Posts filed under 'Life'
Come July 25th, I would have finished 6 months using Skype-In. I had used Skype prior to that, but it was mainly for Skype to Skype calls or Skype-out calls. I would also be finishing my 6 months here in the United States this month end.
During these 6 months, i have used Skype as my *only* phone to receive calls. This service is called the Skype-In service. The main reason for me to go for Skype-in initially was, I wanted a phone number which I could give to my parents before I left India!. So, I had a US number of Kingpsort Area code, when I was in India. I also had a feeling that it would take some time for me to settle down in US and get a phone number.
Over all, I am kind of satisfied with Skype. But I must say, I am not very happy. Here are some of the Pros and Cons of using Skype in no particular order:
Pros:
- The Call quality is great. No questions here.
- Outgoing calls - Very Cheap. I can say dirt cheap. Initially, it used to cost me around 2.1 cents per minute to call any number in US, but later on in May, Skype make all calls made from US to US and Canada free.
- Incoming calls - The Skype-in service costs $12 for 3 months (or some $38 for a year). So, its cheap again. The local phone service here (Sprint) costs around 30$ per month. So, comparatively its much cheaper.
- Voice mail is free with Skype-In. Its a very basic voicemail service. But it works. Well, most of the time.
- You can forward your calls to any other number
- You can make and receive calls from anywhere as long as you have Internet access.
- Skype worked pretty well from my office network too which is behind a firewall. Skype is pretty popular for this reason too. So, I can make long distance calls or even receive calls at office
- In its current version, Skype allows upto 4 parties in a conference. Works well while making international calls.
- International calls rates are pretty cheap and are comparable to other VOIP players. Its a bit expensive when compared to Reliance India call - when making calls to India, But again, Skype - to - Skype calls are free.
- Has got excellent SDK/API support - so, there are lot of third party tools/software which interact with Skype.
- I have bought a skype-to-usb-to-Phoneline adaptor. So, I use a regular cordless phone to make and answer calls. So, I am not tied to the computer.
- Video conference works great - Quality of video is much better than other applications.
Cons:
- Well, Skype is not a true telephone company. Its a Internet company based out of Europe. So, there is absolutely no customer service. There is an helpdesk and a ticket system on the Skype website, but it sucks big time.
- Even though you buy stuff from Skype, you don’t get a proper invoice (phone bill), which shows your name/address and phone number (Skype-in number) on it. Now, you might be wondering why the hell that would be required?.. .. Its required when you are new in US, and you want open and bank account or something similar, and they ask you address proof etc. I had a very difficult time trying to open a citibank account, which they refused to open without a phone bill.
- Couple of months back, Skype had some technical problems, and I think i missed some incoming calls.
- Same with the case with voice mails.
- No caller id for your outgoing call. So, the receiver receives your calls as a call from 012345.
- You get caller Id for your incoming calls, but only the number. It does not display the name. (the local phone lines, and some other VOIP players show caller ID with the name of the caller).
- If you don’t have a the adapter that I have mentioned about, then you must be close to the computer (with a mic) to make/receive calls.
- The Processor utilization is relatively high when call is in progress.
- Video chat take lots of bandwidth - It does not matter here in US, but if you are in India, and have a Usage Limit on your Internet access, then you need to be very careful while using video chat.
- No 911.
Overcall I would rate my Skype experience around 6 on a scale of 10. But I must say, you can really save a lot of money if you can live up with basic telephone connectivity.
Currently, at Houston, in Chitra’s appartment, we have subscribed to the Sunrocket service which is again a VOIP service, but works much differently from Skype. Its not as cheap has Skype, but has lot less cons then mentioned in the above list. Will post more about Sunrocket in the future after using it for a couple of months.
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July 14th, 2006 at 12:35am
Mumbai serial train blasts. Sick. When will this dirty vote bank politics end?
I feel that democracy is one of the worst things that has happened to India.
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July 11th, 2006 at 11:38pm
Time flies by! And already, the long awaited 4 day weekend is all over, and I have worked for 2 days after the weekend!.
Well, as mentioned in the previous post, here are some snaps of the Natural Tunnel State park. We visited this place on one of the days during the 4 day weekend. This place is actually in the state of Virginia and is around 20 miles from Kingsport.
The main attraction of this place is a 865 feet Natural Tunnel under a huge mountain. There are lot of trails too in the state park.
Here are the snaps:
Natural Tunnel State Park Visitor Center - Click to Zoom
We had to kind of trek to reach the Tunnel site….
