Turning 42

Hello everyone. Another very early rise for me. I had a sort of nightmare. I don't get a lot of those these days although the one which has haunted me most of my life still recurrs from time to time. This seemed more like the beginning of something. I was a passenger in a plane from the 1940's. The pilot and I were flying over an area of ocean where something dreadful was under the surface. I was supposed to investigate this somehow. The plane was attacked by two fighters. The pilot shot one of them down. I could hear everything happening as the planes roared in and attacked. The pilot shot one down but the other got in behind us and got us. I heard the plane break up around me and then I was falling through a storm. This was all very vivid. I fell until I hit the rough ocean. As that happened, I woke up but there was a lingering sense of dread about what was under the water. It was something man-made and frightenning. I couldn't go back to sleep after that so I got up. My last impression was that my character somehow survived the fall and would continue. I'm torn between being curious about what might be under the water and the desire for a good sleep. It's been a long time since I've had a series of continuing story dreams. That sense of world-changing aweful dread has faded thank goodness. Not the most pleasant way to begin my last day of being 41.

Tomorrow, I'll be turning 42 years old. I'm in such a different place than I was two years ago. Work on Personal Power: The iOS Edition is going very well. Ulysses is proving to be a marvelous app. I can't wait to find out what the first update to it will contain. They're a sponsor of the National Novel Writing Month. Sara has decided to obtain Ulysses on her iPHONE and try to write a novel. One of these years, I may very well take a crack at it. For now though, I'll try and do an equivalent amount of work on the guide. It's a massive project and will keep me busy for ages.

Meanwhile, thanks to a connection Sara had, it looks like I'll be a consultant on a show called Kelly and Company. It'll be on the audio stream of

www.ami.ca

and I'll be speaking about iOS and apps useful to blind people. Also, they want me to talk about audio entertainment like accessible games, podcasts and audio dramas. I deeply appreciate the opportunity. It goes nicely with my own large project and gives me a sense of contributing to the world while I hammer away at it. I haven't found any way to volunteer in the local community. I haven't totally given up on that score but the opportunity will have to come my way. I now have plenty to do that I know will have a real impact. Socially, I'm feeling pretty good these days. I'm not seeing tons of people but seem to be getting enough interaction to feel balanced.

This weekend will be a great one socially. My friend Steve is coming over to spend my birthday weekend with us. We'll be having dinner with my family at my parents' house this evening. Tomorrow, at least a couple more friends will come over for a visit. Beyond that, there are no special plans that I know of. There don't need to be. I'd certainly enjoy some sort of special birthday outing one of these years but when you get down to it, people are far more important than place. Good friends and family are where it's at.

My first presentation on AMI will be on November 3 at around 4:30 PM. I very much look forward to begining this new adventure. It'll earn me a bit of extra money which is within the limits of what ODSP rules let me keep. That'll certainly be helpful. More importantly, it'll inject some routine and structure into my life. That'll also be very helpful. It's too damned easy to just drift along. I'm glad I've had the preceding drift period though. It has let Sara and I start our marriage off well and learn about each other at our own pace. Not many couples have time to do that in this frantic world. We've been blessed in that way.

As I work on the guide and try to help people with iOS and apps, I keenly feel the frustration of not being able to physically be there with them and show them correct gestures and where to touch the screen. The lady I'm helping who was the tipping point to starting work on this guide is way up north. I can't just pop over and help her get past these beginning stages where nothing feels natural and everything seems like a struggle. It would be so helpful if there were a network of local people who could be competent with Voiceover and iOS who could help blind users reach a basic level of mastery. At best, my guide will put a healthy dent in the ignorance out there of what's possible. In an ideal world, there would be a centre somewhere that I could work in where people would come for a couple of weeks guided exploration and instruction in the use of their devices and more importantly, the apps and opportunities these devices offer to pursue one's own interests outside of employment. That mentality of job being the only way of earning society's respect has just got to go! They can't have it both ways making it super hard even for really honest and skillful blind people to find secure employment. Sooner or later, society really has to recognise the heavy price we're all paying for that kind of attitude. As much as I like our current prime minister, I was glad that young people are objecting to this new work world where nobody should expect secure employment. People are starting families and settling down in communities later in life and that means more stressed families living in fragmented ill-formed communities. Sooner or later, those who are driving this ajenda out of a sense of greed and profit will frankly get what's coming to them. Way too many people are being left out and that is already leading to trouble. I'm known for my optimistic view of things and consciously look for good news. However, even I can't escape the conclusion that things really need fixing.

I'm still optimistic enough to think that they can be repaired. This really doesn't have to be a one-way trip to doomsday as some people would have us believe. Frankly, it seems like some of us need things to go that way in order to derive meaning. All the bad news gives them lots of amo for unrelenting dismal judgemental apathy. Thankfully, there are more discussions happening about this. People are waking up to the dangers and I think we'll ultimately manage to find a healthy way forward. For one thing, more good news needs to be dug up and shoved in everyone's faces. People going that extra mile to help each other, agencies succeeding in actually improving things, etc.

From this place of relative safety, I plan to do all I can to help other people enjoy aspects of their lives and see the good that's out there. Western society isn't a lost cause. It just needs a healthy moral and spiritual boost. Opportunities to help in small ways seem to keep appearing in my life. I plan to keep taking them while enjoying the blessings in my own life as much as possible.

It's tuesday morning. My birthday was great this year. A couple of friends ended up not making it over but a long-time friend Steve Murgaski was there. Sara and I had a great weekend with him. He also joined us for our family gathering at my parents' house. That was a lot of fun. My four nieces were very energetic as usual. Dan gave me some Scotish beer which was gleefully consumed by Steve, Sara and I. So was a bottle of champaign Steve brought to the gathering. It was splendid to have so much great conversation over the weekend. I always make certain there's plenty to listen to if we run out of things to talk about but we almost never do.

I received quite a bit of iTUNES and Amazon gift money as I hoped I would. This let me round out my book and music collection. On the music side, I got a couple Passenger albums as well as Nora Jones. I also added some new age instrumental music from Tim Janus, John Adorney and a couple others. As to books, the Dark Tower and First Law series are all now on my Kindle app as well as some other books I've wanted for a while. I've gotten through the first Dark Tower book and have nearly finished the second. There's so much I completely forgot about from my first reading of the books.

