Dem Thar Ruskis Give Me a Pain in the Arse...

And that, my friends, is about as nice as it's going to get, considering what a bunch of 'em did here recently.

When I started this blog back in 2012, you can bet your sweet bippy I never once considered the possibility it might be taken hostage by the Russians. Yet, in a very real sense, that's exactly what has happened in recent days. And the worst part of all has been knowing that I really couldn't do a darned thing about it, except to wait for them to release it.

Chances are that none of you readers have noticed a single bit of difference during any part of this "takeover." I say that because I seriously doubt any of you follow the "Total Pageviews" in the righthand sidebar area of my blog. In the past 10 days, that number several times has jumped by more than 300 a day, as compared to the usual 80 to 120. That spike, to my knowledge, would have been the only visible indicator to the casual eye that something out of the ordinary was happening.

I should point out here that, as the administrator of my blog, I'm able to access a page that shows the names of countries reading it, their respective number of pageviews, the primary URLs involved, and other info--all of which I check on a daily basis, usually multiple times throughout any given day. In short, I'm going to know pretty fast when something isn't right. And when I saw "vampirestat" show up as part of a URL, checked the numbers associated with it, and then went to the Internet, I knew I had a problem.

My subsequent investigation revealed that this URL is what's known as a referral spam hosting website, based in Russia. There are many more sites just like it, based all over the world. They prey on businesses, as well as "little folks" like me, trying to suck you into their spam game. I dodged the bullet by not clicking on their URL and ending up with a boatload of unwanted "crapola" and, very possibly, some malicious malware. But there always are those poor, unsuspecting schmucks who are too quick to click. I read about some who just ended up deleting their whole blog, rather than trying to repair it.

I have to admit I'll never understand why some folks, irrespective of race, creed, religion, or national origin, can't find something else better to do than stick their nose into other people's business. Call me old-fashioned, stick-in-the-mud, relic, or whatever-you-will, but I have said, from the beginning, that those who spearheaded development of computer technology failed miserably in considering down-the-road consequences of what, in my opinion, were too hasty actions. Look at what already has happened and what, I feel, is yet going to happen one day, which will make all these other intrusions into people's lives seem like just a walk in the park by comparison.

I still remember the day when my boss at the then-Naval Supply Center pried my hands off that trusty ol' typewriter and set one of those blasted, newfangled Wang computers in front of me. My life never has been the same since, and I'm here to tell ya that it hasn't all been good. There have been and still are many days I would like to throw this contraption out the window and go back to the old way of doing business.

As for those Russians who screwed with my blog and all other lowlifes everywhere who use computers to meddle in innocent people's lives, I have only one thing to say. I would love to see the day when some "educated idiots" (my dad's favorite term for people with book smarts but no street smarts), like those who came up with all this technology to start with, figure out a way to send a computer signal straight back to an offending source and fry his/her sorry butt on the spot. Now that's something I'd give you a whole bunch of "Hell Yeahs!!!" about.

On a different note, I want to sing some praises for the good folks at Tackle Warehouse, where I, like a lot of others I talk to, buy a fair amount of tackle. Back on the 30th of December, I had placed an order that, by the UPS tracking link, was supposed to have been delivered yesterday. When 7 o'clock rolled around last night and no one had rung my doorbell, nor had I seen a brown truck in the neighborhood, I figured there was a problem.

I got on the phone, called TW, and explained that my order hadn't arrived as scheduled. I noted that the order seemingly had just "died" when it got to Oakland, CA, on Dec. 31, because there were no further entries beyond that point on the tracking info. What I've come to know as an always helpful voice on the other end of the line quickly checked my order number and said he would be happy to follow up for me to see if he could locate my package and, if necessary, begin a full investigation.

It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes later when my cellphone rang, and a young lady on the other end asked if I was Ken. When I confirmed, she said she was going to track the location of my package and promised the matter would be resolved to my complete satisfaction.

As soon as my feet hit the floor this morning, I came in and hopped on the computer to see if the UPS tracking data had been updated. Sure enough, it had. The package indeed had gotten misplaced in Oakland, but had been found and already is on its way to me, with a promised new delivery date later this week.

Without using any names, there are some other tackle companies that, if I had had the same problem with, would have me so stirred up with runarounds by now that I'd be wanting to wring someone's neck. With Tackle Warehouse, though, they seem to always treat their customers right. And I, for one, appreciate that kind of service.

Last but certainly not least, I want to acknowledge I had the distinct pleasure of a visit from my good friend, Gary Coderre, this past Sunday, while I was at West Neck, topping off the gas tank in my boat. He's walking much better, looks good (just a little pale from having to spend so much time indoors recuperating), and, as always, is very upbeat about everything.

Like a lot of us, Gary is anxious for March to get here, so we can pick up where we left off last October.

While I'm at it, let me throw down a challenge for the coming season--for all of us. Let's see how close we can come to duplicating what the anglers over at Bob's pulled off this last year. According to my statistics from digging through all their tourney results for last calendar year (including 19 different dates), they finished 2015 with a total of 1 bass weighing more than 8 lbs., 4 weighing more than 7 lbs., and 15 weighing more than 6 lbs. Plus, they already have weighed 1 over 7 lbs. this year--in their New Year's Day tourney. By any standard, that's a bunch of lunkers.

Incidentally, it's not unusual for me to be keeping my boat's gas tank full in the wintertime. That's been SOP ever since ethanol gas came along. However, I was gassing up Sunday, 'cause I plan to get on the water at least once and, be the good Lord and weather willin', maybe twice before this week is over. I'm not through--by a long shot--with these suspending jerkbaits.

Have already talked to Charlie about painting up some more blanks for me, and that TW order I spoke of earlier is more of the same, too. They're not the Megabass Vision 110s that I really wanted--just couldn't bring myself to spring for those at $25 a pop. I settled, instead, for some at a little less than half that price.

Well, I think that pretty well brings everything up to date. Hope y'all are doing well.