Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Category: Uncategorized

  • How Can I Have a 16-Year-Old??

    We all woke up late this morning.  The alarm didn’t go off–I guess I forgot to set it last night.  We hustled around as usual and my oldest took off through the front door and hopped into the waiting Suburban.  A few minutes later, my eyes grew wide, my mouth hung open and my shoulders sank.

    I forgot my son’s birthday.

    That’s right, my oldest kiddo is now 16 years old.  I shipped him off to school without so much as a “Happy Birthday honey!”   He didn’t have his phone with him, so I couldn’t text him.  So I called his bus driver and left a message on his voice mail– to tell my son that I wished him a Happy Birthday. 

    So, to erase this awful Mommy-guilt, I went to Panera and bought his favorite sandwich and dropped it off at school with a note.

    Happy Birthday to my oldest baby– you were born just yesterday!

    Sixteen.

    How is that possible?

  • SB 68 Hearing Aid Bill on ABC News

    Jim and Julie Chavez and Dana Craig are featured in the news segment on ABC News covering SB 68 which would provide insurance coverage for hearing aids for Illinois residents.  A big thank you goes to Senator Ira Silverstein who has worked hard from the beginning to push this bill through.

    ABC News on SB 68 Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage  (captioned)

    The most surprising stance of all is the one taken by the Illinois Academy of Audiology opposing the bill for all ages and instead supporting it only for children. 

    I’d like to see Illinois become the second state (Arkansas is the first) to pass a bill providing insurance coverage for hearing aids for residents of all ages.  It’s the right thing to do, as Senator Ira Silverstein stated in a recent meeting with the proponents and opponents.

    May 31st is the deadline to get this bill moved to the floor or extended into the fall session. The time is now–call the Senators in Illinois and tell them to support this bill.

    For more information and a list to call:

    Hearing Aid Action

  • Z, The Next-Best-Thing to Being There

    “Impromptu gatherings are always the best,” said Karen Calvin on Saturday night.  It was nearly two a.m. and the last of our friends were about to head out the door. 

    It started out as one of those weekends where we planned to work on the basement with our friend Mike.  Mike had been coming over with his kids for several weekends and tackling the basement with Joe.  Joe emailed another friend, John Sullivan.  “We need a tall guy to hold up the drywall,” he said.  Tempted with free beer, John said yes.

    Another friend,  Dennis O’Brien volunteered his labor and joined us after installing some Z’s all day.  His wife Laura and son Shawn came over.  Laura texted the Facebook Queen, Lori Krakora, and told her to come on over with her kids.   Lori brought her kids, and three other friends of ours–Todd and Karen Calvin and Mark Riedel.

    The guys put up just two pieces of drywall and called it quits.

    So we spent the night gathered around the kitchen table yakking and laughing.  The kids were off playing somewhere in the house– we didn’t hear a peep from them.  We talked about everything under the sun:  the stinking economy, the difficulty of keeping a business going during hard times, our kids, our future– and our childhoods.

    Connecting with Kent from Colorado
    Connecting with Kent from Colorado

    It was getting late, probably near midnight, when we decided to call our friend Kent from Colorado.  Kent was part of our deaf investment club which disbanded not too long ago.  So Kent joined the party virtually through the Z videophone. 

    “Damn, I wish I was there!” he said.

    “Dude, you are here!” I said.  We passed the Z-340 around and yakked some more.  After Kent hung up, Julie and Jim Chavez called at one a.m.  So we planted the Z in front of us and chatted away with the Chavez’s while munching on potato chips.  There were grease marks all over the Z-340 from being passed around.  Earlier in the day, the Z survived an encounter with spilled milk.  I sat back and watched the conversations around me– marveling how neat it was that friends from far away could join us and be involved.

    I think we’ve got a new slogan for Z:  The next-best-thing to being there.

  • Deaf Nation and SOBCon’09

    Last week, I was scheduled to speak at SOBCon’09 with Glenda Watson Hyatt but I ended up working at Deaf Nation in Ponoma, California.  I drove down to Chicago on Thursday to meet with some customers and then headed over to Hotel 71 to find Glenda.  Glenda and I have been online buddies for about two years, but this was the first time we met in person.  As soon as I walked in the hotel and spotted her smiling face, I ran over for a hug.   Sitting right next to her was Amy Derby, another fellow blogger who happens to be hard of hearing.  Amy and I met last year for lunch at Chili’s.  We mistakenly walked into a Baker’s Square and have been craving pie ever since.

