If you’re anything like me, you find these guys hilarious. Mostly, it’s the accents.

So, what is Google Voice

Short answer: It’s a virtual phone number that rings through to any number of real phone numbers. A slightly longer answer is that it is a suite of phone-related services which can be accessed and managed through a web browser or a smartphone. The features you get with google voice include Call Forwarding, Free Text Messaging, Visual Voicemail (with transcribed speech-to-text, giving you an email-like view of your voicemail messages) and very cheap International Calling.

What it isn’t

It’s not Skype. You don’t make computer-to-computer calls. This is an actual phone number that other actual phone numbers dial into. It’s just that once someone dials your google voice number, you have a bit more control over what happens. You can block numbers, send all callers to your voicemail, screen the messages, or you can forward the call to your phone and answer it (and even record the conversation at any time by dialing 4).

And this is just what I’ve discovered after a few minutes of playing with it. Which brings me to this:

I have a google voice phone number now. It’s (313) 444-4825. It’s not that I really want to be in the Detroit Area Code, but I managed to grab the only available number that spells out GIGITAL, my on-again-off-again business name (It’s on again now).

Personal Update

I just returned from a 10-day trip out to the Cincinnati area with my buddy Dave. We drove out there to spend time with his baby and baby-mama, and his baby-mama’s mama and papa (I even met his baby-mama’s mama’s mama and papa). We had a whole mess of fun (boating on the lake, playing disc golf, cornholing [this, not this], going to a Reds game, eating the local deliciousness, being entertained by a ridiculously cute 4-month-old, and of course, a healthy dose of drinking), and I still managed to stay ahead of my work.  That was a pretty big test for me.  One of the main reasons I wanted to be self-employed was to maintain the ability to work and travel at the same time.  I’m confident in my ability to keep that delicate balance in check.

Software Updates

WordPress made a big jump this week up to version 3.0.  To you, the blog visitor, it doesn’t mean too much.  Slightly faster load times, perhaps, but really the updates come on the admin side.  Frankly, for BenMyerson.com, I probably won’t use too many of the new features, but in my work using WordPress as a Content Management System for my clients, I’ll gain huge benefits.  Custom Post Types, great Menuing options, and multiple user/site support all go a long way to making WordPress my top choice for most clients’ CMS needs.

The other big news is that the brand-spankin’ new iPhone operating system (now called iOS4, since it’s also for iTouch and iPad) is out.  There are tons and tons of minor additions and improvements in this update, but the big news is that iPhones now support multi-tasking of 3rd party applications.  Two huge benefits of this are being able to listen to my Pandora station while performing other tasks on the phone and being able to stay logged into Skype all day.  Many developers have already pushed out new versions of their apps to make the most of this update, but I’m sure we’ll see dozens of new versions hit the app store in the next few weeks.

Hardware Update

I purchased my very first Mac this past week.  I’m now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro.  This doesn’t mean I’ve “switched sides” or become a Steve Jobs lovin’ Apple zombie, it just means I’ve added another weapon to my development arsenal.  This will allow me to develop and distribute iOS4 mobile apps as well as create full sized Mac Applications.  It’s also a great tool for testing any web sites and applications I develop to make sure they look right across all platforms.  I’ve used Macs before (mostly old school ones from the computer lab at Edson Elementary) but never particularly extensively.  I’m still getting used to the slightly different keyboard shortcuts and the VERY different user experience (dragging an icon to a folder just doesn’t seem like software installation to me) but I’m sure I’ll grow to love it.

I’ve linked to My Mets Journal before, but this post shed some more light on it’s author, Joe Petruccio.  Turns out he designed the Mets’ iconic 1980′s racing stripe uniforms!  This is some serious Mets awesomeness on a day-night doubleheader day which should bring more Mets awesomeness.

