Full Transcript
Raqi:
-and it isn’t that I found the touch bar something that was difficult to use, you know, it was workable-
Serina:
Because I just do not like voiceover on the Mac, I find it cumbersome, so-
Raqi:
I’m sorry, it hurts my soul, it hurts so bad!
Jeff:
Wow. I did receive my iPhone 12 Pro Max and people detection-
iPhone:
[beeping] two… one… zero.
Angie:
I have the Mophie guy that charges that, it has the [unintelligible] thing for the phone, and it has the thing for the air pods and it has a place for your watch. And I like it because it puts your watch up at like a 45 degree angle, so it makes it just easier to grab it, or to check the time really fast-
Raqi:
I was gonna say, what, to see it, does it makes it easier to see it?
Angie:
Yeah, to see it. I gotta roll over and look at my-
Raqi:
Nightstand mode!
Jeff:
iPhone charger cures blindness.
Raqi:
I think it’s called the three in one charger?
Serina:
I love the Target app. It’s the most accessible-
Raqi:
Isn’t it? It’s very, very nice-
Serina:
It’s more accessible than Amazon. Amazon is- I’m fighting with Amazon right now, like- we’ll get to that, anyway.
Jeff:
Aira just started that deal with Starbucks in certain cities across the United States where you get free time there and now they have a, even a bonus right now that you get 15 minutes. If you use it you get 15 minutes to use elsewhere too.
Raqi:
So this pandemic has really been kind of a boon for Aira, right? And in a really twisted sort of way it’s hugely advantageous for people to have a little bit of visual assistance when they want to keep their distance.
Jeff:
Live from the Blind Abilities studio, this is Tech Abilities show, I’m Jeff Thompson, and with me is Serina Gilbert. How are you doing Serina?
Serina:
I’m well, Jeff. How are you doing?
Jeff:
I’m doing good. Raqi, how are you doing?
Raqi:
I’m great. How are you Jeff?
Jeff:
I’m, I’m still-
Raqi:
I guess you already said you’re doing good!
Jeff:
-still doing good. That’s amazing, 10 seconds in. Angie, how are you?
Angie:
Excellent.
Jeff:
And you know how I’m doing, right?
Angie:
Yes, I do!
Jeff:
So, we had a healthy Mac attack this week. Anybody biting on it? Are you gonna go get one?
Anyone want one?
Raqi:
I do. I’m just so curious. I want to play so bad.
Serina:
Me too.
Raqi:
Like curiosity-
Jeff:
-killed the cat, right?
Raqi:
I’m just so curious, I’ve been waiting for them to refresh the- it’s a hard call too because they’re so similar, you know, that the two models are so similar-
Jeff:
You’ve got to go with the Pro. If you want to play with the big girls you’ve got to get off the porch.
Raqi:
You know I’ve had machines with that touch bar before, and I flipped them and it isn’t that I found the touch bar something that was difficult to use, you know, it was workable. Harder with no escape key, you know, now we have an escape key and you can’t do a boot anymore, boot camp, the best of both worlds, right? I don’t know that I’d want the touch bar again. I’d rather like the function keys back again. It’s just an aesthetic.
Jeff:
Now the Mac Air does have the function keys and some are even enhanced.
Raqi:
It does. It actually has some dedicated function keys, there’s a key for Do Not Disturb and dictation.
Jeff:
I know it’s no replacement for the F keys. But Big Sur, the latest operating system for the Mac, has added the control center to the extra menu bar. So, let’s take a look at the control center option up in the menus extra bar. We’ll start out by hitting VO, which is Ctrl-option-M.
Computer voice:
Menu bar, Apple.
Jeff:
We’ll do it again. Control-option-M.
Computer voice:
Menu extras, battery 84%.
Jeff:
And we’re in the menu extras. Starting from left to right, we’ll hit the VO right arrow and see what’s up here.
Computer voice:
Battery 84%. WiFi connected, three bars. Eject. Time Machine. Search
Jeff:
I like the quick response of the search. You just activate it and boom you’re in the spotlight search.
Computer voice:
Spotlight, spotlight, spotlight search. Window blank, search text field.
Jeff:
And when we get out of this by hitting the Escape key up in the upper left hand corner, we can pop right back up to the menus extra bar by hitting, once again, the VO keys, Ctrl-option-M twice, and it brings us right to search.
Computer voice:
Menu bar, Apple. Menu extras, search.
Jeff:
Proceeding to the right, VO right arrow.
Computer voice:
Control Center. Siri, Sunday 8/07.
Jeff:
And there we go. So, let’s go back to the control center. We’ll VO left arrow twice-
Computer voice:
Control center.
Jeff:
-and then we’ll hit VO space.
Computer voice:
Application, control center, system dialog.
Jeff:
And now let’s see what kind of goodies we got in the control center. While in control center, I hit the right arrow. So, VO right arrow and that will bring me to this grid, it’s laid out like 1-2-3, then the next row would be 4-5-6 and 7-8-9 in such a manner. So, you just don’t want to hit the down arrow to see what’s there, it’s not a list, it’s more of a grid pattern.
Computer voice:
Do Not Disturb, actions available. Bluetooth selected, airdrop selected, keyboard brightness, screen mirroring, 15%, display brightness, 75%, sound volume, airplay audio, music, play, next.
Jeff:
That’s kind of neat to have these all readily handy, just by a few clicks of the keyboard. All of these have some form of interaction that you can do, you can change the levels of the volume or you can change the brightness if you so desire. What you may have noticed is the notifications is not at the tail end of this list in the menu, extra bar. And the shortcut to get there now is VO-Ctrl-option, and the letter O. A couple other shortcut commands are VO and the letter N, for notification, and VO-N twice for announcements. So, there you go. That’s the control center up in the menus extra bar. So, Angie, have you checked out what you get in trade-in yet for your 2020?
Angie:
Nope. I’m trying not to because I’m gonna go next week. I was gonna go this Friday, but I’m gonna wait and go next week and play with them and see what I come away feeling like, and then I’ll decide if I do anything.
Raqi:
I bet she doesn’t.
Angie:
God, I don’t know.
Jeff:
And Serina, who really doesn’t care for the Macs anymore. I actually heard that you were like teased a little bit.
Serina:
I just wish that I could take the nice MacBook, but have it be a Windows PC. Because I just do not like voiceover on the Mac, especially because I use Windows for work and for my personal use mostly, and I find it cumbersome. So, the computers sound amazing, but I just want Windows on it.
Raqi:
Oh, it hurts so bad. I’m sorry, it hurts my soul. It hurts so bad!
Jeff:
Wow.
Raqi:
Sorry. I’m sorry.
Jeff:
We can pause for a moment here. We got time.
Serina:
That was so dramatic, Raqi, like, seriously.
Raqi:
I apologize, it wasn’t meant to! It was so weird. Like, oh, it’s so cumbersome. No, what was the word? Was it, it’s so-
Serina:
It was cumbersome, and that is 100% accurate. It’s cumbersome.
Siri:
The adjective cumbersome is usually defined as burdensome, troublesome.
Marlon:
Oh, hi, Serin. Thank you very much for meeting me. Very glad that you have given me this opportunity to try to convince you to switch over to voiceover on the Mac. Oh, okay. You can do your ticking song. [ticking noise] Yes. Slow, it’s very rhythmic. Yes. Do you find yourself getting sleepy? Your eyelids are getting heavy, yes? Clear your mind. You are now asleep. Yes. So, you do not want to use JAWS, you want to buy yourself a Mac, you want to upgrade to Big Sur. And you want to use voiceover. And the sound of my voice. And when I snap my fingers you will wake up and you will buy a Mac in the Apple Store 1, 2, 3.
[rooster crowing]
[snoring]
Raqi:
It’s just so- I remember that feeling too when I first got mine. And I know what that feels like when you’ve used Windows for 20 years. And then you have to think, you know-
Jeff:
Right here on Tech Abilities. We have a breakdown.
Angie:
When I made the switch from my Windows experience to the Mac, I did it after using my iPhone with Bluetooth keyboard. So, I was able to just hit the ground running with- we talked about this last week, Raqi, a little bit. That was the transition period for me. That’s how I was able to do it. Yeah, I mean the layered commands with voiceover, that tends to throw people off. Even with the caps lock being able to be used as a modifier, it’s still a tough transition to make.
