of Energy. This attraction combines a show and a ride. The first part is a show with Ellen Degeneres, actually, you’re in her dream. She’s dreaming she’s a contestant on Jeopardy with two really smart people. She gets all of the questions wrong so during the break before double jeopardy she, and the viewers, go on an excursion to the age of the dinosaurs.

Bill Nye, the Science Guy is also part of the attraction and he is Ellen’s tour guide through the wilderness. While in the Cretaceous Period you have some encounters with dinosaurs but that’s not the object of why you, and Ellen, are there. Bill talks about how the plants and animals that were alive then died, became fossilized and over millions of years turned into fossil fuels; original name.

Innoventions East and West are also in Future World but this is best done on a rainy or when there’s nothing better to do. These areas are full of games and hands-on activities. World Showcase is next.

Seen or Unseen

2009-11-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

The events detailed below occur in no particular order because they can’t be measured chronologically.

As I said before my parents didn’t realize I couldn’t see at first because I kept pointing to things and apparently seeing them. Within a few years, they learned differently. When we would take drives in the car, my mother, as I recall, would ask me if I could see the leaves. I responded with a yes because I thought that’s what she wanted to hear. I, of course, had no clue what color the leaves were and they all looked like an uninterrupted mass to me. If others can see individual leaves from cars, I can’t. Eventually, the jig was up and I said I couldn’t see the leaves, that, I could never see the leaves. Everyone thought it was funny. I do, however, remember walking by pretty leaves, especially at Marywood. Some of the leaves were yellow or that’s what they looked like to me.

Every year we go to cut our Christmas tree fresh and we mostly get blue spruces. I go every year too; I’m the spotter. Most years it’s been cold and we’ve had to dress in layers, which is fine. We always listen to Christmas music when we’re going for the tree. My song favorites are the Muppet version of 12 days of Christmas, Manheim Steamroller’s version of Deck the Halls, anyone’s carol of the bells and any Trans-Siberian orchestra Christmas songs.

I POSITIVELY hate boots. I think it has to do my balance issues and the fact that boots are higher than normal sneakers. I fell on year at the movie theatre and spilled my soda; that was why. I don’t know if my family truly gets why I don’t like boots. I might, emphasis on might, be able to get used to boots if I wore them a lot but I don’t. If sneakers aren’t flat enough, they take a little adjusting to but I’m always wearing sneakers. Sneakers made out of boot material would be fine but they also need to be tied like sneakers. I don’t know if it has to do with seeing or not but I have issues tying the type of boot laces that need to be looped around those brackets or whatever they are. The laces always seem to be too short and the whole process seems overly complicated.

One year we went to a tree farm that had Real reindeer, though none of their noses glowed, at least, as far as I could tell. We go to cut our tree, which usually involves a good amount of walking; sometimes on very uneven ground. This is fun because my cane is great for pavement but it doesn’t function so well in the grass. Sometimes I hold someone’s arm, for the sake of not falling in the mud. I keep pointing out trees that are either 17 feet high or else barely out of the ground.

I have much more to say on this subject so I’ll be posting on this again.

Disney IX

2009-11-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is also in the Imagination Pavilion. It’s a takeoff on the movies but you don’t need to have seen them to enjoy this attraction. I haven’t and it’s one of my favorites. This attraction is one of those that require 3D glasses. In the preshow they say they are “safety glasses”. As with Mickey’s Philharmagic, the glasses fit right over my regular glasses. It’s not necessary to sit in the front and sometimes it’s not even practical because the stage, for lack of a better word, is raised to some extent. Therefore, if you sat in the front you would constantly have to lean back and look up.

It looks like objects in the show are coming at you with the glasses on and sometimes you duck despite knowing that everything is static and on the screen. There are special effects, such as wind, a jouncing sensation at the end and many others. A large, to the audience, snake; a blown-up, with the enlarging machine, baby, and a sneezing dog assail the audience at one point or another. There are too many to list but trust me, this is a very cool attraction.

I didn’t go on Mission SPACE because the description sounded like it might give me a headache. If you want to know what it is like go to www.allears.net or some other website and read the description.

The Seas with Nemo was nice but not that interesting for me, at least. The coolest part was how they managed to get Nemo into a real aquarium, at least, I think there were real, so to speak, characters in there and not just voices. You board the ride vehicle and go after Nemo. You go through a real aquarium which is nice but it’s all about Nemo and I can’t see Nemo, or his friends. Since the fish and other creatures are real, Disney’s descriptive audio system would have worked right anyway because the scenery isn’t static. This is another once a trip attraction.

The aquarium that you can walk through after the ride is cool. You can get right up to the glass, well, almost. The Manatees are neat though they look like big blobs to me and since those who can see say that’s kind of what they look like, we’ve got no problems. Mark always suggests I stick my head in the shark tank to get a better view, he says.

Next up is the Land Pavilion and the Land Boat Ride and the Circle of Life movie. Circle of Life is a movie about man and nature. It is not necessary for you to have seen the Lion King movie to enjoy this movie. I sit close up, but not in the front, because the screen is huge and I would have to be always looking up. The story is told by Rafiki to Simba, the lion about the circle of life and how man has somewhat interrupted it.

Hero II

2009-11-20T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hiya Folks. My name is Mark, and I'm Giuseppi's baby brother that he picks on so incessantly in this blog. No wonder I'm scarred for life. Notwithstanding those years of torment, Joe deigned to let post here occasionally (thanks, Joe!), so I'll sometimes add a word or two when something sparks a thought (a rare occurrence for me, I'm afraid).

Now, without further ado, my thoughts on our grandfather.

Our mom's parents (i.e., Grandpa and his wife) divorced when our mother was pretty young, so Grandpa raised her (and her two brothers) all by himself. Woodworking, driving truck, whatever it took to provide for his family. And he still took the time to teach them important life skills (like cooking (aside: yes, in this family, it's ALL about food)) and life lessons. You don't hear a lot of stories about single dads raising families by themselves, but Grandpa was one who pulled it off.

Like Joe said, he loved working with his hands. He had a workshop like you wouldn't believe. Some people complain about garages being used for things other than parking cars. Well, Grandpa took it to a whole other level. He actually sealed off the garage (as in, used bricks and mortar to create a wall that matched the outside of the house) and made it into a full-blown woodworking workshop. Table saws, belt sanders, and more hand tools than you could count. I don't even know the names of all the tools he had. (And if I'M willing to admit I don't know something, then it MUST be pretty special.)

Like I said, Grandpa raised two sons and a daughter (our mother). Two other guys also looked up to him as if he were their father. One was his grandson, Bryan (our cousin). The other is our father. Many times after our dad finishes some handyman project around the house (or our summer place), he'll tell us, "You know who showed me that trick? Grandpa." He was a wizard with his tools, and always willing to teach. He wasn't perfect, by any stretch, but I put him on a higher pedestal than most others I know or know of.

