Mystic Access Podcast

Hi, Everyone,

We’re living in surreal times, so while we always try to have some fun on the podcast, and today’s episode is no exception, we wanted to share some ideas for remaining calm and connected during this strange and frightening period. First, however, we remind you about our upcoming free event on the Leasey application. After further reflection post recording, we’ve decided to share the info publicly. This is a time where coming together is so important, and this is one way we can help to facilitate that. Here is the info to join us on Thursday, March 26:

Topic: Life with leasey

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 251 393 358

One tap mobile

Dial by your location

Just copy and paste any relevant links into your browser of choice. Brian pre-recorded an excellent presentation that we know you’ll enjoy, and we’ll also be providing demos and answering your questions. Join us, and invite your interested friends.

Another way we’re helping folks to stay connected is via our upcoming free open house on Friday, March 27 from 2-5 PM ET. It will provide us an opportunity to chat with one another informally and support each other. Let’s relax a bit and have a little fun in a friendly, open-hearted environment. Here’s the info to join us:

Topic: Staying connected

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 456 946 191

One tap mobile

Dial by your location

Again, just copy and paste the link into your browser of choice at the time of the event.

Just a reminder — we use Zoom for all of our events. If you’re unfamiliar with this highly accessible and diverse platform, you can check out our comprehensive audio demo for Zoom participants. If you’re also interested in the hosting aspects of Zoom, this now free audio book by Jonathan Mosen may prove helpful.

And speaking of free books, our comprehensive book on delivery services, Dinner Delivered, is now free for download from National Braille Press through April 30. Two other fine books are also available to download for free until that date, so check out NBP’s full catalog for your reading / learning needs.

Other awesome resources discussed and demoed in today’s episode include the Rain Rain app, Insight Timer, Calm Radio, and several fabulous skills / apps for Alexa and Google Home. And speaking of Alexa and Google Home, here’s an event recording to help you recharge and relax with your voice assistants.

Be well, e

We begin this episode by sharing about our March 2020 free event. this time, we’ll be discussing and demonstrating the Leasey scripts available for JAWS. Brian Hartgen is kindly providing a recorded presentation to be shared in class, and we’ll also be demonstrating Leasey and answering questions. If you’re unfamiliar with Leasey, or would like to learn more about how it can bring more convenience, fun and ease to using your PC, we’d love for you to join us. All info will be shared on our Events mailing list, which you may subscribe to from any page of our site.

We’re also proud to announce that Mystic Access is now a distributor for the BlindShell Classic phone. If you’re looking for an intuitive cell phone with full speech, tactile buttons and a rich set of features, or would just like to make calls and send texts with greater ease, this phone could be for you. We not only distribute the BlindShell, but also created a free six-hour comprehensive audio tutorial to walk you through orientation, configuration and features. So essentially, you can try before you buy. If you appreciate the tutorial and it convinces you that the BlindShell would meet your needs, we’d be delighted to send one to you. We also provide a cool addon service that we describe in the podcast which you may find very helpful in getting started with your new phone.

Next, we venture into the magic castle for an inspiring interview with Elizabeth Lam. We don’t feature interviews about a person’s journey through sight loss as a rule, but Liz’s story and can-do attitude have truly inspired us, and we thought what she has to share may serve as a powerful and helpful message to many who have lost physical sight, or who struggle with blindness. We’re so proud that she’s our client, and are excited to introduce her to all of you. Liz shares about herself, her dramatic sight loss, the re-building of her life through support from the Society for the Blind, and advice to support others on similar journeys. She also shares about an upcoming PBS documentary in which she and her Society instructor, Randy Owen, are prominently featured, airing on April 15, 2020.

Another resource mentioned in this interview is the book Crashing Through, about the life and sight journey of Mike May. While the above is the BARD link, it’s also available through Bookshare.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Liz, and, as always, thanks for listening!

