I went to a dinner a few weeks ago. The folks at the table were chatting about how some of them were Vitamin D deficient. One young lady said that when her doctor told her she had a deficiency, she looked at him like a deer in the headlights. Her retort was, “I live in Central New York. Doesn’t everyone here have a Vitamin D deficiency??” That made us all laugh. Central New York is notorious for its lack of sunshine. I read one weather study that said about 2/3 of our year is overcast.

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After being hacked mercilessly for months, I installed a new WordPress security plugin. (Well, a couple of them!) I don’t want to give out the names because I don’t want the hacker, if he’s a devoted reader, to know what I am using. (If you want to know, leave a comment and I’ll email you). I am very, very impressed with the plugins. They monitor my server for activity, and tell me when someone is trying to hack in– trying to guess my login username and password, trying to scan my site for vulnerabilities, etc. Needless to say, I’m getting a lot of alerts. Some may be false positives but some are downright scary. I’ve had quite a number of hackers attempting to guess my login details. I have to tell you hackers– YOU’LL NEVER BREAK IN. NEVER. Go get your own dang blog.

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Do you all like the custom smilies feature I included in the comment form? Man, I love smilies. I have a whole stockpile but I don’t know if I should add them. I don’t want to overwhelm the comment form!

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Every now and then, I switch keyboards and mice. Because I am at the computer all day, I tire of using the same peripherals day after day. So every couple of weeks, I do the big switcharoo, for variety. My daughter, who is also on the computer all day (chip off the old block, I guess), is also doing the switcharoo now. We’ve decided to trade keyboards every so often. I think we’ve probably started the first of it’s kind in computer peripherals: musical keyboarding. Ha!

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Lawns can have potholes, you know that? I stepped in one while carrying groceries from the car to the house, and my shocks and struts groaned in response. My spine went a little wonky. I haven’t had back pain like that in a long time, but I was too tired to get out of bed and take pain relief. So I got a lousy night sleep. Dumb potholes!

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Have a good weekend, friends. Watch the potholes, scare the hackers, get some sun.

So I’ll be quite preoccupied with rebuilding my sites. Everything is clean, but I am a bit obsessive and have decided to wipe everything out and start with new, clean installations. I’ll restore the old posts and comments and the like, but it’ll all be running on a totally clean new server and a clean new WordPress installation.

The websites will be down for a few hours when I finally make the final transition (probably later this week). I apologize for the inconvenience. I’d appreciate your prayers, it’s been a trying time. Thanks.

Author: Joseph Sandoval

I was watching the “Today Show” on clear tv this morning, like I do every morning. I love to watch the show and drink coffee before I get ready for the day. The show last until ten o’clock, but I usually only let myself watch until nine, and then I head to the gym. If I was really motivated, I would go to the gym and be home and ready before the show even starts at seven. Anyway, I think that it is definitely the best morning show on television. This morning, they had a really cool segment with Martha Stewart. Martha was showing us how to eat with “different colors”. She told us the benefits of eating highly pigmented foods and what they could do for your skin health, internal health, and mental health. I have heard a lot lately about this “food health” in relationship to pigment. I haven’t necessarily tried it, but I do think that it makes for a prettier food presentation at a dinner party! Martha said that she has been using the concept for years to keep everything looking nice on the plate!

From the doldrums to a massive tsunami of activity… yowsa, it’s been CAH-RAZEEE around here. Maybe it’s the sudden burst of warm weather? Not sure. It’s been relatively rainless (we had just a light shower this morning), warm temperatures, sunshine– I think I’ve joined Team Global Warming! Yay, team! Hey I don’t think us Northeasterners have a big problem with warmer temps. Spring is a whole month early! This is great!

Anyway, duty calls. Must run. Ta ta!

Now, I know what you’re thinking– But today is Tuesday! Oh I never let a silly thing like a calendar day interfere with my memes! lol Besides, I am usually running a day late on everything, anyway… :-p

Without further adieu….

1. What was the first live concert you ever attended?
Besides the corny pep rallies in high school, it was a Star Wars laser light show. I saw it in Philadelphia, on the green outside Independence Hall. I was such a silly girl back then, a crazed Star Wars nut when the history-laden tomes in Independence hall were crying out to me the entire time….

Anyway, here’s an example of a Star Wars laser light show. Watching it now gives me a headache. When I was there, I was so far away that I couldn’t see the screen.

2. What colors look best on you?
I really don’t know. Maybe red? Or purple?

3. What is one thing about you that most people wouldn’t know?
Well, if I told you, then people would know!

4. Who would you call to be bailed out of jail?
Probably the chief of police, because he wouldn’t be able to take the wailing and crying for very long….

