I originally tumbled this, but I think it needs comments in order to be openly mocked.
We just received an email from our "Emergency Communication Coordinator" that contains this wind chill warning. Excerpts:
A wind chill warning is rarely issued in east central Florida...
however the combination of wind and temperatures well below freezing
will produce dangerously cold conditions late tonight and through
daybreak Thursday.
Bitterly cold air will overspread central Florida through tonight.... with temperatures in the mid to upper 20s... to produce dangerously cold wind chill readings between 15 and 20 degrees.
I believe this is what the Northeast calls "winter". Or maybe "late fall".
In response to getting this alert via email, a co-worker (who grew up in Maryland) said:
did we seriously just get a wind chill warning email???
like what are we supposed to do with this information... board up the
windows??
Bitterly cold? Dangerously cold? For eight whole hours? Protect us all.
When I saw a video marked "Bush twins' letter to Obama girls", I have to admit my political cynicism languidly raised it's head. But for some reason I figured I'd watch a little bit.
Then the opening title came up: "Playing House in the White House". I broke.
Maybe it's because I'm a dad of two daughters. Maybe it's nice to see some humanity in politics. Maybe it's important to be reminded that we're all real people, who bleed and feel, not caricatures. Maybe it's a reminder to make the most of life. Maybe I'm just a big softy after all.
"...they have no idea how [your dad] felt the day you were born. The pride he felt on your first day of school. And how much you both love being his daughters."
In the middle of Sunday School on, well... Sunday... one of the young adult girls who is going to UF calls Danny, another young adult guy who co-teaches Sunday School with me. She asks him, "Danny, Doug just chatted me on Facebook saying he's in London and just got robbed. He's asking me to send him $800."
Danny laughs, hands the phone over to me, and hilarity ensues.
No, I wasn't in London. Someone has just hacked into my Facebook account and was soliciting my friends for money. Good times!
I went down to the church office and tried to log in. Password didn't work. Tried to reset the password. The perp had changed the email address associated with the account, so that didn't work. Pretty thorough, I had to admit.
Long story short, Danny logs himself in and I start contacting Facebook every way I can (read: messages sent to automated addresses). Eventually "Doug" chats me with the same story and I proceed to chat with myself (surreal!) for the next hour and a half. During that time, I messaged a whole bunch of friends saying my account was hacked, got calls and emails from friends who were (rightly) suspicious, and contacted various law enforcement offices.
Side note: if you are a victim of a cyber-crime, all you can really do is file a "report" with the Internet Crime Complaint Center. That's what the FBI told me to do.
Anyway, after I'd strung him on as long as I could to message friends, I told the perp it was me. Said I'd contacted everyone, they'd get no money (and didn't as far as I can tell), prayed that they'd find peace with Jesus, and that if they wanted to do one decent thing today, they could give me my password back.
They pretty much said, "Beg for it and give me $500." And tossed in "i no [sic] your wife laura".
I said I won't and no you don't. I mean seriously. $500 for a Facebook account? They're FREE! I can make a new one RIGHT NOW!!
Anyway, 24 hours later, Facebook finally shut down my account, long after the perp had stopped, my friends being either too savvy or too poor. Your choice. Now I'm emailing with Facebook to verify my real identity and get the account re-activated.
Beside my friends getting hassled, two things bother me from this experience.
One, HOW they got the password and if the way they got it is still unsecure. For now, I'll keep an eye on any credit card transactions, PayPal, and bank stuff, even though they all use different passwords. You never know.
Secondly, how there was no mechanism, automated or otherwise, for me to shut down the account quickly once I realized what had happened. If there had been something (like the password reset feature) that included some challenge questions, this would have mostly been a non issue. It would have been over by 10am Sunday morning, rather than hours of the scam, plus days for me to get my account back (assuming I can).
Oh, and one last thing. If you have a Facebook account and enter your phone number in it, it shows up in all your friends "Address Book". Which anyone who gets into one of your friend's account can see. Just a heads up since it seems a lot of people don't know about how freely their phone numbers are shared.
In case any of you have been accosted for money via Facebook chat from me, fear not. I’m fine. It was hacked. I’ve been trying to get it shut down all day. I have found it humorous that most of my friends (who were phished) who contacted me to double check said one of their first clues was the impersonator’s poor grammar. Woot!
I did get to chat with the crook via a friend’s account. Entertaining. I’ll try and blog about it soon. After I scrape together the $800 I apparently need! :-)
Today was the first time I gave blood using the Alyx system. Usually I only give "whole blood" because my blood "stuff" volume is too low from giving every 8 weeks. The Bloodmobile comes out every 59 days like clockwork so our offices, so that's when I give. But you have to wait longer between donations to do Alyx. Well, last time they came out I happened to be on vacation, so I was cleared for super suckage today.
