Oh No – Please protect my account

This is the latest in phishing.

It looks like a real email from Hotmail.

It speaks to fear which is, well, scary.

The email says they will help me if I give them my account information

It’s signed by an official of Hotmail, supposedly.

She is polite and scares me with a statement that if I fail to comply, my account will be closed. I don’t want this to happen.

However I have been around the block a few times and figured this one out pretty quickly. I am sure that 95% of the others who get this email are also pretty smart.  I’m not so sure of the other 5%.

We all know that DGTFX is not a virus.

ORIGINAL EMAIL MESSAGE:

from:		Windows Live™ Live Team kathieahern@hotmail.com
to:		Windows Live™ Live Team <kathieahern@hotmail.com>
date:		Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 11:21 AM
subject:		***Closure Of Account*** Case ID ANG000027086771
mailed-by:		hotmail.com

Virus Notification

A DGTFX Virus has been detected on your account. Your email account has to be upgraded to our new Secured DGTFX anti-virus 2012 version to prevent damages to our web mail log and to your important files.You will receive a mail from Windows Live indicating on how to protect your account from receiving virus. Click your reply tab, Fill the columns below and send back to us or your email account will be terminated to avoid spread of the virus.

Full Name: …………………………
User name: ……………………
Password: …………………………
Reconfirm Password: …………………
Date Of Birth…………………….

Note that your password will be encrypted with 1024-bit RSA keys for your password safety.

All ACCOUNT User Should Reply Now !!!

Failure to do this will immediately render your Web-email address deactivated from our database under 24hrs.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Warning Code :ID67565434
Windows Live Support.
Copyright ©2012

I would reply with FOOL – except that would confirm my email address for the FOOLS.

Anyone get any other STUPID phishing emails that slipped past spam filters lately?

My Blogging Milestone

Today I hit a really cool Blogging Milestone.

This blog hit over 10,000 views

And I did it with 202 individual stories across less than 8 years of writing.

My first post was “Customer Service – What is this actually” was written on 11/14/2004

My 200th story was special to me. It was a 2012 Valentines gift to my titled “I Love You“

My activity was sporadic in the beginning, but eventually picked up:

5 stories in 2004 – I really did not know what I was going to do when I got started
12 stories in 2005 – Can I use career change as an excuse for not paying attention to my writing? Nope, I shouldn’t
6 stories in 2006 – This was my first year as an IT sales Person – I lost focus of what I love doing
2 stories in 2007 – Yeah, pretty pathetic – I agree – go ahead, yell at me
2 stories in 2008 – What a freakin non-blogging fool
46 stories in 2009 – Getting my groove on again – Finally, I got the itch back
39 stories in 2010 – Why did I slack off? (Hey I did write 15 posts in Traveling with Bum in December 2010
75 stories in 2011 – Back to a Great pace now and this does not include the 100 stories I posted in NCWiseman, the last 15 stories that ended Traveling with Bum and first 11 chapters of Is It Worth it Does It Matter
15 stories so far in 2012 (nearly 2 months in) – Keep this pace and I will hit an all time of 90 stories, again not including NCWiseman and Is It Worth it Does It Matter

It has been fun writing, sharing, researching and posting stories about me as well as sharing other stories that I reposted when I felt the calling to do so.

SO – what do I want to say

THANK YOU FRIENDS

THANK YOU FOLLOWERS

AND

THANK YOU ALL who just stopped by

I’m blessed.

Teddy

How old is she Teddy?

Many years ago I had to train 4 ladies in a new accounting department. We all worked for a new business located in the Triad area of North Carolina.

We had just setup Great Plains Dynamics and the ladies were responsible for all of the AR, AP, PR and GL work for this small business.

The ladies were nice and fun to work with. They did their job well and learned quickly. This made for a really good working relationship and I soon let myself get pulled into the many conversations that went on in the accounting office.

One day three of the ladies were talking about the age of people in business. They began stating their own ages to each other.

This is when I got myself in trouble.

One of the ladies in the room asked me, “Teddy, how old do you think Greta is?”

Picture this as you imagine why I made the guess I made.

Greta came to work every day wearing business professional clothing, even suits. I don’t think I ever saw her in blue jeans or t-shirts.

Greta alway wore  makeup and her hair was always “done  up”. (what ever that means)

So, in my infinite wisdom I decided to reply, “There is no way Greta is 35 yet.”

Wow, you would have thought I shot her.

Greta ran out of the room crying. She ran straight over to the HR manager, slammed the door shut and commenced to  bawl her eyes out. I could hear the HR manager asking her, “What’s wrong? Who did this to you?”

