Erin's Journals

Hey there – welcome to Wednesday. You know all of those fake or phishing emails you get, warning you that an account (with a bank you don’t do business with) is shutting down and that you’d better do something promptly to prevent the action? Oh, I’m sure you’ve gotten them; we even got an email last week from someone within our own banking system warning us of something dire. We contacted our bank and sure enough, someone had stolen this employee’s identity and was using their name and title to spread false information (or worse).
 
Rob and I feel like we have pretty good radar when it comes to this stuff. So when I saw this email come into my inbox from aws-verification@amazon.com I was pretty sure it was bogus. Except that it wasn’t. Here it is:

Hello,

We believe that an unauthorized party has registered an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account with your visa ending in 10. To protect your information, and to stop any potential service charges, we have closed this account and cancelled any pending services.

Please note that AWS is separate from Amazon.com. AWS is primarily used by website owners and developers. This notification is not related to a physical order on Amazon.com.

We recommend that you review all recent activity on this card and report any unauthorized charges to your financial institution.

We are unable to provide information about how your credit card was obtained, since it occurred outside of Amazon.com. Some techniques include: using malicious software to capture a user’s keystrokes, trying common passwords, and sending fraudulent emails that request account information (known as “phishing”).

If this account was closed in error, please let us know by replying to this message and we will reinstate the account for you.

For information about safe online shopping, visit the “Security & Privacy” section of our Help pages.

I was about to delete the email when I showed it to Rob. And just to be extra sure, he looked at our VISA statement. Sure enough, there it was: a purchase for about $1.50 on something called Amazon Web Services. We knew it was fake because we’d never buy something that small and we rarely use Amazon.com, never mind a so-called web service (except for the site you’re reading this journal on).
 
Just as the letter recommended, we contacted our bank. They shut down that VISA card immediately, an action that caused more than a little hassle, as we were on the road bouncing between Ottawa and Toronto during that time and I had to have them send my new card to a branch in Ottawa, crossing my fingers that it would arrive before I had to fly off to Halifax and then California.
 
It all worked out – except for the charities that automatically receive donations through that card, which we have to contact – and we were fortunate that Amazon caught and alerted us to the purchase and that we paid attention.
 
We’re told this is how it works: back in the day when a card number was stolen, thieves would make a credit card call via pay phone. If the card worked, they knew they could go ahead and use it on some big ticket items. Now, with the paucity of pay phones, they’ve moved on to other means. Thus the so-called web service purchase.
 
I’ll never stop purchasing online or using my card, period. I’m not afraid and I’m certainly not going to be cowed into changing my spending habits. I’ll just continue to be careful.
 
Kudos to Amazon for alerting us like this. We’re grateful to have paid attention and helped shut down this one attempt. We just all have to be in this together. And I hope if you see an email like the one we got, you won’t be as quick to blow it off as fake, as we initially were. Live and learn, right? Back with you here tomorrow.
 

Ah, Giving Tuesday. After the orgy of excess following US Thanksgiving (Black Friday and Cyber Monday, to name two of the red letter days on the spending calendar) this day is dedicated to thinking of others and maybe putting your money where their needs are.
 
For Rob and me, giving back has meant leaning in. I wrote here last year when he was officially made a member of Rotary International; I didn’t tell you that a few months ago, I joined, too. Here I am with our president Carolyn Morley, who also happens to be a neighbour of ours. 
 

 
I waited until the book was finished so that I could attend as many of the semi-monthly meetings as possible. Some Thursday nights (that’s when we meet; others get together at lunch or for pre-workday breakfasts) I took advantage of the few solo hours to dig deep.
 
So, what is Rotary exactly? You see those blue or gold wheel signs as you come into many towns or you may even spot one on a clock or as part of a special walkway in a place you’re visiting. Rotary is everywhere – that you know.
 

 
It’s a service club, meaning we’re all in the service of others. We’re located around the world in 200 countries with some 1.2 million members, all of whom pay to join and are expected to help raise funds and do good works.
 
