Hey all;
I killed the math plugin on this blog. So you no longer have to do basic addition to comment.
Enjoy.

Hello all my readers;
Those of you that follow my
facebook
twitter
and
audioboo
will know that there were problems cropping up with my beloved guidedog cleveland, and it wasn’t getting better.
I tried everything short of screaming, gentle leader, strictly back to basics, etc.
His focus wasn’t there, and it got to a point where he started pulling really hard in harness to greet people, and I couldn’t keep his focus from outing to outing.
I called guidedogs for the blind February 19, 2013 and basically said I need help, I don’t know what to do, I’m absolutely stuck.
I tried reaching someone the day prior, but do to some holiday or another the office was closed.
I reached my FSR and we talked, including my mentioning maybe a possible reevaluation, and he said, OK, I can be up March 11, 2013 and we’ll see what we can do. Ok, *breathe* no need to panic, you can keep things rolling until someone can come up and see you. Later that day I received a second call from graduate services, and we talked more, and they indicate we can’t wait, we need to get cleveland back for reevaluation. So we put things in motion, and fast forward about a week.
Cleveland is picked up by a field manager from origon, and returns to campus.
I return to using a cane, *gasp* wait, can I still use the cane? Actually, I can!
I’m told I’ll get weekly updates, etc. At this point, it hits me like bricks, I lose it, what could I have done, and one of the guidedog lists I’m on bares the brunt of my ramblings, could I have done more, was I too hasty in returning him. The support from that point onward was absolutely amazing, the calls, the e-mails, just everything, all you on that list, you know who you are, you absolutely rock, thank you so very much.
Fast forward.

We get to the first weekly update. It’s not good, and the person passing along the update knows this. Everything I’ve reported, there seing it, including some things I missed or that didn’t start until his return. They have had no lluck fixing it. Nobody’s giving up yet, though, let’s give it another week, I’ll call you next week.
I hope, prey, and continue hoping, but in the back of my mind I have to prepare myself for that call that says he can’t continue working.
Fast forward to March 15, 2013.
The phone rings, I grab it.
It’s the person delivering reports on cleveland.
It’s been determined that Cleveland cannot continue working as my guide, they can’t refocus him, they need to retire him from active guide work.
I’m told the next steps, what happens now, and the call is ended.
From that point onward it’s been an immotional time for me, why did I even bother, I should have just bared the brunt of it, keeping cleveland working, etc. A couple of people who immediately stepped up after his retirement was announced, I’d like to give special thanks to, you know who you are, because of your experience with dogs, and immediately not asking any questions, called me or in person kept me going, I thank you so very much. Everyone here in Toronto, back in Ottawa, the guidedogs counselling department, other graduates, all of you have continued to support me and I do sincerely thank you.
There has been the question of will I return to GDB, or will I recommend them in the future?
If you’d asked me that last week, my answer would absolutely not be fit for this blog, I blamed them, I blamed me, I blamed cleveland’s raisers, I was hardist on myself for giving up on him.
But now? Me personally? I honestly think as a new handler, and this is just my personal opinion, so please remember this. I think the two weeks is a good idea, in theory, and maybe if I’d done more research, I could have known the questions to ask, but the two weeks as a new firsttime never seen walked with a guidedog in my life, handler? sort of two much. Would I do it again? If I got a call right now from them saying we have a dog for you, I’d seriously have to ask myself if I could do two weeks. With what I know now? I probably would. I’d know the questions to ask, what to look for, who’s ear to ramble off.
Recommend it to others? It all depended on your individual situation. Blankitly, I would, but as an alumni member of GDB, I’d have to ask you individually questions and give you a recommendation at that point.
Will I get another dog? It’s in my future deffinitly, but where I might aquire the dog from will take a lot of consideration, thought, and talking to a lot of people, and making my choice from there.
If you’ve read this far, thank you.
In closing, thank you to guidedogs for still supporting me and taking my questions, my concerns, and thank you to those that took the brunt of my argumentative behavior when I wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. Thank you to both of Cleveland’s puppy raisers, names omitted unless they comment here on this post, for raising such an amazing dog, even if he had to retire early. Your dedication to him is boundless, and I thank you from both of us. To the person that has taken him in in his retirement, thank you for loving cleveland like I loved him in his working life. Once again, thank you, each and everyone of you reading this weather it’s by e-mail, rss, facebook, on twitter, etc. Thank you all for your support.
Talk to you all next time.

I was scrolling twitter, and ran across
Blog shames TTC riders who take up extra seats
so I scrolled on over to this blog and while I agree with the centament, and the frustration, I don’t agree with some of the language being utalized. But since I can’t figure out the submission form, I’m just gonna post my thoughts here. Your comments in the comments section would rock. I’m blockquoting it because it was originally for that blog, but I couldn’t figure it out.

To those that crowd the front of the bus/streetcar when there’s clearly an entire back of said vehicle available. Kindly do us all a solid and move back and park your rear in an available seat, or hey you can even stand back their to! miracles! Oh, I’m sorry, that would be common curtisy. and some ttc riders are so all and mighty they’d rather not actually be curtius. DO not get me started on huge strolers, treatment of bus/streetcar drivers, etc. because I’d be here all day. Related: To you that think that not giving up a seat to a disabled rider is a good idea. how about you lose the use of your legs for a day and ride the TTC, then we’ll talk, k? thought so. In closing, learn you some common curtisy, you require one seat, put bag in your lap, or *gasp* under the seat, wear your children,leave the huge strollers at home, and use a smaller one. like duh, move to the back of the bus if it’s not crowded, or to prevent overcrowding, and if a disabled rider gets on, for the love of all that’s squeaky get your sighted non disabled bum out of the seat.

That’s all I have to say.
Comment away!

the following was originally
over here
and is reposted here, because it’s absolutely funny.

A Professional Apology from your Web Host

So like. Ok check this out. We have this big data center right? And this big data center is like really big and stuff, and it uses a lot of this power stuff. Well like ok so you know when you have really important stuff like I dunno your computer or your Xbox or something and if the power goes out you want to keep it from just suddenly turning off right? Cause there’s nothing worse than when the power goes out during a game of Call of Duty and it’s like “Oh Crap man I was just about to win and shit just got real and the hell?”

So you plug it in to this thing like a UPS or something kinda like the dudes that deliver packages and I always have to sign for shit. I mean it’s no big deal anyways since I don’t work during the day and deliver pizzas at night and the UPS guy is always here around 2:30 or so. Oh yeah. So ok About that.

So our really big data center is supposed to have a UPS which it does… I think. But apparently like ok so some squirrel was like chewing on the wires again and it’s like “stop it damnit”, but anyways. So this squirrel is all up there omnomnoming the wires, and like zap! The squirrel is now like a McSquirrel or something which probably wouldn’t taste good even with cheese and mayo, but like the power got all funny and the data center went pop and apparently the UPS was never plugged in cause Joe was like all like “Dude I’ll do it tomorrow.”

So now our customers like can’t run their websites and stuff which sucks because now the world is all like “Omfg where’s all the websites with cat pictures”, and some 15-year-old can’t see lolcats or something and kills himself and then it’s like on the news abouthow we really fucked up and the headline is all like I Can has funeral and everyone laughs but it’s a real dick move.

So we’re trying to fix it, but it’s like difficult and we think we got it so we want to apologize if your site wasn’t working but it should work now so don’t cancel your service. We promise this won’t happen again. Until next week.

yeah, that’s so
dream host
as seen
over here
and why I’ll not go back to them again. Nice and stable, right? /sarc/

The following is the response posted to my
support ticket e-mail to dropbox
yesterday.

From: David M. – Dropbox Support
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 12:28 AM
To: Shane Davidson
Subject: Dropbox Support – Re: interface changes do not always mean accessibility.

## IMPORTANT ## Text below this line won’t be added to the ticket
You can add a response by replying to this email.
Please be sure to reply with the same email address that you used to originally contact us.

David M. – Dropbox Support, Mar 13 09:27 pm (PDT):
Hi Shane,
Thanks for contacting Dropbox.
Our engineers have been notified of this issue and are actively working towards fixing it. Unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact timeline that a fix will be available but I’ll be sure to notify you when it’s released!
If you have any additional questions or concerns please let me know.
Best,
David

I’m really hoping these aren’t just words and that this does mean dropbox devs are actually working towards a fix to bring back accessibility to dropbox 2.0.
We’ll see what happens in the coming days.

update: a response was received on March 14, 2013.

as a longstanding user of dropbox, I’ve grown to love it, from it’s ease of use, to it’s support on so many platforms, windows, mac, android, and iphone. So when 2.0.0 was early released and put up as the perminant stable download I thought nothing of it, until I noticed the right click menu was no longer accessible.
I did some research and noticed I wasn’t the only user experiencing this issue, and not the only OS effected, as the mac was effected as well.
I tested with JAWS, window-eyes and NVDA and got the exact same results.
So like so many others, I decided to compose an e-mail to dropbox support, asking them to please fix these issues. I post it below for your reading. The comment boards await you.

From: Shane Davidson
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 3:42 AM
To: ‘support@dropbox.com’
Subject: interface changes do not always mean accessibility.

