Who on earth falls for this stuff?

Ok, I know I'm not supposed to be blogging and all but there are just some things you have to post.

I received an email today that immediately got kaboshed and thrown into my spam filter. It's certainly not the first email of this type that I have received and so, it got me to thinking: does anyone actually fall for this stuff?

I mean, if they continue to send these blatantly obvious attempts to engage you in giving up your identity and oodles of your hard earned money, then somebody, somewhere must be willing to fall for it.

I don't get it, though. I guess I just can't believe that anyone is this stupid.

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From Zenith Bank ATM s
RE:YOUR PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
From: Mr Tony Elumelu
Remittance Manager
Zenith Bank Of Nigeria.
Email: tonyelumeluzenithbank@yahoo.pl
Phone Number: 234-808-507-4105

Attention: Beneficiary

This is to officially inform you that we have verified your contract inheritance file presently on my desk, and I found out that you have not received your payment due to your lack of co-operation and not Fulfilling the obligations giving to you in respect to your contract /inheritance payment.

Secondly, you are hereby advice to stop dealing with some non-officials in the bank as this is an illegal act and will have to stop if you so wish to receive your payment immediately. After the board meeting held at our headquarters, we have resolved in finding a solution to your problem, and as you may know, we have arranged your payment through our SWIFT CARD PAYMENT CENTRE in Europe, America and Asia Pacific, which is then instruction given by our president, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua (GCFR) Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This card centre will send you an ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw your money in an ATM MACHINE in any part of the world, but the maximum is ($15,000.00) Five Thousand Us Dollars per transaction. So, if you like to receive your fund this way, $15,000 usd for you to withdraw for a day and each transaction is $ 5,000usd minimum which you have to withdraw $15,000 usd for one working day also be informed that the total amount in the SWIFT ATM CARD is $14.6 million usd.

(1) Your Full Name:
(2) Your Address where you want the payment centre to send your ATM CARD.:
(3) Phone and Fax Number:
(4) Age and Occupation:
(5) Your Nearest International Air Port in your City of residence:

We shall be expecting to receive your information you have stop any further communication with anybody or office. On this regards, do not hesitate to contact me for more details and direction, and also please do update me with any new development.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Best Regards,

Mr. Tony Elumelu
Remittance Manager
Zenith Bank of Nigeria

Hurt Hearts

A veterinary cardiologist today diagnosed my dog, Frankie, with degenerative mitral valve disease. In lay terms, this means one of his heart valves is not closing properly and so he has a leaky heart. It's a degenerative condition, and genetic, so it will get worse over time.

Unlike when humans get this condition, surgical treatment is not an option (experimental at best) for dogs, and there are no drugs that have been developed to slow down or reverse the degeneration process. This leaves our course forward as ... wait for it to get worse, at which point they will be able to treat the symptons that will occur (shortness of breath, wheezing etc..) to make him comfortable for whatever is left of his life.

This process of degeneration is, aparently, unknowable. Frankie is in the very mild stages at this point but could progress in months, years, or just remain in this stage for the rest of (what we would assume would be) his 'natural' life. A lady at the vets who came in after me has two King Charles Spaniels with similar conditions, one of which is 3 years old, the other which is 9 years old. The 9 year-old dog was diagnosed 2 years ago the same way as Frankie (via the vet noticing a slight heart murmur) but otherwise had no symptons of ill health. Two years later and she is wheezing and her heartbeat is so irregular you can feel it upon touch. The diuretics they are treating her with mean she has become incontinent.

With all the progress we have made in human heart conditions, it seems so unacceptable to me that there is nothing we can do but sit and wait for him to show symptons and, eventually, die. I'm still having problems not thinking of him as a puppy (even though he is 8 years old) and now all of a sudden I'm faced with considering his death without the option of doing anything to stop it.

Frankie has been everywhere with me since I was 24 years old. When I was going through my divorce, when I missed home, every time I moved... he's always been there for me as my family, my little man. When there was nobody else, there was always Frankie. When I thought about going back to England many a time, I always thought: I couldn't leave Frankie. I know I have the new puppy now but I just can't imagine having the kind of connection with another dog that I have with him. He's such a good boy, such a personality, and the best thing I have in my life (obviously excluding my husband.) I can't imagine my home without him in it.

One year

I promised I would continue to blog "events" in my life, and so here I am.

One year ago, yesterday, Hubbie and I got married.

It's been a great year.

We celebrated this past weekend the way that we love to - by throwing a party for our friends and family. See photos here.

We were also fortunate to have one of my oldest US friends, E (she of The Gerli Life), in town from SoCal for the weekend. Ms. Gerli flew all the way up to Sactown just to spend time with us and come to our soiree. Not only did we have a great time catching up, she was a prolific potato peeler, peeling 20lbs of potatos for our guests!

Here is E's account of the weekend on her blog.

In the evening, Hubbie treated me to a romantic, gourmet meal at The Cliff House, a swank restaurant overlooking the American River in Folsom. For all the restaurant's ambience and our undoubted joy at having shared a wonderful year together, we were absolutely pooped from preparing for the weekend. We ate at 6, were home by 8, and I think fell asleep together on the couch shortly thereafter. We woke at about 10:30pm, rescued my sneakers from the puppy's destructo-jaws, and fell into bed.

This is us at the Cliff House.

Hubbie did a great job of performing his duties for our first anniversary. In addition to our meal, I received a bouquet of red roses and a lovely silver clock/picture frame, engraved with our wedding date as well as his words of love.

Here's to many more wonderful years and celebrations!