I was tagged in some pornographic photos that were major violations of Facebook’s Terms of Service.

What had actually happened was that a friend’s Facebook account was hacked and the hacking involved changing her profile picture and then posting photos on her wall and randomly tagging friends (which in turn, caused the photos to come up on my wall and also the friend feed of anyone who follows me). I didn’t get home last night until 9:50, so I’m lucky it didn’t happen earlier in the evening.

Here’s the timeline of what happened:

• 9:28 p.m. – email arrives in my inbox saying a friend has added a photo of me. Which I didn’t see right away because I was driving home at that time.
• 9:39 p.m. – a second email arrives saying this same friend has added another photo of me.
• 9:40 p.m. – a third email arrives again saying this same friend has added now a third photo of me.
• 9:47 p.m. – a different friend has sent me an email letting me know about the photos on my wall (thank you Martha! I had only just arrived home, so I hadn’t even checked my email at that point).
• 9:51 p.m. – a another friend on FB sends me a message letting me know about the horrible photos showing up on my wall (thank you Jackie! You were the one who tipped me off!).
• 9:51 p.m. – another friend sends me a text, but I don’t see it right away (thank you Stacey for sending that!)
• 9:51 p.m. – yet another friend tries to let me know about the situation by tweeting at me. (Thanks Ronny! Much appreciated!)
• 9:52 p.m. – I quickly try to untag and report all of the photos ASAP.
• 9:53 p.m. – I post an apology and heads up to anyone who saw the horrible photos to let them know what had happened and that I’ve done what I can to make it stop.

The main reason I saw Jackie’s FB message first is because I happened to look at my phone the exact moment the FB app’s little ticker-like headline popped up on my phone. We were out for the evening and when I walked in the door, I looked at my phone and all I saw was “…your Facebook has been hacked.” My reaction was, “Oh crap, my account may have been hacked!”and I rushed to our desktop to get a good look at what was going on. Unfortuately, I received a very “good” look. Ick, ick, ick!

Now the disturbing part in all of this (well, disturbing besides the photos… they were pretty horrid and graphic), is that these photos could have remained on my wall for quite a while. I was actually driving home when the first tag happened. Again, ICK!

It didn’t take long, but my friend’s account has been disabled and I don’t really have any way of contacting her. I did comment on one of the photos to let her know her account has been hacked. Hopefully she received an email notficiation about the comment.

What’s amazing is how fast this all happened. Within moments of being tagged, friends started to contact me to make sure I knew what had happend. The first reaction from most was that they thought my account had been hacked, but that’s the tricky thing about FB; it’s easy for someone else to get hacked, but have reprecussions on other people’s accounts.

Thank you to all of my friends who contacted me when they saw something was clearly wrong. I really appreciate your actions.

How to avoid having this happening to your Facebook account:

1. Click on the little arrow on the top-right of the Facebook header and select Privacy Settings;

2. Under the option of How tags work, click on Edit settings

3. A window will pop up and you want to check to make sure that under Tag review, you have it enabled/on. I also recommend reviewing the other settings that are in this pop up to ensure you have the level of privacy you want.

Something like this happened to me months ago when I was also tagged by a friend’s account for a video that lead to a spam video that didn’t actually show you a video, but just helped the hacking continue on in other people’s accounts. After that incident, I rechecked my privacy settings so that I had to approve any tags that friends tried to post. Apparently my settings recently changed…

And even before that other incident, I remember when there was a worm going around FB a year or more ago where a person’s account would go to a friend’s wall and say something like, “hey, I watched this video and it was really cool. Go check it out!” But in reality, the person didn’t leave the message and the video was actually just a worm trying to hack your account.

What happened last night is just another incident that should remind us to regularly check our privacy settings on all social media accounts that we use. There’s a false sense of security that we often give to these free providers. They control a heck of a lot of information about us… don’t ever forget that!

First off, I have to show you what is probably the most geek-tastic and epic gift that Matt has given me for Valentine’s to date…

Bobble-head Wonder Woman!

In case you didn’t know, I’ve dressed up as Wonder Woman a couple of times now for Halloween. For my first Halloween at the Faculty of Medicine (in 2010), I dressed up as Wonder Woman.

I attended Medical Grand Rounds that day and because I was still very new, the dean gave me a quick intro to everyone who was there… and with a room full of physicians, I was the only one dress up. Ha! I’ve since been dubbed Wonder Woman and have played that up a bit by telling faculty and staff that “when media call, Virginia can help.”

The image to the right was included in an e-newsletter I’ve started called Medi-zine. The write up with this photo was encouraging faculty and staff to contact me if they’re interested in receiving media relations training and support (which I facilitate for medicine).

Now I have a mini-me to live on my desk and help portray that super hero confidence I try to bring when discussing how I can be there for anyone in the faculty who needs help.

On to other things…

“But Virginia, what the deal with this image?” you ask?! Well it was an ad I found in Toronto Metro, a commuter magazine back when I was at Centennial College in Toronto in 2005. I can’t help but share this on Valentine’s Day when so many people get caught up in the consumerism of this occasion. Yes I enjoy being spoiled by my awesome husband, but it doesn’t have to be on some random day in February that was declared the annual day of love.

I mean really, couldn’t we do this during a time of year that’s warmer? Or is the idea that we’re suppose to feel warm and fuzzy during one of the coldest and weather crappiest months?

And finally…

If today is a day that really makes you go “Bah humbug” or some other phrase that involves some colourful four-letter words, then I recommend you pop over to Someecards… because they have some pretty awesome Valentine’s (or perhaps more anit-Valentine’s) ecards that will likely make you chuckle.

