Expat Travel Technology: OMG! My Hard Drive Crashed! Now what?!

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Brad

Well, if you don’t want to answer this question- Get Mozy! It’s a small application that will back up unlimited data from your computer to an off site server in the USA. You schedule a backup time and it does it’s thing. You don’t have to think about it …unless you want to.

I’ve been using this service since Mozy launched several years ago. It’s saved our butts more than once and provides peace of mind for $4.95/month. We use the MozyHome version for PC’s (there is also a Mac version). There’s a business version called MozyPro, but for most users, including business users, MozyHome is the better option based solely on the cost benefit. You pay more per backed up gigabyte with MozyPro and you don’t get many extra bells and whistles.

An example of how Mozy saved our butts: A few years ago, one of our staff inadvertently deleted an entire client profile of data which we didn’t realize until a couple weeks after it happened and we needed it…now! Thanks to Mozy we were able to download all the files back to the desktop into their original location with nothing more than a couple clicks. It takes some time to download a lot of data back to your computer, but at least you can recover it. (A few minutes for several files…maybe a couple hours if you have lost gigabytes.)

These were problems that we had before we found ourselves as expatriates. Now imagine, you’re in a new country with an uneven power supply (Uruguay is pretty good btw). What if you have a power surge, flood, or the humidity finally says this is the end of the line for your computer? Well, Mozy is a small investment that even the most technologically challenged retiree or baby boomer will be able to manage with no trouble. If you have any issues with Mozy, shoot me an email or if you’re here in Uruguay, lets meet!

Your backups through Mozy also include various versions of files. If you’re old school, still use Word and wanted to go back to a saved version of a file from a month ago, you can pick any day to restore that file to. We’ve had to do this and it’s really fast since the file is small.

OK. Major crisis mode. You hard drive completely crashes. You’ve never done that back up that you’ve been meaning to do for months…ahem…years. All of your photos and documents are gone! You could pay a service $1000 to try to recover your data and if you’re lucky, you might see some of it again. Maybe. See this story about the Miracle on the Hudson. In the case that you ever lose your entire hard drive, like the article, Mozy will FedEx your data on DVDs so you can reload all of your data. That’s not going to be cheap, but be happy that within a few days while abroad (next day in the States) you can be back up and running. You’ll be without that precious music and photos for days…not forever. There are several other reasonable ways to back your data, but this has been the easiest for us. As I said, get Mozy.

Next up in the Expat Travel Technology Series: TV. There are cool things you can do to watch your favorites shows while on the road or living abroad, but some tricks to make it work.

Managing Time Zones

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Lisa

We are constantly checking to see what time it “really” is here and it feels a little like the Twilight Zone.

Our lives are here in Uruguay but in this global economy, we do business with the USA on a daily basis. My laptop is still set to MN time so I can see what time it is for my clients. Brad has a tougher time because he works with clients all over the US. This means that he sees the start of the East Coast business day at 9 AM Uruguay time and the end of the California business day at 9 PM Uruguay time. Makes for one long work day.

It’s an interesting dynamic that makes the world feel really small. It also, though, seems like we are not fully tied to the country where we are living because we are still living vicariously in several other time zones.

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Part of why we chose Uruguay is because it’s a similar time zone to the US. I imagine how the situation would be much complicated for those doing business with the other side of the world on a daily basis. Our few hours difference is nothing, really.

Now, come October, our understanding of the time zones will flux once again as Uruguay goes into Daylight Savings time and the US comes out of Daylight Savings a month later. Our current 2 hour difference ahead of US Central time changes to 3 hours for a month, then 4 hours for the remainder of the Uruguay summer and until March (remember seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere).

So much to keep track of! Man, just makes you just want to unplug…

Expat Travel Technology: VoIP Phone Solutions

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Brad

Lisa and I both need an inexpensive and simple way to speak with family and clients in North America and around the world. The fantastic thing about this is that we didn’t have to change anything to do it. We have been using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for several years. It’s a phone system that uses the internet to carry conversation rather than regular phone lines. There are countless services available and they are geared to various audiences. All of these service work over a standard Uruguayan DSL connection (they don’t have cable internet here) and other foreign internet services (check the country you’re headed to in order to be certain the internet is stable enough). I will describe several of options here.

