Montauk and back to Barnard

This month we spent some time in Montauk on the tip of Long Island where we had great beach weather. We ended the month yesterday by driving KDB back to Barnard.

Earlier in the year, we lost Tulip, a white Persian cat. We still have two of her kids, Rama and SnowWhite.

Informal NECC Reunion August 1, 2008

Brian Callahan arranged an August 1 informal lunch and get together for some of us from Mobil NECC. The photo, courtesy of Doris Wert, shows, standing from the left, Joe Budelis, Melanie Callahan, Bob & Nancy Swierczek, Carole Umscheid, Brian the Man, and Doris Wert is seated. Denise Wyckoff Schooley was in the area and stopped by briefly before lunch. Pete Gerster had planned to be there but we are all saddened that instead he was making funeral arrangements because of the sudden death of his son, Martin. Brian is arranging a more formal NECC Reunion for November.

This Summer: Valorie writing articles on Health & Wellness; KDB at The New Yorker

This summer KDB is a Photo Intern at The New Yorker so she is in the midst of the controversy over this week's New Yorker cover page. See
NPR:'New Yorker' Editor Defends Obama Cover.

Valorie, a Certified Holistic Health Counselor and Reiki Master, has published several Health and Wellness articles. To see some of her articles, you could simply do a search on Sands-Budelis.

Storage Space available near Princeton NJ in Montgomery Township, the Village of Blawenburg

If you are near Princeton, Montgomery, Hopewell, Rocky Hill, Skillman or Belle Mead, NJ, I have some rental storage space available in the village of Blawenburg. If you know anyone who needs to rent a storage shed or garage in the Mercer county or Somerset County area, have them contact me or send them to Princeton NJ Storage Rental.

VoIP (Voice Over IP) Demystified Presentation

This weekend I gave a couple presentations on VoIP Demystified at the Trenton Computer Fair. You can see the VoIP (Voice Over IP) Demystified for more info on VoIP.

Vacation to Los Cabos - The tip of Baja

We just returned from the tip of Baja California - Los Cabos. It was heartwarming to be able to enjoy the 70 to 80 degree beach weather in Los Cabos while we checked the temperature in Princeton and found it to be 19 degrees a number of days (and that wasn't Celesius). It was comfortable that the temperature in Princeton warmed up to the 50s for our return.

The vacation was mainly about relaxing and getting away for a few days. We did make time for the requisite shopping and took a dinner cruise around the gate at Cabo San Lucas. We saw a couple whales and also road amongst some dolphins at the very tip of Baja.

The Changing Times - Email

Thought I'd write about an example of the changing times. Although many of us make extensive use of Email these days, there are many in the younger generation who don't have time for "old fashioned" things like Email. They are too busy talking or texting on their cell phones!

Sometimes, this is the reason that we don't see answers to our Emails. Of course, our Emails also might not get past a spam filter, the answer might not get past a spam filter, or there may be any other number of technical explanations.

In summary, if an Email is important and you don't receive a response, verify that it was received by sending another Email or trying an alternative means of communication.

Best Buys, Great Deals and Free Stuff

To those of you who haven't visited my home page, I thought I'd mention that it might be worth a few minutes of your time to scan the great deals including free stuff that I list there. It's a compilation of good deals that I've found mainly on the Internet. I put it together partly so that I would have one place that I could go to see all this info but also so that friends good take advantage of my findings. The first two topics of the dozen or so are about Telecommunications services that I sell. The rest are services or other offerings that I have either taken advantage of myself or that I intend to take advantage of at some point. Info is included on Free Directory Assistance, Free software including things like antivirus software, firewalls, spyware removers, and many other useful areas. View my home page at JoeBudelis.homestead.com.

Helping to stop Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and Myeloma from taking more lives

I just signed up to participate in an endurance event to help stop Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and Myeloma from taking more lives. I'm doing so through The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. Visit my Team in Training page and make a donation, however small.

New Approach to Borrowing and Lending Money

If you need some cash, you can borrow up to $25,000 at competitive rates. Thousands of lenders compete to lower your rate. Or, if you want to lend some money, you will be one of those lenders. Read more about it and join at no cost:
https://www.prosper.com/referrals/all.aspx?utm_content=link&utm_campaign=referrals-all&utm_medium=referral-link&utm_source=referrer-JoeBee

Vegas and Utah

We were so busy traveling in March and with college application decisions, etc, that April was a catch-up month and I only now realize that we didn't post anything here about our March trips.

