Update MSN dilemma.

I am in the process of waiting for a reply from MSN as to how to close down my account. Since my account was hijacked I can't close it yet until I can reset my password. There are a few things I would like to save from that account. The account will close automatically March 1st as they will now charge a fee for MSN Premium. It was nice while it lasted. I was with them for 12 years but it wasn't that much better than the free email accounts that are out there. I have another option which I will pursue if my email to MSN "help" doesn't pan out. I already have two new email accounts though I'm still not sure which one will become my main account. There is a way to transfer my address book over but I need to be able to get back into that account first. If that fails I will have to start entering them all by hand.

I'm writing this on my old desktop computer. It still works but is long in the tooth. What a pain it is to get rid of old computers. I've got an ancient fossilized computer in the closet and this very one I'm using, which is 7 years old and eventually I want to get rid of both of them properly.

It will probably be a day or two until I can get back to normal, such as it is, here on blogger. Over the last two days I have been computered out making sure my desktop, my laptop and my little mini travel computer are all on the same page. All with the same email accounts. I'm still fishing around looking for a way I can change my primary email account. It appears you need permission from the Pope, the President and Oprah. I love my computers (in a non romantic way) and I suppose all these hoops you are made to jump through are in the name of security but then again my security was compromised.

OK I'm about to go out for what has become a ritual on Sunday mornings, breakfast. It is another beautiful day like last Sunday though not as warm as yesterday when the temperature tickled 60. This time I'm bringing my camera with me. Maybe I stop by later after the football games. It depends on how I feel about hitting the computer again. It will be a slow process to put everything right. C'mon MSN answer my email?!

I'm outta here.

About my email address...

Apparently my email address has been hijacked. Please disregard an email you may have received from me. I do not have a sick cousin in Spain and I'm not looking for $12,000. I have a new email address that I will send out to the folks who I have corresponded with in the past. I'm not sure how this happened but in the long run it doesn't matter as MSN and Verizon will no longer be partners as of March 1. If I wanted to continue with MSN I would now have to pay a monthly service charge. As the little Geico gecko says, "Fagetabout it!" Fortunately I have all my emails addresses from my address book printed out. This will end my association with Windows Live. That doesn't matter either. I never go there.

So now I have to make several phone calls to people who left messages telling me about what they had received including one to California. What a big pain in the ass!

But for now I'm going to make some dinner and forget about the computer for a while.

I'm outta here.

Well I'm glad it's all over. Working in retail makes the holidays tough. I'm just glad I don't work in a department store. It's bad enough in the food business. I suppose for myself the most irritating thing was the Christmas music. It started shortly after Halloween and continued right up to New Years eve. How many times can you hear Jingle bells in an 8 hour day. How about six times all by different artists. I don't know why but the song that annoys me the most is Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano. I don't know why this one just grates on my nerves so much. Still I had a very nice Christmas eve and day. The New Years week was busy and that's good for business. I was moving continuously right up until I punched out at 4 o'clock on Dec 31. I didn't do anything on New Years eve. I got home and reveled in the silence. I didn't turn a radio or television on for a couple of hours. On Sunday morning I went out to breakfast with my lady friend. It was such a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature approaching 50 degrees at ten in the morning. After a filling and very satisfying stick to your ribs breakfast we decided to take a little walk through the center of town and behind it where there are beautiful homes as well as historic home built in the 1600's and 1700's. It was quiet and beautiful as I suspect most people were home sleeping one off. I wish I had brought my camera with me. We walked by my old high school, which is now condominiums and just off the center the city. As we circled behind the old school we saw all these wonderful old homes. I am going to do this again preferably on a Sunday morning, bring my camera, photograph some of the things that surround me that I take for granted including the house where Amelia Erhart lived for a few years with her sister until she moved to Boston to work as a social worker. Her sister died in 1998. She was an English teacher at my old high school. There's a rich history of shipbuilding here as well. Not only that, rum was distilled here as those same ships brought back sugar cane from the Caribbean on their way back from Africa. Why Africa? Because they were bringing back slaves. Not one of the prouder moments in American history and yet there's no denying it happened. There is still evidence of the slave trade with a wall built by slaves in the 1700's and a still standing slave quarters. I have shown pictures of this in the past. So one of these days I will drive around town documenting all these interesting places and put a little movie together.

DID YOU KNOW that beginning on January 1, 2012 incandescent light bulbs will begin to be phased out? I came across this fact on the radio a few days ago. The law was passed in 2007. I'm not sure where I stand on this not that it matters where I stand. I suppose it's all to do with energy efficiency but it does seem like our right to chose, letting the market dictate things has been taken away. Below is a chart from the U.S. Enviormental agency showing how things will go. The incandescent bulb will disappear completely in 2014.

       

Phasing out incandescent bulbs

A 2007 bill prohibits the manufacture and import of most low-efficiency light bulbs starting Sunday.

Incandescent bulb	Phase-out date
100 watt	Jan. 1, 2012
75 watt	Jan. 1, 2013
60 watt	Jan. 1, 2014
40 watt	Jan. 1, 2014

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

OK time to change directions with another song parody from Tom Doyle. In 1976 Canadian singer/songwriter had a hit record based on the tragic sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald on Lake Superior called "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald". Well Tom changed the lyrics. It has nothing to do with the original song. Only the music remains the same. The subject matter is completely different.

 I have made one resolution this year. I'm not making any resolutions. I you all are well and the new year brings you good health, happiness and peace.

I'm outta here.