A Raving Fan

Ok, the usual scene...I get off work at 4pm...dash off to pick up Angelina from preschool. Usually, she's a mess. The amount of sand that pours out of her shoes into the floor board of the Jeep is unreal. Smelly, you know that "outdoorsy" kid smell, and sometimes pretty crabby. We have this game. She runs, and I chase after her, trying to convince her to get in the car.

Lina: I don't want to go home.
Mom: We're not going home, we're going to the store.
Lina (with wide eyes): Oh, I get a treat?
Mom: Well, if you're a good girl you can get a treat.

Then the drive begins. Sometimes, especially lately, I pull over to puke on my way. By the time the afternoon hits, the meds have worn off and I'm more than a little queasy. Plus it's about time to eat, again...not a fun cycle. We get to the store and she races for the cart that has the big girl seat...You may or may not have seen these. They are about 8 feet long and a real pain to manuever through the isles.

I am really blessed, for the most part my daughter is great. She usually sings her way through the store, asks for various treats, makes friends with strangers. But all in all 5pm at the grocery store is never really fun (at least for me).

I've always been an Albertsons girl. Grew up on it really. It was where we shopped. I knew my way around. When I moved out on my own to Tulsa it was the only place I recognized...there were no Reasors in California, or whatever other Tulsa stores I saw. And when I moved to Sunny AZ...there she was again, with her big blue sign, Albertsons. Just like my childhood. So, when I watched the news the other night, I was floored, shocked, surprised, amazed when they announced that MY Albertsons, now offered delivery service/and car service too. This was the best news ever. But I couldn't really believe it, I had to check it out for myself.

Well, I sit before you today having just completed my grocery shopping online, and will pick up my items at 5pm today at the store closest to my house. Ready. Packed. Already Paid for. Delivered to my car. It truly was a joyous process. All for 4.95. 4.95!!!!! That is worth every penny. No wasted time. No money spent on "treats". I think I may buy some stock.

Albertsons: It's MY store!

Creating a Strong Password

Here are some helpful tips on creating a "strong password":

- Should be at least 8 characters long
-Should not contain your name or any portion of your name
-Should contain characters from at least 3 of the following classes:

1. Upper Case Letters (ABC)
2. Lower Case Letters (abc)
3. Numbers (123)
4. Special Characters (!@#*%&)

An easy way to do this is to create a passphrase this can be done quite simply and is easy to recall. Use a phrase such as: My dog has fleas. Change it to accomodate the above rules and you have a strong password:

Myd0gh@sfleas! In this case the first letter is capitalized (easy to remember, the o is actually the number zero, the a is the symbol @, and the exclamation point is an added symbol.

Why do we need strong passwords? As we all know identity theft is a huge problem. What you may not know is HOW easy it is for someone who wants to figure out your password to actually figure it out. The following is a listing of how quickly your password could be decoded.

Six character single case: (either a word or random letters: "google")
There are 308 million combinations and can be cracked in minutes

Eight Characters upper and lower case: (ex: WeDoLife)
53 trillion combinations and can be cracked in hours

Substitute a number for a letter: (ex: WeDoLif3)
218 trillion combinations and can be cracked in weeks

Substitue a special character for a letter: (ex: WeDoL!f3)
6095 trillion combinations and can be cracked in a year

What does this mean? Pick a STRONG password, and change it every couple months. Don't use the same password for all of your internet dealings. Pick something you will remember!