I turned to the other ladies in the room who all looked stunned at what had just happened. I asked, “What did I say wrong?”

One of the ladies answered the question with just four words, “She’s only 18 Teddy.”

OUCH – I guess she thought “not yet 35″ is really old.

I got counseled by the HR department to be careful what I say to the employees. I promised not to guess employee ages ever again.

Greta eventually forgave me for insulting her. I wanted to tell her she looked really good for 18, but fortunately a better wave of wisdom convinced me not to do that.

And, most importantly, I learned a really important lesson. Regardless of any situation, never, I repeat, NEVER guess a woman’s age. It’s best to just say, “I have no idea.” And, don’t ask them to tell you either. Neither actions are wise to do.

My First E-commerce purchase

Ecommerce thru the Internet started somewhere back in 1994, at least as far as I was involved.

I have four daughters and in 1994 one of them was twelve years old. She wanted to purchase an item from JC Penny.  My wife and her went to the local JC Penny and it was not in stock.  For reasons beyond my feeble understanding, she wanted the item that JC Penny had and no other store would do.

When they got back home, empty handed, you could see they were disappointed. “Why don’t you try their website,” I suggested.

Off they went to the only computer we owned, mine. I had hoped to do some work, but as a wise man once said, “Never get in between a woman and her ability to buy stuff.” I learn this years ago.

They searched the JC Penny site for the item my daughter wanted. It was available online. YEAH. However, they had no idea how to buy it. So you know what happened next. Yep – My daughter calls out – “Dad, can you help us please?”

Now, I admit, I had never purchased anything online before. But, being a little bit of a computer and software expert, I scanned the page and found  the Add to Cart Button.

- so I clicked on it and then noticed another icon change showing that I now had one item in my Shopping cart. That was cool and pretty easy.  I looked around the page hoping for that next set of instructions. There were lots of instructions for searching for more items and even some suggestions for relevant items.  None of these ideas appealed to me.

- Then I found in the upper right side of the page the Check out button. So I clicked on it. This brought up another page where I entered in the shipping address and selected the least expensive shipping method, UPS Ground. Pretty cool

Scanning the page for more instructions, the next button I considered was Continue

- So I clicked on it.

This opened up the Credit Card information screen.  This was the page my wife worried about the most. She brought up credit card fraud risk – how could we be sure that our credit card info was going to be safe.  We pondered on this page for a few minutes before we all felt safe to enter my credit card info. When we all felt good, away I went, account number, expiration, name on card and my address. Interestingly there was no plae to enter an email address. (Note – I got a letter in the mail about a week later confirming my order.)

The last button I chose to click on was the Confirm Order Button

- Clicking on this brought up a JCPenny page thanking me for my order and assuring me it would be shipped soon. The message also said if there were any problems with the order they would call me.

All in all, my first experience with ordering online went very well.  It took about two weeks for the item to arrive.  That was a happy day for my daughter.

I was thrilled that the process worked.  I proudly told anyone who asked me, that online purchases worked. Later on I learned more about purchase history and marketing based on your purchases.  This worried me a little, but, heck, it’s not like I ordered anything that I am embarrassed about.

Anyway, what do you think about the very first item I bought online.

My daughter loved it.  And, JCPenny never marketed training bras to me. They missed out on that one.  I had three other daughters.

I Love You

Today is Valentine’s day and I have to work late tonight. I hope that I don’t get sacrificed because of this. I know that the ancient Romans may be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men, both named Valentine, on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. I’m glad my name is not Valentine.

Despite the fear, or maybe in part because of it, I want my wife to hear that “I Love HER more than I love anything else in the world!“, but I have to fulfill the commitments I have made and won’t get home till late.

So, I’m going to try to make it up to her by publicly telling her how much I love her and asking others to let her know this.

Here is my call to action for anyone who knows my wife:

I hope that someone reads this story this morning and will let my wife know that I wrote it for her. Send her a text, email, Facebook message, Tweet, LinkedIn message, call her or walk up to her and let he know that “I LOVE YOU!“

If you need to know how much I love her, follow along folks.

My Public Statement of Love for my Wife:

Baby, I love you more than words can say. These three words say it all - I LOVE YOU!

You are the sexiest and most beautiful woman I have ever met and fortunately for me, you have found some happiness with me and have decided to stay around. I am so fortunate that I get to hold your hand, sit beside you and share my pillows with you. I LOVE YOU!

You have given me strength and hope in all I do and because of this I dream and chase my dreams. I LOVE YOU!

