No reason to cell-ebrate; No Gripe with Skype

Vernon called the other night.

First thing I asked him was, "Are you in the States?" because the connection was so clear, it sounded like he was calling from a pay phone on the parking lot. Yet he was calling from his cell, south of the equator, not far from the Kenya border.

The point is: the clearest calls I get are consistently from Tanzania and the worst, hardest to hear and de-scramble calls come from folks ... well, I won't name names (but their phones can store and play every episode of Heroes and LOST in Hi-Def).

Anyway, based on my anecdotal experiences (and that's all that matters, sure) I think US cell phone companies should be ashamed of themselves. Truly & I mean it.

I've called and talked to Vernon while he was traveling on dirt roads scores of miles removed from pavement, in the fourth poorest country on the planet with no reception problems whatsoever, yet the coverage in the quadrant roughly defined by I-85, Highway 81 and Lake Hartwell and River Street is abysmal.

From the "I Don't Care if it's Christmas, I STILL HATE WINDOWS" Department:
Bah, software bug. Each time Windows warns of a "Critical Update" waiting to be installed, you run the risk of getting Scrouged.