Caroline’s Kitty Corner

Now this is both interesting and really scary.  Check out this article about the latest technology.  Hmm, Just what I need.  A device that will let me check to see what’s in my refrigerator when I’m hundreds of miles away from home.  SMILE!

Well, it’s almost October, and that means I’m almost a month through the study now.  I can’t believe it’s been that long all ready.  I got a call from Boston earlier today telling me that my second monitor was sent out today and I’m supposed to switch them on Monday.  Let’s hope it comes tomorrow then, huh?  

Some people have absolutely no decency!  I’m sitting here, at almost 10:30 at night, and outside my window are people getting off of work.  They walk right by the apartment building talking, yelling, and who knows what else.  This building has 58 apartments in it, and the organization that causes the problem has been told repeatedly to keep it down when they come by, but they just don’t get it.  I am normally in bed by this time, and since I am such a light sleeper I would have most likely been unable to sleep through this latest noise.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to have fun as much as the next person, but come on people, let’s show a little respect!

Speaking of sleeping, one reason I didn’t write for a while is that I went to the hospital on Sunday night for a sleep apnea test.  Let me tell you, that is one interesting experience!!!  You’re completely hooked up to all sorts of wires, and you’ve got this box thing next to you that has all the controls for the electrodes.  I have a really hard time falling asleep on my back unless the head of my bed is elevated, so that was one major strike against me.  Then, there’s the fact that I didn’t realize that there was a camera in my room.  I went to change into my pajamas and probably gave the two men doing the monitoring heart attacks.  Needless to say, once I found out there were cameras I did the morning changing in the bathroom.  Can you say oops?  

So, once I was in bed they closed the door.  Great.  That’s not a problem.  But, I’m in this unfamiliar bed with a boring, hard coil mattress, (once you’ve slept on an air bed it’s really difficult to sleep anywhere else), and there’s a window next to the door that’s letting in all sorts of light.  Now, I’m rather light-sensitive anyway, and can’t handle them when it gets too bright, but at night, I really don’t do well with lights.  There was of course nothing that could be done about it.  So, I’m laying here in this strange bed with the light bothering my eyes.  The intensity of the light is making my eyes tear up, and that in turn is affecting the adhesive tape used to hold the electrodes on my face.  I was waiting for one of two things to happen.  A, the electrode was going to come right off, or B, the thing was going to blow up.  Okay, so that wouldn’t happen, but when you’re really tired your mind does some pretty strange things.  Nothing ended up happening, but it was the idea that it could have.  

I really didn’t get into any good quality sleep until around 3 the next morning, and they woke me up at 5.  I may have to go back for a second test because they never even got to the point where they could try the mask.  If I do go back I wonder if they’d let me wear some sort of sleep shade.  My guess is no though because they wouldn’t be able to see my eyes.  Oh well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.  When I got back home at about 6:30 I checked my email, (yes I admit it, I’m a junky), and then I curled up on the bed in my office and went to sleep.  I hoped for a couple of four-legged companions but they didn’t come.  Oh well, that night I got them both, so I guess I can’t complain too much.  SMILE!

And now, on a completely different note, on Monday of next week I should be getting my hands on a Macintosh running OS10 and Voice-Over.  Over the weekend I want to try to read up on it; how it works, what people think, things like that.  Then, once I get the machine on Monday I’m going to work with it myself.  I’ll post my thoughts here for anyone who’s interested.  I won’t actually get to keep the machine, but working for an adaptive tech company has its advantages sometimes.  SMILE!

Well, I think I’m going to get out of here and go to bed.  I don’t work tomorrow so I can sleep in, but chances are I won’t.  So, I’m out of here for now!

Sit back boys and girls and let me tell you a story.  It all started back in July of this year at the Riviera hotel in Las Vegas.  I purchased Street-Talk for my Pac Mate.  Street-Talk is a GPS package.  In the process of installing the software, I removed from my laptop case a small pouch which contained a 56-K modem card and an Ethernet card, a compact flash to PCMCIA adapter, a thumb drive, and a couple of other components.  I needed one of these items you see.

Well, after returning home from my trip to Vegas I was unable to find this pouch.  I looked everywhere, but could not find it.  I figured that I had unintentionally left it behind in my hotel room.  I went so far tonight as to actually call the hotel to see what their policy was on lost and found items.  I was told that things were kept for no longer than 30 days and then things were given to the cleaning staff or donated.  Well, I figured that someone had just gotten one terrific donation because it most definitely was not in any of my luggage.