Raqi:
I think people just forget about like the trackpad and some of the other things that-
Angie:
Trackpad commander, keyboard commander.
Raqi:
-that make life a little easier and quicker.
Angie:
And the fact that Mac OS is just so keyboard centric anyway, you don’t have to use voiceover commands.
Raqi:
But power JAWS users are used to navigating everything from the keyboard and they’re fast as heck, you know, they can whip around.
Angie:
I was. Yeah, I used to use my desktops in laptop mode all the time so I could be faster.
Raqi:
Yeah, yeah, I always do too. In fact, whenever I get a new JAWS machine, the first thing I do, I’ve got a couple of them downstairs, and the very first thing I do with every Windows machine is put it in laptop mode-
Angie:
That’s right. That’s it.
Jeff:
Well, I did use my trackpad commanders and I went in to check out the App Store on the Mac, and I went in there and all I could do is go from the start to the end, but I couldn’t get anywhere in between. Then I went out on my MacBook Pro, which I updated to Big Sur, and I’m getting a lot better at it, that there I’m able to move around and all that good-
Raqi:
Did you figure out the two fingers swipe left and right to interact and stop interacting? That can be a huge time saver.
Jeff:
It’s a little bit different. But I was playing around with podcast app and the music app and all that and it was working pretty good.
Angie:
Nice.
Jeff:
I was able to navigate and actually get into it a little bit more and figure that out more. So, they made some improvements, I’m using the candidate two that comes out, that everyone will have access to right now, so that’s what I’m using. So, it seems to be working better. But the PC, I heard that JAWS has a lot coming out this year on the 2020.
Serina:
There’s a lot that JAWS can do just generally that I don’t think people even realize. Like the Picture This function where you can have it recognize what’s in a picture and read text out of a picture for you. The instant OCR, like voiceover can’t do these things, that’s huge, how many times do you get sent an image or some weird PDF that’s not accessible and JAWS fixes that, just built in. But the next iteration, which usually comes out right about now, so I’m surprised it’s not already out. Maybe it’ll be out when this releases, but what I’m excited to test out and it’ll probably be a gimmick for a little while, but they’ll have a new feature where you can use voice commands with JAWS to change settings and things like that. And I just think that that’s huge-
Jeff:
Hey, sharkie.
Serina:
-sometimes with JAWS, it’s hard to figure out where exactly you change a setting, or what was the keystroke for increasing the speed again? And now you can just use a voice command to do that. And I think that that’s a big deal.
Angie:
Oh, that’s cool.
Serina:
Yeah, there’s a lot you’ll be able to do with it.
Raqi:
For some users, that’s going to be-
Serina:
Yeah.
Raqi:
-phenomenal, especially for people that have to learn all those keystrokes, that haven’t really used Windows before with a screen reader and all of a sudden have to get used to navigating totally differently. You know, they- maybe they were mouse users first, this will be huge-
Serina:
If they have motor issues.
Raqi:
Yeah.
Serina:
Yeah, that’s a big deal. The motor issues piece, and yes, I’ll have to read up on it, because I’m not sure if you’ll be able to, like dictate with it or anything. I just saw some of the initial JAWS-specific things you’ll be able to do with it. But this is probably just the beginning for it.
Angie:
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say if they keep going in that direction, though, that will be really awesome. That could be potentially huge for people who have either tremors or just have issues with keyboard commands.
Serina:
Mm hmm.
Jeff:
I’ll throw a link in the show notes. Scientific does a great podcast that they talk all about their stuff. I think it comes out every- bi-weekly or once a month, at least.
Raqi:
FSCast. Yeah, it’s pretty frequent. I don’t remember if it’s, how often it is. It’s pretty-
Jeff:
I think it’s every couple weeks.
Raqi:
It’s at least monthly. I think it’s more often than that, though.
Jeff:
Yeah, they do a deep dive into everything that they’re doing. So, if you’re interested in JAWS, and what’s new, what’s coming out in their neck of the woods, pay attention to that one. It’s a good one.
Serina:
They also do a lot of training. I believe it’s once a month, maybe? Because it’s always on Thursdays, I just forget which Thursday of the month, but they do live trainings as well, where you can ask questions and some of the training topics, and everyone knows me, have been using Google products with JAWS. And that’s the big deal for me, because I- that’s why I could never switch to a Mac right now. Because I use Google stuff exclusively pretty much to do almost everything.
Raqi:
Like Docs and stuff?
Serina:
Yeah, I use Docs, Sheets, I use the web-based Gmail, everything, and-
Angie:
Nice.
Serina:
-it makes life so much easier.
Raqi:
So I use Google from the Mac. Is there a reason that Google supposedly doesn’t work with the Mac, or?
Serina:
Well, it definitely says it works. But I’ve had quite a few Mac users use it in the browser, have it not work consistently, and have some trouble with it.
Raqi:
Interesting.
Angie:
What if you do it with Chrome?
Raqi:
Because we use Google at work, we might do it in Safari too. I mean, I’m not necessarily picky, you know, we’re a Windows based environment. So, if I have to use it, I’ll use it. Certainly I, you know, used it for decades before, I can live with it if need be. But if I’m here at home, and I have a choice, I’ll pick up a Mac, unless there’s something that I can’t do on it. That’s really interesting, because it seems to play nicely with Google and Microsoft now, much nicer than it did previously. Thankfully, because we are expected to kind of tie into both of those things. So, it’s a pain when you have to jump back and forth from one OS to another just because oh, this is using Microsoft Forms, and these are using Google Sheets.
Angie:
And they’re supposedly making a universal version of Office, I saw this in another part of my tech newsfeed today. They’re making a universal version of Office for the Mac. It’s supposed to support the new silicon as well as the intel, it’s a universal iteration of Word or Office for Mac, so.
Jeff:
The other thing I don’t like about Microsoft Word is when they bring it up to the web, the accessibility just drops off. Like in Serina’s situation, if I may, her company got a trainer, brought them in, she could get some time on that. But the whole company is using the whole Google Suite. Now, I think I always learn something better if I’m forced into something, you know? Like I did not boot camp my Mac when I first got it because I know exactly what I would have been doing. I would have been switching back over to the JAWS and you know, switching back and forth-
Raqi:
That was me, too.
Jeff:
So, I just went cold turkey right into it. And if, you know, if my company switched over to something, I would have to adapt to it. And you know, you force yourself through that learning curve and stuff like that. Serina, how long did it take you to get acclimated with Google to the point where you said “Hey, this is alright?”
Serina:
Well, I committed to using it from the first day that he did the training and never opening Outlook again, because Outlook crashes like 20 times a day. So, honestly-
Raqi:
Google’s so much better!
Serina:
-I would say, honestly, two to three weeks, it really- and that was with trial and error and working through because there’s glitches, but there’s glitches with everything that you’re going to use. But two to three weeks, I would say I was full-on in Google and not even trying to use anything else. I even use Google Slides now for presentations. I do have to cheat and download them and present them in PowerPoint, because that works way better when you’re presenting them. But for editing, I’ve actually found it easier in Google Slides.
Raqi:
Interesting.
Jeff:
Yeah, I really like being enmeshed in something. Like if I’m gonna learn Spanish, I’m not always just gonna use my Google device or something. But it’d be better if you’re down in Mexico and put yourself down there for two months. You’re gonna learn a lot of Spanish that way, you know, so total immersion is really-
Angie:
Yeah, immersive experience.
Raqi:
Immersion is the key.
Marlon:
Bienvenido a Mexico, Senor Jeff. It is my understanding that you want to learn espanol, yes, yes. This is good. This is good. We have two- we have three courses, yes. Is the six month course, and we have a four month course, and we have a two hour course. You want the two hour course? Yes, this is good. This is good. Okay. So, all that is required is you have to wear running shoes. And we chase you around the veranda until you learn to say “Help me, please. Help me, please.” Okay?
Jeff:
And folks, I’m a day away or two from- well, by the time this comes out, I’ll have my iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Raqi:
Mmm, you can tell us all about People Detection,
Jeff:
I know, and all sorts of other stuff-
Raqi:
If you can find any people to detect.
