Burgers, Beef and Security

So with our 10-year wedding anniversary behind us and Alexis’ birthday just a few days away, I thought I would recap our weekend for everyone! 

It started on Saturday morning with us taking Alexis to see Cars 2 with TJ and rest of The Leckie family.  Since this is my blog, I will give you my review…it was NOT as good as the first one.  Way too much action for my liking.  It was the characters that made the first one and they seemed to get away from them in this one.  But I digress.  The kids loved it and that is all that mattered. 

After the movie, we took Lex over to my Dad and Stepmom’s for the day/night.  I thought since we had time before check in at the hotel, we would hit one of the new In-N-Out burgers in D/FW.  I will blog about this later, but we LOVE In-N-Out.  Great food.   We waited in the drive thru for about 20 minutes and then sat under a tree in our car to devour it.  Man, it was worth the wait!

From there we headed to the Hyatt Regency in Dallas for the night!  We got checked in and hit the “pool”.  I use the quotes, because it was like a large hot tub.  It was BAD.  This is a 4 star hotel with a 0.5 star pool.  It was about 15 foot wide and about 25 foot long and only held about 10 people comfortably.  No swimming could be done unless you were the only one in the pool.  Really disappointing.  BUT we were at the pool with no kid and it was nice! 

After the pool, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.  But because we are “Peery’s” things didn’t go as planned.  There was a horrible noise in our room…our room with a king size bed and great view of downtown.  It sounded like someone was dragging cables through the wall.  Really annoying and no way we wanted to spend our one night away from Lex listening to the noise!!

I got ready and went downstairs to see if we could switch rooms and the hotel was booked except for one room with double beds.  Not ideal, but we still had our good view and we didn’t have to listen to the crazy noise!!  We finished getting ready and took all our stuff to our new room and headed to dinner.

Dinner was at Al Biernat’s.  I have heard about this place for a while, but we hadn’t had the chance to go until now.  Two or three times a year we try to go to a nice restaurant so we save our pennies so we can get what we want.  There are 4 parts to dinner…cars, food, security and atmosphere…so I am going to break them down for you.

Cars:  We pull into the parking lot and there are 2 Maserati’s parked next to some really nice Mercedes and a Range Rover.  Being a car fan, I just wanted to go over and look at them all.  I quickly remembered that we were eating dinner and not at a car show!

Thinking that it couldn’t get any better, we walk outside to leave and parked on either side of one of the Maserati’s were two Rolls Royce Phantom’s.  If you don’t know what these are, google them!  They are $450,000 each!!!  I was looking at over a million dollars in 3 cars!!!  It was crazy!!!  So when they pulled our Ford Fusion around from the auxiliary lot (you didn’t think they would park us with the nice cars, did you?) we jumped in as fast as we good and left!!  This is where having our Lexus would have been nice!  We wouldn’t have seemed so out of place! 

Food:  One word…amazing!  We spilt the calamari that came with two sauces (for which there are fancy French names for) and each had a Caesar salad.  I had the dry aged 16oz NY Strip and Heather had the 8oz filet.  We split mushroom risotto and creamed corn.  While the steaks were great, the risotto was unbelievable.  So good!  For dessert we split a chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream.  We were stuffed!!

Security:  As we were wrapping up, the owner comes over to the table next to us and tells the guy setting up that this table will be “security for table 12”.  Next thing we knew, they were setting up the table behind us for “security” as well!  We were intrigued.  This place was the hottest ticket in town for the Super Bowl where you couldn’t get a table no matter who you were!  Not only that, but President Bush lives in the neighborhood.  All the local athletes eat here too.  Who could it be?  Who is that big that they need two tables for security?  I was really thinking it might be the President! 

Well, to this day we have no idea who it was!  It was a Hispanic family that was not dressed to go out or they just had so much money they didn’t care what they had on.  But they came with a “security detail/entourage” of 5.  We were slightly disappointed. 

Atmosphere:  This place really was nice!  It was in an area of Dallas were all the “money” is.  This is old Dallas money.  This isn’t money that a rapper gets for selling records or a reality tv star gets…this was old Dallas oil money.  The cars in the parking lot were not rentals or leases or loaners.  These people were the real deal.

