Well, I have very little to rant and rave about this month. The SIGS, Windows, Internet and Visual Basic, are all going pretty well. Genealogy is being under attended. Please, if you have an interest in this SIG, show your support by attending. I’m very pleased with the other SIGs, and we have some interest in starting a new one for Linux.

What I think a Linux group needs to get off the ground is a volunteer to locate a meeting place and send out email to those people we know have an interest. Call the first meeting an exploratory one and decide on locations and subjects as you go along. It’s really not much work; the Visual Basic SIG is a good example; it takes just a few minutes work each month.

On a personal front, I received a notice from American Express this month stating that I would not be held responsible for internet purchases on AMEX that I did not make. That is reassuring. I had given the hazards of online purchasing some thought in the past, and I have to say I’m not comfortable with it. I’ve only made a couple of purchases, one to Amazon, and two to purchase software licenses. I’m not ready to jump into buying a lot of things like clothes for instance. My oldest son, who lives in a remote area in Colorado buys on line and also from catalogs all the time and just doesn’t worry about it. One thing I do tell myself is that I let that same card go out of my sight all the time at restaurants. That isn’t to say I don’t worry about it.

Once, an Olive Garden restaurant switched my card with someone else‘s. I got his and he got mine. The bill amount was very close, and I actually paid his bill, he mine, and a week later when I tried to use it, a cashier at Office Depot wouldn’t let me have my card because this card, with someone else’s name on it had been reported stolen. Why didn’t the guy just phone me, instead of reporting his stolen? AMEX was very nice about it and got a new card to me quickly. The manager at the Olive Garden basically said, "Oh well, these things happen!" when I called him about it. It doesn’t happen to me anymore, I’ll tell you that.

I just used my card to buy a software license for Backer 4, the software I reviewed elsewhere in this issue. I elected to go through a secure software site, which I’m sure takes a cut off the top of my $35 purchase. I could have just emailed Leanware and given my card number, but that was more than all my conservative bones could take. I’ll get used to it. u