So for years and several moves the Mah Jongg set went with me – I had seen this played in the orient a number of years ago and had even play a “street version” {sort of like Poker} sometimes.  So far as going to the Mah Jongg halls I never had the opportunity.  Anyway a couple of months back I saw a post on Facebook by a person I know and who is local so I actually see them in person quite often that they had just had some people over to learn and to play Mah Jongg.  I asked if I could get invited the next time.  Last Saturday night I got a long-standing wish granted.  I went to their house – there were several other people there.  The experienced players went over how thing work in a practice session and then there were enough people to have two Mah Jongg sets with 4 people per set.

While I am still a very long ways from learning how to play this very old game I was able to begin to understand some of the basics.  I am hoping to be able to continue to learn and hopefully be able to get invited to where others are playing.  I was able to learn some things that I will share.

Mah Jongg is played normally with four players, the game is played with 136 tiles, there are a number of ways or styles that this game is played, even the number of tiles has variances.   I had thought this to be something that was played only in the orient at least that was the only part of the world I had ever seen Mah Jongg halls (sort of like coffee houses – in way except there are a number of tables each with four people and a Mahjong set)  – the Mahjong halls or houses in the orient are closed in so far as they do not allow people to come in just to watch.  I had seen people playing Mahjong in a few big city coffee shops here in the USA – the type where people are playing Chess, and Go and other “intellectual” type of games but Mah Jongg is not very common at least in my experience.  Also sort of like the Chess players the Mahjong players were there to play and really did have an interest in teaching people how this game is played.

First of all the computer games of solitaire Mahjong have almost nothing to do with the four player game that uses real tiles.  In the computer solitaire version all one does is match pairs and they are removed from the “pile”.  The only similarity is the Mahjong tiles used in the computer game are marked the same as the ones in the “real” game.

The most interesting thing is that Mah Jongg (BTW either spelling is correct) has been played in the United States since the 1920s.  There is a really interesting article here on Wikipedia – There are several different ways to play and it appears to be regional – here in the United States there are actually two organizations  Mah Jongg – Worldwide Site and The National Mah Jongg League  -  As i write this the National Mah Jongg site is not working.

The people I met and got to learn some of the basics from are connected to the National Mah Jongg League – this organization has been around here in the USA since the 1920.  The people who play the League’s way each have cards which has a number of way to win or complete a “hand” of Mahjong.  The cards are the same and each player studies their cards attempting to find a “hand” from the list that they might be able to attempt to play out.  Part of this game is skill for certain and part is the luck of the draw.  The League produces a new game card every year and each year the ways to win are changed.  The cards cost $7.00 and buying a card gives one a years membership to the league.

The League’s site has a number of things for sales – the playing card or guide for the year, Mah Jongg sets, and a lot more.  There is also a software simulation ($40) that can be purchased and downloaded – while I have not had the time to really get into the software game play – there are 4 players, 3 are computer generated and yourself.  This seems to be a really good way to learn and practice how to play.

The game on the League’s site is sort of outdated so far as computer games go, however they are working on an updated version.  You cannot play this game on you computer  by itself – you must be online and connected to their site to play.  Getting it downloaded and working is not necessarily easy – it took me several tries to finally get it working and while I am not a computer “gamer” I am very familiar with online software and computer software.

For now I will attempt to learn from the league’s online game.  Mostly because at least with the group that I met up with they use the Leagues rules and standards as well as their annual “game cards” – the online version on the leagues site uses these same “standards”.

The main thing I have learned is attempting to learn Mahjong from a book and having 4 totally inexperienced people attempting to follow the book is not the way to go.  I had tried this approach several years ago with my set.  The way to learn is to find people who are playing and join them live.  The real plus is if one or two of the group take the time to teach new players.  This is a complicated game, and being able to watch people play plus being able to work with people willing to teach how to play is a huge plus.

It looks like once one has learned the basics then working with the online simulation appears to be a good way to continue to learn.  I have looked and am not finding any sort of directory or listing of people or places where one can go to learn or play Mah Jongg – it seems to be just word of mouth.  There are no links that I can find anywhere that lead to instructors, groups, players, places to learn or places to play.

The thing to know is that there are different ways to play and differences in the various Mahjong organizations.  Learning the play here in the US the Leagues way may not be helpful if you happen to end up in the orient at a Mah Jongg hall or house.

In my case I am just grateful to have had the opportunity to finally see how this is played and to have been invited to sit in on a beginners session.  Finally after years of owning a Mah Jongg set I have begun to start to understand how this very old game is played.

