Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
tech

vonage

We took the plunge and signed up for a VOIP (voice over IP) provider on December 11. Goodbye, landline! We went with Vonage. I read some good reviews about them and they seem to be the most popular provider, so that clinched our decision.

So far I’ve been happy with the quality of the connection. We’re paying half of what we had to pay with Verizon, but we get unlimited minutes. Of course, if your internet connection is down, you have no phone, but that’s what cell phones are for, right?

The one bad thing about the process was trying to transfer our current number to the new service. It was a major headache which involved at least four hours of my time (either on the phone or sending emails). If you factor in my bitching, my hours might be up to 24. Just ask Brian. Had I known it was going to be such a pain in the ass, I might have opted to just get a new number. But, after almost a week with no one being able to access our phone number, finally, our number got transferred last night. So everything is good in the world again. From reading a forum I found on the subject, I knew there was a good possibility that we were going to run into issues with the number transfer, so at least I was mentally prepared for it.

If anyone’s interested in this service, let me know and I’ll refer you. We would get two free months out of the deal and you’d get one month free. I definitely have some tips for you before you sign up, though. Email me for details.

I feel like such a techno-geek. Embracing the latest technologies and all…

auto

just got lucky

The wonderful garage that works on my car (Deyarmin’s on Goucher Street) fixed my exhaust problem today. They made a new exhaust pipe for the one that fell off my car yesterday. Total cost: around $60. If they would’ve gotten the part from the Toyota garage, total cost: $585. This is why we don’t go to the dealership for service. Needless to say, I love those guys! Plus they squeezed us in today, so that was really nice of them. It is so convenient living two blocks from a reputable garage when you have a vehicle that has 100,000 miles on it.

auto

exhausted

Not me, but my car. Brian took it to work today. On his way home, he heard someone with a loud exhaust and thought, “Boy, I’m glad that isn’t me.” Well, the sound persisted because it was him. Long story short, the exhaust fell off. I don’t know if all of the parts are still there or not. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. The garage we take our vehicles to was still open, so he dropped the car off there, but they’re not looking at it till the morning. Depending on what the problem is, I may be without a vehicle for a few days again. Damn. I had to take a loan from the Bank of Law to pay for our last repairs and I haven’t even replaced that money yet. Here’s to hoping this is something minor…

work

the worst day

Happy Anniversary to me. Today, I celebrated 11 years of working for the same company. It’s hard to believe it has been that long. Given that, this article really struck me as funny.

weekend updates

the ruination of a perfectly good weekend

The weekend started off well enough…On Friday, we went out for dinner with Steve and then for a few drinks afterward. When we got home, Brian laid down the vocal pattern for the Rottenstone song we started a few months ago and haven’t worked on since. So, we might actually be able to finish this song sometime in the near future.

Saturday was a pretty good day–no practice because of the weather and we caught a movie that we’ve been wanting to see for a while. And, as a bonus, Brian and his dad ran cable to my tv in the kitchen, so now I get channels other than 6 and 8.

I talked Brian into skipping church today because I didn’t want to go out in this crappy weather. Consequently, we all ended up sleeping in until 10am. Boy, did I need that. Brian didn’t have practice today either, so he got to work in the shop all day and made good progress on the cherry end table he’s building for our living room. I managed to wrap up the yearly update of my cookbook and plot out my garden planting schedule for the spring.

All in all, a good weekend. That is, until the Steelers got the crap beat out of them by the Patriots. I think all the blame has to go on Roethlisberger. He played another horrible game today. Everyone says it’s because he is a rookie, but I can’t figure out how he was so good early in the season and so bad late in the season. Maybe it was just the pressure of the playoffs. Who knows? I still think the Steelers have finally found “their” quarterback, it’s just a shame they couldn’t make it to the Superbowl this year. Especially since Bettis is talking retirement. That’s one guy who deserves to have a ring. Maybe this will give him the motivation to come back for one more year. The way he played this year certainly shows that he has some more games left in him. I guess this means I’ll have to root for the Eagles in the Superbowl. Normally, I don’t like them, but that’s mostly because of Terrell Owens. Since he’s out, it would be kind of cool for them to win the game with out him. I’m kind of spiteful that way. But, if I were betting on the game, I’d go with New England.