A #Sale Reminder, Weather, Smart Devices, #Braille Displays, and #Tatting

Just a quick reminder: the Smashwords 2022 Summer/Winter sale is still going on, and my children's stories and poetry books are enrolled at 50% off, making them all $2.50 or less, and in some cases completely free.

 

To grab your copies - regardless of which of my titles you may be interested in - simply click here to go to my Smashwords author profile, add your chosen books to the cart, and go through the checkout process.

 

But hurry, because the sale only runs through July 31st!

 

*~*

 

The weather’s been remaining warm here, though thankfully the traditional Welsh weather (rain) has been a frequent enough visitor to stop it getting quite as bad where I am as it has been in many parts of the UK.  I’m definitely glad of that, let me tell you.  Me and hot weather to not get on.

 

I did get a new, and more powerful, fan to help me deal with the heat though.

 

Actually, if I'm totally honest, it was meant to have been for Kelly, originally, since the one he was using wasn’t working very well and had to be replaced.  But he said I could have this one since I was especially struggling to cope with the heat, and swapped the new more powerful fan with one of the ones I was using.

 

It’s great… At one point I was actually feeling almost cold!

 

*~*

 

There have been other new purchases recently too.

 

 When I moved my computer in to what was the craft room and is now my office, I was out of range of the two Alexa devices we had.  One is downstairs where it can be heard from both the living room and kitchen, and the other is in our bedroom.  I suppose, officially, this wasn’t a big deal.  But – despite my initial reluctance to even get one – I’ve gotten used to having one within earshot when I’m doing most things, and was missing that.  So, when I spotted that the fourth generation Amazon Echo was on sale, I grabbed one.

 

I moved them around a bit though.  I have a second generation I was given, a third generation my Mam brought me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and now a fourth generation.  The second generation has been in our bedroom since Mam gave it to me, and the third generation was downstairs.  But I decided to move the third generation to my office instead of putting the new one in there because the fourth generation looks fancier, and there’s more chance visitors will see the downstairs one.  I mean, other than appearance there’s not much difference between them anyhow.  Yes, there are some devices with extra features and such, but mine are just different versions of the Alexa speaker, so their appearance is the only real difference from what I can tell.

 

*~*

 

The extra Alexa isn’t the only new device I have though.

 

I’ve known for ages they were working on Braille displays (Braille e readers, which can also connect to other devices to work as ways to read what’s on your screen in Braille) but only learned a few months ago via conversations on the ACB (American Council of the Blind) calls that some places were offering them free to visually impaired people via their libraries.

 

Initially I thought it wasn’t being done over here, but then I learned more recently that it was, but only for a limited time during the second half of last year, and - since I knew nothing about it - I’d missed the window to sign up.  They were now offering financial assistance to get them, but you had to get hold of certain documents I’d struggle to get hold of, so I couldn’t qualify for it in my current circumstances.  And, with the ones I’d seen listed on the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind)’s website being in the four figure sums as regards prices, I figured I wasn’t getting one any time soon.

 

I reached out to a few places, both over here and in the US, in a desperate attempt to get my hands on one, but still kept hitting the same hurdles: I either didn’t qualify, or the price tag was too high.

 

Then, on Monday, I was ordering a Braille book from the RNIB (which I’ll tell you about in a minute) and when the sales clerk asked if she could help me with anything else, I jokingly said she could give me a free Braille display if she wanted.  She said she couldn’t, but would put me through to the grants team to see if they could help me, or direct me to someone who could.  I didn’t hold out much hope, since I’d looked in to that already, but I figured it didn’t hurt to talk to them, so I let her do it.  I mean, maybe I’d missed something on their website, right?

 

The conversation with the grants team went pretty much how I expected, with the exception of one thing: a comment by the guy who was telling me about it where he mentioned the grant was for a much lower sum than I’d seen their Braille displays listed for, and – when I questioned that – informed me that one of them - the Orbit 20 - was, in fact, a price that was just about in my price range (though only just).

 

Naturally, the first thing I did when I got off the phone with him was to look for it on their website to verify this.

 

It was true.

