The verbose spam mystery

When I logged into write a post today, I saw that I had a few comments to be moderated. Generally, comments to my blog automatically appear, but if they are on a post that was written a while ago, they're saved for my review and approval.

Most comments that are on old posts are spam. I mark them as such and forget about them. But the one awaiting me today really got me thinking. It was on the Office Bathroom Etiquette post (one of my most viewed).

This was the comment:

I give birth to read a insufficient of the articles on your website trendy, and I extremely like your fashionableness of blogging. I added it to my favorites net stage muster and last will and testament be checking stand behind soon. Please check out my position as highly and vindicate me conscious what you think. Thanks. 

Huh? I'm used to the spammers who say stuff like "Nice blog you have here. I like to read such themes and everything connected with it. By the way Viagra cheap!"

But wordy verse makes absolutely no sense. First of all, the words "trendy" and "fashionableness" are not frequently associated with me. That's when I got to thinking that maybe it was military or drug cartel secret hidden in the comment section of my blog. Like the real message is in every 5th word or something:

I give birth to read a insufficient of the articles on your website trendy, and I extremely like your fashionableness of blogging. I added it to my favorites net stage muster and last will and testament be checking stand behind soon. Please check out my position as highly and vindicate me conscious what you think. Thanks.


Well, or something like that. Or maybe the message was intended to be read backwards. "Think you what conscious me vindicate and highly as position my..." 

That's not it either.  I don't really know what it's supposed to say because of course the comment came from Anonymous. I wish I did know, though, because if I really have been added to his/her last will and testament, I'd like to be contacted at the time of his/her passing -- especially if there is lots of money or jewelry involved. 


So, Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, if you really are some wealthy benefactor who thinks my blog is trendy and full of fashionableness, please visit again soon. If you're a terrorist or mobster or some other thug, I've given your message more than its fair share of spotlight. Don't bother coming back. Your next comment won't see the light of day.


The rest of you lovely readers? Comment at will!

Losing my resolve

I decided several weeks ago that I was not going to go Black Friday shopping this year. This is a definite deviation from the norm for me. I always participate in the madness that is Black Friday. I go for the deals and for the social experience -- the thrill of the hunt.

But this year, I'd looked at several of the sneak peek Black Friday ads online and just didn't see anything that I had to have...or at least that I was willing to lose good sleep over. I consulted my Christmas spreadsheet and realized that there wasn't much on there that matched up with the big sales. So I decided to forgo Black Friday shopping; and I was quite content with my decision.

Then someone shared with me the link to one of Target's funny Black Friday how-to videos. That's when I began to feel like everybody who's anybody is going to be at the stores at o'dark a.m. A trip to Target for groceries on Wednesday night only made my Black Friday juices flow even more. They were prepping the store for the big sale -- large spaces had been cleared and pallets of mystery items stood concealed in boxes waiting for their big Friday morning reveal.

Deep breath, Amy. It's not a bargain if you don't need it. Do not get caught up in the madness. Enjoy the slow pace of family time.

The self-talk worked. When I looked at the Target ad this morning -- I'd seen it online already but there's something different about holding it in your hands -- I was largely untempted. I should have stopped there. But no...I had to go on to the Kohl's ad. Holy cow! Those Kohl's people have some amazing discounts happening. And they open at 3am! And KMart has a great deal on a trampoline with enclosure. The kids would love one of those.

Slow breathing...consult the spreadsheet...right, nothing on my list that I have to find at Kohl's. Let alone at 3am. Although, Toys 'R Us is opening in just a few minutes. And Meijer has been open all day.

Stop it! Resist the urge. Call a sponsor. Go to a meeting.

Ok, ok. I can do this. I can enjoy Black Friday as a family day. I will not go to a store in search of unbelievable deals. Although, I did see something in the Walgreens ad and a drugstore doesn't really count, does it?

9 rotten things I'm thankful for

1. Rush hour traffic -- Thank you, God, that I have a job to go to and a car to get myself there and back.
   
2. Extra weight -- Thank you, God, that I am not one of those many who go hungry.
   
3. Insomnia -- Thank you, God, for the quiet spaces that I find, even when they are at 4am.
   
4. Long lines at the grocery store -- Thank you, God, for the blessing of being able to feed my family.
   
5. Road construction -- Thank you, God, for paved roads instead of rocky, rutty paths and for jobs for all those people who work on them.
   
6. Notes from the teacher -- I long ago discovered that an e-mail from the teacher with just your child's name in the subject line is almost never good news. But thank you, God, my children have teachers who care about their success.
7. Mountains of laundry -- Thank you, God, that we have clothes to wear and a washer/dryer at home.
8. That time of the month -- Thank you, God, for the amazing workings of my body.
9. Bills -- Thank you God, for electricity and heat, wireless internet and modern medicine.

