Annonces problématiques

[Lesa]

You can say that again. Why do advertisers all assume I can understand French, just because I'm a short walk from the Louvre? Actually, that banner was easy to understand, after seeing those words and phrases so many times around town for the last month and a half.

How has everyone been? I never find time to keep up with things here, but it looks like my old partner in crime is still doing a great job keeping the place running, and it's nice to see some veterans are still here.

[Mini Mia]

Holy Cow! What are you doing in France? And how long have you been there? I haven't been to the Temple in ages to lurk and catch up, so this is a complete surprise.

So ... how's it going? Getting any further with your singing? Is that what's taken you to France? Can't wait to hear all about it.

Are you just dropping in and out, or do you intend to stick around some? Prying minds want to know.

[Lesa]

Hey Jox!

I'm going to try to check this thread every day for a while, so hopefully no replies will go unseen for 3 years like the one in the birthdays thread (sorry Phalon!)

I arrived here on Feb 7 and will stay until May 6, then go to England, where I'll see a few sights before staying with a friend there for about three months.

It started with an invitation from someone in South Africa, then another from Erika in England. When I told Thor, he told me I should choose England and come to Paris, too. They all knew I had left my husband a while back, was burnt out on life, and wanted to travel. After discussing the details, we decided on 3 months in Paris and then 3 months in England.

Unable to say no to that, I planned for a few weeks, then gave my landlord the required month's notice, then gave my boss 3 weeks' notice, giving myself a week off to get things squared away before leaving. I donated most of my stuff, took some stuff to my mom's to store away, and brought nothing but a large rolling suitcase, a carry-on, and my laptop.

In addition to enjoying this beautiful city with its stunning old architecture (every building around me must be at least 2 centuries old), the trip has also been productive. As I'm sure you know, but others here may not, Thor created Runboard. Well, with his programming expertise and my XHTML/CSS skills, we're rebuilding Runboard from the ground up. We redesigned the homepage and made some other improvements while I was still in Michigan, and are currently working on new features for profiles. Blogs are now integrated into them, along with the addition of comments. After we add a few more features to profiles (turning them more into personal homepages), we'll be moving on to vastly improve the boards.

As we get more done on Runboard, I'll be creating video tours and tutorials, to show what we have to offer and how to use it. Once I get a few of these done, I'd like to branch out and also make video instructionals for other companies, in addition to other ideas I have for making money from anywhere in the world. My goal is to have the freedom to go anywhere I want, whenever I want.

I've taken a lot of pictures, but have only uploaded a few:

For anyone who has seen "The DaVinci Code," you may recognize the Louvre. The guy leaning against the wall of the bridge, near the statue, is a scam artist. Well, maybe "artist" isn't the appropriate word, since it was easy for me to spot the scam before I even saw the ring he pretended to find.

This obelisk stands in the very spot where King Louie XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded by the guillotine. I had no idea this obelisk was there, and was in awe of it when I saw it and recognized it as an ancient Egyptian structure.

To see more pictures, click here. There are only 8 there right now, but I plan on uploading more.

Oh, and I have sung here a couple of times, too, but it was karaoke in a nice little pub. I have one video from it that I may or may not upload, but the sound quality is nothing compared to some of my later ones here.

I've come a long way in the last 3 years, and am excited to see what the future will hold.

[Mini Mia]

Wow. Go you. I bet you're having a blast. I hope it leads to good things. I did notice you revamped Lesigns. I guess you're not doing websites anymore? I suppose Runboards is taking up most of your time now.

[Lesa]

Thanks, Jox. I'm having a great time, and I think this can lead to many other good things.

Runboard is taking a lot of my time, although so are my walks around town. There's just so much to see here, and I haven't even gone up in the Eiffel Tower or seen the Mona Lisa yet. I'm saving the tower for a hot sunny day, and the Louvre is free on the first Sunday of every month. I almost went on 7 March... err, March 7, but made other plans for that day without thinking about it.

I may do more websites in the future, but right now I have plenty of other things to do that I'm not advertising it.

[Mini Mia]

You're very welcome.

