Entries Posted in July, 2009
July 30th, 2009
Google Voice: I Got My Google Voice Account.
The World is changing. It’s changing in such a rapidly and unbelievably expanding way that within a few short years, all of today’s changes will appear as normal as turning a key to start a car, or walking to a grocery store to buy a gallon of milk. (These are both amazing systems that we take for granted in our day to day lives.)
So what prompted this realization? Lots of things. But here’s the big one right now.
I got my Google Voice account today (free).
(See the video below if you’re not already familiar with Google Voice.)
And I wanted to test out my new account.
So I chose a phone number (using a really cool search feature Google Voice offers you for choosing your phone number) and I called Carrie to have her leave a message for me.. (I really wanted to test out Google Voice’s transcription to see it in action.)
After calling Carrie (on her cell) and giving her my Google Voice # to call me Carrie calls my new Google Voice # from her cell phone.
Google rings the call through to my cell phone (which is how I have set it up in Google Voice.)
The caller ID on my cell phone briefly shows “Forwarded Call” and then Carrie’s number.
And when I answer, I hear the following:
“Call From Carrie Kraft.”
“To accept, press 1. To send to voice mail, press 2. To send to voice mail and listen in on the voice mail, press 3.”
To listen in on the voice mail? I can do that? This is something I gotta’ try!
So I press 3.
“Sending to voicemail. To join the call at any time, press * .”
To join the call? You mean I can join in if I’m immediately interested in what she’s saying and want to talk about it? Otherwise it can just go to voice mail (which I can log in and check online and delete it as easily as deleting an email)?
A few seconds later, I’m listening to Carrie leaving her voice mail, the very first message on my Google Voice Mail (other than Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s default welcome message) at the EXACT SAME TIME as she’s leaving it. Whoa!
She can’t hear me, but I can hear her.
Just before she’s about to end the message, I press star and cut in.
“Do you know what’s crazy?”
“… … Uh… what?”
“CRAZY!” I exclaim and probably break Carrie’s eardrum from the loudness of my exclamation. She’s not only surprised (because she thought she was leaving a message just on a voice mail service… not that I was listening in AS she was leaving it). She is equally impressed by the technology.
So after that shock wears off, I ask her if she will call back to leave a message and see how well the Google Voice transcription works.
Carrie calls back, and I get the same three options.
“Call From Carrie Kraft.”
“To accept, press 1. To send to voice mail, press 2. To send to voice mail and listen in on the voice mail, press 3. ”
But I wait, thinking there may be more. I’m not amazed that there’s an option 4, but I am amazed what the option is.
“To accept and record the call, press 4.”
I can accept and record the call?
And the caller won’t know they are being recorded?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Continue reading "Google Voice: I Got My Google Voice Account." »
July 26th, 2009
I just committed a deadly sin…
One of the Deadly Sins for those who work from home… I just committed it.
Wal-Mart on a Sunday.
Why is this deadly? Well, have YOU ever been to a Wal-Mart on a Sunday? Have you ever been on almost any other day of the week? The difference is clear. (It’s deadly to your productivity.)
Thankfully I have a book with me at all times, as I had to stand in line for nearly 30 minutes. (I’m reading Inkheart right now.)
Any positive experience I had with kids recently has been completely rescinded.
Kids are running amuck all through the aisles. One little boy ran directly towards my cart, and when he got about a foot away, he held out his hand like a traffic cop to stop my forward progress. I tried to navigate around him, but he kept blocking my way. (One of the most adorable things I’ve seen in a while, but also seriously annoying when it goes on and on.) Meanwhile, his brother insists on crawling INSIDE my cart. (Kid, I’m not your mother.) I try to ask him to stay out of the cart and on the ground while searching frantically for the boys’ parents.
Then later, in the checkout lane, another set of kids (boy and two girls this time) grab all the candy bars of the shelves and start throwing them at people. I did find their parents. To my horror, the parents were the ones pointing and laughing.)
It takes doubly as long to get things off the shelves because people have to block up the whole aisle with their carts AND their bodies while they debate forEVER on which of two identical dishwashing detergents to buy (not even kidding… the label for the new one said “Same great product, NEW PACKAGE!”).
So, why do you ask did I go to Wal-Mart even when I know better? Because I also know that I can get the things I really needed somewhere else, but it would have been about double the price. Next time, I won’t wait until I absolutely need these things before going, and even if I do… it won’t be on a Sunday afternoon.
Popularity: 1% [?]
July 15th, 2009
Life With A Teenage Boy – Part 2
I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with Zach.
On Sunday, we hit up a Rockies game and had fun negotiating for amazing tickets via trading up the tickets we bought from scalpers. We got to the game a little late (after the beginning of the game), so we had room to negotiate with the people selling tickets outside the stadium. We bought two tickets in the lower level of the outfield (below the Rockpile for those of you who know the Rockies stadium) for $10/ticket, $20 total, and then traded those up for two tickets that were two rows behind the Rockies dugout for an additional $35, meaning we spent $55 total for two tickets right behind the Rockies dugout.
