Yes This Is Was A Hack

The message between the dashes was posted yesterday on Always Standing (don't click the link):

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hi Blog

https://goo.gl/Azbvsi

My best to you

Chris Tine

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Jason texted me to say that he thought my blog had been hacked, I went and looked and said, "Nope, my email was."

For Blogger, you can set up a Mail-to-Blogger feature. I turned it on when I was in China, and my posts sent through it then actually look a little different (smaller serif-style font, no links, or spacing, etc.). This feature is still turned-on in the settings of Always Standing, and the email address used to send posts is saved into my email contacts.

So, my email was hacked and they sent the link to some of my contacts, the "Blog" is the name I saved the email address under and "Chris Tine" is what my name shows up as when I email someone. Normally when this happens people respond to say your email has been hacked. It used to happen like this fairly regularly to various friends of mine - I would say about five years ago I was probably getting an email like that from a contact about once a month.

56 Hours In Iceland - A 4:30pm Sunset

Jason and I are going to need more practice with the new camera, but Iceland was a good start to try to get comfortable with it. Here are two more photos, both taken in Pingvellir on Friday with our new camera. They are similar but I couldn't pick which one I liked better, I also don't really know which of us took them:

Beautiful Iceland

The Land of Fire and Ice

(Steam from hot spring on the right)

I had continued issues with keeping the horizon straight, which I know how to fix in photoshop, so if I get around to editing maybe I will post some more later on. (No edits were made to the photos posted above.)

56 Hours In Iceland - Sunday

We didn't have much time today, since Jason likes to be at the airport so early, we only got to spend the morning touring around (flight leaves at 3:30pm.) We headed north to Borgarnes to swim at the public pool (outside, heated with geothermal technology, large pools or soak in one of three different hot tubs of different temperatures, all with amazing views of mountains and the ocean.) This little trip also let us see more of the west-coast, and experience a pretty impressive traffic tunnel under a fjord.

Here are a few more shots from my phone:

Our Last Selfie In Iceland

Hafnarfjall Mountain behind Jason

I seem to be struggling to keep the horizon straight.

Jason And Good View Of Hafnarfjall Mountain

Seawall/Shore at Borgarfjörður Seawall/Shore in Borgarnes

A bit better with the horizon in this one.

56 Hours In Iceland - A Bit Surprised

None of these things were huge shocks for us in Iceland, but I don't think I knew how much of an impact they would have on our trip until today.

Lack of daylight
The sun was rising at 11am and setting by 3:30pm each day. It would be completely dark shortly after 4pm eliminating the ability to see anything. We needed to be very careful to plan driving times and site visits to use our brief period of daylight the best possible way.

Expensive food
I knew that eating out in Iceland was very costly, and thought I would fix that by getting an Airbnb that had a kitchen so we could cook, pack lunches, etc. Well, it turns out it is because the food is expensive. Four chicken breasts were over $20 in the grocery store.

A lot of what we eat comes from cows
When I saw the price of chicken, I also noticed that ground beef was very pricey. Then I remembered that the country is very careful with protecting their native animals from diseases, and while they do have cows on the island they don't allow any to be brought in. This meant the milk and especially cheese was also crazy expensive, we paid $8 for cheddar to put on our sandwiches.

Cars breakdown
We knew that we would need to be driving standard, which both Jason and I are fine with. It was a bit surprising that at the end of our hike today the car didn't start. We had to call the rental company and they sent people to pick us up at the train head, bring us back to the city and give us a different car. Since rental cars are always so new you would think that they would be fairly immune to breaking down.

56 Hours In Iceland - Pingvellir, Iceland

The Path To Another World

Pingvellir National Park, Iceland

Photo taken with my phone

(Excited to see what the photos on our new camera look like.)

56 Hours In Iceland - Forgotten Items

Jason was able to help me pack for the surprise trip, but even with his double check, we still forgot things. I have posted about forgotten travel items before. Having just landed, here is what we forgot on this trip:

- My scarf
Luckily we had brought along quick-dry travel towels, I used one of those instead. (See Photo) I don't even think you can tell the difference!

- Batteries
We only needed them for Jason's noise-cancelling headphones but it might have helped him sleep on the plane. I only got about an hour of sleep and Jason didn't sleep at all.

Short Hike With Big Rocks

Pingvellir National Park, Iceland

56 Hours In Iceland - Rushing To Take Off

I surprised Jason for his birthday with a quick trip to Iceland. (And I mean, quick, we are in the country for just 2 nights, a total of 56 hours.) This has been the biggest surprise yet, in terms of distance for sure, and it included a flight etc.

My plan to create an elaborate Game of Thrones themed story to build to the surprise reveal didn't end up happening because I was busy with work. I ended up telling him the night before our 6pm Thursday red-eye flight. This way he could help with packing in the morning while I had a meeting at the office.

As usual we were rushed heading to the airport, which I find exciting and Jason finds nerve-wracking. Even with all his panic we were almost an hour and a half early to the gate, ridiculously early in my mind.

Somewhere Nearby

It has been a long time since I seen my cartouche deck. I have seen it in Casa Verde so I know it wasn't lost in the move but I don't know where exactly it is. I have been doing the 'ignore it and it will show up' thing which is a variation of the 'fix it fairy.' But I think it is time to do a serious search, I miss it and want to peer into the future.