As a side note, we were wished Happy Anniversary no less than 5 times by the staff.  There was a good chance we were the poorest people in the restaurant that night, but they all made us feel like a million bucks.  If you ever have a chance to go, save your pennies and go!  It really is worth it all!!

So that was our weekend!  Picked up Alexis Sunday afternoon and back to the real world!  It is always nice to get away, even if we only went 20 minutes away for 2 days!!

All You Need Is Love

Back in 1967, four lads from over the pond told us that all we needed was love.  The premise behind it was pretty simple. 

John Lennon said that “There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done, Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung, Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game, Its easy…All you need is love.”

While it is a great song, and one of my favorites by The Beatles, I am here to tell you that you do need love, but in a relationship you need so much more.  You need a best friend.

Ten years ago today Heather and I were married in a chapel in Las Vegas where the temperatures were in the 100’s and we literally felt like we were going to melt.  We were surrounded by our best friends, Nick and Kim, as well as other family members.  But our relationship started long before that day ten years ago.

It actually started over 20 years ago in 7^th grade in Mrs. Morrow’s English class.  (Apparently she liked the fact that I smelled like Downy soap.)  We became great friends. 

But Heather was popular and always dated the older boys.  And I was doing good to look ANY girl in the eyes and not freak out.  Pretty sure looking back on it that I was a lot like Raj on Big Bang Theory…didn’t talk to girls too much!  So I thought I was doing pretty good that one actually talked to me AND wanted to be my friend!  Jackpot!!

All through Junior High we were the best of friends.  Always laughed and had a great time together.

High School rolled around and at the start of the 10^th grade year we were attached at the hip.  It was after a trip to the State Fair and before a Friday Night football game that we decided to date.  (As a side note, I should have taken this as a sign of things to come, but she fell asleep on the bus coming back.  Ironically she still falls asleep in cars, buses, tanning beds, airplanes and any where else she can get a nap.  Haha…)

Life was good.  We got to see each other at school and then after the Friday Night football games we would go get pizza with the band.  She celebrated my 16^th birthday with my family and me and in turn I celebrated her 16^th birthday with her and her family.  To this day it is some of the best pics we have together. 

Like most high school relationships, it didn’t last.  We had a lot of great moments together and a lot of firsts that we both still remember to this day.  We stayed “friends” through most of High School.  To say things were great would be stretching it.  We tried to date again our Senior Year, but things just never were the same. 

Life after High School wasn't perfect for either of us and we made some mistakes.  We both had our struggles and life was hard.  We didn’t see each other much, if at all after High School.  I think we only crossed paths once or twice.  Nothing to really write home about.

Then one night in March 2001, as I was sitting on my couch, she called…and I was excited and surprised.  She wanted to know if I wanted to get together for drinks.  I said “sure, when?” and she said “how about now?”  It was late, but I lived on my own, so why not?

We met at the Embassy Suites in Grapevine and had drinks and caught up.  It was great to see her.  She looked great.  Like nothing had changed.  We laughed like we in the 7^th grade all over again and got caught up on the past 7 years.

I like to tell the story that she “stalked me” mainly because I think it sounds better.  But truth is she just happened to run across a mutual friend that I had just seen a couple weeks before and we had exchanged numbers.  Remember, this was before Facebook and cell phones, so she did some great detective work! Lol…

We hung out a lot over the next few weeks and things were great.  But truth of the matter was even though she wasn’t the only person I had ever loved, she was the only person that I loved and loved being with.

So one night in April, I suggested that we get married.  Now the details on all this are a tad “R-Rated”, but even though alcohol was involved, I did know what I was doing.  However, I think Heather thought I was just kidding and probably hoped I had forgotten when we sobered up.

This is the other part of the story I like to embellish on and tell people that she was homeless and I took her in.  Granted she didn’t have electricity and she was a few days away from being evicted, she did have a place to stay.  Just sounds better when I tell people she was homeless.  :)

I had planned to go to California and see my brother in June so we decided we would drive to Vegas and get married.  We were really excited!  Heather moved in (and cleaned up after me) and we were on our way. 

Now to stay our parents were surprised and supportive would be a stretch.  They all got a call along these lines:

Us:  Hi!  Do you remember Mike/Heather from High School?