(We could only have been closer by 1 row to the first base line.) We were so close that Zach was actually able to get a baseball from the game tossed to him by one of his favorite Rockies players.
Really a cool day!
Popularity: 4% [?]
July 12th, 2009
Life with a teenage boy, part 1
Jonathan and I are fortunate in that I convinced my brother and sister-in-law to “loan” us their middle child for a few days. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews, and the longer the better. So, after an eye exam with the hot eye-doctor on Thursday, I drove to Holyoke for the weekend.
I had a fun weekend. It’s always great to get to see my mom and Larry, my three grandparents, as well as my brother, sister-in-law, two nieces, one nephew, and this time my sister! It was a fun time had by all. I even got to kidnap Alyssa, my oldest niece, and take her out for ice cream one very hot afternoon.
On Saturday, I left to come back to Denver, and got to bring my nephew, Zach, back with me. Now, Zach is one of my most favorite people in the world. It’s been so fun to watch him grow up. The whole drive (3 hours), Zach and I talked. It’s so great when you can have a 3 hour conversation with a 13 year old.
I just have to share a few snippets of that conversation with you.
Zach: “Carrie, I’m going through a rough time in my life right now.”
Carrie: “Why?”
Zach: “I’m learning what it’s like to be famous. You see, all these girls like me. They keep calling me and texting me. There are even some in the same family who all like me and are fighting over me. So, I really can understand why famous people don’t like to be famous.”
A bit later…
Zach: “These modern girls these days aren’t afraid to tell a boy that they like him.”
Ahhh Zach. You’re so great that it’s no wonder girls are waiting for you. You’re smart and funny and respectful, and a great kid. I love you. Thanks for talking with me.
Popularity: 2% [?]
July 4th, 2009
Happy Independence Day 2009: A Poem
For those of you in or from the United States, I hope you enjoy a wonderful day with family and/or friends.
This year, I took a little time to reflect on the holiday and wrote a poem that I wanted to share.
Happy Independence Day!
Popularity: 9% [?]
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- January 20, 2012 09:55 AM : Giveaway Friday: Impaling Instruments Necessitate Inhibitors (Cutting Boards)
- January 18, 2012 10:56 PM : Visiting IKEA for the first time - In Centennial, Colorado?
- January 15, 2012 09:54 PM : What Are SOPA/PIPA, and Why Should You Care?
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- January 08, 2012 12:11 PM : Funny Improv Video
- January 06, 2012 04:09 AM : Giveaway Friday: The Potter's Hands Picture Poster Is A Perfect Presentation of Pastoral Proclamations
- January 02, 2012 04:19 AM : It's 2012! See What We're Giving Away (For Free!)
- December 30, 2011 11:18 AM : Amazing Video: Native Northerners (Eskimos) Harvesting Mussels
- December 27, 2011 11:26 AM : Poem by Jonathan: Old Smokey
- December 23, 2011 12:18 PM : Getting To Decorate Sugar Cookies With My Cousins and Grandma
- December 21, 2011 10:09 AM : Funny Video! Silent Monks "Sing" The Hallelujah Chorus
- December 14, 2011 12:20 PM : Watching The Lunar Eclipse From Venango, Nebraska
- December 12, 2011 11:00 PM : We’re In The News!
- December 11, 2011 10:48 PM : Touch Screen Everything
- December 09, 2011 10:53 PM : Enjoying Colorado (in Photographs)
- December 07, 2011 10:56 PM : Returning To Snow (And Cold)
- December 05, 2011 07:35 AM : The World in Food
- December 03, 2011 01:34 PM : By The Numbers: How Much Does This Cost?
- November 27, 2011 11:03 PM : In America, Everything Is A Big Deal
- November 27, 2011 09:28 PM : A Farewell to Dustyn Kraft: Someone Who Made Me Laugh
- November 25, 2011 11:28 PM : GET OVER IT!
- November 23, 2011 11:36 PM : Recognizing So Many Complaints
- November 21, 2011 08:36 PM : 101 more places to see
- November 18, 2011 01:50 AM : Would You Give Up The Internet For 1 Million Dollars?
- November 12, 2011 11:46 AM : Internet On-Board Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur Of The Seas
- November 10, 2011 11:40 AM : In Pictures: 3 Americanisms that are now strange
- November 07, 2011 11:45 AM : A Cruise Vs. A Mortgage
- November 07, 2011 11:43 AM : 29 Places I’d Love To Go Back To
- November 01, 2011 11:38 AM : What I found most interesting about Mallorca
- October 30, 2011 11:37 AM : 3 Days in The German Section of Mallorca, Spain
- October 29, 2011 07:47 AM : City Style Apartments, Tallinn Estonia
