[Nfbmt] Who uses what?

[Marks, Jim]

Iris is really great.  She performed at Helena's Myrna theater.  It's a very
intimate environment.  Iris's speaking and signing voices are very different
from one another.  She did a lot of storytelling, another performer
characteristic I really love.  She definitely speaks with an Arkansas
accent.  She and her husband, Greg Brown, another top notch singer and song
writer, live in Iowa.  I saw Greg at Red Ants Pants in White Sulphur Springs
a couple years ago.  Anyhow, Iris told a funny story about taking her
elderly mother to the doctor's office.  She said they were filling out yet
another long list of patient maladies, and they came across a question about
whether her mother lost any organs.  She said her mother leaned towards her
with a wicked smile on her face and quipped, "I've never lost an organ, but
I sold a pretty good piano once."  Iris's accent pronounced piano as piana
and once as oncest.  Jaws butchers the pronunciation, but I hope you can
imagine the southern speech.  On the way out, I had a brief moment to stand
a few feet from her.  She is a smallish person with one heck of a big voice.


Jim Marks
Blind.grizzly at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of d m gina via
Nfbmt
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:27 PM
To: nfbmt at nfbnet.org
Cc: d m gina
Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] Who uses what?

now I would have loved that concert.
We hear her allot on Sunday down south.
I bet she has a really swell accent.
Yes I enjoy my apple smart phone.
i wish I knew how to use the knfb reader, but glad I have it.
Always glad to hear from you.

Original message:
> Sorry to be so slow in replying and for missing so many Chapter meetings.
> Seems like life keeps getting the way of participating like I want.  I 
> have to admit that I missed the most recent Chapter meeting because I 
> went to a music concert by Iris Dement.  Iris was wonderful, but so is 
> our collective activity.

> The device I use the most these days is my Android smart phone.  It's 
> a jack of all trades sort of device.  I use in the usual way for 
> things like making calls and texting.  And there are lots of really 
> good apps for blind people, too.  For example, I use the KNFB Reader 
> app that makes my smart phone a portable reading tool.  It really 
> works well, so much so, I can't figure out how I got along without it.  
> Another useful app is Nearby Explorer, a way finding tool designed for 
> blind users.  It's accurate enough to walk in unfamiliar places with 
> confidence.  Yet another app is the Ideal Currency Identifier.  It 
> tells me the denomination of bills.  I often use mainstream apps such 
> as Google Maps.  It allows me to navigate from a car.  I simply tell 
> it where I want to go, and it gives step-by-step driving instructions 
> for my drivers and me.  There are far more apps I could mention, but this
gives an idea of why I like my smart phone so much.

> My phone is a Galaxy Note 3, and it's now over two years old.  Newer 
> phones perform even better, but what I have is so good, I'm actually 
> reluctant to give it up.  To help operate the phone, I use a separate 
> Braille Bluetooth keyboard called the Focus 14.  It takes a while to 
> get the knack of using it, and I learn new things almost every time I try
to use the device.

> Now, I know a lot of blind folks really like the Apple phones.  Today, 
> though, the Android option is every bit as good as the Apple.  And I 
> have to admit I like the diversity of Android.  Apple's stuff is 
> elegant and well supported, but Apple takes the philosophy of not 
> caring much about user input and favoring giving us technology the 
> company thinks we need.  Android is more user generated, and, as a 
> consequence, sometimes frustrating to use as frequent app updates require
relearning things over and over again.
> Still, I like the challenge.  Really, using technology means adopting 
> an attitude of problem solving in a very dynamic environment.  
> Technology not only gives me tools to use, it keeps my thinking cap 
> functioning like it should.

> Best!



> Jim Marks
> Blind.grizzly at gmail.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rik James 
> via Nfbmt
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 2:41 PM
> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
> Cc: Rik James
> Subject: [Nfbmt] Who uses what?

> How many members are using which device?

> Who feels like they need help with which device?

> Who would like to devote a part of a chapter meeting discussing this?

> But not only devices.
> How about other non-device aspects to day to day life as a blind person?
> List some of those as well.

> I keep spending time looking for things.
> I am working on my scanning technique.
> Seems that too often, I say well I can't find it.
> Then to find out the lost item was right in the area where I had been 
> looking.
> What is wrong with this picture?
> Frustration.

> What should I do?
> I have an old thinking cap.
> I used to wear it, until I got too big headed.
> So I put it in a drawer
> Of course my life was rather dull, not wearing my thinking cap.
> But when living off of my wits proved too great a challenge, I chose 
> to reconsider my situation.
> Then, when my ego had shrunk a bit, I could not remember which drawer 
> I had put it in.

> What?
> Look again in that drawer.
> Why yes. There it is.

> That's just silly.
> Isn't it?
> Who needs to wear a hat just to think?

> Ah well.
> Complications.

> Looking for the cell phone.
> Call myself up on the land line.
> That works.
> Should I have put the phone where the hat was?
> Silly again. Oh well.

> Let us hear your thoughts, folks.
> Rik James


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--
--Dar
skype: dmgina23
  FB: dmgina
www.twitter.com/dmgina
every saint has a past
every sinner has a future

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