I am only leaving the four posts that get hammered daily, but I will not be updating any further here.

Catch ya’ on the flip.

A strangely compelling electronica song (and video) composed of sounds from the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. Made by a 19-year-old in Australia, “Alice” kind of lulls you into a state of semi-consciousness filled with Cheshire cats and flowers wielding batons.

I finally got down to 141 and 44 and took some pretty good pictures until it started to snow. You can view the Flickr set. Normally, this intersection is jam packed and it’s quite strange to stand in the middle of a 6 lane highway and take pictures leisurely. Little Mary couldn’t grasp the concept of all the water being over the road. It bothered her so much that she’s still asking about it an hour after we’ve been there. A lot of people were popping in and out taking pictures of the intersection, but only a few of us were down on the median and road. A news crew was there shooting, but was on the SE side of 141. We were on the SW side. Out of nowhere snow started falling pretty quickly. 141 and 44 is quite eery. It was dark, cold, and very quiet.

After setting up the account and activating the features (Skype Pro and SkypeIn at $60/year), I wanted to make calls and test it out.

On my 15″ PowerBook, I have an internal microphone that is located very near the speakers. Everyone I called said there was an echo, similar to a tunnel.

I though about going out and grabbing a WiFi phone, but then remembered that I had a Jawbone headset sitting around. I figured I could get it to sync over Bluetooth and use it as a headset with my Mac.

My setup: PowerBook G4 OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Skype 2.6.0.184, Jawbone
The process:

First, we have to pair the Jawbone with the Mac.

Ensure the Jawbone is OFF.
On the Mac, through the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, select to add a new Headset, but DON’T press “Continue” yet.
On the Jawbone, press and hold the ‘NOISE SHIELD BUTTON’ for 3 seconds until the LED status indicator alternately flashes white and red. This means Jawbone is now in pairing mode. This mode will last for 2 minutes or until pairing is complete.
On the Mac, press “Continue.” (The two should pair. If they do not, try the above again.)

The Setup Assistant will display ‘Jawbone’, once it finds it.
Select it and “Continue.”
Th Mac will prompt for a passkey. The paskey is four zeros, 0000.
After the pairing is successful, under the Bluetooth icon in your toolbar, “Jawbone” will be an option to use as a headset. Select “Use Headset.”

In Skype, under Preferences, Select Audio and set the Input and Output to ‘Jawbone.’ I selected to still have the ringing go through my Logitech speakers.

Once all of that is configured, you can now make Skype calls and have the Military grade clarity of the Jawbone.

Grab it from me (expired)…

Apologize Lyrics:
I’m holding on your rope,
Got me ten feet off the ground
I’m hearin what you say but I just can’t make a sound
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you’re sorry
Didn’t think I’d turn around, and say…

It’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
It’s too late to apologize, yeah
I said it’s too late to apologize, yeah-
I’m holdin on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground…