Barack Obama's Video Message
Finding my identity... I guess Barack Obama, our President-Elect is now a vlogger! But... I can't find a captioned version of this... I guess we'd have to wait for the captioned radio, right? Ha ha. *wry chuckle*A link to his video is here: [link] - I see it's also available on AOL, Yahoo, and MSN. But do you want to bet a dollar that NONE of these have captions?And I thought that this wa...
Sat, Nov 15 2008

Whoa, what changed?!?
Finding my identity... Guess what?!? ABC.com now has CLOSED-CAPTIONED full episodes! This is beautiful! I no longer have to miss Ugly Betty, or Pushing Daisies. They're all closed-captioned on abc.com! I wanted to watch Ugly Betty last Thursday but I missed it because the captions were not showing up on the TV! Now, the latest full episode of Ugly Betty is on abc.com, and it's closed captio...
Tue, Nov 11 2008

I've now become a BIG FAN of will.i.am...
Finding my identity... He's made such great videos! And a BIG THANK YOU to BILL CRESWELL, the WEB Caption Guy, for captioning BOTH Videos of will.i.am - "Yes We Can" and "It's a New Day". I just love these videos, especially now that they're subtitled by the great guy, Bill Creswell.I happened to catch "It's a New Day" and will.i.am live and closed-captioned on Oprah this past Friday and LO...
Sun, Nov 09 2008

Supernanny
Finding my identity... Sorry for not writing in a long time. I've had lots of things going on, including recovering from a very bad cold.So, I am deaf, and I have an 11-year-old hearing son.I told my son about the Supernanny deaf parents with hearing children episode, and he was very eager to watch it with me. Last evening was very pleasant. This episode gave my son and I an opportunity to ...
Sat, Oct 11 2008

Comcast again...
Finding my identity... Well, I've been busy... Well, Comcast is raising the price for internet access $10 a month! My paltry budget can't stomach that, so I'm switching to a DSL. Wish me luck on the DSL. And I was thinking about writing to my local phone company to ask if I could only pay for one phone line instead of two, as I have a CapTel at home, and my mother is too lazy to call the sp...
Sat, Oct 11 2008

A new term for hearing kids of deaf adults...
Finding my identity... Just a very brief note. My son just coined a new term - TODA. He says he's a TODA - Teenager of Deaf Adults. Too funny. Except that he's not a Teenager yet, but he can still use TODA for himself, because he's a TWEENER! :-DToo funny...Has anyone ever heard the term TODA before?
Sat, Oct 11 2008

Comcast putting cap on bandwith
Finding my identity... I just found out today that Comcast will cap bandwidth usage. Comcast is my internet provider. I wonder how that will affect my Sorenson videophone (VP)? Do I draw enough bandwidth to have to pay overage fees? I hope not. I think that Comcast's bandwidth limit is unconstitutional and a violation against the ADA - after all, the VP depends on a high speed internet conn...
Tue, Sep 09 2008

Presidential Sign Names
Finding my identity... Not sure what possessed me to think about presidential sign names as I slowly emerged from sleep this morning. Perhaps because Obama announced his VP pick this morning...OK, Nixon - the letter 'N' across the chin for lying, right? Lying Nixon...Carter - the letter 'C' signed as 'peanut'.Ford - did he have a sign name?Bush, Sr.?What's Bush, Jr's sign name?Reagan - the ...
Sat, Aug 23 2008

The Jonas Brothers...
Finding my identity... OK, so tweens are crazy about The Jonas Brothers, right? Well, just now, this morning, I saw a mention on the Good Morning America show that the brothers' mother is/was a sign language teacher! Interesting. I wonder if the Jonas Brothers know any signs? It'd be cool if they could create a sign music video! What do you think?
Fri, Aug 01 2008

HOVRS MVP...
Finding my identity... I got an email from a person tonight, inviting me to get into line for HOVRS MVP... So, I tried to sign up. But I needed a Purple Number. Huh? What Purple Number? I looked high and low and everywhere, and I couldn't find a Purple Number. What are they talking about? So, because I couldn't find an answer to this Purple Number thingy, I decided to call customer service....
Tue, Jul 22 2008