I was talking with Jim, and he asked if I had thought to check my duffle that I had brought with me.  I said that I was pretty sure I had, but that anything was worth a try.  Within a minute, Jim had gone looking in the duffle, and came out holding my pouch.  So, after almost three months, I have my components back, and the pouch is, once again, attached to the side of my Pac Mate case where it will stay, forever and ever, amen!!!

Okay, this is what I get for reading other people’s blogs.  SMILE!  I’ve been tagged by Sarah for this one.  It’s tough, but rather interesting.

5 things I plan to do (God willing) before I die:
1.  Reconnect with someone from my past; (anyone, not any specific person)
2.  Drive a car independently, and not just around a parking lot (Hey, it’s not impossible)
3.  Own my own home
4.  Make a contribution to something really worthwhile
5.  Make a difference to the people I meet

5 things I can do:
1.  Make a screaming baby go to sleep
2.  Make cats purr
3.  Lose a game of Hearts faster than anyone else I know
4.  Make a really super triple chocolate cake
5.  Chew gum and walk at the same time

5 things I cannot do yet:
1.  Travel to outer space (I’ve always wanted to do that especially since getting into Star Trek)
2.  Effectively troubleshoot a large computer network (I know, now I sound like a nerd but it’s one of those things)
3.  Ride in a hot air balloon
4.  Take a cruise
5.  Meet someone really famous just so that I can actually say I know them

5 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1.  Sense of humor
2.  The ability to give really good back rubs or scratches
3.  Their willingness to be open with me and share their feelings
4.  Their ability to stretch the truth just enough to make me feel good; (not with everything of course, but as an example when I make a meal that totally bombs and I’m still told that it was great.  Oh wait, that’s a totally different story.)
5.  Someone who has many of the same interests as me, but is willing to let me do my own thing too while he does his own thing

5 things I say most often:
1.  ”You are really bad!”
2.  ”Absolutely bizarre!”
3.  ”That’s weird”
4.  ”I didn’t do it!”
5.  ”Yes?????”

5 celebrity crushes:
1.  Fred Savage from Wonder Years (I guess I really liked his voice)
2.  Joe Macintire from New Kids on the Block (again, it was the voice he had before it changed)
3.  George Bush Senior (in a way I guess because I loved his statement about broccoli when I was about twelve)
4.  Geordie on Star Trek TNG
5.  Mr. Rogers (Okay, don’t laugh.  I loved that show when I was a kid, and probably watched it way past the time I should have stopped)

5 people I want to do this:
Hmm.  I’m not even sure I’ve got 5 people that read this on a regular basis.  Let’s see,
1.  Jim
2.  Snowflake, (although she may all ready be doing it anyway)
3.  Stevedore and Rattan, since his blog says that we are going to hear a lot from him.
4.  I’d get Sarah again, but since she got me I don’t think I can do that, so this one and number 5 are anyone who feels that they want to do this.  Just send me a comment so I know you did it.

Well, it appears that the link I gave in last night’s post stopped working.  I guess they decided to move the story for archiving or something.  So, I decided that instead of trying to post a link that may change again, I just decided to post the story directly.  This came from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, AP section.  Enjoy.

Sep 21, 7:07 AM EDT

Condoms Are Named for Clinton, Lewinsky

BEIJING (AP) — A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America’s 42nd president.

Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.

“The Clinton condom will be the top of our line,” he said. “The Lewinsky condom is not quite as good.”

Liu said the company had chosen to use the Clinton name because consumers viewed the former president as a responsible person, who would want to stress safe sex as an effective way to prevent the spread of the HIV virus.

“The names we chose are symbols of people who are responsible and dedicated to their jobs,” he said. “I believe Bill Clinton cannot be unhappy about this because he’s a very generous man.”

Liu said the company did not believe using the Clinton and Lewinsky names constituted a violation of copyright or other laws.

“We have received full approval from the local Industrial and Commercial Bureau to start production,” he said.

Jim said that he was going to put this in his blog today, but since he didn’t I am.  Check out this Associated Press story about the new condoms that have been manufactured.  What’s next?  JAWS users, make sure that you turn off flash content and movies or you won’t be able to read this article.
    

