Skype

As you can imagine, communication with my family and friends while I am in Russia is a paramount concern.  In June 2007, I attended a week long orientation session at ABA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where we covered the basics of overseas living, as well as tips and recommendations from former ABA CEELI Liaisons on the best way to stay in touch with our loved ones back home.  Almost unanimously, everyone recommended Skype, an online web-based, broadband calling system.  I'd heard of Skype while working in the the Department of Justice, but only because the criminal investigative side of the DOJ didn't have the ability to wiretap calls from one Skype user to another (I have no idea how this plays out on the NSA side of things -- my guess is they can and do wiretap pretty much everything, but that's a topic for another day, if not another blog!)  Anyway, I downloaded Skype from its website www.skype.com.  The program is free and easy to use.  Then, I went to Best Buy and bought a $41 pair of headphones/microphone combo and started making calls to my family and friends regular landlines and cellphones at about .02 cents per minute!  The best part is that Skype to Skype calls are FREE!  Unbelievable and incredibly economical.  I'll end my infomercial for Skype now, but I encourage everyone to download and use Skype.  You can call me in Russia for free!  I predict landline telephones will take the same path as 8-track tapes and will be a thing of the past within the next 5 to 10 years.