Saturday, December 27, 2014

Merry Christmas: Presents. Footwear, not retail

RantWoman wishes to express deep appreciation to the universe for delivering this year THREE pairs of basically hand-me-down shoes, and not just 3 pairs, but 3 pairs that RantWoman can and plausibly will wear!

Christmas Tree at RantMom's
RantWoman MEANT to post the photos below for Cyber Monday. That is, instead of poking her keyboard and credit card out into the whirlwind of #CyberMonday electronic commerce, RantWoman spent CyberMonday fussing with the pictures below. RantWoman MEANT to hold forth about situations such as footwear which, in RantWoman's experience, it makes NO Sense even to try by mail order.

Photo logistics are only part of the problem, but that is where RantWoman got stuck.

RantWoman snapped the photos on her Smartphone. Chronology geek note: RantWoman has owned her Smartphone for slightly more than a year. Only in the last couple months has RantWoman reliably been able to produce photos. RantWoman also is unprepared to examine issues with uploading pictures to her blogs. RantWoman simply wants to focus on the minimally cyber elements of shoe acquisition.

Understand, RantWoman is the oldest child. RantWoman has big feet. RantWoman has little experience, good or bad with hand-me-downs. So RantWoman is deeply amused to wind up with 3 pairs of shoes all basically hand-me-downs.
 
Sandals via e-BayPair 1: someone bought off e-bay. They did not fit him and he asked RantWoman whether they fit. YES, and they are a model that RantWoman has wanted. YES!





Thrift Store Score
Pair two: the only thing electronic in this acquisition was the cellphone call from Caregiver Drama friend informing RantWoman of the find, the price, and the option of having the shoes delivered. RantWoman assessed the likelihood that she would be imperfectly pleased but forged ahead anyway. For RantWoman's trouble, RantWoman has a pair of dress shoes she can at least walk about her building in. The shoes do not have the level of support RantWoman prefers but the price is right and the delivery option did not hurt, even if the delivery driver wanted lunch when she arrived. Hand-me-downs from RantMom


Pair Three: Hand-me-downs from RantMOM. RantMom really does not do electronic commerce for much of anything. She definitely acquired these by taking her large and calloused and variously age-enhanced feet to the Wide Shoes store and trying shoes ON. RantMom and RantWoman both sometimes have to argue with shoe salesmen who try to tell us we need shoes about half a size shorter than we know work best.

RantWoman is unsure what all details of these shoes made them unworkable for RantMom. RantWoman is definitely grateful that RantMom figured this out before the shoes developed too much RantMOM imprint to make them workable for RantWoman. RantWoman is also grateful that the shoes just came up in conversation one night during one of RantWoman's Sunday supper with RantMom evenings and then came home that very night.

One more production process digression: RantWOman is basically unskilled in HTML and managed to achieve all of the text flowing around pictures through sundry visual trail and error efforts. RantWoman does not apologize for a couple layout idiosyncrasies but does suggest that there may be tipds for reproducing this flow elsewhere. These tips may be lurking in the HTML that Blogger generated in response to RantWoman's efforts. Probably if RantWoman is worried about visual effects she may just work harder at having someone with more visual layout sense in the picture. Maybe.


Friday, December 26, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS Happy Boxing (boxing nuns?) Day

RantWoman's life so overflows with gratitudes, adventures, and occasions to celebrate that she proposes to observe the 12 days of Christmas, though probably without quite all the usual repetition.

Let us begin with Christmas day, though RantWoman owes the world a lovely digression about accessibility, Christmas Eve, Braille and Large print, and canele madness. RantWOman owes the world this digression, but other things take precedence.

First, we celebrate the path over the river and through the woods, by bus and light rail and more bus. The more bus required RantWoman to wait in front of a Columbia city theater showing...The Interview. (Yawn?) RantWoman thought of just walking to RantMom's. RantWoman thought of this but is still trying to unkink knees from a couple recent adverse interactions with gravity. Owww. Whine. RantWoman is really not used to this and is already making post-holiday get in better shape resolutions. Whine.