[Lesa]

How are things with you?

[Phalon]

Wow! Three months in Paris, and three in England - very, very cool! Enjoy your stay, Le, and it's nice you hear from you.

[Mini Mia]

Things with me are pretty much the same. Mom's been in and out of the hospital here and there. She comes home tomorrow.

[Lesa]

Thanks, Phalon! It's good to see you. I should pop in more often.

Jox, I'm sorry to hear your mom is ill enough to keep going into the hospital, but it sounds like she's a fighter, and I'm glad she's going home.

[EllieNeo]

holy wow, it's lesa! i had seen you post on some reeeeeaaallly old threads but had never actually seen you on here. awesome that you're here again! your travels sound like a LOT of fun....! that thing about the scam "artist" made me chuckle. sounds like he should seriously consider finding another line of work!
i hope someday to go to france myself. never even personally been out of the US, myself. someday time and money will come at me at the same time and i'll take a vacation out of the states. heh.
hope to see you more around the forum!

[Lesa]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Ellie.

I had never been outside the US before now, either, despite the fact that I lived in Michigan and could have driven to Canada. I keep talking in past tense here, because I really don't want to go back unless it's just for a visit.

If you ever get the chance to come to Paris, you should. But I'll warn you, everything is expensive here but the medical care, and it helps to be able to spot a scam. The only one that wasn't apparent to me so far on this trip was when a woman showed a friend and me a piece of paper and asked if we speak English. I was about to say yes when my friend grabbed my arm, gave me a wide-eyed look, mouthed out, "no" and practically dragged me away.

Ok, so let's say the piece of paper is allegedly from her brother, who's being held prisoner in Bosnia and he needs money to get out, which is one scenario I read about after the fact. In this case, I would have had to ask myself, "If this letter is from her brother and she doesn't speak English, then why the heck is this letter in English?" Obviously, I wouldn't give her any money. Then what? We were near the pyramid of the Louvre and there were people all around us. If she had persisted, I could have yelled "SCAMMER!" and pointed at her. Oh, and trust me, I can yell pretty darned loud, all the while keeping my valuables protected in case the person is running a different kind of scam. ;D

I'm almost tempted to go out on one of the bridges tomorrow, start taking pictures, and wait for the next ring scammer just so I can chuck it into the river.

[Mini Mia]

Mar 24, 2010 2:17:27 GMT -6 Lesa said:

Jox, I'm sorry to hear your mom is ill enough to keep going into the hospital, but it sounds like she's a fighter, and I'm glad she's going home.

Thanks. She was having a bad day today. Yesterday she talked about getting outside and taking a walk, but today the trip to the bathroom and back tuckered her out. I asked her if she was sure she wanted to stay home by herself, and she said she was. It will most likely take a while for the situation to correct itself. (Her meds weren't playing well together and were taking out her immune system.) Her legs were bothering her today too. Something about the circulation; it seems the meds were shutting that down too. I'm glad she's home, and they found the problem, but I'll be even happier once she can get from A to B (a very short distance) without having to catch her breath.

[Lesa]

It's a good thing they figured out the problem, and I hope she's doing better now.

[Mini Mia]

She has been doing much better these past couple of days. She's even cooking for herself, which she has been way too tired to do before. She doesn't feel like getting outside just yet, so I get her mail and feed her dog. Hopefully she'll be up to par in a week or so.

[katina2nd]

Howdy stranger, great to see you drop in.

Three months in Paris and three in England, sheesh it's a tough life ain't it.

[Lesa]

I'm glad she's making progress, Jox, and hope she continues to do so. In the meantime, I know you'll take good care of her when she needs it.

I ended up in an impromptu jam session last night, and thought I'd share. You might want to turn your volume down and adjust it from there.

[Lesa]

Mar 27, 2010 21:32:32 GMT -6 katina2nd said:

Howdy stranger, great to see you drop in.

Three months in Paris and three in England, sheesh it's a tough life ain't it.

Katina! I didn't see your post until I made mine. It's great to see you.

