public awareness #1: bogus caller id

When I started back on the blogging bandwagon, I decided to start several series of posts, 'have you wanted to...', 'have you noticed...', and 'money-saver tips...', but after a call last night, I must add a new one, 'public awareness...', and it had to be made as the first, so here goes...

A woman called my house last evening and left a message on my answering machine. I almost quickly deleted it when she started out by saying, 'YOU DO NOT KNOW ME, BUT...'. I am thankful that I listened to the message.

Apparently, she received two calls from telemarketing companies, one for satellite service and the other for automobile warranty insurance. This would have seemed normal except that the caller id of the calls had MY NAME AND PHONE NUMBER. She only answered the call since it appeared as a local number. She left her home number and I was able to talk to her later in the evening and gather more details.

She said that she asked them how they were using a local number to make the calls and the response was something like this, 'WE HAVE WAYS TO DO IT.'

Besides the oddity that my name and phone number was being used, but my home number is non-published and supposed to be caller id blocked.

I made calls to Windstream this morning and they are going to put check, traces, or something on my line to figure out how this being done.

I was transferred to their trap and trace service to see if anything more to be done. The service rep told me some telemarketing companies have been illegally putting in any number they want as the caller id. If I knew the actual number that they were calling from they could do more. Well, since they did not call me, I can't get that information.

I also reported this to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Response Center. If they get enough reports of this problem, they will investigate. That really doesn't really help me now, but is at least something.

After my phone call to the FTC, I realized something. The telemarketing service may have pulled my number from some collection of area numbers, but how did they get my name?

I will be making another call to Windstream.

how to respond

How should I respond when a recently married man at work says, 'Your husband must be glad he has a pretty wife'?

He was probably trying to be nice, but STILL.

Should he be aware how HIS wife would feel by him making such a comment? If I found out that my hubby said that to another woman, I would have the same thoughts as Jesse Jackson, Sr. in reference to Barack Obama's genitalia.

I think it is time for me to bring back to work some photos of my husband. I took them home awhile back. There were to many fire alerts at the office.

What do you think?

my first tag...

Lisa C has tagged me to play the Six Odd Things About Me game.

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

I had trouble thinking of items so asked hubby and my girlfriends, so there are more than the requested 6 in this game...

Here is my list...
1. Only person I could find (searched internet) who has had oral surgery and whenever mouth hurt, the left foot would ache.
2. I did not start dating until I was 19. Only remember one date with this guy, THE LAST.
3. Don't need to use my toes to count the number of sex partners I have had.
4. (from hubby) Medicine that normally knocks him out (he's a big guy), would have me wide awake
5. (from hubby) I can work all day, stay up all night working, and work all day again the next day without crashing
6. (from friend) I am the only person who has expelled an IUD and did not know it.
7. (from friend) Only get upset (pissed) and shows a reaction to being pissed (upset) when I want to.
8. (from friend) Do not like sleeveless tops. I have a scar on my shoulder.


Tagging
The Prisoner's Wife
Lovebabz: A Life in Transition
Renaissance Black Woman
:twentyeight30
Write for life
Living Loving Laughing

God's Little Cherub

A friend gave me permission to post this. Her daughter was in a critical auto accident a few years ago. Her survival that day and her recovery since has been a miracle blessing. Now her daughter has had another...

God's Little Cherub

***** I have witnessed another one of GOD’s miracles *****

You know the story about my daughter (Daughter1) injuries when she had the accident. All of her internal organs shut down. Last year in August she had a miscarriage. She was pregnant again in November. Her OB/GYN told her that her body rejects the shot and she can not take birth control pills.