This morning my second main computer would not boot up, I finally got it going and found my internet security software was failing and not allowing Window to boot.  After doing the normal security system “fixes” none worked.  So now I am in the process of removing the security system totally and re installing it.   That is not a big deal – what takes time is re downloading all of the updates and then running a full system scan.

Pretty interesting day when both of my main computers decide to give me difficulties with the same 24 hour period.

A few day ago I called Central Payment to inform them that I was closing my store and no longer needed the Merchant Credit processing.  I was told to fax in a notice to them that I wanted to cancel.  A day later I got a call from one of their representatives who told me that there would be a $300 cancellation fee and that fee would be automatically taken out of my bank account.  The representative said that if I got my landlord to submit a letter to them that I was closing they would refund $150 – making the cancellation fee come to a total of $150.00  – I had been a customer for 5 years and had not problems with this company -  this cancellation fee made no sense to me and certainly seemed to be a total rip off.  What I got back was an email from the representative – restating what had been said on the phone:

Dear Ronald Headly,

Per our conversation. In order to reduce your early termination fee of $300.00 to $150.00, we need a signed letter from your landlord stating that the business is closed. Once information is verified, we will be able to reduce your fee.

Best Regards,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merchant Relations

1-800-449-8012 ext. xxxx

Needless to say I was “not a happy camper” in fact I was furious – some of you may have seen the original post, and tweet – it just did not make any sense to me that I was going to get hit with a cancellation fee with a company I had done business with for 5 years and that I would have to get my landlord involved by writing them a letter that  in fact my business was closed just to reduce the fee by half.

I am HAPPY TO REPORT that everything changed today!!!   I got an email from   Nery Espinal – Merchant Relations – Central Payment asking me to call.  I phoned him —–  He apologized and offered to remove the cancellation fee TOTALLY – THANKS SO MUCH NERY ESPINAL.

I can once again recommend Central Payment as a Merchant Credit Solution for in-house credit processing  as I have in the past – there was a problem and Mr. Espinal made it right.  Here is the email he just sent me;  plus he spelled my last name correctly-that is good customer support and paying attention to details:

Mr. Headley,

It was a pleasure speaking with you this morning. I appreciate your remarks and am glad we were able to correct any misunderstandings. As per our conversation your account has been closed with no cancellation fee. You will only be responsible for the monthly processing fees for the month of October 2011.

If you don’t mind, please email me when you have addressed the postings online so that I may update my executives. Feel free to keep my information in your records should you find the need to accept credit cards again in the future.

Best regards,

Nery Espinal

Merchant Relations

Central Payment

Phone: (800) 449-8012 Ext 7369

Fax: (866) 618-8284

Email: nespinal@cpay.com

The entire post has been updated with the original link in tact so anyone clicking on the link will see this update rather than the original post – so far as I am concerned I am happy to report I have had a change of mind and the Mr. Espinal has made that possible today.

Turns out what was being done is fairly simple.  Two people call the cell phone at the same time.  That will put one of the incoming calls into voice mail.   Once in voice mail all the hacker has to do is enter a PIN (Personal Identification Number) like on you bank card.  These are normally just four digits.   Even though the voice mail pin is 4 digits that is a lot of possible combinations, so how were they able to hack into the phones?

It seems that there are default PINs used – things like 1111 or 1234 or the last four digits of the phone number and here is where it gets interesting.  The cellular providers enter a standard PIN when they activate a new phone.  The customer is supposed to change this PIN right away to something else.  It appears that very few people change this PIN and so the default easy to use or remember PIN stays on the phone.  All the hackers were doing was running the default PIN once they got into the voice mail.

Bottom line Change the PIN on your cell phone – make sure you are not using the default PIN – that one simple step can make hacking your voice mail on your cell phone a lot more difficult.  Of course do not use things like 1111 1234 4321 – use a mix of numbers and do not use the last 4 digits of your phone number.  While this will not stop hacking it does make it more difficult for the hacker to get in.

It was just unbelievable that any person or group would demonstrate and protest and invade the sacred space of a funeral or memorial service.  As time went on there was more and more news about a group from Kansas traveling to military funerals and memorial services with the sole purpose to demonstrate and disrupt the service.

I support free speech, freedom of religion and the right to demonstrate, these are some of the things that make America great.  While I support the rights I do not have to agree with the message.   When I heard more about this Kansas group that was showing up and disrupting military funerals I could not believe they were a Christian group.  While what they are doing is legal and people in this country can worship and believe anyway they want it would seem that intentionally going to funerals and grave-sites specifically to cause pain to family members and friends of someone how has passed on is just inappropriate – it is just not the time and place, family and friends deserve respect while they are grieving the loss of a loved one.

Thanks to Facebook and a friends post I learned that this so-called Christian group were traveling to Nashville to demonstrate and disrupt the funeral of a Marine Sargent who was killed in combat, protecting the freedoms we have.  There was a link to a web site – I visited the web site and simply KNEW that there was nowhere else to be on Monday 13 Jun 2011 than to be in Nashville.  I learned that there is a group that stands quietly holding American flags in support and respect of the families that are targeted by the disruptive demonstrators.  The come at the invitation of the family.   I read the article, watched the two videos on the site and discovered there is a group called the Patriot Guard Riders -  I read the entire PGR site, found I agree with what they stand for and became even more certain that the ONLY place for me to be was Nashville.

Something in their Code of Conduct affected me on a very deep level, that and the fact this Marine died while upholding his belief in the United States and protecting all of our rights and freedoms.  Marine Sgt. Kevin Balduf  left behind a wife and two children,  the very least I can do is go and  pay my respects to him and his family.

OUR CODE OF CONDUCT-The most important thing you will read here. Pay attention, please:
Monday, June 13th is a memorial for Marine Sergeant Kevin B. Balduf. It is a sacred day for his family. This group will not bring shame on his funeral. We want to make it a beautiful, solemn experience that will edify his family, and honor him.

So I put up a closed today sign at the store and left for Nashville at 4AM Monday morning – got back at just before Midnight.  There is a series of photos of the day and some You Tube links.

The entire day was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had.  I am deeply honored to have been able to stand in respect for this fallen Marine and his family.  To me the most moving part was members of Sgt. Balduf’s family and friends came out and met and shook hands, hugged and thanked ever person who came to stand and honor this fallen Marine.

Yes a small group of the radical church protesters did arrive, the law in Nashville is they must be 500 feet from the property.  The police made certain the protesters followed the law.  The Patriot Guard Riders effectively shielded the family and friends from the protesters.   Sgt. Balduf’s family and friends were very appreciative of the people who came to honor this fallen Marine.

Actually I came to realize that were it not for the protesters,  I certainly would not have heard of the Patriot Guard Riders, nor would I have taken the trip to Nashville.   A number of people there said the same thing.  I do respect the right of the protesters to free speech and their right to do what they do even if I disagree with what they are doing and how they do it.  The bottom line is these radical protesters sparked some 15,000 people to “Like” the Facebook page, tens of thousands of people went to the web site done by Kevin Montgomery.  Several thousand people showed up in Nashville to honor Marine Sgt. Keven Balduf,  there are blog posts, there was news coverage, there are a number of You Tube videos.   Hopefully  hundreds of people became aware of the efforts of the Patriot Group Riders – perhaps a number have joined them – I did – and will certainly be at more memorials that are within driving distance.  So while the protesting group is radical in their belief and tasteless in their  approach what they did accomplish was to inspire a lot of people to show  up in honor of Sgt. Balduf.  A lot of people have become aware of the Patriot Group Riders and what they stand for and what they are doing.  This Video Says it all for me

Here are a couple of  a number of  videos on You Tube  – there are many more :

You Tube 1

You Tube 2

Newspaper coverage – one of several

News Coverage

And Finally a series of  my photos – 13 June 2011 – Proud to be an American – Honored to stand for Marine Sgt. Kevin Balduf and his family, in support of all our troops past, present and future.

[Show as slideshow]

Gentleman fifty years old or so – in a suit walked into the store. I was on the phone with a windmill customer, (my business is online, my customers are on the phone or internet) he walked up to the counter, I told him I would be with him in a minute when I got off the phone call. He began pacing around the store – druming his fingers on the tables. I got off the phone at most two minutes later. He came up to the counter immediately and was in my face yelling about how I needed to pay attention to customers and how he would not and should not have to wait for anyone that is on the phone and how I should have hung up immediately from my phone call when he first walked in.

I asked him if I could help him. He rattled off some sort of part number – letters and numbers. I asked him what that number was for. He got even more upset saying I ought to know the number was.

I asked if this was something to do with a computer and told him that the computer people were not in right now, please call them and I gave him one of the computer peoples business cards. He again repeated the numbers and letters and so I asked him again what this was for. He became irate.

I explained to him that there are two separate businesses here and that he needed to call the computer people – that I am not a computer technician and if he would tell me what the number was for – what kind of part or device or system that I would see what I could do to help him.

He totally blew up, yelling at me, in my face, called me a bunch of names – some I had not heard since I got out of the Navy years ago and said he will report me to the Better Business Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce and the state business license director and WILL have my business license revoked and how he will be taking me to court because I refused to help him. Then he got into How HE DID NOT HAVE to call anyone and how HE NEEDED whatever item he was talking about NOW. THEN he got into HOW important he was and how VALUABLE his time was. And then the “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” question. How could I help him when I had no clue what he wanted and he would not tell me anything other than a part number? He went out in a rage slamming the glass store door so hard I am surprised he did not break the glass. He was yelling about he would see me in court and a bunch more vulgar words as he slammed the door on his way out. He was driving a brand new Mercedes Sedan and kept pointing at his Rolex Gold watch every time he got into how valuable his time was, and how important he was. He got into the Mercedes and sped off squealing his tires and almost hitting two cars in the parking lot.

I think he was in here once or twice a while back and was doing something with the computer repair people. I usually am very busy and so pay no attention at all to their customers when the computer repair people are here. I certainly have no clue who he is and he did not say.

This type of thing happens sometimes with the computer repair businesses customers when they are not here but never to this extent.

I have had it today, I am shutting down the computers, locking the door and going home.

Next I tried to do an online motel reservation that did not work, called the motel so that was easy.

Next I had a phone in order, my credit card machine would not take the number – rebooted it and then it worked. A walkin customer paid a bill by credit card and my credit card machine would not read it – rebooted again and it worked

Then I got into a major problem attempting to get to a real Person at Lowe’s customer support.

Just now I tried to log into my bank – it would not accept my user name – I have used the same user name for years – called the bank – they reset it, it did not work, they reset it again, it still did not work, finally I had to start all over, new user name, new pass word, new security questions and it still did not work, so called the bank they reset it and finally after putting in another new user name, password and security question it let me in but I had to go where I had to totally redo my electronic banking account.

I am ready to go back to the past where real people answer the phone and you fix the technology (radio and or tv) by going to the drug store with the vacuum tubes – test them find the bad one and get a new vacuum tube – the younger people here will not have a clue what I am saying – Google vacuum tube – radios and tvs used require these.

To top it off my “favorite” Telemarketer just called – they sell advertising on maps and calendars – I know their caller ID number – even though it never has their business name just unidentified and their 800 number caller ID number – they call once or twice a week every week and have for 4 years. I have written them, called them, begged them, reported them to the FCC and FTC to not call – I have attempted to block their number – everything I can think of. Result they now somehow have gotten my cell phone number which I never give out. They just called my cell phone and they left a voice mail on my cell phone asking why I did not answer them on my business phone AND THEY JUST texted me asking why I did not pick up my cell phone. And now they are calling back on my store phone which I will not answer and let it go to voice mail. And now back on my cell phone – that is 3 calls on my store phone with three voice mail messages and 3 calls on my cell phone with 3 voice mail messages in the last 20 minutes. And just now another text message to my cell. GRRRRR

Trial two – three – four and five – all the same except it started to ask for my Social Security number after multiple tries at the account number. Every time it would never attempt to transfer to a real person it would just hang up or ask for my account number again, I must have entered my account number from the phone 4 or 5 times on each call and by voice at least five times on each call.

Finally after trial six – and pushing 0 over and over I got to a person – nice person solved my problem in less than 5 minutes – but I spent over 20 minutes and multiple calls attempting to get past the voice mail. This thing has to be the worst automated voice mail I have ever used in recent years.

If you have to call Lowe’s customer service try 0 (zero) over and over slowly on your phone – do not talk to the computer lady!!! – this thing does not understand voice AND it does not understand dialing in numbers and it will begin to ask for your Social Security number!!!! That is just plain WRONG!!!

I then went to Advance Auto parts – they sold me the complete unit – the plastic thing that holds the blade with a new blade for $10.75 – Note Valvoline sold me just the blade for $17.50 and really messed up installing the blade. Advance sold me the blade and the part that holds the blade for $10.75 and it was the right part.

If you need new wiper blades and or whole set- the blade and the thing that hold the blade and connect to the wiper arm go to Advanced NOT Valvoline.

Many, many years ago, when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had beautiful hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
and soon the two were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law,
and changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother,
for she was my father’s wife.
To complicate matters worse,
although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
of a bouncing baby boy.
My little baby then became
a brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
though it made me very sad.
For if he was my uncle,
then that also made him brother
To the widow’s grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.
Father’s wife then had a son,
who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
for he was my daughter’s son.
My wife is now my mother’s mother
and it makes me all too blue,
Because, although, she is my wife,
she’s my grandmother too.
If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And, every time I try to think of it,
It simply drives me wild.
For, now I have become the strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am also my own grandpa!