Ooma

Has anyone heard about this thing called the Ooma? It sounds like a pretty awesome idea.  You buy a US$400 box (when it’s released for everyone to buy it) and then, for the life of the box, you get free local and long-distance calling!  400 bucks for free calling?  It sounds good to me!  It gets better.  You can even use it with you telephone company’s normal service.  It’ll route all normal calls through the internet, but then if someone calls 911, there’s no worrying about your location not being set up in some database somewhere, because it uses the telephone line to dial in.  Pretty cool, huh?  Oh, and better yet.  If somehow you get selected to be what’s called a “White Rabbit” tester, you get all your equipment for free!  So, it’s like, um, free phone service, for like, forever.  I’d go for that.  Check it out at ooma.com.

Wisdom teeth

So, yesterday, I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed.  Not to worry: I was sedated and don’t really remember anything.  One IV needle prick, and I was gone.  I woke up to no more teeth.  It was wonderful.  In other words, if you have to have yours removed, check out Dr. Bill Goodwin from Grove, OK.  He and his staff are pretty awesome and very nice.  Right now I’m recovering from the surgery and one side feels almost completely normal.  My left side, however, is still swollen.  I kind of feel like I have a tumor hanging off the side of my face.  It’ll start to go away, tonight, though.  Just remember, don’t eat anything solid.  Chicken noodle soup works great… which reminds me.  I left some in the microwave!  Better go get that.

Vacation!

Right now I’m sitting in Vernon and Lois’s new house in Beaumont, TX.  It’s really awesome!  They’ve got a pool/hot tub thingy in their back yard and we were out in it last night.  They don’t live that far from the beach, either, and I think we’re going there today.  It’s nice to be able to relax and rest… which is, I guess, what the cliché vacation is supposed to be like… oh well, I’m down with that.  Who can beat staying with friends and going to the beach for a whole week?  “Not I,” said the Caleb… (think little red hen or whatever with “The sky is falling!”)

By the way, if you’re having trouble viewing this, use something besides Internet Explorer 6… it renders the WordPress code incorrectly and makes my blog all but unviewable.  Check out the beta of Safari 3 or the final version of Firefox 2.

Dish Receiver and iPhone Apps

Our Dish Network receiver died again today. This is our third one!  Now, we’re faithful customers; we pay our bill on time and speak nicely to the equipment, but this type of failure rate is unacceptable.  There are a few simple truths that designers and manufacturers need to realize.  First, people are customers, not consumers.  We buy and use, not consume.  We’re not mindless spending machines. Many of us work hard for the money we spend. Second, when we do decide to buy something, we expect it to work, correctly, right out of the box.  Don’t lie to us and give us applications that are trials in disguise.  Don’t manufacture products with the cheapest parts possible just so we’ll buy it!  Many Americans will pay the extra $20 or $100 just to get a quality product.  Look at the success of the iPod and the brand loyalty of those who use Macs, for example. Do you think they go back just because the Apple logo has a little bite taken out of it? No, it’s because the products work.  Second point:  Apple, the iPhone needs applications other than you or your select group of developers can produce.  We need Adobe Flash and Shockwave and Windows Media Player plugins and a way to edit and produce Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents when we’re without reception (which means no Google Docs & Spreadsheets).  It’d make the iPhone even greater. 

YouTube and Facebook

As I deal with the onslaught of applications on Facebook (ugh!), I have to wonder… why doesn’t Facebook get smart?  Why don’ they just integrate with YouTube, because who really wants to post videos on Facebook when YouTube is such a bigger site and audience?  The tagging feature is great on Facebook, but why not just have the videos hosted on YouTube and allow you to tag them?  Makes sense to me and it gets rid of another one of those annoying Facebook applications (even though it’s much less annoying than the Zombies application… stop sending me invites to them, please!).

Highest Praise 2007

HP this year was honestly and simply, amazing.  There’s no other word for it, is there?  God did incredible and hopefully, indelible, works this year. Every night when we received a standing ovation, I knew it was only because of His great power. That first night, the ovation was obviously because God had worked in people’s hearts.  I hope and pray that they are changed for always for the better. We had the most fun this year, too.  Many times during tour I caught myself thinking my friends from home were there as well, because my HP friends are so close to me. Even with Satan’s attacks, God, as always, prevailed and conquered. Watch out world!  Ozark Christian College’s Highest Praise 2008 opens in 11 months!   

Tags: Highest Praise, ozark