Random Stuff

Typepad is blocked...again.  The Great Firewall, aka The Net Nanny, is at it again.  Yesterday, all of my blogs and those of some of my favorites are blocked again. 

This is getting to be a real pain in the ass.  Between Blogspot, RSS and now Typepad, I am forced to run around trying to find the correct proxy to get around the firewall and read the news and entries that I would like to.  I use Tor at times, but it usually proves too slow to help me.  There are other services available that work a little faster...but not much.  Google Reader has been pretty good in allowing me to read many posts that I otherwise would probably not try to read (because of the slow loading speed through a proxy)...but that's only if the feed is the full post.  Strange...but Google Reader lets me read the RSS feeds through their site, but once I click on an RSS feed (such as Feedburner), I get nothing. 

The goofiness with the web just gets worse and worse as we run up closer to the Olympics this summer.  Planning on visiting during the games?  Best of luck to you accessing the internet sites you are used to while you are staying here...unless by some miracle they take down the firewall during the games. 

Expat Daughter is fighting an ongoing battle with critters in the house.  Here is her excellent re-cap of her hunting adventures since returning home.  She sounds so much like her mother...it's scary. 

The other night, Tai-Tai and Expat Son headed into to town to watch Cats.  The traveling roadshow from Broadway made its way to GZ.  I wasn't much interested in going, so the two of them went on their own, leaving me to 'bach' it for a night at home.  So, what to do??  Drink beer and watch football, of course. 

Apparently, I had a much better time of it, than they did.  The Chinese don't really have much experience with major productions...nor do they understand the etiquette of attending these shows either.  It's something to do with years and years as a closed society, I think.  Between watching the show in a basketball arena and the singers and dancers competing with the munching, talking and cell phone usage, it sounded as though it was a pretty stressful night all around.

I had a great time watching the Armed Forces Bowl...

EARTHQUAKE!  A rumbler off the coast of Oregon...and the talking heads yawn.  But, give us a hot looking mayor in her underwear on MySpace...now THAT'S a story!!  Ahhh...journalistic integrity.

I ran my Norton Anti-Virus software today and it came up with a warning that I have a Trojan horse virus on my computer.  It then told me that it cannot fix the problem, only review it and that this was a 'threat' that needed to be resolved.  So, I clicked the link that allowed me to 'review' it.  After loading up a web page, it told me that the threat was 'low risk' but gave me a 3 page book on how to resolve the problem (including editing my reg edit files, etc).  I then went back to the anti-virus program and looked at the status...green check mark.  "Nothing to see here...all is well!" 

Uhhh...I paid for Norton.  I paid decent bucks for Norton.  I had a Trojan horse virus once before and Norton wouldn't do anything about it.  I downloaded a free software that found it and wiped it out in a matter of minutes.  I'm thinking the investment in Norton was a complete waste.

Alright...that's all I got.  Just some random stuff.  It's been one of those weeks in which, once people returned to work in the USA, everything seemed to go nuts.  You know, when you are at work (or anything for that matter), you don't want to be putting out fires, you should be preventing them by putting into place all the plans and processes necessary to avoid trouble.  I'm convinced my colleagues in the USA are arsonists, hellbent on destroying all that's been created.  But...then...they certainly are creating job security, though.
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Now playing: The Good Luck Joes - ATM Machine
via FoxyTunes   

Comments

[John Bollwitt]

That mayor could kick your butt. You see how buff she is?

[GZ Expat]

Yours too!