Joe called Grandpa a hero. I agree. His wartime feats are a big part of that (though he never really talked about them; that just wasn't his way). He came away with a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star, at least. There are probably more I can't remember. But for me, his hard work and his loving self-sacrifice are just as heroic. Not many people can claim true fatherhood over four sons and a daughter. Grandpa could. I love and miss him still.

school

2009-11-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

Continued from Growing Up Blind

One funny story: when my brother and I were very young, he was in a high chair; my brother threw cherrios at me. I know he was only around one at the time but still, to paraphrase what Rodney Dangerfield said, no respect, I get no respect.

In the elementary grades, K thru 5, I had an aide, actually two that I recall. I would put their names because they were very nice but I don’t know how to spell their names. They helped carry around all the paraphernalia that one needed before the era of laptops, Kurzweil and talking books. As I said, the books were Huge. Unfortunately, I don’t have any examples to photograph and show. They were often left in the classroom because they couldn’t be put in a normal backpack and you built arm strength if you did have to carry them. The books may have been able to stay in their classrooms but the slant boards weren’t necessarily able to. Some of them weren’t that heavy but others were very heavy. I can’t really describe them and I don’t have any left to take pictures of.

In these grades I could basically memorize all the material for tests and other work but the aides helped there if I needed it. I used special paper, white paper with black lines, for writing. Writing was always difficult for me; the reason being that I had to have my nose practically on top of the paper to be able to see what I was doing. At first the lines were widely spaced so I could fit my large letters on it. Gradually, as I began to write smaller, the paper got smaller so my writing wouldn’t get larger again. I truly hated to handwrite stuff but when I was growing up computers were just coming online. I did type whatever I could and that was accepted.

My 2nd grade teacher, a very nice woman, who I’m still in contact with, introduced me to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. They are a series of seven books about some children’s adventures in the magical world of Narnia. My mother used to read them to Mark and I over and over again. If you can believe it, at one time Narnia actually was my favorite book series but it got supplanted forever by the Lord of the Rings. I eventually obtained all 7 Narnia books from Audible. I still have our original print editions, they’re not in very good condition but that’s because they were read so much. Buenas Tardes

Disney VIII

2009-11-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

There are some rides, test track being one of them, where the track is lower than the waiting area. Mark goes before me to help me into the ride vehicle. Usually, this requires one to step from the line to the seat, then from the seat to the floor and finally sit down and strap in. My cane sometimes helps here but usually not because I usually folded it up; on the slower rides I wait because there’s no real rush. Anyway, as much as I rib Mark, he wouldn’t let me fall. Wait, I gave him a compliment, now I have to go lie down; I think I have a fever.

You board Test Track, two riders in front, two in back; the ride vehicle looks like a regular car. You’re through the doors and into the “testing area. “ There are voices that sound like they’re coming from ceiling speakers. There are two voices and they say, should we do this test or let’s do this. As you go through tests, from braking to off-road, the scenery looks just like a proving ground. There are yellow signs, orange cones, those red and white striped poles with flashing lights on them and most of all, lots of empty space. You feel heat in the heating test, you see and feel the steam for the corrosion test and you pass through a room where there are lots of machines moving and flashing lights. Finally, you’re ready to test the acceleration. You car comes to the exit of the building and you’re off to the wild blue yonder. I can’t see the visible landmarks when outside because the ride is going to fast. You accelerate at 10 mph intervals until you hit 60; then, you go on straight-aways and turns. Finally, you slow down and your picture is taken as you’re slowing down and my family always says the pictures look interesting. Next is the Imagination Pavilion.

The Imagination Ride with Figment is up first and believe me, I have a very good imagination. The ride vehicles are on moving walkways but no worries. You board the vehicles and are taken through the doors to the Imagination Labs, where the “scientists” are trying to get to the bottom of what is Imagination. There are all sorts of machinery and other things, all of which are really cool. There’s an especially cool scene of a hot air balloon, you can see the sky in the background and feel the weather effects.

Eventually, one of the experiments leads to the creation of something, a purple dragon called Figment, but I can’t tell. I can see something, it appears to be flying but I can’t tell much more. Anyway, Figment comes and starts wreaking all kinds of cool and visually appealing havoc in the labs. He bounces all over the place and shows you stuff you’re “not supposed to see”. The ride exits in the Imageworks area which is an interactive area where you can play imagination-related games.

Concerts

2009-11-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

I’ve been to several concerts and they’ve all been good experiences. After all, I don’t need to see anything, or not very much, at a concert. I think my first concert was Bob Dylan but I don’t remember much beyond that except, I think it was outside.

My parents like Billy Joel, Elton John, Queen, older artists like that and they must’ve brainwashed me because now I like them too. I do like Kelly Clarkson as far as newer artists go but really no one else. I like her music, I have four of her albums, but I wouldn’t go see her in concert. There are no male artists coming up that can replace The Piano Man, the Rocket Man, the Boss and the like.

I think it was in 2000 that all four of us went to a Face2Face concert at the Spectrum in Phila. The Face2Face part was the fact that Billy Joel and Elton John were both playing that night. They played together for 30 minutes, then separately for an hour and a half each and ended with another 30 minutes together.

I could see the stage but not them; I could hear them and that was enough. They did a duet of Piano Man, among others. Then Billy Joel did his bit; then Sir Elton John. Sir Elton and his band were really loud but it was alright because I was sitting. He played Rocket Man and many others. After their playing time at the end, they played an encore but I forget what it was.

The next concert we went to was the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I had previously heard their Carol of the Bells rendition on the radio and I think we had some or all of their CDs at the time of the concert. Their music is along the lines of Rock meets Christmas carols and they also have two non-Christmas CDs, only one of which had been released at that point. The concert was neat; there were flashing lights and many other effects. They have many instruments and vocalists; one of the instruments is an electric violin. I can’t see most of the performers but then again, I don’t need to. I came away with a TSO shirt, which was cool.

Next concert was to see Meatloaf. As I said, I prefer the artists of the previous generation and have little time for those of mine. The concert was very nice, not as loud as TSO. As much as I like TSO, the live concerts are a little loud for me. I like them very much but I think the slight aversion to extremely loud music comes from my reliance on hearing.

The most recent concert we went to was a Manheim Steamroller concert on November 12. I got to like Manheim from going to the movies around Christmas and them playing Manheim’s rendition of Deck the Halls. I liked the concert very much.

Disney VII

2009-11-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Next day we went to EPCOT; Spaceship Earth is there. We got up and ate breakfast at the food court; a few times I had a breakfast sandwich. I’m not a big breakfast eater, certainly not a breakfast buffet and especially not in Disney. Even if I spent a month straight in Walt Disney World, I’d want more. So much to see and do, so little time.