I've rearanged my desk surface again. I think I'll be using my Braille display to read bullet notes while I've also looked at the Ferrite recording app a little more closely. I've discovered that I can record with it while that app is in the background and it doesn't cause Voiceover to go quiet. That's going to be very useful for recording demonstrations of how to do various things with iOS. I can then send the recordings into AMI for inclusion in my contributions for the show. It won't work while wearing a headset though. Voiceover gets real quiet in that circumstance.

Sara has started another attempt at NANOWRIMO. It's where you try and write a novel in a month. They deem 50000 words to be a complete novel whether the thing actually has an ending or not. Sara wants to actually bring this story to an end though. Guess we'll see how that goes. I'm going to be inspired by her efforts and try to do as much work on my guide as she does on her novel.

I'm a bit worried about the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. They're either in the midst of a big web site change or else having larger financial trouble. I fervently hope it's just the former. There's a rather splendid sounding big drama which was supposedly coming out soon based on an rpg campaign. I'm keen to get a digital copy of this. I have no use for the props or CDs. They're really going to town in that department this time apparently. Sara and I heard The Thing at the Doorstep last night for Halloween and it was quite well done as these dramas usually are. Great fun. We also heard the first Massey Lecture. Those will be broadcast on the show called Ideas which is at 9:05 PM on CBC Radio1. They are then made available on iTUNES. I prefer to try and catch the lectures live and then get the book based on them which is usually available on iBOOKS. On the bright side, Big Finish just released the final series of Dorion Gray stories. That'll make for absolutely splendid listening when Sara and I find the time. We've enjoyed all of Dorion's supernatural adventures so far and these last four stories will each be an hour long. That'll be splendid. There's also an extra Behind the Scenes disk worth of materials. I get the mp3 downloads but things are still divided up by disk.

I heard the first episode of Kelly and Company, the show I'll be contributing to. It was quite a good start they managed. It shouldn't be much of a problem providing enough notes to help them keep conversation going in my segments. I'll catch their second show this afternoon at 3:00 PM. I use the OOTunes app to listen to AMI Audio on my iPHONE. It seems to work well but I got a warning that the app needs to be updated for iOS10. Hope the developer will do that. It's a fantastic app and I'd hate to see it go under. Over the past while, I've gotten a few of those warnings. I've had some apps for ages which haven't been updated for a long time. There's talk that Apple might remove apps which are no longer compatible or being updated. Hopefully, nothing still useful will be lost in such a purge.

