the conveniences of modern technology. cell phones and internet are a great thing, but adding phonecalls over the internet is something completely different. as some of you know, rin's parents live in india, the land of darjeeling tea and the hong kong market (amongst other things of course).

anyway, the first time i went to india, back in spring of '04, making a phone call from the country code +011 to america takes a little work. we'd have to walk from the hotel to the alley behind, through the throngs of people and cram ourselves into the public phone booth. making sure someone was there to dial the phone and having the power stay on were the two things we hoped for. but surprisingly it cost less to make a call from india than from the little communist country that is 90 miles off the coast of florida. an eight minute call from that small island paradise cost me $20 but to have a 20 minute call from siliguri, half way around the world only cost around $5.

but now, with her parent's living on the eastern hemisphere, we can call via the internet with video and audio. nice. free. ahhh. . .