I haven’t written in a couple of days because I really haven’t had much of interest to say.  But I figured that it was about time to write some more.  I’m all moved in to my new office space here at home, and all went well except for one half of a cord which has gone missing.  This cord is part of the power cord for the box that connects my business phone to the Internet.  Without this cord I have no business phone.  So, I thought I’d be smart and avoid any trouble by going out to buy a new cord.  I called Packet8, which is the digital phone provider for both my business and home phone lines.  They told me that I could get a new power cord at Comp USA.  I figured that this would be cool.  I had someone who had offered to give me a ride out to Brookfield where the Comp USA is located, and I figured this would be an easy purchase.  Wrong.  I got to the store on Saturday night only to discover that yes, they do sell Packet8 equipment, but no, they don’t carry just the power cords.  I got the standard, “Try Radio Shack.  They may have what you want.”

Okay, first off, I have to say that I really don’t like Radio Shack.  The one thing I’ll give them is that they do seem to have power cords for pretty much everything, but half the time they don’t have a clue.  So, I got to Radio Shack.  I had with me both the cord that I needed to replace, (I took the one off the home phone which was identical to the business one), and the box that connects to our router.  I gave both of these things to a lady standing at the counter.  She seemed really clueless, but I figured that things might still turn out all right.  She went to get some stuff and came back to the counter with this absolutely immense power cube and a tip which she said would work.  I don’t know a ton about electronics, but I know enough to get by, so I asked the lady if she was sure that this cord would be the right one.  That’s when things got interesting.  She basically said that she knew the tip was right, but she had to ask if the brick had enough power.  It didn’t, so this other lady went back and helped her find a different one.  I didn’t want to bring the stuff home with me and find out that it wasn’t the right thing, and the second lady had offered to test the cord, so I figured I’d do it.  They took my stuff to a back room, and about ten minutes later they came back out.  The first lady says to me, totally innocently, “It smells kind of smoky.  I think it may have been burned out before you brought it in here because I couldn’t get it to light up.”  To which, I told her that I had used it with no problems on Friday morning, after which time it had been disconnected until now.  She continued to insist that I had burned it out.  I took the power cord anyway, and decided it wasn’t worth arguing with her.  She was right and I was wrong, (never mind the “customer is always right” saying.)  After coming back home, I plugged in the correct cord into the box to see if I could get it to light up, and surprise surprise, it didn’t.  So, to my way of thinking, the lady burned out my box, and instead of taking responsibility, attempted to push the blame onto me.  This is not the first time I’ve been given incorrect information from Radio Shack, and this is one major reason I avoid them.  There’s a reason we call them crap Shack.

So anyway, to make a long story even longer, this morning I called my bosses to let them know that I was sort of out of commission, and explained the situation.  I was kind of expecting it to be a rather bit problem because they’d have to buy a new box and all that good stuff.  But, they said there wasn’t a problem at all.  Before noon they had all ready ordered me a replacement box and it’s supposed to be arriving either tomorrow or Wednesday.  Once it’s set up I don’t plan to move anything in here for quite a long time.  And, I’ll be taking that stupid cord back to get my money back.  If I thought it’d do any good I’d talk to a manager about this whole situation.

And now, it’s time for me to make like a banana and split.  I’ve got to be in Kenosha tomorrow morning, so need to get some sleep.  TTFN!

Well, I thought it was time for another  entry.  Tomorrow is going to be rather interesting.  Jim and I have  lived in the same place for almost 3 years, and in all that time we have used  half of our living room for our computers, router, and all that other good  stuff.  Now though, we have decided that I need some sort of office space,  and we’re going to move all my computer stuff into the guest room.  This  means not only re-arranging the room with the bed and things that are all ready  in there, but also moving my desk, embosser stand, and table.  Once it’s  all done I think it’s going to be really neat though.  I’ve still got my  old little refrigerator that I used in the dorm in Wausau, and we’ve reconnected  that.  I’ve got my old TV, also from my Wausau days, and a VCR which has  probably seen better days but I’m going to make it work with cable.  Of  course there’s the bed too.  So, I could technically stay in that room all  day and never have to come out pretty much.  Not that I’m planning to move  in there permanently, but it will be kind of nice.  We’ve all ready started  moving things, but tomorrow comes my computer and everything.  That’s going  to be one major job!!!!!  I wish I could just go away and come home when  it’s done, but I’ve got to do all the electrical stuff.

