2009 July |

Twitter, My Virtual Watercooler

I don’t understand this Twitter thing,” a friend of mine said to me recently. “I can’t make sense of it all. What’s the point of all those short sentences?”

My sister-in-law asked me the same thing and so did my neice: I Don’t Get Twitter.

That’s pretty much what I thought too, when Glenda Watson Hyatt introduced me to Twitter over a year ago. I am so glad that I listened to Glenda, because Twitter has become my virtual watercooler. In my daily life, I’m often cut off from conversations around me unless I have access to an interpreter, captioning or some super lipreading. Twitter lets me peek in on conversations (Ah, so that’s what people talk about!) and gives me the opportunity to join in. I enjoy Twitter so much that I ended up here: Chicago Moms on Twitter.

Liz Strauss is hosting a writing project: 25 Words of Social Media Wisdom. I’ve decided to join in and share my thoughts on Twitter and what it means to me:

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Come On, Let’s Tip the Girls Over! Wordless Wednesday

The boys succeeded in tipping the girls off the tube.

Wordless Wednesday!

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Z Ya Later!

Check out the sports section of the Chicago Tribune! I had to laugh when I saw that, because my buddies at Zvrs.com are always saying to each other, “Z ya later!”

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Advocating for Captions on the Web

I recently discovered that NBC now has some old episodes of the Emergency series posted on their website. As a kid, I loved that show, even though I had to lipread my way through it. This was before the days of captioning on TV. And today, I feel like I’m right back in the 70s– because there’s no captioning on the TV episodes that are displayed on the web.

Representative Ed Markey introduced the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 on June 26, 2009. Quite simply, the bill has this as the goal: “To ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st century.”

In other words, it means that if I want to see old episodes of The Tonight Show or waste time watching Deal or No Deal– that I would have access to those episodes just like everyone else.

Isn’t 30 years a long time to wait for captions on the web?

Keep in mind, this doesn’t apply to user-generated content. So if you toss a video on YouTube, no one is going to make you caption it. But I sure would appreciate the access if you decided to make your content accessible. And something else to think about: someday your own hearing might go south and you’d appreciate a captioned web.

The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology has a petition to sign. Jamie Berke has a blog with tons of info: Caption Action 2. Over on Facebook, a group has gathered to push the grassroots effort and get this bill passed. Won’t you come and join us?

Of course, just clicking on a Facebook group isn’t going to get a bill passed, but there is strength in numbers. Facebook helped to save a deaf school from closing.

I know you’re probably rolling your eyes and thinking, “Not another bill, Karen.” But here’s the deal–if you contact your Senators and ask them to start a similar bill and contact your Representatives to support H.R. 3101 and help me get this passed and into the law books, I promise I won’t bother you again for a while.

I’ll be too busy catching up on those Emergency episodes.

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Wordless Wednesday–Playing in the Rain

It was a rainy day and the kids decided to play basketball in the rain. The boys discovered that the snowskates worked well on the slick driveway.

This is part of Wordless Wednesday.

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The Z Team in Vegas–What a Week!

I finally sat down to upload pictures from the last several weeks and came across photos from my trip to Vegas with the Z Team. I spent eight days in Vegas with my team– four days in team meetings and the other four days at the Deaf Seniors of America conference.

Lori shows the hubby Vegas via the Z

Here’s my buddy Lori– she joined the Z Team the same day that I did. We had our training together in Florida back in January. She’s talking to her hubby on the Z-340, showing him the view outside her room.

Sean talks about The Z

We started off our trip with a talk from our CEO, Sean Belanger and then we had an inspirational talk from Carl Gustin who worked for Kodak and Apple. Carl compared The Z to Apple in their early days, commenting on the amazing amount of passion we have as a team. We do have a lot of energy firing up a room when we all get together!

Each of the Sales Managers teamed up to give presentations– I had a blast being teamed up with U. S. Chung. Even though we didn’t win, we gave the audience some laughs with our presentation. In the photo below, Manny Johnson receives an award for “Salesperson of the Year.” Well deserved!

Manny Johnson receives award

Later that night we all wore our Z shirts and we gathered outside to chat. After a while, people started talking with us– they wanted to know where that “Z” place was in Vegas. “Where’s the Z Club?” “What’s the Z?” “Where do I find the Z?” Shannon joked that we should start sending people on a wild-goose-chase to find “The Z” in Vegas.

Joe Wiegers and Butch Zein

Tony, this way!

Shannon O'dneal--my other mentor

There’s nowhere to go, but UP!

Upward and onward!

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Life Takes a Crazy Turn

My dad was diagnosed with cancer while I was out in Vegas– this time it’s a lot more serious. He battled cancer a few years back and knocked it out. This time it’s back, in the esophagus. We were sitting around on Memorial Day weekend and he mentioned that he couldn’t swallow too well and didn’t have much of an appetite. My first thought of course, was cancer and I told him so– I wanted to make sure that he went to the doctor and got it checked out.

Dad starts radiation on Monday to shrink the son-of-a-%$#*.

Send some shrinking prayers our way.

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Twitter, My Virtual Watercooler

Come On, Let’s Tip the Girls Over! Wordless Wednesday

Z Ya Later!

Advocating for Captions on the Web

Wordless Wednesday–Playing in the Rain

The Z Team in Vegas–What a Week!

Life Takes a Crazy Turn

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