Crazy O and M!

Ok, so I have lots of stuff about yesterday to post, but I really wanted to get this O and M lesson up lol.

I just got back from the craziest O and M lesson of my life. Not bad, but crazy. I really didn’t want to do the lesson today because it was walking around my apartment for next fall and figuring out what’s around it, and its snowy and freezing out. Melyssa came and we decided to just take the car and drive around to get a feel of how far things were and where there weren’t sidewalks etc.
We drove the 10-ish blocks to the apartment complex, and realized that part of the street its on has no sidewalks. The north side does, but not the south, and the complex is on the south. I could walk around on the north side and wait for an all clear to cross over to the complex, but that could take awhile so I couldn’t be in a hurry lol. I might be able to do sidewalkless with Bilko walking along the left side of the rode, but I’m not sure how safe that would be…
We decided to try to walk to the complex from a couple blocks away, but we realized that the sidewalks were completely covered in snow. Seriously, we couldn’t even tell there was sidewalk! We crossed the street to the side where there was cleared sidewalk and that was better. The kind of scary part about that is there’s absolutely no boundry between the sidewalk and the street. Its sidewalk, white line, street. Bilko did wonderfully though :)
At one point, Melyssa took my ID cane that I always cary with me especially in the snow, and crossed back over to see if there was sidewalk on the other side (when there wasn’t any snow anyway lol.) She almost lost the tip of my cane in the mud, but she found sidewalk! Smile
We then took the car and drove around to see what stores and businesses were around, and found out that the nearest store is 2 blocks away so that’s not too bad. The thing is there’s no sidewalk on the south side of the street so I’d either have to cross to the other side or do sidewalkless. I am definitely gonna have Chuck from GDB come look at this this summer. We then tried to cross this intersection by the “South Side Six,” that was nearest to the apartments, and once I figured it out was good, but we were crossing it to go back to the car and Bilko, who was facing the correct direction initially, decided half way across the street he wanted to go to a driveway to the right. What the heck? I don’t know why he did that, but he’s usually good… maybe he was tired… IDK he was goin nuts. We’re both just glad to be back home in the warm dorms.
More later about yesterday. I should do homework. Bleh!

Greatful for my guide ({)

So I just had to post about how much I love my dog. :)
I went out with some friends today. One is actually my O and M instructor lol. I met her and her husband at a camp for the Vblind/VI over the summer, and she ended up being my O and M instructor for college haha!
I have to say I have absolutely nothing against this school what-so-ever. . I actually considered it for getting a dog, but this guy's handling is not good! He lets people pet his dog in harness, which if the dog can handle it and not get distracted is ok, but this dog can't. The dog just randomly went over to say hi to some kids standing near us. He kept having to tell the dog to come repetedly. The dog also licked the floor... Ok its a dog, its gonna lick, but its discusting, and he didn't do anything about it. He also gave his dog icecream in harness! He can give his dog icecream if he wants, but I don't get why he'd keep him in harness to do it. Then the dog would try to get more icecream... he was watching mine lol. Bilko just layed by my side and looked around, but didn't try to say hi to anybody like the other dog did, and didn't lick the floor. I only had to correct him once for missing a curb, but it was right outside the door of DQ. The other dog tried to follow a stranger lol! O and this dog is 11, and Bilko behaved better than him. I love my boy!
I really like this guy and his wife, but yeah... his wife and I agree he doesn't handle his dog well. Yea Bilko! You rock!

Snow, Snow Go away!

Unless classes are gonna be canceled for tomorrow!
Ok, so of course there has been talk of the "Blizard of 2010" lately, and everybody's been flipping out. Some teachers canceled classes (which I found out there not supposed to do without permission from the university) yesterday, but none of mine did. Granted I only had 2 classes today, but one was clear across campus (and this campus isn't small) in the music building (aka CMA.) I had not left my dorm much except to relieve Bilko, and I noticed that the sidewalks wern't really cleared yet. Well, my first class was in my dorm building which was awesome! Then I was debating on even trying to get to the CMA since its been snowing like mad all day. The busses were still running, so I decided to go for it and take the bus. If the bus wasn't running I wouldn't even have bothered attempting it! So I went out and tried to take my normal rout to the bus stop, but the sidewalks were completely covered still! This was at like 3 this afternoon! Arg! I hate stupid people! A lady that knows me directed me to a different rout that I'd done before but hate because it involves getting through this parking lot that Bilko and I always end up wandering around in... It happened again, and someone directed me out of it. Then the cleaning lady that'd helped me before came running up and insisted on helping me get to the bus stop. She tried to grab me, and I said "no, my dog will guide me thanks." I absolutely hate people grabbing or pushing me! She made sure I was going in the right direction and walked away. I told Bilko to "find the bus stop" and we were fine. When the bus finally came, we got on, and a few minutes later I heard on the radio that all classes were canceled after 5:00 pm tonight. My jazz choir rehearsal ended at 4:30, so I didn't think It'd be canceled, and I was already on the bus anyway. I got to the CMA and the bus driver made sure I got across the street with the huge piles of snow (nice, but I'd've been fine without her lol) the sidewalk was much clearer than the ones by my dorm, and we made it to the building and when we got to the classroom... "Hi Jenna. We're canceling class." my director.
Arg! You've got to be kidding me! I should've not even bothered coming! O well... A friend from the group gave me a ride back to the dorm so I didn't have to wait for the bus, and when I got back I realized everyone was packing up on food for the next day lol.

I'm really hoping it either snows a lot tonight so classes are canceled tomorrow, or melts. I have an O and M (orientation and Mobility) lesson tomorrow, and I want to go walk around the neighborhood near my apartment complex for next year to see what's there, but I don't think walking in feet of snow will do anybody any good... especially since I'll be using my cane to get the layout of things. I hate that thing! i'll use it when I have to, but no more!
Ok now I'm going to do homework. Hopefully my future posts will be more entertaining than this one. Ta-Ta for Now