The Joys of Airport Security

The other day, Mason and I went to the airport to pick up my friend, Nimer, and his dog, Abbie. Since Nimer and I are both blind, I decided it would be easiest for me to meet him at his gate instead of waiting at baggage claim. Getting a pass to do so was no problem. However, this meant Mason and I got to deal with the new airport security. In the past, I would walk through the mettal detector, have Mason sit behind me, and call him once I was done. His harness would set the detector off, which would result in a pat down. However, since they have new body scanners that are too small for both of us to fit in, we went straight to the pat down. Now, the thing to remember durring this is to keep calm, and keep your dog under control. Although the airport security officer conducting the search may try to get you to have your dog do stuff you wouldn't normally have him or her do, just go along with it. It will make the whole process go by much more smoothly and quickly. Seeing as your dog may be uncomfortable with someone touching you, and him or her, keeping control will put your dog at ease and will let him or her know that everything is okay. Seeing as the security staff is usually in a rush, they usually do not have the gentlest of hands. Therefore, it's not unlikely that they could make dogs feel a little anxious. So to sum everything up, keeping your dog calm and letting the airport security officers do their jobs will make your airport travel much more pleasant.

The Joys of Visual Learning

Lately, I've had to have a talk with 2 of my professors involving different assignments that I needed to complete, but that were too visual for me to do so independently. My history professor wanted us to do an on line geography assignment that involved identifying countries on a map based on a number system. I have news for you people. Yes, my screen reader can read text on my computer screen, but no, my screen reader cannot describe pictures. Therefore, there is no way I could do this assignment on my own. Even if someone helped me with it, they would basically be doing it for me. So, even though I don't reccomend making this a habit, (being blind doesn't make you unable to work) I had to ask for an exhimption. Luckily, my professor was able to grasp the situation, and understood completely. I was planning to offer to do an alternative assignment, but he just told me not to worry about it. Not because of blindness, but because of tipical college laziness, I was happy to hear this.
The other professor was not as easy. This was a psychology class, where we had to learn how to enterpret different graphs and make statistical calculations from them. In this case, I get to spend some extra time in her office before the test going over how to do them. As much as I'm not thrilled with the idea, I'm not going to try to get out of it. Blindness should not give me a right to not put forth an efort. Therefore, I guess I know what I'll be working on for the next couple of weeks.

As Told By Mason (The Trip To Albany)

This weekend, Sam and I went on a road trip. I'm not exactly sure where, but I heard Sam refer to the place as Albany. Anyway, we left on Friday, and arrived at an apartment I'd never been too before. However, Sam seemed to know what we should be doing since he got out a key and let us in. I sniffed around for a while, and recognized the smells. They belonged to Sam's friend Sean, and his black lab, Franklin. We hadnt seen them in a few months, and I spent a while looking for them. After all, if their scents were here, then they must have been here at some point. Finally, Sam took me outside, and there they were! Franklin and I were thrilled to see each other, and got a little too excited.
After a while, Sam and Sean put Franklin and I in our work harnesses, and we went out to enjoy a night on the town. First, we went out to dinner. Unlike the dining hall experiense I described in last week's poast, I was a verry good golden. I lay down next to Sam's chair and slept. However, Franklin was horrible. I guess only a lab would never learn that standing up, laying your head in laps, and drooling will not help you get any food. Later, we went to a few stores, and Sam got me some toys and treats. However, I wanted to take a few extra bags with me. Too bad Sam caught me trying to sneaque them off the shelf. That night, I was delighted to discover a soft sided crate kind of like the one I have at Sam's mom's house. I'm a good dog, and never have to be crated, but I like sleeping in an open one anyway. So, since it seemed more portable then the one I keep at Sam's mom's, and since Franklin doesn't use it, Sam let me bring it home. Basically, the night was perfect accept for one thing. I had to share Sam's attention with Franklin. Basically, that involved having to share my late night and early morning park times with him and Sam gave him his breakfast the same time he gave me mine. Sam claims it's because Sean goes to bed earlier and sleeps later, so he figured he might as well take Franklin out with me since Franklin and I like to start playing in the middle of the night and he wanted to make sure that wouldnt mean we had to go out. However, I still wasn't happy about it. Oh well, I guess I'll forgive him. After all, isn't that part of the duty for us loyal canines?
Yesterday, we went to Sam's baseball game. I had to be tied up next to Sam's dad the whole time. It was hot out, so I used that as an excuse to be far away from him, under the bleachers. The game was pretty uneventful for me, and we went home afterwards. I've spent today napping and thinking about what a fun weekend I had. Of course, I allways have fun with Sam, but I enjoyed getting to see a new town where I had never been before. I wonder where we'll get to go next!

Baseball Tournament

Yesterday, my beep baseball team went to play against a team a few hours from here in Albany Georgia. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, beep baseball is a modified version of baseball for the blind. In the game, the pitcher is sighted, and there is no catcher. The ball beeps so the batter and fielders can hear it at all times. The whole pitcher pitching the ball and batter swinging is the same, accept there are 4 strikes instead of 23. However, there is only 1 base, which means that you are either out or score a home run when you run for it. Also, the base makes a buzzing sound so we can know where to run too. The fielders are not what you would tipically see on a ball field. Because of the size of the ball and the lack of sight, they don't have to catch it in mid air with a glove. Instead, they wait for the ball to hit the ground and find it. Instead of positions, each fielder has a number. When the ball hits the ground, the number it is closest too is called, and that person along with the two people on either side go for the ball while the member of the opposing team runs for the base. Obviously, all the players are blind folded. That's basically how the game works.
Anyway, since my team was playing there yesterday, and I have a friend who lives there, I decided to make a weekend out of it. My friend, Sean, and I went to a few different stores Friday night after he got home from work just to have something to do. Yesterday, we went to the ball field, where I met up with the rest of the team. We didnt winn the game, but I did get the first run for my team, which is what mattered most to me. After the game, I rode back with my dad, (and Mason of course) back to Atlanta. Not a bad way to spend a weekend if I do say so myself. My only regret is that it had to end so soon.

As Told By Mason (Dining Hall Troubles)

Tonight, Sam and I went to my favorite place on campus, the dining hall. We used to go there a lot, but now that we have an apartment, Sam does a lot more cooking at home. So, going to the dining hall has turned in to a real treat for me. However, that also means that I have a little trouble behaving myself. When we got there, I patroled the floor for any forgotten food. I dstill don't know why I got a corection for it. I was just trying to keep perfectly good food from going to waste. That's the problem with humans. They're too wasteful. Anyway, once we got to our table, I did pretty good. However, I wasn't exactly thrilled about staying in a down position next to Sam's chair. You see, our friend, Renee, was there and we absolutely love each other. So, I had to make sure she knew I was there so she could give me all her undivided attention. (This usually works because she's not that great about respecting the rules of the harness.) But other than that, and an incident involving me trying to eat some food off a plate that was sitting on the table next to ours, I was a verry good golden. However, I still don't know why I got in trouble for trying to eat that food. There weren't any humans around it, and us dogs like to have a good meal too. So, because of that, and because Sam hadn't fed me my dinner yet, I was entitled to it. Anyway, Sam says it would be good for us to start going back there more often. I would be excited, but I have a feeling it's only because he wants me to work on my mmanners. Oh well, what do you expect from ignorant humans. I guess I'll just have to improve, (and maybe sneaque a couple bites of food when he's not paying attention. Don't tell.) Untill next time, Mason