September 1st, 2010 by Walt
While this is seemingly a random thought, there is reason to it. Eating lunch today, I looked at a billboard for an insurance agent up the road several counties away (this is an area with thin counties so you can pass through three or four counties in a matter of 30 miles) and noticed that while the number posted would be long distance and no toll-free number was listed. Thinking about this agent four counties over, I started wondering if the lack of a toll-free number would hurt her business any.
I came to the conclusion that for those she is targeting as customers, they would either have cellular phones or home phone accounts that included unlimited long distance.
I haven’t seen any statistics supporting this, but wonder if the day is coming that the uptake of new toll-free numbers is coming to an end… At least in some markets as I am sure not everybody will be able to afford phone accounts that include everything including long distance and the kitchen sink.
Tags: Random thoughts
Posted in Randomness | No Comments »
May 9th, 2010 by Walt
It is not your imagination; the blog does look different! I switched to the Straight Blue theme, and am making modifications to personalize it.
For the next few days, please excuse the picture to the left of the Search area as I will be tweaking it to remove the white borders and jaggies. They show up nice and plain when not against the brighter background I had intended to use with another theme! The entire theme may change a little as I tweak it, too.
I guess it may or may not be easy to see that I love playing with the site as time allows. Hopefully things will settle down enough that I can do a lot more here.
Posted in A-All posts, Hobbies, Randomness | No Comments »
April 18th, 2010 by Walt
Things have been rather hectic since last September, and I haven’t had much to post; at least nothing you would want to read.
We’ve had to downsize things a lot, having lost our house to foreclosure (I don’t feel too alone about it as several friends in the tech related industries have lost theirs, but I do not feel joy being in “good company” either as it has affected their families as well). Getting things back in line is taking a lot of time, and we are far from feeling like things are stabilizing – if that makes sense. I am thankful to have a job, and a hands-on tech related one at that!
I should say that I was laid off my previous job, and nobody in that industry was hiring due to the financial meltdown. I feel lucky to have fallen into the one I currently have, so I certainly am not complaining a bit. It is something I used to do about 18 years ago before changing career fields for a while, so I felt at home right away.
On a better note, it is sure nice watching Spring arrive with bursts of late summer thrown in. Surprisingly enough, even after the Winter we just had, bugs are out in force just like past years with warm Winters.
I must whine and say I miss having cable broadband for Internet access. Cellular broadband is nothing like cable! It seems only a bit faster than dialup at times. Also, the software to get online with the cellphone is not Linux friendly, so running Linux online is out of the question. Internet Connection Sharing is disabled by the software to use the phone as a modem. 
I still need to get some antennas up for my ham radio hobby, but things like that will have to wait for finances to settle down.
I hope to have more interesting posts later.
Posted in A-All posts, General whining, Randomness | No Comments »
September 13th, 2009 by Walt
Here we are getting into Fall in a couple weeks, and I am still getting into “summer mode”! Time sure does fly when fun is having you (that truly is how summer went for me). I know my “friends” will tell me it is a sign of getting old as time flies.
I’m looking forward to fall as the air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard, but then, later on it will be providing heat.
This may be in the running as the shortest post as I have writer’s block at the moment!
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January 21st, 2009 by Walt
I guess a milestone of sorts has been reached with Barack Obama becoming president…. I find myself older than the President of the United States!!!! Up until now I have thought of them as older men, now, guess what? I’m the old man!!!!! Not by too much, but still it is different thinking that I am senior in age to the President.
Oh, in case anybody wonders, I am over it!
Tags: Politics, random rants
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events, Poly-Ticks, Randomness | No Comments »