Next we revisit RantMom's Christmas tree. We, RantWoman and RantMom are very proud of the lights. We are also very grateful for the tinsel and the star. RantMom assures RantWoman that there are far too many cords visible for ordinary consumption. RantWoman is thrilled the lights work, for one thing because they fry RantWoman's pupil response and RantWoman has no  idea whether cords are visible or not.

Next we acknowledge the need for feasting. RantWoman actually consumes enough calories during the holidays that a giant latte and some popcorn and a ferry ride sounded like fun. This plan did not match RantMom's energy level. RantWoman fussed awhile about plan b and then rang up RantMOm. "I have chicken. I have squash, two kinds for roasting. I have cranberries."

RantMom had salad fixings. She has a longstanding passion for baking bread or rolls. She has peppermit ice cream and tea. Presto, more or less. At any rate plenty for the RantWomen to feast on.

Scrubby, my favorite present
Next we come to presents, though notoriously deficient in the run out into retail sort. For example. although RantWoman is delighted with some items of clothing, her very favorite present is a new netting scrubby!

Next, a dollop of soap opera and opportunities for nuclear family meltdown.
RantWoman and Little Sister, while we do not do habits of the sort shown here do have a comical pretend boxing routine that can almost always be counted on to crack Brother in Law up. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending, RantWoman has picked a fight with Little Sister and the Sisters Without Habits have not so far assembled for holiday boxing. This distresses RantMom more than it distresses the rantSisters.

Word.

In the meantime, some sister fighting stand-ins.

Two Boxing nun puppets
After the feasting, well actually, while the feasting was cooking, how did the RantWoman entertain ourselves? .

--Sending new electronic devices off into the lands of exotic language where RantWoman has to resort to clever trickes to restore device function in a language someone in the household understands? No, thank heaven. RantWoman had enough of this kind of adventure for Easter.

--Wading through thickets of telecomm provider gobbledygook to cut RantMom's total costs for cable plus DSl plus phone plus cell phone? Um, No, but RantWoman thinks it's probably worth looking into.

--Streaming some content off the itnernet? Um, no. RantMom has not mastered Netflix; Irrepressible Nephew and his parents were not around to share and besides, the computer is in one room, the TV is in another room. It's a spiffy flat screen TV but RantWoman has not even thought to inquire as to options for using it on any other content than what comes out of the cable box. RantWoman thinks RantMom might still have an old dvd player. RantWoman did not want to experiment on a holiday.

--Streaming content on either of the two Smart phones? Um. also no.

Instead, drum roll please, the RantWomen spent our hang out time together fussing with under-discovered features of our smartphones. RantWoman for instance has only recently mastered the art of 1. taking pictures, not just selfies either, and 2. emailing them upstream to further internet dissemination. If readers were sketchy about design and the legally blind before RantWoman learned to do pictures, look out world!

But the real student is RantMom, and after a fashion RantWoman. RantWoman deliberately bought an Android phone while RantMom and Little Sister have iPhones. RantWoman was hoping RantMom would find other channels for tutoring and tech support. SILLY RantWoman.

Anyway, the holiday accomplishments so far include:

--RantWoman sending some of her spiffy new e-photographs to RantMom and RantMom figuring out how to receive them

--RantWoman sending RantMom a text and both of us listening to RantMom's phone announce this vigorously but not provide RantMom sufficient clues to help her retrieve the text. Sigh. Oh well.

--RantWoman fussing enough to find the camera AND to shot a couple selfie videos but NOT finding anything that would make only photos, not videos.

--RantWoman showing RantMom how to make movies.

--RantMom by accident finding the button that points the camera at, say, the Christmas tree instead of at the iPhone handler but still not finding the option for only photos and videos.

--RantWoman adding a generous dollop of additional fiddling looking for the accessibility features. RantWoman is REALLY good and fussing through a lot of fog and blur. Probably if RantWoman actually wants to figure this out, she should not count on RantMom having anywhere near the same willingness just to fiddle with things that RantWoman has. Instead RantWoman should probably, as with generations of holiday blessings, just break down and Read the Directions!

