Tony's Place

This is a blinding flash of the obvious. I feel really stupid for not doing this sooner.

My Local Number port from SunRocket to ViaTalk is supposed to go through on 7/31. 14 days after they received my request. I was hoping a VOIP to VOIP transfer would be faster.

With Packet8 claiming 5 days to tranfer number I was tempted to switch because I really need my old number back.

While I contemplated canceling my ViaTalk order and Switching to Packet8 I decided to sign into sunrocket and see if call forwarding would work. AND IT DID!

I hope the SunRocket forwarding continues to work until the end of the month. At least I won’t miss anymore calls while I’m waiting for the number port.

Its been so dry this summer that I saw my 1st Asian Tiger Mosquito last night. Last year I suspect they were out by May. These things are much faster than normal mosquitoes and they are sneaky too. They seem to intentionally stay out of your line of sight.

The Maryland page about these mosquitoes does not mention Montgomery County but I have seen them for at least 2 years now.

http://www.mda.state.md.us/plants-pests/mosquito_control/_asian_tiger_mosquito_md.php

I’ve been a happy Sunrocket customer for over 2 years. So when I started seeing blog posts that said they were going under I didn’t worry too much. I figured the worst case would be a skeleton crew and poor support while they tried to sell us to Vonage or another provider. Acquiring new customers is expensive so other providers would be crazy not to jump in and do a deal.

We’ll I’m not sure who was doing the dealing but instead of selling us they just shut the service off tonight. Can you imagine? 200,000 VOIP customers cut off. Calling (um surfing) around for new service.

I’m sure Vonage and ViaTalk have their phones ringing off the hook. I’m sorry I didn’t find a new service last week when all the rumors were flying.

Now. I’m stuck with no phone for at least another 24 hours and I may never get my phone number back (which I have had for 9 years now).

On the bright side I still have the Sunrocket gizmo that I plan on using with my new service.

I am just blown away by how poorly managed this bankruptcy was. I can’t think of a worse outcome for the employees, customers and the venture capitalist. They threw away millions by not selling the customers to a competitor.

I’m under the impression that ceiling fans in an air conditioned house in the summer will actually raise your cooling bill.

In all cases your taking hot air off the ceiling and mixing it with the cooler air below. Now instead of having 90 degree heat next to your 120 degree attic you are putting cooler air up there. This higher differential means that more heat is going to move from the attic to your living space.

So skip the fan and keep the heat on the ceiling where it belongs.

Also. I find that people obsess over the direction of their fan rotation but it makes almost no difference. “I’m pulling the cold air off the floor” they’ll say. Yeah right. Your circulating the air in the room resulting in a fairly even temperature. Direction doesn’t change the end result much. The only difference is if you want to feel the breeze.

Ya.. I had the salmonella.. I’m not sure where I got it from but it was awful.

9/22 — woke up feeling a bit odd. Decided to work from home
9/23 — mild but constant stomach cramps.
9/24 — more cramps and sudden high fever. I ended up in urgent care. I was rehydrated with an IV of saline and sent home
9/25 — spent day curled up in a ball on the floor. Sent a “sample” in. Fever on and off. Started Cipro in PM
9/26 — spent day curled up in a ball on the floor. Realized I was feeling even worse a few hours after Cipro
9/27 — Still on floor. Called advice nurse and told to stop taking cipro. fever still on and off
9/28 — feeling a little better. Still have fever on and off.
9/29 — thought I was fine. went to work but felt dizzy most of day. Fever gone
9/30 — mowed my overgrown yard. Still tired
10/1 — Was out of town but my Dr. called to say I had salmonella.
10/2 — Still out of town. Still not feeling right I’d say I was 80%
10/3 — Started 3 day antibiotic
10/4 – 10/6 — feeling better but tired. I usually run a mile in the morning but I didn’t feel up to it.
10/7 – 10/10 — feeling mostly better but I still haven’t tried running and it seems that I get winded pretty easily. I want to be myself again already.

So where did I get it? My county health department called me today to try to determine that. On 9/20 I was at the “The New New Internet Conference”. I wonder if anyone else got sick. I also had some Giant brand rotisserie chicken on those days but no one else in my house got sick. Its a mystery to me.

We’ve been having some great weather in MD the past 3 days. I put away the snow shovels which pretty much guarantees its going to snow again. The girls got to spend several hours outside this weekend (F-Sun for them).

Just returned from a long weekend in Florida (Cocoa Beach). The weather was cooler than I would have liked but the kids are immune to the cold. It was nice family weekend as we stayed with my Father and 2 of my sister.

It’s Presidents Day so we’re all home today. Its been a COLD weekend and for the 2nd week in a row we had a party on Saturday that was canceled due to sick kids. Fortunately it wasn’t our kids either week.