Hello;
As a longtime user of dropbox, starting in 2009, and it’s paid service, becoming a paid user back in 2010, I’ve gotten used to storing important business and personal documents in the cloud, sharing folders with friends, and I referred people to your service since I highly recommended it.
It’s simplicity, ease of use, and ability to install it on everything, your computers, your iphone, your android, it was perfict.
Your recent doubling of paid users and adding more paid plans with more space screamed keep me, and I kept referring users, participating in contests, etc. earning more space.
Recently, you early released version 2.0.0 as a “stable” release to a select number of users, some of those users being totally blind that rely on screen access technologies, the three main ones being JAWS for windows from Freedom scientific, www.freedomscientific.com Window-eyes from GWMicro www.gwmicro.com and the free and open source NVDA www.nvda-project.org.
Reading your blog post at

https://blog.dropbox.com/2013/03/discover-the-new-dropbox-menu-on-your-computer/

and the forum post at

https://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=97895

I saw you had changed your dropbox menu. Ok, no big deal, right? Still able to right click. Actually no. The old style menu we were used to was gone. Utterly gone. I thought there was an issue with my access technology, in this case JAWS, but after discussion with other users via twitter, facebook, and seing this topic on the forums

https://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=97907&replies=1#post-533140

it seems that this is not the case and the latest version under both windows and mac, the menu is not accessible.
We still have the ability to move files around in explorer/finder depending on your OS, but this menu gave us access to the preferences, our space usage, recently changed files, and the ability if necessary to shut down the client if the need arose.
Myself, and others are begging, and imploring you to please, please fix this major accessibility issue before releasing to the public as a whole.
Your prompt attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated and a lot of users would thank you.
Your attention to this issue would show that a mainstream company is willing to listen to a group of people, and willing to keep accessibility in mind when making changes to a UI.
As a note, this e-mail, and any communications minus personally identifying information that may be included, will be posted as an open communication for all to read on my blog at
www.shaned.net
weather the feedback is positive or negative, it will be posted to the above linked blog to be read by all.
Thank you for your time and attention.

I and others await your comments. We’ll see what dropbox says in the coming days.

while trolling the tech blogs I frequent, I came across
this story
and for your sanity, I post it below. Comments, etc. to follow.

State of Touch Typing – Fleksy goes free
by fleksy on 15/2/2013

Fleksy was first released on iOS in July 2012. As we turn Fleksy into a free app 8 months later, we feel we are starting an exciting new chapter in our story, and we take some time to explain our decision.

Fleksy started from our own frustration when typing on today’s touch-screen devices – a frustration shared by two thirds of smartphone users today. Right from the start, we felt that typing was one of the functions that made smartphones feel not so smart.

We set the bar really high – a typing system that is so intuitive, you don’t have to always look at the screen to type. Just as you do on your laptop. And thus Fleksy was born.

We looked for a market to launch our technology to – a group that we felt would most benefit from our inventions, and arguably a group of users that would challenge us to keep innovating until we deliver on our promise. So we launched an app for blind users.

In a space of a just a few months, our users have propelled us from an accessibility app to being recognized as a mainstream technology and one of the biggest innovations to come to mobile devices in a while.

Firstly, we want to say a big and honest thank you.

We have always seen our keyboard as a universal technology, and as something that can help millions of users be more productive in their daily lives. We are today very happy to see that we are well on track on this mission, and we are working hard to integrate our technology in the next generation of hardware and software to come.

We realize that a good virtual keyboard is something users expect to be integrated on their device and be available in every application. This is by far the biggest request from our iOS users, and one that we can unfortunately not provide until each platform we target supports such functionality.

In our effort to bring Happy Typing to even more users, what we can do is make Fleksy on iOS free for everyone. We feel that making Fleksy part of the daily lives of many more people will help us continue to showcase how smartphones can be made both more accessible and useful for everyone.

Your App Store reviews, tweets, feedback messages, support, and advocacy can help us achieve this. Please, keep it up – there’s even a button in the app to do that!

We will continue to innovate and research, as well as support and update the Fleksy iOS app in the way you’ve come to expect from us. We stay fully committed to the iOS platform.

And as a final thought, we wanted to thank all those users who have downloaded and purchased Fleksy to date. We would have not been able to create or support the technology without your help, let alone expand our efforts to bring it to the hands of many more users.

If you haven’t experienced eyes-free typing, try Fleksy. We think you will never look back.

Thank you, again, from all of us here in San Francisco.

Happy Typing!

The Fleksy Team

OK, so let’s move on to the responses.
I’m apart of the
VIPhone
mailing list hosted on
google groups
and when the blog post I posted above is mailed out, this andy person replies with the following, and I quote the message for you.

—–Original Message—–
From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:46 AM
To: viphone@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Fleksy is now free

This is the kind of thing that really pisses me off.

Andy

I replied to this fool, basically telling him the following, in list form.

• companies have the right to make there apps free
• what right do you have to complain about an app that’s gone free that you had to pay for?
• if people like yourself hadn’t supported this app, weather at it’s original price of $15, it’s sale price of $9.95, it’s then reduced perminant price of $4.95 and the odd sale for $1.99, would the app have then gone free? a big fat no!

in summary, nock off the complaining, it’s unwarranted, and unnecessary.
I bought this app at a reduced price, as I caught a sale, would I have paid $15? Now that I’ve used it so much? Yes. Did I initially think it wasn’t worth the price? I’ll honestly say I did, but after I finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase it, I wouldn’t live without it. Will I complain that my support made this app free? Absolutely not. It’s the nature of the beast, and people need to remember this.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great night all.

***note*** this entry was typed and published using Microsoft word, so it’s formatting may be scued. Do to the time sensitive nature of this information, my goal was to get it out as quickly as possible. The content is still readable, but please have patience while reading, do to formatting issues. If your getting this by e-mail via subscription, please use the link provided in the message to go to this post on the web as edits may have been entered after this posts publication. ***end note***

I’ve been posting previous entries On this very issue Since it’s inception, and you can find them in this same category. In about mid December a bunch of people, who may end up showing up in the comments commenting on this, started receiving letters about this lawsuit, and saying if they didn’t take action, they’d be automatically included. I thought, ok, they won’t find me, because I’m still in flux. But boy, was I wrong. I have comments on this issue, the way it was handled, and more, and I’ll put those comments after I give you the pleasure of reading a scanned copy of the letter. Please note this letter’s 2 double sided and one single sided page long, a total of 5 pages. I didn’t have time to edit, and correct, again, the content is what matters, not how it’s formatted. I’ll list the website at the end during my comments.

—begin scan—

To Anyone Who Attended the W. Ross

MacDonald School (formerly Ontario School for

the Blind) or are the Family Member of

Someone Who Did

A Class Action Lawsuit May Affect Your Rights.

A court authorized this notice. You are not being sued.

·    You could be affected by a class action lawsuit involving W. Ross MacDonald School, formerly the Ontario School for the Blind (“W. Ross MacDonald”). W. Ross MacDonald is a provinciallyoperated

elementary and secondary school for children with visual disabilities.

A Court has approved the lawsuit as a class action that includes anyone who was a student at W. Ross MacDonald from 1951 to the present day and certain of their family members. If you know

a former student of W. Ross MacDonald who cannot read this notice please share this

information with them.

The Court has not decided whether the Province of Ontario did anything wrong, and the case is currently scheduled to go to trial. There is no money available now and no guarantee there will

be. However, your rights are affected, and you have a choice to make now.

·    Lawyers must prove the claims against the Province of Ontario at a trial. If money or benefits are obtained you will be notified about how to ask for a share.

Your options are explained in this notice. To be removed, you must act by April 1, 2013.

Stay in this lawsuit. Await the outcome. Share in possible money and

benefits. Give up certain rights.

By doing nothing, you keep the possibility of getting money or other

benefits that may come from a trial or settlement. But, you give up any

rights to sue the Province of Ontario on your own about the same legal

claims in this lawsuit.

DO NOTHING

Get out of this lawsuit. Get no money or benefits from it. Keep rights.

If you ask to be removed (opt out) and money or benefits are later awarded,

you won’t share in that money or benefits. But, you keep any rights to sue

the Province of Ontario on your own about the same legal claims in this

lawsuit.

REMOVE YOURSELF

(OPT OUT)

BASIC INFORMATION    Page 3

1.    Why was this notice issued?

What is this lawsuit about?

Why is this a class action?

Who is a member of the Class?

What is the Plaintiff asking for?

Is there any money available now?

YOUR OPTIONS    Page 4

1.    What happens if I do nothing?

What if I don’t want to be in the Class?

THE LAWYERS REPRESENTING YOU    Page 4

9.    Do I have a lawyer in the case?

How will the lawyers be paid?

A TRIAL    Page 5

9.    How and when will the Court decide who is right?

Will I get money after the trial?

GETTING MORE INFORMATION    Page 5

9.    How do I get more information?

BASIC INFORMATION

S.

This lawsuit has been “certified” as a Class Action. This means that the lawsuit meets the requirements

for class actions and may proceed to trial. If you are included, you may have legal rights and options

before the Court decides whether the claims being made against the Province of Ontario on your behalf

are correct. This notice explains all of these things.

