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| I Can't See My Niece on Her Birth Day because of the Damn H1N1 B.S. |
I got the call from my sister's boyfriend that she had gone into labor (right on her due date), with her first child. I was at work, but got someone to cover me and went up to Port Huron Hospital. My dad had just finished checking in when I got to the front desk. He was putting an identifying sticker on his shirt. In a quick glance at a sign I'd passed in my rush up to the desk, I noticed "H1N1" in large print, but I was anxious to get to the maternity ward, where my sister could deliver at any moment, so it remains unknown to me what it said. My dad was saying something about not having been on the list. I was like "what do you mean?" The receptionist was asking for a name. I said my sister's name. She said "no, your name". I gave her mine with an "I knew that" smile. She picked up the phone and asked someone for confirmation about who was on my sister's list. She hung up and told me I wasn't on it. I looked at her expectantly, awaiting her to begin the process of getting me added to the list and checked in. She told me only three people could visit and I wasn't one of them. I responded with an incredulous "Why??" She said some spiel about protecting the babies from H1N1. I shook my head and asked "3 visitors at a time, or period?" She said "3 period" and added that they've been doing it for 3 months. I told my dad goodbye and left.
Being that I know H1N1 is one big scam and the issuance of the vaccine a travesty, this is very upsetting to me. (I'm not saying people haven't gotten H1N1 and died, but it's far less deadly than "they" want you to believe-- much less so than the seasonal flu, and they've never kept people out of hospitals for the risk of that.) My sister has seven local siblings and only one could be there for her daughter's birth (since the other two were the baby's father and our dad). In her case, she wasn't aware herself of the restriction (they apparently didn't explain it to her beforehand so she could let us know), so the first sibling to arrive was the one to get in.
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| Easy, Cheap Way to Record Phone Calls |
This solution requires a high-speed internet connection, as it uses a VOIP phone service.
So you need to record a phone call -- to potentially be used in court, for instance - and you don't want to have to buy an expensive device or software that you'd probably never use again after this one time. Yet you need a good quality recording. If your computer has the audio option called "stereo mix" or "wave out" or "what you hear", then you may be able to get the job done with a free software like Ask & Record Toolbar (formerly Freecorder). If, however, you have a computer running Vista, you may find, as did I, that stereo mix has been removed as an option. I've read that this is due to an agreement between Microsoft and the recording industry to curtail illegal audio recording. On some computer systems, the option has only been hidden, not completely removed. To check whether you have it or not, right-click the audio icon in your taskbar, then click "Recording Devices". If you don't see stereo mix (or any of its aliases), right-click inside the area that shows your devices, and click "Show Disabled Devices" (if it doesn't already have a checkmark next to it). If stereo mix appears, you can right-click on it and select "Enable", and right click again to set it as the default device. If not, read on.
If you search for a way to get stereo mix on your computer, you'll find the suggestion of installing an XP audio driver in compatibility mode. I tried this, and while it did give me stereo mix, it caused my mic to stop working, which obviously wasn't acceptable, so I then used Vista's "Backup and Restore" to revert my computer back to a previous state (undoing the new driver install).
For days I searched for a phone call recording software that would work with my computer and current VOIP service and not cost much since I only needed it for one-time use. I never found one. But in my searching, I noticed that there were a few recording programs that were specifically for Skype (a VOIP service). And one of them, called Call Graph, was completely free. I'd never tried Skype, but knew it was very affordable. Exactly how affordable, I proceeded to find out.... Monthly subscriptions start at $2.95 for unlimited calling to landlines and cellphones in the U.S. and Canada. Or you can pay as you go at great rates (.021 in the U.S.) by buying credit starting at $10. Pc-to-pc calls to other Skype users are free. They also offer text messaging, phone numbers for incoming calls, and more.
So my total investment to get my call recorded was $2.95. And that also bought me a month of unlimited calling from my computer, as well as introduced me to a VOIP service that's probably going to replace the other one I've been using.
After downloading Skype , you can dial Echo123 for their free testing service, to make sure everything's working. You also can make one free call to a mobile or landline phone, or if you prefer, send one free text. I'm still learning about the service myself, so can't tell you much else about it, but if you're a Firefox user, here's a great thing: there's an add-on for the browser that turns phone numbers on websites into links you can click to automatically make Skype calls.
The Call Graph recording software can save calls in either wav or mp3 format. The default is mp3, and gives you the option of mono or stereo. In stereo mode, which is also the default, one party's voice plays back from the left speaker, with the other on the right... which is nice because it reduces the chance of words being undecipherable when both parties talk at the same time. Another feature of Call Graph is the option to automatically record all Skype calls.
Something odd I discovered is that for Call Graph to work, your computer's sound scheme cannot be set to "No sounds". Skype calls will work fine, but as soon as you click Record, one party can't hear the other, seemingly randomly-- the first time it happened to me, the person on the other end couldn't hear me; when I tried it again, I couldn't hear her. Since it had been working fine for me before I set my computer sounds to off, I quickly realized what the problem probably was, turned them back on, and all's well again.
Be sure to check into the legalities before recording any phone calls. The law varies by state. You may have to inform the other party (or both/all parties, if you're planning to record a call you're not taking part in) that you're recording the call.