We boarded the bus for Epcot. Sometimes, if a Magic Kingdom bus came first, we would take that and get a Monorail for Epcot at the Magic Kingdom. That day we took a bus and got there a little after opening, which is good because you beat the beginning crush. Upon entering the park you see Spaceship Earth, the huge, I do mean huge, sphere that is the symbol for Epcot. The outside is made up of millions of tiles but I can’t really tell. That’s part of the magic for me-- sighted people can tell that stuff is a construct, whereas many times things look all of a piece to me.

I’ll say this here, since I forgot in the beginning. Many of the rides are accessed by moving walkways and I do have some slight mobility difficulties. When I began using moving walkways I had some difficulty but now, because of escalators and all moving walkways, I have long since become a pro at navigating these issues.

There’s a ride in Spaceship Earth-- that’s how big it is. We rode that first and it was fantastic, as usual. The sound and smells are so authentic and the voice for the ride is M from James Bond. I always get angry when the ride comes to the part about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria from whatever cause. I was a History Major in college so naturally I get perturbed there. You can smell the smoke when you go by that scene.

It’s on to the monks hand-copying documents and then to the renaissance. Finally, you pass through scenes of all the marvels of the 20th century and then to the marvels just beginning in the 21st. As you go through the tunnel that simulates your return to our time you get your picture taken, then it is animated by a computer program and you put your animated self through a demonstration. There is a small screen in your ride vehicle and you choose from a number of options. The results are often funny; especially with the way the animation is done.

Next up is test track, an always fun attraction. You start by going through a winding queue to the ride vehicles. The “object” of Test Track is to test various features of the automobile. There are many things to see in the queue area and I can’t see a lot of them. Usually Mark tells me what they are unless I ask him not to. Sometimes it’s just more fun to take in the ambiance of Walt Disney World even though my usual rule is silence is not golden.

Next Disney entry, I’ll finish Test Track and then full speed ahead.

Hero

2009-11-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

My grandfather is a World War II veteran who earned several medals, including a purple heart but even if he only earned campaign medals, that wouldn’t make him or anyone any less of a hero.

He was a paratrooper with the 17th Airbourne. I have his medals and I’m very proud that he let me have them. I think it’s cool that he jumped out of planes in the war but some others think he was crazy. I’ll grant you he may have been, but then I’d probably jump out of a plane. If I could see I’d probably be in the Special Forces.

One of the clearest early memories I have of my maternal grandfather is us walking to Charles Sumner Elementary School and us dropping rocks in the sewers along the way. I called them rockers, and I liked the plop they made when they hit the water. He came over our house a lot to walk us to school and Barkley would always run to the door as soon as he heard the truck door slam. Grandpa had this really decrepit old truck that malfunctioned quite often and nowadays, he probably would have been cited for driving it. People who had to drive it for one reason or another always had plenty of stories about, brakes cutting out at the top of a hill and such.

He built many things, like I said he made me at least one slant board, two wishing wells, a number of adirondack chairs, helped build the porch on our old house, the enclosed porch at our summer place, the shed and probably others that I’m forgetting. One time, a day or two after kidney surgery, he was at the river and went up on the roof of the shed to fix something. I thought it was funny, my mother wasn’t laughing but I was.

He bought us Hess trucks for Christmas when Mark and I were younger. Some of them had cars on the back that you could take off and play with. I think we had around 10 between us.

He came over for Christmas and Thanksgiving. He liked to see how big a turkey we got and one year we took a picture of it for him. He ate lots of homemade Christmas cookies, kolachi were his favorite. First Barkley and later Fred would always sit by his chair and wait for illicit food from grandpa.

All good things must come to an end. He passed away in 2002 but he didn’t really suffer, so that was very good. He had black lung from working in the mines when he was young so it was a testament to him that he lived so long. I wanted him to live forever but unfortunately that wasn’t in the cards.

Near the end he came to our house because it was easier for us to watch him there. He repossessed Mark’s room and Mark was temporarily evicted. Sometimes, grandpa would see people in Mark’s closet but even then he was very lucid. The day before he passed away, he was well enough to come out on our little patio and have Memorial Day dinner with us. He did throw some cheese- itz and gumdrops into the bushes to” plant them.” For the most part though, he was extremely lucid.

Unseeing Eye Beagles

2009-11-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

I think I was 6 or so when we got our first dog, he was a beagle. We’ve had three dogs and they’ve all been beagles, none of them the hunting kind. They’ve all been house dogs and none to bright; I have had a better nose than all of them.

I forget where we got our first dog but when we got there, a bunch of beagles in pens greeted us. Of course, not being able to see well, I naturally tripped over the fence and fell in the pen. All the puppies ran away from the big, to them, human that had just fallen into their house, except one. He came over and started licking my face and he was the one we got; Barkley. I named him after the Sesame Street character, I don’t know if he’s even still on the program. I haven’t watched in a long time but one thing I can tell you, it could run circles around Sponge Bob Square Pants.

He was really little when we brought him home, but I was a couple feet shorter too; so, take that for what it’s worth. I don’t remember much of his early years except that he always liked to chew things. If left alone he would chew things to damage them, that was his one flaw. He was cute so I suppose the chewing was overlooked. My grandfather and he were good friends; though that may have had something to do with grandpa always feeding him under the table. Barkley liked our summer place a lot. He liked to swim in the river and when off his chain he liked to go far away. My father always had to go looking for him; he never came back on his own.

He’d bark at just about anything. He also got a lot of table food and that, we’re pretty sure is what ultimately resulted in him being put to sleep. His ashes are scattered at our summer place, which he very much liked.

Pretty soon, we got another beagle. We needed another beagle, even though he didn’t replace Barkley. This time Mark named him and he picked Fred. I wanted to call him Spock but it was Mark’s turn and that’s what he picked. There weren’t any pens for me to fall into this time, the mother and father were loose and the puppies were around the house. Fred had an uncle who was Canadian dog champion and some other illustrious breeding but he turned out to be a wuss.

He was tiny, fit in your palm tiny, when we took him home. For a while he had little dishes but eventually he got regular sized ones. Unlike Barkley, Fred didn’t bark and then he started to but never approaching his predecessor. Instead of barking at and chasing rabbits and other creatures that dogs are supposed to chase, he let them alone. The only thing he really barked at was cats and to come in. He wasn’t destructive like Barkley but he did get the garbage when we went out. We left him in the house; he was fine except he did get the garbage. We went through I think four garbage cans but none was foolproof.

I have to finish Fred and talk about Max. Chow for now and enjoy reading.

Disney VI

2009-11-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

Our room was on the second floor of our building; you could either take the steps or an elevator. Most times we took the elevator but we did occasionally use the steps. We had connecting rooms, which was nice because we could talk about what we wanted to do the next day without walking a far distance to do it. Another thing, occasionally, when the housekeeping staff makes up your room, they will leave a towel animal behind. I’m not ashamed to say I have a Dumbo, I think, towel animal sitting on top of my computer tower and it will stay there until it falls apart.