Because of the love that you share with me, we have beautiful children who are the reason I am who I am and have shaped the journey that we have been on together. I LOVE YOU!

Because of you I have purpose in my life.  You taught me to give, laugh, play and enjoy life and again, because of you, I understand the value of this so much more. I LOVE YOU!

You let me be who I am and do what I do because you love and believe in me. Even when I am playing the role of “Idiot”, you let me be who I am, knowing that I will return to being and acting much more positive. I LOVE YOU!

You support the crazy things that I want to have and want to do. I LOVE YOU!

You let me have my fantasies and even encourage me to some degree by laughing with me as I share the crazy stuff that is in my head. Yes, we will write this book one day. I LOVE YOU!

I don’t do cards, chocolates or flowers. I’m not a romantic or sentimental guy.  I did buy you a gift this year and I hope you enjoy it, even though it’s not wrapped in pretty wrapping paper with a card.

I offer you all the Love that I have to share and only offer it to you.

I imagine the time I will have with you and smile both inward and outward. Sometimes people think I am strange when I bust out with a smile for no known reason (to them)

I pray to God that you and I will be able to walk hand in hand thru life forever.

I recently heard someone say that she loves her husband because, “my hand fits his.” We don’t just fit each other. We fuel each other’s lives and aspirations and dreams. I want to do this forever because I LOVE YOU!

Please meet me as I head for our pillows tonight.

We’ll laugh and hug. We’ll kiss and then you can call me “Idiot” for my blog post. I’ll know that You LOVE ME and you’ll know that I LOVE YOU!

Happy Valentines Day Baby!

I hope you enjoyed your stay

In the late 1990′s I slept around a lot. Nearly 75% of my nights were spent in a bed other than my own.

My job had me traveling nearly every week to somewhere in the USA and I learned real quick how to navigate Airports, rental car pickup and drop off, restaurants and hotels.

There are lots of stories related to these travels. This story is about one night in Boston Massachusetts.

I was in Boston with a my boss. We were visiting one of our branch offices outside of town. We arrived in town early enough to get a late dinner at a little diner where we also planned our next day’s activities. My boss wanted to get an early start to the next day so we decided to go back to the hotel early.

We checked in at the front counter, picked up our individual room keys and said good night to each other.

It was nearly 9:30pm when I walked into my hotel room. Nothing fancy. A typical room.

Since it was getting late and I had gotten up early that day, I decided to forego any work or boob tube and just go to sleep.

I was in bed within 10 minutes and asleep fairly quickly.

Then it happens. At 11:00PM the Fire Alarm starts going off.  It was a loud and piercing sound. “Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha” Non-Stop.

I jumped out of bed and grabbed a pair of pants and shirt.

As I dressed someone beat on the door yelling, “Fire, Fire, Get out of the Hotel Now. Take the Stairs!”

I grabbed my wallet and hotel keys and ran out of my room with no shoes on. As I entered the hallway I saw what looked like 100′s of people in different state of dress also running barefoot towards the elevators and stairs.

In masse we all ran down the stairs and out the front door of the hotel.

That’s when I realized it was now raining.

The firetrucks showed up within minutes. I scanned the building and could not see any smoke, let alone flames.

Firemen in full uniform, helmet, facemask, gloves, boots, fire coat and pants, some with oxygen tanks on, all disappeared into the front door of the hotel.

We stood around for what seemed like hours waiting for a report from someone. Finally the firemen came out. As they walked past they informed us, “False Alarm, You can go back in now.”

Like a long line of little ants, in the front door, past the unattended front desk, up the stairs and elevators, down the respective halls and back to our individual rooms we all went.

Pulling my pants and shirt off, I fell back into my bed, thankful it was a false alarm and a little miffed at the interruption of my sleep.

I calmed down fairly quickly and fell back asleep.

Then, it happened again.  At 1am the sounds started up again - ”Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha” “Bang Bang, Bang, Bang” on the room Door, “You have to leave the hotel NOW! Leave the Hotel Immediately!”

Maybe they missed the fire last time. I knew I did not want to challenge authority when it came to a possible fire, so I did as instructed.

I pulled on my pants and a shirt, this time I slipped on my untied shoes, grabbed my hotel hey and walked out of my room.

The people in the hall, again in various state of dress all seemed to be walking a little slower this time. Everyone went to the stairs except one guy who said he was too tired, so he took the elevator.

Again, down the stairs, past the unoccupied front desk, out the front door and onto the parking lot.

Fortunately the rain had slowed to an early morning mist.

Again the firetrucks showed up within moments. The firemen, this time with no oxygen tanks, strut into the hotel and within moments they emerged with the same alert, “”False Alarm, You can go back in now.”

