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AT&T reached a settlement with Florida via our Attorney General Bill McCollum. They must repay Floridians for unauthorized third-party cell charges, such as ringtones and text messaging that were advertised as free.

The settlement could mean refunds totaling more than $10 million

McCollum said the main culprits are third-party companies. They often advertise ringtones and other services that are supposed to be free. When customers sign up, they ultimately find charges on their cell phone bill. Although it is the third-party companies who are using deceptive advertising, AT&T agreed in the settlement to begin policing agreements with third-party providers to make it more clear what the charges are for when they appear on the phone bills.

AT&T stressed that the problem is an industry-wide and that they did not actually sell their customers the ringtones and other services, but just provided the billing.

Check your bills for charges labeled things like “Other Charges” or “Usage”. If you call your provider’s customer service and ask what these charges are for, you may find you are being charged for text messaging or ringtones you id not authorize and you may be able to talk them into a refund.

Well, it finally hit our home. We got the winter flu. So far, we have been SO lucky around here and the only thing that has made anyone in the house feel bad is the early onset of spring here in Florida and our allergies kicking in a bit early.

Last night, though, around 1 a.m. I heard my daughter trashing around. The ext thing I knew I heard her vomiting. She had it all over her bed, the floor, the shoes next to her bed, and herself before I knew it. Before the night was over, I had washed two sets of sheets and blankets, bathed my daughter, and accompanied her to the bathroom at least a dozen times.

In the midst of all this, I head my mother running to the bathroom. She was struck with the same flu at just about the same hour as my daughter woke up sick. It’s been an odd day so far. And, to top that off, my nephew had spent the night and he is sick as well. I ended up calling my sister at work so she could come help out. I will stay here with the kids while she takes our mom to the hospital.

When it rains, it pours.

When you become a parent, your first responsibility is to protect your child in whatever way possible. This does not include leaving your kid with a known sex offender as a babysitter.

Here in the Tampa Bay area, 20-year-old Vanessa Marie Laster has been charged with felony child neglect. She is currently in jail and is accused of leaving a 1-year-old girl in the care of a convicted sex offender.

As early as October 2006, Laster started leaving her child with the man, despite the fact that police had warned her in 2005 that he was a convicted sex offender.

The child is two-years-old now and is currently in the hospital for the treatment of genital warts. An exam indicated she had been sexually molested.

Laster has yet to accuse the man of abuse.

I do not know the back story, but I am assuming this man was her boyfriend. She is more than likely a certifiable idiot to have been in his company in the first place. Now she has a daughter on her hands that has presumably been raped. She set her child up for a hard life, a life of emotional issues that are possibly beyond repair. I would do ANYTHING to protect my daughter, so I an have little understanding for a mother like Laster.

Not so very long ago, a young college student at the University of South Florida in Tampa died of bacterial meningitis. Now, an 18-year-old female student at Daytona Beach Community College has been hospitalized for a possible case of bacterial meningitis.

Bacterial meningitis is a potentially fatal infection transmitted by respiratory secretions and direct contact with an infected person. This new case makes it even more urgent that the recent proposal from the Board of Governors that would require all new students at Florida’s universities to be vaccinated against meningitis and hepatitis B be implemented as soon as possible.

I am reading now that there is a massive blackout in large parts of the state. Our power went out when the storm line began to come through this morning, but it only stayed off for about 15 minutes. It’s been back on ever since, so I could us as very lucky.

Evidently, power is out from Miami to Jacksonville on the east coast and as far north as Tampa on the Gulf coast, according to police and utility officials.

I’m in the Tampa area, on the coast actually, so I feel blessed right now.

We went to the Pirate & Princess party this past Friday and also last February. Much has remained the same, but there were a few changes. Most significantly, when you go back to Mickey’s Toontown Fair to find the princess meet and greet lines in the Big Top Tent, you only have to wait in one line.

Last year, you needed to choose to wait in line for Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Snow White. Then, one you got to the front of the line you met the princess and her accompanying Prince. We waited in line for Cinderella and Prince Charming last year, but we got to Mickey’s Toontown Fair so late in the evening that we did not have time to wait in yet another long line to meet the other princesses.

