Here are some pictures of the storm, throwing the kids into the snow, and the truck digging out some more of the street.  Enjoy.

I’ve started working from home full time now.  This has of course brought an interesting challenge with it.  I didn’t want to have to use my home phone in order to do conference calls, or have people call with questions.  Of course we’re too cheap to allow employees to just use a soft phone connected to the VOIP at work, so I was forced to come up with my own solution.

Enter Google Voice and Skype.  I liked the idea behind Google Voice providing me with a number to use for work to use where I was, however I still had the issue of using the home phone.  I decided to use a Skype phone since Gizmo is currently not available, what with Google buying it and all. 

Here is what I ended up doing.  I got a Google Voice number that I liked.  It happened to be in the 925 area code.  Then I purchased a Skype account with unlimited calling in the US for $30.00 / year.  Once you have the unlimited calling Skype account you need to get an incoming number from them as well; I also got this in the 925 area code just to keep it simple, which was also $30/year. 

Next I setup some rules in Google Voice.  During the day I have it ring my Skype number and my work cell phone and at night I have it only ring my work cell phone.  The Google Voice number is the only thing I give my co-workers now.  I’ve also purchased a GE combination Landline / VOIP cordless phone setup.  I went with this model since it had a compatible headset port on it.  I have one of the phones in my office, and the other in my bedroom.

When I have to make a call to someone, i just initiate the call through Google Voice, that way my Google Voice number shows up on caller ID instead of my Skype number.  Of course Skype allows you to change your outgoing caller id, but only if your phone provider receives SMS the way they send it…which Google Voice doesn’t.  This is just a minor inconvenience.

There are a few downsides to this plan. 

• I had to pay $60 for the phone access and $80 for the cordless phones I use.  All things considered that’s pretty cheap.
• Skype’s control over voicemail does not work very well, so I frequently get voice mails on Skype, when I would rather have them in Google Voice. 
• Skype has very poor call forwarding control.  As soon as Google allows Gizmo to take more customers, I’ll be switching from Skype to Gizmo, or at least trying it out and comparing it to Skype.

Overall, I’m very happy with the setup I have.  It allows me to have one number that work can call for anything work related, and it keeps my home number free for things relate to family.

I’ve been swamped at work lately, and haven’t really had time to do much of anything.  I have however had some time to catch up with an old friend, so that’s a good thing.

We got a puppy a few weeks ago…and that’s all sorts of fun.  </sarcasm>

Anyway, I’m off to get back to work, maybe i’ll write some more when i have more time to do it. 

If you live in the US, you know today is Black Friday Shopping day.  The day after Thanksgiving when everyone forgets the rules of a polite society, and shops for the best deals, to hell with everyone else.  I’ve participated in this yearly activity for the past 8 or so years now, and while it’s sometimes fun, sometimes trying, I always get a decent # of things for Christmas presents in one day.

This year was no different…ok, well maybe a little different.  Read on for the story.

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I have this habit that drives kitty nuts.  I like to buy comic book movies, whether i have seen them or not.  Lately it seems like her goal is to convince me it’s not a ‘comic movie’ but just a movie that may or may not have a comic associated with it. 

However, when Watchmen came out on Blu-Ray, I ran out and purchased it.  We hadn’t really taken the time to watch it until last night.  Three and a half hours later, we were wishing we could have our time and money back.  Unfortunately, stores don’t take back open movies, and since there isn’t a movie trading company out here in VA, we’re stuck with a crappy movie.  Oh wells.

Google held an event yesterday, where Chrome OS was unveiled…sort of.  A lot of information was released, and the pundits started writing.  Now for the most part the coverage was positive, but the comments, not so much. 

It was like everyone that reads the news decides that this is a bad thing.  Oh no, i have to store everything in the cloud.  Oh no, i have to be on the internets.  Guess what…you are probably already doing a lot of that, and just not thinking about it. 

New paradigms always bring out the haters. 

On the plus side, Gdgt.com is hosting an image of Chrome for download to the virtual platform of your choice.  I’m going to load it into my esxi environment shortly and take it for a spin. 

I guess what i’m trying to say is…just wait and see.  Google hasn’t really disappointed us yet.

Not doing to good on the whole trying to write more.  However, things at work have been very hectic.  10+ hour days don’t really leave a whole lot of room to just write your musings up.  I’ve been trying to read, and watch some tv with Kitty when i’m not working. 

Finished a really good book this morning, only to find out, it’s part one of a triology, and the first book just came out.  Guess I’ll be waiting a while for that one. 

Have my Google Voice / Skype setup rocking out at home now, for the whole work from home thing.  Since they can’t be bothered to provision us with VOIP Softphones, even though we have VOIP phones on our desk, I just put together my own system for work now, and I’m only using it, and not the work provided landline. 

That’s all for now, going to try and crash in about 30 minutes.

Chris has wanted us to get a dog for a while.   She thought the boys would love it, and she said she would take care of it…since I’m a little anti-dog.  Don’t get me wrong, I think dogs are nice and all…but the licking, and the wet dog smell, and the house training…no thanks.

Anyway, after many assurances that she would care for the puppy, we picked her up this weekend, and let me assure you, the boys were very excited when they got home to meet her.  Take a look.

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So I’ve been swamped.  It seems like I have time to post, but can’t make myself do it.  Something else always seems to come up.  I’ve been doing a lot of work, since we’re moving into the implementation phase of the project I’m working on.  That just means more time working, and less time doing other things. 

On the plus side I’m now working from home so I get to help take care of the kids.  Of course the downside is I work a lot more hours just by default, now that the drive is gone.  At some point in the near future I’ll post a picture of my new setup.  It’s quite comfortable…I have a hard time working at the office now, because of the number of monitors there, vs the number of monitors i have at home now.

Kitty had surgery and that was a challenge, taking care of her, the kids, and still making sure everything got done for work.  Of course, she’s doing much better now, so that’s a good thing.

If you follow me on twitter, you know Jake broke his arm last week.  Jake loves to be the daredevil, always trying to jump from more and more steps whenever he can, along with just in general doing whatever he thinks might give him a rush.  He was watching a movie with his brothers, and decided to walk along the back of the couch.  When he reached the corner piece of the sectional, it decided to throw him off.  He crashed to the floor, and broke his funny bone.  We took him to the ER and they wrapped his arm after the X-Ray.  Of course this took like 5 hours.  The ER Doc wanted  us to feed him some food, and then take him to an Orthopaedic Dr to take a look at his arm.  Our appointment was at 11:30, and the Dr was not happy with the way the ER wrapped Jake’s arm.  We had to re-wrap his arm, which he did not like, and come back in three days.  Of course the entire time, Jake has been trying to play like he used to, but we have to keep stopping him, so he doesn’t hurt himself more while his arm is wrapped.  Went back on Thursday and got a cast put on his arm.  Jake will finally be able to play once he gets home from Ohio.

Between this blog, and kkthxbai I haven’t really been posting.  I told my self last night, I’ll start keeping an open notebook, to jot down writing ideas, that way, instead of trying to sit down and write something, I’ll have written it over time.  We’ll see how it works out.