Essay on Legitimate Guide Dogs Versus Fake Guide Dogs

I wrote this essay for a non-fiction class in the spring of 2016. The Americans with Disabilities Act—or ADA—a service animal "is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability." Whether sight-impaired, diabetic or prone to seizures, a service animal performs a valuable task essential to their owner's daily living. Therefore, it is unfortunate that unscrupulous individuals are selling products that allow household pets to be passed off as certified work animals.. [Thesis] By participating in the doggy deception, pet owners don't realize the difficult situation they're creating for those who truly need the use of a service animal." [Thesis] Recently my doctor wrote me a note stating that my Chihuahua, Sadie, is my emotional support animal. To clarify, an ESA is not considered a service animal. Knowing little about the line between a comfort and service dog, I made inquiries and searched the web in order to avoid establishments where she wasn't allowed. In my research, I came across a couple of websites selling certificates and harnesses that would proclaim your support animal as a service animal. The discovery upset me. I'm acquainted with responsible guide dog owners who constantly struggle with negative attitudes. To learn that people are blatantly promoting the practice of selling service animal paraphenalia in order to abuse the law is sickening. In a New Yorker article entitled "Pets Allowed," Patricia Marx writes about people passing their pets off as service animals. Her statement about support animals being like a "blankie" is spot on. I require Sadie for emotional needs. However, if I needed to leave my dog at home, I can still go through the day normally. I would say majority of disabled individuals, if not all of them, need their service animal with them at all times. I have been fortunate the last half dozen years to attend the American Council of the Blind's national convention. My first trip was in 2010. While I've had close friends with guide dogs, the convention was a eye-opening experience. I'd never been in one place with so many people. Or so many guide dogs. The Downtown Phoenix Hotel had approximately 1,000 blind people in residence. I would guess that 40% of that number had dogs. Perhaps more. Being from Hawaii, it was almost overwhelming to be around so many blind people. While in Phoenix I met doctors, lawyers, teachers, athletes, techies and so on. I tended to gravitate to the people that had guide dogs since it was my goal in the next few years to apply for one. I knew there was so much to learn. It wasn't just about applying and receiving training with the dog. There would be the distasteful experiences with people that would be less-than-welcome of a big, sixty-plus pound dog in their place of business.. The unpleasant experiences were the issues I wanted to hear. I'm not a person that deals well with negative confrontation. I have a hard time letting go of stressful situations. This creates massive anxiety attacks that manifests itself into headaches or illness. Hence, the reason I sought to acquire an emotional support animal and not a guide dog. I realized I wanted a service animal for the wrong reasons. I'm very happy now with my Sadie. But despite not seeking a service animal, I keep myself informed of the happenings regarding dogs being passed off as service animals. Mainly because I feel the issue doesn't just affect the blind, but all disabled dog owners. My personal grievance with the people who perpetuate the doggy deception is the inability to understand and/or the unwillingness to admit what they're doing is causing harm. One day I was picked up by the city's paratransit service. I happened to be sharing the ride with an older man. He complimented me on Sadie and asked if she were my service animal. I explained she was not. I offhandedly mentioned I was still learning where I could and couldn't take her. The man said I should just go and get a harness and pass her off as a service animal. I was quick to tell him that I didn't like the idea. The man leaned towards me and with a smile in his voice said, "Who's going to know?" I said to him, "Because doing that will cause problems for those who have service animals." Bless my driver, she chose that moment to chime in and back up my decision. She confirmed that yes, it would cause problems, because legally she, the driver, is not allowed to ask for proof that the dog is a service animal. Without trying to badmouth my travelmate, it is attitudes such as his that keep the business of selling fake harnesses alive. The problem with his statement that "no one will know" is false. When a dog displays unruly behavior, defacates in a restaurant and/or bites a server, it becomes clear very fast that the animal is not a proper service animal. That is not to say that there isn't the occasional misbehaving guide dog. I have seen and heard of a few of those, but negative incidents aren't frequent. Another situation I encountered in which a blase attitude was taken to the fake service dog subject came when I followed a Facebook thread by a former secretary of the American Council of the Blind. Ms. Lieberg was reading a book by a well-known romance author when she encountered a scene in which the hero needed to take his dog on a plane. To do so, the hero lied and claimed his dog was a service dog. In the novel, when the hero was asked what service the dog performed, he joked that the dog "cut his meat." Ms. Lieberg took to social media to speak of her disappointment that an author she enjoyed reading with take such a lighthearted attitude. She further expressed her feelings in a letter, to which the author graciously replied. Unfortunately, Ms. Lieberg didn't get the response she was hoping. In her message, the author says, "...I'm skeptical about 'fraudulent' service dogs, because having a dog masquerade falsely as a service dog is a crime..." The rest of the author's response appears to accuse Ms. Lieberg of undervaluing service animals other than seeing eye dogs, plus her thoughts on service dogs itself. Being a third party to all of this, I can see both sides. However, my personal opinion is that the author's reply deviated from the topic at hand. Ms. Lieberg's point of contention was the fact that the novel's hero made light, even a joke, on passing his pet off as a service animal. It's true that we're only talking about a fictional novel, but I feel that more care should be taken with the subject. Of course, people like Ivana Trump taking her dog into a restaurant and having one of her entourage show a card saying the dog was allowed because it "was the law" aren't helping. It's true that spoiled celebreties might be the exception, but starlets hold a lot of public sway. If a person sees Ivana Trump doing it, it's a no-brainer that people will be doing the same thing in an attempt to copy her. Perhaps not for the same reasons, but the results are the same. Majority of the population aren't aware of the difficulties that guide dog owners contend with on a weekly, if not daily, basis. There are weekly Facebook posts and tweets where I read of an acquaintance being refused a cab ride or asked to leave a restaurant. I'm baffled that these things are happening. It's another reason why I'm upset that people can't understand the promotion of a fake guide dog is hurting the people it should be helping. The use of a dog as a service animal goes back decades. The Seeing Eye, the first United States guide dog school, opened its doors in 1929. Thus, after all this time it's unfortunate that legitimate service dog owners are still encountering ignorance and hardship. Laws to regulate support animals from genuine service animals may seem like a waste of time or not a big deal, but when you're the person that winds up in the situation, attitudes change quickly. Marion Gwizdala, the president of the National Association of Guide Dog Users, wrote on the topic of fake guide dogs. In his article, "Fake Service Dogs: Problem or Propaganda?" he says that people using fake guide dogs are "...feigning a disability in order to attempt to take advantage of the laws that permit disabled individuals to be accompanied by a service dog." The latter statement by Mr. Gwizdala hits the nail on the head. My grievance with the whole subject deals with the idiots who feel they're above the law and do what they want. It's no different then finding someone using a relative's blue handicap plaque to take advantage of disabled parking stalls. Overall, reading Mr. Gwizdala's article has made me rethink my attitude on the selling of service dog equipment. He and his wife buy additional gear from independent sellers because their products work better when going to the beach and having to deal with metal detectors. The point he makes is a dog's gear doesn't make "a dog a service dog." I concur. Thus, I will continue to support my fellow guide dog owners against service animal users and abusers. LOG OF COMPLETED ACTIVITIES Respond to each of the following with a Y (yes) or N (no). Y 1. For this paper, I completed all the required readings (and viewings if any) before the deadline. Y 2. For this paper, I participated in all the Laulima discussions before the deadline. Y 3. Following the guidelines, I submitted an RD before the deadline. Y 4. Using the guidelines, I evaluated three review drafts (RDs) before the deadline. Y 5. Following the guidelines above, I’m submitting my final draft (FD) on time. Y 6. I understand that an N response to one or more of the items in this log could affect my score for this paper. Furthermore, by failing to append this log to my FD, I understand that my FD is incomplete and may not be evaluated.

