baldilocks

Laboring

Today, I'm going to be changing how this website looks, so if strange things happen here, you'll know why! Additionally, I'll be looking at how the build a website for my American dad's business.  I think I have just enough knowledge for both tasks--enough to be dangerous, that is.

Oh yes, and will be cooking too!

Convert or Die

Boss sent me a Microsoft Publisher file.  I have Office 2007, but not Publisher. I tried using the Adobe Acrobat program that my wonderful readers bought me.  No go.

I wish I knew how to pimp market like Bill Gates.

Any suggestions, geeks?

UPDATE: Boss sent a .pdf version this morning. Now I can work!

Need Adobe Pro 9 (UPDATE: Need Met)

UPDATE: Okay Stop! LOL.  You all are awesome!  Okay, for everyone who donated over the amount, I will send you my book.

UPDATE: Plus $70 more!  That was lovely, my friends.

UPDATE: (Sunday, November 29, 2009, 4:29 PM PST) $295. I'm going to go ahead and buy it. You all are wonderful! "Ask and ye shall receive."

UPDATE: (Sunday, November 29, 2009, 1:49 PM PST) Thanks to Patterico and several others, I’m at $215! Just a bit more to go—and I know that the program will be useful in many areas, including this blog.

UPDATE: (moved to top) The software has been added to my Wishlist.

Most of you know that I don't bleg that often.  If I'm asking you for money, it's for someone else or I have a product.

This time I need the money for myself but I'm not just going to blow what you fine folks donate--I want to buy this to do some work:

For the new one it's $322.99 and it's actually related to the sale and marketing of the product. Do me a solid!

Or you could buy 20 copies of Tale! We're still in the autograph segment.

Happy Autumn

Each year, as a result of the first LA rainstorm of the fall season, the good people of my neighborhood are treated to a power outage and last week's storm yielded no different outcome.  Well the power is back on but my land line remains dead, so there has been no broadband or wifi at the crib since Thursday.  (No text either since someone is playing games with my cell service.) And yes, I'm trying not to misbehave in reaction--especially since I have a lot of things to do on line in the next few weeks.

So it is that I have made a daily sojourn to the Starbuckses in the area, to one of the LA Public library branches and now I'm at Whole Foods.  And it's nice to feel as those I'm doing my duty for freedom and the free market by patronizing the latter.

Ha Ha! Try the lemon kale.  And the arugula. Heh.

BTW, I think that the world is about end too. Read this blog and ignore the punctuation.

The Hazards of Having African Relatives

No this isn't about him.

The weirdest thing happened this morning. I received an email from my father--the African one--saying that he was in Nigeria attending a conference and that he was without money or a passport; he said that he had accidentally left them in a cab.  (Most regular readers know that my father is Kenyan journalist Philip Ochieng.)

It was the correct email address. The wording of the letter, however, seemed suspiciously generic as if were a broadcast--or a Nigerian email scam.  But I thought it was my father so I emailed back—“Okay I will help.”  Blessedly, however, I decided to Google the name of the conference.

So when the incipient scammer wrote me back with details I said “will help you, Father, but I need to know that you are who you say you are.”  Two simple questions were asked and the answer to one should have rolled off of the tips of my father's fingers.

The response?

Julieet [sic],
why are you asking such question, i want you to use the information of the Hotel manager and send what you said you have for now. i also want you to call me on this number +*************.
Get back to me with the scanned copy of the transfer receipt.

I don’t think so.  My father’s email address has been hacked.

So now I have to figure out how to let him know this. Suggestions?

UPDATE: An old friend volunteered to look up the headers and they do resolve to Nigeria.  The friend jogged my memory and I remembered that there is still an old email address of my father's lying around so we'll see whether he still has access to it.

I'm not calling there.  Arm. Leg. Firstborn.

Day Light Savings

Did anyone else have to manually change their satellite- and Internet-synced hardware to reflect the change in time this weekend? Not that it's a big hardship but I seem to remember this happening automatically on previous occurrences.

UPDATE: Get this--I changed my computer's clock to the correct time, but the synchronizer changed it back (unchecking sync box). What's that about, geeks?