See Mom Skype

At Dr. Darling's suggestion, this year's Christmas gift to my Mom was a webcam, which I purchased and installed for her while I was in the States for Thanksgiving because that was the only way to insure she'd actually learn how to use it with the VOIP service Skype.

And it appears I did my job very well, because neither of us have paid long-distance to call each other since I got back. We've also done some pretty cool things with it, like opening gifts from each other on Christmas Day. This was really nice to be able to do since my brother is here with me, making Christmas morning a bit lonely at her house.

But while the technology is saving us both money and adding a new dimension to our conversations, it does nothing to make the 6 hour time difference any easier to navigate. In fact, it may even be making it a little worse...because now that Mom is freed from having to hold a handset to her ear, she has no qualms about calling while she's doing something else...like having a meal, for example. It's become so common that Davy, the Swede and I have started placing bets on what she's eating when the Skype signal sounds.

Speaking of the Skype signal...it appears as though it's time to play another round of "Guess What Mom's Having for Dinner." I'm going for a hot open-faced turkey sandwich and gravy.

tags: technogadgetry  internet  skype  

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