something phishy?

I just stumbled over this little test, it presents you with ten real email messages some of which are genuine service messages and some of which are "phishing" - which I gather is a term for a particular kind of spam designed to get you to part with sensitive information for fraudulent purposes.

Anyway the quiz is set up so that when you roll your mouse over a link it should display the link target, like (most mailer applications do) but it won't actually let you follow the link, you have to determine wether the message is legitimate or a fraud just from the contents of the email (including of course the link URL).

I got 8 right, wrongly identifying one legitimate mail as a fraud and one fraud as legit, which is not to say that I'd have been caught out by that one fraudster (having followed the link I'd like to think I'd have been tipped off by something on the site before handing over my details) but it's interesting that one of them got past what I thought was a pretty good first line of defense.

update

OK I mentioned writing an update when I was less tired didn't I? well I'm on a coffee break and I slept last night so here goes.

Summer is going really well - work's great without the kids though there are slow days (like today) when the weather clouds up and it's hard to motivate myself to actually *do* anything... as yet there's no news on a new job either which is starting to bother me again. Earlier in the holiday I was quite happy with just bumbling along here in the quiet comfort of a kid-less library, but I'm less so now... perhaps my summer's reached perihelion? whatever it is I'm conscious of hurtling back out towards the dark same-ness of term-time... I need to do something about breaking orbit from this place, if only I could figure out what (beyond what I'm already doing)

I took a time-out from all that last weekend and went to stay with Mum and Dad - that was very well timed and something I thoroughly enjoyed. I managed to catch up with all of my immediate family as well as some of my extended family, some I already knew and hadn't seen in too long, some I'd never really met before... There's something pleasantly grounding about spending time with relatives, and I came away from the weekend feeling a little bit more settled than before which I think I needed.

For the benefit of those who caught my "I'm going to Australia" phase during late spring and early summer, I'm not now - I decided that (work notwithstanding) there's too much good in my life here to up sticks and move just at the moment... I'd still like to do that at some point but now doesn't feel like that point.

Perhap partly in response to this I've been doing lots of cementing of existing relationships and some developing of new ones... that second part is fun, though I always find myself second guessing me somewhat. The next few weeks are all about the first part: I'm going off travelling with some small groups of old friends to new places - expect updates to be infrequent but dense.

what a surprise

quiz time...


Category I - The Hub

You're a 'people person'. Networking runs in your
blood. Consequently, you can move through most
social circles with ease.


What Type of Social Entity are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I don't do these much (anyone currently laughing should look at an average LiveJournal.com account and they'll see what I mean) but this one's written by my friend Liz's friend Mr. Footle in response to an ongoing discussion about thenature of social types, and I reckon he's done a pretty good job of it.

d'oh

there's a problem with network authentication this morning and I can't log in on work's computers yet (lucky I brought my own eh?) This in itself doesn't merit comment however I had an amusing conversation about it with our IT department just now and thought I'd share it (real name bleeped to protect the dopey)

Patrick: dials internal IT helpdesk number and waits
Friend in IT: hello
P: hi L____ it's Patrick, I can't seem to log in this morning, is there a problem?
F: yes, [snip brief explanation of nature of problem] I sent out an email on FirstClass [our internal email system]
P: right... but I can't read my FirstClass because I can't log in.
F: ... oh... [puzzled pause] oh right...

in his defence it is Monday morning.

mosey on home

Clicking the picture will get you a bigger copy in a new window

I just got back from a lovely weekend at my parents' (which really merits an entry of its own at some point, perhaps when I'm less tired.) This picture was taken about ten minutes away from my house on my way back earlier this evening. The sunset had been growing increasingly spectacular for about the last hour of my journey home, and at this point I just had to pull in and take a picture.

Appropriately enough, about five minutes on from here on the very last stretch of my run home (which when I've been away down south brings me back into the village from the east) my iPod decided to play Apache by the Shadows...

ffwd

OK own up, who put July onto fast forward? I just got an answer back about my remortgage application which must mean that at least an aeon has passed since I started the interminable process (out of interest is it just for my benefit? or do mortgage lenders process all applications at a pace which makes the average glacier seem hurried?) and indeed it has - half of July has already been and gone! eek.

Abysmal weather aside it's been quite a good month so far, I've been out doing exciting things and meeting some lovely new people as well as catching up with some other lovely people I've known for ages but not seen recently - work is still blissfully devoid of children though there's still no sign of my shiny new job (if you're listening universe - I'd very much like for it to be delivered in time for the start of term please, thank you.)

I still have rather a lot to do and very little time for doing it all but I'm mostly back at the computer so you can expect more regular updates on here again from now on - assuming you haven't all got bored and gone home?

while-u-wait

sorry folks, I've been a bad blogger of late.

The lack of new content isn't because nothing's happening, quite the reverse in fact! However I've (unusually) been away from the computer most of the time, and so documenting it all just hasn't been happening... and it isn't going to right now either because in a few seconds I have to dash off out again - in the mean time this might keep you busy - I only got 9 right (question 8 threw me) and am hanging my head in shame.

more anon - promise!

lazy splat? or busy splat?

I was going to post something two days ago to mark the fact that this blog's been running for a whole year now, but I didn't. I've been dreadfully unproductive and lazy this week... actually, I haven't - I've been very very busy, but somehow still felt lazy.

At work I've spent the week hauling about big boxes and filing cabinets and such to rehouse our school Archive - we're about 4/5ths of the way through it and the result is really impressive, but in spite of being quite physically demanding it hasn't felt like work - no kids for a start, just me and my boss (who I like a great deal) doing this project together... the time's flown past.

At home I feel like I've done nothing but several of the long-outstanding jobs I've had on the go are somehow either finished or nearing completion, and they weren't at the start of the week.

I've been out once already this week and will be out again tonight, busily catching up with friends and making some new ones, but again this feels like I'm being lazy and just coasting along when in fact stepping back I'm being very very busy.

odd.

one thing I have done a lot of that's in keeping with my 'sense of self as lazy' is sleeping, well my NET sleep is probably about average but after doing staggeringly little of it on Tuesday night (about an hour and a half) I spent most of Wednesday afternoon through to Thursday morning unconscious, and again slept well and soundly last night - that's probably why I feel lazy: I'm so used to being insomniac that having been in bed and asleep for any real length of time makes me feel like I've been being lazy (because usually that's the case)