tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-309699772009-11-19T17:33:09.166-08:00I'm a deaf mom of three deaf and hard of hearing kiddos. Here's a peek into my world.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-69326748109473256892008-05-25T18:23:00.000-07:002008-05-25T18:24:48.225-07:00

I'm no longer posting on Blogger--A Deaf Mom Shares Her World is now over at Wordpress:A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-4766734202738597212008-05-20T13:10:00.000-07:002008-05-20T13:28:09.806-07:00

The service industry ain't what it used to be...This morning, my friend John sent me the link to a story about poor customer service on United Airlines:Not-So-Happy FlyingLast week, I wasn't so happy with United Airlines myself. After two phone calls trying to get them to load a subtitled movie into the plane, I learned that I was going to have to create a new law to get the airlines to comply:

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-86161103732644163702008-05-19T07:13:00.001-07:002008-05-19T09:12:37.548-07:00

On Friday morning, our last full day on Oahu, we headed over to the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. We were met by Harry Hayler, the school counselor, who gave us a tour of the school. The school currently has 72 deaf and deaf blind students and no students who are blind. All of the blind students on the island are in other schools. The school was down to 20 students at one point and nearly

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-23163893003841701572008-05-17T00:16:00.000-07:002008-05-18T13:26:11.751-07:00

Yesterday was a day of adventure. Early in the morning, we headed out to Wai'anae Boat Harbor on the north shore of Oahu to board the Hoku Nai'a for a dolphin cruise. We almost missed the boat, as we couldn't find the entrance to the harbor. The boat captain was a gal named Joyce with nine years of experience. She explained that it was difficult finding the dolphins in the last couple of weeks.

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-1803343750941068692008-05-15T19:41:00.000-07:002008-05-15T20:06:02.302-07:00

Good grief, it's already Thursday. Our time here in Oahu has flown by. Yesterday, we headed out to the Dole Plantation on the northwest side of the island. A small train took us around the plantation where we viewed the various crops that are farmed there. Can you guess my favorite plant? It wasn't the pineapple, it was the plant that makes...Chocolate!!!After the train tour, we sat down to

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-32599125311204219642008-05-14T11:45:00.001-07:002008-05-14T12:08:54.365-07:00

We headed back over to Pearl Harbor yesterday to tour the U.S.S Bowfin submarine and the U.S.S. Missouri battleship. Once we were on board the Bowfin, we met an intepreter, Vanetta, who was the staff person explaining the operations compartment in the submarine. Vanetta moved to Hawaii from Ohio to go to school out here. It was nice to be able to chat with her and ask questions. We obtained

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-16746442429506104012008-05-13T10:41:00.000-07:002008-05-14T11:45:00.706-07:00

Ok, pinch me. Here I am in Oahu with my parents and my sister. Yesterday, we headed out to Pearl Harbor and spent the entire day there. We aren't finished-- we're heading back out there to see the U.S.S. Missouri and Bowfin. This trip came about quite suddenly and unexpectedly. A few weeks ago, I was up in Michigan, sitting across from Dad and asking him, "If you could go anywhere, where would

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-44382707742254813312008-05-10T19:46:00.000-07:002008-05-10T20:36:47.877-07:00

Just a week ago, I was hanging around a bunch of great people from the SOBCon'08, cruising on Lake Michigan with a rum and coke in my hand. I had the opportunity to meet Robert Hruzek from Middle Zone Musings. You can see him in the photo above if you squint really hard. That's him in the twenty-gallon hat (inflation, ya know?) from Houston. Robert has an interesting challenge this week, a

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-57453170928236854322008-05-08T11:46:00.000-07:002008-05-08T12:44:41.297-07:00

Have I told you about ooVoo lately? I don't work for the company and there's no financial incentive for me to promote this, but I'm going to tell you about ooVoo because it's an amazing tool for communication over the internet. I first used ooVoo when I participated in "My ooVoo Chat" back in February of this year. A short video featuring the conversations (including mine) can be seen

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-83443942725256583052008-05-07T05:55:00.000-07:002008-05-07T06:29:33.479-07:00

Remember when I had the drive-thru window shut in my face (not once, but twice!) back in January? The issue continues to ripple on. In April, it was the subject of Laurel Papworth's presentation at the RMIT Communicator of the Year event in...Australia. That's right, Steak 'n Shake has gone down under. Laurel has an excellent presentation on why companies need to be aware of social media and how

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-43976045434591425202008-05-05T08:46:00.001-07:002008-05-05T15:10:33.068-07:00

On Friday night, the SOBCon bloggers hopped on board for a cruise down the river and out to Lake Michigan. During the week, we were keeping an eye out on the weather as Chicago is known for making fools out of the local weathermen. Friday called for severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon into the evening, so when I saw the predictions that morning, I thought for sure the cruise would be

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-6320389880171173802008-05-04T19:22:00.000-07:002008-05-04T20:05:28.454-07:00

I'm sitting at home now with Stephen Hopson from Adversity University and we just finished talking about what an amazing weekend it was for us at the SOBCon '08. Like Stephen said, "It's all about the love." And there was plenty of it this weekend. So here are some pictures to browse through-- there will be more tomorrow!

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-46750233432627217652008-05-02T05:38:00.001-07:002008-05-02T05:53:12.327-07:00

"It's singing time and laughing time and playing time and now it is my favorite time, signing time!"The first time I saw a tape of Signing Time, I couldn't get the lyrics out of my mind. I suspect that's one of the reasons that Signing Time has become successful in the mainstream. Little toddlers everywhere are listening to the songs, watching the videos and moving their hands to communicate.