Yes, having fun can be hard work. If anyone had told me two years ago that I'd be doing this, I would have thought they were crazy to even think it was possible. It's amazing how much can change in so little time.

[Gabrielle On Nutbread]

Nice vid, Lesa. Don't think we've met. I'm with my sis on my reaction to seeing you; "holy wow, it's Lesa!" I think I saw you on some of the older Xena hangman posts, when I was going through them to see if anyone other than me had ever hung anyone. Which they hadn't.

Out of curiosity. Have you looked at any of the story threads? My sister and her GF write in As The Scrolls Unroll, and I write in Merry Land. REEEEEAAALLLY fun stuff! And the other Bards are AWESOME writers, which makes it even better.

Hope to see you around the forum.

[Mini Mia]

Mar 28, 2010 4:10:30 GMT -6 Lesa said:

I'm glad she's making progress, Jox, and hope she continues to do so. In the meantime, I know you'll take good care of her when she needs it.

It's slow going, but she is doing more than she's done in a long time. The breeze is still a bit chilly here, so she doesn't feel like getting outside just yet. She can do a wee bit more before getting pooped out. When it warms up she wants me to be with her when she takes a walk outside, just in case she needs me. It's suppose to get in the high 70s in the middle of the week, so that should work out perfectly. By then she just might have the energy for it.

Very nice video. Maybe the trip will be good for your singing career.


BTW: For those who don't know, Lesa was the Admin when those of us from the "Oxygen.com Xena Message Board" (O2ers) joined the Whoosh ezBoard after Oxygen got rid of their MBs. She still has those powers, she just left me in charge while she took off into other adventures.

Looks like those adventures aren't over just yet either. Go you!

[Lesa]

Thanks, Gabrielle On Nutbread.

It's strange, but nice, being greeted in such a way by people who joined here after I left. I'll try to pop in more often from now on, instead of staying away for 3 years at a time like I did. Boy, where did the time go? It's still hard to believe it was that long.

I only read a few of the story threads before I disappeared, and haven't read any of them since. From what I remember, they were pretty creative and it looked like everyone was having fun with it.

Excellent job becoming the only executioner in the hangman thread.


---


Jox, every bit of progress is good, and I agree that the good weather should be excellent timing to get her out into the fresh air.

I'm glad you like the video, thanks. I'm not really striving for a music career, but I wouldn't turn down a good opportunity if one came my way. Lol, it's too bad the deadline for Britain's Got Talent applications has passed, because that might have been fun.

Being board admin for Whoosh, and dealing with some of the stuff that happened while we were at ezboard, gave me some good experience for what I do now on Runboard. Lol, I never expected to be in DeMello's position and then some at a competing service.

[Mini Mia]

Mar 28, 2010 21:12:14 GMT -6 Lesa said:

I only read a few of the story threads before I disappeared, and haven't read any of them since. From what I remember, they were pretty creative and it looked like everyone was having fun with it.

Two more have been created since then. I didn't want to take over Zena's story thread, and most of the bards took off for adventures unknown, so I started "As The Scrolls Unroll" ... which has a few of the characters from "The Zena Scrolls" in it. And a couple of characters from "The House of Whoosher" too.

Then I got an idea that became "Merry Land" ... for those who might not be interested in the other two story threads.

Jox, every bit of progress is good, and I agree that the good weather should be excellent timing to get her out into the fresh air.

Yes, it is, considering that before she had "no quality of life." <----- Her words. And I think the discovery for her "lack of energy" hit at the perfect time of the year.

I'm glad you like the video, thanks. I'm not really striving for a music career, but I wouldn't turn down a good opportunity if one came my way. Lol, it's too bad the deadline for Britain's Got Talent applications has passed, because that might have been fun.

Aw ... It has been a while since we chatted. I thought you were still working on that goal.

Being board admin for Whoosh, and dealing with some of the stuff that happened while we were at ezboard, gave me some good experience for what I do now on Runboard. Lol, I never expected to be in DeMello's position and then some at a competing service.

Well, I guess it was meant to be, and you needed the experience to be able to better deal with all the goings on behind the scenes. Lord knows you've got the battle scars to prove you're worthy and up to the task.