    The three of us chatted with Lorelle VanFossen, Liz Strauss (who looked quite hot with her new haircut!) and Chris Brogan (who looked great, minus hair!), then paused for a picture with others from SOBCon:

    Glenda and I managed to communicate in a variety of ways.  I used my super lipreading powers, she pulled out her fingerspelling skills and we connected.  Occasionally we had a third person, an interpreter or her trusty alphabet sheet to rely on.

    I flew to Pomona, California the next day and Glenda went on to rock the audience at SOBCon’09.  Take a look at some of the blog reactions:

    Is Your Blog Disabled?

    Twitter Reactions

    You Can Be on Oprah and Larry King

    Making Me Cry

    While I was sad to miss this year’s SOBCon, I was thrilled to join the Z Team at Deaf Nation in Pomona, California.  My team mate, Jack Busenbark, cracked me up as he brought some super-sized bottles of Hand Sanitizer and insisted that we all practice “safe sales” in light of the Swine Flu:

    The next day, the news reported a shortage of Hand Sanitizer.  Jack’s fault.  But hey, the Z Team all went home healthy.

  • Rally for SB 68 Hearing Aid Insurance Bill

    Today, I’m heading down to Springfield for a meeting to discuss SB 68 which would provide insurance coverage for hearing aids for Illinois residents of all ages.   A group of us will be meeting with the opponents of the bill to hopefully reach a common ground in pushing a bill through for insurance coverage for hearing aids.  Surprising to me is that the Illinois Academy of Audiology is one of the opponents for this bill.  It is my understanding that they prefer to limit coverage to children only.

    I know that there is a lot of fear that insurance premiums would rise outrageously if we were to pass this bill.  I honestly don’t believe that will be the case.  The bill is very reasonable– providing $2,500 coverage per ear, once every five years.

    Reasonable.

    Many insurance companies are now at the point where they cover bilateral cochlear implants without the long battles of yesteryear.  One of my friends obtained bilateral cochlear implants not too long ago and she shared that the bill came to $225,000.  She loves her implants and is enjoying all the new sounds she’s hearing each day.  I am thrilled for her.  I just want the same coverage for my family.  There are ten of us with hearing aids.  The hubby and I are wearing hearing aids that could use some repair.  He’s got a broken T-switch.  I have a broken battery door.  We both could use new hearing aids but we’ll have to flip a coin to decide who gets one first.  We hold off, because this is the last year our children quality for state aid for their hearing aids.  What if one of them goes out? 

    Consider this– if all of us were to get new hearing aids at once, it is a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost of all of us getting bilateral cochlear implants.  Just something to think about when we talk about insurance coverage. 

    Tomorrow, there will be a rally down in Springfield, hosted by CCDI and INCIL at noon.  Meet at Adams Street, by the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center, 701 East Adams Street, Springfield, IL.  Tomorrow is the deadline for this bill to be brought to the floor.  What does this mean?  It means that each one of us has to take some time TODAY to call your Senator and tell them you want this bill voted on and passed.

    Here is a list of all the Illinois Senators and their contact information:  Illinois Senators

    Here’s how to find out who is your Illinois Senator: Find Senators by Address

    The deadline is April 30th to get this bill to the floor and voted on. Call, write, email, fax, visit YOUR Senator and the following Senators (thank the co-sponsors!):

    Here’s the contact information for the Senators:

    Senator Ira Silverstein (Bill sponsor) isilverstein@senatedem.ilga.gov     217-782-5500

    Senator Jacqueline Collins (Bill co-sponsor) : senatorcollins@sbcglobal.net 217-782-1607

    Senator Dan Cronin (Bill co-sponsor): 630-792-0040

    Senator Martin Sandoval (Bill co-sponsor): (708) 656-2002

    Senator A. J. Wilhemi (Bill co-sponsor): (217) 782-8800

    Senator Don Harmon (Bill co-sponsor): (217) 782-8176

    Senator M. Maggie Crotty (Bill co-sponsor): (708) 687-9696

    Senator William Haine (heads the subcommittee): whaine@senatedem.ilga.gov    217-782-5247

    Senator Duffy: dan@senatorduffy.com  217-782-8010
    Senator Forby: gforby@senatedem.ilga.gov     217-782-5509
    Senator Hendon: ihammons@senatedem.ilga.gov      217-782-6252
    Senator Burzynski: senatorbrad@verizon.net     217-782-1977
    Senator Munoz: amunoz@senatedem.ilga.gov      217-782-9415
    Senator Syverson: info@senatordavesyverson.com      217-782-5413
    Senator Hayes: jhayes@sentedem.ilga.gov   

    The time is now to get this bill passed.  Let’s make it happen.

