Online dating fears

A recent study found the biggest fear women have of online dating is that the man might be a serial killer. 

The biggest fear of men? That the woman might be overweight.

Special, huh? Lol.

Our dog Kodi has passed away :(

Kodi LaFave, AKA "Millie's White Kodiak Bear," died peacefully in the family home in Iron Mountain at 8:30 a.m. Monday, with his Mom and brother by his side.

Born in October 1998, he lived to the ripe old age of 87 dog years, or 12 and a half regular years. He is survived by his human family, B.J., Joe, Audrey and Beau LaFave, along with his best friend, Sydney.

Kodi was lain to rest that evening in the front yard of the LaFave household on Millie Hill, and a beer was had by all in his memory.

He will be missed by family, friends and neighbors, as well as the many bikers, walkers and hot-tubbers he met on frequent trips to Lake Antoine, or the one-time visit to Bimbo's.

He now is sitting next to a big lake in the sky with ducks that fly over and a big rock between his feet.

- Beau LaFave, with contributions by Audrey LaFave

None Injured in CTA Brown Line Train Derailment

CHICAGO - No injutries were reported after a CTA Brown Line train derailed this mornign near the Belmont Station in Chicago.

According to various media reports, a still-and-box alarm and EMS Plan I, which sends at least five ambulances, were called by the Fire Department just in case. Sirens were all the could be heard nearly throughout the area, according to pedestrians. Onlookers also commented on the numerous helicopters blanketing the skies.

First responders were able to escort 13 passengers from the one affected train car down a catwalk back to the Belmont stop. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Belmont Street has been closed between Sheffield and Clark, and traffic continues to build in that area this morning.

BREAKING NEWS: 'El Train Derails in Chicago

CHICAGO - A north-bound passenger train derailed on the North side of Chicago this morning at approximately 8:45 a.m.

According to a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) official, emegency responders and CTA personnel are on the scene now. Currently, the derailed Brown line train is blocking all four lines of elevated train track just north of Chicago's busy Belmont station, halting CTA train service indefinitely.

The train derailed near a point on the tracks where three 'El lines intersect - the Brown, Red and Purple lines. An operator of a CTA Purple line train at the Diversey stop said the power was cut to the entire 'El system in order to allow work on the derailment.

"These things usually take quite some time," he said. "We will not be moving any time soon."

The CTA official did not know the extent of the derailment, but did say that shuttle buses were en route at 10 a.m., and would shuttle passengers between Southport and Fullerton. He could not comment on what passengers should do if they needed to go further north than Southport, but speculated that southbound service from Fullerton should be back online soon - including Red and Brown line service to the Loop.

There is no available information as to how or why the derailment occurred at this time.

UPDATE: According to various media reports, a still-and-box alarm and EMS Plan I, which sends at least five ambulances, were called by the Fire Department just in case.

First responders were able to escort 13 passengers from the one affected train car down a catwalk back to the Belmont stop. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Belmont Street has been closed between Sheffield and Clark, and traffic continues to build in that area this morning.

Things babies born in 2011 will never know

Do you think kids born in 2011 will recognize any of the following?

by Stacy Johnson --- Huffington Post --- Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Video tape: Most of the news stories produced this year will all be shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera used today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago -- and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously.

Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that's been decimated by the Internet. When it's time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?

Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept.

Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country are limited.

Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand.

The separation of work and home: When you're carrying an email-equipped computer in your pocket, it's not just your friends who can find you -- so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed.

Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books -- but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now.

Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drove someplace just to rent a movie?

Paper maps: At one time these were available free at every gas station. They're practically obsolete today, and the next generation will probably have to visit a museum to find one.

Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what's for sale.

Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won't be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone.

Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.

Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you'd say, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!" The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they've ever known even slightly via Facebook.

Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world's collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything?

The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you're not home to watch it, that's OK -- it's on the smartphone in your pocket.

CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs -- replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it's cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.

Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word "film" will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras -- both video and still -- are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too.


Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone?

Catalogs: There's no need to send me a book in the mail when I can see everything you have for sale anywhere, anytime. If you want to remind me to look at it, send me an email.

Fax machines: Can you say "scan," ".pdf" and "email?"

One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you've ever met and everything you've ever done -- now, that's efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a "slide show" or "home movies."

Wires: Wires connecting phones to walls? Wires connecting computers, TVs, stereos, and other electronics to each other? Wires connecting computers to the Internet? To kids born in 2011, that will make as much sense as an electric car trailing an extension cord.

Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word "cursive" means? Kids born in 2011 won't -- but they'll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard.

Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you're supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to.

