One more reason to be paranoid...

As if I wasn't paranoid enough, researchers at University of California in San Diego have given me one more reason: they've developed software that can duplicate physical keys from photographs. Taken at a distance. Or with a cell phone camera. From any angle. This is really scary stuff. I mean, those 80s made for television movies scared me enough - whenever I leave one of my cars for service, or send it through a car wash, I always remove my house keys. Now doing that may not be enough.  Yes, it seems unlikely that everyone will be at risk for this type of attack, but certainly if you are targeted it will be worth someone's effort to observe you and your keys.

Bridge School Benefit fantastic again!

My hubby and I walked to the Shoreline Amphitheater on Saturday afternoon to check out this year's Bridge School Benefit concert. Other than being irked by being required to pay for parking, even though we walked, we had a great time.  The lawn was packed when we arrived, and just got more so after the opening acts started. An odd character in front of me kept insisting on spreading out her blanket over my feet. This was strange, because we were there long before she was and she was actually looking at my feet as she did this (repeatedly, as I pushed it off each time).  After about 20 minutes of this, she seemed to realize that I was not going to move further back (which was actually not possible) and we could then enjoy the show.

Neil Young actually kicked the concert off with a couple of his classic tunes, which was a pleasant start of the evening. The opening bands were pretty good, though I did find Wilco a bit... boring. Death Cab for Cutie really got things going, bringing back sweet memories of watching The O.C. I could not possibly say enough good things about Sarah McLachlan's set, switching back and forth between the guitar and the piano, testing out some new material and playing all of my favorites as well. Nora Jones surprised me with her three woman band and the distinct country tone of her set, which ended up being quite enjoyable! She actually did a Hank Williams song that he wrote the lyrics to, but had never written music for - so she had composed a delightful melody to back it up. It's really amazing how those old lyrics still hold up.

We missed the last two sets, as the smoke from the cigarettes, cigars, pipes and ... pipes was getting to me, so we walked home. Still, had a great time and will be sure to make it again next year!

[I wrote most of this on Sunday but forgot to post! oops!]

Women more likely to give up passwords for chocolate

As always, the user is the weakest link in the security of the system. It is generally much easier to get a password and user name directly from someone with secure or privileged access than it is to hack/crack the system. This is pretty basic social engineering, and something we all need to constantly be on the lookout for. I have been recently cleaning up my email inbox, when I came across this article from April in The Register where their research showed that women are four times as likely to give out a password if chocolate is offered in exchange than men. Four times.  I could never have imagined how something so delicious could so easily be put to such a sinister purpose. *sigh*

Women more likely to give up passwords for chocolate

As always, the user is the weakest link in the security of the system. It is generally much easier to get a password and user name directly from someone with secure or privileged access than it is to hack/crack the system. This is pretty basic social engineering, and something we all need to constantly be on the lookout for. I have been recently cleaning up my email inbox, when I came across this article from April in The Register where their research showed that women are four times as likely to give out a password if chocolate is offered in exchange than men. Four times.  I could never have imagined how something so delicious could so easily be put to such a sinister purpose. *sigh*

Welcome to Avany Llyse

I now have an third niece, bringing my total nieces and nephews to 11.  I've now seen a bunch of pictures of her, and all 8 pounds 3 ounces are as cute as can be! I can't wait to meet her in person. :-)

Look for me in Babes of Hollywood!

So, I got an email (well, several, actually) from my friend Doug this week about a fund raising show he is producing at his daughter's high school, Presentation High School. They are doing Babes in Hollywood: The Music of Garland and Rooney.  I was taking a break from performing, but, as always, after a couple months off, I start reading the audition announcements again... I saw a lot of great shows, but they either conflicted too much with ski season, or my grandmother's birthday, or upcoming friend's wedding, etc. Then I looked at this show - we get a break from rehearsal for Thanksgiving and Winter break, and perform in early January. So, I decided on Tuesday that I'd audition on Wednesday.

