Author: david

Accessible Voting In The Pennsylvania Primary

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about voting in the Pennsylvania Primary. Voting was very different this year (we used paper ballots) and wasn’t accessible to me (though I think there would have been a way for me to vote accessibly if Eliz wasn’t with me.) Had I requested an absentee ballot, […]

An Offer To Help Small Businesses

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about my offer to help small businesses recover after being closed for so long. I’ve owned and operated various small businesses since I was 21 (longer if you count the lemonade stands I had as a kid,) so I know how much time, money, and effort […]

Tell Me Everything And Don’t Leave Anything Out

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about how important it is to tell me the full story. Verbal communication, as descriptive as possible, is needed for someone who is blind or visually impaired because they can’t “see it for themselves.” Think radio play-by-play, not tv. As President of our condo board, I […]

An Interview With Erin And Bob From White Cane Coffee

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I speak with Erin and Bob Whillman from White Cane Coffee. Erin tells me how a bad day gave her the inspiration to start the business. I am an affiliate for White Cane Coffee and you can be one too! See the Links Mentioned In This Episode section. […]

First Mother’s Day Without My Mom

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about Mother’s Day and how it will be the first one since my mom died back in December. I tell a few stories about her from when I was growing up, including how she use to purchase items like toilet paper and paper towels in cases […]

An Interview With The Blind Blogger Maxwell Ivey

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk with my friend, Maxwell Ivey, The Blind Blogger. Max is an entrepreneur who has pivoted from one business into a blogger, author, host of the What’s Your Excuse podcast, and publicist. He is an inspiration to all of us, both blind and sighted. Links To The […]

An Interview With Voice Over Artist Roy Samuelson

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk with leading Hollywood voice-over artist Roy Samuelson about Audio Description. You can hear Roy’s narration on films like Get Out and 1917, as well as popular TV shows like Hunters, Criminal Minds, and NCIS. In 2019, he was nominated for a SOVAS Award in the Narration […]

Going For A Walk Around The Old Neighborhood

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about taking a walk with Eliz and Jane, but without my white cane. We walked to visit Eliz’s mother (know as Grandmere.) We waived at her through the window. We then walked around the neighborhood that I grew up in. It brought back some memories. I […]

I Lost 9 Pounds And I’m Not Looking For Them

In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about how I’ve lost nine pounds since February and I’ll tell you how I did it. I still have another nine pounds to go to get me where I want to be. The weight gain came after retina surgery and a change in my medication for […]

Making Board Games More Accessible To Blind People Using Items You Already Own

Making Board Games More Accessible To Blind People Using Items You Already Own One of the things we like to do as a family is play board games. This doesn’t happen often, though. Only when we lose power, there’s nothing on TV and the DVR doesn’t have something we all want to watch, or there […]

Working From Home To Help Blind People

Working From Home To Help Blind People Since we closed the brick and mortar portion of Salon Supplies + Interiors back in 2009 due to serious mold issues that the landlord wouldn’t address, I’ve done work out of my home office in Media and now in Swarthmore. In fact, the only time this century that […]

Pandemic Related Email Inaccessible To The Blind

Pandemic Related Email Inaccessible To The Blind In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about email I received from businesses related to the coronavirus that were completely inaccessible to me and other visually impaired people. Usually, when I get email from retailers, credit card companies, and other businesses it is just frustrating that […]

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Travel To Orlando And Podfest In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about traveling on my own to Orlando and going to Podfest Multimedia Expo. While at the airport on the way to Florida after clearing security, I realized it wasn’t that different from traveling by train. Passing through security was the biggest […]

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Blind People For Dummies In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about a tip that I received in the Podfest Facebook group about the design of my business cards and how I acted on it. Eliz came up with a great tagline (even though she has never listened to the show.) I also […]

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Great Customer Service (And Not Just Because I’m Blind) In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about great customer service I received from a few employees at WSFS Bank while banking for the Keystone Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania. Great customer service is uncommon in today’s “screen age.” […]

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Traveling While Blind In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about traveling and what I learned at a recent Philly Meetup For The Blind presentation from a couple of seasoned travelers who happen to be blind. I talk about some of my fears about traveling on my own to Podfest in Orlando in […]

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A Trip To Washington To Advocate For The Blind In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about traveling to Washington, DC to advocate for the blind by lobbying congress. And you know, I can’t go anywhere without trying new restaurants, so I talk about them, too. Thanks for the tip, Guy Fieri! I […]