5. What do you think is the greatest invention of your lifetime and why?
Jimmie Walker. He was amazing.

HAHA I’m KIDDING. But you have to admit that he revolutionized fashion for that season…

OK OK, I’ll have to go with the boring answer: the personal computer. The *real* computer was made before my time (1940s, right?) but the personal computer really revolutionized everything. Think of it– when the big fat corporations and government invented those enormous UNIX machines, not much happened with them. It was when these machines got into the hands of INDIVIDUALS that things really started to change. Power to the people, definitely!

Join in the Meet Me on Monday meme! Hey, who cares if it’s Tuesday! How would you answer these questions?

But that’s why I haven’t felt like writing much or visiting any of your blogs. I’ll be back to my old exuberant self in a few days. :D

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…and here comes another WordPress rant… (lol)

As much as I love WordPress blogging software, I can’t stand their propensity for issuing non-stop updates. Every couple of months, they totally revise the whole interface, removing good features and adding stupid ones. WordPress Guys– will you quit ruining WordPress?! If you want to add stuff, fine, but don’t keep removing some of the the things that we find useful! Ugh.

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I have another reason to hate spammers, as if I didn’t have enough, lol. Because of blog comment spam, almost all blogs are now using CAPTCHA images for comments (mine included!). Because spammers have been figuring ways to get around the CAPTCHAs, the CAPTCHA software is becoming more complex. So I am finding that the CAPTCHA images are getting tougher and tougher to decipher. I may leave a looooong wonderful comment, enter the CAPTCHA and >BANG< my comment is lost because I can't figure out the dang images!!!! *sigh* I have tried the audio CAPTCHAs but those are worse. Have you ever tried audio CAPTCHAs? Try them on various blogs and you tell me if they are difficult or not.

Anyway, I am now in the habit of copying my comments to my computer keyboard before I try to publish comments. I don't think there's anything we can do. Spam is so pervasive. Why do spammers do it?! Do they really think people are going to buy their trash when they are so obtrusive and rude?

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It rained the other day. HARD. It’s not unusual here in Upstate New York to have a January thaw, but our entire winter has basically been one big thaw.

I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. We still have another 2, 3 months of winter. Reports are that Lake Ontario temperatures are unusually warmer than average. Should an arctic wind current descend from Canada across the lake, we’ll get clobbered with snow. I hope we don’t. I think I have really enjoyed this mild winter. I’m surprised because I am the one who loves winter and snow! It’s been a nice change, and I’m happy for all the folks who usually shovel heaps of snow, because they get a break this year. (So far).

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I love Words With Friends!! What a fun game. I usually have 5 or 6 going at the same time. If you want to play with me, look me up– I’m RebeMecomber. One of my dear pals discovered that some players are using computer cheats and such with WWF. Just so you know, I don’t do that! So rest assured, you’re playing with the REAL Rebe when you play against me, lol. Anyway, I’ve always been good at Scrabble (my hubs thinks I should join a competition) but I’ve been sweating some bullets with some of you guys lately. Yow.

And has anyone else noticed this with the game?

:blink:

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Relationships are important. Take, for example, your prescription medication. You trust that person behind the pharmacy counter to get your medications correct every time, don’t you? You establish a relationship with your pharmacist, you go to him or her for advice or information, and you expect that person to be reliable. You build a rapport with the pharmacy.

Health insurance companies don’t always understand this relationship. They seem to think that we can just throw our prescriptions into any old bin and expect pills to pop out from automated dispensers. The HMOs seem to think that they can just change their policy and yank us around to this or that pharmacy, not caring that we actually build a relationship with certain people who handle our medical products.

Walgreens is different. I have been getting my prescriptions at my local Walgreens ever since they built their pharmacy here, six years ago. I will NEVER go to an automated pill dispenser type of business. I want professional, courteous service from knowledgeable, caring people. That’s what I get at Walgreens. Perhaps you recently heard that a certain HMO pulled their contract from Walgreens, forcing thousands of customers to change pharmacies and end relationships with their pharmacists. So what did Walgreens do? What any good business will do– they offered a better choice for consumers. The company offered deep discounts on their popular Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. Even without the discounts, the price is still right. That’s good business.

Currently, annual membership for the Prescription Club is $35 a year for a family– and this includes pets! For individuals, the cost is a mere $20 a year. As a member, you nab savings on thousands of generic and brand name medications, get discounts on pet prescriptions, diabetic supplies, nebulizers and flu shots. And Walgreens even gives you discounts in their other departments such as photos and Walgreens brand products.

I like a company that considers the needs and desires of their customer base. This has become so rare in our country today. Walgreens likes to connect with their customers, which is why we can connect with Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook. So hurray for Walgreens! They are offering something that so few companies (and HMOs) seem to offer today: choices, with great service!