Daughter1 arrived at the hospital on Wednesday morning around 10:00am. She was still one centimeter. The doctor gave her “something” to soften her uterus at 1:00pm. Still one cm. The nurse assured me that she will NOT have the baby until Friday morning or around noon. Still one cm, I got ready to leave at 11:00pm and was planning to come back by 6:00am. When I got up to leave, her water broke so I stayed. One hour after her water broke, she had dilated from 1cm to 4cm. It’s about 12:05 or so. She was hurting so bad, she asked for an epidural. Around 1:40 she dilated 8cm. Around 2:00 she had dialed 10cm. The baby would not come out. Every time she lay on her left side, his heart rate would drop. When she pushed, his heart rate would drop. Her nurse say there is a chance the cord was wrapped around his neck. At this point the doctors begin to prepare for a Cesarean. 10 minutes later, the baby acted liked he wanted to come out again. She pushed but his heart rate dropped so low the doctor stop. He went to prepare for the Cesarean again. The doctor told her to lay on her right side and do not push.

Daughter1 and I was the only two in the room. She looked up and said someone just sat on the bed with her. I said…..well, maybe it’s my mom. So she begins to relax. About 10 minutes later, she said someone is sitting on the bed and is rocking. I said Daughter1; it has to be GOD or maybe my mom and dad. After she laid there for 30 minutes, I went to get the nurse. I had a feeling that she should not just be laying there and his head was at the opening ready to come out. The nurse checked her and told her the baby had to come out now. She called for the respiratory specialists. At this point everything was critical. 10 respiratory specialists were in the room in less then 3 minutes. It was like they were waiting at the door. There were 16 people in the room which included Me, Daughter1 and Daughter2. As she being to push his heart rate begin to drop and I called on the name of Jesus and asked him to please come in the room with us. When Grandbaby3 came out, the cord was wrapped around his neck and a knot was in the cord. He was not breathing.

The specialists begin to work with him tying to get him to breathe. Everybody else was silent except the ones working with him. My daughters did not know that he was not breathing but I did. All I could say was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Lord have mercy. One of the respiratory specialists kept hitting him in the lower part of this back and another one were clearing and cleaning him at the same time. The head nurse is a friend of mine and she kept looking at me as if she was worried. Grandbaby3 made a weak sound and I shouted and said breathe baby breathe. Scream baby scream. They kept working with him and he began to cry. Thank you Jesus.

The head nurse told me she had to give Grandbaby3 two breaths. I explained to Daughter1 and Daughter2 what I was told and what was going on. I told them Jesus was there and his angels were there with the baby. Daughter1 has not gotten much sleep. I stayed with her 4 days last week to help with the baby. He is a good baby. I keep telling Daughter1 that GOD did NOT bring her this far to leave her.

Just as the Lord is on her side, everything will be alright. Please hug yourself for me because you would have to have been there to feel the presence of Jesus.

I thank my GOD at ALL time for HIS mercy and HIS present in our lives.

haven't felt up to blogging

Last Wednesday, I had oral surgery to remove a cracked wisdom tooth. Seemed all would be well. I used the conscious sedation option this time because of previous bad experiences with just the local stuff.

Now a week later and still in pain, even when I know I have been over-self-medicating just to be able to function. Got mommy stuff to do.

Went back to see oral surgeon this morning in fear of having a dry socket. Not this time. He said that the tooth was impacted and he had to cut into the bone. He prescribed a different pain med since the Vicodin/Lortab stuff made me sick. I can't handle the good stuff. This one seems to take the edge off. I do not expect to be pain free.

Once life gets back to 'normal' and I feel like sitting up. I'll post some things that have been swirling in my head, while on and off the meds.

Be back soon.

I decided to be nice and NOT post any pics on this subject.

plans went awry

Well they were not too well-made, but at least there was a plan. The weekend before last I planned to spend half of Friday with my son's summer camp group at the Georgia Aquarium and Coca-Cola's World of Coke and then spend the rest of the weekend at the Blogging While Brown conference, returning home Sunday with my nephews, to spend the week with Grandma. While I would be away, hubby could be relaxing quietly at home while recovering from a voluntary procedure (blog about it later) and my son spending the weekend with my mother.
The only parts of the plan from above that actually happened were that my son did spend the weekend with my mom and my nephews did spend the week with her too. Everything else...not exactly...


