My Blog is Moving... or combining at any rate

Since 2007 I have maintained both a personal and a professional blog. My friends and family have primarily visited my personal blog at http://paulsencolumn.blogspot.com and my professional network has primarily visited www.jacobspaulsen.com

Today I made the decision to combine the two into one. I will no longer be posting content at paulsencolumn.blogspot.com and will instead be putting everything at www.jacobspaulsen.com Those who have followed my professional blog will now be forced to hear occasionally more personal stories, and those who followed my personal blog will (should they be inclined to follow me over to jacobspaulsen.com) be forced to hear about my professional rantings about personal development and marketing.

While I apologize to those who this might disrupt I figure I do it all for me in the end anyway :)

If you are only interested in seeing my more personal posts on the new site then bookmark this link: http://www.jacobspaulsen.com/category/personal

Jacob S Paulsen

PROTECT YOURSELF ONLINE!!! Google Opt-Out is Here

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Shooting with Big Guns

My neighbor has a class 3 license so he has several assault rifles and silencers to go with. We had a really fun afternoon up at the Provo city gun range up Squaw Peak road.

Utah Brazilian Festival

Ami & I decided to head up to the Utah Brazilian Festival today. I went 2 years ago and it was a lot of fun. It was at the Gateway this year and so we had fun walking around and seeing all the people and activities. Simon even got a balloon and that made his day.

We also spent a quick moment in the "Discovery at the Gateway" children's building. We had fun pushing the buttons that made bubbles rise in the big tubes hanging from the ceiling.

Braille on Signs

So I've always wondered about the logic of putting braille on signs that are on walls in building etc. I mean wouldn't you suppose that blind people wouldn't know that there was a sign there at all or even where to look for one at best?

So this week I updated my status on facebook and I tweeted the following: "Does anyone else thinks its ironic when they put brail on signs? I mean how do blind people know there is a sign there at all?"

These were the comments that I got from friends on facebook:

Germaine Brown

This is something I was thinking about a few days ago. Lolz

Peter Chip Cannon

How about brail on a drive up atm??

Adam Finch

thats messed up

Kekai Kimura

now thats down right wrong!

Bradford Huntsman

I sold a deaf guy a cell phone the other day. Completely deaf.. wanted a phone.

Travis Savage

I've been asking the same question for years!

Christian Eyring

I have taken it upon my self to memorize locations with brail on them just in case I go blind. Its that or I put my hands on everything once I go blind.

Kirt Christensen

@brad I have 2 deaf ladies that come into my dry cleaner all the time and they use their cell phones to text with each other instead of sign language... other than that i'm not sure what they're for...

Here is the single response that I got from someone on Twitter:

maria6289@jacobspaulsen U mean like signs 4 room #s, bathrooms, in elevators? We know they're there b/c we expect them 2 b there 4 benefit of sighted folks as well. As 4 where they are, it's question of logical sense, room signs would b on/near door, elevator on some wall, prob across from door. Also placement should b pretty consistent if places r fully ADA compliant. i.e., door signs should b on wall nearest the door hamdle of door. Also lots of blind ppl can read the print if it's grooved/raised enough. And not super tiny, though Braille is def. needed 2 b ADA-compliant. And as 4 actually locating, I and others use a wavy motion in approximate area where sign is expected when touching wall 4 1st time 2 effectively cover area/find what I'm looking 4. Same trick when doing some other stuff like locating door handle on unfamiliar door.

So in case you were wondering... now you know!

Old Stomping Grounds

This weekend we traveled to Rock Springs WY to visit family. Saturday night we decided to take a small trip down Jacob memory lane. We drove over to "my side" of town and went through my old neighborhood. As to my house (where I spent the first 18 years of my life) I'm glad to report that they have a huge garden... other than that they seem slightly trashy to me.
We drove all around the area and generally I would say the condition of things has improved. We stopped quickly at a small little park not far from the Civik Center where we would often play as kids. This was the only park within bike distance that didn't require crossing a major road and thus we were there a lot playing in the bushes and trees more than the playground equipment which has been replaced since. Just for good measure Ami and I hid a geocache at the park. We entered it online Saturday night around 11pm and by 12:04am someone who goes by Dr.Tom had already found it :) Here is the link to the geocache.

Coyote Gulch Backpacking Trip

I had my doubts about the need to travel 7 hours just to have a good backpacking trip with the young men in the ward. All my doubts disappeared once we got there. As you can see from the pictures... GORGIOUS!

Too get into the gulch we had to drop our packs over a ledge with rope and then squeeze through a narrow crack down into the valley. I'd show you a picture but we did it in the dark!

On our first night I upset a swarm of bees or hornets (once again it was too dark to be sure) but otherwise we came out of it without any real hiccups. The hike is mostly through a stream of water with occassional sand trails on the bank. We saw 4 different arches and some indian ruins. A once in a lifetime experience that I'm hoping to duplicate with my family.