Technology Strikes Again!

Don't laugh, but I still use AOL for my email. I've been using it since it first came out and saw no reason to stop. We have Verizon Fios here in Texas and during the first year we lived here, didn't think anything about it until we noticed an increase in our AOL bill. We were still paying for the dialup. Duh! So, I cancelled the service but bought my screen name for life. My husband has his computer all set up with AOL connections to his sports and whatever else he does and his screen name is grandfathered into mine.

Monday, when I signed on for the morning, I noticed I had 26 items in my spam folder. It was all undelivered mail. I didn't think anything about it until my friends started to email and call me saying they were getting spam mail from me. Huh?

Husband comes home from work with a packet they've received telling all employees to change their password because of spamming. Aha! Something is going on. I hate changing passwords even though I know I should. Now they are accepting special characters making it more creative. When I finally got the 'brilliant' message from AOL, I felt like I had won an Oscar! Then, watching the noon news, the story came on about AOL being hacked and advising everyone to change their password. AOL was currently working on the problem! Don't you just love technology?

The good news is I finished reviewing my completed manuscript for my next book, tentatively called Not Just an Act. It's another romantic comedy which I know you will love. I have yet to finish the blurb to submit to my publisher which I plan on doing very soon. I pray they like it as well!

Happy Easter

Nature has really greened up the grass, trees and lawns! Our rose bushes are starting to bloom; such a pretty time of the year!

I love to take walks outside and try to walk at least an hour a day. It's helps me with my writer's block and my emotional well being as well as my health.

I love where we live because the city has provided wide, winding sidewalks with plenty of crepe myrtle trees. It's not too hot at this time of year either.

The only complaint I have, (don't laugh), is that they have opened up a Dairy Queen restaurant only four blocks from my house. It opened in February and I have done my best to avoid walking in that direction. I don't carry money with me on my walks, no reason to stop. Right?

Yesterday, my daughter wanted to walk with me and I warned her, it's going to be an hour. I don't want it to be 'take a step; drag Alexis' kind of a walk. Wouldn't you know on the way back, she started to complain how thirsty she had become. I told her to man up! We are only 6 blocks away from home.

She had money in her pocket and the next thing I knew, there we were at the Dairy Queen where she ordered a cherry Arctic Blast. Do you know how tough it was to be there with the smell of ice cream and shakes hovering in the air?

I was good. I only had a sip of her drink and didn't order a thing. No chocolate dipped cones, no ice cream sandwiches, no shakes, no Dilly Bars. Can you tell my mouth is watering? I've worked too hard to lose weight to slip up.

Monday, while she's at work, I'll walk the other way...as far away from Dairy Queen as I can!

I forgot to mention the Godiva Solid Dark Chocolate Easter Bunny sitting on my counter. Groan!

Always Something

First off, I just want to say thank you to all of you who commented on my last blog! Yes, we need to weed out dishonest auto repair businesses! One step at a time.

Last week, I tried really hard to get away from the Internet to devote time to my next book so I can submit it to my editor. On Monday, I devoted at least ten hours of writing and rereading and felt on track. Life got in the way on Tuesday through Thursday and then I spent more time on Friday. Hopefully, I will be done soon so I can start on my next one!

I did try the library, but it is not at all quiet like it was when we were growing up. Our library is small but functional. It has tables where you can sit and work quietly on whatever you're doing as well as tables where people can hold tutoring sessions. Within the area of tables, there are sitting areas of stuffed chairs and love seats. This area is surrounded by shelves of magazines.

Then off, to the left, is the children and young adults sections where they have a similar set up along with a huge fish tank where children love to watch the colorful fish.

Then, there are rows of computers, where people can access the Internet to do whatever they want. As I said, very accommodating.

There is also a huge auditorium where story telling for the little ones is held as well as scheduled classes and meetings. Very nice.

So why do the mother's bring in their little ones, who scream from the minute they enter the building? Not only that, they don't discipline them at all? They ignore them. They let them run up and down the aisles unattended. They also bring these children into the adult section where people are working, so that mom can check out a magazine while the poor little guys are bored out of their minds?

Let's not forget the mothers who bring in infants to the adult section to sit on the stuffed chairs so they can breast feed? I am not against breast feeding at all since I did it for my daughter, it's just that the library does have other places to accommodate these mothers.

The staff is not encouraged to discipline any of these women. They fear the public will stop using the library, so this behavior is tolerated. Sad state of affairs for our future.

I have invested in some really good earplugs!!!

Life in the Fast Lane

What a week! I have a hate/love relationship with cars. I love them but when they break down and I have to deal with repair shops, I hate it. Since I'm the one who works from home, the responsibility of getting the cars repaired is up to me. When I grew up, my father made sure I knew how to change the oil and change a tire. Since he traveled extensively by car when I was growing up, I learned with each break down he had, the mechanics of the engine. Of course all that has changed with computerized engines, but getting ripped off by repair places has not changed at all.

First off, you avoid the dealer when your warranty has expired. They charge you an arm and a leg. I had a fantastic repair man I used when I lived in PA but being down here in Dallas, I haven't been able to find a decent repair shop.

My sob story...Our 2006 Mazda 3, the passenger door's bolt kept popping when being opened or shut. Kind of sounded like a pop gun. I took it to a place close by to have them take a look at it. I dropped it off at 10 and walked home. I'm thinking serious things when they hadn't called by noon. Finally, they called and said nothing about the door being fixed but my oil was really dirty as well as the brake fluid. Okay, I couldn't recall the last oil change but it probably was a while ago, so I gave them the go ahead. My husband keeps an Excel spreadsheet on all of our cars on his pc. I didn't want to wait the ten minutes it takes to boot up his computer and then to find the file, so I'd deal with his wrath when he got home. The bill at this point was $150.00. I'm waiting and waiting and around 3, I call them to see when the car would be ready. Well, they found another problem. The power steering hose is leaking and that's an additional $500 for parts and labor. NO! All I wanted was the door to be fixed. Now, I'm angry. I told them no and I would pick up the car in ten minutes. I did boot up the pc only to find out that we had replaced the power steering hose 800 miles ago done by NTB.

When I picked up the car, the mechanic bent over backwards showing and telling me about this hose and how I shouldn't let this go. It didn't look like it was leaking to me and if anything, I'm taking it back to NTB. The end of this story? They didn't charge me a dime for the door. Loose bolt. Which is why they went out of their way to find something wrong with the car in the first place. Never going back there again!

On a happier note, a friend of mine who owns a gift and card shop here in Flower Mound gave me a call out of the blue. She had an author at her shop who had a book signing and asked me to come in to meet her. I did. Her name is Ann Winston, the title of the book is Love and Other Lies. We had a blast trading stories. We were soon joined by another lady, Lois. Lois is an unusual name, so we tend to be friends when we meet. There is a Lois Club which I am a member. She hugged and kissed me and called me her daughter. It made my day to meet such great people!

If only the car repair shops had ethics like that....