The last three days? Well, to put it simply: very troublesome.
First, my sister found out about someone using her little boy’s picture in a scam to raise money on the GoFundMe site. That was taken down, thank goodness. But yesterday, another reader alerted her to tweets involving the same scam. Meredith doesn’t use Twitter, so she called me to find out what to do. Don, who is already furious about what this man is doing, went on Twitter and reported the tweets, then he wrote a tweet to the man behind the scam, telling him to take it down and that he’d reported him. My college-age nephew (Little Z’s older brother) also reported it. And this morning, I noticed another tweet up, replied to the tweet telling him to take it down, that I knew it was a scam and I was reporting him, which I did. If this keeps up, I’m going to let you all know this person’s twitter profile and perhaps we can inundate this person with demands to take this stolen photo down.
Unfortunately, we are going to have to be vigilant about this. Even though the GoFundMe site was taken down, the tweets about it were still going strong, with over 400 people retweeting what was, and is, a scam.
Obviously, this has sickened and distressed my sister, as well as everyone who loves and adores my youngest nephew. Keep your eyes open, my friends, and if you see Little Z’s photo anywhere where it should not be, please let Meredith or me know.
Then, on Sunday, the little spinning beach ball that tells you something is hung up or not working on a Mac suddenly appeared on my screen. No big deal, I thought. But I couldn’t click out of any windows. So I shut the computer down and when I turned it back on again, the infamous blinking file folder with a question mark appeared on my screen. This was my first encounter with this symbol of doom and I searched on Don’s laptop for any advice as to what to do. Nothing worked. I couldn’t get the computer to recognize the hard drive.
Crap.
Somehow, though this was about noon on a Sunday, there was an appointment open at the Apple Store for 4:45. So I booked it and Don and I drove the one hour it takes to get there. They ran a diagnostic on the laptop that showed it was either a failed hard drive or a bracket problem (related to the hard drive) or both.
They told me it would be 1 to 3 days until I could get the computer back again. But that night, a wonderful tech from the store called me to tell me that the hard drive was still okay, but the bracket had to be replaced. He tried to get back my data, but it wasn’t working, so he reset the computer to the factory settings, basically wiping it clean. He did that because he knew I had backed up my computer and that I had access to my backup and could restore everything.
I have take a moment to say that I routinely get excellent help from the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. Everyone is so helpful, so friendly and, most importantly, they take care of the problem. They don’t charge me for something I don’t need. They are unfailingly polite and extremely service oriented. Thanks, everyone!
We picked up my laptop yesterday. When I got home, I plugged in the external drive that holds my backups and ran it. It took about 5 hours to restore everything. But it’s all back, minus a few photos that I had downloaded in the last week, as my last backup was about 8 days prior to this ‘event.’ I’ll be backing up more frequently in the future. I’ll also be deleting a lot of stuff I really don’t need. Time to clean up the computer.
My friends, I cannot stress this enough: If you aren’t currently backing up your computer, you need to start NOW. If I didn’t have a backup I would have lost everything, including 28,000 photos and my photo editing software (Lightroom.) If you don’t know how to do it, or what kind of external drive you need to buy, ask a friend or Google it or go to your local electronics store and ask a professional. If you’d rather back up to the Cloud, do that. Whichever way you choose to do it, start backing up your computer regularly.
Macs don’t break down all that often but they are, after all, machines and the hardware in them only lasts so long. I’m on my computer a lot, so it makes sense that at some point, the hard drive will go. The Apple techs likened it to needing to replace the tires on a car. It’s going to happen. Backing up my laptop ensures that all my information, files, applications and photos will not be lost.
Back up your computer!!!
And then, to top it all off, as I was getting out of the car yesterday (at the mall which houses the Apple Store) I felt a twinge in my lower back/tush and I was suddenly in a lot of pain. Today, it’s even worse. Such a simple movement and one I make several times a day – getting out of the car. I had a dentist appointment today that I had to cancel. No can do.
So, there you go. Yours truly is propped up in her blogging chair with lots of pillows against her back, groaning every time she moves the wrong way.
Yikes.
May I say, enough already?
Happy Tuesday.
wow … too much, especially all at once. i’ve been a social worker for 30+ years (and alive for 57), yet it still shocks me the hurt some people intentionally put on others. sorry for what you and your sister have been going through. hoping and praying the scam and re-tweets are done, that you get relief from the back and computer pains and each day gets brighter, easier for you all.
kathy
Thank you, Kathy.
Be well!
Thank you!
Shouldn’t it be good things that come in threes?
