Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
- From: "Michael Bowman-Jones" <mikebowmanjones@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 08:21:18 -0700
SUBJECT: Optacon Training
Pam,
Wow! Go into San Francisco? I wish we had thought of that. Instead, a
classmate from San Diego named Linda (last name not remembered) and I hung
out at the motel and for the most part played this rediculously easy game
TSI was trying to get going. It involved moving a sliding switch so that
its tones matched the tones (rising or falling) of the "tennis ball" that
was allegedly going back and forth across the net. Even in "Excellent" mode
it was not very challenging. If I remember right, it was around $900 and
came in this humongous carrying case. What a contrast to today's games!
The other thing I remember about the first weekend was feeling like I was
mentally fried. My dreams seemed to consist of print letters (upper and
lower case); my nightmares consisted of numbers, which I actually got really
good at.
Michael Bowman-Jones
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pam Drake" <pamdrake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 12:30 AM
Subject: RE: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
> Goodness!
>
> This is a fun thread.
>
> There were three of us from Social Security in my October or November
> class
> of 1975; can't remember which now. There were also a couple of sighted
> Optacon teacher trainees.
>
> Four of us went to San Francisco on Saturday and stayed overnight. What a
> wonderful memory!
>
> My first week was rough. On Thursday night the head of training asked to
> come visit me at the motel. I was sure she was going to tell me I wasn't
> making the grade and should go home. I had friends in the area and had
> gone
> to dinner a couple of nights and was sure she was going to tell me I
> hadn't
> been applying myself.
>
> I tearfully told her I would do whatever I needed to do in order to stay
> in
> the class. She told me she had a weekend assignment for me. "I hear some
> of you are going to San Francisco on Saturday. I want you to come back
> here
> tomorrow night, plug in your Optacon, go to San Francisco and have a good
> time, and don't touch your Optacon till Monday. You're trying too hard!"
>
> What a shock! What a relief! I did as she instructed and had a fantastic
> weekend.
>
> From Monday on it seemed that I couldn't make a mistake. I had just
> gotten
> myself too tense and upset.
>
> I had somehow managed to forget money for the final Wednesday lunch and
> had
> borrowed money from Martha, one of the instructors. AT the end of the
> training I wanted to try to read something written by hand. Another
> teacher
> was working with me that day; and I had said I wanted to see Martha to
> give
> her money.
>
> The teacher, whose name I unfortunately can't remember, handed me a
> carefully printed piece of paper which read, "Pay Martha for lunch.
>
> Sorry if I got a little long-winded, but what memories this thread is
> bringing back!
>
> By the way, those of you who have had your optacons since the earlier days
> will remember that we were taught to always keep our machines plugged in
> when not in use. No one understand the effect constant charging had on
> battery packs. I wonder how many packs were replaced prematurely because
> they were not allowed to fully discharge often enough.
>
> Pam
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Linda Gehres
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 4:55 PM
> To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
>
> Don, what memories your e-mail evokes! I remember going to Palo Alto in
> 1975 with several others from Social Security Administration and staying
> at
> a Best Western and being transported to the TSI headquarters. Ironically,
> when my brother began working for a company called Catalytica in Mountain
> View, he told me that his employer was right nextdoor to the TSI facility
> which by the early 80's had moved. But I digress. At the time I was in
> class, there were also a couple of sighted people being trained to work
> with
> new Optacon users. One of them wrote a letter to us just after he
> returned
> home, and I remember actually trying to decipher his signature. At last I
> understood why even sighted people have difficulty in distinguishing the
> handwriting of others.
>
> Linda Gehres
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Harry Bassler" <HBassler@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:47 AM
> Subject: Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
>
>
>> Don,
>> I was in the second class at TSI just behind you.
>> Harry
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "don bishop" <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: "optacon list" <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 12:21 PM
>> Subject: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
>>
>>
>>> Just changed the subject from "some comments about the optacon" or at
>> least pretty much that subject line.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I remember the first time I actually used my first optacon.
>>>
>>> I was in a training class given by TSI in Palo Alto. It was held at a
>> motel where we students stayed for a week or two weeks depending on
>> people's
>>> schedules.
>>>
>>> TSI also had a suite there where the training was conducted.
>>>
>>> They brought us into a training room with a long table. In front of
>>> each
>> of us was this big
>>> wooden box and a brand new Optacon sitting inside. I think it still had
>> the plastic around the case. In those days the OPtacon came in a large
>> wooden
>>> carrying case with thick foam padding. (soft packs were not even heard
>>> of
>> yet.)
>>>
>>> It was like being at the door of a new world and even just seeing the
>>> unit
>> without using it was liberating. I can still remember the new smell of
>> the
>> unit with
>>> the leather protective case.
>>>
>>> And then the fun began. So did the work. <smile>
>>>
>>> The excitment of actually reading print material, even if it was just a
>> training document, was something I'll never forget.
>>>
>>> Since that day in 1972 I've read virtually every kind of printed
>>> material
>> at one time or another.
>>>
>>> I still am a bit in awe when I look at an old book published in the
>>> early
>> 1900s or before and realize that many many blind people lived in "homes
>> for
>> the blind",
>>> or other institutional or protective settings, and that reading such a
>> book independently wasn't even considered possible.
>>>
>>> It does put the progress in the world in some sort of perspective. I
>> think this is largely why I've always felt that the discontinuance of
>> Optacon production
>>> was truly a step backward from independence for blind people.
>>>
>>> Don
>
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