Hello to all readers!
Last night, we had our third conference call with the group. Here many plans for the actual Grand Canyon trip were shared, and here I wish to lay some of these down.
As before, we had a guest on during the call. Grand Canyon Yuth is another organization which will be working with us during the trip. Therefore, it was important to meet some of the people from that organization.
The primary focus of the call was to talk about the river trip and how that will be layed out. This is where Grand Canyon Yuth came in, as they will be helping us throughout the river experience. Lots of great information was shared in the call, and below are a few bullet points which should help you understand more about the trips experience and some of the activities I will be involved with.
-The river: We will be rafting on the colorado River for one week. Specifically, the upper portion of the river. I believe we will be going over 500 miles on the river itself.
-estimated time on the river per day will be around 5 hours.
-Since we cannot set up a base around the river itself, we will have to sleep outside under the stars. Pretty neat, perhaps one of the aspects I look forward to on this trip.
It was also interesting to learn some other things we will be doing on the trip. The National Park Service has laws when it comes to sound levels in park areas. As many helicopters and vehicles are around the Grand Canyon, the noise level at certain areas is loud. We will be doing sound testing on the canyon itself and I believe even on the river trips. This data will be sent off to the park service and they will try to ensure that proper laws are met.
Our goal, though we were told that this one isn't for certain yet, will also be to rebuild a cabin into an educational facility. This will require that we paint and I imagine even build certain parts of the log cabin in order to make it usable. However this has not been confirmed yet, so I can't say that we'll be doing that project for sure -- although I hope we do!
There were other minor parts to the call itself which would take a while to type down, considering that I have to go catch a bus back to school at the moment. I see many exciting things rising for this trip, and cannot wait to meet everyone in April. Our flights have already been confirmed for April 24, and we will be there for 2 days. Returning Sunday. This will be the "retreat" portion of the trip, where we will meet everyone. It will truly be an exciting oppertunity to talk with everyone and finally unvail more of what the trip will consist of. :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Some of my other projects
Hello to all!
As still part of my goal to allow you, the reader, to connect with me at another level, I think it is important to mention some of the other work I do and will continue to do in the future.
First up is my technology reviewing work.
As of recent, I am testing the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7. I have tested several "builds" and releases, and am currently running build 7057.
After I try various aspects of a build, I write a review of how it functions with products or in performance. These reviews are posted online to my website and various other forums for readers to view and comment on.
My website can be found at
2. My DJ work:
I am also a volunteer DJ at an online radio station. This is fun work! Each afternoon, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I broadcast live from a room located inside my school building.
The show is called the World's Perspective show, and it focuses on allowing the listeners to connect with me at a more "personal" level and allowing them to choose the topic to talk about for the next days. Visit
my DJ website
for more info on the show.
3. After school, I was also part of the robotics team (team #1787). Since the season has ended last month, Robotics is over -- however this year's competitions were fun. The objective of robotics is to build a robot according to competition rules and a provided game animation and manual. After the kickoff is over (this year it was held on January 05), we have 6 weeks to build ou r robot and go to the competitions! visit
the US First website
to watch the animation and competition results. We were in the Buckeye regional.
Of course, I also do lots of speaking activites at various places. Speaking just never ends. I have given speeches to middleschoolers, the Kiwanis club, our school's Foundation... And am scheduled to speak at more meetings in the future.
I also write a lot. I have written a 60 page novella, titled "The Precursor of Chaos", which is a twist off from some Orwellian concepts. Currently I'm writing a book titled "The Old world: How Technology destroyed Society", which details our current society's condition and how it is being destroyed. The book will describe in detail how we currently live (culture-wise) and booth good and bad aspects of today's world. It will probably be published in the future, after I see more "outcomes" as to what will happen
Finally, This summer I will also attend Youth Slam 2009, through the National Federation of the Blind.
