Russel's Blog

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Is Active Rain trying to tell me something, or am I just weird?

I'm going to have to hide my "Possible things to blog on" file from Jim. He obviously has been looking at my file lately and stealing my blog subjects. He did Sophie, and Zoey, and now this. Ah, well, I'll just steal it from his blog over to my blog. Ha!

My list has some of the same words but many different ones. However, my list also runs about 75% vegetation and fruit words. Really interesting.

The one that I have a problem with is moosewood. I just don't like the visual. I see that Jim has had it four times. I've had it nine times, so moosewood obviously is a favorite of our friendly ActiveRain programmer here. LOL

Via Jim Frimmer, San Diego Realtor:


WARNING

Comment at your own risk. If you choose to comment here,
be prepared for me to visit your blog within the next 7 days and comment there.
I might even comment in multiple blog posts of yours, so beware!

I'm a lister. I admit it. I like to make lists and analyze lists to see if I can determine a trend, a trend that I then might be able to take advantage of to help my business.

The very first time I made a comment in a blog at Active Rain, the spam prevention system asked me to type the graphic into the little box. If I stay logged in and make additional comments, it usually doesn't ask me to type more graphics into the box.

Most such systems are totally random, using thousands, sometimes even millions and billions of text and number combinations. Rarely, if ever, do they spell a word. My first graphic did spell a word, sort of:

moosewood

So I've been making a list of all the graphics to see just how random they were and if the same graphic ever came up twice. The results might surprise you. I've even separated the graphics into categories and the number of times that I have had to type the graphic. Additionally, I did an Internet search on many graphics and increased my knowledge base since some of the ones I didn't know actually are things.

Vegetation and foods

  1. allspice (twice)
  2. almond
  3. anonilla
  4. avocado
  5. azarole
  6. banana
  7. bilimbi
  8. breadfruit
  9. bunya-bunya
  10. cacoa
  11. cactus
  12. calabura
  13. canistel (also known as eggfruit, see 23)
  14. carambola
  15. chempedale
  16. cheremai (three times)
  17. clove
  18. cocoa
  19. cocoplum
  20. cuachilote
  21. cupu-assu
  22. dasheen
  23. effgruit (see 13)
  24. farkelberry
  25. ginseng (twice)
  26. grumichama (twice)
  27. grumixameira
  28. guabiroba
  29. guama
  30. hackberry
  31. jackfruit
  32. jojoba
  33. jostaberry
  34. juneberry
  35. kenaf
  36. ketoepa
  37. koorkup
  38. lime
  39. lingaro
  40. lingonberry
  41. loquat
  42. louvi (twice)
  43. lucuma (twice)
  44. maprang
  45. moringa (twice)
  46. myrobalan
  47. okra
  48. orangeberry
  49. pacay
  50. pandanus
  51. papaya
  52. peanut
  53. pecan
  54. pejibaye (twice)
  55. persimmon
  56. pineapple
  57. pitanga
  58. quince (twice)
  59. rambai
  60. ramontchi
  61. raspberry
  62. rata
  63. rukam (twice)
  64. sachamango (twice)
  65. salal
  66. sapodilla (also known as sapota, see 67)
  67. sapota (also known as sapodilla, see 66)
  68. sepiaia
  69. shaddock
  70. sheepberry
  71. stemberry
  72. sweetsop
  73. tagua-tagua
  74. tamarillo
  75. tampoi
  76. tayberry
  77. tioepa
  78. ume
  79. yanagi-ichigo
  80. yucca

Others, including possible definitions from an Internet search:

  1. amra - acronym for Australian Music Retailers Association
  2. caimo - Gioseppe Caimo, Italian composer (1545-1584)
  3. cas - acronym for Chemical Abstract Service
  4. ciruela
  5. ciruelo - Ciruelo Cabral, an Argentine fantasy artist (b. 1963)
  6. corozco
  7. dalison
  8. escobillo - Evangeline Escobillo, Philippine insurance commissioner charged with corruption in 2007
  9. grauba
  10. hilma - Hilma of Kent, a Swedish artist and mystic
  11. imbe (twice) - acronym for Improved Multi-Band Excitation
  12. kawa - computer scheme environment written in Java
  13. luma - represents the brightness of an image
  14. mocambo - West Hollywood nightclub
  15. moosewood (four times) - restaurant in Ithaca, New York
  16. mowha (twice) - acronym for Mid-Ohio Walking Horse Association
  17. paco - nickname for Francisco
  18. pacura
  19. pama - acronym for Professional Aviation Maintenance Association
  20. paterno - Joe Paterno (b. 1921), Penn State University football coach
  21. roway - a trademarked term for a computer Right-of-Way Permitting System
  22. sorb - acronym for an Australian group, Save Our Riverfront Bushland

Now let's analyze this in greater detail:

Someone at Active Rain is intimately familiar with plants and fruits, including some of the rarer ones, and some of the more esoteric names for those rarer plants and fruits.