Parents: Yes

Us:  Well we reconnected the other night.

Parents: OK

Us:  And guess what?  We are living together and getting married next month!

Now, we were excited about this, but the parents not so much.  They might lie 10 years later, but we are pretty sure they ALL thought Heather was pregnant!  Lol.

So we got married on June 25, 2001.  To say the first 12-18 months were “easy” or “fun” would be an understatement and flat out lie.  We were married and really hadn’t been around each other for 7 years and that was just in High School.

It was hard.  But see, this is where The Beatles don’t have it 100% accurate, because at the heart of our relationship was our friendship.  One night we made a pact that divorce just wasn’t an option.  Since then our relationship has flourished.  It hasn’t all been roses and we have had our issues, but we have always worked through them and remain committed to each other.

So on our 10 year anniversary I want to let you all know that I love Heather Danee’ Peery and she is my best friend in the whole wide world. 

In the last decade I have laughed more and shared some of the best things in life with you.  You have given me the most amazing daughter in the world and for that I can never thank you enough. 

We have shared some of the neatest things that would have never happened without you in my life.  I am proud to say I shared all those things with you and proud to know at the end of the day you are standing by my side. 

You make me a better person everyday because the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you or make you sad in any way.  So every day I wake up, I want to be better for you.

You are my best friend in the world and I don’t want to do life without you.  I am excited to know that when we are old and gray that it will be you that is on the swing next to me.

I am extremely proud of you and all that you have accomplished.  I know that our current place in life isn’t where either of us thought we would be 10 years later, but we are doing it together and that is all that matters.  We are Team Peery and I am so happy you are on my team.

So happy 10 year anniversary to my wife…my best friend.

Love,

Me

Peanut Butter and Toaster

So the great Peery Move of 2011 is almost over!  I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but that would mean that it wasn’t a Peery Move! 

I guess it all starts with the apartment complex, which gave us the wrong apartment number a few weeks back…2101 instead of 2102.  I know it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but try telling that to AT&T and our electric company.  Apparently you cant just “change the number from a 1 to a 2”.  There are processes involved and work orders and other technical stuff that has to be done!  It all worked out on the end…but not before I had to work one afternoon from a McDonalds and the poor person/people in 2101 had their power shut off.

The morning of the move went OK.  The movers showed up 2 hours late and moved slower than molasses.  I guess they were going to ensure that the move took as long as possible on a 100 degree day.  Well, mission accomplished fellas! 

They completed the move in just under 4 hours while breaking a glass, fire place tools and our washer…which slipped off the dolly coming up the stairs.  They seemed shocked when the amount I gave them didn’t include a tip.  Well, it did…they got $20 (total) and only because they didn’t have change.  Sure hope they each enjoyed their $6.67...it will cost me $150 to get my washer fixed.

We almost have all our boxes unpacked.  Going from 1900sqft to 900sqft has been a challenge.  We went from having a lot of kitchen space to having NO kitchen space.  Our bedroom furniture takes up the whole room.  We have a flat screen tv hanging on a wall that makes us look like bachelors that bought the biggest tv for sale regardless of the size of the wall we had to put it on.

It hasn’t been all bad.  Heather is 7 minutes from work and it only takes me 8 minutes to take Lex to school.  We spent time at the pool last night and Lex had a ball.  We are going to be saving money in a lot of areas, so that is exciting to think about.

However, we still have not found my peanut butter and our toaster!  I am not making this up!  We have NO idea where they are!  We have unpacked all the kitchen boxes and they weren’t in them.

This is a common theme for us though.  We have lost spoons (4), a vegetable chopper, forks (4) and a plate in other moves.  For some reason the kitchen stuff just gets lost.  It is the craziest thing.  No idea what happens to it.  Just thought it was funny that it was the peanut butter and toaster.  Didn’t know they liked each other.

Before wrapping up, I do have to thank those of you that helped us with the move!  I know your parts might have seemed small to you, but to us they were monumental and we couldn’t have completed the move without you!  So THANK YOU!!

The American Nightmare

This is the true story of our first home. I am telling this story out of great frustration and also hope that some part of this might help others.

So I guess some “background” on why we chose this house and the events leading up to it.

