Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

While I convalesce here at home, I am trying out some features of Second Life that I haven’t had time to figure out! I did a suggested SL update yesterday, and low and behold the program has enabled voice!!  So I went to the Blogger’s Cafe in SL (where I find that most anyone there will answer my questions) and listened in while a few visitors there talked about enabling the voice feature. There was a Pippy and a Celie Bailey (not sure of names and pronunciations), and a Lessa and a Ken.  All had voice except me and Leesa. I wish I’d paid more attention to the names! Sorry my new almost SL friends… Apparently  they were all using PCs, so they were not a whole lot of help to me.  But  deciphering their conversations and suggestions for the PC environment  caused me to check a few MAC settings. 

When I first logged in yesterday after the update, it asked me if I wanted to set up my voice, which I declined at the moment.  So I went to edit–>preferences, and found where the wizard walked me through voice set up. At first I could not even see the menus for it.  Remember now, that my vision is very blurry for close up material (like reading distance).  Pippy suggested that if I just had eye surgery I probably shouldn’t be on a computer, but I did ask my doctor this morning in the post-op checkup, and he said I could continue normal activity, just use reading glasses.  My corrected vision will be in place in 10-20 days (read this morning’s post for reasons.)  (On a side note, we have a hi-def television at home–had it since LAST superbowl, and shockingly, through these cheap drugstore glasses the picture is more crisp and clear than I can ever remember seeing.  So the correction has commenced!!) So anyway, listening to the small group there made me think of things to try on my MAC.  Then C. Bailey mentioned that she was using a head set when they were talking about some with tunnel talk, and some with very loud and clear voices.  Mind you I was sitting here with just one ear bud from my iPod following, and chatting with the keyboard–and not very well due to blurry vision!  Since I haven’t a clue where my headset w/ microphone is (it’s probably packed away in my school stuff,) I just disconnected my earbud, and clicked on the “talk” button that was at the bottom of my screen. “Viola!” I had voice in SL. Tickled the group immensely.  They informed me that I wasn’t very loud, and suggested I make adjustments, but I had to beg off and confess it was because I was using the external microphone, and didn’t know where my mic was.  So that was it. I now have voice capability in SL.  So cool!  

Initial response to it:  I had to ask the SL speakers to identify themselves so I could associate the sound of their voice to the avatar.  When an avatar has voice enabled, apparently there is a faint white dot above their forehead.  When they talk, you see that dot turn blue (i think) and it has red lines emitting from it, sort of like a signal.  I did not stay long because again I still have bad blurry vision for objects close, and so trying to figure out buttons in the program was difficult.  But it was interesting.  

Now my SCASL session coming up in March as facilitator of a Second Life guest speaker does not seem so daunting.  Oh and one more thing. It seems I’ve somehow earned money. I have $1000 in SL.  Maybe my next venture in I’ll look at getting some cool hair or clothes. (Just like a woman, huh?)

Okay since Thursday I’ve been somewhat out of commission. Thursday was not so bad because I could still read and see out of my left eye. Friday was awful because after the surgery, I couldn’t read a thing! Today I had a follow up, and according to the doctor, things are progressing as they should be. I was very depressed yesterday because the girl beside passed a preliminary eye test of her corrected right eye with almost 20/20 vision. I could not even read the chart. Everything was blurry! It has all been explained to me now though. She had lasik, which is almost like immediate correction, and I had Rezoom/Restor, which takes a few weeks to heal. Essentially (and this is a lay person’s description) the doctor opened the sacks in my eyes where the lens is located and removed them replacing them with the Restor and ReZoom lenses. That sack is now too big for the lenses, and so the lense shifts around some, causing the blurry vision. Over the next ten to twenty days, that sack will shink wrap itself around the new lenses, and when that happens, my vision will become gradually and noticeably better. I will begin to need the reading glasses less and less during this time, until eventually I will not need them at all. In four weeks, I go back to have lasik touch up for the left eye which has an astigmatism. I was told that at the very beginning. If my right eye is not 20/20 or better, they may do a touch up lasik on it too. So that’s where things stand.

What bothered me more than anything was that I could not use my computer at all, so I missed a bunch of emails, twitters, and rss feeds. I have a lot to catch up on. My doctor has said I should use my reading glasses for work–it will not harm what has been done. He has also assured me that my vision will be improving almost daily. So I am wearing the reading glasses, and have my mac settings to large print. The only thing I see myself having to lay off for a while is Second Life, unless someone knows how to increase the sizes of buttons and chat.

Monday I have a meeting in at the Horry County District Office regarding Payroll and benefits. I don’t think I’ll be able to read anything on the pages i will have to complete. Today I hunt for a magnifying glass to carry with me so I can do the paperwork required. Oh, I also pick up my school laptop if I want too (a pc type I’m sure.) Wonder if I could ask for a mac?

Slowly but surely I’m on the mend.