What rotten things are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The blog posts that weren't

I've spent too much time tonight trying to decide what to blog about. Here are the topics that didn't make the cut:

1. Movies to fold laundry by. Been there, blogged that.
2. As seen on TV products I'd like to own
3. Black Friday black out -- no crazy shopping for me this year.
4. On being a boy Mom
5. Hanging on for dear life -- A video I shot from my office today of squirrels in a tree. This one might appear later.

If you blog, feel free to borrow one of these ideas. Got any other brilliant blog topics you'd like to read here? I'm all ears!

Seasons of love

525,600 minutes in a year. That means as of tomorrow, my grandparents will have been married for 34,187,040 minutes (if I accounted for the leap years correctly).

To save you from having whip out your calculators or engage in mental math, that is 65 years.

SIXTY-FIVE YEARS!

13 children. More than 30 grandchildren (I've lost count). Who knows how many great-grandchildren, but probably more than 2 dozen.

I asked them at their celebration last night what the secret to 65 years of marriage is. My grandpa said "Lots of love." My grandma said "I fed him lots of good food."

I'm pretty sure both responses are resounding truth.

Bucket filler

At the beginning of each school year, the kids' school reads a book about being a bucket filler -- being helpful and kind, essentially filling someone else's bucket. The converse is being a bucket dipper, definitely frowned upon.

To encourage bucket filling behaviors, teachers and staff can "catch" students in acts of helpfulness and issue them an orange "bucket filler" slip of paper. The student then gets to take the paper to the school office, where they are thanked for their behavior and the paper is put into a bucket where all the records of kindness for that week are kept. Then on Fridays, four or five names are drawn from the office's bucket and those students are recognized after Mass.

Robbie has been obsessed with bucket fillers. For several weeks, he's come home from school and said something along these lines:

"Mom, I let Ty in front of me in the lunch line today. Was that a bucket filler?" 

"Mom, Hannah dropped her crayons today and I helped her pick them up. Was that a bucket filler?"

Then I explain to him that you don't have get the orange slip of paper for something to be a bucket filler, that if you do something that makes someone else feel good and you probably feel good about helping, that's indeed a bucket filler. But he was waiting for the paper.

The wait was over yesterday. Robbie got a bucket filler slip for helping a friend who dropped something. He was so excited. So today, I went to school for Mass and to see if he would be one of those recognized after Mass. 

OK -- really, I went to the office to see if I could ensure that his name would be called at Mass because I knew how much it would mean to him. But when I got there, the names had already been drawn and his was one of them (I think maybe his teacher had something to do with that.), so it was legit.

After Mass was over, the student council president (an 8th grade boy who was filling in for the principal),  began announcing the bucket filler honorees. The first student came forward, shook the student council president's hand, and accepted a small charm. Then Robbie's name was called. 

I watched as he jumped up as though he'd just been called to come on down to Contestant's Row on The Price is Right. He ran down the aisle to the front of the church, where the student council president stood waiting to shake his hand. Instead, Robbie ran right up to him, wrapped his arms around the kid's waist and gave him a big, joyful hug. 

I know I'm biased and all, but it was so cute! In fact, it went a long way to fill my bucket today.

Facebook, I thought we were friends

I love Facebook -- probably a little too much. But it's been such a great way for me to keep connected to my brothers and sisters, my bazillion cousins, friends I used to hang out at Mom's group with (before we got too busy being moms that we don't have time to see each other), old high school friends and 500+ other people that I've felt a need to be connected to. What can I say? I'm a social creature.

And probably like most Facebook users, I click those links to find out which Harry Potter character I am, what color my personality is, and tonight, who has deleted me as a friend. Turns out that last one was spam. I figured that out once it took me to some page that wanted me to complete a survey before it would show me my results. I didn't take the survey and clicked out of the app. But by then, I'd already given it permission to access my information, make posts to my wall and who knows what else.

Fast forward to a few hours later, after I woke up from my evening nap, and I realized that the stupid app had posted the spammy link on my personal page, on the 4th Frog page and on the page I manage for work. I clicked delete on those posts, but knew I needed to go in and remove the entire application.

This is where I started feeling icky about Facebook. Let me be clear, it's not Facebook's fault. I (half) read  those agreements about allowing access to my profile, my high school SAT scores, and my last performance review when I clicked on "how much do you know about Spongebob Squarepants" and "which Glee character would you mash up best with" and others. What I didn't realize -- or at least pay attention to -- is that fact that long after I clicked "allow" on those applications, they would live on in my Facebook account and had my permission to access my information.

When I went in to my account privacy settings to delete the "who deleted you" app, I saw the list of all those stupid quizzes I've taken. There were actually fewer than I would have expected. What was really unsettling, though, were the apps that had accessed my information and data long after I figured out that my personality is green and I'm Ron Weasley. I could also see that some of the apps, like my favorites Scrabble and "God Wants You to Know," had never accessed my data.

So I removed about 30 apps I'd previously granted access to, ignored requests for 40 more, and changed my Facebook password for good measure. I'm still a fan of Facebook. But I'm also a more cautious and more aware one as well.