While I wait for my drivers to install...

I know, I already wrote once today. But I've got some time to kill while I try to troubleshoot our new computer. And since the story of this computer is related to our ASL adventure, I'll tell you all about it while I wait for some drivers to install.

How, you ask, do you call a deaf person?

1.) Don't call, just text or email.
2.) Use a video chat like FaceTime or Facebook Messenger.
3.) Use a VP (video phone).

VP is an old system. It was being used by deaf people before the rest of us had any idea video chat existed. The government largely pays for and regulates the system, and it allows deaf people to have a phone number just like anyone else. When Joe the Hearing Person calls Sally the Deaf Person, Joe picks up the phone and dials, just like normal. This connects him to an interpreter, who signs to a video phone in Sally's house. Sally then signs back, and the interpreter tells Joe what she said. This is called VRS (video relay service). VRS is awesome, but if Joe the Hearing Person happens to know ASL, he'd probably rather sign directly with Sally.

As it turns out, Sally can call her deaf friends directly by video without the interpreter in the middle. So you'd think Joe would be able to get a VP phone number and call Sally directly, too. But since the government pays for a lot of things in the VP system, they only allow actual deaf people to use it. So, Joe has to use Facebook or Skype instead to reach Sally directly by video. Or he can call through VRS.

The VP system is changing rapidly - most younger people prefer video chats like Facetime or Facebook or Skype. But there are still a lot of people who use VP. And VP has more reliable quality, which we've struggled with in FB. So, we'd like to have VP access. Some fabulous branch members have tackled the system admirably, and have finally found a way for us to get VP in our home! Basically, we're forwarding calls to the branch president's office to an app on our computer.

The downside is that it doesn't run on Linux, which is our OS of choice. Of course. We have Windows on our computer...we have both OS's installed, but it takes 10 minutes to switch, and by then nobody wants to talk to us any more :)

So, facing all these complications, we decided to get a new computer. It's our VP computer. It runs windows, has a fast processor and a nice webcam. All it will do is be a VP.

But the stupid computer (woah, Sam is going to get mad at me for that strong language!) won't connect to the internet! So now i'm here, installing a new driver (with a flash drive, that I had to drive to Staples and buy because my kids have lost all of ours) for the Network Adapter, trying to get it to work so I don't have to send it back and try again.

Hmmm....I just wrote all of that before the driver finished installing. Oh wait, the computer froze.

The world of Video Chat hates me.