Watch the promo video here
That's about it for now... I might edit this post if any new projects come along! :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
As still part of my goal to allow you, the reader, to connect with me at another level, I think it is important to mention some of the other work I do and will continue to do in the future.
First up is my technology reviewing work.
As of recent, I am testing the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, Windows 7. I have tested several "builds" and releases, and am currently running build 7057.
After I try various aspects of a build, I write a review of how it functions with products or in performance. These reviews are posted online to my website and various other forums for readers to view and comment on.
My website can be found at
2. My DJ work:
I am also a volunteer DJ at an online radio station. This is fun work! Each afternoon, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I broadcast live from a room located inside my school building.
The show is called the World's Perspective show, and it focuses on allowing the listeners to connect with me at a more "personal" level and allowing them to choose the topic to talk about for the next days. Visit
my DJ website
for more info on the show.
3. After school, I was also part of the robotics team (team #1787). Since the season has ended last month, Robotics is over -- however this year's competitions were fun. The objective of robotics is to build a robot according to competition rules and a provided game animation and manual. After the kickoff is over (this year it was held on January 05), we have 6 weeks to build ou r robot and go to the competitions! visit
the US First website
to watch the animation and competition results. We were in the Buckeye regional.
Of course, I also do lots of speaking activites at various places. Speaking just never ends. I have given speeches to middleschoolers, the Kiwanis club, our school's Foundation... And am scheduled to speak at more meetings in the future.
I also write a lot. I have written a 60 page novella, titled "The Precursor of Chaos", which is a twist off from some Orwellian concepts. Currently I'm writing a book titled "The Old world: How Technology destroyed Society", which details our current society's condition and how it is being destroyed. The book will describe in detail how we currently live (culture-wise) and booth good and bad aspects of today's world. It will probably be published in the future, after I see more "outcomes" as to what will happen
Finally, This summer I will also attend Youth Slam 2009, through the National Federation of the Blind.
Watch the promo video here
That's about it for now... I might edit this post if any new projects come along! :)
With all due respect:
Tomi
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A Brief yet Detailed Autobiography
Hello to all Readers!
As promised, my goal is to allow you to connect with me at a profound level. This can sometimes be hard to achieve. Right now, to many of you, I am a stranger, a person who you don't yet know. Well, I'll tweak that. A person who you do know, but in not much detail.
I was born visually impaired, due to an eye condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity). The condition stems from too much oxygen being given at birth to an incubated patient. Since I was 3 months premature, it was required that I be incubated. And so yes, I was given too much of the oxygen, which caused the blood pressure in my eyes to rise and consequently blow my retinas off.
Hungary was, and to a degree still is, a nation which does not accept the visually impaired well. My mom spent a lot of her life trying to learn more about my disability and thus provide me the oppertunities for education through homeschooling. She learned braille and I was taught braille in a different way than most would think: Since monthly sallarys in Hungary were low compared to other nations, we could not afford the more fancy materials, such as a professional braille writer. I learned braille using a small square which had 6 wholes on it. You could move the individual pegs around these wholes to form each of the 64 dot combinations found in the braille code.
It must be noted here that the Hungarian ways of teaching recommended the learning of the Abacus -- an interesting way of performing mathamatical calculations. I remember quite well fighting with my mom over the use of the abacus. It was not an easy task.
So I was home schooled first and second grade. In third, my uncle recommended that I come to the United states for a half year in order to see the education here as well as oppertunities for an eye surgery. I was a shy person. Since I grew up on computers (which I've been using since age 5), I generally could not handle the public well, let alone interact with students normally. I was afraid. I came here with no English and it almost felt like coming to an entire new and strange world, where me and my family were the only ones to speak a proper language.
I returned to Hungary in 4th grade, while my mom came back to the United States after a short visit to Hungary in order to continue work. Me and my twin sighted sister stayed with my father, who then continued my homeschool education. Since he didn't know braille, often times my textbooks would be recorded in audio form on casettes which I would listen to. At the end of that year, I took a large exam on everything my father taught me in all areas - Science, Grammar, math... Even singing, which I generally don't enjoy. -_-
In 5th grade, it was decided that I should go to the boarding school for the blind, located in Budapest. This was a residential school, where everyone else was blind or at least visually impaired.