At the beginning of 2007 we were ready to buy our first house. We had worked really hard to get our credit up so we could get a good rate, however the reality of it was that we only had a certain amount of money we could spend. Based on that amount, it put us in some seedy areas of HEB (yes HEB does have seedy areas), in some really scary parts of Fort Worth, out in the middle of no where or in South Arlington…which according some friend and family is the same as “out in the middle of no where.”

One other tidbit of information is that Heather was 3 months pregnant at the time, so we needed to take into consideration that we were going to be having a new addition really soon.

We decided on South Arlington. It was only 20 minutes away from where we worked and the area that we wanted to live in had a lot of new up and coming shopping areas that were nice. We set out and looked at 14 houses in one day. Wish I was kidding. We had our poor nephew with us and it is a miracle he still talks to us! We looked at home houses that it looked like actual murders had taken place. We looked at another one that had 3 foot of mold along every wall from where it was flooded out. It was bad!!

Literally the last house we saw that day we both loved. It was really “open”, had new carpet and tile in the kitchen and bathroom. Yeah, there were some drawbacks and it needed some work, but we really liked it and we figured it would cost us the least to fix up and it was move in ready.

The house passed inspection, we got a “good deal” on the house, family signed off on it and so we closed on it the last day in March 2007.

And then it started…we started noticing cracks in the house. You know, those cracks that you get when the house settles. The thing in, they were above every door way and every window. We have a running joke now that we try and find a wall WITHOUT a crack! It is pretty hard to do.

Anyways, we were concerned about this being first time homeowners. Then we remembered there was foundation work done on the house and it came with a lifetime warranty. Now, we weren’t too sure what was under warranty, but we were about to find out!!

We made several calls, but couldn’t ever get anyone to call us back…and for good reason! The company was long out of business and had been for awhile. So let that be a lesson. If you are buying a home and there is a warranty on the foundation, find out what the warranty covers and most importantly IF THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS!!!!!

Crushed is the only way to describe how we felt. Our first home and there were cracks everywhere. I honestly thought that we would come home one day and the house would just be split in two down the middle.

So we researched our options. The first thing we did is have someone come and look at our foundation. Turns out it needed about $8,000 in work and we did not have that money. We thought about suing the guy that sold us the house and everyone we talked to told us it would cost us more to sue the guy than just fix the foundation. No bueno because we didn’t have the money for either option.

There really wasn’t anything we could do so we just got soaker hoses and ran them around the house. None of the cracks got any bigger, but they didn’t get any smaller either.

Fast forward to June 2010. Heather finds out that the company she is working for is closing down and she got a 2-day notice. Now Heather will argue that what happens next is all her fault, but it isn’t. We are a team and we work through things together.

It took her about 2 months to find a job and when she did, it came with a pay cut. It was still more than the unemployment checks, but less than what she was making. Looking back on it now, we are both very thankful she found this job because the people are amazing!

But the unemployment started us down a path of maxing out our credit cards and using what little we had in savings. A horrible by product of the credit card balances going up, was the payments went up…and once we were late on a payment the interest rates went up and forced the payments up again. It got really ugly really quick. We did not hide from anyone and let all our creditors know of our situation.

As crazy as this sounds (and it is still true almost a year later) no one could help us because we were not late on our payments.

Go back and read that last sentence…they could NOT help us because we were good customers. This went for our credit cards AND our mortgage! The only way we could get help was to not make our payments. It really floored us.

We fought and fought and fought until October when we realized it was not worth the fight anymore. Gas prices were going up and we were making no head way on our credit cards making the minimum payments so we made the tough decision to put our house on the market.

We had mixed feelings about this. On one hand it really felt like we failed. But on the other, we felt like it would give us a clean slate to start over with.

We had our family realtor come out and put the house on the market. We told him all along that we were not looking to make money on the deal; we just wanted to break even and get out. There were some homes in the area that sold for more than $120,000, so we put ours on the market for $116,000…$1,000 less than what it had appraised for almost 4 years ago and more than the $105,000 that we owed. We figured this was a good deal and we would be out by Christmas. As of today, we have only had 2 people look at our house…

The next set of events all kind of happened around the same time and their order isn’t too terribly important.

