Adding to the talking on the net
Some things take longer than they should. No reason. You begin a task, confident that this will be as easy as buttering a slice of bread, and you discover that either the butter is frozen into something resembling a yellow rock, or your knife mysteriously has disappeared leaving only an eggbeater as the closest alternative. Think of it as the slippery sidewalk in your life.
This evening, my spouse arrived home with an enthusiastic tone; the new PDA was Skype compliant, and as soon as the associated account received an injection of funds, life would be wonderful. First stumbling block – what password is twinned with the account? Not to worry about forgetful moments because Firefox has a record of the trivial pursuit we call online identity.
Once into the area that Skype refers to as account management, we learn that payments cannot be made unless you a) have one of a limited subset of major credit cards, or b) have a virgin Paypal account that has never been on intimate terms with the Skype identity (new couples are so cute, aren’t they?). Any other variation will be refused, and you then have the offer of sending someone a Skype gift certificate.
Except, that little business feature has been “broken” for almost a year, and the good people over in Luxembourg haven’t figured out where the scripting needs to be tweaked. After twenty minutes of humming “All Around My Hat” (Steeleye Span fan alert), the decision has been taken.
Henceforth, my identity on Skype is a shared one. My account works, and there is available credit, ergo, my account is a shared family asset. If you see me, it might not be “me”. Not that it really matters, because I hardly ever talk on the phone anyway. Except for this evening, where I racked up 150 minutes of conference call. But now my spouse has a PDA that can be used to call someone when the cellphone is out and about with the kids.
