TrickMo

I suppose all of us have that certain person who loves to send along random jokes all the time. When it comes to getting spam from friends, I find that it’s hard to be tactful. Sometimes I want to reply that I didn’t see the attachment and that the person is crazy to open a Powerpoint, Word, or Excel document, or even worse - some unknown executable. However, I find that the people who don’t know better than to open dangerous attachments are not going to get it, and I will be drawn into giving some lesson on the basics of internet security. At the same time, I can’t help but check out the safe things my friends pass along, because they are often funny. I appreciate a good laugh, and I am inclined to thank them for the chuckle. That’s when the problem starts. Once they realize that I’m paying attention, they send more, and they assume that I check all the stuff they send. And they ask what I thought about this or that. And then I’m stuck. Do I tell them I didn’t see that one because I only look at safe things? Then I’m back to trying to explain what safe things are.

In the end, I’ve learned to look but not to admit it. As much as I want to thank the spammer for the laugh, replying inevidably ends with me getting more and getting questions. All I wanted was a laugh.

I got a great spam the other day:

Subject: I can’t respond to any emails today…

I can’t respond to any emails today, something has crashed on my computer

and the mouse is missing.

Playa doesn’t know yet, but she’s got a new friend. My homie Dave just adopted an adorable little Chihuahua. He’s picking up “Madam Tiki” from the vet today. Congrats Dave and Diana!

Madam Tiki

I just found out my old friend Bob Bledsoe from childhood is a comedian.  Check out this clip of his. Funny dude! If you like the clip, check out his myspace page.

Pretty tight little invention - for 1924!

Armstead Snow Motors from Seeking Michigan on Vimeo.

Based on review of maps issued by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, the following determination is made:

THE PROPERTY IDENTIFIED IN THIS REPORT IS LOCATED IN AN OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED VERY HIGH FIRE HAZARD SEVERITY ZONE

 Yikes. Really? And then there was the scary termite report. Apparently the annual cost of termite damage to homes in the U.S. is greater than that of fires, storms and floods combined, and no home is safe from them. They come in two varieties - subterranean and drywood.

Oh the things I didn’t even want to know about…

Superbowl weekend. What better place to hang out than on the beach??

It was announced today that the State Department won’t be renewing their contract with Blackwater in Iraq. This is a huge relief for anyone (like me) who has read Jeremy Scahill’s frightening expose of the company. It chronicles the company’s rise along with the extremely disturbing trend toward privitization of our military.

Nice move, Hillary!!

A good read: Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army

Check out this parody ad on the US auto bailout from BuffaloBeast.com. Folks, I think that just about sums it up. Of course it’s nothing compared to the financial bailout. I don’t even know what I think about these bailouts, to be honest. The argument is that everyone suffers if these drag the whole economy down, but isn’t the whole economy going South anyway? Now, as it sets in just what kind of recession we may be in, doesn’t it seem stupid that the first thing we’ve been doing is pumping money into the worst offenders out there? In the case of the banks and Wall street, one could argue that these are the actual folks who got us into the mess. Let them burn. As we have seen, they continue to reward themselves with bonuses even as they seek aid. Obama is right to call it “shameful,” but isn’t it even more shameful that we are duped into thinking the only option is rescuing these companies? Let the companies benefit which can be profitable. There’s gonna be blood loss anyway.

Last week was about the most up and down week in my life. More accurately, it was down and up. Thursday I learned that I was being laid off. This wasn’t entirely a surprise, as my application had been slated for retirement in June. As the application administrator, I expected that I would be there right up to the end. Well, that ugly merger in the news changed everything. They decided to pull the plug sooner, and as a result I got my walking papers. I was given one day to clear out my computer.

On Friday afternoon at 3pm, I was still instant messaging a colleague when my access was cut. I knew it was coming, but the error message still cut me deep. ‘Access denied.’ The IM logged me out, homespace access denied, email denied. Time to turn off the computer and take a deep breath.

I was still taking that deep breath when a call came in at 6pm. It was our broker. “Congratulations!!” he screams. “The day has finally come!!” The offer we placed, and had been waiting on for 3 months, has been accepted. We are in escrow. Wow. What impeccable timing. OMFG this has got to be some kind of joke. Nope. It’s happening. So much for enjoying some time off…

A friend of mine wished me a happy ‘Obama Dawn’ over the holidays. I’d not heard the expression, but I like it. A new dawn. I love how much excitement there is over the inauguration. Now of course I’m biased, but it really seems to be more than just partisonship behind the excitement. Consider the contrast between this and the 2001/2005 events, where Bush was met with massive protests and his car was egged. I doubt there will be protests this year, because everybody seems ready for a change. I really hope Obama is the man to bring it. Beyond anything else, I really do feel hope. Hope for the dawn of a new era. A new ‘Obama Dawn.’