June 29, 2005
Now that I'm a mom, I realize that graduation is about family and friends celebrating with their student their achievements and successes. For me my son's graduation was a day full of wonderful surprises. I not only received a little award from the kids for volunteering in their classroom. For me the greatest gift was the little story they wrote, which they printed on their pc, which included hand decorated color illustrations. I was truly touched. My son also received an award and wore lots of different hats during the ceremony. This is the same kid that usually hides behind me when we run into a neighbor or anyone tries to talk with him.
Here he is reading what the class picked out as their favorite story to share with their parent. I was so proud of him! I was just so amazed that his teacher worked with him to help him overcome his shyness enough for him to get in front of a crowd to read. I nearly cried, the only thing that stopped me was that I was recording the ceremony.
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My brothers and I had a bit of fun holding it in the sunlight and then taking it into the closet to watch it glow. Yahoo!
On a more serious note, as one who has been involved in teaching/training for my whole adult professional life I can tell you it is sometimes easy to spot those individuals who watched a lot, and I mean A LOT, of television when they were younger. I do believe that it does not just affect their reading; but also their ability to interact with others. People skills are best learned at a young age.
Here's what I mean. When I am in front of a class explaining something there will be many faces that I can see a reaction on. These individuals will be nodding their heads as they seem to understand what I am saying, or maybe they are frowning if they don't understand. But there is some reaction.
Then they are others whom, I believe, watched TOO much television when they were in their 'formative' years. There is NO reaction to anything I am saying. It doesn't matter if they completely understand or understand nothing that I am explaining. There is just a DULL VACANT STARE as if they are hypnotized or on drugs. They cannot be on drugs, can they? Can half my adult classes in the corporate environment really be spacing out from dope? Nope, it has got to be from television. As they watched too much television they did NOT have to interact with it.
So, reading to your child AND talking about the reading is very good!
Best of luck as your son enters the first grade!June 26, 2005
The funniest part was seeing the stunned/jaw dropping look on tourist's faces as we emerged from the subway. They looked like deer caught in headlights. Oh to have been privy to their thoughts! Anyway, my amusement was short lived as I had to leave quickly because there were a lot of things that I really didn't want to have to explain to my 5 year old. BTW, did you get the title pun?
Events that I'm looking forward to starting this week:
The official start of my new job. It should be fun as the order for my separation from my old unit to the new one was not put through by the Temp from Hell, which means I'll have no voice mail access for 24-48hrs and my computer profile will not be on the new server, which means that I'll probably get close to 200 emails I'll have to delete, OH JOY!
My son's graduation. Ah yes, he's a big boy now as he moves on to 1st grade. Will I choke up and cry, or will I manage to take some good pics for next weeks Karnival of Kids w/out sobbing. I'll report back to you on Wed as to how it went.
People begin the mass exodus for the 4th of July weekend, leaving us seasoned New Yorkers to bask and have fun in a city that is virtually empty and easy to walk/drive through, shop and eat in restaurants with ease and leisure. In short, for two weeks I'll get a seat for my 40 min commute to and from work.
The salad bar at work will increase from the same 7 choices (lettuce, tomoatoes, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, Salmon and Chicken) to 15 items. Woohoo! a vegetarian's delight! Interesting how they never have onions even though I love them!
Finally it's the start of casual Friday's AND of me being able to go home early on Fridays, per my new dept.'s policy. That will be dearly treasured ME time! I have a choice of 3 places to go to for that time... gym, movies, and/or bookstore.
My first web hosting event - Karnival of Kids! I am so looking forward to this. I'm going to rest up my hands over the next few days, especially after having finished inputting over 100 contacts and events in my Treo these last 2 days. This means that commenting and posting will be light this week, as I deal with all these new, wonderful and exciting responsibilities. But look out, because now that I can surf on my Treo650, I'll be reading, commenting and posting like a demon starting next week. Ahhhh, I'm in technological heaven... more about this later.
Hope your Sunday was cooler and more fun than mine!
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June 25, 2005
Her response: if she couldn't get me at the office she would call me at home. (Heh, I have caller ID Lady!) Under normal circumstances I'd cooperate and make the new person's transition smoother, but knowing that the new person was extended an offer before I even returned to work or found another position pissed me off.
