Net Crimes & Misdemeanors

My booking manager got me two gigs - a repeat at SUNY Delhi in October and another university in Virginia in February. The February one is going to be for a lot more money than I usually get, so I'm a happy camper about that. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but one of my WHOA volunteers is getting married in September. Her bridal shower is in a couple of weeks in Connecticut and I plan on driving down. I managed to get a Connecticut library association to schedule me to speak the two days before the shower, so I'm getting my hotel room paid for two of the three nights I'll be staying down there, plus my mileage, tolls and food and my lecture fee. I'm pretty pleased about that! Nothing for August right now. I may go away for a week. I haven't decided yet. I do need a vacation or getaway, so we'll see. I have a friend in Geneva, Switzerland who has been trying to get me out there. I just may do it. Last night V2 came over and had sushi delivered and drank some...

C'mon everybody One two three "Awwwwwwwwwwwww" My mom's birthday. We ate outside at this great restaurant and asked our waitress, Chyna (yes, named after the wrestler) to take our photos. Here I am doing my best Lily Tomlin impersonation. And if you remember her, yes, you are as old as you think you are (ha ha) My mom is not amused. That's because when my sister and I get together, we're trouble with a capital "T"

If this doesn't make you giggle. . .

ALERT - ROB PHOTO AT THE END!! I am nuts about Chippy (pun intended) and bought him a pet dish yesterday to put on the porch. I filled one side with sunflower seeds and the other with water and he has no problem with it at all. He loves it! I've been feeding him out of my hand on the deck chair, but wanted to try something new, LOL. So I brought out the camera this morning and you can see how close Chippy let me get with this video of him. I'm also putting up new photos of the little rascal on his page . I finally got photos of that weird squirrel - he's the only one Chippy and Julian (and the birds) don't mind sharing the bird feeder with. Plus he's an outcast with the other squirrels. I think he's Chippy's child (ha ha): Speaking of birds, they are so used to me and Bandit they come right in the yard when we're out there and feed. They don't like Guin, though and scatter when she goes out. Maybe her whiteness blinds them, ha ha. Chippy actually ca...

Father's Day was spent at my youngest sister's house in Dayton, Maine. Dad and his wife were there, my other sister and her husband and kids and Susie and her husband and kids and her in-laws. I brought a bucket full of bubbles and wands and soon had the kids blowing bubbles with me. We had lobster, chicken and pork (the latter two were done in a smoker that Susie's hubby had gotten for Father's Day) for dinner, then blew more bubbles. I'm a bad Aunty. I was blowing bubbles so much that one of my nieces finally marched over and said, "That's enough - I'm taking that away from you!" and took my bubble wand. The grown ups thought it was funny (me included). It's pretty bad when you annoy the youngsters, LOL. I got Dad a couple of polo shirts and he was happy. I left mid-afternoon, got home and was exhausted. Those kids wore me out! Rob (the contractor) and I are extremely frustrated with the electrician. The electrician and I had made a deal and ...

First, you can read the text of the Good Morning, America segment I was in. Second, I broke down and bought a Nintendo Wii . I have been reading and hearing about it, especially from the kids and teens I speak to. It was one of the best things I've ever bought. After I finally figured out how to hook it up to play through the TV, I got used to the remote that has a strap you wrap around your wrist, figured out all the buttons on the remote, then tried Bowling. The Wii allows you to play by yourself, which is great for me when I'm bored with TV or am not in the mood to read. I tried Tennis next, then Golf, then Baseball. Then V2 came over and I got her going on it. We had an absolute blast. You really get a workout from it and I was sweating when we were done. We talked Rob, my construction guy, into playing with us last night. He's pretty darned good at golf. V2 ended up staying over and it's been a quiet day today. Rob finished the wood floor downstairs and grouting t...

