Some Family Time

A few weeks ago my wife and I made another trip back to Spokane and Post Falls. We like to get away as often as we can afford the time. We usually stay with my sister Jacqui and she is always a good hostess. And her dog, Cooper, is overjoyed to see us too.

Jacqui

This time was a little more of a special occasion because one of my brothers, Sean, who had moved to Florida years ago flew up with his wife, Tracie. I haven't seen Sean since a family reunion in Spokane some years back and this is my first of meeting Tracie in person.

Sean and Tracie

Also my brother Tony, from Kennewick, drove up for the day. There were others as well but I didn't get pictures, or at least any good pictures, this time. We also saw my sister Debbie and her husband Jeff; and my sister Angie, but her husband Don had to work that day. And then there were nephews and nieces. My oldest niece, Julie, brought her two girls.

Ernie (my dad), Sean, me, Tony

Day Hike

One of the great things about living in this area is taking a hike to an alpine lake in the Cascade Mountains. Early this morning we rose and breakfasted, packed our gear and a few things in case of need and drove East. It's better to go early to beat the crowds that come later in the morning.


The trail to Annette Lake is well maintained, even with custom "log stairs" near the beginning of the trail.


It is a moderate hike, a little over 3.5 miles but once you get there the view is very nice. There are places to pitch a tent if you want to stay.


The water in the lake is crystal clear.

See more pictures here.

Karate Seminar

Sensei Jeremy, me, Sensei Advincula, Sensei Shelly.

Since January Anita and I have been taking Karate lessons at a local dojo. This style of karate is called Isshin-ryu which means "one heart way" or "whole heart way". In the movie "Karate Kid" the character Mr. Miyagi said he was a decendent of the founder of karate. In real life the founder of Isshin-ryu karate trained under Master Miyagi, the aforementioned ancester.

Last week our dojo invited Sensei AJ Advincula to give a seminar. AJ trained under Sensei Tatsuyo Shimabuku, the founder of Isshin-ryu karate. Our Sensei, Jeremy Johnson trained under Sensei Advincula. The knowledge lineage is short: Shimabuku -> Advincula -> Johnson. Training directly under Advincula for two days was a special privilege. And training under Sensei Jeremy and Shelly Johnson is an honor.

There are more pictures here which are very candid.

Fight Back the Spam Attack

Some time ago I replied to a craigslist.org inquiry. The email said generically they were interested in purchasing what I was selling. So I replied. That was a really big mistake. It turned out to be a phishing scam where they are harvesting valid email addresses.

Now I receive about 20 emails per week advertising either "medzonline" or "viagra" type products. The From: address is always from a different domain so I didn't know how to tell these people to stop sending me email. But I searched on Google and found this link about how to fight email spam. In summary it says to do these steps:

1. Get the Received from IP address in the message header.
2. Query WhoIs to determine the real domain server and if there is an administrator.
3. Send polite email with your complaint to "abuse@domain.com" or whatever the domain is and paste in the original email of the spam, including the full view of the email headers.
   

So far I've sent 37 different email messages, one to each different email server that has been spamming my Inbox. Most have been from South American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Columbia. Some have been from Mexico and a couple from the US. A couple have been from France, one from England, one from Ireland.

The WhoIs tool queries different services and returns a report. Some reports actually have a "report abuse" email address. Most do not and so I just take the administrator's email address and replace the username with "abuse". I also try "postmaster" and I Cc: the real administrator.

So the lesson learned: If you get an inquiry about something you are selling, unless it is clear the email is legitimate do not reply to it.

Adam 12

Every once in a while this stray cat, or perhaps he's a wandering cat that has an owner, comes into our yard to visit. I can't get close to him and I don't see a collar. But he's black and white and so I've named him "Adam-12".



Here, our cat Eli (left) is taking a closer look at "Adam-12".