We begin this episode by reminding you about our three-week cord cutting course which begins on the day this podcast is released, February 25. we’l be leaving registrations open until end of day on Friday, February 28, so if you wish to participate, and need to join us a little late, you may do so.

We also remind you of our free February virtual event on the BlindShell classic phone, coming up on February 27. This is a public event, and here’s all the info you’ll need to join us live:

Topic: Answering The call with Ease Using The Blind Shell Phone

Click here to join the event.

Meeting ID: 810 087 269

One tap mobile

Dial by your location

If the above links don’t work for you, please copy and paste them into your browser of choice.

We use the Zoom conferencing platform for all of our virtual events. It allows you to join events via phone, iOS, Fire OS, Android, and the Zoom software for PC or Mac. Zoom is free, intuitive to use and beautifully accessible. Please click here to stream or download our comprehensive demo of Zoom.

This class will be recorded and available via our Free downloads page within a couple of weeks. You’ll find most of our previous monthly event recordings available there, too.

We look forward to having you in class!

We’ve been getting a lot of requests lately regarding tutorials you wish Mystic Access to create, and while we read and appreciate all of them, we want to remind you that for reasons explained in this episode, many of these are more suited to our personalized tutorial service. We’d love to create something perfect for you and your needs.

Chris demos an interesting little program called soundSwitch and describes ways it may be useful for you. check it out for free at the above link.

Chris was inspired to check out the Revive Superfoods smoothies. He shares his thoughts and gives a tour of the site. Note that in addition to smoothies, they also carry oat bowls and dishes they call “supermeals.”

Thanks so much for listening!

We begin this episode with several important Mystic Access site-related items, including info on captchas, a review of why we no longer allow Internet Explorer to access the site, and more. We know this stuff is boring, but encourage you to listen anyway, as we want you to understand why some site options are as they are.

If you’d like to save money every month, and who doesn’t, we have a possible opportunity to help you with that. Did you know there are tons of accessible alternatives to cable that will still allow you to watch your favorite channels, shows and movies? Check out our upcoming three-week virtual event on cutting the cord. If you can’t attend live, all sessions will be recorded for your enjoyment at any time.

February’s free virtual event will be all about the BlindShell phone. We’ll be discussing reasons you may want it, even if you consider yourself high-tech, demoing features and functions, and, of course, answering your questions. We’re sharing the invitation here, so be sure to invite anyone you think may be interested.

Topic: Answering The call with Ease Using The Blind Shell Phone

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 810 087 269

One tap mobile

Dial by your location

Chris talks about his Air Innovations cool mist humidifier, discusses its ease of operation, and we share about the many benefits of using a humidifier in your home or work space.

Finally, Kim discusses her experiences using Daily Harvest, a food and smoothie delivery service. She tours the website and iOS app and shares reasons you may enjoy using this tasty service.

Thanks for joining us!

In this episode, we begin by telling you about our first free monthly event for 2020, which will be all about audio description services. Whether you’re new to audio description services and want to learn what it’s all about, are curious what new offerings are out there, or are overwhelmed and not sure where to start finding audio described content, this event is for you. Make sure you’re part of our Events mailing list to receive the joining info. You may subscribe from any page of the site.

We next pay a visit to the castle, but this time it’s a little different. Kim and Chris are the ones being interviewed! Lisa is here to ask us about our new book available from National Braille Press, Dinner Delivered. Learn about the grocery, restaurant and other food delivery services covered extensively in this book, listen as Chris defines the “sighted filter”, and learn about the unconventional process which made this project such a team effort for us. We’re so excited to have partnered with NBP for another book, and hope you enjoy reading and using it to bring greater freedom and convenience to your meals. You may purchase it in hard copy braille, BRF, DAISY text, or Word formats.

Want to learn more about the book and ask questions live? We’ll be appearing on Tek Talk on Monday, February 10 at 8:00 PM ET to discuss Dinner delivered. Join us live at that time by clicking on the above link from your PC, Mac or favorite mobile device.

