Anne Francis Web Design

Met my sisterfriends at the casino last weekend for a girlcation (good times).  We were chatting with one of the craps dealers and after finding common ground in poker he told me what had happened Friday — PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker and others have been forced to block access to US players.  Enlarge the image to see the big nasty message you’ll see if you visit any of these websites.

From what I understand, there’s been a federal law prohibiting banks from accepting funds from, or transferring funds to “known gambling sites”. A special code was supposed to be used by these companies in transactions identifying them as gambling sites so banks could deny accordingly.  Allegedly these sites used some creative workarounds. And addition to the federal law, states have their own online gambling laws. Washington, of course, taking the “no online gambling” stance. Due to a court battle lost by some brave gambling soul who was hoping to change all that last year (nice try), Full Tilt and some other sites denied access to Washington State players they had previously let in. I quoted an article below with some useful links for anyone who is in the position of being more than curious… (see original article at onlinepoker.net)

Notice: View Poker Sites Still Accepting USA Players

Following the culmination of a year long grand jury probe, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have now been forced to block access to their sites for all US players.

US Congress introduced the UIGEA in 2006 making it illegal for their citizens to gamble online but nevertheless many poker rooms still continued to target and operate in the US market against the law.

However, not only have three of the world’s biggest poker rooms now suspended their US operations but the sites’ creators are also facing a range of charges including illegal gambling, money laundering and bank fraud.

Thus far, the poker companies have had 76 bank accounts in 14 countries shut down, interrupting the flow of billions of dollars to their sites. According to authorities, the sites are accused of disguising gambling payments and deceiving banks into processing the money by creating fake corporations and web sites claiming to be selling unrelated merchandise, such as jewellery and golf balls. Apparently around a third of these payments would then show up on the poker companies’ books as revenue.

As U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara explains, the defendants “concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits.”

The US government has now determined to go after more than $3 billion in money laundering penalties, and have so far arrested 11 people who could each face at least 30 years in jail. These men include PokerStars’ Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate, Full Tilt Poker’s Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick, and Absolute Poker’s Scott Tom and Brent Beckley.

As the crack-down on online poker continues, US poker players have been waking up to the reality of not being able to play at their favourite sites. In the meantime, the defendants seem to be denying any wrong doings and assuring their customers their deposits would be kept safe.

For instance, a PokerStars statement read: “Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern. For all customers outside the U.S. it is business as usual.”

In the meantime, US players can visit this page to find a list of poker sites still accepting usa players.

Here’s something my friend Tami emailed a couple of months ago, I saved it to share.  And for the record, my parents didn’t call me into the room to change the channel on the TV for them.

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning… uphill… barefoot… BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda.
 
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it.

But now that I’m over the ripe old age of 30 (ok maybe 40), I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia.

And I hate to say it, but you kids today don’t know how good you’ve got it.

When I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet!! If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog. There was no email!!  You had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen. Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there, and you had to pay money for a stamp to make it all happen.

Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass!  Nowhere was safe. 
 
There were no MP3′s or Napsters or iTunes. If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself; or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!  There were no CD players. We had tape decks in our car. We’d play our favorite tape and “eject” it when finished, and then the tape would usually come unwrapped rendering it useless. Cause hey, that’s how we rolled.

We didn’t have fancy crap like call waiting. If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it! Beep-beep-beep, and you had no idea they had tried to call.
 
There weren’t any frickin’ cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn’t make or receive a call. You actually had to be out of touch with your “friends”.  OH MY GOD!!!  Think of the horror.  And then there’s TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are. 

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was.  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent…you just didn’t know!!!  You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister. (We had “party lines”. It’s one way to get to know your neighbors real well.)

We didn’t have PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3D graphics. We had the Atari 2600 with games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’.  Your screen guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your imagination.  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen… forever.  And you could never win.  The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died (just like real life)!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on television. You were screwed when it came to channel surfing, you had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!!  NO REMOTES!!!  I remember getting called into the parents bedroom just to change the cannel for them.
 
There was no Cartoon Network, you could only get cartoons on Saturday morning.  Do you hear what I’m saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little ratfinks!  (Yep Saturday mornings where great)

We didn’t have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that. I remember our first microwave…. baked potatoes for months.

And car seats – oh, please. Mom or dad threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the “safety arm” across the chest at the last moment if they had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for being a pig and calling “shotgun” in the first place.

See!!  That’s exactly what I’m talking about, you kids today have got it too easy. You’re spoiled rotten.

You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before.

