Posing as a Rebel

Sometimes I think of the extra curricular activities I participate in and wonder if I am trying to be something I am not.

Here's one way people may look at me: The Conservative Nice Guy

• a middle-class white american male
  
• an every sunday church goer
• son of parents who are still married and both college graduates
• a conservative when it comes to most political opinions
• senior class president of my high school class
• president of the largest religious organization on my college campus
• college graduate
• gainfully employed
  
• took out some additional life insurance on my wife and myself last month
  
• wear a suit and tie frequently
  
• most people who know me would describe me as a nice guy (I think)

Here is how other's may see me as: The Liberal and kind of a Rebel

• married to a liberal social worker (who I love not despite, but because of her opinions)
• I rode a skateboard to class most of college
  
• snowboard, not skis
  
• listen to punk music
• own and ride a motorcycle
• rarely tuck my shirt in (kills my dad)
• play frisbee golf (hippie game)
• rock climber
• work for an open source software company
  
• have a hard time shaving frequently
• I sold pest control as a door-to-door salesman for 3 years

At times I think there are some conflicting sides to the person that I am. I have thought about all the labels that are running around out there and wonder if they are good or bad for society. In some ways it helps people gain a sense of belonging. In the words of Reel Big Fish, "everyone who looks like me is my friend."

But it can also cause segregation and classes. We have all seen a teen movie and can pick out the jocks, nerds and popular kids from one another. This happened in my High School in a not so obvious way. A younger brother of mine was recently labeled as a Cerd = Cool + Nerd, by some girls who couldn't figure out what kind of kid he is. Another brother was called a hippie by a teacher because he rock climbs and has longer hair (this brother reads Micheal Savage books for fun).

I guess the point of my ranting today is that we should be slow to judge who people are, or just try to leave labels out of it. I just went to Christmas Party at a friends house where my friends were trading Magic the Gathering cards, talking about WOW (World of Warcraft for the non-geeks out there) and the girls were discussing their latest photo album of pictures of themselves as fairies, called 'fairy books' (not that there is anything wrong with those activities. These are some of my A level friends.

Just my quick take on labels.

Skype and other great Voip services

Many of you have probably heard of Skype. It is a service that allows you to make phone calls over the internet to landlines and other skype users, either for free or for a very affordable fee ($14.95 for a year). I also use it for IM and sending files. I have been using Skype for over a year and can't express how valuable it has been. I have a fairly open crush on Skype.

But there are some other services out there that allow consumers to make phone calls over the internet either for free or for a great price. I thought I would list a few just to get the word out.

*Before you go trying these, make sure you are not using dial-up, it just isn't worth it.

Just another great product from Google. They have about anything you want and give it to you normally for no cost. This is an IM service, Call service and allows you to send files easily. I don't think it allows you to call to landlines yet, but it is a great service.

Palore takes a different approach. It is a browser plug-in that works with IE or FireFox. It searches company phone numbers and gives you a review of that company/restaurant in a pop-up window. Then it lets you call the number from the pop-up window. A great product if you are looking for a restaurant on a business trip in a city you are unfamiliar with. I am excited about this one.

With some clever marketing Vonage has become the leader in taking Voip into people's home. Plans start at $14.99 and they are trying to replace the traditional home phone line. I am not a big fan, but it is a simple option to get off whoever is charging your $30 a month to have a home phone #.


This looks to be one of the more promising communications programs. It allows you to talk, conference, text message, IM (Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Google, Skype, ICQ), file transfer, email support, offline messaging, and dial-out services to landlines for a small fee. That is a pretty promising list.

I am really excited about where the industry is going. I think there will be more and more impressive changes in how we communicate in the near future.