A Splendid Summer

Hello everyone. It has been a truly enjoyable if somewhat unproductive Summer. Sara and I have gone on a couple of trips and caught up with friends. The weather became extremely hot at times forcing us to stay indoors. Thankfully, the air conditioner has stood us in good stead for yet another year. Aside from the hot weather, we've had some construction take place in our local area. This should largely be out of our way now as the community centre is now finished and ready for use. I actually went over there around a week ago. It's a pretty big facility. The echo of voices off the walls makes it harder to keep oriented. Still, if some interesting organisation takes root in there, I may well volunteer. It doesn't get much easier in terms of walking there. I think I could do it even in Winter time. I think it'll be a good place for the community. Hearing has been quite an issue for me these past months. I had my very first ear infection just as Sara and I were going to the W. Ross Mcdonald School reunion. I had no idea how painful ear infections could get and was within a hair's breadth of refusing pain medication the doctor I saw prescribed for me. I just couldn't conceive of an ear infection being anything like as painful as it would have been had I not taken it. That kept me from using my left hearing aid for quite a while. Doing everything with one ear was damned difficult and frustrating. Still, I had a most enjoyable time despite that. While Sara was busy helping with the event, I was able to catch up with a number of people I had never thought to speak with again. It was most enjoyable. We stayed for a visit with Sara's family afterwards and I was able to relax and read while my ear slowly got better. Later, we went to a cottage for a week with Sara's family. It was a fun and mostly relaxing getaway. I went in the lake for swims a couple of times. It was good to spend a longer stretch of time with them while they were able to relax. Lots of time for reading, games of digital dice on our smart devices, fresh air and good food. Thankfully, I had gotten over my infection and had two working ears for that. I enjoyed the soundscape of the area and there was plenty of good conversation. My travel geer served me well. I didn't really miss my laptop at all. Increasingly, I'm using my iPHONE for damned near everything these days. One experience which is still far superior on the laptop and speakers is listening to radio dramas. Sara and I have had a splendid time in that regard. We enjoyed Big Finish's production of Dracula. There was also Spiteful Puppet's Robin of Sherwood and some of their altogether different Hood series. Very different takes on the same British outlaw and company. There were other treasures too. I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Shadows Bloodlust. Both of us have been rather engaged in reading quite a lot of books. Our reading interests differ somewhat. However, there are points of overlap such as Steven King's Bazaar of Bad Dreams. That turned out to be absolutely splendid. Forty of his best short stories plus all sorts of nuggets of writer's wisdom and experience. One unfortunate casualty of this Summer was my right hearing aid. I was playing with Aladdin and he managed to accidentally knock the thing right out of my ear. You really only have a few fractions of a second to recover something like that from his jaws. It took longer than that for me to realise it was gone. I had to go without my right ear for longer than I thought I would. Thank goodness the first replacements turned out to be free of charge. After that, it's a pretty stiff replacement fee. Needless to say, I'm a heeping a lot more conscious and careful when I'm near Aladdin and bent over for any reason. Between the hot weather and construction blocking the path around the lake, we didn't end up walking as much as I thought we would. I've spent a good amount of time on the balcony which spends much of the day sheltered from the sun. Alas, the wasps are making that a less attractive place to be these days. My desk has long since lost that fresh wooden smell and witnessed many failed starts. As Summer draws slowly to a close, things are changing. Both of us are immersed in creative projects. Sara has become a broadcaster on Mushroom FM. She has a Celtic music show called Come By The Hills. She prepares it ahead of time but participates in live discussion taking place on Twitter and via email with listeners. Things are going quite well so far. They've had her do more as time has progressed. She does quite a bit in our bedroom which has proved the better recording environment. I try to be as careful as possible not to disturb her. The door is good at keeping noise out as long as it's not too drastic. Meanwhile, I've started work on Personal Power, the iOS edition. I really didn't see the need to do so until a volunteer happened to read comments I made about KNFB Reader. He thought I could possibly help a blind lady he helps and hikes with in northern Ontario. The CNIB worker they talked to had no idea about that marvelous app. Other people had inquired every so often whether I would consider writing a guide for iOS devices but I really thought people were aware of the resources out there. Spending time on Vorail, a social network with an accessible iOS app, showed me that lots of people really didn't know the half of what they could be doing with their devices besides talking to each other. It became clear to me that the most useful thing I can do over the next year or more is work on this guide. Similar to the original Personal Power, it will strive to provide a personal human experience-driven introduction to iOS and impart a sense of how it can make a personal difference in blind people's lives. I'll also be contributing regularly to a show on AMI Audio. I'll be doing segments on iOS which dovetails nicely with my work on the guide. I'll also do segments on entertainment including audio dramas, podcasts and books. I might even get a bit of financial compensation for my troubles. That would certainly be welcome. It would help with holiday expenses for shure. These two projects will certainly add routine and interest to life. It feels good to be valued by wider society. Apple has just released iOS10 plus their latest iPHONE. That always livens things up. iOS10 is so far proving to be downright marvelous. There are plenty of updates. Everyone is scrambling to update their apps in order to take advantage of the new capabilities. Things ought to settle down in a week or two. I'm glad this has happened so early in the process of working on Personal Power: the iOS Edition. I only have to change a few chunks of what I've written already to accommodate the changes. For writing, I'm very fond of an app called Ulysses. It won an Apple award and has been made accessible for blind people using Voiceover. It's specifically designed for writing longer projects like books. I like it even better than Jarte and can't wait to see what they add to it over the next while. They seem very responsive to user feedback. I've also begun to use an app from Agile Tortoise called Terminology. It's a dictionary/thesaurus app with online extensions that seems to work a bit more smoothly with Voiceover these days. Unfortunately, Wordweb isn't working quite as smoothly as it once did. Other good dictionary/thesaurus apps include the Merriam Webster dictionary, Wordbook and Wordvault. I don't find the dictionary.com premium app very easy to navigate. The Wikipedia app is still performing quite wonderfully. Now that iOS10 makes moving apps so easy, I've been organising my homescreens quite a bit. I'm far less averse to the idea of having apps in folders and may eventually do that. However, for now, they're on their proper pages. It's another friday morning. I'll be participating in a trivia quiz on AMI Audio pretty soon now. Been up since around four. Fortunately, other than this quiz, there are no major plans. Just plenty of good listening. A lot is happening this weekend including my father's birthday, a meal out with Sara's parents, a church picknick and possibly more. Sara and I look forward to hearing Jonathan Mosen unbox his brand new iPHONE7+. I'm particularly curious how wel the lightning dock and adapter help him cope with Apple's decision to remove the headphone jac. Personally, I don't think it'll be a major problem for me. I'm not upgrading for hopefully a year and possibly longer. Still very pleased with my iPHONE6. I'm happy with pretty much all my tech gear at the moment. It's all about having the right apps. I've made some very good investments and discoveries in that area. I had fun but did not prevail in this morning's quiz. I think that rules me out from the upcoming championship game in a couple of weeks. I'll have to listen to that day's Live from Studio 5 show to hear how it turns out. There's actually quite a lot of good programming on AMI Audio. I've tuned in every now and then and will do so more now that I'll be participating. Who would have imagined that a school reunion I never would have thought of going to were I not married to a board member would lead to this sort of opportunity? I know a lot but have found it hard to actually put it to use beyond enriching my personal life and hopefully my family and friends. Every now and then, something like this happens and what I know is, for a brief while, valueable to people. These days, with marriage going well and all of this new momentum, I haven't been feeling disconnected. There's enough social in life to give me a sense of balance. Having a big project nicely underway feels very good. Maybe, at long last, I've really found my stride and this can be a lasting stable state of being.

Life Marches On

Hello everyone. It's been entirely too long since I wrote a blog entry or much of anything else. No real good reason for that other than enjoying my marriage and coming to better terms with my hearing loss. That last has been irksome at times. When I take my hearing aids out, it's like someone has rapped a bunch of cotton around my head. As Spring has arrived, one bright side of this is that the birds which used to annoy me so much are far less of a bother. I'm certainly counting my blessings over all.
Sara and I have enjoyed the last months together as social life slowed over the Winter. We can both keep ourselves and each other engaged. Games, books and audio dramas are enjoyable for us both. Now, we're both starting to think more about our projects and getting on with things. Now too, things are picking up again in the social life department. We're seeing more friends and look forward to a wonderful Summer as far as that goes. Aladdin hasn't had a whole lot to do but is very loyal to Sara. She's getting more used to his nature so very different from Rocky's. Playing with him is certainly a form of exercise for me, but I've got to get into a habit of walking around the lake again. I've gone on a few good walks and we'll be off again to Symposium Cafe for a dinner with Antony and Angela. It's been quite a while since we've gotten together with them but they're settled in Mississauga so I expect to see a lot more of them over the next while. Steve visited recently. As part of that visit, he joined us at a jam cession with people from my former church. Everyone had a good time. Mushroom FM had its sixth birthday bash. Sara and I caught as much of that as possible with other things happening over the weekend such as Palm Sunday and a visit from Mark and Wendy. Events piled wonderfully atop each other giving me a very nice sense of being connected. Mark and Wendy haven't been able to see us for a while due to a baker's cyst Mark had to cope with on his leg. They've been out of action for quite a while but that seems at last to be getting better.

On the whole, my sleep hasn't been too bad lately. However, there have been some rough patches. I sometimes find myself at my most alert very early in the morning. I've been able to cope well for the most part. I'm hoping more fresh air and exercise will help as I spend more time outdoors with this gear. I'm using my iPHONE as my laptop replacement writing this on my bluetooth keyboard. Rather than using my Trekz Titaniums, I have a new bluetooth speaker in front of me which is able to keep up with my iPHONE thanks to its use of bluetooth 4.1. There's no annoying lag between a touch or swipe and hearing what Voiceover has to say. I can pug everything into my external battery and not worry about any extension cords. It's a nice way to operate. It should serve me well over the Summer and on trips.

