MeXscape

Last Wednesday, my friend and alert blogger Nancy, who writes Countdown to Mexico, sent me an email that she had discovered a site that was using her content without permission. She had been looking at her site stats on Technorati and noticed a link she hadn't seen before. Boy was she surprised when she saw what was going on. She emailed me so I could keep an eye on my stats and see if I was having the same problem. I decided to visit the offending site and was incensed to discover that 25 of my posts had been stolen and posted there.

I was planning on continuing my rant about word theft. I had lots more to say on the topic. I even had insights into my personality, like what it says about me that I am bent on crushing the thief. It was going to be witty and fun and just a little vicious. But you don't get to read that now. Because now I'm mad about something else. There has been another theft. Not words this time. No, now it is theft of reputation.

I have had my head down recently and haven't been participating in the Carnaval countdown. It's not something I usually have to make an effort to pay attention to. The city makes long and thorough preparations for Carnaval, and I can easily gauge the nearness of the date by what is going on around me.

Well, the Carnaval folks made it. Mostly. Thursday night was pretty much a bust. Only one stage was erected. Vendors were scarce. Olas Altas was devoid of partiers. I guess none of the organizers were really concerned about this end of town since El Recodo was playing at the Aquarium, and the majority of the population of Mazatlan and the surrounding area was there. We had a surprisingly quiet evening until 3:00 AM. During the night, all of the trucks and crews arrived and erected the stages and started sound checking. The noise I had missed all afternoon woke me from my very last sound sleep.

Carnaval ended pleasantly and fairly quietly on Tuesday night. Well, actually around five Wednesday morning, but if you haven't been to sleep yet, it can't possibly be the next day, right? I could only hear two stages Tuesday night, and one was definitely louder than the other, so what we were hearing was actually discernible as music, not just relentless noise, and it was pleasant. The band was quite good and I liked their playlist.

Yesterday was just one of those days. You know the kind I mean. Murphy seemed to be perched directly on my shoulder and personally directing the events of the day. Everything that could go wrong, did, and in a spectacular way.

One of the things I love about living in Mazatlan is the likelihood of encountering something wondrous and awe inspiring. I can be plodding along through an average day and unexpectedly find myself confronted with something that makes me feel like a child at Christmas. It's these little gifts for the soul that make Mazatlan such a special place, and my home.

I got a disturbing call from a client in Texas the other day. I guess I should stay calls. The phone started to ring fairly early and just kept cycling between phones: home phone, cell phone, Vonage phone, repeat. We don't keep any phones in the bedroom, but all the windows were open, so I could hear all the ringing coming from Chuck's office directly above the bedroom. When I realized it wasn't going to stop – ever – I got up to find out who needed to talk to us so desperately.

It's Sun Day! And while it is not exactly sunny right now, I can see a few patches of blue opening in the sky, and I have faith. In a few hours, I am sure it will be a beautiful day to go to the beach. I am checking my beach bag to make sure it has all the things we need. I know I said you can get everything you need at a palapa, but we have discovered a few things we like to have with us. So, what's in my beach bag?

It's been over a year since my last major redesign of this site, so you had to know it was coming. I am a tinkerer by nature and can sometimes find it hard to leave well enough alone. But in this case, I don't think it was well enough. Although MeXscape was really progressive when it launched in 2005, the features on this site had fallen woefully behind the web standards of today. So rather than continue to hack on the existing site to add stuff, I switched to a whole new code base and took the opportunity for yet another major redesign. It satisfies my need for change and is cheaper than redecorating the house.