Field Trip: Lanier theological Library & Clementine's Restaurant

With all my delight about being able to use my TetraMouse, I forgot to tell you about my field trip!

A group of us from Zion, Tomball went on a delightful exploration on Friday, June 20, 2014. We started off at Lanier Theological Library, a new feature of the greater Houston area.  I don't think it has been around a long time, maybe four or five years. It's quite a little complex! There's a nifty replica of a Byzantine chapel that was my favorite part. I particularly like the fact that it has electricity and air conditioning! Those Byzantine dead folk were really ahead of their time, particularly in light of Houston heat and humidity.

Seriously, I really enjoy that stone chapel. I like the way the images create an opportunity for catechesis. It is kind of like little icons on your computer desktop or cell phone giving clues to the possibilities, once you open the software.

The library is equally impressive. From the floor to the very high ceiling, wall to wall, room to room… Books! Are! EVERYWHERE! Since I can't hold books anymore, I will have to be content with my own digital theological library from LOGOS, with additions from Kindle for PC and Nook for PC.

The next stop was Clementine's Restaurant. It has decor that resembles a street scene. At that time, it was not very busy. The food was generous, appropriately priced, and GOOD. I had the Blackened Tilapia.

Then, a large part of the group went to Our Savior Lutheran Church. This congregation is always a treat to visit. The architecture and art, again, serve as a teaching tool for explaining THE FAITH. Pastor Lawrence White office is another theological library with books in English, German, Greek, and Hebrew. There may be some Latin thrown in for fun and profit…

Some of us went to Adaptive Driving Access in Houston. Who knew that wheelchair-accessible vans could be interesting to look at?!? They even have ramps that slide in under the floor…

You still would not want to share a freeway way for me if I could drive…

I don't mean to go for an adventure for a while. I am still recovering. :-)

This is it! My quest was successful!

I am busily clicking around my desktop and the Internet. Yes, I found the mouse that works for me! I am excited and delighted, and will enjoy fine tuning my abilities as I learn to use the TetraMouse.

 Yes, I need to figure out this scaffolding-thing to mount this to my desk top. Tape allowed me to test whether I can use this tool. It is allowing me to try to figure out the best setup for me…

And…

It allows me the freedom to try my beloved TetraMouse in other situations. For example, I discovered that I can use this in bed. Nice and handy for many situations. If I'm sick, being able to fall into the computer will certainly speed my recovery.

I haven't figured out how to use the lights yet, but I've only been trying since Saturday. I know that there are four speeds to the mouse: blue is slowest, green is default, yellow is dangerously fast, and red is Warp Speed 9.5. I accidentally got to red, and I like it…… I probably need to stay at green for a little bit longer.

I also am thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about getting a second TetraMouse to take with me…

I really LOVE this tool! I wonder how many other people could use it…

Update to My Previous Post-TetraMouse

All right! I admit it, I wasn't getting anywhere just wondering about whether TetraMouse could be used with my fingertips instead of my lips or tongue. I took a novel approach: I ASKED! Here is the reply:

To: Lisa Stapp
Subject: Re: Your Mouse MAY be the answer to my quest!

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for writing and thanks for your interest in the TetraMouse.

The TetraMouse can be operated with a finger and the optional cup-shaped knobs are ideal for fingertip operation as well as what they were originally designed for, i.e., using the tongue (for people with no head movement).

The dual joysticks on the TetraMouse are 1 inch apart. To operate the joysticks they need to be moved between approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch in all directions. Therefore, to use all the functions of the dual joysticks, the user needs to be able to move a finger (or tongue, or lips or chin) within a maximum rectangular area of approximately 1-1/4 inches wide (for side-to-side movement) and 1/4 inch high (for up and down movement) around the two joysticks. I don't know if that qualifies as "micro-movements", but it is not a large amount of movement. If the user can move a finger to any point within a rectangle 1-1/4 inches (32mm) wide by 1/4 inch (7mm) high, they should be able to move the pointer and access all the TetraMouse functions. A universal mounting system, like the TetraMouse Mounting System, can be used to position the TetraMouse for best use.

Re voice recognition: Many of my customers use the TetraMouse to supplement their use of Dragon Naturally Speaking. Because the TetraMouse is a true mouse (the computer sees it as a standard USB mouse), it is compatible with any computer applications, just like any other true mouse. No software or drivers need to be installed because the TetraMouse uses the computer's mouse driver that comes with the operating system. Therefore, there are no software conflicts with any applications.

Although I originally designed the first TetraMouse model for a friend with ALS, it is now used by many people with many various conditions that don't allow them to use their hands.

If you haven't already, be sure to read about the money-back guarantee and lifetime warranty that comes with the TetraMouse on the page at http://tetramouse.com/support.html.

Thanks for the mention on your Pinterest board!

Please let me know if you have more questions.