[Lesa]

It's a shame most of the bards are gone. But who knows? Maybe they'll pop in after a few years like I did.

The music career thing is just one of the possibilities I was considering as a means to a goal, and my YouTube videos are a means to get my name out there for everything I'm involved in, not just singing. I never really expected a singing career, but I also wasn't sure the web-based stuff would pan out, either, so I was just throwing things out there to see what would stick. Now, I'm visiting Runboard's owner in Paris, working with him to revamp it. We have some great plans for it, we're making excellent progress, and there's no more doubt in my mind that I can earn a living with the web-based stuff, so that's what I'll be concentrating on now.

I'll still keep singing for my own enjoyment, and making videos to share with the world. I just don't care whether I'm famous or not, and only want the freedom to go wherever I want, whenever I want. This actually makes the web-based stuff more appealing to me than a music career, because I won't have to deal with tour schedules.

Geeze, you're not kidding about the battle scars. The pitiful thing is, the people I tried to help, and the head of ez security, gave me more trouble than the guy who was actually trying to cause trouble.

I'm so glad your mom is recovering, and no longer feels like her quality of life is gone.

[Mini Mia]

Yeah. Well, when a few well established members are behind the trolling and have the backing of most all the other members, what can ya do? Plus, I had no experience with such things so I went about it all wrong on my part. I've learned a lot from being just a member on larger boards, but small boards do work differently so I don't use all the techniques they use. I doubt I'll ever get it down pat.

As for DeMello, I don't think he handled it any better than any of us did. But then, we had no clue what he might have been dealing with behind the scenes. One thing the trolls knew how to do very well was to make sure the trustworthy were not trusted. They divided and conquered like pros. The sheep trusted the wolves in shepherd's clothing, not knowing them for the trolls they were. Which is why I don't post to those other boards anymore. I'm enjoying the peace and quiet.

Thanks. I'm also glad Mom is feeling much better. I've been up and down these past few years worrying about her. I don't even want to think about her not being around anymore.

[Lesa]

I originally thought it was incompetence on DeMello's part, but things that happened both before and after make me think it was deliberate. When I say that DeMello caused more trouble than the troll, what I really mean is he caused more trouble as himself than he did behind the scenes, or as any alter(s) he may have had.

Think about it. How could anyone possibly receive a forwarded PM, confuse it for a troll post on a board, globally ban the person who reported the PM, and then argue about it after I presented cold, hard proof that he was wrong? Was DeMello only joking when he said on the Survivor board that he thought trolling would be fun? Was Pamster's (a then-regular at TX and former ezstaff who allegedly had root access to ezboard) account really under the control of a hacker, at the same time the person in control of that account tried to get my login information through an online form? Why was ezbios such a force for them to reckon with? Why did the troll never even try to mess with us after we left ezboard? What really happened on May 31, 2005? Not only do I not believe the official story, but I also don't go along with public opinion about it being an accident that they merely tried to cover up.

I think it was all done from the inside. The trolling, ezbios, the data loss, everything. Yes, AA and Deni were involved in the trolling, but I also think they had help from troublemakers within ezboard.

You might be wondering why someone would need to sucker me into giving them my login info if they already have access to it, but I have a theory about that. The troll(s) always made a game out of trying to outsmart me. They weren't interested in just convincing others that they could crack into my account. They wanted to convince me. Since it was known that the email address I used with ezboard was never made public for security reasons, they knew I wouldn't be convinced by a simple forgot password request that would only be sent to a secret email account.

With the victims who were allegedly cracked, it would have been easy for them. Pick out some people who publicize the same email address they use for their ezboard account, obtain their login info from the database, and submit a forgot password request to make it look like that's how they got the information. They may even go so far as to choose people who use weak passwords for ezboard, because it would be more likely that their email accounts would be easier to crack, even if they didn't actually crack them. Even if I had publicized my email address, it still would have been stupid for them to try the forgot password thing on me, because my passwords have always been long and impossible to guess, and they can bet their life savings that the secret question on my email account would be impossible to guess, too.

