TECHIE STUFF

As instructed, I did my update to Apple's ios6 yesterday morning. Then I spent all afternoon trying to get my Dragonvale back. It lost my Game Center nickname -- heaven knows where that's at -- and wanted me to start a new Dragonvale game with a new nickname. So I'm to forget about all my hard-earned dragoncash and gems?????

Then I went into FaceBook to talk about my earring giveaway beginning tomorrow. Guess what? Not only can I not hit the 'like' or 'share' or 'comment' buttons on my friends' walls, but I can't even comment on mine! And getting in touch with FaceBook... Forget it. For my problem, they said to contact them. But they did not give me an email address or a telephone number to use. Oh, no. Nothing that simple for FB. They had me type in a message and hit SEND. Naturally, since nothing else I click on works, the SEND button didn't work either.

That was yesterday. Today, I went to Google and found a FB support page with a telephone number. I called. The person was foreign and we barely understood each other. We got cut off. I called back. Got a lady who also had an accent. I explained I was working with someone. She asked if I'd already paid the charge. I said "Whoa!" The other guy called back after I hung up on her. So I said again, I wasn't paying to get FB help. He thanked me and hung up.

So I went to my guy's FB page and sent them a message. Just now they answered with a canned response saying basically that they read all their bug reports but seldom answer them.

So I guess either I wait to see if it gets cleared up or I forget about FaceBook.

I try to be laid back but really....

DRAGONVALE

All right, I admit it. I'm hooked.

I don't usually play computer games, but I do keep Bejeweled and Angry Birds and a couple more on my phone to entertain young relatives.

One of them earnestly insisted I install Dragonvale. Actually, I think it went like this:

"You should put Dragonvale on your phone."

"You think so?"

"Yes. Then I can give you gifts."

"Gifts?"

"Yes. All you have to do is download the app."

"I don't know how."

"I do. Give me your password."

And presto, I got Dragonvale. The 'gifts' turn out to be 'gems' needed to purchase dragons and other stuff. Also turns out I can give her gifts, too. She even showed me how to play.

"Here's some money." Punch. Points are added to the money supply.

"We'd better buy you a food center." Punch. A little house is added on the screen.

The market also sells habitats, buildings, decorations, dragon eggs...All so you can build your own little dragon world.

And sometimes it leads you to buy stuff with real money. I pointed this out.

The blithe response from the knowledgeable nine-year-old. "Oh, don't worry about that. When it says to put in your password, just cancel it."

You get the picture.

Anyway, I can't stop playing. But I do have to give out gifts every twenty-four hours, right? I'm not addicted. Really I'm not. Why would a grown woman be addicted to building a kingdom of fire dragons and rainbow dragons and earth dragons and...