Recent Scam.....New York Speeding Ticket

I usually hurry through to my email, because most days, I find myself the recipient of over 200 emails.  And it's usually pretty obvious, that it's junk mail, from the subject line. So even a hardened emailer like me must admit that my old ticker gave a start, when I saw that, not only had I been in New York, July 5th, of this year, which I hadn't been aware of, especially since I've never been to New York, but I had gotten a speeding ticket there, as well.

This email speeding ticket scam http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/ (New York Speeding Ticket Scam)evidently started making it's rounds in unsuspecting people's emails, a few days ago. And for just a minute,when seeing "uniform traffic ticket" in the subject line, I'm sure that it alarmed many other email recipients,as well. This of course, being just what the scammers wanted, but hopefully the recipients did not open the attachment which might have gotten them a malicious virus for their trouble.

Many would probably say just give the old junk mail a toss, but for unsuspecting souls, those not thinking and opening their email attachments, the scammers would surely win, as these viruses can and do effect many unsuspecting people.  So what can one do to protect themselves from scams? There are sites that offer advice such as http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/ , (How to Protect Yourself) and http://www.onguardonline.gov/ (Email Scams).

I'd like to think, scammers would have something better to do than send viruses to so many unsuspecting people, but that's just not the case. And there are many scam emails, such as the ones I've received like: I've just had thousands charged to my credit card: quick fix this! Or some dear person, just left me millions of dollars. Or, bless my soul, I've just received the winning lottery ticket number!  And open just one attachment in jubilation and pow! a possible virus on my computer.

Sadly, the scams will keep coming.  But since there is no letup on scams that leaves it to emailers, the unsuspecting victims, to take a more active roll in stopping this problem.  So if someone suddenly leaves an emailer millions, or if your credit cards been charged thousands, or recently, if emailers receive a speeding ticket from New York, please inform others of these scams.  It only takes a minute.  In this way, we can help thwart another scammer from achieving their goal of possibly spreading a virus to some unsuspecting person's computer.

The Scare Factor

When I was little I was very scared of mice. So it didn't take much for the scare factor to appear and I'd  be screaming like the devil himself was after me.  Dad, of course, had no patience for this and my comforting words were in the shape of "Quit being silly."  Nothing could have stopped the screaming faster than daddy making me feel like a fool.

Years later, I can still laugh about that.  I don't feel so foolish anymore, though, since I started watching Billy The Exterminator http://www.billytheexterminator.com/ on the A & E channel. http://www.aetv.com/.  While his show tends to have an offbeat kind of humor, Billy does state on there, quite often, about the dangerous diseases and germs that mice and other vermin can carry.

I think it would be cool to have a show like that where one gets rid of pests good and bad.  Billy, many times, uses a natural oil product that does not harm humans, or pets, to kill wasps and other insect vermin.  If he takes a little pleasure in that sometimes, I think I would feel the same, if it were mice.

I think I would probably be doing good deeds myself, not in relocating the animals, but in getting rid of the germs they leave behind as I sort of have a phobia with germs. So if I were on Billy's show he would be taking the animals to a new location and I would be spraying and spraying to get rid of germs and help make the homes safe for home owners and their kids and pets.

So I guess one could ask, have I outgrown my fear of mice, the very real carriers of disease?  No I still don't like the suckers and I guess in my mind they all need to be exterminated.  Would I still scream if I saw one?  Yes, if he was crawling on me, or running around my feet.  How about if he was only close by? Only if he were like those giant rats on that pest control commercial.  The rats that are playing guitars and ask the homeowners why they came home early.

Comic Con 2011

I was watching the Reelz Channel http://www.reelzchannel.com/ the other night and Comic Con 2011 http://www.comic-con.org/ was showing on there.  It brought back so many memories to me, many things that I had totally forgotten about. Like the fact that I was a Trekkie fan long before it was considered cool.   And I was living long and prospering, along with Spock, doing those mysterious hand signs long before many even knew what they meant.

I watched all the original Star Trek shows http://www.startrek.com/ created by Gene Roddenberry, with   Captain James T. Kirk, and later the newer version of Star Trek with Jean Luc Picard. To my delight I found and then started watching the Deep Space Nine shows that ran from  from 1993 to 1999.  www.startrek.com/database_article/deep_space_nine

As I continued watching the Reelz Channel, the other night, I started wishing I could be there in a cool suit like they wore in Star Wars. Or be a princess or one of the tough female characters that knew how to kick butt. There I could live in another world for awhile, there I could be the Sci-Fi geek that my inner child still longs to be. It was very refreshing to see others just as excited about Sci-Fi type shows and movies as I am. 

I really enjoyed learning too, that actors and actresses came dressed in costumes, thereby incognito, to enjoy Comic Con as well.  One actor even mentioned they had a signal, or way to know when another actor was there dressed up in costume to enjoy the Comic Con event.

I hope someday to be able to attend Comic Con and enjoy not only the Sci-Fi memories of the past but the newer Sci-Fi memories that I make now with shows such as Alphas www.syfy.com/alphas  and the newest Sci-Fi movie with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, http://www.cowboysandaliensmovie.com/

My Imagination

When I was little, I lived way out in the country, and there were no nearby kids to play with. Our home was hidden, surrounded by tall trees, like giant wooden soldiers, that hugged our home, on three sides. My only companions were pet dogs, chickens that clucked and eecked out small meals on the hard dirt's surface, and a lonely hoot owl, that occasionally called for it's mate, on nights dark as the blackest ink.

