Update Update

First off, let me just complain about all the people who say PIN number. PIN stands for personal identification number. So, when you say PIN number you're really saying "personal identification number number." Similarly...ATM machine. ATM stands for automated teller machine. So, if you say ATM machine you're really saying automated teller machine machine.

(you're probably wondering why I felt the need to bring this up....well I'm glad you asked. Here's the explanation:)

Today I went to the bank and got a replacement card and the lady said I could use my new PIN number at any ATM machine. That double whammy of redundancy really caught me by surprise (actually, now that I think about it, it's sorta redundant to say "double whammy of redundancy" since all redundancy is a double whammy...but I digress).

I almost responded with "Really, I can use my PIN number at any ATM machine to get currency money so I can buy purchase things?" But I didn't say this, I just took my card and departed left.

After my bank trip I went car shopping again. I'm beginning to lose faith in humanity. Car salesmen are such sleazy people. I'm sure they're made by dredging up the muck from the bottom of the gene pool.

Today I walked into a used car lot and a guy nearly attacked me he jumped on me so fast. He was wearing snakeskin boots and had on a pink shirt with a popped collar (these are all warning signs...sorta like white trash "bling").

Coincidentally every car he offered me had the following things in common:

1) It was a car that was such a good deal he was thinking about buying it for himself.
2) The car was coincidentally the exact same price as the amount I said I was willing to spend.
3) The car was in horrible shape.

The man told me how honest he is at least 5 times (a sure sign of a dishonest man). He told me how much he hated used care salesmen at least 4 times (either he doesn't consider himself a used car salesman or he hates himself ( if I were him it would be the latter)).

He actually had the nerve to tell me that a car with 92 thousand miles was a good deal because the odometer was broken (as if miles not recorded by the car don't wear out an engine).

At the end he told me "well, I don't like pushy salesmen, and I hate buying under pressure, but if you don't buy that car before the end of the month it will probably leave the lot."

I responded, "well, you said you wanted to buy that car for yourself, and you were here first. I figure you got a better claim. Actually, I couldn't in good conscience take a car you were interested in when it's on your lot--that just seems wrong. So, it's all yours. I hope it's a good car for you."

I then got out of there as fast as I could (this man was unflappable, he couldn't be deterred.... he was going to try to sell me everything under the roof (perhaps even the roof itself) before I left).

So, still no car. The only bright side to my wanderings was I found a restaurant named "Guadalahonky." I don't think I've ever seen a better name for a Mexican themed restaurant. Please, if you will, think on how perfectly that name captures the essence of the place: a Mexican restaurant filled to the brim with white (honky) folk.

Funny, right?

Well, I think I'm done typing.

Good-day.

Update

Well, I haven't blogged faithfully this last week so here is a little repentance.

I'm still trying to find a car. It's taking longer than I'd hoped. One reason for this is I don't have a car. It's sorta hard to drive around and look for cars when you don't have a car. Sorta a catch 22.

Lately I've been preparing for my upcoming birthday. Gonna be 28 this Friday. Hard to believe. This is the last birthday I'll be able to face in style. Next birthday I'm gonna say "this is my last birthday before thirty"... and then the birthday after that I'm gonna say "now I'm thirty." Both are things I thought I'd never say.

Judging by how fast the last 10 years have passed by I'm gonna be retired and yelling at kids to get off my lawn in no time.

Let's see...some things I've been thinking about lately.

Well, I've been giving a lot of thought to my 27th year. Now that it's (almost) over I've been trying to judge if I spent it well. After careful consideration I have decided it was a good year. I sure learned a lot. Some of the lessons were delightful...others were quite painful. I'll give a detailed report on the year once it's over (after all, I'm still 27 'till next Friday).

Let's see... what else. Well, one thing that has been on my mind is a quotation from Elder Holland. Last conference he said "true love must include the idea of permanence." I'm been stewing over that ever since. I think I've made some breakthroughs, but I don't know if my ideas have solidified enough to write them down. Maybe I'll pick up this thread some other time. Regardless it's something to think about. I know it has a lot of meaning and probably wide-ranging implications but I'm still only scratching the surface.

