aware

May is ALS Awareness Month. I'm aware of ALS pretty much all of the time, so I didn't plan anything to mark the occasion.

The ALS Association posted "inspirational" stories of people with ALS over here. The ALS Association's inspiration is all sugar-coated smiles and positivity... it drives me nuts.

I prefer a different style of inspiration. For example, The Oatmeal's profanity-laden take on brain cancer, or this brilliant spot from the Special Olympics.

darque man strikes again

A friend of mine texted me the following photo and message:

"Dude,

This car cut me off in a strip mall parking lot with a Darque Tan!!!"

Same car, same South Dakota plate, same doofus behind the wheel.

He's back.

bank job

At my last ALS clinic, I picked up some info on voice banking. Voice banking is a service provided by the MN ALS Association — they help people record their voice while it's still strong. Those recordings are then input to a communication device or computer. The idea is to save everyday phrases you'll want to continue to say once your voice is gone like, "I love you" or "How was your day?" or "No, officer, I haven't been drinking."

Voice banking won't create words like a text to speech program. It just stores a voice for future use.

But... what if I want to use other voices in the future? My voice is OK, but it could be better. That's why I've started a list of voices I'd like to bank. So far I have;

• Mike Rowe saying pretty much anything
• Alec Baldwin saying pretty much anything
• Sean Connery saying "Good evening, my dear. So nice to see you."
• George Clooney ordering various cocktails
• Christopher Walken yelling "POW!"
• The Dude saying, "Careful man, there's a beverage here!"
• Homer Simpson saying, "Tramampoline! Trabopoline!"

What else should I add to my list?