AllanThinks

So...

Have we reached a consensus on how long we must wait before discussing Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows?

I would think that two weeks would be enough time for the almost 12 million people who have bought the book so far to read it.

Oh, you say you want to read the previous six installments again before reading the last one? You've had two years to do that. What the hell is wrong with you people?

Just pick up the new one and read it already!

This is a first for me.

I received my first ever Internet flame today.

Ali, Jo Ann, and I had returned home after attending the UK-Vandy basketball game. Vandy won the game, which kind of took the shine off of my day.

I sat down at the computer to check my email and a few of my regular haunts. For some reason, I decided to check my Statcounter log (something I rarely do). I noticed six entries in a row, all from the same referrer source.   The URL was from the San Francisco Bay Craigslist.

I was curious why people would be visiting my blog from such a place, so I clicked on the link.

Here is the text of the message in case it has  already been deleted.

please help me (capitola)

---

Reply to: pers-265507811@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-01-20, 12:46PM PST

write these people and help shatter their goofy east coast addiction to themselves and not each other.

Or is that my bnitter west coast attitude?

either way...allan seems like a moron with a camera and camera people suck chuck.,

http://www.allanthinks.com/allanthinks/

• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Posting ID: 265507811

My jaw dropped when I read this. I've had Internet accounts since 1986 and this is the first time such a thing has happened to me.

I been around long enough to know that the Internet is full of angry, unhappy, and troubled people who take delight in flaming and harassing others. But as I said, I've managed to avoid this sort of thing for 21 years.

In the couple of hours since I discovered this, I've received 34 hits from Craigslist. None of the visitors have left a comment, so I guess none of them took offense to my writing or photography.

So, welcome newcomers! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something of interest here, and I hope you continue to read my weblog.

I emailed the poster of the message and politely asked them why they had posted it. I doubt I will receive a reply.

I think this might make me the cream candy king.

	Num	Perc.	Search Term
	3	30.00%	cream candy
	2	20.00%	ky cream candy
	1	10.00%	fat grams, frito-pie
	1	10.00%	how to make cream candy
	1	10.00%	the bonnie bonnie bank of loch lomond
	1	10.00%	pulling candy
	1	10.00%	kentucky cream candy
	10	100.00%

Search strings that have led people to my blog today. It happens every Christmas.

I'm an idiot.

Either that, or I am just way too anxious to get this trip started.

My sister called the other day and offered to drive us to the airport. She asked me what time our flight was, and I looked at the printout of our itinerary, and told her it left at 4:55 p.m.

We arranged for her to get us to the airport by 3 p.m. I always believe the airlines and the TSA when they say you should check in 2 hours in advance for international trips. I've been bitten in the ass before by not being at the airport that early.

So, Jo Ann picks us up and gets us to the airport a bit after 3. We check in only to discover our flight is at 5:55 p.m. rather than 4:55 p.m. I retrieved the itinerary from my backpack and sure enough it shows a 5:55 departure.

Can I get a super-sized order of Duh?

Luckily, the airport has free wireless so we can amuse ourselves for the next two hours.

Let's hope the rest of the trip goes more smoothly

Imagined Conversation

Bill: Look at all those people talking about you.

Scarlett: Yeah. I didn't believe my agent when he said issuing a press release about me recording an album of Tom Waits covers would generate a lot of buzz.

Bill: Always trust your agent. He knows of what he speaks.

Scarlett: Yeah. I'll never doubt him again.

Bill: Yeah.

Scarlett: But I guess now I will have to record the album.

Bill: Yeah. I think that would be wise.

Scarlett: Bill?

Bill: Yeah?

Scarlett: Who's Tom Waits?

Okay. So...

I'm not as easily embarrassed as some people think.

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

I did. The first time was a long time ago. And I just passed again.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

But, along with Steve at Modulator and Phil at Bad Astronomy, I wonder whether the authors could pass their own quiz.

Typepad is great. Except when it's not.

Comments left yesterday by several of my constant readers have disappeared due to a problem at Typepad.

The Typepad posting application was down for most of yesterday while repairs to some database were being done.

Apparently, any changes to a blog during that downtime were likely lost, and I lost three comments.

Poof! Gone!

The comments did publish, and I read them last evening. I even have email notifications of them, but those comments are now absent from the blog.

I apologize for that. Rest assured that I did read your comments and appreciate them so very much. I will reply to them via email as soon as I have another free moment.

Outstanding Amount: $883.79. Please pay immediately.

That is the subject line of an item of email I discovered in my Gmail spam folder yesterday. I don't think I have ever received an email with such a direct and demanding subject line. I just had to click on it to see what it was all about.