tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74028292024-03-07T19:06:46.428-04:00hearing/lossA journal of a "post-lingual acquired hearing loss in adulthood", or how I went deaf - and got a cochlear implant - at 39.ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.comBlogger1047125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-38158730363571885982015-10-28T09:24:00.001-03:002015-10-28T09:25:07.708-03:00An unexpected journey - Part 3
We were awakened the next morning by a
rooster crowing (a not-terribly unusual sound in Cuba's capital
city). We had breakfast at the hotel (included in the price of the
room). Our fellow guests appeared mostly to be European tourists,
most in their 20s and 30s. After breakfast we waited anxiously for
Albon’s call.
Along the way we met our benefactor
from the night before, who turned out toronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-80395003421751263132015-08-19T19:52:00.002-03:002015-08-19T20:02:04.834-03:00An unexpected journey - Part 2
We had no
money on us, having come to the clinic directly from the beach, so we
were told a clinic rep would meet us at the Cayo Largo airport (which
has a banco, where, unlike a cadeca or money exchange, we can draw
money from a credit card account) to settle that bill. The HolaSun
rep (This won't do. We have to give this good man a name. I choose
Miguel.) picked us up at the resort at the ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-1831386297949433412015-08-02T20:08:00.001-03:002015-08-19T20:01:53.344-03:00An unexpected journey.So I've been away from this blog for a super-long time this time, which is ironic because I have kind of an interesting story to share on it - but I haven't been able to.
In April, Husband and I went on our usual spring vacation in Cuba. Cayo Largo, to be exact, the tiny key that has become our home away from home after repeated visits. The trip was for two weeks, and it was to be a much, ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-55642392396313777662015-01-02T22:31:00.000-04:002015-01-02T22:36:44.803-04:00Every New Year. Let the Good Guys Win.ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-35542471019626774372014-09-07T20:56:00.001-03:002014-09-07T21:01:10.361-03:00Quest for... oh, god.Kate, the PT Cruiser, has died. We took her to two different garages, an "emergency" one when she overheated on the way to brunch last Saturday, and "our guys" a couple of days later. Estimates for repairs range from $1500 to $3000. (It's almost certainly a cracked head gasket.) She's 14 years old, has a host of other problems anyway (the AC and radio/cd player both quit some time ago), and it's ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-71131575021447785762014-08-23T18:56:00.001-03:002014-08-23T19:01:47.671-03:00The DiefenbunkerEarlier this month, Husband and I took a mini-vacation to Ottawa to celebrate his birthday. We are both in Ottawa all the time for work and meetings, but we never get to really enjoy the city. Besides, there was something there (well, near there, in Carp, ON, the point kind of being to get out of Ottawa) that we'd both wanted to see for a very long time: The Diefenbunker.
To quote from its ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-55290889995188988562014-08-01T16:24:00.001-03:002014-08-23T20:42:36.035-03:00Patio Dayronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-17028023045489485672014-06-12T20:38:00.000-03:002014-06-12T20:38:08.008-03:00AnniversariesI have been scandalously neglectful of this blog. Other than a spectacularly miserable winter, life has ticked along quite pleasantly and dully for the past year or so. I am very active on Twitter (@ronniecat) and I find it satisfies most of my need for commentary and expression. Twitter is remarkable; I would say 95% of my news now breaks first on Twitter as opposed to hearing about it on other ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-66141233633952784682014-05-30T17:10:00.000-03:002014-05-30T17:16:06.656-03:00First Patio Day of 2014Welcome, summer!ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-77839172852735927472014-05-05T21:02:00.000-03:002014-05-05T21:10:34.346-03:00#31favsoundsMay is Better Hearing and Speech month. To celebrate it, CI recipients are asked to do this:
Cochlear Implant On.
@CochlearImplant
May 1
Tweet your favorite sounds each day in May using hashtag #31favsounds to raise awareness for Better Hearing and Speech Month!
It made me realize there are some sounds that I really, reallyronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-2372880846410461362013-12-31T20:27:00.003-04:002013-12-31T20:45:05.974-04:00Play the old year out.It's a New Year's Eve tradition.
Let the good guys win this year.
We've been back to Cuba (it was fantastic) and returned 3 weeks ago to the worst winter anybody can remember in living memory. About a metre of snow (that's 3 feet for you Yanks) just since Christmas Eve and freezing rain that has coated everything in ice. Our car and our house are suffering and breaking. And we're in the ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-91558484823394847402013-11-16T19:11:00.001-04:002013-11-16T19:13:00.651-04:00Dancing with MamaThis is probably the worst video I ever made. (Not that I've made a whole lot.) It's horribly dark and grainy because it was taken with almost no lighting. It's also my favourite video I ever made. And I thought I'd lost it forever when my Kodak Playsport video camera died, and only tonight discovered it had survived on the SD card that was in the camera.