I recently had to replace my laptop thanks to a nasty bit of spywere which simply wouldn't let go and die peacefully. Thankfully, the money for a low-end but very serviceable laptop was there. I think it will do what I need for the next number of years. Hopefully, I won't have any more equipment needs for a good long while. Sara's Braille display is really old and that might well be the next major expense. It seems that organisations have banded together to produce an actually affordable 20-cell display. From the sound of things, the Orbit Reader 20 has rudimentary notetaking abilities and can read electronic Braille documents. It's not quite as snappy as a more costly display but is apparently quite durable. My Focus40 Blue will more than meet my needs for ages but I'd love to feel an Orbit Reader20 in action at some point.

May should be a great month for gaming and audio dramas. Bigfinish will be releasing Dracula as well as what I expect is the final installment of this current arc of Pathfinder Legends. There also might be an anniversary Dark Shadows release. All great stuff. Add to that the Robin of Sherwood drama I backed all those months ago. I think it comes out this or possibly next month. Audible has just released a version of Alien with Rutgar Hower. That should be very good. Perhaps, this will finally be enough inspiration to get my EarThought blog going. Guess we'll see.

Travel Gear Review 2016

travel gear 2016

Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since I've gone over my set of electronic travel gear. This past year has seen a lot of change in that department for a few reasons. I'll go over these as well as my selections for what I now regard as my equipment choices. Students and other readers have enjoyed this sort of review collective in the past. For those hoping for life news, wait a while longer. Winter can be a slow time of year especially right after the holiday season.

What has driven me from my comfortable laptop and accompanying equipment? For one thing, size. I have sleep apnea and need to bring my CPAP machine wherever I go. The machine isn't heavy or large but is thick and takes up pack space with the hose and power supply. You never want to put too much pressure on the hose. Another thing I've noted during my last few outings was that the laptop took up too much pack space along with other necessities and had to be carried separately. This meant I had two packs to potentially deal with while getting on and off busses and such. The other major change has been hearing aids. This makes wearing earpods uncomfortable while using hearing aids although they still are best for audio gaming and night time listening when I don't wear hearing aids. Hearing loss also makes carrying around various speakers and large headphones less attractive.. At a volume level where I would enjoy hearing music or other audio, other people would find it intrusively loud. Also, when I'm out and about, I like to have situational awareness. I don't want to be isolated from people or events happening near me even if I am doing my own thing. That happens a lot particularly when sports are being watched. Nothing other than fashion bores me more. In such circumstances, it's nice to have unobtrusive entertainment of one's own choosing to hand.

Thanks to a warranty and a battery bulge of epic proportions, my trusty 32-gb iPHONE 5S has gone to iPHONE Heaven. I now carry an iPHONE 6 with 64 gb of memory. This affords me enough space for quite a lot. Compared to the 16-gb iPHONE 4 I started with around five years ago, it's positively luxurious. The speed and responsiveness has reached a point where switching between tasks and having things happen in the background is easy and smooth. In effect, my smart phone has become my laptop. This means my trusty laptop of many years is now my home base and desktop computer.

Having one's smartphone as a travel computer requires you to have some accessories on hand. I carry everything in a small carry-all bag I purchased from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It can be slung over a shoulder or carried in hand. I used it back when I had a netbook and it now comes into its own all these years later. It's sturdy, has several zippered compartments, is rugged and water resistant. I can't remember what its name was for the life of me but Mountain Equipment Co-op has many suitable bags. Visit them at:

www.mec.ca

While the ability to dictate is helpful, you really need a proper keyboard for any sort of sustained comfortable rapid writing. To that end, I have chosen the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard. It works very well with my iPHONE. I can type quite quickly on it. The dimensions are 27.2 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm and its weight is around 12.875 OZ or 365 G. I find the keyboard's heft a good thing. It combines nicely with a couple of thin rubber strips on the bottom to keep it sturdy and still while you type. Key travel is very good especially when you consider how thin the keyboard is. There's a nice tactile response. I tend to do mostly typing with the keyboard and use the iPHONE to control Voiceover and do other things. Voiceover features many keyboard commands but I'm not quite as good at mastering a bunch of new key commands as I once was. The touchscreen is so intuitive that there really isn't any great need for me to do so.

Provided I plug the keyboard in every so often for a couple of hours, I need never worry about it lacking power. The battery can apparently last up to six months of average use. Tactile switches and buttons make controlling it easy. The keyboard is sturdy enough for use on one's lap. The hard keyboard cover provides space to lay an iPHONE flat and has ridges to let you stand a tablet at an angle provided it isn't in a thick case. This creates a small basic two-piece laptop. The top detaches which can be useful in tighter circumstances. It is magnetically held on and will turn off the keyboard automatically when folded shut. The top and keyboard are sturdy enough to withstand bumps and other mishaps. I paid under $80 for the keyboard in July of 2015 and doubt I'll need to replace it any time soon. There are switches and buttons controlling volume, music playback, muting, and more. I don't use all of the switches mainly because things are so easy to do on the iPHONE itself. You can acquire  this and many other accessories at:

Www.amazon.ca

For listening privately to what comes out of my iPHONE, I now use the Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headset. This headset is light and is warn hung over the ears with the headband extending down behind the neck. Transducers rest in front of each ear sending sound through the cheekbones and skull. The transducers are about as big as an average thumb. In total, the headset weighs 1.45 OZ or 41 G. This leaves one's ears free for hearing what's happening around you. Also, you can wear the Trekz Titaniums without interfering with hearing aids. The hearing aid receivers and band of the Trekz Titaniums can both fit comfortably behind ones ears. I've found it more comfortable to wear the hearing aids on the outside and the Titaniums next to the skull.

In general, there doesn't seem to be any lag. I can touch my phone and get immediate audio feedback. The Trekz Titaniums use version 4 of Bluetooth and support many different profiles. The only fly in the ointment is that sometimes, calls aren't routed to the headset for a while. You can always answer them using the iPHONE itself provided you can reach it. This only happens once in a while. The battery life of the Trekz Titaniums is said to be six hours of constant playback. They have up to ten days of standby time. I've gotten whole days of heavy use with the battery still in the high or medium range. They require two hours for a full charge. Unlike other headsets, the Trekz Titaniums have built-in speech and can tell you their battery level. You can also check this right in the status line or battery section of your notification centre on iOS devices.

