Mo*Bee's Blog #3: Training My Dragon

Mo*Bee's Blog #3: Training My Dragon 

As usual I got distracted from my original topic on how I got Mo*Bee's Class Finder up and running. But there's nothing like a good old eight hour driving class to redirect your attention.

Although I must say one last thing. In fairness to the driving class, I'm not really sure that I would want to take an eight hour class in something that I really like. I might be wrong, will just have to wait and see.

Moving on...once I thought, I really am going to do this. (Build a web site that makes finding a class super easy.) It needs to be done. Somebody out there should've already done it.

One of my first thoughts was, you're dyslexic. Why in the world would you choose to do anything that had to do with a computer? Oh and not just typing on a computer. You're going to have to work with people who are programming computers.

My answer to myself was... this is really no different than anything else you've ever done. Before you worked at the places you worked, you didn't know how to do any of those things either. That has never stopped you before. It's never stopped you from going into lines of work that you had no business going in to. It's not at all that I should not have gone into the types of work I chose because I was dyslexic. I should not have gone into the types of work I did, simply because some were overtly dangerous.

Some of the smartest most creative people that have ever lived were dyslexic. There have been great scientists, inventors, and Nobel Prize winners who were dyslexic. Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were both dyslexic. We have had great actors and entertainers like Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Orlando Bloom, Jay Leno, and Vince Vaughn who are dyslexic just to name a few.

I myself have sold problem-solving ideas to a world-renowned automaker. So to anyone reading this who thinks that I'm down on myself or anyone who is dyslexic. I assure you I'm not. If anything, I mention it to teach people. I'm so confused when I see large companies be so good at paying attention to ways they can improve their company and make it grow. At the same time, having large groups of employees who they treat as squares, desperately trying to shove them all into round holes. Big companies could make so much more money if they would just take a minute and put people in the jobs that they can excel at.

Just like everyone else in the world, we all have things that make us slower than each other, or faster than each other, smarter on some subjects, dumber on others. Each of us has our strengths and weaknesses. My dyslexia is one of my greatest weaknesses. It is also one of my greatest strengths. It keeps my mind open and shows me ways to do things that I perhaps could not have figured out without it.

Thank goodness we are all different. What a terribly boring world it would be if we were all the same. How sad it would be. There would be no Albert Einstein's, no Michael Jordan's, no Oprah Winfrey's, no Steve Jobs. Our differences are what make us wonderful. The things that make us alike are boring and mundane.

To me being dyslexic just means that I have to learn how to do some things differently than other people learn to do them. So to help me do that I contacted the North Carolina Assistive Technology Program. I was set up with a lady named Mary Kay, who thought that the best thing available to help me in my endeavor was the Dragon speech recognition program. I agreed and ordered it right away.

When it arrived I quickly called Mary Kay and set up an appointment for her to come over and set up my system and teach me how to use it. Usually I feel a little sorry for people working with me for the first time. But in her line of work, I'm sure I was nothing new. At least she made me feel that way. We had a good time getting my Dragon set up and running.

I love the fact that the company, Nuance, named this thing Dragon. I love telling people I'm trying to train my Dragon how to type. By the way, you really do have to train your Dragon. Unfortunately, my Dragon doesn't know the rules of grammar. I was hoping she would just know when a sentence is supposed to end. Then she would put a period there and together we would carry on. This is not how it works. While she will type for you. She is a faithful servant who does only what she's told to do. I'm not positive, but I think my Dragon came from another country. If not from another country, she's at least from up north. While she seems to find my slow southern drawl charming, she sometimes misinterprets what I'm trying to tell her. Because she cannot correct my grammar, once my Dragon and I have hammered out a blog post, I now must turn this over to someone who actually has grammar skills, and they must fix it for me. (Don't be hard on them.  They only fix spelling and add a little punctuation. I prefer to write this blog in my own vernacular.)  Sometimes reading back over what my Dragon has typed for me has me rolling with laughter. Sometimes I wish I could post what she typed. Sometimes I hope no one accidentally sees what she typed. All in all, I love my Dragon. While she does have her faults. She doesn't pee or poop anywhere she's not supposed to, so far she's never chewed anything up and she doesn't eat anything. I wish all the other animals in my house minded half as good as she does. 

Miley

Sadie and Parker

Speaking of all those animals that live at my house. What do you say we all take a break and go pet our pets?

K.Lee

** My dogs - a sampling of rescues from NC animal shelters.

If for some crazy reason you don't own your very own pack of dogs, let me show you a few of my favorite places to shop.

Foothills Humane Society
Petfinder
Brother Wolf
Your Local Animal Shelter


Until next time.
Dee
a.k.a. Mo*Bee




Find the training you need on Mo*Bee's Class Finder.com!