• Tuesday Time-Waster: The Con Man

    Posted on by Layla Comment

    Today’s Tuesday Time-Waster harkens back to my journalism days. I once wrote about a few people who led a couple shady organizations that stole money from people under the guise of investments (pyramid schemes). Then, after the legal matters and press coverage died down, a couple years later I came across those same organization leaders. They were forming new corporations, and it sure looked to me that the swindling was going to start happening all over again. I ran past one of the guy’s homes (bonus of being a runner — perfect incognito disguise), confirmed that his car was the same one I’d seen on Google maps, then later that week showed up with my press badge at his office where the same car/license plate was parked. He kicked me out immediately.

    Due to downsizing at my newspaper and being given the health care beat along with my courts and crime reporting, I wasn’t allowed the time to dig into the matter, so my notes did not become a newspaper investigation. That is one of a few storiesI really wanted to dig into, and which I regret not pursuing on my own, because I’m convinced people are being victimized all over again.

    But I’ve rambled enough about myself and should get to today’s real matter. I happened to see an ABC News story about a guy who built up a huge veterans charity, got $100 million in donations, rubbed shoulders with the likes of former President Bush, but faked the whole thing. It turns out he was a military spy turned eccentric attorney, who had been on the lam for 25 years. As happens more often than most people realize, the initial investigation was started not by ABC News nor by the FBI — it was the St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) in 2009. They spent six months trying to track down all 85 of the veterans charity’s officers, and found none of them. They went around in circles with the charity’s founder. They kept digging, and in March 2010 published a report (first part, second part, sidebar that debunks many of the charity’s claims, an interview with a California man whose identity was stolen, political matters, etc). My nerdy self particularly loved the copies of letters from the charity’s lawyer, trying to defend the organization and blast the reporter.

    Because of the newspaper’s investigation and report, Florida officials opened an official investigation. The charity kept denying that it was phony, but two months later the state ordered it to stop fundraising. Then the feds came in and seized computers and documents. The charity’s leader soon disappeared. More than a year after the newspaper’s report, a woman went to prison for five years due to her role in the scam.

    In April, two years after the Times’ report, officials finally caught up to and arrested the charity’s creator in Portland, Ore. — which caught my attention because I love the city. (That’s a fun story to read, by the way.) The story is ongoing, and authorities only just finally figured out the guy’s true identity — which is why he is in the news and caught my attention. I have a feeling many more stories will come out before the case is done.

    Anyway, this is a long, link-heavy post that I’m sure will appeal to 0.2 percent of my readers. But if you want to read more, check out The Times’ special investigation page on this guy.


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster Writing

  • The Facebook Detox

    Posted on by Layla

    One week ago, I clicked the “deactivate” link on my Facebook page. They asked if this would be temporary or if I really wanted to delete it. I know you can’t ever delete your data from Facebook’s servers, and I know you can return even if you say you’re done. But I still chose the “temporary” option, because I knew it wasn’t going to be permanent.

    The deactivation was not planned, but it was also an overdue detox. That evening, I realized I hadn’t spent an hour going through my news feed. I didn’t know what was going on at that very moment in the lives of 500+ friends. And, because I wasn’t posting comments, I wasn’t getting emails notifying me that someone else had replied, or that someone had commented on my latest oh-so-witty update. Suddenly, I had time to pick up the unread books that were gathering dust and overdue fines.

    I didn’t quit other social media, though. I stayed on Twitter. I continued reading blogs and browsing a couple message boards where I lurk. I finally got around to reading/posting in another social site for a product I’m testing. I even looked at Google+.

    The day I deactivated Facebook, I mentioned it on Twitter:

    I got one response on Twitter. (I’d texted a couple friends about a bunch of other angst in my life and told them about my Facebook deactivation, so they knew and didn’t respond on Twitter.)

    Five days after my deactivation, a friend contacted me on Twitter to ask if I was OK. The next day, another friend texted to ask the same thing. I appreciate it, but that was also a very good reality check: Facebook will definitely go on without me, because only two of my 500ish friends realized I was gone and contacted me. I’ve had the same email address and website for almost 11 years. I’ve had the same cell phone number for about six years. I’m the only Layla Bohm on the internet: If you can type the nine letters of my name into a search engine, you’ll find me.

    No, I am NOT trying to guilt trip anyone. The fact is, Facebook censors news feeds, so we never actually see everything our friends post. It’s not surprising that nobody noticed that my Facebook page was gone. Facebook’s new default is to show you “most updates” from your friends; you have to manually change that to “all updates” for every single friend if you want to see everything.

    I recently experimented with Facebook’s powers of deciding what’s important. If someone posts an update that gets no comments, it is soon pushed down in the algorithm of importance. If an update has oodles of comments or likes, it’s going to be higher up in friends’ news feeds. My experiment? I had posted something very early in the morning, and it had no responses. That evening, I posted my own update to the status, in the form of a comment. Within the hour, several people had commented, and several had “liked” my original status — which meant they hadn’t seen it before. In the eyes of Facebook, I was getting more traffic, so my update was worth pushing higher up the ranks of coolness. (I assume this is how Facebook is trying to get ad revenue — and in the process is frustrating its users.)

    Anyway, why did I deactivate my Facebook account for a week? Well, the main reason is because I had vented about my rather rough week, but that venting backfired by making me more upset. It was just going to snowball from there if I didn’t shut up. Also, there were some things I just wanted to avoid seeing on Facebook. This sounds vague, I know. Sorry about that — I don’t compromise other people, so I can’t exactly go spilling personal things all over my public website.

    Nine years and nine months ago, I left a close-knit Internet community in which I was very active and had some very close friends. That departure was, for lack of a better description, awful and heartbreaking. As I type this, I truly cannot believe it’s been nearly 10 years. A decade later, I still miss it. I still look at the website. And, in a couple brief moments when I’ve faced tragedies, I’ve logged in for a couple minutes in search for solace. With a few keystrokes, I was instantly transported back to the previous world I knew.

    I’ve managed to keep in touch with many friends from that community, which has been a great relief. In fact, one of them was one of the two people who contacted me about my Facebook deactivation. Somehow, we’ve all kept in touch despite the many miles between us. We’ve gone through ICQ and AIM and LiveJournal and MySpace and Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and blogs. We’ve gone from dial-up to DSL to cable. We’ve gone from landlines to bad cell phone receptions to flip phones to smart phones. And, despite everything, we are still meeting up in person. Four months ago in Chicago, I met up with one of those old friends — for the very first time.

    Friendships should be able to outlast Facebook. At some point, we will all gradually start shifting in a new direction. (Ten years ago, we didn’t think we’d be so connected to something called “Facebook.”) When it happens, I hope we still have each other’s friendship — and contact information. You can always reach me at layla@thesmudge.com. And I will more than willingly give you my phone number. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.

    (Updated August 11, 2014: I’ve closed comments on this post due to spammers, who apparently seek out “Facebook” related blog posts only. But please feel free to contact me via email at layla @ thesmudge.com.)


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: Colossal images

    Posted on by Layla Comment

    Look at this photo, and then look again.

    Yes, that image is made solely by hanging glass from the ceiling.

    You can see a few more amazing art displays from the artist at this link. And that leads to the main site where I found this artwork: Colossal. I apologize for today’s Tuesday Time-Waster, because there is a good chance you will live up to the idea and wind up wasting a lot of time on that site.

    Bonus tip: I suggest reading the blog author’s recent two-year-anniversary post, in which he writes about how he started the blog because he happened to write a bucket list. It’s a good reminder (which I should remember) that if we set out to do something, we might actually get a result similar to having 30 million blog visits in two years.


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: Clouds

    Posted on by Layla 2 Comments

    Today is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. But, rather than posting a tribute at my normal 11:11 a.m. Tuesday Time-Waster time, I’m giving you something beautiful.

    Yes, today you get lovely clouds. In fact, you get a link to 60 amazing cloud photos.

    I’ve always loved clouds, but really, who doesn’t like them? When I was a kid, I used to go on bike rides up and down hills, stopping at the top of a hill in time to watch the setting sun. I usually had a 360-degree view (depending on the particular hill), with the sun disappearing over the horizon to the west and Mt. Shasta to the east. The snow and glaciers on the 14,162-foot mountain would turn pink and orange, and there were usually clouds to add an exponential amount of color and beauty. I would write bad poems in an attempt to capture the beauty in words, then make a mad sprint for home before it was too dark to see the road.

    Yes, today is the anniversary of 9/11. But it’s also my mom’s birthday. She’s the one who sent me the link to these clouds, so it’s only fitting to post it today. Happy birthday, Mom.

    We often saw lenticular clouds such as this one over Mt. Shasta (this is Mt. Fuji). Some people actually believe the clouds are UFOs that transport creatures, called lemurians, to and from Mt. Shasta.

    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: Letter to oneself

    Posted on by Layla Comment

    Did you ever write a letter or a journal entry to yourself to read in the future? I can’t be the only one, I’m sure. In fact, a year-and-a-half ago I actually bought and started filling up a book that has pages full of questions about your current life, so you can look back on it later. (And, um, I didn’t finish it. A lot has already changed since I started it. Oops.)

    But you can also write to your past self — yourself as a teen, yourself at age 20, etc. This kind of writing is best shared with those at that age because they’re the ones who might benefit from it. Or, as in the case of today’s Tuesday Time-Waster, you can share it with the Internet so that everyone can realize, “Life actually is pretty cool, huh?” So, go read this letter from 40-year-old self-made success story Peter Shankman to his 15-year-old self.


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster Writing

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: A dam letter

    Posted on by Layla 2 Comments

    No, that blog headline does not contain a misspelling of a mild curse word. It’s actually about a dam — the kind that interrupts a flow of water.

    Today’s Tuesday Time-Waster is an amusing letter written by a Michigan man who was threatened with fines if he didn’t immediately two dams that were under construction on his property. He hadn’t gotten a construction permit, state officials wrote in the certified letter, and he was given a month to remove the dams. There was one big problem: He hadn’t built the dams — beavers had constructed them.

    The property owner wrote back (copying PETA on the letter) and included sentences such as these: “My first concern is — aren’t the dam beavers entitled to dam legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said dam representation — so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer.”

    Not surprisingly, the state dropped the matter, but not before it made news, including an Associated Press article with the headline, “State gives beavers cease-and-desist order.”

    The letter is still on the writer’s website, which still looks like websites did back in 1997. Bonus: If you go to that site in Internet Explorer, your cursor will drag butterflies behind it as you move around the page. Yep, it’s definitely still in the stone age of websites. (I admit that at one time I, too, had wacky cursors on my website. And a sparkly background.)


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster

  • Olympic 2012 thoughts

    Posted on by Layla 2 Comments

    It’s that time again — when I lose sleep because I’m up late watching the Olympics. I could go on about how NBC is showing almost no events live, tape-delaying everything to show from 8 p.m. to midnight, and then its own newscasts broadcast spoilers. But for now, here are a few random observations:

    1. The closest I will ever get to being in the Olympics: via the Australian swimmer whose last name is Seebohm. (The announcers pronounced Emily’s last name with a short o — one of us is wrong.)
    2. Gymnasts are trying to bring back the hair scrunchie. I expect to see acid-washed jeans and shirt clips in the 2016 Olympics. Random factoid: Once upon a time, I sewed my own scrunchies, going to great lengths to match the pattern perfectly at the ends so you couldn’t see the seam. Welcome to my brain.
    3. Beach volleyball players get confused when it’s cold and they want to wear some more clothes: Multiple women’s teams wore their sports bras on the OUTSIDE of a shirt. That’s kind of like wearing underwear over your jeans, acid-washed or not. Apparently they did that because it was cold, and despite being Olympians, they didn’t have a single long-sleeved shirt with their name on it. This, however, leads to my next thought:
    4. It’s not beach volleyball. Maybe it’s sand volleyball, but there is no beach in sight.
    5. I live 25.2 miles from what is apparently the “world class” ping pong training center. Or I suppose I should call it “table tennis.”
    6. Rowing is hard work, which I learned in college from a colleague who was on the crew team. But there’s one person who sits in the boat, faces the teammates and just yells at them. This person has the unfortunate title of “coxswain.” However, if I did the rowing while someone else yelled at me, and then we both got gold medals, I’d use a permanent black marker to put an asterisk on my teammate’s medal.

    This entry was posted in Other

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: James Bond and the Olympics

    Posted on by Layla 1 Comment

    If you missed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, well, you missed a segment that was an overload of awesome things. I’m talking about how James Bond/actor Daniel Craig (one awesome thing, though it’s kind of two in one) escorted the 86-year-old Queen through her home, past her Corgis (second awesome thing), to a helicopter. Then they parachuted out of the helicopter (third awesome thing). The awesomeness doesn’t end there, but we will pause for today’s Tuesday Time-Waster, when James Bond meets Queen Elizabeth:

    Corgi bonus!

    And then they went flying off into the sky on a helicopter, and then they went skydiving.

    Well, here’s where the awesome things continue. The actor playing the queen is a stuntman named Gary Connery — you know, sharing a last name with Sean Connery (fourth awesome thing). He holds the record for the highest skydive (fifth awesome thing). And he was a stuntman in the Indiana Jones movies. I’ll be conservative and lump those into one awesome thing.

    So, there were six awesome things, according to the book of Layla, in one scene from the Olympics. Yep, sitting through the very long opening ceremony was worth that.


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster

  • Tuesday Time-Waster: Skid marks in San Francisco

    Posted on by Layla Comment

    This video debuted earlier this month, and I know the odds are fairly high that you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, I think it’s worth the 10 minutes — and that says a lot, because I have a short attention span when it comes to YouTube videos. (If YouTube is blocked at your workplace, as it is at mine, email this link home to yourself and have an 11:11 p.m. Tuesday Time-Waster.)

    I was curious about all the skid marks driver Ken Block left behind. What did people think of them? How long do they last? Well, I don’t have all the answers, but apparently someone pointed them out back in May, shortly after the stunt was filmed. Scroll to the end of this column (the headline and photo are unrelated) to the “Furious Fiesta” section. “They pay,” [a highway patrol spokesman] said, “so we let them do whatever they want as long as it’s within the permit.”

    And this page has links to some YouTube videos taken by passersby who saw the filming in May. Can you imagine looking out your window in time to see a car go airborne?!

    By the way, this video was a Big Deal: It got the attention of publications ranging from ESPN to the New York Times.


    This entry was posted in Tuesday Time-Waster

  • 2012 goals (woefully) revisited

    Posted on by Layla 1 Comment

    It’s been more than six months since I publicly posted my goals for the year. There were only four. And I’ve only met one of them, which was the most realistic and which also happened the very first day of 2012. It has been, truthfully, all downhill from there. Since I am apparently in a self-torture mood, here’s how the goals are going:

    1. Break four hours in a marathon. This is the only one I’ve accomplished.

    2. Beat my half-marathon time. I was on track to do this in August, and was also on track to beat my 5K time in July. Then I wiped out on my bike. My knee was the only thing injured but, four weeks later, it still hurts every day. I’ve run 1.5 miles in four weeks, as opposed to 120-150 miles. The only highlight is that, now that it’s been four weeks, the doctor will do an MRI.

    3. That undisclosed goal, which understandably frustrates people with its vagueness. I was making a couple strides toward this, and then I undid it all. I’m slightly trying again, but who knows.

    4. Start on one of two book ideas. When it comes down to it, there’s one book I’ve wanted to write. I’ve known that for years, though the magnitude of it has scared me. It had been several years since I actually looked to see what had been written on the topic, so I finally got up the nerve to search Amazon the other night. The result? Well, let’s put it this way: If I’d tried to start this back when I first got the idea, I would have been far ahead of anyone else. But in 2006, someone published a similar book. In 2008, another such book was published. Those authors had more resources than I, and one of them is co-authored by experts in the field who got a professional writer to help them with the book.

    I’ve since thought about it, and I don’t think the topic isn’t dead. I think I could put my own spin on it. Both books happen to be written by people based in Arizona, and it looks like their books focus on Arizona, a state I’ve visited once and to which I have no connection. I haven’t actually bought and read the other books. Both are sitting in my online shopping cart, but I guess I don’t like the idea of buying books that are, essentially, written by my possible competition. I also fear that my vague ideas would be skewed by theirs, and the last thing I want to do is accidentally plagiarize someone. However, I also realize that I have to know what I’m up against, and if I have any chance at all. What is left in this topic? Can my own spin be enough for another book?

    When it comes down to it, I know the odds are slim that I’d ever get a book contract. I know that I’d be rejected a bunch of times, and that I’d wind up having to foot my own research, travel, time-off-work expenses. And I know that I’d likely have to self-publish if I actually wanted to fulfill my lifelong dream of seeing my name on the spine of a book. That opens up other challenges, because my book would involve interviews and others’ stories, and who wants to talk to some random writer who has no contract and would pay out of her own pocket for 100 copies to be printed from an Internet site?

    I’ve spent years dodging and ignoring this dream, and convincing myself that I cannot do it. Now I’ve found proof that others have beaten me to it. I keep telling myself that it’s too late, that I need to move on.

    And yet, despite my best attempts, the dream still won’t die. Maybe that means something.


    This entry was posted in Running Writing