LinkFromBlog site to earn some extra money by blogging

I was looking around on the web for ways to make a little extra money from home. I’m sure a lot of people have done that. I feel like I’ve tried it all. Survey sites that give you points for doing surveys. The hard part is, because of where I live, a lot of times I don’t qualify for those surveys. Some might give you some points for at least trying, but most don’t. It’s a waste of my time, frankly speaking. I’ve always done reviews about books, and I’ve heard about getting paid to blog, but I’m not really a social butterfly. I came across a site that listed ways to earn money from home. One of the ways to make money was paid reviews. It’s a site that will put your blog out there for advertisers to look over, and should they choose your site, you’re on your way to making money with your blog. I’ve decided to give it a shot. I created this book to share reviews for books I read. I’m constantly reading and reviewing, so hopefully something I love doing will also earn some extra money.

Friday the 13th. Do you believe in the curse of superstitions? ? A Lot Of Athletes Do!

I was listening to the radio today, Thursday, January 12, 2012, when someone mentioned that the next day would be Friday the 13th. The idea of superstitions was discussed, and it gave me the idea for this post. Actually, a couple of them, but I'll start with this one.

Since I've got sports on the brain pretty much most of the time, (especially during football season) I thought it would be fun to do a post talking about superstitions in the sports world. I intended to do strictly the NFL, but somewhere along the line I found some interesting and amusing sites on google and decided to deviate slightly.

Goodness, I almost don't know where to start! Well, I suppose I'll begin with the obvious. Sports players have many, many superstitions. I personally found some of them silly, amusing, disgusting and just plain weird.

I should probably insert at this moment that I don't really believe in superstitions. Frankly speaking, Friday the 13th has never been more of a lucky or unlucky day for me. Of course I've had bad days in my life that fell on Friday the 13th. But I've also had okay days. I suppose I've never had a "great" day on the 13th, but I have certainly had more average days than bad days. I finally concluded that I didn't really need to worry about it.