Again the group streamed back into the hotel like good order followers and back to our rooms. I did hear another guest ask, “What is happening?” as we walked past the night security guard. “I’m not sure sir. They can’t find what is making the smoke.”

No assurance of safety there.

Back in my hotel room again, I stripped my shirt and pants and fell back in my bed yet again.

Now, I could drag this out with a long winded story, but let me squeeze it down for you.

The alarm went off again at 3AM and then 4AM. Each time the same actions occurred.

My boss and I saw each other at the 4AM false alarm exodus. We agreed to postpone our days activities by 1 hour and to check out at 6AM.

At 5:30AM I got up and took my shower. There was no doubt that I was tired as I struggled to get thru my morning preparations.

I dragged my butt and suitcase out of the hotel room, down the elevator and towards the front desk, this time occupied and busy with people checking out.

My boss showed up behind me in the check out line just as it started up again.

“Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha” It was even louder in the lobby.

The hotel guests formed two different streams. One stream of people out the front door towards the parking lot. The other stream formed behind us to check out of hotel Hell.

The lady working to check us out did not miss a beat. She continued to check guests out despite the loud piercing alarm going off. I heard her tell one guest that construction dust in another part of the hotel was the reason for the false fire alarms.

Fortunately for me, none of the guests checking out in front of me wanted to make a big deal of the chaos. They just wanted to get out of there.

Before our turn, my boss and I decided for the sake of time, I would pay for both of our rooms. As the guest before me walked away, I stepped up to the front desk, handed the hotel clerk both room receipts and my credit card. She had her actions down to an art.

As she swiped my credit card with one hand and typed on the keyboard with the other, the firemen strutted into the hotel lobby and down the hall.

With a smooth flow of motions she handed me the credit card receipt to sign with one hand and held out my credit card with the other.

She looked up at me and with the kindest face and loudest voice she could must up she yelled, “I hope you enjoyed your stay.”

I can still feel the death grip on my shoulder as my boss grabbed me. He knew that I was going to open up on her and he did not want me this to happen. He had had enough of hotel hell and the “Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha” sound effects.

I love the security systems we have in life. I get frustrated and really tired when they create false alarms.

Sprained Ankle – Big Deal

Back in the summer of 2006 the family set off to have a fun weekend in Myrtle Beach. For the most part, we did.

All four daughters, two son-in-laws and the first grand Daughter, three year old Amanda, headed to the beach late in the afternoon that Friday.

The trip to the beach has gotten much better over the years. The road has been improved and a few extra bypasses around some of the smaller cities makes the trip shorter.

We got to the beach late on Friday evening and everyone just hit their respective hotel rooms and crashed.

Saturday was spent checking out the beach and lots of the tourist stuff in Myrtle. We all had a great time. Before going to bed we planned for our Sunday.  We all agreed that we would gather for breakfast in the morning and then head off to the Nascar SpeedPark.  We wanted to spend a few hours there before heading back home.

Early Sunday morning Becky and I left our hotel room and headed up to our oldest daughter’s suite where everyone else had already gathered. The noise in the suite was loud because everyone was excited about the adventures we were about to begin.

The suite had two doors into the bedroom from the living room area or the kitchen area.  Amanda and I were making quite a ruckus as we ran around the suite playing tag or hide-n-seek as her parents packed up to leave.

Then it happened.

I thought I still had enough agility to leap over the end of the bed and past an opened suite case, but I didn’t. I tripped on the edge of the bed and fell on the side of my foot.  I looked down just as my foot bent outward at what looked like 90^o. For those who can’t picture this, let me show you what it looks like:
I could not find an exact image of what my foot looked like at that moment, but this image is pretty close. I believe it was turned far worse than this though.

Now we all know that every action creates an equally significant and loud reaction. When I saw how my foot bent, and felt the relevant pain it created, I SCREAMED!

I let out the loudest and longest series of cursing and screaming that I have ever heard before in my life. It sounded something like this:

My grand daughter ran back to me to see what had happened. She found me flopping around on the floor holding my ankle, tears streaming down my face and the barrage of curse words popping out of my mouth. As any grand child would do she asked, “Boppy are you OK?”  As soon as I saw her there I reduced the number of curse words, but I was still rocking on the floor and crying out in pain.

The noise brought everyone else into the bed room to find out why I was making such a ruckus. My wife was the first to ask, “What did you do now?” She cajoled me to get up off the floor and stop fooling around before someone get’s hurt.

It only took a few minutes before the swelling started. The pain was still quite severe. I knew something was not right with my foot.