Out of 102 times that I've been asked to enter the graphic, 80 of them, a whopping 78%, have been related to vegetation and fruit.

So let's presume that the spam system is left up to the head Active Rain programmer and make some deductions about him. We already know that he has an intimate knowledge of plants and fruits.

Based on the other 22 graphics, here's what else we can deduce about him:

  • He's Australian because many of the plant and fruit names, especially the weird ones, were Australian. Addtionally, we have references to Australia. See 1 and 22.
  • He likes music and art. See 1, 2, 5, 10, and 14.
  • His favorite composer is Italian. See 2.
  • His favorite artists are Cabral and Hilma. See 2 and 10.
  • He likes the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. See 15.
  • He might have a relative in the Philippines or lived there himself before coming to the U.S. See 8.
  • He lives in Ohio (see 16) but likes Penn State football (see 20).
  • He has a horse and is a member of the Mid-Ohio Walking Horse Association. See 16.
  • He partied at Mocambo in West Hollywood (see 14) when he arrived in the U.S. from Australia (see 1 and 22) or the Philippines (see 8).
  • Someone in his family is a professional aviation maintenance technician. See 19.
  • Someone in his family is a chemist. See 3.
  • Someone in his family, perhaps even he himself, is named Francisco and might go by the nickname Paco. See 17.
  • He has a nice computer programming résumé. See 11, 12, 13, and 21.

There you go. A lesson in making lists and analyzing them.
Or am I just weird?



Some of Jim's blog posts

3 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 27 2008 11:08PM

It's hard to believe Zoey's already been here a year

Here's the second part of my Partner's story about our two cats, Sophie and Zoey. This one is about Zoey, our domestic short hair ginger tabby that we rescued from an animal shelter.

Via Jim Frimmer, San Diego Realtor:


WARNING

Comment at your own risk.
If you choose to comment on this blog entry,
be prepared for me to visit your blog and comment there.

Here's part two of my kitty cat story. The first one was about Sophie, our feral black cat that we were trying to convert into an indoor cat, but which was hit and killed by a car on September 19, 2007.

 

This part of the story is about Zoey, a domestic short hair ginger tabby that was rescued from the El Cajon Animal Shelter on September 20, 2007.

The following picture is my favorite picture of Zoey and was taken only a few days after she arrived in our home. She took quickly to one of the two office chairs: "This is my new home, so I might as well lay down the law."

We had thought that we wanted another black cat, but during the months leading up to Halloween, black cats are not allowed to be adopted at the animal shelters. I know the reason why, but I still can't imagine people doing those kinds of things to little animals.

Zoey's previous owner had given her up because he was moving out of state and couldn't have pets in his new home. It didn't take us long to fall in love with Zoey. We interviewed her, and found that she possessed all the qualities that she needed for the job. Here's her résumé:

  • I'm beautiful. Check out the coloring of my fur with its black, white, gray, red, and browns in big stripes and swirls.
  • I purr, even for strangers, and when you're nice to me, I purr loudly. REAL LOUD!
  • I love to be held. Feel free to pet my ears, nose, eyes, back, legs, and, of course, my beautiful golden tummy.
  • I don't mind being upside down. You can even hold me upside down. Just make sure that you always rub my golden tummy, A LOT!

This is the very first picture of Zoey in her new home. Kind of a duh! picture:

   This ain't animal shelter food! 

It took a little while to convince Zoey that she could basically have the run of the place, although there are some places that are out of bounds:

  • No jumping up on the dining room table.
  • No jumping up on the grand piano.
  • No digging or sleeping in pots with plants.
  • No jumping up on the kitchen countertops.
  • No jumping up on top of the refrigerator because that requires that one must first jump on top of the kitchen countertops. If you can figure out another way to get up there, fine.
  • No sleeping on the dishes in the cabinets.
  • No sleeping on the clean towels and linens in the cabinets.
  • No perching in the window sills.
  • No climbing the screen doors.

Now you might think, "What's left for poor Zoey to do?" Oh, don't worry, there's plenty!

