I received my first Internet call from the UK this morning. I found of a service which gives out UK phone numbers to Free World Dialup customers for free. Calls to the UK number get billed at the UK national rate, not the outrageous overseas rates normally paid for US calls.

The sound quality report was mixed. I heard my UK counterpart superbly – better than any landline phone. However, he said I was breaking up, with lots of echo and other odd effects. I blamed that on the Asante firewall router my in-laws have. It seems to drop and/or mangle packets from time to time.

Anyhow, its a promising start. I’ll try another call from the corporate network this week to see if the quality improves.

I’m cooling my heels here in Reston, as we’re still around from a weekend visit. I was supposed to have a sales visit this morning, but it got pushed back until tomorrow around noon. This is aggrevating to me, but I’m becoming used to having to change plans at the last second in this job.

I’m spending way too much time away from home, and the homelife is beginning to suffer as a result. There is a pile of leaves in the yard that needs to be cleaned up. And I haven’t had time to plan anything for Halloween, as Kelly keeps reminding me (though I can do that here).

I’m just hoping we don’t wear out our welcome with Kelly’s parents, who have graciously accepted us for this weekend-plus trip.
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At home last night, I spent most of my waking time (and some of my sleeping time) configuring my Asterisk PBX server. The stuff is addictive! Major geek points for having a home PBX.

I now have six or seven “extensions” at home, ringing my Zaurus, two Windows desktops running X-Ten lite, and a cordless analog phone, among others.

I can also dial out from my PC. I even configured it to automatically dial our calling-card number for long-distance calls. (Eventually, I’ll replace that with one of the many VoIP services for free calling). It’s truly amazing what can be done now with SIP-based telephony.

With a little more work, I’ll have the ability to place calls through my home phone from anywhere on the Internet. THAT’S the reason why I’m canceling my Packet 8 account, only a few months into having it. Why pay $20 a month for service you don’t need?

This should make for a killer presentation to the local Linux group. It could also turn into a great consulting offering, with any luck.

I would’ve made a good cop.

On the way to work this morning, I noticed something out of the ordinary. A convoy of tractor-trailers with Arkansas plates headed west down I-40. They stayed bunched up together as they drove, but really didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

When I got to my turn, though, I saw them do something funny. Two or three trucks got caught in the wrong lane and had to quickly merge back on to I-40 to keep up with the pack. Seasoned truckers would never make such a dumb move. They know the highways like the back of their hand. These guys drove like rookies.

All this would’ve been just another instance of dumb drivers if it weren’t for a helicopter which flew parallel to them, staying slightly in front. My paranoid mind put the two together and suggested something was up.

I wonder if they might have been hauling radioactive waste to the Shearon-Harris disposal site? Or if I’m being way too paranoid? At any rate, it was not a scene I typically see on the morning commute.

Woot.

The latest version of Wine, the Windows (not-an-) Emulator, runs Office 97. I can edit Word documents using Linux, no Windows needed!

Dr. Ivan Getting, a physicist and electrical engineer who invented the global positioning system, has died at the age of 91. He also contributed to the development of fire control radar.

Every time I wardrive, I thank Dr. Getting for his wonderful invention. 🙂

I got one of the new twenty dollar bills yesterday at the local hardware store.

“Wow, its a work of art,” I said sarcastically to the cashier.

She laughed. “Yeah, and already there is some kid sitting at his computer, trying to copy it.”

So true.

I spent some of yesterday rewiring our house’s telephone wiring. I have a cool setup which allows me a “virtual” phone line, using the phone company’s Distinctive Ring feature. When my home office number rings, it hits a computerized box first, which decides based on the ring whether to ring the home phone or the office phone.

To cut to the chase, now I’m all set up for heavy voice-over-IP use at the home. I may even add extensions in the house as time goes on.

If you call the house and unusual things happen, chances are I’m building a Frankenstien of a phone system. 🙂