Talking to Tyler

Okay, so the other day I noticed on Facebook that Tyler had finally gotten internet over in Afghanistan and that he had used Skype to call mom and dad. Well, that clued me in that maybe I should finally get around to downloading the software and getting in touch with my soldier brother. I was in the middle of trying to figure out how to use the thing and setting up my headphones and mics when Tyler popped up on my screen and was ready to chat. Now, in my job I'm really used to video conferencing (I design systems for that after all) but I had not really ever used it for a purpose outside of testing and training. It was a pretty cool deal to be talking to my brother, who is half way across the world....for FREE.

So, last night I was telling my kids that I spoke with their uncle on the computer and that I'd try and set up a time for them to do it too. I told them that we'd half to get up a little early one morning and catch him before he went to bed. The kids were pretty excited about that idea but I didn't realize how excited until this morning. I rolled out of bed and took my shower and when I got out I noticed Jon was already up. It was a little early for him ~6 am and he came walking down the hallway rubbing his eyes and he said, "dad...can we call uncle Tyler now? I got up early." I chuckled and paniced, i didn't know if Ty would be available and if I had time (I was running a little late). But I couldn't help but try, so we went downstairs and turned on Skype and found out that he wasn't available to chat. I know...a little anti-climatic...but I thought it was a good story.