Satuki @ Home

I receive automated calls from Telemarketers and debt collectors every day.  I told the debt collectors that they got the wrong person.  They just kept calling.  I am home 24×7.  This really annoys the heck out of me especially when I am napping.

I have registered on the National Do-Not-Call list. But it does not work well. That list blocks some telemarketers. But there is a long exemption list. So I was on a quest to search for something that could work like our emails.  You know something like you can set up a filter for a particular number that would go straight to your answering machine or simply just block that number.  Speaking of number blocking, a lot of phone companies have call block services. But they have limitations. I heard Verizon does not provide this service to new customers any more. For those that do have this service, they can only place 6-12 phone numbers on the block list.

So I started looking on Amazon for a handset that has the number blocking feature built in.  I thought it was easy. But to my surprise, none of the handsets I found on Amazon has this feature.  Then I started looking for an external device that can be connected with a handset and stop telemarketing.  Finally I found one. What I like about it is that it zaps all automated calls without ringing the bell.  Nowadays, a computer calls you first most of the time.  When you pick up the phone,  it switches to a human caller. Because of this automated nature, it is easy to terminate all the calls before it even rings the bell. The device also has a very sweet feature that can block all calls except emergency ones when I am sleeping.

Ever since I have installed this little thing a week ago,  my phone has become much quieter.  My only gripe is that it cost me 70 dollars. I might be missing something here. But how hard could it be to write a few lines of code in a handset that could block unwanted callers?

As for my trading, I am on a month long vacation.  But I have been working occasionally  on some automated trading algorithms with my husband, which is basically all his idea.   He is a programmer, who likes to automate everything.  We are almost done with back-testing, which is fairly rigorous and extensive.  In a week or 2, he will start trading small positions with it. I will see how it goes in real life trading.  If it is good, I will post his results. Although, he will not reveal his algorithms, we can still take a look at his results for entertainment or  just a laugh, LOL….