Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Another Banner

This banner will get some company after the San Jose Sharks won the Pacific Division again this year!!

Friday, March 26, 2004

Song Lyrics

Just listened to this song and was reminded of just how much I love it, so I thought I would share the lyrics. The version I listened to was "Unplugged" (acoustic).

Like a Hurricane - Neil Young

Once I thought I saw you
In a crowded hazy bar,
Dancing on the light
From star to star.

Far across the moonbeam
I know that's who you are,
I saw your brown eyes
Turning once the bar.

You are like a hurricane
There's harm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
Somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm gettin' blown away

I am just a dreamer,
But you are just a dream,
You could have been anyone to me.

Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's harm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
Somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm gettin' blown away

You are just a dreamer,
But I am just a dream.
You could have been anyone to me.

Before that moment you touched my lips
That perfect feeling when time just slips
Away between us on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's harm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
Somewhere safer where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but I'm gettin' blown away.


Tuesday, March 23, 2004

$13,683,000

I am rich!!! (or could it be that the below emails are scams). For all the spam I get, I find the below two spam messages the most interesting.

They are scams, so please don't contact the individuals. They are presented simply for entertainment purposes.

Email #1: offering $5.5 million dollars for an honest person that will work with him (though I think by definition, taking money that isn't yours is not considered honest).

Dear EVERETT,

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

I am Barrister,TUNDE AJAYI,Barrister and solicitor at law,I am
the personal attorney to late Engr.MARTY EVERETT,a foreigner an oil
merchant/Contractor,herein shall be refered as my client.

On the 21st of October 2000, my client, his wife and their three
children were involved in a ghastly auto accident along Sagbama
Express Road, and unfortunately, all occupants of the vehicle lost
their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy
to locate any of my client's extended relatives, this has also proved
unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided
to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of
his family or any close name to his,hence I contacted you.

I am contacting you to assist in repatrating the money and property
left behind by my client before they get confisicated or declared
unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposits were lodged,
particularly the ACCESS BANK where the deceased had his account
valued at about US$5.5 million dollars. The bank has issued me a
notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated
within the next twentyone official working days. Since I have been
unsuccesfull in locating the the relatives for over 2 years now,
I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased
since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account
valued at US$5.5 million dollars can be paid to you and then you
and I can share the money according to any agreed ratio. All I require
is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through.
I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law.

PLEASE CONTACT ME ONLY THROUGH MY DIRECT
IMMEDIATELY YOU READ THIS MAIL.

Best Regards,

BARRISTER,TUNDE AJAYI

Email #2 $8.183 million dollars

Mr Xtian Kwuma
Manager,credit
foreign bills
Cemac Bank Plc,
Benin Rep.
Email:- xtiankwu@bonjour.fr

Dear Everett,

Compliments of the season. It is indeed my pleasure to write to you this
letter, which I believe might be a surprise you because we have not met
neither in person nor by correspondence, but I believe that it takes just
one day to get to meet or know someone either physically or through correspondence.as we are both complete strangers.

I am Mr Xtian Kwuma, the manager, credit and foreign bills of Cemac
bank Plc,Benin. I am writing in respect of a foreign customer of my bank
who perished in Egyptian Air Flight with the whole passengers aboard on
31st oct 1999. Since the demise of this our customer,I personally has watched
with keen interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one
has come to claim his funds of USD$8.183m[Eight million One hundred and
Eighty-three thousand united states dollars] which has been with my branch for a very long time.On this note, I decided to seek for whom his name shall
be used as the next of kin as no one has come up as his relation. And the
country law here does not allow such money to stay more than Five years,for the money will be recalled to the government treasury as unclaimed after this
period.Upon the receipt of your response, I will send to you the application, bank's contact and the next step to take. I will not fail to bring to your notice
that this business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as
all modalities for fund transfer can be finalized within five banking days,
after you apply to the bank as a relation to the deceased.

When you receive this letter. Kindly send me an e-mail signifying your
decision.Including your private Tel/Fax numbers for quick communication. I
will be very happy if you can treat this business with the utmost secrecy it
demands because of my position in this bank.

Hoping for a very successful business relationship with you.

Respectfully submitted,
Mr Xtian Kwuma

NOTE:- FROE SECURITY REASONS PLEASE REPLY TO THIS
E-MAIL ADDRESS :- xtiankwu@bonjour.fr


Monday, March 22, 2004

Ghost Voting

Amazing that this sort of thing goes on and then people wonder why more people are not voting in general elections. Even though it is supposedly strictly against the rules, it seems to be routinely ignored. "Do what we say, not what we do"... that sort of thing never flies.

In plain view, 'ghosts' are voting in the Pa. House

On the day Gov. Rendell unveiled his budget to a packed House chamber, Rep. William Rieger voted in favor of all six bills that came up.

But Rieger wasn't there. The Democrat was home on Feb. 3, 100 miles away in Philadelphia.

A wad of paper shoved into his electronic "yea" button atop his desk did the work for him.



Fundrace 2004

Interesting site that lists names of individuals that have contributed to various political parties, searchable in various ways including via zip code.

It also has city maps.

I bet some of the individuals would be shocked to learn that contributing to a political party is public information. Information that can be aggrevated in such a way via the Internet.