Jeff:
Well, let me bring you the news alert, I did receive my iPhone 12 Pro Max, and it’s quite nice. It’s a little boxy, like a Volvo. It’s flat on each side. And then the edges are really squared off, rounded corners, but the edges are really squared off. So when you have it, it seems to be the same weight as my previous iPhone 10 S Max, same weight, the power button seems to be down just a, maybe an eighth of an inch or lower, and same with the volume buttons on the other side. They seem to be placed, positioned just a little bit lower, but it really has great sound, and I really like it. As for the People Detection, yeah, we go into Magnifier, and there’s a button on there that says turn on People Detection. So, once you do that, then you’re in a different mode. And yeah, you find a person, lucky if you can find a person, and it’ll start beeping and you can set it up in Settings, you can set it up to have haptic sound and everything like that going off depending on what you prefer. Now, there’s a few ways you can actually access Magnifier, I went on to my home screen and swiped to the app library, which is on the last page. It was under utilities, and I’ve set it to Edit Mode and then moved it to one of my front pages there just to try for the demo. Now you can also put it in your control center or you can actually put it in as one of your accessibility options for the triple click as most of us use for voiceover, but then that causes you to click it and then you have to choose between one or the other. So, but if you’re not going to use it that much that gets cumbersome. Cumbersome, the word of the day. And courtesy of Angie, here’s the Magnifier People Detection feature in action.
iPhone voice:
Magnifier. People detection, button. Actions available, people detection on [beeping] 5… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0… 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8.
Raqi:
I’m curious if either one of you use the back tap feature.
Serina:
Yep.
Raqi:
If you found it to be helpful.
Serina:
I haven’t set it up yet. I explored it and was like cool, look at all this cool stuff. I just- and I totally spaced it until you just mentioned it again because there was a ton of stuff in there-
Angie:
It is awesome.
Serina:
-you could do, and you could do, like, custom shortcuts could be assigned to back tap, too.
Angie:
Yes, you can. Yeah.
Raqi:
And that’s what I did. I sat there one night and I thought ooh, it does this and that, so I found two things that I really could use it for that I get tired of drilling down, you know, three levels deep to access. So I set it up but boy, lo and behold every time I set it down, I’ve got to be really careful I don’t go d-dunk on the counter or it just firing apps and processes.
Angie:
That was happening a lot in the beta cycle and then they got, they kind of backed off on it. It wasn’t quite so sensitive. But I feel like now it’s back to being a little too sensitive again. So, when you put your phone down it-
Raqi:
Yeah, you set it on the counter-
Angie:
It interprets it as a double tap.
Raqi:
Wait, wait, wait, wait-
Angie:
That’s not what I meant!
Raqi:
Is triple tapping-
Jeff:
I got mine double tap set up for the control center and then I have my calendar set up for the triple tap, and when I set it down I- also my calendar pops up if I set it down because typically you set it down on one corner and go dah-dah, you know.
Angie:
Yeah.
Raqi:
Yeah, that’s what’s happening.
Angie:
That’s the only thing.
Jeff:
I should have it set up so it does something like you stupid, what did you do that for? Ouch, you know? Gentle, gentle.
Angie:
That hurts. Don’t drop me, don’t drop me on the counter, the floor, the desk.
Raqi:
Yeah, you don’t even have to set it down very hard. Just- or you know, if you’re nervous, and you have it in your hand and you start, and you tap on it. It’s like oh, crap, I didn’t mean to open that app. You know it just once in a while it will, if you’re standing there doing Braille screen input or whatever and you just tap on the slide. You just got to kind of be careful-
Jeff:
Oh, I never thought about that!
Raqi:
-how you set it down. You know, because my thumbs are on the back. And so sometimes I’m just, you know [tapping noise].
Jeff:
And in Minnesota, when you shiver. So Serina, I have a question for you. I12 Pro person over there, did you get a Mac charger yet? Or what are you using?
Serina:
I didn’t. I honest- I decided to wait for third party people to start releasing them honestly, because I want something similar to the ridiculously priced, I don’t even know what they call it, but the one that will charge your air pods and your phone at the same time.
Jeff:
Oh yeah.
Serina:
And it’s gonna be like $130.
Angie:
Yeah, the dual charger? Yeah, I want that too.
Raqi:
The one that they say is all cheesy with the funky, funky hand. They say it’s chintzy though, they keep saying it has like a rubber material that covers the hinge but it’s really flimsy and it’s not up to Apple’s caliber. So, you know, you don’t know till you hold it in your hand. But they say it’s like-
Angie:
I really wanted this thing too, that’s gonna annoy me.
Raqi:
It’d be more like a $69 charger than a $129 charger, so.
Angie:
What I want to see is a longer cable.
Jeff:
Serina, are you using your phone bare? No case?
Serina:
No, I have a case on it. I bought a clear case on Amazon.
Angie:
Yeah, we have the same case.
Serina:
Yeah, it’s pretty- it’s clear. I can’t, with these new phones with the way the cameras stick out ever since the iPhone six or whatever, I just find it annoying to not have a case because I don’t like the imbalance-
Raqi:
It wobbles, you set it down and it wobbles. Yeah, that’s irritating.
Jeff:
Wow. So Angie, how about you? You got the mag.
Angie:
I have the magSafe, I do. I like it, I just wish the cable itself was longer. I should have taken a page out of Serina’s book and waited because I like it, I just wish it was a little bit longer, you know, different cable lengths. That’s gonna be good.
Jeff:
Oh, can you get an extension for the cable?
Angie:
It’s USB-C, so no.
Jeff:
They don’t make USB-C six foot extensions?
Raqi:
Yeah they do.
Angie:
Do they? Huh.
Serina:
It would probably impact the fast charger though.
Angie:
I think it would mess up the charging though, wouldn’t it?
Serina:
Yeah, I think it would, I think it would degrade it because every time you add an extension to something it takes a little bit out of it.
Jeff:
Just sucks electricity from the wall, it’s just a longer straw. I mean, a light isn’t dimmer if you put an extension cord between the wall and the lamp.
Raqi:
Yeah, no, it’s not degrading your signal like it is if you’re, like if you’re trying to send a signal down a, like, say, speaker wire or something.
Jeff:
I mean, if you got a 100 foot cable, yeah, that’s different.
Raqi:
Yeah, it’s only going another six feet or something.
Jeff:
It’s only 29 bucks. Take a chance, take a chance.
Raqi:
Yeah, it won’t, it won’t degrade your charging.
Serina:
Apple Store, Apple Store.
Raqi:
There’s a Mophie pad that charges four devices at once. I’m thinking maybe that’s the way to go is to just go third party and get some other-
Angie:
I have the Mophie guy that charges, that has the [unintelligible] thing for the phone, and it has the thing for the air pods and it has a place for your watch. That’s on my night table. And I like it because it puts your watch up at like a 45 degree angle, so it makes it just easier to grab it, or to check the time really fast.
Raqi:
I was gonna say, what, to see it, does it makes it easier to see it?
Angie:
Yeah, to see it. I gotta roll over and look at my-
Raqi:
Nightstand mode!
Jeff:
iPhone charger cures blindness.
Raqi:
It would make it easier for me to see it-
Angie:
It does, it does.
Jeff:
That’s a Mophie?
Angie:
It’s a Mophie, yeah.
Jeff:
What does something like that run?
Raqi:
I want that.
Angie:
I think it’s called the three in one charger?
Raqi:
How much was it?
Angie:
60-something?
Raqi:
See, that’s worth it. I can do-
Angie:
Yeah. It’s glass. The one at the Apple Store is glass, it’s a glass surface for the phone and then the area where your air pods go, that’s rubber. It’s right beside it and then right behind that or back from that is where your watch lives.
Raqi:
Just one pair of air pods at a time though, right? Just one, there’s not room for-
Angie:
Now that I have the magSafe for the 12 Pro I use it to charge all my wireless earphones.
Raqi:
That’d be great, just to have a charging pad that just holds the wireless earphones, right? This is where the headphones go-
Angie:
For all your earphones, yeah, that’s what it is. The air pods, my- I have some anchors that are wireless chargeable, even my Galaxy buds. Don’t tell anybody, Samsung things, but yeah, they all just live on there and charge. It’s awesome.
