I never would’ve heard this growing up

Katie: Elliot, put the machete down and come to the table.

Argh!

Argh!

Katie’s blogger blog has been frozen since early Friday. In case you missed it, blogger automatically froze it because, in its crack-headedness, it thought Katie was a spammer.

Ok, I can see that a massive service like blogger would need to automate spammer protections. But once you tell blogger you’re not, in fact, a computer program trying to propagate spam but, rather, a person blogging (and in Katie’s case, she’s had that blog for several years), why can’t it let you back on? Instead of having your account on review, it simply locks it until a person can see it.

So it’s still locked. And who knows if “a person” will ever show up to unlock it?

Just a bad driver

Twice in the last week, I have been driven off the road on my interstate commute. This morning, I was cruising down I-40, going probably 75 in a 65 zone. I was in the left lane, passing a little blue sporty looking car when said car decided to get into my lane. Being on my toes this morning, I quickly swerved into the breakdown lane, simultaneously hitting the brakes and the horn.

And like I said, that’s the second time this week I’ve had that happen. This morning, I slowed for a few minutes, trying to get past the realization that I could’ve just been killed by thoughtlessness, and I watched the car that nearly drove me off the road. The driver drove on as if nothing happened, then after a bit she got back in the middle lane. She swerved side to side a bit, and I wondered if I should call 911. As I slowly passed her a few minutes later, I glanced over at her. Nope, she wasn’t drunk, and she wasn’t on the phone. She was just a bad driver.

It just amazes me how easily something really bad could have happened, and even though I honked my horn, I’m not sure the other driver ever noticed me. If I had happened to be looking the other way for just that second, my morning would’ve gone badly.

That’s something to be grateful for, I guess.

More pics

Katie and Cinco:

Me, Betsy, Mac

Cute couple, eh?

Man of mystery

I like this pic taken of me at the horse show today:

Snakes on a Plane

I just want to point out - for posterity - that it’s Saturday night and I’m watching Snakes on a Plane … and Katie is watching it with me.

(Katie hates most movies that make your heart race and all movies that feature brutal deaths.)

Go Kate!

Dude!

I’ve been hanging out with too many nine-year-olds (totally!). I’ve noticed “dude” has slowly been creeping into my vocabulary.

Blogger, you are not my friend

And I guess the fact that you don’t need me as a friend is part of the problem.

I spent this morning trying to back up Katie’s blog, so blogger can’t eat it. The problem, however, is that since her blog is frozen (except to new comments), I can’t back it up. There’s nothing I can do until the Powers That Be grant us access to the blog.

Blogger loving

I just noticed that blogger just locked Katie’s blog.

Your blog is locked

Blogger’s spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What’s a spam blog?) Since you’re an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

We received your unlock request on April 27, 2007. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam.

Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.

Blogger is something special, isn’t it? I love how a ‘bot locked Katie’s blog because it thought it was a ‘bot. And it takes several days to unlock the blog. And if you don’t happen to log in that week? Your blog is gone.

Learning a valuable lesson

I learned a valuable lesson today, and lucky for me I didn’t learn it the hard way.

I really realized today that you have to be careful and listen to what people are saying or trying to say. I think we all make assumptions about what we’re hearing. We assume someone is asking one thing, and we assume we’re better listeners than we are. But I just began to fully understand how to really listen to what people are trying to tell me and how interjecting my interpretation of what they’re saying can get me in trouble. If you really listen, they’ll tell you.

Of course that presupposes having patience….

The thought makes me ill

Although the thought makes me ill, the end to internet radio is obviously coming. This is the response I got from signing an internet petition:

Dear Mr. Hickman,

Thank you for contacting my office to share your concerns about the increase of music royalty rates. Your input is important to me, and I appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts.

As you may know, all decisions regarding music royalty rates are determined by three judges appointed to the Copyright Royalty Board. On March 2, 2007, the board set new rates for webcasting between 2006-2010. In response, internet radio operators requested a rehearing and postponement of the May 15th deadline by which they would be expected to pay the new rates. The rehearing request was rejected by the Copyright Royalty Board who stated that new evidence had not been presented to support reconsideration of the ruling.

Like you, I agree that the implications of this ruling need to be considered, and I assure you that I will continue to monitor the situation. Should relative legislation come before the United States Senate, I will certainly take into consideration your concerns.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you will continue to share your thoughts with me over the next six years.

Sincerely,

Bob Corker
United States Senator