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Across the street from Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut just south of Bellingham is the parking lot for this hike. This time I only went to the viewpoint which is 1.1 mi each way… short 1 hour hike (45 or so minutes spent going up, Mt. Young on steroids).  Incredible view.  Another .9 mi each way gets you to Fragrance Lake, a small lake in a beautiful, peaceful setting.

The full Fragrance Lake trip was the first hike I went on, because in an online hiking guide it said “easy” for level of difficulty.  Holy crap, what is “difficult”, your head explodes halfway up?  I’ll be honest, I was the fattest one I saw on that trail, but I see by the comments online many others concurred.  Anyhow it is a strenuous climb to the viewpoint at .9 mi but easier after that.  Worth it both times; I’ll go again to get some pics of Fragrance Lake.

Quick facts stolen from the web:

Fragrance Lake Trail
Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut south of Bellingham
Length:         4 total miles
Elevation Gain:     900 feet
Trail Type:         Out-and-back
Skill Level:         Moderate for children
Duration:         Day hike
Season:         Year round
Trailhead Elev:     130 feet
Top Elevation:      1,030 feet

This beautiful 2-mile trail through low-elevation old-growth cedars and firs leads upward to a serene woodland lake. The trail, recommended for older children, has a view of boats in Wildcat Cove. Downed nurse logs supporting young hemlocks are common, but children will laugh at the sight of a nurse rock at about 1 mile, with tree roots wrapping the oblong rock like cord around a package. Fragrance Lake is crescent-shaped, has trout and skipping water bugs, and can be circled on a…

Read more at Trails.com

This is a little bit of a drive to go for a walk from my place in Northeastern Bellingham, but worth it.  It has many many waterfalls, isn’t too challenging, and each .5 mile is marked.  Absolutely beautiful.  Ferns grow out of live, upright tree trunks, there’s a water fall every couple hundred feet and Lake Whatcom seems so big it feels like you’re at a Puget Sound beach.  Lush and humid, I imagine on a hot summer day this would be refreshing.  Will definitely check it out after a heavy snow for cross country skiing, if I trade in my Dakota for something that can actually drive in the snow.

Annabel gave it two paws up.

General Facts…

Highlights: Lake views, family friendly, wildflowers and lots of waterfalls
Distance: 6.2 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 100 ft
Hike Time: 2.5 hours (walk/jog 1.5 hours)
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Condition: Well maintained trail
HikeType: Out and Back

Lots of large Douglas fir trees, cedar, maple and Madrone trees. The trail ends in 3 miles at a fenced private property. This is a good hike for birding. Lake Whatcom basin was carved by a glacier over a mile thick. It is filled by rain, mountain streams and water diverted from the middle fork of the Nooksack river which comes from the Deming glacier on Mt. Baker. This lake supplies water for over 60,000 people in the Bellingham area. Trailhead: From Bellingham, drive around the lake on North Shore Drive to Agate Bay. Stay to the right and then go left in 2.5 miles to the trailhead. It is just past a bridge over Smith Creek. Take the path on the right down to the trail. (Lat:48.72757 Lon:-122.30776)

What’s this all about?

Well since I quit smoking  New Year’s Day I was in need of something contructive to do with my healthier self.  I have wanted to hike, and turns out this a great area to do it.  I’m floored at how many incredible trails there are around the Bellingham area, and after going on this hike as well as two others I realized there needed to be pictures taken and posted.  So I’m setting out to do these 3 hikes over again, this time with a camera.  Besides North Lake Whatcom Park I’ll soon do Teddy Bear Cove near the North Chuckanut Mountain Trailhead and (ouch but beautiful) Fragrance Lake Hike.

I don’t usually work this way but it was one of those phone meetings that didn’t have a lot to do with my part of the project, no reflection on the client!!!

Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards.  I got a full house and four people died.  ~ Steven Wright

Submitted by one of my good poker-playing buds.

You ask.  Or maybe you don’t ask because your website already has a content management system. At any rate, if your business is the type that will benefit from a professional online profile when prospective clients Google you, or if your business has the potential to get new customers from the web, then YES content management can help your website, and in the end, your business.

If you don’t know what content management is, according to Wikipedia…

Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content. Digital content may take the form of text, such as documents, multimedia files, such as audio or video files, or any other file type which follows a content lifecycle which requires management.

As it applies to this article, a content management sytem (CMS) is a wrapper that holds your website in such a way that you can easily edit your site yourself with an internet connection, a web browser and the basic knowledge of how to navigate the web.

