Spatter

Happy New Year!

Be Healthy & Happy!

New Year's Tradition Continues

Once...many years ago...I was actually in Times Square on New Year's Eve.  It was fun, albeit a bit disconcerting to be pushed along with and by the crowd.  I couldn't see the ground.  I couldn't control where I was going.  It even snowed some right after midnight.  I'm glad I did it, but never need do it again.

Most years...when I didn't have to work...I've spent New Year's at a house party.  But over time, the parties became smaller in size and fewer in number. Somewhere along the way my New Year's morphed into Judy, Shaynee and I celebrating quietly and comfortably at home.

But three years ago, a new tradition of sorts started that we'll do again this year.  We drop Shaynee off at Judy's sister's house and then Judy, her sister, and I go to the Muvico theater in Boca Raton. We go to the early show, have dinner, and we're off the roads well before midnight.  The first year we saw Dreamgirls.  Last year we saw Milk.  This year we're seeing Nine. 

What makes it nice is that the theater has its own restaurant - Bogart's Bar & Grill - on the premises.  We see the movie, then go eat.  It's quite nice...they have a special fixed menu which includes a bottle of wine.  Tickets bought and reservations made ahead of time so all we need to do is show up.  

A healthy, happy New Year's to all...

Merry Christmas!

Artist Unknown

Blessings Everyone!

Finally

Finally, some cool weather here in South Florida!  The torrents of rain have stopped and has been replaced by sun and wind.  Judy's in the garage building a bird house; Shaynee's resting nearby...no doubt waiting for her next snack; and I'm here on the computer processing photos and looking around interesting sites on the internet. 

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be more of the same...Judy's planning on going to the dog park and I'm planning on going somewhere to shoot.  I'm wondering where best to go to keep the effect of the wind to a minimum.

Meanwhile, our house in Floyd is in the middle of a snow storm.  I wish we had a cam set up so I could see it.  I might have to look into that...

Off For Tampa

I'm leaving this morning...heading for Tampa.  I'm going up for some photo playtime with Leta.  It actually started with us rendezvousing at a photo outing in Lakeland on Sunday but it turned out to be an extended visit.  Leta doesn't live in Tampa, but her daughter and family does.  When it became known that they'd be out of town for the week, their house became available for us.  So now we'll do some photo hunting around town before heading over to Lakeland. 

The Day Has Come

The day has come to say so long to my home phone.  It's going to feel a bit strange, seeing as though I've had one all my life. 

Shameful Practice

The other day I received a letter from Wells Fargo about a small investment account of mine that they now hold.  I actually had opened the account with a brokerage company.  Wachovia took them over a few years ago, and then Wells Fargo took over Wachovia.  You know how that goes. Back to the letter...

The letter started with an alarming header "Information Compromise Including Your Social Security Number" and then began by saying:  "Regretfully, we have learned that confidential information about your closed brokerage account was improperly removed from a brokerage office by an associate who left Wachovia Securities in June of 2008 to go to work for another employer."  

I subscribe to Lifelock, but even so, one never feels good learning something like this. At the very least, it means there might be work to be done and time to be spent on insuring that nothing would come of it all.

As I read on, my feeling of angst turned into anger.  You see, the letter went on to pitch their own identity protection service. 

"Wells Fargo Advisors takes information security very seriously and, although there is no indication that your information has been misused, we encourage you to take the steps outlined in this letter...to reduce any potential risk to you."  It goes on to name its product and even offers me a free one year subscription to it so long as I sign up by December 31st.  

Yes, Wells Fargo actually felt it necessary to pitch their product by yelling "fire" rather than just explaining its merits.  Given the fact that they say "of course you will not be responsible for improper or unauthorized charges related to this situation should any occur", their tactics are stupid at best and unethical at worst.

I'll give Lifelock a call to advise them of all this just to be safe, and then...then, I'll be calling Wells Fargo to let them know how I feel about their tactics and that  I'll be closing my account with them. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Rainy Day

Today's been a rainy day...good for catching up with paperwork and watching old movies. Just finished "The Big Clock" with Ray Milland and am now watching "Dark Passage" with Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall.

A Decision Made

I've totally recovered from my recent AT&T experience, but as often is the case, a bad experience opens the door for change.  That's something all businesses should remember. 

Starting next month...December 11th to be exact...we're going to be discontinuing our local phone service with AT&T.  We won't have a house phone here in Florida. Instead, we'll be all mobile with Verizon's Friends & Family plan. 

Our cell phones have already become our primary phones:  we use them for making long distance calls, and we're giving our cell numbers out as contact numbers because we're always out and about.  So now, we'll have more minutes and more flexibility to use them.  The money works out about even...current plan plus AT&T is about equal to new plan...but it's going to give me more for my money. It's also one less account to keep up with.  

Post Note

We'll still be keeping our house phone in Floyd...mostly because our cells have Florida area codes and calling them would be long distance calls to locals there. It's with a regional company called Citizens.