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Independence Hall Blind Selfie And Crazy Stuff People Said To Me In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about my quest for the perfect blind selfie at Independence Hall in Philadelphia while on my way to the Museum of the American Revolution. It should come as no surprise to you that I want […]

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No Computer, No Smartphone, No Problem Keeping Track Of The Money In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about how the recently-retired Treasurer of the Keystone Chapter was able to do all of her work without using a computer or smartphone. As the new Treasurer, I will not be able to accomplish my […]

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Sixers Game With A Friend I had a fun night going to the Sixers game with my friend Chris. We got to catch up and enjoy a Sixers win. As with any sporting event I attend, I have to choose between paying attention to the game or socializing. When Eliz and I went to Jane’s […]

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Psoriatic Arthritis Is A Bigger Issue Than My Blindness I was diagnosed with Psoriasis about 25 years ago when I was about 30 years old. When I was diagnosed, my skin looked terrible. It was mostly on my body, but I did have some on my head. Psoriasis is very uncomfortable on two fronts. There […]

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NYC On My Own As I’ve mentioned so many times before, I love traveling to New York City. For this trip, I traveled to celebrate Jane’s birthday with her. She was working a normal day and I just didn’t want her leaving work and just going home without doing anything on her special day. She […]

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2020 Plans, Goals, Guests, New Podcast Projects, And Travel Ideas As we start another year, I lay out my goals and plans for the next 12 months. Some are business-related, like increase affiliate marketing revenue to support the purchase of medical insurance for my wife and I, and our two adult kids. Additional increases would […]

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Chanukah And Christmas Memories Thinking back to when I was a kid, I had the best of both worlds. While I was raised Jewish, I also got a pretty good dose of Christmas. As I mentioned in episode 053, my mom converted to Judaism to marry my dad. I was fortunate that my aunt (her […]

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Remembering My Mom (Includes A Little “Hernandez Tone”) This podcast episode wasn’t the easiest to record so close to her death, but telling some of the stories I told put a smile on my face. My mom has lived at Maris Grove in Glen Mills for the last 13 years. The first 11 years were […]

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Vampire Weekend At The Movember Gala This Movember Gala was billed as a 45-minute acoustic set by Vampire Weekend. They played for over an hour and it was an outstanding show! The event helped raise over $25,000 for the Movember Foundation, “the leading charity changing the face of men’s health.” This was the second Movember […]

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Exploring The Penn Museum On My Own

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Fantasy Football In The Blind Abilities League I’ve been playing fantasy football for 15 to 20 years, mostly playing in one league. I’ve won that league a few times and been runner-up on one more occasion. When I found out about the Blind Abilities fantasy football league a couple of years ago, I wanted in. […]

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Another Trip Around The Sun

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Meetup To Eat Up At Victoria Freehouse Links to things I talked about in the episode: Philly Meetup for the Blind and Visually Impaired If you aren’t in the Philadelphia area, have a look around Meetup to see if there is something similar in your area. If there isn’t, why not start one? Philly Touch […]

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Traveling To Harrisburg For The State Convention As I mentioned in an episode in January, I wanted to travel more in 2019. I don’t think I ever would have guessed how much more I’d actually do it. With the exception of June and August, I’ve spent at least one night in a city that I […]

Verizon Fios Tech Support: The Good, The Bad, And The Abysmal

I think the most infuriating part of the 3 1/2 hours spent with Verizon Fios tech support was when the two or three agents had no idea what I was asking for. One of them said, "That is not a service we offer. You need to do that on your smart TV." One of them told me he understood, then told me to turn on closed captioning and then turn on text to speech. For those that don't know, closed captioning is for the Deaf and puts the dialog into word so it can be read.

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When Technology Isn’t Perfect Who doesn’t want a FREE Google Home Mini courtesy of Spotify? Play your music, look up news articles, let other people wonder what you meant when you said you were going to kill so and so while listening in to my private conversation. For someone who is blind or visually impaired, […]

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Myth Or Reality: Blind People’s Other Senses Are Greater I love getting questions about being blind. Last week, when I was at a doctor’s appointment, the technician who took me to the room asked me a couple of questions about blind people. She was appreciative that I took the time to answer them.  Thanks to […]

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Success At Lehigh Valley Mall Event Since October is Meet the Blind Month, Keystone Chapter President Harriet Go searches for events that we can go to and get the word out about the National Federation of the Blind and how it can help you if you are blind or know someone who is blind. One […]

