We're ready for a FABULOUS New Year .............

Life is good and there's so much to be grateful for and now............ we get to start all over with a fresh new year.

At our age, celebrations tend to be very low-key but for sure, we're eating well!  Halibut and Tiger prawns are in the refrigerator ready for New Year's Eve.  Tomorrow is my yearly "girl's New Years early eve" lunch with friends, Allison, Rae and Gina.  Ann can't join us so that gives us an excuse to have a repeat sometime soon.  Reservations are at Imperial, a popular downtown restaurant and, of course, champagne and appetizers will be here before we go to lunch.

Next week Roger will be in Sacramento for three days visiting with relatives from France so that gives us girls an excuse for more partying.

Roger and I wish you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, good health and happiness.  Yes, the "cat" with the Manhattan is me.........  CHEERS ................................

A Hatefi Christmas .....................

Today, Brian, Carolyn, Rachael and Adam drove to Portland from Springfield to join us for a Christmas celebration and afternoon dinner.

Roger was in charge of Iranian Holiday Rice made with lots of fresh orange peel, saffron, maple syrup, blanched almonds and pistachios.

He also fixed a fantastic beef shank while I made my version of chicken cacciatore and fixed appetizers, salads and dessert.  It turns out that we can work really well together in the kitchen and we had great fun.




Now presents are opened, house is back in order, dishes are washed and put away and we're looking forward to Christmas Day when we can get back to being lazy

Portland shuts down after a few inches of SNOW

Yesterday morning I made an early trip to New Seasons to pick up some groceries in preparation for snow that was forecast to start about noon.  It was the first time that I couldn't find a parking place in their large parking lot.  I got one of the last three shopping carts and finally managed to work my way through the crowds to get the few things that I needed.  Some items were already out of stock.

Portlanders go crazy at the thought of snow (myself included) probably because we remember being snow-bound for almost two weeks in 2008. The city doesn't have much snow equipment so the only roads that are cleared are the freeways and major streets.  This morning, Lincoln and 1st Avenue are solid snow and ice so we've been warned to stay inside.

The fireplace and heaters are cranked up and I'm getting ready to fix a big kettle of potato, leek, lentil soup so all is well in the Hatefi household.

How long does it take to delete 60,000 spam emails?

So far it has taken me four hours and now I only have 5,878 to go.  Comcast finally came through with a way to stop them from coming so in another hour or so, I should have a clean email file.  This nightmare has taught me some valuable lessons:

• Use stronger passwords and keep a record so I don't keep forgetting them
• Instead of calling Comcast, just send an email to:  abuse@comcast.net. Put the word "Phishing" in the subject line  This takes the problem to a special unit that specializes in spam and other email illegal issues.
• Don't open messages that "look" like spam.  Just send them straight to the spam folder
• Be more careful about ordering merchandise from unknown websites.  Stick with Amazon or stores where I regularly shop
• NEVER use my debit card for a web purchase

Now it's time to look ahead to the forecast of snow in Portland.  The latest news tells us that it will start mid-day tomorrow and snow into Thursday.  Temperatures will be below freezing every night for the next week so that means there will be ice on the roads again.

Bella has found a way to stay warm ................. I left my fuzzy blanket on the floor beside the couch and Bella decided it was a good place to sleep.  When I finish deleting the emails, it's going to be my turn.

2,668 EMAILS IN MY IN-BOX THIS MORNING

So, if you read my earlier post, you're already thinking, "poor Janice - what a mess".  Well, here's the rest of the story.

My email inbox currently has 2,668 emails all from the same "person".  They started at about 2 a.m. and they are continuing now with three added per minute.  They are all headed "Third, it won't get better unless you do something about it-and the sooner, the better.".  They advertise a remedy for men with a big prostate.  It says there's a video attached, but fortunately there is none.

SO, here's the problem. 
Three different units in Comcast are "working on it" but don't have a solution of how to stop it.  Each email is from a different sender name (all yahoo) so in order to block them, I would have to key in 2,668 emails. To make it even more fun, all of these emails are also on my I-Phone.

I've been reassured that they will find a solution but it may take a week or so......................... and, of course, it's FRIDAY ...........................

WHEN YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT BALLANCE IS $0 (ZERO)

The morning has not started well.  When I logged into my email, I found a confirmation from Costco that they had received my order for a computer and had taken $1,699.99 out of my checking and savings accounts. Believe me, it's no fun to see your checking balance at $0 and money missing from savings.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that the wheels run VERY SLOWLY so, instead of stopping the shipment of the computer, I just received a second email that they shipped it.  NO, not to me but to a different shipping address shown on the invoice (likely not a residence, but a mail pickup store).

Costco won't be able to investigate the situation until next week because (after all) it's a FRIDAY.  When I called a second time to protest the shipping of the computer, I was told they couldn't stop it until someone investigated it (next week).

The bank is VERY sorry that my money has been stolen but they must wait until Costco, sends them an authorization to refund the money (next week, probably).  Meanwhile they have also assessed my account $200 for having to make a second debit from my savings.  My debit card has been cancelled but I won't receive a new number until next week (4 to 6 days from today).

I called the police non-emergency line and I was told to log into the Internet and "fill out a form". 

Am I frustrated?  Oh, yes...........................

The message here is:
PLEASE CHECK YOUR BANK STATEMENT AT LEAST ONCE A DAY TO MAKE CERTAIN THERE ARE NO FICTITIOUS CHARGES.  THE SECOND SUGGESTION IS TO NOT ALLOW AN AUTOMATIC DEBIT FROM YOUR SAVINGS IF THE CHECKING ACCOUNT IS AT ZERO.

Snow and Freezing Rain in Downtown Portland .................

Snow is rare here in downtown Portland so it's always exciting when it happens, particularly around Christmas.  It started early this morning and we had about three hours of heavy downfall.  Now we're told to expect freezing rain through the night which is not a good thing because it creates an ice coating on the roads and sidewalks that is extremely slippery.

Fortunately, we have no place to go so our plan is to stay inside our warm condo and cook good food and enjoy some movies.

I'm recovering from a mohs skin cancer surgery on my forehead so my eyes are swollen, pink, purple, yellow and most colors in between so it's a perfect time to stay "under cover" until I start to look and feel better.