 

Why I hadn’t found it when I was looking for the other Braille displays, I have no idea.  But there it was.

 

So, I told Kelly about it.  He told me to get myself one, which I did.

 

I ordered it on Monday.  Even though it was being couriered, I hadn’t expected to get it until today – maybe even next week.  But, nope.  I got it Tuesday.  And I’m loving it!

 

As an added bonus: the RNIB sends them with a bunch of books already loaded on to their SD cards, and among them were some amazing books, including the entire seven book set of the Harry Potter books! Yeah… Guess what the first thing I’m reading with my Orbit 20 braille display is? Because, you know, I haven’t read those books enough times yet. LOL!

 

And I have a piece of software called     BrailleBlaster (click on its name to go to the website it comes from) which is officially designed to enable students to convert textbooks to Braille for their devices.  But there’s no rule that says you have to be using it for that, and it will convert any document (assuming it’s in one of the supported file formats to start with) so I can use it when I get given digital copies of books to review to have the choice of whether I want to read it on my computer, Kindle, or Orbit.

 

*~*

As for the Braille book I mentioned ordering… Well, that’s not actually here yet, since it’s coming with regular articles for the blind post, and that can take quite a while sometimes.  But I’ll tell you what I ordered anyhow.

 

So, among the things I inherited from my Nan when I got her craft supplies was her set of tatting shuttles.

 

Nan started teaching me how to do tatting when I was in my late teens, but I accidentally left the stuff at their house when I left to go to Canada and forgot about it.  By the time I had another chance, I’d forgotten what she showed me, and never got around to having her try again to teach me how to do it.

 

I know Nan would willingly try again to teach me if she was still here to do it, but – since she isn’t – and I want to try and make use of those tatting shuttles ,I ordered a Braille book on learning tatting, in hopes I can figure out how to do it by myself.  Wish me luck.  LOL!

 

 *~*

 

OK.  Well, that's the news from my part of the world.  So, tell me, what's new with you?

Of Conventions, Heatwaves, & Medical Mutterings

I had an awesome time participating in the virtual aspects of the ACB (American Council of the Blind)'s convention at the start of July.  I'm so glad I was able to be a part of it! I kind of wish it hadn't ended when it did.  Only kind of, because there were some regular community calls I was missing.  But still.

 

I love being part of the ACB Community, and feel really lucky to have also been able to be a part of the ACB's convention.  I hope I can be a part of it next year too, and am already looking forward to it.

 

Besides that though, it's been a rough few weeks.

If you don't want to hear about why, you're welcome to skip the rest of this post.

 

 ~

 

The weather has been way too hot.  You’ve probably heard about it, since a lot of people seem to have.  Thankfully it’s been a little bit cooler here in Wales than it has in places like London, making me incredibly glad we moved back here a couple of years ago, since temperatures in Hastings are usually pretty close to those in London.  It’s still been WAY too hot though, especially for people like me who don’t deal with hot weather too well.

 

And, before anyone comments on the fact it’s been hotter in other places – parts of the US, for example – let me just remind anyone who may have forgotten, or tell anyone who doesn’t know, that the UK isn’t used to this kind of heat, and we don’t have air conditioning.  Try dealing with temperatures hovering around 90F (and that’s just the temperatures here… Like I said, it’s been worse in some areas) without air conditioning, and you’ll know why I’ve been having a hard time with it.

 

The dogs haven’t been enjoying it either.  In fact, a couple of times even Artemis has clearly decided it’s too warm to be doing anything.  Yeah, you know it’s hot when the Mediterranean tortoise thinks it’s hot.

 

~

 

I was having a hard time for another reason before all the hot weather too, for a totally different reason.

 

Remember the tooth I had pulled? Well, the one beside it needed to be looked at, but the dentist who pulled my tooth just packed it and said my dentist could deal with it when I went for my already scheduled appointment.

 

Unfortunately, some time during the slightly more than five weeks between the tooth being packed and my dentist appointment, the packing stuff came out, taking some of the tooth with it.  Thankfully it wasn’t hurting, though it was a bit annoying.  So, I didn’t worry too much about it.  Anyway, my dentist appointment rolled around on June 29^th.  And my dentist decided the tooth could be repaired, and everything would be fine.

