Your Actions May Come Back to Haunt You

Last week one of my coworkers asked if I had ever done anything when I was younger that has come back to haunt me. I told him that I had. After all I am a father and those little people you helped create will haunt you the rest of your life. He had a chuckle and then said that is not what he meant.

I didn't want to know too much about what he had done but figured it out fairly quickly. He may have taken some pictures that would now be considered less than flattering. I had to laugh as the person that has them is trying to blackmail my friend.

A little while ago I posted a message about someone trying to blackmail me. The person supposedly had compromising pictures of me at my computer. One of my thoughts was that nobody would care enough to look at those pictures. If they did, I doubt it would embarrass me enough to pay any ransom. I shared this insight with my coworker and then asked who he didn't want to see the pictures. He gave me the classic response, his mother. I have to admit that there are probably a number of pictures you don't want your mom to see. Then again, your mother has probably seen you at your worst. I think changing a dirty diaper is as bad as it can get.

I don't think I helped my coworker much but it did remind me that you need to be careful about what you do electronically. Those Friday-night pictures may eventually come back to haunt you. Rants about your previous coworkers could keep you from getting your next job. So be careful about what you do online, you will be glad you did 10 years from now.

First Snow

The mountains behind my house now have a fresh coat of paint. I guess you could say that Utah really is a two-season state: Summer and Winter. On September 29th, it was over 80 degrees at my house. Then a cold front moved in and we had snow in the mountains. Over the next couple of days it continued to snow and so I decided to see if there was enough to ski.

On Monday I took my youngest son with me up to Alta (pictured above). It is only ten miles away but 4,000 feet higher than my house. We drove up the narrow canyon and watched as rain turned to snow and then started to accumulate. When we got to the Alta Ski Resort parking lot, it was full of cars. It seems others had the same idea.

There was more than enough snow to ski and so we put on our boots and slung our skis over our shoulders. The lifts were not running and won't start for another month. That means if you want to ski, you have to do it the old fashioned way and hike up the hill. It took us about an hour to climb to our usual starting point. I pulled out my iPhone and took my son's picture to prove that there was snow at the beginning of October. Furthermore you can see that the snow is coming down pretty good.

Our run down only took a couple of minutes but it was a lot of fun. We stopped along the way and took a few more pictures. My son even insisted on taking a picture of me. Since I am always the one behind the camera, it is nice to have a picture or two.

So what does this have to do with computers and technology? Absolutely nothing. I thought about mentioning how my phone has a camera and so I find myself capturing events that would normally be missed. However that is a bit of a stretch. I could have talked about how it also plays music which made my hike seem to go quicker. However I took this chance to talk with my son as we walked up the steep mountain. That also made the hike go quickly. I guess all I can say is that sometimes you don't need technology to have a good day.