The Honourable Madame Justice Horkins, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is currently

overseeing this case. The case is known as Seed v. Ontario, Court File No. CV-11-420734. The person

who started this lawsuit is called the Plaintiff. The Province of Ontario is the Defendant.

awsuit

The lawsuit says the Province of Ontario failed to properly care for and protect people who attended and

resided at W. Ross MacDonald. The lawsuit says that students were emotionally, physically, and

psychologically traumatized by their experiences at the school. The Province of Ontario denies these

claims. The Court has not decided whether the Plaintiff or the Province of Ontario is right. The lawyers

for the Plaintiff will have to prove the claims in Court.

In a class action one or more people called “representative plaintiffs” sue on behalf of people who have

similar claims. All of these people with similar claims are called the “class” or “class members.” The

court resolves the issues for all class members, except for those who remove themselves from the class.

The representative plaintiff in this case is Robert Seed. Mr. Seed attended W. Ross MacDonald for 11

years in the 1950s and 1960s.

You are included in this lawsuit if:

·    you attended or resided at W. Ross MacDonald at any time between 1951 and the present day;

you are the parents, spouses, children or siblings of someone who attended or was in residence at W. Ross MacDonald between 1978 and the present day

you are an estate trustee for a person who was a student (1951 onward) or a family member of a student (1978 onward) and that person was living on or after February 22, 2009

Plaintiffs are asking for money or other benefits for the Class. They are also asking for attorneys’ fees

and costs, plus interest.

0

No money or benefits are available now because the Court has not yet decided whether the Province of

Ontario did anything wrong, and the two sides have not settled the case. There is no guarantee that

money or benefits will ever be obtained. If they are, you will be notified about how to ask for a share.

4

YOUR OPTIONS

You have to decide whether to stay in the Class or whether to remove yourself before a possible trial, and

you have to decide this by April 1, 2013.

‘Vtr

If you do nothing you will automatically remain in the Class. You will be bound by all Court orders,

good or bad. If any benefit is awarded, you may need to take action in order to receive any benefits. Staying in this Class will not impact the residence or services and supports received by class

members from community based agencies which are funded by the Province of Ontario.

If you decide not to participate in the lawsuit, you must remove yourself– this is sometimes referred to as

“opting out.” If you remove yourself, you will not receive any money or benefit that may be obtained as a

result of this lawsuit. You will not be bound by any Court orders and you keep your right to sue the

Province of Ontario regarding the issues in this case. You cannot change your mind later and opt back

into the class action.

To remove yourself, complete the Opt Out Form included with this notice or send a letter that says you

want to be removed from the W. Ross MacDonald Class. Your letter must include your name, address,

telephone number, and signature. The Opt Out Form or letter must be sent to W. Ross MacDonald Class

Action Administrator, c/o Crawford Class Action Services 3-505, 133 Weber St North, Waterloo, Ontario,

N2J 3G9, or by email at: wross@crawco.ca.

You can also get the Opt Out Form or complete the form online at www.wrossclassaction.ca. Your opt out must be received by April 1, 2013.

Call 1-877-453-8710 (TTY: 1-877-627-7027) if you have any questions about how to get out of the Class.

THE LAWYERS REPRESENTING YOU

Yes. The Court has appointed Koskie Minsky, LLP, of Toronto, Ontario to represent you and other Class

Members as “Class Counsel.” You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented

by another lawyer, you may hire one to appear in Court for you at your own expense.

You will not have to pay any of these fees and expenses of Class Counsel. If the Court grants their

request, the fees and expenses would be deducted from any money obtained for the Class, or paid

separately by the Province of Ontario.

A TRIAL

If the case is not dismissed or settled, the Plaintiff will have to prove his claims and the claims of the class

at a trial. The trial would be in Toronto, Ontario. During the trial, a court will hear all of the evidence,so

that a decision can be reached about whether the Plaintiff or the Province of Ontario are right about the

claims in the lawsuit. There is no guarantee that the Plaintiff will win any money or benefits for theClass.

,

WAWA

If the the Plaintiff obtains money or benefits as a result of a trial or settlement, you will be notified about how

to ask for a share or what your other options are at that time. These things are not known right now.

Important information about the case will be posted on the website for the lawyers,

www.kmlaw.ca/WRossMacDonaldClassAction, as it becomes available.

ORMATION

GETTING_____…….–.

You can get more information about this case and opting out: Koskie Minsky LLP (lawyers for the plaintiff and the class)

900-20 Queen Street West, Box 52

Toronto, Ontario M5H 3R3

Tel: 1.888.233.2852

Email: WRossMacDonaldclassaction(almlaw.ca

W. Ross MacDonald Class Action Administrator 3-505, 133 Weber Street North

Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 3G9

Tel: 1-877-453-8710 (TTY: 1-877-627-7027)

Email: N_LE.sZkel,vc°.ca._

—end scan—

Ok, there you have it.

The scanned letter.

I still have it’s hardcopy, but anyhow. This is beside the point. Here are my comments. I’ll start with the manner in witch there going about this information descemination. I don’t know the legal presence of mind being used for this, but that aside, here’s my take on it. What these people are doing, is in my humble opinion spam, and spam, is unwarranted, and illegal. I understand you feel this class action is warranted, but is it absolutely necessary to force people to be in it if they don’t opt out by a specified date? (date is april 1, 2013 if you didn’t get that from the letter above). What you should be doing is this, put together a posting on a website, saying this is what we’re doing, if you know of someone, or know of any information about these issues, we would like your help. Give us, the people your attempting to force to participate, the ability to say we want in, don’t force us, ask us. Weather you think we may have information or not, doesn’t matter. This is not how you get information, it’ll make most people shut down, or ignore it, then possibly get screwed.

Now, let’s say you want to opt out, because you don’t want to be apart, ok, so let’s cover that part right now.

You first have to visit wrossclassaction.ca Click English, and follow the links to the online form to opt out. You’d think, because there suing on behalf of a school for the blind and visually impaired, this form would be accessible, um, how about absolutely not! I took a look at it, and got nowhere. Note I was using JAWS at the time, but I’m gonna take a gander that wineyes and NVDA will also choke on that form. I’ll have to check that later. SO your now forced to return to the website, download the form, or call the toll-free number and have a hardcopy mailed. Have a sighted person fill it out, and then burn stamp money to return this form to these fools who couldn’t write an accessible form to save there lives, in order to get out of this class action if you so choose. Now, let me say this before anyone says a word about I don’t care about those who may have been miss treated. I understand there may have been some that may have been abused, miss treated, what have you, but please, leave it up to them to come forward and participate, don’t force everyone from the early 50′s to the present day to participate unless they opt out. What do you think this will accomplish? Seriously? Do you think this’ll curry favor by sending out what could potentially be called spam? And chasing down those everyone people at there places of business, there parents home, schools, and own places of residence? Are you that desperate for witnesses? I’m totally for justice, for making those who have wronged, especially wrong children to be dealt with, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with this, and Unless I’m given legal information that says they had a right to send out spam, how there forcing you to participate is absolutely wrong. I look forward to the conversation that will hopefully spark from this blog post. But remember, keep it clean and respectful. Until next time, let the comments flow!

Do you know how to use your Windows or Mac PC and your screenreader? Are you curious about the hardware inside of your computer? Do you want to sharpen
your troubleshooting and computer maintenance skills? How about designing a website or running a Linux server? Perhaps you would like to build a computer
or home network of your own.
The Cisco Academy for the Vision Impaired enables blind students to enter the world of computer and Information technology whether for career advancement
or to pursue a hobby. We provide courses tailored for blind and visually impaired students around the world. We do this using live online lectures by blind
and vision impaired instructors, written lessons, and a community of students and instructors to network with even after students have graduated our courses.
The academy is currently taking applications for the first semester of 2013. We will be offering Computer 101 for Mac or Windows, IT Essentials, Intro
to HTML 5 and CSS, Audio Editing Fundamentals, Discovery 1 with Exploration 1, and Linux server administration courses starting the second week of February.
Computer 101 is taught as separate courses for Mac and Windows users. It teaches basic computer and screenreader skills including adjusting screenreader
options, working with files, chatting online, using email, and using web pages.
Intro to HTML 5 and CSS teaches blind people how to design attractive business and personal websites including graphics, audio, and video. It assumes no
prior knowledge of HTML.
Audio Editing Fundamentals teaches principles of audio including how to choose and place a microphone, single and multi-track editing using tools like
Goldwave and Reaper, and adding various effects to audio tracks.
IT Essentials is an introduction to PC repair including Hardware, installing and maintaining an operating system, Troubleshooting, portable devices, and
customer service.
Discovery 1 is focused on home and small business networking. It is being combined with our Exploration course to provide a thorough background in networking.
Exploration is a more in depth look at networking, both theoretical and practical for those students who wish to really get into building and designing
networks. After completing Exploration 1, students will have the skills necessary to take the CCENT exam.
The Linux Administration course introduces server-based Linux systems administration for vision impaired users. Students will learn how to install and
configure a Ubuntu server system and install and configure a number of server based programs such as a web server, Email and a wiki. The course aims to
take a student from asking, “what is Linux?”, to installing and using a Linux-based server system via SSH.
Each class runs for a total of six months, with online lectures. The classes are self-paced so you can finish them in a month, or take the entire semester
if desired. The cost for each course is 500 US dollars however; scholarships are available to students who are paying for their courses out of pocket that
lower the price to $150. Your eligibility for a scholarship will be assessed as part of the application process and payment plans are available. Students
are required to have good internet access skills and be familiar with their screen reader of choice, or be willing to teach themselves the necessary skills
as we go along. Students in the more advanced courses should be familiar with reading Adobe PDF documents, as they may be encountered while doing research
projects. Course content is online, so a broadband internet connection is highly recommended. Students should also have a working headset/microphone and
be willing to install Skype and Ventrilo, in order to attend lectures and communicate with instructors. Applications will be accepted until February 6,
2013.
For more information on any of our courses or to request an application, please email
caviinfo@ciscovision.org
or visit our website at:
www.ciscovision.org
Enrollment forms are on our Intake page at

http://www.ciscovision.org/2011/intake.php

If you are enrolling in the Computer 101 courses and need help enrolling, you can call 914-620-2284.
finally, we have a podcast about the CAVI program from our student’s point of view at:

http://cucat.org/podcast/CAVI%20Potential%20new%20students2011.mp3

We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Start learning new skills today.
Regards,
The CAVI Team

This is just a test to see how things post when using Microsoft word.

as posted back on December 2nd, 2012 we talked about a restaurant that is listed on just eat
that is not one I’ll be dealing with anymore.
It’s been awhile, and things have come to light.
I continued working with just eat to bring this resolution to a close, and as of December 3rd, 2012, the following was completed.

