This is a picture at the Louvre. (Well, I mean, if you click on the COMMENTS section and see my post which will automatically show that picture I chose to represent me for this blog…)

I took it on Friday, 13 April 2005, on my sole day in Paris (from the northeast end of the city on my way to see the Eiffel Tower (and after seeing the gawd-awful brown monstrosity and ruining my romantic image of it for the rest of my life!, I should have spent more time at the Louvre (which, moreover, to add insult to injury, I found out the following day that it was a free admissions day for some reason on that very day!)!)… Anyway, this photograph was taken along the inside courtyard and I had just been accosted by a little gypsy girl with a handwritten note in French asking for money… When I gave her what little change I had, she looked behind me at some unknown person, persons or thing and she gestured that she wanted more – nay, demanded, did not even ask, for more -but I had already given her all I had from all of my pockets and change purse; all I had left were large Euro bills. When I searched my pockets some more and then said I had nothing else, the cheeky thing put out her hand and tried to reach for the 20 in my hand… In 2005, that 20 Euros was bought at 50% more than its face value, given the currency exchange rate of the day; so I smiled and said I had no more… She walked toward me menacingly — well, as much as a little girl of 10-11 could but I was much more frightened at whatever was catching her eye and attention behind me, giving her that sense of boldness and, well, chutzpah(!), right there in the middle of the courtyard! I thought, ‘lovely, I had always wanted to visit Paris, believing that one has not lived until they have had a croissant and coffee at one of their outdoor cafés and been cursed at least once, for whatever reason, by one (or more) of the natives, and that now I shall die there and be on their equivalent of the six o’clock news as another tourist robbed and killed for a few Euros and an outdated digital camera… Oh, I don’t know… but I do remember looking over my shoulder a lot after that…

Anyway, this all brings back memories and I should probably record them here or find my travel journal and transcribe some of it here, particularly that trip at which I visited friends, in France (near the Swiss border), in Germany and in England and where whilst visiting my friends in France, we ended up having lunch one day in Italy! Imagine that… driving for two-three hours through these long tunnels through the Alps and ending up in Aoesta, Italy, just for a quick lunch! The splendor! The glory! The history and beauty… It is a trip I shall not soon forget and it has given me the wanderlust bug… even now, in the Autumn of my life! Well, then….

But all to say, that I shall write about that later, perhaps, for now, I just wanted to write about the picture I am using to represent me for this Blog… It is a hallway, with all its inherent analogies and allegories and whatnot…

Life is a path… It does have a finite end but then does it? I thought I saw a door at the end of this one, like all others… and like most pathways that lead to other areas and/or levels, we can walk along to it, skip along, run along, with one , with many, alone, or a combination of any and all… Life isn’t the destination after all; it is about the journey….

Not only is the following terrific news for anyone who uses e-mail (and maybe for the 17 people left around who don’t), but I absolutely love gbjbaanb (229885)’s idea for punishment for this guy!

That and let him work for his keep in jail and for his meals while there, such as cleaning the streets of his city, or washing the dishes and doing the laundry of old and/or bedridden folks in his community for the length of his jailtime….and NO getting-out-early for good behaviour as what are the bets he’ll start up all over again anyway?

http://news.google.ca/news?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wn&q=robert+soloway…+fraud+in+e-mail++identity+theft+money+laundering

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/31/0332220

Spammer Robert Soloway Arrested

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 31, @08:00AM

from the that-should-fix-it dept.

Mike writes “Yahoo is reporting that US prosecutors captured Robert Soloway, a prolific Internet marketer responsible so much junk e-mail they called him “Spam King.” Soloway was arrested in Seattle, Washington, a week after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of identity theft, money laundering, and mail, wire, and e-mail fraud. Soloway is accused of using botnets to disguise where e-mail originated and of forging return addresses of real people or businesses for his mass mailings. If convicted as charged, Soloway will face a maximum sentence of more than 65 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars.”And here is one quick-witted reply:….

give him a real punishment…make him delete all the spam emails he sent out, individually…

by gbjbaanb (229885) on Thursday May 31, @08:03AM (#19335123)