More fun in the snow...

Some fun in the snow...

First Duathlon

I ran my first ever duathlon this weekend which consisted of a 2 mile beach run, 10 mile bike and then a 3.1 mile beach run. My brother-in-law did the triathlon the same day which swapped the 2 mile run for a 1/4 mile swim.

The race was a lot of fun... I beat myself up well. Wore my bikila's the whole time too. My initial run was okay - around a 10 min mile. Then was the 10 mile bike... which was terrible! Everyone was going faster than me on my mountain bike and I mean at least 10 mph faster. I really need a better bike for the next race (if I do one). Last was a 3.1 mile run which I did really well even though my legs felt like jelly. I was surprised to see that my time for the 2nd run was 27 minutes which is almost a personal best. Overall my time was 1:36:35 and my brother-in-law finished in an amazing 1:19:10.

Well, I really would like to try a triathlon sprint next.. just have to practice my swimming.

Here are some pictures...

-s

Identity Theft

I experienced first hand how Identity Theft can be as little as stealing your email address but cause a huge upset impacting your friends and family...
On Thursday as I was beginning a long weekend away with family, my husband received an email from an account using my firstname.lastname@yahoo.com.  I thought it was just spam as I do not have any Yahoo accounts.  However, as I began receiving email after email and phone call after phone call, I realized that this was much more than a SPAM email.  Someone hacked into my Gmail account on August 19, 2010 and changed the settings and password.  They then created a yahoo email account under my name.  They also hacked into my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts at the same time stopping all of my methods of online communication (except Twitter).  Next they sent an email to all my 700+ contacts through both my email account and the new Yahoo account they had created.  They set up my Gmail account so that all emails would be forwarded to the Yahoo account.  The email they sent to my contacts was as follows:

 

:::START EMAIL:::

Subject: My Plight

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and I came down here to London, United Kingdom for a short vacation.unfortunately,we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash and credit card were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us. We've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. Well I really need your financially assistance..Please, let me know if you can help us out? Am freaked out at the moment!!

Stefana.

:::END EMAIL:::

If a person would respond to that email, they would respond with the following:

:::START EMAIL:::

Subject: Western Union Details

Glad you replied back to my email..My phone as been stolen by the muggers i have nothing left on me and I'm grateful to God that i still have my life and my passport cos it would have been worst if they made away with my passport. all i need is 1,450 pounds you can have it wired to me via Western Union. Here's my info below

Stefana [MYLASTNAME]

30 Leicester Square, WC2H 7LA,

London United Kingdom

As soon as it is done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now???

Keep me posted.

Stefana.

:::END EMAIL:::

The email was tailored based on the message or questions sent from my contacts.  On Facebook they prevented anyone from posting to my wall so I was not able to warn anyone and they changed both my password and my password reset information.  Also on LinkedIN they changed my password and password reset information. After about 24 hours of working to reset my passwords, shut down transactions to the western union account and tell everyone this is a hoax, I was able to get everything back under my control.  All my passwords have been changed and all computers scanned for viruses/spyware.  It’s a good thing I have layers of passwords that I use (some are for banking, some for credit card payments, some for email/Facebook).  For my email, Facebook and LinkedIN accounts, I had the same login information.  Well that has surely changed as of today. What upset me the most is that these people were actively conversing with my friends telling them where to send money, etc.  Also, being that I was in the car when this happened (and about 6 hours from my destination) I had to try to resolve all of this via my iPhone, which was not easy!  I’ve reported the incident to the FTC and the police.  My friend James had Western Union shut down all transactions to the address identified above (thank you for the support James!!!) while I emailed each of my contacts through my iPhone letting them know to ignore the “My Plight” email. I wanted to apologize to everyone who received this hoax and ask that if anyone did send money to the hackers – please let me know immediately so that I can report it to the police and FTC.  Lastly, I want to remind all of you that I would never ask you to send me money through email.  If I have access to email, I would have access to call you (SKYPE!!!).  Also, as a few friends suggested, you should know better than to believe that someone mugged me… me? of all people!?  I would definitely hurt them severely and probably steal their wallet too. J

 

Thank you to all of you who were able to assist and warn me on Thursday.  You are all great friends… and if you really do want to send me money… you can send it to my house J

 

-S

I'm not in London and I don't need money

Everyone,

I am not in london and don't need $$. Please don't respond to the email requesting help as a hacker has gotten into all of my accounts and is actively asking my contacts for money... Even as far as sending western union details.

Sorry about this!
BTW... My cell 5168183981 and CA email are the only things that aren't hacked right now.