The cats are all ready interested in the changes,  and when I let the air out of the bed before moving it I think they would have  come along for the ride if I’d let them.  I had to deflate the mattress  before removing it from the frame, and then we had to take the frame apart and  move each section separately.  I can say one thing though.  It was  definitely easier than moving a regular bed!!!!

Jim wants to be completely done with the move by  tomorrow night.  It’ll be interesting to see if we are able to get  everything done by then.  And, this room is going to seem really strange  with my computer gone.  Oh well, it’s definitely going to be worth it once  it’s done.

Well, I’m going to stop writing for tonight.   Tomorrow should be a pretty big day, and I want to try to prepare for  it.

I’m really tired tonight and I was thinking about posting a message similar to the one that Stevedore posted on his blog.  It’s the one that has nothing written in it.  It sort of seemed like a good idea, especially since imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, but I decided I wouldn’t do that, at least this time.  I’m not even sure why I’m so tired tonight.  Jim says it’s probably because it’s getting dark earlier, and I think that is probably what it is.  I didn’t really do anything that should make me tired.  Maybe it was the great Baked Potato Soup that I had with my dinner tonight.  Food always tends to make people tired.

Well, I know there’s really nothing overly enlightening in this post, but I think I’m going to call it a night.  Oh, before I do, I wanted to make a book recommendation.  Since we all have to wait another two years or so to find out the fate of Harry Potter, I’m sure you all need something to read.  I just finished a really good book and wanted to recommend it.  The book is called Songmaster and it’s written by Orson Scott Card.  He writes a lot of Science Fiction stuff, and this book is one that can be read by itself since it is not part of a series.  In this book there is a school that trains children to be basically extremely talented musicians, who are then sold out to people to provide them with music.  The book focuses primarily on one of these students, and his life, such as it is, as a Songbird.  I was really surprised at the ending, but I’m not going to mention it here.

Since people seem to be interested in this study, I thought I’d write a little bit about it this morning.  A section taken from the survey web site says:

Previous studies have suggested that certain health outcomes are different in blind people compared to the sighted population, for example, incidence of sleep disorders, reproductive function and cancer risk. This study aims to test some of these previous findings in a large survey of visually impaired people.

The basic idea of this particular study is that they think blind women may be less likely to get breast cancer than sighted women.  This is based on the idea that light is the most important factor in sleeping patterns.  When light is removed from the equation, melatonin is not produced.  Previous tests have shown that there is a very small percentage of women who, although they have no light perception, still receive light signals to their eyes and therefore have normal sleep patterns.  There are others whose time clocks are working correctly, but they’re sleeping patterns are either too early or too late.  

The survey that I took was the first part.  I did that back when the survey was first announced back in probably March or April.  I received a call not too long before going to the ACB (American Council of the Blind) Convention in Las Vegas.  They wanted to know if I would be willing to participate in the second part of this study, which is completely optional.  I figured it’d be interesting so I agreed to do it.  I started keeping my sleep and nap diary on Friday, September second, and will continue to do this for eight weeks.  I will be provided with a talking scale and adapted measuring equipment so that I can provide them with urine samples twice throughout the eight weeks, forty-eight hours each time.  This allows them to check my melatonin levels at different times of the day.  I am looking forward to getting the equipment though, just because I like to play with new toys, and it sounds really neat.  I don’t exactly relish the prospect of doing the pea in the cup thing, but hey, it’s all in the name of science.  There is no monetary compensation, but this kind of thing interests me.  Check out the web site above for more information, or if you’re interested in taking part in the survey yourself.  They are hoping to get about 12,000 participants.  I’ll write more as I go along with this thing and keep everyone updated.  That’s it for now though because I really should motivate myself to do something other than play on my computer.  Later.

So.  I’m back.  I really don’t have much to say, but I’ve been reading through other blog entries, and it makes me want to add to mine.  This whole audio thing sounds really cool, and I think it would be at least somewhat interesting to look into.  But, personally, I’m sure you’d rather read what I have to say than hear me talk about it.  SMILE!

