I'm being buried in spam. I do have effective spam-filter, and it does cath spam, but it's still very annoying. For starters, the spam-filter runs on this local machine, if I access my personal emailthrough webmail (say, from work), I will have zillion spams waiting for me.
I have been thinking about changing my email-address. And I'm ready to do it. But since I have nothing to do at this point, I tried something else first. About 1/3 of the spam I receive, all advertize one particular online-pharmacy. Sure, the URL changes, but the store is the same. I went to their site, and they had a link called "report spam". Since I have nothing to lose, I clicked it, and entered all the information they asked, including my email-address. I know, that is a VERY risky thing to do, since now they know for sure that there's someone reading the mail that is being delivered to that address. So they might send me even more spam. But if that happens, then so be it. I will then just change my address, and start from a clean slate.
I read a while ago that top 10 spammers in the world are responsible for about 80% of worlds spam. So all it would take is 10 bullets....
Death & Rebirth
So I did it. Finally. I have been thinking about getting a newer car. And I have been looking for one for the last two months, more or less. I have talked with the bank, and the finances are in order. Few days ago I found an ideal car, and last saturday we went to take a look at it. But it seems that our old car knew what we were up to, and it decided to foil our plans. In the middle of the motorway, it broke down (again). Luckily this time I managed to get the car to a ramp with less traffic. But still we were stuck there. We had to call the father-in-law so he could come pick us up. He did so, and we proceeded our quest of buying a car.
Finally we reached the seller (after first calling him and explaining that we are a bit late, since we woke late, and then calling him again that our car had broken down). Took a look at the car, drove it around a bit... And it seemed like just the car I had been looking for. Bargained a bit, reached an agreement and signed the papers. I'm now a happy owner of year 1994 VW Passat 2.0 GL Wagon. And it had only 183.000 kilometers behind it, usually Passats of that age have clocked around 250.000 - 350.000 kilometers! That's quite a step from our current car, year -88 Saab 900 with 480.000 kilometers behind it.
Well, I don't have the car yet, tomorrow I'm going to get the money from the bank, and pay the seller ASAP. But I did make the down-payment, and we signed the papers, so it's as good as mine, I just don't have the car with me yet.
And the old car? Well, I might have a new owner for it looked up already. No, we are not going to get any money for it, but still. Either it gets a new owner, or it will end up being recycled. As to the new car.... I should have several years of care-free (more or less) motoring ahead of me :).
Finally we reached the seller (after first calling him and explaining that we are a bit late, since we woke late, and then calling him again that our car had broken down). Took a look at the car, drove it around a bit... And it seemed like just the car I had been looking for. Bargained a bit, reached an agreement and signed the papers. I'm now a happy owner of year 1994 VW Passat 2.0 GL Wagon. And it had only 183.000 kilometers behind it, usually Passats of that age have clocked around 250.000 - 350.000 kilometers! That's quite a step from our current car, year -88 Saab 900 with 480.000 kilometers behind it.
Well, I don't have the car yet, tomorrow I'm going to get the money from the bank, and pay the seller ASAP. But I did make the down-payment, and we signed the papers, so it's as good as mine, I just don't have the car with me yet.
And the old car? Well, I might have a new owner for it looked up already. No, we are not going to get any money for it, but still. Either it gets a new owner, or it will end up being recycled. As to the new car.... I should have several years of care-free (more or less) motoring ahead of me :).
What the world needs is more acronyms (WTWNIMA)
The Mrs. thinks that I'm hypochondriac. And maybe she's right. Last year on my birthday I thought I was having a heart-attack or something. Nope. Maybe it was anxiety because I was getting closer to the magic 30. Or maybe it was a panic-attack (I had that back when I was about 16 years old). Earlier this year I thought I have a brain-tumor or something. Well, no. Just regural headache. Right now I have some aching in my knees and they make cracking noise when sitting down. Well, they have done that for some time now, but still. And I have a feeling that it might be Osteoarthritis. Hey, I'm a big guy, so it just might be. But still, in the past I have been so sure that I have heart-attack, tumors, cancer and who knows what, that it might be false alarm (again).