Here is the site: Fundrace 2004

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Odd Neighbors


In my continuing attempt to be more healthy, I have walked a mile around my neighborhood a few times last week at night.

Every time I get back to my street, I hear this chirp... a high pitch short chirp...

The chirp of a smoke detector needing a new battery. The part that makes it very odd...

The chirp is emitting out of at least two different houses. I must live on a street of deaf people, considering I can hear the chirp out in the street.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Catch Up with Tim

Figured I would update the site with a little bit about what has been going on with my life:

Recently joined Gold's Gym again. Have been "pushing iron" 5 times already. Plan to make it to the gym at least 3 times a week. Also have been taking advantage of the treadmill in the computer room at home. Have done 20 min on it each day for the last two weeks. Also have been walking 45 min or so at least once a week with a co-worker after work.

It has been great for me to get active again.

I have an appointment with a new doctor for April 2 for a check up. Every time I have donated blood over the last couple of years, the free cholesterol testing that they do has come back in the low 200's... way to high. I am hoping the exercise will make a difference, but any case, it is something that I should be paying attention to.

Taking Friday off from work, finally will be getting a quote on getting the floors done in my house.

Also finished up getting the house refinanced last week. My interest rate dropped by over 2% as well as moved from from a 30 year to a 15 year loan.

Interesting thing is that I got a phone call (msg on my answer machine) the day my refinanced closed (finalized, or whatever the word is that it is done) from somebody named Mark Keeler from South Allentown PA. Stated that he believe I was a victim of ID theft, proceeding to give state information about me such as full name, address, phone number, and birthdate and asked me to call him. Very offical sounding message.

Something seemed a little odd about the call considering I had just reviewed my credit report at least twice within the last month and had seen no odd activity. I called the San Jose Police department and discussed the call with them. The officer took the information and called the Allentown Police Department for me (there is no such town as South Allentown)... as well as they have no officers by the name of Mark Keeler.

I also did a quick search via a reverse phone lookup where you can give the site the number and it will come back with an address if listed. The number he gave to call back was different from the number that appeared via caller id. I check both of them and they came back as registered via Verizon. I am assuming that means they are cell phone numbers.

The other interesting / odd part of the story. I asked the San Jose officer what I should do next, and she stated that if they call back to tell them to stop bothering me. It seems like they don't go after individuals like this on a pro-active basis. I am assuming my refinancing closing appeared in some public database, scary to think how many people would make the phone call and give the person their SSN (assuming that is what he was trying to fish for).

Similiarly Samantha and I did have a situation where somebody was using her credit card number in Las Vegas. Sam did some legwork, calling the store where a purchase was made. The store owner knew immediately who the person was, because the person made a payment via our card for a bounced check... and he still had the check with the person's name and address on it.

The check was drawn against Wells Fargo, the same bank that we used. We asked if we could press charges (the person also had rented a car using the car for a week, the rental company claimed that she couldn't have rented the car without the physical card... which wasn't true. I believe somebody got fired because of that mistake), we were told by the Las Vegas police that since we were not the victims, we couldn't. Wells Fargo was very good at crediting our account back. The frustrating part is that I don't believe Wells Fargo pressed charges. With minimal effort (a phone call), Sam had tracked down the person and had her name, address, and back account number...

I would imagine it would be just as simple to track down this "Mark Keeler" guy as well... but nobody seems to want to be that proactive even though you read about how ID theft is such a big problem.

It pays to be careful. I do plan to check my credit report again in a week just to make sure nothing odd is taking place. The company that I used to get my credit report is Equifax.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

In the Name of Sam

Please take a look at Spring 2004 Newsletter from InnVision

Sam's name appears in two different places in the news letter. On the first page, Sam's name appear on the right side below the cute kid on the tricycle. i spent a Saturday afternoon at a local park hanging out with him. He was a big fan of the swings though he made sure to inform that he didn't want to go too high. Very very cute kid.

Thank you to everybody who has helped keep the memory of Samantha alive. In whatever fashion that was appropriate to you.

I miss you Sam, each and every day...

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Poem sent from a Cousin

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I
immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my
favorite cake for me and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always
talk to and I learned to trust in God.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help
take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing
and I learned that those who have something should
give to those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take
care of our house and everyone in it and I learned
we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come
from your eyes and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry..

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you
cared and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you
and wanted to say, "Thanks for all the things I saw
when you thought I wasn't looking."

Written By:
Mary Rita Schilke Korzan
1980

Mary Rita Korzan wrote the poem, "When You Thought I Wasn't Looking",
for her mother, Blanche. My mom is a great lady, she says.
Korzan sang her poem to her mom on her wedding day in 1980.
Korzan says her mother inspired her to write the poem.
I just stopped and started thinking about where I was in my life
and all the things that she had done to get me to that point.
The love, the sacrifices, all of that.
For more from this article about Mary Rita Koran

Thanks Sandy for the email.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Back Home Finally

If you have been wondering why the site has been down for so long (the last two weeks), I have been on a business trip.

The trip was originally planned for 2/15 thru 2/21, got extended, and then extended again. I finally got back home last night (3/2).

I spent roughly 2.5 weeks in Stamford CT for work.

According to my brother there was a pretty strong windstorm soon after I left which caused my house to lose power and therefore brought down the site.

The site is back up and running.