Thanks for joining us for this episode!

We begin 2020 with some updates from our last couple podcast episodes. We start by discussing updates to the Disney+ apps, and Lisa and our impressions of the new features and layout.

Lisa next updates us on her Christmas mint-making activities, and reminds you that they can be made for all sorts of occasions, not just the end of year holidays. We then share details of Chris’s upcoming Birthday sale, so if you want to save some cash for Chris’s special day, be sure to listen for all the details of when it is and how much you’ll save.

We next update you on a fabulous new feature that recently came to the Blind Shell phone. We also share about the cool ways you can use many of the phone’s features with your voice.

Speaking of voices, if you’re interested in learning about the various places where you can get audio description for some of your favorite movies and TV shows, and how to enable audio description on your services of choice, our free monthly class for January will give you all the details. Join Chris, Kim and Lisa on Thursday, January 30, 2020, for a lively discussion, and, of course, bring your questions to class. To receive all the joining info, make sure you’re on our free Events mailing list, which you can subscribe to from any page of our website.

Finally, we discuss one of our favorite apps, available for both iOS and Android, which can provide you with plenty of motivation and inspiration for all those New Year’s goals. We highly recommend it both for its content and accessibility.

We hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks for listening!

we’ve reached the end of 2019, and are saying good-bye to the year by discussing two interesting devices. The first is the BlindShell candy bar-style cell phone. The phone includes intuitive button controls, voice prompts, and a simple-to-use interface. Chris takes us on a tour. We’re excited to be sharing this great little phone with you!

We also talk about the pros and cons of the Amazon Echo flex. If you want a tiny Echo to use, learn why the Flex may, or may not, be the right fit for you.

Thanks for being part of our 2019 — we appreciate you! Have a safe, happy and wonderful New Year!

We begin this episode with a little maintenance, in the form of some holiday shipping reminders. We also let you know when we close for business for the holidays, and remind you of some timely presents if you’re pressed for something to get a loved one.

Our main topic for today is a discussion of the new Disney+ service. Download the app for iOS and Android. What do we love, and what are we unhappy about? Find out in our candid conversation. Note that Disney+ requires a paid subscription.

Thanks as always for listening!

Welcome to our over-sized annual food edition, where first, Lisa has returned, and she and Kim endeavor to make you hungry with a couple of festive holiday treats.

Lisa’s Cream Cheese Mints

8 oz package cream cheese, full fat, softened (You want the block, not the whipped cream cheese in the tub)

When I made these, I left the candies white and used green sugar.

Let butter and cream cheese get to room temperature. Mix these, along with the peppermint or whatever extract you would like to use, in a large bowl. Gradually add the powdered sugar. You may find you don’t use it all. I did, but then added an extra third package of cream cheese. This recipe is fairly foolproof, so relax. I’ve seen some that do not include the butter.

Kim’s Beer Bread

I chose to link to a website for this recipe, as, while it differs very slightly from mine (I always use butter), it gives a lot of cool alternatives and ways to dress this bread up. Any way you choose to eat it, it’s so tasty! Click here for the recipe.

We also discuss something shocking about Amazon prior to our recipes that you’ll find, well, interesting.

If that’s not enough, we’re then joined by Kesel Wilson, editor and programs manager with National Braille Press, to run down a plethora of new and upcoming releases from NBP. She shares so many terrific books that you’re sure to find something to gift to someone you love, including you! Click here to visit National Braille Press.

We hope you enjoy this jam-packed episode!

• 8 oz package cream cheese, full fat, softened (You want the block, not the whipped cream cheese in the tub)

1. Let butter and cream cheese get to room temperature. Mix these, along with the peppermint or whatever extract you would like to use, in a large bowl. Gradually add the powdered sugar. You may find you don’t use it all. I did, but then added an extra third package of cream cheese. This recipe is fairly foolproof, so relax. I’ve seen some that do not include the butter.