Basically, what differs when you give via Alyx is that the machine take your blood out like normal, then it seperates the red blood cells from the plasma & platelets right there in the bus, then pumps the plasma & platelets (with a dash of saline) back IN to you. This saves them time from having to seperate the donation later.
It takes about 15 minutes longer than a regular "whole blood" donation, and you have to wait 112 days between donations, but it's pretty cool to watch. The tubing and needle all work the same, but the blood pressure cuff is automated to control the series of four intakes and returns.
My favorite part is when you feel the cuff start to relax, you know the return is coming. The tube, which with is filled with your dark red blood, starts to lighten until its almost pinkish, then, as the blood is washed out, it's just the translucent plasma mix. You can actually see it flowing IN. Wicked awesome.
Totally reminded me of the time I rented a paint sprayer to paint a room dark red. I spent over an HOUR trying to clean all the red paint out of the hoses afterwards. I finally gave up, took it back to Home Depot, and said, "Charge me for you having to clean it. I'm done." They took pity on me.
Probably the coolest thing I'll see all day. And, as fate would have it, I forgot to take my phone so I have no pictures. D'oh! But it pretty much looked exactly like the shot above. Except I wasn't wearing camo.
One of the things I struggle with as a dad is how to develop in my children an attitude of thankfulness. I know how easy it is for me to focus on my own problems while completely ignoring all the incredible blessings in my life. And I know how freeing it is to be able to be thankful for what I do have instead of wanting and wishing for something else or a different lot in life.
Every day on the way in to work, I stop by the employee grill and buy a soda (free refills all day!). Kelley is the lady that usually works there, and we always chat a bit. This morning it was the usual, "Got any plans for Christmas?" type stuff.
She tells me a little of what she's doing, then she says, "But I got my Christmas wish. My older brother called last night."
Turns out he just turned 58, lives in Arizona, and is homeless. He borrowed somebody's cellphone to call her and wish her a Merry Christmas. And to ask her to track down his birth certificate because his wallet got stolen and he needs a new picture ID. He's made friends with a trucker who lets him sleep under his semi at night to stay warm.
A call from her brother, whom she hasn't heard from in four months. That was her Christmas wish. Mine seem downright selfish and vapid in comparison.
The older I get, the more I realize how blessed I am, even when things are rough. I'm going to celebrate Christmas morning surrounded by more "things" than some people will own in their whole life. In a house with heat and lights and plumbing and beds and food. With family I can laugh with and hug and share an enormous meal with.
Are there tough times? Yeah. Is the hurt and pain and sorrow real? Yeah. But we're going to be okay. We're going to be just fine.
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow Praise Him, all creatures here below Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost The Doxology
Went to the Festival Bay Mall today at lunch for the holiday 70% employee discount cha-ching!) at the Universal Orlando outlet store there. And it struck me again what a strange, yet adorable, mall it is.
See, on the periphery, it has some large, successful stores—Ron Jon Surf Shop, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Vans (with a indoor/ourdoor skate park), and Monkey Joes. But inside... it's like a ghost town half the time. I guess the upside is that what it lacks in customers it makes up for with ample parking space.
But the added layer of "Homie say what?" is the assortment and juxtaposition of the (every changing) stores that reside there.
Next to the Bass Pro Shop is Jones New York. There's an honest-to-goodness art gallery down the hall from Zires Emporium, one of those shops packed to the gills with "exotic" trinkets and crap. And next to the Black Market Minerals (read: rock shop) is the Lil' Tractor Company that sells nothing but John Deere merch. Actually, maybe that makes a little more sense. At least you can excavate with your Deere.
Dreams of Fantasy AND the Fantasy Arcade both reside here. As do Shepler's Western Wear and the Putting Edge glow-in-the-dark indoor putt-putt course. The Hilo Hattie—which featured "The World's Largest Hawaiian Shirt"—went out of business, only to be replaced by "Welcome To Paradise" which is... going out of business.
And if you're looking for the most phallic looking logo outside the Castro district, head straight to ChurroMania, with it's cream-filled, oozing, deep-fried doughy treats.
In some ways, I'm amazed that it's still open. But there it is—all full of hopes and dreams—with it's carousel ride of shops and restaurants, ready for your business.
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.
The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.
A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.
Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.
Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts.
Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.
The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.
The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.
I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.
America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."
This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.
Hey, everyone! Have a great Independence Day. Along with the 3rd Annual Young Adults 4th Of July Shin-Dig Laura and I will be hosting, I'll also testing out the trebuchet Danny and I have been working on. I'm just hoping to keep all my digits.
I know this might be an odd way to break my recent (unintentional) radio silence, but it seemed like something that would be helpful to know if you were ever in a similar situation.
You see, at lunch today, I learned that a co-worker had put ice cubes up his butt (only one at a time) to help reduce swelling of his hemorrhoids. Good to know, I guess, but I haven't been able to look him in the eyes again yet.
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