Queue the Toto
Well, clearly it’s been crazy when I have three different Picasa albums below this post and haven’t written in a month or so.
When we got back from Prague my internal clock was totally screwed, and sleep debt was definitely working against me. Today finally feels like I have my stuff together and can resume life as normal, until Thursday at least. Thursday morning sees us flying out to Tunis, Tunisia, which is Carthage of old. It’s a pretty exciting trip, partly because it’s Kristin’s and my first time in Africa (hopefully at least two more to go after this, though), but mainly because it really seems like a quirky, interesting place to go.
No visa woes or anything, but visiting there is a different experience. It’s illegal to import or export their currency, so you have to keep your receipts from currency exchanges to document what went in and out. Definitely seems like it’s the nicest place to go as an American in all of North Africa.
It’s kind of weird feeling like we’ve already passed Christmas and festivities are basically absent. That’s a lot of the reason to go to North Africa (despite being way out of season). Better than sitting at home (or even worse, working) while the day passes by.
In hobby news, I have devised a way to provide a local call-in bridge to Skype using only a dedicated cell phone and a computer with a decent Bluetooth stack. The concept has been proven (actually made a call with some manual setup required), but now I can’t remember exactly how I pulled it off and am working tirelessly to recreate it.
The automatic solution involves sending an SMS to the dedicated phone, which indicates who you want to call. The Bluetooth-linked computer then initiates a Skype call and dials your remote phone back. Therefore, Skype and your cell are ringing concurrently. When you both pick up there is an actual end-to-end link between Skype and your cell. I’ll do a detailed writeup when it’s complete.
Important to note that this is just academic in America, as Skype offers this service via a 1-800 number either free or cheap. But, in more exotic locations your best bet is to dial internationally or pay Skype big rates to route to your cell phone. This system is just a local call between two phones.