What made me angrier? Knowing my replacement is getting less resposibilities, no projects and $15K more than I did. So for the week I smiled, I endured, and complied with her demands, being that she's the #4 woman in a global company of 60,000. For the remainder of the week I worked my old schedule of 13 to 18 hr days while enduring the meanest, most passive/aggressive behavior from some of my immediate coworkers. As far as I'm concerned, my loyalty ended when I left last night.
Since I believe in Karmic retribution I already know that she and the others will pay for how awfully I was treated these past 2 weeks. To start with I found out that not only is her secretary leaving at the end of next week, the person she hired to replace her Secy (and who'll absorb a few of my duties) doesn't now the Microsoft Outlook/Exchange Server programs. The person she hired to replace me has not used a PC in 5 years as she's been teaching art to little kids and using a Mac during that time. I know she's not prepared for the cutthroat, fast paced, demanding, "market-driven" pace of investment banking.
I can see the crashing and burning way into the future. The smoldering fires of what's to come when research has to be done on when, who and what were the last terms of a bifurcated swap. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that moment. If either woman lasts more than 3 months it will be a miracle. I did get an insult of an offer (as it would mean a demotion) if I wanted to stay; but as far as I'm concerned it's a little too little, and it comes way too late in the game. I had a football analogy of a 3rd down... but I'll spare you.
As for me, things started turning way around when I called a friend and spent over an hour lauging my head off and when I activated my new beloved Treo650. As of this morning, life has finally and definitely turned the corner!
Mellower, happier posts are soon to come.
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June 21, 2005
In that backpack I also usually carried a newsmagazine, a wallet calculator, a cd player, my 3 zone wristwatch, something spiritual to read, several pens and a micro device for my presentations. On weekends I would occasionally also throw in my old camera (which was too old and heavy) for me to use and cdÂ’s for my son to listen to and a large bottle of water for us to share.
Well, except for my water bottle, my Treo 650 has replaced all of those items and provided lots more! WOOOHOOOO! I now have unlimited storage space for each calendar entry and I can link them to the respective contacts listed in my work/personal Outlook contact files. I can set an endless number of alarms for a single or multiple events in my calendar.
If youÂ’re like me and forget names but always remembers faces, your contacts can now display a picture for each entry. If youÂ’re in sales or in the medical/legal profession this baby is worth more than itÂ’s weight in gold.
In addition to having a digital camera, it also has a camcorder (I used both as a back up eqpt. for my sonÂ’s graduation when the batteries on my ex-brother in lawÂ’s digital camera failed). It also works as an mp3 player, and has the ability to do text/instant messaging and surf the web, all wirelessly! I have downloaded documents, updated contacts and calendar entries from my work PC onto my Treo and then transferred them to my home pc via the infrared port in no time at all. Seamless syncronization!
I've begun subscribing to RSS feeds of all my favorite blogs. They're not that many popular blogs that have RSS feeds available to readers, so if you're looking to up your readership that's one way to do it. This device will also enable me to post updates on my blog, check my private email account, stay in touch w/all my favorite bloggers and BAD family members without violating my firmÂ’s strict technical equipment usage policies. Oh, and it came with a wireless blue tooth headset that looks like Lt. UhuruÂ’s headset on Star Trek. No wires to get tangled in!!!
I will be giving my old Treo 300 to my ex-sister in law, who is an international attorney, so she can hold all of the international commerce laws in Asia in a 5Gb memory card, and have her most valuable reference material with her at all times. This treo almost saved my son's life during a blackout sometime ago when he was extremely sick and required round the clock meds. At one point I got up in the middle of the night and was about to give him medication thinking I heard my alarm clock, when in fact all that had happened was that the power had restored. Just as I was about to give him the meds I decided to check my Treo to make sure the alarm in it had in fact gone off and I had not dreamed of it. I discovered by checking the Treo that I had already given him his meds only an hour before.
My pediatrician saw my Treo and itÂ’s functionality and when I told him of the PDR and Patient History file storage card that was compatible with his software he went out and got it the next day. He called me today to thank me as that device helped him give complete medical history to an ER doctor on a critically ill child. Since IÂ’m not using the MP3 player IÂ’ve only needed to charge the battery every 3rd day.