I knew the food court at Pop Century seemed to have a lot of choices because I looked at the menu before going, but my thought was, how good could it really be, it’s a Value Resort. It was very good. My first night there, for example, I had some kind of spicy chicken. The food court is large and there were a lot of people but—surprisingly—it didn’t feel crowded.

After dinner, I stepped out to look at the bowling pins at night. They were backlit or something, but they looked really cool; unfortunately, I don’t think we have a picture of them or maybe we do and I just don’t recognize them. Either way, I’ll if I can get some pictures together and post them. Just so you know, I personally took every single picture. If you believe that, I’ve got quite a few landmarks to sell you.

Then, we went back to our rooms to get ready for sleep. I would’ve preferred to stay at the parks ‘round the clock but, unfortunately, they do close for some reason. Hotel room showers must operate on different principles than showers in homes. It seems they all have a different way to start the water. They’re probably all the same and I just forget because I operate with the three-handle shower. These all have a single handle and it’s in the middle of the wall above the water faucet. I usually have to ask someone how you turn the shower on because: First, you have to pull up or press down on something to get the water from bath to shower. Then, you have to turn the single handle for the water, but it’s a toss up as to which way is hot or cold. Also, sometimes you have to pull on the handle, too. So taking a shower at a hotel is always interesting.

When watching TV, I usually pull a chair closer, and, with two people in the room, there’s less of a chance of me blocking someone’s view. (Though my brother might say I’m blocking his view just because he’s my brother.) After some TV, it’s off to The Hundred Acre Wood until tomorrow, an Epcot day. Unfortunately, our hotel isn’t where you can see fireworks or anything. I will get to an entry where I’ll tell you about something that I did see . . . and spotted first!

Answers

2009-11-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

I think you mentioned that you have a computer program that blows up things so you can read them. Do you ever try to do that with books too, or are audio tapes and CDs a lot easier for you? If something is blown up enough so that you can see it, is it painful for you, or is it just a question of making sure it's big enough?

It’s much easier to use audiobooks and Zoomtext itself has a speech component that reads word documents and web pages aloud. Reading anything is only a matter of the magnification I set Zoomtext at. Even if I were to use improper magnification, it wouldn’t be painful at the time; I would only get a headache after extended viewing of improperly magnified material.

Do you think you would have been an auditory learner regardless of being visually impaired? I know that even some sighted people prefer hearing things out loud, and insist that they learn better that way. Also, we've all heard that when you lose one sense (or have it diminished, at least), all other senses increase... You've talked a lot about hearing, but do you think you're senses of touch and smell are any stronger?

My others probably have increased somewhat but not to the extent my listening comprehension is heightened. In my Nov 10th entry I will touch on this briefly; my sense of smell has definitely increased. To the point that I seemingly have a better sense of smell than our dogs, but it could also be that our dogs don’t seem particularly bright. I can tell from rooms away what my mother is cooking. Sometimes, if she gets chocolate but doesn’t tell me I can smell it out. I don’t honestly know about my sense of touch but hearing and smell definitely.

You do see colours, right? Has a doctor ever diagnosed you as partially colorblind? Did they ever test for that?

I see colours but probably not as much as sighted people. I see all colours but lesser contrast colours are difficult to tell apart, like yellow and green, those in-between colours. Darker colours are easier like black or red and the like. Light blue and other light colours are more difficult. I can tell they're colours but not which ones.

When you look at things like peoples' facebook pictures, can you see them pretty well with your computer programs?

With Zoomtext I use a contrast that changes colours so there's more black and the type is white. When I want to really see pictures I change to normal colour and with it larger I can see them pretty well.

Where does your pseudonym come from?

Mark had asked a question about music and why I like soundtracks. I said songs are my colours because as I said in the Audio and Video post I see things in movies, hear the soundtracks and "see" the scenes.

Cooking

2009-11-06T10:41:00.001-08:00

At one time I didn’t want to cook, one reason was because I couldn’t and thought I would have a hard time. Mainly though, I was just lazy. Now, I have trouble comprehending why people don’t like to cook. The biggest part is following directions and anyone can do that. For some courses, such as Italian Wedding Soup my mother had to type the directions larger because there are several steps; for others, it is simple enough that I don’t need written directions, i.e. pork chops and cavatelli.

I made chicken scampi last Friday and that is always a little challenging because you have to be able to tell when the chicken gets brown. Well, to me it just looks darker; I can’t tell that it’s supposed to be brown. The preparation is easy, it’s just that browning is challenging. Sometimes, I can tell and sometimes I have to break off a piece and taste it. The pasta part is very easy.

We have sauce a lot and now, I’m the one who makes it. It can be either meat sauce or sauce with meatballs. When I’m cooking, I usually listen to an audiobook. It makes the time go by faster and thus, makes mindless, yet important tasks like making meatballs or cutting up garlic easier. Most nights I do something to help with dinner, up to, and including, making the entire thing.

We have turkey and stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner, lobster for Christmas Eve dinner and homemade meat ravioli for Christmas Day dinner. I don’t make any of these but I could probably make the ravioli and do a lot for Thanksgiving. I often help with the relish dish for thanksgiving and I like to eat all the black olives before they go in the tray.

Italian Wedding Soup is something else I like to make and again, all it requires is following directions. The Wedding Soup takes more time, simply because, the meatballs are smaller and therefore, take longer to make. It’s often easier just to make the meatballs one day and the soup, the next. I used to get Italian Wedding Soup from a local store but it had WAY, and I mean WAY, TOO much salt it. The recipe I use, which everyone likes, uses a little salt, but not a gallon. Needless to say, I make my own now instead of getting theirs.

On our oven we put a raised dot on 350 since that is the temperature that is most used. We have a gas stove since I never used our old electric stove because it was very difficult. I haven’t yet tried anything that requires a mixer but, when I do, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

Disney V

2009-11-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

Last in Fantasyland was Peter Pan’s Flight and while this attraction is nice, it’s more a once a trip attraction. Even if the DAS worked perfectly, it still wouldn’t have helped. In this ride, the vehicles symbolize Peter Pan and you literally fly over the scenery; London, Neverland, etc. All the DAS would have accomplished is telling me what I can’t really see beneath me.

First up in Tomorrowland was BuzzLightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This attraction involves shooting at aliens and spaceships from a moving ride vehicle. You’re on a training flight with Buzz. If you thought I wouldn’t like this attraction, you’d be incorrect. The reason comes from the fact that I can score points and have absolutely no clue what I’m shooting at. Mark does sometimes point things out but he has his own targets; he usually wins. I actually beat one of my parents once, on another trip. I never repeated that feat but I still very much like the ride.