It’s been a crazy week in many ways, but it’s Saturday night now, and it’s time to mellow out.  I’ve been wearing my wrist monitor for close to a week, and I think I’m starting to get past the initial discomfort of the weird strap it uses.  Taz and Cally really didn’t like it at first.  It apparently smelled funny to them and Taz tried to bite it a couple of times.  I can just imagine what the people at Harvard would think of getting their monitor back full of teeth holes.  Oh, sorry guys.  I got hungry a while ago and didn’t have anything better to eat.  Hope you don’t mind.  The problem is, there’s entirely too much fiber for my liking.  Maybe with a little bit of salt …  Nah.  I don’t think so.

Anyway, sometime this next week I should be getting the rest of my test equipment, and the least exciting part of the study starts.  Jim’s already informed me that I will not be keeping my samples in the freezer.  We’ll see about that one.

It’s sort of interesting.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about blogs in general, and some of the stuff I’ve read.  It makes me wonder sometimes, who all reads this stuff?  I mean, it’s out there for the world to see, and everyone knows what convoluted thoughts are going through my head.  Well, I suppose this proves, at least for the foreseeable future, that I actually do have a brain capable of rational, (or irrational) thought.  This is subject to change of course.

Anyway though, I think I’m starting to run out of things to say tonight, so I think I’ll wrap up this entry.  Still trying to get Jim a real blog, but in the mean time, check out
Jim’s current blog
and see what he has to say.  It’s new yet, and he doesn’t have it as easy when it comes to posting.  You gotta love this MS Word toolbar thing for Blogger.

Okay, so I’m one to talk about this particular issue, but I have to say something here anyway.  GW-Micro just released the public beta of Window-Eyes 5.5 this afternoon.  Although I prefer JAWS these days, I’m keeping both screen-readers updated so that I can keep my skills up for training purposes.  Anyway, every time a new beta comes out the list is flooded with the same questions over and over again.  What do I need to do in order to get the beta?  This doesn’t work.  That doesn’t work.  What’s this?  Oh, and the biggest question, asked over and over by one individual, will PowerPoint be supported?  Okay, granted, PowerPoint is important, and I use it myself with JAWS.  But, come on.  To ask every single day for the last six or seven days is absolutely obnoxious!!!  I think the thing that bugs me the most though is that if these people who are asking all the redundant questions, and continuously hounding GW-Micro staff would get all the answers, and then some.  As I said before, I’m not a big manual reader, but when a new version of software comes out I always try to read through the readme files before asking questions.  People spend a lot of time on their documentation, and it’s really frustrating when the things they write are ignored.  I know this from personal experience when people I work with ask me questions after I’ve spent hours working on handouts for my classes.  Not everyone does it of course, but you get the point.

Anyway, on a totally unrelated topic, I got my wrist monitor today for the Harvard Health Study that they’re conducting.  For anyone who doesn’t know, they’re conducting a study because they think there may be some correlation between blind women and breast cancer.  It has something to do with the way light is perceived, and hormones, but don’t ask me about specifics.  If people are interested, and if enough people haven’t heard of it, I’ll look up the link and post it here.  Now though, I’m going to go to bed.

Okay, I want to talk a little bit about security.  No, I’m not talking about security in the air ports or in public facilities.  I’m talking about security on the Internet.  I understand that they’re trying to prevent spammers from getting access to free email accounts, email lists, and blogs, but they really should find a new way to do it.  I wanted to help Jim create a blog of his own this evening.  Surprise!!!!  The first screen went great.  I got him his username, password, and all that other good stuff.  Then, on the second screen, after picking a title, guess what?  There was a nice verification code graphic to get past.  And, what’s more, there was no alternative way to get past this step unless I wanted to have his blog published on another site.  This is one of those on-going problems and I sincerely hope they fix it soon.

Okay, so now that I’ve had my little rant, I’ll move on to other things, and try a different approach for Jim’s blog; mainly another place where they allow blogs.  It can’t hurt to see if it works.

As far as everything else goes, I got my potato salad; not as good as homemade, but hey, having it is better than no potato salad at all.  The brats were good, and the beans were really spicy and good.  Later we’ll have some Schwans ice cream and mellow out.  I’ve had a ton of fun this weekend, doing pretty much absolutely nothing.  

Here’s something interesting. I saw this on another blog and thought it was kind of cool. My results are below. What is your intelligence?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.