In other news I've been writing a lot lately (part of the reason I haven't been blogging as much). A few weeks ago I decided to write out a screenplay (after all, if I go the creative writing route I need to have evidence that I can write creatively).

I decided to write a story about a modern Socrates. The idea came to me when I was thinking about Garett. As I thought about him I started to notice similarities between his life and the life of Socrates. That got me to thinking about what it would be like to have a Socrates in modern times.

I think Socrates will transfer to the screen really well. He's a great character: quick witted, sardonic, dutiful, and (most importantly) polemic.

Anyway, that's what I've been working on (while studying the GRE and LSAT and finishing that book project I started for my mission president years ago).

Well, I better get going. Sundays are so busy.

Hope you're all doing well.

Car Dealerships

I've decided I hate car dealerships. Yesterday I picked up the settlement check for my car and as I was driving back I decided to stop by a dealership with a huge "used cars" sign in front. I walked into the lobby and while I waited for someone to notice me I stared at the floor model: a pristine Porsche. The car was really beautiful, and staring at it (and it's price tag) reminded me of my flaccid economic strength (weird sentence I know, it just came out that way).

Eventually a salesperson came out. He was a slightly effeminate man who spoke with a lisp. He was also slightly overweight, and he had really rosy cheeks...so red I think I'm gonna diagnose him as having rosacea. He introduced himself and said his name (although he was wearing a tag) and then I said my name. A few minutes later he asked my name again, and (I guess to be fair) he once again (and unnecessarily) supplied his. Comforted that our circumstances and identities remained unchanged, we proceeded to the car lot.

Now, for a place with such a huge "used cars" sign this place really didn't have that many used cars. I told him my price range and he brought me over to cars that sold for that amount (there were 6). First, he showed me a Chevy Malibu. The car was a 2002 with 110k miles. He began extolling the virtues of the wonderful machine and I told him, "well, I just drove a Malibu, I know what it's like. This is the same year mine was."

He didn't listen to me and he kept going through his spiel. I interrupted him once, but I could tell he wasn't very sharp, and his memorizing this bit might was something he was proud of, ,so I let him go on and I waited patiently. At the end he asked if he should get the keys for a test drive. I told him there wasn't any need, and then he left to get the keys.

When he came back he got into the car, turned it on, and drove it about 5 feet. I could see dark smoke rising from the tailpipe (bad sign for a car..usually means the engine is going). I didn't point this out, I just asked him how much the car was going for. He said 6 thousand.

I laughed.

I unfortunately knew exactly what that car is worth. My car was in better condition, with lower mileage, my car was the V6, and my car had tinted windows...and the insurance company appraised it at 4.3k. The insurance companies get their amount by finding similar cars that have sold in the last 90 days and then averaging the amount. Now, insurance companies definitely pick the cheapest cars that are similar to your car and then do some cheating to make your car come out as low as possible...but 4.3k was a pretty fair estimate for a Malibu in inferior condition to my own...so, hearing 6k caught me off guard and made me laugh.

He asked what was so funny. I felt sorta bad for laughing in front of him, but I didn't really care too much since he was so blatantly trying to take advantage of me.

I thought for a second about how to answer his question. I ended up saying, "I'm sorry, I just wasn't ready for that price. "

He said "well, we can work with you on the price, or you could lease it."

I said "oh no, that's not necessary, I just know what this car is worth, and it's definitely not worth 6 thousand. And if you know your job you know it's not worth 6 thousand. So, I can only think you either don't know your job, or your you do know your job and your job is to take advantage of me."

I told him that I really had no interest to look at any other cars since we'd started off so bad, but I felt sorta bad for my frankness, so when he asked if he could have my number to call me if anything came up I said yes. He walked me into his office to write it down (so I entered the lion's den). Once in there he started looking for more cars at sister dealerships. I told him I was just there to give him my number, and then he had his supervisor come in. The supervisor once again said "your insurance settlement would be a nice downpayment on a new car" and I once again told them that I had no interest in getting a nice new car, I just needed transportation, and I wanted to get my new car for less than or equal to my settlement value.

