Note: The featured photo honors the memory of the people who lost their lives on this day 23 years ago. The title applies to the gallery, where I’ve gathered the photos of Windsor Lock Rocks that I’ve spotted in the park and Page, the bookworm at our local library.

My one-liner is more of a mini-rant. Perhaps that should be a mini-retail-rant.

Lately — I use that word because I’m not sure what word aptly describes a period of time that may have begun last year — I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among online retailers. After visiting a retail webpage, I receive an email mentioning that I may have forgotten to place my order. Of course, they highlight the items I was looking at.

So, we start with the creepiness factor involved in telling me that you’re watching my every move on your site. Additionally, some retailers are upping the creep factor: One has started sending emails that say, “Special offer: We’ve picked these items just for you!” Again, they are the items I last looked at. One retailer has gone full-blown creeptastic by actually putting the item(s) I looked at into a shopping cart to make it easier for me to “Complete your purchase.”

To all online retailers, I offer:

I came, I saw, I decided NOT to buy those items.

One-Liner Wednesday by Linda G. Hill — With apologies to Julius Caesar

The following is as far as I am likely to go to entice you to buy my books. Thanks to those who have. No hard feelings to those who haven’t and I don’t actually know which is which,.

All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.

Bridge to Nowhere

Before we get to the main gallery. I have a special delivery to make. The Editor took a photo the other night and told me, “This is for River.”

Bunny
Hi River!

And now, proof that Windsor Locks Rocks.

A little music to accompany my rant.

92 responses to “This Page Rocks — #1LinerWeds”

  1. petespringerauthor Avatar
    petespringerauthor

    Definitely creepy and something that feels like of an invasion of our privacy. I have to admit that my reaction would be the same as yours, Dan. If I would have wanted something, don’t you think I would have ordered it? Furthermore, it’s highly improbable that I’ll make a purchase just because some advertiser reaches out to bother me.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks Pete. These messages have the opposite effect on me. I want to distance myself from the vendor. I feel like I’ll never respond to one of these ads the way they hope.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. Firstly is it really 23 years since 9/11…a day we should never forget.

    We also get those creepy …did you forget to finish your purchase emails …and especially if you check out sevices or insurance, lawyers and such! You picked the perfect song too.

    I love the stones we get lots of those too💜💜 They are all lovely but I like the butterfly 🦋 best 💜

    Liked by 2 people

    1. 23 years. Yes, it’s been that long. I had to check my math. I was standing in a donut shop, waiting for a cup of coffee when we saw the crash replayed on a TV monitor in the shop. I’ll never forget. At the time, people still thought it was a horrible accident.

      The creepy contacts tend to drive me away from buying. I hope they realize how bad this practice is and stop doing it.

      The stones make me smile. I don’t think I have a favorite, but I’ve enjoyed finding each one. I love that the library grows Page each year.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. We were on holiday on Puerto Banus in Spain and hubby had gone upstairs to get something from our room, after he’d been gone half an hour I went to look for and saw the second on plane fly into the second tower. I thought he was watching a film …”No ” he said “This is real this is happening now,” such a shock.

        💜💜

        Liked by 1 person

          1. We always remember 💜

            Liked by 1 person

      2. That’s a date etched in all our minds. I remember being so shocked and sad, still feel that way too. Always good to remember.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Best fishes!! I love it. I agree, the more they bother me, the less likely I’ll buy from them.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. That one is cute, Darlene. Such a mixed bag here today. Thanks for stopping by.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. These rocks are great, Dan! I especially like Eyes and Rainboos.