Joomla and WordPress are 2 CMS I’ve worked with. Both are open source software (free to download, written and maintained by a collaboration of those in the programming community who care to contribute). They have “plugins” available that will extend the functionality of the website they’re running.  Most plugins are free but some you have to pay for.  You will have to pay your webmistress to hook you up with this stuff.

How do I get a CMS? What is the process?

Here’s how it works.  At least here’s how I do it.  Your webmistress installs a CMS for you, along with it a fresh new contemporary look (why not?) — or if your website is already bitchin’ — she creates it to look like your existing site. Once your CMS site is up and running, you, armed with only a web browser and internet connection, after a short lesson, can keep it updated yourself.

Why do I want to do this?

1. Instant Gratification
   If you add a new department to your business, or a new service, instead of calling your webmaster and waiting however many days they take to help you, just login and add the new information to your website yourself, NOW.
2. Better Ranking in Search Engine Results
   The way some CMS are coded makes Google happy.  They are lean, comply with web standards which gives them higher rank, and are content-focused.  Your site will rank higher when there’s more relevant content than there is messy code in your files.  And if there’s new content added regularly.  This takes a while but pays off in the long run.
3. Lower Web Maintenance Costs
   You can decide to change your site for free everyday if you like. No more sacrificing fresh content because your web budget is blown.

What do I add to my website?

You can add pages to your site that enhance the information you’ve already presented to your clients, perhaps according to a long-term plan you’ve made.

Depending on what you’re selling you could add support information that people will find when they need your service or product.  Here’s a good example.  The other day my washer started leaking.  I live and die by Google, so I got on there and found a website with video showing how to open the front of my particlar type of washer.  Once the front was off it was clear the pump (I only knew it was the pump because of the video) was leaking & needed to be replaced.  The website with the video, turned out, sells that pump for my washer, imagine!  So I bought a pump from them.

Another way to beef up the content on your site is to add articles in more of a blog fashion, sharing information AND letting your clients get to know you better at the same time.  If you’re not a nice person, or if you are not good at forming sentences, find someone who is and have them write your articles.  In the end the hope is that your clients will relate to you, like you, or feel a sense of confidence in your abilities.  Running spell check is a good idea.

A couple of tips…

Add fresh content regularly. Google loves it when you put up new content. Returning visitors to your site will also appreciate new content. This could mean just changing your homepage text regularly, but my advice is to take a little time and make a long-term plan. Which leads to the next item:

Make a plan. If the objective of your website is to get more paying customers, then your goal should be to build a rich, content-heavy site that contains a lot of information your potential customers are searching for on the web. Look around at some competitor sites that blow you out of the water and go from there, but make it your own. Create a storyboard using pieces of paper, each with an idea for a page or area of your website.  Lay the papers out on the floor creating the flow you imagine on your website, refine it, then break it down into easy tasks that will move you closer to your goal each couple of days with a minimum amount of time involved in each sitting.  Keep your goal flexible & fluid, rethink it occasionally.  The web is changing and some of your competitors are changing with them, if your business is responsive you will do well.

But… this all depends on you!

The web didn’t build itself, and so you will need to devote a little time, regularly, to adding content to your site.  I enjoy putting content on my site, it makes me think about my business in a broader sense, and it makes me consider my customers.  All good stuff.  I’m writing for you, as you will be writing for your clients. Or potential clients.

*hire me*   Whew. Ok. Got that out of the way.

I logged onto Full Tilt Poker last night to play for a little bit and found I had been banned!  I guess Washington state doesn’t want me to relax and unwind.  Here’s the deal:

Online poker players in Washington State are agonizing over being banned from playing on Full Tilt Poker last week. This follows PokerStars ban of Washington State players in September.

The state Supreme Court upheld Washington’s prohibition on Internet poker and online gambling back in September, prompting these sites to take action. Washington residents can play from outside the state on Full Tilt, but PokerStars blocked all Washington residents from playing for pay.

This court case was prompted due to a lawsuit by a Renton poker player challenging the state’s 2006 ban on online gambling.

I started playing online about 5 years ago for play money on Party Poker.  After getting the hang of that I went to Full Tilt and deposited $200.  For the past 4 years I’ve been playing online to relax, usually in tournaments with anywhere from $5 to $20 buyin.

After trying to login last night and finding I’m not welcome (sniff sniff) I withdrew the $186 remaining dollars from my account. Bummer.  That’s all I can say about that.

This is a 6 player super tubo tournament. So granted every player is playing every p.o.s. that comes, but this hand had an all in player with KK, and 2 callers with A-crap.  My thought was, two aces already showing preflop, none will hit the board; and the K’s will prevail.  No aces hit… but wow poor SVC.  Annie382 folded preflop.