We tried the new Stitch attraction next but it wasn’t that good. It was funny but it was geared more towards little kids. It involves a teleportation incident and they accidently teleport an alien in. The alien breaks out and runs around the theater; the lights have gone out so all this is done in the dark. Next is another new attraction, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. This attraction is somewhat funny but also somewhat lost on the visually-impaired. The jokes are alright, not hilarious, and there are apparently captions scrolling around the theatre from time to time. The cast members operating the monsters pick several guests out by camera to make jokes at their expense from time to time. Space Mountain was closed for renovation and the Tomorrowland transit authority was closed also. I wanted to try that, to see what it was like because I never had before. My favorite attraction in this land would have to be BuzzLightyear.

Since we had been up very early, it was decided to go back to the hotel. I wasn’t really part of the decision because I would’ve happily stayed until the park closed; in case you haven’t realized by now, I really like Walt Disney World. Everyone else said they were tired or some such nonsense, so poor old me had to come along. We boarded the bus to go back to Pop Century. As I said before the buses always had instrumental music playing. One time I remember they were playing the Titanic soundtrack; can’t remember what song it was.

We arrived back at the hotel, me reluctantly, got our bags from the cage; Kane was the attendant this time, and went to our room. We didn’t unpack at that moment but instead headed for the food court. The food court is in the main building, as I said earlier and it is very large. At Disney hotels, you can get refillable cups for $7 each or something. They come in a regular variety and a coffee cup. I didn’t think I would get one because I didn’t know if the machine would have water but it did. I hope everyone is enjoying their tour so far.

Audio

2009-11-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

As I’m writing this blog, I’m listening to the Lord of the Rings Soundtracks. I listen to music when I do any kind of typing or work in my room. I also listen to the Cinemagic movie soundtrack channel on our TV. I find my kind of music helps the thought process.

I don’t like loud music when walking around in a strange place, among people I do or do not know. I don’t mind loud music much if I’m in a strange place but sitting down because, as a visually impaired person, I rely on my hearing a lot. This dislike is nowhere near debilitating; it borders on more a situation I’d like to avoid but can tolerate if necessary.

I can read books, but I would rather listen to them. For pleasure, I listen to them on CD or burn them from www.audible.com. In college I was able to obtain some books on tape, and later CD, from RFB&D (Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic). The ones that weren’t on tape, I used Kurzweil for them. The RFB&D tapes were able to be listened to by the special tape player I already have, and their website is www.rfbd.org. When RFB&D started using CDs, they also needed a special player. It was rather hard to figure out, and the directions weren’t helpful if you weren’t sighted; it did come with a tutorial CD but first you had to figure out where play was. It got easier to use, but learning how . . . not so much.

I subscribe to the Free Library for the Blind and have a special tape player from them. I get books on cassette sent to me, and even though the catalogue has an order form in it, some other system must be used because almost exclusively, I don’t get what I ordered. I suppose this happens because they must have a limited budget and can’t make a million copies of some books to fulfill orders.

I used to own fair number of books on tape, most of which were abridged, but then they started making books on CD. The reason I stopped buying books on cassette was they were very often abridged and the unabridged cassettes were often expensive and unwieldy as well. I stopped renting tapes from the public library because they kept being eaten by my tape player. For some reason this rarely happened to the tapes I was sent by the Free Library; by no means were they all models of clarity but they rarely got eaten.

I traded in my books on tape at www.Audiobooks.com for Books on CD. I think the first books on CD I ever bought, from Borders was The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Mark, who is sighted, has them now because I have them in another format. This performance, by a single narrator, and unabridged, is better than the dramatizations, in my opinion. As you have no doubt guessed, I really like the Lord of the Rings. I listen to audiobooks to fall asleep at night.

Disney III.I

2009-11-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

The picture you see in my profile was taken at Cyrstal Palace, on Main St. U.S.A. It was our first day at Disney and Tigger was the first character to come around. Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore were there too but those pictures weren’t totally clear. I’m the one without the beard; the bearded one is my brother, a.k.a. Make It So.

Halloween

2009-10-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

Over the years I have been a number of things for Halloween, some of them I remember. I was a Vampire, the Devil, a killer clown, Frankenstein and a Blue’s Brother. I wanted to be Jason one year but was talked out of it because I don’t do masks, for obvious reasons. Apparently, they weren’t obvious to me at the time. I went to a few Halloween Parties but I think the only one I dressed for was when I was a Blue’s Brother. Trick or treating wasn’t so much fun but I can’t remember it. However, I do like chocolate.

Watching pumpkins being carved was interesting but for some strange reason they wouldn’t let me help. I can’t really see Halloween decorations from the car and along those lines, walkthrough haunted houses aren’t much fun either. I can’t really see where I’m going and my cane isn’t much help because I’m liable to destroy decorations with it. Haunted hayrides are likewise not a real winner. The only thing I remember from a haunted hayride is a nosebleed.
November calls, have a safe Halloween evevyone.

Disney IV

2009-10-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

After lunch Mark went back to City Hall and was able to get the DAS(descriptive audio system). It worked pretty well on The Haunted Mansion and Snow White’s Scary Adventure but it was downhill from there. The issue was that it had a microphone that had to be pointed in the right direction; I spent more time playing with the microphone than paying attention to the ride. I continued to try it but after the initial rides it would fade in and out. Eventually, I just stopped using it and went to plan B, for Plan Brother. Disney had clearly not worked all the bugs out of it. Maybe some bugs escaped from the Tree of Life and got into it. Who knows, Disney probably has it working properly by now or will when next I go; too looong whenever it comes.

Next in Fantasyland we went on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The ride vehicles are hunny pots and they take you on a trip through the hundred-acre wood. You proceed along a track and the scenery is to either side; therefore, I can see quite a lot. At one point, the scenery is pages from the Winnie the Pooh books and I can actually read a few of the words. Next is Mickey’s PhilharMagic and this attraction is awesome; you do have to wear 3D glasses but even over my glasses the view is just fine. This attraction features scenes from Disney movies in 3D and other special effects, especially water. There is no best seat in the house, all seats are good but I still like to sit up front. My personal favorite is the giant posts, at least that’s what they look like to me, I think they are brooms though, from Fantasia. You can hear them coming and they get water on you. It’s a Small World is a very nice, sedate attraction. It has a neat décor and singing dolls for a lot of countries; I’m not sure if all of them are represented. It is a pleasant boat ride through the countries. I also like Walt Disney World because of the ceilings for some of the ride areas. I know I’m in a building, yet when they want to, the sky can look as authentic as any I’ve seen. My mother, who’s sighted, says they look fake to her but it looks real to me.