They came at me from a few other ways. I started to get annoyed. The new guy said "we could get you into a Jetta. There is a Jetta we just bought in the other lot.

I told him "no thanks, where I come from Jettas are considered a girl's car."

The effeminate man who first made contact with me (who coincidentally had the unisex name Jamie) said "well, I drive a Jetta."

So I told him, "well, where I come from you drive a girl's car." I laughed so it came across as a joke (hopefully). I wasn't very patient anymore since they weren't being very forthright. I came into the shop to give my number and nothing more...and they weren't letting me go.

They tried a few more cars and eventually I had to be very frank. I said,"listen, I've been polite, I've listened to you, and you haven't listened to me. I said I want to buy a car for what my previous car was worth, and you keep trying to upsell me, so let me just be straightforward--I'm not buying a car today."

I got up and left (and walked past the glimmering Porsches on my way out).

Those guys were slimy. The force they exert on customers is unethical (but probably effective).

They push and push and they phrase questions in such a way that social propriety requires the buyer to either break social norms or get steamrolled.

After I left that dealership I went to another across the street. The moment I got out of my rental car a nice elderly gentleman pounced on me. He asked what I needed, I told him I needed a car (I can't imagine another reason why someone would drive to a car lot). Looking back he probably meant "what sort of car do you need"...but I guess my unfortunate habit of picking the least likely interpretation to a statement once again reared its ugly head.

He asked my price range, I told him, and he brought me over to a 2005 Malibu. When he said the car was a 2005 I was sorta surprised because the car was the same body styling as my old Malibu, and that styling changed in 2005 to the current more boxier styling. I told him it couldn't be a 2005 cause I'd driven a 2005 and that was the new styling. He said "well let me check" and then he looked at the paper that they'd written all the facts on and said "yep, see, we wrote 2005 there."

So, I guess since they wrote it on paper it must be true. I said "well, if it's a 2005 then that means that Chevy produced both styles of Malibu the same year. I find that hard to believe, but then again I'm not about to question the write up you guys made on the car and it clearly says 2005 on that piece of paper....hmmm, very strange."

(side note, there should be a "it's in a book fallacy." Basically this fallacy is when people assert something is true because they saw it in print...but I digress)

We walked around for a bit and I realized that I wasn't going to have any luck. But then at the last minute he showed me a 2007 Chevy Cobalt coupe. It was a beautiful car with 30k miles on it and a perfect paint job (even if the color was the brightest yellow I've ever seen). He asked if I wanted to drive it, and that's when I panicked.

You see, I learned how to drive a stick about 12 years ago. The last time I drove a stick was on New Year's 'cause I needed to shuttle some inebriated friends home. I haven't driven a stick since then, and I've never had a manual of my own. So, every time I get into a manual I sorta have this moment of trepidation, I know that there is a good chance I'll stall the car before I get a feel for it...cause I have no muscle memory for driving a manual.

I told him that I didn't need to since two of my family members have a Cobalt and that car was out of my price range anyway. He then dropped the price by 2 thousand dollars and told me that there were other people looking at it.

I said "well, I wish them will with it. I'm sure it will be a good car for them. But, if things fall through and all the people interested don't buy, I might talk with you in a few days."

I could tell he didn't want me to leave the lot so he dropped the price another 500...but I really didn't have the means to make the purchase right then (I hadn't even deposited the check yet)...so I walked away but I had him write down the price and put his name next to it so I could get the price he had quoted me later.

(sidenote, this next paragraph was going to begin with the word "I" but then I realized that the last three paragraphs also began with the word "I." ....it's sorta bad form to begin every paragraph with the word "I" ...oh, what the heck....)

I drove away sorta frustrated with the whole experience. Car salesmen are snakes (sorry feminists...car salespeople). These guys (sorry, gals also) are oily (and that's literal, I don't know why they all sweat so much and have such shiny skin), they're dishonest, and they're pushy. If I had money to waste they might have ended up with some of it.