The controls are quite simple. A button on the left transducer lets you use smartphone features like SIRI plus has some added functionality. I found this out when I held it in too long and it called the last number I had phoned. Buttons on the right part of the ban will adjust the volume, turn the headset on or off, and holding both of them in for a second will toggle between two different equalization settings. The button which doubles as a power and volume up button has a slightly raised dot on it and is closest to the right transducer while wearing the headset. Pressing one of the buttons while no sound is playing will inform you of the battery level. A very well considered control setup.

The sound quality depends on one's bone structure. For me, it isn't as full as standard earpods or over-ear headphones. However, the sacrifice in richness is minimal for casual listening. The trade-off is easily worth having situational awareness. Music sounds more than adequate. Stereo positioning does happen but it's less refined than you'd experience with more traditional headphones. I don't recommend these for audio gaming where spacial position of sound is critical. For working or general listening, however, the experience is quite good provided you're not an audiophile and have expectations fitting the technology. Compared to earlier models, the Trekz Titaniums offer markedly superior sound and much less leakage. I can walk outdoors hearing directions from GPS software in my iPHONE while still hearing what's around me. I don't recommend listening to music while navigating via sound. It still distracts even though it comes in via the skull. Hearing rich sound such as music from the Trekz Titaniums as well as sound in your environment does take some getting used to. The mind just doesn't expect to be able to hear both music and surroundings well at the same time when wearing a headset.

For recording, I can't recommend using the microphones in the Trekz Titaniums. While good enough for phone calls, the noise cancellation robs recordings of sharpness. The microphone built into your i device is far better for recording. SIRI understands me quite well if I invoke it while wearing the Trekz Titaniums. It's nice to be able to hold in a button on the side of your head and command the phone in your pocket to do things. Moving around with phone in pocket and no wire dangling down in front of you is absolutely splendid. The other great thing about the Trekz Titaniums is, quite simply, the titanium. The headset flexes comfortably while you wear it and curls up when you take them off. Being a memory metal, you don't have to worry about them losing their shape even if you really scrunched them. They come in a nice travel case which easily fits in the pocket along with your phone. However, I don't often think to bring the case and simply stuff the headset into my pocket when not needed. It does sometimes become uncomfortable after long periods of use depending on how the ban moves. The headset is so light that I have often forgotten that I'm wearing it. In order to fund the creation of these headphones, Aftershokz Held an Indiegogo campaign. I backed the project in time to get in on early bird pricing. The current price for the Trekz Titaniums is $129.00 US. You can order directly from:

Www.aftershokz.com

I resisted the whole Bluetooth movement chiefly due to the extra battery drain one incurs when using it. Why have devices which not only require their own batteries but take power from your computer's battery? Hearing aids were what has finally forced my hand. That and having more than one cord snag and break out of my former wired headgear. Now, I can work completely wirelessly. It still feels a bit strange as well as liberating. Since my computer lacks bluetooth drivers, I wear regular headphones overtop of my hearing aids and Trekz Titaniums while working at home. The Trekz Titaniums are capable of accepting input from more than one device at a time. They call it multipoint functionality. I look forward to using that whenever I get around to upgrading my laptop.

For those occasions where one wants to share audio, I currently lack an adequate bluetooth speaker. My UE Boom is using and outdated version of bluetooth. This imparts a quite noticeable lag to proceedings while navigating with Voiceover. You'll tap or Flick and then wait half a second for a response. There are doubtless plenty of better options out there. However, given my hearing loss, I no longer feel as well equipped to advise people in this area. Finding something at a reasonable price which exhibits no lag yet still sounds good is best left to others to find at this stage.

My iPHONE6 is serving me quite well. It's noticeably faster than the 5S and I get better results when doing OCR or having objects recognized via the camera. I keep it in an Otterbox Defender case. It includes a built-in screen protector and feels comfortable in the hand. The feel and construction are a definite improvement over the Defender model for the 5S. I like the rubbery feel of the case's outer shell. At the moment, I have enough on-board storage for current needs as well as some lavish extras. Sixty-four gb is enough for over a thousand tracks of music, over 100 audio books plus something near 1000 ebooks, a 90hour fully dramatized version of the Bible, an off-line reference containing the most popular 250000 articles from Wikipedia, eleven pages of apps plus associated data, and more. I still have room to spare. Should the need arise, there are now external storage drives for iOs devices. When making the shift from use as a phone to use as a laptop replacement, even thirty-two gb was tight but serviceable. I wouldn't recommend trying it with sixteen gb.

Keeping all your devices charged is the last order of business. Bluetooth does exact a toll on your smartphone or tablet's battery. This hasn't been as severe as I had presumed prior to recent experience. iOS9 is doing quite well at managing power. I recently invested in an

Anker Astro E7 Ultra-High Capacity 26800mAh  3-Port 4A Compact Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank with PowerIQ technology. This is enough to fully charge my iPHONE ten times if necessary. This isn't a pocket-sized battery mainly due to length and weight. It weighs in at 490 G, just short of half a kilogram. Its dimensions are 16.6 x 8 x 2 cm. In a bag with other gear, it doesn't take up much room at all. It is quite rugged and sleek coming with a softer protective pouch. Three USB ports are available to charge multiple devices at once. The ports are intelligent and detect how much charge to give items plugged into them. An 18-month warranty is provided should anything go wrong. It comes with a built-in LED flashlight which is useless to me. I've used a light detector app on my phone to make certain that it hasn't accidentally activated.  As a blind user, there's no way to check how much power the battery has remaining. This would have been nice. However, with so much spare capacity, I don't expect this will be a problem provided I charge it fully every month. When my iPHONE is plugged into it, IOS states that the phone is on AC power. The recharge rate is very fast compared to other external batteries I've used. When the battery itself is charging either via a USB port or wall adaptor like the Apple power brick which came with my iPHONE, the batter warms up. It's smart enough to stop charging when full and will cool quickly when this happens. There's one button on the side of the battery which activates the display. Holding that button in or double-tapping it will turn on the flashlight.

