Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

After much blood, sweat, toil, and tears, I am officially trained as a TypeWell Transcriber.  I---

“But, what is a transcriber?”

Well, I’m glad you asked.  A transcriber, according to Google, is someone who makes a written version of spoken material.  Have you ever seen the person in the court room sitting off to the side typing every word that is spoken?  That’s a transcriber.

At UT, there are some students whose hearing loss is not so profound as to warrant a sign language interpreter (and many of them don’t know sign language).  There are times, however, that background noise in the room or lively discussion makes discerning every word or sound difficult.  That’s where a transcriber comes in.  He/she sits in the room and types a meaning-for-meaning written account of what goes on during the discussion.  It then appears in real time on a PDA or laptop on the student’s desk.  It’s really quite cool.

To do this, we use a system called TypeWell.  It’s a computer software system designed to recognize words based on the order of their consonants.  In essence, the transcriber types out the consonants and the TypeWell system fills in the vowels on the student’s linked device. 

I’ve been training in this method since I started at UT, and just yesterday, I received my final passing grade!  I can officially start transcribing classes. 

It is indeed a neat skill to be able to tuck into my tool belt. 

Kevin told me that when I finished training he’d take me out to dinner.  After learning of an hour-and-a-half wait at P.F.Changs, we headed to Rafferty’s (talk abut polar opposites!).  It was a delightful experience as neither of us had ever been, and we’d highly recommend it to any and all.  

And here's a blast from the archives of Kevin and Lydia.  I was impressed that three full years later, we're still dressing the same.  Is that a good thing or bad? :-)

Our Little Part

Maybe it's because I'm living during the "green" movement...

Maybe it's because my mom is from the North, and up there it's law...

Maybe it's because it's a prudent thing to do...

Maybe it's because we got sick of taking out the trash every other day...

Whatever the reason, we recycle.

That's right!  Living in our coat closet is a five dollar pink bin from Wal-Mart that holds our plastic, cardboard, aluminum, and glass until we take it a couple blocks down the street to the nearest drop-off location.

Now, don't get me wrong.  We're not environmentalists (though we do think the Earth is ours to take care of) and we aren't going to protest eating cows (believe me--Kevin loves his meat!).

We do, however, believe the Psalmist when he said, "The Earth is the LORD'S and the fullness thereof..." (Psalm 24:1).  Is it in the best interest of the planet over which we've been given charge to dispose of items that will never biodegrade?

I'm not getting on a soap box, and it's certainly up to your conscience how you handle your own trash.  :-)  But humor me one moment and consider: it's free (sometimes they'll even pay you!); it's practical (we only take out our trash once a week now); it's fun (or at least the nerd within me seems to think so).  

One would never guess what lurks beneath the coats of our closet...

Just look at all those treasures just waiting to be made into something useful!

Sincerely,

Lydia, The Environmentalist (who isn't)

The Dice Have It.

One of the things I love so much about marriage (and there are many things I love about it) is the sharing of who we are. I am daily amazed that, though I knew Kevin well when we got married, I know him a hundred times better today. At times, I think I've reached the depths of who he is. Then little things come out and I stop and think, "I didn't know that was a part of who you are. And to think I'll know him better in five years or ten years or twenty years! :)

There's a lot we bring with us from how we grew up...okay, so most we bring with us is from how we grew up. I learned that in the first week of being married! Last night, he ushered me into a Fowler family past time: we played Yahtzee.

I'd never played it before--the game of choice in our home was generally Scrabble--and, though I was tired, I think I've got a knack for rolling those dice. :) Watch out, Vegas! ;-)

First Roll.

Kevin, the strategist.

Lydia, not quite sure what she's doing, but having fun doing it.

Yes, folks. There you have it. My very first Yahtzee.

For the sake of my husband, I won't share the final scores. Let's just say, I think it had more to do with the luck of the die than with experience.

Any games that your family wore a beaten path to? :-)

We are (MAC) Family...

You may be under the impression that any time I post on the blog it is to blabber on about gadgets. Well, this isn't entirely true, here is a link to all of my other posts. We both figured that it would be important to point out the major technological change that has happened in this family over the Christmas break.

As the above picture confirms, with the purchase of a new computer for Lydia, we are 100% Macintosh in this household. We have both been using PCs for decades and last week we are officially standing behind Apple computers. This just goes to show how quickly that we've been swept up by not only the Macintosh computers, but the company itself. Let me explain what we are holding.

Kevin: iPod Touch/MacBook
I of course wrote this post dedicated to my love to these two products.

Lydia: mac mini/Time Capsule

In Lydia's right hand is Time Capsule. Time Capsule not only serves as our wireless Internet base but it is also a highly sophisticated external hard drive. The Time Capsule connects with the OSX program "Time Machine." Time Capsule sits in a corner in our office and updates our computers wirelessly without us having to do a single thing. If we delete an important file, all we have to do is take a trip in our Macintosh Time Machine through the Time Capsule and we can find the file with ease.

Now to the newest member of our family...Believe it or not, Lydia is holding her brand new desktop computer in her left hand. Below is another picture of the mini. These machines were introduced back in 2005, so we are a little slow jumping on the band wagon, but we are very excited about the potentiality in this machine.

Want to know more about mac mini? Below is a video of Steve Jobs introducing the machine to the world. Why am I posting this on our blog? Well, this is the video that sold Lydia and myself to the product. Enjoy!

All in a Day's...Something!

This morning, I took some friends to the airport and then, after indulging in a McDonald's breakfast burrito, took myself to Kroger's for some much-needed food shopping. Shopping for food is a chore I've enjoyed since getting married. It's much easier to shop for two than for one, and I enjoy seeing what new, exciting experiences are waiting to be brought to our kitchen.

I spent more than normal, but that's to be expected, because our refrigerator recently ran out of meat, one of the more expensive items on the list. I enjoy stock-piling food--seeing just how much ground beef I can cut up and freeze, knowing that should the world's food market suddenly collapse, we've got enough to last at least a couple months.

You see, I don't plan what we're having, and then shop for what I need. I shop for what's cheap and in bulk and then see what can come of it. What can I say? I live on the wild side, and we've not starved yet. :-)

Our apartment got vacuumed--a relatively new phenomenon, as most of you know. ;-) We're constantly amazed by what our little sucker sucks up (quite literally!). We're still pulling out dog hair from the previous tenant--and did we mention that I went through the entire apartment with clear tape to remedy that situation?

I took a short nap during which I daydreamed about recipes I could make and didn't sleep at all and then headed to work at Sorenson. I've learned I can do video relay in small doses. I'm very grateful for my new job at UT and even more grateful that I can work part time at Sorenson in hopes of some extra cash. Those student loans better watch out!

So, I'm at work and, in between calls, flipping through a new cookbook Len bought me. It's got some really good looking "Quick Food" (hence the name), and some really interesting stuff (baby octopus, anyone?). In any case, we like to experiment, and a couple recipes have already made it on the calendar (Salmon/Dill Potato cakes!).

And the night is not over when I'm off at 5. We're heading down to Vonore to bid goodbye to the sons of Wilker who've been in the area recently. It's sad to see them go, but it only means they'll make it back sooner. Right, Kim and Josh!? :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but it's just been that kind of day.

Ya know?