The Mystic Bird

Here’s a novel idea. What if we were able to be involved enough to search for the idiot spammers that plague us all by loading our inboxes full of spam, get our servers blacklisted and in general…just are a real big pain in the ass? Great idea? Hell yeah!

Acknowledging that we all get the dreaded crap in our inboxes and that the spamming business is one of the most lucrative ones out there in cyberspace, there simply has to be something that can be done on the hosting company/ISP side to combat this better.

Granted, not all spammers are running out of a hosting provider’s servers nor are they dumb enough to try it. They are however, smart enough to use all kinds of practices such as taking over someone else’s computer or any other means available to them.

It’s time to start getting pro-active on this menace and looking deeper into the problem. When getting any spam, do you actually look at the headers for it? Most don’t. It gets sent right to the Trash bin, right? Right.

Well, have a look at the headers and see if you can determine where the crap is coming from. Or, better yet…..forward the email to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) such as Charter.net, Comcast, Earthlink, whomever it is that provides your internet connectivity for you. They are the primary ones to go to for this sort of problem.

Now, if your email is domain related (provided by a hosting company), it would be a good idea to contact them for suggestions on how to best combat the crap in your inbox as they employ many different means to slow down the onslaught you are getting.

Notice I said “slowdown” not stop. They can only do so much as they are also combating the spamcops, and other blacklisting services out there that block entire servers (IP addresses) due to reported spam. This is another issue in the ongoing battle with the spammers.

Being blacklisted is no day in the park. If your business is using email to keep up with sales, new contacts, etc., being able to do business online depends on being able to send and recieve email reliably. Being blacklisted due to some idiot spamming from your server or worse, spoofing an email address from a domain on your server is bad news.

A lot of us small business owners simply have to have a backup plan in the wings in case of just such an event. An email address from one of the free providers such as Yahoo (I highly recommend them), Hotmail, Gmail, etc. is a good way to go. Like a Boy Scout…always be prepared!

To be honest, spam is getting so out of hand that even most of the spam fighting tools available out there today are not able to do the job very well of preventing it from getting to your inbox. The spammers are smart, they are always updating and learning new ways to defeat the filters that are employed to keep their junk out, and are just plain determined to get that email for stock prices, or male enhancement to your inbox.

I’m open for suggestions (other than just eliminating my email altogether) from anyone that thinks they have an idea on combating this crap. Others would like to know too!

The ever present yet comforting confines of “home”. Is a home office the way to go? Or is it better to have an office away from home? Guess that depends on how focused one can be.

After a day of brain-storming on various projects, it’s the best place to be for me. Especially as said projects get more complex and progress to their inevitable completions. I find it more relaxing and comfortable working this way instead of the more traditional method of having a formal office so to speak.

I have all the tools I need at my fingertips plus the convenience of being able to eat “lunch” at home if I want. Not to mention the savings in gas are too hard to pass up.

In all reality, it is my office. My workplace. My “zone” if you wish. It is where I can work without the constraints of keeping up with the extra costs and upkeep of a traditional office in the city. I actually feel more creative here too so it works for me.

Just make sure that if you decide to make your home your office that you plan wel in advance for what you’ll need as far as supplies, tools, and privacy. That last one is a real kicker, too. Privacy to work is a needed value so you can concentrate on the business at hand. Without it…you’re sunk.

Layout of the home office is a good idea to have in mind too as it’s crucial to have the layout in such a way that it works for you. No jumping up to go to this side of the room for that file or to go to that side of the room to fax that file. Lay out the design beforehand to get an idea of what the most often done tasks are and go from there. It’ll save you in the long run.

Just like a good layout, a good business plan makes sense too. Home Based Biz covers a lot of good info on this.

It makes one wonder sometimes just what we as a civilized society set as our priorities. It would make sense to set them as what we hold most dear to ourselves. Such as family, friends, work, hobbies, etc.

Some people set them to unbelievable expectations. It is astonishing to see what some will put first in their lives. For me, it?s simple. Family is forever first and foremost in my humble life. Always has been, always will be.

It is sad to read or see someone who has theirs set so high they can?t see the forest for the trees. Take parents for example (no, I?m not about to tell anyone how to parent), back in the day, parents took a better interest in what their kids were doing. In school, outside of school?didn?t matter. They were just plain ?ol interested in what was going on.

These days it?s a seriously shocking impression of things as more and more parents are still acting surprised by their offspring?s behavior. Get a grip people! Check into what little Johnny?s doing! See what all those text messages are about that little Melissa keeps getting!

You want them to grow up and be able to survive life, don?t you? Time to intervene on behalf of the children then. Face it, we thought our parents were stupid when we hit our teen years and we survived by their lead. It still can be done in this day and age if we get our priorities straight.

Think about it?

Kind of a catchy title, huh? Well, it fits seeing as my grandchildren cause all kinds of grins and giggles here lately.

For example, my grand-daughter (she?s barely 9 months old!) thinks it?s extremely cool to pull herself up and try to grab her big brother?s toy away from him. This causes all kinds of turmoil for the older brother as he just cannot stand to share with her just yet. He lets out a yell to remind her of his intentions of not sharing. She just grins and tries again.

After a few attempts to snag the treasured toy from him, she resorts to the usual tried and true procedure of going into ?stealth mode? and slowly stalking him. Can you imagine this? A tiny 9 month old stalking her older 3 year old brother! And she does it with finesse!

Once he is goaded into thinking she is done with her snatch and grab, she slowly eases up to his position one hand and knee at a time (she is good at stealth-crawling). Then, when she is within striking range??.She attacks!

Oh, the sheer awe of it all! He yells as loudly as he can to protest her attack??She hangs on for dear life. Anyone within ear-shot is dumbfounded as to what is going on unless of course, you have been privileged enough to have been in the same room watching the drama unfold.

With a mighty tug, the older brother has retrieved his prized possession. The little one, having lost her grip on the toy, can only resort to what a little girl can at this moment in time.

She leans over and bites his arm! Then turns and crawls back over to her spot in the room where she can watch him from afar with glee and mischief in her eyes.

Like I said: Grins, Giggles and Grandchildren. You just can?t beat it for fun.