I know this may all sound paranoid, but there are some sad people in this world who get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing how much they can get away with. Trust me, I lived with one of them for many years. You may remember my roommate, but that person's name wasn't Vanessa, and James wasn't the one who played around at Illusia that night. Yes, I made more mistakes than even you may have realized, but I learned a heck of a lot in the process.

As for you, I'm proud of you for learning so quickly during all that mess, and for keeping a good atmosphere here in my absence all this time. This board may not be bustling with activity, but the people who do come here really seem to enjoy it, and it gives them all a nice haven away from the daily grind.

[Mini Mia]

Thanks. I'm all for having a nice haven for myself and others. There's enough tension in the world to have to deal with more of it on the internet.

I don't much know about DeMello's involvement, but I'm pretty/fairly sure of a few of the Admins/Mods/Trusted Members involvement in the trolling. I do remember members PMing them their passwords from time to time when asking for help with their profiles and such. Then the trolls would 'hack' them some time later.

Anyhoo. I'm _really, really_ glad to be away from all that now. I do miss the global accounts sometimes. (Not on the "Who's Online" section though.) Having to create new accounts and passwords for several Proboards' that I'm a member of is a pain. There are a few other boards I wouldn't mind joining, but I just don't feel like going through all the process. Not when I'd only post every once in a while, and not frequently like I do here and at Q's. (Or my two boards.)

Nice to see you hanging around again.

[Lesa]

Thanks. It's good to get back in touch with you all, too. Sorry I disappeared for a few days again, but I've been so busy. Thursday, I spent 4 hours walking to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Louvre (my body was screaming at me for the next 2 days or so, lol) and I've been working for much of the weekend. Wait until you see what we're adding to profiles. ;D

The local account thing wouldn't be quite as bad if you could use the same password for each board, but since each board's admins can see that password, that would be a horrible idea.

You make a good point with people giving those trusted admins and fellow members their passwords, and ezboard wouldn't need to be involved in that. It could be that the person who tried to get my password was one of those admins, or the owner of that account trying to get my password for those people. Even if DeMello wasn't directly involved in all the Xenaverse drama, this still doesn't let him (and maybe other ezstaff in addition to him) off the hook for ezbios and the massive data loss of 2005, or for the way he handled our situation.

Oh well, that's all past us now, and we have more important things to think about.

[Mini Mia]

The local account thing wouldn't be quite as bad if you could use the same password for each board, but since each board's admins can see that password, that would be a horrible idea.

Board Admins can see passwords? That might have been possible at one time. (Not that I recall ever being able to do that though.) But since all the upgrades, I can't even change member passwords any longer. At this time I can change email addies for those who request it. Well, I think there's a glitch because I couldn't switch an email addy for someone recently, so I had to delete their account and let them create it again with the new addy.


And yeah, the past is the past and so let's move on.

[Phalon]

Lesa, one of the most beautiful and interesting places to visit in the city is the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. If you have any interest in cemeteries at all, you should visit if you get the chance, (I love cemeteries).

It's been years since I've been to Paris; at the time, I hadn't even met Hubs yet, so it has to be upward of twenty. There are an unbelievable number of historic and famous people interred in the cemetery - when I was last there, one of the biggest attractions was Jim Morrison's grave. I still have the photo I took of his bust, with lips colored in with hot pink marker, a burnt candle on top of his head, the wax dripping down like locks of colored hair, and liquor bottles strewn among the bouquets of flowers gatherers had left. I understand the bust has since been removed due to vandalism of it and other grave markers spray-painted to point the way to Jim.

The cemetery is a fascinating walk through history. Here's a link to Wikipedia's description with plenty of photos:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A8re_Lachaise_Cemetery

[Lesa]

Sorry, Jox. Looks like I misremembered on the password thing. It's been so long since I looked, I really should have double-checked that before posting.

Phalon, thank you for that recommendation. I had actually thought about visiting Morrison's grave, just because I happen to be in the area. That place is so huge (map) and the monuments look interesting, I can see a person spending a whole day there.