And what am I doing for Thanksgiving?

Well, let me put it this way.  It is presumably my only day off until a week from this Saturday.

So zip, zilch, nada.  Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go, as Simon and Garfunkel would say.

I have a double shot of Stouffers' turkey entres in the freezer.  A little extra stuffing and potatoes and a few rolls, and I'm good to go.

And I will be thankful I have a home and a job.  (Not to mention I'm off that job tomorrow!)  I will be thankful for family and friends, reasonable health, and especially my salvation.

I will be thankfully that I live in a nation which, despite the best efforts of her enemies of every stripe, is still free.

And for my Booogle, how can I forget him?

Damn straight you don't forget the Booogle!

And I am thankful for sharing my life with someone who is very hard to describe in a few words, but would be far harder to live without.

And for two healthy, basically happy kids who have entered young adulthood.

I don't require turkey and football to enjoy any of these, or a special day to commemerate them.  I'm thankfull for them all the time.

But it's sure nice to have a day to add the turkey and football to it once a year.


_____________________________________


Well, my junk folder is full of spam, so let's see if there is anything amusing.

First off, spammers, you HAVE to make an effort.  Just sending an e-mail titled Hey Christopher and including a link doesn't cut it, "Aaron Atkinson". Also, ones that say "Remember me?  I have some bad news..." from someone I don't know don't work too well either.

Also, the ones that have an "enticing" subject ("Get good quality tires for cheaper") followed by three paragraphs of gobbledygook don't cut it.  It is however to see the address it gets sent from ("bolsterhereaboutphysiotherapistcrouchtrapezoid@ Kelvin.skateshove.com").

Then there are the ones that I get as e-mails from "anonymous" commenters on blogs I follow.  One fine gentleman from England has been particularly beset this week with long junk filled "comments" from someone promoting an Ugg boots site.  A note to companies like these- you should do more to prevent spammers from making money "advertising" your product.  Any of these things I get, I note the company and put it on my "do not buy from" list.  Sorry, Ugg boots, you lost a prospective customer this week.  Another example:  Another fellow blogger apparently got this spam comment on a recent post:

Somebody necessarily lend a hand to make severely posts I would state. That is the first time I frequented your web page and to this point? I amazed with the analysis you made to make this actual publish extraordinary. Excellent task!

I am amazed that you knew what you were talking about, because no one else did!  Coherence is a virtue, you know.

Next up is the latest in "my money is trapped in Africa" e-mails.  This time, I'm trying (in my sleep apparently) to get $5.5 Million, though for a change, I'm not told which country it's in.  However, with a little digging based on the name of the kind philanthropist trying to help me, one Dr. Richard Benson, I learned that in other scam e-mails, he says he is "the son of Dr. Clifford Benson of Zimbabwe".  In any event, Dr. Benson, a few rules of grammar- Capitalize the word "I" plus the beginnings of any sentence.  Also, the standard is two spaces between sentences.  Rather than boring you with the entire letter, let me just give you my favorite part:

IF YOU HAVE A COMPANY'S ACCOUNT, THAT WILL BE MORE BETTER FOR THIS
KIND OF FUNDS, BUT IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THEN SEND YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT.

For some reason, the phrase "more better" always cracked me up.

Next up, I guess Bobby G. finally got some of his "male enhancement" letters to come my way, but G. Chiranjeev wasn't real clear on the subject:

hi cw Do you need to new push to get to the size you want? DrOz endorses this product Try this out right now http ://t.co/UFD6z5mI It works for nearly everybody
Well, if I ever need that "to new push", I'll let you know.

Next, here's an interesting new wrinkle- Natural hair wigs!

Hi, Thank you for reading this letter. I just looked through ur website,its
nice. We are factory for hair products(wig,hair weave) inChina. Sample order
accepted to check quality. More information, catalogue andprice are
available. Thanks& Kind regards. candy Yin Salesmanager Qingdao
Arison Co.,

Yeah, I can see where anybody reading my blog would think I'd be interested in wigs.

Next, I had one (supposedly from Sensa) Urging me to "Eat Myself  Skinny".  Gonna try that myself tomorrow.

Then there were the two who sent me links "to relieve my financial stress" which both had the clever subject "wow cw".  You don't know me well enough to call me wow.

And I'm not real receptive to those who send blank e-mails with everything in the subject, such as "My late father’s WILL and Bankers insist that I must produce evidence of administrator, of USD35.8M my inheritance  I need help  Contact me for details/PN Williams "  PN, you do need help.  Maybe Dr. Richard Benson can recommend someone...

Next, do try to make sure your address and your name coincide.  When an e-mail from Jayne Montgomery starts with, "Hello, I am Mr. Patrick by name and i am a loan lender. ..", you've pretty much shot your credibility.
Miriam Lucchi had much the same problem, but threw in an interesting wrinkle along with her identity problem:

I am Capt. Andrew Huth ,i need your urgent help to move $5,600,000.00million,
please note this is not a stolen money.

Well, at leats it's not STOLEN... probably because it DOESN'T EXIST!

Finally, let's be smart out there.  Don't be like one of our Facebook friends, who posted this last night...

Is it for real or is it a scam? When my husband logged on to his computer, a big old FBI warning popped up. He has 24 hours to pay $2,000 or he will go to prison for 11 years.


One would hope the 16 responses of SCAM!!! were sufficient, but you never know...