Blast From the Past

About two years ago; we started using Katharion as a third-party email filter; and up until now there’s been no problems. In fact; things were so great I turned off our local spam filter.

For the past week or so; we’ve been blasted by an influx of malware laden email. I contacted the helpful folks at Katharion and they said that they were working on it.

I re-activated our local filter; and it seems to be capturing quite a bit of infected email. I’m not sure why Katharion is not able to catch these; but I really hope they get their act together. Managing a spam filter is almost a full time job; and one I don’t enjoy… at all.

Why I don’t Twitter

My typical day is flooded with information from; email, phone calls, voicemail, text messages, RSS feeds, read and write blogs, and have face to face meetings.

Well… I learned a long time ago that I gain energy in silence. I recharge when it’s quiet. I just can’t see introducing more noise into my life.

Maybe I’m wrong about Twitter. Maybe somehow Twitter could actually make things less noisy. It would take quite a bit to convince me of that though.

Oh yea – I don’t use a desktop messenger for the same reason.

How would you like that?

I was visiting Saddleback Church a few years back; and Eric Busby said something that stuck with me. I'm sure he didn't come up with it, and I don't know who did, but it's fantastic:

Good - Fast - Cheap

Pick Two

Good + Fast = Expensive

Good + Cheap = Slow

Fast + Cheap = Inferior

I'm sure you've seen this before; but it has saved my skin more than once, so it's worth repeating.

Can you hear me now?

It’s that time again. Another contract is up; and it’s time to start digging for “the best deal.”

I switched from Verizon to TelePacific for phone services a few years back. We got better rates, and just as (or more?) important, much better service. Even the monthly invoicing was better – all in one envelope. Happy days!

Well… the contract is up. I would love to just sign a new contract with TelePacific; and I’m guessing that’s what will happen in the end. I must do my due diligence, however, and see what’s out there that may be better.

Is there something out there that will blow traditional services out of the water? Will the cable company let us convert everything to cable and keep our numbers, like at home, for “one low rate?” Is there a “Skype” type of service that would allow us to make most of our calls for free?

In addition to services; we’re about to grow out of our present system, the Nortel Business Communications Manager. So I’m looking at Switchvox (based on Asterisk) as potential solution. Would switching to one of these systems give us more options? The problem is – I’m not a telephony expert – by any stretch of the imagination – Nor do I want to be.

So the hunt begins.