Well, here we are at what appears to be the end of this September heat wave.  I'm probably one of the few who are kind of sorry to see it go; as tough as it is to sleep some nights and functions some days, I'm just not ready to say good-bye to summer temperatures and it appears they're leaving on the express train this weekend.  Tomorrow, we'll wrap up the last of your book recommendations, but today, I wanted to share with you a happy ending to a story that began one month ago and threw a serious monkey wrench into our work (and therefore also home) lives.  It has to do with my laptop.

I have a kind of uncharacteristic thing to do here - I want to give a shout-out to a store that really, truly made an effort in customer service and, in so doing, made our lives a lot easier and guaranteed us as future customers.

You may remember me writing about my computer imploding (okay, the hard drive died) while we were in BC on vacation.  In desperation, we went to a Staples store there and Rob chose a replacement laptop for me.  That particular computer was not a good fit for a few reasons, not the least of which was that the keyboard design didn't work at all for my needs, but we didn't realize this until I'd tried my best to adapt.  By the time we gave up, we were home in Ontario.

The "returns policy" online made it clear that we could bring that laptop back within 14 days IF we had the original packaging.  Here's where sheer luck comes in: had my parents' recycling been picked up one day earlier, the cardboard casing and other stuffing would have been gone from their garage.  A frenzied phone call to my dad, and it was rescued.  Then, how to get it here?

As it happened, my sister Cindy was coming for a visit to Toronto in the next few days.  She was accommodating enough to fold up the packaging, wedge it into a suitcase already overloaded with Christmas presents for us folks "down east" and cart it to Ontario.  My very grateful husband reassembled the packaging, put the Acer in it, and the friendly and extremely understanding staff at Staples (Front Street at Parliament) not only took back the computer, but were so accommodating that we vowed to try to buy our next laptop from them.

As for my li'l red Dell?  That's another story of dumb luck: when the hard drive fried, it happened literally two weeks before our warranty expired.  Rob was able to order a replacement, reinstall the software, recover most of the documents and return my life to some semblance of normalcy.

You know, I was cursing the computer gods when I thought I'd lost everything, but I guess I have to look at all of the lucky breaks I got surrounding the whole incident.

And with all of the stories of lousy service that abound in our daily lives, I thought that today I'd just share a good one.  Join me here tomorrow and we'll kick off the long weekend together.

Welcome to September!  We said good-bye to August yesterday by taking a ride to the Beach (Beaches?), the Scarborough Bluffs and eventually the Danforth.  Just driving around, taking in the city, enjoying a summer day - and I didn't even use the weather as an excuse to stop for ice cream!  No, it was just sort of "soak in the moment" kind of exercise.  I live for summer and warm weather...all else is aftermath and build-up, or in the case of trips to the sunshine during the winter, brief substitution.

Oh, I felt so badly for Marta yesterday, the CHFI Loyalty Club member who missed calling in - by minutes - for her WestJet vacation just after the 7:30 am news.  When she finally did call (late), we chatted briefly, then later in the day we exchanged a few e-mails.  Now, after initially saying on the phone that she thought she would cry (and who would blame her?) she wrote and told me that she guessed everything happened for a reason and there was "no reason to dwell".  She added that she was inputting her songs for points right after she e-mailed me, so she wasn't giving up.

Talk about an amazing attitude!  And yes, Marta, lightning can definitely strike twice.  The wife of a lucky 15th caller on CHFI Big Bag of Cash contest this week won a trip with us earlier this month as a Loyalty Club member.  It really can - and does - happen.  But what a wonderful attitude this woman has.  Lifted me up, for sure.

We start the final third of 2010 on a distinctly steamy note, and what better way to share our time together today than with a few more book recommendations.  Back in June I asked you to suggest a few for your fellow journal visitors.  I'm afraid that I got through some and then let others sit by the wayside.  But no worries: none of these is entitled "How You Must Spend July 2010" or anything like that!  They're books you can read anytime.  So let's get to them.  Carla writes:
 

Hi Erin: Our church has a Book Club which has encouraged me to do a lot of reading lately.  I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  It tells of the segregation of the black maids and the white ladies who treat their help poorly; takes place in early 60's.  Also, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, the story of a widower in present time England and his many involvements, some of them which are against his wishes.  He has trouble adjusting to current morals and technology.

Best ones from past year were Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay and Little Bee by Chris Cleave.

Thank you, Carla.  I'm pretty sure we included The Help earlier in the summer, but what the heck - and I'm about to include a repeat suggestion (the Mortenson book) from our own midday goddess Michelle Butterly!  She writes:
 

Summer Reads: 'Sh*t My Dad Says' -- Justin Halpern (real stories..pee your pants funny but very vulgar)...and another good read: Three Cups Of Tea -- Greg Mortenson (true story and very inspirational).

Thanks for the suggestions, Michelle; because of her recommendation, I bought Sh*t My Dad Says (soon to be a new comedy series on CTV this fall starring William Shatner) and I read it and laughed aloud, as did Rob.  He's already lent it to a friend.  As Michelle says, it is vulgar (the senior Halpern really never met a four-letter word he didn't like - or use) but there are some pretty funny, relatable scenarios in the book.  By the way, it began as a series of tweets.  Fascinating - and not for those who can't tolerate swearing.  But then, the title pretty much warns you, doesn't it?

Have a terrific day and we'll be back with you here tomorrow.  Working our way towards the long weekend...hang in there!