• a complete refund of the order at the expense of the restaurant was issued
• a confirmation of the punishment served was requested, but as of today, the person we need to get this confirmation from is on vacation.
• I was told by just eat that a letter normally would be sent to the restaurant, and a fee assessed against the restaurant. We won’t know the extent of this action until the person that is responsible for this is back from vacation

so we’ll see where this goes.
But it’s nice to se even 10 days after the problem, just eat is still committed to their customers, and will follow up with a complete resolution to the matter.
I’ll post more later as we know more.

Please note, this is in no way against just eat, absolutely and utterly not, they’ve been the rock in this whole fiasco and there just as in sensed as we are.

Over the past nearly 2 years I’ve taken a distinct pleasure in being lazy, and just forget cooking on certain nights, and hitting up
just eat
hammering in the postal code for wherever I happen to be, sorry Americans no go for you, picking a restaurant, ordering what I want, paying via credit card or interac online, and in about 45 minutes, voila, food.
Fast forward to tonight.
We’ve got a couple of kids, and 4 adults to feed, so who wants to cook for 5 people on a Saturday, if your answer was absolutely not us? You’d be correct! Tell them what they’ve won, Johnny!
OK, never mind that.
So we hit up just eat, banter around some ideas, finally make a choice, punch in the order, have a small argument with interac online because it liked to throw 500 errors, won the battle, tells us the order’s gonna be there at 20 to eight.
Ok, whatever. sit, spin, who cares.
order delivery time comes and goes. OK, maybe someone got lost. Ring up just eat. They call the restaurant, driver got lost, here, have $10 off your order we’ll be there in 5 minutes.
Five minutes comes and goes, so does ten. so does fifteen. we head for I think it had to be half an hour. Hey, look who’s here, the delivery driver!
I answer the door; this guy barely says two words to us. he hands me the drinks, I hand it to
this person over here
and turn around, and the guy’s already shoving the pizza at me. Instead of handing them to me one at a time, first the medium, then the extra-large, he shoves the extra-large at me, with the medium on top about to fall off.
OK, get them out of the way.
Then the driver wants me to sign the debit receipt. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, sign the debit receipt.
OK, I didn’t know what it was at first, so I ask him what it was I was signing, he never tells me.
I sign it, because at this point, I’m internally like, I want you out of the doorway and off this property.
please note I only find out that it’s the debit receipt I signed during subsequent conversations with just eat.
My first reaction is to call the restaurant and outright beat them over the head with their rude behavior. But take 30 seconds and breathe, then decide, let’s do this the right way, contact just eat.
SO I hit up there live chat system, explain the entire situation, please note I got the same rep I got on the phone, so he goes and rings up the restaurant to find out what in the name of all things squeaky and fuzzy’s going on.
They can’t tell him anything because they want to talk to the driver.
Ok, whatever, I know how this is gonna go down because I’ve been here before when I dealt with delivery places before directly, and I tell the just eat chat rep this straight up. You know they’re gonna deny it, the customers blind, so they’re gonna deny deny deny deny anything was wrong. Also during this chat, I said that I felt $10 off the order wasn’t enough for the now larger issue and that a complete refund was in order.
He says can I call you in 45 minutes. I need to talk to the restaurant about this, etc. Sure, I’ll go eat, you call me.
While you’re eating, I’m gonna put this complaint to my supervisor and account manager that is the head of our company.
Fast forward about an hour, 20 to ten or so.
He rings up, and of course I’m write, again. Restaurant says there wasn’t anything wrong, they weren’t going to issue a refund, he was polite, yada yada, I call complete bull. sorry, 4 adults say you’re in the wrong, now, let’s go.
Ok, I was more polite then that, but believe me, even just eat knows there getting tossed around.
so after that call, I end up finding the e-mail from the rep. Names of employees are removed for privacy reasons.

This restaurant delivered this order almost an hour past the delivery time, the owner said it would be there within about 5 minutes when it was 30 minutes past the delivery time. The customer came into chat about 20-30 minutes afterwards and the order had still not been delivered. The owner told me again it would be there within a few minutes and offered 10 dollars off. The order was for small children and the main customer who the account is under is blind. The delivery driver came with the delivery about an hour past the delivery time and was rude to the customer, asking him to sign the receipt for a debit order which I assume confused the customer and shoving the food into his hands before he could pass it to other people helping carry the food. There were multiple other people there as well including the customers girlfriend who can potentially confirm this. I spoke with the staff and owner there regarding this and they were unwilling to do more, stating that their delivery guy was the nicest one they ever had and there was no way he would act like that. The owner called in later and was combative, threatening to leave Just Eat and asking for my full name and seeing if I had an employee code, saying he’s been in this business forever and knew more. This will need to be resolved fairly quickly as all the parties involved are quite upset.

Thanks,

Let me just say this, if I were just eat, amato’s would be dumped so fast and I’d be refunding the customer in question completely and telling the restaurant that these are the consequences.
I’m not them, so that’s not how it rolls.
I can dream, can’t I?
lol.
Later on, a Just Eat rep calls me back and tells me they talked to more of their staff, and there upset over this issue, and they want to give me another $10 in credit to use against any future order from just eat as a thank you for my patience and an apology they can’t resolve this until Monday.
They send me the $10 credit.
SO as a bit of a thank you I send this.

I’d like to take this opurtunity to thank all involved with this situation for working with myself to bring this to a satisfactory resolution and to hopefully get a full refund of the order in question.
I understand your just an intermediate company, but that’s no reason for this restaurant to treat your company, or your company’s customers like they’ve done tonight.
Amato’s treatment tonight of myself, and the rest in this household, is in no way a reflection of just eat or it’s employees.
Your willingness to keep in constant contact regarding this issue as it heads for a resolution speaks volumes for the level of customer service you want to see from both your own employees, and the restaurants you promote and serve.
If anyone has further questions, I can be reached using the information below my name.
Thank you for your time and attention.

We’ll see how this turns out, and I’ll post another entry when I know more.
Of course, the comments section is always available for you to give your opinion. Were we in the right to be pushing this as far as we are? Or are we all completely off our rockers. Let’s hear your thoughts.
See you next time.

twitterfeed’s been officially dumped. same with the separate e-mail subscribing to this blog and it’s comments. wanna subscribe, each post has appropriate checkboxes. use them.
enjoy.

This is probably one of a couple of posts going to be posted to test new plugin configurations. let’s see what this does. Does it tweet and FB faster than twitterfeed? we’ll see.

I blame someone not me for handing me what’s about to happen to the blog.
We’ll be busting commenting, e-mail subscriptions, and other random crap.
This is what happens when we condense multiple plugins into one.
Ready? set? explode!

From that who owns this thing.
I’ve had a number of complaints, not about the content, but a few visual aspects that could be made that much better.
so with the help of someone that knows what there doing with themes, things are gonna do some interesting things over the next little while.
You have been warned.
I apologize in advance if it explodes.

