Adventures From My First Day at CSUN 2010

Last week I attended my first Assistive Technology conference in San Diego. CSUN 2010 was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to represent Sendero, a company I'm proud to be an employee of, but I also got to meet some awesome people and tour the exhibit hall to see all the cool new gadgets. Since there is a lot to cover I'll break it up by day.

Wed. March 24:

This day started at 2:00 a.m. when I caught the Hut Shuttle to the Portland airport. On the shuttle I attempted to get some sleep, but mostly I just listened to some music. The shuttle arrived at the airport at 4:30. I then spent the next few hours doing the airport thing. My flight to San Diego left at 6:25. Again I attempted to get some sleep, knowing that I had a full day ahead of me, but apparently sleeping sitting up is not my thing. I got to San Diego around 10:00 and took a taxi to the Manchester Grand Hyatt, my home for the next 4 days.

The next part of my adventure came when I got to the hotel. I was unsure of where I was supposed to go, and what my boss needed me to do. I checked in, but the room wasn't ready. I then registered for the conference and waited for a call from my boss for further instructions. After much wandering around, I located Sendero's GPS Concierge table and met my first co-worker Gil Lutz. While at the table I attempted to do my job by live tweeting, but I was unable to get an internet connection. The hotel gave us free internet in our rooms, but no where else in the hotel. For a tech conference, this to me is unacceptable. I had no access in the exhibit hall itself, and the hotel wanted an insane amount of money to have the internet access we needed. My hope is that next year this won't be an issue. Not long after struggling to get on the web Mike May showed up, and I got to meet someone who I've been talking to and working for, for almost 6 months. He is just as cool in person as he is virtually.

The next few hours included going to lunch, meeting Charles, Kim, and Sheila, the rest of the Sendero team, and going to my room for the first time. The rooms in the Hyatt were nice, but they were not worth, in my opinion, what they were charging us. The bed was comfortable though, and that's hard to come by.

At 4:00 the exhibit hall opened, and for the next 3 hours I talked to people about Sendero and our products. At the conference we were highlighting three new developments, but the IPhone App was definitely the most popular. For full details on Sendero's new offerings I highly recommend this BlindBargains interview.

After the hall closed for the night, we went on a walk to go to dinner. One of the benefits of CSUN's new location is the proximity to restaurants. Our walk wasn't far, but my small legs meant that I was lagging behind the whole time. Our dinner party included more guide dogs in one group than I've ever walked with. I wonder how many looks we got when people saw 5 guide dogs walking down the street in one group, and speaking of guides, Midge did pretty darn good considering that dog distractions are her biggest struggle. Dinner at the Operacaffe was delicious, and I really enjoyed the wine that accompanied my pasta. We didn't return from dinner until after 11:00, and I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. At this point I still don't know how I stayed awake the whole day when I had less then 2 hours of sleep to go off of.

Tomorrow's post will include more adventures from CSUN. Until then happy reading.

Reflecting on What My Blog Means to Me

As I was watching "Julie and Julia" last night, it got me thinking about my blog. I've been writing for almost a year and a half now, and it's not at all what I was expecting. When I started, my goal was simply to write about what I knew, which for me, meant that I would be writing about being a blind woman. Instead what it has become is a reflection on what's important to me.

Before I started this blog and joined twitter, I knew almost no one who was blind. I went to public schools where I had little or no interaction with anyone who was like me. Even today, most of the people I've met in person are sighted, but now I feel like I'm a part of a whole other community. A community filled with people who I can relate to and who can relate to me. Social media and blogging has allowed me to be a part of the blind community, and I'm proud to be involved.

Not only have I gotten a chance to become a member of a great community of people, I've gotten to learn and share what I've learned. I knew a lot about assistive technology and other important topics to the blind before I started this blog, but since then I think I've become an expert.

If you had asked me even two years ago if I would ever work for an assistive technology company, my answer would probably be no. Not because I don't like AT companies, but because it wasn't even on my radar. Since I graduated from high school I was determined to become a family therapist. Apparently that wasn't the path destined for me, but it wasn't until recently that I really accepted that.

My journey since college has been filled with twists and turns that I never saw coming. I've been crushed spiritually multiple times, and I've felt like there isn't a place for me, but then I started writing this blog. My writings have gotten me noticed by my local newspaper, a national podcast, a great website that serves the blind, and others. Not only that, but all of the encouraging comments make me want to continue to make this blog a reference for anyone who needs it.

School has made it challenging to keep up. So to all my loyal readers I apologize for the long time between posts. If you're still reading and waiting for new posts, thank you. I will keep my promise to keep writing about important topics.

This week I will be attending CSUN representing Sendero. I plan to come home with lots of blog worthy information, so look forward to those posts.

My First Impressions of the BookSense

On Monday I got my first accessible book player that isn't a tape player. I decided on the BookSense from GW Micro because of the great reviews I heard on twitter. After only a few days, I am giving it a thumbs up.

I have successfully downloaded my first book from BookShare.Org onto the device, and am pleased with the TTS voice. Listening to fiction narrated by a computer is a little weird, but the voice is clear and pleasant enough to listen to.

Another plus is the form factor. The BookSense is sleek and looks like a "mainstream" device. It's taken a long time, but it appears that more and more assistive tech companies are really trying to make their devices attractive and light weight.

The draw backs of the BookSense are that because I am a Mac user, downloading Audible and RFB&D content is not compatible. I do have access to a p.c., but it is a bummer that I have to use a different computer than my own to put books from these sources onto the device. Those are my only complaints so far.

If you use an accessible book player, which one? If you use the BookSense, what do you believe are it's pros and cons?