Copyright Infringement

When I first designed Josh's company's website, I'll admit that I ganked pictures freely from Google Image searches to illustrate some of his services.  I would think this would be commonplace. Things like moss on rooftops and leaf-filled gutters are usually not pictures one readily has available in their personal files.  I didn't really think that anyone would care that this type of photo of theirs would appear on a small business website.  I was wrong.

Yesterday, I picked up our mail at the post office box in the midst of running other boring errands and I was surprised to discover we had received a notice to sign for a certified letter.  I waited in line with curiosity.  When I finally signed for the letter and received it, I immediately saw it was addressed to Josh's company with "Copyright Violation Notice" scribbled in red on the envelope.  I worried that someone had copywritten the name of his company and we had "stolen" it.  We just went through a name change a few months ago due to another company in the area choosing the same name for themselves.  Since then, we've spent money on new business cards, advertising, registering a domain name, and advertising costs.  I was nervous about having to tell Josh it was all for naught.  Thankfully, that wasn't the issue.  The issue, it turned out, was that someone had found their photo on our website and demanded it be removed within 48 hours as well as a written apology sent to them.  The consequence would be $1000.00.  Now, I don't know if that $1,000.00 fine would hold up in court, but I didn't need to find out.  The picture is insignificant.  Insignificant and, to be honest, not that great.  Of all the images on the site, it is the one I would gladly relinquish without a care.

Within 12 hours, I deleted it and have since replaced it with photos taken by one of Josh's former coworkers.  The pictures are small and largely unimportant to the site, but they add variety to the page.  I just find it really surprising (and annoying) that someone would have taken the time to complain and impose a ridiculous fee on us.  How did this guy find the photo anyway?  Thus far, the site has only gotten maybe 100 unique visitors.  I assumed they were a combination of family and friends and an additional 50 or so Seattle residents coming across the link on Craigslist or in doing Google searches for home maintenance services.  Add bored Portland residents with an odd attachment to photos of moss-covered rooftops to the list, I guess.

I am leaving Josh in charge of writing a formal apology to the guy. If left up to me, I think I would have difficulty being professional.  Who has the kind of time to troll the web looking for their photos?  In looking up his website, I got my answer pretty much.  He has a home maintenance business, but he's clearly bored.  The site is filled with words.  Words about himself going to Community College and earning a 4.0 in a computer class.  Many words and even a screenshot of his unofficial transcript. Words about how he is licensed with the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture to treat moss.  Words about words.  Seriously.  I've never seen so many words on a site that is supposed to advertise a home maintenance business.  It's incredibly wordy and aesthetically unpleasing. It's a shame because his very large photo of himself on the home page shows him to be a fairly attractive guy.  What a waste. So, I guess, all in all, I should feel badly for the guy.  I just took the letter to be pompous and threatening.  So I'm being defensive as a result. 

There is one photo on the site that I stole from Google Images and researched to find belongs to another window cleaning company in Boise.  I really like that photo and, even though I do think our use of these photos is insignificant, I'd like to use it.  I took it off for now and have emailed the guy to ask his permission to use it. I don't think we'd ever hear about it if I used it without getting the go ahead from him, but I did it just in case. I don't want to have to wait in line at the post office again unless it's for a really great pair of shoes someone sent me. 

Local eats

My second post and I'm going to talk about food again.  I'll need to post more regularly so you can be convinced I'm not a total foodie.  There really are more things that happen in my life.  I promise!

I am about to get ready to go to Laura's house for our monthly bookclub meeting.  This month, we read Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.  I haven't finished it.  It's a really slow read for me, as non-fiction often is.  It's weird because I LOVE reality tv and movies based on true stories.  I even admit to watching marathons of true crime stories on tv.  But I can't seem to parallel that enthusiasm when it comes to written true stories.  Anyway, I digress.

"Plenty" was a challenge a couple in Vancouver, Canada took on to eat locally for one year.  That means they ate only things grown locally (they chose this to mean within a 100-mile radius of their home) for one year.  That meant no bananas or tomatoes in the wintertime or bread.  Yikes!  I love the concept: lowering your carbon footprint, supporting local agriculture, generally eating healthier.  BUT.  I was depressed by how little there was to eat in our area.  Vancouver obviously has a different 100-mile radius than Seattle, but what is grown here is largely the same as what is grown there.  Also, our radiuses overlap quite a bit between our two cities.  I could actually eat many foods from the same farms they did and still be eating within my 100-mile radius.  Reading the book even thus far has really made me much more conscious of what we buy at the store.  I have always thought that eating organically ans shopping at the local co-op is very environmentally conscious of us.  In fact, since beginning to read the book I've realized much of our food, while grown organically, is grown as far away as Chile and New Zealand.  Even the corn I've been buying us, which is in-season here, is grown in California.  Disappointing!  I was shocked to discover how many miles our food has to travel to reach our mouths.  And we reduce that heads and tails compared to the average American! I realize we'll have to do more shopping at the weekly neighborhood Farmer's Market if I want to support local farms and reduce the amount of fuel that goes into the food we eat.

At Laura's tonight, as is our custom, we'll each be bringing something for dinner that relates to our latest read.  In this case, it means bringing something using only "local" ingredients.  Luckily, I was able to find a website dedicated to local eating for my area. I got a few recipes from that site and took them to PCC in pursuit of ingredients.  I was disappointed to discover none of the recipes I brought could be accomplished with all local ingredients from PCC.  Still, driving to Ballard for the market today would really only defeat the purpose of reducing my miles for preparing this dish.  So, I cheated.  I got as many local ingredients as I could and then I used others from as local as I could.

Here's the recipe I used:

Marinated Cucumber Salad in Honey-Cider Vinegar
from Farmer John’s Cookbook by John Peterson and Angelic Organics

¼ cup apple cider vinegar *Michigan :(

2 T water *the tap! then filtered using the BRITA

2 T honey *High Country Honey - Darrington, WA (PCC)

2 sprigs chopped fresh dill *Duvall, WA (PCC)

4 medium cucumbers, peeled, thinly sliced *Northwest (PCC)

6 thin slices onion *Phinney Farmer's Market, WA

1. Mix the vinegar, water, honey to taste, and dill in a glass mixing bowl. Add the cucumber and onion; toss until well combined.
2. Marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate overnight. Serve cold or at room temperature.

I also bought a bag of local (Chelan) cherries.  My jaw dropped when I saw the price when she rang them up ($11) considering they were not a hefty bagfull.  In fact, I could easily eat them all myself in one sitting.  Hm.  This is the other downside: eating locally isn't cheap!  I'm excited to see what others made.  I'm taking the leftover desserts from my birthday beach bonfire yesterday.  None of them are locally sourced, but I'd like to get rid of them.  Josh would happily eat all of the cookies, cupcakes, and rice krispies treats for the next week, but I had other ideas for the next 5 dinners.