Well, hopefully some of the deals I've found online will pan out. This is the first time in over a decade that I've been without a car. I feel weird....my wings are clipped.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as things develop. Have a wonderful day.

Update

Okay, so here's a quick update for those who have an interest:

Post car-crash information:

I think I've finally settled on the dollar amount for my car. The other person's insurance was pretty cheap at first. They couldn't find a car just like mine so they found a car similar and then did some strange calculations to determine my car's value.

The problem is I didn't think their calculations were right so I called around, argued, cajoled, threatened, and now it's all taken care of. This Friday when I get back to Provo I'll sign over the title to the Malibu and get a check. I'm glad I argued with them for so long--I'm going to get a thousand dollars more. I guess sometimes it pays to be a long-winded nuisance.

Trip update:

I had planned to be back in Provo by now, but I decided spur of the moment to stay a while longer. I'm afraid that part of the reason is I really don't feel like making that drive right now. It's such a long drive. For a while I thought about just turning in the rental car here (the one the insurance bought me) and pay to fly home. But, I got too much junk I'm bringing back so I can't do that.

I've had a great time with my family, I was able to visit my grandparents on both sides, hang out with my brothers, talk with the family, chill with the Munchkin....and train Bean. That dog isn't progressing very well. She sorta does what she wants. Sometimes I think she understands what "sit" means, but mostly she just looks at me like I'm crazy (she's gotten by without knowing tricks for a long time now). She's either very stupid or a free spirit. I'm gonna go with free spirit.

Car replacement:
I've been looking at cars to buy. I think I'm going to buy a car that's a little bit smaller than the Malibu was (gas costs and all).



This is the car I'll likely buy. It's a 2004 Honda Civic with similar miles. It's a manual so I'm gonna have to remember how to drive one (it's been a while (other than a short stint on New Year's as a designated driver)).

I'm still negotiating with the person. So far I've knocked off 800 bucks but I think I'm gonna go for another 300. The car is an EX so she might not sell for as low as I'm asking. I still need to hear her response to my counter offer. She seems like an interesting person. Here is the rear view of the car. See if you can figure out why she's an interesting person (you'll probably need to click the image to enlarge it to find out why).



For another hint, here is a portion of the last email I sent her.

The only other questions I have are:
1) Has the car been in an accident (was that the reason for the recent alignment)
2) Is there an indentation on the left side (as viewed from the perspective of the picture taker)... is that inconsistency a trick of the light?
3) What do tattoos get you?

Anyway, hopefully I'll be on wheels again soon. I'll have to take care of all that stuff when I get back into town tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the dreaded drive.

Oh well, have a great day everyone!

Last Sunday

I attended my old single's ward this past week and it was interesting.

The first speaker was a very educated girl...and she had all the liabilities of an education--not the least of which is the tendency to flaunt it...this is a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when people feel the need to club others over the head with their education. One of the most common ways to club others over the head is with sesquipedalian vocabulary.

I love words, and I really love cool vocabulary words, but I think they should only be used when they are effective. If there is a direct synonym to a complicated word you should use the direct synonym. Why? Well, if no meaning is lost, and you can communicate your message to more people (cause you can now include those without your extensive vocabulary) then the more humble the word, the better the choice (if you're really trying to communicate and not just impress).

However, there are some words that are quite large and intimidating, but also very effective. These are words that are rare, but they are rare because they are so specific (so they are only properly used in very specific (and less frequent) circumstances). These are efficient words--you should use them whenever you can

Here are some words/phrases that are unnecessary and sorta annoying.

1) prima facia: putting latin into everyday discourse is just insulting. I think a humorist once pointed out that a latin phrase in a conversation translates to "I speak latin and you don't." You might as well say "at first glance" or "it appears" and not sound like a pretentious snob. (oh, and under this complaint you can also put vis-a-vis, Q.E.D., ergo, et.al.).

2) aesthetically pleasing: just say beautiful, pretty, attractive..come on. I knew a girl who said this all the time and it was quite painful for me.