Snow White’s Scary Adventure came next and it was one of the few attractions that the DAS worked on. It told me where to look for scenes and figures that were coming up and I found it very helpful; it was just like Plan B. The ride itself wasn’t as well lit so it was a little more difficult to see things but it was still very enjoyable.

As you can see folks, brevity, is not my strongest suit. Disney will continue in November and have a happy and safe Halloween.

Audio and Video

2009-10-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

I’ll begin with an illustration. Even though I now know that the Japanese Godzilla movies are about as poorly done as you can get; they still look fine to me. I can’t tell that the English-speaking voices don’t match the Japanese characters’ mouths and I can’t see the zipper on Godzilla’s back that apparently everyone else can. They aren’t the highest quality productions but they still look fine to me.

I can see some difference between video tapes and DVDs, but not as much as there apparently is. I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between DVD and Blu-ray. I noticed the difference between a flat-panel and a normal non-CRT monitor but it became harder after a little while. Big-screen, non-plasma or flat-panel TVs I am unable to see because I have to get too close to see properly. I have the same problem with hand-held magnifiers, by the time they’re close enough, the value is lost. The new electronic magnifier, from Optelec that I have works very well and if the charge runs out, it has a very long cord.

Our TVs are non-flat screen and they are 25, 27 and 32. Even though they are relatively large, I still have to sit close for optimal viewing. I would say within a foot, though I honestly couldn’t tell you. Same story with the computer; even though I have Zoomtext, from aisquared and set it at 8x magnification, I have to sit within a foot. I find that if I go much higher than 8x, which I don’t need anyway, that performance starts to degrade because you can display less and less as the magnification increases beyond 8x.

I like DVDs because they so often let me see what would otherwise only be dreamscapes for me. These can be as diverse as the mountain vistas in The Lord of the Rings to the landmarks of Washington D.C. and other cities. Whether doing a flyover or on the ground I could not see anything close to the natural wonders that are displayed in this and other movies. I’ve been to D.C. and seen many of the monuments up close but it’s not the same. Up close it doesn’t look as majestic as it does in movies or for that matter in the imagination. For me too close it looks ordinary and far away I can’t see that much.

Movie scenery is one of the reasons I like soundtracks. That may seem contradictory, but to me, it’s not. I watch a movie, then listen to the soundtrack and most of the time I can see the scene that goes along with that particular piece of music. Lord of the Rings is the perfect example; the movies went downhill, Fellowship was the best and Return of the king was the worst but not so for the soundtracks. For the soundtracks, there was no worst. Return was the best score and I like the fact that complete scores came out for Lord of the Rings. There are wonderful vistas in the LOTR movies, despite their plot shortcomings, from grassy plains, a scene of snowcapped peaks. I can summon them all with the sound of music.

Disney III

2009-10-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

We began our day at the park by going to City Hall on Main Street, U.S.A, where we got a card that allowed my party and I to use alternate entrances, sit up front for shows or have better views for parades and fireworks. On our 2003 trip, a cast member actually told us about the card and we got it that time. That was near the end of the trip so it wasn’t much help but it was this time. I also asked about a new descriptive audio system that my mother and brother had heard about but the cast member at City Hall didn’t seem to know what we were talking about. She thought I meant the captioning system they have, which would have been of immense help to me. I understand what the captioning system is for; it’s just that I’d think it would have been blatantly obvious, since I was standing there with a white cane, that that would not help.

We left City Hall and went on Thunder Mountain, I can’t see the village set that’s supposed to be ride scenery but I could more eco-locate parts of it. I could hear parts of it and that would give a direction in which to look. Anyway it’s a rollercoaster that goes fast, so how much does one really need to see. Splash Mountain was next up, my tour guide, Mark, pointed out Brer everything but there was also a voiceover of the whole attraction; kind of like the narrator in a story which is always better. My motto on Splash Mountain is, “The Wetter, The Better”.

Pirates of the Caribbean came next and then Jungle Cruise before lunch. Pirates is cool, the ride’s story takes place over a bit wider an area than Splash, so I can’t see as much but it’s all indoor. There is still plenty to see close up: pirates chasing villagers, jailed pirates trying to tempt the dog with the keys to come near them and a pirate with a furry leg dangling over a bridge. Jungle Cruise is alright but I can’t see all that much because it’s mostly outside and the guide who drives the boat is usually very corny, sometimes I actually hear a popping sound but when I look around there’s no microwave.

The indoor or mostly indoor attractions are ideal for me but when it gets darker or is cloudy I can see more on the outdoor attractions. With it being very sunny in the daytime outdoor attractions really don’t work too well; it also takes me longer to adjust from light to dark.

We went to Crystal Palace for lunch. The decor is like a normal buffet style restaurant but, being Disney, there is more space. There are also the characters, four of them: Pooh, my favorite, yes, more than Mickey and I have the wonderful adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. We had gotten all their autographs, scrawls really, on a previous trip so we got pictures with them. The thing is I can actually spot them from far away, relative to me, because they are big and brightly colored. I like being able to spot things because I so seldom can where everything is just ordinary. We finished our lunch and bade farewell to Pooh and the gang.

Comments

2009-10-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

If you choose to comment, just a note. About comments, I tried it on a different computer. You must select a profile, Anonymous is the last option. Once you've finished the comment, hit the post comment twice. The first time it will say, cannot post, just hit it again and it will post. I have no idea why you have to do this but it's a computer.

It just occurred to me that visually-impaired people are reading this too so that’s why all my posts will no be in bold.

Gym

2009-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Gym in elementary was very annoying for me. It consisted mostly of climbing on bars, arranged every which way, running obstacle courses, dodgeball and the balance beam. The balance beam and other balance-related exercises I particularly detested because I am very proud of the fact that I can fail one of those sobriety tests where you have to walk in a straight line, stone sober. Anyone who knows me knows that I couldn’t walk a completely straight line if I tried. So you’re aware, I have never gotten drunk, I have enough issues with seeing without wanting to double the number of badly seen images. As for dodgeball and obstacle courses, well, let’s just say darkness would’ve been a good equalizer.

In middle-school we also had swimming class, along with normal PE. In swimming, I had to take my glasses off, so I saw worse than usual. Adaptive PE was in a room off the hallway behind the gym. There was some exercise equipment in the room but there was also an Atari system with some games. The few people in there weren’t encouraged or discouraged from using the equipment. We couldn’t use the exercise equipment if the teacher/minder left the room or was absent, hence the Atari. Would I rather play Donkey Kong and DigDug or do stupid exercises; naturally I did the responsible thing and played Donkey Kong. I did use the exercise equipment sometimes but not as much as I probably should have. Those games were fun.

I didn’t play sports; I did attempt basketball a few times. Somehow I always ended up getting hit on the head, I wonder why that happened, but I have a hard head. I needed it because I had several, I consider them minor, after all, I’m still here, injuries over the years; mostly when I was in elementary school and mostly because I don’t think I really comprehended that I had bad reflexes. It could also have been that I’m a bit of a daredevil.

