As you can see from some new buttons, I’m now using the Odiogo service. I found them after visiting a fellow disabled bloggers web site over at “A Life Without Limits“… Debbie.

Debbie, uses many assistive technologies to help her in daily life, one being Speech Recognition software on her computer to control it, and among other things type (say) her blog posts. The program she uses is called Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon’ has been around for many years and I have used it myself in the past. In fact, many doctors and lawyers use this very same program to dictate their notes.

It’s not cheap, but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR… You can learn more about Dragon Naturally Speaking from their web site at http://www.nuance.com

But any way… What caught my eye on Debbie’s site was Odiogo. It’s a FREE service to bloggers to convert your text posts to speech podcasts, so people can LISTEN to your blog, and not have to read it.

I think this is great for us folks who cannot see to well or for people that may be dyslexic. In fact I know of at least one person who checks this blog who is dyslexic, and I think could greatly benefit from this service.

To find out more about Odiogo (short for Audio to Go) visit Odiogo.com. Again it is FREE, so what do you have to loose?

To use Odiogo on this blog or others, simply click the “Listen Now” button at the top of each post… Or you can use our Odiogo Feed to subscribe to our now podcast posts via iTunes or any of your favorite other services. Though Odiogo is free, for bloggers to use it, you still must submit your feeds to have them converted. See the Odiogo site for more information.

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Well today was such a mixed bag, I know I have been so busy editing photos I just don’t have time to post! Sorry.

The Good

Today I got news that friend Cole won an essay contest… But not just any contest. This contest won him A NEW VAN (well his family)… Not just any van a FULLY ACCESSIBLE VAN WITH A LIFT! You can read the post,Cole did it! To find out more.

The Bad

Well not bad, but sad any way. Today is the 3rd anniversary of my grandmothers death. She passed away at the age of 83… I miss you gram’.

The UGLY

Well, unsightly? I awoke to a jackhammer pounding away. Asking mom, what the hell was going on; and looked out the front window, what do I see? A water main had burst RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE! Water was flooding down the street, a man with a jackhammer was working away, a backhoe and dump truck where getting ready to excavate.

By this time, we had about 6-inches of water in the basement, but nothing was damaged. We hooked up the sump pump and got it taken care of. It took the men from the Borough a few hours to fix; and there was a slight hold up because we have city gas, so PECO had to be called to mark the gas lines before the men could dig more.

But a few hours later, every thing was fix; except now, there is a LARGE, about 4-foot by 10-foot, and about 5-foot deep hole in front of my house! What luck! Did I mention it was 22ºF outside?

So, how was your day?

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This young man and his cheerful attitude amaze me. So, he enters this contest a few months back from a local Honda dealer in Southern California… Simple, 200-word essay… Out of over 800 entries, who do they pick? That’s right… COLE!

But wait, there’s more! Guess what? After seeing Cole’s story, the dealers decide it was not a Honda Element Cole needed but a FULLY ACCESSIBLE TOTALLY ADAPTED ODYSSEY MINI-VAN! As Cole says HOLY FRIGGIN’ COW!

Now mom and dad won’t have to lift Cole to get him in and out of the car, he can roll him self, and use a lift, and mom and dad can roll in a nice new van.

Way to go Cole, YOU ROCK! I can’t think of a more deserving person!

To check out the video here’s what to do:
Visit http://www.socalhonda.com
Click on “Free Honda“… Then click on Massie Family…
You can also try this direct link from Yahoo Video

Do check it out, it’s a very nice video.

For Cole’s actual post on his own blog visit here.

Cole YOU ROCK!

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