Virus Volunteering

So, I've dealt with my first major virus on my computer. It arrived on the weekend. XP Home Security (and goes by many other names). It's a very effective virus. It makes it look like there are dangerous things going on in your computer, that you have a virus (ha) and websites are not safe and your information is being stolen. I was 'this' close to clicking and buying their 'product'. Thankfully it looked to be too much, and so I stopped and called my brother who knows much about computers. It takes over your systems and doesn't allow browsers to work or other antivirus programs to work with the excuse that it's allowing some evil things to happen. Of course, if you can't access your browser you can't access the information saying it's a virus or the fix. Thankfully M has a computer which I used to get the registry item that would allow me to access my computer. Of course, he was nervous letting me use his computer - like I'm carrying a virus on my being - but oh well...

So, catching up since then. I put a whole lot of protection programs (free) on my computer and one is just driving me nuts. It stops scripts and every friggin page has a script. I may just stop it from stopping them. Of course, then there's the slippery slope into getting another... But you know what? I think I might trade that possibility with the very real day to day annoyance...

One cool thing I did on Saturday was volunteer trail work. I am the queen of drains! (making a channel to redirect water off a trail so it doesn't erode it, and doing it such that it isn't completely obvious) I only made one in the time I was there, but I'm good at it. So much so I was called upon to consult with another person who didn't get the concept. ;-) Funny.

I met the most amazing woman. 70 years old and volunteering on this trail. A trauma psychologist who just returned from Serbia teaching people to handle trauma victims. She just sold her house and is travelling around for a while, not answering the phone because people keep calling her to consult overseas. She's going to go do a 5 day trail work project on the Pacific Crest Trail! Amazing. And she's a century bike rider. It really gives me hope that I could be active when I'm that old. So much different than my mom! And perhaps many people's moms...

OK, off to work