I have the radio on Ocean 98. It still amazes me that I can listen to stations all over the world. In this case, it’s only 3 hours away. But my old friend, Tom, will be on in a bit. Tom describes himself like this:

I was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. I moved to NYC in 1979 and lived there for 20 years, performing with the band 5 Chinese Brothers. In 1999 my wife and I moved to North Carolina, where I performed with the Frosted Sugar Bombs. These days I’m performing solo and writing educational songs under the credit “The Princeton Review Orchestra.”

So he’ll be on Ocean 98 talking about his Vocab Minute – in particular the widely acclaimed Rainy Day SAT Blues #4000.

There are millions of blogs. Sure, a boatload of them are spam blogs, but there are still a slew of people like us – people who sit at our computers and write about stuff. Work stuff. Life stuff. Useless stuff.

I read a lot of blogs most every day. I found a lot of them through other blogs I like and some by chance and some… I don’t even remember. But I found some people that I really connect to. People who I (do I dare?) consider friends. People who I miss when they’re not posting regularly and who I actually feel that I know.

So what I wonder is this. Are we just more available this way? Are we more open minded and less judgmental and make friends easier in the blogosphere? Or is the reality that we find people through people that we’re already predisposed to like or have things in common with or such? Or do we just get lucky and find the blog equivalent of soulmates by happenstance?

There are blogs I’ve read that I never go back to and blogs that I’ve read where I felt disconnected from the writer. And those people have not infiltrated my world. While others have.

Ugh. The grammar in this is just awful, but I am thinking – not really writing. Is it just me? Or do you wonder about this, too?

Maybe I should just go supervise the shredding. All this thinking is making my head hurt.

I went to a presentation by the FBI about identity theft. Actually, I organized the presentation for a group around here. Mostly, it was attended by seniors. I learned one new thing. (I read a lot about this sort of thing, so it’s not that the speaker wasn’t informative!) The new thing I learned is that a cross-cut shredder is much more effective than a regular run-of-the mill shredder. So, surprise – we ordered one. (Note: I buy almost everything online. Did you know that Staples delivers the next day!?)

So as dinner was ending tonight, Andrew and I saw that the boys’ energy level was, how should I say, over the top? So Andrew announced that tonight, as a special treat, if they were really cooperative……..

He would let them shred.

Oh boy!

It’s kind of like a flip book….

So today, the credit card statement came through and the Homewood Suites‘ $180 charge was on it. (quick refresher – we made a reservation when our floors were being refinished, but as it turned out we didn’t need to sleep out. when we called to cancel, they said there was a 24-hour cancellation period so we couldn’t. they failed to mention that when we made the reservation.)

The manager, Joy, wouldn’t return our call. It felt like we were with 60 Minutes! So we called the Hilton office and they said they couldn’t help us. We had to talk to Joy!

Isn’t it ironic that someone with such a cheerful name would be so fricking unpleasant? But I digress.

We called Capital One. We were surprised to hear that they wouldn’t put the charge in dispute unless we first talked to… you guess it… Joy.

Oy.

But then, I got the mail. On Hilton letterhead.

Your effort and time in sharing your comments surrounding your experiences with Hilton Hotels is most appreciated and something we take very seriously. Please accept my sincere apologies for any aggravation or inconvenience you may have experienced during your visits.

We are constantly monitoring the performance of all hotels in the Hilton Family of brands against high service and quality standards. In our mission to be the first choice of the world’s travelers, it is tea feedback from our guests that enable us to continually improve and exceed those standards. You can be confident that we will follow up on the points you have outlined to ensure staff awareness and additional staff training where needed.

Andrew Scherer, Hilton Hotels values your patronage – we want you as our guest! Again we extend our apologies, an hope you will allow us the opportunity to serve you again in the near future.

Sincerely,
William Chapman
Guest Assistance Specialist

And William seemed to care. Well, it was a form letter. But still, why not give him a chance? So Andrew, being the calmer of the two of us (hey, I see you laughing!) called the guy.

And guess what? Willie is going to send us a refund check.

Score one for the good guys.

I had to scan this when I pulled myself up off the floor. Reed wrote this – maybe in kindergarten?

This is my mom & dad, my sister between them. That’s me with long hair and then my brother. Eerie resemblance between my mother and Marge Simpson, don’t you think?

When I clean my office or cluttered drawers, etc., I tend to look at every piece of paper, picture, document. As you can imagine, it’s not an efficient process. BUT it does make me smile. I came across these today… one is Max in a great friend’s yard several years ago. The other is a newspaper clipping of Andrew (the hub) when he was about 8 years old sitting with Rosey Brown of the New York Giants. Back to cleaning!

Forget the spinners: pimp rims go high-tech (updated!) from Leftlane News. Now they’ve thought of everything.

Have you ever met a grandparent who didn’t think their grandchild was the most talented ever? Me neither. So when my mom told me that my niece did her first charcoal and that it was great, I took it with (sorry Mom!) a grain of salt.

But then she emailed this to me. I think it’s terrific. Of course, I think all five of my nieces and my (one & only) nephew are a talented crew.

When I started blogging, I wondered just how much of my family’s privacy I was willing to disregard. Put another way, was I willing to totally embarrass my kids online? I’ve read a lot of blogs and I believe that I am not alone in wondering where the lines should be drawn.

In this particular instance, I feel that if I don’t share it, I’ll burst. So here goes….

I played poker last night. I love my game – all women. It’s the night each month I most look forward to. So, chips in hand, I left right after dinner.

This is a tale of what happens when three little boys are left unsupervised. (Note: Andrew was deeply engrossed in a novel. He wasn’t slacking off, he was just prioritizing!)

Here was the report I got this morning…

1. Max drank toilet water.
2. Max tasted urine.*
3. Max examined the chicken pox that no one should see on Reed.

Are you spotting a trend here? Of course, I asked Max why he thought those were good ideas. He told me that his brothers dared him. “Oh”, I said. “And you do whatever you are dared to do?”

He beamed with pride. “Oh yes, Mom. I am the King of Dares.”

Then Max went on to tell me about the food he ate in the cafeteria on a dare. And more. It was horrifying. Before my eyes, I saw Max jumping off a bridge, taking Ecstacy, crowd surfing….

I may never sleep again.

*Max also informed me that he read in Oh, Yuck: The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty that drinking pee won’t hurt you. Thank you to his wonderful aunt for buying him the book. You know who you are…