GOOGLE VOICE IS HERE

Revolutionary. This is big.
Google Voice is here.

Google Voice will COMPLETELY change the way we use phones. Go to the link mixed in this rambling to see why it's the coolest thing. Ever. With cherries on top. Cool cherries. And whipped cream. Cool whipped cream. Dripping with coolness. And extra coolness for dessert. Followed by more rounds. Of coolness. Served by dancing coolnesses. Wearing skimpy coolnesses.

Wanna just try it? On the upper-right of http://jrox.blogspot.com/ there is now a Google Voice button. Click that and enter your phone number. Google will call you, then call me. It DOESN'T MATTER where in the U.S. you are. (I may get flooded with all y'all trying to call me at once, so in your voicemail, leave your callback number (be clear) and a good time of the week to call... I'll eventually get there) (or it may be none of you, either way)

This should be the only phone number I'll ever have for the rest of my life (or until I move to a new area code, whichever comes first (probbly moving)).
-=This is my (our) home phone number=-
-=This is my cell phone number=-
-=This is my work phone number-- well, will be=-
(EIGHT-SIX-FOUR) SEVEN-THREE-FIVE-S-A-I-L (7245)
(es más, 7-EL-SAIL, amigos; entendido? Non?)

Why is this revolutionary? Read as much of THIS as you can. (And after you've gorged on that smorgasbord, be sure to click on Get an invite) You should find in there (at least):
- FREE U.S. long distance calls from ANY of your phones
- YOU decide which of your phones ring by time of day and/or who's calling
- free conference calling; now we can all be confused AT THE SAME TIME
- switch from one phone type to another DURING A CALL (house phone to cell or vice versa, say)
- RECORD snippets of calls easily (no scrambling for paper) (use cautiously, they'll know you're recording)

Calling my G.V. number will ring my home phone-- since that's currently shared, no calls after 22:00(EST) please. Or just send me an email & I'll get that on my cell phone and call ya when I'm free... no matter where ya are, FOR FREE. (And yeah, I do realize in this cell-phone era, free long-distance is no biggie, but it's free long-distance from ANY of your phones)

LLSC!

So it only took 29.5 years, but I found my way back to the waters of Lake Lanier, near Hotlanta. (if you're doing the math, yes, I did sail there when I was 6 months old) The weekend of the 13th/14th I got invited to be crew in the Reggae Regatta on someone else's boat, mon. That was BY FAR the most sailboats I've seen in one place, irie? It was nifty to see guys I knew from my last sail club as well. And the skipper and I have never sailed together before and we got along fine-- he's got a great sense of humor ("The beatings will continue until the morale on this boat improves") and is appropriately sympathetic to the things I just don't do well (yet). AND WE DID VERY WELL! Out of a fleet of 9 boats, our best finish was fifth! I haven't done THAT before (or even close)! We jammin'!

I'm calm, sad, angry, dejected, hot, cold, calm

Hurts to admit, but often now, Jeff 2.0 changes emotional states like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMT1FLzEn9I Getting better, though... at the least, I've stopped carrying a pouch with different color sunglasses with me all the time...

JUST took a quiz... look @ this curve!

Ch.1: 72.00 (out of 100.00) Ch.2: 80.00 (out of 100.00) Ch.3: 88.00 (out of 100.00) Ch.4: 92.00 (out of 100.00) Ch.5: 100.00 (out of 100.00)

there's depression... and then there's Albannach

Woah. So I *was* feeling pretty low. (No worries, suicidal cries for help have been gone for over a year, shall NEVER return; it just comes as depression now) My thoughts the last few days couldn't get off "No job... no friends." I keep getting ticked off at my folks for mundane stuff that's not worth getting mad about. Well what do you expect when they're pretty much who I've spent 24/7 with for TWO years... as good folks as they are (the best), that's trying on anyone.

So yesterday I went down to the Tiki Hut, one of my favorite spots, for some alone time. They know me *well* there. I was sitting there in an absolute funk and the general manager came over and actually spent time talking me out of my mood. I realized then that I may think I don't have friends, but I actually have made a whole new set, and sometimes I just don't recognize them AS friends.

So the good feeling that realization brought lasted all of 12 hours and I woke up in a funk again. This whole "no job, no one to hang out with" thing is TRYING. So we did something. We went to the Scottish festival in Greenville. Parade, bands, banners, kilts, tartans, rah rah rah. "We're Scottish-- we drink and we fight." Rah.

THEN we went to the ampitheatre by the river off Main Street for a concert. So we sat through the first two bands (several hours, yawn), and then Albannach came on. WOAH. (one video, more videos) I've seen these guys once before, about a year ago, and they are still amazing. It's... ... get ready for this... ... BAGPIPE ROCK. Take one great bagpiper and add around a half dozen drummers who have LARGE drums.

Having seen them once before and knowing the kind of energy they bring with them, I thought I might move from our spot at the back of the crowd on the last row, up to sit on the grass in front of the 1st row. Wasn't sitting on the grass for long-- pretty soon, before they even started playing, I was standing among a throng of folks.

And then they played. And I danced my heart out. There went cares, there went worries, there went frustrations. That spoke to my Celtic soul.

Looking at their tour schedule, they spend half the year in Scotland and half the year in the US, mostly the south. Mostly. June 27th-28th in Manheim, PA @ the Celtic Fling @ the PA Renaissance Faire. And given that they spend half their year in Scotland, if you live within an hour 34 min of Manheim, GO, seabhóideach, GO. Worth it.