(Now watch me say that and have something bad happen to me this first Friday the 13th of 2012!)

I want to also take a moment to say that while I find most of these superstitions completely ridiculous, like religion, etc, I'm not dissing it. No disrespect intended. This is just my humble opinion.

However, I digress....athletes and their superstitions. In the sites I browsed, they came in many ways. Everything from wearing a certain kind of clothes under a uniform, growing a playoff beard, eating chicken before a game, bouncing a ball a certain way, or, most disgustingly, drinking urine.

Dear reader of this blog, I thought about regurgitating the information already done by the authors of these articles, but I thought, perhaps you'd like to go and read them for yourself. Truthfully, I would only be repeating what's already given and it seems almost pointless.

Let's start with a subject that you may or may not have heard about. I certainly didn't. Well, I find this superstition the most...er, uninteresting, but apparently it has a long history. I'm referring to the "Playoff beard". I need not explain more, correct? I think it sounds explanatory enough. (Lol)

I read one or two articles that said the playoff beard was started by a hockey player. I didn't read enough, I confess, to find out if other sites reference this hockey player.

In any event, I found a Wikipedia page (yes, I know, Wikipedia, but it's useful for some things, right?) that talks about the infamous playoff beard, and you can check it out for yourself. Sorry folks, I didn't read it. I did skim it a bit and saw many, many athlete names. So if you're a beard man or beard woman, knock yourself out! :)

Playoff beard - Wikipedia

While googling for sport superstitions, I did by accident happen upon the Snopes page that talked about the "Madden Curse". I confess, I've heard of the Madden Curse, but never really looked into it.

For those who aren't aware, the Madden Curse is simple. An NFL athlete who's been doing quite well, will sign a deal to be on the cover of John Madden's video game. Then they wind up getting hurt and missing a bunch of games. Famous players "cursed" include Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Marshall Faulk, just to name a few.

I find Snopes has compiled an interesting (albeit outdated) documentation of athletes supposedly affected by the Madden Curse.

Also, while reading about the Madden Curse, look at the "Sports Illustrated Curse" and the "Campbell's Chunky Soup curse" while you're at it.

Snopes.com: The Madden Curse

Okay, if you didn't go for the Wikipedia thing on the Playoff Beard, I found another funny article that has a top 10 list of athletes and their superstitions. This is a good one folks, and I would highly recommend reading it.

I won't spoil things for you, but take a gander. See which athlete...ahem...wore a golden thong as they believed it brought them luck.

Or, read about why one athlete drank urine, believing it helped cleanse the body. *Yuck!*

10 Most Superstitious Athletes - Men's Fitness

Keeping along the line of athletes, how about the number 13? I found another article listing players from all sports that either started out wearing or wore for their careers the number 13. As the writer of this article says, be the judge for yourself. Lucky or unlucky?

Sports Superstitions: The Number 13 — Infoplease.com

Last, but certainly not least, here is a forum I stumbled upon where a member asked the question, what superstitions/rituals as a fan do you follow? Something definitely worth reading. Some of the things people did...I think they're crazier than the athletes! :) For example, watching TV from the same TV every time. Standing up while watching or needing your hair clean. I won't say more. There aren't that many on this site and I'd rather you read them for yourself.

NFL Forum: Superstitions in football

That's pretty much it folks. I'm sure there are more, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. (wink)

A recommendation if you own tons of books, no longer want them, but no clue what to do with them

I'm going to deviate today and wax poetry about one of my favorite places to go on the web. Fear not. My adventures in fantasy football-land will continue soon. Truth be told, my fiction writing is going like crap and I continue to remain unemployed. Thus, I embarrassedly spend majority of my days fretting over my fantasy football teams. It's time for a break, and to avoid burning myself out before football season hits the halfway point! A little reading and a little writing not involving football is in order. *LOL*

If you're a book lover, spend a lot of money on books each month and are on the computer quite a lot during the week, then you've more than likely heard about this website. However, I'm going to sing its praises anyway. Without further ado, please take a gander at the following:



Paperbackswap.com is a site for people who have tons of perfectly good books in their home, but are at a loss as to what to do with them. The concept is quite simple. You take some of your unwanted books, post them on to your paperbackswap.com virtual bookshelf and wait for someone to request it.

Once a book has been requested, you wrap it up nice and neat, address it, slap some stamps and put it in your mailbox. Voila! That's it. Oh well, naturally you click on your account page that you send it and wait for the other member to click that they received it. When they do, you get one credit for that sent book.

Yes, I know what you might be thinking. Wait, I have to pay for the postage? And hang on, it goes by an honor system? You are correct. The thing to know is that after getting credited for sending that book or books, you can use that credit or credits to request more books you would like to read. In turn, that person will have to pay the postage to send the book to you.

