Monthly Archives: April 2013

Hacked

I come home tonight to find this has happened to my blog:

hacked20130430

Seriously?

Lucky it didn’t appear to be to serious. Or so I hope. Someone had managed to replace my theme widgets with something that overwrote my header and made it display that mess.

*sigh*

I changed the both the wordpress database, wordpress login, and FTP passwords to even more complex password than I used before. Here’s hoping that’s all it was. Which in itself is worrisome.

*double sigh*

And apparently the fucker(s) who did it has been busy. Just Google for “hacked by yilm4z.tr” and look at all the sites that come up.

According to the log files I keep, options were updated in my database at around 6:46pm. Luckily, I was able to unmodify what was changed.

So if any of you came to my blog around that time or later, you would have seen that mess.

This has not been my week.

Until next time...
Erik

Camp Funshine & Rainbows 2013, Sunday and Monday

Sunday, MAG had to leave to prepare for his week at work, and the Husbear had to leave to take the housemate Interloper home so he could get to work. Which left The Beveraging Four.

We has a nice relaxing afternoon and evening. Sitting around the campfire and talking in between moments of staring at the fire as it did it’s ethereal dance.

Monday morning came, and we broke camp sometime around 10 and began the drive home.

I had a great time. The first time I had been camping in twenty years. I am looking forward to our next camping trip!

I leave you with a random assortment of pictures I had taken.

Upstream
Upstream
Blooming
Blooming
Dwayne doing stuff.
Dwayne doing stuff.
Gandolf the Bald.
Gandolf the Bald.
Mike chopping wood.
Mike chopping wood.
GypsyBiscuit checking on dinner.
GypsyBiscuit checking on dinner.
Bark
Bark
Lily?
Lily?
Food
Food
Relaxing
Relaxing
Wash tree
Wash tree
The Gang
The Gang
Fire
Fire
Dinner time!
Dinner time!
MAG taking pictures.
MAG taking pictures.
Don't get squished, Husbear!
Don’t get squished, Husbear!
Resting.
Resting.
Moi. Looking all puffy-cheeked on one side.
Moi. Looking all puffy-cheeked on one side.
GypsyBiscuit making a cairn.
GypsyBiscuit making a cairn.
A quiet moment with the Husbear.
A quiet moment with the Husbear.
A sappy moment.
A sappy moment.
Somewhere a superstorm is being created.
Somewhere a superstorm is being created.
A river ran through it.
A river ran through it.
The Husbear making a fashion "statement". The stuff of nightmares.
The Husbear making a fashion “statement”. The stuff of nightmares.
Beauty.
Beauty.
Don't jump, GypsyBiscuit!
Don’t jump, GypsyBiscuit!
Firemaster
Firemaster
Gang of Four
Gang of Four

Until next time...
Erik

The Impression That I Get

I had to terminate one the artists at my studio yesterday.

It’s not that he was a bad guy. He’s a good person. And it’s not that he does bad artwork. Well, most of the time. He’s been slipping a little lately though. Which can be a problem in itself.

The biggest reason was because of the impression he left with clients when they walked in the door.

First impression is everything, even in a tattoo studio.

I’ve spent years cultivating a friendly, clean, and safe environment catering to clients who would normally not walk into a tattoo shop. And that was getting skewed.

When I first hired him I had some complaints that he was a little course and rough around the edges with some of the customers. I said something to him about it on several occasions, and he seemed to get better with it.

But over time I started getting more and more complaints. Lately it had gotten to the point where I felt like I was doing damage control more than I was doing anything else.

After dwelling on what to do for over a week, I decided I had to let him go.

Because people more than likely won’t remember his name. What they will remember is the experience they had at my studio, whether good or bad. And it’s my studio image and name that I have to protect.

Sometimes I really do hate being “the boss”.

Until next time...
Erik

Camp Funshine & Rainbows 2013, Saturday.

Picture heavy post!

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast. Then it was time for a hike that MAG had roughly sketched out on the good old topo map. Dwayne stayed behind in camp and watched our stuff, while the rest of us journeyed over the river and through the woods. Quite literally in this case.