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Visiting My Mom In Hospice Six months ago to the day, my Mom turned 90 years old and we almost didn’t get a chance to visit her due to the assisted living facility being quarantined due to an illness outbreak. Fortunately, the staff at Rose Court at Maris Grove made it happen. We were only […]

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Banners Concert And Mutter Museum It has been a very busy September, so far. I’ve gone to the Museum of the American Revolution, the Academy of Natural Sciences 2x, the Benjamin Rush Botanical Gardens at the Mutter Museum, Radio 104.5 to see a Studio Session with Bastille (and a meet and greet, too,) a Bastille […]

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Live Music Beats Live Sports For Me Now When I was a kid, I went to a ton of professional sporting events. All four major Philadelphia teams, plus indoor soccer (Philadelphia Kixx,) indoor lacrosse (Philadelphia Wings) and the women’s indoor tennis tournament that came to Philadelphia every year. I went to more Phillies games each […]

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Philly Museums And A Movie By A Blind Director All In One Week! Check out Museum of the American Revolution, Philly Touch Tours, and the Academy of Natural Sciences.

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Wings, Ribs, And Pizza For Clearer Vision? Maybe! Eliz and I went out for dinner at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Wilmington, DE and I’m pretty sure my vision was a little clearer by the end of the meal! I would love to try this in a before and after situation. Either read an eye […]

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AT Expo At CBVI And The Trip Home Here is a perfect example of why I have to listen more and look less. As I’ve mentioned more than a few times, I do have a little bit of sight. Today, when preparing for the podcast, I went to the CBVI Facebook page to see what […]

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Drug Abuse, Serious Mental Illness Just Steps Away This episode has very little to do about being blind and more to do about balancing the rights of the mentally disabled with the rights of everyone else. Some pretty weird stuff has been going on in and around our comdo complex over the past couple of […]

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Into Philly To Lead A NFB Chapter Meeting While I do talk a little about the meeting, this episode focuses on getting to and from the meeting in Center City Philadelphia on my own. There were a few things I should have done differently, but in the end, I made it to Starbucks, then the […]

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A Busy Time For A New Old Cornea Issue We’ve been busy this summer helping Jane transition from college to workforce. Once she found a full time job in NYC, we helped her find an apartment. It is an exciting time for her as she moves out of our apartment into one of her own […]

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The Exhibit Hall And My eSight In-Home Demo The exhibit hall at the National Federation of the Blind National Convention was an interesting mix. On one hand, you had companies displaying and demoing the latest gadgets in assistive technology, while on the other, there were state affiliates selling all sorts of goods, like food products, […]

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We Made It To Vegas! It took three days, but we finally made it to Las Vegas. American Airlines said they were really sorry, but wouldn’t do anything to help. They basically said, you’re flying to Las Vegas on Tuesday. We can’t help you on Sunday or Monday. Take it or leave it.

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Over 6 Hours On A Plane And Didn’t Leave The Airport I was so excited to go to Las Vegas to attend my first National Federation of the Blind National Convention. Seven nights at Mandalay Bay. The first few days there was only a couple of events each day, so Eliz and I would get […]

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TV Show Tough To Follow? Try Audio Descriptive Services I like watching tv, but if I’m watching alone, it is very difficult for me to follow some shows. Finding shows that have audio description make things so much more enjoyable for me. Netflix and Prime seem to have the most shows that have audio description […]

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Growing Plants To Support The Blind I have to tell you, I never thought I’d do an episode about using medical marijuana to help blind and visually impaired people. Yet here it is. Funny how ideas pop up. One day I was watering some of our houseplants and then left our apartment to get the […]

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Vegas In July For Work And Fun Eliz and I are going to the National Federation of the Blind National Convention in July and we are looking forward to it. We will both be working some booths/tables on the exhibit floor during the convention. We are also looking forward to trying a few of the […]

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Exercise At Home Sometimes you have to work around issues that you can’t control. Since Eliz’s schedule changed we no longer go to the gym. Going on my own isn’t really an option, so I have to exercise in or around my home (apartment.) One way I get steps in is by walking around my […]

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My Dad: Hero, Mentor, WW2 POW I hope you enjoy this episode about my Dad. He taught me so much, from how to play sports, run a business, be fair to all people, and countless other things. I don’t know if he’d like this episode, but there is one thing that he’d want me to […]

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  A Brooklyn Coffee Shop, Vegan Diner, And A Few Other Places On My Day In NYC   I had a nice day in NYC when I went with Jane as she went on a couple of job interviews. I spent some time at City of Saints Coffee Roasters (297 Meserole St.) while Jane had […]