One thing that happened the first part of 2011 is our tax appraised value went down! This is the same value that had been the same since the early 1990’s. I knew this was not good! The county loves to get their money and if they think my house is worth less, it means less money in their pockets! Not good! The tax value dropped right at $10,000. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but that is almost 10% the value of our house! Imagine if your house lost 10% of its value.

Another thing that happened is that it became apparent that financially we were not going to be able to hang on to the house much longer. The budget was becoming a battle and like most Americans the term “paycheck to paycheck” was applicable to us as well. We contacted our mortgage company and once again were told that there was nothing they could do since we were not behind on any payments.

This is where morally we had some issues. Do we not pay our mortgage so they will help us? Do we just walk away from the house? Do we stay and continue to dig a hole that we will never be able to get out of? Will any of these options not just totally kill what little credit score we have left?

Compounding our issues was the fact that property values in our neighborhood were dropping…fast! In our immediate area, there were several houses that are being foreclosed on or being sold WAY below market value. When we went back to our realtor and looked at the numbers, we would need to price our house at $84,000…that is $20,000 LESS than what we owe and almost $30,000 less than the appraised value when we bought it. On top of that, the house still needs $8,000 in foundation work!!!!!

We have gone back to our mortgage company trying to work through any program they have. It seems like we have to ask them about programs instead of them telling us what is available. VERY frustrating since we don’t know what is out there.

It turns out that you can’t “apply” for more than one program at a time because to do one program, you house has to be listed above what you owe. To do another program, your house has to be listed below what you owe. Doesn’t take a genius to realize that isn’t going to work.

On top of ALL that, we were told that our application on one of the programs was canceled by them because they didn’t have the man power to help those people with offers on their houses, much less people like us with no offers on our house. Crushed.

All we get from our mortgage company are letters telling us to take action. But we have been taking action for almost a year now and all we keep hitting are brick walls…once again because our house payment is current.

We have thought about a lot of other options. We have thought about taking Lex out of her private school and putting her in “babysitting daycare”. But then she comes in and counts to 20 in Spanish or sings one of the songs she learned in chapel and we realize how much it would set her back.

We have thought about putting her in early morning care so we could park one of our cars to save on gas, but we would only be saving $50 a month. Is that really worth waking her up at 6:30 in the morning and her being in school for 10 hours? We don’t think so.

People have asked us why we don’t borrow money from family. What for? We are current on everything.

We have thought about getting part time jobs, but at what cost? Neither of us are too keen on giving up our family weekends and spending time away from Lex. And once again, we need long-term solutions.

We aren’t the people that complain about not having money and we aren’t the people that are going to blame anyone else for our lot in life. This is our situation and we have to handle it the best we see fit.

And to clarify for everyone…we are not broke. Our monthly expenses are really very low and our credit card debt is so low it would probably shock you. We don’t blow money on nice things. The last “luxury” item we bought for ourselves was the iPhone4. However, we don’t really count that because we sold our old iPhones on eBay to cover the cost (and then some). Yes, we could probably stay home and eat 1 or 2 more nights a week, but in the grand scheme of things $25 at On The Border isn’t the issue.

We have garage sales and buy clothes for Lex at the resale shops. We are just at a point that we are in a losing battle with our house and moving to an apartment would save us almost $1,000 in gas and rent a month as well as rest of our utilities will go down as well.

We are just tired…tired of paying $400 for gas a month, tired of fighting with Wells Fargo, tired of spending almost 3 hours total in a car per day, tired of not being able to take a family vacation…just tired.

This house will always have good memories for us. It is the house we brought Alexis home to, where Casper is buried in the backyard, where we watched the Rangers clinch their first ever AL pennant, where Santa first came to visit Lex and so many other little things that we will never forget.

So there you have it…how the American Dream turned into the American Nightmare for us. I know we are not alone in this. We see it everyday on the news. But in the end, it does feel like we failed and that is a crappy feeling.

All this to let everyone know we are moving…in two weeks! One of the other by products of the housing market being what it is, most apartment complexes are FULL! We were able to locate one, but to get it we had to move in on the first of June. So we are!

I hope someone can learn something from this. I know we have…

What To Do

I am really not too sure why, but here lately I have been drawn to causes and people’s journey’s. 