RingCentral

We currently have three VoIP services with our primary service being RingCentral. RingCentral offers a hosted plan. It’s very easy to set up and you don’t need any hardware other than a computer and a headset. RingCentral has a “softphone” panel that appears on your computer screen, looks like the face of a regular phone and operates in most ways like a regular phone. You can use the softphone from a laptop on the road over WiFi or 3G wireless card. It also allows you to send and receive faxes from your computer by either attaching a file such as a pdf or scanning your page right into the program to be sent off. Like many VoIP services, you receive your voice messages and faxes via email. I have tried Packet 8, Vonage, and efax. They are all fine service, but RingCentral blows all of these out of the water. It is comprehensive. You can route calls to various extensions if you have staff or contractors in other parts of the world and can all have US, Canadian, UK or other global phone numbers. It has a very simple interface and even works on your iPhone as a calling app. My clients can call me from anywhere in the world and have no idea that they’ve reached me in Uruguay unless I’ve told them. I called a client in Kazakhstan the other day on my RingCentral line to his Vonage line dialing a local US phone number. Call quality was great. I have yet to drop a call with anyone (I actually had more dropped calls in the States than I do here…weird).

There are many plan levels for RingCentral. The cheapest starting at US$9.99/mo. I have opted for a middle of road plan that includes a Linksys IP Phone. It’s a regular business class phone that sits on my desk. The call quality is excellent. It’s more stable than the softphone that I mentioned earlier. If you’d like to order the phone from RingCentral, you’ll pay anywhere from Free-$100 depending on which service plan you go with. They also have a plan that includes unlimited use and four business IP phones with individual numbers for $99/month.

RingCentral comes with my highest recommendation if you’re an expatriate that requires a business class solution. If you already have business numbers you’d like to keep, you can port them over no problem. Would you like an 800#? You can pick between 800, 866, 877 and 888 for free.

Skype

Of course many people know Skype. I use it regularly to call vendors and clients in other countries. If you’d like to give it a shot–you can download Skype. With Skype I can have video conferences or simply use it as a phone (again you need a headset with microphone or a WebCam for the video features). There are Skype Cordless WiFi phones that you can use in your house as well and can be purchased through various online and retail outlets. I’ve not purchased the cordless but had considered this option. Skype phones come in several versions. Some require a computer and some do not. Check the details.

Skype is a fee based service to call regular phone lines and a free service to have video calls and/or voice calls with other Skype users. If you never need to call a regular telephone–you won’t pay a cent for this service. Just get your family, friends and clients set up with a camera and show them where to download Skype and you will be up and running in no time. For the younger set this is very easy to set up. If you are not exactly best friends with your computer, you might need a hand from your 11 year grandson or granddaughter. I referred this to one gentleman that has 90+ year old family members in various parts of the United States. They can’t travel as easily anymore and Skype has allowed them to see family across the country and around the world with the free video chats.

MagicJack

Finally, now that I know the service, a MagicJack. The commercials and the website are really cheesey and it seems too good to be true, but this little thinga-ma-watchit really works and is a perfect solution for someone that needs a cheap solution that works great. You just plug MagicJack into your computer–it installs some software–you type in your confirmation info, and then plug in a standard corded or cordless phone and you’re set. It dials like a regular phone. Once you pay your initial $30 or $40 bucks you have free calling to anywhere in the US, with inexpensive calls around the globe. We opted for an additional 5 years of service so we paid about $100 in one shot. Now we have free calling to family and friends. We also use the MagicJack in case one of our other services not working. Your voice messages can be picked up from your phone or via email since a small VM file is emailed to you. I have also set up an email rule to forward to Lisa’s email as well so we both get messages on our computers. We treat the MagicJack like a land line with no payments in our case for 6 years. It’s free for family to call and they don’t need anything special to do it. Just your new phone number. At the time, I’m writing this you cannot move a current phone number to the MagicJack, but I understand that feature is coming.

There is so much more to say about phone and VoIP technology. I’m not covering many different other possibilities. Just know that you can communicate with just a little additional cost. In fact, you are probably going to pay less than you were at home, because you’ll be ditching your land line and expensive cell phone plan in favor of one of these simple and inexpensive services. VoIP is one of the greatest, and most important tools to any expat. Shoot me some questions for anything that you’d like me to expand on. I’ve tried to keep this simple.

Another Great Find

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Lisa

I’ve been walking past Deli Singer for weeks. Just a few blocks away from our house and right across the street from the grocery store that we frequent, this place is a gold mine. It’s always closed when I tend to walk by (weekdays between 2-4 PM) but Friday evening we found it open.