In our nearby town of Sidney, BC for example, we’ve put up bus shelters. We ring the bells for the Salvation Army. We host coat checks at arts events to put more money in the coffers, so that projects like house builds (both locally and internationally) for Habitat for Humanity and polio vaccinations in poorer countries can continue. The ways we give to our communities, and to people we’ll never meet, are countless. So what’s in it for us?
 
Mostly, we enjoy the company of good, like-minded people who just want to help out in their community. When Rob and I arrived on the Saanich Peninsula nearly two years ago, we knew enough people to count on two hands. But joining Rotary gave us a new purpose: helping others, meeting people with diverse backgrounds (we all have our professions on our name tags) and getting together every few weeks and at community events to have a good time. It’s just so fulfilling.
 
Here’s what Rob and I are working on right now, even from this long distance: a radio campaign for the Rotary clubs in our district. 30 second public service announcements that are going to run on our favourite local FM station, trying to reach as many potential Rotary members as we can. So, in our way, we’re using our own abilities – writing, announcing, producing – to contribute to Rotary.
 
If you think this is a club you might want to look into, certainly there are 33,000 chapters worldwide. I’m going to guess there’s one near you that needs what you have to offer and you’re always welcome to go as a guest to a meeting near you.
 
In the meantime, to find out more, here’s a list of frequently asked questions. Maybe on this Giving Tuesday, giving of yourself could be the best way to mark the day this year.
 

A quick update: as you may have seen on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (I do get around), a speaking engagement has been booked for Oakville on February 25, 2019. I was astounded to learn this (via Twitter!) but later the same day, equally shocked to discover it was sold out. I know, it’s not Wembley Stadium, but still, it felt pretty amazing.
 
So we’ll fill you in tomorrow once I’ve heard from HarperCollins regarding any other appearances (there will be some) and how to go about getting tickets. I promise you’ll learn about it here first. Okay, so now to today’s journal….
 
Think about it: one month today, Christmas will be over. For better AND for worse. I am so grateful to get your feedback about last week’s “Friday Fave” (the sunrise lamp) and there’s another one on the way this week: something I’d only read about and thought, Oh, that’s neat…. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Still Monday.
 
As always, the fake “War on Christmas” has raised its ugly head, although with Bill O’Reilly mostly out of the picture, the rhetoric seems to be carrying a little less momentum. I’m convinced the whole religious persecution thing was spread by Fox with the same glee as the vile Birther movement against President Obama, just to divide people. Boy, didn’t it work, though? And while I am a firm believer in a meme I ran across a few years ago, we met a woman last week who most definitely is not. I don’t know who wrote it, but it read:

No one said you can’t say Merry Christmas. Some people choose to say Happy Holidays to be inclusive to everyone. No one gets offended when you say Merry Christmas. There is no War on Christmas. Just say something nice and people will be happy. It’s really pretty simple.
 
Chill. Be happy.

Last week in the pre-Thanksgiving rush at Costco, Rob and I found a rare parking spot and observed as a woman who was likely in her 80s struggled to unload the heavy contents of her cart (which we couldn’t help noticing included a Kirkland brand bottle of vodka – complete with handle). We asked the tiny lady, whose hair was perfectly coiffed, her makeup maybe a little heavy, if we could help her unload. She thanked us and when we were finished, she said, “Merry Christmas. I still say that.”
 
We responded in kind and I added, “You always could.”
 
I realized at the time it might have sounded to her ears as though I was saying, “Back in the good ol’ days, that’s what we all said!” but what I meant was, “No one says you can’t, honey. That’s just made-up garbage to help you hate people who might have different beliefs from yours.”
 
At least, that’s what I thought at the time.
 
My sister works for a very large multi-national retailer, famous for paying its employees so little that they have to use the food bank to which shoppers donate within their stores. (That job, it seems, is about to become another line in the history of employment on her résumé, thank goodness.) When I posted my opinion on the bogus War on Christmas, she informed me that her store told employees only to say Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas.
 
