This is Carson. He was born about a week ago to my dear friend Stacey and her hubby, Kevin. Congratulations! Isn't he handsome?

Glad for Sabbath

I suppose now that the newness of blogging has worn off (and there's nothing terribly exciting going on with us) that I'm less likely to keep up with it. Tuesday night I did a signing in Ojai. First time I've been up there, even though I've lived here for almost three years. It's only 40 miles. Neat little town; very quaint ... and DARK. The signing was at 9 p.m., and it was very clear that there were no street lights. At all. Really felt like a country town. Quite a drive though, because the road is a little crooked. Anyway, I need to go back during the daytime to see more.

Wednesday Ken had a guitar lesson with a working studio musician named Rick. He really enjoyed it. We're going to The Baked Potato tomorrow night to see the guy's band play their last show before they go on tour.

Yesterday and today I worked from home because they've been painting in our building for a couple of weeks and it's really toxic in there. The smell wouldn't be enough to keep me away, but combine it with stuff covered in plastic and workers bustling around and it's not very conducive to productivity.

We discovered a new frozen pizza we like. Freschetta Sauce Stuffed Crust; really good. The sauce is a little too spicy, but has a great flavor. Cheese and herbs are perfect. Crust is a good texture. I'd give it a 9 of 10 stars (-1 only for the overly spicey sauce). That's my tidbit for the day.

Long time, no blog

Figured I better catch up here since I've been neglecting the blog. Sorry to those who follow us here. Let's see; a summary of recent happenings... During the same week as the heinous altercation with the mean notary lady, I got slammed with hate mail and threats from readers of the magazine I edit because I'd chosen a cover photo that included Hillary Clinton. Now all these hateful people have called me names for two weeks, saying what a communist idiot I must be to promote her presidential campaign on the cover of a conservative Christian magazine. Personally, I have little interest in or knowledge about politics. I don't have a clue what Hillary stands for, votes for, etc., much less that she's actually considering running for president. I used it because it was a good shot of our religious liberty associate director interacting with her during an official Adventist event. Frankly, Hillary Clinton probably has a more "Christian" attitude than some of the people who've written and called in about the photo.

Anyway, during that same week (after July 4), a rat died in/on the air conditioner motor of my car, so my ride was FOUL. Had to take it to the dealer for a clean-up, but also because the thing had broken the A/C motor. They had it for almost a week working on it; scrubbing, anti-bacterializing, etc. GROSS. At the same time, we had to buy a new washer/dryer for the same reason (dead rats up inside, stinking up our house). Extra foul now that it's really hot. I'm really mad that the administrators of the school campus where we live won't help with the rodent control. I suspect they're legally liable for it anyway. I'm going to have to press them on the issue, because it's not fair that I'm paying for rodent control for the whole campus.

Last weekend we played hookie from church and Jon/Amy, Tim/Kim (plus their daugter and Kim's mom), Jeremy/Michelle, Ken and I went to the beach. We grilled out, Boogie-boarded, and just hung out. Nice time. Then we gathered for a haystack supper. Yum. They convinced me to play spoons or something like that. Card game where you grab a spoon as you're done; sorta like musical chairs... The one left without a spoon loses. I lost. Not surprising, considering the week I'd had.

It's been really hot here; in the 90s and no breeze. We don't have A/C in our house, so it's almost intolerable. My computer even had a overheating error and shut down one afternoon. Sheesh. Today we went to the school pool, which happens to be at the end of our driveway. What a blessing!

Ken got a new computer game today so he can play against Jeremy online; Medal of Honor, Allied Assault. It's a WWII game, pretty neat; looks real. I probably won't see him again for a week; he'll be in here playing it (our two computers are side by side in our office; he's on mine now because it runs the game better, and I'm on his laptop, which is really hard to type on).

Guess I better go finish the vaccuuming before sundown.

Petty and paranoid

I've just had the most ridiculous encounter with another notary. Out of the blue this afternoon, this woman calls me and says that my website looks too much like hers, that I must've copied it, and that I must change it. Her tone started out pleasant enough, but by the end of the convo, I could tell she was getting herself worked up. I said sure, I'll take a look and make any changes if something's the same.

I'd looked at at least a dozen other mobile notary sites to see what the going rates are since I really didn't know the range. I copy/pasted lots of little phrases from several of them to save myself having to retype, because the basic services are the same. I made changes to fit my own business, etc., so my site didn't end up exactly like anyone's, but similar to all others. (Mine is far more professional-looking that hers anyway.)

We were driving back from Redlands, and by the time I got home and checked my email, this woman had written me a nasty letter saying she would take legal action for copyright infringement if I didn't change my site this very evening, how dare I copy her hard work, etc., etc. Her accusations are so insane; it's like Wendy's calling McDonald's and saying, "Hey! You can't list a hamburger after the cheeseburger on your drive-thru menu, because I thought of it first! And you can't charge 89 cents, because mine is $1.09. You're trying to steal my customers! I'm calling my lawyer!"

I swear, it's like reasoning with a 7-year-old. She kept harping on the issue of cut/paste, but the point is, our sites ended up different, regardless of how the shell of my page started. If an author-A copies a sentence from author-B's online book: "She tried to intimidate the newcomer with threats and sour words;" but author-A changes half those words: "He couldn't intimidate the bear with threats and big sticks;" then clearly, the new work has not infringed the original's copyright, even if author-A copied the original sentence directly from author-B's web book.

Anyway, when I've done something wrong and someone brings it to my attention, I try to do the right thing (which is why I cheerfully agreed to examine my site when she called me this afternoon). But when someone gets nasty with me when I didn't do anything wrong, it's hard not to let it get under my skin. I can feel that my blood pressure and heart rate are up and I'm really having to pray for a better attitude, because right now I really don't like this hateful and threatening woman. Who, by the way, sounds like a chain-smoker on the phone. Perhaps that will work to my benefit in the long run. See? That was a hateful thing to say.

Here's Ken on Balanchine, one of my favorites. Bali's about 12, so he's pretty young compared to most others in the program. I was riding Antares, a 5-year-old mare, but we didn't get a good photo because of the shadow.