3653 Days

Wow, 3,653 days ago I wed my beautiful wife. It seems like yesterday. I’m a very lucky guy. I love you Laura! I’m looking forward to our next 3,652 days together.

The Lion King

To summarize: Best. Show. Ever.

There were people flying, elephants and rhinos, just incredible. It was too much to look at, you simply couldn’t see everything.

If you’ve seen the animated movie, you know the story, but the live performance simply blew the movie away. There were a few new scenes, and Mufasa’s death caused a few kids to cry. I’d say kids need to be at least 8 years old or so. I don’t think younger than that they’ll be able to really follow what’s going on in a live performance.

This was the first live show I’ve seen that I want to see again.

Washington Nationals

I went to see the Washington Nationals play the Milwaukee Brewers at RFK. (Big thanks to my boss for letting me take the afternoon off to use his season tickets.) My friend Josh and I had a good time. It was a pretty close game, final score was 3-2 Nationals. I got a few good photographs.

Telephone Privacy: the Right to be Left Alone

When I am at my home, I don’t want to be disturbed with phone calls from people I don’t know. Some companies get the phone numbers to call from phone books, others use a computer to randomly generate phone numbers, and others buy customer lists from otehr companies. I have started to track down companies with my information. I’m asking them to not release any information about me to other companies.

I have an unlisted phone number on my home phone. I pay $1.71 (plus tax) per month for this privilege. That’s over $20 a year to prevent the phone company (Bell Atlantic) from selling my name to other companies. Having a nonpublished, unlisted number definitely keeps your privacy intact. The only invasive calls I get are either for the person who had my number before me; or are randomly dialed.

Know your rights about telephone solicitation. Businesses can only call you between 8am and 9pm in your time zone. They must send you a copy of their solicitation policy if you ask for a copy. They also must stop calling you if you ask to be placed on their “Do-Not-Call” list. If they call you again later, you can sue them in small claims court for $500. And you wil generally win if you can show who talked with on what date.

What I’m thinking about doing if things get out of hand is to get “Ident-a-ring” on my phone line. This service (how can it be a service if I have to pay for it?) fromBell Atlantic gives you a second phone number on your regular phone line. Whenever someone calls that number, your phone will ring differently from a regular phone call. Give the second number out to family and friends. Only answer the phone if that is the ring that occurs. If the “normal” phone rings, let thte answering machine get it. Keep the second number unlisted and unpublished. Keep the primary number listed. Then in case of an emergency, directory assistance will still be able to give out your number.

A company down in Alabama has created a database of phone numbers that match up to names and addresses. They sell this database to businesses so that as soon as you call a company, they can figure out how to handle your call. But the only number that will show up on their computer screen will be the public number. Later when they try to sell to that number, your answer machine will pick it up.