I find that hard to believe, but I guess if she says so, it’s true. It’s also sad. I think that whatever anyone wishes you, if it’s said in the spirit of kindness and goodwill, it should be allowed. I suppose store employees should have to stick with whatever is most widely acceptable to everyone, but honestly, if someone wished me a Happy Hannukah (and I’m not Jewish) I would say thank you and wish the same thing back. I don’t have any problem with people just being nice no matter what time of year it is! Isn’t it all about the “thought that counts?”
 
For another, much more pointed blog on the War on Christmas, you definitely want to read John Pavolovitz‘s take on it. This guy’s goooooood. 
 
Talk to you here tomorrow.
 

Yep – it’s Black Friday here in the US, or as my dad calls it, “those Excited States.” (I know he didn’t make that up, but like his #3 daughter, he knows a good joke when he steals one!)
 
Although there are some for whom this day and its bargain hunting are a true annual highlight, both in the US and other places that have adopted the Black Friday hype, you won’t find me anywhere near a store. For one thing, I avoid crowds wherever possible; even though I love appearing before one, I’d rather not be in one. Analyze that, why doncha! But since for some this officially kicks off the Christmas shopping season, I thought I’d begin a Friday tradition from here until the big day arrives. Why? Why not, right?
 
During that busy stretch of work earlier this month, I had a day of coffee and laptop time and I was watching The View. It was Whoopi’s 63rd birthday and she celebrated it with abandon and reminded us that everyone should, in honour of those who didn’t and don’t get the opportunity to do just that. At the end of the show, in what was clearly an advertiser sponsored thing, she presented her “Favorite Things,” taking a page from Oprah.
 
I always loved to read about Oprah’s favs in her magazine. Almost all of them were either unaffordable or impractical things that didn’t pertain to my life (how many picnic baskets does one need, anyway?) but I saw Whoopi plug something that reminded me how much I love mine. Mind you, I haven’t used it since December 2016, when I no longer had to get up regularly before the sun. But with these short cold days and Christmas coming, how could I not remind you that this might well be on your list of favourite things when it comes to asking Santa this year? Here’s what I wrote about it in the past. And by the way, mine is distinctly not advertiser-sponsored.

A doctor friend recommended – for purposes of fighting depression and getting seratonin working in the early morning dark – getting one of these.  

 

The whole idea is to awaken in an already lit room, as though one was getting up at sunrise, as nature intended. The light gradually gets brighter and brighter until it’s fully on, and you can even accompany the light with bird sounds, gentle rain or water sound effects (uh, no…) or new age music.
 
It works beautifully…we have managed to awaken gently to our light alarm yesterday and today by setting it to begin 15 minutes before the time we want to get up. That means that at 3:30, the pitch black room begins to brighten. Then at 3:45 our other alarms (two phones, two stereos and a clock radio) all go off. By 4:00, when the hot lemon juice has been downed and the espresso enjoyed, I’m well into my pre-show Twitter scan and the room is bright.
 
I think…I think…I’m wider awake these days thanks to the illumination that tricks my little brain into thinking that the sun is up. I’m going to keep at this. But what I also need is for it to brighten up at 5pm when our afternoon nap is over – because it’s dark then, too!
 
Ah, morning hours. Best time to be on the radio (for me), no question, but oh, the challenges. Luckily, you make it worthwhile. 

There you go – from a journal originally published five years ago. I can’t tell you how much I wished I’d had one decades earlier to help me with those crazy early hours. I still have one of these lights in my closet at home; the other (the one I bought for the even earlier cottage-to-work mornings) went to my friend Lisa who, having just left radio mornings in London, Ontario to live a reWired life, may well be passing hers on to someone else who works the pre-dawn hours.
 
If you have someone on your gift list who gets up early and maybe even struggles with Seasonal Affective Disorder, this may well be what you’re looking for. Or get it for yourself and you’ll be grateful every work morning.
 