A smartphone is never going to give you quite as much power or storage as a laptop. I'm currently blessed to have both options. Given my current requirements while away from home, this more portable setup works very well. There are some tradeoffs. The bulk of my audio drama collection is for all practical purposes off limits. I shudder to think how much it would cost to store my full collection of audio in the cloud. And then, there's being able to get at it without going over your monthly data plan. That's where an external drive would come in handy provided you could access content without the need for Internet use.

I don't always need to type lengthy emails or documents but can when I wish. I can even set the typing feedback so that it's silent while using a bluetooth keyboard and doesn't cause voiceover's audio ducking to disturb the music I listen to while writing. When using the touchscreen keyboard, typing feedback is there where I need it. The keyboard is somewhat smaller than a normal one. Just large enough not to seriously cramp the hands but you do lose a bit of speed and comfort. When I'm in different places and need to charge up my stuff, I can do so without needing to inconvenience anybody. The only time cables need to be in evidence is when things are plugged in. Otherwise, nothing can get snagged, impede packing up or get lost. Even when I eventually track down a suitable speaker, I doubt my bag of tricks will exceed two kilos unless I add snacks and a bottle of water for an extended trip.

The piper always has to be paid somehow. The price for such convenience is that good devices are held hostage to the capacity of their batteries to hold a charge. When that is no longer possible, the device is useless unless the battery can be replaced. We'll just have to see ultimately how long the batteries maintain the ability to hold a charge. On the bright side, having each component a separate thing makes replacement more manageable. These devices seem to come with 18-month or 2-year-warrantees. Changing to a new iPHONE won't require me to discard bluetooth devices like the keyboard and headset. Provided I don't opt for something lighter, my external battery should serve me for a good many years.

The portability of an accessibility solution centred on my iPHONE is absolutely mind-blowing. My desk used to have an OCR scanner taking up a good part of its surface. That scanner has been gone for over a year now. An app called KNFBReader has let my iPHONE replace it. Most of the time, it does a far faster and better job despite the camera being operated by a blind man assisted by artificial intelligence. You can easily carry all the computing power you need for normal day-to-day tasks in a pocket. Has someone suggested this would be the case even as little as five years ago, I would have laughed openly. All the accessories fit in a small light bag and merely enhance various aspects of the user experience. These accessories can be taken, left and upgraded as required.

I'm glad the iPHONE6 wasn't much larger than the 5S I treasured. A larger screen does nothing for me. This iPHONE6 was an unexpected but very pleasant step in my journey through the Apple ecosystem. Combined with my chosen accessories, it has afforded me the ability to travel a whole lot lighter than I would have thought possible.

Half a Year Newly Married

Hello everyone. It has been entirely too long since I've written in this blog. For that, I apologize profusely. Many completely blog-worthy things have happened and should have been remarked upon in this space. In terms of accomplishment, there isn't all that much to crow about. However, in terms of enjoying married life, Sara and I have done pretty well. No major disagreements or fights to speak of. After all this time, it's hard to know where to begin. I can't promise to cover everything but will attempt to hit the highlights of our first six months together.

Sara and I continued to enjoy an excellent Summer. All the administrative stuff with ODSP and Peel Housing has been settled. That took somewhat longer than I expected but I needn't have worried. Sara has done better than I at keeping her creative projects going. She has begun recording and editing things using her new Blue Yeti microphone. The bedroom seems to be best suited for that. She also does pretty much all the major cooking these days. She truly delights in having her own kitchen. While I appreciate its utility and my good fortune to have an apartment like this made affordable, I've never taken much enjoyment from cooking. Not like Sara. Dish duty is more my area. I've found us some good auditory entertainment to while away the hours companionably. We've been enjoying audio dramas from my collection and have expanded it thanks largely to Big Finish. Dorian Gray has been mostly excellent. So has Sherlock Holmes, Pathfinder Legends and other splendid additions. The Dark Adventure Radio Theatre has graced us with some nifty H.P. Lovecraft Stories turned into audio plays. That has to be the best discovery of the year. They've put out some really fun stuff.

By far though, a very supportive cast of family and friends have been key ingredients to our happiness. It was wonderful spending time at the Murgaski cottage with Steve, Michelle and Steve's parents. Everyone had a good time. Drink and the Summer sun each took a toll that was well worth paying in my humble judgment. We have also enjoyed visiting Shannon and Kim. After hearing so much about Shannon's new place, it was interesting to actually go there and get a real sense of it. We'll have to see about having them visit us here after the holidays. Adam and Jeanette have graced this abode a time or two. So have Mark and Wendy. Good friends all. One thing I hope for this coming year is that we have some more regular opportunities for socialization.

I don't believe I'll be able to finish the book by the middle of next year as anticipated. I'll still take a good crack at it but there's so much ground to cover. I really don't want to break it up into more than one book. There's enough of an interest in public circles to make me think that one book would be grabbed as a novelty particularly by parents and friends of blind people, game design students, game developers and such. Not a whole series though. I don't really want to do a text book so much as a personal examination of the accessible gaming history I've experienced plus current possibilities and speculations on current and future possibilities. I will also discuss why it's so important that blind people be included where ever feasible in digital and other forms of play. Getting the balance right is going to be a real bear. I also have my game to get back to eventually. I've done well at gathering resources for both these projects over the past while. The epic find of the year in that quarter was discovering an accessible way to obtain and read The Art of Game Design: A book of Lenses 2nd ed. by Jesse Schell. When the Kindle version proved impossible to read with its iPHONE app, I was forced to look farther afield and discovered CRC Press. they use something called Vital Source bookshelf. It's a system for reading text books which is made to be accessible with screen-readers. There's an app for i devices and versions for Windows and Mac. The books are typically of the more expensive type you'd get for taking courses in particular fields. Students in particular will want to check out:
www.crcpress.com

Getting to know my new church community is going to be a long and slow process. Sara has really found a place of honour there. They value her musical abilities very highly. She knows her religion and her music. Hearing that combination at work is something special. I'm getting along well with people. they're very patient and kind. It's a lot to take in from a theological standpoint. I'm simply not on the same spiritual walk. There are some real glimpses of the kind of wisdom the Orthodox approach affords. I am increasingly confident that my patient observation and attentiveness will prove rewarding. I really don't know that I'll ever be a real believer in their take on what God wants of us. At the same time, it's obviously the same God I've believed in and worshipped so differently.


