The rental lease on our duplex is up in December, so Kristen and I have been testing the real estate waters to see if we might like to move somewhere else. Kristen found a promising prospect on Craigslist. It was a duplex in an nice part of town with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for $400 per month. Great deal, right? Almost too good to be true. We decided to drive over to the property to have a look, and it matched the pictures that were posted on Craigslist:

Kylan Robinson	Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 4:44 PM
To: brown_lee@rocketmail.com
Hi, we saw your ad on Craigslist and are interested in your rental property at 320 Harrison. Would you be willing to show it to us? We are generally available after 4PM on weekdays and any time on weekends. My phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.Thank you, Kylan Robinson

Lee Brown <brown_lee@rocketmail.com>	Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 4:51 AM
To: Kylan Robinson
Hi Thanks for contacting me regarding your interest in my house,the house is available now,I will like you to go and have a good look at the house first and then give me your full info and how long you will be staying..we decided to rent the house because of a job that relocated my husband to London,  and we all moved to join him last month as we were left with no other chioce than to put the place up for rent and by that we put it at  $400 per month and the security deposit is $350  including utilities,we shall be staying up to 2 and half years or more,however you should not be weary of the fact that we live abroad because we will work out every thing accordingly. I request that you go look at the house because right now we are in London … Pets are allowed without charge/policy Safety and maintenance of the house is our utmost priority that is why we needed someone with a family, single or  with neat roommates to stay in the place so if we have the guarantee that the house will be safe in your hands then we shall proceed with the rental arrangements. The nieghborhood is very okay and the house is nice with magnificient interiors and nice kitchen units. The house is available now. Below are some necessary information we need to have about you  before we take the decision to rent the house to you.Your Full Names:,Your Full Address,Phone Numbers,Marital Status,How many people will be living in the place? Do you have a pet? Do you have a car? Occupation? Date of Birth …………………………………………..(mm………………/dd/………………………….yy) income per month[estimate] Is there anything special we should know about you Possible move in date………. Best Regards Lee Brown

Strange response. Why all of the personal questions? This raised a warning flag in the back of my mind, so I decided to slow things down a bit. The ensuing response only confirmed my suspicion:

Kylan Robinson	Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 8:26 PM
To: Lee Brown <brown_lee@rocketmail.com>
Hi Lee,Before we talk about the specifics of renting your property, we would really like to take a tour of it first. Can we arrange a time to go inside and check it out?Thanks, Kylan

Lee Brown <brown_lee@rocketmail.com>	Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 6:57 AM
To: Kylan Robinson
Thanks for your email,you are going to make the payment through western union,and i want you to promise me that you are going to take good care of my house in which is important to me and my family and below is information to make the payment Receiver’s Name:Lee Brown Receiver’s address:17 watford road,Harrow,middlesex Country;London As soon as you make they payment the keys of my house and the receipt which shows that you have paid for the house and lease agreement will be send to you through DHl and i will get back to you with arriver time and the tracking Number but you need to get back to me with information you use to make the payment including MTCN no. Congratulation once more your seach on craigslist is now over and it will be and interesting thing to have you as our tenant. Best Regards Mary james

That settles it, it’s a scam! I really hope that no one falls for this, and I flagged the original Craigslist post to warn everyone else. To me, the impressive thing about all of this is that this scammer used accurate photos of the property he/she was advertising. Maybe they grabbed the images from Google StreetView? Ingenious, but evil.

I really like how “Lee Brown” can’t even keep their name straight. He/she signed the second email as “Mary james,” even after indicating that the money should be sent to “Lee Brown.” I’m tempted to respond to this scam artist and see how long I can string them along…

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is the latest book by Donald Miller. Its release is today, and here is my review.

All too often, we lack perspective. We go about our daily lives focused on the here and now, neglecting to look at the bigger picture. Donald Miller finds himself in that position at the beginning of his new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. The story begins when a screenwriter obtains the movie rights to Miller’s memoir. Miller becomes a co-writer of the screenplay, only to realize that his life is quite uninspiring. He starts taking a longer view of his life, changing habits and pursuing goals that made for a better story.

At first, I was relatively unimpressed with A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It seemed to me that Donald Miller spent the first few chapters navel-gazing and whining about his relatively comfortable life. But then I discovered that this was by design. After his own “inciting incidet” occurs, Mr. Miller’s voice changes and becomes full of energy. He returns to being the dynamic writer we’re all accustomed to.

As I read about how he biked across the country, climbed Machu Picchu, and started a charity, I began to feel more personally motivated. By the time I turned the last page, I was ready to take control of my life and turn it into an epic story. Even though Mr. Miller’s books are usually pretty light on theological concepts, I really appreciated his discussion of God as the ultimate storyteller. This book is a real page-turner, be prepared to read it cover-to-cover once you crack it open.

Memorable quotes from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years:

“A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.”

“The point of the story is the character arc.”

“…the idea that a character is what he does makes as much sense in life as it does in the movies”

I am a Thomas Nelson book review blogger.

• RT @WSUPullman: Be Part of Something Bigger. Martin Stadium. Team Built. See the video: http://martinstadium.org/ #WSU Go Cougs! #
• RT @google: You've read the webpage — now what's left? Announcing Google Sidewiki http://bit.ly/iTcaw #
• Going to get a flu shot #

This morning I took some time to develop a new WordPress theme, and I’m calling it Palouse Cougars. It features the rolling hills of the Palouse and the crimson and grey colors of the Washington State University Cougars. The background image for the post area is a picture of Cougar Pride, the new statue outside Martin Stadium in Pullman, WA.

After a couple more finishing touches, I will be releasing this work as a free download for anyone who wants to use it. Go Cougs!

Many people seem to be confused by this. I’ve even seen television commercials and technology professionals get it wrong, so here’s some clarification:

The ‘/’ character is called “slash.”

The ‘\’ character is called “backslash.”

Now you know.