I made this one night in December 2011 ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-73037481098732992932013-10-13T19:40:00.000-03:002013-10-13T19:40:09.396-03:00Happy ThanksgivingLots to be thankful for this year.
My Dad had a heart crisis a couple of months ago and had to be fitted with a pacemaker. He came through fine and is doing great.
Mom O. had to be hospitalized for awhile, but with patience and her own hard work, she is back in her tidy little apartment and still living independently (with some professional supports and great support from her family which we ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-60280148877176987652013-09-26T15:44:00.000-03:002013-09-26T15:48:34.864-03:00Edmonton Skylineronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-33138728281982209382013-08-21T21:26:00.001-03:002013-08-21T21:27:15.399-03:00How to help - or ask for help - after a life-changing event.Swedish Medical Center, based not in Sweden, as you might have thought, but in Seattle, WA, USA, does a lot of cochlear implants. They have turned up on my radar as a great resource. In this blog post, they explain how to help or ask for help after any life-changing event. (As going deaf certainly is.) It's worth a read and covers a lot of situations where you, or a friend or family member of ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-63306846325232863612013-08-07T20:39:00.003-03:002013-08-07T20:48:05.335-03:00Strays and sanctionsApologies for not having posted in nearly a month. Summer is a busy time for us, not a slow time. We take our vacation in the winter, and when not working we try to take advantage of every hour of the lovely summer weather. Weekends are non-stop.
But I am taking to the keyboard today to tell you about a project that is very, very dear to my heart: The Spanky Project. The website is a bit ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-91671208091020548822013-07-12T17:30:00.001-03:002013-07-12T17:30:12.692-03:00Gorgeous patio evening...ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-987060668892993762013-06-13T20:46:00.002-03:002013-06-13T20:51:05.682-03:00"If you're not up to it, find something else to do with your life."In a frankly stunning video, the Chief of the Australian Army ( Lieutenant General David Morrison) tells sexist soldiers to just go away.
After repeated attempts to embed it, I cannot, so you can find it here.
At a time when the US (armed forces), Canada (RCMP) and Australia are all confronting allegations of sexism and behaviour demeaning to women, it looks like Australia (of all places) is ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-22689585933619549512013-06-12T19:54:00.001-03:002013-06-12T19:54:29.283-03:00Glad I didn't inconvenience you.Me, on phone, to professional contact who had phoned me for the first time and was riddling off a lot of complex information: "We haven't met, so I'm going to let you know that I have a cochlear implant-"
Him: "Oh, that's okay."
(I went on to tell him that I sometimes found the phone challenging but if he spoke slowly and clearly we should be fine. It didn't occur to me until later what an odd ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-5863444832669371572013-05-12T21:46:00.000-03:002013-08-07T21:44:33.919-03:00Commander Hadfield's fantastic finale.He's tweeted, and tweeted, and tweeted. He's done video links, and duets from space, and ham radio interviews, and overseen a successful unscheduled space walk to fix an ammonium leak. Which worked! And tomorrow, after a spectacularly successful mission, Commander Chris Hadfield will return to earth. And into the arms of his family, who lent him to us for five months.
And he left us one ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-66055189775795710862013-02-23T19:28:00.003-04:002013-02-23T19:28:51.889-04:00CO-MIX: In the Shadow of Art SpiegelmanI have meetings next week in Vancouver, too, so that sees me with a weekend to amuse myself in this city. (Although some of it will be spent working due to my workload right now.) So imagine my delight when on my first day here I saw this on my way to work:
It's a retrospective of Art Spiegelman's work at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Today, I got to take it in. The exhibit was amazing - not ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4Downtown Vancouver49.279917 -123.126388tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-56304831547357160502013-02-22T00:24:00.001-04:002013-02-22T00:32:21.235-04:00He haunts us.Here he is at the Harrison Gallery in Vancouver, 901 Homer St.
It seems I can't take a trip, read a book, or turn on the telly without encountering this riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma that rides around on my shoulder, anyway.
ronnie ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-3741329151424692272013-02-21T02:49:00.001-04:002013-02-23T19:38:45.605-04:00Another pretty picture from my hotel room in Vancouver.
Excited to be here. This trip completes my set of 10 provinces! No Territories yet, but there's still time!ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-65866390791838621722013-02-21T02:40:00.001-04:002013-02-23T19:39:18.633-04:00Upon arriving in Vancouver.ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-10157376999805013082013-02-08T19:34:00.001-04:002013-02-09T21:01:48.443-04:00Is Somebody Singing? I mentioned previously that Commander Chris Hadfield, astronaut and musician, was going to collaborate with fellow musician Ed Robertson of The Barenaked Ladies on a song, written half on earth, half from space. Today they debuted it. It's called ISS (Is Somebody Singing?) and it is a treat.
See it debuted live on CBC radio here.
What an incredible time we live in!!! Think of the Mercury and ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1