Let me just say, this has always been the case for me.  As an example, back in 2000, there was a man that legally changed his name to “DotComGuy” and for a year he had to live in a house and had to order everything online, including his food and groceries.  That fascinated me.  Back in my bachelor days I would have been all over that! 

So my fascination with causes and journey’s really isn’t anything new, but the focus of those causes and journey’s is what has been intriguing me.  Since this was on my mind, I figured I would share a few of them with you.

The first one is charity : water.  (www.charitywater.org).  Now, I know I am probably late to the party on this one, but they are doing some amazing things.  For a $20 donation, they can provide water to a person.  To expand a bit on that, the average water project costs $5,000 and can serve 250 people…so $20.  There are some great videos on how water is tied to so many issues in the world.  I highly encourage you to check them out!!

The next one is TOMS shoes.  (www.toms.com)  Yep, shoes.  Now I know you are thinking “how is this special”?  But the genius isn’t in the shoes…it is in the concept.  For every pair of TOMS shoes you buy, they give a pair to someone without shoes.  One for One.  I have heard Blake (founder and chief shoe giver) talk several times about how this came about and it is a great story.  I highly encourage you reading about it and buying a pair of shoes!

The One for One concept has really taken off.  I was recently made aware of a charity that does the same thing for eyeglasses that TOMS does for shoes.  It is called Warby Parker.  (www.warbyparker.com).  So if you need a pair of designer glasses, you know where to go!

On top of that, TOMS has actually become the “One For One” company and they will be releasing their next project later this year, so stay tuned!

The last one isn’t a cause, but a journey.  And it is the journey of Steven, Emily and Eden Dilla.  (www.echoesofredemption.com)  Steven and Emily have decided with their one year old daughter Eden to leave D/FW and start a church in New York. 

I have honestly been fascinated with their journey since the day I found out about it.  Here are two people that both had great jobs at a large local church here (which is where we met them) and lived comfortable lives.  To quickly summarize, they quit their jobs at the church, got odd jobs to make ends meet, sold their house and moved to Annapolis, MD to start the process of planting a church in New York.  (Please note this was all calculated and it isn’t like they just woke up and moved the next day…lol.)

They stepped out of their comfortable lives and financial security to go live in an 800sqft apartment in Maryland with the goal of starting a church in the city of New York all the while depending on others for their expenses.   Heather and I wish them nothing but success and we highly encourage you to help them in their journey if you can.  Click HERE.

Heather and her friend Angie are always helping people find clothes for people in need.  Heck, she even rounded up bottles of laundry soap for The Ronald McDonald House not too long ago.   And even this week has helped another of our friends find clothes for foster children who had nothing.  What she has shown me is that people will give what and when they can.

So that brings this all back to me and what I want to do.  Truth is, I don’t know.

Do I want to donate my time and social media skills to churches and non-profits to help them spread the word about what they are doing?  Who knows?  I know there is something out there with my name on it; I just need to figure out what it is!!!

Facebook and Security

Those are two words you hear a lot about these days.  I see article after article about it online and how people are upset with Facebook that their account got hacked.  Or how they are suing so and so because private pictures of them got out.  I get phishing emails all the time from my friends whose pages were hacked and since I am in social media for a living, I figured I would try and help some of you out with some tips.

DON’T BLAME FACEBOOK – I love it when people’s accounts get hacked and the first thing people do is blame Facebook for their “lack of security” when the truth is, you should be blamed for your lack of knowledge. 

Yes, Facebook defaults their security on accounts very low and it will default to exposing more information than needs to be exposed.  But you are in control of this!  You can share as much information or as little information as you would like!  My rule of thumb and very high recommendation is LOCK IT DOWN.  Only share information to those that are your FRIENDS.  Not “Friends of Friends”…just Friends!

Here is the link to Facebook’s Privacy Help Page.  Educate yourself…today!

