Wednesday, September 7, 2011

GRSNP

I got up a little before the alarm clock buzzed, had pizza for breakfast, performed the rest of the morning routine, and headed for the bus stop. When I need to take the bus, it is very convenient for me because it goes right past my street corner. The COLTS (County of Lackawanna Transit System) bus dropped me off, and then I walked across the street to get the bus that went to the GRSNP. The acronym stands for Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and for my next trick, see if you can pronounce that five times fast. My mother followed behind the bus as sort of our version of a mobility instructor.
When I got dropped off, I went inside, and asked for Joe Bryer. He showed me the computer I would be using, and I got to work trying to find the full screen magnifier. I looked for one because I thought it would be Windows 7, but I found out the hard way that the operating system was Windows XP. So I downloaded a trial of Zoomtext because I didn't have my copy with me.
Joe gave me some instructions to run PDF searches using Adobe Reader Professional, and it was fairly easy. One function Joe wanted to show me, but couldn't, involved showing me how to search on the I:\ drive. The drive was an external hard drive, but as far as the computer was concerned it didn't exist. He left me so he could go back to other work, and to give me more time to familiarize myself with the system. I put my hand on the hard drive, and felt around for the cords between the hard drive and the computer. I found the two cords, and made sure each one was in properly. Sure enough one of them must've been loose because I heard the tone that indicates a USB device has been plugged in. The computer now not only detected the I:\ drive, but it also detected the H:\ drive.
When I got Joe's attention, he asked how come no one else could figure this out, but a blind guy did? He asked it in a humorous way, and I indeed found it very funny. After the computer said yes the I:\ drive does exist, I looked at the instructions Joe had given me to see what came next. I copied PDF files from the My Documents folder on my computer to the I:\ drive, and the whole process took about 28 min. Speaking of instructions, Joe had printed them larger, for which I was very grateful.
I told Joe that I was copying the files, and he came over a bit incredulous because he said no one had been able to figure out how to do that. He said again humorously that they've been saved by a blind guy, which I also found funny. Even though all his quips were meant to be humor, some people would still have taken offense to them, but I have an irreverent sense of humor.
Well, next time I'll finish my story, and tell you all the things that happened to me while my annoying brother was home. The website is www.grsnp.org if you want any more information.

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