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How An Irritating Email From American Express Got Me Thinking I got an email from American Express with offers that I couldn’t read. The offers were images. Since the text of the offer was also part of the image, my screen reader couldn’t even read it. I was pretty frustrated by it and I’m not […]

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  Graduating With Honors (No, Definitely Not Me, It’s Jane!) Since we’ll be heading to New York City tonight for Jane’s graduation in the morning, I’ve recorded and released this week’s episode a day early. Eliz and I are so proud of and happy for Jane and what she has accomplished. It is significantly different […]

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  Dinner With Friends (And Getting There On My Own) Eliz and I had plans to have dinner with our friends (and former neighbors) Mike and Lisa, and Jane and Ipen at Tom’s Dim Sum in Media. We were going on a Thursday night at 6.15pm. Thursdays are one of Eliz’s long days, where she […]

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  Uber Issues Living in the Philadelphia suburbs makes it challenging for anyone who doesn’t drive. Public transportation is available, but it is not alway easy to get from point A to point B. You sometimes have to go miles in the opposite direction to get to your final destination. That also adds a heap […]

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  Correct Change: Trust The Transaction When I started the podcast, I told myself that when I published 20 episodes I would consider buying a Zoom H6 recorder. I would be able to go out and about with it and a mic and talk to people. While I will still consider buying one, I’ll keep […]

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  Using A Digital Agency To Help The Blind After becoming an affiliate for the White Cane Coffee Company, I started thinking about how I could do something similar to help blind people.  

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  Touching History At The Penn Museum I’ve been to plenty of museums in my lifetime, but most of them never let you touch the artifacts on display. Especially those that are 4000 years old. Thanks to the Penn Museum and Philly Touch Tours, I was able to touch items from ancient Egypt.  

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  Accessible Family Communications & Other Handwriting Dilemmas From the calendar on the fridge to the dry erase board on the back of our front door, there are a lot of handwritten notes around our apartment.  

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  Celebrating My Mom’s 90th Birthday & How I’m Like Her We were very fortunate to be able to even see my mom on her 90th birthday. Some sort of virus kept everyone out of Rose Court. The quarantine lasted nearly three weeks.  

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  I Told You I Wanted To Go Places In 2019 Three months into the year and I’ve been able to spend some time away from home. State College once and multiple trips to Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City.  

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  Hitting The Road Again I love going places.  

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  Back To DC! One month after Washington Seminar, I had the opportunity to attend a reception in the Senate Office Building with Pennsylvania Senator Casey, Maryland Senator van Hollen, and former PA Governor Ridge. I even got the chance to speak to Gov. Ridge for a few minutes.  

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  Navigating A Public Restroom And Trying Not To Touch Anything   If there is one place you don’t want to have to feel around for something, it is a public bathroom.  

I’ve Got A Podcast!

  Last Fall, I launched the iCantCU Podcast. It is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. I am working on redesigning the site so that you can listen to the podcast right here, but until then, you can check out the iCantCU Podcast at the iTunes Store.  

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  Let’s Eat! (Preparing Meals & Keeping All Your Fingers) Eating. What a great topic.  

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  Making Social Media More Enjoyable For The Blind There is nothing more frustrating than going through Facebook and coming across a photo a friend has uploaded, without any kind of description of what is happening in the image.  

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  Me And 500 Other Blind People In DC Every January, the National Federation of the Blind has an event in Washington, D.C. called Washington Seminar. This is when hundreds of blind people from all over the country head to our Nation’s Capital to meet with Senators and Representatives and tell them what is important […]

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  Touchscreen Accessibility (Or Lack Thereof) When a device uses a touchscreen to operate it, like the newest gym equipment, it is impossible for who has little on no vision to operate it unless there is some sort of voice prompts like VoiceOver on IOS deviices.  

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  Goals for 2019 2019 is here and there are a few things that I want to accomplish this year. On the personal side, I’d like to travel more. In 2017, Eliz and I went to the UK. Twice! Of course, that is because Jane was doing her Study Abroad in London. In 2018, other […]

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  Traveling On My Own I really like to travel, but up until the past year or so, I never went far on my own. Since then, I’ve been to State College, PA and New York City.  

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  December Wins For Life Event Anniversaries Wow, so many life events happened in December.  

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  Blind Awareness Month Events I alway like to get involved in Blind Awareness Month events every October.  