Yesterday morning I drove to Manchester, NH to film a segment about online dating for Good Morning, America Weekend at WMUR-TV . I met one of the producers, who filmed the segment and he asked for my book and said he helped with other major news networks, such as Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. I mentioned my Fox Maine News gig and he was excited. Let's see if this works. I've mentioned before how the president of another online safety organization has basically blacklisted me in major TV news. I wonder if this producer will hit a roadblock. Cross your fingers that people will finally wake up and realize she is nothing but a jealous witch with a capital "B" and I am good at what I do. And I do not have a big head. Really. Got home, had lunch, did some work online, then had to get ready to go to the Hazen Memorial Library in Shirley, Massachusetts for another panel and book signing. I took Bandit and Guin with me and it was nice and cool for them to stay in the car. I got ther...

I wanted to let you know I will be on Good Morning America Weekend this Saturday morning in a segment about online dating. I'm the expert, not doing the online dating thing (ha ha). I don't know what time my segment will appear, so you will have to either watch it from the beginning or tape it. Check your listings for your local ABC station and tune in Saturday morning!

If you've read my latest book, the 2nd edition of Net Crimes & Misdemeanors , please write a review at Amazon.com and/or Barnes & Noble . This will help with the big news I mentioned and boost the ranking of my book on both sites, especially Amazon.com. It doesn't have to be a long review, just a nice one would be nice.

Got this with my new life insurance policy - the woman who has been my agent knew about Chris dying and she sent me this on the cover letter: "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Anonymous It brought tears to my eyes. I like this insurance agent!

WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!

So a friend and I began talking about Paris Hilton and her going to jail and somehow (don't ask me how) we got to thinking what celebrities we'd date if we were given the chance. Since Alec Baldwin broke my heart when he left the nasty voicemail message on his daughter's cell phone (although he can still read the phone book to me anytime - I loooove his voice), I've got a "shortlist" of celebs I'd date: Bruce Willis - Cause he'd be fun and he can sing, too Keifer Sutherland - Just because I think he's cute as a button Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - Just divorced his wife. He's handsome, strong and intelligent. Ralph Fiennes - He likes older women, but I may be too young for him (ha ha) Daniel Baldwin - One of the Baldwin brothers has just got to be normal Patrick Stewart - I love his voice and his bald little head Eddie Izzard - I *adore* him That's my short list. Now for stupidity. I have some things up for auction on eBay. I get th...

All right, I'll start with the delivery of the French doors. They're beautiful. Unstained, so I can make them any stain color I want. Rob began laying out the floor and it looks great, plus he put the ceramic tiles down in front of the fireplace. I'm snapping those pics and will post them soon so everyone can keep up with the progress. I'm going to try to get a pic of Rob working. On Sunday I had two phone interviews to do. The first was a psychic radio show. I kid you not. It turns out the host, Michael Gogger was a victim my organization helped. So he decided to adopt WHOA and me and wanted to promote us. So I was to be on for an hour - the show is called Your Inner Thoughts . I called my sister to tell her she could listen to it online and try to call in. She loves getting readings from psychics and it's free, so what the heck? Michael and I talked about staying safe online and we were supposed to take phone calls for questions, but he and I got to talking (whi...

Very interesting reply to my post about what happened at Greely Middle School.

Well, I can't tell you the exact nature of the great news until a contract is signed, but it's big! I am so excited and can't wait to tell everyone what it is. The contract should be signed next week (crossing my fingers). I did a Sisters In Crime "We're not making this up!" panel at the Canton Public Library in Massachusetts on Wednesday night. I'm a member of SinC and did one panel previously and enjoyed it immensely. This time, it was with one of my favorite mystery authors (and now a friend), Kate Flora . Her Thea Kozak mystery series is a must for anyone who likes good thrillers. She's in the same realm as J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) and Kathy Reichs (the TV series "Bones" is based on her books). The other author, Paul E. Doyle , was on the other panel I'd done. I love the photo on his web site. He's not quite as muscular in person, but is as good looking. It took me two hours to get to the library, due to the Boston area traff...