So sorry for all your recent troubles. I hurt my back last week – Advil helped. If it’s any consolation, your photos are lovely including the ones on Instagram. Henry is adorable! Hope you’re on the mend soon.
Taking Ibuprofen right now because that’s what’s on hand. Back pain isn’t fun, is it? I hope you’re feeling better, Barbara.
Wave the white flag…surrender!
I’ve surrendered to doing anything physical today, Cindy!
Ice and heat alternately. Hope the back gets better. The situation with your nephew …how awful when the crud of the world arrives on your doorstep.
It’s awful and horrible and disgusting.
I am furious that someone would take advantage of little Z’s photo like that! I know Meredith is beside herself with this. It’s such a violation and so wrong. It’s a sad world in many ways, but then there are all of us who will be vigilant in finding this guy if need be and ENDING those tweets. Whew! So so sorry about the back. I’ve had my knee just hurting so much lately I’ve had trouble doing the things around my house I need to do. Today is better and my Mom is doing better so it’s stay at home day and try to clean up some!
Computers…grrr but love them. Because of all those issues my daughter has me using a Chromebook (it’s all in the cloud) and so far I love it. I do have photos saved on an external thingy (techy word right). USB stick…there I remembered.
Big hugs and hoping you feel better soon.
Linda
I tend to stay away from the Cloud – not sure why – I think I don’t trust it. I don’t even use Apple’s version of Cloud! I want my back up right here in my hands, but that’s no guarantee, either!
I hope your knee feels better, my friend. And I’m so happy to hear your mom is doing better.
What a week you have had! So sorry. I don’t back up my computer but need to do that. Take it easy and get well soon!
Judy
Yes, you do, Judy. Go to Best Buy or some place like that and they’ll walk you through it.
This past weekend has not been a kind one for you. I’m still upset at what’s happening with Little Z’s picture. The Internet is like the old wild Wild West…..lawlessness! And now your back? So sorry…I know what that feels like. It amazes me quite frankly, how a simple movement can debilitize you…and it takes so long to recover. Have you tried a heating pad? Hope you’re feeling better soon! ;)
Had the heating pad on last night and I’m sure I’ll have it on again today, Donnamae.
Don’t get me started on back problems! Actually, you already have. My back went out the first time when I was changing a diaper on #3 son. We are talking about 37 years ago. Since then I have had a series of backs going out. Going out and having fun without me! Trying to take care of kids with husband on the road. What a mess. While I was in labor with #4 (a daughter!) I could never tell when one labor pain stopped and another one started because my back was hurting so much. Now everyone is grown and gone and I have learned what not to do. Doesn’t always work, but at least now I have no one to take care of. I hope your back feels better soon. I have found putting ice on it, 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off and then after a few hours start doing ice and warmth 20 minutes and 20 minutes works best. Usually three bad days and then it starts getting better. Hope yours won’t be a bad as mine.
Thanks, Tana. It was horrible when I first got up this morning and I was really panicked. It’s still bad but not nearly as bad as it was first thing this am. Thanks for your welcome advice!
When it rains, it seems it POURS! Sorry to hear about your problems. I’m curious how the problem with your nephew’s photo began – not that I don’t have enough to worry about myself :)
Hope EVERYthing comes to satisfactory conclusions very soon.
Whoever is behind this presumably pulled the photo off my sister’s blog or found it in Google Images and used it for a scam money raising scheme on Go Fund Me, claiming that my nephew was little boy named Cam or something like that, who was fighting cancer. In other words, he used the photo to persuade people to give money.
So sorry about the back problem ~ what a pain (literally!!) That, along w/ the computer issues and sweet little Buddy. People certainly can be idiots. Can’t fathom the heartlessness of a human to do such a thing.
Take care and get some rest. Sounds like you still have some books waiting for reviews, so you can at least say you are still working while you heal!! Hope you will be feeling better soon.
I can’t fathom it, either. I hope he didn’t pull in any money and if he did, I hope Go Fund Me, put a stop payment on it.
I’ve got a review coming up this Thursday and I’ve already finished the book, so I’m reading a John Connolly just for me. Then another book review coming up in June.
Oh that’s lot of bad happening to you. Take care! Regula
I will. Thank you, Regula.
OK so I thought he should be flogged. I have rethought this, and flogging is too good for him. What he has done is reprehensible.
Mt computer has taken on a mind of it’s own. It shuts itself off. No warning, just all of a sudden a black screen. Better than the blue screen of death, but still frustrating.
It sounds to me like you need to be seen by a chiropractor. Mine brings me blessed relief. If that’s not possible…ice and heat changing over every 20 minutes, keep you legs elevated, and Advil. Good luck. Back pain is almost the worst pain there is.
