Issue 34, SPENDING TIME WITH FRIENDS

Diary published weekly since 2001

Hi All: Hope your summer is going well. Ours sure is. We have been away so much this year we wonder if we were smart to book a season. However our trips around North America have made for some fantastic memory building adventures. Cool

This week was another fun week touching base with many friends, but before I highlight recent events, I must apologize to any of you who tried to reach us on Saturday. I am sorry for any inconvenience, but our website email was down all day. Of course my Webserver tech support is only open Monday to Friday - as is my ISP tech support and I could not determine which company was experiencing a problem that caused my problem. Somehow my techie troubles seem to always happen on a weekend. Cool

I also couldn’t access any of my incoming (@rvliving.net) email through my gmail.com account or from my webservers WebMail system. My many hours and frustration seemed to be a waste of time until late this afternoon when for no apparent reason everything started to work again. I did leave a panic phone message for my Webserver at noon, but I don’t know if they picked it up and did something – or some form of magic kicked to make everything operate as normal once again. I hate technology, especially when it picks a weekend to quit functioning. Techs are generally enjoying a well-earned time off when my system decides to take a ‘coffee’ break. Oh well, everything is once again operating as I expect and guess that is all that is important. Cool
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OUR WEEK IN REVIEW

We have been away for so long this summer that our social time with friends near home base has been limited. This week we were out almost every day leisurely socializing over lunch or running errands – a perfect way to move me away from my computer. Cool

On Sunday, Virginia and Jerry met us at Kelsey’s in Woodstock. It has been a year since we spent time with these two so we had so much to catch up on. Virginia’s Dad and I were a long-term item in the mid 70’s (before his demise), when she was only eight. We do go back a long way kid - great to see you two again. Of course Kelsey’s always offer a super choice of tasty delicacies especially when everyone we know is eating healthy. Cool

Wednesday, niece Sandi joined us at the Family Circle Restaurant in London. This neat very inexpensive eatery became one of our favourites during our month long motel stopover in London last December. Each of us had something different and each was an outstanding choice. Cool

Thursday, we met up with good friends and ex-RVers Jim and Joan from the London area at Montana’s – another favourite eatery. Our lives have intertwined over the years and although they are no longer RVing, we have many travel memories in common. Thanks guys for making the time to get together again. Of course the meals and sociability that Montana’s offer is always a perfect venue to touch base. Cool
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APPOINTMENTS ETC

It seems that the older we get, the more time all of us and our friends spend at the doctors – this week both of us had some appointments. Because us snowbirds are away all winter we have to push all this med stuff in over the summer. And since we have been away so much this summer all these appointments seem to come in bunches. I am happy to say whether it was blood tests, scope tests, eye exams, Drs appointments or whatever, each scheduled time ended on a positive note. Cool

We ended the week with me finally having my hair cut so I could put an end to my ‘bad hair summer’. Making a point to restock the larder at the A&P Saturday was a perfect way to spend a rainy morning. Air Mile collectors who bought a $100.00 in groceries (not hard to do) received a bonus of 100 Air Miles. Since we hope to take another cruise during the winter of 2009, we are trying to collect as many A/M as possible – that way we can travel in luxury for ½ price. Cool
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FINAL THOUGHTS

I send big thanks for all the neat email stories I received this week – more than usual. Many of them were real cute. But although I never forward chain letters and only rarely do I forward the cute email, I do appreciate reading them. Thanks for thinking of me guys. Cool

Part of the week was spent writing a story or two and sending others off to editors. Guess what, one more time it’s the weekend again. Travel safe all and hopefully you’ll each continue to enjoy your summer. P&J Cool Cool Cool

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TIPS THIS WEEK –

HIGHWAY TO HEROS will now become a reality!!!!

Earlier this week a petition was launched to rename the 172 km stretch of highway between Trenton and Toronto as the HIGHWAY TO HEROS. This is the path that fallen soldiers take after they land in Trenton. Hundreds of people flying Canadian flags line each overpass as the funeral procession transports the soldiers along Hwy 401 and down the Don Valley Parkway to the Centre for Forensic Sciences. When we signed the petition last Tuesday only 1220 recipients had added their names. Thanks to news coverage and a massive email launch, numbers rapidly grew.

