Positive Thoughts

Things have been challenging over the last several years for me personally and over the world.  I've been looking for ways to keep my spirits up knowing while things may be bad, they could always be worse. 

One thing I tried early this year is signing up for several devotions from BibleGateway.com. This is a great site if you are looking for one that has many Biblical offerings all in one place. The site is also easy to use and has a mobile app.

In today's "Standing Strong Through the Storm" daily inspirational devotion author Paul Estabrooks quotes an anonymous inspiration using each letter from the American alphabet. Here it is below:


A lthough things are not perfect B ecause of trial or pain C ontinue in thanksgiving. D o not begin to blame, E ven when the times are hard. F ierce winds are bound to blow. G od is forever able. H old on to what you know; I magine life without His love, J oy would cease to be. K eep thanking Him for all the things L ove imparts to thee. M ove out of "Camp Complaining." N o weapon that is known, O n earth can yield the power P raise can do alone. Q uit looking at the future; R edeem the time at hand; S tart every day with worship. T o "thank" is a command U ntil we see Him coming V ictorious in the sky. W e'll run the race with gratitude; X alting God most high. Y es, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad! 
  
© 2011 Open Doors International.

Starbucks New Reward Program Earns Zero Stars from Me

(c) Starbucks

I admit it. I am a Starbucks addict. I love coffee and I love their coffee. It was with great pleasure that I earned my Gold card in 2012. And, I've kept up the Gold level with ease in the past four years.

When I opened the Starbucks Email today entitled "Say hello to the new Starbucks Rewards," I expected the changes to be beneficial to this Gold-level customer. Their claim is "Based on what you normally buy at Starbucks, you'll be able to earn free rewards even faster than you do today. "

I went to their web site link to check out the new program details Starbucks.com/MoreStars and waded through pages and pages of information. True, it was useful information but when you've scrolled down to what probably equates to page 10, you have to wonder....

At first, it sounds good - you get two stars for every dollar spent. 

Then the shock comes...the amount of stars needed to get what you used to get is magnitudes higher - like in earthquake measurements. Take a look at this screenshot:

(c) Starbucks

For me, instead of getting a food reward in 12 visits, I now have to make 62.5 visits. My time to use these stars before they expire is halved. Instead of having 12 months, I now have to hurry up and use them in 6.

Anyone wanting to become a Gold level member has to earn 270 more stars than before.

Can someone explain to me how this is better for the customer because I just can't see it.

Beware of the Dell Technical Support Scam

 

(c) 2016

Some scam artists have gotten my unlisted phone number. The good news is I was well aware of the scam before the calls. I am getting annoyed because each time they call from the different phone number so I now have a long list of blocked numbers in my Contacts.

They cater to stereotypes by using people with an Indian accent to say your computer is sending error messages to Dell. 

The problem is Dell never calls customers for this purpose. Of course, it helps if you don't or never owned a Dell. However, recent articles indicate some people are finding the caller knows the details of their computer, information never made public outside Dell's databases. So...

Do not fall for this scam.  Do not give them any payment or other personal information.

Do tell them not to call you again and to take your number out of the system.

Here are a couple of good articles:

    Latest tech support scam stokes concerns Dell customer data was breached. Link1

    Beware virus scam phone call. Link2
 
"Dell will not make such calls to customers stating that system is infected by virus and this could be a global scam."