Here's a small collection of my favorite pictures of Zoey, and whether or not she is in bounds or out of bounds:

   Bathtub - in bounds

   Bed #2 - in bounds

   Anything on the floor - in bounds

   Bed #1 - out of bounds

   Sacks - in bounds

    Milk boxes - in bounds

   Small boxes - in bounds

   Big boxes - in bounds

   Towel cabinets - out of bounds

   Chairs - in bounds

    Chair backs - in bounds

   Laundry baskets - in bounds

   Doorways - in bounds

   Drawers - out of bounds

   Top of the refrigerator - out of bounds

   Plants - out of bounds

   Shelves - case by case basis

   Desktop - depends on time of day

   Dishes cabinet - out of bounds

 

You can see about half of my picture gallery of Zoey right here.

 

 

 

 

Jim's most recent blog entries

3 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 24 2008 10:45PM

It's hard to believe Sophie's been gone a year.

I see my Partner has beat me to doing a blog about our cats, Sophie and Zoey. This one is about Sophie, our black cat who is no longer with us.

Via Jim Frimmer, San Diego Realtor:


 

WARNING

Comment at your own risk.
If you choose to comment on this blog entry,
be prepared for me to visit your blog and comment there.

I have to break this blog entry into two cats, one about Sophie, a feral black cat, and one about Zoey, an animal shelter rescue. This is the one about Sophie.

 

Sophie was a stray black cat that came to visit us on Thanksgiving Day in 2006, so we fed her some
milk. After inhaling the milk, she left and didn’t return until Christmas Eve 2006. This time she stayed, and we named her Sophie.

 

We tried to convert Sophie into an indoor cat, but she just wasn’t happy being indoors for long periods of time. Sophie would show up at certain times of the day, meow very loudly to get inside to make sure her source of food was still here, and then take off for the wild outdoors again.



As the months passed by, we got her to stay inside for longer periods of time, but it was particularly difficult to get her to stay inside at night since that was her usual hunting time. We can’t count the number of gophers she caught, but her record was five in one 24-hour period. Lizards were another favorite, although she had more fun playing with them than making a meal out of them.

 

Sophie would follow us around when we were outside to make sure that we weren't going anywhere. The neighbors used to smile because we could go for a walk with this little black cat tagging along about twenty feet behind. If she lost track of us around a corner, though, she came a-gallopin' until we were again in her sight.

 

On September 19, 2007, Sophie was hit and killed by a car just a block away. We knew eventually that it would happen—a black cat at night on black asphalt, and outdoor cats don’t have near the life expectancy as indoor cats. A neighborhood woman was kind enough to take her ID tag off and call us, and she went back with some towels and wrapped Sophie up and placed her under some bushes on the curb for us. Sophie got a proper burial on Gopher Hill with a little memorial marker for her grave.

You can see my complete picture gallery of Sophie right here.

Coming up next: Zoey the cool cat, a rescue from the El Cajon animal shelter on September 20, 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim's most recent blog entries

0 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 24 2008 10:43PM

Is there trash in your trash can?

Jim hates spiders so when I visited his blog and found that he had blogged on a black widow, I was jealous. Then I remembered re-blogging, so I bring his beautiful little lady over to my blog for all my fans to enjoy.

Enjoy!

Via Jim Frimmer, San Diego Realtor:

I'm not a big fan of "spiders and snakes" (Jim Stafford, 1973, peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart), but my partner is. He's taught me to look before I stick my ungloved hand in brush, in sink cabinets, anything in the garage, etc.

Recently I was showing a vacant foreclosure to a couple where the only furnishing was a custom-built trash can on the rear patio. As we walked by it I just casually looked in since it was quite a nice trash can. It was empty, except for this little gal, Betty Black, and her visitor, Sam Snell. Since I always carry my camera with me, I set it for close-up and took her picture. She was very photogenic, but she's so big that I think she must be pregnant. Hmmmmmm. Like some other little gal in the news lately. LOL

Black widow close-up

3 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 14 2008 06:01AM

Do elephants really remember? A touching story.

Gail's blog post caused me to end my day and start a new ActiveRain week by spitting grapefruit juice all over my keyboard, commonly called an ASNR (Acute Spontaneous Nasal Reflex). Never done it before with grapefruit juice; kinda stings.

Via Gail Gladstone:

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University ...

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.  The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. 

He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.  As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.  The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.  Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.  Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.  Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. 

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.  As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing.  The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant.  Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure.  He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.  The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

3 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 14 2008 02:01AM

Would you like what's behind Curtain #1, Curtain #2, or Curtain #3?

Today's inspection reminded me of Monty Hall and Let's Make a deal!

