First things first. I have to appologize to Frank. It is "warfare" and not "warfair". War is never fair and as said by Tsun Tsu 2500 years ago "War is the continuation where politics stops". And there are many more linguistic mistakes I make that Frank never would have, I feel a little bit ashamed by it. And for you, readers. BAD LUCK, stick with it, as Frank would say. :-P
Second things next. I fear the comming summer. The last days temperature on avarage was 20 degrees centigrade (71 Farenheit, 291.15 Kelvin, 527,67 Rankine) and it already is barely tolarable to Frank. In summertime temperature can get up to 35 degrees centigrade (95 Farenheit) at ease. This is going to cause problems! Oh, and if you know what a Rankine is without looking it up then your dealing with it from a professional base or your a certified technical nerd.
And now third things third. There seems to develop a pattern in my visit to Frank. I come in. Give my greetings. Frank acknowledge. We sit for a time not saying a thing. And then Frank starts someting. This visit was just like that. But this time, unusual to the pattern, Frank was not asking for a DVD but asking for the laptop. It was already prept up for him a week ago but still waiting for the signal from him to get it out. May I say that he was pleased to find out that it was available? Or should I have pressed the issue and forced him earlier this week to have a look at it? I don't known what is right (and what is left, truly!) but tonight it worked.
So I got out the laptop, got the mouse and the power supply connected, rigged his bed and his bedside cabinet and got things going. Frank wanted to see the Ospray section. "Japanese castles, 1540-1640", was his choice. We both have some affection with this subject. I tried not to intervene when he was working on it, if this laptop is going to be a success he must be able to find his way through the contols, which is a mouse in the form of a conventional one, a trackball or a pad. At the moment a conventional mouse was not available for the space it needs. The trackball is more or less a disaster and so is the pad. Apparently his eye/hand coordinaton is not yet good enough to cope with it all. This is so much a disapointment for both of us!
Request for comment:
Who knows any alternatives to mice. Anything will do, or better to say, anyting will be tried. No matter when you reply.
Hi Andre,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenStimulated by your attempts to make internet accessable and a laptop operational, I took my Ipad to Frank today to see whether he could do anything with it; it was an instant succes. I think the Ipad is the most easy to operate device on earth right now. It works with one finger, with direct feedback on your actions (wherever your finger touches the screen something happens, so no problems with the mouse in your right hand and looking to the screen to see what happens, which is very very difficult for Frank because he suffers from a neglect of the left side of the world, his body, his vision.)
He read the blog, played some games (which he really liked and were at the same time a perfect exercise for compensating his neglect), bubble shooter, tangram puzzles and he wrote something on the built in note pad. I put it on the rreading standard besides his bed and this was great to, he doesnt have to carry it (and although it isn't heavy, the Ipad2 is even more lightweighted, which is fantastic.
What do you think, would it be an idea to raise a fund and try to collect money so that we can give Frank an Ipad? He would certainly love to have one, that he made sure this afternoon. We could put a 3G netwerk card in it, than all the internet access troubles are history as well.
The major concern from my point of view would be security, how can we make it tied or locked so that 'unexpected or unwelcome' visitors can not 'accidently' take it away. I this case I think green stickers will be insufficient
What do you think?
Regards, as always, Esther
Give me the account number and I'll make a donation!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenMathieu and I visited Frank yesterday. Mathieu said "he should be in this room", I said "but I don't see his name", and then we heard a clear "Walter!" from Frank. It was one of the happiest moments in my life. We were there for an hour I think, and we were really having conversations again. He also looked much better than a week ago. I only wish he'd stop trying to give his books away or already deciding who gets what when he's gone, if only because we want the fun of fighting over his stuff (so we're back to making jokes about it - is that an improvement? ;-)).
Oh, and I counted the geek stuff and the clothes, and the geek stuff does indeed outnumber the clothes. But then I know a few others in his circle of friends who are just as bad.
Walter
PS een maat van me heeft ooit bij Apple gewerkt en heeft daar voor zover ik weet nog goede connecties. Ik heb hem gevraagd of hij een IPad2 met korting te pakken kan krijgen.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWalter
That would be great walter, keep me informed. When the possibility becomes a bit more serious I will give my bank account number and than people can donate. Till soon I hope, Esther
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIf Frank can handle the IPad so good an IPad it should be. Not tomorrow, not now but yesterday. As Walter said, where is the account number? And where can we hire the Tardis?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenAll laptops come with facilities for a kensington lock, I don't know if the IPad has equal facilities.
Anyway I also have a friend who is an Apple addept. I'll ask his advise on protecting against theft and how to upload the data on Franks PC to an IPad. (Walter, can you get some advise from yours?)
The laptop and that mouse was going to be a disaster all the time untill we would have fitted a touch schreen to it. And that is way more expensive.
Vanmorgen (zo 25-4) met zijn tweeen op bezoek geweest. Frank was die ochtend al een tijdje op geweest, en was nu in slaap. Een minuutje wakker, genoeg om ons te herkennen. Maar wat geschreven in het gastenboek. Mijn 'Floris' CD's achtergelaten... zelfde tijd als Thunderbirds.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThis morning (su 25-4) the two of us visited him. He had been awake already in the morning, so he was asleep now. Just awake enough for a minute to recognize us. Left a message in the guest-book, and my 'Floris' CD collection (a young Rutger Hauer as knight), same time as the Thunderbirds.
Uiteraard bereid bij te dragen aan de I-pad.
Of course we are willing to contribute for the I-pad.
Niek en Annemarie van Diepen
As Walter already mentioned we were happy with Franks progress so far and after counting all his belongings I realised that I put poor Esther on the wrong foot. My collection of TB DVD's consists of light blue single DVD-boxes (which I told Esther to loke for), Franks of course of the yellow double DVD-boxes. Sorry Esther.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenBoth me and my daughter Angie will contribute towards the I-pad (she didn't even think about it twice)(I did). As soon as we know in what form (cash, bank, bank robbery) we will make sure you get the money.
Mathieu