Austin Tops Another List – #1 City For the Next Decade

Once again, Austin finds itself atop another top ten list.  This time it is Yahoo Real Estate’s 10 Best Cities for the Next Decade.  Austin grabbed the top spot based on it being a city of ideas and also its great opportunities for small businesses.  Along with it’s fun atmosphere and growth potential, Austin edged out Seattle.

What Can Real Estate Agents Learn From Vogelkop Bowerbirds

You’re probably wondering what a Vogelkop Bowerbird is.  I had never heard of them either until I saw them on Life, the latest Discovery Channel series.  In this particular episode, they profile these Bowerbirds.  The Bowerbirds win their mate by decorating their nest in different styles.  Each bird uses different ‘knick-knacks’ from around the forest to create their own style.  They are competing with several other birds in the ‘neighborhood’ doing the same thing. So whoever comes up with the nicest, most attractive nest wins the buyer, I mean mate.  So it appears the Vogelkop Bowerbirds are the original stagers.  Maybe we could learn a lesson or two from these veterans, although I recommend leaving the deer dung outside.

I couldn’t find a way to embed the video here so you will have to go check it our for yourself.

Careful if Using Google Voice and Skype Together

I recently got a SkypeIn number.  I also have a Google Voice(GV) number.  I thought this would be the perfect marriage.  When I am working at my computer I can just have Skype up and running and any calls to my GV number would ring my Skype number.  Then I could answer the call without ever taking my hands off the computer.  And it was great when I had Skype running.  But what I didn’t know was that when you don’t have Skype running, it’s voicemail kicks in.  This meant that all my GV calls that I didn’t answer personally went to Skype voicemail and so GV’s voicemail never took effect.  So I never knew I was getting the voicemails.  I had this setup going for over a week and had no idea what was going on.  Where were all my voicemails?  I finally figured it out the next time I logged into Skype and saw my huge list of voicemails.

So I did a little Googling and found a few solutions.  You can turn on call presentation in GV which is a nuisance when you are answering the call.  You can also set Skype to forward the calls back to GV, however this costs extra.

I decided to disable the Skype number as one of my GV lines for now.  But I have enabled call presentation to get used to it.  After a few days I will reenable the Skype number and all should be good to go again.  Oh, and I also enabled email notification for Skype voicemail so I am notified if someone does happen to end up at my Skype voicemail.

Google Voice and Skype

I recently got a SkypeIn number.  I also have a Google Voice(GV) number.  I thought this would be the perfect marriage.  When I am working at my computer I can just have Skype up and running and any calls to my GV number would ring my Skype number.  Then I could answer the call without ever taking my hands off the computer.  And it was great when I had Skype running.  But what I didn’t know was that when you don’t have Skype running, it’s voicemail kicks in.  This meant that all my GV calls that I didn’t answer personally went to Skype voicemail and so GV’s voicemail never took effect.  So I never knew I was getting the voicemails.  I had this setup going for over a week and had no idea what was going on.  Where were all my voicemails?  I finally figured it out the next time I logged into Skype and saw my huge list of voicemails.

So I did a little Googling and found a few solutions.  You can turn on call presentation in GV which is a nuisance when you are answering.  You can also set Skype to forward the calls back to GV, however this costs extra.

I decided to disable the Skype number as one of my GV lines for now.  But I have enabled call presentation to get used to it.  After a few days I will reenable the Skype number and all should be good to go again.  Oh, and I also enabled email notification for Skype voicemail so I am notified if someone does happen to end up at my Skype voicemail.