1. I should have know when the notice stated the bus was to leave at 8 AM that CP Time had been allocated. The bus pulled off at 9 AM. Son and I had arrived at the departure location at 7:30 AM. Had I known, I could have gotten more than 1.5 hours of sleep that morning. In all the drive, I followed the charter bus, was uneventful. I did have fun with the kids at the aquarium and the Coca-Cola Museum. The 4-D theater was a unique experience.





2. I expected the kids to leave early enough in the day to be back before normal pick up time. Did NOT happen. They left around 5pm, nicely giving me a lift near my parking deck on the way out. It had started to rain.

3. The time is less than an hour before the conference's 1st event and I am no presentable condition to socialize. LoveBabz to the rescue. She lets me shower and change at her hotel. I got lost on the way (1st time).

4. We, LoveBabz and I, arrive at the event an hour before it's over and actually never went to it. At the same location, we met up with Raw Dawg Buffalo (RDB) and Mizrepresent (Miz), and ahh... never made it to the group. It was real cool hanging with the ladies; RDB split after introducing us to Kevin Ross, host of The Kevin Ross Show, who interviewed RDB and others, where in the interview RDB clarifed the word "dis-in-gen-u-ous (5 syllables)". LOL

5. After making sure Miz reached her car safely, LoveBabz and I left to drop her off at her hotel. (Lost again, 2nd time) Had to call my brother, former resident of downtown ATL now in BROOKLYN, NY!!! to make my way correctly. After dropping off LoveBabz, my great brother made sure I made it back to the expressway to go to my other brother's house, where I held my accommondations.

6. Made it to my brother's place without getting lost, he talked me directly to his family's house. Peeped in on my sleeping nephews, got to bed around 1AM.

7. Awakened at 4:30 AM by hubby, he is in pain. Half asleep with only 5 hours of sleep in two nights, I did NOT actually hear that he wanted me home. Slept a few more hours to prepare for the long day ahead. After daybreak, new plans, while brother and wife desperately prepared their sons to leave a day early, I was to attend any morning conference sessions as possible and they were to meet me to "off-load" the boys. LoveBabz actually got a pic of me on the crackberry trying to work out a meeting place. BTW, I missed my exit on the way to the World Congress Center that morning. Was trying to give mom details on the change of plans. Got lost again (3rd time). Stopped to ask directions (only women do this! LOL).


8. We met at RDB's place, A Store For Dogs, for the exchange. (Got lost again, 4th time).
While the grownups had a tour of the store, the boys fell in love with Famous. Didn't get a chance to see Lil Momma, but how RDB's son sleep through all that ruckus is beyond me.
Picked a few items for my "directional-saviour brother in Brooklyn"'s dog, Ripley. For her birthday in September, she gets a UGA dog bowl, her dad and I are grads, a squeaky toy, and an inflatable dog bed with washable cover.

For my reading collection, I got Bloggers' Delight Volume One Love and Redemption and RDB's Dirt Behind My Ears. Did not get lost. Brother and Sis-In-Law led me to the expressway.

9. Made it home safely. Hubby was feeling less pain within 5 minutes of my arrival. If he had just called the doctor that morning like I suggested, he would have needed to do what I did, and he would not have been in pain ALL DAY. But that will be the next post.

10. My Crackberry died last Friday evening. Could not get it replaced until Sat afternoon. I had withdrawal symptoms. But thanks to the kind folks at Verizon, I got my fix back on.

Lessons Learned:
1. Even though you lived in the suburbs of the ATL for 10 years, worked downtown/midtown/buckhead area over several years, once you leave and return, park your car and Go Marta
2. When you ask hubby if you should cancel your trip after he has unexpected surgery and he says 'Go ahead', DON'T GO. They behave like kids with a splinter.
3. Don't depend on RDB for directions until he remembers the street names.
4. And thank God your nephews did not sing, 'WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET THERE?' to their own tune until y'all are 1.5 miles away from your mother's house. The alternative to 'ARE WE THERE YET?'
5. Do not fill your crackberry media card with pics and not bring your laptop to off load them. Eats your phone memory starting with call log and received messages.