On the way to the Tunnel - Click to Zoom
Pathway - Click to Zoom
The train track that goes through the Tunnel…
The rail track - Click to Zoom
A Wooden Bridge - Click to Zoom
The Natural Tunnel - Click to Zoom
Forest! - Click to Zoom
This shot is from one of the Overview points - actually right about the tunnel…
One of the overview points - Click to Zoom
On Monday (July 3rd) we went on a drive to the Smoky Mountains area. The entire area is quite scenic .. very beautiful.!!…… But it was a short trip and we spent quit a lot of time in traffice in the pegion forge area, which is in the foothills of smokies. I would definitely like to go to the smokies in the future .. stay at some cabin, go on treks etc!…
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July 7th, 2006 at 12:22am
Yes.. I am alive :) long time since i posted. Will post some updates soon. Actually kind of busy (and lazy too!). … Weekdays were kind of pretty hectic. And then now we have a long weekend. Thanks to July 4th, US independence day. So 4 day holiday!. … and that’s were I kind of got into the lazy mode. Kind of relaxing after some hectic work days!
We had been to a nearby state park called the Natural Tunnel State park on Saturday, and today (i.e, Monday) we had been to the Smoky Mountains .. So, updates/photos coming soon! Stay tuned………!
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July 4th, 2006 at 01:23am
Here is the most wanted “ChillMaadi” video from the Batch of 2001 Annual CD ROM. This video takes me back down the memory lane! Wish I could be back @ MIT ! :)
If you are an MITian, you can’t afford to miss this video.. Its just simply great..
Hats off to the creative team behind this video..Mighty Mighty MIT !
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June 11th, 2006 at 02:17am
This post was long due. Finally found some time over the weekend to post this. Time flies by and its already a week now since this trip. The trip it self was fun.
Our Group: We were a group of 10. 3 Couples and 4 bachelors.
Travel time: appx 7.5 hrs drive - one way
Distance: appx 440 miles- one way
Vehicles: Chevrolet Uplander & Ford Taurus. The Uplander is sort of a mini van accommodating around 7 people. We couples were on the Uplander and the bachelors were on the other car - Ford Taurus.
We planned to start at around 2 PM on Friday, but somehow as usual we started at around 4 PM. :) The drive was pretty cool. Took some breaks on the way and we reached our destination at around 11.30 PM at night. Since it was a long weekend, we could not get any hotel rooms in Virginia Beach itself at a reasonable price. So, we had booked our rooms in hotels at Norfolk which is around 15 miles from Virginia beach. We stayed at the Hilton Norfolk Airport hotel.
Since we were all hungry, we decided to go out to some place to eat. IHOP was the restaurant of choice, but it was crowded. Finally we had to be happy with Wendy’s drive-in since most of the other restaurants had closed by then.
Day 1 - Saturday. Beach day. We were at the beach by around 11 AM I guess, and the beach was pretty crowded. Here are some snaps of the beach:
VA Beach - Click to Zoom
All along the shoreline there are hotels. Unfortunately we could not get accommodation in one of these hotels. But the rooms have a fantastic view of the sea!
VA Beach - Hotels on the Beach - Click to Zoom
VA Beach - Shoreline -Click to Zoom
Now this is what is called “Sun bath”…
VA Beach - Sun Bath - Click to Zoom
Hmmm…. Nice shot… What say ?
VA Beach - Hmm… Shhhhh!- Click to Zoom
There are lot of amusement rides on the beach - Jet skiing, Para-sailing and the boat ride shown below :
VA Beach - Pirates Boat Ride - Click to Zoom
At around 3 PM in the afternoon, we decided to go for Para-sailing. I was kind of determined to parasail when we first thought about this trip :)… …….. Para-sailing was fun. You must try it at least once in your life time. Here our snap - Me & Chitra
VA Beach - Para-sailing - That’s Me & Chitra - Click to Zoom
Towards the end of the ride, if you request, the operators will give you a dip in ocean. We had a nice dip. :) the water was ice cold, and we got half wet. But we got dried pretty soon since it was sunny. For me, Parasailing was the best part of the entire trip!
After Para-sailing, we spent some more time on the beach, and all of were pretty tired.
We then started back to our hotel & freshened up. We had decided to have food at an near by Indian restaurant called Dawat (also known as Nawab). The Non Veg food was kind of OK, but the Veg food sucked big time. Definitely not a place to go again :)…
Day 2: Sunday. Busch Gardens Amusement Park.
We started at around 10 AM to Busch Gardens Amusement Park. Its located at Williams burg, which is around 1 hr drive from Norfolk.
We had to drive via the Hampton Roads. Its land, then bridge over the ocean followed by a Tunnel under the ocean, bridge again, and then Land. Very beautiful.