One warning though, the phone/data plans associated with this phone are expensive. I am not happy about the cost of mine. The reason I agreed to pay the $90 a month for the phone/data plan is to ensure that in case of an emergency I could call/text/email/send pics to any of my relatives, friends, business associates, or my sonÂ’s guardians who are located overseas and vice versa. Now if only everyone in my life would just get on the Verizon Wireless network my life would be complete.
YesÂ… it does take a high tech, high performance toy to make me happy!!! Don't give me jewelry, just give me software
: )
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June 20, 2005
It really went down hill from there. By 1:00pm I just wanted to pack my belongings and begin my hejira that would take me far, without being able to look back. Unfortunately, IÂ’m too much of a professional to just walk out. So instead, IÂ’ll need to remain in purgatory for 4 more days.
A mind shift occurred a little while ago when I received a belated birthday e-card from a former famine relief worker I had worked with. He was now in the outskirts of Somalia, doing the kind of work we had done in Mexico and South America. A flood of memories of those days came back to me, helping me realize I had very little to complain about. After all, I not only was able to eat good healthy food and drink clean fresh water; I would soon be going to bed in a safe and secure environment in a comfortable bed located in a climate controlled bedroom and sleeping on nice, soft, clean sheets.
In comparison to him, I have nothing to complain about.
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June 18, 2005
As the women in my life tried to curb my independence and exuberance for life, the men in my life (my track, volleyball and softball coaches) fostered in me a sense of independence, drive, competitiveness, and lots of leadership qualities that have served me well to this day. They created and provided a solid foundation for my life. Had my dad not been too busy with his business and congregation he would have joined the women in the restraint and reformation of Michele. When my dad finally did notice I was too much of a tomboy for his taste, so I was sent off to be under the supervision of a distant relative at a convent school. This was followed by an all girls high school. I thought it would not be fun but I was wrong. Our brother school was an all boy military academy, incredible boys each one of them. I also went to a martial arts school where I was one of 4 girls.
more...
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June 17, 2005
I really love this thing! Not only is it a great source for hours of entertainment, it also provides lots of capacity for ALL itÂ’s functions. Even though I have 4Gb of music in it (almost the equivalent of an entire music library of several thousand songs) it helps me store all of it in many ways, which is better than any smart stereo system you can have, plus, you won't wake up your neighbors, except if you dance. IÂ’ve stored all my sonÂ’s music (and carry a spare set of inexpensive earbuds) just in case we go out somewhere and get stuck on the train or delayed at an appointment.
In addition to his playlist, IÂ’ve created several of my own. One playlist for each of my moods and for different activities like working, exercising, cleaning, or relaxing. I have also transferred 2 books on tape so that when I want to listen to something interesting or literary during my commute home I can listen and ignore my sardine like environment during rush hour.
I still have enough room left over so that I can store/carry large amounts of data (like large databases) and exchange it between my home and work pc. Also, I can save battery life because the software has enabled me to transfer and hold the music in my work pc so while I'm there I can simply listen to the prearranged playlists via my pc. HOW COOL IS THAT!
This device and it's music has been a godsend for my noisy cubicle environment. I have a classical/instrumental playlist that has really helped me focus on my work this week. I was reading lots of legislation and it helped me stay awake and stress free while my noisy neighbors chatted away endlessly about their personal lives and the latest episodes of various reality tv show. I don't watch tv so I had no idea what they were talking about.
This device has enabled my music to truly become the soundtrack to my life.
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June 16, 2005
- When surfing use a secure connection to prevent other web sites from impersonating it.
- Never click on a pop up window, no matter how tempting the offer. If youÂ’re interested in a product visit the site directly so you can make sure you are at a legitimate site.
- PC web sites typically use the HTTPS web protocol on their login page to allow the user to verify the web site's identity. If an attacker impersonates a web site, the user will receive a message from the browser indicating that the web site's "certificate" does not match the address being visited. Click here to see what an example of this message looks like. Users should NEVER click Yes in response to such a window, otherwise they will be connected to an impersonating and fraudulent site and become a pharming attack victim.
- Finally, donÂ’t open emails from senders you donÂ’t know, no matter how desperate you may be for entertainment. If itÂ’s that important theyÂ’ll contact you again without funny or strange subject lines or they will simply call you on the phone!
For more tips see the extended entry! more...
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Here is the analysis:
The hard-working chief engineer is the guy for you. He's the one who would build a wooden hut--with a complete set of furniture, just for you. You need to feel at home and he's the one to make your dreams come true.
