DISCLAIMER: This publication contains announcements from the Silicon Valley Council of the Blind and is also a forum for opinions relating to blindness issues. Signed articles reflect the views, and research, of their authors.
STATUS: SVCB is a 501(c)3 non profit, tax-exempt organization under the California Council of the Blind.
Note: Postal addresses and phone numbers are not included in the online version of this newsletter. For contact information, email membership@svcb.cc
Two weeks ago, I spilled the beans and still don't know what kind of trouble I'm in. Here's how it happened.
Star and I were shopping at Nob Hill. The store has a Peet's coffee shop, and we like to have breakfast there and shop afterwards. We review the grocery list before we start, and coffee was on the list.
We walked around the store, ticking off this and that, and came to the coffee isle. Star read the names of coffees, and I decided I wanted Samatran Bold, as beans. She showed me how to work the system: place a bag under a spout and lift a door so beans would flow into it. It worked fine--I heard beans going into the bag, and then it stopped. I figured there was an automatic shutoff, so I removed the bag but forgot to drop the door. Beans came out in a rush, bouncing all over the place. Star told me to wait while she found someone to help clean up the mess.
She saw a man stocking a nearby freezer, tried to talk to him, and realized she'd seen him before and knew he didn't speak much English. She asked him anyway, he turned around and ran away. Star ran after him through several isles, and he vanished into a stock room--never to be seen again. She then went to a checkout stand and asked for help.
In the meantime I'm on hands and knees trying to pick up handfuls of coffee beans and thinking: is this the first time I've spilled the beans?
We got the floor cleaned, and I finished filling my bag, correctly. But it was too full, and beans spilled at the checkout stand. So I spilled the beans, twice! O boy, am I in double trouble?
Enough of party stories, now for parties! There are two of note: the SMCCB party on December 5 and the joint Delta Gamma/SVCB party on the 12th.
For information regarding the Gala SMCCB party at the Peninsula Regent in San Mateo, $12 for SVCB members and $15 for guests, contact Philip Kutner. The joint Delta Gamma/SVCB holiday party is at the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, 101 North Bascom in Santa Clara, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You should have received your invitation; but if you haven't, contact Lolly Osborne at lolly@osbofamily.com. The party is free but a donation between $5 and $10 is appreciated.
Please do not pay your $10 2010 membership dues at the party. Instead, send a check to SVCB, P.O. Box 493, Mountain View, CA 94042-0493. You may also bring your dues to the January, 2010 meeting. The deadline to rejoin is January 31, 2010. If you haven't rejoined by then, you won't receive SVCB newsletters.
At our November program, Scott Blanks, Steve Clark and Silvana Rainey from Adaptive Technology Services in San Francisco told us about how they do computer training and their new program to help prepare people for employment. You can hear the program by going to www.svcb.cc/ psaudio/ps1109.mp3.
In the business meeting, Dawn Wilcox, Hospitality Committee Chair, awarded John Kanze and Suzanne Hattery certificates of appreciation for years of keeping Monte Vista's outside door open so we could enter the building. They don't get thanked enough!
The 2010 administration was elected according to the recommendations of the Nomination Committee and reported in the November newsletter. In my January report, I will tell you who will be serving as chairs to our standing committees.
In addition, a motion was passed charging the board to develop a mechanism to compensate an interested SVCB member to attend the ACB Legislative Seminar in February, 2010. Are you interested in federal legislation and interested in going? Just contact any board member.
Before I close, let me remind you that December 15 is the last day to be reimbursed for expenses from SVCB in 2009.
Until next time, enjoy the parties and the holiday. Don't spill the beans!
Return to the Table of ContentsHi everybody,
Yeah, I know it's the holiday season, and you have tons of things to do and a thousand things to think about right now. But could you add just one more? Could you consider bringing goodies for one of our SVCB meetings in 2010? Ah, I just knew you wouldn't mind helping me out here.
As I have said many times before, we all deeply appreciate any culinary contributions you care to bring us, be they homemade or bought at your favorite market. We are glad to eat anything from sweets to savories, so you have a wide range of foods to choose from. Besides, none of us is very picky, so you can just use your imagination and wow us with whatever you come up with.
So far, there are exactly zero people signed up to bring goodies in 2010, so I would very much love to hear from you. The earlier you inform me which month would be best for you, the more likely you are to get the month you want. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact me at by email at bevclffrd@sbcglobal.net.
Thank you so much for your willingness to sweeten our monthly meetings with your tasty delights.
Return to the Table of ContentsHappy December birthdays to our members Brandon Biggs, Lorraine Brown, Celina Carey, LeeAnn Nakagawa, Steve Nakagawa, and Bill Tipton!