    You gave me a sharp prod there because I hadn’t thought about the date yet this morning. Probably the most tragic day in living memory. It still beggars belief that people could hate so much as to do that. Indescribable!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Jo. It remains a hard concept to deal with. The date is one stuck in my memory, as I knew (from work) people who died that day.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That must be awful, Dan. Such haunting images.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. The rocks are a lovely idea.
    You should go onto their site and leave a review of how creepy they are.
    I have to get some stuff online as I can’t get them in my town or anywhere close by now I am feeling weird. I don’t buy online very much maybe once or twice a year

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I buy from one company three or four times a year, and they do ask for reviews. I will mention this practice ant the affect it’s having.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I did buy a TV remote tonight.
        They tried to get me to buy up to $55 for free delivery (which cost me $8 for my item)
        Then the try some streaming service for a month free, that ad popped up each window change, around 4 times. The are you sure you don’t want it? 🙄

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I wish I had the ability to hack their site and keep popping up ads for my books on their screens.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Excellent 👍😂😂

            Liked by 1 person

  6. Thank you for ranting! It made me feel better. I have been in an impossible place, trapped between the “real” stores with unreal loud music that drives me out before I can get everything I need and the pretend stores online that watch and count my every move, not to mention how they think that a photo is the same as the real thing. So we can return it. Just how much time and mileage do we put into returning? You see how valuable your rant was. I love the bookworm and the whole idea. Such gentleness saves us.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The rocks that I’ve been finding caused me to remember Page and wonder if she was back. I was very happy to find her wiggling around the library. The emails and “reminders” are so annoying. You’re right, though, real stores are also sinking to a new level, in terms of shopping experience. I want to go back in time and walk down the street to Gloria’s store, or go sit at a lunch counter at a downtown department store.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That sounds so lovely. And impossible. As I was replying to you earlier, I was thinking of those old department stores like the one I used to work in, and I thought I remembered that your mother used to work in one of those wonderful local department stores also. Other than Christmas carolers from the nearby high schools, there wasn’t music. Unless you count the elevator chimes. The lunch counter at Woolworth’s was my idea of four-star!

        Liked by 1 person

        1. My mom did work in a department store for a number of years. I remember visiting the store with her every year in December. Nobody can touch that experience today.

          Liked by 1 person

  7. p.s. Thank you also for the reminder of the date. I haven’t been able to see through the smoke of the debate hype to be aware of it, and I certainly should be. The photo above is startling.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The photo is a sad reminder. Thanks for rerunning your poem.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. […] pulled into other things in our country and as a consequence oblivious to the calendar. Thanks, Dan, for reminding me of something we’ve promised our national self we’d never forget. It […]

    Like

  9. 9/11 is a day most of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. I went to order an item once and glanced at the total which was huge. Then I realized they had put all the items I had searched for in the cart, and I had to remove them. The word, creepy, definitely applies. Hope your enjoying the cooler weather.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Putting items in my cart was the last straw, Judy. Can you imagine if they tried that in a physical store? Unfortunately, their emails can’t be replied to, but I’m going to find a customer service line for the worst offender. I do remember where I was on that horrible day. I doubt I’ll ever forget.

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Your featured photo is a sobering reminder of this horrific day in our history….a day to be remembered with reverence.

    River will likely print the bunny photo and frame it! :+)

    Love seeing all these rocks again. I especially love Page the Bookworm. They’re all so clever. I don’t know how it works in your area, but here the idea is, if you find one of these painted rocks, you can take it and leave one you have painted in its place. Fun!

    Sometimes ignorance really is bliss! I have never learned how to order in line. I certainly know how to look for and find the items I need, but m

    Liked by 1 person

  11. WTH! WP being funny again. 😡 As I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted, my daughter does the actual ordering for me. So she gets all that gobbledygook, not me.

    Ginger🦋

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for being persistent, Ginger. My email is the one that’s used most with online purchases, so I get most of the garbage. My wife gets her share, but she orders more than I do. You are lucky. Your poor daughter, taking one for the team.

      I pick up the stones and move them to a new location in the park. Finding them reminded me to go look for Page. I was so happy to find her.

      I hope River finds her bunny.

      This day will always be with us with its painful memories. The best we can do is not forget.