In regards to the honor system bit... This is very true. You're going to have to take the word of the requestor that they didn't receive a book. Or that the book you sent was received damaged. In the event of either of the latter events happening, the requestor will get their credit back. Although in cases of damaged packages, I must confess I really am not sure of the procedure. I've never received a damaged package, but I do know it happens.
As for lost books, I think in my four or five years with the site, I've only had perhaps three packages go lost and the person (supposedly) never got it.

Oh, and I didn't talk about the best part...it's free! There is no membership fee to join. There are no limits to the number of books you can post. However, you can't post two or more copies of the same book.

I can't even begin to describe the money that I've saved since joining paperbackswap. When I was going to bookstores like Waldenbooks, Borders, etc, I was spending on average $45 per month. Times that by twelve...no, wait, I don't want to do that. I'm cringing already!

In addition to saving money, I've also been able to take books that I've enjoyed and send them to new homes. For someone like me, this site was a god-send! I found I was collecting more books than I was reading each month. The boxes were beginning to pile up. It was getting out of hand, especially when I stopped and surveyed the batches of already-read books. Just to give you an idea, I once noted that on paperbackswap I had over 500 books posted for swapping! That's not the worst part though. I knew I had at least 100 or 200 more books unaccounted for boxed up in the closet.

Well, that's pretty much the long and the short of me waxing poetry on paperbackswap.com. I strongly urge anyone with lots of books to join this site. I would like to note that if you're unfamiliar with the site and decide to join, there are a few important and vital things to learn before mailing out books. Yes, this is going to sound like a how-to, but these are seven points that I really, really insist are crucial to any new paperbackswap members. The following are all taken from my own experience, so I am confident that I know what I'm talking about.

Tips for new Paperbackswap members:

1. Invest in a postal scale. If you find yourself only mailing one slim paperback, you'll save time and gas by being able to weigh it at home, slap stamps on it and put it in your mailbox. Scales cost about $50. This is what I paid for mine anyway. Trust me, if you're a frequent paperbackswap user, it'll eventually pay for itself.

2. If you have a postal scale and a small bundle of books, weigh them and then check the weight using the USPS Postage Price Calculator. In general, this is a handy site. You can find the prices for postcards, flat envelopes, packages, large packages, etc. And it's great when the post office raises prices and you just can't remember what something costs!

3. Please know that most packages can be mailed by media mail. Media mail is often my choice when mailing multiple books. For example, a package weighing over seven ounces will generally go media mail since the First Class shipping rate will cost more. First Class is faster, I admit, but the point here is to save money.
Also, it goes without saying that packages above the seven ounces is sent automatically media mail.
Lastly, I want to stress upon everyone that if you have one slim book, like a children's novel or a Harlequin romance, these thin and lightweight books can 95% of the time go cheaper with First Class.

4. This is important, so I'm going to include it in the vital information section. Books to swap must be in good condition. That means no mold, water damage, pages falling out, covers coming off, food stuck on pages, etc. Hardbacks without dustjackets are okay, as it's not a requirement to have them for posting.
No advanced reading copies (ARCs) are allowed.

5. When wrapping a book for sending, use packing tape. The post office hates it when people use scotch tape as it'll jam in their machines. Also, don't put tape over the stamps. Lastly, it's not a requirement, but I would recommend wrapping your book or books in plastic wrap. It's an extra step, but during the winter, I've heard many people appreciate the plastic wrapping as some packages were left on rainy doorsteps and in slushy snow puddles. Save yourself the headache should your package arrived damaged.

6. The USPS implemented a few years ago the "13 oz." rule. Anything over 13 oz MUST be mailed from a post office. Or it must have postage purchased from an automated postal machine. (APC) If using an APC sticker, write in one corner the package weight. I would recommend this. I've had a package or two come back with a note saying 13 oz. packages must be mailed from a post office. The solution to this is to physically hand it to the mail carrier and explain.

7. Finally, there's nothing wrong with posting in the "book bazaar" forum advertising about deals on your bookshelf. I do this all the time. I can tell you as a heads-up that most people will most likely want deals that involve three books for one credit. Or four books for one credit, and so on. I can assure you that if you take anyone up on this kind of deal, media mail is the best and only choice.

With that being said, I conclude this paperbackswap advertisement. *LOL* I know it does seem like a plug for it, but in real life I'm constantly telling people about this site. So it makes sense to come online and do the same. If I've found it a useful and awesome site, I'm sure many others will too.

I will leave off by saying if anyone reads this and is not a member but decides to join, I am more than happy to guide any newcomers. I've already weathered the storm and would be delighted to steer any newbies around the speed bumps and potholes.

Journal Entry from a NFL Fantasy Football Newbie Part 2

Blog Journal Entry from a Fantasy Football Newbie Part 2

I left off my last journal entry from a fantasy football newbie by saying I'd discovered how to pre-rank players without using the drag-and-drop feature. From there I refused to say what kind of team I drafted.