  • Marlee Matlin Signs Her Book, “I’ll Scream Later”

    What a weekend!

    We headed out to the Oak Brook Borders on Friday night to meet Marlee Matlin at her book signing.  Marlee crafted her autobiography “I’ll Scream Later” as a tell-all book and judging from the headlines of the articles swimming around, her book has revealed some surprising secrets:

    Marlee Matlin Book:  William Hurt Abused Me

    Marlee Matlin Reveals Abusive Relationship

    Babysitter’s Abuse Lead to a Life of Drugs, Violence

    There was quite a crowd of people that night.  Marlee began the evening by reading an excerpt from her book with Jack Jason voicing.  Each of us had received wristbands when we arrived and we went up in groups of 50.  Marlee looked really beautiful and was extremely gracious to everyone.  I was amazed at her stamina, she signed book after book without faltering and considering that this was her fourth book signing in a week, it was amazing to see how she kept it all up until the very last book was signed.

    I brought my Z-340 videophone with me and connected with Tim Rarus (Deaf President Now leader/ VP of Sales) and Sean Belanger (CSDVRS CEO) while I was waiting in line and they had a quick opportunity to chat with Marlee as well.  It was so neat to see the technology at work– who could have envisioned this a few years ago? 

    (Photo courtesy of Dino Lomanto)

    Yes, those are my younger two kids with me–David was too busy chatting with his friends to get in line.  On the way home, I started reading the book and didn’t put it down until one in the morning.  Later, I found out that many of my friends did the same thing after they left the bookstore– one gal stayed up through most of the night until she finished it. 

    I tried to figure out what was so compelling about this book, this peek inside of the life of undoubtly the most famous actress who happens to be deaf–what kept me turning page after page of this book?  I came away with a sense of awe, because despite the dark chapters and the very rough parts to read through, Marlee has “chutzpah.” (Translation: bold guts!)  She has that fiesty spirit inside that allows one to accomplish dream after dream.  That’s what made this book and the story of her life stand out.

    My favorite line from the book is simply this: 

    My life is rich and I am blessed, and I am grateful.   That I am Deaf is just a footnote.  It is a part of who I am, but far from all of who I am.

    That Says It All

  • It’s Crazy Hair Day…

    It’s Crazy Hair Day at school.

  • The Best Part of the Spring Break Road Trip

    We arrived at the Marriott Grande Ocean hotel late in the afternoon on Sunday, March 29th.  The ocean stretched for miles at the edge of the hotel and it was hard to believe that we had just left a cold Chicago behind.  It was very windy on the beach and there were very few people out and about.  As I was snapping pictures of the kids, an older couple stopped their bikes and asked if we wanted a family picture.  The wind was quite fierce and sand was blowing everywhere.  They took two pictures and struck up a conversation.

    They owned a time share on the beach and had been coming to Hilton Head for 31 years.  The couple looked like they were in their mid 70s.

     “What keeps you coming back to this island?” I asked. 

    “Oh, we just love it here!  There’s so much to do and it’s just beautiful here.  We ride our bikes several miles each day all over the beach and the island.”   They gave us some tips of where to go and places to eat.  From the smiles on their faces, it was easy to see that they enjoyed themselves.  I could see why they enjoyed the island–it was indeed a beautiful place to be.

    Soon after we left the beach, we jumped into a hot tub, joining another family with three generations that was lounging there.  None of us had our hearing aids on at that point but we managed to chat.  The family was spending their second year on the island and they had come back to the same hotel.  It was amazing to see how the island drew back people– but by the end of our trip, we held the same feeling of wanting to visit the island again.

    The very next day turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip:

    Flying Kites At the Beach.

    Kayaking in the marshland
    Kayaking in the marshland

  • Road Trip Across America

    Yes, we’re back and I’m finally sitting down to share.

    This year, the kids had the same spring break.  Last year we had the kids in three different schools and on two different spring breaks.  So when the kid’s calendars lined up this year and the hubby took a volunteered week off due to job cuts at work, we figured it was a sign that we should grab the week and do something.  I didn’t count on starting a new full-time job in January, but we managed to incorporate the job into the spring break. 