This year, you wait in the line once and although you will not get to meet the princes, you do meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White all in the same room. They each have a small tent they pose in with the children and you move from one to the other. It was quite pleasant and the little room where they have the met and greets is quiet and calm, which is a nice change from the rest of the park.

It’s almost like a scene out of Child’s Play, where the evil Chucky doll becomes murderous. In this case, though, the doll is red and fuzzy and last seen speaking n baby talk on Sesame Street. His name is Elmo and he wants to kill James.

What?

A family in Lithia, Florida (a suburb of Tampa) says that when their son’s Knows Your Name doll ran out of batteries, they replaced said batteries and the doll began to display an alarming new vocabulary. The doll is supposed to which connect to a computer to learn certain phases and names. The newest phrase is “Kill James”.

The Bowman family was not amused. Although the toy is James’ favorite, it is now being kept away from the boy. In the meantime, manufacturer Fisher-Price says it will give the Bowmans a voucher for a new doll and examine James’ model for the source of the problem and check whether other dolls are malfunctioning in similar ways.

One has to wonder if this doll was manufactured in China. If it was me, I’d skip the voucher and sell the doll on eBay. Of course, I would probably receive bad feedback when the buyer received the doll and realized the poor doll was just trying to say “Tickle James”.

I’m not as into the Mickey Mouse lore as some people who visit the Walt Disney theme parks. I enjoy the overall experience and agree that these are some of the cleanest, most well maintained parks you can find anywhere. Nonetheless, I am not one of the fanatics you see walking around with necklaces full of collectable trading pins. Heck. I even saw one older guy this weekend with a duster FULL of pins. That was kind of cute, though.

The friend we went with bought her daughter a starter kit for the Disney Trading pins, but I felt like we will not be going to the parks enough to do the same. Even so, one of the cast members at MGM did give my daughter a free Tinker Bell pin when he saw that it was her birthday!

Anyway, I know one of the popular things to do while at Disney parks is to walk around looking for “hidden Mickeys”. I saw my fair share, but I met them with an internal shrug. I did, however, think this one that I saw in the manatee tank at Epcot was pretty cool looking, so I snapped a picture. It would be easier to see, but there is a fish in front of it.

For all of you out the who make your own hair bows, don’t forget that when your girls are wearing your bows, they are walking advertisements! You need to make sure you are carrying your business card at all times, or at least something with your website on it. Of course, one of my favorite ways to let people know you make bows it to dress your little one is this cute shirt:

Tonight will be the last time you will be able to see a total lunar eclipse until December 20, 2010. You’ll also be able to see Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of scene. If your skies are clear, you should be able to see the eclipse for about an hour from both North and South America. The eclipse will begin at 10 p.m. on the East Coast

Those of you in Europe and Africa can see it high in the sky before dawn Thursday.

A total lunar eclipse happens when the full moon crosses Earth’s shadow and is blocked from the sun’s rays.

I just finished reading The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. I figured it would be my kind of book, since it is a time travel fiction written by the man who penned my absolute favorite episode of the classic Star Trek series – The Trouble with Tribbles.

While the concept was endlessly fascinating and I enjoyed the complex look at multiple time streams and anti-paradox, I found myself wondering why the book was not just called The Man Who F*cked Himself. It may have been a more apt title.

Now, even books as popular as The Time Traveler’s Wife dealt with the concept of sexual exploration in the face of going back in time to meet yourself. That book, though, did not dwell endlessly on the issue. Gerrold’s protagonist, Dan, came to the point where that was about all he thought about. I found myself skipping entire pages of the story, and this is not a very long book.

In the end, I’m happy I finally read this 1973 time travel classic, but I will not be putting it on my list of re-reads.

Florida residents and the insurance industry do not have a happy relationship. Let’s just say that insurance companies will do almost anything to not have to cover homeowners here in the state, despite the fact that we have not had a devastating hurricane here in years. One insurance company even tried to justify their recent rate increases by saying Global Warning is causing them to have to up prices.

It’s a bunch of crap. These same insurance companies are simply greedy and prefer to go after the lower risk policies, like cars and trucks, and cherry pick the less risky homeowners.

