Carl Hutzler's Blog

We did Epcot center today. The test track was so much fun that the kids wanted to do it twice! And the “flight ride” was very well done too. Below is a video from the test track and a quick pic of Anna and Mom with Sleeping Beauty.

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…one night’s stay at the Nick Hotel, $160. Winning the Nick Talent Show and seeing your kid get slimed on stage in front of 100 people…. Read more

My buddy Phil just sent me this video…don’t know why he sent it today….maybe he found it on a long lost memory card? Fun.

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I started using Skype last year because I found it very convenient for technical support and other 1-800 type calls where you might be on hold for a long time. Skype also was nice as on a Mac Laptop it performs VERY well as a full duplex speakerphone without any additional things to buy/plugin. This allows me to do stuff while I talk to a tech support person.

Anyway, I quickly realized that it would be great to be able to call any number. So I subscribed to SKYPE OUT and found it was great and I used it more and more.

But the only issue I found was that sometimes when I called someone using SKYPE they would not answer. Why? Because the called id would come across as “not available” or some weird number like (123) 456-7890.

Today I had a similar experience and decided to look into it. I found that you can assign a caller ID to your SKYPE out calls by typing in the number you would like to use (like your cell phone #) and then confirming you own that number via an SMS confirmation code process.

I just did it and the process worked perfectly. They said my caller id would be activated within 24 hours and they would send me a confirmation when it was complete. Nice!

The family went downtown today for a little walking around. We went to the US Botanical Gardens and saw the amazing model train exhibit. We have gone pretty much every year, but this year they really expanded it a lot. Something to see if you are in DC for the holidays next year…or maybe catch it before it closes for this year on Sunday the 4th.

Then we walked up to the Whitehouse to see the national christmas tree. But just as we got there, we noticed the police were moving everyone off the elipse and not letting anyone walk around near the Whitehouse’s south lawn. We asked a guard what was going on and they would only say it would be closed for a short time.

So we walked to the north side of the Whitehouse and saw the viewing stand for Obama’s innauguration that was mostly complete. As we walked back towards Constitution we saw the helicopters (three of them) coming in and two of them leaving (one landed on the whitehouse lawn). One of George’s last flights in Marine One :-)

On to the mall again for one last look at the US Capitol where the stands are well underway for the big event on January 20th. Very exciting.