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-79687196433448707252008-05-01T13:18:00.000-07:002008-05-01T13:24:36.955-07:00

I'm having a bad hair day today. I'm praying that the rain gods will take their dance somewhere else tomorrow. Raindrops and my hair don't mix well. Why all this concern? Well, I'm heading downtown to the SOBCon '08 and the forecast calls for rain.And possible thunderstorms. Ah, but who really cares? We'll be inside a boat, cruising the Chicago shoreline and connecting with one another. Look

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-26191068601428748032008-04-29T05:13:00.000-07:002008-04-29T05:45:01.261-07:00

I've been hanging out at Wendy Piersall's new place--SparkPlugging, and I'm liking the digs very much. Wendy took her personal blog and grew it into a network with 17 other bloggers writing for her. And she has plans to expand her site even more!Wendy started her blog as "Emoms At Home," and it began to outgrow the name as the audience expanded to fathers and people without children. Wendy began

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-50850233066779555802008-04-28T08:08:00.001-07:002008-04-28T08:30:42.042-07:00

It was one of those weekends with nary a break! On Saturday morning, I headed out to Egg Harbor Cafe to join the gals from my Deaf Women's club for breakfast. Egg Harbor has to be my number one favorite restaurant for breakfast. Their breakfasts are so delicious and their fresh-squeezed orange juice tastes as if they picked the oranges that morning. I'm not much of a breakfast person, either! Do

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-25437134171352652662008-04-24T05:23:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:47:25.626-07:00

I met Marlene for the first time last summer. She and her husband Dale stopped by my parent's house on Christie Lake to spend the day with us. My sister Linda met Marlene and Dale through the local Deaf Clubs in Michigan and they quickly bonded. Together, they worked the Dingo games and cooked large amounts of food for the gatherings. Linda began spending time with Marlene and Dale and

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-6058646726121935622008-04-22T05:15:00.000-07:002008-04-22T07:30:52.190-07:00

I haven't been doing memes but after being tagged by KW and Moxie Mocha I figured I'd play along. After all, it's all about me, me and me, and you know how much I love talking about me all the time. What was I doing 10 years ago:Let's see, ten years ago, I was researching home birth vs. hospital birth and decided to have my third child at home. Instead of renting a water tub to labor in, my

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-21063353904344097912008-04-21T08:37:00.001-07:002008-04-21T08:46:11.613-07:00

Come and join me and June Prusak tomorrow night at Chicago Hearing Society. I'll be sharing my experience of being denied service at a Steak 'n Shake restaurant and tips on how to advocate. NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHTS AWARENESS WEEKChicago Hearing SocietyVictim Assistance Program invites you toThe Victim Rights Awareness Night! June Prusak: Youth Services Manager, Chicago Hearing Society: “

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-62699707644724039742008-04-20T08:04:00.000-07:002008-04-20T10:38:42.259-07:00

Yesterday, I spent the day refereeing at the Harper Deaf Volleyball tournament. There were about 300 people there with hands flying everywhere (including a couple of cuers). This tournament brought back a lot of memories, for my first introduction to volleyball was in college, when I played for the NIU deaf team. At that time, the tournament was hosted at Waubonsee College. I teamed up to

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-34030895062503173972008-04-18T19:20:00.000-07:002008-04-18T19:40:06.667-07:00

"I don't want to go to this award thing!" my daughter announced on Thursday morning. Lauren was selected for a STARS award at her middle school and we were heading to the breakfast event. Getting her out the door was like pulling teeth. Eventually we made it to the school and slipped into the cafeteria chairs. Lauren went up to get her award along with several other students from her team. "

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-83151438629882384192008-04-16T13:41:00.001-07:002008-04-16T13:49:16.770-07:00

The Southtown Town Star posted an update on the case of Dawn Nile's murder:Gary Albert Pleads InnocentDawn was a deaf student at Hinsdale South High School and she was found murdered in March of 1981. Gary was held in jail on a one million dollar bond and his family bailed him out to the tune of $100,000. A hearing is scheduled for May 22nd. To read all of the news articles: Dawn Niles

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-66068213927724297242008-04-15T13:09:00.001-07:002008-04-15T13:30:02.421-07:00

I've been purple for a few months now. Before that, I was a dedicated I-711 user and IP Relay and I still am-- except now all of my favorites are rolled into one. The three companies merged and now I'm a purple employee. Yes, that's right, I work for Hands On.I love video relay with VCO. What's that, you ask? I pull up VideoSign 2.5 on my computer or HOVRS.TV on my videophone and an interpreter

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-34195706507594640742008-04-14T05:59:00.000-07:002008-04-14T09:57:56.808-07:00

Jennifer Laycock tackled the issue of how negative campaigns against competitors rarely serve a positive outcome in her post, Spite is not a Marketing Strategy. Jennifer encourages companies to make themselves stand out from their competitors in a different way, a way that highlights something positive about their company. In her blog, Jennifer used the example of Steak 'n Shake and Culvers:

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30969977.post-18001285305200161452008-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:002008-04-11T19:40:45.354-07:00

Today was nuts. I went food shopping at 2:45 and picked the youngest kiddo up at 3:30. Together, we put the food away and Steven tossed dinner in the oven while I hopped in the car to pick up Lauren at school. She stayed after school to play volleyball. As soon as we arrived home, I sent her upstairs to pack a bag for her sleepover. Her friend was on her way home from the Illinois School for

Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098620301550608119noreply@blogger.com9