dmk

One of my tasks at work is to tag PDF documents for accessibility. It can be a frustrating task, since Adobe will crash intermittently or even ruin work I've done. Sometimes, especially on long documents (>50 pages) filled with tables and figures, it just won't let me tag another item and I have to stop. "Save early, save often" is my motto.

While I do have a very simple screen reader, it does not read formulas properly. Adobe lets me tag them, but I don't know what level of tagging helps (do I need to tag every Greek letter? How about formulas that look relatively straightforward and involve no Greek letters?) Does a more sophisticated screen reader read tables in a better, more understandable way? (Mine sounds like it's rushing through the text, and I couldn't tell the difference between columns.) Of course, I always give contact info on the worst offenders, but if I could find a way to work with Adobe Acrobat to yield something that's more understandable to start with, I'd be very happy.

Anyway, I've been wondering just how useful what I do is, and how I can improve the end product. Does anyone here, or a friend of someone here, use a screen reader? Are you comfortable around formulas and scientific reports? Would you like to check on one or more documents and report back on ways I can improve these documents?

I'd also welcome pointers to online references on working with Acrobat, something that takes into account its quirks and failure modes and helps me work around them.

Today's document is almost 400 pages, with lots of mid-paragraph formulas, large formulas with explanatory text, tables out the wazoo, and paragraphs with shadow boxes (which often end up with the shadow box in front of the text, hiding the text, with no way I know of to correct the z-order or undo; I just revert to the most-recently saved copy). Oh, and the most common problem (although not in this document) is drop-shadow on text, which seems to be implemented by making multiple copies of the phrase in different colors, and which Adobe Acrobat interleaves, leading to a stuttering that's unbelievable.

The grades for the class I took in Spring were indeed mis-calculated. I earned a solid A! I am now enrolled in the NCSU Computer Programming Certificate program (CPC).

I have to wait until August 3rd to sign up for Fall classes, which start on August 19th. I plan to register for CSC-214 (Programming Language Concepts (3): Software design in a high-level language: abstract data types, modular programming, management of large programs. Dynamic memory management: linked lists, pointers, allocation and deallocation. Alternate programming paradigms: recursive list processing, object-oriented programming.) and CSC-257 (Introduction to Java (1): Introduction to the Java programming language. Object-oriented techniques and language syntax. Java class libraries including strings, graphical interfaces, events, exceptions, arguments, threads, file i/o, and networking.).

It has been a long week! To top off the weird Domino development issues at work, at home I had e-mail problems early in the week and a damaged video card the second half of the week. I've just found a couple of e-mail messages that I missed; if you've been expecting a reply from me and don't receive it by Saturday evening, drop me a line.

Woo-hoo! Lookee what we got:
Presidential Proclamation: LGBT Pride Month

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.
[…]
The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

What a nice gesture for the 40th anniversary of Stonewall!
[Tip o' the hat to selki!]

I had forgotten that andyhat had borrowed our dolly, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him at our door this evening. We decided to watch Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark. Turns out we have part one and a bunch of extra features, but not part two. I have re-ordered the disc from NetFlix, and we'll watch part two next week.

I got an A- in my class! Not bad for the first time back to school in over a decade. (Real school, not continuing ed. While I've enjoyed all my continuing ed classes and have learned a lot from them, this is different.)

ADDED: Interesting. The buzz on the class BBS is that the "Grade Genie" might be underestimating our grades. I'll make another post if my grade is different when I calculate it by hand, or if further information comes through from the professor or the TA.

The dentist replaced my temporary crown with the permanent one this morning. It went very smoothly. Next up: two small fillings in June; two crowns when we have money again.

I teach Sunday school, m*ther-f#ck#r!

I've known dglenn since we met in 1980 as college freshmen. That's an awfully long time! I first met billpease that same year, but didn't hang out with him much until later. Starting around 1985, dglenn introduced me to the MD-area groups (LUMSFS-in-exile, Markland, FanTek, SF conventions, WSFA) where I met about three dozen of my LJ friends. I moved to MD in 1986, spent some time out of town on various assignments, left in 1993, and still consider many of these friends to be family.

Goosh is an "unofficial google shell. […] This google-interface behaves similar to a unix-shell."

Looks very cool, and could be especially useful for lightweight appliances such as phones.

We bought heating oil today: 100 gallons at $1.89/gallon, total $201.76. That brought us up to 12.7 inches. I measured close to 6 inches over the weekend.

A few weeks ago, whc and I went to see the movie Inkheart at the local $1.50 theater. We enjoyed it. I should write more, but I wanted to at least note it here now.

I got a 100% on my latest test!

It's dark, it's wet, and we live on a sharp curve. Someone just realized that the 20 mph sign and the multiple black-on-yellow arrows are there for more than just decoration. The driver was going very fast, probably over the 45 mph posted on the rest of the road. The car is now straddling the railroad tracks. It looks like no one is hurt. Maybe someone learned a lesson tonight.

I finally got home from the dentist. ( details, not too gory )

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and picked up some egg salad and a slice of coconut cream pie. H-T makes their egg salad without mustard (yay!) and using Hellman's mayonnaise (yippee!). Pretty good when spread on a couple of slices of lightly-toasted Martin's potato bread with just a little extra mayo. The pie was decent; would have been better if instead of the huge glob of "whipped topping" that contained some cream, they had just put a dab of real whipped cream. I scraped off the whipped topping and ate the rest of the pie.

I've taken a Tylenol-III; now it's off to bed for me.

Yesterday was Mom's birthday. We took her out to dinner at Biaggi's and gave her a Roomba. She is running the Roomba now; she said the cats are confused.

I have homework due tonight, and a test tomorrow. I continue to do pretty well. I can bring a page of notes to tomorrow's test. I need to watch Wednesday's lecture to get a recap of the material and also try the sample test.

We had been planning to go to the NC Ren Faire today, and it looks like a gorgeous day to be out (high of 71°F, partly cloudy), but our house guests will be here by late afternoon. We're running the laundry mines and cleaning up so we can be ready.

I've been saying for years that we need a new bed, and I love the beds at Marriott. We finally got one this week! We ordered it from Dossenbach's Finer Furniture in Sanford. Our sales rep, Anita, had the Jamison Five Star Foam in stock and had it delivered the next day. whc and wordwelder are making the frame that will attach to the queen-size head- and footboard to support the king-size mattress and boxspring.

Help me, LazyWeb!
I'm putting together a list of "Don'ts". The list looks like this:
DO NOT:

• Use process xyzzy
• Allow foo
• [etc.]

I've always used this format:

• DO NOT use process xyzzy
• DO NOT allow foo

It just feels right to repeat the "DO NOT" on every item.
So, my tech-writing friends, which is the better way? Is there a reference somewhere to back up your preference (or mine)?

We've had a cold streak lately. I checked the heating oil level today, and it was at 7 inches. I'll probably buy 100 gallons so we can be sure to make it through the last of the heating season now and the start of next fall's heating season.

When whc and I set up a freshwater aquarium in March of 2004, we bought five red-eyed tetras. They soon became known as "the number fish", since we'd count them "one... two... three... four... Where's Number Five?" Number Five would then be found hiding behind a fake plant. We lost a fish from time to time, and eventually added guppies. Well, the last of the number fish was nowhere to be seen about a week ago, even though he used to hurry over at feeding time. The tank seems empty without a number fish, despite the dozens of guppies, so I guess we'll stop by Fish Pros soon to get more red-eyed tetras.