Monday the 13th worse than Friday the 13th?

There hasn't been much time to enjoy social media, or socializing in real time for that matter. Since Thanksgiving, my huggy and I have been frantically busy helping Santa by making lots and lots of toys and fun things available for our eBay friends to buy. It has been challenging, but a lot of fun, especially when I look at our happy feedback. So far no grumpy Gus complaints.

But today was a bit over the top when it comes to crazy. We had about nine items ready to ship before going to bed last night. That is, we sorted though all the storage bins and pulled out the toys that were paid for Saturday and Sunday and printed out the first bit of paperwork to make the shipping process quicker. One was an international shipment... to Italy! I went to bed feeling very smug about my preparatory efforts.

But morning had other ideas. After shivering through Beau's early morning trip to the park (by car today) and a quick cup of coffee, and my usual breakfast of yogurt, oats, walnuts and blueberries I casually and confidently walked into ... a hornet's nest.

First the computer would not communicate with eBay, Yahoo, Google, Twitter ... no go. Panic began to rise in my throat. The grandkids' computer booted up to a strange "security warning" and I thought "VIRUS" great! I'm sunk! The iPhone was able to get a connection to eBay and everything else... but it doesn't communicate with my printer... which I needed to print shipping labels. The laptop was able to communicate with everyone too. "ALL RIGHT!" I thought "I'm back in business" My relief was short lived. The printer didn't want to talk to my laptop. PANIC!

I called my next door neighbor (a reporter) to ask if he was having problems with his internet service (RoadRunner like mine) "No problems here today." he reported. Luck was with me though, he was quick to offer the use of his system since he was busy elsewhere. I took him up on his offer. Found boxes and weighed out all my shipments, wrote the weight on the paperwork that matched it, gathered the nine pages and headed out the door, taking along an armload of recyclables that had somehow escaped the recycling bin that morning. The wind and chill reminded me of early spring in Michigan (I am in Florida) and, as I dropped the load into the bin, that same evil wind took all my paperwork and blew it down the street. As I chased it I heard beer cans and coffee cans rattling and rolling behind me. The bin had been tipped by the wind too. After a breathless chase and a good Samaritan neighbor who stopped, blocking traffic to help me, I retrieved all nine pages. With a sigh of relief and a sudden need to find a bathroom, I ran to the neighbor's door.

Except for a long, but friendly line, at the Post Office the rest of the adventure was pretty calm. The real problem I found, when I was not in a panic, was the most common problem of all. CABLES! My computer's cable link to the modem had somehow worked it's way loose.

Then tonight, I got to the bottom of the whole mystery when I read Layla Morgan Wilde's "The Boomer Muse"  The whole problem can be blamed on Mercury in retrograde. Communications nightmare! As a recovering astrologist I should have realized that bright light in the clear black sky last night was up to no good!