      Like

  12. I suppose we will all remember where we were when we heard this news.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Dan, I completely “buy” your excellent “mini-rant” about the creepiness of many online retailers. And those rocks are amazing!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks Dave 😉 The rocks always make me smile, and seeing Page the bookworm tells me kids are reading – that’s a good thing.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. 23 years ago – and yet it still horrifies. Thank you for the Remembrance, Dan. And thank you for sharing the rock collections – beautiful and delightful. As for online retailers, they haunt me as well. It’s so frustrating and time consuming to delete, delete. All the best to you and yours. 🌞

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Gwen. It’s a horrible day to remember, but I doubt any of us will ever forget. I have a friend who remembers hearing FDR on the radio after Pearl Harbor. He renumbers his mother telling him that he’d never forget that day. I will be letting these retailers know that they are driving me away from their site. Maybe they’ll stop. The stones make me smile. I hope you have a good day.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. The remembrance of 911 and book worm is a perfect way to say we have moved on but will not forget. Thanks, Dan

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks John. I hope you have a great rest of the week.

      Liked by 1 person

  16. “Unsubscribe from all emails from this site” is such a lovely phrase. I use it a lot. :D

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I need to be a bit more specific with the worst offender. They do send emails announcing sales, and at least once or twice a year, they are good sales. But don’t put stuff in my cart.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. Oh my goodness! I think the editor should take over bunny photography from now on. That is one stellar rabbit portrait!
    Many thanks.
    ❤️❤️❤️

    Liked by 3 people

    1. You’re welcome! I will be posting her bunny photos during the winter. I know I haven’t used them. She;ll probably put me out of business.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. No, but she does have a good eye.
        😉

        Liked by 1 person

    2. If I stare at it long enough, I swear I can see that little bunny nose a-twitching! Cutest photo!!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The nose is what my wife was impressed with when she took the photo.

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Love the add a rock bookworm. What a great idea…

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Those painted rocks are just adorable.I’m with you about the webpage stalking. It makes me so cranky and I’m even more resolute in not buying from those retailers.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I never buy anything they reach out to me with. The last company to try this has a customer service email. I will write them this week. They added the item to my cart last week.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Good grief. If you get no satisfaction, I’d contact the state attorney general. That might make them reconsider this nonsense.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I wish there was a clear idea of who’s in charge. I’m sure people end up buying stuff they don’t want. Even if you can return it, it’s a hassle I don’t need.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. I’ve had similar experiences with certain autoships. I finally tracked down a customer service phone number to cancel them all together because I got so angry about the way they arbitrarily handled them despite various online attempts to manage.

            Liked by 1 person

  20. Oh, your mini rant resonates with me. I think twice now about clicking on anything for fear I am going to receive the dreaded ‘looks like you forgot something’ in my Inbox.’ No, I didn’t forget anything! Grr-rr.

    The bunny–adorable–and the rock garden are wonderful.

    Gosh, it’s been 23 years? I remember how we all tied red, white and blue ribbons on our car radio antenna after that.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I had to think about it when I typed 23, Lois. How could it be that long ago?

      I loce seeing Page the bookworm/

      Liked by 1 person

  21. That’s an amazing collection of painted rocks.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Each one made me smile, Frank.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. My grandkids have always loved to paint on rocks and truth be told, so do I. :) And your mini-rant…well, I relate!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Seeing those stones always makes me smile, Jan.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. I had to laugh when I got to the end and saw the theme music, Dan. That’s fabulous. However, I agree that all the stalker-y shopping stuff is absolutely not. Great gallery with all the painted rocks. The bunny is looking particularly handsome. Hugs.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That is one good looking bunny, Teagan. He seemed to know he was being photographed. He didn’t run away when she opened the door to get a better picture. I think that song is what I need to listen to when I’m shopping on line.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Dan, a lovely rock collection. 9/11 a sad & scary time. Lives lost brutally. I was in Washington DC at a psychiatric conference. And we were in lockdown at the hotel for hours, near the pentagon. The streets were filled with military & police. It took 3 days to exit and get plane transport back home to CA. 🥺

    Don’t get me started on internet advertising that follows me everywhere! FB & Instagram shows the products I viewed with a come-on discount. Emails entice me with the product and tons of others I might be interested in. 📚🎶 Christine

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks Christine. Some of the rocks were left on a bench at the memorial. Others were on fence posts. I think they gradually get moved. Maybe some end up as part of Page the bookworm. I just smile and snag a photo.

