It's Skype Tutorial Time!

Hi lovelies,

It's been about a week since I posted last and I have many things to say, but most important among those things is this: I have Skype! my user name is raychel.winstead -- come look me up! For those who aren't in the know, Skype is an awesome free software that lets you phone people up through your computer. If I call your computer from my computer and we both chat over Skype, then that's totally free. If I call from my computer to your telephone, then that only costs maybe ten cents a minute or something. I'm still working out the details but here's the basic tutorial so that you can come join me:

Get (And Install) Skype

1. Go to the Skype website at http://www.skype.com/download and click on the big green "download now" button. I'm using Skype version 3.8, but if you get the 4.0+ beta versions (the newer stuff) that's okay too.
2. You're gonna get a dialogue box popping up that says "you have chosen to open SkypeSetup.exe -- would you like to save this file?" Yes, yes you would like to save this file. Once saved, it should show up as a blue box icon on your desktop saying "Skype Setup".
3. Double-click that blue box and get to installin'. It's easy. Just follow the little steps and, at the end, you get a neato Skype all installed. It looks like this:
4. 

Getting Your Account

1. So, now that you've got your Skype installed, you'll wanna create an account for yourself. On the log-in screen, click on the little blurb under the "Skype Name" box that says "don't have a Skype name?"
2. Follow the steps in the box that pops up. Make up a user name and password, blah blah blah. At the end you click "Sign In" and it creates your user name and signs you in to Skype. You're in! It looks like this:

Getting Started On Skype

1. Okay, so by this point there's a Skype tutorial that's much better than mine to take you through the rest. All you need is a headset with a microphone (any of the normal ones you'd buy for your computer will do; just head out to Wal-Mart and grab a pair. Headphones + microphone = your friend!)

A neato bonus when you first start using Skype is that your first call to a land line is free. I tried calling home at 11 p.m. my time, but neither Mom nor Marv picked up. I left a message.

Well, anywho, I'm on Skype now. Add me! You can leave me a comment, an e-mail, or smoke signals letting me know when we can get together and chat. If not, I'll be online every day between 5 and 7 p.m. my time (10 a.m. and noon for you Central Standard people) unless otherwise posted. Love ya, guys!