Now 50,000 State Farm customers in Florida (most of them in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties) are the latest casualties of the greedy insurance industry. Their hurricane coverage will not be renewed by State Farm this year.

Most will turn to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer. And while Citizens has always been more expensive in the past, recent rate freezes might actually means these former State Farm customers will save money.

Florida lawmakers keep trying to pass laws to protect homeowners. Insurance lobbyists are snakes in the grass, often tripping up the good intensions of the policy makers. In the end, most insurance companies pay consulting companies to find loopholes, and then they just keep upping prices and dumping riskier homeowners.

I’m taking my daughter to the Pirates and Princess Party at Disney’s Magic Kingdom for her birthday again this year. We tried it last year for her birthday and it was absolutely magical – despite the cold weather and the rain. My sister and my nephew went along with us, sop we spent a considerable amount of time doing Pirate kinds of things. This year, though, I am taking along one of my best friends and her daughter. The daughter is one of my daughter’s best buddies and is only 10 weeks older.

So, two princesses this time and it should be a BLAST! Gigi is dressing as Aurora and her friend, Cassie, is going as Jasmine. We will go to the party Friday night and then stay at one of the Disney hotels. The next day, one of my friend’s cousins is getting us all free park hopper passes. We will start the morning at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and then move onto Epcot for lunch at the Akershus with the Princesses.

A big weekend, yes? I have to admit I may be more excited than my daughter! The weather this year is supposed to be warm and no rain is in sight.

Here is one of the pictures from last year. She was Sleeping Beauty then as well.

Last night I was craving chocolate, so while I was at the store to pick up milk, I also bought a Ghirardelli brownie mix. It was OK, but a mix is never as good as something made from scratch. It made me think of my aunt Brenda’s Texas SHeet Cake, which I ADORE. It is rich and simple.

Preheat oven to 350º.
Lightly grease a jellyroll pan.

Cake:
Heat until boiling:
2 sticks margarine
1-cup water
4-tsp cocoa

Pour into a large bowl and add:
2-cup flour
2-cup sugar
1-tsp soda
1-tsp salt
2 eggs
½-cup sour cream
1-tsp vanilla

Pour into greased jellyroll pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Icing:
Heat until boiling:
1 stick margarine
4-TB cocoa
6-TB milk

Pour into a large bowl and add:
1 box confectioners sugar
1-tsp vanilla
1-cup nuts

When cake is cool add icing and enjoy.

I just treated myself to one of the $5 movies you can see at AMC theaters. They offer them at that price if you see a movie that begins before noon on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. I dropped my daughter off at her school this morning, did some errands at Target (the after Valentines’s Day 50% markdowns) and then popped on over to see Jumper.

The first thing I will say is that is like no other movie I have ever seen. I suppose it fits best under the header of Science Fiction, but it’s cool and earthy and easy to follow. I loved Samuel L. Jackson in his role as Roland, even though I would have loved to know the WHY behind his milk-white hair. Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson were OK, I suppose, but they were boring versions of their younger selves, which were played by Max Thieriot and AnnaSophia Robb (who you may have loved as Leslie in Bridge to Terabithia, which I also reviewed). It would have perhaps been a better film if they had just found a way to make these two young actors play older and hold onto the roles.

Jumper plays a little on the common fantasy of being able to teleport. What would you do if you had that power? I think we relate to the Jumpers, because many of us have thought about being able to jump around in space. There is the added dimension that might not play into the common fantasy, though, that of the Paladins who are out to kill all of the Jumpers. Simple plot, really, but entertaining all together. It is not hardcore SciFi. You never really find out WHY Jumpers jump or Paladins hunt Jumpers. You just accept the concept and enjoy the story.

Watch for a grown up Billy Elliot, as Jamie Bell steals every scene he is in while in the role of Griffin.

It’s a pretty clean movie. There is no real nudity and the sex is more than muted. There is some violence, but it’s never graphic. And, while there is some language, it more toned down than most action films. It’s fairly family friendly, though I would not bring my own 5-year-old. She would just plain not understand the plot.