My birthday this year was tremendous fun. Adam and Jeanette came over and we all enjoyed a Swiss Chalet dinner courtesy of my lovely Sara. One present, a trio of unique soundscapes put together by Julian Treasure, has just arrive during the holidays. I'm very thankful to have been able to use my gifts to acquire music and books which had waited on my wish list for ages. I also got the whole Afganada series of audio dramas done by the CBC about Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Lots of superb listening for long Winter days.

One new challenge I'm just beginning to contend with over the past couple of months is the use of my hearing aids. It really changes the character of what I can hear and adjusting is really not a thing to be taken lightly. This is especially true when you rely on sounds as heavily as I do for getting around. Sara has proved to be remarkably patient as I've gone through this process. I've had to do everything from acquiring more gear to figuring out which mode works best in given circumstances. Both of us use headphones most of the time while working so asking each other to repeat what we said is nothing new. She's far more tranquil with the reality of my hearing loss though. At some level, I'm still blown over by the fact that I, who take pride in my listening abilities, must now use hearing aids to do what used to come naturally. I go through batteries more quickly than average since I need to increase volume in many situations to hear more comfortably. Just how many of these little pellets will I use up before life ends or I need to upgrade to new hearing aids? The Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headset is a godsend since I can use it for my iPHONE and keep all that sound and phone calls separate from my hearing aids. I've just discovered yesterday that wearing the Aftershokz on the inside and hearing aids outside doesn't stress the hearing aid wire and is far more comfortable than having the aids between the headset and my skull. Little tricks like that are worth their weight in gold.

While the past months have been largely about settling into married life, I really want this coming year to be more about building up that life socially and re-kindling my creative drive. The resources are largely in place now for that to happen. A final piece of the puzzle just arrived in the form of Trekz Titanium headphones from Aftershokz. These are a godsend and work wonderfully with my hearing aids. I'll be doing a travel gear update post early in the new year. It's long overdue and I believe things have reached a tech plateau for me in this area. Kickstarter and Indegogo have been a big and exciting part of that process. The Trekz Titanium campaign did a masterful job of making me feel like part of the team. That journey will continue as more of the projects I backed in other non-tech areas such as audio dramas and one game development book are slated to be finished in the coming year.

I really have to curtail my spending. This will be a struggle for me. I've managed to obtain pretty much every urgent item on my wish list over the past while but at a cost I simply can't sustain over time. I don't want to bar myself completely from purchasing books but really need to be more disciplined in my approach. I think I've come to a point where I'm ready to do that. Expanding life socially is going to require some money when it really starts hap penning. That'll likely be when things warm up. Winter has arrived in force here. We're under an extreme cold alert today. My cote, Winter boots and gloves are already in use and in good shape as far as I can tell. I don't plan on many Winter walks unaccompanied but am glad I was able to test my new iPHONE, Blind Square, hearing aids and Trekz Titanium on a windy outdoor walk recently. It's nice to know I can do it if I have to provided I take my time. Echoes of cane taps sound different enough to throw off my sense of distance from things. Too much wind simply renders walking with any idea of my surroundings beyond the tactile completely impossible.

Technology expenses should be a thing of the past for a while. I believe I've managed to hit a stable point where my needs are met nicely both at home and while travelling. My laptop will now be my desktop and likely won't leave home. The iPHONE6 has 64 gb of storage which is plenty for books, music, apps, documents, etc while on the move. I recently put my new Anker external battery and Bluetooth keyboard to a more sustained field test over the holidays and am very pleased with the results. More on that in my upcoming travel gear entry.

There is a whole lot to look forward to this year. More of my long-time friends are popping up in Mississauga. I fervently hope we'll be seeing more of Bill, Tony and Angela. One larger-scale project I really need to undertake is more orientation and mobility lessons. I'll need to get onto the waiting list for those. Mastering the bus system, learning to get to doctor/health appointments, getting downtown to Union Station and assorted other destinations on my own would be a very good thing. At the very least, getting enough information into Blind square and enough notes on routes to be useful to me is worth pursuing. I realize that mobility will always be a weak area for me but it's time for taking another stab at doing better there.

We have a brand new government in power who are ready to undo a lot of stagnation and stifling Harper had in place over the past decade. Societal cohesion has really taken a back seat to the budget and we need that changed. I'll be very keen to see how much the new government will be able to do of what it promised to do. I'm glad we're doing our part to help the Syrian refugees. Shutting the doors wasn't the right approach in World War II and it wouldn't serve us well here. I just wish Trudo hadn't bitten off more than we could chew in the quest for votes. I hope things and proceed at a measured pace which the systems here can realistically deal with. I also feel for the many would be immigrants who have been forced to wait longer due to this crisis. Should there be a meaningful way in which I can help at all, i won't say no. I've felt like this country just hasn't been its best self this past decade. Restoring our good compassionate society is long overdue.

One area I must always be thankful to Harper for is his ongoing support of the underwater archaeology surrounding the Franklin Expedition. I now have an accessible copy of Franklin's Lost Ship, in iBOOKS and have begun to read it. That story of arctic explanation has long fascinated me and we'll at last start to really learn from the remains of hopefully both ships. I don't believe the Terror has yet been found. That will be a profound journey of soul-searching and really force some people to re-examine their thinking on Native culture.

The Truth and Reconciliation report has come out and seeing how that gets dealt with will be very interesting also. I have copies of the six volumes on my iPHONE awaiting my attention. I don't expect that to be a pleasant read but think we ought to be aware of the negative forces employed to shape the society too many of us take for granted. I really feel for everyone involved in the process which produced these documents. I hope generations of Canadians to come are given a better sense of our past and are able to figure out how we can really move forward. Even with abundant good will in our current politicians, I have no illusions that there's some magic quantity of resources, apologies or anything else which could really mend this sort of damage quickly.

