Dear Readers,

I feel much better today, and the weather this morning reminds me why I chose to stay in Okinawa. It is glorious. The bluebirds were singing outside my window and I can't imagine a nicer way to wake up than that.

Last night Hitomi called. She has another new boyfriend. She says this one will last. we will see. She also said it was very cold in Yokohama. This made me smile. I was able to tell her that it was warm enough here to wear shorts and T-shirts.

Ron-san was nice to me today. He didn't make me go to the post office. Instead I worked on translations and some e-mails to customers. We are trying to catch up with all of the e-mail. One good thing is that the Kamakura Pens website is attracting more viewers everyday. This is very good. However, it makes us busy to keep up with all of the questions.

Today I learned a very valubale lesson. I received an e-mail from a pen dealer in Nigeria. He was very excited about our website and wanted to order all of our pens. He said he was willing to pay $50,000 I was shocked and excited. I hurried to tell Ron-san. He was not excited. He asked if this "Dealler" insisted on paying by credit card. How did Ron-san know this?

Ron-san explained that Nigeria is famous for fraud. The "buyer's" credit card would either be a fake or a stolen number, and we would loose all of our pens.

Everyday I receive fake e-bay and paypal mails. I even receive mails pretending to be from banks where I have no accounts. I learned quickly to avoide these. However, fraudulent buyers are a new thing. I am just happy we were not cheated. One big mistake like this could destroy a small company. I wish that something could be done, but it looks very difficult to catch these people.

Sincerely,

Meg