Jeff, Annie and Sara playing "quidditch", a game based
on the Harry Potter game but adapted for backyard use by
Sara and Annie.
(click image to see larger version)
I'm settling into a ViaVoice routine these days. First thing in the morning, I work on Market Watch. I still need to do some mouse work, mainly because ViaVoice cannot easily open different applications and I need to surf through various publishing news websites when preparing each column, plus do a lot of cutting and pasting.
However, I'm trying to do this with as little use of my arms as possible. I can click the mouse using ViaVoice by saying, "Click mouse", but obviously this takes longer than it would to actually click the mouse. When not using the SpeakPad text editor in ViaVoice, I use the track ball on my mouse to first position the cursor, then say "Click mouse".
I have programmed in a lot of macro short cuts to save typing, such as pieces of HTML code that I use frequently. I still rely on my desktop reminder to let me know when 15 minutes have passed, not only to force me to take a break from keyboard work, but now also to take a break from ViaVoice work. The unnatural speaking style that ViaVoice requires puts a strain on my voice, I find, and I've read stories of voice recognition program users who have developed vocal cord problems because they have overused their voices.
It would really suck to lose my voice AND my arms right now.
I'm still finding it a challenge to keep up with my e-mail. Because my spam filter is screwed up, picking out my "real" e-mail has become a challenge, as has deleting spam and old e-mail, mainly because I haven't been able to find a ViaVoice short cut that will substitute reliably for the delete key. I hate spam more than ever. And I now have over 500 e-mails in my in box. :-( E mails seem to be coming in faster than I can deal with them, most of it spam. I need to learn how to write AppleScript, I think, which will probably help me achieve other tasks as well.
It's Brittany's birthday today!
(click image for larger version)
Reading is still a little bit of a challenge since turning pages it's tricky to do without pain if I'm having a "bad arm day". So I generally keeps same between in ViaVoice practice sessions by taking long walks. Inspired by my friend Allison, I signed up for the
Walk To Rivendell, which is basically
a challenge to walk the equivalent of the distance between Hobbiton and Rivendell (from Lord of the Rings), 458 mi., before the end of the year. I figured that since I'm doing a lot of walking, I may is well be walking through Middle Earth. :-)
(This entry was written with ViaVoice, a voice recognition program, which sometimes has its own sense of humor. Please forgive any spelling or grammar quirks which Debbie has missed while editing. Thank you. )
Monday, May 5, 2003 at 5:10PM 