Jail would be nice, don’t you think?
Going to get Advil this afternoon. It’s back pain and it’s also in my hip, so I’m hobbling about, Trudy. Thank you for your advice!
What a horrible thing for Mere to go through..what a nasty person to use sweet little Buddy that way..Has she talked to the police to see if there is anything they might do to help??..I have never thought it was a wise idea to post pictures of kids online..to many weird and nasty people out there..to easy for some pedophile to see your kids pictures and become obsessed..to easy for them to find out where you live if you haven’t already told them..It all seems like innocent fun until something like this happens..Your sister is such a good lady..I can only imagine the hell she is going through with this..Please keep us informed about what is happening..
True, but that sort of thing is rare. And I firmly believe you can’t live your life in fear of ‘what ifs’. Be prudent and wise, of course. But sharing photos of a magical young boy, which in turn, bring magic and joy to readers – that’s a blessed thing to do. Little Z is an angel on earth. Of that, I’m sure.
Flashback. It’s 1993, I think, and the tech team at my university is installing my very first PC. I didn’t have one at home at the time, or much desire to get one either then. Anyway, I’m chatting with the very knowledgeable student tech person, telling him how little I knew about computers, yadda yadda, and how I was a bit worried about blowing this new one up. First he assured me that there was virtually nothing I could do that would accomplish that, short of violence. Then he said there were three other things I should remember that are relatively simple to do and solve/prevent the majority of computer problems people have. 1 – When in doubt, reboot. 2 – Back up your work regularly, every day if you can. 3 – Clear your cache every day. It has been invaluable advice. Hope you feel better soon…
I do all of the above. I reboot when I think something’s up. I back up – though not every day. I think I’ll start increasing the frequency of my backups. And I also clear my cache.
During the past few weeks , I know of two local families who were victims of fraudulent GoFundMe accounts being set up. I can’t believe how people can be so cold hearted and greedy! Hope your back feels better!
I can’t either! I can only hope there’s a karmic payback for people such as these!
Claudia,
so sad and sorry for the troubles your family is experiencing. I don’t understand why bad things have to happen to good people.
I hope this goes away!
I hope your back pain goes away too…
and I know all too well the computer issues, though I don’t have a Mac. :/
take care…rest your back
Doing my best to rest my back, Pat. It isn’t always easy when you have a girl who needs to be helped up and down stairs, etc! But when Don’s around, he takes over and that helps.
Ice and Advil. Just watch the Advil, it can get to your tummy. I used to have so many back problems. I would literally put a in Ziploc in a baggy inside another baggy wrapped in a wet. I would put this inside my undies and ice it all day. I know that they tell you not to but was the only way I could function.
That’s so sad about Little Budd. The nerve. Is there some way of finding this person with Go Fund Me. Do you not have to supply information before starting one.
I just read an facebook post from someone I know about what has happened to his daughter. I will probably post about it so that others are aware.
Let’s hope this week is better for us both. And also for those poor victims of the flooding
I don’t know enough about GoFundMe to know what someone has to do to start a fund drive. I would bet he’s erased all his info by now. He knows we’re on to him and that we’ve found him on Twitter, as well. He’s a true scumbag, isn’t he?
I hope this week is better for you, my friend. I know you’re hurting and missing your sweet dog.
Oh, Claudia; I am so sorry you have been having so much stress. Many times, I’ve wanted to throw the internet out the window and return to another kind of life. There are so many problems with the web…even all these years later, since its debut/accessibility to the world, it’s still a wild, unpoliced, open-season territory. Enter at your own risk. The Anthem Blue Cross breach…Home Depot, Target; how can any of us by now not be compromised…but to steal a child’s photo? The lowest of the low.
No wonder your neck is hurting; you’ve been riddled with tension. I’ve ‘been there’ with the neck; ice, heat, ibuprofen, physical therapy…do whatever works and, what the doctor always tells me is, if you’re in pain, it heals slower, so you have to usually succumb to some kind of pain killer/anti-inflammatory. The worst for me with ongoing neck pain is the headache.
On another entirely-different subject, I was looking at various ‘green’ cleaning tips et al from the former THIS OLD HOUSE guy, Bob Vila, and he said this about deer, which made me think of you and your garden, so I hope it helps: “Who could call Bambi a pest? A gardener. Many have had luck deterring deer with Irish Spring soap. Hang it or spike it to a stake near things that deer like to eat. Alternatively, sprinkle shavings or small chunks on the ground.”