3) thusly: this should never be used. Firstly, because it's incorrect (it should always be thus...if you use it at all), Secondly, it's incorrect for the sole purpose of sounding highfalutin. (this peeve includes firstly, secondly, et.al.)

But this is a tangent. All I really want to point out is that this speaker used many words that were condescending and meant to impress rather than instruct. But beyond her word choice, I was annoyed with her descriptions. She spoke prettily, but so spoke so flowery that it detracted from the point she was making. Here are some notes that I took of things she said:

my heart swelled (who really says this? If you talk about heart swelling you better be a surgeon or a general authority (or both)).

Those solitary starry sentinels in the sky (the word "stars" is obviously too banal, mundane, plebeian etc.)

Our beloved atmosphere (while I'm grateful for the atmosphere, I would not call it beloved)

There were a few other gems, but I think you get my point.

Anyway, after the talk she ended up sitting next to me and asking me what I thought of her talk. I was in an awkward position and I told her "it was very flowery."

She said "is that a compliment."

I said "if I were you I'd take it as one."

I felt that was as honest as I could be. It was certainly true. She couldn't have been that flowery on accident so for her that must be a good thing..It's just important to emphasize the "if I were you" part.

Anyway, the third hour was where things got crazy.

The teacher was a heavy set boy fresh off his mission. He is one of those guys you just know took public speaking classes and thought of himself as a bit of an orator.

He always said everything twice. It went like this:

I am so glad to be here today....so glad. I hope you learn from this lesson....this lesson which I have prepared for you....for YOU!

I could have looked past this habit, but it got worse.

The next thing he did was have a person in the class come up and sit in a chair. He then told us to close our eyes.

We all closed our eyes.

He then said "imagine you're going back in time, way way back, even further, going back in time, okay, you're in high school, ,you're getting the priesthood, you've got acne (laughter), even further...okay, you were just baptized, everything is wet, back further, keep going....okay, you're staring into your mother eyes...but even further...okay, where are you?"

Everyone said "pre-existence" and he became so excited his cheeks flushed as he bounced from side to side (this time machine bit really meant a lot to him).

He then recounted (with slight omissions) the history of the world up to the apostle Paul. It turns out the guy in the chair in front of the class was Paul...and since Paul helped stone Stephen we were now going to stone Paul. You see, at the beginning of the class this teacher had given us all a piece of paper...but rather than writing on it, he told us to crumble it up, pretend it was a stone, and chuck it at the guy at the front of the class.

I was surprised by how obedient everyone was...most of the quorum threw the paper at the poor unsuspecting kid who had the gall to participate in the lesson... but I didn't throw my paper, whether out of mercy or maturity I don't know (probably not the second).

As the lesson continued to degrade into even greater levels of childishness, the teacher did the one thing that I can't accept...he recited that poem "footprints."

If you're not aware of this poem, it's basically a story of a guy walking with Jesus on the beach. At the end of his walk he looks back and notices that at the hardest times in his life there was only one set of footprints. He asks Jesus why this is the case and then Jesus says "'twas then that I carried you" or something like that.

Well, not only is this remarkably cheesey, it's also bad (some might even say dangerous) thinking. It's horrible to think that Christ carries us through the hardest parts of life. He works with us certainly, he helps us carry our burdens, but he doesn't' carry our burdens. If he did...what would be the point of suffering the burden at all? If God can accomplish his ends without human suffering, then human suffering is nothing more than divine sadism. We are here to lean, and to learn we must suffer...but what God does is he lessens our suffering, he suffers with us, and he suffers for what we cannot....but he doesn't suffer while we take a nap in his arms (and on that note, how did the guy in the poem even know that those were the hardest parts of his life if he was being carried? From his perspective those would be the easiest parts of his life ('cause he's being carried and all))...but I don't think people were meant to think about this poem...just gush over it.

But, I digress again. Back to the story.

