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January 30 SCUMSCUM is my new acronym: Selfish Composers of Unscrupulous Malware
This past weekend a new piece of malware was forced on my desktop computer without my consent. I thought I had rid my computer of the curse until it recurred today. Malware is any type of software (virus, worm, trojan, etc) that intends to do me harm or do harm to my computer.
The new problem in my life is called PestTrap (aka Spy Sheriff). It masquerades as a part of Windows. The intent of this mini-app is to convince users their machine has been infected and a new application MUST be downloaded plus a fee paid in order to fix the problem. Of course, paying the money only makes the problem worse. PestTrap tries to get ahold of your credit card number through the purchase of software that claims to protect you. Until you do their bidding, there is an endless straem of pop-up bubbles exclaiming with urgency that your machine is infected. It's all a ruse to get your money - my money - OUR MONEY! It's all a lie. Thankfully, I didn't fall for their ruse.
I have no idea how I got infected with the PestTrap beast. But that is the least of my concerns. I'm more troubled that out there - somewhere in the world is a SCUM that thinks s/he has the right to steal my money and control my computer, doing both with impunity! Where is the law enforcment system? Is anybody trying to stop them?
How do these SCUM develop? Are they born that way? Do they have no moral center because of nature or nurture? Frankly, as a teacher who has seen a lot of bad parenting, I'm inclined to think the latter. Were their mothers overbearing and fathers absent?
Why aren't lawmakers doing more to stop these animals. Why aren't political conservatives and fundamentalists trying to overcome the growing moral threat from criminal code writers? (Yeah, I have an ax to grind. Duh!)
These puny code writing rejects of society practice their trade in darkened rooms away from the glare of the public spotlight. Sounds American politics doesn't it - or a Christian mega church.
I hope there is a special spot in hell for SCUM. They deserve to rot under the most torturous circumstances. Hitler, Hussein, Musolini, Pol Pot - they killed millions. These SCUM are not nearly on the same scale, but they are annoying billions and stealing millions of dollars. Surely they deserve some sort of horrible punishment. Perhaps a public torture session with flesh eating bacteria, phiranna, and the guards at Abu Ghraib? January 29 My Name is John C......and I am a techno-addict. Yes, I admit it. I'm addicted to techno toys.
Gene and I lost our minds yesterday (Ok, I lost my mind. Gene is still sane). We both bought new laptop computers. I couldn't resist - honestly. Yesterday morning I turned on my old laptop to try and work on a problem that occurred the previous weekend while in Portland. Unfortunately, the computer never managed to boot up all the way. It was stuck in a startup loop. I admit, I didn't try very hard to fix it. After all, my old laptop is 7 years old - a dinosaur in computer terms.
This is a great time to buy a new PC because every retailer has them on clearance just prior to the appearance of Windows Vista. Of course, it also means you don't get the newest operating software - but I made sure to buy a machine that will run the best OS that Microsoft has to offer.
Yesterday, I thought I could easily wait for the kinks in Vista to be ironed out. 6 months or a year from now would be a fine time to upgrade. But I spent a lot of time today reading and watching the news about the new OS release. Now I'm excited about that too. Apparently, the cost for me to upgrade will be about $159.
I'll hold out as long as I can before I "drink the Kool-Aid." January 27 A RespiteFor the first time in three months, we are in the midst of a break from wet and cold weather.
The past week has been wonderful. Temperatures have been in the upper 40s, the sun has been shining, and the rains have taken a holiday.
Of course, we have used this time to do...what else....explore future vacations.
Hmmm...how about Hawaii in a year, Alaska in the summer of 2008, and what could be better than Beijing the following year. It's just a thought! The Olympics will be over but the city should be basking in the afterglow of international attention.
For now, I'll try and keep my eyes on the winter sun here in Seattle. Tomorrow I mow for the first time in 3 months. No...the grass isn't growing much. I'm doing it to suck up the last of the fall leaves.
We leave for our Western Caribbean cruise in three weeks. January 16 Snow, Snow, and More SnowAgain, we have snow in Seattle. What was supposed to be just a trace last night, has turned into a couple inches. Apparently the weak weather system stalled overnight right over the city. Though snowfall was light, the fact that the system slowed its movement to the east allowed a significant amount to accumulate just in the past two hours. The new layer of white stuff now rests on top of the old. And, daytime temperatures in the region have been below freezing for the last several days, so there's no sign this new snow will be leaving soon.
School has been cancelled again. I was worried that I'd be teaching well into July, but a recent regulation change at the state level has given us a reprieve from an extended school year. Since the Governor declared a State of Emergency in December during our big wind storm, schools don't have to make up every missed day of instruction. Some of them will be forgiven. The state of emergency is still in place.
Today I can finally take down our Christmas tree and do some research into our next possible Christmas vacation: Japan in 2007! January 01 Wrapping Up 2006The year 2006 has come to a close. Parts of the year were difficult, but overall I am pleased with the progress we have made. And I’m looking forward to an even better 2007.