So, do any of you know any Vulcan type engineers out there?
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June 14, 2005
Michele,
Imagine an ad for a company like that called.... Smacker, Wallop & Whacker, LLC. They are highly recommended, totally confidential and professional in all their wallops. All you have to do is tell them the location, person, and pay the smacker, and SMACK they go.
When they leave you have no liability, 'cause they'll never know what hit 'em.
Even though that came at 4:15pm it really made my day!!!
(Humor courtesy of blogless Oz)
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Wouldn't it be great if you could hire a professional limited liability service company that provides a professional smacker?
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These emails are so well done that I almost fell victim to their scam. Luckily I decided to contact my bank via phone to make sure. It took them over 3 hrs for them to call me back and let me know it was fraudulent. They admitted that even they were almost fooled. A large number of Citibank customers were not so lucky and became victims to these scams last year. Citibank was forced to recently make changes to both their customer emails and to their online banking websites in order to prevent more victims of phishing expeditions.
Not heard of Pharming much? You will soon as the ISC reported that in February of this year over 1300 Internet domains were redirected to compromised web servers, where unsuspecting customers thought they were logging on to legitimate sites to conduct their electronic business. In March that number increased by 1.8%. HereÂ’s a list of a few sites which have suffered from Pharming hackers:
Banking: bankofamerica.com, bankone.com, chase.com, wachovia.com, and wellsfargo.com
Brokerage: sharebuilder.com
Email: msn.com, and yahoo.com
Travel: aa.com, continental.com, and united.com
Pharming is a relatively new and dangerous way for internet fraudsters to obtain all your personal information with your help. These fraudsters exploit peopleÂ’s natural curiosity via pop-up windows, planting crimeware onto your PC. They steal your credentials directly from you by using Trojan keylogger spyware that sends back to its creator information regarding where you visited and what information you typed to access that site. Hackers can also misdirect users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning to make you believe youÂ’re at a legitimate site, then steal enough personal identification or data from you to enable them to access your online banking and credit card accounts.
Tomorrow IÂ’ll post tips on how you can prevent from giving away the pharm!
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June 13, 2005
My new coworker was so jelous when she saw my USB extender cable (she's 6ft tall & always gets under the desk) that she ordered one the same day. Now she doesn't have to go under the desk to plug in her microdevice.
The USB hub also works between 2 or more pc stations who need to share one or more peripherals, capacity depends, on the number of ports in the USB, the number of peripherals to be shared and and the pc stations being linked. If one hub is going to be shared between several pc's then a number of USB extender cables should be bought.
Tip: while you're at it, buy some velcro cable holders so you can tame all the cables behind the pc's so as to make them invisible. You can then take a piece of velcro stick it to the underside of the hub and the other to top of the desk or PC to keep the small hub attached securely so it won't move around as you connect your device to the hub.
Tip: write on masking tape or a label and place this on top of the hub, so you'll automatically know which port belongs to which device, should you need to trouble shoot or move cables around.
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June 12, 2005
They lived near the beach with my uncle who was young and single. My uncle, who had picked us up at the airport decided to take a walk and I followed him in tow. He picked me up to cross the road and over to the beach. The first scent that hit my nostrils in this brand new world was the smell of sun scorched sea grass that covered the edge of the road and which we had to step on in order to get to the beachÂ’s edge. I can almost still smell it!
The second scent memory was created a short while after the first. After spending a little while with my uncle on that beach, he picked me up once again to take me home. As I placed my head on his shoulder and began to dose off I got to smell a mixture of a sun dried cotton shirt with a hint of sweat, suntan lotion, and aftershave. That was the last scent I went to bed with almost every night as he rocked me to sleep. To this day I still love the scent of a guy whoÂ’s worn a soft cotton shirt in the sun.
Every time I go to the beach I usually wear a cotton shirt as a cover-up which usually means that IÂ’ll be enjoying my own scent on the shirt the entire ride home! I love summer!
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June 11, 2005
Today it almost happened again. I was purchasing an item in a store with a credit card and the cashier, after swiping my card on the register began to walk away with my card from the register and was about to put it in her pocket. When I called her back and asked her to return my card or to at hold it while she was in front of me she made some lame excuse about needing to swipe it on a different machine instead because her register wasnÂ’t working. Just then the authorization came through on my charge. Something as simple as a small credit card scanner could have been hidden in her pocket, which captures the personal info from the magnetic strip on my credit card. This can happen anywhere a credit card or debit card is accepted: restaurants, malls, gas stations, bookstores and your local convenience store. ItÂ’s not just the companies like Citibank and Wells Fargo losing your information.