High school beckoned and driv…, “wait, you mean I can’t drive?!”. That’s right I can’t drive and I don’t drink so I’ll be your designated driver; that thought should sober anyone up real fast. Most of the time in highschool during PE I had study hall; at least DigDug was fun. We had health in 9th grade but that was it for mandatory PE, thankfully. We also had driver’s safety in 10th grade but since, for some reason, no one will let me drive, I didn’t take it. To this day no one will let me drive, my parents, my brother and even my dog have licenses; I think I should have one. I want a pilot’s license too.

In college, the classes were often not in the same building so the walking provided some exercise and also I took a nutrition and wellness class. I took the stairs too, there was an elevator but often, I could get where I was going faster by walking.

Next entry will be at the Magic Kingdom. Thanks for reading.

Disney II

2009-10-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Pop Century, one of Walt Disney World’s value resorts, on Disney property. It was the first time we stayed there; we usually stay at Wilderness Lodge, which is a deluxe resort. With the savings and the package that we went with; we were able to stay in two rooms. They were nothing fancy but then it’s Disney, so the rest of the hotel was disneyified. The hotel was divided into several decades from the 50s’ to the 90s’, with a number of buildings in each. Two of the things I like about Disney are that they have music everywhere and everything is just a bit bigger than normal, sometimes, a lot bigger. Usually this means that even I can see it.

In front of our building was a statue of Lady the dog, I believe. My brother thought it was Tramp, so, it was one or the other. Our decade was symbolized by some bowling pins. The decades’ symbols, all of them, were hollow skeletons of the various objects. I believe the other decades were, in no particular order: a rubrics cube, Mark, my brother, liked that one, cell phones, a laptop and a walkman. Since it was around 9am when we got there, it was light enough that I really couldn’t see them very well. I don’t need any special accommodations as far as the rooms were concerned.

The side of the main building with the entrance that we went through had Pop Century written across it in Very Large letters. The stems of the two P’s formed a kind of entry way. The PoP always looked more like a W to me, especially since the o was superscript.

We checked in at the main building, which housed the food court, which was pretty large, and the gift shop. Actually, my parents checked in, I just stood around and looked pretty. I don’t think our bags had arrived by then, so we put our carry-ons in the cage; The Undertaker was the attendant. Then, we headed for the bus. For those who stay on Disney property there are monorails, buses, or ferries that take you from your resort to various locations; the theme parks, waterparks and other areas. Back in Scranton, it was decided that we would go to the Magic Kingdom on our first day and unlike previous trips it was around opening so we were able to have a relatively full first day, Yahoohoohewy.

I decided to post another disney entry to bring it up to The Magic Kingdom. The next entry will be on Saturday on another topic. Thanks for reading.

Disney I

2009-10-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

I was recently in Walt Disney World, recently being May 2009, but that’s too far in the past for me. I went with my brother and my parents, all of whom are sighted. Another thing I did before going to the airport, I had a ball-tip on the end of my cane but I changed it for the marshmallow tip because I didn’t want to get detained if security thought that the ball was filled with something. I don’t know if they would have but I’d rather be safe then spend 3 hours in an airport while they got a doctor’s report saying yes Joe Taticchi is legally-blind.

We arrived at the airport on time, on time being 4am, but I wasn’t complaining because I like to fly and we were going to Walt Disney World. We went through security, which is always pleasant, especially the part where they tell me to fold up my cane and put it in the bin that goes through separately. You would think that they’d be able to scan a cane and figure out that, “yes, it’s just an aid for a visually-impaired/blind person.” I suppose, however, when babies are put on the no-fly list, that would be too much to hope for. Then we went to the waiting area, it didn’t seem to be that long. When our flight was called we boarded with everyone else, only to find out that other people, with a disability were on the plane first. In our experience airlines have called first for people that need extra time to board, apparently Southwest does not do this or because it was a charter they did not. I put my cane in the seat pocket and the flight attendants didn’t have a problem with that. I’d like to say that I don’t especially need to have my cane with me all the time or board early; my thought is more for the people that are completely blind or have so much vision loss that it makes no difference. Of course since the no-fly list was created and new security put in place, I don’t want to complain too loudly lest I either be detained long enough to miss my flight or be put on the no-fly list because I’m annoying. I’ve seen examples on TV of investigative reporters who, although no one ever proved it, seemed to appear on the no-fly list because they did their job too well.

We had an uneventful flight; even though I like to look out the plane’s windows, I never see very much. The thing that I can’t do though is sit by one of the emergency exits because I can’t assist anyone. For anyone who’s seen Get Smart the movie, I can do what Max did and fall out of the plane without a parachute but that’s about it. The plane touched down on time and I probably had a very large smile on my face. As part of our package the bags were taken to the hotel separately, and we went there by bus. Getting there is the fun part; it’s the leaving that sucks.

Next, will be check-in and thanks for reading.

Violin

2009-10-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

I think it was in 1st grade that we started the general music class. Then, in 4th grade, it became a bit more specialized and I started school violin lessons. Since, for the purposes of reading at a distance, I can’t really see, it was a challenge to come up with a solution. Today, the solution would probably involve a computer. I think I tried everything, including the kitchen sink but nothing worked.

These trials and errors are in no particular order since now they kind of run together. A special music stand that had a manually mobile arm on it was tried but that didn’t really work; moving a regular immobile music stand wasn’t effective. Then enlarged music was tried, first enlarged music with a foam back to make sure it didn’t fold over was tried. Then, plain enlarged music, without the foam was tried, but both foam and no foam were unsuccessful. I don’t blame anyone for having me try all these, after all, it wasn’t anyone’s fault technology hadn’t caught up. I finally just memorized the music. Some of it’s probably still rattling around my cabeza, it’s just that the time spiders keep weaving their webs. I wish I could show you some of the stuff I had, talk about dinosaurs. Some of my stuff was as big as some dino’s.

I was able to play the pieces in the school concerts we had and I stayed with everyone else’s playing. I also have an extremely good ear and memory. It seems to be generally true, across all disabilities, when one sense is diminished or absent; the others’ take over and become more acute. I remember I had to play Pachelbel Canon a half-dozen times or so over a number of years.

I believe I started taking private lessons sometime in 5th grade. I was referred to Patty, my teacher for the private lessons, by my school music teacher. He was a very nice man. You should’ve seen the violin I started on, it was tiny. In the lessons I was taught from the Suzuki music books. The books also had demonstration cassette tapes with them. This wasn’t something strictly for me, it was for everyone.