One of my major goals for 2006 was the repainting of our home’s living, dining, and entry rooms. That was accomplished during the spring and summer. Another goal was for Gene to hold onto his job at Qwest. That too was accomplished. Now we just have to make it until August of 2007 and he will reach the final magic number: 30 yrs with the phone company and 50 years old. That milestone will mark his achievement of 100% pension qualification.
To celebrate Gene’s 50th, I did my best to surprise him with a Caribbean cruise. We took that trip during February of 2006. Part of our travel included seeing Ft. Lauderdale and Miami for the first time. The cruise was fantastic – flawless in fact. And I enjoyed my first scuba dive in the warm waters of the Caribbean at St. Thomas, USVI. That event laid the groundwork for the realization of a personal goal late in 2006.
During the early spring of 2006, we finally finished our three year traffic circle project. We planted a dogwood tree, azaleas, heather, and ajuga. At the same time, we finished painting and decorating our remodeled kitchen. Our home has never looked better.
But sadly, on the political front, it was also during spring of 2006 when the Washington State Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to deny gay couples a marriage certificate. That ruling was a devastating blow for me personally. I was completely enraged and I lashed out at family, friends, and foes alike. I was angry and hurt because of the apathy and neglect I see all around me. I expressed my rage in writing, which deeply hurt some - my mother most of all. For that I still feel regret. Though some were offended by my diatribe, I still maintain a strong sense that I have a right to express my feelings and let everyone know exactly how angry I was and still am. I am most frustrated because on a daily or weekly basis I continue to hear about how Gene and I are not worthy of respect, protection, or equality.
Putting up with such discrimination by the general public for decades has really worn me down. And the political choices people have made, including those made by my family, have had an impact on me which has been hidden. The State Supreme Court decision finally blew the top off some long held and deeply felt resentment which I had kept unexpressed for too long.
Creatively, I completed four amateur movies during 2006. First, I finished Jumpin’ Down to Palm Springs. That was followed by my new series called The Love Boat: Mexican Riviera and The Love Boat: Caribbean. Finally, as the end of the year was approaching I finished Velo Veneto Season 2006 for my brother’s biking/travel company. I’m proud of all these amateur videos, but I’m most proud of the Velo Veneto piece. However, my most popular has been the Caribbean video. On YouTube.com it has garnered more than 2000 hits and for a while was in the top 20 of travel videos.
One of the great highlights of our year came in May of 2006. It was the adoption into our family of a new dog. Sophia came to us via Miniature Schnauzer Rescue Northwest in Portland, Oregon. She was a beautiful little girl who immediately bonded with us. Her unique personality and independent streak assured that we were condemned to fall in love with her. But tragically, she was not to remain with us for very long. We discovered during the summer that she had a large tumor on her spleen and the cancer had spread to her bladder, making it virtually impossible to cure. Gene was most brave when he made the decision to have Sophia euthanized while I was at work. It has been several months since the loss of Sophia, and we still feel the pain – Gene most especially so. But I think 2007 will be marked by the arrival of another little Schnauzer dog. I can almost guarantee it.
At the same time we adopted Sophia we decided to sell our vacation condo in Ocean Shores. Over the five years we have owned that property, we’ve done a great deal of work to redecorate and upgrade the unit. A few years ago we even removed it from a rental pool so we could enjoy weekend getaways without the competing interests of marketing the property to the general public. We grew very fond of the condo. But as time went by and we traveled more often outside the US, we found we were using the condo less often. So, we decided to sell and reinvest our money as well as increase our financial liquidity because Gene’s job prospects have been so unpredictable in the last couple years. Today, at the end of 2006, it appears we are just weeks away from completing our condo sale. The real estate market in Ocean Shores is not very active, so finding a buyer has taken more than six months.
It was soon after we put the condo on the market that I finally finished a longtime goal – the removal of my last two wisdom teeth. The first two were removed back in 1990, along with a benign tumor. It was my intention to have the remaining pair extracted within a year or two. But that timeframe expanded to 16 years. Now I don’t have the difficulty of cleaning impacted wisdom teeth, and that is one loss for which I am quite thankful.
Soon after the loss of my teeth, during the summer of 2006, I enjoyed a special treat. My brother Patrick flew me to Italy in order to put together a commemorative video for the clients of his bike racing camp. I also created an online commercial for his website. Time will tell if the project increases his business. Seeing Italy for the first time was certainly a highlight of 2006. I enjoyed my time in Venice and several small towns to the north along the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. I also was able to spend time in both Florence and Rome. But the trip ended on a frustrating note when, due to terrorist threats of a liquid bomb on planes, air traffic in Europe was thrown into chaos. I returned to the US a full day late and several hundred dollars short when I missed my return flight on American Airlines because of widespread security delays and flight cancellations. I stayed at a Gatwick Airport hotel. I also learned that traveling long distances without Gene is not much fun for me. He and I are definitely attached at the hip and after more than a day or two apart I feel lonely. You can imagine how I felt while wandering around Rome by myself. It wasn’t easy.
