Words — by Margaret Hart

My name is Margaret Hart and it's been two minutes since my last game of Words With Friends!

Yes, I am addicted to the game that so many people are playing on their Smartphone and I am not ashamed to admit it. I only recently discovered Words when a friend invited me to play. It didn't take long for me to get hooked. I found myself inviting random players to games when the ones I was playing with my "real" friends slowed. I didn't have patience. I needed my Words fix. I had to find a new opponent. At one point, I had five games going. I have heard the max is 15, so maybe I'm not that addicted after all. 

I can understand why the actor Alec Baldwin allegedly took his iPad into an airplane bathroom recently to play Words when an airline attendant allegedly told him to turn it off because the plane was about to take off.  I, too, found myself sitting on the toilet contemplating my next move just the other day!  I knew then, that I had sunk to a new low. And during a particularly fun game one evening this week, I lost track of time and burned the pork chops. I decided to take a 24 hour break from Words.

My husband has been getting on my case about my playing. He complains that everywhere we go my phone chimes and I'm always tapping on the screen. I could have said the same thing about him! His nose is always in his Blackberry, and he gets so many emails that there's always something buzzing attached to his hip. Even when he gets home from his 14 hour day of work, his nose is in his laptop. I think he's just jealous because he can't play Words on his device.

It took me a few games to figure out some of the strategy to Words. Truth is, after each game where I got the pants beaten off me, I learned something. That drove me to test out what I'd learned on new opponents. Now that I am winning some games, and employing the strategies I've learned, I am suspicious that some of my random opponents (who keep beating me and then asking me to play again) are cheating.  

Cheating? How is that possible? It was my husband who tipped me off. When his nose was in his laptop the other night, he told me about an app that will help you win at Words. It figures. If there's software to help you win your bid on eBay, it stands to reason that someone would develop an app to help you win your game of Words. 

Because I am curious and have to check everything out, I downloaded the app that had the highest ratings and the most buzz, and read the instructions. I got the gist of it, but I never tested it out. I never intended to cheat, I just wanted to see how it worked. After all,  I'm supposed to be good with words. The guilt would be too much for me.

So next time my random opponent—who responds to my moves in under 30 seconds with the most esoteric word choices utilizing the highest scoring letters—asks me to play again, I'm going to politely decline.

I'm old fashioned. I like to lose the old fashioned way.

After the Wrath - by Cara

All totaled, we were without power for five days. No refrigerated food. No air conditioning. And the constant buzzing of tree grinding that I am listening to as I write. Which has been ongoing now for over a week. Which also, incidentally, is getting on my nerves. At least they stop cutting trees at around 8pm now and resume at 9am. They had been cutting around the clock, 24/7.

I restocked my refrigerator. I found it coincidental that almost all condiments were on sale at my local grocery store. Yes, I’m sure it was in preparation for the 4th of July weekend. But I found it interesting because those were also items our community needed to stock up on. Our local newspaper, The Great Neck News, was quoted saying that, “Some 1,000 trees were downed, causing $10 - 15 million worth of damage. Some 25,000 customers in Nassau County, the majority in Great Neck, were without power.” As if we were not already aware of that. But that’s beside the point.

During those five days, in order to cool down and recharge my cell phone, cell phone battery charger, and computer, I would pack up my things (along with a multiplug adapter), and trek off to spend a couple hours at one of our local Starbucks. I would set myself up for the afternoon. The store was packed with locals who were doing the same thing. In fact, when I pulled out my multiplug, and offered those who were waiting for outlets to free up, to use the multiplug outlets I wasn't in need of, I made quite a few friends!

I came to anticipate those five days at Starbucks. I heard horror stories of damages to people’s homes. One family was desperately trying to find one room at ANY hotel on Long Island to go to, without any success. There was a gathering of the “lost souls” at Starbucks who had nowhere to go. We chatted. Got to know each other. And in a community that is known for it’s haughtiness, we were suddenly all equals. It didn’t matter who had a bigger home or a fancier car. We all were in the same boat...no power, no food, and no means of communication other than our cell phones, which we were all charging. And together we “let our hair down.” No one came “dressed to impress.” We just wanted a cool place to charge our cell phones and other technology. And get a cool drink!

Which brought me to my next observation. Americans are attached to our technology. I’ve gone on trips where I wasn’t able to use my cell phone or laptop. And I was well aware that I would come home to 100+ e-mails and 250+ junk e-mails. But when your only means of communication is your cell phone, for an undetermined amount of time, cell phones come close to brushing your teeth! And when going on the Internet for a couple hours to connect with the world in other ways, your laptop really, truly becomes your luxury. That is what my comrades in Starbucks all felt like. We were stripped of everything except our technology. And with that we were all on equal ground.

The last day that I spent at Starbucks, their Internet system was down. We were able to charge our items, but no one was able to log on to the Internet. Many of us had Apple laptops, as did I. As soon as all of our peripherals were fully charged, the Apple consumers came up with a great idea! Let’s go to the Apple Store a mile down the road and use their Internet service! We all scrambled to pack up and drove down the road. The store was so inundated with customers, there was not enough staff to assist the people who wanted to purchase things. I found a nice Mac Book Pro in a remote area of the store, sat down, and surfed the web. It was not as nice as being among the “lost souls” at Starbucks. But hey, a woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do!