I scanned your post too quickly because I’m about to dash out. It’s not your neck, it’s your low back/butt area. Sounds like sciatic nerve. I’ve had that, too. It started when I was a volunteer driver for a home-delivery meal service for seniors. I lifted a heavy food box wrong as I swung the box into my car at the start of my route. It felt like a split, like a zipper being pulled up or down my low back into my buttocks on the one side. I couldn’t move. I was only a half mile from home and I don’t know how I managed to drive; this was before cell phones, so I couldn’t call. Fortunately, my husband hadn’t left for work yet, so he finished my route. Every step was excruciating. I did a lot of screaming. The worst thing I did was have too much bed rest for the problem…for three weeks…but I could only stand on one foot, sitting was impossible and I couldn’t even care for my bathroom needs; my husband had to take extended time off from his job to help me with everything at home. It was awful and the injury has plagued me ever since, for 17 years, so I really am careful…about lifting, particularly. I really flared it up one time in ensuing years when I merely lifted up my 30-lb small dog.
You know, you’ve been doing all that hard garden work, too, after the inactive winter when you were forced to confinement.
I also exacerbated my sciatica once when simply starting a new exercise program and taking on too much too soon. In my case, I had been very ‘couch-potato’…and I know this isn’t you; you’re pretty darn active on a normal basis, I think…so I couldn’t just jump into a new set of exercises ‘to get in shape’ the way I could when I was younger and more flexible and, of course, I did just that and then totally injured myself, with the old sciatic problem rearing its ugly head.
It just takes so darn much time for this kind of thing to heal and calm down. Take care and best to you for soonest recovery! Going up and down those stairs must be really hard.
I think it’s sciatica, too. I’ve had it happen once before, but it wasn’t this bad. I went to the grocery store with Don today and I had to throw in the towel after that trip. Time to rest the back for the rest of the day. It’s such a nuisance and a painful one at that!
I’ve heard about Irish Spring. Haven’t tried it yet because I’ve also heard some people say it doesn’t work. My experience with deer tells me that something might work for a while, but if the deer are hungry enough, they’ll eat it anyway.
Definitely enough! Just the thought of some sicko out there using an innocent child’s photo for some sort of exploitation is absolutely disgusting. I feel so bad for Meredith and her husband. And I really feel for you with the back pain. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced that too many times myself. Healing thoughts and prayers to you, Claudia.
Thank you, Melanie.
Meredith is hanging in there, but all of my protective big-sister instincts come out when something like this happens – as well as my protective aunt instincts. How dare they mess with my family!
xo
Oh enough indeed! I’m sorry about all of this Claudia. And poor Meredith. I have no idea how to tweet, (or back up my computer either). I think I need to investigate the later.
I hope you get to feeling better very soon.
Blessings,
Betsy
Thank you, Betsy! Blessings to you, as well.
So sorry to read about the situation with your nephew, little Z and the go fund me scam. Are there no depths to which these types of people will go to raise money? I wish there was a way these online scammers could be held accountable, so sickening. We have to be vigilant about so many things when we are on the internet to avoid being targets, so tiring to think of all the precautions we have to take to remain safe online. So sad for your sister and what she has been through because of this.
I have to be honest about my computer, I don’t back up my files and it is a mistake that I am going to correct. You are smart to back up your files. You blog so often it would be horrible to lose your content. Hope your computer woes are behind you and that you feel better soon. I’m thinking my next computer will be a Mac, our current one is getting pretty old.
Hopefully this week will be better. Stay off your feet and use a heating pad. I also have a bad back and that’s the only thing that helps me. That idiot using your nephews picture, he’ll get his. I’ve also had a week from hell. A virus ran thru all 3 of my dogs, our tub grinder caught on fire and we couldn’t grind mulch so we couldn’t sell any, or make any money and I broke a tooth that needed pins to keep the filling in. Raising my teacup to a better week for us all!
I don’t know how to Tweet but I’ll find out how to do it if we start an all out war against this guy. That really makes me mad. Just let me know and I’ll join in the barage against this man.
So sorry about your recent woes. Just say the word, and I’ll tweet the heck out of the jerk who has used your nephew’s photo to scam people.
I’m new to your blog but have already bookmarked it! I usually read it in the morning and your style has such a calming effect on me–sort of like a second cup of tea! I know a lot of work goes into taking the photos, writing the blog, and researching info. Thank you for all your hard work.
Last, I shall wave my magic wand and make your woes go away!
–Susan
My daughter in Indiana has always cut her husband’s hair. When she lived by a field full of deer she always threw the hair out in the garden and realized no more deer. Also saw this in some sport movie (can’t remember the name) . What do you have to lose by giving it a try! Take it easy with the back, just takes time.