Hello? Are You There? (Playing with the Christmas Toys)

I got up late this Saturday morning and checked my email. There was a gmail message (gmail is a type of email) from Gary, written from Germany two hours prior, saying he had gotten to the hotel in Frankfurt that had free internet. So I got on my gmail account and sent Gary a chat message. (A chat is an instant message, where a little box opens up on your computer and you can instantly type messages back and forth.)

We chatted this way for a while, but due to Gary's eye problems, it is a slow way to communicate. So I asked him if he had taken his brand new fancy headset/microphone with him on his trip so we could switch to Skype, free internet telephone. Sadly, he had not. So I said that we should test and see if his computer had a built-in microphone. So he started up the Skype program, and a minute later we were verbally talking to each other--clear connection, too.

Then he exclaimed, "Wait, I can see you!" I had turned on the new little video web camera that I had gotten for Christmas.

We talked for a while, then I decided to go a step further. I added Andrew to the conversation via a conference call. It took him a minute to set up Laura's computer so he could join us--his computer doesn't have a built-in mic and he had left his headset at the office. But before long we heard, "Hello, mom? Hello, dad?" We were talking between US, Germany and Honduras, all for free. Cool. And since Gary had left his fancy new headset here, I decided to use it--much more comfortable than the one I had mashed into my ear. Very cool.

Andrew had to tell us all about their trip to the baby doctor yesterday and the latest sonogram. "That kid is in there running laps," he proudly said. But it is still too early to tell if it is a boy or girl, and it is still too early for Laura to feel the movement.

Then Gary had to tell Andrew that he had just walked over the bridge where he and Laura's engagement photo had been taken. (Whether or not they actually got engaged there remains a mystery, but that is not for me to speculate :-) )

In other news, Rachel decided to go to the ladies' retreat from our church last night. It was a sleepover, and I expect her back some time after three. Yesterday she had the day off (as she also has Monday off) so we went to David's Bridal and she tried on bridesmaids dresses and shoes. She has lost so much weight that she fits perfectly into a size 4--except the dresses are too long, of course.

OK, enough of me making fancy blogs. I need to go get dressed and clean the kitchen.