I think my thoughts of having a serious illness (well, not ALL the time) are due to seeing my father die because of a serious illness (brain hemorrage) back when I was a kid (eights years old). That has left me a feeling that there are lots of things in human body that could go wrong.
Anyway, this latest problem acts as a good excuse to get in shape. So I have set myself clear short-term (by the end of the year) and mid-term (by next summer) goals that I intend to reach.
I think my thoughts of having a serious illness (well, not ALL the time) are due to seeing my father die because of a serious illness (brain hemorrage) back when I was a kid (eights years old). That has left me a feeling that there are lots of things in human body that could go wrong.
Anyway, this latest problem acts as a good excuse to get in shape. So I have set myself clear short-term (by the end of the year) and mid-term (by next summer) goals that I intend to reach.
Power
Our current contract with the power-company is coming to an end. And instead of simply continuing with them, we decided to look around and see if we could get a better deal. And boy, could we ever!
what our current provider offers us would cost about 1200+e/year. Looking around we got an offer that would cost about 850e/year, plus we would get these credit-points we could use in shops and restaurants. 350e is quite a bit of money. We also got offer that would be around 1000+e/year.
Now, here's where it gets tricky. We would like to support sustainable energy and such. And the cheapest company uses mostly fossil fuels. I believe that they have about 60+% fossils, with the remaining 40% is split between renewable energy and nuclear. The 1000+e/year would be generated with windmills and museum hydroelectric (museum hydroelectric means these old and small-scale hydroelectric power-plants that aren't really competetive anymore). Our current provider (the 1200e/year) would be about 60% renewables, with remaining split between nuclear and fossils. They do also sell green energy that has the endorsement of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
This basically leaves us with two offers: 850e/year generated with mostly fossil fuels. But it's cheapests by far. The other option is 1000+e/year, 100% sustainable energy. Our current provider isn't really an option, they cost more, while not really offering the benefits of the 1000+e-offer.
Now, if we were really good World Citizens (tm) we would pick the more expensive option. But then again, 150e is quite a bit of cash. And still, part of that energy would be generated through sustainable means. And we could cut back on our power-consumption. Then again, we could to that with the more expensive offer as well, while having 100% green energy.
These things we re easy back when we (the people in general) didn't care about "green stuff". We could just do comparisons based on price. Now we have to take account the color of power, as well as it's price.
what our current provider offers us would cost about 1200+e/year. Looking around we got an offer that would cost about 850e/year, plus we would get these credit-points we could use in shops and restaurants. 350e is quite a bit of money. We also got offer that would be around 1000+e/year.
Now, here's where it gets tricky. We would like to support sustainable energy and such. And the cheapest company uses mostly fossil fuels. I believe that they have about 60+% fossils, with the remaining 40% is split between renewable energy and nuclear. The 1000+e/year would be generated with windmills and museum hydroelectric (museum hydroelectric means these old and small-scale hydroelectric power-plants that aren't really competetive anymore). Our current provider (the 1200e/year) would be about 60% renewables, with remaining split between nuclear and fossils. They do also sell green energy that has the endorsement of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
This basically leaves us with two offers: 850e/year generated with mostly fossil fuels. But it's cheapests by far. The other option is 1000+e/year, 100% sustainable energy. Our current provider isn't really an option, they cost more, while not really offering the benefits of the 1000+e-offer.
Now, if we were really good World Citizens (tm) we would pick the more expensive option. But then again, 150e is quite a bit of cash. And still, part of that energy would be generated through sustainable means. And we could cut back on our power-consumption. Then again, we could to that with the more expensive offer as well, while having 100% green energy.
These things we re easy back when we (the people in general) didn't care about "green stuff". We could just do comparisons based on price. Now we have to take account the color of power, as well as it's price.