Patty’s students had recitals too, they were at the Everhart museum. Once, I remember I tripped and broke the bridge on my violin but luckily I was able to use a replacement for the recital. All the recitals went fairly well. There was an interesting graduation ceremony from each book. One had to either play the songs from the book a lot or play some of your songs at a nursing home. I chose the nursing homes, though I seem to recall at least once where I attempted the other. At Patty’s house, where I took the lessons, she had a cat named Autumn and even though my mother loudly protested to me that she didn’t like cats, she was always petting and scratching it.

A lot of the time, it was insisted that I use a metronome to keep time and eventually, I wanted to something violent with the metronome. That’s all for now folks and thanks for reading.

Karate

2009-10-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

When I was in school, I participated in two extracurricular activities: Karate and Violin. I’ll explain my experiences with Karate first and then go on to violin.

In my type of karate there are a number of ranks and they are, white, orange, green with one & two stripes then red with the same as green, then blue belt with a number of steps in the blue belt. I hope for my sake that when my former master reads this I don’t get anything wrong. I have some coordination problems too but the teacher, who wasn’t a master at that time said that was alright and to just try my best. He was and still is a very nice man; he had a very nice dog that he would bring to the studio before class started sometimes. So I began training as a white belt; there are a number of forms and techniques that one must learn to advance in rank. At the beginning of class we would stand in a horizontal line across the studio and that’s how we would learn new techniques. They would be demonstrated in the front of the room and usually I could see what they were doing but someone would go around the room and have everyone perform the move just make sure everything was being done correctly. Then we would break off into groups to practice the particular move. Then these moves would be put together into forms. In addition to this physical part there was also a book part too. One had to memorize names and these were mostly names of the techniques that we learned. They were in Korean, which was kind of interesting.

I slowly advanced in rank and as I did, predictably the moves and forms got progressively harder. For the advancement tests, in addition to the forms and terms, the last part was to break a board with a hand or foot move. Sometimes, because of my balance the technique was different for me. I did pass all of the tests, it’s just sometimes it took me a bit longer to get to the point that I was judged ready to take the test. At a certain point we learned sweeping techniques and the brooms were your legs. You had to do the sweep right though or the person’s legs wouldn’t buckle. It never occurred to me until later but I wonder if I could have done techniques with my cane. Oh well, we didn’t use any kind of weapon other than hands and feet and considering I can’t see, maybe it’s for the better that I never inquired.

After advancing in rank to red belt, with two lengths of tape signifying stripes, it took a little while but I finally got my blue belt. When you get your blue belt, you are called Mr. and then your last name. After achieving blue belt it is not proper to use that person’s full name. I can’t recall exactly when but during that time our teacher received his master’s rank, which is the blue belt with one red stripe running its length. Also, there was another change; our studio had to close and we went to another studio. The class was larger and there wasn’t the same atmosphere, even though we were being taught by our master and another. Sometime after this my brother and I stopped going, our old master was the only one there that night and telling him that we were quitting was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

I had the intention of telling you about violin too but I ran too long. Therefore, I will leave it until next entry.

Quick and Clean

2009-10-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

If you have a question, please ask. I swear I don’t bite and it’s the internet so I can’t bark either. If your question seems dumb to you and you’d rather not ask in the comments section, please email me and I will answer if I know the answer. I’d rather have you ask one way or the other then wandering around with an erroneous notion. Also, I will probably update this two or three times a week. So chances are if I’ve updated it that day, the odds are good that it will be one or two days before the next update. Well, dreamland calls, so good evening and thank you for reading or listening. One more thing, I will try to cut these off at 500 words but please tell me if that's still too long.

Growing up Blind

2009-10-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

I have no memory of when it was discovered that I couldn't see like other children. I know from what I was told later that at first my parents didn’t realize there was a problem because I appeared to be seeing the appropriate objects. Eventually it was realized that even though it looked like everything was normal, in reality, it wasn’t. So I think I was taken for tests and then I was given glasses. They had to be very powerful glasses and they couldn’t really do that much. They made things clear, not blurry but they couldn’t correct all the way from 20/200. I don’t know if they are my first glasses but I still have a little pair that wouldn’t fit one of my eyes now.

So I began school. In pre-school and kindergarten I didn’t need all that much but then came 1st grade. I was given enlarged books that were twice or three times the size of regular books; a slant-board which was sort of a stand to put papers at an angle off. I don’t know when this was but my grandfather made me at least one slant-board and possibly more, I don’t recall. All of my papers were enlarged as well and I had larger paper. I think I may have taken tests in a separate room. This was before computer technology exploded upward, I realize I’m dating myself and I’m only 27.

I forget when we got our first computer but I do remember it lay flat and was the size of what a tower would be laying horizontally. I recall that it had a 5.25 floppy drive and a whopping 202MB of hard drive. So, as you can see folks, I grew up in the stone age when dinosaurs roamed there were strange devices such as VCRs, no combo, cassette players, no CDs, TVs without 900 channels, good cartoons, like bugs bunny and road runner and captain planet; none of the crap that’s on now. Well, I digress, back to the blindingly obvious. As I’m sure everyone has realized I use humor quite a lot. I find that I’d rather be self-deprecating than be bitter about the hand that I was dealt.

On our first computer there were no such things as Accessibility Options and there was no magnification software. I probably strained my eyes a little but unless it was a major shift, how would I know. I taught myself a lot of shortcuts, most of which still work even though the computer operating system has gone through many iterations; however, I no longer use them a lot because assistive technology has advanced as rapidly as computers. So I advanced from having huge books, papers and slant-boards and shortcut keys; to now, where there are such things as Zoomtext, Kurswile, books on tape, and many other assistive devices. Zoomtext is a screen-magnification program and you can magnify it pretty much as large as you want. This part of the program has many other features but it also has a screen-reading capability where a number of computerized voices read the text on the screen to you. Kurzweil is a scanner/reader; it first scans a book into the computer and the special program reads the text to you. I’m off to dreamland, I’ll pick this up again soon.

Introduction

2009-10-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

My name is Joseph P. Taticchi and I am from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I've lived here my whole life. I attended West Scranton High School and then Penn State Worthington Scranton and then Marywood University. I graduated from Worthington with an Associates Degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences. Then went on to Marywood where I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in History.

I have also been visually-impaired my whole life which is the main reason I created this blog; to offer a different perspective on the world. I am legally-blind, and for every person who asks me what I can and can't see I usually have a different answer. I try to relate it to the situation at the moment and not just give some abstract answer that they really won't understand. I would rather have people ask what my vision is rather than just wondering and maybe coming to incorrect conclusions. It's fairly obvious when one sees me that I have a vision problem because I use a white cane. Even though that's what they call it, it's not entirely white; it has a black rubber grip at the top and a string to secure it when folded. Then comes the white and then, the bottom segment is red with some kind of tip on the bottom. Currently, I have a rolling tip on mine, which looks sort of like a baseball but there can also be a marshmallow tip and others. I'll continue later, I have an appointment to keep.

Joe