Happy New Year!

That's another blog'd Christmas been and gone!
All went ok - apart from the lounge radiator deciding to blow up and 'dump its load' all over the carpet... I ask ya'...

Been off work to get the division website done - and its now coming along nicely. Should be finished tomorrow (what I can do at home, anyway) then I can get on with the 'Newton Online' site which has been in the pipework for about 15 months now! I really should work faster!

Anyway - to anyone reading this - I hope you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Cya in 2006!

VoIP: the future

I've been playing about with VoIP over the past few days. For those that don't understand what its about - essentially its making phone calls routed through the Internet instead of our crappy, expensive analogue network.

I don't make a massive amount of phone calls - I've always got my mobile on me, and work pays for that, so the landline at home isn't used much. But I'm always a little conscience of frying my brain a little too much, so a suitable alternative is always welcome.

In order for Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls to work, you need some way of getting your voice over the internet. There's really 4 ways of doing this:

• Bit of software on your PC, and a headphones/mic setup plugged into your PC
• A USB phone. Still plugs into your PC, and PC needs to be on, but you can dial from a handset.
  
• Still using software on your PC, but an adapter plugged in your USB port to allow you to connect a normal phone (or DECT phone) and dial through your normal phone. You can also make/receive normal analogue phone calls.
• Proper VoIP router that routes your calls independantly of your computer. Again you can plug a normal phone in, or you can even get proper full-blown VoIP handsets.

Personally, I'm using option 3, after bagging a bargain on eBay for £12.

You can use Skype - but that relies on the recipient of your call being on Skype, or if performing a "SkypeOut" call (a call to a normal phone number), they charge you. That's not the point of this experiment!

So, welcome to the arena: www.sipdiscount.com . A sister website of www.voipcheap.co.uk that I have been using for a couple of months. VoIPCheap is purely sitting at your PC using their software - no way round it. SIPDiscount, however, is using the standard SIP VoIP protocol, so you can configure your router, or Softphone of your choice to route calls through it. Once you've charged your account with 5 Euros (about £4) then you can make landline calls to many countries (including the UK of course) for free. Completely free. That's more like it!!

Call quality is fine. The adapter from eBay is not the best quality - but does the job. I'm sure with better equipment I could easily surpass BT's line quality, but at the moment its about on par.

The cool thing about 'Softphones' is that you can actually run more than one SIP provider if you want. So, I also use www.sipgate.co.uk who charge for outgoing calls (so I use SIPDiscount for that) but give you a free local incoming number. I could make it be any local number in the UK, but I picked another Redhill number. So now anyone else in the world can call me, thinking their calling a normal landline, but it in fact rings through my PC (which passes the call through that device onto my DECT phones) and doesn't touch my analogue line!

It's a bit nerdy, but great to get something most providers charge £8-£15/month for, for completely free.
If I didn't need my BT line to get on the net (ADSL), I'd ditch it and run just VoIP!

BEST Blonde Joke Ever?

You do not want to miss this joke!!

Merry Christmas everyone (",)

The final count-down!

(Do do do dooo, do do do do dooo!)

Not long now 'til Santa's off on his business!
It's a sign of getting old - it really has crept up on me quicker than ever this year. Still a couple of pressies to get! That's what Xmas Eve is for (",)

I'll be glad for the time off! Got web work to do during the holidays, but it will keep me entertained. Not as if anything good will be on TV...

Sorry, nothing exciting to report. Fancy a game of pool? (Warning: addictive!)

Winter

...it's like cold and everything!
1.3 degC outside - and only 18.9 degC inside. 'Spose I should get up! If I wanna get really nerdy, 44% humidity is pretty good. (We've had to buy a dehumidifier for the flat, 'cos its been pretty damp).

Anyway, enough of this. If you wanna warm up a bit, my mate Chris has buggered off to Oz for the winter, and is whinging about 30 degC... Git. Have a read. It's mostly his fault I've started this up again.

What a week!

It's been one of those weeks where I really should have updated this as it went along - since quite a lot happened!

It's interesting reading about last Saturday, and making dinner in the new microwave - as 2am Sunday morning, I started throwing up and then continued throwing up pretty much every 2 hours for the next 16 hours. Not nice.
I was so drained, and exhausted, and dehydrated, I took Monday off work. Was feeling better by Monday eve, but its really taken the whole week to get completely over it.

Helping me to the road of recovery was my boss's new puppy, Oakley [insert]. He's an 11 week old Beagle. Not old enough to be left on his own, my boss carries him around in his mobile doggie home on his branch visits - or when visiting me in my office, we have an area penned off for him to roam about freely. Luckily, my crappy carpet hides the wees quite well (I make Paul clean them up though - that certainly isn't in my job description!)

Mid-week drew a bit dull, but Friday night was a good'un. I went out with some fellow Carphone colleagues on their branch night out. For a branch of 4 people, was interesting that there was about 20 of us! Met some people who previously were just usernames to me, including the very interesting Charlotte, who had an amazing ability to hold a long conversation without having to resort to work. Can see a proper friendship in that one. If she'll let me. (",)

Today has been a typical Saturday. It slips away far too quickly. Ho-hum. Just 5 days left of work though. And still got Christmas shopping to do...

Saturday extreme excitedness

Stuff I've sorted today:

• Finally got THE Corrado Forum Wiki online. What a b!tch Wiki's are to configure and look good! Blimey...
• Put a curtain rail up (I know, my life is just too intense)
• Used our new Microwave as an Oven for my dinner. It heated up to 200degC in under 4 mins, and cooked beautifully. Very impressed. Cheers Mum (early Xmas pressie).
• VoIP'd for about 3+ hours with my mate Dom as we sorted the Wiki together. Gotta love free calls!

You may return from the edge of your seat now.

'Spose I better update you all

The old posts in this blog might be a bit confusing, so here's a quick life run-down:

• still own a Corrado. Running ok at the mo, thanks!
• no longer live in Derby. Loved the place. G/f didn't love me. So moved back.
• Been going out with new g/f Jen for well over a year now. We live together in a flat in Redhill, Surrey now.
  
• I still work for Carphone - but no longer in sales. I'm now an 'Administrative Sales Assistant' which basically means I'm a PA to two Area Managers. Nice change in direction, really. Least I can flex the ol' brain matter now.
• Still run THE Corrado Forum. Just hit 5000 members now! (",)

That'll do. L8rs.

Holy Blog Revival, Batman!

Dammit, what is it with the world.
I've had a blog for years. Even had to run my own software, off my own server, with my own (paid for) domain for it - and people read it. Then I thought it was old hat, and my life got more boring. Maybe that's my problem, I'm just so on the pulse - 'cos now it's cool!

So, I'm doing the other thing respectable, and reviving my blog from the dead. My own domain has expired, the site has been deleted, but my trusty Blogger account still exists, so what to the hell - I'm back!

Is this a record? I'm sure this is about the 5th blog revival I've
done over the years... let's see how long this one lasts! (",)