Deli Singer is a Jewish deli that has all sorts of prepared foods as well as wonderful bulk nuts, dried fruits and grains, peanut butter, and other lovely sundries that tend to be hard to find here. I am thrilled that it is so close and they have a great variety. Tonight we enjoyed some amazing cashews from Singer and would have had sundried tomatoes as well, but I forgot to add them to the lasagna I made.

Deli Singer’s hours are 8 AM-2 PM and 4 PM-8 PM Monday through Friday and 8 AM-4 PM on Saturday.

Deli Singer, Scoseria 2607 , esq. Luis de la Torre

tel: 712 12 75

Note to Brian and Chrystal: You have to check this place out. They have large bags of almonds, and not far away from you!

More of Life at the Casita

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Lisa

We’re settling in to life here and here’s another update on stuff that’s been pending in our world:

Alejandra finished her first week here and we love her already. Cleaning this whole house top to bottom in the course of two days, including purchasing many of the cleaning supplies, doing dishes and some laundry. Total cost: 510 pesos for 6 hours on Tuesday and 350 for 4 hours on Thursday = 860 pesos or $36.00. She even arranged Geneva’s sock bin in color order! Wow~

Looks like Caminito (daycare) is a go for June 1. There is a picnic next Saturday to welcome the morning class into the afternoon and we are invited. We also dropped by today to get Geneva measured for her “uniform” (light green velour hoodie, grey velour pants and white t-shirt). We’re excited to get started! Now to just translate all the paperwork needed and get it filled out correctly.

The water issue in our bathroom is still on-going and we continue to turn off the main every night. The plumbers keep working on it and took out a little of the back of the kitchen sink cabinet today to try to learn more about where the water is coming from (there are 4 plumbing fixtures on the shared plumbing wall). After removing the rotted cabinet base under the kitchen sink two weeks ago, we don;t have too much of that cabinet left! Good thing it’s on concrete and they think they found something although we have yet to learn what they are going to do about it.

I took a few photos of our sink demo, but had a moment of clarity before posting. Who on earth wants to see a sock bin and under a sink in a post. I’ve gotta get better photos.

On a different note:

I was returning yesterday from a great playdate in the park when it started to rain. Geneva and I made it the 6 blocks or so dodging downpours and as I turned the stroller onto our street, I got a really strange feeling: We are living here. We’ve signed a lease. We’re no longer just tourists. We are interacting with the plumbers, the store clerks, the Jardin, the locals. We are committed. It was a really odd feeling of familiarity and comfort and at the same time a little apprehension. My heart began to race. In all my travels, I’ve never been anywhere this long before. I love it and it freaks me out. I blame the mood on ‘winter’ coming. I’ve never done well with winter. Luckily today is 80 degrees and winters here aren’t so bad. Bring it on!

What We’ve Been Doing

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Lisa

We’ve been slacking on the blog. Sorry.

But our social calendars have been getting a workout! Between Brad going to a Futbol (soccer) match on Thursday between Argentina and Uruguay, me being being double booked for Friday lunch, emailing with another expat about upcoming yoga classes, entertaining at our house on Friday night, and going to the Rummage sale at the American School today (we had 3 expats offer to give us a ride), we’ve kept busy.

It was also Geneva’s 17 month birthday this past week, which we always celebrate with a sign and lots of photos.

I’ve also been doing tons of laundry since we have a few nice days again after three days of rain, I’m cooking a lot and just today started baking and crocheting a new project. I am a domestic goddess after all! Well, maybe not. Read on:

We also interviewed a lady to come in and clean the house 2x per week. She came very highly recommended by an expat we know and we met with Alejandra on Thursday. She’ll come on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for 80 pesos ($3.33) an hour plus bus fare. We do also pay taxes into the UY equivalent of the social security system as her employer. Alejandra would also do some cooking and laundry, which we said we wouldn’t need that at this point. She will also help us get set up with any of the equipment/cleaning supplies that we need, including the great natural products at the Ecotiendas store. We’ll try it with Alejandra for a few weeks and see how it goes.

An update to other items:

We have yet another lead for a possible daycare. Caminito still may work out in a couple of weeks, but we don’t know for sure and want to keep the search going just in case.

We still have a water issue that is going to be dealt with this week. The plumber has been here several times and installed a new kitchen faucet, toilet mechanism, and adjusted/repaired the temperature control on the water heater and we still have 2-3 liters of water on the bathroom floor every morning if we don’t shut the water off every night. Jorge has been a huge advocate of ours and has been the one dealing with the landlord on this issue. I would rather they just break into the wall to see what’s going on and get it done with.

