Numerous Updates And Interesting Goings On

[chelseajmunoz]

My iPhone is sometimes a major pain in the ass (PITA for short) so much so that sometimes when I receive a text message, the alert that I've set for text messages does not even make a sound. Immediately after I'd posted the last blog entry that I'd written Sunday I lifted my phone into my hand...and discovered that I'd received a text message from the friend who'd told me about the Voice Dream app I could put on my iPhone. In the text message that my friend had sent me she'd said that she'd gifted the Voice Dream app to me in an email. So I checked my email right then and sure enough there was an email from said friend with a redeem code that I could use to get the Voice Dream app onto my iPhone. So I did just that: it took me a few minutes of playing with my phone before I was finally able to actually redeem the code that I'd been given. Once I'd redeemed the code though the Voice Dream app quickly came up on my iPhone. I'd actually heard of the Voice Dream app before but since I never thought I'd use said app I didn't look into how to actually use Voice Dream. Because the Read2Go app had worked so flawlessly for me in the beginning that I didn't anticipate that said app would eventually crap out on me and not allow me to read books using VoiceOver (VO) anymore. So anyway lesson learned for this particular situation. Since I hadn't even Googled the Voice Dream app to even get a head start on how to use said app I just started to figure things out through trial and error. When I'd first opened Voice Dream I was told by VO that I should choose a voice. There were a selection of several voices I could choose from and I listened to every single voice there was to choose from. Some of the voices that I'd listened to annunciated their words horribly or the voices had terrible inflection. As I'm sure my blog readers know by now I'm very picky about how I like audio books to be read. If I can't find a synthesized voice that sounds pretty damn close to the way I'd use inflections when I'm reading something and the way that my sentences would flow as I'm reading something then I won't be a happy camper. So the voice that I ended up choosing is named Will. When I'd listened to Will I found that his inflection of words as well as his speaking voice got top ratings from me. In exploring the Voice Dream app I also figured out that Voice Dream is an app that has multiple services available for people to use. Upon taking a glance at some of the sources that were available on Voice Dream for people to use I saw Bookshare, Dropbox (a file sharing program) and even the ability for people to export and share documents. So it was obvious to me that Voice Dream wasn't just an app created by Bookshare as I'd originally thought was the case. After I'd explored the Voice Dream app a little bit I logged into my Bookshare account so that I could look further into how to use Voice Dream. Fortunately there was a quick-start guide that I could listen to Will read to me which was nice. Once I'd read the quick-start guide on Voice Dream I jumped right in and started testing myself with what I'd remembered from the quick-start guide I'd listened to. I searched for the book Braving The Wilderness: The Quest For True Belonging And The Courage To Stand Alone by Brene Brown and that particular book came up in my search results right away. So once I'd found said book I downloaded said book and had Will start reading it to me. I was so happy to be reading books again and I really became excited that I'd found a synthesized voice that I could truly enjoy listening to. At 7-something yesterday morning I was rudely awakened by receiving a FaceTime call from someone who'd had the wrong number. Getting a phone call at that particular hour fucking sucked!! Especially when it was a fucking stranger!! So once I'd been rudely awakened by a stranger who'd FaceTimeed me I sent a text message to that number telling that particular person that I wasn't who he or she was looking for so please don't contact me again. I wasn't trying to be Mrs. Friendly at that goddamn hour, especially given that the person who'd FaceTimed me was a stranger. Thankfully though I was able to go back to sleep for a bit after I'd been rudely awakened by FaceTime. Once I'd woken up for good I checked my email. It turned out that I'd received an email from someone at the court that I'd contacted in Austin Texas. In the email that the person had sent me he or she'd told me that I'd contacted the wrong court department. In the same email though the person gave me the contact information for another department at that particular court. So after I'd read the first email I'd received from a court employee I emailed the second court department whose contact information I'd been given. Once I'd sent a second email to the court I read an email from someone at the local State Library for the Blind who'd informed me that said agency didn't have any books by Brene Brown that were in Braille. After I'd read that particular email I called the SSA and when I'd called that time I was asked by the SSA's automated system if I'd like to receive a call back from said agency. So of course I said that I'd love for the SSA to call me back instead of me having to wait on hold for what I'd likely deem as an unreasonable amount of time. And as if that wasn't exciting enough I only had to wait 30 minutes (give or take a few minutes) for the SSA to call me back. When the SSA called me back I told the lady I spoke with that my residential address had changed as of the first of this month. I also informed her that the amount of rent that I'd be paying monthly was going to increase. During hers and my conversation with one another though I made sure to stress to her that my mailing address was not going to change. Unfortunately she had to deal with problems with regards to her system not wanting to do what she'd needed it to do. Thankfully though whatever problems she'd been having were resolved before hers and my conversation with one another ended. She told me that she'd forward these changes to a local office in this state and that was that. Shortly after I'd gotten off of the phone with the SSA an acquaintance of mine arrived at the apartment to help move my things to my new place. Fortunately getting my bed frame and mattress into his vehicle wasn't difficult and once we were in his vehicle I gave him the address to put into his GPS. However whatever GPS he was using wasn't as accurate as it could've been so there were a few times that I offered to navigate for us with my phone using Google Maps. He eventually took me up on my offer which was great because I was excited