So, it's probably no surprise, my imagination, was oftentimes, a companion on rainy days, or days when mom or my brother were otherwise occupied.  On those days my imagination then kicked in. In the basement, where my child's imagination lived, my secret-other eight year old-boyfriend and I were cool spies. Or I raced my trusted steed, with a long flowing mane, up our long backyard and back down to the house again.

I would have thought, all these years later, that my imagination would have ceased to exist, but I realized, awhile back, when story ideas started coming to me, that it was not on hiatus, but alive and well.Complicated stories, where a regular life with a white house and picket fence weren't good enough.   My stories had to be long drawn out affairs.  In this way, I lived through my characters. In this way I dreamed.

Last year, I started this blog, with the urging of a good friend of mine.  I had been part of an online writing group, but just was not sure where I was going to go from there.  After the death of my mom, last year, and a feeling of total blankness, and uncaring for my writing or my imagination, I considered giving up my writing, right then and there.

This was a hard decision for me because I come from a family, where reading and the written word, mean a lot.  My dad, mom, brother, daughter and I all, for years, have had a love for reading.  But it went further than this-for my family and I-, it transcended into the written word.  My mom, when alive, loved to write poetry.  My dad writes articles for the local newspaper.  And I, well the active imagination I'd always had, was just my story characters, before they ever saw the light of day. They're now fictional characters, that are alive through the power of pen and paper, or my trusty computer.

I really don't believe my writing would have gone any further than it did, if it weren't for the encouragement of some wonderful people in my life.  So I want to mention them and thank them now.  Due to respecting their rights and privacy, I will only mention a first name or a link.  I thank, first off, always, God.  For without him, I would be nothing.

I thank my mom, always, for the support she gave me, all my life, up until she died.  I thank my daughter, who though, only nine, has praised my stories and asked me to read them, again and again.  I thank my friends, Kathryn, Jackie, Dana, and Sarah.

And in the writing world, any writer, such as myself, would not get very far without the wonderful editors out there that see the potential in a writer, and nurture it.  I want to thank two wonderful editors, in particular, who have been supportive and encouraged my writing.  Again, due to privacy, I will just give the link.  I thank the wonderful editor at http://www.inthepowderroom.com/ for her wonderful support, via email.

And I so thank the wonderful editor at http://pinkfoxpublications.net/.  He knows who he is. :-)  Thank you, for accepting my story, for believing in me, and for giving me that chance. And for all your great advice.

So my imagination has brought me full circle, like in the Lion King. http://www.lionking.com/   I had to find out who I was as a writer, which started long ago, in my imagination, as a child.  I had to take that first chance, that first step as a writer, and I had to believe in myself and sprout wings and fly.  It's not easy, but my imagination will just have to see me through.

All The Comforts Of Home

I thought I'd experienced everything when it comes to bookstores.  I've been to everything from used bookstores http://www.biblio.com/ to bigger stores such as Books-a-Million http://www.booksamillion.com/ .  So it came as a surprise, to find all the comforts of home, in a large chain book store, like Barnes and Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ , especially, when larger chain stores, no matter which ones, can be very impersonal.

My daughter and I had not had much time, that first visit to Barnes and Noble, and I thought, I'll just go in for a quick look, and then I'll be on my way.  But that was not the way it worked out.  From the minute I walked in first set of double doors, I experienced a hush...a silence, in a tiny entryway, where I was able to peruse some books on sale, before I even got to the main part of the store. It's very quiet here, and I heard neither the noises from the outside, nor the noises from the inside of the bookstore.

And when I go through the next set of double doors, I heard a sort of whoosh, and then the smell of coffee drifts to my nose, a most delightful caffeine high.  First, to the left, of the entrance, is a very cozy lounging area.  Here customers, are sitting chatting quietly, at some tables, with a few typing away on laptops as they sip coffee.  And past this, is a little cafe area.  Here again, one can sip coffee and enjoy one of the many desserts in glass enclosed display cases, to tempt someone like me, long before I take the first bite.

Even though the lure was almost more than I could take, my daughter and I start off towards the back of the store.  In the very back is a section dedicated only to kids.  The display of books was incredible. Too many to see, for a rushed visit.

So it was very hard to know where to go next.  There was a teen section just outside the kids section.  Several shelves of fiction.  And to the right of that there was a eight to ten feet, at least, long section of magazines, of every kind.  There were so many things to look at, I actually just sort of ignored- some things- as it was just so hard to know where to go next.

I had to go, time had run out, and I regretted not being able to stay longer, but I had to stop, for a second, at their cafe.  I had the biggest piece of cheesecake, I'd ever seen.  My daughter had a piece of chocolate cake.  We pulled out our books, bought in haste, but that I knew we'd enjoy.  My daughter started reading from Tumtum & Nutmeg and I started reading, Known To Evil.  It was wonderful, the short time we had.  I've no doubt I'll be back again, soon.  Only the distance, will make these visits far apart.