Other than that, we’re getting into a routine. Weather is turning colder and the heat is on in the bedrooms at night. That is the only heat that we have in the house and the other rooms are chilly. No wonder I’m cooking more, at least then the kitchen is toasty warm.

Tomorrow we’ll probably go to the Expat lunch at Old Maz which happens every Sunday but we also have tentative plans for afternoon/evening for Brad to help a family with some technology/internet issues. The girls can play and we’ll work for food and wine!

We’ve met lots of wonderful, interesting people so far and really value the information we’ve gleaned and the friends we’ve already made .

More in the Daycare Story :)

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Lisa

Sorry for those of you who don’t have kids and don’t care about our daycare story. I know there are others that want the latest on our meeting today with Caminito.

Brad and I walked to Caminito today at about 2:00. The afternoon session had just started and Gabrilela was leaving. Jimena gave us a quick tour and asked if we could come back this evening when they would both be available to talk. We took a cab back at 6:30 and were there for a little over a half hour. They told us they are in the process of restructuring, cutting out the morning session (I believe the teacher for this session is leaving) and possibly adding another afternoon session for the 1-2 year olds. To do that though, they need to find a new instructor.

Long story short: We’d love to start there ASAP but we don’t have a spot until they get it all figured out. They said that they’d get back to us within a week and maybe we can start in two weeks. We walked out with all the paperwork and fingers crossed that we’ll be able to get in soon.

It could be a lot worse, like some daycare centers in the US where you are on a many-month waiting list for a spot to open up. We’ll just see how it goes!

Daycare- Option 3

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Lisa

We received the referral that I referenced in the post last week Daycare Options.

I visited Caminito Jardin de Infantes today, along with an Expat Mom whose 3-year-old daughter goes there. I also just learned of another family on the Uruguay Connection forum that has a two year old son there as well. Both families highly recommend the program.

I visited the Caminito website a few days ago and with the help of Google Translate, I was able to learn about their philosophy, hsitory and teachers before evere visiting. The center is located about 12 blocks from us, down Boulevard Artigas, going away from la Rambla. Still walkable though, and I was in the area today in about 15 minutes (at a very brisk pace). I met up with Expat Mom and we walked to Caminito together.

My initial impression was great. The place is cheery and fun, with a big metal gate in front that is locked with a key and someone actually has to come out and let you in, instead of just buzzing from inside. Note: It is really not as ominous as it sounds when it’s painted all in bright colors. We entered and left the stroller in the storage area. The first differences were evident. There were tubes of various materials and colors, something that looked like a hula hoop but with texture, balls of every shape and size, a bunch of empty 5-liter water bottles.. this is the concept of using everyday materials to create wonder and exploration. I love it already!

(Note to my Dad: You were right with all of your surprise “toys” for Geneva. I just didn’t realize it at the time!!)

We talk with the Administrator, Gabriela for a few minutes. The place is clean, bright and sparsely furnished. There is a small garden in back, I hear with lettuce or spinach planted that they will use to make a torta for the kids. Then we went upstairs to see the 3-year-old and one-year-old rooms. The three year olds were climbing through nylon tunnels and bouncing on mats. Each age group has two rooms, one with furniture and toys and the other is open for napping or larger activities. The instructors plan different exploration activities daily, many with reused products.

Geneva and I go into the room with the 1-2 year olds. There are 4 kids and two instructors (it was late in the day and I think a few had left already). The kids are around a table painting and putting paper confetti on their “paintings” with both materials gettin absolutely everywhere. The huge smiles on every child in the room told me that they were thrilled and Geneva wanted to get right in.

Once back downstairs, Geneva and her 3-year old friend each get a different shaped plastic bottle filled with food-colored-water and various floating objects (all the caps were glued on) an they start rolling and shaking the bottles. Nothing like purple bubbles! We talk a little more, I get a price list and find that Caminitos pricing is the same range as the others I looked reviewed. They are implementing uniforms, with the winter uniform of a light green velour hoodie, light gray velour pants and a white t-shirt. Very cute and having come from a youth filled with uniforms myself, I am all for them. My uniforms were green plaid and not quite as cute, though!

They also provide homemade snacks and milk at Caminito, for a whopping 250 pesos (under $ 11.00/month) for the afternoon session with the morning session a little less. All included, it still comes to about $150 for the month: The general monthly fee and snack are the monthly costs with materials, Matricula (registration) and uniform (figured 4 per year) all divided since they are yearly costs. Hopefully we got everything here, if not, we’ll make adjustments to the above information.