Jeff:
I was looking at the cases and I decided to hold out a little bit, because at first they were only offering or they’re suggesting only the dark blue leather case, and now I see they got a couple more colors out there and I think it’s gonna grow, so I’m just gonna wait just a little bit on that.
Angie:
Serina, what color is the Pro? Like what color is-
Serina:
It’s like a really deep blue. It’s pretty dark, yeah, I would-
Angie:
Okay. Case colors are going to be kind of a thing, matching it.
Serina:
Yeah, you’ve got to be careful with what you put on it and honestly Jeff, I’ve never paid full price for a case from Apple because they’re just so overpriced. I just get them,; I would go on Amazon-
Raqi:
Me neither!
Serina:
The case that I got is like $12, it’s a good quality case.
Raqi:
Get them on eBay, or Amazon. Get them for half price.
Serina:
Yep. I always get my watchbands on Amazon, I mean they’re $10, I’ll just replace them. Like, I’m not gonna pay $79 so I can have a bracelet for my Apple watch when I can get it for 20 on Amazon. So, the one that I have has a soft inside, it’s really soft where the actual phone sits and then it’s a hard but still, like, durable plastic on the outside. It feels really nice, like it doesn’t feel cheap or anything.
Angie:
Nice.
Jeff:
Hm. Pacific blue, I never saw that in the Crayola boxes.
Serina:
Well, it’s not robin’s egg blue if that’s what you’re thinking.
Raqi:
Well, it just said blue, right? How would you know?
Jeff:
When you’re shopping for all this stuff it’s really nice to be able to have accessibility with it and-
Raqi:
It’s nice to know what matches, right? It’s nice to know what matches-
Angie:
And colors are so subjective, like- yeah and I honestly wasn’t sure what color, I figured it would be a deeper blue, so it’s good to know that I was at least in the ballpark about that but again, it comes down to finding a case that’s gonna match it. It’s not like a space gray or, what is it, graphite phone that you can just stick in a case, I don’t know, it’ll look good. Because they have a plum one that I’d love, I think that the purple and black like the dark purple with a darker phone looks really good together. Yeah. That’s nice.
Raqi:
So, what about the leather wallets? Do we know what colors they’re gonna come in? And that weird odd funky sleeve thing?
Jeff:
That’s not black.
Raqi:
With the cutout for the time? I think it’s a magSafe charging thing that you slip your phone into and-
Serina:
Is it a folio style thing or just a sleeve?
Raqi:
No, it’s just a sleeve. But I think-
Jeff:
Three cards.
Raqi:
Oh, the wallet you mean?
Angie:
Three cards, yep.
Raqi:
Well, that snaps on the back.
Jeff:
One titanium, but three regular cards.
Angie:
I see.
Raqi:
Yeah, you don’t need that titanium though! You have your phone. You don’t need it.
Jeff:
That’s right. That’s right.
Angie:
Oh my gosh.
Raqi:
Do we know what colors the wallet cases are? I know the sleeve is black but I think-
Angie:
Saddle Brown, I don’t remember now, there’s, yeah.
Serina:
All I saw was a black one.
Angie:
There is.
Jeff:
More and more are coming out though.
Raqi:
For the leather sleeve, the charging sleeve, but the wallet snaps on with magnets. And so that’s a whole different accessory. It snaps on to the back.
Angie:
Like I said, you guys are complaining about the cases. When you use the magSafe charger, supposedly there’s, people are getting like rings in the back of their- I’m like well, it’s magnets guys, it’s going to eventually give you an outline-
Raqi:
Because it’s leather, they see the outline. But it’ll get a patina anyway, you know, you’ll get that as it ages, so.
Angie:
But they’re complaining about there being like a ring, or just an imperfection on the back of their case, I’m like, well, then don’t use magSafe, I don’t know.
Jeff:
Is it kind of like when you fall asleep on the couch and you get those lines on your face from the seat or something like that? Yeah, yeah. These troubles and pains that we all go through.
Raqi:
Right.
Jeff:
We’re going to talk about accessible shopping. And the thing is, when- like, you guys are talking and all the way through this is if you could just grab it, if you could just hold it and stuff like that, and that’s what- I didn’t do a lot of shopping online or anything before, and now that we got these phones and all this stuff and we’re buying them blind, I mean, we don’t get the chance to- I like feeling the keyboard or seeing what the keyboards feel like, just like everybody else does, but with accessible shopping- I didn’t think I’d ever buy a Stitch Fix and by the way, my last Stitch Fix, Serina? It was awesome. I was gonna send it back before I even opened it and I opened it up and every piece just was me.
Raqi:
You kept it all!
Jeff:
I look good in autumn!
Serina:
I have one on the way right now.
Raqi:
I love Stitch Fix.
Jeff:
My daughter tells me Dad, I didn’t know you were an autumn. Autumn the season, not the name, but yeah. But anyways, it sold me, so I was really excited about that. And then she did one so I got $25 credits, Serina!
Serina:
I did get credit from another fellow blind person that I referred. He actually ended up not caring for the clothes because Stitch Fix is- one thing about Stitch Fix is, I will tell you, the clothes are more expensive than probably what some people are used to paying. But I think the quality is significantly better, when you look at what they’re sending.
Angie:
Well, yeah, totally. And you’d rather pay more upfront and have quality stuff than have to buy cheap things over and over and over again, so.
Jeff:
I have to confess here, I hate when you button up a shirt and the flap folds over, so you have to iron it, you know?
Raqi:
Oh, the collar stands up?
Jeff:
The collar, or across the front when you’re buttoning down, you know, or you button a shirt and it kind of like folds over? I hate that none of these shirts do that, the collars are all-
Raqi:
They stay where you want!
Jeff:
They stay right. And you know, like if you’re wearing something that’s nice fit and tight, if you ever noticed, like if the seams aren’t sewn together with the same type of tension and stuff, one side will have a wrinkle in or like a buckle, just a little bit.
Raqi:
Just a little imperfection, just a flaw, yeah.
Jeff:
I mean, now I got to remember to turn a little bit for the photos. You know what I mean? It’s like I ain’t having that show up, you know? No, but it’s really cool, this stuff is, it comes and you put it on- I got this vest, and I don’t wear vests, but it’s winter and it has like a sheepskin inside, you know, it was the most expensive part of it, you know? And I put it on and I said wow, why haven’t I worn vests before?
Angie:
I must try this; this is very intriguing.
Raqi:
Stitch Fix is awesome. And if you get a good stylist, it’s fabulous.
Angie:
Sounds like fun.
Raqi:
Great for blind-
Jeff:
My niece was cutting my hair, and I walked in and she goes oh, I like your vest. So I hung it up, and then I was getting my hair cut. And I was taking off the gown they put on you, you know, while they cut your hair, and she goes oh, wow, nice sweater. So, it’s like Stitch Fix scored twice. I mean, and this is for the guys out there that are listening, you might think you won’t want to do this. But if you hate shopping and all that stuff, Stitch Fix, I’d say after about two, three times they start to narrow in on your fit, who you are, what you like, what you’re buying, what you’re not, and it starts to work. And pretty soon it’s like whoa, I like this. Even though we’re locked down and probably going into some more of this social distancing, you can still look good and feel good. I like feeling good. That’s why I like it.
Raqi:
And you know, the thing about shopping too in this time is that a lot of places will extend the amount of time that you can keep an item. So, a lot of things, for example, I just made some purchases on Amazon. And they say I have until the end of January, where typically I might only have had 30 days. So sometimes with these sites, especially, you have the ability to really buy something and take some time to decide if you don’t like it, and send it back without any real obligation to purchase it. And I really appreciate that. Because like you said, we don’t have the option to go into the stores and pick things up and try things on and test things out before you buy.
Jeff:
It’s always fun to do the sneak peeks. Serina turned me onto that. You can go into your app, and as soon as you get a notice that it’s shipped, you can go in there and it’ll show you all the stuff that you got.
Angie:
Oh, that is so cool. I want to try this.
Raqi:
Oh, it’s awesome.
Angie:
It sounds awesome.
Raqi:
Yeah, it’s neat. And like Jeff said, it’s not a girly thing, it really applies to everybody. I mean, if you need clothes, even for, you know, for, whether it’s for an event, or you just want to change it up and find some different clothing, once they get a sense of your style, and what kinds of things you like to keep, they start finding just stuff that works.
