June Chit Chat

[Catdancer]

Agate, can you tell me more about your telephone? How it works? Do you read the message while someone is talking to you? Is there a delay between what they have said and your response? How does it change your a ability to make or receive calls? Is there any time limit on the length of the call, either incoming or outgoing? I went to their webpage and see that the service is "free". Is it really?? What else do I need to know but don't know to ask?? Thanks!

[Jeanie Z]

:) PT today and I could not do the exercises as well as before. Also I managed a few baby steps with the walker, but my legs and arms were shaking the whole time. I am not happy with weak days, but have to accept them.

Clamping the catheter did not work well. I leaked around the catheter and my legs were getting wet. I am going to remove it today and deal with the leaking with pads and diapers for now.

Yesterday Torre left the pin out of the glass door. I could not reach it to put it back. I called a neighbor and he came and put it in for me.

Nuthatch happy anniversary and enjoy your family visit. Ann sounds like you are doing better. Sunshine and Cat too.

Temps here over 100 daily. Stay cool everyone. Jeanie :)

[agate]

Agate, can you tell me more about your telephone? How it works? Do you read the message while someone is talking to you? Is there a delay between what they have said and your response? How does it change your a ability to make or receive calls? Is there any time limit on the length of the call, either incoming or outgoing? I went to their webpage and see that the service is "free". Is it really?? What else do I need to know but don't know to ask?? Thanks!

I've had one of these phones for about 8 years now and am quite happy with it but it's far from perfect. Yes, it's free--through a federal program as part of an ADA mandate--and there's no means test. I probably had to get the audiologist to verify that I had enough of a hearing impairment to be eligible. I first became aware of this because the people at the audiologist's office told me. They had one of the phones on display on the counter.

The captioning works only if you have an Internet connection. If your Internet isn't working, you can still make and receive calls--but without the captioning.

There is a lag before the caller's words come through on the screen. Sometimes the lag seems so long that I want to let the caller know why I'm taking so long to answer but by the time I start to say that, the words come through on the screen.

Sometimes the captioning works well--other times some of the mistakes it makes are hilarious but not so helpful. There have been many times when it's been helpful though.

Otherwise it's no different from an ordinary phone, and I like the readable display. You can enter your contacts too and not have to look them up when you want to call them.

The phone sits on my desk next to the computer, and if there's a problem, someone from Caption Call comes out to fix it. In my 8 years with this phone, they've been out here only a few times.

There's no time limit for the calls you make or receive.

[Catdancer]

So, Agate, if someone is visiting you, can they use the phone, bypassing the captioning? I see it's supposedly "illegal" for someone to use a captioning phone if they don't need it.. I was thinking about my husband answering the phone....

[agate]

There's a way to turn the captions on or off manually. According to the booklet, it sounds easy enough. No one else has ever used my phone.

If your husband would be answering the phone fairly often, he'd probably want to turn the captions off but I can't imagine that there'd be any issue about this if he didn't want to bother. Suppose because of your mobility limitations, you're not able to pick up the phone easily and he picks it up for you and screens your calls by giving you only those calls he knows you want to get. Wouldn't that be a mobility assist that you need? I wonder if the Caption Call people could agree to bypass that law if the question came up.

I was going to say I can't imagine that there'd ever be a real issue if someone else occasionally answered your phone for you for that reason. If he was on the phone a lot for his own calls, there might be an issue, but how would anyone know?

Then I remembered that there's actually a person doing the captioning--and I assume that person could listen in on the conversation and be aware of the types of calls being made, the caller's voice, etc. So, yes, there is a way they could catch you doing this ridiculously illegal thing.

I've kept my regular phone on the same line because I need it to let people into the building. The Caption Call phone won't work with this building's system. You might want to think about doing that too, and your husband could just remember to use only that phone, which would work the same as always--and the captioning wouldn't kick in.

Has your husband had his hearing checked? Hearing loss is really common as we get older, and many people don't realize they have it. He might turn out to be eligible to use the captioning.

--------------------------------

I forgot to mention earlier that you can save any phone conversation for later reference. There are times when that can be quite handy (though I hardly ever use it). Sometimes the captioning doesn't always get all of the words right, and saving it makes it possible to mull over it at your leisure and try to figure it out.

Also, sometimes the captioning will say "speaker is inaudible." That happens more often nowadays, and I suspect it's because so many people are calling from various mobile devices that don't always work well.

[Catdancer]

Thanks, Agate. Yes, my husband has some hearing loss, but much less than mine. I really can't hear much of anything without aides. I'm glad to know there's an "off" switch for the captioning....we'll probably make use of that.

Thanks for your help! I will let you know how this turns out for me.

[Jeanie Z]

:) All I do on my cell is call if I need road service, otherwise it is turned off.

I removed the catheter at 3 PM yesterday. I wind up in the bathroom about every two hours. So far ok.

Getting up from bed to scooter and from scooter to john is difficult, but probably helps strengthen my legs. Put on a pair of slacks today, a nice change from the dresses.

Broken sleep all night so I will go nap. Jeanie :)

[Virginia]

Jeanie, I do hope you will be very careful. That is a lot of getting up and down. No matter what happens do not get in a rush. I hope you get some rest.

It is 100 degrees outside and I am meeting family for dinner. Then I have got to go to grocery store. It has been 10 days since I went grocery shopping. Things are getting pretty low.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Jeanie and Virginia ~

I pray that you are both being careful!

Just a reminder ~ when you aren't able to grocery shop, turn to Instacart. It has made my life a gazillion times easier, and I order every 5 days to keep us in fresh produce. Even if it isn't perfect, it's better than dragging yourself to the store.

In the 18 months that I've been using Instacart, every shopper has been efficient, competent, kind, friendly, helpful. Many of them have told me that one of the reasons they became Instacart shoppers was to help folks like us, who are elderly and/or disabled.

Thinking of you both and sending prayers.

Cat ~

I'm so sorry for all that you've been enduring. I send you lots of healing prayers and positive energy.

Love and Prayers to All ~

Love & Light,



Rose

[agate]

Rose, I'm using Instacart again this week when my 97-year-old neighbor and I will combine our grocery order because the volunteer service that usually delivers for us has the week off for the July 4 holiday.

Someone sent me this in an e-mail--thought it was amusing:

[clouds z]

My cheap movie is over. I've seen it 3 times now, and it was as bad the 3rd time as it was the other two times. But did that stop me? No.

It was Strange Invaders. A space aliens living on the Earth movie. That's exactly how I feel most of the time. But I'm a friendly alien.

Well, June is officially here. Live long, and prosper.

do you get svengoolie there? on tv

[Howie]

do you get svengoolie there? on tv

No, I only have antenna TV. FREE TV!!!

[stillstANNding]

Svengoolie is a show on MeTV on Saturday nights.

ANN

[Lazarus]

No, I only have antenna TV. FREE TV!!!

Me too. And I get 7 public television stations 24/7. All have different programs on. In addition I get 19 other stations. I can use my iPad to get online subscription things I want. I am satisfied with my antenna!

[agate]

I tried antenna TV for years but I got only the PBS stations, some of the time, and in a spotty way quite often. A lot depends on your location, I think.