As he was sharing this, perhaps the most frustrating piece of sentimental writing in a culture that prizes such, I remembered that I still had my piece of paper(the stone to throw at Paul). Before I could even think about what I did I threw the stone. I think if I'd thought things through I would have been more careful...cause we were way past the object lesson and we were now in the lesson proper..but for some reason that's when my paper needed to be thrown. "Paul" was still in the front of the class, and I was at a strange angle...so it looked like I was aiming for "Paul"...but I wasn't aiming for Paul. My throw was high and to the right....and it hit the teacher as he was reciting "Footprints."

It was just a piece of paper so it bounced off ineffectually, but everyone looked at me cause the throwing stones was from 5 minutes ago and we'd completely moved on. I just looked at everyone sheepishly and said "sorry, was a bit late."

The lesson continued on, and I felt content knowing that I'd been able to express my feelings via paper "rock."

I realize my behavior was out of line, but I guess that's one of the perks of visiting a ward: you can be a little bit crazy without having to see everyone the next week.

Well, hope you're all doing well.

Disclaimer: and sorry for a post trashing my church meetings. Just so you know, the second hour was great and the other two speakers in sacrament were wonderful....I'm just recounting the less spiritual (and more humorous) aspects of my Sunday meetings.

Blood type and Stuff

I randomly look into things (thank you Wikipedia!) for no particular reason. Yesterday, I looked into blood types.

So, if anyone is curious here is a little bit of info about blood types.

Most people know that O- is the universal donor....and some people know that AB is the universal taker...but here is the complete breakdown.

A can give to other A's and AB's
B can give to other B's and AB's
O can give to A,B, AB, and other O's

If there is a negative after the letter it can give to any compatible blood type, but if there is a positive after the letter it can only give to other positives of a compatible blood type.

The reason (not that I'm all that hot at biology) is 'cause A blood has an A antigen, but antibodies against the B antigen. B has the B antigen, but antibodies against the A antigen....and so on (I think you see the pattern. AB has both A and B antigens and no antibodies for either so it can take any blood type (but AB is preferred). O blood (also called zero blood) has no antigens so any type can take it, and it has anti-A and anti-B antibodies....so everything's kosher).

The positive and negative following the letter is whether there is the D antigen protein on the red blood cell. If someone has none of the Rh D protein they get a negative, if they do, they get a positive.

The positive requires another positive to be compatible (as was mentioned earlier), but the negative has nothing to get in the way (no D antigen) so the negative is cool for everyone.

This is why O negative is the blood of true Christians...willing to give to everyone and all that.

(Oh, and for plasma donating everything is the opposite....so 0 is the universal taker and AB is the universal plasma donor (this was totally new to me, and I was glad that AB blood wasn't a total jerk...and I'm glad O blood got a break from donating to everyone))

Okay, so other than describing antigen sensitivity on the red blood cells is there anything interesting about this?

Well I'm glad you asked! The answer is either "Yes!" or "Sorta!"

One thing I found interesting was the connection some cultures make between between blood type and personality; this is most common in Asian cultures.

There was a Japanese scientist named Furukawa (in 1927 I think ) who was one of the first to get onto the ABO blood bandwagon, and he theorized that blood type had something to do with personality. He felt this way cause there was a group of people that were quite fractious (Taiwanese) and the vast majority of that group had 0 blood (so 0 blood is the renegade blood....it is compatible with whatever it wants and it won't let you say different).

Anyway, this is often why video games include blood type in the character profile ('cause Asian video game makers thinks it gives insight into the character's character).

Science has debunked this idea, but it has continued on much the way horoscopes have. There is even a Korean romantic comedy called "My Boyfriend is Type B." Good times.

Anyway, now you know that you can judge people by blood type (actually the Germans tried to do this to determine an Aryan blood type that was better than everyone else's ...but I don't think they found enough consistency to run with the idea. However, many other groups have found ways to use blood type to reinforce racist tendencies. This is effective because blood type tends to remain consistent in a geographic region (since it's inherited from parents)).

So, if you're curious, here's the breakdown.

