Grandson Liam (6 years old) is here for a nice long visit from Utah. So thing are a bit more exciting around here.

For instance, instead of the boring old Olympics, we are watching Mike Myers in “Cat in the Hat”. And we went to the park to shot a few hoops (he’s pretty good, and I’m not). And there is bowling and miniature golf on the agenda.

Let the spoiling begin!

Those emails from CNN and now MSNBC are not good. Clicking on links in there will get you a nice virus/spyware.

And that’s what has been keeping me busy at the office the past two days.

Along with all the interest in the Carbon Offset Certificates site (www.carbonoffsetcerts.com ).

And staying up too late watching the Olympics.

Although I did enjoy last night’s “Eureka”. The green foam was nifty. I want to make some of that!

Looking at various news reports, it appears that a ton of carbon offsets goes for about US$20. Although I am not sure that a carbon offset of any size makes any difference in global warming (and if the globe is really warming), I wholeheartedly support the purchase of carbon offsets.

Mine.

Which are much cheaper. You can get 5 tons of carbon credits for under US$5.00. As a bonus, each visit to the web site you get a “Carbon Offset Tip of the Day”, some really useful tips to prevent global warming.

Visit CarbonOffsetCerts.com to get your own Carbon Offset Credits. They are just as good as those much more expensive ones.

Probably better. I certainly think so.

At the office, a flurry of “CNN Top 10” spam with nefarious links is making it past our mail filters. I put a special blocking rule to catch it, but did find two users (one who should have known better) clicking on the links.

More info about the spam is over on my “Security Dawg” site.

Weather has been nice around here, only in the low 90’s, with nice cooling at night. If you can get past your fear of earthquakes, forest fires, and less-than-helpful politicians, this is a nice place to live.

The recent earthquake in LA showed that the phone network will probably get overloaded in any localized emergency.

One of the things that you want to do in emergency preparedness is to be able to contact you family. You establish a central meeting place, or a way to communicate with your family. Most people will automatically reach for their cell phones. And they’ll probably get a busy signal, because all the circuits are busy.

Smart people will reach for their cell phone, but will send a text message to their family members or other contacts. Text messages, because they are transmitted differently, will get through when a cell phone call won’t.

So, you may want to ensure all members of your family know to use text messaging during an emergency. We know that your older children probably know how to text message (and you’ve probably got the cell phone bills to prove it).

If you don’t know, ask your children to teach you.

LRN 2 TXT.

California. Earthquakes. Fires. Smoky air.

— yawn —

Didn’t feel a thing here.

So, what’s new with you?

The Jensen family (our daughter Christine, husband Jared, and children Joelle (8), Liam (6), Max (4), Dane (2), Lucas (9 months) — came for a weekend visit. They were here for an Alzheimer’s Fundraising Run (Jared’s mother is affected), and to visit with Jared’s family. We all got a chance to have a nice visit.

They are on the road now, which could be interesting with four children in the car (Joelle is staying here for an extended visit). Although they are used to the noise, I suspect.

So now the house is a bit quieter than it was this weekend. We enjoyed the noise and the visit, though.