A Tragic Day (Pronounced in a high pitched voice like in Babe The Pig)

For many years, I have had an infinite number of email addresses. For the domain names that I manage, I have generally used a "catch-all" email address, meaning that any email that wasn't assigned to someone else would go to me. Certain people have had fun with this and used email addresses such as NateIsTheCoolestManAlive@lc.com or NateMustDie@lc.com.

However, those happy times are behind us now. Due to the ever increasing flood of spam, I can no longer handle all the email that goes into the catch-all's net. I do have a good spam filter, but spammers send to hundreds and thousands of made up email addresses (e.g. 1@lc.com, 2@lc.com, 3@lc.com, etc.) in the hopes of guessing valid ones. With the catch-all in place, all of them go to me. So even if only .1% of spams are getting through, it's still too many to deal with.

This was a tough decision to make, because I've been haphazardly making up and using different random email addresses here and there over the years, such as amazon.com@lc.com. This allowed me to see who was selling my info, and it was also just a nice convenience. Now a lot of those emails will no longer get through. But unfortunately that is a price that has to be paid to cut down on all the stinking spam.

I know you were probably on the verge of sending an email address to NateShouldRunForPresident@lc.com or possibly IDesperatelyWantToGoOnADateWithNate@lc.com, but it was not to be. To quote Milli Vanilli, "It's a tragedy for me to see, the dream is over."

Serious About Making a Contribution

This guy will attend 180 baseball games at 180 different ballparks, over the course of 175 days. He's visiting every major or minor league park in the country. He's doing it to raise money for cancer research.

That's a lot of baseball... and a lot of driving! I hope he reaches his goals.

Super Z

This past Wednesday night I went to see Superman Returns with my almost-4-year-old nephew Z.

First we loaded up his cool Spiderman backpack with candy and bottled water, so we wouldn't have to shell out big cash at the theater. (Don't want security to get suspicious. Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals Crazy Delicious...)

As we were leaving my little niece Caz kept repeating something, and Kim interpreted it as "I want to go with you." So we had a heart wrenching little scene where we had to desert my sweet baby. But she's not quite old enough for a movie.

As expected, the theater wasn't very crowded on a Wednesday night; we climbed to the top of the stadium seating and sat in the middle of the row. The previews started, and Z got a little confused with the plot. He kept asking me "What's happening?" and I told him "Just another commercial for a different movie."

Finally, after about 20 million previews, the studio plug, the producer plug, the sound system demonstration, the turn-off-your-cell-phone ad, etc., etc., the movie started. Z did pretty well for about half the movie, but then he started getting antsy. I think he was just bored since he didn't understand the plot enough to know what was going on. I tried to explain what was happening but I must not have been very effective.

After we ate all the candy and he didn't have anything else to do, he said the dreaded words... "I have to go potty." So we climbed over everyone and ran to the bathroom. I kicked over some poor guy's popcorn on the way out. After we got back Z was good for a few more minutes, but then he got bored again. "I want some popcorn." So we climbed over everyone again and went and bought some popcorn. Then five minutes after we got back... "I have to go potty."

At that point I gave up on the movie, so after visiting the potty again we played a few video games and then headed out. AMC was kind enough to give me a free pass so I could come back and see the end sometime.

We walked by Cold Stone on the way out, so we decided to get some ice cream. Z chose Reeces for his "mix in," but then after we got it he decided he didn't like it. That was OK because I didn't mind finishing it off. We tried again and this time he chose "the blue one" which was cotton candy. We took it to go, and he ended up not wanting that one either when we got home, but Hyrum and Kim pitched in and finished it off.

In the future I think I'll stick with Pixar movies for kids under age 5, but it was fun times nonetheless.

Why?

My niece is going through a cute phase where she asks "Why?" whenever you say anything. Apparently she got it from my nephew, although I don't remember him doing it.

So a conversation might go something like this:

Caz: "What's that?"
Me: "A tie."
"Why?"
"Because I went to church."
"Why?"
"Because it's Sunday."
"Why?"
"Because it's the first day of the week."
"Why?"
"Because of the Romans or the Gregorians, I'm not sure."
[ponders...]
"Are you busy?"
"No."
"Daddy's busy."
"I see. Are you busy?"
"No, I'm Caz."

This guy traded a Red Paperclip for a house.

This guy started with a red paper clip and kept trading up till he got a house. Looks like he's moving to Kipling, Saskatchewan. Hmm... maybe I don't want a house THAT badly, eh?

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No More TV

I get on a weird cycle of TV watching lately, where I don't watch any TV for a couple of weeks, then I come home late on a Friday or Saturday and sit down to watch a few minutes, but then it turns into a few hours, and after multiple infomercials and Elimidate episodes, I end up sleeping in till noon the next day and throwing off my schedule for the entire next week. So then I vow to stop watching TV "for good," only to repeat the same sequence a few weeks later.

I figured the best way to overcome this habit is to go public with my plans to quit. So as of today, July 2, 2006, I am committing to no longer watch any TV, (except possibly for pre-planned social situations such as major sporting events).

By telling the world, I'm hoping it'll make it more difficult to slip back into the Carleton Sheets cycle. Your job is to keep me honest, so next time you see me, feel free to follow up!