Interesting; Very Interesting...

...It's been a pretty interesting weekend; really! I didn't get much done and quite frankly, I'm still feeling pretty guilty about it but all in all, it was still an interesting weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled a... ahem, a... well, let's say upper thigh muscle that I have been trying to pretend doesn't bother me. I have noticed how things like a pulled muscle takes longer to heal these days than it used to. Once, I strained a back and rib muscle while getting used to a new job position at the factory. I told the doctor that I felt the muscle get sore and thought it would go away after a couple of days; like when you first start a new exercise program. This usually very nice doctor, all of a sudden cuts me wide open (without any anesthesia) by saying "...well you aren't young anymore! My doctor was easily 30 years older than me at the time! Ouch!

That was 8 years ago. Someone get me a crutch okay?

Still, as much as I usually appreciate sympathy, I would rather be pig headed and try to hold onto whatever semblance of youth I may have. I'll settle for not acting like I'm 80 just yet. In fact, I know more than a few 80 year olds I wish I could keep up with. So, I'm not going to make a big deal out of a pulled groi...uh... upper thigh muscle.

Usually.

I did good for a week and a half, but Friday morning it was back in full force and it just sapped all the ambition right out of me. That darn alien chair got the best of my weakened state and I spent way too much time with a remote in my hand. Oh, I got a few things done, like some cleaning around the house and I finally got around to hammering out some of the more noticeable dents and dings the snowplow put in the front of Deanna's car. It's just that I didn't get half of what I had planned accomplished. Deanna was pretty amazing about it. She never said a word even though she out worked me 2:1 I'm sure, maybe more. Perhaps I didn't hide the pulled muscle as well as I'd hoped. Either that, or like most women, she's just used to having to do twice as much work as men...hmmm, Interesting.

In the early mornings and late evenings I try to keep up with the software maintenance on our computers and home network. I'm no geek. I'm not a nerd. You could just say I'm a "dork".
I actually get that one a lot: I try hard, but I usually just end up looking silly. Anyway, I'm proud of my mediocre network made up of aging computers that are better suited to being paperweights or boat anchors. No, scratch that, they're too toxic to use as boat anchors. So, just paperweights then. Anyway. I have a lot of extra programs that I run to protect them. Not just antivirus, but anti spyware and adware programs. I also run what is called registry protection and a few other specialty programs. These programs are part of the reason I've had these computers as long as I have (and can still use them).
The down side is to these programs is they get in the way a lot.
They take up memory space.
They ask you if you really know what you are doing before they let continue.
Then they ask again like they didn't believe you the first time.

It's a pain but they have worked wonderfully for a long time. (if you are a regular reader this may sound like a lie due to the problems I've had with my network/computers and the number of times I've whined and come close to cursing the @#$%^ things, but I maintain that for the majority of the time, the security programs have worked wonderfully)

Until yesterday.

The security programs still did well with the surprise attack but it wasn't a....well...ahem perfect. It was a...ahem...interesting?

Deanna's car has a blocked condensation hose, we think, because when the air conditioning is running it leaks water onto the passenger side carpet. Yesterday, as I was busy hammering dents (and honestly, didn't want to be bothered) Deanna asked if I could look at it. I said sure, but frankly I don't know where to look. Deanna being the industrious woman that she is, went inside to search for it on "Google". She actually used a very specific set of keywords in her search that under normal circumstances would and should have saved her.

They didn't.

She comes back outside to where I'm working and with a rather pale face tells me: "I just got an education."

That line gained her my full and undivided attention.
I will not go into the detail of her education but let's just say that there is no one on the planet that really needs to know what she was taught and certainly not without being asked.

Google came up with a list of legitimate sites. One of my security programs actually checks "links" before you ever click on them and it told her that they were all "okay".

I think that the particular website she was looking for had itself been hacked but when we clicked on it, it tried to take over our computer with all the wrong kinds images and wouldn't take no for an answer.

In military terms, it got past my first and second lines of defense but the big guns I keep in reserve took care of the problem quickly before it really became a problem. Still, I would have been even more annoyed if my children had been around at the time. I thank the Lord that they weren't. These weren't the kind of images you forget too easily.

Deanna doesn't complain about the inconvenience of the security programs anymore. I find it "interesting" that people wonder why I don't like it when they put my email address out there on a forward for all the world to see, instead of using bcc. I don't like it because I don't want the kind of people who hack websites like the one Dea accidentally hit, to get a hold of my email address. I've had that address for over nine years now. I'd kind of like to keep it if I can.

Still, even I get "hit" with something "interesting" every once in a while. If you look to the right of this page (towards the top) there used to be a "sitemeter" that proudly kept count of how many "visitors" we have to this site. It was kind of nice seeing that we had almost 2000 visitors just since April. I had to delete it from our page because of a "glitch" that wouldn't let anyone open our page; including us. I will research it some more to see if I can figure out what happened. Perhaps it will be back.
The sitemeter worked better than our "commentator and guestbook" that you may have noticed is also missing now. I don't foresee that coming back. Those of you who don't want to be labeled a "blog stalker" will just have to leave a comment every once in a while to let us know that you are there. Okie dokie?
(okie dokie?!? see, told you I was a "dork")

Today, the "interesting thing would be that our family of four played 54 holes of miniature golf today. We went to the Wisconsin Dells for the whole and very full day and part of it was spent playing three 18 hole courses.

Other interesting parts of the day would include:

Jacob and I rode a deceptive little roller coaster that didn't look that bad when your feet are on the ground but is a lot faster, higher, and steeper when your strapped to the sled.

We then rode the log flume ride with Deanna and Jessalyn. Jessa wasn't too fond of the ride proclaiming that she isn't too keen on anything with an "incline". That way she doesn't have to admit to fear of heights, falling, speed, or going "splat" like the rest of us mortals. She can just say, she doesn't like rides that have an "incline". Clever I thought. And "interesting" too!

Deanna had a blast on the log ride but not because of the ride but because as they would come down the steep "inclines" she would let out a blood curdling scream you could hear across the park. She wasn't scared she just like the way it made Jacob jump!

True to her word, Jessalyn had no problem with the "bumper boats", and they are pretty fun to drive. They have water guns affixed to the front so we all got wet. After the ride, I was measuring who got the wettest by looking at our clothes and as I was announcing that I thought Deanna was wettest, Jessalyn splashed me with her ice cold bottled water. The shock immobilized me enough that before I could recover, Jacob, from behind me, poured his whole bottle (did I mention "Ice Cold"?) on my head and down my back. The guys who run the bumper boats were cackling and laughing so hard they couldn't stand up and Deanna's burst of laughter was another sound that I'm sure could be heard clear across the park. I couldn't make much noise myself. I was too busy with the worlds largest and longest "inhale"! Wow! that water was cold! Still, I had to admit it was pretty funny. I also had to admit that it was official; I was the wettest.

Well, that's the end of my book for today. I hope you found it "interesting"!
Will.