DAY FOUR - (Yawn)

The yawn was not boredom but rather fatigue. I was complaining yesterday about getting up early - I was up later last night and the alarm today went off a half an hour earlier, because I went for the March for Independence. Gather at 6:30 am.

I may have commented earlier about the inherent new way of looking at things when you get a bunch of blind people together to march in a picket line. More so when you have a thousand or more of them marching through the streets of Detroit. Imagine you're blind - there are talking signs all along the hotel so you find your way to the gathering point fairly easily. Next challenge - find your state delegation. How do you do this? Simple, you listen for someone calling out "New York. New York. New York over here."

The problem with this is that there are 51 OTHER delgations all doing the same thing. And occasionally an announcement over the loudspeaker. And at one point someone thinks it will help motivate the crowd to play loud music over the loudspeaker. Which it does - thereby making it even MORE difficult to hear the all from your state.

It all got sorted out, as it usually does, and off we went. Lots of police along the way - and news cameras - I suspect we were a feature on several local tv channels. (I have a tv in my room but seldom get to use it. Same thing could be said of my room.) I did get to meet some interesting people along the way and had a long talk with one of the NFB lawyers, whom I had met before, and she was able to answer a couple of legal questions I had brought along with me. The usual questions of crowding when a wide sidewalk turned into a small one, or someone stopped and the people behind kept walking, or someone walked into a state sign - keep imagining, it probably happened.

The march ended with a rally - lots of speeches and local politicians and I left early. I have learned that when 2700 plus people all try to move at once - and a number of them are blind and visually impaired - the elevators can't handle them all at once and you spend a lot of time standing around the elevator lobby. I needed a shower before the first session, so I went back and had the shower, dressed and got a good seat in the NY contingent.

The first thing they do at each session is a door prize of $100 - you have to be in the room to win. I think they call that motivation. Opening prayer by the "other" priest, and a good local band. A presentation by and to the Blind Veteran's group, including one of the Tuskegee Airman (I had drinks with him later in the day) and then - apparently a great tradition for this group - the roll call of states. If that brings to mind an heroic parade, forget it. Each state affiliate chairman - and there are 52 of them - gets to the mike, announces his state, crams in as much PR as he or she can fit it, and answers a series of questions about who the delegate and alteraneta re, who will sit on the nominating committee, when and where the state convention will be - some are shorter and some are longer and it makes watching paint dry seem a terrific option. They do break it up with drawing door prizes, but it went from 10:05 until noon.

Lunch - except I never got lunch. I did get my computer and did some work in the lobby - and got waylaid by someone who wanted to talk. Went by the Exhibit Hall to greet people and pass out brochures - and suddenly it was time for the afternoon session.

Opening event (after the $100 drawing - I didn't win again) was the President's Report. Marc Maurer is the President (Notre Dame grad) and his report went for a full hour. In that hour, there was factual report after factual report after factual report. There was very little filler and it was all interesting and occasionally exciting and very, very good. Yes, I know it went for an hour. But they deal with questions of accessibility that most sighted people never think about. Example - more and more kitchen appliances are digital and the critical information appears on a screen. An old oven - you could turn a dial, and have marks on the dial so you knew what you were setting the heat to. With a digital display, unless it talks, a blind cook is left out. Example - we are working to save energy and there are more electric cars on the road. One of the things about an electric car - REALLY quiet. Most people would think - Aha, that's good, that's a bonus, less noise pollution. But if you are a blind person, listening for the noise of an oncoming car to guide you as you cross the street - WHAM! Stuff like that.

Before the session started I saw a woman with a guide pony. You know about guide dogs - guide pony. I don't have my cable with me so I can't get the picture out of the camera and onto the computer so I can share it with you but I will. A guide pony - think I'm not going to take a picture of that? The young woman is Muslim and apparently they have a cultural bias against dogs (unclean, unclean) and so - a guide pony.

Idle thought at some point during the day - I had mentioned that the design of the hotel is round. Did I mention that the plates on which they serve the food are all square? Go figure.

After that talk it was pretty much all downhill from there. The Honorable John Dingell was supposed to give a talk on (and I quote)"Policies to Enhance Employment, Includion, Safety and Productivity. Dingell is THE longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, I think ever. 52 years. So it's a tourist thing if nothing else. But he droned on and on (and on) about health care reform and what he was going to do, and the bill his father had sponsored (his father was a Representative before him). Never got to the topic and while I can't be absolutely sure, I was fairly sure I heard some Boo's in the crowd as well as applause.

He was followed by a former Representative, now the President and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. This could have had potential and he wasn't awful - but he has definitely taken a course in glittering generalities, and I would dare to say he probably did fairly well. He was followed by another Representative, Congers (or Conyers?) I confess to not knowing Representatives and he was not on the printed agenda. He also talked about health care - and his deep and personal relationship with Stevie Wonder. Funny, in an old man sort of way, but too long and not always coherent. He should consult with the first guy abot his diet or exercise.

The next speaker was to talk about "The Journey of Braille: From the Hands of the Creator to Earth Orbit." The proverbial straw that did in this particular camel. On the one hand I didn't want to NOT be in the hall if they calledl my name for a door prize. On the other - I'm outta there. Went out to the porch and had a hamburger - met people and then met more people and then met more people, and while I found them fascinating, I'm not sure you would. There was one man who is here because his 22 year old son is going blind and he is trying to figure out how best to support and help him. A young man from Staten Island who has had his guide dog for three weeks - he wants to come to the blessing of the Guide Dogs. Many others.

By then it was after 7, so I went back to the Exhibit Hall and sat in on a meeting with some people from the Treasury Dept (talking about accessible money - money printed so the blind can figure it out) and then to the lobby to do some online stuff. When I leave here I am going to a dance with a live band to see what the music is like, and then I have to finish laying out an ad for a magazine and finish some material for a meeting next week so I can post it in the morning, and maybe even work on homilies for the weekend and next week.

Oh - last night. (Not that this is the last night but I remembered I had never really finished last night's activities.) When I left the porch, I skipped the Kurzweil demo, and the Guide Dog meeting had started, so while I did stay for a little and got some literature, I wasn't going to get to meet anyone until it was over (10 PM) I did stop by the group promoting the use of Braille and visited with the Blind Veteran's group and then it was time for the New York caucus.

Which was actually kind of fun. About 40 people - talking mostly about the march and the rest of the convention and the NY State convention, although they did also talk about an online poker tournament coming up (in which you too can play for an entry fee of only $20 - trust me, you'll be hearing about that from me in the not too distant future.)

And finally - blessedly - bed. Which is hopefully in the not too distant future today. I have to think to realize that today is Monday. There is an unreality to all of this, living almost exclusively inside the hotel. I'm going to see how late I'm up - I need to do the gym in the morning, more for the weights than the treadmill tomorrow. We'll see. I was really unhappy with the alarm clock this morning, and I'd like to send some of the work off in the morning before the first session (and that $100 door prize).

Sweet dreams.