I used to think of my Dog Guide as the best icebreaker, but now have discovered another.

I'm currently taking courses at Texas Tech and use my VoiceNote industrially. Not only are people facinated with the fact that I am typing my notes, and NO, I've never gotten a complaint about the loud keys, but when they find out that my notes are typed, spell checked and transferrable to computer, I've gotten several request and one offer of payment to have a copy of my notes.

I, and another BrailleNote user, even found ourselves in the unique position of being able to help another student with short term memory issues by providing him with typed copies of our notes as well. With all the help we've received in the past from other students and faculty, it's nice to be able to give something back for a change. It only goes to show that the old saying is true, what goes around comes around.

That other BrailleNote user and I sit very close to one another and in the 3 or 4 classes we've taken together, neither the faculty or other students have ever complained about noisy keys and you'd think that if one note taker was bad, two should be much worse. In fact, one of the professors told us that she gaged her lecture speed by noticing when we completed our "tap tap tapping" and then would go on with her next subject.

Also, we've used a neet little trick when taking essay tests. We will type our answers and then email them to the instructor via cell phone connection at the end of class. By the time he or she gets back to his or her office our tests have already arrived and are actually readable.

Jeff Molzow