Eating my words re IOS 7.1

Well sometimes there comes a time when one must eat their words. Such a
time has come for me with regard to IOS 7.1 and the warning I put out. I
said last night that one should not upgrade due to a bug with entering
information when using a wireless keyboard. Well, such is not the case; and
there is a work around for the known bug.

What is that work around? It is releasing the control key before you
release the option key. In other words, release the option key after or at
the same time as the control key. If I release the option key after the
control key, then there is no problem. I can type in the information and
work as usual.

Again, eating words is not pleasant but sometimes it must be done.
Hopefully it'll be a long time before I have to do it again; but sometimes
frustration can and does get the better of a person. This is exactly what
happened to me and it's not pretty when this happens.

Well, all is right with the world for now which makes me a happy person..

Earning about IOS 7.1

This is a warning about IOS 7.1. If you use a wireless keyboard for
anything, DO NOT upgrade at this time. I Really, really wish I had not done
so. The reason is that you cannot search for anything in an app. When
going out of quick nav, letters you type are not recognized and when you
turn quick nav back on you will be prompted to enter a search term. This is
annoying and irritating and causes me to have to go on to the website of the
site that makes the app where I found the bug. That website has issues of
its own which I will not go into here.

It's likely produceable elsewhere but haven't found it yet; and I tried
using the keyboard for a text message. Haven't tried with E-mail yet. I
can tell you that the bug shows up in two different versions of the app in
question as my husband is running a higher version of the app.

For those who are interested, it's the spark people app.

Again don't upgrade to IOS 7.1 if you use a wireless keyboard unless you
really,really want to lose your ability to search for anything in an app as
I don't think the above-mentioned app is the only one that presents this
bug.
I seriously don't know if this bug shows up on Braille displays as well.

Community Service: A Good Feeling

Last Saturday I had an opportunity through my Lions Club to perform some
community service at our local food pantry. It was a good feeling to be
able to participate in a community service project; thus giving back rather
than taking from the community.

Why is this such a big deal? Well as someone who is blind and also Hard of
Hearing (HOH), I have not had a lot of opportunities to give back in the
mainstream community and this was a chance to do so. What I did was take
some mini butter finger bars and put them into small sandwhich bags. I felt
good after doing this; and this work is just as important as checking for
codes on products; checking for expiration dates, etc. it is something that
needs to be done and needs someone to do it.

My husband and I were able to educate those who staff the pantry as to our
capabilities and willingness to serve and the staff was happy to have our
help. Hopefully it will lead to future opportunities.

If you have a chance to give back, I would strongly urge you to take that
opportunity as you will feel good afterwards. I know I did.

MY JOURNEY TO A HEALTHIER ME

My journey to a healthier me began last may 2013 when I joined the Healthy
People Class here at HTSW. I knew it was time to do something about my
weight and wanted to lose the excess weight so I could be healthier and
happier. I also want to avoid so many issues I've seen in others; issues
such as diabetes, colon cancer and more. Watching someone die from this
disease, even at a distance, is not fun.
I also wanted to stop hearing about it from my parents; and doing
something about the problem would accomplish the solution I wanted.

I want to live a healthy lifestyle so that I am here for my nieces, nephews
and great niece. I don't want my life cut short because of choices I've
made. I have the power to do something about these things and want to take
that power into my own hands now, before it's too late.

It will take time and persistence because no one ever arrives at the
destination but they are constantly on a journey and must be persistent in
order to get there. Without persistence and the will to get there, you will
never get far on this journey.

Being blind means finding creative ways to do things; like obtaining recipes
from spark recipes and downloading them to my computer so I can access them.
It also means using technology to get information off of packages so I know
what I am eating and what nutrients it contains. It means using the I-phone
app for tracking where I can and the website where I must in order to know
how I am doing. It means being persistent in order to accomplish what I
want to accomplish.

Will I accomplish this tomorrow? Definitely not. It took a long time to
put it on and it will take a long time to get it off. But I will get there.
It won't be tomorrow but it will come and my goal is to get to a healthy
weight by early next year. I know it can be done because I want to do it
for me.

Looking ahead to 2014

Well now that the celebrations are over, it's time to look ahead to 2014.

First some personal goals:
1. Continue to take off the weight. I've gotten a good start and need to
keep this going. This means eating right, exercising and getting my water.
2. Don't procrastinate. Things I might not like doing need to get done as
well and getting them done sooner rather than later will get them over with.
3. Make time to talk with family more often. This just must happen as we
don't know how long we will be here.
4. Do house cleaning on a weekly basis and more general cleaning every
couple of weeks.
5. Take care of mail at least weekly which will keep other matters humming
along.
6. continue to work on my leadership skills.

Now I will focus on more general predictions both nationally and at the
state level.
1. ObamaCare will continue to be a train wreck affecting the personal
finances of millions.
2. Republicans will take control of the U.s. Senate and retain their
majority in the House.
3. Iran's nuclear program will cause tension and things will come to a head
this year on two fronts. First, sanctions will be extended and toughened.
The second will be Israel taking action of the type they took in 1982 when
they blew up a reactor in Iraq. They did the world a favor then and will do
it again.
4. In Illinois, Gov. Quinn will finally be kicked out of office and Kirk
Dillard will be elected. I, however, am not sure that control of the
General Assembly will change but I hope I am surprised on that one for the
sake of the people of Illinois.