"Bubba, you and Sally Sue have one final decision to make. You've already won a brand new Ford F-350 pickum up truck, a one-year supply of gasoline for your brand new Ford
F-350 pickum up truck, a 100-inch plasma television, a vacation for three to Rio de Janeiro, and a 10-year supply of Kraft macaroni & cheese. Do you want to keep all that, or trade it all in for what's behind Curtain #1, Curtain #2, or Curtain #3?"

Curtain #1 Curtain #2 Curtain #3

"Monty, I think we're gonna havta talk about this for a couple of minutes."

[a couple of minutes later]

"Okay, Bubba and Sally Sue! What's it going to be? Keep what you already have, or trade it all in for what's behind Curtain #1, Curtain #2, or Curtain #3?"

"Well, Monty, I wanted what's behind Curtain #2, but Sally Sue here wanted what's behind Curtain #1, so we're going to compromise and choose Curtain #3. Sally Sue thinks we can't go wrong with a royal purple curtain."

"Alright, then, Curtain #3 it is. Let's see what's behind that royal purple curtain, Curtain #3!"

You've just traded everything in for a brand new throne.

13 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 06 2008 04:09PM

How do you get people to comment on your blog?

I have two personnas here at ActiveRain serving different purposes in different industries, although both connected with real estate.

Many of my home inspector Clients have emailed me asking how they can get more points and comments. I don't know it all, but my alternate personna has made some efforts to find out, and here is one of his posts concerning how to get people to comment on your blog.

Via Russel Ray, San Diego Marketing & Business Consultant (Russel Ray):

In exploring ActiveRain I've discovered several things about blogs:

  • Keep them short and sweet
  • Stay away from a "wall of words" as someone called it, i.e., a looooooooooooong post with text, text, text.
  • Don't ask general questions within the blog, e.g., "I'd love to hear your comments."
  • Blog titles that ask questions get more comments
  • Dogs and cats get more comments
  • Pictures, especially of cute pets, cute children, wildlife running wild, or people running wild, get more comments
  • Politics gets more comments
  • Blogs by those who have been here since Day One get more comments because they have a fan base (also known as "Associates" and "Blog subscribers")
  • If you can make your blog title sound like someone did, does, or will do something really stupid or dumb, you'll get more comments. I call it the PHAW-BS syndrome (Paris Hilton/Amy Winehouse/Britney Spears syndrome).
  • Use ActiveRain's HTML to spice up your blog with color.
  • Use bold text, paragraph centering, bullet lists, and numbered lists.
  • End your post by asking a question.

Now get to work. Report back next week. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

5 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 05 2008 05:09AM

How not to get comments on your blog

I've been getting a few emails each day from people who are reading my blog posts but not necessarily commenting. Most of their emails are asking how I get so many points each day and how I get comments on my blogs. Jim has a humorous post on how not to get comments on your blog.

Via Jim Frimmer, San Diego Realtor:

I absolutely love reading about other people and getting to know them, but how can I really do that if your blog posts are

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of listings and market information for your neighborhood, city, county, or state. What should I say? Nice house? I like the way you formatted your listings? Beautiful pictures?

If the first page of your blog contains

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of listings and market information for your neighborhood, city, county, or state, I'm not going to make it to the second page.

I know we're in the real estate profession, but there is so much more to us than just our listings, isn't there?

I would suggest using the 80/20 rule: Make sure that at least 20% of your blog posts are about you and your personal interests, or even business interests aside from real estate. Maybe you're married to a plumber, or you really like the way your landscaper shapes your topiary each month. At least something besides

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of listings and market information for your neighborhood, city, county, or state.

4 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 05 2008 05:03AM

Would you like a little rain with your electricity?

Our local utility is great in responding to gas leaks and helping people take care of their gas appliances. I just wish they would do the same when it comes to electricity.

The picture below shows a brand new electric meter just installed a few days prior to my inspection.

New meter

Unfortunately, here we have exposed old-time fuses and live electric wires on the exterior of a building, fully exposed to the elements. Now granted we don't have many elements here in San Diego with our eleven months of sunshine, but this really is not a pretty picture.

Water and electricity don't mix well. Add to that the fact that this service entry was only about five feet above the ground, that this is a neighborhood full of young and inquisitive children, and that none of the properties had fences, and it's just a disaster waiting to happen on many fronts.

When SDG&E finds unsafe conditions relating to gas, they shut off gas to the property. Why don't they shut off electricity to a property when it's so obvious that electrical conditions are unsafe?

5 comments • Russel Ray, San Diego home inspector • September 04 2008 09:59PM