[DSM-Iowa] Important Info.

Mon Oct 12 15:22:21 UTC 2020

I do like the idea of chatting about the e-reader, and amazon products. We had tons of good ideas from karaoke to book discussions. Can't wait to see what else comes from this group. Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion. 

Mike Harvey, President
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa
Des Moines Chapter
615-554-0695
Email: mharvey at nfbi.org 
Website: www.nfbi.org 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/National-Federation-Of-the-Blind-Of-Iowa-372681823082570/posts 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nfb_iowa 
Des Moines Chapter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblindofiowadsm
Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

> On Oct 12, 2020, at 9:41 AM, Robert Ray via DSM-Iowa <dsm-iowa at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Greetings,
>  
> Mary has listed some really great ideas for things to be doing both on ZOOM and when we can meet in person. Hopefully that is going to happen one day in the not too distant future.
>  
> Shortly after convention is over we are going to start a couple of gatherings on ZOOM. There are going to be mostly just simple groups to discuss a given topic for example, one or more session may be a discussion of what we see for the strengths and weaknesses of the new E-reader from the library. Another one could be tips on making use of the Amazon First Oven. Another could talk about the experiences people have had with the delivery services. We will definitely do some on what is amateur radio and helping people work toward passing the exams to become licensed.
>  
> In the meantime, feel free to start new threads on both this list and on the tall corn list. If you try starting a thread and there isn’t any response try another. These are our lists and we should use them.
>  
> In other words, let us come together and exchange ideas and get to know one another even better. As Sharonda said at the meeting Saturday, loneliness is a bad thing. We need to defeat it.
>  
> Bob
>  
> From: DSM-Iowa <dsm-iowa-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Mary McGee via DSM-Iowa
> Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2020 2:18 PM
> To: 'Des Moines Chapter List, NFB of Iowa' <dsm-iowa at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Mary McGee <mmcatitude at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [DSM-Iowa] Important Info.
>  
> Hello, everyone!  This is indeed a good day!
> First things first:  I support the $50 door prized; years ago, we did this every year.  It was a good idea. 
>               Thank you all for being so nice to me yesterday!  You gave me hope that someday I’ll be as much of a part of this fine group as I ever was.  I had to quit attending meetings because, as a new employee at Wells Fargo four years ago, I had to work two kind of odd shifts, meaning they weren’t weekdays and regular working hours.  Moreover, at that time I had many debts and working the odd shifts paid more than not, so I took them.  Just before I caught the Rona and had to come home, I won a shift bid, so now I’ll work Mon. thru Fri. 8:00 – 4:30, i.e. “normal hours.  This means I’ll be able to attend all meetings.
>               A little by way of introduction.  I live downtown at the Civic Center Court apartment complex and we have a lot of ash trees in the courtyard that look absolutely yellow now!  And the yellow is showering down because so many of the leaves are falling.  It’s quite nice, although it isn’t as colorful as Fall was in NE Iowa where there are more tree varieties.
>               I’ve been married to LeRoy for more than forty years, as some of you know. 
>               I took a strength-finder test at work and learned that my strengths are strategic thinking and taking responsibility.  I’d like to also believe I have a pretty good sense of humor.  My weaknesses/challenges are not taking things personally and overcoming the fear that I’m never “good enough” to belong with any group of other people. 
>               I’m the textbook case, Sharonda, of the person who’s been very lonely because of this COVID mess!  Before this “new normal”, I was conquering my weaknesses pretty well.  This isolation hasn’t helped, but I’ll keep trying.  Neither LeRoy nor I have any siblings, children, or other family, so we have other. 
>               Now to more important stuff:  ideas for ways we could do little Zoom meetings in small groups where we have things in common or not.  I know there are plenty of others, but these are some I listed.  We could have a nontraditional book club.  By that I mean, instead of reading one book and discussing it, we could take turns introducing each other to ones that we read and report on them and explain why we liked them.  I would join that.  I’d also join a Bible Study group with a few more mature Christians to lead the way.  Some people might like a recipe group or a life hack group, where we could talk about techniques like not strangling your Christmas tree while putting the lights on it.  LeRoy said he’d join an amateur radio group like the IBARC of years ago and there are at least two of you who’d be interested in becoming licensed HAMS.  These are Zoom-possible things that could be done in evenings.
>               Now, we come to things that probably no one wants to do yet, but the future can look bright!  A New Year’s Party with a Good-Bye Rona theme!  A “Happy Birthday To US” party where we put twelve little slips of paper in something with the names of the months on them and draw out a month in which to have this function.  That month would simply be the month to have it, but it would really be an annual bash to celebrate all of our birthdays. 
>               What do you think?  Delete if you don’t like them, respond if you do.  Thanks for reading!
> Sincerely,
> Mary
>  
>  
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