This is what it looked like. (This is an actual picture of my ankle on that day.) My son-in-laws started calling it a Rutabaga Foot. The swelling was so quick in part because we had no ice anywhere. One of my son-in-laws went looking for the ice machines and they were all empty.

The only thing we had were 3 Ice cold beers in his fridge. We wrapped them around my ankle with a t-shirt.

Our plans had been to head off to Nascar SpeedPark, but my wife decided it was time to take me to an urgent care to make sure my ankle was not in fact broken. No one wanted to go go-carting with out me, so off we headed to urgent care, all 10 of us in 3 cars. Me and my entourage.

When we arrived at urgent care it took less than 30 minutes for me to get called. The nurse x-rayed my ankle and gave me he good news – it was only sprained. She gave me a soft boot and a set of crutches.

“Keep this boot on and don’t put any pressure on your foot for 2 weeks,” she told me. I agreed that I would try my best to do what she told me.

We all got back in our cars and headed off for Nascar Speedpark.  We spent the next 3 or 4 hours playing in the park and riding all of the various go-cart tracks.  I did great because my left foot was sprained, which is the foot used for the brake.  No breaks the way I drive go-carts, especially the fast ones.

The morals of this story:

• Careful with the language when little ones are around, even if you are in pain.
• It’s best to know you can jump the bed, before you try to jump that bed.
• Never let a sprained ankle get in the way of a great trip with the family.

Work thru the pain and enjoy your time with the family.

Never Judge anyone

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call ASAP, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery block.

He found the boy’s father going and coming in the hall waiting for the doctor. Once seeing him, the dad yelled:
“Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have the sense of responsibility?”

The doctor smiled and said:
“I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital and I came the fastest I could after receiving the call…… And now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”

“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies now what will you do??” said the father angrily

The doctor smiled again and replied: “I will say what Job said in the Holy Bible “From dust we came and to dust we return, blessed be the name of God”. Doctors cannot prolong lives. Go and intercede for your son, we will do our best by God’s grace”

“Giving advice when we’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy, “Thank God! Your son is saved!”

And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried on his way running. “If you have any question, ask the nurse!!”

“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait some minutes so that I ask about my son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left.

The nurse answered, tears coming down her face: “His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was in the burial when we called him for your son’s surgery. And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s burial.”

NEVER JUDGE ANYONE because you never know how their life is and as to what is happening or what they’re going through.

I got this story from a friend on Facebook.  It may not be true, but it is worthy of thought. I wish he had told me the source.

Banging her Boyfriend

This is priceless!!!!

A 5-year-old boy went to visit his grandmother one day.

Playing with his toys in her bedroom while grandma was dusting, he looked up and said, ’Grandma, how come you don’t have a boyfriend now that Grandpa went to heaven?’

Grandma replied, ‘Honey, my TV is my boyfriend.

I can sit in my bedroom and watch it all day long. The religious programs make me feel good and the comedies make me laugh.  I’m happy with my TV as my boyfriend.’

Grandma turned on the TV, and the reception was terrible.

She started adjusting the knobs, trying to get the picture in focus. Frustrated, she started hitting the backside of the TV hoping to fix the problem.

The little boy heard the doorbell ring, so he hurried to open the door and there stood Grandma’s minister.

The minister said, ‘Hello son, is your Grandma home?’

The little boy replied, ‘Yeah, she’s in the bedroom bangin’ her boyfriend.’

The minister fainted.

Priceless. Has anything like this happened to you?

I got this story from a friend who got it in an email.  I wish I knew the original source, but I don’t.

Do not pollute the bean

In my most humble opinion, Great Bold Bean should not be polluted with cinnamon, sugar, whipped cream or any other contaminant, I mean condiment.

The flavor of Great Bold Bean should be savored across the palette without the interruption of a sugary donut or creamy bagel.

The best of bean should be enjoyed without the toxins from such foods as Fruit Loops, Cap’n Crunch or even worse, a Pop Tart. These foods may be enjoyable, but they destroy the beauty of Great Bold Bean.

A cup, mug or French Press of Great Bold Bean is a treasure for any morning. Enjoy it alone without any other food product.

Have your cereal, donut, bagel, pop tart of muffin with your milk, orange juice or a glass of water.

Enjoy your Great Bold Bean alone and you’ll find that it is much more enjoyable.

Now, if you disagree with me, that is all well and good. Lots of people ignore what I suggest. Here is a business Insider report of 25 who failed to heed my words of advice and the blunders that resulted.  I hope you do not become one of these statistics.