With that nice little recap done, I will continue. I was doing this late at night alongside my friend. Online, of course. My friend, I will admit, knows very little about football, thus, I wasn't surprised that she knew even less than I did about the whole fantasy football process. (If my friend should read this, I offer forgiveness. But you know it's the truth!)

Eventually my friend called it a night and said she would complete the rankings later. I, on the other hand, kept plodding on, determined to get at least something done. I think I must have put about fifty or sixty players in a list before I finally pushed back my keyboard and said "enough!"

To speed things along, since I'm sure this is all so very entertaining, (note friendly sarcasm) I never went back to my pre-ranked players list to fix or tweak it. Our league drafted the next week, and I had the fifth pick. My friend, as it turns out, never did complete her pre-ranked players list, therefore she was unfortunately excluded from participating in this year's fantasy football league.

Well, in my opinion, I think it's probably for the best that my friend made that crucial mistake. I know football, having sat beside my family for years watching the 49ers play back in the 1990s. Even to me, who knows football, had a doozy of a time getting in synch with all the rules and...other things.

Once our league drafted, I went home and sort of pushed it to the back of my mind. I told myself, wait till the Thursday when the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints play. Yes, I realized that I made a mistake doing it. Fantasy football is about keeping on your toes. About having your ear constantly to the ground to hear all the latest news, gossip, rumors, injury reports and so on.

Fortunately, when opening weekend came, I scrambled to drop deadwood from my starting line-up and bench. Luckily, there were still a few second-stringers available for me to pick up. I waved good-bye to the back-up to the back-up quarterback who was sitting on my bench and I said hello to Alex Smith. Yes, I will say that much. At the time, it wasn't a hot choice, but there wasn't much left to choose from.

I will conclude this part two of a Journal Entry from a Fantasy Football Newbie. Look for part three soon. If you've stuck with me this far, I will say that the next entry or two...or three...should prove far more entertaining. Now I'm going to get into explicit details of my first weekend of fantasy football. And what happened when I discovered that just because the season started, doesn't mean you couldn't still join a Yahoo fantasy football public league...

I will end with a Youtube video. I'd hoped to save it for another blog post, but if you've kept reading this far, you deserve a reward. This is an old Snickers commercial. My brother reminded me about it one day when we were reminiscing about old, funny commercials. Personally, I think it's one of the damn funniest commercials I've ever seen. Definitely in my top ten, that's for sure!

Batman snickers ad - YouTube

A funny Youtube video for NFL fantasy football fans

I know I have a part two coming of my adventures into fantasy football-land, but today I'm rather busy. And since I'd like to keep the attention of the one or two people visiting my blog, here's a youtube video I found that I hope will bring you some laughs.

I Suck At Fantasy Football - YouTube
(Clicking link will open it in a new window.)

Note: If you're like me and always suspicious of clicking links, go to google and type in "youtube" and "funny fantasy football". It's entitled "I Suck at Fantasy Football".

Being that I simply googled this, if you're a fantasy football as well as a youtube fan, there's a strong possibility that you've already seen it. However, bear with me. :)

Naturally, since I am blind, I can't see anything going on in the video. I do hope if there's anything inappropriate, someone will kindly let me know. In the meantime, enjoy the song and the dialogue, because if you're a fantasy football newb like myself, you can totally appreciate it! Then again, if you're not a newb, you can get a good chuckle from it.

P.S. Take note of the first two lines of the man's song. Let's just say I know exactly what he's talking about and leave it at that...

Journal Entry from a NFL Fantasy Football Newb Part 1

Recently I have discovered the world of fantasy football. Yes, I am female. Yes, I do like football. Yes, I am somewhat of a computer junkie. So it comes to a surprise to even me that I've taken this long to get into the game.

Since this is my soap box, I'll start from my beginning. A friend came to me and asked if I wanted to join a local league. I was intrigued. I'd wondered about fantasy football for a while. I'd tossed the idea around to see if it was something I could do to entertain myself. However, I never did anything about my desire for the simple fact that I knew it was played mostly online. And to a blind person, it's always a concern. Would I be able to use the website? Will my screen reader be able to access all the functions? Would it wind up being more pain than pleasure to play?

I know these thoughts of mine would undoubtedly send my blind friends and acquaintances into a tizzy. But hey, that's me! Anyone who knows me in real life understands I suffer from way too much stress. Not only that, but I have a bad habit of letting anything difficult stress the heck out of me, thus giving me massive migraines. If something seems more trouble than it's worth, I'd much rather take the high road.

Ahem. However, I digress. Despite having only marginal knowledge of how fantasy football works, I decided to go online and see if I could educate myself on the subject. Boy, did I get more than I'd bargained for! There are boatloads and boatloads of sites bursting with so much information regarding fantasy football, I became dizzy!

