[stylist] Essential Office Tools

Sun Oct 10 18:08:59 UTC 2010

On 10/10/10, BDM <lists at braddunsemusic.com> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> These are my few essential items:
>
> 1. File Management: I'm not afraid to create folders on my computer,
> and  try to maintain them in a very organized manner.
> . I find the need to clean house once and a while  when in a hurry
> creating and though it takes a little time, I take it.
>
> 2. Digital Recorder: A super help is a digital recorder, my
> electronic brain, my notepad of sourts.  I have two of these. One
> cheaper one I bought for like $40 which is an Olympus model and is
> easy to use with no speech menus. I use it to keep numbers on the
> fly, notes about my business on the fly, I use it like an inventory
> sheet in my business marking down what I need where, I use it for
> anything I don't wish to forget or need to mark down in a hurry. I'll
> use it to mark down song titles, lines, melodies, etc. as well on the
> fly. The other one I have is a more expensive Olympus one that
> records in WAV format if you wish. I use it as both a computer
> microphone at times as well to note songs I'm working on, record
> conferences, live song evaluations, and etc.  I couldn't live without
> one these days. A note that if you have a Victor Stream you can also
> use it for audio recorded notes too. I've also used the Stream to
> serve as note promptors when doing a class on songwriting. I made a
> txt file  of my notes and put it on the Stream and covertly used a
> ear bud as a promptor. I similarly use my digital recorder as my set
> list promptor on long gigs of two hours or more. Everyone thinks its
> a sound system ear monitor :).
>
> 3. Day Timer: Probably one of my biggest things is my day
> timer.  Anytime I need to be reminded of something, an appointment, a
> special day or To Do item, I'll enter it in there, have it remind me
> ahead of time and even send me an email as well pop an alert on my
> screen. It keeps my contacts, notes and details for my address book
> or To Do items and everything else. It has calendar, address book,
> expense view, glances or views by day, week, month, year and other
> stuff, some not accessible but I don't use them anyway so that's
> cool.  The program is one that use to be supported by Jaws, no longer
> formally is but it still works if you have  the old scripts. It is
> Anytime Organizer. I will say the latest version I had tried, version
> 13, did not agree with my system and I am running version 12 which
> works great and I will probably not change unless major tweaks are
> made  from my version. Though I've found their customer service to be
> atrocious, I still love the program and it is one of which that has
> kept me from converting to a Mac, which I am yet seriously
> considering. I just need to find  a Mac anser to this and be open
> minded to a different, yet free screen reader :). I also occasionally
> use a free and fairly accessible program called Alarm Clock By Terry.
> It serves as a countdown timer as well an alarm clock on board. It is
> pretty accessible. I looked forever to find one that wasn't totally
> graphical and it wasnt' easy. This one has a couple buttons not
> labeled but other than that its fine.
>
> 4. Braille Tags: I am not a big Braille reader, I have trouble
> falling asleep trying to read it for any length of time , but I do
> use it around the office. I use old business cards I have and make
> notes to print papered items if I just need to file or otherwise deal
> with them.
>
> 5. Clips: One last thing I'll mention since I use to use this and it
> worked great the way I was running my business/office then. I
> bought  some of those  paper clips that  from a profile view are
> shaped like a triangle and have two foldable wire handles on them.
> You can  afix Braille dymo tape numbers to them. I'd have my reader
> go through and read  a certain mail item or papered item on to a
> digital recorder starting off "Item #1:" and proceed to read it. This
> way I could go and file or attend to it later when I had time and not
> pay someone to do that for me.
>
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Brad
>
>
>
>
>
> At 09:16 AM 10/10/2010, Joe Orozco wrote:
>>Dear all,
>>
>>I'm curious about what people think are the essential office tools for
>>writers who are blind.  Our sighted counterparts keep notepads, paper
>> files,
>>bulletin boards and all manner of things to keep things organized and
>> spread
>>out through their office.  Last year when I switched jobs and took one
>> where
>>I have the luxury of working from home, I was a little pleased and somewhat
>>disappointed to realize that the two main information storage devices I
>>needed was a laptop and an external hard drive.  I recently invested in an
>>embosser for those times when I'd like to be able to read hard copy, but I
>>somehow don't see pasting Braille stickies on a board as all that
>>productive, out of sight is out of mind and so forth.  The trouble with
>>working primarily from home is that the work is always there.  Similarly,
>>working out of a single laptop makes it seem as though my work has never
>>really disappeared after 6:00 PM.  I suppose I should accepted when my
>>office tried to buy me a Mac.  It's not too late, but I'm not ready to
>>explore a new operating system.  So what do you use to keep things
>>compartmentalized and organized in your office?  Any tips and tricks would
>>be appreciated.  I'm reading this time-management book and want to see if
>>there's a different way of arranging my information to boost general
>>productivity.  Thanks much in advance.
>>
>>Best,
>>
>>Joe
>>
>>"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>>some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Writers Division web site:
>>http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>>
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>
>
> Brad Dunse
>
> Check out my blog at: http://www.braddunsemusic.com
>
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> _______________________________________________
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com