We plan to visit again tomorrow so Brad can join us and hopefully register at that time. I really like Caminito and think it will be a great fit for us!

Note: Caminito is a new-ish program and it sounds like they are making adjustments to their offerings, class sizes and instructor schedule. More information to come.

Blog Housekeeping

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Lisa

I have a few topics in the works about why we’re here and our goals. I’m also still working on my list from the other day… but for today, we’re sorting photos/adding to previous posts that may be missing some and doing general housekeeping on the site. I know there are typos out there and I am going to find them!!

“It’s The Little Differences”

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Lisa

Vincent: ”But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?”

Jules: ”What?”

Vincent: ”It’s the little differences. I mean, they got the same sh*t over there that we got here, but it’s just, just, there it’s a little different.

Pulp Fiction, 1994.

Well, that goes for just about anywhere in the world that you visit, whether it is Europe, or Asia, or South America. And it’s not that things are different as in “weird”, just different than what we are used to.

1.) Bugs. We come from a cold weather climate of MN. Sure, there are bugs there like mosquitoes, ticks, flies and spiders, but this is a little different. It is not like when we were in the Amazon in Peru, but here the creepy crawlies are still a lot bigger and scarier than MN. I’m generally not squeamish, but when I turn the light on and two “things” that are about an inch-and-a-half long go scurrying for the cover of darkness, I get a little freaked. Ewww.

2.) Other warm weather differences: There are indoor/outdoor spaces here. Our back courtyard is nearly an indoor space, except it is open above. Perfect for entertaining, for cooking on the large brick parilla, for the dogs and G to play in and for doing laundry. Our washer is out there (no frozen pipes!) and there is no clothes dryer so everything gets hung up on the line. Single pane glass on the windows is also different. Not wild about this because it lets in more noise, but hey, we’re used to noise. No window screens. I could go on…

3.) Food in bags. I’ve talked about the BioBolsa shopping bags from Disco grocery store, but food is also packaged in bags. Milk is in liter bags, mayonnaise is in bags and olives also come in little bags. Plastic and glass recycling is limited here, and food packaging bags take up a lot less space in the landfill than the alternative of glass or plastic containers, I suppose. Plus it would be less weight to transport. I still don’t like plastic bags one bit and I’m working on finding other options.

4.) “Industria Uruguaya” on almost everything. How can a country about the size and population of Oklahoma make so much of its own food/products? It is incredible that so many items display these two key words so prominently. It’s the full gamut of foods and products, too, including but not limited to: flour, fruit, coffee, beef, wine, beer. There are some imports as well and not surprisingly most are from from Argentina or Brazil.

5.) We really don’t need a car at all. We only had one car for the past several years in MN (the beloved MINI), but here we really have everything we need within walking distance so a car is completely unnecessary. I love that. If we need to go further, taxis are everywhere and the bus system is extensive. We can also rent a car if we need a weekend away.

Liter beer bottles next to a standard wine

6.) Smaller sizes of most products. The US is a bigger-is-better, bulk society. Here, you buy 4 rolls of TP at a time and 2 or 4 rolls of paper towels instead of 12 or more. I have not seen 24-packs of soda (although there are 1.5 and 2-liter bottles of the big brands). The only big sizes I have seen are beer (1 liter bottles are standard, at grocery stores and restaurants) and restaurant serving sizes are gigantic for nearly everything.

7.) Vets making house calls and most everything can be delivered. We had a vet visit Paloma when she was being boarded and Pablo’s medication dropped off for us once we got into the house. SO nice. Grocery stores also deliver, as do many restaurants, storefront fruit stands and food shops. We have yet to employ those services, though.

8.) Our microwave freakin talks to us! In Spanish or English. It is really cool and I’ll have to post a video sometime.

9.) Bidets. This is a bidet culture much like many parts of Europe and areas of the world. The US is not a bidet culture and in fact, in my years in the Interior Design industry, I have had only one request for a bidet and at the time had a giggle about it (This was 10 years ago, give me a break!) The bidet is an integral part of any main bathroom in UY and I am sure it would be viewed as odd here to not have a bidet as it is in the US to have one.

10.) Other things we’ve explained before: the late dinner hour, rental process, etc.

Really, though, these are all the things that make exploring a new country so much fun; Taking everything that you know and turning it on its head and finding different ways to accomplish the same thing. These are all priceless experiences.

UR MOVING WHERE?!?!

Adventures of an Expat Family in Uruguay…err Bariloche, Argentina…um Córdoba.

Monthly Archives: May 2009