    I planned to have a CSDVRS booth at Deafest in Carbondale at the end of the week, so we decided to take a road trip to Hilton Head Island.  My sister works for Marriott, so we were able to snag a two-bedroom condo at a rock bottom price right next to the ocean. 

    We stayed in Kentucky the first night and went to the Slugger museum the next day.  The kids and the hubby voted to eat at Hooters.  Sadly, the chicken was a disappointment, but the two older kids walked away with Hooters t-shirts.  That’s right, they decided to spend their travel money on trashy t-shirts. 

    We headed out to Atlanta and stayed overnight at the Kurt’s house.  You may recall Karen Kurt from my previous BookHands post.  The Kurts have a beautiful house and they definitely do not miss the Chicago weather.  For one brief moment that night, the kids said, “Hey, why don’t we move down here?”  We are planning to go back and visit again because we didn’t hit the hot tub that they have sitting in their backyard.

    We arrived in Savannah, Georgia in the afternoon and decided to eat at Paula Deen’s restaurant.  The sign on the front said it was booked for the day, but the hostess said she could get us in.  On Sundays, the Lady and Sons only serves buffet and the meal is quite southern.  Paula’s famous fried chicken, mustard greens, black-eyed peas and that baked macaroni and cheese were some of the things I recognized from her shows.  For dessert, we had to choose from one of four items but they all looked so good that I told the waiter that I couldn’t possibly choose just one.  He winked and placed all four desserts down.  Good gawd, the butter cake is amazing.  I don’t even want to know how much butter is in there, it was worth it even if it shortened my life by a day.

    Part two is coming tomorrow– stay tuned to find some neat people that we met on the trip.

  • Steak ‘n Shake, The “Other” Side of the Story

    It’s amazing to me that a year later, people still remember the Steak ‘n Shake incident where my son and I were denied service at the drive-thru window of the Bolingbrook Steak ‘n Shake.  I still receive comments from time to time, and with the exception of two that were literally nasty comments, I’ve published every one of them.

    Carol, a lady who bills herself as the friend of the still-employed trainer, left the following comment recently:

     

    As a friend of the SnS manager who didn’t serve you, I just wanted to throw this out there-

    Obviously what he did was wrong, since this is America and he works for a corporation and you can’t just not serve people. It would be great if SnS had a better drive thru board to better help assist all types of customers that need extra assistance for whatever reason. I’m sure that’s not in their budget at this time, however.

    From his point of view,I believe, the reason he didn’t serve you is because he through you were being very rude in the drive thru. When you work in a drive thru, you get many, many, many rude customers. Sometimes it can really push you close to wanting to snap on someone, as he did you. I believe he told you as you pulled up to the window that “he wasn’t going to not serve you because you were deaf, he was going to not serve you because you were being rude.”

    I guess what I’m really getting at is that there is another side of the story out there that doesn’t really get much mention, and this seems like a classic case of a manager dealing with a lot of stress on his shift and snapping on the wrong person. Not the right thing to do by any means, but maybe it really has less to do with deafness than meets the eye.

    Dear Carol:

    Let’s go over this one more time, shall we?  I pulled up to the drive-through window and when the window opened, I explained that I could not use the speaker because I couldn’t hear and ordered two milkshakes.  I was told to go around again.  The trainer probably figured I just couldn’t hear clearly.  I calmly explained again why I needed to give my order through the window and why going around again wasn’t the solution.  The trainer kept insisting that it was company policy and that I needed to place my order at the speaker. 

    Yes, Carol, at that point, I’m sure on the company’s videotape, it must have looked like a rude customer was ripe and ready for an argument.  After all, like every other customer, all I wanted was for the guy to do his job, which was to take my order, fill it, and send me on my merry way.  Instead, I had to explain why an accommodation was needed at the drive-thru window and defend my reasons for not being able to use the speaker.  The trainer had chance after chance to change his method of delivering customer service and fill the order.  Instead, HE chose to threaten the cops, shut the window (not once, but twice) and leave me empty-handed.

    Let me remind you that he failed to follow the Steak ‘n Shake corporation’s customer service delivery model.  He had several chances to redeem himself as an employee and satisfy the customer, but he failed to do so.  If the company had a policy in place for customers with disabilities as well as a drive-thru modification, chances are good that my son and I would have drove off that day happily enjoying our milkshakes.

    Yes, Carol, there are two sides to every story, but when it comes to discrimination in the drive-thru, this story is pretty straightforward:  My son and I were denied equal right to the same service that customers without disabilities experience in the drive-thru.