What happens when I let someone else on my computer.
We find things like…. this.
IF your easily offended, I’m sorry, in advance.
sighted from
Higher Intellect Information at the speed of thought

The 9 Types of Boyfriends

Joe Sensitive – “After I wash the dishes, let’s cuddle, OK?”
Also known as: Mr. Nice Guy, Family man, Honey, Darling, Soft-boiled Egg,
Snugglepup
Advantages: Well-behaved; irons own shirts
Disadvantages: Irritatingly compassionate, wimpy

Old Man Grumpus – “People are stupid. The world can go to hell. Let’s
stay home and watch TV.”
Also known as: Grumbles, Sour puss, Stick-in-the-mud, Old Fogey, Slow
Mover, Jerk
Advantages: Stays put; predictable
Disadvantages: Royal pain in the ass

Flinchy – “I–I’m sorry for whatever it was I did.”
Also known as: Trembly, Creampuff, Hey you
Advantages: Jumps entertainingly when startled
Disadvantages: Easily spooked; surrenders without a struggle

Bigfoot – “Shut yer trap, I’m thinkin’.”
Also known as: Chunk-style, Lummox, Ignoramus, Galoot, the Hulk, Big ‘n’
Dumb
Advantages: Can tote bales; is easily fooled
Disadvantages: Can break you in half, sweats like a pig

Lazybones – “Zzzzzz”
Also known as: Lucky Dog, Parasite, Bum, Sponge, Snoozebucket, Drug Addict
Advantages: Well rested; easy target
Disadvantages: Unlikely to fulfull your dreams

The Sneak – “Who, me?”
Also known as: Love Pirate, Snake, Rat, Slime, G-D Son of a Bitch
Advantages: May feel pangs of guilt
Disadvantages: May be having time of his life

Ace of Hearts – “After I wash the dishes let’s make love like crazed
weasels, OK?”
Also known as: The Sizzler, Handyman, Dreamboat, Casanova, Monster
Advantages: Perpetually aroused
Disadvantages: Perpetually aroused

The Dreamer – “Someday I’m going to be rich and famous. I don’t know how,
but–”
Also known as: Struggling artist, Philosopher, Buffoon, Bag of Wind, Fool
Advantages: Tells good stories
Disadvantages: Will turn into “Old Man Grumpus”

Mr. Right – “While the servants wash the dishes, let’s make love like
crazed weasels in my new yacht, ok?”
Also known as: Mr. Perfect, Jim Dandy
Advantages: Answer to a woman’s prayer
Disadvantages: Hunted to extinction

The 9 Types of Girlfriends

Ms. Nice Guy – “Tickets to the boxing match? Oh Darling, you shouldn’t
have”
Also known as: What a gal, precious, one of the boys, my main squeeze,
doormat
Advantages: Cheerful, agreeable, kindly
Disadvantages: May wise up someday

Old Yeller – “You G-D spineless good-for-nothing drag-ass no-talent son of
a bitch! Can’t you see you’re making me miserable??”
Also known as: She-Devil, Sourpuss, the Nag, My Old Lady, Warthog from
Hell
Advantages: Pays attention to you
Disadvantages: Screeches, throws frying pans

Sickly – “Oh, my head. My head. My feet. My cramps. My cellulite”
Also known as: Whiner, Mewler, Glumpy
Advantages: Predictable
Disadvantages: Contagious

The Bosser – “Stand up straight. Put on a different tie. Get a haircut.
Change your job. Make some money. Don’t give me that look.”
Also known as: Whipcracker, The Sarge, Ms. Know-it-all, Ball and Chain, yes
Mom
Advantages: Often right
Disadvantages: Often right, but so what?

Ms. Vaguely Dissatisfied – “I just can’t decide. Should I switch my
career, goals, home, and hair color?”
Also known as: The Fretter, Worrywart, Typical, Aw c’mon Honey
Advantages: Easily soothed
Disadvantages: Even more easily perturbed

Wild Woman out of Control – “I’ve got an idea. Lez get drunk an’ make love
onna front lawn. I done it before. S’fun.”
Also known as: Fast girl, freewheeler, goodtime charleena, passed out
Advantages: More fun than a barrel of monkeys
Disadvantages: Unreliable; drives off cliffs

Huffy – “I see nothing humorous in those silly cartoons you keep snickering
at”
Also known as: No fun, humorless prig, Cold fish, Chilly proposition,
iceberg, Snarly
Advantages: Your friends will feel sorry for you
Disadvantages: You will have no friends

Woman from Mars – “I believe this interpretive dance will explain how I
feel about our relationship”
Also known as: The Babbler, Spooky Girl, Screwball, Loony, Bad News,
Artistic
Advantages: Entertaining, unfathomable
Disadvantages: Will read her poetry aloud

Ms. Dreamgirl – “I am utterly content with you just the way you are, my
handsome genius of a boyfriend. I think we must make love like crazed
weasels now”
Also known as: Ms. Right, Goddess, Knockout, Perfection, Gorgeous
Advantages: Funny, intelligent uninhibited
Disadvantages: Will have nothing to do with you

I don’t post in forever, so have this.
This needs absolutely no introduction.
This has taken some time to compile, but thanks to diligence of list members, here’s the completed piece.
Handlers and non handlers, enjoy!

“YOU KNOW YOU ARE A GUIDE DOG HANDLER WHEN…”
By members of the GDB Lounge – a Yahoo Group
When complete strangers give you money and insist you buy your dog something with it, even after you repeatedly assure them that you don’t need it.
When you hear people talk about their pet dogs, and think, “My dog is better than yours. Your dog could never guide me like mine can.
When during a proclamation your city mayor pets your dog in front of a crowd of people at a council meeting. The meeting is aired on cablevision, and He reaches down and says sweet dog while petting him.
When you hear a person start talking to your dog in a high pitched voice, and you cringe and hold tighter to your dog’s leash.
When people start to call my dog by another handler’s name just because they see both of us on the trains and must think it is the same team. Or when I was walking one day when a car pulled up and the driver called out “Terry do you need a ride”. I responded No thank you and I am not Terry!
When you stare purposefully at the ground when people oo and ah at your dog, in case they think you’re up for a very long chat.
When your friends say hi to your puppy before they greet you, and if you have to leave your puppy at home they say “Where’s (insert pup’s name here)!?” Before thinking to ask you how you are doing.
When people say your dog’s name prior to saying your name.
When people ask at your volunteer job, “Where is your Dog’s bandana?”
When you try your best to ignore the remarks from those seeing your dog in the mall, the department store etc. because you know if you stop it’s all done and you may as well stop and set up camp because you could be there for a while.
When someone asks you a question and your dog has just begun sniffing. You say, “No” but you want to say yes to your questioner. Now, you are stuck telling the poor soul that your dog was sniffing him; you had to tell the dog, “No” but really meant to say, “Yes” to his question; and now he tells you that he likes dogs and that sniffing him was just fine.
When you are walking with your dog and speaking to somebody, you say, “Juno, left.” You issue this as a command in mid conversation; tell Juno “Hop up. Good girl.” And then you go back to talking like it’s no big thing.
When a stranger on the bus sees you give your dog a treat for sitting nicely under the seat, asks you what kind they are and then gives you a handful of the treats he gives his dog which he carried for some reason.
When some places you go the people have a treat for your dog and not for you.
When I find kibble in the bottom of my purse, as well as in the pockets.
When I carry my dog’s dinner and a fold-up bowl in my backpack everyday just in case we get stranded somewhere on the train, but, I don’t have a morsel of dinner or a snack for me. Probably more than half the stuff in my backpack or purse is for the dog and not me.
When more of the items in your purse are for your dog than for you: collapsible bowl, baggies, treats, a brush, etc.
When you keep a dog brush or dog bowls in your bag with you at all times “just in case.”
When you and your friend are at a Pampered Chef party with your guide dogs and you agree with her when she says that the mixing bowl that folds flat for storage is the perfect size for a dog bowl.
When you feel your dog’s head in your lap and immediately wonder if you have missed the time for the all important dog dinner.
When you purchase purses with pockets the right Size and with the right placement to carry your treat pouch.
When you find yourself fishing out wet kibble from the bottom of your washing machine. Oops.
When you find doggie treats that have fallen out of your treat pouch at the bottom of your purse.
When you turn down a dress or skirt you like in the store because they don’t have pockets. Because pockets are very necessary for carrying bags or treats when you don’t have a purse, backpack or treat bag with you. They are also good for carrying the bags of poop when you are in elevators with other people and you don’t want to be obvious, smile.
When you find yourself, out of reflex, dutifully digging out grass and pieces of twig from your dog’s mouth, only to realize with dismay that you have no means of cleaning the slime and bits of wet shrubbery off of your hand.
When you wipe dog spit and kibble crumbs on your pant leg and continue walking as if nothing unusual has occurred.
When your dog targets something you taught it to, and you have yourselves a huge party smack of the middle of public, and it just doesn’t matter because you and your dog are in your own little world.
When you see a poorly behaved guide in public and thank heavens it isn’t your dog.
When you compare your dog to other guides and thank God for the fact that your dog is a perfect match.
When you are sitting in a restaurant and have to remind a new handler that the next table probably doesn’t want to hear discussions of dog poo even though she may find it very interesting.
When you can talk about dog waste in any setting and not be grossed out by it.
When you need to be a bit picky about where you sit in a restaurant because keeping the dog out of the way of foot-traffic is very important.
You pack for a trip and your first thought is how many baggies must I take and how much space will the dog food take up in the luggage?
When you try to get direct flights so your dog can comfortably keep a bathroom break schedule during travel.
When you are flying out of town and pay more money just because your dog needs room.
When along with the poop bags and dog food you’re taking on a trip, you must also include a couple of favorite toys which take up space in the suit case, not to mention additional weight.
When you plan your day around doggie meal time And an afternoon snuggle is a routine part of your day.
When you decide to see if your dog needs to poo before heading in. They do…when you dig around frantically for a poop bag, only to come up empty-handed. You ask random passersby if they have a bag. Someone offers you one, but you can’t move because you’re marking the spot with your feet!
When in mid conversation, usually at work, you can look for a doggie poop bag, ask for one from a friend, or simply pick up after your dog, and continue your conversation, like you are not doing any of the above.
When you pull out your winter coat for the first time that season and find a ton of poop bags in the pockets.
When you happen across a couple of unused poop bags, still neatly folded, in the middle of your lawn from having fallen out of your pocket the previous day.
When you wash all your jeans, and find a zillion poop bags in the washer from having been stuffed into pockets.
When you refuse to live where there is no garbage can within throwing distance of the front or back door.
When a frequently visited destination is made better by having a nearby relief area.
When you clap your hands and cheerfully praise your dog for relieving and you don’t care who hears or sees you doing it.
When nothing will rouse you from your sleep…except the sound of your dog beginning to throw up! At which point all hell breaks loose as you run for a tile floor. When you’re out for a meal without your guide dog, and instinctively feel under your leg for their leash.
When you’re out without your guide, and instinctively give your friend the “Forward” command or verbal praise.
When you grab something or step on something which you think is your dog’s leash and it is someone else’s purse strap!
When in your home, dog hair is a condiment.
When dog hair is a fashion statement.
When after you have done your best with trying to brush yourself off, you quit worrying about the blonde fur on your black pants and tell your friends you are wearing fur paisley.
When you have dog hair all over you and you don’t mind.
When you match your clothes to the color of your dog’s fur.
When, because your dog is allowed on the bed along side you, you wash bedding a little more often and aren’t terribly worried about it.
When certain parts of your bed smell forever of frito-foot because so and so was on it with you earlier.
When you decorate your home in ‘dog hair yellow’.
When you ask for the extra-large change room in clothing store so your dog can fit and stretch out.
When you know to greet another handler’s dog very mildly because you know the dangers of getting another guide worked up.
When you know where pretty much every other dog in the neighborhood lives because they all perk up at the sight of your guide.
When you spend more money on doggie birthday/Christmas presents than you do for a human.
When most of the items on your credit card bill are for the dog and not you.
When you move to a new city and look for a vet before you look for your own medical and dental care.
When you step on a very sharp nyla bone and utter as many four-letter words as you can think of, only to pat your dog as they stroll in to claim their prize.
When you find you’re actually getting quite used to nasty breath…of your dog that is.
When you also have perfume for your dog.
When you both drink out of the same glass, and your pocket is full of Gentle Leader.
When purchasing a tent, you immediately ask for the next size up because you’ll have the dog with you.
When you spend more time in the pet store than the grocery store, and when you have ready answers to all the five or 10 most common questions asked.
When you are across the building at work, and you have left your dog under your desk. Your dog stands up and shakes, and you know it is your dog, and not your boss’s dog or another dog in the office, by the sound of the tags.
When you sit in class, and doggie puts her head on your foot, and you smile but nobody else knows what you are smiling about.
When people exclaim, as you leave, that they had no idea a dog was even in the room!
When you have to retire or put down your guide, and a part of you dies along with them.
When you feel your dog stretching out on her side and getting comfortable during your story at a memorial service and you smile and say, “She’s heard this before,” and feel good that she’s added a few giggles to a serious situation.
When your dog gets up and moves around to the chime which indicates your computer is shutting down.
When a friend invites you to their house and your first thought is “Can I bring the dog?”
When You frequently get your dog and your children’s names all mixed together, so whenever you want to call any of the three of them, you have to go through all of the names you are thinking, until you get to the right person’s name or you call everybody else’s name.
When you accidentally call your significant other by your dog’s name.
When you find so much joy in waking in the morning to a sweet nudge of a dog’s nose and wagging tail.
When you grab the harness and 3 dogs come over to go to work.
When you get excited that your leash is feeling warn and flexible over time and you take advantage of any moment to brag about GDB.
When you hear of another team experiencing access discrimination, you want to gather up all the guide dog teams you can find to take the offending business by storm. When you’re trying to describe a route to a cane user, but can’t, for the life of you, remember where certain obstacles may be because your dog swerves around all of them.
When you can independently decide when to leave some place because you know you and your dog will figure your own way home.
When you meet hundreds of friends who know exactly how you feel and the common bond we have as working dog people.

