edward fox's reality

I left voice mails for two different people yesterday. I’m 100% sure they’ll (a) never read this blog entry and (b) never know I was talking about them. I left brief messages, because we all know that most of the time, voice mails are ignored– they’re now treated like a missed call from an unknown number. Who cares? It’s just a voice mail, most of us say.

I’m one of the few that actually will check their voice mail as soon as possible. I can usually answer my phone anywhere, whether at work, home, or school, depending on how important the lecture is… but sometimes, I just can’t answer fast enough. Thankfully, there’s such an invention as a voice mail, but most people don’t even bother to leave me voice mails. I guess they assume that I received their missed call notification, even though I may not have had service at that time, which may have explained why I didn’t answer the call…

…but perhaps we didn’t think about that.

On top of that, I love people’s surprised reactions when they don’t even realize that they have a voice mail, while others blatantly will tell you, “Oh, I never check my voice mail.” OK, so disable it. You can do that? Seriously? Why yes, you can! It’s pretty easy. Dial “611″ from your phone (without the quotes, heh) and ask for it to be removed. Simple as pie!

But why would anyone want to do that? Perhaps that message was important, or maybe it could be saved to blackmail one of your exes! Who knows? The possibilities are genuinely endless, but without a truly plausible scenario for a voice mail (or so it seems), the reason for voice mails on cell phones is depleting. Now, it seems, text messages are taking extreme precedence over the need for voice mail. With text messages, they usually will receive it within a few seconds (unless they are in a poor coverage area). I know with Sprint, sometimes it would take up to an hour to receive a text. GSM networks (T-Mo, Cingular, etc.) are just better with this kind of thing.

But I don’t think that text messages should replace voice mails completely as far as importance. I think you should check your voice mail… it’s just a respect thing. Wouldn’t you want someone to do that for you?

It seems like we’re all losing respect…

…but that’s for another blog.

CHECK Yo’ MESSAGES.

There had been hacks before so that people could download artist’s tracks from MySpace even though the ubiquitous “Download” link was nowhere to be found. Now, MySpaceValley.com offers a solution for those of us who wish to violate copyright laws in the United States and other countries. Without further ado, here’s the link:

http://myspacevalley.com/mp3dl.php

It’s really simple. All you need is the URL of the artist’s page, and then you will be able to select the MP3′s that artist has available for download. I have heard this site’s script works with Windows computers running Internet Explorer and Mozilla, but failed on Mac OS X systems running Safari. Hopefully it works for you!

Happy pirating. Kidding!

Note: I do not condone the illegal transmission of copyrighted material. Provided for educational purposes only and should only be used on files that you are able to download through the regular “Download” link method.

I was trying to link my online Time-Warner (Cable) account to LowerMyBills, the portion of the site that offers free notification when you receive your bill and a reminder to pay before it’s due. Sounds convenient and all, except they haven’t listed Dallas, or anywhere in North Texas for that matter, on their own site. We’re still dead to them, it seems. What’s even more disturbing is there’s this “unavoidable” object called the sun, and it’s going to bother us for the rest of the week. I saw this on TWC-NT’s homepage:

“Please be advised that due to the position of the sun on October 5th, 6th and 7th, there may be a brief interference in your cable service. This interruption is a natural phenomenon and is unavoidable. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The interruption is a natural phenomenon? How often are you going to use this one on me, guys? All right, I kid.

I decided to see this natural phenomenon and how widespread it is. Apparently, the sun is highly biased. I visited pages from other parts of Texas, including San Antonio, as well as cities in Oklahoma (they only serve two). None of these locations are going to be receiving a natural phenomenon. Maybe a higher power just doesn’t like our cities and it’s a sign. A sign to stop giving our money to TWC! Let’s all get FIOS! =)

If you don’t qualify for Verizon’s cream-of-the-crop high-speed data and TV service yet, you won’t have to wait too long. The entire Dallas area should be covered by the end of February, if not sooner.