But my kids are getting older now and I have to let them go off and do their own thing.  So, fine.  I’m down with that.  I’m hip.

Our oldest son hopped on a plane and took off for a video game conference.  Very fun.  Staying with my brother. Very good.  But his mode of transportation was the local bus line. OK fine.  But he was out at all hours of the night…

Here’s the thing.  He’s 21.  He’s a big boy and a good kid – heck, he’s a young man.  Thursday was good.  Heard from him that he had arrived safely after a little snafu that he did not immediately elaborate on.  Friday was very good.  I followed his updates on Twitter and knew that the conference was awesome and he was doing fine.

THEN… radio silence.  Nothing.

Ok so I knew from Fridays tweets that the event he was attending was amazing and so perhaps he was just too busy to tweet.  Fine.  He’s a young man and I have to give him his space.

But what if he was riding the public transportation late at night and got into some trouble – nope, I wasn’t even going to let those thoughts or images into my mind.  So, I went to sleep and waited for Sunday mornings updates.

STILL…nothing.

Ok so now maybe he was in a ditch somewhere and we needed to find out the scoop.  Usually, we travel in teams and this was the first time he had gone off completely on his own.

So, I IM’d my other son who was off and about already and asked if he had heard from his brother.  Nope.

He wasn’t answering his phone, his voicemail box had not yet been set up and he had not posted a tweet or facebook status since Friday.  Where was he?

At this point I was a little worried and just needed some more information.  The next logical thing was to check his phone records.  We still pay the monthly charges for our kids phones (even though they are basically grownups) but I figure as long as I’m paying the bill I guess I can look at your activity even if you are a grown up.  So, I went online and discovered that the last call made was late late late Saturday night to my brothers house.  Was this reassuring?  I was not entirely satisfied.  I IM’d back the other brother who laughed at the fact that I check their phone records.  He didn’t complain – he still wants us to keep paying for it – but he did laugh.  No word yet.

Finally, mid morning Sunday he answered his phone.  His battery had died and he had forgotten to pack his charger and spent the morning monkeying around looking for another charger.  He was fine and getting on the plane later that night.

All was right with the world.  ( but I’m still wondering if I hovered too much ).

Later on Sunday I checked his facebook status again and he had posted that he was pretty damn happy.   So, what more can a mom ask for.

Regularly, people ask my why I love twitter and then, with hardly even waiting for me to reply they go into why they don’t have time for twitter and how they couldn’t possibly manage even one more thing online.  As it is they had 23 spam emails in their inbox that morning.

BRIEF PRO-TIP: You do not have to read every email that comes into your inbox.  It is ok to trash “spam” without reading.  But that is another story for another day.

Today I am celebrating the power of Twitter.  I was on facebook and saw that a friend of mine was having trouble with an insurance company over a small claim that they wanted to file – what they were being told is that if they do file the claim they may be able to recoup their loss but then their premium would go up almost twice as much as the amount of money they recovered.  They were having no luck getting through to the insurance company to talk to anyone who could explain this to them or help them with their claim.  They had spent hours on it already.

So, I sent them a message and suggested that they Tweet about their woes and I would retweet the message.  The next day my friend posted a tweet about the situation using the company’s twitter name in the post (perfect).  I retweeted and several people retweeted off of my RT.  That is how Twitter works.

Within 48 hours my friend had heard from the Insurance company and they are now working together to get this resolved.

#Epicwin

The situation is not entirely resolved yet but at the very least my friend was able to get the attention of the company and have them come directly to him instead of my friend continuing on hold for hour after hour.

We’ll keep you posted.

For more Twitter fun FOLLOW ME @maryheston

Every time we pick up a bag of dog food or cat food we are reminded – every time we pick up a Purina product the checkerboard square is there to remind us to strive for a well balanced life. The logo that we take for granted as being just a checkerboard square is actually 4 red squares on a white background. Each square represents aspects of life to keep in balance: Physical, Social, Mental and Spiritual.

William Danforth, founder of Purina, outlined his thoughts for his employees in an amazing book that still holds up today. I DARE YOU!

So, I Dare You today to pick up your own copy and live your best life ever.

I loved watching Mario Andretti rule the race course and decided my nickname would be Mario (but that didn’t really catch on ever).

On my 16th birthday I woke up exceptionally early and was the first person in line at the Dept of Motor Vehicle (DMV) office waiting for them to open their doors so I could go in and take my drivers test.  Even though I lived in a big city there was another person from my same high school who was next (second) in line after me.   It was a school day but that didn’t matter.  I was going to have my driver’s license the very first day I was eligable.

At the time my parents owned a Honda Accord 5-speed manual transmission.  I learned to drive and park on the hilly streets of Seattle.  It was great.

My very first car was a Honda CRX.  It’s name was Louis ( pronounced Louey).  I named the car after Louis Lips from the Pittsburg Steelers because they both had similar moves darting through traffic on and off the grid iron.