Since it was in Budapest, I had to take a four hour trainride from the school to my dad's home. This meant that a guide was assigned to pick me up from the platform at the school and bring me safely into the building -- as well as on Fridays, take me to the station and put me on the train where my dad would pick me up. We alays brought tickets for me behind the conductor's car, in the first compartment. So my father knew that I would be there.
The trainrides were boring, and nobody ever talked to me. In fact, nobody was ever in my compartment -- although I didn't notice this at the time. At school, I was often times severely beaten and abused. My room mates felt jealous for the fact that I actually visited the United States for half a year, while they had to live in that wretched boarding school for years and years, sometimes even at kindergarden(called ovoda back there) age.
Oh and wretched that school was. If you said one swear word and was caught by the councelors, you would be made to stand against a radiator for hours on end. Many of the councelors were female, and actually watched you take showers.
And I was beaten and my lungs were boxed at every night almost, because I was the weak kid as well.
Perhaps if it wern't for those beatings though, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today. They helped me wake up to the "cruel side" of this world, that not everyone is nice-and-innocent as I'd think.
In 6th grade, with the help of my mom, I came back to the United States and began studying. This was nice, as I lived peacefully in my home and at school, nobody would dare bother me since I was blind. In fact, I was always treated differently. Nobody set with me at the lunch table. Well besides my only best friend Steve. As I entered my high school years, this became worse, and I frequently wrote depressing poetry, about things such as "what's wrong with the blind?"
I was never accepted. But then again, did I take the initiatives? Not really. I tried setting a goalball team up in 9th grade at school, which is a sport for the blind, without much success. At the end of 10th, I finally took off the "reserved for Tomi" sign above a lunch table, which surved for letting others know that my table was there. Again, I wasn't confident at all in choosing a table to sit at, so the school's goal was to provide me a way to sit at the same table without having to ask students "can I sit here?"
School so far has gone through like a breeze. I finally mastered contracted (grade 2) braille at the end of 6th grade. In America, they like to make things complex. Braille is just one of these "things", as each letter in the English Braille alphabet stands for a world. A, But, Can, Do... Parts of words are also contracted, such as ea, ch, sh, st, en... With various symbols and dot patterns. This is called Grade 2 braille.
My motives for raising awareness on the capabilities of the blind began this year mainly, after attending the teen empowerment academy through the
National Federation of the Blind"> , an organization for the visually impaired.
The 8 week long summer program simply empowered me and gave me oppertunities to further boost my confidence and understand who I am. My family generally views my "disability" with much pecimism and worry. This is understandable, as my mom grew up in Rumania, where oppression was everywhere. She naturally worries for me, as I'm still a child -- but being 17 I think it is now time for me to transition away from my home. So the Teen Empowerment Academy gave me just that oppertunity.
Throughout my Junior year, my goal has been to raise awareness. I've done a tv interview, made many speeches, and talked to over 100 middle school students. I've submitted a Community Solving Project, which has been entered into a competition, on this issue of the sighted world not realizing that the blind are the same as they are in so many aspects.
I would recommend anyone reading to visit my leading the way page, where you can also watch the promo video -- and learn more about who I am. It can be found at
http://www.eurpod.com/leadtheway.html
. And don't forget my main life motto:
Live life the way you want it lived!
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
As promised, my goal is to allow you to connect with me at a profound level. This can sometimes be hard to achieve. Right now, to many of you, I am a stranger, a person who you don't yet know. Well, I'll tweak that. A person who you do know, but in not much detail.
I was born visually impaired, due to an eye condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity). The condition stems from too much oxygen being given at birth to an incubated patient. Since I was 3 months premature, it was required that I be incubated. And so yes, I was given too much of the oxygen, which caused the blood pressure in my eyes to rise and consequently blow my retinas off.