GypsyBiscuit shows us how to work it.
GypsyBiscuit shows us how to work it.
Tra la la la la lah...
Tra la la la la lah…
Someone else is ahead of us on this hike.
Someone else is ahead of us on this hike.
Ooo... me, in a picture!
Ooo… me, in a picture!
Did anyone else see the movie "The Gray"?
Did anyone else see the movie “The Gray”?
It's cold.
It’s cold.
The river. And me.
The river. And me.
If I throw enough rocks out there, I might be able to stop it up.
If I throw enough rocks out there, I might be able to stop it up.
March on!
March on!
Not sure what that look is for....
Not sure what that look is for….
For some reason, the Shrike's tree from the Hyperion Cantos came to mind when I saw this.
For some reason, the Shrike’s tree from the Hyperion Cantos came to mind when I saw this.
Synchronized branching.
Synchronized branching.
Calloused tree. It could use some moisturizer.
Calloused tree. It could use some moisturizer.
Green.
Green.
Mossy.
Mossy.
This tree doesn't want to be hugged.
This tree doesn’t want to be hugged.
Dogwood blossoms.
Dogwood blossoms.
Falling behind I am.
Falling behind I am.
I think there's a Fraggle in there.
I think there’s a Fraggle in there.

And then it was time to cross the river. No bridge. No jumping from rock to rock. Just plain old wading across. Which went quite well for MAG, the housemate Interloper, and the Husbear. But GypsyBiscuit, Mike, and I were a little stubborn and looking for a different route. Which ended… with wetness.

The Husbear's answer to not getting his jeans wet? Just cut the legs off!
The Husbear’s answer to not getting his jeans wet? Just cut the legs off!
The crossing. The "we got wet" crossing.
The crossing. The “we got wet” crossing.
So much for keeping my jeans dry today.
So much for keeping my jeans dry today.

Since we were wet, we dried in the sun and had a little lunch.

The Husbear sittin' pretty.
The Husbear sittin’ pretty.
Mike... thinking about throwing that apple at me.
Mike… thinking about throwing that apple at me.
MAG and GypsyBiscuit taking a lunch break.
MAG and GypsyBiscuit taking a lunch break.
Natural spillway.
Natural spillway.
There's no telling what I'm telling...
There’s no telling what I’m telling…
Mike taking a selfie!
Mike taking a selfie!

And then it was back on to hiking.

Indian Jones?
Indian Jones?
Mossy waterfall.
Mossy waterfall.
Different paths. Same destination.
Different paths. Same destination.
Where the green fern grows.
Where the green fern grows.
Nature's pallet.
Nature’s pallet.
Commercial!
Commercial!
Did anyone hear it?
Did anyone hear it?
Death becomes her?
Death becomes her?
Seepage.
Seepage.
Babbling.
Babbling.
Me.
Me.
GypsyBiscuit walking the plank.
GypsyBiscuit walking the plank.
Mike crossing over.
Mike crossing over.

Along the hike, we came across the great Wall. In the middle of the collective no-where. Seriously. And there just wasn’t one wall. There were several. Someone or someones at some point in the past took a lot of time and effort to build these mammoth walls in the middle of no-where. For what reason?

First, here’s a video I took:

So far, we have yet to find any information about them. These are along Hart Creek. And we think possibly they had something to do with the settlement of Anna that is no longer near there. But other than that, we have nothing.

The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The mysterious wall in the wood.
The mysterious wall in the wood.
More of the mysterious large wall in the woods.
More of the mysterious large wall in the woods.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
The Wall.
Colorful.
Colorful.
Nature.
Nature.

And then as mysteriously as it started, the wall just stopped. Hopefully we’ll be able to find out a little more information about it.

More green.
More green.

We made it back to the river. To cross back over.

Mike contemplating the river crossing.
Mike contemplating the river crossing.
Prepping for the return river crossing.
Prepping for the return river crossing.
Stylin' river crossing attire!
Stylin’ river crossing attire!
Progression.
Progression.
Bringing up the rear.
Bringing up the rear.
I'm stuck halfway.
I’m stuck halfway.
Yep. My boots are wet.
Yep. My boots are wet.

Then back to the camp we headed. Where I saw this.

Welcome... to Jurassic Park.
Welcome… to Jurassic Park.

Which was incredibly funny, because the entire weekend I had been humming the theme to “Jurassic Park”. Much to the annoyance of everyone around me, I’m sure. 😉

We had a great dinner and remainder of the evening around the campfire.

Late that night, there were moments of stupid from another set of campers that involved alcohol and guns which had us on edge until the situation was diffused. Thank you MAG for taking care of us!

Until next time...
Erik