Get a toll-free number

I thought it might be nice for people to be able to call me.  I surely didn’t want to post my home or mobile phone online, so I searched around for a toll-free number which would just record voice mail or something.  I didn’t really realize the great options there are for this type of product.  You can buy a toll-free number and record your own greeting, let it save voice mail, have it forward to different phones at different times of the day, get multiple mailbox extensions, save faxes, make outgoing calls… There are just a ton of features.

The company I settled on is Ring Central, since they seemed to have a really good web interface for managing all this stuff, and it only cost $10-$15/month for their basic plan which includes about 100 minutes (1 minute charged per 1 minute of talking… I guess that some companies charge 2 minutes for each minute talking since they are really connecting 2 long distance calls to make it all work).  My number is 888-636-2305, in case you want to call.

After 2 weeks of using their service, I can say that I have been very impressed.  Firstly, I am surprised at how many people want to call and talk to me instead of just sending an email.  I personally prefer to send email when contacting someone, but I guess I do feel better when I see a toll-free number listed for somebody.  It does kind of make me want to call them.  But, their service is very nice and fast and seemingly reliable.  I can customize the greetings and call forwarding in almost any imaginable way.

I’m sure the technology itself isn’t too amazing, but I’m glad that they have been able to bring it to the masses for such a reasonable price.

Almost ready for guests!

The duck house is almost ready for guests! We’ve been working hard on furnishing, decorating and finishing up the last of the interior repairs. This past weekend, I installed a handrail to the basement (much safer now), put all the knobs in the upstairs bathroom, fastened the shower curtain rod to the wall so it won’t come down any more, installed a lock on the crawl space so our guests don’t accidentally end up in the not-so-pleasant crawl space, removed the 6 inches of dirt from the steps on the side of the house, and various other improvements.

I also had the pleasure of meeting one of our reserved guests who is in town for a quick visit, but will be coming for about a week in June to watch her daughter graduate from UW. She had many good things to say about the house and I think she’s very much looking forward to her visit. This should be a fun place for her family, since everybody can come and go as they please, and it will feel very comfortable.

Only 3 weeks until our first guests!