VP 200!
Finding my identity... Wow, I got my VP 200 today! And best of all, my mother loves it! I can use VCO and I can hear her voice, and she can hear my voice! She loves it. But I like the signing much better - signing is very expressive. More expressive than CapTel! I love the VP200!
Mon, Jun 09 2008

What's that sign? Update on digital TV
Finding my identity... I wish I could explain the word I'm signing right now... I feel... Verklempt? You know, the sign where you close a fist at your throat? THAT.Anyway, that's what I feel right now. I feel so stupid. But at the same time happy.A friend with far more technological knowledge than I fixed the captioning problem with the CW! Wow. Not even my son who's a wizard at the technol...
Mon, Jun 09 2008

Summer movies!
Finding my identity... Summer movies are upon us! For once I'd love to see Kung Fu Panda in the movie theatre! But, www.insightcinema.com is no longer... How do I know which movies are open-captioned and when? I tried www.fomdi.com, but it's not telling me of any future movies that will be open-captioned, like Insight Cinema...So, how and where do I find out about summer/blockbuster movies ...
Fri, Jun 06 2008

Follow-up to closed-captioning issue...
Finding my identity... OK, a very strange thing happened last night. CW's missing captions turned up on the NBC channel! Argh. L&O didn't make sense, because they were talking about news. That was from CW. They have news on at 10 pm. So I immediately fired off an email to NBC (they also run CW) to let them know about the situation. How could a channel's closed-captioning appear on a dif...
Wed, Jun 04 2008

Closed-captioning on digital TV
Finding my identity... Hi.It's been a long time. I know. But back to business.I have a 3-year-old TV and I don't wish to have to buy a new digital TV, thank you very much. Plus, the digital TVs are expensive. I don't subscribe to cable or satellite. Previously I watched over-the-air broadcast TV with rabbit ears. Well, since Saturday, I'm a proud owner of a Zenith DTT900 analog-to-digital c...
Mon, May 19 2008

Cochlear implant surgery is not brain surgery?
Finding my identity... Wow, look at the comments from my last post... This is why I said I don't know if the dream I had was simply a dream or a nightmare... I just don't know what it means, that's all.OK, so how exactly does a cochlear implant surgery work, then? I thought the cochlea was inside the ear/skull, yes? What's the point of having surgery through the skull, then? Why not do it t...
Thu, Apr 03 2008

Dream or nightmare last night...
Finding my identity... I had a weird dream last night. I don't know if it was a dream or a nightmare. But I dreamt that I went ahead and had a cochlear implant, even though I was adamant that I wouldn't get one. But at the LAST MINUTE, I'm like "sure, why not". Then I remember feeling like "gosh, what have I done now?!? Do I really want to subject myself to another brain surgery? Also, ther...
Wed, Apr 02 2008

Not sure how this works - I'm working from a MacBook. And...
Finding my identity... Not sure how this works - I'm working from a MacBook. And I'm kind of new at this posting, copying, and pasting thing. But I wanted to point out one thing that might be helpful. In iTunes, click on Preferences in the iTunes button. Click on Playback - you get the following screen shot. (OK, I can't type AFTER the picture - I wonder why?) See how you can select subtit...
Tue, Mar 25 2008

Skimming over blogs today... CI = Lasik?
Finding my identity... Hey, I'm skimming over blogs today. Caught a glimpse of Raychelle's blog. I just had a thought. OK, would you put babies through Lasik? Why or why not? The same concept could be applied to CI's. So, Lasik is a personal choice, right? Well, isn't CI a personal choice, too? Just a thought...So... I guess what I'm saying is, don't implant children until they can make tha...
Fri, Mar 21 2008

I figured out something new today...
Finding my identity... I think I finally figured out how to use a sign language interpreter... I didn't like using sign language interpreters, because I always felt they interfered with the direct access. I liked Gallaudet because of the direct access. Remember, I grew up oral/mainstreamed. I had "direct access" to education. Then when I went to Gallaudet, and I learned sign, and all the te...
Fri, Mar 21 2008

No wonder... I'm bilingual!
Finding my identity... So, I spoke to someone today about why I feel so comfortable using sign language. I voice and sign, but sometimes I turn my voice off and just sign. Signing is sometimes easier than voicing. And sometimes voicing is easier than signing. It depends on what I want to express. I've noticed that when I get frustrated with the English language, I silently go over to signin...
Fri, Mar 21 2008