Here is a Bridge over the ocean…
Bridge over the ocean - Click to Zoom
And then the Tunnel…
Tunnel under the ocean - Click to Zoom
This is how it looks on Google Earth - Satellite Image….
Google Earth View of bridge and the tunnel - Click to Zoom
As soon as we approached the exit to the Busch Gardens, we were kind of stuck in the traffic. There was a Major crowd…Looked like all roads led to the Busch Gardens….
Traffic to Busch Gardens - Click to Zoom
Finally reached…
Busch Gardens Entrance - Click to Zoom
Even though there was major crowd, the Amusement park was well planned to manage such crowds. There was ample parking space, and we did not have major problem parking our vehicles. There were trams to ferry people from the parking lots to the Amusement Park.
The Busch Garden Amusement park at Williams burg is based on “European” theme. The park is divided into different areas named after different European countries. And each of the country has its own set of Rides, Games and Shows.
Here is one of the theatres where shows are held….
One of the theatres in Busch Gardens - Click to Zoom
Busch Garden - Click to Zoom
Since it was very crowded, there was a wait time of around 20 mins to 45 mins on many of the popular rides. We did manage to sit on some of the rides. Here is one of the rides that we enjoyed… called the Dark Kastle. Its a 3D ride. Thrilling…
Dark Kastle - 3D Ride - Click to Zoom
Then we saw one of the shows called Oktoberfest … A dance performance…
OktoberFest Show - Click to Zoom
This was one of the rides.. where the water splashes…
One of the rides - Click to Zoom
The Amusement park is very big, and one would need at least two days to see the entire park and sit on all the rides. Unfortunately we did not have so much of time with us :(. But we did have fun all the time we spent there.
We started back to Norfolk at around 10 PM and reached Norfolk at around 11 PM. Finally found IHOP not so crowded. Had a heavy dinner at IHOP and crashed to bed.
Day 3: Return. Back to Kingsport. Started our journey back home at around 10 AM after having our breakfast at a local fast food joint. We reached Kingsport at around 6 PM in the evening.
All in all, a great memorable trip!
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June 5th, 2006 at 01:37am
Picture Perfect Couple - Shot at Virginia Beach (Click to Zoom)
Back from Virginia beach!. The trip was fun and we had a great time. Will write about the trip soon, and post some pics too. Currently too busy catching up with work at office and home. :)
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May 30th, 2006 at 11:36pm
Its Memorial day on Monday and a long weekend….. and we are going on a mini vacation :).
Chitra is coming down to Kingsport from Houston for the weekend, and we have planned a trip to the city of Virginia Beach (Google maps link). We would also be visiting the Busch Gardens (theme park) at Williams Burg, VA.
We plan to start today (i.e., Friday) at around 3.30 PM and reach the city of Virginia Beach by night. Its a 7 hrs drive from Kingpsort. Spend Saturday on the beach. On Sunday, we plan to visit the Busch gardens. Monday morning, start back! So, we should be back in Kingsport by Monday evening.
We are a group of 10. So, it should be fun! Will post photographs once I am back!
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May 26th, 2006 at 10:18am
Well, I am a religious follower of Dilbert and Garfield!. Never miss it, thanks to bloglines. Have been following both these series for over two years now.
Why Dilbert ?
Short Answer : I work in IT industry :).
Its just true to life. You can relate almost everything that’s going around you at your work to Dilbert :). The pointy haired boss character is soo real. The catbert….. I remember HR folks of my company whenever i see catbert :))
Why Garfield ?
Well, somehow I can relate myself to the Garfield character pretty well…:)… (ya.. more than half the men out there think so … .. hehehe)Never heard of Dilbert and Garfield ?… Check these article on wikipedia on
Dilbert and
Garfield. They are very informative.
So, which cartoon series do you follow and like the most ?…. Do leave a comment.
Oh yes, in the animated world, I love Tom and Jerry :) Cute. :)
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May 18th, 2006 at 10:54pm
After months of car search, finally found the right car to buy!!
Its a Tan colored 1998 Toyota Camry LE. Came to know about this car from the tpost.com last Friday. Called up the seller and got the details. Ran a carfax check on the car. It came out clean. We then went to Johnson City to see the car on Friday, did a test ride, and found it pretty neat. Then on Saturday, we took the car to a Auto shop to do a 30 point checkup and found that the Car was in pretty good shape. Closed the deal on Saturday itself.
However, the car needed some attention to its breaks. So, fixed it, and took the delivery today.
Some Specs :
- 1998 Toyota Camry LE
- Automatic
- 4D Sedan
- Tan Colored
- Power Windows
- Power Locks
- Cruise Control
Here are some snaps :
Looking forward for a safe and fun filled driving experience in United States!
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May 8th, 2006 at 11:50pm
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