Woke up today to a disconcerting message in my inbox from my daughter and colleague, Erin. Something cryptic and sexual, blah blah, with a link.

Uh oh.

Probably, you’ve seen these types of messages. Somebody has you in their list of email contacts, and you get an unexpected and inappropriate email “from” them. Unless you’re something of a novice at email, it’s usually instantly recognizable. Don’t click that link!

If you do, you’ll probably become the next victim. All your contacts get spammed.

Oh no.

Erin is anything but a novice, so this was really unexpected. How did she get hacked? Was it Facebook, or Twitter? Facebook is notoriously insecure. Was it just a robot? Malicious bot program script built to just hammer at your accounts until they find a weak password?

We may never know.

But the instant results are intense embarrassment. All your contacts just got that dangerous spam. The implication is that you were foolish enough to let the hacker in somehow, and now not only are you violated, but you may have helped violate the security all the people with whom you regularly communicate. Oh man.

We work in a reputation based field. This attack has harmed us. Erin changed her password immediately, and for now, there have been no more events. She sent a warning out to her contacts, and an apology.

Apologizing for the unintended effects of a malicious attack from persons, or robots unknown. Grrr.

I’m changing my password immediately to a stronger one, and suggest that you readers might want to do the same. This was something of a rude wake up call, if even web-savvy Erin can be hit. I sincerely hope this is the end of it. We’ve always had good luck with Hotmail, but all things Microsoft seem to be frequent targets. Perhaps we need to seriously look at email alternatives.

Dear unknown hacker. What goes around, comes around. You may escape detection for now, but nobody escapes Karma.

Shasta Association of Realtors awarded eleven scholarships to local students at a dinner held on June 1st at the Riverview Country Club.

Certificates for scholastic achievements were presented to the following along with checks to the schools of their enrollment:
A $1500.00 scholarship went to Anthony Papac who is attending Harvard University, $1500.00 to Angelise Sacco who is attending Sonoma State, $1000.00 House of Realty honoring the late Bob Middleton, scholarship to Mitchell McCarthy who is attending Boise State University, A 1000.00 Homer “Bucky” Bucklen honoring the late Past President of the Shasta Association of Realtors went to Jill D’Amico who is attending Berkeley, and a $1000.00 scholarship in the name of Marie Whitacre went to Kevin Middleton who is attending Chico State University,. A $1000.00 Shasta Association scholarship went to Amanda Rollins who is attending University of Santa Cruz, $500.00 Shasta Association of Realtors scholarships went to Ashley Lewis who is attending Chico State University, Michel Chord, who is attending San Jose State University, and Jennifer Lynn Verardo who is attending Hyles Anderson College, Britainne Pederson who is attending Azuza Pacific University and Chase Johnston who is attending Universal Technical Institute in Sacramento.


Funding for scholarships is donated by the local Realtors giving back to their community and recognizing the achievements of these students. This is the 25th year that the local association has acknowledged local students for scholarships.

Pictured from left to right front row, Amanda Rollins, Jill D’Amico, Ashley Lewis, back row, let to right, Mitchell McCarthy, Chase Johnston, Anthony Papac, Kevin Middleton. Missing from the photo, Britainne Pedersen and Angelise Sacco.