Sweet dreams and have a great weekend. By the way, next week’s Friday Favourite is another cool product designed to help you sleep those golden slumbers. Hmmm…seems like a bit of a theme, doesn’t it?
 

Hey – set the PVR (or as they call it down here, the DVR) and get set for the big Thanksgiving Day Parade, if you have little people to share it with.
 
Yes, it’s a holiday down here in the US and we have a sort of Turkey Wellington ready to go, along with a sweet potato pie that pal Lisa and husband Derek brought when they arrived here on Sunday. We’ll pair it with some whipped cream (unless it’s a side dish as opposed to dessert). All I know is that it’s Patti LaBelle’s own brand and recipe and it’s something obscene like 400 calories for an eighth of the pie, so…it’s going to be sweet, all right. 
 

 
Having Lisa and Derek here (from London, Ontario, where she’s just made the same leap out of radio that I did two years ago) has made us try to find our bearings really quickly. Just as doing a radio show in Victoria for nine months after we moved there made me figure out in a hurry where we were and what end was “up” (so that I could talk on the air about local things going on), having company has made us find interesting places to see and things to do.
 
It helps a lot when you have local knowledge and it turns out that our friends worked with a woman years ago who now calls Palm Springs home. She sent a list of things to do and see and restaurant recommendations, too, so we set out to cross a couple of those items off the list.
 
We sauntered up and down El Paseo, which is neighbouring Palm Desert’s answer to posh Rodeo Drive. While we didn’t buy anything, Rob and Derek spent time in a Tesla showroom, we moseyed through a few stores and Lisa clowned around with one of the whimsical artistic renderings that line the streets. We call this one, “Is there someone in my nose?” 
 

 
Then we set the GPS to go to 1077 E Granvia Valmonte. It’s a house – or we assume there’s a house somewhere in there – set in the old Movie Colony section of Palm Springs once called home by such old time luminaries as Liberace and Dean Martin.
 
What’s at 1077 E Granvia Valmonte? Well, it’s a unique Palm Springs holiday attraction known as Robolights. We’ve all seen homes that go all out during the holidays. But this? This is something else. It has its own Facebook account and website. It’s on Tripadvisor. And I have concocted my own story of how it came to be: the son or daughter of a rich Hollywood legend (now departed), was left this enormous property and decided to indulge in their passion of turning discarded items like old TVs, monitors or microwaves into creatures. Don’t believe me?
 

 
Many of these Frankenstein’s creations move, too, like the monstrously-sized rabbit here riding the grocery store motorcycle.
 

 
It’s the stuff that a Stephen King novel is made of, I swear to you. Of course, some of it gets downright Christmassy and it’s going to be open to the public for donations anyday now…
 

 
Even this shot from a distance doesn’t capture the sheer enormity of this contemporary art installment now in its 30th year! There are more than 8.4 million lights on some four acres.
 

 
A man in his 60s out walking his dog just kind of shook his head and rolled his eyes when we asked what he thought of it. We’re not the only ones who had to come and take a look – a local news crew was on the scene as well. And undoubtedly the crowds will grow exponentially as the holidays approach.
 

 
The real story behind Robolights can be found on its Facebook page. It is described as “the largest residential light display in the country created by artist Kenny Irwin” who is, as it turns out, a Muslim who doesn’t mark the Christian holidays but who certainly makes them memorable for many. 
 
The Desert Sun news website describes it as “beloved by some but a nuisance to others.” There were attorneys working on its behalf (and it did open for the first time this year yesterday) and next year Mr. Irwin has to agree to put the exhibit at a commercial location instead of in this otherwise bucolic neighbourhood. Here’s the view down the street.
 

 
Now that you’ve seen Robolights, who needs that Macy’s parade today anyway, right?
 
Have a great one and tomorrow I’m going to start a Friday tradition from here to Christmas – and I may just help you with a gift idea or two, who knows?