The car got almost 50 miles per gallon.  It was amazing.  I loved that car and had amazing adventures driving it.

In my driving life I have driven across the US and back (Northern States and Southern States) four or five times.  I stopped counting after the third cross country trip.  I have also driven up and down both coasts.  The only states left on my list to visit still are N. Dakota and Maine.  Those two have always seemed somehow out of the way.

I am now the proud owner of two driver’s licenses in two different countries and I adore roundabouts (who knew – I got stuck in my very first roundabout in Wash DC and wasn’t sure I was going to make it out without wetting my pants we were laughing so hard).

My latest obsession is with the guys from Top Gear.  They totally make driving fun.  And as my friend Angie pointed out we are all looking for the Red Ferrari.

Safe Driving!

Looking at it now, I should have planned ahead and brought a camera that can do panoramic shots and then taken one sideways and rotated it later.  But the camera that was with us that day was your standard point and click.

The building is so tall you can’t even do the old camera trick where you hold your finger in the air and take the picture and it looks like you have put your finger on the top of the building.  It is wildly tall.

The building almost looks fake even standing right there within a few blocks of it.  It so completely dwarfs all the other skyscrapers around it and is so brilliantly shiny that there is almost a sense that you are somehow on the studio lot at Universal Studios looking at a prop.   But its no prop.  It is really there.  There is a beautiful venetian looking pool at the base of the building.  Of course this body of water is not just your ordinary fountain.  It is on the scale of the building too.  Its huge.  There is even a bridge to walk from the Dubai Mall on one side to restaurants and other shops on the other side.  In the evening the music begins and the fountain shoots water up into the air in a synchronized spectacle.  People from all over arrive early and grab a seat along the edge of this amazing pool to watch the show.  I keep calling it a pool but you can’t swim or even wade in it.  Its purely for aesthetics.

If you ever get a chance to visit the United Arab Emirates it is definitely something to see. But when you do visit bring a camera that can take panoramic pictures.

Standing Guard

smiles

It has been a very very long time since I have checked a bag. If I know I am going someplace for an extended visit then I prefer to send items ahead via FedEx rather than hassle with checking them at the airport and waiting around for bags once I have landed. When I reach a new destination it is way more fun to just hop off the plane and be on my way.

But today there are bags to check.

One of the things I love doing in the whole world is traveling. And traveling with my kids and my family is absolutely the best. Today I get to travel with a couple of my kids and so that is awesome. I love everything about traveling. Even waiting in line is ok with me because it gives me time to look up at the list of destinations and dream about where I might want to go on my next adventure.

Here are some of my travel tips:

• Do your best to give yourself enough time so that it is never a stressful situation.
• Pack everything (especially delicates – aka undies) in ziplock bags because it makes it easier to pack and these days every bag is inspected and so it provides the most assurance that the contents of my bag will arrive clean and untouched.
• Mix and Match.  Take as few clothes as possible and make sure everything works with every item in your bag.  If one item only works with one outfit then you should consider leaving it at home.
• Get a great scarf.  I have a wonderful big pashmina scarf that I wear on the plane to keep me warm from the AC and I also wrap it over myself during meals – if you are on a flight serving food.  It is Murphy’s Law of flight that if you are wearing clothes on the flight that you also want to wear at your destination that the plane will hit turbulence exactly at the moment that you are about to consume some food or drink something colorful.
• Remember chewing gum.  Chewing gum on take off and landing can help pop your ears and make for a more comfortable ride.  But for the benefit of your fellow flyers get some gum like mint or wintergreen that will not exude offensive gum fumes.  Please leave the bubbleyum bubblegum at home.
• Build-a-Bears make exceptional travel pillows.  You can purchase one of those silly looking U shaped pillows for travelling but I have found the Build-a-Bear not only works way better but also has several advantages over the U pillow.  The Build-a-bear will conform to your neck better, if placed between your stomach and the seatbelt can help a mildly upset tummy, it costs less than the U pillow AND if you get to your destination and need a quick gift you have one in hand.  I have even considered giving my build-a-bear to a screaming child on the plane a couple of times which would have provided me with much better sleep than a U pillow.  But fortunately the parents were able to get the kiddos under control and I was able to keep my bear.
• Try not to get too upset if plans change.  Connections are missed – planes are delayed and cancelled – Things happen.  Most people in the world are reasonable people and will help you along the way.  All other people make for a really good story when you reach your destination.

I’ll let you know how this checked bag thing works out today.  Until tomorrow!  Remember – every moment in your life is a “Once in a lifetime opportunity”.

You still need to think and edit and even have someone else look over your writing if it is intended for anyone other than yourself to read too. (Mom, did that last sentence make any sense?).

Here are some of the other most commonly missed by spell check

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