As a recent resident to Toronto, I’m heavily reliant on the toronto transit commission to get from point A to point B on a daily bases.
Hey, so does, this recent blogger convert to wordpress one over here but that’s just par for the course around here.
Anyhow, I’ve been around the block a time or two with these guys, sometimes my own stupidity, sometimes, they left there brains at track level, hey, sometimes, I don’t start it, but anyhow.
A little background.
previous policy stated that children 5 years of age or younger while being carried on the mother, or father’s, back did not get charged, because hey’, it’s one person, one turn of the turnstyle, takes up one seat, so get outta our faces.
About 3 weeks ago, this policy changed.
No matter what, carried or not, children above 3y/o of age pay $0.75. OK, fine and dandy, right?
yep, Totally fine, until you are a royal rude idiot about it and decide to think your all up and mighty about it and your crap don’t stink.
I decide, because I have a *working* magnetic strip on my TTC pass, to avoid the line, swipe and go through the middle turnstyle, please note I still haven’t mastered that art, but I’ll get there.
Anyhow, as I’m ffighting with my pass, Thanks random TTC worker for showing the clueless person that is me how to use it, I here the other person I’m with, that is carrying the child get stopped by the TTC collector and a… we’ll call it an argument insues, because he tells her she has to pay the fair, and accuses her of ripping off the TTC for seven month’s because he’s watched her, and believe me the tone of his voice, dude, if I hadn’t been clear of the turnstyle, I’d have given him what for. I didn’t have to because the person carrying the child held her own, so we’ll just leave it at that.
I won’t go into detail about the argument that ensued, because I don’t remember exactly how it went, but in summary, here’s what I’ll give you.
You, as a TTC worker have a responsibility to be curtius, but informative to your customers.
This means, after asking how old the child being carried is, if the policy has changed, nicely inform the person carrying said child that the policy has changed and they need to pay the child fair. This does not mean you degrade, or otherwise shame the individual in question.
You are responsible for your actions, and Mr. TTC worker, you are a shame to the organization, and a disgrace to this transit provider’s good name and I hope that you are sent back for retraining, because your actions tonight were deplorable.
A complaint has been filed with the commission about this individuals action with a request for follow up as to the resolution of the matter.
Have a great night all.

this rocks.
blockquote>
BEST DIVORCE LETTER EVER
Dear Wife,
I’m writing you this letter to tell you that I’m leaving you forever.
I’ve been a good man to you for 7 years & I have nothing to show for it. These last
2 weeks have been hell. … Your boss called to tell me that you quit your job today & that was the last straw. Last week, you came home & didn’t even notice I had a new haircut, had cooked your favorite meal & even wore a brand new pair of silk boxers. You ate in 2 minutes, & went straight to sleep after watching all of your soaps. You don’t tell me you love me anymore; you don’t want sex or anything that connects us as husband & wife. Either you’re cheating on me or you don’t love me anymore; whatever the case, I’m gone.

Your EX-Husband

P.S. don’t try to find me. Your SISTER & I are moving away to West Virginia together! Have a great life!

Dear Ex-Husband
Nothing has made my day more than receiving your letter. It’s true you & I have been married for 7 years, although a good man is a far cry from what you’ve been. I watch my soaps so much because they drown out your constant whining & griping–Too bad that doesn’t work. I DID notice when you got a hair cut last week, but the 1st thing that came to mind was ‘You look just like a girl!’ Since my mother raised me not to say anything if you can’t say something nice, I didn’t comment. And when you cooked my favorite meal, you must have gotten me confused with MY SISTER, because I stopped eating pork 7 years ago. About those new silk boxers: I turned away from you because the $49.99 price tag was still on them, & I prayed it was a coincidence that my sister had just borrowed
$50 from me that morning. After all of this, I still loved you & felt we could work it out. So when I hit the lotto for 10 million dollars, I quit my job & bought us 2 tickets to Jamaica But when I got home you were gone..
Everything happens for a reason, I guess. I hope you have the fulfilling life you always wanted. My lawyer said that the letter you wrote ensures you won’t get a dime from me. So take care.

Signed, Your Ex-Wife, Rich As Hell & Free!

P.S. I don’t know if I ever told you this, but my sister Carla was born Carl. I hope that’s not a problem.

This landed in my inbox.
Comment away!

Expect more stuff like this in future.
From: “Thomas S. Ellsworth”
Subject: GCF: Signs You Might Be From New York City
Date: 13 September, 2012 8:04:53 PM EDT
To: good-clean-fun@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: good-clean-fun-owner@yahoogroups.com

Signs You Might Be From New York City

You’re 35 years old and don’t have a driver’s license.

You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there
are seats available.

You take the train home and you know exactly where on the platform
the doors will open that will leave you right in front of the exit stairway.

You know what a “regular” coffee is.

It’s not Manhattan…… It’s the “city”.

There is no north and south. It’s “uptown” or “downtown.” If you’re
really from New York you have absolutely no concept of where north
and south are…. And east or west is “crosstown.”

You cross the street anywhere but on the corners and you yell at cars
for not respecting your right to do it.

You move 3,000 miles away, spend 10 years learning the local language
and people still know you’re from Brooklyn the minute you open your mouth.

You return after 10 years and the first foods you want are a “real”
pizza and a “real” bagel.

A 500 square foot apartment is large.

You know the differences between all the different Ray’s pizzas.

