preparing for the retreat!

At the moment, everything seems to be packed. From pants and t-shirts to water and shampoo.
Tomorrow marks the start of my retreat down in Colorado. We will be going to Estes park -- and staying at a YMCA there.

On Saturday, I will be meeting Eric and I know we'll have fun as one team. There will be lots of activities and teamwork which all of us will have to accomplish.

I am sure that some readers are wondering about how I will journal during these few days. I have tried to ensure that I can record as much detail as possible.

Several types of journaling methods are at hand. I have purchased a voice recorder which can record up to 13 hours of high quality audio. This will be used to keep records of certain activities. With group permission, I should be able to post these audio files online -- so everyone can listen to them!
I also have a Slate and stylus. This is a way of "hand-writing" in braille. I did not want to bring a full fledged note- taker or a braille writer -- these items are bound to create a heavy load. So the simplest, yet most complex way of writing braille is using what is called a slate and stylus.

This (device), which you can find through Google Images, looks more like a grid system of cells. 14 cells (6 dots in braille) are ligned across a metalic plate vertically. Each cell is a whole through which you could push a pencil or other writing tool. So each cell has 6 dots. You write braille by pushing each individual dot of the letter onto the page.
You might this that this is hard work, but it really is not. The key importance is to know one golden rule: your writing is mirrored. In a braille cell, dots 1, 2, 3 are the left vertical 3 dots while 4,5,6 are the right. Because you flip the page over after you have finished writing, with a slate and stylus you must write "backwards": Dots 1,2,3 are on the right while dots 4,5,6 are left. In addition, you must write from right to left instead of left to right. Why? Because again your writing is mirrored. If you were to look at an ambulance car's license plate, you would see that the word ambulance is written backwards so that when a driver looks in his mirror, he/she can see it with the right orientation.

These 2 devices comprise the backbone of my blogging experience. When I return on Monday, expect to see articles detailing my experience!

With all due respect-
Tomi