Phony IRS email, phishing

Got one today regarding my upcoming tax rebate check, with a link to click to give them all my bank account info for direct deposit.

Had at the bottom copyright 2008 IRS.

ANY email you get like this is a scam, from phisher who will steal ALL your money in your bank account.

You can report these phishers now directly to the IRS. Click here for their website and more info.

Or you can simply forward the suspicious email to: phishing@irs.gov

Hump Day Hunk

In honor of firemen... some of the guys from our area went north to help the firemen in Central Florida with those nasty brush fires. Now they're saying one fire may have been accidentally set by a girl burning love letters.

When there's smoke...

This morning at 5 a.m., just before DH's alarm went off, I woke up and smelled smoke. I was half-awake and panicked. For whatever reason, I grabbed my pillow and ran out into the living room. My groggy brain hammered home that the smoke was outside.

I ran outside in my Eyeore PJ's and yup, smoke was outside. From a fire more than 200 miles away.

Florida is on fire, in case you didn't know. It's wildfire time, and our dryness has been horrible with the brush fires in central Florida and along the east coast.

I went back inside and hacked and wheezed, turned down the AC even though it was 67 degrees outside. The bronchitis still lingers, and the smoky smell makes it worse.

Scary moments. I can only imagine what the poor people who lost their homes to brush fires are feeling now. And they're saying an arsonist started the biggest fires. Sheesh.

Booklist Review for The Scorpion and the Seducer

Yay! Love the part about "splendidly sensual and delightfully different."

The Scorpion & The Seducer
By Bonnie Vanak

"After being called the "brown scorpion" once too often by the snobby English upper class, an angry Jasmine Tristan sets out to even the score by writing an anonymous newspaper column featuring scandalous gossip about England's aristocrats. But when her popular column ends up hurting the sister of Lord Thomas Wallenford, the man with whom she is secretly in love, Jasmine decides to change the focus of her writing. Going to Egypt in search of new story ideas seems to be a wonderful idea until Jasmine realizes she will have to travel with Thomas. A smart, stubborn heroine finds adventure involving the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt with an irresistibly sexy nobleman in the latest addition to Vanak's splendidly sensual and delightfully different Warriors of the Wind series."

Hump Day Hunk

I call today's entry, Class and Ass.

Class = Richard Armitage in North and South (sigh!) What a romantic miniseries.

Ass = Drinks on me. I am in the mood for a nice festive tropical drink with an umbrella... hmm...

Busy

I'm much better now, thanks to the MD and heavy medication. The diagnosis was a sinus infection which led to bronchitis. I know I got the infection due to the mold at the Hilton Hotel at RT. I'll never stay at another Hilton unless I'm forced to for business. Yuck!

I was wheezing so much that last week after climbing the stairs at the day job, I felt like I was going to pass out. I never faint. That was pretty damn scary.

Life and deadlines march even, even when you are sick. I got the line edits for ENEMY LOVER, my next Nocturne out this November. It's Damian's story from THE EMPATH. They're due back in a week. And I'm giving a workshop on Rejection, Revision and Rejoicing next Saturday at the Gulf Coast Writer's group on the west coast. And I'm still plugging away at the next historical, plus revising the Nocturne Bite that is due very soon.

All this while working at the day job.

No wonder I'm tired...

I think tonight DH and I may visit the beach. I can bring the new Neo (yay!) and write while he combs the sands with the metal detector. I need beach time. I really haven't recovered since RT and the wind not only got knocked out of my sails, my sails went down for the count.

I think that may be the last RT I do. It has nothing to do with the controversy humming about the blogosphere, there's ALWAYS something that follows after an RT or an RWA national convention that ruffles feathers. It has to do more with my own personal preferences on how I allocate my precious vacation time and what I can get out of it.

And right now, after being this sick for so long, I know what I need most is quiet, quality time with DH, not another romance convention.

Contest

I'm finally going to the doctor. Took me only five days to realize this is not going away on its own... I was never so happy to get an appointment. It's spread to my chest now, and when I cough it hurts. Man, this has been a sucky year for being sick...

Called in sick today to work and going to work on the WIP after I get back from the MD. I think my co-workers will appreciate me not being there to gasp and wheeze and cough in their faces. Or maybe they would just hose me down with Lysol, lol

That's the thing about working in an office in close quarters, it's like day care. EVERYONE comes down with the same thing when one person gets ill.

The contest to win a copy of The Falcon and the Dove signed by myself and John DeSalvo is still going on over at Unusual Historicals and will be all week. Click here to read the book release blog I did and simply leave a comment to enter the contest.

Tomorrow is the official release date for THE SCORPION AND THE SEDUCER. It's already in some bookstores. Maybe I'll celebrate the official release of my sixth Egyptian historical by chugging another gallon of Nyquil. :-)