#1 Use great passwords

A good password uses a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. An example of a great password: Ke4%rdSs

#2 Nobody’s home…

Never mention that you will be away from home. Always be very vague about the date of any trip, or better yet – wait until you get back to tell everyone all about it.

#3 Don’t post your full birthday

The exact year month and day of your birthday could be a target for identity thieves. It is possible they could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you must post your birthday – Use only the month and day.

#4 Privacy controls

Use privacy controls to limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information. Of course it’s always a good idea to leave political and religious views off your Facebook page anyway – especially if your employer or potential clients may see it.

Be careful what contact info you post – and never use your address. If you have small children – never use their names in photo tags or captions!

#5 Everything you do and say, is on the internet to stay!

It is always best to not put anything on Facebook (or the internet for that matter) that you wouldn’t want your mother, employer, or a client see. In our “reality T.V.” world too many people feel the need to tell everybody all about themselves. Just remember – anything you put on the web is there forever! No matter how careful you are – sooner or later someone is going to see those embarrassing photos of you, and it’s always the last person you would ever want to see them!

A little bit of common sense goes a long way.

Stephen LeBlanc, owner of LeBlanc Studios here in Sarasota, needs our support. He is going to die without a liver transplant.

Although I do not have the pleasure of knowing him well personally, I am associated with several friends and colleagues of his, and have nothing but respect for the man.

But this weekend I found out he has been living with a pacemaker for twenty years, and dealing with Hepatitis C - which he got from a blood transfusion many years ago.

Late last year Stephen became ill. In just a few months, the hepatitis virus attacked his liver and in January he began being hospitalized for cirrhosis of the liver and has now suffered liver failure.

In a letter that was forwarded to me originating from Ginya Carnahan:

“Our mutual friend Stephen LeBlanc, owner of LeBlanc Studios (photography) and a longtime independent businessman in Sarasota has recently been accepted on Tampa General Hospital’s transplant list to receive lifesaving liver transplant.

His story is one of great challenge, strength and faith. Stephen was born a “blue baby” 50 some years ago in Texas. A congenitally malformed heart caused his blood to not be sufficiently oxygenated, giving him a blue cast. He was fortunate to be in Texas and received his first life-saving open heart surgery at the hands of Dr. Denton Cooley, who later became the “Grandfather” of cardiac surgery. But in the process of correcting his valve malformation, the muscles that power the heart were damaged and weakened over time. By the time he was 30, Stephen needed a cardiac pacemaker, and he has depended on one ever since.

Over the years, he had many surgeries and received blood transfusion many times. Unbeknownst to him or others, one of those blood transfusions was tainted with Hepatitis C virus. This was way before the blood transfusion industry had the ability to test for and destroy units of donated blood infected by Hepatitis C. He has been aware of his “Hep C positive” status for many years. The virus usually remains dormant in the body for years – but when it becomes active it attacks the body with a vengeance.

Although this knowledge was a weight upon his conscience, he didn’t let it stop him from living a full, active, giving life. For years he has worked out with weights and accomplished advanced competitive water skiing, including “barefooting.” In those days to see him you would think him a model of healthy living.

Late last year Stephen became aware that his normally healthy body was becoming ill. In just a few months, the hepatitis virus attacked his liver and in January he began being hospitalized for cirrhosis of the liver and has now suffering liver failure. He is going to die without a liver transplant.

Stephen has been very private about his condition and struggle up until now. He is a proud, brave, Christian man. Today, not only does he stand to succumb to this disease, even if he receives and survives a transplant he may lose his business. This is a man who was always gracious with his time and talents, donating portraits to many non-for-profits, supporting the Boys and Girls Club, holding seminars for young photographers at his studio and actively participating in his church. He is an exemplary husband and father to two wonderful children.

On top of two rough years because of economic forces, now he has been unable to work for months and has pared down his staff to a bare minimum. He is frightened for them and his family and is facing the unknown strengthen by his faith.

I have known Stephen for 15 years and like many of his friends I am asking what can I do for him? There is not much that one person can do – but there are things we can do as a community. We are holding an honorary blood drive in Stephen’s name on Saturday, May 22 at the Leblanc Studio (3103 Fruitville Road) from 10 am until 2 pm. The blood collected will not help Stephen directly but it will help replace the volume of blood he has received, at a particularly trying time for community blood supplies (Memorial Day weekend). We will also have representatives from LifeLink (the organ donation foundation) onsite to encourage people to sign up to be organ donors. This will not likely benefit Stephen directly either, but it will help someone unknown down the road who may be in Stephen’s situation.

And – we are in the process of opening a special bank account to receive monetary donations. I feel that if this story is told, our community will rally around Stephen and his family and help make this transition (however it unfolds) easier on them.”

So please join me and donate some blood – we may not be able to help Stephen directly – but we can help others like him.

Are you talking very loud because the other person is hard of hearing or are you just trying to get attention by letting the world know that you will be home in 15 minutes? Listen pal, this is 2010 – and cell phones now do a pretty good job of getting your voice across – unless you bought it at Wal-Mart….

I always believed one of the greatest inventions was the answering machine – but what is it about cell phones that will make people stop in mid sentence and answer a call? And why do people think that just because you have a cell phone – they have the right to call you anytime they want? And why do people get so upset when you do not answer your cell phone?

You’ve heard of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that will knock out electronics. I want a smaller version that just fries cell phones. I will use it the next time I am in a restaurant.

Ever notice when you are walking down the street – sometimes people will pull out a cell phone and pretend they are talking just so they don’t have to make eye contact?

Have cell phones become the new cigarette? Just something for people to do with their hands when they are bored – i.e. text, check email, etc….

Social media is about connecting us to other people, and allowing us to access topics, information, and entertainment. It can also be just another distraction that decreases what little productivity there is to begin with. Never before in the history of man (or woman) have so many people had so much access to so much technology – but no idea how to utilize even the smallest fraction of it.
Word of advice: Like my grandfather always said “Don’t ever get a tattoo where the judge can see it” If you do end up diving into social media – just remember that everything you say and do will be on the internet forever!

Never before in the history of man has so much technology been available to so many people who have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." - John Lennon

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - Vladimir Lenin

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." - Karl Marx

"Democracy is the road to socialism." - Karl Marx

“Outside a dog – a book is man’s best friend. Inside a dog – it’s too dark to read” – Groucho Marx