network fax

I was pretty surprised last Saturday when my mom suddenly asked me to help her move some office equipment from her home office. Usually, Saturdays start off with me rushing out the door to try to enjoy the nice weather outside before being stopped by my mom to help her with a quick household chore, like vacuuming up the mess created by my little sister in the living room and stairs. But this time, I found myself unplugging her phone and network fax machine and placing them in boxes. She told me later that she was switching all her communication lines to VoIP (voice over internet protocol), which I had only heard about from friends before. Basically, she would use our internet connection to send other data too, like from her phone and from her fax machine. She had me install several new SIP phones, which utilized VoIP to make calls. Also, she configured her network fax, which she called her Microsoft fax, to use VoIP. I didn't know she was so technologically savvy, but I learned a lot that day before I rushed out the door. She essentially swapped all her normal phones and fax machine with SIP phones and a Microsoft fax, which used a more efficient (and may I say cooler) way to transfer data over internet lines. She often makes calls to some distributors in Alberta, Canada, so making calls through VoIP made a lot of sense for her. Also, since we already had an internet connection, we didn't need to have a technician come over and install any new hardware or drill through walls or anything like that. Plus, if we needed a technician, I probably would have been the one that had to wait anyways, so I'm glad that our VoIP didn't require more installation. After setting up her new phone, I tried it out and couldn't tell any difference from a normal phone line. I would have never guessed that it was using the same internet line that I use for AIM and Facebook! After all the chores were finished, I still rushed out the door to meet some friends. I mean, VoIP is cool, but I still have to enjoy the weather!

Personal Injury Lawyer

One of my best college friends graduated last spring and over the summer moved to New York City. She’s doing the writing thing (poetry), and meanwhile, temping. She worked for a literary agent for a while, but he died, so the agency closed, and now she works for one of those fancy accident attorney, I think – as a receptionist.

 

Funny how these things work. She majored in creative writing in school and now she’s working for a personal injury lawyer in NY. She spent her undergrad career reading Sharon Olds and now she’s sorting letters about injury attorney as a tool to live and be able to do art, I know, but the girl working in the patent office loves her job. It has nothing to do with what she thought she was interested in.

 

Why is everyone so concerned by not knowing what they want to do with their lives at 20? Even our own friends are doing things drastically different from what they studied just months ago in school.

 

It does worry me that my friend working for the New York personal injury lawyer spends so much time at her job. She doesn’t have any real interest in what this injury attorney sort through paperwork. Grunt work is one thing if it’s a rung on the ladder, but if you’re not interested in being a New York personal injury attorney. Not that she’ll end up that way, but I’d hate to see her drive get diverted. She writes stunning poetry. One of her poems won second place in a big-deal national contest this month. It’s what she’s meant to be doing. And I hope her full-time temp work doesn’t seriously impede or derail that.