Lake Effects

We went down to "the beach" by the lake at Leddy Park after nap today, only there wasn't any beach because the lake level is /so/ high that the water had come up to the hillside and covered all but a little bit of sand. You couldn't even walk down the shore. Needless to say, that spoiled a bit of our plans to play in the sand today, but we managed to have fun nevertheless. What was particularly interesting was how the days have been fairly hot here, but as soon as we got past the ice rink, we were hit with cold winds off the lake. Very brisk. So our visit to "the beach" wasn't as long as we expected; however, the Cremee window at the bagel shop was open, so we stopped by there on the way home because we had time. Then me 'n Connor ate corn on the cob (that we'd picked up at the grocery store this morning) outside on the bench as the sun is starting to make its way down.

This was also the day that we spent the morning getting Connor a haircut and going to the post office downtown to apply for their passports, in case we want to go to Montreal this summer and for when we go to Vancouver in 2010 for the Joint Statistical Meetings. It was only a little over an hour in and out of the post office, but that's a real long time with two kids under 4.

Lies, Damn Lies, and E-mail Phishing Scams

Gmail's spam filters are very good (erring a bit on the side of junking things that aren't spam), so it's an event when something gets through. The following e-mail, supposedly from the IRS, was in my inbox this morning, and obviously a scam. This is not a new scam (as you can see from a quick Google search), but frustrating to see around tax time, when people may let their guard down for "good news" from the IRS.

from IRS Internal Revenue Service reply-to taxrefund@856.irs.gov, to undisclosed-recipients, date Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 5:45 AM subject Tax Notification

hide details 5:45 AM (5 hours ago)

Reply

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
United States Department of the Treasury

Dear Taxpayer,

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal
activity we have determined that you are eligible
to receive a tax refund of $184.80.

Please submit the tax refund request and allow us
6-9 days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying
after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, use the following personalized link:

http://0x7C.0x3.0x3A.0x85/www.irs.gov/taxrefund.php

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service


Document Reference: (0x7C.0x3.0x3A.0x85).

The Eyre Affair: a Novel ; Jasper Fforde; 2001

The eventual "solution" to defeating Acheron's supernatural protections is weak, and there are certain sections of the book where the narrative drags, but Fforde otherwise delivers an incredibly enjoyable read full of "high culture becomes pop culture" references and the jaw-dropping "Rocky Horror Richard III Show".

Note: posted on 5/8/2013, backdated to when I actually read the book.

1 win down, 7 more to go...

... until we can put the Roger Clemens era behind us? Maybe not. Greg Maddux's 1st win of the 2008 season is the 348th of his career, putting him 6 behind Clemens. It's reasonably safe to say that Maddux will be in sole possession of 8th place on the career wins list at the end of this season, and he has an outside shot at passing Kid Nichols. But even with Maddux passing Clemens on the career wins list, many will probably still say Clemens is the best pitcher of his generation (ignoring, for the moment, questions of PEDs).

However, let's get ahead of ourselves a little. Maddux is only 25 wins behind Pete Alexander and Christy Mathewson. Given his low-impact pitching style, is it crazy to believe that Maddux could average 9 wins over the next 3 years and take sole possession of 3rd place on the career wins list sometime in 2010? I think not! At any rate, being number 3 on the wins list would make a much stronger case for putting the Roger Clemens era behind us. Go Padres!

Perfect Circle (Stewart, Sean) 2004

My dislike of reading about people doing stupid things is at war with the fact that I really enjoyed reading this. I may not like the main character, but Stewart manages to get us far enough inside Will Kennedy's headspace that I actually believe it when he yet /again/ acts stupidly. I need to change the rule to be that I hate reading about people doing unbelievably stupid things; if the author can make the "reasoning" behind the stupid acts believable, then I'm all aboard.

Three Cheers for the Royals

The MLB's last undefeated team in 2008! And reverse-cheers for Detroit, the last team to get a win in 2008.

The Girl in the Glass (Ford, Jeffrey) 2005

[posted 3/26/9, but backdated to 4/3/8 because that's when I finished the book]

A perfectly fine semi-mystery set in Long Island during the Great Depression.  Nothing deep here, just a nice easy read from cover-to-cover with a well-realized teen and his father figures as the main characters, their less-well-developed love interests, and assorted sketches of minor characters ranging from entertaining circus sideshow acts to the Long Island well-to-do to a villain about as believable as Max Zorin.  Not sure this is Nebula finalist material, but well worth the read.