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In Honor of “Sports” Season

It is that time again.

“Sports” Season.

I don’t look at this as merely football season. Oh no. Football is certainly the straw that stirs the drink, but it also kicks off the entire sporting year.

First college football gets going. Then the pros a week later. Once they get up to speed, hockey gets fired up, followed closely by basketball (college not the… *yawn* … NBA). And so it goes, until baseball starts and limps us through each summer.

In honor of Sports Season getting kicked off, I have created a whole new bunch of header images to rotate through the top of my blog. A new one will be displayed every minute, so check back often and refresh your browser if you wanna see them all. These are from my various sporting experiences in my life. Not all of them are represented, as I didn’t always have a camera, but many are.

Seasons Greetings!

If you need me, I’ll be watching sports.

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My Words Reaching Out

The other night, I got one of the best emails I’ve ever gotten in regards to my blog. Well, quite frankly, most of the emails I get from my blog come from people I get email from all the time. Not that that is a bad thing or anything, but when you get an email from someone out of the blue who has read something you wrote and it has moved them enough to sit down and compose an email… to me that is huge.

What follows is the email I got from my new pal Keith from Washington… (links added by me)

Continue reading “My Words Reaching Out”

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While We’re Waiting

It is really impressive just how much you all seem to care about this little job adventure in my life. I’ve gotten more blog page loads and comments (not to mention IM’s, text messages, calls and emails) about this offer than I have on just about anything else.

For the record… I have not received any offer. However, I am assured that I am their guy. The offer will come.

So, I figured while we’re all waiting, how about you enjoy some of my past blog posts you may have missed or just wanna read again.

Like, why you shouldn’t go to Kuna
Or perhaps why we’re sports fans
Or the time I was robbed
Perhaps the time I overdosed on football
Maybe my magical fridge
Or my review of one of the worst books I’ve read.

At least all of that will give you something to do.

Keep watching this space. As soon as I know, you’ll know.

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New Site Feature

Hi gang. As I’m working on my posts of our little California adventure I’ve added a little feature to the site.

If you’ve been here before, you may notice a new header image at the top of the page. In fact, now, you will get a different image every day. I currently have 4 images from our recent trip, but I’m planning on adding more. Current goal is at least 7, but I will probably end up with more than that. I do have some great pictures from my many travels, and that sort of fits with the “In the world” theme.  By the way, just so you know, every one of these images will be one that I myself took.

Hope you enjoy!

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Spam Battle Update

I spoke a bit too soon. When I mentioned last week that I had made a serious dent in the spam wars, little did I know that the spammers would strike back hard.

It seems, I’ve caught a new wave of spammers. These ones are not trying to sell anything directly (aka bootleg pharmaceuticals) but instead are simply trying to drive clicks to bullshit pages whose only purpose is to gain ad revenue without providing any content at all.

These new spams all have links to bogus sites like “1qualitylinks.info”, “1mybookmarks.info”, and “topnetsites.info”. These spams have key words that they hope to drive traffic, thus my previous methods weren’t blocking them.

Yesterday alone, I got 68 additional spams caught by Akismet when before it was down to 4 or 5 a day.

So, I had to add another level of protection. This new plugin, called JS Spam Block, is rather interesting. All it does is add a bit of javascript in the comment field. It sends a script to the browser trying to leave a comment. If your browser is .js enabled (almost all them are) you are allowed to comment and the user doesn’t even know they were approved. If you don’t have javascript enabled (most spam posting bots do not) it prompts you to simply enter a number to continue to prove you’re human. If you enter the number, you can post. Obviously, to get an automated bot to do this is significantly tougher. Genius really.

This one appears to be working. Since installation last night, I’ve only had 5 spams caught. The rest were blocked by my various other methods. I have learned to never say I have solved the problem. With spam, there simply is no solution, although the feds are trying.

One more shot in the never ending war.

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Happy (belated) Birthday, JasonHaberman.com

birthday_spanking.jpgI can’t believe I missed marking the milestone. We were officially 1 year old on April 24th. Notice I said “we” like this is some huge operation? Kinda like Homer Simpson’s web business CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet. Anyway, On the 24th of April, I was still mired in my “without a PC” phase. Thus, the occasion wasn’t properly marked. So, lets make with the birthday spankings!