These are some of my predictions and goals. I hope all who read this have a
safe, happy and prosperous 2014.

2013 in review

Well, like everyone else I will look back at 2013 for the good and the bad;
both personally and in general.

Personally there were some good things. I have decided to lose some
significant weight and have started on that journey. I have lost about
15-20 lbs already and plan to lose more in the coming year. I have already
noticed better energy and just a better feeling about myself.

How have I done this? I have changed my diet, gotten more exercise and have
been drinking more water. I've also learned that weight loss is a life-long
journey, not just something you do to get to a certain goal and then
abandon. I belong to a health club and sought out resources there and found
their Healthy People class. The instructor is willing to work with me which
makes this a pleasurable experience. I also have a support network through
other members of the group. Tracking calories and macro-nutrients such as
carbs, fat, and protein also give me a picture of how I am eating and where
I need to make changes.

Another achievement is being elected as secretary of the Illinois Council of
the Blind (ICB), something I had not considered in the past due to
challenges I did not think I could overcome. One challenge was removed
which made this a more interesting option for me.

I continue to work on controlling my emotions in leadership and other
situations. This is definitely a work in progress and something that will
take time to build upon.

As for general good things, I still have a job which is something a lot of
people cannot say. My family is also healthy, something which is also a
blessing.

Are there bad things? You bet. One of these for me personally is seeing
the effort to form a statewide organization for Illinois' Deaf-Blind
community go down due to lack of involvement and other factors. The
handwriting was on the wall and I finally saw it and made the tough decision
to end the effort. It was not a decision I wanted to make; but it was a
necessary decision. This was a lesson in leadership that not all decisions
are easy to make nor are they always the ones you as a leader want to make.

Some of the bad things in general include the acquittal in the Zimmerman
case which aroused the gun nuts and said to young black men that you had
better stay in your own neighborhood because if you are caught in a place
where you "don't belong", bad things are going to happen to you.

Other bad things include ObamaCare which should be called the Unaffordable
Care Act rather than the Affordable Care Act. The website was the first
disaster for this law but was not the only disaster; and there are more
disasters coming for 2014. If a private company did even half of the things
that have been done in the name of ObamaCare, they would be out of business
at the very least. When will people learn that government cannot be trusted
to take over 1/6 of the economy?

We also had the Navy Yard shooting where once again signals were missed by
the military. When will they learn to weed out mental misfits who have
potential for violence?

We also had the stonewalling on Benghazi; The IRS intimidation of
conservative groups; The Syria debacle where Pudin of Russia played Obama
like a drum and more. It was not a good year in Washington for sure.

Springfield was not much better as there were no initiatives to grown the
state economy and any attempt to fix the pension problem will be tied up in
court for years due to the state Constitution. When will we elect
politicians who have a basic knowledge of economics and how business works?

My look at 2014 will follow in a couple of days. Happy New Year to all.

Washington idiots and idiocy

My head is about to explode over the government shut down. Do these
politicians think about the impact their decisions will have on the
workforce and others? Likely, that answer is no.

Yes, liberals, both parties own this one. The House Republicans started with
a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government that contained defunding
of ObamaCare, then went to delay of the mandate for a year and we will see
what they do next. Keep in mind that Obama has already delayed the mandate
for business. What has the response been from President Obama and the
Democrats? Nothing short of craptacular. They won't do anything at all.
For Harry the fossil Reid, it's all or nothing as far as government funding
is concerned even though separate appropriations have been taken up in the
past. Also fossil Reid forgets how appropriations are to be handled
according to the Constitution. A reminder that appropriations must
originate in the House of Representatives.

Obama has said he won't negotiate until the government is reopened and the
debt limit is raised. This is no way to negotiate. Negotiation involves
compromise on the part of both parties to it. Obama and Reid are showing a
huge unwillingness to compromise on anything. Are TEA party conservatives
being unreasonable here too? You bet they are. They need to see the
reality of the situation and not singularly focus on one thing such as
defunding of ObamaCare. Idiots like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texs need to have an
end game if they're going to play with the big boys. Cruz doesn't have an
end game and doesn't know what he is doing.

Also fossil Reid cannot be trusted to carry out the terms of any compromise.
Just remember this. In 2011, he said that the senate would take a vote on
repeal of ObamaCare. This was part of the 2011 budget negotiations. This
has yet to happen. One thing the GOP ought to ask for is a vote by a date
certain on this topic. Is Reid afraid this will pass? I'll bet he is.

Is this having an impact on real people? Yes it is. I am attending the
Illinois Council of the Blind convention this weekend and several of our
members who are loyal to ICB and would be here if they could are not here
for all or part of the event due to the shutdown. They likely have to stay
close to home in the event this gets solved and also I understand that leave
is not being paid during the furlough. This has real impact on real people.

Politicians of both parties must be held accountable for their actions; and
this means tossing them out of office if they won't do the people's
business. It's time to get reasonable people elected and that means
reasonable people on both sides of the isle.