Video Relay System

The other day I went to see my aunt and she showed me her Video Relay System. It allows deaf people to communicate with other deaf people via their TV and a box-top camera. There is also a relay service, so that the deaf person can use sign language to communicate with an interpreter, and in turn the interpreter can make phone calls and translate between the deaf person and the hearing person.

In the past, the TTY has served this need. The TTY can connect to another TTY and two people can type directly back and forth, or the TTY can call a relay service, where a relay operator will speak what's typed on the TTY to a hearing person over the phone, and type back what the hearing person says.

The TTY was a great benefit: it came out in the 1960s and was used long before people had personal computers and modems.

The VRS is even better because it allows for more natural conversation. Speaking is faster than typing, and so is using sign language. I watched my aunt make a phone call to a company and the interpretation was practically real-time: as the person on the phone was speaking, the interpreter was signing what the person said.

Very cool!

Frequenct Flier Miles: Not so free

Yesterday I finally got around to booking our flights to the UK in a couple of months. I had been putting it off because I wanted to use our United frequent flier miles, and every time I checked the website there was nothing available.

The website and automated phone service assure you that they have access to all the flights that an agent does, but that just isn't the case. When I spoke to an agent, she initially told me the same thing: nothing available. She said more flights might open up as time went by, but I really wanted to book the flights so we could start planning our trip. Suddenly she says, oh, well, if you go on our partner airline (Air Canada in this case) you can get a flight, sure, no problem.

I managed to get flights on the days we wanted, though they are not direct and not at the optimal times. Also, in addition to the $15 fee for using your miles (whatever), there is a $15 fee for booking with an agent (for flights you can't get to on-line.. nice).. and.... TAXES. Each flight was $133 for taxes. The total came to about $300.

Booking the flights directly would have cost anywhere between $1500 and $2500, so I figure it's worth it, but still. I have to adjust my expectations about what frequent flier miles are. They are not FREE miles by any means. They are discounted, inconvenient and difficult to get miles. But still cheaper.

Chicken and Diplodocus

I am still posting photos to my "Random" set on Flickr. There are two new ones.

Samosas and Lasagna

Last week I tried a few more new dishes. First up, two items from Vegan Lunch Box: Aloo gobi samosas, and masoor dal (red lentils) and carrot soup. They took me a lot of time to make, but they were both quite good--we will definitely have them again. I made curry-lime yogurt to go along with the samosas--we've had this before with Indian potato pancakes and I really like it.

I also made spinach-mushroom and gorgonzola lasagna roll-ups from one of Rachael Ray's 30-minute cookbooks (not sure which one--all I have is a photocopy). I had made this with a friend before, and it didn't turn out quite as well this time. Still, I like it enough to make it again.

Finally, I tried a new daikon salad recipe that I found on-line. It was okay--still not quite what I was hoping for, but better than the one I tried the previous week.

I've got a couple of new things planned for this week as well.

One-ManStar Wars Trilogy

Today Chris and I went to a performance of the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy. It's just as the title suggests: one man (Charles Ross) acts out the original trilogy in one hour, with no props or special effects.

I enjoyed it quite a bit--it was very clever and funny. Chris is not really a big Star Wars fan but he is familiar enough with the movies to enjoy most of it. I think the better you know the films the more fun the show is. I loved the impersonation of the Imperial Probe Droid. I also liked the fact he included snippets of the music throughout (that he sang/hummed/etc).

He's been doing the show five years. If you're a Star Wars fan I highly recommend it.