And that's just what's so cool about the Internet...

I started this blog a little over two and a half years ago, because my friend Colleen inspired me to do so. A few months later, Colleen also suggested that I check out another cool blog she had found, hosted by Kelly. At the time, Kelly was a daily poster, and in her years of blogging she had gathered an amazing community of on-line friends, of which I somehow, over time, became a part. Despite the fact that Kelly is currently on an indefinite hiatus, many of the people I met at her place are now on my blog roll, and some have become on-line friends.

Aakanksha was one of those that I met at Kelly Well's. Hailing from Calcutta, she was a student at an Australian university when I met her, finishing up a degree in robotics engineering (so THAT wasn't intimidating at all!) We went from commenting on each other's comments on Kelly's (and Colleen's!) blogs, to commenting on each other's blogs, to chatting over Google Talk, to being on each other's Facebook friends, to sending each other lengthy e-mails about life, the universe, and everything. In the process, she moved to London to start a new job and got engaged. (I tried to get her to play hostess to my brother when he was over there, but that didn't work out. I'm kinda glad, actually--I would have been a little jealous if Logan got to meet her before I did!)

This past weekend, Aakanksha had to present a paper at a conference in Vancouver, B.C. Wouldn't it have been lovely if we weren't all "up in the air" about a move, so I could have driven out to meet her? 'Twas not to be, though.

However, imagine my surprise when she called me out of the blue on Saturday evening! I got to hear her lovely Calcuttan/Aussie/British/mixed-up accent for the first time, in her sweet voice. So. cool.

But that was not half as cool as the fact that after signing up for Skype on Monday, Aakanksha was my first Skype conversation today. Since she has a webcam, I got to see her talking to me in real time. And Mark, too. And they blew bubbles at me in celebration of our counter-offer being accepted on the house!

When we finished, I immediately called Jason and said, "Please order me a webcam!"

Free worldwide video-phone calls? There goes productivity!

I feel like I'm in Star Trek! :-)