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| Funny Spoof Site: No Uptime |
In all my searching for a new web host, I came across a spoof hosting site I thought I'd share, as it brought me some comic relief during this frustrating time. To be able to fully appreciate the humor, you have to be knowledgeable about web hosting. The site is nouptime.com, and their "offerings" include free identity theft with the $2/month I'm-Poor plan, and two glow sticks and a free broken toaster with the $20/month Take-My-Money plan. Their randomly-changing slogan at the top of the site includes "Deleting Your Files Since 1994", "Stealing Your Money Since 1986" and "We're The Reason You're in Therapy". In the footer, it states: "We'll Never Go Down On You.. (Unless You Pay Us)". I don't know if the double entendre was intentional there! Among their "customer testimonials":
"I lost over 40 pounds after switching to No Uptime. Thanks guys!"
"No Uptime helped me save my marriage. I don't know where I'd be without them."
"I want my money back."
"No Uptime used my credit card to buy porn magazines. This service is a sham!"
The site's inspiration was obviously bad hosting (because, as most webmasters know, there's SO much of it out there), and does offer a genuine service to its visitors: a Worst Hosts list, which accepts submissions, and allows you to vote for any listed host. This service could be greatly improved, though; it only lists the top ten worst hosts, (with nouptime.com occupying positon #1, with infinite votes), and you can't view voting statistics for any of the added sites that aren't on the top ten list. But the stats probably aren't very accurate anyway, because I'm betting a lot of others have unintentionally voted for a host, as did I... Clicking "Vote" next to any host's name immediately registers a vote for them. I was just looking to see if there was more info to be found on the hosts, and expected the click to take me to another page. At the least, there should be a popup message asking you to confirm or cancel your vote.
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| Death to Internet Explorer |
I'm not the first web designer to say it, and I won't be the last: Internet Explorer sucks! If I wasn't a web designer, I would never use it. But because I am, I have to design pages that will display correctly in all modern browsers (or at least the popular ones), most notably Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. And it's almost always IE, rarely Firefox, that makes my job difficult. When designing for others, I always make sure to check the layout in both major browsers (and then others, using browsershots). With my own sites, however, when I make small changes, it sometimes slips my mind to check if Internet Explorer still renders the site correctly, when there was no issue in my default browser, Firefox, which displays things as expected. This scenario occurred when I updated Meet Port Huron's header images a little while back. A bit of the top of the logo, which is floated outside of the background photo, was getting cut off by the notoriously buggy browser.
So if you use IE and ever see something on this site that looks a little off, or totally wack!, please let me know, as it very well may be that I forgot to check it in IE.
For any developers finding this post by way of searching for a fix for the disappearing content issue I described: adding "position: relative" to the logo-containing div fixed it for me (finally, after many other fix attempts failed).
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| Freelancing Freedom |
Are you a skilled professional out of work or looking for a second income? Becoming a freelancer may be an answer for you. Here are some of the job categories in which there's work to be found on freelancing job sites: Web Development, Design and Multimedia, Writing and Translation, Administrative Support, Sales and Marketing, Finance and Management, Legal, Engineering and Manufacturing, Customer Service, Software Development, Networking and Information Systems.
Maybe you have a skill you hadn't even thought about trying to earn an income with... If you know a second language fluently, you could find work translating documents or audio. Maybe you're an awesome writer (if you do say so yourself), but never pursued it as a career or haven't found your niche. Many web site owners need steady supplies of articles on topics galore. Perhaps you know Microsoft Word inside and out, are a quick typist, and/or excel at spelling and grammar. Those are all skills some home-worker hirers are looking for. There are even jobs that just about anyone with a computer and internet access can do-- such as posting ads to classifieds sites. There are jobs answering telephones, responding to emails, being the voice for audio-based productions. As the skill level goes down, of course, so does the pay. And keep in mind that many people and companies posting jobs on these sites are just looking to outsource work as cheaply as they possibly can... especially in the less-skilled sectors, which means it's a lot harder to find decent-paying positions in those areas, because you're up against workers from third-world countries who will work for next to nothing (as low as around $1 an hour).
So there's definitely better opportunity in freelancing for those with skills that took some "higher education" to develop.
A staple of the freelancing job site is a feedback system (like on eBay) for buyers and providers, as protection for both. Upon (in)completion of a job, employers can rate workers and vice versa on a number of criteria. Until you've well established an excellent reputation with clients, you'll likely have to underbid your services in order to get hired. As you rack up the feedbacks and beef up your portfolio, you can steadily increase your asking rate until it's what you should really be getting paid. One way, offered on many of the job sites, to get instant credibility is to take tests in your area(s) of expertise and add your passing score(s) to your profile.
As further insurance against fraudulent activity, many of the sites also offer escrow payment services, which is where compensation for a job is paid by the client (employer) ahead of time and held by a third party (the escrow company) until the job has been completed, then released to the provider.
A second similarity to eBay is the bidding system. It's reversed though-- the ones selling something (services) do the bidding, and rather than bidding money, they bid how much they want to be paid.
I've been freelancing for over a year now, and absolutely love it. A lot of my clients end up offering me more jobs and/or referring me to other clients, so I've been staying quite busy. There are a slew of freelancing job sites to choose from, but the three I've narrowed my usage to and recommend are:
oDesk
GetaFreelancer
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