Sushi Time -and- the Saga Continues

Sushi Time! - a 382-pound yellowfin tuna, caught off the waters of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, on Thursday, October 13.

The saga continues: HotFax MessageCenter had this pleasantry awaiting my listening pleasure when I arrived at my office this morning: "Hello? I guess you're not there." (The voice mail date/time was last night, 10:52 PM, so her assumption was correct.) "This is Debby. I was there yesterday about the Internet. I got hooked up through Netscape and everything worked fine for a long time but now everything's messed up. Can you call me please?"

She left no telephone number, but through the miracle of Caller ID, it was displayed by HotFax MessageCenter. I made a cup of hot tea with raw clover honey, settled into a comfortable slouch in my chair, and returned her call.

"Hello." It was after 9 AM, but the sound of her voice indicated that my call had awakened her. "Good morning, this is David from California Technologies, returning your call." "Oh, yeah," she said. "I got Netscape hooked up yesterday." "That should compliment your Wal-Mart computer," I interjected. There was a long silence. "Anyway, something happened, and now everything's messed up." I asked her to detail what she meant by "messed up," and her response indicated that her system was suffering from a severe spyware infestation. I told her this and said that I had time this afternoon to remove the spyware and install protection against future threats. I told her the charge would be $60. "I just bought this computer. It's under warranty." "Explain your problem to Wal-Mart," I suggested. "I went there last night, and they said they couldn't help." "I can help," I said, "and the charge for this service is $60." "That's nuts," she said. "Have a nice day," I said and returned the telephone to its cradle.