Hungary was, and to a degree still is, a nation which does not accept the visually impaired well. My mom spent a lot of her life trying to learn more about my disability and thus provide me the oppertunities for education through homeschooling. She learned braille and I was taught braille in a different way than most would think: Since monthly sallarys in Hungary were low compared to other nations, we could not afford the more fancy materials, such as a professional braille writer. I learned braille using a small square which had 6 wholes on it. You could move the individual pegs around these wholes to form each of the 64 dot combinations found in the braille code.
It must be noted here that the Hungarian ways of teaching recommended the learning of the Abacus -- an interesting way of performing mathamatical calculations. I remember quite well fighting with my mom over the use of the abacus. It was not an easy task.
So I was home schooled first and second grade. In third, my uncle recommended that I come to the United states for a half year in order to see the education here as well as oppertunities for an eye surgery. I was a shy person. Since I grew up on computers (which I've been using since age 5), I generally could not handle the public well, let alone interact with students normally. I was afraid. I came here with no English and it almost felt like coming to an entire new and strange world, where me and my family were the only ones to speak a proper language.
I returned to Hungary in 4th grade, while my mom came back to the United States after a short visit to Hungary in order to continue work. Me and my twin sighted sister stayed with my father, who then continued my homeschool education. Since he didn't know braille, often times my textbooks would be recorded in audio form on casettes which I would listen to. At the end of that year, I took a large exam on everything my father taught me in all areas - Science, Grammar, math... Even singing, which I generally don't enjoy. -_-
In 5th grade, it was decided that I should go to the boarding school for the blind, located in Budapest. This was a residential school, where everyone else was blind or at least visually impaired.
Since it was in Budapest, I had to take a four hour trainride from the school to my dad's home. This meant that a guide was assigned to pick me up from the platform at the school and bring me safely into the building -- as well as on Fridays, take me to the station and put me on the train where my dad would pick me up. We alays brought tickets for me behind the conductor's car, in the first compartment. So my father knew that I would be there.
The trainrides were boring, and nobody ever talked to me. In fact, nobody was ever in my compartment -- although I didn't notice this at the time. At school, I was often times severely beaten and abused. My room mates felt jealous for the fact that I actually visited the United States for half a year, while they had to live in that wretched boarding school for years and years, sometimes even at kindergarden(called ovoda back there) age.
Oh and wretched that school was. If you said one swear word and was caught by the councelors, you would be made to stand against a radiator for hours on end. Many of the councelors were female, and actually watched you take showers.
And I was beaten and my lungs were boxed at every night almost, because I was the weak kid as well.
Perhaps if it wern't for those beatings though, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today. They helped me wake up to the "cruel side" of this world, that not everyone is nice-and-innocent as I'd think.
In 6th grade, with the help of my mom, I came back to the United States and began studying. This was nice, as I lived peacefully in my home and at school, nobody would dare bother me since I was blind. In fact, I was always treated differently. Nobody set with me at the lunch table. Well besides my only best friend Steve. As I entered my high school years, this became worse, and I frequently wrote depressing poetry, about things such as "what's wrong with the blind?"
I was never accepted. But then again, did I take the initiatives? Not really. I tried setting a goalball team up in 9th grade at school, which is a sport for the blind, without much success. At the end of 10th, I finally took off the "reserved for Tomi" sign above a lunch table, which surved for letting others know that my table was there. Again, I wasn't confident at all in choosing a table to sit at, so the school's goal was to provide me a way to sit at the same table without having to ask students "can I sit here?"
School so far has gone through like a breeze. I finally mastered contracted (grade 2) braille at the end of 6th grade. In America, they like to make things complex. Braille is just one of these "things", as each letter in the English Braille alphabet stands for a world. A, But, Can, Do... Parts of words are also contracted, such as ea, ch, sh, st, en... With various symbols and dot patterns. This is called Grade 2 braille.