about having an opportunity to use technology in a way that I hadn't used technology before. As it turned out I was successfully able to get us to my new place which was really empowering! Like, to know that if anyone driving me somewhere ever gets stuck or otherwise has difficulty I can likely help him or her get back on track, that's a level of independence that's beautiful in a way I cannot even begin to describe. Once my acquaintance, a friend and I'd arrived at my new place, the two men got my things out of the vehicle and we walked to the front door. Once we'd gotten to the front door though my landlord's wife came onto their intercom to say that she'd be home in a few minutes. Fortunately we didn't have to wait for her too long at all. Once everything had been gotten out of the car though my acquaintance left my friend and I there with one another. Once my landlord's wife had gotten home she let my friend and I inside the house as well. My friend quickly started opening the boxes I'd gotten from Amazon.com and once both boxes from Amazon.com had been opened my friend moved each box into my room. My friend then discovered that my bed frame wouldn't be anywhere near as hard for us to put together as he'd initially anticipated it would be which was great because we didn't spend hours at my new place. Once my friend and I'd completely put my bed together (bedding and all) my landlord's wife showed me where my storage space would be in the pantry that was located in the kitchen. She also showed me where my storage space would be in the refrigerator that's also located in the kitchen. Both my space in the pantry as well as my space in the refrigerator are marked with post-it notes on them which is lovely because it's a small way to help me remember exactly where my storage spaces are. Once I'd looked at where my storage spaces are going to be, my landlord's wife gave me the house keys. Then my friend and I called Uber to take us to his apartment to hang out with one another. Once I'd gotten to the apartment I checked my email. It turned out that i'd received an email from someone in the second court department I'd emailed. Unfortunately though the person from that particular court department told me that I'd need to contact yet another court department. In the same email though the person was kind enough to provide the third court department's contact information. I'd also received an email from someone at the local State Library for the Blind. In the email that that particular agency had sent me I was informed that the Texas State Library for the Blind had given my BARD information to the local State Library for the Blind. So just to be sure that was true I immediately opened the BARD app on my iPhone. And yes, the Texas State Library for the Blind had transferred the BARD part of my file to the State Library for the Blind in the state I currently live in. After I'd finished going through my emails a friend and I watched more YouTube videos of Aira with one another. And one of the YouTube videos that he and I'd watched with one another that was about Aira told us what Aira actually stands for which was great because I didn't know that Aira even stood for something in the first place. What Aira stands for though is: Artificial Intelligence Remote Assistant. Watching more YouTube videos of AIRA just makes me want to try out said technology for myself even more than I did when I'd first heard of said technology. This morning when I got up I checked my email. It turned out that I'd received an email from an Apple employee telling me that I could go to Apple's job-postings website and unsubscribe from those emails on that particular website. So I emailed that Apple employee back to let him know that going to Apple's job-postings website was the first thing I'd tried. A little while after I'd sent that particular email to Apple I received another email from an employee at Apple. In that particular email that Apple had sent me I was informed that a Senior iTunes Advisor was looking at my case. Shortly after I'd read that particular email from Apple I called the court in Austin whose contact information I'd been given from the second court department that I'd reached out to. The lady I spoke with in that particular court department informed me that I could find the record request form on said court's website or I could physically come into the court to obtain the document I'd need to have. Of course I couldn't go into said court so I asked the lady how I'd find said form on the court's website. Fortunately the link she'd given me was the correct link. However once I'd clicked on the record request form I discovered that VO on my MacBook Pro wouldn't read said form to me at all which was frustrating. So I copied the website link to my MacBook Pro's clipboard then emailed said link to a friend of mine. That way my friend could print out said form for me and then all I'd have to do is have someone fill out said form for me. A little while after I'd emailed the link of the court that I'd need to obtain a certified copy of my legal name change order from to a friend of mine, said friend of mine handed me mail I'd received. It turned out that I'd received something in Braille from the SSA. The document that I'd been sent from the SSA gave me the date of birth information that was on file for me which was weird as fuck because I'd never requested said information from the SSA. So I don't know what that was about. LOL. A little while after I'd read said Braille document from the SSA though I logged onto AIRA's website because I wanted to find out if said website had a link to apply to work for said company. It turned out that AIRA did have information on that particular company's website about the fact that said company was currently hiring. However said company's website didn't say much more than that so I looked into contacting the company. Filling out that particular company's contact form though was not easy. Every time I'd try to submit the contact form with all of my information in it, when the page would refresh VO would read that not all of the required fields in the contact form were filled out which I know was not true because I always proofread things (whether I'm sending an email, writing on a message board or any number of other things that one can think of). Finally though AIRA's contact form stopped being difficult...and I was able to contact said company to let said company know that I'd be interested in working for said company. I'm not sure if anything will come of my contacting AIRA but I hope it does. It would be a great feeling to work for an agency like AIRA who's making real difference in people's lives on a daily basis.