Jeff:
And it’s a good incentive to stay in shape because you’ve invested so much in your clothes. And you may have one on the way that you want to make sure that same size fits.
Angie:
That it continues to fit, yeah. That’s awesome.
Jeff:
So what do you got coming, Serina? Did you find out yet?
Serina:
I looked; I have- so I got a promotion. I started it like last week. So, I put in the box, I literally put a- you put a note in saying like hey, I’m kind of interested in this. So what I wrote in there was I just got a promotion and I need things that will keep me looking professional but comfortable on my video calls, and then I wrote do your magic, and put a smiley face. So, I have four-
Raqi:
Oh, congratulations!
Serina:
Thank you! I have four shirts coming, and a blazer and it’s sometimes like- you can’t see them, it doesn’t tell you the colors or anything so you’re like I don’t know- like the descriptions sometimes don’t do things justice. Like some of my favorite shirts, literally the description just said crewneck pullover, like they need to work on the descriptions for sure. But I’m excited to see what actually everything is when it comes in in person and go through the box.
Jeff:
Yeah, I wasn’t a sweater person but these things are this real thin type sweater material, you know? You throw a vest on top of it, you just want to go out and like, it is exciting.
Raqi:
Him in the club again.
Serina:
The club. It’s the club. They also do it for kids and Trey loves getting a Stitch Fix. I’ve ordered him two, and if- he’s still in in-person school, but I’ve already decided- but I haven’t told him yet, but if he has to do homeschool again then I’ll get them another box, so yeah, something, some comfier stuff to wear. They send them like 10 items in the kid one.
Raqi:
Oh, fun!
Jeff:
Yeah, the kid box, yeah.
Serina:
And they’re, usually they’re really good quality things, like they send like Hurley, gosh, what other brands? Like its name brand stuff that they’re sending, and it’s unique stuff, like his favorite item that I think he’s ever gotten are these cute sweatpants, but they have on the knees, where it’s like a little cutout almost, but there’s still a layer underneath it. And as you walk it looks like these monsters are like, chomping. They’re the cutest, they’re so, so cute.
Angie:
That’s adorable!
Raqi:
Yeah.
Serina:
Very unique things.
Angie:
How old is he?
Serina:
He’s seven.
Angie:
Oh, that is so cool.
Raqi:
It’s perfect.
Angie:
What a fun age.
Serina:
Yeah. And if you keep everything, with the 25% off discount for 10 items, it’s probably about what I would have paid for if I went to Target with him.
Angie:
What!?
Serina:
Yeah, because like he got 10 items last time, there were multiple pairs of pants, some really nice jeans and pullovers and stuff, and I think it was like 120 for everything.
Raqi:
That’s not bad. That’s nice.
Angie:
That’s awesome.
Jeff:
Yeah, just full disclosure here. Mine typically come in at about 135 for five items or something like that. My last one was-
Serina:
Mine are more than that. You’re lucky, because you’re a boy I bet-
Raqi:
It’s because he’s a guy!
Jeff:
My first autumn one, though, my first autumn one came in, I think it was 215. But there was- the vest was $100, 106 or something like that.
Serina:
Yeah, sometimes they’re a little bit more, like if you have a really nice piece. Sometimes- like my husband got Stitch Fix and one of the shirts that he got was like $88. And we thought it was like this nice sweater, and it turns out it was like a polo, we’re like, no, we’re sending that back. Like, so you just have to pay attention because some of the stuff you’re like that’s not worth $80. Mine usually come in 180 to 250 just depending on what’s in it, like the blazer, for example, is a little bit more pricey because blazers are just more expensive than a regular shirt, but then most of the shirts for women, and maybe it’s like this for you too, Jeff, are right around that $30 to $40 mark. Every once in a while you’ll get something that’s like 70, but it’s something really unique usually when it’s in that price range.
Jeff:
Yeah, I haven’t sent anything back for the last three. So I’m really good for, I don’t know, I think I’ll get one more right around the turn of the year, and I think I’m good for a while and we’ll see how it goes. But the way they’ve been knocking it out of the park, once they dial you in real good, they got me hooked. I’m looking forward to the next one. I’m not really but I am, kind of. It’s kind of neat.
Angie:
I’m gonna hit them up for workout attire.
Serina:
Yeah, they do loungewear and workout stuff.
Raqi:
Mm hmm.
Jeff:
Yep.
Raqi:
You should check it out. It’s pretty accessible.
Angie:
Totally.
Raqi:
It’s a lot of fun.
Jeff:
And you can get the performance line as well, if you put in like athletic build or something like that. And I like that you can leave the notes like you did, you asked for the blazer, in a sense, professional look, casual. I said, hey, it’s cold in Minnesota. My next one, let’s go towards winter here. So, everything that I got except for one was long-sleeved and stuff. So, they are adjusting to the climate, which is good here.
Serina:
Nice. That is cool
Jeff:
Target, I just noticed that Target has Black Friday already started, weekly sales, you know, as a lead up to Black Friday. Does anybody use the Target app?
Serina:
I love the Target app. It’s the most accessible app-
Raqi:
Isn’t it?
Serina:
It’s more accessible than Amazon. Amazon is- I’m fighting with Amazon right now, like I- we’ll get to that, but the Target app is amazing. You can navigate by headings, you can- the only thing I don’t like is it takes forever to find the button to like, ship it or deliver it, like that’s in a weird place towards the bottom of the screen. But, other than that I’ve never had any other problems with that.
Jeff:
Yeah, a friend of mine works at Target, and she works on the app department there, so I’m glad that the headings are working. I like it, I like Target- well, Target’s based in Minnesota, based out of Minnesota, I guess, but it’s nationwide.
Serina:
So, you’re not biased at all there, Jeff.
Jeff:
Well, I grew up with it, you know? It’s always been here.
Raqi:
It’s always been there!
Jeff:
I remember Walmart walked into town; you know? It was like, hmm. I like Target, Shipt is an app that I use, I believe Target owns them somehow, and they have Target listed on their’s, plus Hy-Vee is on there and a few others. I saw Bed Bath and Beyond, OfficeMax, Office Depot. Yeah, you’ve got to pay a little bit more-
Raqi:
They’re on Instacart too now, I found out here, I just opened up Instacart the other week, and all of a sudden there are like 15 new businesses there and it’s all this-
Angie:
I like that you can do Costco from there, that is so freaking cool, I love it.
Raqi:
Costco, Sam’s Club,
Angie:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff:
Mm-hm.
Raqi:
But it’s all the same businesses that you just
mentioned.
Jeff:
And that’s nice, because it’s convenient, so I don’t think that this stuff is gonna go away, even when the world changes into what it’s gonna morph into eventually, I think this is gonna be with us.
Raqi:
Nah, it’s here to stay, it’s here to stay.
Jeff:
I was at the Club today, and Amazon has installed this locker thing in the main lobby where you walk in, and I asked the guy what it was, you know, I couldn’t make it out, and so it looked like an old post office. He says, well, if people can’t have their stuff delivered to their apartments and stuff, they can have it delivered here. So, they’ve got these boxes that say, that you can actually punch something in, do your order, and that would be the address for it.
Raqi:
Delivered to your locker. I always get that a lot, they’ll say “Do you want to have it delivered to your house or to a nearby Amazon locker, so I must have one within 500 feet of me or something because they always try to get me to use it.
Jeff:
I think that’s really cool, like when they talk about these drones just delivering or these other devices that are delivering, like a truck pulls up and all the things scatter out and deliver things and- I don’t know what it is, but now that they’re gonna have these lockers out and about, you know, that’s easily negotiable in a way, I guess. More so than, you know, where’s your front door.
Serina:
It beats people trying to find your building and losing your stuff, yeah.
Raqi:
It’s too bad they can’t hone in on those Ring video doorbells, and come right too you.
Jeff:
Oh, those burning Ring of fires?
Raqi:
Those hot burning Ring of fires. Don’t put the wrong screws in your doorbell, or you’ll find a-
Serina:
Make sure you put it together the right way, or you’re going to be in some hot water.
Raqi: You’d think with all this infrastructure, you know, it’d be easier for them to hone in on you and be able to come right to you, but-
Angie:
The ecosystem, the Amazon sphere.