The RantWomen are just such fun-loving babes!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS: Cat OWNS the Manger Scene


This cat is not the Queen of Spades. The Queen of Spades it too busy demanding that rantWoman serve as warm cat furniture to be lounging in any manger scene. But both the Queen of Spades and RantWoman wish our public warmest greetings for whatever holidays everyone may be  celebrating!

Monday, December 22, 2014

End of Year Update from Lainey Feingold

Friends and Colleagues: 

I just posted the final digital accessibility legal update for 2014 (link below).  I'm heartened by so many advocates and lawyers using civil rights laws to make the world more accessible for everyone.  Please let me know if I've inadvertently left off any recent developments (July - December) you think should be included. 

Although I love the work I do, and am always happy to report new legal developments, information and technology access shouldn't need lawyers. Developers, designers, technology purchasers, C-Suite executives and content providers should be incorporating accessibility across all aspects of enterprises both public and private.  And involving people with disabilities while they do it.  It's the law, it's good business practice, and it's the right thing to do. 
To that end, I've recently put up three posts on LFLegal that I hope will help avoid the need for legal advocacy on some financial issues in 2015.

Here are the links.  As always I welcome your feedback:
Digital Accessibility Legal Update (December 2014): http://lflegal.com/2014/12/legal-update-1214/

Accessibility matters in the battle of mobile payment systems:  http://lflegal.com/2014/12/mobile-payment-systems-accessibility/

Note to Retailers: Chip and Pin POS devices must include real keypads: http://lflegal.com/2014/12/chip-and-pin/

Buying a Bitcoin ATM? Make sure it's accessible:  http://lflegal.com/2014/08/bitcoin-atm/

Wishing you a happy holiday season and a healthy, productive, accessible new year,

Lainey

Christmas Present: Montanism

Christmas Tree at RantMom's
Christmas, or at least the Christmas tree has arrived at RantMom's. RantMom recently had hernia surgery and cannot lift more than 10 pounds for 6 weeks. RantMom's Christmas tree resources include 5 large plastic containers of sentiment carefully culled from a whole house and adult lifetime of accumulation. Putting up the Christmas tree tends to involve RantWoman doing enough stevedoring to make one think of those number puzzles where the object is to move the squares around until the numbers are in order. At RantMom's it's not numbered squares, just boxes. This year because of RantMom's surgery and because boxes left unattended seem to breed more boxes, there seemed to be more stevedoring than average.

Also a deviation from past practice: the topology of Christmas lights. RantMom's Christmas tree is a commercial thing that comes in three stem parts with branches of some papery plastic stuff. This is great for saving on water and keeping the house free of pine needles. The tree comes with a string of lights already in place, but by the time the tree has been put up and taken apart a few times, the lights had become a tangled mess.RantMom's first decision was to try to free the tree of the lights. This yielded one tree which could be fluffed somewhat from its Charlie Brown lumpiness and one tangle of lights.

RantMom immediately set about fiddling with the lights. RantWoman wathced this for a bit and then looked around for lifting chores to keep herself busy while RantMom fiddled. RantMom eventually got frustrated. RantWoman's puzzle brain kicked in. RantWoman's tendency  when confronted with unpredictable topology embodied in some inanimate object is to try to pull apart; RantMom's efforts seemed mainly to make the tangle tighter. Puzzle brain persisted and the tree trimming effort made GIANT steps forward, enough progress that the cloverleaf of wriing and lights could be redraped over the tree!

There is more to say, but RantWoman needs to get about her day with only a few more modest notes:

This year RantWoman is collecting electronic packages, the sort of holiday presents which seem to accumulate in her vicinity. A gift via someone on Facebook: if RantWoman heard the word Montanism and the suggestion that it is a religion, RantWoman's first instinct would be to assume that the term refers to over-the-top worship of everything to do with Montana.

RantWoman would be WRONG:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390561/Montanism





Wednesday, December 17, 2014

50 years as a Guide Dog User Marlaina Lieberg

Marlaina Leiberg: Celebrating 50 Years as a Guide Dog Handler

Marlaina Leiberg of Burien, Wash., is nothing if not tenacious. As a young 7th grader in the 1960s, she was the first and only student who was visually impaired at her school, and the principal would not allow her to participate in PE classes. With the indignation of a preteen and the determination to participate in all of the same activities as her classmates, Marlaina did what any smart and sassy 12 year-old would do: she wrote to President John F. Kennedy. At the time, JFK was promoting the President's Council on Physical Fitness and its role to serve all Americans, so Marlaina requested that he compel her principal to reconsider. To her delight (but not surprise), the President did just that, and in due haste Marlaina was playing dodgeball with her peers.

