So, I go to check my gmail account an hour ago, and I get a big surprise. Given that my To Do List, electronic ticket, and Elena’s address are all there, this is a problem.
So, On Mon Mar 21 12:27 , I sent:
Hi! I have been using my gmail account normally but got the following message:
Our system indicates unusual usage of your account. In order to protect Gmail users from potentially harmful use of Gmail, this account has been disabled for up to 24 hours.
If you are using any third party software that interacts with your Gmail account, please disable it or adjust it so that its use complies with the Gmail Terms of Use. If you feel that you have been using your Gmail account according to the Terms of Use or otherwise normally, please contact us at gmail-lockdown@google.com to report this problem.

Please unlock it as I really really need to get in ASAP, and please let me know what I can do to prevent this from happening again!!

Thanks,
Cara

On Mon Mar 21 12:54 , 'Gmail Team' sent:
Hello,

Our system has detected unusual usage of your Gmail account. For your protection, we have temporarily disabled all access to your account.

If you suspect that the unusual usage of your account has been caused by a third party, we recommend that you change your password and secret question once you are able to log back in to Gmail. You should be able to access your account again within 24 hours.

If you are using any software that automatically logs in to your account, or automatically sends and receives messages, we ask that you disable the software before accessing Gmail again. Please note that the use of such third-party software is not supported by Gmail.

Sincerely,

The Gmail Team


On Mon Mar 21 13:27 , I sent:

Hi,

I don't use any such software. The only thing I can think of is having more than one gmail window open at once on my computer, or that another computer may have logged me in if someone there tried to access their gmail (I clicked the "remember my sign in for 2 weeks" option at a different computer than the one I am using now) - would that do it?

It's really crucial that I get into my gmail account ASAP as I am going to South America tomorrow and the address of my friend there is in my gmail account, as is my electronic ticket!!! I will have no access to e-mail between when I leave tomorrow and when I land in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, and need my friend's address to make it to her house.

Please, can you let me in earlier? I promise I am a real person and not doing anything sketchy with my account...

Thanks,
Cara

No time to write now, but wanted to update. Therefore, reappropriating e-mail excerpt. Hopefully I'll be having some good inspiration in weeks to come!

Hiya J,

How's it going? Sorry it's taken me so long to get back, but things have been nutty since I left New York. The day after I got back to Canada (Tuesday), I went up to Ottawa for an interview the following day (Wednesday). I was supposed to return to Toronto that evening, but missed the last train at 5:55pm, and there wasn't any way (i.e., bus or train - I thought of hitching but didn't feel like it!) to get back until the 12:30am bus the next day (Thursday), so that's what I took. Somewhere during this Ottawa fiasco, I got it in my head that I need to go to South America, so the day after I got back (Friday) I confirmed a ticket, and I leave this upcoming Tuesday. Crazy, huh?

I'll be flying into Buenos Aires, Argentina and flying out of Santiago, Chile. All I know is that I'm staying with my friend Elena in BA when I get there on Wednesday and the next night we leave for a 10-hour bus ride to Cordoba. We'll be there for a few days with some of her friends and then I suppose we'll head back to Buenos Aires. Th rest of my trip is very up in the air, although I imagine I'll spend a fair chunk of time with Elena in/around the city before heading west towards Chile, where I'll hopefully be able to connect with Rolando, my Guatemalteca friend who, last I heard, is living with his girlfriend in Valparaiso.

Anyways, I've got a whole bunch to do before I go, and am feeling a bit dizzy thinking of all the planning I haven't done and all the pieces of my life that are up in the air, many of which will be landing before I get back to North America. For example, there's a possibility that I'll land a job while I'm away, or that I'll miss out on a job opportunity while I'm away - I'm hoping for the former and trying not to think too much about the latter...

Hmmm, I have a couple friends coming over to collect their wedding present (they actually got married in June, so it's a bit over-due!), so I should sign off. But be in touch and let me know if you're ever in the same part of the globe as I am!! *HUGS* from Toronto!!!

Saludos,
Cara

Yesterday I met up with Antonio, a nice Brazilian forestry engineer I sat next to on my TO-NYC flight, and we walked through Central Park. It was an unbelievably summery day, especially given today's blustery weather, and I eventually stripped off all my layers (jacket, fleece poncho, sweater, long sleaved t-shirt) and ended up in my tank top. We even got to catch some of the famed gates that everyone's been talking about; I'm not sure I get all the hype, but at least I can say I got to go through them before they were taken down and recycled into the likes of pipes and carpet fluff (the "true story" according to the installment employee who overheard me quip to Antonio that maybe they could be used as curtains). Then we went to his Mom's place, where I got to do some stuff I needed to on Word and saw a first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (Antonio's step-dad is an English professor at Colombia).

[Aside: That book seems to be following me around since I first made reference to it as a vanity press book in the "Writing For Publications" module for the Foreign Affairs Canada contract - first on Holly's book shelf, and then there. Perhaps the world is trying to tell me something... Like maybe I should read it?]

After she got off work, Holly and I got some groceries, stuffed some salady pitas, and ran off to Trash, a bar in Brooklyn where her co-worker Eugene was doing a comedy performance with his troup. There was an open bar during the show, and after losing a couple games of post-show pool I somehow got into a lengthy conversation with a Republican comic of parents in the ministry from Oklahoma (?) at the bar, who was apparently on David Letterman last year and kept plying me with more alcohol and assuring me that he wasn't hitting on me (even though he most definitely was). Needless to say I ended up drinking more than intended. The trip home was a challenge, and I'm ever grateful to Holly for taking such good care of me...

Today, slow start notwithstanding, I think I may head down to NYU to meet up with Moriah, a friend of Tiffany's who specialises in microenterprise stuff. Yay networking!

From Modern Orthodox Shabbat on Friday night to clubbing at Nation on Saturday night, it's been a diverse start to over a week in New York City. Today I stayed in at Holly's place on West 187 St. (Manhatten) while she went to work and got some of my own work done. Hopefully I'll be able to find a Word-equipped computer to send it off soon. This last module has been dragging on, and although I don't relish the idea of being without employment (again!), it'll be nice to know that this Foreign Affairs contract is a fait accompli and a job well done.

I'll be heading to Ottawa the day after I get back to TO. Let's hope something soon leads me to the next step on my path (lattice?). I'm feeling more optimistic about prospects these days, perhaps because winter is waning or maybe because interesting-sounding employers are starting to show interest. Oh, and NYC is warmer than TO, which is nice.

It's great to finally be in travel mode again, after over 8 months (!) in Canada, and over 7 in the GTA... Let this be a beginning, a re-birth of sorts :) Next stop ???