The one thing I can say I latched on to right away was reading about the history of fantasy football. I don’t' know about anyone else, but learning when fantasy football actually started was quite a surprise to me. I'd thought it had only been around for 15-20 years. In actuality, fantasy football was created back in 1962 and worked its way up into what it is today.

Well, I'd rather not turn this blog entry into a history lesson, so I'll finish this section by saying I came across many sites talking about the history. For anyone interested, wikipedia's entry is the easiest to get through. I know it's wikipedia, and even I'm not too hot on using it as a reference, however, I did click on some of the reference articles where the material was taken, and it appears legit. So if anyone feels like reading more about it, here you go.

Fantasy football (American) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Getting back to the present... My friend approached me asking if I wanted to join a local fantasy football league. Since this friend was also blind, I thought, well, there's strength in numbers, so any bumps can be weathered together.

Not having any clue about where to go or what to do, I had to ask my friend for many details about the first steps in getting into the local league. It was a bit of a concern for me when I was told that the league would be played on Yahoo Sports. I used Yahoo mail and chat years ago. But that was a long...time...ago. And I do not have fond memories of using yahoo. Despite my reservations, I went ahead and agreed to join the fantasy league. What do you know? To my utter amazement and pleasure, I found that Yahoo had finally taken measures to make things on their site more accessible to us blind folk.

Getting the league information and password from my friend was probably the easiest part, as I soon discovered. From there it was figuring out settings and understanding what needed to be done first.

Naturally, picking a name and choosing your settings came first. *Yawn* Yes, I know boring. So moving along, I went to the section that I figured was where I pick a line-up of players I wanted to draft.

At first I was a bit frustrated, as I read that the way to select and exclude players was done by dragging and dropping. Not something a blind person can do! But, much to my great relief and pleasure, I noticed at the bottom of the pre-ranking players page an option that said if you were having trouble with this page, click this version. Yes! Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Immediately the drag-and-drop features were replaced with drop-down boxes and links.

* SIDENOTE: For any blind folk—or heck, any person who has trouble with drag-and-drop—reading this, I want to insert a note here to say that my brother and I found out the very hard way that the "click this version" option is only available if you're creating your own league or are attempting to join a league created by someone else. Apparently, the publicly assigned Yahoo leagues don't offer the option. I will just end this note by saying that thankfully, my brother and I found a relatively easy way to continue pre-ranking your own players. I will explain our method in future posts. *

Anyway, thanks to the alternate version, instead of drag and drop, I was presented with drop-down menus, links and buttons. The kind of thing that every blind person wants to see on a site known for using flash.

Here's where, dear people, I confess that I showed my female genes and complete ineptness. What did I do you ask? I didn't do the basics. Which meant that I went and started ranking players by the names I recognized rather than taking the time to understand who's hot and who's not.

At this point I would use the words "epic fail", but unfortunately, my siblings have banned me from using that term. *LOL* Therefore, I will imitate the infamous Homer Simpson. *DOH!*

I need not describe the type of team that I drafted, because it would embarrass me too much. Let's just say it was bad and take it from there. Thankfully, I think I've picked myself up pretty good since then. I'm currently second to last in the league rankings, but it could have been worse. Much worse. *LOL*

I will end part one of this journal entry from a fantasy football newbie by saying that after week 1 of the NFL, I did some looking and learned that it wasn't too late to still create more fantasy teams on public leagues. It might come as a "duh!" to most people, but I didn't realize until I started listening to the local ESPN radio station and paid more attention to the fantasy football talk that it wasn't uncommon for people to have more than one team.

To be continued...

Music To My Ears

**This is a blog entry I wrote a couple of weeks ago but never got around to posting. I think I wrote it on a Saturday. Anyway, finally getting around to posting it.**

I was unwinding from a long day yesterday in front of the television. I was constantly flipping channels, dissatisfied with practically everything I stopped on. It was too late for sports and mindless cartoons. Except for the crude stuff found on Cartoon Network. Sorry, I have nothing against Cartoon Network, but the kind of line-up they have in the late hours doesn't appeal to me.

In any event, I stopped on the Nickelodeon channel.

Sure, I'm way beyond the teen years. But having grown up on Nickelodeon, I still find things to catch my interest. And since I also have a nephew who insists on watching shows like iCarly and Victorious, I'm doubly exposed to the tween shows.

Anyway, I found myself watching part three of the iCarly and Victorius cross-over. They played the three parts in June, but apparently want to milk it for what it's worth and show it every weekend now. I have no idea if they only show part three, but that's all I've been seeing. Personally, I don't mind so much. I unashamedly admit I like the music. I'm not so close-minded that I won't give any kind of music a try.

As I was sitting and watching, something occurred to me. And of course, the thought is what prompted me to write my thoughts down. Well, actually, what I thought was, “Yay! An entry for the blog. Thank goodness!”

I sat thinking that the American television market has finally discovered in recent years, what the Japanese have known for quite some time. That music is appealing to all and that it's a big business in and out of shows.

