I LOVE Google Voice.  Everyone should love Google Voice.  It’s a pretty nifty tool.I think we’ve discussed this before in a past blog – and look!  Here we are discussing it again.  THAT’S how nifty it is!!

I got to pick my own phone number – the last 4 digits of mine are 4Dot-how perfect is THAT !?- and now I have a phone number I can filter not my people through.  It keeps us from needing a land line simply for those who don’t rate well enough to get our cell phones.  If I don’t know you on a personal level, there’s no way you’re getting my real number.  Now, once you have your GV number picked you can setup voice mail for it like you would any other number, and you can choose to have those who call your GV number reroute to your cell (or not).  What’s nice about routing these calls to your cell phone is you can send them to voice mail and then listen to the message being left in real time and decide if you want to answer it.  Should you decide you want to talk with whomever it is, simply connect to the call while they’re leaving the voice mail and it’s a live conversation…like screening calls with an answering machine.  Remember answering machines?  When was the last time you saw one of  THOSE???  Ahhhhh the birth of screening calls.  Before then you had to take a chance and talk to people to find out who they were.  And sometimes you were stuck talking to them even if you wouldn’t have answered if you’d known.  Kids these days don’t understand how rough it was back in the days of up-hill-both-ways-in-the-snow-with-no-shoes.

GV has lots of other cool features as well – for instance, if you keep getting unwanted sales calls…from say a carpet cleaner you used once – 4 YEARS ago…you can set GV to play the always loved “You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.  If you feel you have reached this message in error…” message.  YAY for that message!

I also use it as a texting engine for certain individuals.  They can text my GV number just like any other cell phone, I have it route to my REAL cell phone, and I can text back to their cell OR their own GV number.  SUUUUUPER handy for communicating with those who live in an overly controlled cloud of armor in order to keep peace in their lives – like the people of North Korea.  What’s the deal with those guys?!?!  Nuts much Jong-Il?

It also has a simple web page for managing everything as well.  More win.  My techie toys make me happy.

Moving right along toward the ever fun game in any Dottie-blog of  finding the point…

SO – another cool feature which is nice for those of us who haaaaaaate anything about the talkie part of the phone – including voice mail (where you have to actually listen to the talking) – is that it will translate any messages you receive into text so you can simply read them as a normal text message.

This is always interesting, as the feature doesn’t work very well.  GREAT IDEA….less than advanced on the implementation.  But even through it’s flaw, it’s like the broken feature that keeps on giving.  Not only do you receive a message from someone that you don’t have to listen to, but GV turns it into a fun and exciting game that the whole family can enjoy.

Let me show you an example.  Here’s a voice mail that was left for me this week:

Hi Vicki, it’s check it. David’s Bridal. It’s two sides. I’m calling to let you know your top in your Scourge Health Care me and in you’re sure welcome to pick those up and your shoes of be died in ready to pick up on january the 13th, so if you wanna wait til the 13th in pick everything up. That’ll be fine. Alright, if you’re in the area you’re sure welcome to pick your top in your skirt dot. Thank you, Vicki, bye.

Hmmmm…..where to start…..

It kinda begins as a fun little rap – like if Eminem were leaving me a message.  OMG!  Eminem left ME a message!!!  RIGHT ON!  He’s a little scrawny for my taste really.  And he has a certain Gullum-esk look to him.  But I dig his voice-it’s very distinctive, and I can appreciate that he’s worked hard to do something with his life.  So I’ll be happy to get a voice mail from him.  As Callicotte would say, “Coo”.

So check it, right, he’s calling for David’s Bridal.  And it’s two sides.  That’s street talk for he wants to share 2 pieces of information with me…ya know…the 411 wassup wassup.  It’s ok if you didn’t know that – don’t get down on yourselves.  It takes a certain level of cool to understand this type of jargon, and I know not many of my readers have established street cred like I myself have obtained.  So I’ll keep translating for ya’ll.  (See, now that THERE is southern jargon for “you all”.  I’m multi-lingual.  This is why you come to me for these things.)

Now it seems as though I was nominated for something called “Scourge Health Care”.  I deduce this has something to do with all of the new health care legislation that’s been swirling around.  Since I’m currently running several projects dealing with these issues at work, I suspect someone from one of my project teams made the generous nomination.  And according to Eminem I’m “top” in it….so clearly I’ve won (I ROCK!!) and I’m welcome to pick up my prize, which are shoes from someone who died!  I bet it was someone famous.  Probably Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana.  <GASP!!>  I’m getting ROYAL SHOES!  I don’t know who these Scourge people are, but they DEFINITELY know me very well.  This is the best message I’ve had all year!

I’m so excited to pick up my royal shoes on January 13th.  Aaannnnnd he clearly states that if I wear a skirt when I pick them up I’ll get to pick out a nice top to match.  This is good news indeed, because I don’t really know what to wear with royal shoes.  I’m hoping someone from the Scourge Health Care place will be at David’s Bridal to help me accessorize my newly awarded accessories.  And how cool is it that Eminem even did a little research on me to learn that most people call me Dot.  He didn’t have to do that.  He could have just read from the script Scourge gave him.  But Eminem is such a giving person that he took the extra step to make the message personal for me.  WOW!  And then ever a gentleman of respect, he signs off in the traditional norm of my own language.  I’m going out to buy every album and movie he’s ever made right now!

You can see how Google Voice has made my life better, and has even given me a deep and profound respect for Eminem.  You should TOTALLY sign up for your own Google number and see how GV can make your life better too!


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