We’ll call this the baker’s birthday. 13 months. Kinda like the baker’s dozen, only different.

Just a few statistics to throw your way.

  • 166 total posts by me
  • 357 comments by you people
  • I average about 15 to 20 unique visitors a day (granted, I know most of those visitors personally, but that’s ok)

I have really enjoyed having an outlet for my creative juices. Although, I don’t know how creative it is to bitch about sports and TV, but whatever.

There is one thing that has not been so fun about this blog. The only thing, really.

Battling Spam.

You know spam. If you have been on the Internet for more than 37 seconds, I guarantee you have become personally acquainted with the vile stuff. On this blog, I have battled tooth and nail against it. “But, I’ve seen no spam on your site!” you may exclaim. You would be correct, but behind the scenes, it has been a different story. Continue reading “Happy (belated) Birthday, JasonHaberman.com”

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This Day In History

Many things have happened over the years on April 3rd. You may remember this as the day the Pony Express was created. Or perhaps the day the US Coast Guard was created (then the Revenue Marine Service). Today is also the birthday of both Wayne Newton and Tony Orlando (how frightening is that?), as well as Marlon Brando, Eddie Murphy, and Alec Baldwin.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot… one year ago today was the day. I usually refer to it as ‘Black Monday‘.

Frankly, I had almost forgotten. About a month ago, I knew it was coming up and was kinda dreading it. But not that it’s here, it is almost a non event.

Granted, that day, and the following month was just about as bad as anything I’ve ever experienced. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I think I’m still feeling the aftershocks from that evening. Of course, I can remember it like it was yesterday, and in many ways, it feels much closer than a year ago.

However, that being said, I’m not near as down today as I thought I would be. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that I’m in a relationship with Jess and we’re doing good. I feel like myself around her. It’s kinda amazing that my goofiness has come back. I didn’t realize that was kinda whipped out of me near the end. But now, I’m back to making sarcastic remarks, making fun of myself, laughing, singing. I’m sure Jess could tell you just how dumb I can be.

So, I guess I felt like I should put something in this space about this day, since that day was the impetus for starting this whole thing. I do love having a blog. I love writing. I love having you folks out there, all 6 of you, read what I write.

And since I don’t have much more to say about that, I’ll just leave it now. I feel good. I still regret what happened and wish it hadn’t, but there ain’t a damn thing I can do about that now. Onward and upward.

And, just because, behold the Meatcake…

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Slow Updates

Hi Gang.

Just wanted to update you as to where I’ve been and why this hasn’t been updated in a while.

First, my PC has gone tits up. It is a long tragic story that I may have to recount here, if only for the therapeutic value. I think that has raised my blood pressure about 20 points.

Then, I just got back from the Oregon Coast. I think that lowered my blood pressure by 15 points… so I’m not doing too badly. I’ll tell you all about that. I took a bunch of pictures that I will get on here as soon as I get everything back up and running.

So, keep checking back. I’ll have more for you soon!

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Flickr Theft

I’m browsing the web this morning when I come across a link to a blog about Boise State’s possible sale of the movie rights to the story of the Fiesta Bowl, when I notice the picture.

Gee… that kinda looks familiar…

Sure enough. Someone has stolen one of my images I placed on Flickr.com and used it without my permission or consent. They didn’t even give me a credit for having taken the picture.

That sucks hard. Here is the evidence.

First, my image posted on Flickr.com

fiesta-bowl-trip164
And here is a screen capture of the blog in question
blogtheft.jpg

I’ve sent him a removal notice so we’ll see what happens… I’ll keep you posted.

Update: I got an email back from the owner of the blog who has since removed the picture. Alls well that ends well, I suppose.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

If you’re visiting here for the first time, Welcome! I hope you enjoy what you read and visit back occasionally! Feel free to drop a comment and say ‘hi’!

Also, thanks to everyone who liked my card.  I love playing with Photoshop, and with Christmas cards it gives me a reason to show the world my abilities!

Merry Christmas!