That didn't give me much time to prepare, but I quickly updated my resume, grabbed a head shot, listened to the few Garland tracks I have on my iPod a few times, and ran through my traditional audition song, "Turn Back O' Man" (Godspell), a few times. The ending was rusty, I haven't been making it to the Sun Singers rehearsals or my voice lessons, so I just sang it on the way down in the car and hoped the notes would be there...

It was quite a comfortable audition environment, with the director & producer on stage with me and the piano player, making it a bit easier to focus and not think about all the other auditioners sitting in the house. I was nervous, but I have sung "Turn Back O' Man" hundreds of times (it was my "go-to" audition piece long before I ever played the role of Sonia in Godspell, even though I didn't use it as an audition piece for Godspell, so it was just luck I got that part).  It all came back and I hit the high ending note - all in my chest/belt voice!

Then the director asked me, just like he'd asked everyone else, to sing Garland's "Over the Rainbow", that's when I got really nervous! What key would it be in? Where will my break be in this song? Will this stupid cold I just can't seem to get rid of screw this up?  Do I sing it hopefully like in Wizard of OZ or despondently like the tracks of Garland on my iPod? I did have to bounce between my head & chest voice, but I think it went okay. I went for the despondent ending.

The dance audition was all simple things, like pivot-turns and grapevines, so I actually did well.  As I was leaving, I asked the director when we would hear about casting decisions, and he simply told me I was cast and he'd see me at the first rehearsal. I can't wait!

Fall harvest

This has been my first year trying my hand at gardening, and I've learned quite a lot! First, dwarf basil is a pain to harvest - it takes forever to pull off enough leaves for pasta!  I also discovered that I love fresh tomatoes and green beans, and fresh herbs are delightful.  For my first year I planted Better Boy tomatoes, carrots, beats, okra, broccoli, grean beans, red and yellow bell peppers, Serrano  chilies, jalapeño chillies, Anaheim peppers, "spring" onions, sage, basil, cilantro, rosemary, and thyme. Oh, and mint, but that is growing itself from the neighbors yard. :-)  The beans did fantastically well on the side of the house, and the carrots and beets thrived in a semi-shaded corner of the back yard (I'm thinking about doing a second planting this fall).  The tomatoes did well in the back, as did the Serrano chillies, but the other chillies and peppers suffered a bit - for two reasons I think, not enough afternoon sun and I didn't realize that I was supposed to fertilize them until after they were in the ground a couple of months.  I have *one* okra pod. One. Too much shade and planted a bit too late, I suspect. I'll try that again next year up front.

The broccoli... dear broccoli. One of my favorite vegetables, alas I've been disappointed by my home grown. After combating  a pesky caterpillar/moth with organic pesticide, I finally have florets, but they are flimsy and not firm at all. And they don't taste like what I'm used to getting from the store. They took so long to grow, planted in May in a semi-shaded spot, it's really disappointing.  I got the seed packet for free as a give-a-way at a conference, though, so maybe next year I should do some actual research into what seeds I choose. I didn't realize last spring that there were actual websites with seed reviews on them, but of course, though, there is a website for everything now.

Next year the peppers and chillies will get a sunnier spot. The tomatoes will probably go in the same place, I seem to recall it's not good to plant other things where tomatoes were, except maybe beets. Perhaps that's where I'll do my winter planting of beets (well, after the tomatoes have stopped producing). It is very nice living in a relatively mild climate, though I am hoping we will get a lot more rain this year.

Additionally, I grew my marigolds from seed this year. They are like giant marigold bushes now, getting a bit rangy so I'm not sure how much longer they'll get to stay. Oh, yeah, grew poppies, too. Now I think we'll always have poppies, as they had self seeded before I pulled them up.

My "spring" onions are well on their way to becoming full onions, I think. I was not expecting them to do that well! The chives I planted at the same time never even sprouted, but I have spring onions coming out my ears! 

There is something very rewarding about eating our own vegetables, fresh picked/pulled moments before cooking. Now, have I saved any money with all these home grown things? Once I take into account water, fertilizer and time, certainly not. I'll do it again next year all the same. :-)