      That must have been a nerve-racking time in DC. I’m sure you just wanted to get home.

      Liked by 1 person

  25. I remember the first time I saw the NYC skyline after 9/11. It was so strange not to see the twin towers – reminded me of the ending of Planet of the Apes. What a lovely rock collection!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. I don’t know if any of the rocks ended up in the collection that is Page the bookworm, I hope they did. Seeing the city without the towers was so hard.

    Like

  27. Surreal and still imprinted on my memory, hearing this terrible news 23 years ago in the early hours of the morning on the other side of the world.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It was a terrible day. I doubt any of us will ever forget.

      Like

  28. That is pretty creepy and kind of forceful. I am not a fan of retailers being able to see what we’re looking at, all to do with those cookies I think.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Correct! And sometimes the links they send you are loaded with what they know about you so you self-identify on arrival.

      Liked by 1 person

  29. Oh I love your one-liner and join the club. And, I especially love the painted rocks at Windsor Locks.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The rocks are so much fun, Jennie. And it’s always good to see Page wiggling around the library.

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Those rocks are great Dan. And the bunny photo!

    And that song is perfect for your rant. Online retail keeps getting more and more intrusive. There’s a lot about the online world that’s creepy actually. I won’t even get into Elon Musk…(K)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Haha – Musk is a whole ‘nother layer of creepy, Kerfe. When I see people taking time to create something beautiful like those rocks and then share it with the community, it renews my faith just a little.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I agree. Sure to make you smile.

        Liked by 1 person

  31. Hi Dan, the sci fi books of the past are becoming our reality.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s so true, Robbie.

      Like

  32. I’m with you on the retail rant. Want to lose me as a customer? Do that. I love the bunny pic!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for your support, Liz.

      Liked by 1 person

  33. Thank you for the remembrance of 9/11, Dan! I think we all remember where we were when we first heard this tragic news.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I know I do, Rebecca. We should never forget.

      Liked by 1 person

  34. The rocks are adorable! I like Page the Bookworm. So cool to watch it grow! And thanks for the 9/11 remembrance and acknowledgement of all the lives lost. What an unforgettable day. Back in 1993 I got some great photos of the towers simply because I boarded the wrong ferry when I was trying to visit the Statue of Liberty. I never imagined then that those photos would eventually become so unique.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I took my photo in 2001 during the Five Boro Bike Tour. It’s eerie to look at them today.

      Liked by 1 person

  35. The creepiness factor is all over the internet now unfortunately.

    I love that rock worm!! It’s a great idea.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I really like that the library starts Page every year. I’m sure it brings kids in, and they have days where they do a rock painting activity for the kids.

      Liked by 1 person

  36. This is scary I know, but this happens to me so many times a day, I’ve grown sort of immune to it. I mean look I’m a writer and I professionally I write product reviews, hotel room reviews, travel blogs for other bloggers, so I’m constantly checking out products, hotel rooms, and whatnot. Recently, I got an assignment to write on things to do in several USA cities. The next morning my email was filled with Are you looking for hotels in Tacoma WA, are you looking for breweries in Fort Collins CO and at least dozens of such emails. If I write a product review, I get emails from IKEA, Amazon and other companies, you were looking for a showerhead, you were looking for a coffee table and all that. Heck I even got a TripAdvisor email saying – Sharukh, that room in Bali is waiting for you, book it now. and I’m like oh yeah, I wish I had that kind of money, I would have bought that hotel and mint more money, why just stay there. Think Big, no?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Haha – I guess that goes with the territory you’re in for a living, but it would drive me crazy.

      Liked by 1 person

  37. This post rocks! I loved finding these when we hiked. As for the internet, I fear the creeping has only just begin.

    Liked by 1 person

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