Weekend Forecast/Megan's Big Award/Extremely Important Safety Tips

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Severe weather is possible across the lower Mississippi Valley and some southeastern states. As I write this there have been a couple dozen reports of hail and high wind ahead of an advancing cold front. Biggest threat on Friday should be hail. It will be very cold over the northern plains--highs in the single digits. There will be some snow showers around the Great Lakes and northern New England as well as in the Denver area. There will be rain along the eastern seaboard (especially the northern half).

Houston hit 81 on Thursday and will likely make 83 on Friday. It will be warm and muggy. Cold front arrives early Saturday but rain will be limited. Highs on Saturday will be in the 60s with sunshine returning in the afternoon. Sunday will be sunny and cool with a light freeze possible early for outlying areas. Highs will be in the 60s.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do poem or poema, pronounced poh-ay-MAH. Congratulations to my step-daughter Megan on her award winning poema (see AND MORE for more details).

Correction on yesterday's word--accent belongs on the last syllable.

Speaking of award-winning, have our mentioned that our educational DVD for children won 2 major awards? Yes, you can get your copies of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
In reference to yesterday's blog about 809 area code scam, special thanks to "Scott" for his comment on yesterday's blog. He gave a link for a site you can use to check out specific phone numbers and he reminded us that you can always google the phone number itself to see what comes up. Thanks Scott!

CONGRATULATIONS to my step-daughter Megan, who was a winner in the Hilary Duff With Love Valentine's poetry contest. Extra points were give for poems which included the words "with love". Megan won some free Hilary Duff perfume stuff. Way to go Megan and you smell so good!!! Here's the poem!

Our friendship may have started only 1 year ago,
But as of today you are my sister this I know,
We have been together through good times and bad,
You are the one true friend I will always have
With Love

Okay, I know you just loved hearing the Daniel Boone theme song. Well here is the one for Davy Crockett (also with Fess Parker). Now, dusting off the cobwebs, I think there was a movie and a TV show. This link is for the movie version--it is longer (and slightly repetitious) but still good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwy8-Y8XTto&feature=related

My friend whose car was burglarized Monday (with purse snatched) summarized her entire experience and also gave out some valuable tips. Just so you know, they are pretty sure they saw the man who did it as he walked by where they were picnicking and said hi--scoping out the situation. The police officer assigned to the case says that they did not hear him break the window because it is tempered glass and all you need to do is tap it just right with a key or something hard. So here are her 3 main points:

Please pass this on to everyone you know.
If you don't want to send the whole thing (it's long, I know) send this:
1) A popular new way for someone to steal your stuff is for them to camp out in parking lots (of parks, gyms, stores, Home Depot, etc.) & for the thief to watch what you do with your personal belongings. You might think you are safe to "lock" your purse/wallet in your trunk, but the thief is watching you put it in your trunk after you pull up! He knows it's there, so after you walk away, he can shatter your window, access the trunk button & off he goes. Also, be careful about bringing shopping bags back to your car from one store, & heading into another store. Same concept...they're watching you put the bags in the car, so they know what to take & where it will be.
2) If you have your stuff stolen, be sure to set up a fraud alert thru Experian/Equifax or Transunion. Plug their ph#'s into your cell ph along with 800#'s for your credit card accts & bank branch you bank thru...this will help, so you don't waste valuable time calling 1411 while the thief is spending all your money!! Their ph#'s are listed on this website: http://www.dmv.org/news-alerts/identity-theft.php
3) If you can, try not to carry your ATM card on you, b/c it can act as a debit card, & often the theif does not need your pin# to make a purchase, just your zip code (which he can access from your drivers license.) This is the quickest way that they drain people's accounts! Also, NEVER CARRY YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, or anything with your social security # on it.
Good advice!!! Thanks so much!

Have a safe Friday everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman