Yepsen [dot] net [slash] blog

So far, it’s great!  Here is the first of what I’m sure will be many voluntary Feedback forms I have filled out to send to Google:

What do you like about Google Voice?

I received my invite less that 24 hours ago, so I have not had much time to really dig into Google Voice, but what I have used so far has been great! Setting up everything is so easy! Within, literally, seconds of signing up I had my cellphone synced with Google Voice. Since I already use Google Contacts, all of my people were immediately available to set custom voicemail for which is both amazing and remarkably simple! So far my Mom, Dad, Wife and even a Client or two have custom greetings – phenomenal! SMS is great, Voicemail transcription is not quite perfect, but has already allowed me to forget that I ever thought Visual Voicemail on my iPhone was cool. So far, this is just another amazing Google App – Thank You!

What do you NOT like about Google Voice?

Honestly, I have not yet found much that I do not like. The one thing I have noticed that is rather frustrating is that all of my voicemail messages are immediately clangy beep and a couple of clicks. Though it is less noticeable when you call, it is still there. I am fairly certain this is not my phone, as I do not have the problem with messages I recorded while using AT&T voicemail.

What would you like to see added?
(features that you just have to have)

I know this is out of Google hands, but AT&T and/or Apple need to wise-up and approve the Google Voice App. Without it, I am seriously considering ditching the iPhone for a Droid; and that is coming from a pretty devout iPhone/Apple fanboy. Another feature I would really enjoy would be the ability to see incoming Caller ID while I am logged onto the Google Voice website.  Also, live updating would be great rather than having to refresh to check for a new text or voicemail; the listen-into voicemail feature is great – would it be feasible to allow this via the web portal?

About a week ago, I wrote an article that was included in the Leave No Child Inside (a Chicago Wilderness Initiative) eNewsletter sent out to about 525-subscribers (524 if you don’t include me).   The article is included below, though you can also see it on the professional page on my recently redesigned (and pretty minimalistic) website here.

You can read it after the break:

Read more…

Remember when I used to blog? I do, vaguely. If it helps, I really want to start again. Let’s see what happens.

True History. (Image courtesy of DailyKos)

Katie and I were there in Grant Park.  The sense of history-awareness was tangible in the crowd.  The streets were alive.  One day, our kids and grandkids will learn about this election in school, and we can proudly tell them that we were there.

Now, the true fight begins.  We have a long uphill battle and we have to keep up the support if we want to see our country become what we know it can be and we all want it to be.

Good work America; thank you.

Looks like it’s time for Ryan to buy a new laptop. Most, if not all, of my posts will now be via iPhone as my laptop screen has decided to go crazy. This has resulted in a lack of posts over the last few days, but fear not loyal reader (are there any?)! I shall fight on!

Meanwhile, mom and Mark are in town for the weekend so that oughta be a hoot.

Have a great weekend!

The presentations were interesting.  This was easily the largest elementary/middle school I’d ever been in.  So large in fact, the building was not big enough to hold all the class rooms and they actually put up a few prefab houses in the parking lot (double wides, pretty much) to hold some of the 4th and 5th grade classes. There were 4 classes of every grade I visited 1st though 5th.  This was a huge school, with surprisingly well mannered-kids and all the teachers were friendly and supportive of the Boy Scouts which is not always the case!

After the huge public school, my boss (who came along to split the class rooms with me and make this all go by more quickly), and I headed over to a nearby Catholic school to talk to their classes.  Only a couple hundred students at this one, and more of the same, good kids and supportive teachers; if only all schools were this easy.  This was a pretty school inside, although it mostly looked like every other Catholic school I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a bunch) they had some pretty cool blue and green painted walls.  The colors in general inside this place were just cool, and gave it a vibe very different than any other school I’ve been in yet.

Well, I still ended up having to go back to the office, but only for a bit.  I’m now back at home, working on Wood Badge things that have to be done by Friday morning and resting up before yet another night meeting tonight.  I can’t wait for fall to be over!

Self Shot at the Cubs Game

Well, I’ve decided to start blogging, and clearly, I am late on this bandwagon. The whole idea started out of my recent spike in picture taking on my new iPhone and uploading those pics onto my Facebook.  I’ve decided to augment the Facebook photostream with a blog.

Here, I plan to upload a lot of pictures to give you a peak into my life.  I’d also like to use this blog as an outlet to show you the things that interest me.  I do a lot of reading online and always find a lot of interesting things, and this will be my outlet to share those things with you.  

Besides the buried internet treasures I plan to uncover here, I also plan on uncovering a bit of my life beyond the pictures.  This will be the spot to look into the life of me and my new wife, Katie.  A glimpse into what we are doing, what is going on in our lives; our jobs, our outings, our new life together.  

Other topics that may be included here are only limited to my interest of the day.  I am very interested (and strongly opinionated) in the upcoming presidential election.  I also have a deep-rooted (deep-routed?) passion for music and look forward to sharing with you my recent musical finds and obsessions, recaps and reviews of concerts, and reviews of albums both new and old as I discover them.  

Besides music and my wife, I am also deeply in love with the city of Chicago and its sports teams; well, the Bears and Cubs, anyway.  And with the Cubs season so-far and a surprising Bears season opener, it certainly seems as though there will be plenty of discussion on those topics as well.  And the city that hosts those teams will get its share of word play as well.

Well, enough of that.  At this point, who knows what will actually become of this blog.  For all I know, this could be its only post?!  Well, this certainly ought to be interesting, and I look forward to brining you along for the journey.