What in the ****?

Yes (504).

(504) 298-5935 to be exact. Go ahead try it (I’m probably not online when you’re reading this to pick up but leave me a message)!

Thank you magicJack!

You saw right. In something that feel very much like The Secret running me over with a car, I swear I dreamt and wished and prayed for a 504 number. It’s New Orleans silly, the place to whom I wrote My Love Letter to New Orleans, this past Spring and just took my breathe away and stole my heart and beckons my return this fall.

But I thought how in the world could I get a 504 number when I know I won’t be giving up my 310 area code? Santa Monica love and I worked hard for five years in Los Angeles to deserve that phone number.

Then the miraculous little thing called technology happened. Or in this case macgicJack. A friend of mine who moved here to Manila to start a virtual assistant company (yes this one) introduced it to me this past weekend. I think I’m down with the tech, but it blew me away. The quality is amazing. And free! Can’t really beat that. I had to have one. Here’s how it works.
1) You buy a MagicJack for $40 (slightly more internationally).

2) You set up any area code and prefix you want. This means I could choose not only New Orleans (504) but a Garden District prefix (298).

3) Plug it into your USB, quick and easy set up and you’re done.

Free calls to/from anywhere in the world to the U.S. and Canada. I called my mom on her cell phone and my grandparents on their home phone. A magic trick or an illusion? Only Arrested Development would know, but this is magic kids. Or really good technology bursting at the seams to give the phone companies a good kick in the you-know-what.

I bought a cheap landphone for 345 Pesos (that’s like $7) and I plugged it into my MagicJack and I’m good to go. I can call you, you can call me.

For my friend with the outsourcing company it works great. His call center was calling from Skype but the numbers were showing up a 00009 or something. Now, when you hire an assistant from his company, he can assign them an area code from where you are. Bunker Hill in downtown LA – 213 no problem, live in Burlington, Vermont – 802 BOOM.

For me, most of my family and close friends don’t Skype. I tried and tried to set up before I left but it didn’t work. This means I hadn’t talked to my family in 6 weeks, sigh. I bought my MagicJack and just had CLEAR AS DAY conversations with all of them.

When the guy who sells them here in Manila was setting me up, I could choose ANY area code I wanted. I didn’t even pause. 504 please.

Him: Oh 504. New Orleans nice. I happened to go to Tulane for a semester. It’s a special place, huh? You from there?

Me: Haha, of course you did. Not exactly from there, I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maybe someday though. It holds a special place in my heart. Can’t wait to get back this fall. Hey think I can get a prefix for where I want to live in the Garden District?

Him: No problem, you can get anywhere you want.

“Where are you?” My family asked when I called them from my 504 number. “Manila,” I responded. “Come again?” They said.

So if you want to call and say hi, hey just dial 504.298.5935.

How do you like them apples. Me with a 504.