Liam and Poppa

Took the day off yesterday. It was a day with grandson Liam -- sort of a "Camp Poppa" day. Liam is here all by himself for some one-on-one with Grandma and Poppa. We do this once a year with the two oldest grandchildren (Liam is 6, Joelle is 8). It gives them some good time to be the center of attention, rather than one of the crowd (there are 5 children in their family).

There's a story behind the use of "Poppa", rather than "Grandpa". When my oldest daughter Christine got married (11 years ago), I mentioned that I didn't really want to be a "Grandpa" before my 50th birthday. Christine agreed -- well, sort of.

The first grandchild (Joelle) was born in 2000. I was 49 (really). Hence, I am not called "Grandpa", I am called "Poppa". Pam is still "Grandma".

So Liam and I went to the local Scandia "Fun Center", where we played two rounds of miniature golf, a bunch of arcade games, Liam went on the Bumper Boats (I watched from the sidelines, and got squirted for my efforts). Then some more arcade games, another round of miniature golf (Liam got a hole-in-one), and one more Bumper Boats. We had a great time -- big grins on Liam's face the whole time.

Then we stopped at McDonald's for lunch, and I dropped him off at his cousin's house for a couple of days.

I went home and applied ice packs to my sore knee.

A Visitor

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!

News Spam is Bad News

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!

Carbon Offset Certificates For Sale

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.

The Usual Spam Fighting

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.

LRN 2 TXT

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.

No Quaking Here

California. Earthquakes. Fires. Smoky air.

-- yawn --

Didn't feel a thing here.

So, what's new with you?