Return to the Table of Contents"Celebrating 75 years of Advocacy and Service," we returned to Fresno, where CCB was born in 1934. The convention, hosted by the Greater San Joaquin Valley Chapter, was held October 29 through November 1 at the Fresno Radisson, and I found navigating the hotel to be easier than expected. I tend to feel like "I'll never learn this layout" with the unavoidably complicated floor-plan description, but I was doing OK by the time the convention was over, as usual. I especially appreciated the Starbucks. I arrived Wednesday afternoon so I could have a relaxed dinner, talk to people, check out the free wireless Internet access, go to bed early, and explore after breakfast.
The first event I attended was the Thursday afternoon Technology Committee presentation. People from Apple never arrived, but Peter Cantissani did demos of Apple's IPhone and VoiceOver systems, which I couldn't understand because someone disconnected the ALD transmitter. But the history "show and tell" presentation by Noel Runyan was very entertaining as the ALD transmitter was then working.
As I'm on the board of the Braille Revival League of California (BRLC), I attended its board meeting just before the CCB's public board meeting, which lasted almost five hours.
Although these meetings are always long, it's worth the effort to stay attentive and stick it out. For example, about 45 minutes were spent reading Minutes from several board meetings, and this droning time really did help me keep perspective as to what CCB's leadership is up to. The treasurer's report was revealing, too. Although income from investments was better than expected, CCB is still on a deficit track, and this is becoming a serious restraint to services. For example, the board broke with tradition and decided not to send delegates to ACB's 2010 Legislative Seminar. Instead, chapters and affiliates will be encouraged to send their own delegates and aggressively deal with local issues. It was also decided to have the fall, 2010 convention in San Diego, at the San Diego Marriott Hotel in La Jolla. The spring convention will be at the San Francisco Airport Crowne Plaza hotel in Burlingame.
CCB'S history was a major theme of the convention, and Friday's first general session started with a presentation from Sharon Hiigel, Curator of the Fresno Historical Society. We learned about the development of the San Joaquin Valley and Fresno. But the high point for me was the presentation by Kevin Walsh, Staff Engineer, Fisker Automotive, Irvine, California, where we learned that manufacturers producing hybrid cars seem to be paying attention to the lack of noise from these vehicles at slow speeds. We heard several "noises" (lion and leopard growls) being studied for their effectiveness. I came away thinking that these exotic noises could actually be a distraction rather than helpful.
I attended the President's Dinner with its panel, moderated by Cathie Skivers, of presidents from chapters that date back to the beginnings of CCB. From this perspective, SVCB Is a youngster.
The Friday evening general session featured another historical presentation from the History Committee, and a captivating talk by Kamilla Ryding, CCB's intern from Denmark, about the living conditions of visually impaired people in that country. And then there were the elections, where Donna Pomerantz was re-elected as Second Vice President, Linda Porelle was re-elected board member (both Linda and Donna had previously been elected to fill vacancies), and Dan Kysor and Foster Brown were elected as board members. Incumbents Gabe Griffith (secretary), Jerry Arakawa and Peter Pardini (board members) were also re-elected. Ann Kysor and Richard Rueda were retiring from the board and were thanked for their service.
I was up early Saturday morning to attend the membership PR breakfast, where the focus was on getting sponsorships for chapter fund-raising projects. Unfortunately I was hampered by the acoustics of the room, but I know that Strategies such as discussions with management and press releases were mentioned.
Saturday morning is my time to wander around the exhibit hall asking questions and examining products. I wanted to check out the iPhone, but I never found the Apple table.
The highlight of Saturday's general session was the debate over one vs. two conventions. The convention decided to keep the current semi-annual convention scheme, even though it was repeatedly pointed out that an annual convention would better fit CCB's deficit spending.
The banquet featured conversations at my table, the prime-rib-cutting battle (I won), scholarship presentations (I was impressed with the quality of recipients' responses) and raffle prizes. I didn't win anything, alas! The wireless microphones were working well!
I forgot to set my watch back an hour Sunday morning and wondered why no one was in the restaurant at "6:30." I quickly discovered the reason and just read email until friends arrived.
Sunday's business meeting was taken up with the reading of resolutions, which will be summarized in the BC, along with a Constitutional amendment to remove the residence requirement for membership.
Return to the Table of ContentsI again take advantage of my role as editor, letting the other delegate write the main description and adding comments after reading it.
I also traveled to Fresno on Wednesday and sampled a good and affordable Mexican restaurant that evening. One more note about cuisine, Bernice was born in Fresno and we got Armenian bread, string cheese and lahmajoon from nearby merchants, which made for quick meals and snacks.