A whole lot is hap penning in accessible games. This year seems bout to be a historic one in that quarter. Another successful kickstarter has put 64oz Games in a position to acquire new equipment to drastically increase their capabilities to make board and other games accessible which have heretofore been beyond the experience of blind people. I was a small part of that kickstarter and expect a 20-sided die for my small donation. I still intend to eventually acquire at least one board game from them for our own entertainment and for hands-on research for my book. While it's sad to see Something Else Ltd. bow out of the audio game creation business, they have left a wonderful legacy. A number of the best audio games to grace iOS as well as a sound engine which those more skilled than I will doubtless put to good use. The year will kick off with an English localization of a Korean games called Ji Eum. I've earned a place in the credits with another small donation. Lots of new stuff coming up. Fallen London should be a spectacular offering on iOS rivalling even King of Dragon Pass for death, scope and replay value. Six Ages, the next game from A Sharp, makers of King of Dragon Pass, should also be a very good experience. PC gaming is picking up again. Marina Break is a strange combination of Breakout and Pinball which appeared over the holidays. So far, no other projects in development for play on Windows have been widely discussed. I expect everyone's busy getting used to Windows10 much like I am.

I started this blog entry before Christmas. It is now January 4th, 2016 as I bring the post to a close. Due to a switch in calendars instituted by Sara's church of choice, this is in fact a few days before Christmas. Time travel just isn't as flashy as it's made out to be. I do appreciate having the more secular family events separate from what should be an interesting religious Christmas experience this week. This does however mean that our new thankfully  small and out of the way Christmas tree will remain on our dining room table for a while yet. Life is both wonderful and strange. And with that last observation, I will leave you for a hopefully shorter while between entries. Happy New year everyone.

First Blog Post using iPHONE and Bluetooth Keyboard

Hello everyone. I'm writing this blog entry using my new Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard and the Voice dream Writer app. So far, this is proving to be a very effective combination. 

 The keyboard is, of course, smaller than a laptop keyboard. Around as spacious as a  netbook's keyboard. A whole lot lighter and thinner. It's solid enough to use on my lap without worry but it's barely long enough to be stable with knees close together. The key travel feels surprisingly good. I can type quite quickly and accurately already.

It's very hot outside so Sara and I have spent the majority of our time indoors. The air conditioning has served us very well indeed. We had a great Sunday visiting Shannon and Kim as well as attending church. Everything went very well and it was fun getting to know Sara's good friends a bit better. Travel by Go Transit costs a bit but is pretty convenient going between cities. We'll have to budget for these occasional expeditions.

A lot is happening in the tech area over the next while. Applevis is marking its fifth birthday with a week of giveaways. This celebration could really do people some serious good so I've been retweeting some of their giveaways in case any followers can benefit. I'll eventually be doing a review of this keyboard for the site once I've learned all of its quirks and features. I think I may choose to use this setup to write my book. The only real issue is that Voice Dream Writer needs to import rtf files and turns them into plain text. Still, I may write the rough draft as a text file and then move it over to the laptop once it's ready to be turned into a manuscript.

Another aspect of this is getting used to the Voice Dream Writer and Blogger apps. I'm hoping this will make blogging while out and about a lot easier and less irksome. I believe I can simply cut and paste this entry into the Blogger app. Guess we'll see. I'm certainly enjoying playing interactive fiction using the Frotz app. It works wonderfully with this keyboard. Doubtless, Mudrammer would be just as pleasant an experience.

I can't believe July has up and vanished already. The month has just flown past even without iced Summer drinks from Tassimo. They're finally available and will hopefully arrive soon. I also have a USB charging hub on the way to keep all my travel gear charged. For most trips, I'll use the keyboard and my iPHONE as a makeshift laptop. It's a very light and portable solution with excellent longevity thanks to my external battery pack. However, it does lack the capacity and comfort factors of a laptop and accessories. We'll see how it goes. 

A New Desk for A Changed Life

Hello everyone. I'm writing this entry on July 4 as noon approaches. I'm sitting at my brand new desk. It was assembled yesterday by my father and Jim, a family friend who we've known since I started secondary school. Sara and I can now sit at nice and sturdy new wooden computer desks. They have a built-in cabinet above a large drawer, a keyboard shelf, and lots of space. A little later, we'll be heading over to a delayed Canada Day celebration. It's apparently a very nice day outside. Ideal for swimming. I haven't done that yet this year.

It's so nice to have my own desk which has a drawer and cabinet built in. Its also higher than my old desk. I've brought out my old keyboard and am making use of the keyboard drawer. Haven't used a regular keyboard in long enough that I forgot how good it felt.

Figuring out what to keep close at hand and what to have in storage is a bit more complicated. However, I can now have confidence that things I need handy can also be safe. Aladdin is good-natured but you just never know what he'll go for next. This morning, Sara's English muffin was snatched and she had to get a new one. During our visit to Sara's parents for early Canada Day celebrations, Sara found some more toys to bring back for Aladdin to play with. He loves his new rubber ball and bone. That makes four toys laying around which seems to help keep him amused and less prone to unintentionally cause mischief. The visit was quite pleasant. They sure know how to celebrate. Sara and i took an unexpected trip into town which proved pleasant. Aladdin is still in the process of settling into his role as guide dog. I thik all of our expectations regarding the behaviour of a new young guide dog were somewhat unrealistic due to how well-behaved her former dog was.

We had our first actual guest as a married couple. Rose came over for a visit yesterday bringing some scrumptious onion rings. We can now look forward to meeting Angela and Tony for lunch in a couple of weeks. I can't say I look forward to the physical checkup I have coming later that week. I haven't had one for quite some time. No word yet on the appointment with the ENT specialist to further investigate my hearing loss.

It's strange to think we'll have been married for a month in just three days. It's been a good experience so far as we establish our routines and figure out how we can best contribute. Now that the furnishing and moving in process is done other than paperwork, we're starting to look outward and connecting with people more as a couple. I'm also hopeful that I'll find it easier resuming work on my creative projects. The balcony table and this desk will serve me well. Perhaps, by the time the new wood smell has faded away, I'll have written more than this blog entry which will stand the test of time. I've deleted so many paragraphs which seemed promising initially but eventually lost their lustre. As life takes on a new shape, I hope more lines of thought prove to be keepers.