Archive for January, 2011
Check out this beauty I got in my email inbox today. Come on, Gmail! Shouldn’t your spam filter be picking this stuff up? Anyway, not only am I annoyed with receiving this authentic email from the one and only Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, but I’m also somewhat insulted. If you’re going to try and scam me, at least have the decency to use proper grammar! That’s just plain laziness. It’s not just incorrect grammar, it’s flat out horrendous. I had a hard time trying to piece a couple of their sentences together. How are you supposed to fool anyone when it’s so poorly worded? If someone falls for this crap, I think they deserve it.
So I’m guessing they used some kind of translation software before sending out the mass spam. With Gmail’s spam filter doing such a knock-out job, my guess is they used Google Translator. But I can forgive this, Google, since your Google Contacts app is pretty awesome.
But back to this Mr. Ban Ki-moon and his attempt to give me money. After I got over the annoyance of the spam, I read this beauty of a letter. I love how it warns me of other fake spammers out there and this one is actually legit. And they must be on the up and up if the CC’d the friggin’ FBI! Oh yeah, and he copied Attorney General Eric Holder. And of course, nice touch with the header including a pic of the UN. That’s enough for me, where do I sign?
Go to hell, spammers.
-Dave Q.
After an early morning meeting today, I was told that I would be doing some extensive traveling this year. A lot of traveling.
I enjoy traveling for work. But it does get old after a while. I’m hoping these trips will be nicely spread out. And hopefully a couple of these will be scheduled for maximum advantage. I’m slated to go to Dallas, New Orleans, Tampa, Washington D.C., Boston, Woonsocket, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. I’m hoping the trips to Tampa and Atlanta (the two I volunteered for) can be scheduled for when the Braves and Buccaneers have home games. That would be perfect! 
Also, nothing wrong with a trip to Vegas.
Here’s looking forward to those frequent flyer miles. That way I can use those miles to go somewhere I really want to go. Like Sacramento or Jacksonville, N.C. I owe my sisters a visit. I wonder if Southwest flies out there…
-Dave Q.
Last week I found myself in Las Vegas. While I worked most of the time there, I did have some time on Saturday to do a
little gambling. My luck in Vegas has been mostly hit and miss over the years. So when I was getting dressed to head out for some fun Saturday night, I found that I had packed a brand new pair of boxer briefs. I had a Banana Republic gift card with exactly $16 on it and that was the only thing I could find for that price. A single pair of boxer briefs. Jeez.
Anyway, I decided this might be a good time to establish a fresh string of good luck. So I put on the fresh new drawers, got ready, went to the casino, and placed a $120 bet on the Green Bay Packers. Well, if you’ve been following the NFL playoffs at all, then you know that the Packers absolutely destroyed the Atlanta Falcons 48 – 21! It was even sweeter since I’m a Packers fan. So I took the now $220 I received from winning that bet and went to the craps table. Well, I was there for a while. And I made some money for myself, and everyone else at the table. Lady luck was with me that night. With every roll, I was expecting good things to happen. I never get that cocky when gambling, but it was to the point where I came seriously close to asking the hot girl on my left to blow on the dice. But then I figured, better not press my luck.
So it was a perfect ending to my Vegas trip. Rest assured that my new lucky drawers will be with me on my next gambling adventure, if for only one night. So if you see me at the craps table, and I have a certain twinkle in my eye, I suggest you place some bets with confidence. Because the drawers will be in play.
-Dave Q.
A couple of months back, I tried out Apple’s MobileMe service. Basically, it’s supposed to provide a way to synchronize all your email, contacts, calendar, etc. online so you only have to worry about updating these things in one place. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, MobileMe can go to hell. I say that because one day it decided to delete all my contacts, leaving me to try and piece back together all the numbers to friends, family and co-workers. My assessment is that MobileMe sucks. Can you believe Apple charges $99 for this crappy service? Wait a sec, you’re telling me that Apple charges $99 a year for it?!?! $99 a year for MobileMe service that trashed my contact info?!?!? This is where I give MobileMe the finger.
Anyway, for the most part, I am back on track. Every now and then I will get a call or text that I have no idea who it is, since only the number is showing. Usually the voicemail they leave solves that mystery, but trying to figure out who is texting you can be more of a challenge. And I’ve come to realize some people are sensitive to the text reply of “Who’s this?”. But after a brief explanation, they calm down and everything is fine. A friend of mine told me about Google Contacts, which does everything I hoped MobileMe would do. It synchronizes your contacts to your phone, and has worked perfectly since I implemented it.
So Google Contacts works like a charm. And now I want to add more details to my contacts. I’ve always been pretty bad about keeping track of friends’ addresses, birthdays, etc. But with as well as Google Contacts is working, I’ve decided to go all out. I want to have as much info as possible about the people in my contacts list. Birthplace, favorite color, allergies, you name it! I kind of want it to come across as a list of dossiers that maybe James Bond might be handed after a meeting with M. I think that would be kind of slick. So let’s see how this turns out. Hopefully I don’t get too carried away with this. Don’t want a situation of TMI.
-Dave Q.
Well, so much for 2010.
I’ve been thinking about what to do for a New Year’s resolution. I really want to take it seriously for once in my life. I don’t think I have ever followed through on any I have made before. Not sure if I even went a day or two on any of those. But hey, maybe this will be the year. Like I’ve never heard that one before.
I don’t want to pick a New Year’s resolution that everyone else picks. Those like losing weight, quit smoking, etc. Well, I don’t smoke. And I don’t need to lose weight (at least I don’t think so). So I need to think outside the box. Something that would benefit me not just for the year, but for life. So I’ve come up with 3 resolutions. Not sure if I’ll be able to do all 3, but it’s worth a shot. So in no particular order:
- Wake Up Earlier – If I can avoid sleeping in when I don’t have to, I might be able to make it a habit that I get up early. I’ve come to realize that a huge amount of time is wasted on weekends that I sleep in. So if I turn myself into a morning person, I won’t complain about not having enough time during the day to get stuff done. Makes sense, right?
- Stop Eating Out So Much – Now this is going to be difficult to do because eating out is so flippin’ easy to do. But by not eating out, this will force me to learn to cook more. And if I’m doing the cooking, maybe I’m eating healthier in the process. And I’m also saving money! Sounds like a win, win, win.
- Prep Clothes for the Week - If I’m ever running late for work, which is more often than I want to admit, it’s because I spend time in the morning ironing or looking for clean clothes to wear. So this year I will start prepping my clothes for the week on Sunday, and hopefully won’t have to worry about it during the week. Might even let me dress better for work. I’m pretty sure my co-workers are tired of seeing me in t-shirts and jeans.
Anyway, there you have it. I challenge anyone out there to have 3 better resolutions than me! Even if your resolution is world peace, at least mine are attainable.
-Dave Q.