Retirement plans: Yes, Johnny, there was a time when all you had to do was work at the same place for 20 years and they'd send you a check every month for as long as you lived. In fact, some companies would even pay your medical bills, too!

Mail: What's left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having direct-deposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.

Commercials on TV: They're terrifically expensive, easily avoided with DVRs, and inefficiently target mass audiences. Unless somebody comes up with a way to force you to watch them -- as with video on the Internet -- who's going to pay for them?

Commercial music radio: Smartphones with music-streaming programs like Pandora are a better solution that doesn't include ads screaming between every song.

Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn't answer your home phone, that was that -- nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be. Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone -- including advertisers -- exactly where you are.

Turns out, I'm like, old

I recently traveled to Washington DC for a business trip to meet with a client. My mom's sister Chris and her family live nearby...technically, in a suburb of DC. Charles Town, WV is like 70 miles out of DC but is still considered a DC suburb, even though it's a two-hour drive away. In fact, my uncle Jim said probably 90 percent of the people they know in town commute to DC or the surrounding metro area for work. So, anyway I decided to catch an earlier flight out of Chicago to hang out with them - my aunt and uncle and their two boys, Nick and Josh. Nick is the oldest - he's a senior in high school. I'm not sure if he is 18 yet... I think he is, but he may still be 17. Anyway, you get the picture. And Josh is younger, he's like 13.
 

Tons of things happened on this trip, including me meeting the clients from hell, getting my picture taken by the White House, freezing my butt off in a cold snap of single-digit East Coast weather, and hanging out with my family - playing Pictionary Man with Josh and watching 'Glee.' However, one incident will be the basis of this post, and that is the fact that I learned just how old a twenty-something like me really seems to an 18-year-old male relative.

On my last night in West Virginia, before dropping me at my hotel in Washington, the Cogs took me out to eat at Outback. The six of us (cousin Nick brought a friend) were driving there, and Nick's friend got a text from his girlfriend wondering where he was. The fam decided we thought he should have little fun with it. He said he was "with Audrey." When the poor girl took the bait and asked, "well, who is that?", he said it was a girl he had just met today and we had gone out for dinner at a steakhouse (by this time we were ordering). So, technically, all this was true, but of course it sounded a little less innocent than it actually was. I told the friend, John, that when the jig was up and he told her that I was just Nick's cousin, that he better not add something like "and plus, she's like, old," to my description. He agreed to this.

At this point though, Nick said, "How old are you, anyway?" I told him my age, which is 25. And he replied, "25!?! Why don't you have a kid?" LOL! I didn't have a very good answer to that...it was a little out of nowhere, so I sputtered out a, "Wha-Why don't I have a kid??? Cuz I'm only 25!!!" Which is not really an appropriate answer - being 25, I guess technically, I could have a 10 or 11-year-old (I'm really glad I don't, though!), and more realistically, I suppose I could easily have a 4 or 5 year old...But, I digress. So then I said, "I'm not even married. And anyway, you're 18 - why don't you have a kid?"

By way of apology, Nick said, "I'm sorry! I work at IHOP, the 25-year-olds there all have like three kids." Still, Nick - not cool! ;) I did get a kick out of it though...yep, seemed pretty hilarious...*right* after I finished sobbing in grief for my lost youth and making appointments for Botox injections twice daily for the rest of my life - which apparently isn't too much longer considering how freakin' old I am! ;)

Thefts increase during holiday season

It's that time of year where surprises are expected - but someone stealing your iPhone off your desk at work is not the kind of surprise you're liable to be too jazzed by.

Police departments and HR offices across the country note an increase in stolen cars, break-ins and petty thefts during the later months of the year. Case in point: just today someone managed to walk out of my office w/ a DESKTOP computer, as well as the monitor, mouse and keyboard. He must have been really motivated to work from home, because aside from making it past the locked entrance to our suite, he also managed to avoid detection by the real employees at 9 in the morning (I knew there was a really practical reason for being late)! It took us a couple more hours to realize the desk chair was also missing from the cubicle - so he was able to wheel the whole damn thing out, right under our noses. Like I said, I guess the guy really wanted to set up a home office.

Bottom line, this holiday season, keep your eye on your personal items, like purses, briefcases, wallets, phones and iPods/iPads/Kindles. Not just in the grocery store and on the train - but also at your desk at work. Always lock your doors - at home and in the car. Enable any security devices, if you own them. Have a friend you trust come and "House-sit" at random times of day if you plan to be out of town for an extended period of time. Another stat police & other experts tout at this time of year is that people who otherwise would not steal are more likely to do so. Please be careful with your stuff! As someone who's already had to replace a stolen iPod once, I know I will try my best to do so myself. TTFN.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry