This has been an interesting start to the year so far, but it's been fun. I've finished my second week of work now, and things are going well. ITings are starting out a little slow, but that's how things usually sart. I'm just starting to really get into my projects. It looks like I'll have plenty to do at the Lexington Library, and I just learned that the Dayton's Bluff Library is looking for some similar help with their assistive technology computer(s). This is great because this is really what I want to do as a career, work with assistive technology, and getting people to know about it, learn to use it, and have cool opportunities like I've had in the past because of assistive technology.

Basically some of the projects I'll be working on involve training people to use the assistive technology computer at the library, and getting people to come in and be interested in it. I've started making up some cheatsheets for some basic commands for Windows and the various assistive technology programs that are available. I will post these here too later on, especially the Windows shortcut keys because I know there was interest from some people at the CTEP meeting last Friday.

I'm going to start doing a little training for the VISTA's on Monday I think. It looks like we're going to do some group overview stuff for different groups, like the VISTA's, staff, and eventually the public. But this will only give them the briefest of looks. It won't be enough to even know the basic keyboard commands and such, so I'm probably going to have some one-on-one training set up for everone, and customers as they come in and are interested.

I'm also going to make some contacts with organizations throughout the area that might have customers or staff that may be interested. We're also looking at an open house or two, like I attended on my first day of work. Another library had a similar thing, and it might draw some interest.

I'll also be working with the web designer for the libraries to insure the websites are accessible. We met yesterday and had a good talk. He's also really interested in learning the technology so he has an idea of how it works. We'll probably set up something next week.

So I have a lot on my plate at work, and I'm also trying to continue working on some projects for my Masters class in Instructional Design and Technology. It's a fun class, with interesting projects, but with the amount of stuff that's been going on lately, I just have no motivation to do any of it right now. I have a feeling I'll be working on it pretty hardcore in a few days. That's what today was supposed to be fore, but I haven't touched it yet.

I'm also very excited though because I hope to be getting some new technology fairly shortly. My laptop has been dying a slow and painful death for a while, so I am probably getting a new one. I'm working with State Services for the Blind on the upgrade, and a bit of assistive technology. The laptop I spec'd is pretty sweet, and I can't wait to hopefully get it. I'm also looking into a few different assistive technology software packages that I'll use, and train others in current and future jobs. The only depressing part of this is that the laptop will probably be even better than my current desktop machine, which I just repaired and semi-upgraded a couple months ago. But I'll talk more about the computer and various assistive technology packages another day, and maybe even my laptop battery rant for good measure.

There's probably a lot more stuff I could talk about here right now, but I'll save that for another day. Plus I'm tired of typing for now. Definitely more to come...