It was about that same time that Marlaina met a man with a guide dog. From the moment she heard his story, she knew that traveling with a dog was in her future. She started her campaign to be paired with a guide dog as a teenager almost immediately. “It took a bit longer to get into guide dog school than it did for the President to help me with gym class,” Marlaina said, “but after two years of back and forth letter-writing, my parents and I were invited to the facility for an evaluation. Three months later, I was in class, and on July 9, 1964, I met my first guide, a small female German Shepherd named Scamp. Never will I forget how I felt that first time I took her harness in hand and said, ‘Scamp, forward!’ The very first thought I had was, ‘this must be what it’s like to see; look at me!’”

Flash forward to 2014, and Marlaina is celebrating a golden anniversary: 50 years as a continuous guide dog handler, and she’s still as exhilarated today as she was in her youth. “Working with a guide dog gives me the freedom to move about efficiently and effectively,” she said. “I’m told that when I walk, I have a smile on my face and my head is held high. The ability to move around obstacles without even knowing they were there in the first place is amazing!”

Marlaina (wearing a black hat) kneels down smiling next to her guide Agnes (yellow Lab).

She has certainly seen her fair share of changes in guide dog training over the years, and she’s had to learn and grow with the times herself. “It was a hard leap for me to make to give my dog food rewards,” Marlaina said (a practice introduced in recent years at GDB as part of our positive reinforcement training techniques). “However, this old woman can learn new tricks, and now there isn’t a day that I leave home without my dog’s treat pouch or a pocket filled with training treats. It is so joyful to fix a situation with love, respect and encouragement.” In addition, “The fact that I can teach my dogs custom things these days, like locating crosswalks in the middle of a block, or finding a particular often-used door, adds immeasurably to my independence, and to how sighted society views my confidence and competence.”

That being said, Marlaina recalls being in training with her guide Madeline at GDB’s California campus in 1998, and working with instructors much newer to the field than she. “I was absolutely thrilled with how much respect the training staff showed me,” she said. “One instructor pointed out that I had been working dogs longer than some of them had been alive, and posed to me the question, ‘So why wouldn’t we listen to you?’ The atmosphere was not only one of intense work, but of family and support and laughter.”

Marlin trained with her current guide, Agnes, at GDB’s Oregon campus in 2006, where once again, “the support during my stay was amazing; I believe that GDB has the most respectful and respected trainers and staff in the business.”

So what else is there about GDB that keeps her coming back?

“Is it the fabulous food? Is it the beautiful facilities? Is it the amazing dedication of trainers and staff?” she questioned. “It could be all of those, but I think always the fondest memory is when I meet my new partner. I cannot tell you how emotional meeting the new dog is for me. I am totally blind, and so it isn’t until they bring the dog to my hands that I see who I’m meeting. Usually, the dogs are excited and want to play and lick. I run my hands all over the dog’s body, quickly trying to get to know her, then sit there and cry like a baby while the instructor tells me who I have and what she looks like. Then, spending the next couple of hours alone with my new dog just patting and touching and trying to share my heart and hear hers are times I will never forget.”

Marlaina also enjoys being a part of the community that comes along with being a GDB alum. “When you meet new people who have dogs from GDB, there’s an instant spark of friendship,” she said. “Additionally, graduates support each other through Alumni Association events, email lists, conferences and more. And I can’t forget the puppy raisers! I am so proud that GDB encourages its graduates and raisers to stay in touch if both wish to do so. I love each and every puppy raiser out there! They really can’t fully know how impactful their efforts will be on the life of a blind person. I am always honored and humbled when I’m asked to speak to puppy groups. They are all truly amazing people, and I’m glad to count many of them as my friends.”

