Hi John,
Talk to me off-list on this.
Rick Justice
----- Original Message -----
From: "John_Justice" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] WE'RE FINALLY READY!
Sent to the wrong list accidentally. Still not used to Windows 7.
Sorry about that.
John Justice
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Moderator" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:54 PM
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] WE'RE FINALLY READY!
> Hi John,
> And this is related to computing, how?
> I understand your fustration, but,
> This is not the place for this particular message.
>
> Richard Q. Justice-list moderator
> [email protected]
> [email protected]
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John_Justice" <[email protected]>
> To: "BLIND COMPUTING" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:29 PM
> Subject: [Blind-Computing] WE'RE FINALLY READY!
>
>
> Hey group,
> I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Linda and I are both totally
> blind.
> We just finished packing up our personal belongings in preparation for the
> painting contractors and carpeting people who will be arriving next week.
> The thing is, we have accumulated a lot of stuff in living here for the
> past
> twenty-four years. When a painter comes in, they have to move
> everything
> and that means record cabinets, stereo equipment, books, VCR tapes,
> cassettes, all of our heavy coats, etc. etc. it took us quite a while to
> do
> it all.
> Even now, after two full weekends of filling cartons, I still have our
> sound
> system to disassemble. That will mean labeling every single cable so that
> I
> know how to put it back when they're finished.
> Not every room in the house is being painted this time. Our kitchen,
> hallway and hall closet, living room and upper hallway are being done.
> This
> house is so old that the corners of the walls are starting to crack and
> some
> pieces of plaster are falling down. It isn't as awful as it sounds. On
> the
> corners of walls made of sheetrock, the builders usually use something
> called a corner bead. It's a metal plate which extends from the floor to
> the ceiling and protects the edges of the sheetrock from being damaged.
> But
> as a house gets older, it settles and the thin layer of wet plaster which
> covers that beading, dries out and cracks. Almost every single corner in
> this entire house has the same problem but the ones on the main floor are
> the worst. We live in a hillside home. that means the house is built
> with
> an additional floor at the rear. Yu can come in the front door through
> our
> main entrance and the kitchen will be on your left. On your right, is an
> alcove which holds the stairs going up to the second floor. if you walk
> straight ahead, you come into our living room/dining room area and there's
> a
> door on your right which leads to a second set of steps going down. This
> is
> a relatively modern home so both flights of steps are right above each
> other. if you go down this second set of steps, you are on our lower
> floor.
> there's a half bath down there, a laundry room and a big family room where
> I'm now sitting. At the end of the family room is a double glass door
> which
> leads out onto the patio at the rear of the house.
> The front of this floor, where the stairs come down, is actually under
> ground. If you look at the back of our house, you'll see the patio, then
> two more floors above that. From the front, there's only one additional
> floor.
> There are a lot of hillside houses in Pennsylvania because the area is so
> hilly.
>
> Now back to the renovation. We had to fight the landlord tooth and nail
> to
> get this work done. We ended up filing a complaint with the Human
> Relations
> Commission stating that they were treating us differently because of our
> blindness. they were, there's no doubt about that. We are blind so they
> didn't figure we'd need new paint or carpeting and they refused to do any
> renovations. On top of that, they tried to imply that we had refused the
> work. It was an awful mess! We had to bring in our own contractors to do
> the work. But in the settlement, we got them to agree to spend up to
> twenty-five hundred dollars on repairs, painting and carpeting. We got
> smart there and used people who had worked for the landlord's agent. In
> that way, we could be sure that the work would be done right. The
> contractors would have us to deal with and, if they messed up, the
> landlord's agent is a really nasty character. I have had several fights
> with him in the past. It doesn't take much for this guy to go to four
> letter words, yelling screaming and threatening.
>
> We had an old gas stove that was about ready to blow up. The pilots were
> so
> badly corroded that they wouldn't stay lit and the oven changed
> temperature
> as much as ninety degrees at any given time. They sent in some so-called
> gas appliance expert who claimed that the stove was fine. So we brought
> in
> our own licensed professional and he condemned the stove in writing. The
> township building inspector sited the landlord and gave him ten days to
> replace the stove. We got a new one but it's the cheapest one they could
> find. At least it's a new one and it has those electronic lighters, not
> the
> old fashioned open pilot type we used to have.
>
> The same thing happened with the refrigerator and they tried to give us an
> apartment sized one instead of the standard nineteen cubic foot model we
> had. I forcefully reminded the landlord that we were entitled to the same
> equipment we had before and that right was protected by law. That sent
> him
> off into another one of his famous screaming fits.
> We did get the right refrigerator.
>
> But the biggest joke of all was our driveway. When it was installed
> thirty
> years ago, the contractor had done a terrible job. As it got older, the
> center of the asphalt sank until there was a huge hole in the middle of
> the
> pavement which measured about eight inches deep in places. We begged and
> pleaded to have that driveway repaired and they refused. But the building
> inspector wrote them a letter informing the owner that if one of us was
> injured by falling, the owner would be liable for all kinds of damages.
> The driveway was resurfaced about two weeks later.
>
>
> As you can imagine, the relationship we have had with the landlord hasn't
> been all tea and roses. but we can't afford to move. If we could, we'd
> be
> out of here. Those two flights of steps are hell for my wife. Her knee
> surgery didn't work well and she has to climb up and down those stairs.
> It
> causes her a lot of unnecessary pain. We like the house but we could do
> without those blasted stairs.
> I wanted to have a stair climber installed but Linda won't hear of it.
> they aren't very safe for blind people anyway.
>
> Well, that's our story my blind friends. It has been one hell of a ride
> up
> till now.
> I hope that those contractors get in and out of here with the least
> possible
> trouble.
>
> . John and Linda Justice
> With guide dogs Jake and Zachary
> PERSONAL E-MAIL: [email protected]
> John and Linda Justice
> With guide dogs Jake and Zachary
> PERSONAL E-MAIL: [email protected]
> For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
> http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
>
>
> For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
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