Books are the gateway to imagination

Books are the gateway to imagination
Morgan welcomes you to her personal blog

Friday, January 30, 2015

RAINY DAY IN LAS VEGAS

Looking out the window at the rain here in Las Vegas. Of course, people on the East Coast or Pacific Northwest would call it a slight drizzle.

Still, we have to take precautions when it rains because we have areas that get flash floods due to the normally dry conditions and some other factors.

We are in the foothills, so it doesn't get as bad as it does in the Las Vegas Valley, but just a few miles away some of the streets become hazardous when we have any ongoing rain. My Mustang is low, so I have to be particularly careful if I decide to venture out into a downpour. As for little Dylan the Dog, he won't go out! Hope he doesn't have an accident in the house. I need a "doggie litter" box.

Good day to write, listen to some good music or watch an oldie on TV.

Okay, okay, call us wimps, but we are not used to adverse weather conditions.

By the way, this IS Las Vegas, but certainly not your vision of the Strip. See we really do have neighborhoods with houses, shopping malls, grocery stores, and more. I never go to the Strip unless I have to or perhaps there is something I really want to see.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

SETTLE DOWN AND RELAX WITH A GOOD BOOK

Settle down with a good book, whether it's paperback, Kindle or one of the ePub platforms like Nook.

This fun escapade involves a clever scam to embezzle millions from the Federal prison system, and the three savvy women who brought it down.

How can something like this happen...from the prison system. Well, the truth is, and you can check it out, that the manufacturing division sells close to a billion dollars a year in goods they manufacture in prisons to the Federal government.

Caroline Rowe and I worked for the private sector marketing company for that division and we each sold millions of dollars of projects a year. We also got the idea for this scam that a former FBI undercover agent said really could have worked.

So, get your paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or any number of online bookstores for just #14.99 or their discounted price. You can also find the Kindle edition on Amazon and the Nook edition on B&N for just $2.99. Kobo has it, too, and so do lots of other sites. Check your favorite one and try to guess "howdunit."

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A CORPSE IN THE SOUP RANKING MOVING UP

Thank you to everyone who is downloading FREE copies of A CORPSE IN THE SOUP, a Silver Sisters Mystery, and helping to propel it up in the ranks. http://amzn.to/1mzTh7T

Please share the opportunity to get a FREE copy with any of your friends who enjoy a funny whodunit. It is fast paced with lots of twists and turns, zany situations and some surprises at the end. Amazon current rating 4.3 stars. Ranking as of 6:00pm on January 20 in the FREE store is
#565 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > General Humor

Those zany sisters, Goldie and Godiva, take the reader through the glitzy world of TV cooking shows as they track a killer. Their octogenarian mother Flossie and Uncle Sterling aren't far behind, dressing in disguise and going undercover. This foursome doesn't go looking for trouble. It finds them!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Update on the Fender Bender

Not having heard anything from the insurance company since the accident on January 8, I called to follow up. I was told they hadn't been able to get their insured's version so I would have to wait until they spoke to the insured. Keep in mind that we were both insured by the same company.

When I asked how long they allow, they UNBELIEVABLY said 3 weeks. Then he said if they don't hear back they send a demand letter. How long is allowed for that? Another 10 days--like over a month all together until the other guy would be declared liable and his insurance would pay for the repair. When I asked what would happen if my car couldn't be driven, the peson said, "Well you could always put in an uninsured motorist claim on your own insurance and then if we find our party liable it would be reimbursed." Yeah, sure! and my insurance would probably go up in the process even though I was the one that was hit.

I told him the insured wasn't even in the car and was relying on what the woman driving the car told him, which was a lie. I asked if they'd looked at the satellite photo of the parking lot with the diagram of the position of the cars as well as the photo of the position of the cars. Can you believe this? He said, "No, he didn't have access to those and I'd have to wait until they talked to their insured. Then he'd be able to see what I submitted. Keep a lid on. Be nice even though you want to scream. All I said was, "Fine. I'll wait to fix the car until you talk to him, but if you'd look at the photo you'd see I've have had to be able to drive sideways to be the one that hit her. I might look into changing my insurance to another company and doing a lot of social media posts as to why I took that action.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang. It was the insurance guy. He asked if I'd calmed down. I replied, "No, I'm still pissed." So he said, "Well I'm going to make you feel better. We finally touched base with our insured and it was the woman's fault and we'll make arrangements to get your car fixed."

My take. The claim was sitting there gathering dust, waiting for the guy to call back. I rattled their cage and they probably called him and got it settled.

You have to stick up for yourself sometimes to get action.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Lady backs into my car, then lies about it

Yesterday I was in a shopping center parking lot at Sunset and Green Valley Parkway in Henderson NV, or maybe it's Las Vegas...sometimes it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Anyway, after a great corned beef sandwich at Weiss Deli, I was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so I could make a left turn onto the long driveway that exits onto Green Valley, my left turn clicker going, and me at a dead stop.

BANG! All of a sudden there was a little jolt. A woman had backed her car out of the space right into my car. Fortunately there wasn't much room for her to pick up steam, so the damage isn't too bad. I'm the orange rectangle, she's the green one.

Under normal circumstances we would have exchanged info, reported to the insurance companies, and that would be the end of it.

Not so. She said, "I'm sorry. I didn't see you." and I replied, "Well, I was standing still right behind your car." A normal exchange.

I asked for her driver's license and she proceeded to pull everything out of her purse...no driver's license. Then she gave me the number of a State Farm insurance policy in someone else's name, took a cell phone photo of it and emailed it to me. I didn't bother to look at it right then. Should have. She also gave me a passport number and I did see that card.

When I got home, I opened her email and saw that what she photographed was a temporary insurance card that expired in November and it wasn't in her name. Since I'm also insured with State Farm I called to make a report. Ooops. Yes, the insurance was in force. That was the good news, but more pertinent, the owner of the car had already called to report the accident and said he didn't want a claim filed. Excuse me. His car hit and damaged my car. No claim?

Well, the woman was not on his policy, so the question at this point is whether she was driving the car with his permission, which would make it covered. If not, she is individually responsible. Did she actually have a driver's license. Who knows? There is a law in Nevada about driving uninsured. She could be in lots of trouble.

But worse, she LIED. The adjuster said the account of the accident was based upon what she told the owner. Apparently she told him that she had already pulled out of the space and I was moving and hit her. Hmmm. I didn't know I had a car that could drive sideways, since that is the only way my damage could have been sustained. After it happened, she pulled back into the space slightly, and it's a good thing I took a cell phone photo just as my phone battery was dying. It's fuzzy, but tells the story. Check the position of the cars. The damage to the rear right side of my car is directly in line with the back of her car. Impossible for me to have hit her. So, I sent the photo and diagram to the insurance company.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have told the insurance company about her not being able to produce a driver's license. If everything was taken care of, that wasn't my problem. But now creating stress for me by lying and trying to put the blame on me, she is messing with the wrong person. Depending upon how this all works out and if my own insurance has to pay for the repair, I will report her to the DMV in writing for not being able to show a license and not being insured. If she has insurance for a car of her own, that should get a black mark. If not, well, time will tell, but I simply don't like liars. If DMV takes any action, they can trace her by her U.S. passport number. Whatever she gets, she deserves.