It's figureoutable

I think I'm watching the end of the Mariners hopes for their season.

They're playing the first place Angels tonight. The Mariners won the first game of the series. The Angels won the second.

Now the third game: The Mariners were up 5-0 early and then 7-4 in the ninth. But no, their previously unhittable closer gave up three runs - including a 2-run homer - to tie it up with two outs. Last I checked, the Angels had the bases loaded in the top of the 11th.

They've been doing it with mirrors this season (feels a bit like watching the Broncos in a couple of the last few seasons, actually) and I think the mirrors have finally cracked.

I guess we'll see, but I think this game is the beginning of the end.

Update...

Okay. I'll leave the original version up there, but the Mariners won in the 12th. Hmmm. Again, I guess we'll see.

My server has been misbehaving lately and it seemed like it was something to do with my blog. So I haven't posted for a while.

I guess the crashes were a coincidence. Or so the technical people say.

We'll see. I'm going to post this and hope that the server doesn't crash.

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Quick revision. So far so good.

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And here I am two hours later. It's still working. Good.

Okay. No one should lie. The republicans are currently trying to defend the administration by reminding people that the president (a Democrat at the time), not some adviser, was indicted (impeached) a few years ago for perjury. Now Scooter is just an adviser...

But let's look at it this way. What were the lies about?

Clinton lied about marital infidelity.

Scooter lied about leaking classified material.

Which one is worse?

Oh, by the way? Clinton was acquitted of the charges... in a trial by a republican controlled body. Scooter deserves his day in court too.

But keep in mind the difference in topics.

(By the way, I can't resist using "Scooter" to refer to him. It's so country club... and dorky.)

During his original campaign, Dubya said over and over again, "I will restore honor and dignity to the White House."

Scooter Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, was just indicted for perjury.

Ahh, honor and dignity.

... but at least the 20-year-old blonde girl - who was on my back at the time I fell face first on the concrete floor - is okay.

Well, it was only one day. And it was only one class. But being back in school again is going to be odd. Lot's of youngsters. Lots of "energy". Much expended effort. Not much obvious return (yet, okay. yet.)

Okay. Admittedly. First impressions. But it has been 16 years. And you have to admit, this is very different from this. And this is very different from this. And this is very different from this. And this is most definitely different from this.

Yes. Different. I'll keep you posted. If I have time.

So, I got this e-mail today from "SouthTrustProcessing" with the subject: "SouthTrust Bank ATM Credit/Debit Cards Security". Now, I know from the start that this is likely an attempt at fraud -- if only because I don't have any accounts with "SouthTrust Bank." (whatever that is.) But just for grins, I read the e-mail. Here is the text quoted in its entirety:

Dear client,

For your guidance: Administration of our bank has made a resolve to modernize transactions security system. The new standards will guaranty convenience and safety of using ATM cards. Our theft-prevention solutions will take effect urgently. Follow this confirmation link: SouthTrust Online-Banking Our new technologies and encryption methods will exclude any possibility of fraud activity. We highly appreciate your time and support,

SouthTrust Credit/Debit Cards Service Dept.

Now, what I want to know is does anyone fall for this? Wouldn't the average person realize that an e-mail this poorly written is suspect?

The scary thing is, I know I could write an e-mail that would be far more convincing than the average phishing e-mail. I've really only seen one (out of hundreds) fraudulent e-mail that was even close to the level of business writing of a legitimate e-mail -- and I had to think for a few seconds about it. So, (here's the scary part) when do you suppose someone who can actually write will begin phishing? When she/he does, how much more successful will she/he be? Will I fall for one of these e-mails?

Probably not, but I know people who might.

So, (for some reason) I was editing my Amazon shopping cart recently. It had a bunch of stuff that I placed and then for one reason or another "saved for later." (There were about sixty items in there.) The process for removing items is a bit tedious. You can only remove them one at a time and then you have to navigate back to the page of the cart you were editing and delete the next item.

So anyway what I discovered was this odd fluctuation in pricing. Almost every time I removed an item or navigated to a page in the cart one of the following two messages would come up (in alternation, obviously):





So, something is triggering this one item to fluctuate by six dollars over and over again on 10 to 30 second intervals. Doesn't it make you wonder about what price your friends are seeing for the same items at Amazon? Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly complaining. I've gotten some crazy deals from them over the years, but it's interesting. I'd like to figure it out.

Well, yes, we probably both eat too much sometimes, but really. Mom is just TINY.

So, we're sitting in this restaurant today... Let me say that this is a "normal" restaurant with a family and businessman crowd. It's a breakfast place. You know the type of place. Lot's of vinyl, formica, cholesterol and cheese.

So, we're sitting in this restaurant and I look up to another table where there's a family of five: a mom, a dad, and three boys. They're normal enough. You know, mom looks a little harrassed. The younger boys are trying to find sticky and/or greasy things to fling at each other. The dad was a pillar of stone with a newspaper.

And the oldest boy, apparently about 15, was, of course, wearing an orange bandana as a headband low almost over his eyes, blue-rimmed glasses and a t-shirt that read "Vivan! Los Zapatistas."

A 15-year-old (very) white boy in Moscow, ID wearing a t-shirt, espousing long-life for a rebel group in Chiapas, Mexico. Hmmm. Political statement? Is he about to head south and fight for the rights of indiginous peoples in southern Mexico? He didn't look the type, but one never knows.

(Why do you suppose the comment spammers latched onto this one... Oh well, I've disabled comments; we'll see if they start in on another one.)