Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Comment Spam

One of the changes to the blog world between the time I stopped posting in April and now is comment spam. I'm referring to random posts that are advertising some product or website.

I had seen some spam in the comment section of some other blogs, but not on blogs hosted by blogger. Well, apparently, they made their way to the blogger.com hosted blogs. How annoying!

After clicking submit on my first post in a long time I immediately got a couple of comments (they get emailed to me). I thought, wow, someone's already reading my blog again! You know that feeling you get when you come home and there's a message on your answering machine? (well, we don't even have a land line any more, but you know what I mean) Well, that's the same feeling I get when I get comments on my blog. It means someone cares!

Well, how naive I was to think someone cared to leave their very best within 30 seconds of my post. Actually I should have known better...how the hell is someone gonna read my post and leave a comment within 30 seconds?!

Anyways, I checked the comments and there were both spam! I deleted them and let it be, but then I got another spam comment later in they day. I had to nip this nonsense in the bud since I really don't care about reading the Fox TV schedule for tonight (all of the spam talked about the Fox TV schedule for some reason)

So now I've got this image verification function turned on so when people leave a comment they've gotta type in the letters/numbers which appear in the image. I guess that makes it difficult for bots to post spam. Seems like it's working since I haven't gotten any spam since turning it on. Hopefully it's not a pain to everyone else that may want to leave a comment (all 2 of you!)

How about the other bloggers in the bunch? Are you getting much of this spam?

Monday, September 19, 2005

Blame Game

The blame game continues in New Orleans:

NEW ORLEANS - Residents began trickling back Monday as part of a plan by the mayor to reopen New Orleans one ZIP code at a time, despite repeated warnings from the top federal official on the scene — and President Bush himself — that the city is not ready.

Mayor Ray Nagin defended his decision to let people back in, and suggested that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself “the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans.”
AP - Sept 13th, 2005



Now, I'm not saying that Mayor Nagin is completely correct in his decision to allow some people to move back into New Orleans. I'm also not saying that the Feds are wrong to disagree. In fact, I think Mayor Nagin is a little crazy and not the best leader under the immense pressure he's been under over the past few weeks. My main problem with this whole situation is that all of this is happening in public...

There's clearly a lot of blame to be passed around in this situation from top to bottom. And everyone is trying their darndest to cover their asses as best possible. I fully expect the Bush Admin to disagree with just about any major decision made along the Gulf Coast. If nothing else, it covers their asses so they can say "I told you so" if things don't work out. I fully expect local authorities to push for faster recovery than might be recommended so they can display their leadership in tough times. If nothing else, it covers their asses so they can say "I tried" even if the decisions aren't the perfect ones.

These two ways of thinking tend to conflict with each other, but I think they can be worked out for the best results. The problem here is that each side wants to be seen as right at the cost of the other side being wrong. And this is not just a matter of being right while the other side is wrong. This is a matter of doing it all in public.

And that's what pisses me off the most about this. This is probably my bias coming in here, but I think this makes the Bush Admin come off as the petty ones in this argument. They're the ones with the experience (supposedly) so they should be doing their best to ensure that agreements can be made for the benefit of all. To be honest, I think Mayor Nagin is in over his head. He really doesn't have much experience and it shows. That being said, I give him a little more benefit of the doubt since he's clearly trying his hardest for the benefit of the people of New Orleans. While I'm sure he's trying to save his rep (what little there is of it given his lack of experience), he doesn't come off as petty; he simply comes off as trying to make decisions under pressure.

My thoughts on all this?


  • It's probably naive to think that you can let people into portions of NOLA and still be able to block off other portions of the city (ostensibly to prevent looting, etc).

  • Mayor Nagin is in over his head, but he wants to try to get his city back to some semblance of normalcy sooner rather than later.

  • Bush & Co are being petty by making it public that they disagree with Nagin's decision. They could have figured out a way to make this all work out and perhaps delay NOLA's re-population be a week or two.

  • Bush & Co would have found a way to make it work if local leadership was GOP and not Dem.


Nice to see politics taking a back seat to good leadership ;)

UPDATE: 9/19/05 2:45pm
So the story to which I linked above has been updated indicating that the re-population of NOLA has been halted due to tropical storm Rita (are we already to the R's?!). All of the comments above still stand, but let's see what further political gamesmanship occurs before people actually get to go back to NOLA.

Oh, and one other thing a friend and I agree upon: Nagin is a little crazy and should simply refrain from speaking when he's too emotional. Like I said, he doesn't have much experience and probably gets too caught up in things. I do believe he's still making the decisions he thinks are best, but Bush & Co are and will continue to use his strange comments against him. Thank god we get to see such leadership in our times :|

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

I Am.

So it took me a while to get around to actually posting again. In fact, there have been many moments since April when I've wanted to post, but never actually loaded up blogger. The most recent moment is what I decided would be my step back into the fray...whenever that happens.

Well, I've finally loaded up blogger and that moment is now so let's jump in with something that really filled my heart with "gladness" and put a grin on my face.

A few weeks ago I saw this foreign film called "L'Auberge Espagnole". Literally, it means "The Spanish Inn". It's about an French exchange student who goes to Barcelona for a year as part of the Erasmus program. Don't ask me what that program is, since I don't know. It seems like a program to bring various foreign students together to experience a new country. As one would imagine, the film is really about learning new things, opening oneself up to the various opportunities out there, and simply exploring life for what it's worth (It's definitely a film worth watching as it's not too "out there" in the way some foreign/artsy films can be, but it's definitely more fulfilling than most of the crap that put out there)

Now, I've watched a lot of foreign films in my day. Many of them have this same sort of message. While watching these films I generally end up thinking "I wish I could do something like that"

But you know what? For the first time, while watching a film like this I actually thought "I Am"

I Am exploring new opportunities.

I Am enjoying life for what it is.

When I realized that, I couldn't help but grin. I looked over at my wife who was sound asleep, looked over at my dog who was thinking about walking over to me for a chin scratch, and I smiled. I nodded my head.

I Am.

...

So to fill you in as to why there's this sudden change, part of the reason that I haven't posted in so long is because I've been busy with a new business venture that a friend and I are pursuing. After so many years of thinking about it and doubting myself, I'm finally following the path to becoming a professional photographer.

I can finally say that I Am pursuing my photographic passions.

Additionally, my wife and I made the big decision to start a family. There's nothing baking just yet, but just the decision alone has really changed my view on some things and created this lasting optimism that wasn't there before.

I Am going to be a father...who knows when though so don't ask and don't take this is the official announcement since there's nothing to announce yet :P

And just as a final addition, can I just say that we have the best friends? A friend got married this summer & another got engaged and, as expected, it brought all of us just that much closer. Yet another reason to smile.

So anyways, I've been very silent in the online universe, but in the past 141 days I found so many reasons to smile and be happy with where we are in life. And the next time I watch one of these films, I'll still think "I Am." and not wish I could be some place else in life.

I Am in the place I want to be.

Back

It's been 141 days since my last posting here. My next post is less than 141 days away. Hopefully less than 1 day away. Buckle up :)