New Variation on a classic scam - David Rhodes

Once upon a Time - you'd get the occasional piece of mail purportedly from David Rhodes. It was a classic pyramid scheme - send money in the post to some people and get money in return later.

And the new updated version is a PayPal scam.

Can I pay you *$39 by paypal ?

Have you ever wondered, what if at least 1000 registered
users of paypal purchases the outstanding "The Fortune"
gallery from you for *$39 each ?

It goes on with details and a URL but I won't trouble you with that. The main thing is that it's just a classic pyramid scheme - you'd be sending x people $39 hoping the lots more than x people send you $39 in return.

Finding treasures

Well, from my point of view, it is a treasure

This is a picture that my mom painted on a wall in our house in Maryland when I was but a pup. When we left that house, I didn't really expect to see any version of this picture again. I can't say if the painting is a test version before she did the one on the wall or a copy when she knew we were leaving the house. But the basic arrangement of deer, pine trees and cabin are the same.

This particular picture hasn't stood the test of time that well, the paper has yellowed badly, the edges have broken and the oils have leached a bit. And yet, I love this little painting, so cool it was around.

Shopping

There's one thing I hate about shopping in the US. You have to make allowances for sales tax.
In Australia, if you pick up an item priced at 19.90, you pay 19.90. In Florida, you pick up something labeled 19.90 and then the sales tax pushes the final price over 20.50. The difference is "Can I hand them a 20?" In one case yes, and you get change. In the other case no. They will be waiting for more money.

Time to resurrect the blog

It's time to get back here.

Why?

Therapy. Mom died on the 5th and I'm still trying to cope with this new hole in my life. It will take time, and perhaps a bit more than mere time. The hardest thing in the world is to say "Yes, remove the respirator". My sister, my niece and I all knew it was time but it was still very hard to do.

Bad moments, emptying her closet. We are giving her clothes to Goodwill, she was just so much smaller then any of us. Visiting Barnes and Noble, I have to remind myself that she would hate it if I didn't go just for her sake.