Okay, this is probably confusing, so I'll back up. When I was in my teens, I was in love with Japanese anime. I probably watched as much Japanese anime as I did American cartoons. The thing is, more than the actual show itself, what always drew me to certain anime was the music. The Japanese, as I learned, took great effort in not only making the cartoon and animation a success, but the music that went with it. I could be wrong about this, (although I don’t think I am) but voice actors in Japan took their jobs very seriously. It wasn’t (and isn’t) like American cartoons where they will take anyone who can act. No. They find people who can act as well as sing. Which is why most Japanese cartoons always had the person who did the voice of a character doing any singing that happened to come along.

Ah, but music. Really, who doesn't like music. Some might argue with me about this, but I really think music is completely universal. By that I mean it's crossed the length of time and has only improved and expanded. Okay, I'm not completely sure, but in my humble opinion, music is everywhere and has been everywhere. It's probably even been here before there were books and written literature. Ancient civilizations, before they had books, movies, theater, etc there was music. So it's almost amusing to see how long it took for the capitalists to realize that beyond musical theater, concerts, radio and records, there were other ways music could still be marketed.

Okay, going back to Japanese animation, I must indulge myself by thinking of a few of my favorites that I used to love not only the cartoon, but the music as well. I probably spent a small fortune on their CDs. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least half a dozen shows that promoted music as much as the show. Naturally I'll name my favorites: Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, Crayon Shin-Chan, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Fatal Fury, etc.

The one thing that I remember standing out quite prominently was the knowledge that if I found myself interested in one of their beginning theme or ending theme songs, I could always find it. And not simply in the thirty-second file that most American cartoons produced. No, I could find a full-length version.

On a different note, I think of Disney right at this moment. I've had the pleasure of watching with my nephews and niece the Disney movie Tangled. I remember the first time I watched it. I was so pleased with it. And not simply for the simplicity of the story, the characters and so forth. No, my first and immediate thought was, hey, they got Mandy Moore to play the part of Rapunzel!

I will again admit that I ran through the credits, trying to see who played what voice and what singing part. If there are two people doing one part, I've yet to find it. At least, the main characters and main sub-characters play and sing their own parts.
This is good in my opinion. In fact, I would say it's more than good. It's fantastic. Maybe this isn't important to some people, but it is to me. For some reason, I was always let down if the person playing the voice didn't do the singing. Don't ask me why, it was just something I used to feel.

However, I digress. As for Victorious and iCarly, along with all these other shows that have singing in them... This is what I thought almost twenty years ago. Why didn't the American market do this too? They could make so much more if they put a little more effort into the theme songs, got people who could actually sing, etc. If they had done this, I’d thought, instead of me finding some homemade mp3 of a theme song that I liked, I would be able to buy the soundtrack.

That thought actually leads me into another, albeit brief, thought. I believe I remember the first time I liked a theme song from a television series and my delight when I realized that the series had put out a CD. It was the series Friends. I won't bore with details on how thrilled I was at liking a song and being able to find a longer, fuller-length version of it. Of course, I think this is another area where things have change. Most television shows are using popular music or creating their own with longer versions of the songs. Well, the popular shows anyway. But one takes what one can get.

Any who, this concludes my thoughts. Maybe others out there have recognized what I only discovered. Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is I'm glad for it. And in the long run...who cares right? Glad we got to this point in the end.

Long live music!

Do you eat to live or live to eat?

It's probably a little cliché, but have you ever asked yourself... Do I live to eat or do I eat to live?

The other night I was having dinner with three of my friends. We had a simple meal that night: Grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Ha ha! Yes, I brought the soup. If there's one thing about me that everyone knows, it's that I can't cook worth a darn.

The four of us are sitting around, eating, chatting, laughing. The usual stuff. Somehow the discussion turned to foods and which ones were our favorites. I had been suffering from a headache that day, so wasn't really contributing to the conversation.

My friends began discussing and exchanging stories about the variety of food that they had tried while on past trips. I must say that their favorite place to have a meal was Japan, hands down. Lol.

Finally, given that I had been so quiet throughout this chat, one of my friends looks at me and asks, "When you were in Japan, what did you eat?"

I had visited Japan some years ago with an exchange program for other disabled youths. It was a two-week trip that had us mainly residing in Tokyo, except for our first few days. We first went to a bird park and camped out a bit. Okay, maybe it wasn't "camping" in the true sense of the word, but when you've got a traveling air mattress, a floor to sleep on and an outdoor facility for showers... It's camping!

Thinking on my friend's question, I had to really stop and think. After several seconds, I laughed and said that I honestly couldn't remember. This got a good chuckle out of everyone. I smiled, shrugged and said, "Sorry. I think of that line my mom told me. I don't live to eat, I eat to live."

A good statement, wouldn't you think?