Thx,
Stefana

Sent from my iPhone 

Race Log 2009-2010

Date	Race Name	Race Length	Time	Pace
5/10/2009	Elizabeth T. McNamee Memorial Run (w/Liv)	5k (3.1 Miles)	35:19	11:23
7/5/2009	Massapequa Firecracker	5k (3.1 Miles)	29:18	9:27
8/23/2009	Babylon Classic Dirty Sock	10k (6.2 Miles)	1:04:25	10:23
9/13/2009	Ryde Bridge-To-Bridge Run, Sydney, Australia	10k (6.2 Miles)	1:08:33	11:03
11/8/2009	Long Island Run for the Warriors	5k (3.1 Miles)	30:14	9:45
12/19/2009	Ho Ho Ho Holiday Run	5k (3.1 Miles)	34:16	11:03
1/24/2010	Winter Series, Caumsett	5k (3.1 Miles)	28:26	9:10
1/31/2010	Winter Series, Jones Beach	5k (3.1 Miles)	29:36	9:32
2/14/2010	Snowflake Run, Long Beach	4 Miles	38:22	9:35
3/6/2010	Little Cow Harbor	4 Miles	36:53	9:13
3/27/2010	Run for Aspire	10K (6.2 Miles)	58:11	9:23
4/11/2010	Jack Dowling	10 Miles	1:38:00	9:48
5/2/2010	LI Half Marathon	13.1 Miles	2:10:09	9:56
5/9/2010	Elizabeth T. McNamee Memorial Run (w/Liv)	5k (3.1 Miles)	31:51	10:16
6/19/2010	Shelter Island 10k	10k (6.2 Miles)	58:03	9:21
6/27/2010	Massapequa Firecracker	5k (3.1 Miles)	26:12	8:26
8/3/2010	Marcum Workplace Challenge (w/Liv)	3.5 Miles	38:00	10:51
8/21/2010	7th Annual Tri/Du/Run the Wildwoods	2mi run/10mi bike/3.1mi run	1:36:35	n/a
10/16/2010	Post Office 5k	5k (3.1 Miles)	29:36	9:32
11/14/2010	Long Island Run for the Warriors	10k (6.2 Miles)	59:19	9:34
11/25/2010	Garden City Turkey Trot	5 Miles	46:52	9:23

My New Avatar Feet

Fuzzy Feet

Liv has been potty training and doing a great job lately. She tells us when she has to go and hasn't had an accident in about 2 weeks. Very exciting! She even lasts through naps without a pull up and we're now working on lasting through the night. So last night before bed she was sitting on the toilet saying she had to go but playing at the same time. I think it's her new 'go to bed' stall tactic. She's sitting there for about 15 minutes (yea, she takes a while) when she starts tearing up. Sniffling she says, "Mommy, my foot." I ask her what happened and the tears start falling "my foot is fuzzy!". I look at her foot and say "there's no hair on your foot, you didn't cut it, no bug bites... what's wrong?". She insists that her foot is fuzzy so I take her off the bowl and she falls to the floor. Now I'm thinking the worst and feel her head for a fever. Nothing. I then look at her and she says, "now it's cold". It then clicks... "my foot is fuzzy" means her foot fell asleep and she was feeling pins and needles. How funny is that! I will be using this as my new way to describe the pins and needles feeling... "Fuzzy Feet".

-s

SUPERSCAPES UNLIMITED INC.

A bunch of people have asked me who did our backyard over so here are the details:

We hired Craig Fauth from Superscapes Unlimited to come in and design our full outdoor space (front and back yards). After about 10 minutes of listening to what we want to do in our yard and looking around, Craig sat down and drew up a sketch of the design which we absolutely loved. So after that, he went back to the office and drew up a more official plan (in color and including plantings) and we were on our way.

The full work for the backyard probably took about 3-4 full days but unfortunately we were hit with some big rain storms in between delaying the project. Craig was there every dry day to get the job done and was one of the first builders to put a Cambridge fireplace in a backyard on Long Island (see Cambridge Pre-Packaged Olde English Paver Fireplace Kit with Cast Stone Surround).

We absolutely love our yard and really had a wonderful experience with Craig and his staff. They were clean, efficient and honest throughout the project keeping me feeling at ease. Also, Craig stopped by about 2 weeks after to check to see how everything was going. I couldn't have asked for better service.

We can't wait to have our front yard done over at the end of the summer!

Here are Craig's details in case you want to get a design of your own:

SUPERSCAPES UNLIMITED INC.
Landscape Design & Construction
Designs by Craig Fauth
Phone: (631) 269-5304
Website: http://www.superscapesunlimited.com

-s

Eggplant, Chicken and Spinach...

I walked into the house at 6:30 pm with nothing planned for dinner. Now if you know me, you're probably saying "S doesn't cook". Exactly what I said to myself when I looked in the fridge. I found a small purple eggplant, chicken cutlets and baby spinach and I thought WWGD?

Yes, what would Google do? So I typed into Google "chicken spinach and eggplant" and the first site that came back was Chicken Eggplant Lasagna - No Noodles Recipe. I didn't even read the entire recipe. I just started throwing things together starting with step 1 and by the end I had made an amazing impromptu meal. Here's how I improvised in case anyone was wondering... It was really delicious.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts; pounded thin
adobo seasoning OR salt, pepper, garlic powder [Used SPG combo not adobo]

1 package frozen chopped spinach; thawed and drained [Used a handful of fresh baby spinach chopped]

2 garlic cloves; chopped
1 onion; chopped
15 oz ricotta cheese (more or less) [Didn't have any so I didn't use it.]

1 large eggplant; peeled and sliced very thinly (breading optional) [Breaded with seasoned breadcrumbs and egg/salt/pepper combo.]

olive oil [EVOO]

butter
tomato sauce [about 1/2 cup of Mom's fresh sauce that was left over from Monday night's dinner]

shredded mozzarella cheese (optional) [Used it.]
graded cheese

Modified Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
After you've pounded out the chicken breasts, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder.
Pan sear in a pan barely coated with olive oil.
Meanwhile place sliced and breaded eggplant onto a baking sheet sprayed with Pam and sprinkle a bit of EVOO on top. Bake for 15 minutes flip and then bake for another 5 minutes.
Once chicken is just browned on both sides, remove from the pan.
Add a little bit of EV olive oil and a little bit of butter to the pan.
Add the chopped garlic and onion and saute.
Add the chopped spinach, left over eggplant (chopped not breaded) and cook through adding graded cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder along the way.
Pour all the tomato sauce in the bottom of baking pan.
Place some of the eggplant slices to cover the bottom of the casserole dish.
Top the first eggplant layer with the spinach mixture and spread over.
Place the chicken on top of the spinach mixture.
Top the chicken with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes on 400 degrees.

Enjoy!
-s