There Are Really Some Very GOOD People In This World!

So I have spent all morning, literally since I opened my eyes, trying to deal with the HACKING of my personal email. My Guy and I were sitting at the kitchen counter having coffee when he informed me that my email had been hacked.  The Email that went out to my contacts read:

From: xxxxxxxx
Date: January 16, 2014 at 7:43:18 AM EST
To: xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Please Help!!
Reply-To: xxxxxxxxx

Good morning,
 I am writing this with tears in my eyes, My family and I made a trip to Kiev (Ukraine) unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily we still have our passports with us.
I have been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all the bad news is our flight will be leaving in less than 12-hrs from now but we are having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills, I will need your help (LOAN ) financially, I promise to make the refund once we get back home. Please let me know if i can count on you and i need you to keep checking your email because it's the only way i can reach.

Thanks,
Candace Evans-Lucas
The Candy Bar
20 Church Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
781-439-5899

Candybarcosmetics.com

Oh HELL No!

I have received this email before from people and never thought much of it. Pain in the ASS hackers-so I handled it and took the necessary steps to protect my email account immediately.

But then the most amazing thing happened....

People started emailing, texting and calling me. My phone blew up! My family and friends and my Facebook friends all letting me know I had been hacked! My blogger friends, Scope, Cora, Zibsy and BeckEye all contacted me-then people outside my circle started calling. Strangers and even Frack's school teachers!!! All checking to see if we were OK.? I couldn't believe it. People that I used to work with called me , people that I didn't even know reached out to let me know that I had possibly been hacked.

The most touching came from an acquaintance I had met through my son's athletic team. He called expressing his concern. I informed him that my email had been hacked and that I was sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused him and then he told me,
"Candace, I'm glad it is not true because if it were, we would have taken the proper steps to help you."

It's people like that that make me want to squash every single hacker's fingers into a million pieces. 

Their overwhelming kindness and the fact that they could have become a victim of fraud because of me??? I couldn't bear the thought. So I have been all over the place this morning trying to report, catch, intercede and do whatever I can to ensure that my contacts know that this is a SCAM!!! I seem to have lost my address book to send a bulk email, but I'm working on that too. I have posted on every possible social media site, Facebook Twitter and Instagram and now on the Daily Dandy! My apologies if any of you are inconvenienced.

For all the bad that it caused, it sure doesn't negate the good because the good is glaringly obvious.

Emily Post 101: A Survey

Is emailing a thank you note acceptable etiquette? The answer may surprise you.

The experts say handwritten thank you's are still tops, but there are exceptions to the rule. According to Emily Post, a handwritten note is preferred for gifts, but if the gift comes from a close friend or relative an email note is acceptable. The other exception is a thank you for a job interview. In that case an email thank you is highly encouraged and can aid your chances for the position.

I would venture to guess that in this wired age of technology, easy and instant email communication with another individual is not only acceptable, but eco-friendly. What would all the "greenies" say to Emily Post?

I will admit that I love a quick note in my inbox, expressing gratitude and well wishes, but I also understand the impact of a note taken from pen to paper. The handwritten note has become a lost art form. I read once that Princess Diana was a stickler for thank you notes. She always hand wrote her thank you's and always within 24 hours of the gesture. Blue bloods steeped in tradition, but it drives home the point about the importance of saying thank you.

Tell me what you think.

How Do You Feel When You Score A Deal?

So one thing I learned through this entire storm drama is that you tend to appreciate the little things in life a lot more. You know, like when you check your email after a day or two and you find that you really don't mind all that annoying spam like you normally would. You may even actually open some of the six thousand discount offers you get in your inbox, because you can. I started thinking about the art of scoring a deal and the millions of websites out there where you can buy goods, products and services at deeply discounted prices.

Even Good Morning America has jumped on the discount bandwagon with their popular weekly segment called "Secret Steals and Deals" . Viewers can go to the GMA website and score promo code for coupons with deals up to 50% off selected goods and services. You've all seen the Living Social commercials that continuously and simultaneously offer lifestyle discounts within your community and city. Today you can shop on the cheap from the comfort of your home and score better deals by being a member of an exclusive offer group than actually "pounding the pavement" looking for a deal.

So today, I'm polling you bloggers to find out if you are excited about being able to find a reliable, reputable plumber to fix your clogged sink at a discount and a chic new haircut from the local " it "guy at half the price or if you just think the whole thing is a complete waste of time and inbox space. Tell me about your experiences with these new group discount sites and what you think about the future how we are offered consumer discounts.

Is all the hype worth it?