Out of the blue this morning I noticed a bit of humor embedded in Gmail. While browsing your email, there is a header link that is displayed while you are browsing your email(see image below). The topics that show up here are configurable in Mail Settings -> Web Clips section. You can choose from NPR, BBC, Yahoo, etc.

While interesting this isn't really all that funny. The fun part comes in while you are viewing the spam folder. Instead of the link using your preset topics, it instead shows a random recipe from recipesource.com where spam is the main ingredient. Nothing earth shattering here, but humorous nevertheless.

I have to say, I'm pretty sore at the greedy players after this last lockout. I'm glad they got less than what the owners offered last year. They DESERVE less. Why should the average Joe that makes 40K per year ante up more so Keith Tkachuk can ask for more than the 11 mil he is currently making. Did I mention he wasn't work 11K in 2003's playoffs. Really, what kind of things can you afford at 15 mil that you can't afford at 11? I hope they run Tkachuk out of town faster than he can get his Boston jersey off. Yea, I'm bitter can you tell. I commend players like Barret Jackman who played for the Otters last year and donated his entire salary to charity. He sacrified the possiblity of a career ending injury for the love of the game. A player with this kind of vision and itegrity is the kind I want my son looking up to.

Here are my thoughts on some of the changes with the new CBA:

• Player cost tied to revenue: Hmm, this sure sounds like the company I work for. If they don't generate revenue, I don't generate a paycheck. This increases the likelihood of the NHL being around long term and is a fantastic decision.
• No individual player salary can exceed 20% of a Club's Upper Limit on payroll: Again, this is a great move. If the team payroll is going down because revenue isn't high enough, let the highest priced guy take the hit.
• New Substance abuse policy: I don't have a strong opinion either way on this one. My personal stance is that these substances shouldn't be used, but the reactive approach that professional leagues have make it easy to sneak by. So I'm fine with whatever the league chooses knowing it won't be followed 100%.
• Compliance buyouts: I will really enjoy seeing Tkachuk being run out of town with this one. Come on Larry, do it today and make my weekend!
• Entry level salary bump: I'm okay with this one and don't have a strong like or dislike either way.
• No All Star Game during Olymipic Years: I like this one a lot. I also hope they shut down the NHL during the qualifying rounds too. In 2002 Pavol Demitra left the St Louis Blues early to play in Slovakia's qualifying round which meant he missed a couple NHL games. While I understand that he wants to support his country, I don't see why I should get less of a product on the ice while he is away. They didn't discount my tickets at all for those games. My being a season ticket holder, I expect the best possible product day in and day out.
• No Contract Renegotiating during its term: No shit, really. Why on earth should a player be able to regotiate during a given contract? He made his bed, now sleep in it. I wonder if my boss would allow me renegotiate the amount of money we agreed upon when I accepted my job. I'm sure I would get a pretty good laugh out of him if I asked though.
• New Signing deadline - Dec 1st: I love this new rule. Now a restricted free agent that is up at the end of a given season can't play past Dec 1st if he isn't signed beyond that year. Can you say fewer holdouts? Can't wait till the first guy tests this and his team wins the cup without him.
• Unrestricted Free Agency: With the new salary changes, I think it is only fair to free up the players to shop themselves elsewhere. If they aren't the 20% player on Team A but could be on Team B, let em walk at a younger age. This is America for crying out loud.

 

All in all, I think the players did a great job of renegotiating the worst possible deal for themselves. The owners finally did something smart that will allow them to actually make a few bucks which they deserve. I'm looking forward to a more blue collar NHL and can't wait till October 5th!!!!

As I stated 107 days ago, the amount of Spam that I receive is increasing each month. I am using SpamSieve on the client side but this approach still requires me to download the spam and allow Apple's Mail Program to throw it away. While this does save me time, a better approach would be to catch it further up stream. There are modules that I could plug into my mail server to do so but I've found a fairly effective approach that requires little work on my end and zero maintenance.

Steps to drastically reduce spam

• Configure my mail server to forward all of my mail to my gmail account
• Configure Apple mail to grab my mail from gmail via pop3
• Leave my mail server as the default smtp server for this account so people don't get confused on which address I'm using.

With this solution, gmail becomes my spam filtering software by moving spam to a special folder that doesn't get retrieved via pop3 access. Not to mention it does one heck of job filtering. This solution also has the added benefit of me being able to view my mail online until I pop it down from gmail. Another plus is that no mail gets lost, I can always look in gmail's spam folder to make sure something didn't get marked as spam incorrectly.

 

UPDATE: It has now been about two days and I've already concluded that this is a great solution. So far Gmail has caught just under 300 spam messages with zero false positives and SpamSieve has only had to catch 6 locally. Thanks Google for filtering my spam!

With the arrival of the new baby, my SUV went to my wife and I inherited her Pontiac Grand Am. Did I mention that I hated her car? Actually I hate cars in general. I enjoy the look from above. After having a gas guzzling SUV for the past 7 years, moving to a car wasn't something that I looked forward to. So as an effort to sit up higher I traded in her car for something that I have been missing for 10 years. Back when I was 18 I owned a 1978 CJ5 Jeep. It was a loud and obnoxious rust bucket with huge tires, shiny wheels and a lot of black spray paint. Regardless of its condition, driving it around topless was sheer joy. A lound stereo and sunshine was all I needed. By far it was the most fun vehicle that I have ever owned.

Instead of buying a hooptie like the CJ5, instead I purchased a 2005 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Unlike the typical Wrangler the Unlimited is slightly larger (15" to be exact) which accounts for more leg room and additional cargo space. In my opinion, it makes an otherwise impractical vehicle somewhat practical. I don't anticipate my son riding in it very often, if ever, but if push comes to shove I'm comfortable there is enough room for him to be safe. I bought this wonderful machine fully loaded including the necessary hard top for Missouri winters. It's a beaut if I must say so myself.

Just after a hand wash