Spammed!

I wasn’t going to update my blog today.

BUT…

Over the weekend, my hotmail.com address book was hacked!

We don’t have internet access at the house right now, so I had NO idea until I came into work and took a quick peek at my e-mail.

I had 72 e-mails.

As I am SO not that popular, I realized something must be off. I also had a few e-mails to my work account letting me know about the situation.

I was totally and completely embarrassed. I rarely e-mail anyone from my hotmail account, so the fact that over 100 people received a spam e-mail from my account was just humiliating.

I apologized on Facebook, here (see right), and then sent out an e-mail to all the offended parties with another apology. Everyone has been so kind and understanding.

My friend Alice (one of the few people I DO e-mail regularly though hotmail) said, “I knew it wasn’t really from you when it started off, ‘Hello, firend.’”

My pastor also commented on Facebook that he knew it wasn’t from me, because the spelling was so very awful.

(Kudos to Miss Bull, my second grade teacher at Rockford Baptist School. She may have been a dragon lady, but boy, did she drill proper spelling into us by the end of the year! If I never, ever see another Victory Drill Book again, it will be too soon.)

Reassurances were forthcoming from friends who had been through the same experience. I felt much better when I learned I was not the first person (and certainly not the last) to have their technology privacy hijacked and violated.

It reminded me of a storyline from one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes books.

Calvin’s family leaves for a vacation, and Calvin forgets to pack Hobbes (his stuffed tiger and very best friend). During the whole vacation, he whines, nags, and pleads with his parents to go back home and get Hobbes. His parents are steadfast and stick to their vacation, even though Calvin is driving them nuts.

When they finally pull up to the driveway, Calvin sprints out of the car and goes racing through the house looking for Hobbes. His exhausted parents step in the house, and his mom says, “Boy, it’s cold in here!” Then she realizes the front window is broken.

“Oh, no!” She starts screaming and dashes through the house looking for Calvin, while Calvin’s dad calls the police to report a break in.

Eventually, the police arrive and take statements. Calvin’s parents board up the broken window, and Calvin finds Hobbes under the covers on his bed.

My favorite panel at the end shows Calvin’s mom talking to Calvin’s dad in bed.

“This sort of thing is supposed to happen to someone else,” she says, snuggling up to him.

He wipes his glasses and puts them on the nightstand. “We’re all someone else to someone else,” he notes wisely.

That sums up exactly how I felt this morning upon discovering the skullduggery achieved using my personal communication!

(Side note: One of my other favorite C&H lines happens in this series. Calvin is near hysterics when he can’t find Hobbes. He’s convinced the burglars have taken his friend. His mom tries to calm him by saying, “Calvin, thieves only take valuables. They aren’t going to take a stuffed tiger.” Calvin sniffs and gives his mom a heart-breaking look, “But I think he’s valuable.” It’s such an utterly sweet moment!)

One of the immediate pieces of advice I received was to create a non-hotmail account. I am seriously considering it.

However, I am reluctant, even after this boondoggle. I’ve had this account since college! I created it back when “e-mail” was a brand new concept.

(Oh my, I am undeniably aging myself with that statement.)

I still remember when I decided on it. It was in a Communications class with one of my absolute favorite professors, Billie Sue Thompson. She advised each of us to get an “e-mail account,” and my old Comm. pal, Parke Brown, shared how he had one.

It convinced me to get my own account. It’s got my maiden name in it, and it’s nice to still be “Trotter” somewhere.

So, I’m not quite ready to give it up. However, it only gets one more chance. It’s not worth the hassle to be apologizing all over the place for something I had no knowledge of.

And, I’m sorry, Miss Bull, if I’ve misspelled any words in this post. I’m still under duress.

Just please, please, don’t make me go get the Victory Drill Book!