Today’s episode is a melting pot of cautionary tales and practical tips from our recent adventures. Our goal isn’t to scare you, but to remind you to stay careful and vigilant—especially while traveling. In this episode, we cover: • Travel & Canes – A follow-up on our cane conversation from last time, sharing how our two-section telescopic canes performed during our flight home. Lots to recommend, but also one big concern. • Airport Security – A new and eye-opening experience before even boarding the plane. • Kim’s Scary Mistake – An unnerving incident in Buffalo that you’ll definitely want to learn from. • Transaction Monitoring – Why you should pay attention to those “annoying” notifications from services like Life Lock (we learned this the hard way). • Switching Phone Plans – Helping Kim’s mom move to a new provider came with its own set of complications—here’s what to watch out for when porting a number. • Verizon Home Internet Perks – We share why taking a gift card perk might not have been the best idea. (This story will have a sequel in a future episode!) • New Coffee Discovery – A brand we’re loving and think you will too. • Kim’s Product Demo – The Sticro Moist Heat Sinus Mask for sinus pressure relief. It has three heat settings, five timers, and options for both dry and moist heat. Kim swears by it! (Affiliate link included—thank you for supporting us when you purchase through it.) As always, thanks for listening! We hope our rambling adventures offer something useful for your own journey. Until next time!

Welcome to our final 2025 episode recorded in North Carolina! To kick things off, we brought you outside to experience some late-summer nature sounds. Unfortunately, the ambiance was interrupted by the air conditioner, so we moved the recording indoors. We hope the natural setting was a nice touch before the interruption! In this episode, we’re picking up where we left off last time with our tease about canes. An unexpected situation at the ACB convention has led us to new discoveries, and we’re now the proud owners of some telescoping canes! In This Episode: • Telescoping Cane Talk: We dive into two different telescoping canes we’ve recently tried out: • Ambutech’s Two-Section Graphite Cane: We’re big fans of Ambutech for their customizable options and top-notch quality. This cane is adjustable, making it a fantastic travel companion. However, we do have a small concern we share in the episode. Learn more about the cane and order yours by activating this link. • Sam Seavey’s Recommended Titanium Cane: You can find this sturdy option on Amazon (via our affiliate link). Sam from the great YouTube channel The Blind Life has a great review of it, and we share our thoughts on why it might be a fabulous travel buddy. • Classic Apps for the Blind: Chris takes us down memory lane with a discussion of two reliable Windows apps: • Remind-Me, and • Handy Address Book by Beiley Software These apps are a throwback but are still packed with practical and helpful features. Best of all, this company cares about accessibility. We discuss how these terrific Windows apps stand the test of time. • Hurricane Tracker App: With Hurricane Erin making waves in the Atlantic, we introduce you to My Hurricane Tracker from jRustonApps. It’s a great, accessible tool for tracking hurricanes and tornadoes. We also share about the past hurricanes this app lets you explore—perfect for those who want to dig into storm history! • New Book Release: We’re excited to announce the release of our latest book from National Braille Press, Staying Safe: Tips And Tools For A Secure Home, Body, And Spirit. It’s filled with advice and tips to help readers stay safe in various situations, like building a secure home, while walking, using rideshare services, in airports, dealing with stress or anxiety, safety in romantic relationships, and more. We think this would also make a nice companion to our book about staying safe online. We feel this book would make a great addition to your library or as a thoughtful gift! As always, thanks for tuning in! We’ll see you in September with more insights and updates.

Most of this episode is dedicated to all things Amazon. We have numerous demos and thoughts to share on several products. First, however, we’re announcing a twenty-five percent off sale to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary on August 11. The sale runs from Friday August eighth through end of day Tuesday August twelfth, and you’ll save on all our audio documentation, including our new Audible Adventures product. We highly recommend it for all book-lovers!

We begin our look at Amazon products with a discussion of our new latest generation Echo. We share the sad circumstances that led us to purchase it, and through the magic of editing you’ll be there with us as we unbox and set it up. We also play some tunes to show you its sound quality.

On Prime day we also purchased new Fire tablets. This was yet another cool setup process. Chris talks about his, and Kim takes you through hers in close to real time so you can experience it, too.

Finally, we take you with us as we check out Alexa+. this demo was recorded in June, but it still gives you an idea of the differences between Alexa and Alexa+. Of course, we share our likes and dislikes.

Finally, we close by teasing an upcoming podcast topic we’ll discuss next time. Thanks, as always, for listening!