Raqi:
Right.
Jeff:
The other thing is, if you do end up at the stores, you’ve got Aira, I mean at Target it’s free, you know? You can just fire it up and shop that way. I think it’s really fun to be at the stores, but you know, times are changing, and I don’t want to jeopardize sending my son or something in, you know. So, it’s just easy. I’ve been using Shipped and Instacart, it’s kind of cool, I’m getting better at it, but every once in a while it gets something that is like, wait a second, like my stevia. It comes in packets, I’ve ordered this before, you know?
Angie:
What is this?
Jeff:
I’ve got to scoop it, man. It’s like-
Raqi:
It came in a container.
Jeff:
Oh, man! Yeah, it’s like- it’s not that bad, though. It’s not that bad, but they replaced it, so the other thing, and he says well, we don’t have the large size, should I get you the small size? I said yeah, just throw lots of small sizes in, that’s fine, so you know, you get this feedback, it’s nice, you get to talk to your shopper while you’re going about it, that’s with the Shipped app.
Serina:
That’s convenient.
Jeff:
Well to replace it, he counted the ounces and bought three of the small ones, so it’s like okay, okay, you got it! Or like, when you’re ordering bananas, don’t just say yeah, I want a bunch of bananas. So, one? No, that’s one banana.
Raqi:
One banana, not one pound.
Jeff:
I want eight bananas. But now you can just click up and add to your cart, flick, flick, flick, you know, boom, you know, you got it, you know? But I’ll always, just a recommendation for anybody, once you get your order, go through each item and wait, it’ll just say “One in cart.” Because I found out about this when I had like four in the cart, and I said ooh, wow, what’d I do, jitter a little bit or something? So I had to re- but then you have to flick down and start removing them, you know, it’s like, hmm. But if you go over $35, your delivery’s free.
Raqi:
Unless you have the Instacart express set up.
Jeff:
I’m not minding this stuff. I didn’t ever think I would be shopping for clothes or anything online or something, but times have changed, the stores are all responding well to it, and especially their return policy. Amazon, you can’t beat Amazon’s return policy, I don’t care. Amazon, Serina! You had a beef with them?
Serina:
I don’t know what they did to their latest update, but like, it used to be you would type in what you’re looking for, and then navigate by heading and just hear the things. Something’s wrong with it now, it just keeps reading you the same title over and over again, and there’s still headings, and I don’t know, I’m so frustrated with it.
Raqi:
You have to move the focus down the screen, and if you touch it about 2/3 of the way down the screen then you can go by heading, by image, and then you can swipe once to the right to hear the title of each item, but they broke the nice easy navigation.
Serina:
It gets stuck on the graphic or something.
Raqi:
It’s frustrating.
Serina:
It’s so cumbersome.
Raqi:
That’s that word again-
Serina:
There it is again.
Raqi:
It is cumbersome.
Serina:
It’s just so frustrating.
Jeff:
I only use it on my phone, Amazon, I never use it on the computer.
Raqi:
I don’t either.
Serina:
It’s very, very accessible on the computer, you can navigate a lot by heading, and form fields and things like that, like-
Jeff:
On the PC.
Serina:
Well, generally. It worked fine on the Mac too, because you can do headings and stuff on the Mac.
Raqi:
And it works on the phone, too, it’s just frustrating because they break it, so just when you get used to some, to navigating a certain way, they change the elements.
Angie:
I wasn’t sure if that was an iOS 14 thing, or-
Raqi:
No, it’s Amazon, they broke it a while ago, and the headings were broken first, and now it doesn’t always scroll past a certain screen, so you’ll find “Why am I starting at the top again, I already read through these items, because instead of scrolling-
Angie:
It jumps.
Raqi:
It’s a voiceover issue on top of an Amazon issue, it’s just not pretty.
Jeff:
I got a notification today, I actually was upgrading my app. If anyone ever had Google Photos where, you know, it stores them all up there, it does some really neat things with some of them, like every once in a while, say “Here’s a memory” and it’ll play a full video of a collection of photos that you have. They just changed their policy – instead of unlimited high quality photos, no more starting June 1st, 2021. That’ll go against your Google account. So, it’s not going to be free.
Raqi:
Ouch! Ouch!
Jeff:
You’re not too worried about all your photographs, huh?
Raqi:
Ouch! A lot of people use that, lots of unhappy people.
Jeff:
So, Angie told me that Google has a lot of availability, like when you get Google Drive, you get 15 gigabytes of free storage. If you want to update that you got to go to Google One, and there you can pay- and I saw this for $299, you can get 30 terabytes.
Angie:
That’s a hell of a storage plan, isn’t it? Divide that among like, 50 people? It would have to be-
Jeff:
Because you get a family plan there. Yeah. And they all get five-
Raqi:
30 terabytes?
Jeff and Angie:
30 terabytes.
Jeff:
299.
Angie:
Crazy.
Raqi:
That’s not that much, though, really. I mean-
Angie:
This is the company plan.
Raqi:
You’ve got eight terabytes here. That’s not that much storage, like for that amount of money? I would think, I mean, you’d get a petabyte or something. It sounds like a lot, but if you’re talking about a company, it’s not really-
Angie:
Once you start breaking down the numbers, it really isn’t that much.
Jeff:
Well, 99.99, for 100 bucks, you can get 10 terabytes a month though, a month.
Serina:
It’s still cheaper than the Apple plans, though. When you look at it-
Raqi:
Oh, for sure.
Serina:
Because most people aren’t going to need that. 10 terabyte?
Raqi:
No.
Serina:
Like, they probably get like the, I think I saw one that was like 100 gigs or something, and it wasn’t very expensive at all.
Jeff:
For 10 bucks a month, you can get two terabytes.
Raqi:
Yeah, that’s reasonable.
Jeff:
So, you’re talking right around 100 bucks, two terabytes.
Serina:
I think Apple should get off the five gig plan.
Angie:
Give us more storage starting out because more people are getting more devices and apps are getting bigger. Backups are getting bigger-
Raqi:
They want you to pay.
Angie:
Five gigs. It doesn’t do anything.
Raqi:
They want you to pay.
Jeff:
What it is, is for people to backup, so they go into the store, backup their phone, and that’s about it. But that’s why I think that the Apple One plan, where you get two terabytes mixed into there? Is it a Dropbox killer? I don’t know.
Raqi:
I think you sold me on it. Actually, I was kind of ambivalent when I first heard it, and I’ve been thinking off and on all week, boy, I really think I would like to have, I would like more iCloud storage, and I find that I don’t use Dropbox as much, because everyone in my sphere is- except for people at work, and you know, again, we use Google and Microsoft, so I don’t need it. I think you convinced me to do it.
Jeff:
Well, I tell you what, Dropbox has worked so well for so long, that it’s just, it’s a no brainer. Yeah, for me, I deal with a lot of files and everything like that, but it’s gonna be tough for me to wean myself off of it and go over and start checking out the files and sharing the files.
Serina:
You can do it, it’s pretty easy to share folders and files between people-
Jeff:
But none of us have done it to each other yet.
Angie:
No, we’ve got to do a test run before we switch. You know, see how that works.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Angie:
Because I don’t know, I think if you’re going to share, you have to make sure that everybody has editing permissions and such, so there’s that piece of it as well. But yeah, yeah, I’ve done it with a friend of mine.
Jeff:
Oh, you got a- someone has a friend.
Angie:
I’ve got a friend!
Jeff:
You mentioned something earlier, you got your new suggestions of staying home now, right?
Angie:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We are. It’s indicated that unless you have to go out, don’t. For the next two weeks.
Raqi:
Yeah. Are they rolling you guys back too over in Vegas?
Serina:
Yes.
Raqi:
Yeah, us too. Our Apple Store shuts down at noon on Friday. That’s why we’re running to get these phones so that we can get them up and have the templates made.
Angie:
Well, I may not be doing the Apple Store thing next Friday after all, then.
Raqi:
Well, that’s here in California, I don’t know how it is-
Angie:
It might, but they’re basically saying that if you don’t have to go out, don’t. If your job, you know, will let you stay home, do it. So, it’s not quite mandatory.
Jeff:
In Minneapolis area, here in Minnesota, I should say, bars close at 10, can’t have more than 10 people for a group or in your home, for like gatherings-
Serina:
How are they gonna know?
