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September 24, 2004

Spammers Try Ad-lib Messages

Do you remember the Ad-lib stories from when we were kids? You had a short story but had to fill in verbs, nouns, etc to create the story. Very often the story didn't make any sense but was rather humorous.

Well I think the folks that send out SPAM are trying similar tactics. They will often put random sentences in the text of the SPAM. The goal is to make the message seem valid due to “normal” sentences and bypass any SPAM filters. Here is a sample of a recent spam. I found several to be funny. You be the judge:

You ski uphill. A police detective can only solve a case after he has been suspended from duty. I think I'm going to throw-up. “Will the company move my rock collection from California to Maryland?” Applicant refused to sit down and insisted on being interviewed standing up. You soak your dentures in coffee overnight. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. A German accent will do. I would have been more successful if nobody would have snitched on me. “What is it that you people do at this company?” I have no difficulty in starting or holding my bowel movement. You can jump-start your car without cables.

“Will the company move my rock collection from California to Maryland?” “Why aren't you in a more interesting business?” Heut will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
But only to the waist of the man lying beside her. One of a pair of identical twins is evil. You can jump-start your car without cables. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war. You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug.

You channel surf faster without a remote. You can type sixty words per minute with your feet. Candidate announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewers office. “What are the zodiac signs of all the board members?” You channel surf faster without a remote.

A man will show no pain while taking the most horrific beating. My legs are really hairy. “Would it be a problem if I'm angry most of the time?” It doesn't matter if you are greatly outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts. People get dizzy just watching you.

Posted by pykeman at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2004

The "Want to be Boyfriend"

… or Manfriend. That's at least what her dad called me. :-) We're guessing I passed the test with flying colors! Dinner with her mother, father, and nephew was great. afterwards we spent time at her parent's place in King City. I had a wonderful time. You know the interesting thing? This is the first girlfriend that has an actual biological father in her life…. think about it. Ami asked her mom what she thought, dad was off golfing. Mom seemed to be happy. Basically as long as Ami is happy and I treat her well they are happy.

Ami has often said that she is being spoiled by me. I don't think I'm spoiling her, but treating her with as I've been taught by my family. It is so different to be dating someone that isn't driven to do things all the time. It is hard to explain, we just seem to fit together. Paco recently said, “Oh good, one homebody found another homebody.” Silly boy. :-)

Speaking of being driven all the time… Sometimes I'm feeling that I'm the driven one. Between the hour commute between Ami's home and mine, selling a few things on eBay, and misc other things. One of the miscellaneous things I'm doing is the Portland Marathon Committee. Tom mentioned that the gentleman in charge of logistics needed a replacement (I hope just a right hand man for now) as he has a new job that takes him away from Portland.

Well I'm now part of the logistics team for the marathon. What does that mean? Making sure all the supplies are delivered to the course and start/finish line on the day of the race, then taken back to the warehouse and inventoried, ordering replacements as needed. One of the fun things I just helped them do is secure 225,000 7 oz paper cups for the course. I just happen to work for a beverage company. :-) We'll be ordering them through my company so that the marathon, a non-profit, can get a lower price, over 50% lower than last year. So it looks like I'm involved now. THANKS TOM! :-P

I met a couple that do speed walking for competition and have a group in the portland area. They actually do the Hood to Coast, speed walking! I know most of you have a hard time keeping up with me when I'm walking with you…. maybe I'll give it a try. Sounds like fun.

Well time to hit the shower and head to Tom's to help him move. Still at the same job, moving to a different property run by the same company. He says it is just to convenient for the company to live and work at the same property. See ya later.

Posted by pykeman at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2004

Coming up next....

I get to meet Ami's parents for dinner tomorrow night. We'll be dining at Lee's Kitchen. I figured out today I haven't had to meet a girlfriend's father before… most were out of the picture or too far away. This should be interesting, but I'm not nervous and am looking forward to it.

Next weekend is the fun for Ami. Mom and the family are heading to Lincoln City for the weekend. Grandma and Mom will come down on Thrusday and the rest, Paula, Bunny, Aly, Grandpa, are coming down on Friday. Grandma and Mom will be doing the home tours, my place and Wayne's new house. I figure that we'll end up going to dinner, at the least Mom, Grandma, Ami and I. Ami has taken the weekend off so we'll plan on spending Saturday at the beach with the rest of the family. I know she'll do well and should be a great fit.

My brothers, Wayne and Tom, as well as Wayne's wife, Cortnee, has met Ami. They are all think she is a wonderful girl. Next on the list to meet are Lindsey and the Mintons. :-)

Any who, back to hanging out with Ami…. She's out cold right now… She works too hard.

Posted by pykeman at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2004

I'm so busy I couldn't fall if I was pushed...

I am getting beat up over the fact I haven't been updating this thing too much. My main excuse is that I have to be near a computer to do the updates… So that leads me to my secondary excuse: You know a geek is in love when he ignores his computer for a few days. (that is a re-write of a Tim Allen joke, he said “a man” and “his car”). Between house sitting, holiday weekend in Mitchell and spending time with Ami I haven't been near any computer other than at work. These are also the reasons I haven't been on the chat programs. Commuting between Ami's apartment and mine (1 hour +/-) really eats into any free time I thought I had.

I spent Labor Day weekend in Mitchell for the Painted Hills Festival. I had two choices for the weekend 1) help Wayne move into their new house or 2) go to Mitchell. I didn't make it to Mitchell for last year's festival and I didn't want miss it this year. I'm one of the grunts for the festival, doing sound and announcing work (I have the voice for it :-). It was a great weekend and allowed me to do a lot of thinking about things. It's amazing what happens when you are on a 3+ hour ride between Mitchell and Gresham. There is lots of time to think about things, and Mitchell itself tends to slow life down and allow deep thoughts as well. This was the first weekend that Ami and I had spent extended time apart “out of touch”. There is no cell phone or pager services in Mitchell. I did take the time to call her on Sunday while she was at work… or was it Saturday? I can't remember. It was a big surprise and really made her weekend.

The weekend was great. Lots of fun working on the festival. I even attained my goal when I purchased Tess… Double the miles I got the bike with (7,300 original miles). I beat that! Tess now has 14,800 miles on her. And there is more time left to ride too!

I'm spending lots of time with Ami, lots of exciting things coming up too! I'll do my best to keep everyone up to speed.

Posted by pykeman at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)