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  Going To The Movies I love going to the movies. When I owned a video store, I probably went to two dozen movies per year. It helped to have first hand knowledge for when they came out on video. But as my sight went from low vision to legally blind, it was less enjoyable. […]

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  Navigating Podcast Movement PM18 came to Philadelphia, so how could I not attend it?  

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  Introducing David (That’s Me!) I’ve waited over a year to publish this podcast episode (and it has been months since I’ve recorded it.) This inaugural episode is about me and growing up with and living with low vision.

Traveling To NYC and Back

What is the fastest, cheapest, easiest way for me to travel from my home in Swarthmore, PA to New York City on my own? Jane and Eliz were my guides on two recent trips into the city.

A Long Weekend in London

We've taken our kids for the first day of school every year since they started preschool. Why should it be different when our daughter started at Regent's University London? It was a fast-paced long weekend in London.

Five Years

June has many special dates in it for me. Most are happy dates, like 10 June, our wedding anniversary (27 years, this year,) the kids high school graduations, and several others. There is one sad one, though. On 11 June 2012, my father died. Five years.

I Joined the NFB!

I joined NFB (National Federation of the Blind) this past weekend. My friend Warren invited me to the Keystone Chapter of the NFB last month, but it snowed that day, so I didn’t feel comfortable going.

Shaving

I like to say I shave once a week whether I need to or not. Of course, I should probably shave more often, but that is another topic completely. In the winter months, I grow a beard.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope that 2016 is a great one for you! I am prepared for a year of transition, but hopefully ready for the challenge. 2015 ended on a positive note

Complete Frustration

Ask anyone with low vision or no vision about the time it takes to do simple tasks and you'll hear stories. Tasks that take the sighted person only a couple of minutes, take low or no sight people 10 to 15 minutes.

Cabin Fever

This Winter has been cold and very snowy. We've had about 60 inches (152 cm) so far and a little more predicted this week. All over the news, people are complaining about cabin fever.

It’s Been Awhile…

It’s been about 18 months since I’ve posted anything here. I don’t usually do New Year’s resolutions, but this year I do have one. It is to post more frequently here.

Joshua Goldstein, 7 January 1918 – 11 June 2012

My dad died today. He was 94. What an amazing man he was. He was the youngest of eight kids born to Russian immigrants.

Low Vision Awareness

Wow, am I happy to say so long to February. You see, February is Low Vision Awareness month (as Jane likes to say, see what I did there — I combined you see, with low vision…)

I Want iPhone Apps That Work with Voiceover

Is that too much to ask? My friend Jim told me about an app called IMapMyWalk. So I go to the App Store and get the free version of it to try out. I was really excited about the app.

My Dad is Home, Now for the Hard Part

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter (@davidbenj) or Facebook (facebook.com/davidbenj) you might not know what I’ve been up to the last few weeks.

Father’s Day

We had a very busy Father's Day. We went to Outback at 11.10am for lunch with Eliz's father, mother, her sister Margaret, and our niece Meghan. Yes, I said 11.10am. More like brunch, I guess.

Retina Check

It's been a while since I've posted. We've had a bunch of things going on that took (and still take) priority. Friday afternoon I visited Dr. Garg for an appointment. He is my retina doc.

One Month After Surgery

Yesterday marked a month since my most recent surgery. It is somewhat ironic that over the past few days my vision hasn't been great, with today being the worst of the last few.

Sometimes Things Look Different to Me

Every morning I weigh myself twice, once before I get in the shower and once after I dry off after the shower. Getting on the scale is also an eye test of sorts.

29 Shots

This was, by far, the easiest surgery I've had. I'm not sure we were at the surgery center for a full hour. Since there was no general anesthesia

Sweet Sixteen Tomorrow

Let's hope it is sweet, or at least it doesn't make things worse. Tomorrow at 12.30 I'm having what is called YAG laser capsulotomy, a minor surgical procedure (my sixteenth)

I Can’t See Very Well, But My Hearing is Still Good

We visited my parents today. We spent about an hour with them. After we left my parent's apartment, we were walking down the hall where a couple was sitting.

My Eye, My Dad and Our Day

I'd been looking forward to today for the past dozen days. Back on 10 Dec, I went to my retina doc, who, as previously mentioned, noticed three things that he thought were causing my vision to be worse than it had been.

Who or What is Kane?

Todays delivery schedule took us into Wilmington with a styling chair and wall-mount workstation. We got a late start since we had quite a few orders to box up.