My motives for raising awareness on the capabilities of the blind began this year mainly, after attending the teen empowerment academy through the
National Federation of the Blind"> , an organization for the visually impaired.
The 8 week long summer program simply empowered me and gave me oppertunities to further boost my confidence and understand who I am. My family generally views my "disability" with much pecimism and worry. This is understandable, as my mom grew up in Rumania, where oppression was everywhere. She naturally worries for me, as I'm still a child -- but being 17 I think it is now time for me to transition away from my home. So the Teen Empowerment Academy gave me just that oppertunity.
Throughout my Junior year, my goal has been to raise awareness. I've done a tv interview, made many speeches, and talked to over 100 middle school students. I've submitted a Community Solving Project, which has been entered into a competition, on this issue of the sighted world not realizing that the blind are the same as they are in so many aspects.
I would recommend anyone reading to visit my leading the way page, where you can also watch the promo video -- and learn more about who I am. It can be found at
http://www.eurpod.com/leadtheway.html
. And don't forget my main life motto:
Live life the way you want it lived!
:)
With all due respect:
Tomi
First Introductory Post
Respected Readers!
When it comes to blogging, excitement is always present -- looming within the pit of one's stomach, pumping through the body. The reasons for this excitement are simple: reactions to your opinions and posts from you, the readers.
Generally, if I were to write a blog focusing on myself and my own personal life views, finding the right ideas to post might become a struggle. There would be a lot to talk about -- from the basics (in order to help readers in knowing me better), to how I formed my beliefs and opinions, to the billions of topics available for discussion on the blog itself.
But when the focus is set on a particular topic -- such as a grand canyon expedition -- finding the right posts to create becomes a breeze.
My name is Tamas, though I am called Tomi (pronounced toe-me, which by the way is why I'm sometimes called a toe-truck as an insult or tease). I was born in the nation of Hungary, and lived much of my life there. Although I could write a 5 page entry on how growing up in Hungary was, and the differences in life back there compared to the United States, I don't feel it pertains to this blog much. However, my goal is to help you connect with me not on a "stranger" level, but on a more personal, more profound note.
Therefore, I will be posting my next entry, which will contain my autobiography, or at least the bits and parts of my life which will help you establish this connection with me. For now, all you need to know is that I'm visually impaired, due to a condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity) and only see light on my right eye.
So. Why am I creating this blog? As I mentioned in the first paragraph, when you know your focus, writing becomes easy. My focus is clear and set: To provide readers with a deep and enriched sense of how I went througha Grand Canyon expedition and accomplished it with success.
So now we're talking. A grand canyon expedition?
Yes, a grand canyon expedition.
There is an organization out there, known as
Global Explorers
. Global Explorers is unique in that they try and integrate all cultures and diversities into their expeditions and trips. Their goal is to help and guide students through any of their trips -- The Grand Canyon is just one of them -- and through this, assist them in gaining a life-long experience. So the program, known as Leading the Way, is one of GX (Global Explorers)
programs.
The goal of leading the way is to help students become better leaders through respecting cultures, working together as a team (teamwork), and performing service. Those are, at least, three of the main goals of the Leading the Way program, though there is a lot more to it at a surface level.
Leading the Way not only offers trips to the Grand Canyon, but also to other places like the Arctic and Amazon. But alas, the Grand Canyon was the trip I have found and applied to.
I applied to the program in October, a few days before the deadline. So I did not expect (but hoped deep within) to be accepted into the program. I knew that 9 others( 5 sighted and 4 blind students) would be accepted as well.
But I received the call from the program's coordinator, Shannon Smiley, congratulating and accepting me into the program -- and rejoyced at the thought of actually experiencing the Grand Canyon.
I knew that there would be a few challenges to overcome in order to experience the canyon -- this was mainly the prospect of raising $2300 in order to go. My stomach sank when I learned of that value after receiving my 89 page braille packet in the mail a few weeks later.
