For the 4 to 6 people (do my parents count?) that read this blog, you may be want to look at my new site. The rss feed for the new site is here. I will continue to post my truly geeky posts here and I will use my new site for posts that blur between technology, business and management

I recently changed my phone service to Vonage. Vonage provides VOIP and has 2 basic plans for residential customers, 500 minutes for $15/mo or unlimited calling for $25/mo. Since I don't talk on the phone very often, I went with the 500 min package. My “traditional” phone service cost me roughly $45 just for the service (local) and taxes, so I expect to save ~$300/yr with Vonage. If you make a lot of long distance calls, your savings may be even greater. I received my router/adapter today...

The three readers of this blog have probably noticed that it has been quite here for a while. I have recently started a Six Sigma Black Belt class through Villanova University. If anyone is interested in Six Sigma, Lean, or other quality measures and how they apply to software, I'd love to chat. I have also been doing more private writing lately. I do intend to pick back up with this blog. More posts coming soon...

Midwest airlines will begin offering handheld, video on demand entertainment. I received this in an email; I couldn't find it on their site to link to it, so here is the cut & paste. Entertainment Choices Start April 1The digEplayerTM – a handheld unit that puts more than 50 entertainment choices right on your tray table. Available on flights over 2 1/2 hours. Video-on-demand technology – pre-programmed with great entertainment selections for the whole family Pre-release movies, recently...

I received a note from Lance Robinson about his new podcast receiver. I'm playing with it this afternoon and here are my first impressions. Downloading the the software requires providing minimal registration info. The registration looks like the typical Dot Net Nuke registration page. The software requires either Windows 2000 or XP along with the .Net Framework 1.1. Installation was quick and easy. There appears to be some good documentation, but me being a guy and this being a weekend, of course...

Flying back from Las Vegas, I heard one of the better lines I've heard on a Southwest flight. As they were going through the announcements, the flight attendant said “...Tampering with the smoke detector carries a $2,000 fine. Of course, if you could afford that fine, you'd be on a Delta flight right now”

Last Friday, I went to the Screenland Theatre with Hector and some of his friends. The theatre was screening the short films that were nominated for an Oscar this year. Their were 8 films from around the world that received nominations: Birthday Boy (animated) Ryan (animated) - Winner Two Cars, One Nigh (live action) 7:35 in the Morning Gopher Broke (animated) Wasp (live action) - Winner Little Terrorist (live action) Rex Steele:Nazi Smasher (animated) My favorites were Ryan, Little Terrorist, Rex...

Over the weekend, I followed the advice of of David Allen and cleaned out my inbox (as in 0 messages). It may sound like a trivial thing, but it is amazing what a good feeling of accomplishment it gives you. Give it a try

I signed up to be a BzzAgent today so that I can review and spread the buzz about Tom Peters new book. From their site: BzzAgent is a network of volunteer brand evangelists who participate in Word-of-Mouth (WOM) campaigns. It is a community of communicators. It is a no-obligation, no-nonsense, and no-pressure type of situation. And most importantly ... it’s a fun gig. BzzAgent is the coolest reality marketing experience you'll ever take part in. I'm just reviewing the site now, it looks pretty...

One of the things I really liked about Outlookk 2003 was the fact that I could look at all of my e-mail accounts, including my Hotmail account, in one place. Today I started receiving a message that connecting to Hotmail via Outlook (or Outlook Express) requires a subscription. Nope, ain't gonna happen. I won't be using that account anymore, so don't you either