Facebook Privacy

CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD – This one sounds really simple, but you would be shocked.  I read an article the other day that a hacker, who was recently busted, used the email addresses found on Facebook (see first tip) and was able to guess their password based on comments left on posts, etc.  Once he was able to log in, he would change the password, locking the owner out, and would use the account to chat with their friends and get answers to the questions needed to change the password…like Mothers Maiden Name.  All he needed was one email address and it got him access to 1,000’s of accounts.  So change your password today and make it something other than your cat’s name.  If you are worried you will forget it, then you are on the right track!!!  :)

CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS – I know this one sounds funny, but let me ask you this…is your email account password the same as your Facebook password?  Over 80% of people who use Facebook use the same password that they use for their email account.  I am pretty sure you see where I am going, but if your Facebook account is compromised, so is your email account.  Email addresses are free.   Go to gmail or yahoo today and get one and start using it today!  I have one I use for all my online accounts so if it does get compromised, the damage is minimal.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE CHATTING WITH – Along the lines of the previous two tips, make sure you know who you are chatting with if you get an IM or a message from someone within Facebook.  Trust your instincts!  If you get a IM asking about your mother or your first boyfriend, keep in mind those are two of the security questions that are asked to retrieve your password if you “forget” it.  If you get an IM from some one you haven’t talked to in a long time, be cautious.  If it is someone you talk to all the time and all of a sudden they are asking those types of questions, shoot them a text and make sure it is them you are talking to. 

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘FRIENDS’ AND ‘FRIENDS OF FRIENDS’ – One of the security settings you can set your account to is “Friends of Friends”.  And while this seems harmless, it isn’t.  Here is an example of how this works.  Lets say you post a picture and you share it with Friends of Friends so Friend A is able is to see it, but so are ALL of Friend A’s friends. 

While on the surface this doesn’t sound bad, you have no idea who are Friends with Friend A and did you just post a pic of you on vacation, making it known to them that you were not at home?

KNOW YOUR FRIENDS – Once you get your page locked down, for people to follow you and what you post you have to approve them.  Do not take this lightly.  Do not just approve anyone because they want to be your friend.  Keep in mind, once you let them in, they can see ALL your posts and your information. 

DON’T GIVE AWAY THE FARM – While Facebook allows you to post as much information as you want in their “Info” section, this is not the best idea.  You need to keep some information close to the vest. 

Putting your phone number, for example, is NOT recommended in any scenario.  If someone wants your number, let him or her ask.  Remember, if you have changed your email address and they email you, they are emailing you to a safe email address so if anything goes wrong it doesn’t compromise your personal email account.

The bottom line to all is this to educate yourself, be smart and use common sense.  Facebook catches a lot of flack for their default settings, but no one ever talks about the resources they have available to help you get your settings right!! 

Hope that helps!!

Later

Opening Day 2011

For the first time ever on Opening Day, the Texas Rangers had something to defend!  If you look at the picture above, what we are defending is that blue AL Champions banner on the left meaning we were in the World Series.

Side note:  I will never forget waking up on my birthday and the headline of the paper being HELLO WORLD SERIES!  One of the coolest days of my life!

But since the Rangers had something to defend the bandwagon was really starting to fill up and getting our normal Opening Day tickets was a tad more difficult than it had been in years past.  We were finally able to secure some tickets so we were all set.

This was also the first year that we decided to take Alexis.  We did this for a few reasons...one being that the game was at 3 and her school would be out before the game was over.  But the other one was that she was really excited to go (she wanted to see "the horse and the dots") and we figured why not.

The parking lots opened at 10am and for so many years I have wanted to tailgate before the game and we decided with the late first pitch that this was the year.  We got a lot of our friends together that were going and tailgated.  It was a blast.  It will be a new tradition going forward! 

Considering how difficult it was to get tickets this year, our seats were really good and I am not going to complain one bit.

View from our seats!

The game was awesome (we won!) and did not disappoint.  The crowd was into it from the first pitch to the last and Lex had an amazing time!  However, the Rangers have replaced her "dots" in the dot race with Texas Legends (Davey Crockett, Sam Houston, etc) and she was NOT happy about that.  Try explaining to a 3 year old where her dots are!  haha...

I was able to get a couple of decent videos.  Here is one of the flyover by a B-52 and then one of the final pitch:

 

 

And here are a few pics from the game/tailgating.  You can see the rest of them on my Facebook page, so head on over!

Lex w/her antlers!  (Thx Aunt Gina!)

Note:  I would feel really bad if I didn't point out that Nick was just holding my next beer for me and was not drinking two beers.  LOL!

Lex was already for the game!!  Here we are walking towards the stadium!