Jackelopette

I live, I am well, and I have had an excellent holiday season. It is extended by another few weeks – David comes home soon for mid-tour leave.

I can’t wait.

Well, at least not patiently.

Thus, I direct you to my Twitter feed and Flickr account for the details. I’m finding it far easier to do short-form writing and posting these busy days.

Holidays were spent first in Ojai/Ventura/Santa Barbara, then the Bay for New Year’s Eve. I highly recommend spending the Eve in San Francisco with friends, though buying club tickets ahead of time is something I will do differently next year. See Flickr for partial, unculled proof.

I am coming to an understanding of this deployment cycle … there are long periods in which nothing happens and thus I have nothing to write about. There are also periods when interesting events occur and I am prevented from writing about them either by policy or by emotion.

That said, though, rest easy. I am fine, we are fine, and life goes on. The holidays are rushing up to meet me and I am looking forward to them – family in Ojai, friends in the Bay. When I return for the new year I plan to be very excited for a week and then traveling in a haze of happy reuniting for about two.

The cats say hi too.

and, o’ course, Talk Like A Pirate Day…

we be aimin’ to pillage Chateau Ste. Michelle for the tourin’ o’ their lands and the drinkin’ o’ their grog.

Yarrr.

It’s pretty cool, actually.

Google Voice Info

For me, remaining Stateside, it’s been a breeze to set up and configure, using both my browser and my personal cell phone.

Some of the perks:

• Permanent forwarding phone number for as long as Google Voice exists… (chances are good that you’re reading this via Facebook and can get my number there, or I’ve already given it to you)
• Can ring multiple phones according to a schedule I set. This is important later.
• Free SMS/texting from Google Voice to any phone, can receive and store free texts. So, now that David has an account, I can text him with my thoughts of the day and get a response whenever he logs in.
• Voicemail transcripts texted and/or emailed to your phone (depending on your settings)… though if you’re not careful, saying “Google Voice Account” can become “Good Boy Scout” in the transcript! Voicemails can also be forwarded or downloaded. Transcripts also have a “thumbs up/down” rating system, which helps train the transcribing program.
• Free US calling, cheap international calling.
• Routing phone calls based on who’s calling and which phone you want to have ring… so I don’t *HAVE* to be notified when an ex or the dentist calls!
• Screen or block calls based on caller, and change the voicemail greeting for whomever it is… so David gets his own greeting if he ever bothers to use this number. I’m still recording others for my friends and family.
• Conference calling, recording, and phone switching… so if one phone’s battery starts to die I can switch to another without losing the call.
• All the additional perks of Google contacts, email, etc… linked to your Voice account. Think calendars and conversations. Win.

All in all, it’s been a fantastic service and I need to make more people use my Google phone number rather than my established personal phone number.

I had to wait a month or two on the waiting list to get my account, but they’re moving rapidly through the list and giving priority to anyone with a .mil email address. Which brings me to my next point…

Google Voice for Service Members

As I said above, gVoice requires a physical phone to forward calls. Here’s the catch for my poor deployed David … he disabled his T-Mobile account for the duration, although he did get reception in Kuwait before his account expired. So he’s without a physical phone/number right now, and gVoice won’t let you complete the setup process until you’ve entered a phone number that it can call to confirm the account. >.<

I was able to game the system by using my Crackberry to activate his account. I then tried to remove the Crackberry from his account but was told that I had to have at least one actual phone on the account – and to add an alternate phone requires the call-to-confirm step. So I can’t untether the Crackberry from the account until gVoice lifts that requirement or David adds another phone-that-works.

Fortunately, I can tell gVoice never to call the Crackberry on “weekends or weekdays” and can place a “do not disturb” on that phone from David’s account. So it’s not a dealbreaker, but I imagine that several military users are facing greater challenges with the requirement. If Google responds to my tech support email on this topic, I’ll post any helpful info they give me here.

In short, I give it a 9.5/10 for my personal account (the transcripts and mobile interface need some work, and I’m sure they can find a way to work around the smartphone app blocks through a better mobile page) and an 8/10 for David’s account, ’cause of the deployed military setup issues.

Go forth, enjoy. And let me know your account number, if you get one.

And they’re off.

Mine anyway.

More of my friends will follow him soon. Now to fill the hours, the evenings, the weeks, and the months.

I don’t know how I would manage this without friends and family. Thanks.

First, for those who have ever lost luggage, read this.

Secondly, I am, as of this morning, now lacking in wisdom teeth and discovering the joys of bloody mouth, painkillers, mild nausea, and general drugged-up haziness.

Thirdly, I have affectionate and cuddly cats. They and David take care of me quite well.

It appears that I am loved.

In the last few hours I have received red roses, a lovely fern, and instant approval for a Chase credit card.

Wait, scratch that last one. Turns out Chase sends it to all the girls. Psh.

Still… the other two items make me feel very warm and fuzzy.

Found out yesterday that a cherished 4-H friend passed away earlier this month.

Ross was a Nevada Collegiate 4-H’er and camp volunteer whom I first met at the 2004 National 4-H Technology & Leadership Conference while working on 4-HUSA. Since that event, I’d kept in touch with him and often called on him for his insights while working on other tech and leadership projects for 4-H. Everyone in the 4-H community who knew Ross spoke highly of his sense of humor, unquestioning commitment to the 4-H program, and overall classy personality.

He was someone I could (and often did!) call up for an impromptu ski trip or advice on a presentation. We even survived a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras together, as well as road trips to San Francisco and San Luis Obispo. For the Collegiate 4-H, he was a mature and stabilizing influence who refused to fall into the notorious drama of that time period, but still someone who would happily mediate everyone’s differences so we could all go out and celebrate afterward. The guy had incredible integrity and a great smile.

Here’s to you, Ross. May you find peace wherever you are now.

I’ve added a Twitter gadget so’s you can track my micro-blogging updates in between actual blog posts. I find it hard to devote big chunks of time to composing and wordsmithing, so I’ll let you all in on a secret.

Twitter lets me do mini posts of 140 characters or less. It also lets me cross-post that update here via that gadget over yonder, and on Facebook.

Cool stuff.

Anyway, if you’re concerned that I’ve disappeared, double-check the Twitter and you may find that I’ve hared off on another adventure.

While the idea of “keep the litterbox in the unused bathtub” was a worthy one insofar as it contains the tracked-out litter and prevents it from joining the greater carpeted wilderness…

it turns out that using the bathtub’s integrated water-powered cleaning tool (read: faucet and/or shower) perhaps was not. For, you see, kitty litter is meant to clump up and turn into glorified mud, the same kind of mud that might be used for a facial, which means that it is goopy and sticky and stubborn.

I’ll be in the bathroom with my scrubby brush for the next little while. As soon as the standing water in the tub does its work and dissolves its clumps.

Oops.