Double Dork Dose.  Looks like we’ve got more renderings coming from Marvel.  This one is covered by Collider, and features images of Marvel’s next big screen hero, Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

Click them images to see them bigger.  In my opinion, the Thor costume doesn’t quite work as well as Cap’s.  In the comics, Thor had a pretty iconic, bright colored costume for years, but recently has had a bunch of redesigns, including the one above, which looks to be closest to the movie version.  So, for me, never having been much of a Thor devotee in the first place, I’m not that into it.  But, that’s purely the costume aesthetic.  I’m still pumped for the Kenneth Branagh-directed Thor, due out next year.

Original Post

Jeez, I try to be a reasonably mature adult, but these people keep making comic book movies (and someone keeps making me check any blog that promises any kind of news regarding them).

Latest bit: images of what Captain America’s costume is going to look like in the upcoming Captain America:The First Avenger. As someone who has always been skeptical of how the heck they were going to make the super cartoon-y costume look reasonable, I’m pretty jazzed about these images.

There are better images if you follow that link, but I wanted a side-by-side comparison with an action shot. The goofy buccaneer style boots are gone, as are the little wings above the ears. They’ve turned a silly looking spandex outfit into something reasonably realistic (if not particularly well-camouflaged).

Pitching

When the Mets started the season, their bullpen and started rotation looked scary bad. The bullpen surprised many by actually outperforming most of the league. I really don’t have too many criticisms of that crew, but I do worry about the way they are managed. Too many innings in April and May may mean more meltdowns in August and September.

The rotation has definitely suffered more than it’s share of setbacks: Maine’s ever-weakening arm, Niese’s hamstring, Perez’ brain. I wasn’t all that confident that this team could fill three rotation spots from within in a span of one week. But R.A. Dickey, Hisanori Takahashi and Raul Valdes (not technically a start, but c’mon…) pitched more than admirably. The rotation is by no means secure now, but looks a whole lot better than it did coming out of spring training.  Santana and Pelfrey have been everything you could ask for.

Defense

The outfield has been better than I expected.  Francouer is smooth in right and might have the most feared arm in the national league. Bay is better than advertised in left. Pagan is one of the best defenders and is one of the few fielders that can comfortably patrol the gigantic centerfield at CitiField.

The infield D has also been pretty tight.  Wright seems to always be getting better at third, Reyes hasn’t lost a step, Castillo may not have much range, but doesn’t make many mistakes either, and having a real first baseman like Ike Davis makes a huge difference.

Blanco is perfect in throwing out runners and both he and Barajas have been calling good games.

Hitting

Heck of a mixed bag here. At times, the whole team looks useless, and they went through another long stretch of utter futility with runners in scoring position. This has been a problem with them for years now. Then again, there are days when they seem to be able to manufacture a run almost at will. Most recently, they’ve been feasting on not only RISP situations, but they’ve gotten a bunch of ever-clutch two-out hits.

Reyes missed most of spring training and it showed during the month of April. His bat looked slow, he was tentative on the basepaths and he just seemed to be out of sync. Lately, he’s started shaking off the cobwebs. He’s driving the ball, hitting in clutch situations and wreaking havoc on opposing pitchers and catchers with his stolen base prowess. Back to the Reyes of old? Let’s hope.

The second spot in the lineup has been occupied by the second baseman every game this season. Luis Castillo and Alex Cora have both been fine in that role, if not spectacular.

Jason Bay is and always has been a very streaky hitter. He will not be hitting 40 homers this season. He may not be hitting 20 homers this season. So long as he’s hitting balls in the gap and driving in runners, I don’t really care. My guess though, is that he will be a source of frustration for a good part of the season.

Speaking of frustration… David Wright is still having issues with his offense. His power seems to have returned, but now he’s striking out at a ridiculously high rate. At his best, he thrived on 2-strike counts. Now, he looks over-matched in those situations most of the time.

Angel Pagan has been nothing short of spectacular. Statistically, he’s been the Mets’ best and most consistent hitter. He’s doing everything right now, whether it’s driving in runs, moving runners over, or setting up the big rallies. He’s also making sure the Mets have a tough decision to make when (if?) Beltran returns.