 

Except that’s not exactly what happened.

 

The dentist repaired the tooth, and a couple of hours later I was in agony.  But they said it would likely hurt for a day or so, so I waited until July 1^st to call about it.  They agreed it needed looking at, but between me having an appointment with my haematologist on that day and it being the end of the week I was told they couldn’t do anything until Monday.  Except, when I called back Monday like they told me to so they could fit me in, they couldn’t actually see me until the Tuesday.

 

I wasn’t happy, but took the Tuesday appointment anyhow.  I’d spent several days in agony, unable to drink without using a straw, and only able to eat if it was something runny like runny oatmeal or similar.  But what was one more day, right?

 

Anyway, when I went there Tuesday the dentist took one look at the tooth and said I had a choice between a root canal or a tooth extraction, since not only had the repair not worked properly, but there was a nasty infection in the tooth.  I opted for the tooth extraction, because I wasn’t about to go through a root canal (especially given my luck with medical stuff).

 

Thankfully my dentist was smart enough to do an x-ray to check nerve placement, so I was able to have the area numbed for the tooth to be pulled (though it did take four vials of the strongest stuff they could give me).  Unfortunately, when the stuff wore off a little over an hour later there was nothing I could do about my nerves screaming in protest about the tooth being removed except cry and hold a cold cloth to my face in hopes I could numb it enough to ease at least some of the pain.

 

Oh, and the other thing is that, despite the clear presence of an infection – not to mention my previous experience – they apparently couldn’t authorize me to have antibiotics on the Tuesday, so I had to wait until the Thursday to have a telephone consultation, at which point they finally agreed maybe I should have some antibiotics.  It was all I could do to just politely thank them and not give some version of, “Yeah? No kidding!” (or something less polite).

 

By the time I could actually eat properly again, I’d been on a runny oatmeal and soya yogurt diet for about a week and a half.  I like oatmeal, and I like soya yogurt, but I’m very happy to be able to eat other things again.

 

~

 

And, yes, I did still do the hosting for some of the virtual aspects of the ACB’s convention, and even attended some events as a participant.  Yes, even though I was in a lot of pain during that week.

 

I have to admit, there was a point where I almost sent out a message saying I couldn’t host.  On the day when I had the tooth pulled there was a point where I wasn’t sure I could do it.  But I was determined to try, knew I could call in help if I was struggling, and actually it turned out the Zoom calls were an excellent distraction from the pain.  I mean, I couldn’t completely ignore it, but they gave me something to focus on besides the pain, which helped me get through those days.

That isn't why I'm grateful I was able to be a part of it all.  I just am in general.  It was interesting, fun, and so much more.  As distractions go I definitely had one of the best I could have had, that's for sure.

 

I still owe me some cake for the pitty parties I threw between calls though.  LOL!

 

~

 

On a more positive note: my hemotologist appointment went well.

 

My kidney function and haemoglobin levels are staying nicely in the normal range, and my platelets – while technically considered lower than they should be – are staying in what they’re calling “my” normal and are at least high enough that nothing needs to be done about it.  So, unless something happens between now and then to make them need to check it out, I don’t have to go back to have my levels checked for several months (it will be just before or just after Christmas I’m due to be seen again).

 

So, at least I’m leaving those of you who stuck around to read the whole post with some good news.

~

Also, to add a bit more to the positive note: today (July 22^nd 2022) marks three years since I officially went vegan.

 

I’d been eating a mostly vegan diet before that, but I made it official three years ago today.

 

I know it’s not the right thing for everyone, but I feel like it was the best thing I could do for myself, and am glad I made the switch to being fully vegan.  Especially since, interestingly, my kidney function has been a lot better since I did so.  I did mention this to them when I was at the hospital, and they said it could be that my kidneys are finding it easier to process the plant-based proteins than they were those in the animal products.  They were also impressed that I was keeping my hemoglobin level so good on a vegan diet, since a lot of people struggle with that.