I don't know what else to really say. I couldn't care less about my next meal, as long as it's warm, filling and has some protein.

Of course, I seem to be the minority, as I have many other friends who are always scouting for the next new place to have lunch or dinner. I'm not like that. In fact, I could probably go to Romano’s Macaroni Grill and do a create-your-own-pasta every night and be happy. Lol. Yes, I'd probably get tired of it after a couple of weeks, but this shows that I'm a little...boring, when it comes to food.

Do I ever wonder why this is? Not really. However, if I had to guess, I'd probably attribute my lack of interest for food on that fact that while growing up, my mother cooked all the meals. We couldn't afford to go out to eat. The most we ever did was a dinner once a year at a restaurant to celebrate my grandma's birthday. Naturally paid by other relatives.

The bottom line is, I'm a simple person who has simple tastes. Literally.

While in my creative writing class yesterday

While in class on Tuesday, it turned out to be quite…interesting.

To explain… Despite having already received my BA in English, I’m back at school, taking an undergraduate creative writing class. It’s one that I was unable to take while working on my bachelor’s degree.

Well, moving along… Today’s class proved to be interesting, because my professor chose to go over two student’s stories that dealt with romance. This peaked my interest since this is right up my alley.

However, I have to say while it all proved to be a good session and all of us had plenty of laughs, I wasn’t left with a feeling I liked…or can even identify.

The story I’m particularly focused on was the first story we read. It’s a historical piece about four pages long that was purely a love scene.

Doesn’t sound too bad right? A love scene! What could be more entertaining than a love scene in a college classroom?

Hoo boy!

I knew the minute the professor started reading it that this would be either really embarrassing or really funny. It proved to be both!

Most of the time we were just laughing. This classmate had written in so many euphemisms and flowery words to describe the man and woman’s private parts and their desire for each other, that it wasn’t romantic at all. Instead it proved to be downright hilarious! And yes, I admit, I laughed hard along with everyone else.

off topic here… As I was joking with another classmate as we left class, romances, in my opinion, were never meant to be read aloud. In fact, in a recent writer’s meeting I attended, we had a guest speaker who explained to us about writing meant to be read aloud, or writing to be read silently.

Thus, this leads back to my stating that romances were never meant to be read out loud. Am I 100% sure on this? I have no idea! I’m sure published romance authors around the U.S. and beyond might disagree. All I know is that I’ve never been able to read a romance audio book. The few times I did, it was nuts! I always used headphones, and the few times my headphones would accidentally pull out of the device I was playing the book on, I would immediately check to see if anyone had heard. Funny? You bet! Especially if I just happened to be reading a love scene! Lol!

In addition to the embarrassment factor, there was also (at least for me!) the problem of the readers. I once read an audio book where the reader, a woman, kept her voice normal while reading the female protagonist’s lines, and would deepen her voice when doing the male protagonist. Okay, maybe not so bad?

Yes it was! I mean no disrespect when I say this, but when the reader went high for the woman and low for the man, it only made her sound like she was reading a romance involving two female lovers. I’m sorry, it didn’t work for me! I merely felt incredibly awkward. And I have to also say… I’ve never been able to read that book since. Lol!

But I digress… The one thing about the discussion today that was troubling me was my professor’s comment to the student. It was said that if she were trying to make fun of romances, then she should keep all she had written.

Make fun of romances? Professor, wait just a darn minute!

Okay, I know what the teacher meant. I’m sure there was no intent to insult romances. At least, that’s the attitude I’d prefer to take. But just the thought of someone writing a short story with the sole intent to make fun of a genre makes me a wee bit upset.

Romances have always had a bad rap. I’ve been reading romances for fifteen or sixteen years now. For as long as I could remember, the genre has always had people looking down on it. I recall many times in my youth people saying with a straight face, right in front of me, that romances were “trash”.

Thankfully, my dear writer friends have told me how to arm myself against such people. I am to simply tell them that the romance publishing industry makes up 50% of the publishing world.

Imagine that? 50%! That means romances go up against the other half, which includes fantasy, science fiction, non-fiction, young adult and so on.

Okay, do romances get a little raunchy? Of course they do! However, I try to remind the skeptics that romances are not about the love scenes alone. There are stories to go along with it. Wonderfully written stories that authors will spend hours writing. Or researching.

Overall, my general thoughts on Tuesday’s class is that I feel sad that even in this day and age, romance writing doesn’t get the respect it deserves. People view romances as a joke, and something to giggle about when they’re bored. Now, is that to say I think badly or less of my professor and classmates? Of course not.

Ultimately, people are entitled to their opinions. I equate what happened in class and the ridiculing of romances to my dislike of rap music. Do I think that rap is music? Well… I don’t really want to go there. I don’t want to go so far as to say it’s NOT music, since the world has recognized it. However, I personally can’t stand it. But I also don’t go around bashing it.

The one thing I always try to remind myself is: “To each his own.”