Marlee Matlin on Dancing with the Stars
Finding my identity... So, I watched the show yesterday.I voted for her on abc.com 6 (six) times! Heh.I thought she did GREAT! And the judges were lavishing her with praise, right? So I was expecting all 9's. Heh.Nooo.... 7, 7, and 8. Hmm. Thought it'd be all 9's. My hearing boyfriend said that she danced great. And then he commented that "perhaps the judges didn't want to be too full of pr...
Wed, Mar 19 2008

Dancing with the Stars....
Finding my identity... I visited my grandmother yesterday. We talked briefly about Dancing with the Stars and her favorite TV shows. She said something kind of offensive. I had to educate her, correct her. Sigh. See, she called Marlee Matlin "deaf and dumb"! Then again, she's born in 1919. That's what they called deaf people who didn't talk back then. I gently told her, "um, they use the te...
Tue, Mar 18 2008

I'm excited about this!!!
Finding my identity... Wow, FINALLY!I use a CapTel at home, and Sprint announced that they're releasing WEBCapTel! Whoo! This is exciting for me! This will make any accommodations for work FREE. [link]
Wed, Mar 05 2008

Jericho... (SPOILER)
Finding my identity... So I watched Jericho on CBS last night... I almost forgot about it, but happened to catch it on TV. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end. Jericho is not the show I remember from last season. I just know that I was upset that CBS canceled Jericho without tying up any loose ends. Well, I think this is the beginning of the end... It's somehow gotten more violent....
Wed, Mar 05 2008

I recall several things my dad did for me...
Finding my identity... Parents can be very supportive. While I was growing up, I remember lipsynching songs with my best friend using a hairbrush as a microphone. So, I was dreaming of becoming a megastar, a famous singer. My mother is very musical. One of my middle names is after a famous singer. So, naturally, I thought I'd grow up to be a famous singer. Ha. Well, remember when I told you...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

My first experience with digital hearing aids...
Finding my identity... OK, the blog muse struck me again! I've been mulling on this topic ever since I took the first step to create this blog...I want to describe my very first experience with digital hearing aids...Most of my life, I had been wearing bilateral analog hearing aids. For a while in college and after college (3 years), I only wore 1 analog hearing aid. I remember being at a r...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

Why I won't get a cochlear implant...
Finding my identity... I'm fine with whatever people choose to help them hear, as long as they work.My hearing loss is in the 80 dB range, and my powerful digital hearing aids (most powerful on the market) bring my hearing back up to 30 dB. I'll use them, because they work for me. I know that hearing aids do not work for everyone.I've enjoyed reading other people's blogs, such as "Going Dea...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

The years after college...
Finding my identity... Job inteviews, oh my. I considered myself successful because I only went on a couple of interviews and got a job offer out of those two interviews. But the pay was not great. So I was miserable. I only lasted on the job for 11 months. On to the next job. My next job was at my alma mater, Gallaudet! I was there for 5 years. I loved being able to communicate however I ...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

College years
Finding my identity... I arrived on campus several weeks before the semester began. I had to go through the New Signers Program, and then through New Student Orientation. Whoa. Talk about a culture shock. The first 3 weeks were heady, I'll tell you that. Wow, sign language, so beautiful! And so easy to understand! I fit in here! I finally fit in! This is ME! I was happy. But still scared. I...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

High school years
Finding my identity... I came to the U.S. My parents and I visited a deaf institute. I remember being scared of the nuns, and wondering how in the world I was going to learn English and American Sign Language at the same time. My parents didn't like the school - it was too focused on vocations rather than liberal arts. But the most important opinion was mine. And I wasn't interested in goin...
Sun, Mar 02 2008

Finding my identity... An intro
Finding my identity... I'm new to Blogger. Bear with me as I get familiar with Blogger. I set up this blog so that I could write and express my feelings about my identity.A bit about me: I was born in 1972. As a baby I was very sick and received Gentamycin, an ototoxic antibiotic, which resulted in a 60 dB hearing loss (I think - I'm double-checking with my mother). I grew up in the hearing...
Sun, Mar 02 2008