Here it is June 9th and I’m headed back to Michigan. I was down here (in Florida) for ten days but didn’t take time to post anything to my blog because I was really, really busy. I canceled a bank account for my mom and did other banking chores, got a new insurance policy on the condo, I hired a five-day a week three-hours a day companion for Mom who will start Monday. I visited Mom a lot! (Usually twice, sometimes three times a day.) She had to go to the doctor to have the stitches taken out of her face (she’d suffered a bad fall.) I met with the folks from Courtyards but I even found time to go to the pool three or maybe four times and to two Rockin’ Rondevous on Thursday nights.

I didn’t have time to get much accomplished on the Evart Workshop Program so I’ll be busy this next week playing “catch-up” since I should have had it ready to go by now.

The weather here in Florida has been hot with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. I’m sitting in the Tampa terminal right now waiting to board my plane. I’ll be going through Chicago and will be home before 10:00 p.m. tonight.

I love the fact that Tampa has free wireless access in the terminal. It’s a really fast connection so I figured I’d take advantage of the opportunity. While in Florida I’ve been able to get email via my cellphone but at a snail’s pace so I haven’t done much on-line.

During my visit, I did a little “condo window shopping” but I didn’t find anything I would prefer to our place.

Well, I suppose I should get busy and work on the workshop program.

I leave tomorrow a.m. at 8:18 out of Tri-City Airport en route to Florida. I’ll be down there by 12:50. I’ll pick up my rental Buick Lucerne from Alamo and head “home” to Kings Point.

I’m packed and ready to go. John won’t be going with me so I’m already feeling very insecure and lonesome. He’s my strength.

I’ll be down there for nine days. I’m sure I’ll be busy with responsibilities taking care of my mother (who has alzheimers), but I’ll also socialize. Mom had a bad fall so I need to check on her. We have lots of Kings Point friends that I’m anxious to see again. There’s Loretta (our super sweet next door neighbor), Sandy (who has been wonderful to me), Ruth – the Webmaster (a kindred spirit), Linda – the Brit (who is nice as can be), Pat & Paul (our all-inclusive friends), Dale & Trudy (helpful neighbors who are always there for us), Bob the Worm King (our true and genuine friend who we dearly love), Paula (Bob’s significant other), along with lots of others.

I have a mentally prepared schedule that will keep me active most of the time. And I also have a lot of workshop preparation to do for the Evart Funfest. My responsibility for the Funfest is a huge so my solitary evenings will give me the opportunity to work on getting it ready to go to the printer for that event July 19th.

I also love to read by the pool, so I have a bunch of books to absorb me.

During the day, my golf cart will be on-the-go as I visit Mom, shop, and head to the South Club for lots of sun time.

Thursdays are Rockin’ Rondevous loud get-togethers in the South Club, Fridays noons are pool parties at the South Club with burgers and beer, and there are other activities which I plan to attend. There’s a “rummage sale” event on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. On the 8th there’s a big “34th Birthday Party” for Kings Point.

I love Kings Point, and it’s all an “adventure” but I’d have a better time if John could be with me.

Oh, well… I guess we only go-round once, so I better enjoy this opportunity to see what it’s like to be “alone” in Florida. A first for me.

I’m becoming an expert on another “growing” area of internet use (or more appropriately “misuse”)… phishing schemes. Over the past year, four times dulcimers.com has been hijacked by phishing scheme hackers. I think I’ve finally eliminated the problem but it’s been a nightmare! I believe the source of the problem (which became a backdoor access for hackers) was the other blog I had on my website (for Rochelle DeAnda). The script I used for her blog was called pMachine. pMachine had been closed to further development (unlike this program called WordPress which continues to have “updates” to close areas of weakness when they are discovered.) In September 2005, I used pMachine to create Rochelle’s blog, and there was no way to move her contributions to another script without starting over.

The phishing scheme hackers got in to my site and sent thousands of emails to unsuspecting folks. Those email recipients were told they’d lose their Bank of America account unless they verified their account information. It happened in May 2006, July 4th, 2006, April 2007 and on May 9th, 2007.

The last time, approximately four hundred folks followed the instructions and tried to get into the fake website.

Finally I think I have figured it out, and the hole has been plugged. The pMachine script has been eliminated.

Whew!

I’m getting ready to head south again on May 30th. It’s still about a month away, but I’m anticipating the visit.

This time I’m flying in, renting a car, but I’ll be without John. Mom fell and I need to check on her. It won’t be as much fun, but I’ll enjoy time with Mom, lounge at the pool, and make the best of it.

I put a few pictures of the renovated condo up for my daughter to see. If you’re interested, you can go to

Condo Photos (before and after the renovation)
In the “before” photos, you’ll see some shots of Mom and Hoagie (her husband). The renovated condo is much brighter, cleaner, and more attractive.