During the summer, we gained some new technology in our lives. Gene and I finally made the decision to change from cable TV to satellite. We did so because the cost of cable kept rising, while satellite TV rates dropped. Such a change also fostered our decision to buy our first big screen LCD television. Installation of the device was a big job, which Gene handled very well by constructing a heavy duty bracing structure in place of our old TV niche. We have definitely enjoyed the new technology and programming, especially Logo, a network targeted to gay and lesbian viewers.
A personal goal was met during 2006 - I became certified to scuba dive. Previously I had gone scuba diving three times – twice in Hawaii and once in St. Thomas. Ever since my first experience with scuba back in 2000, I’ve wanted to complete my certification. It took a while for me to finally sign up for a course, but I ultimately did it. I took my coursework through Underwater Sports here in Seattle. I finished my four qualifying dives in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, and I was surprised when I found it to be very difficult. That, of course, made the final completion of the course even more satisfying.
Despite all I’ve written about the significant happenings of 2006, I still haven’t mentioned the most important event: our purchase of a new town home in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood. It was late spring when Gene and I started talking about downsizing our lives, purging our possessions, and simplifying life by buying a new and smaller home. We found such a place just two blocks north of Seattle Center. Though the town house was not perfect, it was certainly the nicest we had seen during about a month of exploring condos and town houses in central Seattle.
While I was in Europe, Gene shouldered the responsibility of purging our household possessions and holding two huge garage sales. His work paid off to the tune of $1000 + dollars - our biggest garage sale ever. It was also during those garage sales that we found a buyer for our Seaswirl boat. When I came back from Europe I helped complete the final touches preparing our Magnolia home for sale. But, a Friday night visit to our new townhouse instigated a dramatic change in our thinking.
I discovered that our neighbors in the town house complex were not the kind of people we were willing to live with. When I arrived I found them in the midst of holding a huge party. The walls were vibrating with the heavy bass beat of their music. It dawned on us that more than a quarter of the units in our complex were being rented out. And the owners of some units lived as far away as Florida. The day after I witnessed the raucous party, Gene found the complex covered with empty beer cans and bottles. In the blink of an eye we changed our minds and instead of listing our old home for sale, we turned around and put the town house back on the market. I could not stomach the possibility of fighting with young neighbors about loud music and parties. During the process of buying an expensive townhouse that cost more than $650K, it never occurred to me that we would have to battle with rental tenants. I assumed that most of the owners would be like us: empty nesters or couples without children. I was wrong.
The entire process of buying and immediately selling that town house left us feeling emotionally exhausted and financially strapped. We had almost no cash left, and we felt like complete fools. We had bitten off more than we could chew when we rushed into that financial fiasco. But now, with the help of our mortgage and stock brokers, we are restructuring our financial lives and we will be in a better position by the end of January. It was a nightmare, but now it’s over and we have learned an important lesson. We are not ready to downsize our lives if it means giving up the comfort and quiet of a single family home. But we have continued to move ahead with letting go of many material possessions including boats and vacation condos, as well as excess personal possessions. I do believe our life is losing its excess clutter.
I also must say that another positive part of 2006 has been a growing friendship I have formed with a gay teen. He has been in the process of coming out slowly to friends and family, and as usual the process has not been easy. He's told me he looks at me as a mentor, and I must say that is the highest complement I have ever received in my life. For a couple decades now it has been my goal to make the world better by supporting and fostering young people. First, I worked on that goal through my involvement in the Gay Youth Alliance in San Diego. Then I became involved in the Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Counseling Services. Later, I changed careers and I became an elementary school teacher which has allowed me to positively affect the lives of young children (including some that are being raised by gay and lesbian parents). Now, in 2006, I've been lucky enough to do for one young man what was done for me by men like Frank Shine and Chuck Harbaugh. I've been able to foster a young man and help him see that gay man can live positive, moral, and productive lives - despite being surrounded by the anger, lies and vitriol of too much hatred, apathy, and neglect.
So the year has come to a close. For a while I thought 2006 was turing out to be our "annus horribilus." But I'm already starting to see the year in a different light. Despite our financial struggles we were able to take a beautiful Panama Canal cruise. The last three months of the year were extremely stressful because of Sophia’s death as well as financial strains and the usual difficulties at work for both Gene and I. But the cruise helped us relax and end the year on a positive note. We had several wonderful and fascinating experiences in Central America and the southern Caribbean. We have new travel adventures planed for the coming year. Our finances are on the mend and I think our prospects for 2007 look bright.
My two major goals for the coming year include losing 30 pounds and a dramatic increase in my Spanish language fluency. I have high hopes. |
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