This is a video from today’s IceCaps game. B.Maxwell scores by hitting to puck off of the goalie’s back.

While in Taiwan, I’m staying with Rotarian host families and won’t want to have a bunch of stuff to cart around from home to home. I’ll have my camera gear, my iPad2 and a suitcase of clothes and necessities.

I’ve been reading about techniques for dealing with jet-lag and one suggestion is to try and incorporate 30 minutes rigorous exercise during your regular REM period for three consecutive days after you arrive. I’ll need to calculate my REM period and then do the timezone math, but it’s something I’d like to try and do even for the first day or two after we arrive. I’m a runner and it’s one of the easiest ways of exercising. Slipping on a pair of sneakers, turning on some music with a heavy beat is the perfect thing for me. But my running shoes aren’t small (besides the fact that I have BIG feet, they’re not compact footwear) and I don’t see myself wearing them a lot when I have a pair of casual sneakers I’d rather wear.

I’m guilty of bringing way too much clothes and footwear when I travel, so I’m struggling with what I should and shouldn’t bring. And with the whole idea of exercising, at this point it’s exactly that: an idea. It may not even be possible to work into my schedule. The idea of bringing a large pair of footwear I may not even put on has me looking for other options.

Potential solution: my Vibram FiveFingers or as I like to call them – my toe shoes!

Don't they just look like they're full of crazy?!

I heard about these types of shoes last year and while in Barrie visiting my in-laws in May 2011, Matt and I made a visit to MEC to see if they had any in stock. They did indeed and success (!!) their KomodoSport style fits me like a glove (har har, ya like that pun?).

I know what you’re thinking. What the hell are those? …Are you insane? …They look so weird? …How can they be comfy? …I’ve got the willies just looking at them. Surprisingly, even with my sensory issues with socks, I don’t mind having my toes separated by this glove/spandex-like material. For the record: certain socks are the devil… I’m very picky about socks. Don’t ever bother buying a pair unless you’ve seen me purchase the exact type before.

Confession: I’m ashamed to admit that after wearing them a few times at home and once at the gym, they were wrongfully neglected and pushed into the back of the closet. No specific reason beyond a lapse in memory and a fit of ADHD had me forget about them. But I was at the gym recently and saw someone wearing a pair just like mine. She’s a personal trainer at Goodlife (at least that’s what the shirt she was wearing said) and loves her Vibrams. I asked for advice on how to get used to them and told her about my sudden idea to bring them to Taiwan instead of running shoes (I literally came up with the idea when I saw her walking around the track). She thought it was a great idea and highly recommended I start using them ASAP. Even 20 minutes during a warm up will help.

Now I’m trying to wear them every other day or more. They’ve been to the gym a couple of times and I’ve pounded the track with them running and walking during some lunch breaks. They’re also being worn around the house at night and on the weekends. When I bought them, I was cautioned by an employee to ease myself into them because it’s a very new experience for your foot. It’s not used to doing a lot of it’s own support, especially when walking or running. I also have falling arches, so I don’t want to make them angry. But personal trainer lady said that she wore them to a day trip to the Calgary Zoo and found them fine (that was all the buy-in I needed).

Oh and on Wednesday I was at the gym and another runner came over and asked me about my Vibram shoes. He’s been thinking about getting a pair, but is concerned about causing an injury. I was upfront and said that I haven’t been wearing them a lot, but told him about my plans to bring them to Taiwan. It was really great to chat with someone who was in the same mindset as myself before I took the plung and bought a pair. I suspect he’ll end up getting a pair at some point.

Can I do it? Can I get used to these crazy toe shoes in time to have them replace the need for running shoes? They’re pretty comfy and feel AMAZING when walking on grass. I used them a lot last summer when gardening (which is a nice way of describing my war on weeds as I was obsessed with pulling ALL THE WEEDS that infested our front and back yard).

What do you think? Could you handle wearing shoes like these? It’s really not bad! Honest!

Matt was pretty devastated when he realized this sad fact; especially when we regularly went for Thai when we previously lived in Toronto.
BTW, if you haven’t been to Salad King, GO. Go now and enjoy its amazing deliciousness!!

My husband is an amazing cook and I’m pretty darn lucky. I’m doubly lucky because he makes a wicked Thai curry and his Indian curry is nothing to scoff at either.

On Sunday, after I had had a rather craptastic morning and the rest of the afternoon was rather low key, Matt suggested we have Thai curry for dinner. My immediate reaction was, “Yippie!”

Matt’s Thai curry often varies when it comes to veggies, but more often than not, there’s always shrimp and tofu included. We find it really convenient to get the three pack of tofu from Costco. Even if you don’t use tofu all that often, it’s only $2.99 for the three pack and you can always freeze the other packs for later use.

Thai curry simmering

This batch of curry had green beans, corn, peas, some red cabbage and carrots. It was super yummy! We often put in edamame out of the pod (frozen in a bag is your best bet). Spinach or kale is also great. Don’t be afraid to raid the fridge and get creative.

And of course it wouldn’t be curry without rice.  Basmati rice is often our go-to curry rice, but we’re using jasmine rice at the moment because the price was right and we have a huge bag to eat through.

Moments before it disappeared

Don’t be afraid to add some garnishes too. Some basil, cilantro and crushed up peanuts were the final touches before I went nom nom nom to my bowl of awesome dinner.

Have you made curry? Is there another dish out there you’ve been wanting to make? What’s stopping you? Go for it!