Today I looked at the link http://www.petitiononline.com/401Hero/petition.html and 40824 TOTAL SIGNATURES have been added – numbers continue to rise. Indicate your support if you wish – but just for info, in the latest story today (plus info on the most recent repatriation ceremony) at www.northumberlandtoday.com - the decision to rename the Highway of Heroes has become official. That stretch of Highway will soon include additional signs honouring it as the HIGHWAY OF HEROES.

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are there to help stabilize that country, however they occasionally do run into resistance along the way – we Canadians, like the Americans and their Allies in Iraq have lost too many soldiers. Occasionally news media covering the story have also been injured – not to mention the many civilians who were unfortunate enough to be in the path of destruction. Whether or not we each believe in the conflicts taking place around the world, John and I hope most of us RVers support our troops – even if we may or may not believe in the mission. This week Canada lost 3-more from the Royal 22nd Regiment from CFB Val Cartier, Quebec – their nickname is the Vandoos (English translations of "vingt deux" or 22).
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THIS TIP/PROMO BEARS REPEATING

The vicious VIRUS WARNING that is arriving in the form of a greeting card from a ‘friend’, ‘relative’, ‘co-worker’ etc. shows NO SIGN of letting up. This virus is brutal and I along with many others stress DO NOT open this link. Delete it and empty your delete file as well. Try to get it off your computer as soon as you are able.

If you do click on the link (to pick-up your card), you release a virus into your computer. It will sit dormant till the person who originated it wants to do some 'nasties' with it – such as sending stuff to unsuspecting friends or colleagues using YOUR address book. This virulent worm is being distributed at record speed – it is the most widespread and vicious worm in over a year. Some say over 150 million of this particular worm are already infecting computers around the world.

The Newbie Club is the ideal website to visit if your computer is driving you crazy. They offer many free stories on their site but they also have a vast number of items for sale. Go to http://www.newbieclub.com/?rvliving for details.

The Newbie Club strongly suggests everyone should download the following FREE virus program from http://free.grisoft.com – I did and it seems to be running compatible with my McAfee and it even picked up a ‘Backdoor worm’ that McAfee missed. I have successfully moved the infected file to the programs ‘Virus Vault’ so it can no longer damage my computer or anyone elses. To download and USE this highly recommended FREE anti-virus software – go to AVG at the link above. Apparently it is as good as the paid program – just no tech support.

Bottom line if there is ‘no name’ that you recognized on any email – do NOT click on ANY link. If you do not know who sent an attachement, simply delete the message WITHOUT opening the link or the attachment.

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PROMOS THIS WEEK

SNOWBIRDS are making plans to head south and as always when it comes to camping along the way - most of us look for ways to stretch our dollars. Besides staying at Wal*Mart and Truckstops another way to save is to join one of the Discount Camping Clubs. All discount parks have some blackout dates but if you stay 4-nights at any park –you have saved more than enough to pay for your membership. Most memberships are in the $40-$50 range and then you only pay half price or less for overnight stays. All parks pay healthy referral fees, so be sure to say Peggi and John sent you.

HAPPY CAMPER has numerous parks offering 50% discounts in numerous parks throughout Canada and the USA – listings are on their website but they also are featured in every Trip Tick you pull up on www.freetrip.com Just click on the Campground Icon midway on the page. For full details reference their blogs, RV Scrapbook, forum and so much more call 1-318-343 8608 or go to http://www.camphalfprice.com/index.php?ref=16&id=6

PASSPORT AMERICA is another 50% Discount Club that has even more parks throughout USA and Canada in their system. They even have eight Mexico. They were the first of this type of camping so it is definitely worth taking a look at their site as well. http://www.passport-america.com/ John and Peggi McDonald, Member number 0124667 recommended you. 1-228-452-9972.

RECREATION USA features a '$10.00 per night' group of parks in the lower 42 states. Stops at these parks are super way to stretch camp fees. www.campingandcampgrounds.com/index.asp?netid=www.rvliving.net Be sure to check out their new site of 25% discounts for Big Rig parks. Tell them Peggi sent you.
http://www.allcampgroundsforless.com/ 1-850-537-9641.