A special guest at the convention was Paul Schroeder, Vice President for Programs and Policy, American Foundation for the Blind. Paul spoke once in the general session, once in the CAT/CCLV Friday morning session and again at the banquet.
An additional word about Noel Runyan's presentation on the history of technology: the stuff he brought was amazing. He had a VersaBraille, Accent and Echo speech synthesizers, cube slate and circular sliderule and much, much more. A real blast from the past!
At the banquet, I sat at the head table with Bernice, who presented an invocation including historical information about the Armenian community in Fresno. We saved one award from last Spring's convention, a Distinguished Service award for Mitch Pomerantz. (He was not at the Spring Convention.) We were all amused and pleased when Cathie Skivers won the $250 cash prize in the CCB Sweepstakes, after she had lobbied hard to get a cash prize included.
Return to the Table of ContentsThe November meeting's auction offered five water bottles donated by Lupe. We raised $15. Thanks to all of our participants!
Thanks to Donna Sanchez, Rob Turner, and Bev and Vic Clifford for assisting me with our booth at the CCB Fall Convention. We sold 22 shirts and 16 cookbooks! You may recall that we had agreed to donate 33% of our convention sales profits to CCB. By the time you read this, we will have sent this donation to CCB.
We received a thank you card from Vista Center for our participation in their October 10th Low Vision Expo in Santa Cruz. This card also expressed interest in having us participate again in 2010. The Expo gave us a great opportunity to share useful information with people who have recently experienced vision loss. We'd like to thank Vista Center for this opportunity, and I'd encourage our members to be considering what information we'd like to share with attendees in 2010.
In case you missed our announcement last month, SVCB's "reading is for everyone" T-shirt is also now available in tall large through tall 3X. Sorry, no pocket is available for these sizes. They cost $17 each for large-XL and $20 each for sizes 2X-3X. Shipping charges will apply if you are unable to pick up orders personally. For more information or to place an order, contact me at fund.raising@svcb.cc or to svcb@onebox.com.
SVCB is selling candy bars again! You may purchase dark chocolate with almonds, milk chocolate with almonds, and milk chocolate with toffee bars for $2 each, and you may purchase Walnut Squares and Nut and Chew Bars for $1.50 each. I can also get gift certificates for one pound boxes for $15.60 each, or I can use gift certificates to purchase other types of See's candy such as the five-ounce box of peanut brittle or the various types of sugar free candy which is not part of their regular fund-raising program. To place an order or for more information, call or send email to me as listed above.
Last chance to get Entertainment Coupon Books! They cost $30 each. For the first 37 books sold, SVCB will receive 20 percent for each book sold. We will receive 50 percent for each book sold after that. To order or help sell books or for more information, please contact Mike Keithley at mkeithley@pobox.com. Mike can also order books for you that can be used in other regions.
Remember to continue saving your recyclable aluminum cans. Charlie Stein redeems them for funds which are then used to support SVCB activities. You may give cans to Charlie at an upcoming meeting or call him to make other arrangements.
See you at the holiday party!
Return to the Table of ContentsEditor's note: I know Tari to be a very competent researcher and I am planning to participate.
Dear Colleagues:
Have you ever wished to communicate your impressions, insights and feedback to a company regarding its accessible products, services, and outreach to customers with disabilities and functional limitations? Now is your chance.
EIN SOF Communications, Inc. is coordinating the recruiting for a series of twelve one-hour focus groups in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area (six per city) for a company that is interested in obtaining feedback and insights from people with disabilities, during the week of December 14 - 18, 2009.
San Francisco Focus Groups:
Thursday, December 17:
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.: Blind
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.: Low Vision
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.: Mobility
Friday, December 18:
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.: Limited Dexterity
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.: Hard of Hearing
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.: Deaf
If you, or someone you know with a disability is interested in participating, please e-mail Tari@EINSOFcommunications.com with FOCUS GROUP in the subject line and we'll send you a preliminary questionnaire. Please include your phone number in the e-mail so we can contact you directly. In appreciation, those participants who are selected will receive a $100 honorarium.
The focus groups' facility is wheelchair accessible, sign language interpreters and CART will be provided, and locations are near public transportation. Groups are limited in size. Completion of preliminary questionnaire is required in advance. Please indicate any disability-related accommodation in your e-mail. This is a dynamic opportunity to provide feedback and insights into your use and preferences of telecommunication products and services. We appreciate your interest.
If you know any colleague or friends who may be interested, please ask them to contact me at the above email address.
Thanks and Happy Holidays,
Tari Hartman Squire, CEO,
EIN SOF Communications, Inc.