Category: Just Saying …

We’ve entered the foggy season here. A bit colder than the usual fog, through. Lows have been just a bit above freezing, with highs in the mid-40’s. And the higher humidity (aka fog) makes an outside jaunt a bit cooler than we are used to in sunny CA. Of course, if you get up into the hills (above about 1500 feet), it’s nice and sunny. So the high temps in the mountains are higher than here in the flatlands.

But not as bad as other areas, though. No snow down here in the flatlands. No rain, either, which is not good for our water supply.

Working on CSS styles. There is so much to learn there to make a good-looking site that will work well at various screen sizes and resolutions. But I think that I am getting closer.

…you may need to think about that one.

My lovely wife says “just think in 5 years you are eligible for social security”.

And yesterday I got another membership offer from AARP.

…sigh…

Although my theory is that “I may be old but I don’t have to grow up”. Or is it “I may be old but I am not young either”

(must get new bottle of Geritol…)

It’s started. Christmas music on the local radio stations.

I don’t mind the decorations in the store (although putting them up in September was a bit much), since I don’t do that much shopping. But listening to the same Christmas songs during the day is not my idea of great radio programming.

I’m hoping the local oldies rock station (yes, I am that old) resists the urge. I do vote with my feet (actually, with the radio buttons). The first Christmas song I heard this morning on the drive to work resulted in a permanent change to the radio station I listen to during the commute. That station’s button has been banished from my car radio for the duration.

At least there is a CD player in the new car. It may get used more than usual.

Busy this pas week. Working on a new web site — not ready for release yet, as I play (and learn) with the CSS styles to make the interface consistent. Might be an interesting place.

And the new gMail ‘skins’ are fun to play with also. Right now, using the Ocean one.

Having a nice visit with Stacy (youngest daughter); she has been staying at our house for a few days. Mom and daughter are off to the craft store this morning.

And I set up an old laptop for Pam to use in the evenings. She has been using mine to do some genealogy work in the evenings.

Are you getting less spam? A big spam host in CA was taken offline on Tuesday. One good source for the story is here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/12/AR2008111200658.html , since Brian Krebs (the WP columnist) was one of guys responsible. The ‘co-location’ (a big web site hosting firm) looks to be responsible for up to 80% of the world’s spam, along with hosting other offensive sites (child pornography, etc).

As of Tuesday, their connection to the Internet was cut off.

As a result, the volume of spam being pumped out by all of those infected computers has gone down by 60% or more. At my office, we usually get about 800,000 messages a day; we block 92%+ as spam. Over the last 24 hours, that incoming volume has been reduced to about 250,000. Others are reporting the same reduction. (More details on Brian Kreb’s blog here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/11/the_badness_that_was_mccolo.html

It will be interesting to see how long this reduction lasts.

In the meantime, working on another web site project, some updating of existing sites, and the other usual stuff.

Things that I have been thinking about lately:

– Whose idea was it to have a holiday on Tuesday? (For all of you international readers – yes, that lonely guy in the back corner – tomorrow [Tuesday] is Veteran’s Day in the US.) I’m all in favor of veterans – my Dad was one (WWII Marine, service in the South Pacific). I am in awe of their service to our country. And I do get tomorrow off.

– Why are all the domain names that I think of already taken? I keep having these ideas of a web site that will make lots of money with minimal effort, but somebody has already done it first. Yeah, I guess that means that I am not very creative. Or timely (see next item).

– Why didn’t I go ahead with that money-making idea 15 years ago? I wanted to take the kid’s bikes on a trip, but there wasn’t really a good way to carry them along. The only bike carriers were those half-hoop things that strap to your bumper. I was looking for a bike carrier that you could mount on a trailer hitch. Not available then. Now they are everywhere.

– How can you make easy money during a recession? Oh, that’s right. Be a failure in your company, then get them to fire you with a big ‘exit paycheck’.

I’ve got to get a refill on my medication…..

Vote.

Or don’t complain about things.