Having been paired with eight dogs through the years, Marlaina is no stranger to the process of retiring a guide and being paired with a new one - which isn’t quite as easy at it might seem, especially from an emotional perspective. Agnes will be 10 in February, so Marlaina is preparing herself once again for the transition.

“As Second Vice President of the American Council of the Blind, I travel extensively from coast to coast to various conferences and conventions. I am also very active at home. Due to my activity level, I do not like to work my dogs past age 10,” she said. “I believe that every day after age 6 is a gift; these dogs are asked to do some very complicated things, and I think they deserve a happy and healthy retirement. So, Agnes will retire in the spring, and she will become our pet and my husband’s dog.

“No matter how many times one goes through the retirement and then the new dog process, it’s hard; it’s hard to say goodbye to the partner in whom you’ve trusted completely for many years, and it’s hard to psych yourself up to start all over again with that new dog. However, my husband and I are already talking about things like where Agnes will have her bed and where ‘new dog’ will have hers; where ‘new dog’ will lie in the car, and who’s going to eat first each day. Talking about it ahead of time helps me move along the path that will lead me to my next partner.”

Marlaina has two words for anyone considering getting a guide dog: do it! That’s putting it simply, but she believes that putting in the work and making the commitment to the guide dog lifestyle pays rewards in spades.

“Becoming a guide dog handler isn’t easy, but it’s well worth the effort,” she said. “It’s true, you have to take the dog out in all weather; you have to feed and care for the dog; and, you may occasionally meet that uninformed business owner who tells you that dogs are not allowed. However, what you gain cannot be measured. Working through crowds, automatically finding elevator doors, your house, your hotel room, and the ability to follow someone from whom you are getting directions but who has no clue how to do sighted guide - these are just a few of the things you’ll receive from your dog. I think of my dogs as my magic carpet to freedom of movement; with my guide, I’ll go just about anywhere and do so with confidence.

“But above and beyond all this is the love and oneness of spirit that you and your guide will develop together. You have to trust in those four paws, two eyes and that one brilliant brain. In turn, the dog has to trust that you would never knowingly ask it to do something unsafe. I know of no other relationship, human-to-human or human-to-dog, that is built on these precepts. The key is total trust at both ends of the harness. It’s a joy to give it, and it’s a joy to feel it! If you want all of that in your life, a GDB dog is for you!”

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Montana GOP (Dress Code)

Montana GOP (Dress Code)

RantWoman as proud progeny of the state of MT finds the parody song embedded in this video absolutely true to Montana politics #mtpol and the Montana Legislature, #mtleg.

http://youtu.be/_Zqh6IXkI0k

RantWoman as connoiseur of the absurd and enthusiastic perpetrator of her own highly idiosyncratic internet content is somewhat perplexed to be deprived of the opportunity to post the visual that greets people who view the performance on Youtube.

This song is performed by a topless whate guy in a white cowboy hat. His physique, while not terrible does not cause RantWoman to lament the limits of her wacky eyeballs. He may be bottomless too but RantWoman is not interested in finding out about that. RantWoman is however deeply amused by the thought of a nekkid (or half-nekkid) white guy singing about a dress code for women. RantWoman particularly wants to know but is not taking time to find out whether this proposed dress code also covers (pun definitely intended) men.

Meanwhile, RantWoman invites readers to check out further oeuvre of Mr. Bob Wire themselves.
http://www.makeitmissoula.com/blogs/bob-wire-has-a-point/

Check out more music at bobwiremusic.com .

Upon further mature reflection on the high-quality material served up by Youtube, RantWoman offers this item from Fox News.




RantWoman's reflections:

--RantWoman wonders what the members of the #mtleg would say about the garb of at least two of the women in the video.

--RantWoman also wonders what the members of the #mtleg would say about either men in short skirts or women in neckties.

And just to prove that RantWoman is hopelessly behind the times by modern social media standards, here is an item from an authentic local media outlet from Friday.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/article_67f45b99-c520-51d4-853a-b90b8505a301.html

RantWoman will stop now and return to topics such as transportation boondoggles, #waleg efforts to come up with transportation funding. RantWoman is wondering whether more pictures of nekkid rednecks would help.