An Irish Blessing

I ran across this Irish blessing in a Wisteria catalog. They sell housewares and are something similar to Pottery Barn. The blessing says:

These things I warmly wish for you:
Someone to love, some work to do,
A bit o'sun, a bit o'cheer,
And a guardian angel always near.

Two Americans In Paris

Taking a break from "vacation picture show + tell" I decided to make up a little story with some of the pictures. Ok, are you sitting comfortably? Then, we'll begin.


One day while sitting in a Paris cafe enjoying a $6.00 latte and trying to find the right French words for "You've gotta be kidding me!" I caught from the corner of my eye a beautiful lady. She looked like she was on a mission, going somewhere fast. But, I didn't care. I had to meet this woman.

I slurped down my drink and cried, "L'addition, s'il vous plait!".



Immediately exiting the cafe I guessed just the right side-street she went down. Ah, there she is. Now, if I can just get her attention? "Madame! Excuse Moi!"


She swung around, looked directly at me and yelled, "Hey!". Oh my! She's an American! Now I really must meet her because she's the only other person in this city to whom I can talk freely and that won't make fun of my poor French language skills.

But, she has games on her mind.


What's this? She turns around and goes away from me. Oh I get it. She wants me to make chase. Well, chase I shall!


As we all know I'm directionally challenged. I lose her on a side street. But I figure I can try renting a bicycle. Alas, I don't have enough Euros.



So I decide to take the Metro. Where would she have gone? I think that every American in Paris has to go to the Eiffel Tower.


In the distance I spot Le Tour Eiffel. I make haste to get there. It looks like only about four blocks away. Boy, was I wrong!


As I traveled I found not a small cathedral. So I thought I would ask some friendly locals if they might have seen this pretty girl!


The saintly gentlemen said my best chance would be to go up the bell tower.



To the top of the bell tower I go. I look here and there.


The friendly, yet stoney figures were glad to help, but they did not see her come this way.


This fellow said, "Hmm, I just don't know. Let me look a little more carefully."


Perhaps the stoney creatures were too far up to see what was happening on the ground. So back to the Metro I go. I decide to try another idea. This time I would as some locals that are not on the tops of buildings but rather on the ground.


They said they'd pray for me.


"Sir, I see you've been sitting there most of your life. Have you seen a young woman in a brown tweed coat, long beautiful hair, and carrying a plastic bag come by here?"
He replied, "I'm not sure, let me think about it."


Bah! This is getting frustrating. I'm sure I'm close. She's gotta be back at the Eiffel Tower!


Meanwhile, the American woman was at that very place. It was that day she decided to ascend the Tower.



But by the time I got there the line to take the elevator was extremely long.


I'm too impatient. I decide to take the stairs up one of the legs of the Tower.


After reaching the top I look out at the city. I think of all the places I've been looking for the one an only for me. And just then I turn around...






Aha!! there she is.



The End!

The Louvre

I've been told that in terms of square footage The Louvre is the largest museum in the world. We spent four hours within before growing tired of walking around and seeing piece after magnificent piece of art, and still we didn't see it all. After a while you get sensory overload and all the art blurs into one another. A better plan would be to get a museum pass and take it in small bits at a time over a few days.


The building's original purpose was a palace. The new, glass pyramid in the center leads you down under ground into the entry from where you can fan out to any of the wings of the building.


Besides the imported artwork you can see Napoleon's rooms.


Fantastic interior. This room held the crown jewels and other household items. We were not allowed to take pictures of the display case of the jewels themselves.


Hallway of Greek Sculptures. At the very far end the sculpture is called "The Dying Slave".


It is just really big.


They say imitation is a form of forgery, I mean, flattery. I didn't ask but I believe this is likely an art student working on a project.


Massive painting. My guess it is 12 feet high by 20 feet wide.


But, though the Mona Lisa is humble in size, she always draws the biggest crowd. I don't think were were allowed to take a picture but everybody else was and no one was stopping them.

Click HERE to see the entire Paris PicasaWeb album.