Hello again. It's been a while, but I'm back for another update. This will probably be my last entry before I make my way down to sunny Florida.

I can't believe it's my last week working at CTEP. It seems like only a month or two ago I was moving down here, starting my new job, and learning a new city. It's been a really fun year though, and I've learned a lot, and met a lot of cool people.

I'm just wrapping up work at my site. I'm still helping out with the homework center at Dayton's Bluff library, and helping out with computer questions and training. I've also held a few workshops for library and Metro State staff on assistive technology, which went really well. The first session went well, but only one person showed up. This was probably due to the short notice before that session. I presented the workshop three more times and have a good turnout for all of them. It was quite interesting each time too because people asked different questions each time. I think it went well, and hope everyone learned something new.

I haven't done too much work with the assistive technology workstation here at DB, but I'm working with staff to come up with some recommendations and do some research on assistive tech for the computer. I wish I would have gotten a chance to do more with the computer and get some more outreach going, but hopefully my research and other projects will help in the future. I've learned a lot though from working in the homework center, and helping out with the different classes Riley is doing like the video and photo clubs, as well as our basic computer training. I've learned a lot about digital photo and video, but know I have so much more to learn.

I've also been trying to finish up the toolkit and video project the Accessibility and Usibility committee is doing. We have most everything done now. It's mainly a matter of putting the video into the toolkit, and burning the CD's. That should be done by this week before I leave.

I've also read another book for the CTEP book club. This one was titled To the Left of Inspiration by Katherine Schneider. This was another disability related book I found on the Bookshare website. It's interesting to see many people's takes on the subject, and find out how some of this information can help people. This book described a visual disability from a variety of topics from the author's perspective. It was rather funny at times, and she makes some good points. I liked the section talking about schooling. I do think it's important for people with disabilities to go to public school. Some specialized classes may be necessary, but I think residential schools can sometimes limit the experiences and exposure to regular life. the other sections were good too and rather entertaining. A lot of the suggestions and tips I felt I've heard before though from reading similar books.

Besides work, I've mainly been preparing for my move to florida, which is approaching very soon. I'll probably be leaving in less than a week now. It's been kind of a headache figuring everything out because I'm not moving directly to my new apartment. I'll be living in a condo for a few weeks till an apartment becomes available, which means I can't just have movers pick up all my stuff and deliver it right to my new place. I think we've gotten everything straightened out now. It's just a matter of making the final arrangements and paying for everything. Hopefully that will all be done within the next day or two.

I'll be taking the train to florida which will be pretty cool. I've been on a train twice before for a spring break trip a few years ago. I liked it except for one thing... I can't sleep in those coach seats. If I'm really tired, I can doze off every now and again, but that's about it. I'm sure I'll be dead tired when I finally get to Florida, especially considering it will take 2 full days. I'm excited for the job to start, but I'll be glad when the whole moving process and settling in is done.

Nothing much else has been going on lately either. I'm glad the temperature has finally cooled off recently. We had our end of year CTEP BBQ last Friday, and that was pretty fun. I've actually been to a few BBQ's now over the past few weeks, which is great because I love grilled food. I've also been playing more multiplayer FEAR with a couple friends of mine, and that's been a blast. The great thing is we all now have Skype, a headset, and copy of the game, so we can still play pretty easily when we all live in different places. I love the Internet... Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I'll head out with a couple CTEPPers to catch a movie.

That's about it for now. Until next time, or a new blog...