Vegas I took my annual trip to the Channel Partners meeting in Vegas at the beginning of the month - it's a chance to learn about new Telecommunications service offerings and to spend some time with others on our Telecom team. Since Valorie is getting involved with me in the business, she accompanied me. Val is helping develop our VAR Partner network. Although some of our meetings were useful to her, she especially enjoyed a little gambling and the shopping!

Utah We spent 10 days in Utah. It was our first visit to the state and we enjoyed it. We started with a few days in Salt Lake City during which we learned a little about the Mormons. After a side trip to Sundance during which Val and KDB enjoyed the spa, we then went up North to the Eden Valley. Although the weather at the condo where we stayed was actually warmer and sunnier than weather in NJ during that period, the skiing on Powder Montain was fantastic.

It's Barnard College

Finally, KDB has made her decision that she will attend Barnard College. It was a difficult choice between Barnard and Tufts.

VoIP (Voice Over IP) Demystified

This weekend, I gave a couple presentations on VoIP (Voice Over IP) Demystified at the Trenton Computer Festival. You can see an Abstract of the presentations at the bottom of
http://www.tcf-nj.org/web/TCF-2007-Talks-and-Forums-on-Saturday-Room-RC-D.html.

Privacy???!!!!!!

KDB considered that I was invading her privacy and insisted that I remove comments in this blog about her, her awards and the college application process.

Windsurfing on Nantucket

Last month, we took a 10 day vacation to visit Nantucket to see some great films in the Nantucket Film Festival. This was our first visit to the island in a few years. Real Estate prices and restaurant charges have continued to sky rocket. We were very surprised to find that our friend, John Arno, has closed Vincent's restaurant and leased out the space to an upscale restaurant. Vincent's was always one of the more affordable restaurants on the island. However, The Atlantic Cafe still excellent, affordable food including their World renowned Nachos Deluxe. KDB made great progress in her windsurfing with some lessons from her dad.

KDB won awards at the 2006 High School Open Figure Skating Competition

At this year's High School Open Figure Skating Competition, KDB and her school did well. KDB earned first place in Preliminary Compulsory Moves. Her school, Princeton Day School, won first prize overall. A commercial photographer took photos at the Open; I'll point out KDB on the photogapher's site. On this page, there are 5 photos of KDB in her light pink dress, beginning in row 7. In this team photo, KDB is second from the right in the rear. By clicking on these photos, you can see an enlarged image.

VoIP For Dummies - How to Choose the best VoIP Plan

I'm scheduled to present VoIP For Dummies - How to Choose the best VoIP Plan at the Trenton Computer Festival the mornings of April 22 and April 23. Visit the TCF site for details.

Budelis Family Speakers

Last week, by coincidence, two of us gave presentations at the Princeton Public Library. On Tuesday, Joe gave a presentation on
VoIP phone service: Demystifying VoIP. He gave the audience info to assist them in choosing the best VoIP service for their situation.

Then, on Friday, KDB gave background info on her photos shown at the library. One of her photos, that has won awards in other shows, is a digital montage of a rock show. Other award winning photos that she displayed at the library are photos that she took during her trip to India last year. KDB spoke of how, on this trip, she learned to move beyond her shyness to be able to take close-up photos of people she had never met before.

VoIP For Dummies Small Business Development Workshop

For those in the Mercer County, NJ area, I'm running a VoIP For Dummies Small Business Development Workshop on March 8. Details are given at http://www.tcnj.edu/tcnj/sbdc/documents/2006_SBDCTrng_web.doc.

Another Driver

KDB turned 17 yesterday; she passed her driver road test today! The test was challenging. Although we read in the manual that one could not use a car that has a center console between the student driver and the examiner, we were guessing that rule was outdated since most cars have consoles today. KDB was scheduled to take her test at 9:30. Once we arrived, we found that meant that it was ok for her to get in line at 9:30. The line was more than half an hour long. When we got to the front of the line, the examiner said that, if there is a console, there must be an emergency brake control near the console that he could use to stop the car in an emergency. Well, that ruled out our Lexus. The examiner said we would not be able to rent a car for the test because insurance on a rental car would not cover a test. He did say we could return before 1 PM that day instead of rescheduling. So I asked an instructor in a Drivers' Ed car that was in line. He would allow KDB to take the test in his car but there was an outrageous charge: $110 for about 15 minutes in the car, and the $110 had to be in cash. Furthermore, he had a tight schedule and could not afford any time to allow KDB to drive the car to get familiarized with it before the test! Well, instead of disappointing KDB by rescheduling sometime in the not-too-near future and having to wait in line again, I went to an ATM in Quakerbridge Mall, got the cash and set her up for the test. She had some difficult since the car handled so differently than the Lexus but she passed!