Jeff:
I don’t know how they can police that, but I understand why they’re doing something. You got to bring awareness for people to protect other people.
Raqi:
Yeah, it’s tough. It’s hard, especially with holidays coming, some people are really vigilant and then other people just feel differently about it, and it’s a tough call, you know.
Jeff:
It’s really tough for our family. My mom’s at the point in her life where we don’t know how long, you know, it’s gonna be.
Raqi:
Yeah, you want to spend those times together. Yeah, yeah.
Jeff:
And you can’t. You can in a sense, but not really, but I’m one speck of sand in this giant desert of people going through this whole thing, so it’s like.
Angie:
My mom wanted me to come to Florida for Christmas this year. Because we haven’t, I haven’t seen her in forever. And it’s like, I don’t know, like yeah, I want to go, I hope we’re able to do it. But you know, it all depends on this stuff.
Jeff:
I was talking to Lori today and she was mentioning she had a guide dog interview today-
Angie:
Oh, congratulations!
Jeff:
-from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Well, she’s just setting up-
Raqi:
Getting ready.
Jeff:
They say there’s like a two-year wait, maybe. Yeah. And they said that dogs are not allowed to fly right now.
Angie:
I was accepted to the Seeing Eye in April, I’m still waiting, so that’s where that is. No word.
Raqi:
The dogs can’t fly or the people can’t fly?
Serina:
How could they-
Jeff:
The dogs, well, I-
Serina:
It’s probably pets that can’t, because they couldn’t, there’s no way they could prevent somebody from taking their service animal.
Jeff:
No, all dogs. Guide Dogs for the Blind said all dogs.
Raqi:
Are you sure about that?
Serina:
That is crazy, that makes me so mad. That’s an ADA thing.
Raqi:
[unintelligible] placing dogs and I only know that-
Jeff:
They may be placing but are they placing them locally?
Raqi:
Well, they place dogs all over the country. So, they- sure, they’re placing them locally-
Serina:
But they might be driving them.
Jeff:
I don’t know, maybe they’re in cargo? I don’t know.
Raqi:
I don’t know. I- well no, they’re not in cargo. They wouldn’t do that. But I would love to know, that’s interesting. If none of them are flying…
Angie:
Yeah, I know a lot of schools aren’t doing the local training right now. They’re just training people who are able to drive there-
Raqi:
They’re coming out to their homes and doing it. Yeah, that’s the only way, they don’t do any
Angie:
There’s no way [unintelligible].
Raqi:
Yeah, they don’t have a residence so they go to the students areas anyway.
Angie:
Seeing Eye was like, “Would you be willing to quarantine for two weeks?” I’m like, hell no.
On my own dime in New Jersey for two weeks? No. I don’t know anyone there, first of all, and then no, it’s just expensive for me. I don’t think so. I’ll wait. I don’t mind waiting.
Jeff:
Yeah, from what I understood, I asked Lori and she said no dogs are allowed right now. Right now, they’re not. I’m surprised we haven’t had a flare up of-
Raqi:
I am, too. I’m just thinking that same exact thing, you’d think there would be outrage emanating from all corners of the universe that service dogs can’t fly at this time, and I haven’t heard any of that outrage coming from those corners. So, I’m, it’s interesting.
Jeff:
Usually they’re sitting around with dust all over them, and they hear something like this, shake off the dust and come out and react and flare up, and-
Serina:
Here come the militants!
Jeff:
Do they put the Victrola on pause and start screaming?
Raqi:
I don’t know, but I’m loving these cashless places where you place your order through the app and walk up and pick it up. It’s just, there’s so many places like that, now they’re going that way they, kind of this- what I call the Starbucks model. First time I saw that was our local Starbucks. But there’s so many places here now, that’re going to the takeout model, and I really love it. It’s just, I guess I don’t like what COVID has done to so many people, but there are things about the COVID process. I don’t like having to be separated from our loved ones and our families but there are elements of this that are really nice.
Serina:
I mean, they’re super convenient.
Raqi:
I can walk in and pick up my stuff, and there’s nobody in there. I feel bad for the business owners, you know, because it’s got to be toughest on them. But as a shopper or merchant, when I do find-
Angie:
It’s nice to just have that individual, like hey, I can actually look around-
Raqi:
There are fewer people on the street so I find it a little easier to just- especially when I can put my order into the app and it says go ahead and tap to pay and I do that and I walk into the place and they know who I am, and I love that! I love the convenience.
Jeff:
And that’s at Starbucks?
Raqi:
Oh, it’s all over. A lot of places are doing it now, here, but Starbucks was just the first one. A lot of the local Starbucks are doing it but a lot of the takeout restaurants or places that have gone, you know, primarily to carry out only, that don’t have a lot of seating have just gone to order and pay through the app.
Jeff:
Well, Aira just started that deal with Starbucks in certain cities across the United States, Minneapolis is one of them, where you get free time there and now they have even a bonus right now, that you get 15 minutes- if you use it, you get 15 minutes to use elsewhere too. So, I believe it’s in Washington DC, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and maybe some more. I think you can check the app to see what other places are- they’re just testing it till January 21st. So, if you get a chance, give it a shot, you get free time while you’re there plus you get bonus time to use elsewhere.
Angie:
Cool. I hope that becomes a thing.
Jeff:
Well, yeah, it’s the worst of times to try this stuff, because a lot of people aren’t really getting out.
Raqi:
But you know, in some ways, it’s the best of times, because if we have to go out, it’s the perfect time for us all to want something to aid with physical distance. So in some ways, I think, you know, it’s unfortunate, but again, if you want to look at it as a silver lining, this pandemic has really been kind of a boon for Aira, right, in a really twisted sort of way, it’s hugely advantageous for people to have a little bit of visual assistance when they want to keep their distance.
Jeff:
Well, maybe it is, I remember, like, when we talked to Troy, earlier this year, he was talking- he took over and all sudden, boom, it happened, you know, how were they going to respond to it, people were going inside, they weren’t getting out and everything like that. But now I think they’re being creative and finding ways to get out there, and if you are going to get out there, be safe and use the technology that you may need to use to be distanced and all that, so. That’s why we podcast from states away from each other.
Serina:
Yeah, right. We’re taking it to extremes.
Raqi:
We’re just socially distanced!
Angie:
Making sure everyone is safe, and your podcast is safe.
Jeff:
We’ve pretty much got the country covered.
Raqi:
I’m over here and she’s over there and he’s over there and she’s over there. Gosh.
Jeff:
Yeah, we didn’t go too far east because that would spread the time or they’d be up really late-
Angie:
When I, when I go to- I was thinking about that, when I- if I go to Florida I’m going to be in Eastern Time Zone, I’m like, Oh crap, I’m gonna have to figure something out, like-
Raqi:
You’ll have to stay up late.
Angie:
It’ll be late.
Raqi:
It’ll be a late one!
Jeff:
There you go.
Angie:
And then it will be all timezones covered, that’d be awesome.
Jeff:
On the beach.
Angie:
Yeah, I should do-
Raqi:
It depends on what time of year, you might not want to be on the beach! I’ve been to Florida in January-
Angie:
That’s true!
Raqi:
And I thought oh, it’ll be nice and warm and I brought my short sleeves and I thought I was gonna die.
Angie:
No, it’s cold. Oh, it’s cold. Oh, no no no, it’s freezing.
Jeff:
Out on the beach with a three-foot magsafe cord
Raqi:
We’re gonna plug this in at-
Jeff:
Serina, you’ve got beaches there in Colorado, don’t you?
Serina:
If we do I’ve never been to them, like I don’t know, maybe the sand dunes. No, we really do have some, I’ve just never been to them. Not like beaches like you really think about it though.
Jeff:
Know what I really loved? When I was in Colorado what was really neat, you go skiing or something like that, you’re up in the mountains and it’s brisk and cold and stuff, and you come down and pretty soon you got most your clothes off from skiing because it’s so hot, you know. And by the time you get down to the chalet or to your hotel and stuff, it’s like t-shirt weather and you’re out in a hot tub out in the middle of the, you know, with the mountains on the side, the whole temperature change out there is elevation, it’s just really weird, it makes me…
Angie:
I love it, Serina. I think it’s awesome, I love nature things so I’m like yeah, that totally appeals to me all over the place.