You are not under the mistaken impression that any human being would
be able to actually understand a P.A. Announcement on the subway.

You wouldn’t bother ordering pizza in any other city.

You get ready to order dinner every night and must choose from the
major food groups which are: Chinese, Italian, Mexican or Indian.

You’re not the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New
Year’s Eve.

Your internal clock is permanently set to know when alternate side of
the street parking regulations are in effect.

Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet.

You pay “only” $230 a month to park your car.

The presidential visit is a major traffic jam, not an honor.

You can nap on the subway and never miss your stop.

The deli guy gives you a straw with any beverage you buy, even if it’s a beer.

Hey all;
Have more audio from this trip.
Let’s take gennevra home.
See you next time!

Hey all;
Have more audio from the 7th and the 8th of September.

• the First one is a bunch of mixed things that I forget all what’s in this file, so how about you just
  go get the file from september 7th and enjoy
• The next one is a trip to and from Mcdonalds. Discussions and things you here in this file are unedited, even if I make references to editing, I actually didn’t edit this file. this thing does contain opinionated ramblings once the little ears leave about certain people that you’ll here in this file, but her, you shold still go get the file from september 8th, 2012 and enjoy!

See you next time!

so I’ve been here in Toronto since 9/5/2012.
I have 3 pieces of audio for you.

• The first night, we decided to go to the variety store. and hey, next time, I’ll turn right instead of going to the corner. join us on the 5th of September for this adventureIt lasts just over 44 minutes


• On my first full day of being here, we’ll start you off by going to tim hortons, meeting up with another friend, chilling at timmies, going home, stopping at shoppers and learning a not so nifty piece of information that annoys me.join us on the 6th of September for the adventure!


• We’ll finish the day by going back out to timmies, leaving the friend that came back with us in the previous audio on the subway going home, and we’ll meet a couple other people that we walk to another subway station on the way home. join us to finish off September 6th and learn what happens when we find a construction zone!

See you next time!

I’ve met many a friend through guidedogs for the blind One of them is this wonderful ladywho has just graduated from the san rafael campus with a beautiful, and might I add rather heavy, yellow lab named arden.
When she graduated, she wrote the speech I am about to reprint, with her permission.
It touched many that heard it live, and many of us that read it when she shared it on the list I’m on, and I hope it touches you, as well.

Dear puppy raiser

How do you begin to thank the first pair of hands, the first committed
heart, the first loving arms that ultimately began your dog’s journey
to you? how do you even begin to thank the people who made the
ultimate sacrifice that can be asked of anyone on this earth: to enter
into a relationship where the end has already been built in? knowing
that the culmination of all your love, all your efforts, all your
energy will ultimately lead to your loved one being taken from you? we
spend so much of our lives in fear: fear of the unknown, of losing the
people we love, of not being successful. We are taught to trust
cautiously, for we don’t know who or what lurks around what corner,
what motives they have, what intent they might have. And in some ways,
this keeps us safe. But does it not also lead to our overlooking some
of the most generous and compassionate hearts this world has to offer?
I don’t really know how you did it: loving him through his accidents
in the house; not really batting an eyelash when your favourite pair
of shoes or a family airloom ended up in a chewed mess on the floor.
How you took him to work, to school, all while he was in those
delicate stages of puppyhood: tentatively sniffing his way around this
insane, crazy world, and trying to figure out why he couldn’t do all
the same things all these two-legged creatures could do. And you
taught him: not only to sit, potty outside, and not to bark down the
neighborhood–you taught him trust, and kindness, and love and
unconditional acceptance. And I want you to know that wherever Arden
goes in this world, I will forever see you in him. When he lovingly
leans his big yellow head into my lap, or rolls around with me on the
floor and covering me with yellow fur, there you are. When he
obediently watches my every move, and looks up adoringly, there you
are. My dog will never be without the people who first taught him love
and safety, because he had to get those things from somewhere,
someone. And so with every step I take, and every beat of his endless
heart, there you’ll be. You are inextricably linked to us now, and
every time Arden swerves me around an obstacle; every time he disobeys
my forward command in order to save my life, you will have been part
of the reason why. Every successful being has had someone rooting for
his or her success, and you have been the root of Arden’s success.
Thank you for being the first hands and heart that loved my angel dog.
I am honoured to be connected to you in this way, and know that as
long as there continue to be people like you around, there is more
good than bad in this world. so, from the bottom of my and Arden’s
hearts, and with many hugs and wags, we thank you. You will move
forward with us always.

From me to those that read this that are raisers, no matter the school, thank you, you do so much to further our indipendence with these wonderful, caring and loving dogs.
Have a great night all.

ok, that theme blew ass.
Sorry about that, it’s fixed, now.

From that guy who owns this thing.
so while reading
this blog
I liked it’s theme, so I decided to toss it over here.
This may make things blow up, and everything to explode as I try and make duplicate frames piss off, etc.
If your a sighted user and know wordpress and wanna help? I won’t say no.
Hey, if your blind and have tips, I won’t say no to those, either.
Sorry for things blowing up and possibly looking like someone chewed it up and vomitted it up later.

I no how to blog? apparently, I do.
If your smart, you’ll have noticed that thing that your reading and some of it’s associated services, hey
zoe?
you actually no how to update? miracles! Wait, I can’t actually talk because I’ve been lazy about updating this thing, more on the how and why in list form later in this entry.
As you might have read
over here
that over there in that corner of the server moved, to.
our domains are still barried on the same server, just not on the
same servers that our paying people hang out on
and it saves $$$ in the long run, and allows for a little more *smash* to happen without taking the customer base with it.
This also means if the customer server goes *smash* the customers can still yell at us and tell us it’s broken. Hey, ladies and gents, we already knew, we knew long before you, now shut up so we can fix it, k? lol.
A couple of services like
this one
shit the bed nicely during an unrelated change, more on that later, and I kinda didn’t find it until this morning. Yeah, shut up, I know I’m on a roll.
Let’s see, what else.

• move into temporary residence is complete, and I finally got around to running the keys back to the old rental office, damn you life, stop fucking me up.
• apparently my computer dealer is a moron and doesn’t believe I know what I’m talking about when I know the damn system board’s on it’s way out. any of my female readers wanna use a pair of high heals and step on his nuts, please?
• we welcome
  May
  to her own little corner of the web and to
  wordpress
  thank you for not using
  blogger
  our sanity thanks you
• my next convert
  does live on blogger
  but I’m working to fix that, but need to wait until she’s back from
  the san rafael campus of guidedogs for the blind
  to complete that transition.
• it’s nifty to see 8MS pingtimes to the iweb box, and a solid 15 to the server where this blog lives. go bell fibe, go!
• school starts soon, so that just might break my blogging sprea. oops.
• I’m playing games like
  imperium novanow
• certain people need to understand a specific 4 letter word has more meaning than you think and to stop acting like a whore, no I’m not providing context, to bad.
• an unlocked iphone is in my future.

I think that covers the high points and random spueage of my brain.
Talk soon.

since apparently my facebook and twitter’s been full of it lately have the following information in list form. and this is my final word on this topic, so read, absorb, and then shut your faces.

• yes: I am moving in with
  May


• no, I am not dating her.


• no, I am in fact not trying to get between her and
  James even if I am living with her.


• your continued badgering all involved on this topic may end up having you tossed on your behind, perminantly.

no further discussion will be entertained on this topic.
Thank you.

The title tells all.
After a delay, do to settling in, etc, I bring you the audio of the graduation of oregon class OR227.
I do some rambling in the beginning and the end, but you should know all about that by now.
The sighted readers, (my raisers included), I’ll get photos up here once I remember how to incorporate them so they don’t suck visually.
Anyhow
enjoy graduation and my rambling!
If I can get it ripped, I’ll upload a video copy of the DVD for you sighted readers who weren’t there/didn’t get a copy.
Have a great day!

Ok, so maybe that title got yanked straight out of an IM window, but that’s alright. When emails like the following drop into your inbox and then get forwarded, that’s what kind of response you get via IM.

From: “Morin, T”
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:16:04 +0000
Subject: Congratulations! You have made the Dean’s List.
To:
My school email

DIVISION OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

June 25, 2012

President Daniel M. Asquino, your professors, staff, and I want to
congratulate you on your outstanding academic achievement. You have
made the Dean’s List for the spring 2012 semester.
This is quite an achievement, and it required a great deal of
dedication and hard work on your part. You should be very proud of
yourself.

If you wish to receive an official letter, please contact
Academic Affairs Administrative Assistant, at or call phone number withheld.

Best wishes for your continued success. If you have the time, please
drop by my office so that I can congratulate you personally.

