Scam alert ...

Got a postcard in the mail today from "GSN/Parcel Service", postmarked in Houston, TX. It reads ...

"You did not pickup your
Parcel-No. <2001-C>
This is our <2nd> attempt
to reach you.
Please call me immediately
at 281-3970-9400 between
10-8 pm M-F or Sat 10-2 pm.

GSN/Parcel Service"

The bulk of the text on the card appears to have been rubber stamped in red ink. Items in above were handwritten in blue ink in a right-tilted, masculine pen.

For starters, we are not expecting any parcels. Secondly, never heard of GSN.

Did a web search and found others who report this is a scam. A company sends out the card in hopes of a return call to the number posted (which has changed through time). Once you call, you're invited to a warehouse someplace and pursuaded into joining a membership club that sells goods, appliances, furniture, etc. at a discount. You only need to give them a chunk of money plus a monthly fee.

Don't call them. It's exactly what they want you to do.

Now before you go chastising me on not keeping up with the new blog-project thing, I'll have you know that we just got back from vacation. We spent a week in Orange Beach and Destin, visiting with family. Barely beat the first hurricane of the year.

So the first day of hurricane season came and went without too much drama. Unless you happen to work for the Media. In which case your day was quite busy indeed hyping things like Katrina rebuilding efforts; Rita: the forgotten hurricane (which it was, by the way); hurricane preparation/kits/tips. Do you have copies of all your important paperwork in Ziploc bags in your glove compartment? In *every one* of your vehicles?? But of course, you reply. Right next to the salt tablets and the canned tuna.

I don't mean to downplay hurricanes. They are serious business and they cause tremendous damage in coastal areas. People who live in those areas need to be prepared. Or prepared to evacuate.

Don't know what we'll do this year if the big one makes a bee line for Houston. I'm concerned that, in light of what happened last year with the evacuation nightmares, far too few people will try to evacuate the Houston area this year. Many people would rather be home than on the road, as long as they're prepared and semi-comfortable. Our family has already begun stockpiling non-perishibles and water, and I'm considering buying a chainsaw and (maybe) a backup generator. And batteries for all the flashlights we bought last year.

But I'll give it a shot. At least for a while.

I've never before considered posting a blog, as it seemed something reserved for people with way too much free time. I tried keeping a simple web page once, but never updated it. So why would I think that updating a blog would be any easier?

Some friends of ours recently left town, moved back to potato country (from, I suppose, oil country ... mmmmm ... potato salad). They promised to keep in touch via blog. I should probably link to it once I figure out some of the technical details of this new venture. Anyway, it seemed a painless way to communicate and keep track of thoughts, ideas, rants, etc.

But first, some ground rules:

1. No postings (from me, anyway) about my place of employment. I love my job. Period. There are plenty of other blogs out there written by people who have extremely low levels of job satisfaction. They steal office supplies and don't flush.
2. No adult-oriented material. There's just too much of that out there already, and it's free. Or so I'm told.
3. Everything else is fair game.

Hopefully I'll fill this site up with all kinds of fascinating things, like pictures of the kids and journals of travel related observations.

For example, here's one. Last night my son Adrian (3) and I were looking through an almanac at flags of the world. He was curious about South Africa, because I had been recently and it's one country (other than "ours" and "Turkey") that he actually knows. He pointed to the Swiss flag and called it "the boo-boo one". I guess it looks like the international symbol for first aid.

See, that wasn't so hard. And we get stuff like that from our kids every day! Priceless.