The TAPING RECORDER March-April, 2005
News from & about Taping For The Blind, Inc. www.tapingfortheblind.org

NEW WEBSITE UP--We announced a few days ago that our new website is
operational. We are very glad to have it up, and we have received several
wonderful compliments on it. Let us first thank Lynn Johnson, Technology
Committee Chair, and Ginger Gish, Robert Schuller, and Scott Ward for their
invaluable contributions to this new site. Scott developed the new
architecture employed throughout the site, and all contributed big time to
the successful launch. The aim was to have a site that was supremely
accessible and have it usable as well. We think that you can get to where
you want to go in three clicks or less, and that is amazing. Your reporter
has been to sites that literally were impossible to navigate because it
required link after link after link, ad nauseum, resulting in frustration
and not getting desired information. Let me share a quote from a website
design professional (who happens to be the stepson of one of our wonderful
volunteers): "The site is very easy to navigate and the information is
readily available. I would not change a thing." We are very fortunate to
have such wonderful professionals working on our website! We have learned
that a website is an organic thing and is generally never complete. We
will continue to add features as we can. There is one feature I would like
to highlight.

The new site has a "Give" button that will allow donations to be given
through a secure website operated by the Local Independent Charities. Here
is the truly wonderful thing about that--we receive 100% of donations made
in this way. If we contracted with a company providing a secure website
and this donation service, we would have to give some percentage of the
gift to that provider. Since we are affiliated with Local Independent
Charities, we are able to use this service and receive the total donation
made using this option. We want to make giving to Taping as easy as
possible, and this is a great addition. (It also makes it easy for those
listening to our streaming audio on the Internet--we don't know what this
might amount to, but it can't hurt!)

VOLUNTEER RECEPTION--We hope that you will join us as we honor our
volunteers on Sunday, April 17, 2005, from 2-4 p.m. at Taping. It is
always great fun to be a part of this wonderful occasion, and we hope you
will be there as well. This gives us an opportunity to say "Thank you" for
all the work you do, and to be honest, we can't tell you this nearly as
often as we would like. Please let Ginger know that you plan to attend
(713-622-2767). And speaking of that--

NEW PHONE SYSTEM--Our new phone system is now installed and
operational. If you tried to use our old phones, you no doubt noticed that
they were worse than two cans and string. We now have a state-of-the-art
system using Toshiba instruments. Each staff member has a voice mail box;
and our listener comment line and audio description event line have now
become voice mail boxes on our central number. Many, many thanks to David
Gillmore and Bill Canning for their work on this project. David started
the project and saw it through to system installation. We will still
answer the phone whenever we can, but the user will then get a choice of
leaving a message in a general purpose box or leaving a message for a staff
member. We have also added instruments, as well as adding a magic box in
the on-air booth that will allow us to do call-in shows in the
future. Another step into the 21st century!

RODEO DESCRIPTIONS COMPLETE--Our work with the Houston Livestock Show &
Rodeo is complete for the tenth year. We described the parade and 6
performances of the rodeo. Our sincere thanks to John Borrowman, Trice
Lawrence, Fay Peters, Ted Pfister, and Bill White for their hard
work! Your reporter was able to attend the March 19th performance and
while John and Bill had some challenges during their description, their
play-by-play came across beautifully. We expect that Taping is unique in
describing rodeo, and that is just fine with us since this is a major part
of our heritage.

OUT IN THE WEST TEXAS TOWN...--We hope you might remember that line from a
great Marty Robbins hit "El Paso." Well, we have it on good authority
(sourced from someone with a definite need to know) that the El Paso radio
reading service is using our Internet broadcast signal to fill their
airwaves when they don't have locally based programming. We have replaced
the In Touch network for them, as they lost their antenna for receiving
that programming and chose the lower cost option of not rebuilding their
dish. We are very glad to have them on board, and we'll share comments
when we receive them.

LIGHT THE CANDLES--Since we are playing catch-up with this issue, we have
both March and April birthdays for you: 03/01 Dennis Tompkins; 03/03 Paul
LeGros; 03/05 Kirk Chaisson, Jef Furtado; 03/06 George Frey; 03/11 K.C.
Jobe; 03/12 Margaret Walker; 03/23 Gisela Sachs; 03/24 Jane Freeman; 03/26
Chris Van Deusen; and 03/31 Trice Lawrence, Carol Worsnop.

And for April: 04/01 Gladys Forde; 04/05 Barbara Badgett, JD Wilson; 04/06
Leila Reynolds; 04/08 Mary Gregg Manuel, George Thomas, William Weaver;
04/09 Gerald Stone; 04/10 John Biondi; 04/14 Melinda McCoy; 04/16 Russell
Sanders; 04/19 David Halliburton; 04/20 Elizabeth Eriksen; 04/21 Sylvia
Levy; 04/22 Larry Foust; 04/27 Sue O'Dell; 04/28 Jim Bratton; and 04/30 Kym
King. Happy Birthday to one and all! Our usual reminder goes along here,
if you had a March or April birthday and don't see your name here, please
let Ginger know.

LETTER STUFFING PARTY--Our Spring Listeners Campaign got a big start thanks
to several folks who showed up to stuff letters and envelopes in other
envelopes, then seal and label them so the Postal Service could carry them
to our customers. We want to thank the nice folks who showed up to do the
work: Margaret Anderson, Bob Bartlett,
Cullom Connely, Bette & Jim Douglas, Morton Fefer, Gordon Guillory, Tom
Milburn,
Ted Pfister, Paul & Pat Pilkington, Fran Sanders (and Goldie),Lyn Schmaltz,
and Donna & William Weaver (Dee & Weave, if you prefer). Also thanks to
Ginger Gish for her work in making it all happen--she got the labels, the
printing, the envelopes, and did her very best to keep everyone busy! We
ask our listeners for their donations twice each year in a Spring and a
Fall campaign, and preparing these mailings is really a key to the success
of these campaigns.

CONGRATULATIONSWe offer congratulations to volunteer reader Carolyn Babb on
the birth of a granddaughter, Kayla Michelle Leah Bridges, on Texas
Independence Day (March 2). We understand all are doing well.

We also congratulate Lisa Foronda on her recent marriage. Best
wishes from your friends at Taping!

GET WELL--Although we may be late sending get well wishes to Dran Alessi
after the fall she took, we hope she is properly repaired. And get well
soon wishes to Karl Seibert who was hurt recently--hurry back, Karl!

CONDOLENCES--The sympathy of the entire Taping family is extended to Jim
Martinez. Jim's grandmothers, Antonia Martinez and Virginia Lona, both
passed away earlier this year. We offer our sympathy to George Manly as his
father passed away last month. We also offer our condolences to Monica
McHam whose father passed away in March.

RLB