But as it stands today, I will be exploring to the Grand Canyon. Funding is going great -- I have raised around $100-1200 so far, and more money is being collected through churches and community members as we speak!
Ttoday I also received news from the Senge Foundation on receiving their Scholarship, which pays for half of the program costs. I will be posting more about this in future articles.
So there it is, a brief (and hopefully not too long) introduction. You will see many more posts today and through the next few days, as I talk more about some of my funding initiatives, the Scholarship, my autobiography... So please please keep an eye out on this blog.
With all due respect and warm regards:
Tomi
When it comes to blogging, excitement is always present -- looming within the pit of one's stomach, pumping through the body. The reasons for this excitement are simple: reactions to your opinions and posts from you, the readers.
Generally, if I were to write a blog focusing on myself and my own personal life views, finding the right ideas to post might become a struggle. There would be a lot to talk about -- from the basics (in order to help readers in knowing me better), to how I formed my beliefs and opinions, to the billions of topics available for discussion on the blog itself.
But when the focus is set on a particular topic -- such as a grand canyon expedition -- finding the right posts to create becomes a breeze.
My name is Tamas, though I am called Tomi (pronounced toe-me, which by the way is why I'm sometimes called a toe-truck as an insult or tease). I was born in the nation of Hungary, and lived much of my life there. Although I could write a 5 page entry on how growing up in Hungary was, and the differences in life back there compared to the United States, I don't feel it pertains to this blog much. However, my goal is to help you connect with me not on a "stranger" level, but on a more personal, more profound note.
Therefore, I will be posting my next entry, which will contain my autobiography, or at least the bits and parts of my life which will help you establish this connection with me. For now, all you need to know is that I'm visually impaired, due to a condition known as ROP (retinopathy of Prematurity) and only see light on my right eye.
So. Why am I creating this blog? As I mentioned in the first paragraph, when you know your focus, writing becomes easy. My focus is clear and set: To provide readers with a deep and enriched sense of how I went througha Grand Canyon expedition and accomplished it with success.
So now we're talking. A grand canyon expedition?
Yes, a grand canyon expedition.
There is an organization out there, known as
Global Explorers
. Global Explorers is unique in that they try and integrate all cultures and diversities into their expeditions and trips. Their goal is to help and guide students through any of their trips -- The Grand Canyon is just one of them -- and through this, assist them in gaining a life-long experience. So the program, known as Leading the Way, is one of GX (Global Explorers)
programs.
The goal of leading the way is to help students become better leaders through respecting cultures, working together as a team (teamwork), and performing service. Those are, at least, three of the main goals of the Leading the Way program, though there is a lot more to it at a surface level.
Leading the Way not only offers trips to the Grand Canyon, but also to other places like the Arctic and Amazon. But alas, the Grand Canyon was the trip I have found and applied to.
I applied to the program in October, a few days before the deadline. So I did not expect (but hoped deep within) to be accepted into the program. I knew that 9 others( 5 sighted and 4 blind students) would be accepted as well.
But I received the call from the program's coordinator, Shannon Smiley, congratulating and accepting me into the program -- and rejoyced at the thought of actually experiencing the Grand Canyon.
I knew that there would be a few challenges to overcome in order to experience the canyon -- this was mainly the prospect of raising $2300 in order to go. My stomach sank when I learned of that value after receiving my 89 page braille packet in the mail a few weeks later.
But as it stands today, I will be exploring to the Grand Canyon. Funding is going great -- I have raised around $100-1200 so far, and more money is being collected through churches and community members as we speak!
Ttoday I also received news from the Senge Foundation on receiving their Scholarship, which pays for half of the program costs. I will be posting more about this in future articles.
So there it is, a brief (and hopefully not too long) introduction. You will see many more posts today and through the next few days, as I talk more about some of my funding initiatives, the Scholarship, my autobiography... So please please keep an eye out on this blog.
With all due respect and warm regards:
Tomi
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