Remember when the Mets were putting Mike Jacobs at first base when the season started? He couldn’t play D, but at least he also couldn’t hit. He’s now long gone and We Like Ike is up and raking. Davis has been a bright spot since coming up. He’s not going to win Rookie of the Year, but he’s going to provide stability, and eliminate the question mark that’s been hanging over first base since Delgado stopped being able to hit fastballs.

Jeff Francouer’s stats would all be at 0 if we took away the first two weeks of the season. He’s shown a few flashes of coming out of this serious slump, but hasn’t quite put it all together yet. I like what he brings the team, but if he’s this bipolar with his hitting, he’s going to be some other team’s problem come August.

Rod Barajas has been a fly ball machine, which has translated into the team lead in homers. He’s also gotten plenty of clutch hits, and I can’t remember too many times when he’s been the goat. At the time, it didn’t make many headlines, but if the season ended today, Barajas would be one of the best free agent moves in all of baseball.

The bench isn’t great, but looks to be getting stronger with the addition of the Animal, Chris Carter. He’s a line-drive hitting maniac with a ton of energy and a propensity for clutch hits.

Overall

They’re just over .500. They’ve been amazing at home and miserable on the road. If they’re going to do anything interesting this season, they’ve got to keep up the success against Philly and Atlanta, but not forget about the improving Marlins and Nats. They’ve also got to get more consistent. It seems like this season, they only ever get good hitting and good pitching at the same time. It’d be nice to see a few games where the offense can bail out a bad pitching performance, or vice versa.

One thing the Mets have done very well this year is getting help from within the organization. Whether it’s position players or pitchers, the replacements that have come up all seem to have done really well. They still have a few more weapons down in the minors. Somehow, they’ve turned around the perennial wasteland of farm teams.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this year’s New York Mets. I think the division is close enough that no one is going to run away with it, and I think the Mets have what it takes to hang around the top for the summer.

If you’re looking for some good Mets reads out there on the interwebs, check out Metsblog. Matt Cerrone has done a great job with that site over the years and has a ton of great articles and links. Another site I’ve been loving this year is My Mets Journal where Joe Petruccio posts a hand-drawn picture for each game. Really entertaining stuff.

Robots are smarter and faster than you. Accept it.

Of course, as soon as I got there, I realize that I had forgotten to check my battery before heading out the door. Of course, I brought a dead battery. Luckily, my uncle had a spare camera with him and I was still able to take a few nice pics.

The desert wildflowers were absolutely stunning today.  Feel free to take a look at the rest of the pics I grabbed today.

When I got home and charged my battery, I wanted to double-check to make sure my camera was working nicely.  The stars were out in full force and I wanted to try some night sky photos using the “bulb” setting (basically, this leaves the shutter open as long as you hold down the button, allowing as much light in as you want).  I’d never done this kind of photography before, but I thought the results were pretty interesting. Check the link, because the photo doesn’t really work when compressed down to blog size.

We’re now bloggin’ at the shiny new location of BenMyerson.com rather than the old, run-down, low-rent BenMyerson.com/blog. So, with that change, you may need to update your RSS subscription settings and/or bookmarks.

More changes (and with any luck, more noteworthy posts) to come…

That being said, I’ve wanted to write a trip summary post. And I imagine that some time I will, but now is not that time and this is not that post. For now, I have a brand spankin’ new adventure on my hands. Tomorrow, I head out on a cross-country journey to Tucson, Arizona, where I hope to begin yet another stint as a freelance web developer.

The last time I moved, I made a conscious effort to reduce and simplify my belongings. Over the last few days, I’ve continued trimming down. I got rid of old clothes. I sold off a few big items. But my favorite move was when I ditched the cases and covers to a hundred-some-odd DVDs and Blu-Rays and replaced that mess with a single, organized binder.

Before:

After:

On the journey, my good friend Noel will be joining as navigator, copilot and DJ. We’ll be taking the northern route through the US, which I’ve somehow managed to miss in all my years of going back and forth between NY and AZ. I have a bunch of friends in the north that I’d like to see, but mostly, I chose this route because I’m sick of driving through Texas.

Tomorrow, we tackle the great big New York State Thruway, and end up in the cozy hospitality of my friends’ Josh and Meagan.