The TAPING RECORDER April, 2004
News from & about Taping For The Blind, Inc. www.tapingfortheblind.org

VOLUNTEER RECEPTION--Please plan to join us at Taping for our reception
honoring our volunteers on Sunday, April 25, 2004, from 2-4 p.m. This is
always such a fun event where you can mix and mingle with fellow volunteers
plus give us an opportunity to thank you for Turning Sight Into Sound! The
event will be at 3935 Essex Lane, and we promise any speeches will be
short! You should have received a postcard invitation by now and we ask
you to RSVP to Ginger.

PLAYS DESCRIBED--Our faithful describers continue their great work! Thanks
to Carol Worsnop who described "Twelfth Night" at the Alley Theatre on
March 14. Allan Kohlwes shadowed Carol as part of his training as a
describer. We also say thanks to Monica McHam for her description of the
Theater Under the Stars (TUTS) production of "Brigadoon" at the Hobby
Center for the Performing Arts on March 21.

BITS & PIECES--We have a number of briefly told stories:

Sarah Roush (second hour Chronicle reader on Tuesdays) is
recovering from recent surgery and listening to HTBR to keep up to
date. Get well soon!

Gwen Hieger (Sunday Supplements reader) is scheduled for eye
surgery this month. We hope it goes well!

Ted Pfister's son-in-law has a kidney transplant scheduled this
month. Our thoughts are with him!

Ginger Gish (Administrative Coordinator) is engaged to Robert
Brockman. Congratulations!

We hope you saw the story on rodeo description featuring
volunteers Bob Bartlett, John Borrowman, and Bill White. If you missed it,
check the bulletin board. Thanks to Dena Marks Sokolow for arranging that
story, as well as the KTRH interview of Bob Bartlett by Tracee Evans
discussing rodeo description.

We hope you noticed the new awning over the back door. We also
had an air conditioner break down, but it is repaired now. Very glad it
didn't wait until August!

Thanks to John Deming, Larry Foust, and David Gillmore for helping
cart off ancient computing equipment to the recycling center. We also
thank Dave Mathis (neighbor of a staff member) for helping to get rid of
numerous boxes.

Those boxes were from all the new computer hardware David Gillmore
(Vice President, Planning & Technology) ordered and had installed. We now
have a real office network and current software, as well as our new
dictionary computer installed. PLEASE do not turn these computers off if
you have used one. Our network is set up to do backups at off-hours and
you can cause serious problems by shutting a computer off. Please let
staff members handle this!

SYMPATHY--The sympathy of the entire Taping family is extended to the
friends and family of Julian Spring, a former HTBR reader, who passed away
recently. We also offer condolences to Dennis Tompkins (Director & reader)
who lost his father recently. We also offer condolences to Justin Blount
(evening engineer) who lost his grandmother recently.

LIGHT THE CANDLES--Birthday greetings are offered for the following
volunteers celebrating in April: 04/01 Gladys Forde; 04/05 Jerome "JD"
Wilson; 04/06 Leila Reynolds; 04/08 George M. Thomas, William Weaver; 04/09
Gerald Stone; 04/10 John Biondi; 04/14 Charles Boyd; 04/16 Russell Sanders;
04/19 David Halliburton, Lynn Sterba; 04/20 Elizabeth Eriksen, Rick
Whitaker; 04/21 Sylvia Levy; 04/22 Larry Foust, Rick Walter; 04/24 Ozzie
Colten; 04/25 John Escobedo; 04/27 Sue Odell; 04/28 Jim Bratton; and 04/30
Kym King. If your birthday is in April and you did not see your name listed
here, please contact Ginger so she can update our records.

WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS--We are so pleased to welcome the following new
volunteers to the Taping family: (HTBR) Jerry Hanlon, Tim Smith, Kriss
Wolff, and Patrick Flanagan; (Custom Recording) Katy Damon, Gisela Sachs,
Paul Daly, Carri Hunter, Ada Fay Peters, and Scott Goddard. We hope your
volunteer service at Taping will be a source of great satisfaction for you!

YOU NEVER KNOW--Once something is exposed to the Internet, you never know
what will happen to it after that. Take, for example, the cookie recipe
that we included in last month's RECORDER. First, let me offer apologies
to Allan Kohlwes who had just started a diet. And what else? One of our
volunteers forwarded it to the Food editors at the Houston Chronicle. Sure
enough, they asked to publish it and it may show up sometime in the Food
section. They really are great cookies!

RLB