Jeff:
Well you’ve got Vegas, what have you got, desert? Wait, then there’s more desert.
Angie:
Yeah, that’s it. Well-
Jeff:
And then there’s the desert on the other side.
Raqi:
More desert…
Angie:
And sand. And during the spring and summer, mostly summer, it’s like 120 degrees.
Raqi:
So it actually gets hotter where you are then it does where I am, I think actually-
Angie:
When you walk outside it feels like you’re walking into an oven, or a hairdryer. It’s hot. It’s freaking hot. It’s really really hot.
Jeff:
I was gonna say, what’s your temperature today, Raqi?
Raqi:
Here?
Jeff:
41? 41, you said?
Raqi:
No, in the morning. In the morning it was 41. It warmed up, it got to be about 59 degrees for the high.
Angie:
It’s about the same here right now.
Raqi:
I’m sitting here, I got my blanket, I’m freezing, I’m so cold.
Angie:
60s, 30s-
Raqi:
I’m such a wuss now.
Jeff:
I’ve got thermal underwear!
Angie:
Jeff’s like “I don’t want to hear it.”
Raqi:
Maybe that’s what I need.
Serina:
That is way too much information, Jeff. “I’m wearing thermal underwear and I’m freezing.”
Raqi:
It’s cold, oh no, he, it’s true.
Jeff:
Oh no, I don’t really have it, but I did put on the snow boots today, and I put on the hat and everything like that. I got the Nanook hat, you know, the big flaps that come down over the ears, the sheepskin and all that stuff. I’m out there-
Raqi:
How can you hear with that thing on? I cannot wear those. I wish I could, my ears get so cold, but I have to keep my ears uncovered-
Jeff:
I’m just shoveling my driveway, it’s-
Raqi:
I can’t hear, I can’t-
Angie:
I cannot navigate, because I cannot hear.
Raqi:
-it gets me all messed up.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Angie:
I can’t stand wearing a mask, do you guys- okay, do you guys find that wearing masks messes with your hearing, like your echolocation? It throws me off really, really badly sometimes.
Serina:
I’ve gotten used to them. It used to- because I have some usable vision and it used to throw me off but-
Raqi:
Yeah, I have this-
Angie:
It’s annoying.
Serina:
Yeah, it’s gotten- I’ve gotten way used to them now.
Angie:
There’s like just enough mask sticking out in front of my ear. I don’t know what it is, I never realized-
Raqi:
No, I know exactly what it is-
Angie:
-how sensitive my hearing was until I started trying to navigate with a mask.
Raqi:
It’s in front of your face
Angie:
It is.
Raqi:
It’s, no, it’s about the mask that comes in front of your face, over your mouth and your nose. You cannot for whatever reason hear the sidewalk that’s out in front of my feet-
Angie:
It totally throws off my echolocation.
Raqi:
It’s insane.
Angie:
I know, it’s bad.
Raqi:
And I mean, I’m going to train my brain to deal with it because I’m not gonna stop wearing a mask, but I find it- even a different material matters. Yeah, I’m ready to write to [unintelligible] and say help! What the hell’s wrong with me! How do I fix it!
Angie:
It’s hard. It’s weird.
Raqi:
It’s different. I know it sounds corny and crazy-
Angie:
It’s really messed up. And you wouldn’t think that something so inconsequential would do that to you, but it really does. It throws you off.
Raqi:
I know it sounds nuts. I know it does. And different fabrics help make a difference, but it will throw off- I’m just, it sounds crazy, but it’s just enough of an orientation-
Angie:
I have to really focus on where I am and when I’m doing, I really, it’s a whole different situation when you’re traveling, and you’re trying to hear what’s around you and focus.
Raqi:
I know crazy it sounds but it’s absolutely 100% true. That first month I started wearing one I’m like walking off the left side of the sidewalk, walking off the right side. What am I doing? I’m just trying to self-correct-
Angie:
You feel like a drunk.
Raqi:
Oh my god. Exactly. And I can’t hear things like the grass line in the sidewalk cracks-
Angie:
Crazy!
Jeff:
We should try a test someday, maybe we should just put a clothespin over your nose and see if it’s the nose that’s causing it
Raqi:
No, because part of me wants to know what is it but it’s just concerning-
Angie:
I thought it was my hearing at first. Yeah, I thought it was something to do with my ears. But whatever it is, it’s supremely annoying. And it really messes with me and I’m like God, I’m supposed to go get a guide dog and train like this. I’m gonna be like, they’re gonna toss me out [unintelligible] after like a day.
Raqi:
I don’t know what it is, the face shields are even worse. They have these shields that you can try and I thought oh, that’s gotta go, I can’t hear anything.
Jeff:
Buzz Lightyear!
Raqi:
It’s clear! So if you can see- I know how crazy this must sound if you have a little bit of vision. This is probably not even an issue, but if you don’t all of a sudden it’s a barrier.
Jeff:
Now in Minnesota, the issue, I got a clear shield on my helmet for hockey. But if you put shaving cream on it, let it dry for 10 minutes and buff it off, it doesn’t collect a fog when you’re breathing inside, you know? Otherwise it just fogs up.
Raqi:
I heard that before, yeah.
Angie:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff:
So, you know, first time I used it I was like hey, I’m blind! Yeah it was… but you know if you do have some residual vision and you have less, you just notice it, you know, just like you guys when you’re doing the mask thing. I heard that and I never really understood it at all.
Angie:
It’s a bizarre- I thought oh, it’s no big deal, I got this, no I don’t.
Raqi:
And you just think you’ve gotten used to it. I think it all has to do with the sound reflecting off of things, like different points of your head and your face-
Angie:
Your movement bouncing off of what’s around you and-
Raqi:
Yeah, I can’t wear hoods either, if it’s any consolation, I can’t use an umbrella-
Angie:
I can’t stand things in my ears. I can’t stand like anything blocking, being in front of my ear. Yeah, like an umbrella? I’d sooner get soaked than deal with that, it’s so inconvenient.
Jeff:
So you guys won’t take up the role of Mary Poppins anytime soon.
Angie:
No, no!
Jeff:
Serina, when’s your Stitch Fix arriving?
Serina:
You know, I’m not sure, I think it’s supposed to be here by the- because when it shipped it was like see, do the tracking, and I clicked it and it was like “Label created, no information yet.” So I don’t know.
Raqi:
Oh, I hate that.
Serina:
But I would guess here Friday or Saturday.
Angie:
Have you ever gotten shoes from there?
Serina:
They have sent me a pair of shoes. I didn’t care for the ones they sent me, it was just like some basic canvas- like Bob’s, I want to say, is what they said? Either Bob’s or Tom’s. It was Tom’s, I think they do Tom’s. But they were like $70 and they were just these like cream basic tennies and I was like nope, I don’t need these. I sent those back. But yeah, they have lots of different types of shoes Their shoes are pricier from what I’ve noticed.
Angie:
Okay.
Jeff:
The other thing they do is say you like a shirt; they’ll then send you a little notice and stuff and you can go in and they’ll show you four or five accessories, like some khakis or something, that’ll go with that.
Angie:
I love that.
Jeff:
There’s the vest, so they all kind of work with you and stuff, so if someone, you know, had an endless budget I guess, you know, you could really- you could be that page seven, you know, in the magazine if you want, you know, but I like it! I want to thank you guys for being on the show. We didn’t give the phone number this time. That magic number-
Raqi:
You’d better give-
Serina:
The magic number!
Jeff:
Yeah, so if you have any questions, want to give us any feedback, give us a call at 612-367-6093,
Raqi:
That’s the number!
Angie:
That’s it! That’s the number.
Raqi:
Call it up. Call the number. You know you want to. Call the number.
Jeff:
That’s the number.
Raqi:
Call the number. And then cue our funky music, right?
Jeff:
For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and give us a call at 612-367-6093. Leave us a message and let us know if we can put your voice on the next podcast. Drop us an email at info@blindabilities.com, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store and Google Play store. That’s two words, Blind Abilities. And from all of us here at Blind Abilities, through these challenging times, to you, your family and friends, stay well, stay informed, and stay strong. I want to thank you for listening, hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye-bye.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
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