HereÂ’s some ways identity theft can happen?
• Purse snatching - A thief steals your wallet or purse containing your personal information, credit and bankcards.
• Mail theft - Thieves steal bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, telephone calling cards and tax information from your mailbox.
• Change of address - Thieves divert your mail to another location.
• Dumpster diving - Thieves rummage through residential or business trash, looking for personal information.
• Masquerading - Thieves fraudulently pose as your landlord or banker or someone else with a legitimate need for your personal information.
• Stealing work records - Thieves get your business or personnel records at work.
• Home theft - Thieves find personal information in your home. They can be either guest, workers, visitors or posing as sales people or lost individuals.
• Internet theft - Thieves obtain personal information from unsecured Web sites that you may have visited or through Phishing and Pharming techniques. More about these 2 tomorrow.
• Insider crime - People who have access to personal identifying information such as bank or financial institutions employees and steal id’s to sell or use it themselves.
• Pretexting - Thieves pretend to be you or a legitimate requestor and persuade business employees to provide them with your personal information.
• Corporate espionage - Thieves steal business secrets or data which encompasses employee and client information.
Because this is such a huge topic, and one which Congress and many states are dragging their feet on, I decided precipitated by todayÂ’s events, that I would make others aware of this potential danger by doing a sort of installment on this topic broken down in segments. My next post will deal exclusively with cyber identity theft, specifically Phishing and Pharming. I will also show, with the permission of a few of my kind family members as guinea pigs, how easy it is for a thief or a stalker to obtain a information on them without their knowledge or consent. I will also show everyone how to protect themselves from this type of crime and those who commit them. Sorry, no fun post, it was a weary day!
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June 10, 2005
After returning to work I kept going non-stop absorbing, learning, reading, listening, contributing ideas until it was 3:00pm. Then my boss said: "you've done more than enough for one day, why don't you go out and have some fun." So I went to the bank to make a deposit and picked up a nice ice cold lemonade drink on my way back.
When I returned 15 min. later I wondered where everybody had gone. So I sat down to read some more briefings, when I was asked what I was still doing there. I must have had a look of confusion on my face, so a colleague pointed out that I was free leave. I tried playing it off by saying "Oh, he meant THAT kind of fun." That's when I was told that on Friday's in the summer, the staff usually starts leaving around 3:00pm.
Although I smiled and chatted for awhile, internally I was doing an incredible happy dance. So I got home early, picked up my son and spent extra playtime with him. I LOVE THIS JOB!
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The bad part of this job, (and believe me, I can live with it!) is that I'll have to be careful not to blog about certain items due to SEC, NASDAQ, European Union, and WTO Charter Agreements (just to name a few).
My first challenge today, which I'm still researching, is what personal information absolutely cannot be retained in our corporate files. In some states and countries, a spouse's name and identifying data, along with their personal affiliations and investments must be part of our permanent records, whereas in others, it's absolutely prohibited. So today I had to do some digging on this, that was the fun part. Once I find the answer, I have to communicate that in several directions before I can modify our policies and database.
Not bad for a first day's work! !
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You Are 70% Normal (Really Normal) |
 Otherwise known as the normal amount of normal. You're like most people most of the time. But you've got those quirks that make you endearing You're unique, yes... but not frighteningly so! |
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June 07, 2005
The only time I have regretted playing host was to a former roommate's high school friend, who was originally from California. I haven't much cared for Californians since then. This group recently emailed me announcing their impending visit to NY and letting me know they'd like to stay with me. No, they didn't ask. How sweet of them to be so friendly! [NOT] After only a split second thought of how I was going to say no I simply hit the reply key and let my fingers take over. The result? A strangely amusing email that should do the trick w/these airheads. Anyone venture to guess if this email will work?
more...
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June 06, 2005
So after awhile, celebrity spotting becomes no big deal and they just become part of NYC's backdrop, celebrity extras if you will. Oftentimes I don't recognize them till much later because they look so different without their makeup. Such was the case when I met up with Tom Cruise a few days ago.
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