Sincerely,
Melissa A. Fama Ph.D.
Vice President of Academic Affairs
Mount Wachusett Community College

………………………………………………………………………………………
Sent on behalf of Melissa Fama

It’s been a month since I was a member of graduating class OR227 of guidedogs for the blind, Oregon campus and returned home with my knew guidedog, a yellow labrador golden cross Cleveland.
It’s been a month of adjustment for not only myself and for cleveland, but for those I associate with professionally and personally.
It’s been a learning experience for some, an adjustment for others, and a learning experience for us as a team, as well.
Has it been a perfict month? No, it most certainly has not.
It’s been rot with issues, trials, tribulations and it’s fair share of oh my god he still does work!
It’s also been full of knew experiences, and relizations of hey, wait, I don’t have to watch for that pole anymore, as well as figuring out the best way to teach cleveland specific things I need him to target/watch for.
It’s just the beginning of the relationship, and I don’t know why I didn’t completely follow through with this years ago.
Thanks to the staff of GDB, cleveland’s puppy raisers, my community here at home, and the community of GDB alumni and to the members of GDB related lists I’m on, as well as you, the faithful blog reader for being there, and for partaking in this new adventure I’m on.
It’s the outpouring of support from the organization that makes me continue to know that GDB was the best choice for me when it came time to get a dog.
A reminder, Guide dogs for the blind is a non proffet organization, supported entirely by donations.
It receives no federal, state, or munniciple funding to operate both campuses.
Your support would be appreciated.
To donate, or for more information on GDB and it’s mission, please visit
there website.
Thank you for reading, and have a great day.

Hey all;
As a way to combat spam, and to make sure not even those fools that get around my spam measures, have you some basic math skills.
If you don’t know basic edition, subtraction, etc. and comment without answering the question? Your comment won’t go through.
Enjoy 403 errors for those of you without basic math skills.

Hey all;
If you have me on
facebook
you would have seen a pile of pictures being uploaded. if not, go check it out.
We’re meshing well, and things are coming together, with a few issues along the road, but you’ll have that.
The post graduation podcast, I’m still waiting for the DVD from GDB, so I can get htings together, but it is coming, just wait.
That’s it from here.
Later all.

Hey all;
What a wild two weeks it has been.
Reviewing the past episodes of this thing, oh my god we covered a lot.
I can’t believe in just over 7 hours I will be an official graduate of guidedogs for the blind.
It’s absolutely insane.
But anyhow, here we go with this thing.
On this edition, we talk to rebecca, another GDB grad, and Stephanie, a puppy raiser.
Please
enjoy this last episode from boring!
We’ll release a post graduation edition this week after getting home, as time permits!
Thank you all for your support!
See you after graduation!

Hey all;
On this edition, you have the usual quick update from me, then we interview
steve and carin
for about 50 minutes or so.
download and enjoy the cast!
as a sneak preview, somewhere in these next couple episodes we’ve got a puppy raiser to talk to,. I won’t tell you when, you’ll just have to keep listening!
see you on the next edition!

Yo, you that live in oregon.
You have a leash law, this means, in plain english, keep your goddamn dog under control.
This does not mean let the dog run across the street and tarerize the fuck out of us guidedog users and there dogs, and then scream at me, when I’d had enough and I grab the little football sized shit by the scruff of his little neck and march over and toss him, with all do force back into your front yard.
I asked you nicely to get control of your dog, classmates asked you, the instructors asked you, then I got physical and *made* you control your dog.
It may not have been the smartist move I’ve made, but everyone was sick of it.
Leash your dog, or next time, someone’s gonna probably blow it’s head off, and I’ll laugh.

This edition of the cast I give a quick weekend update, talk about monday’s routes, and then we roll right into a 50 minute or so prerecorded round table discussion.
I’d like to thank Nancy and Martin both for there willingness and participation in the discussion.
I hope you get something from this.
Now
enjoy the podcast!
see you on the next edition!

The following is what happens when you are not doing which one of these?
A. Living in mold with traces of breatheable oxygen,
B. Trying to scan your own materials and keep up with actual assignments,
C. Using incorrectly Brailled documents,
D. All of the above.
If you chose D, go grab yourself a caffeinated beverage. Then, after you do that, I recommend that you be sitting down.

Grades this semester look something like…
Human Biology: B
First Year Seminar: B
History of Contemporary Issues: B
Beginning Spanish I: A-
My GPA is sitting at a damn skippy 3.23. Ya know what? After three and a half years of spinning my wheels and getting absolutely nowhere, I’ll take it.

The title of this post says it all.
Join me for 8 minutes of musings, thoughts, and what I hope to get done throughout, and a musing about the nommish food, all on this
seventh edition
of the podcast~!
The comment boards await you.
This format’s a little different, and I hope it’s more personalized then the previous episodes, and it will allow me to cram more into the episodes, so use the comment boards and my personal inbox, and ask away!
Can I answer specific questions?
Can I corner guests to answer your questions?
What would make this podcast interesting to you with the knew format change.
Tell me all about it!
See you on the next edition!

Hey all;
This episode we have the usual routes, some building work, and an interview with Kelly from Guidedogs for the blind.
so download the podcast and enjoy!
See you next episode!

This podcast has proof that routes can sometimes suck a large haloova, and how far the instructor’s will go to ensure you have the skillls to succeed. We talk to holly a grad of GDB, and then we go on the afternoon route, and hey, it doesn’t suck as hard as the morning route did, except the final crossing needs to event itself some freakin’ traffic! lol.
This one runs 143:19 in length.
grab the fun that is episode 5!
see you the next edition!
Comments are welcome, so make them appear!

This podcast is simple, we take you on both morning and afternoon routes, and have fun.
This episode’s just over 79 minutes in length.
enjoy the cast!
See you on the next edition!

if you’ve been following this issue since I started posting about it
the certification of the suit
shouldn’t surprise you one bit.

Judge certifies class action suit against Brantford school for the blind
The Canadian Press May 07, 2012 23:41:43 PM
TORONTO – The Ontario Superior Court has certified a class action lawsuit launched by former students of a school for the blind in Brantford.

Madam Justice Carolyn Horkins granted the certification for the class action against W. Ross MacDonald, a provincially run residential school for the visually impaired, blind and deaf-blind.

Students allege they suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse as children and teenagers while living at the Brantford school.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

The class action is composed of up to 1,000 students who were enrolled at the school between 1951 to the present day and who were alive as of Feb. 22, 2009.

Lawyer Kirk Baert of Koskie Minsky says the former students will now have the opportunity to tell the public about the alleged abuse they endured while enrolled at the school.

“The alleged abuse these former students were subjected to for years, many while as children, is unthinkable,” Baert said in a release.

“We want the government to do the right thing and ensure that former students of this school see justice and receive the reasonable compensation they rightly deserve.”

The case involves allegations that the Ontario government failed to operate or supervise the school to ensure the safety and well-being of its students.

The Ministry of Education declined to comment on the class action suit Monday.

The lawsuit was started by Robert Seed, a former student who attended the school from 1954 to 1965.

Seed alleges in his statement of claim that “students were frequently punished for minor or innocuous matters such as being homesick, wetting the bed, throwing up, having trouble reading or using too much toilet paper.”

Teachers and house parents used “physical violence, humiliation and bullying” for discipline, taking advantage of the students’ disabilities, “particularly those who were completely blind,” reads the statement.

“This included beating or shoving students, making students drink from urinals, slapping students with a bare hand or with classroom objects such as books, and grabbing students by the hair.”

The W. Ross MacDonald School opened in 1872 as the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind. It is one of two provincially run residential schools in Ontario for visually impaired, blind and deaf-blind stude

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around…. drinking from uranels? being slapped? being beatin?
I attended this school since the age of five, until 2007, and never experienced this.
Is this another ploy to rape the provincial government for money?
I’m asking myself, did these things actually happen?
For a full reading of the suit in question please
see this post from march 1st, 2012
that details the entire lawsuit.
You can also
see the post I put up that started it all from July 22, 2011.
and of course, you have
there’s this posting form april 21, 2012.
so believe me, there’s lots of material, and lots of comment worthy stuff for you all to make an informed decision on this issue at large.
More to come as I have it
Comment away, and don’t be shy, tell us how you really feel.

and here we are again!
On this edition.

• a Juno walk
• tour the dorm room
• meeting cleveland my new furry companion
• working on basic sit/down/stay commands, and our first guide route!

Please
download and enjoy this podcast!
See you on the next edition, where we’ll be in portland!

This thing’s 6 hours long, unedited, commercial free.
You join us in Ottawa, through to vancouver, from vancouver to portland, from portland to the campus, and then here me as I get shown my room,.
What’s next? Dog day!
That’s tomorrrow.
But for now.
download the second edition of the cast!
See you on dog day!

Hello all;
With less than 48 hours to go, I’ve put together a short 6 minute introductory podcast, introducing myself among other things.
Enjoy the podcast, and if you’d like me to document specific things? put it in the comments!
for now,
download the podcast
and enjoy!
See you on the next episode!

So, when I
initially posted
regarding my exceptance to
Guide dogs for the blind
I had a few month’s to save money, complete necessary immunizations, (not required to cross, but recommended for my safety), and just get my ducks in a row.
Until yesterday, April 24, 2012 at 5:12PM eastern time.
What a crazy 8 minute conversation that was .
Basically, me being on the cancelations list, meant there was a possibility, not likely, but it was there, that I would get into an earlier class.
Yesterday’s conversation from Ryan of the admissions department indicated that instead of August 26, 2012 to september 8, 2012, I’d be going from May 6th to May 19th, 2012.
This has given me just over a week, 12 days from yesterday, to put my ducks in a row.
It’s been an insane 24 hours. Solidifying flight arrangements, transportation to the airport, health ensurance adjustments, getting US phone service configured, it’s been one thing after another nad it finally got completed.
Look for more later as this adventure hits the home stretch, over 3 month’s ahead of schedule!