Best Regards,

Mark

Mark Snyder
TetraLite Products
2200 NE 88th St Spc 11A
Seattle WA 98115-8308
USA
1-206-362-3139
www.tetramouse.com

On 6/14/2014 12:48 PM, Lisa Stapp wrote:

Happy Monday!

I wonder if your mouse is the answer to my quest. I have Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is related to the ALS that you designed for. Currently, I am using Windows 8.1 and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to get around.

It works reasonably well, except that all speech recognition "gets stuck." When that happens, I'm stuck until someone can come around and help me out of the situation.

So… I decided to find or build a mouse that I can use. (By "build," I mean, "find someone to be my fingers and help me create this thing that I have in my head…" TetraMouse looks pretty close to the concept between my ears, and may be what I'm looking for.

Question: Do I have to use mouth, lips, or chin with this tool? How does that work when using voice recognition? Can I use fingertip micro-movements?

I invited you to look at my Pinterest board dedicated to my quest… Follow Lisa's board My Quest to find a mouse that I can actually USE! on Pinterest.

73 de Lisa S. KE5RSA
Skype: lmstapp or 281-378-3225
SMS: (281) 406-1749 | Fax: 866-256-1731
http://lmstapp.com/
      (Shaping words for work and play…)
http://joyfullyrollingalong.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/ConfessionalGal
*******************************************
"The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any

human accomplishment and incredible miracle," Col. John Paul Stapp

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More on "My Quest to Find a Mouse I Can Use"…

Nope, I'm not going to give up on this! I KNOW that there is a mouse that I can use!

At the moment, I'm interrogating the makers of the TetraMouse products, hoping that I do not need to use my mouth to use it. Dragon NaturallySpeaking sometimes has trouble understanding me as it is. Can you imagine the difficulties if I had to talk around a mouse in my mouth?

(That sounds like the beginnings of a weird sort story…)

Anyhow, this is what I'm looking at looking at:   http://tetramouse.com/tmxa.html

I am MOST DEFINITELY in the wrong line of work!

In November, I will be speaking to Texas Occupational Therapy Association. While I am a little bit nervous, it is a good kind of nervous-the kind that is exciting and makes you try to do a good job.

Of course, I turned to the Internet to find more information and sharpening my speech. I went down all sorts of rabbit trails, because it was fun. My sense of self-discipline took the back seat and everything.

Then I accidentally ran into this website.

The pitch is absolutely irresistible. It makes me want to plunk down $2600 instantaneously. I would love to make speeches for $3000 a pop!

For now, it simply isn't in my budget.

  I will have to make do with:
http://www.learningforlife.org/exploring-resources/99-720/y10.pdf

http://www.speechtips.com/how-to-write-a-speech.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/3026982/work-smart/10-lessons-every-presenter-should-learn-from-americas-most-iconic-speech

and

http://www.toastmasters.org/

Sheila's birthday luncheon…

Mom and I were stumped about what to get this dear lady for her birthday. She has most of the things she wants right now, at least that things within our budget. Granted, winning the lottery would've made her birthday perfect, but I'm not sure how to arrange that for certain.

We decided to take her for lunch. She thought she might like shrimp fried rice. Although we don't normally enjoy going out, this sounded like fun. We're finally decided to go to Main Moon Asian Bistro. It was fairly close. It was clean and welcoming. The food was quite reasonable and quite tasty.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Mom liked it. Best of all, Sheila was pleased.

Email addresses, the Klingon language, and other random stuff…

Yes, I have done it again. I have yet another email address, this time it is at "Starfleet.com." I do not intend I'm giving this email address out here, but if you know me… You can probably guess what it is.

It is moving some of my silly and fun things out of my main email area so I can do what I need to do instead of getting distracted. Hey, at least I'm pretending to pretend to be an adult…But…My identity here means "language-learner." My signature here Means "always learning…" If I ever wanted to look like a part of the warrior race, you might see resembling Warrior Stokkar <<http://www.hotink.com/warriorgallery/33.html>> since they modified a photo of me… I think you might get a grin from <<http://wiki.qephom.de/En/EmailDiscussionForum>>, which explains about an email list dedicated to learning Klingon. That's short version is To subscribe, send email to tlhIngan-Hol-subscribe@kli.org <mailto:tlhIngan-Hol-subscribe@kli.org> It is not unlike the Latin and Greek study groups online at <<http://www.quasillum.com/study/index.php>> I'm not really good at learning languages, I have the attention span of a gnat on crack cocaine, but I enjoy them. I would like to learn Latin so I can read "the old dead guys," and Koine Greek. It is hard to do any of them when you dedicate about 5 minutes per week… ;-) I also use this to play games. I am planning on signing up for Starbase 118 when things settle down a little bit. <<http://www.starbase118.net/>> So now you know my dark secrets… -- reH jIghojtaH