In the U.S.:
A+: 28.27%
B+: 20.59 %
AB+: 5.06 %
O+: 36.44%
A-: 3.52 %
B-: 1.39%
AB-: 0.45%
O-: 4.33%

So, having A+ blood makes me thoroughly unremarkable. But, if there is some correlation between blood type and personality/characteristics then I'm gonna say from personal experience that there's a correlation between blood type and academic performance (huzzah! my A+ brethren).

Anyway, ask your friends their blood type, and when they say it to you, make sure you ask them "are you positive?" .....'cause that joke never gets old.

Also, if you're in a relationship then you better ask your significant other their blood type...then refer to this book:

Toshitaka Nomi and Alexander Besher, You Are Your Blood Type: the biochemical key to unlocking the secrets of your personality

Alright, I better go. I hope you all have a bloody good day.

(sorry if you're British, I realize that to you I just swore)

Credit Card

Well, last night I was at my brother's house. During a lull in the group conversation I went over to computer to check my email (something I must admit that I do obsessively).

Anyway, I was quite surprised when I saw the emails from the Apple iTunes store informing me that I'd just spent almost 200 hundred dollars on products for the iPad, various books, and video games.

I couldn't tell at first if this was a phisch scam so I called my credit card and asked if they had received claims for these items. The nice man with the thick accent said that they had pre-approved the transactions in question. I told him they weren't my transactions. He said he was sorry but that he couldn't do anything until the transactions were paid.

I said "so let me get this straight, I'm telling you right now that someone is using my credit card illegally. That credit card hasn't been billed yet, but it will be billed shortly. And what you want me to do is wait for you to pay for this illegal transaction before I can do anything?"

He said "yes."

I was amazed. I couldn't let the idea go: "So, although we both know that something illegal is about to happen, and that someone is going to be spending money on my credit card illegally, I have to sit back passively while he commits credit card fraud? You just gave me some spiel about how much you care about my security...but that security only works after the fact? Your security is limited to what has happened...not what will happen?

He said "sort of, yes."

At this point I was just shocked (and to be fair it was 3 in the morning so I wasn't feeling all that patient).

I said "is there anything at all I can do? What happens if I cancel my credit card, or what happens if you assign me a new number?

He said that if he gave me a new number that the posted transactions wouldn't go through. He also said that he could get me a new card in 24 hours.

Now I'm wondering why he didn't say that in the first place. So there was something I could do, I could change my card and indirectly stop the payment. My only fear was that this would ding my credit. He said it wouldn't. So, I told him to do that immediately (it's the only thing that makes sense to do).

I logged onto my iTunes account and under "problems" for each transaction I informed Apple that the problem was that that transaction was credit card fraud. I deactivated every computer iTunes was linked to, I removed my credit card information from online (in case all they had was my iTunes info), and I removed all the downloads (the downloads this guy had purchased illegally hadn't downloaded yet).

(what's funny is I received emails from Apple this morning and I realized they hadn't even read my complaints. They just responded saying "we're sorry your programs haven't downloaded correctly. However, you can still log onto iTunes and download them"....sorta made me angry that they hadn't even read my complaint). Oh well.

So, hopefully he didn't get anything. If he wants to use the credit card he can't, if he wants to download what he bought illegally he can't. And if he wants to buy something new he can't (not sure why the thief is a "he").

I'm just grateful that I was checking my email at such an odd time. If I hadn't the downloads might have gone through. Luckily I was able to start working to fix things before too much damage was done.

Now I just need to talk things through with Apple. As I write this I'm waiting on hold (and have been for the past 15 minutes).

What I want to know is "why did this happened now?" Did I do something to make the universe angry? ....I mean, a car accident and credit card fraud in less than a week's time? Really?

Oh, I know why I'm in such trouble!!!

It all make sense now.

It's 'cause of last Friday the thirteenth ...when I was riding my mirror breaking machine under ladders while spilling salt shakers on Indian burial ground....I knew at the time that that was a bad idea.

Well, that's that. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Regardless of all the frustrations it is good to be home. I spent yesterday with both my brothers. We played guitar, talked, played Foosball, ate Tommy Burgers. All in all, a good day. I'm sure all this other stuff will eventually pass over.

Hope you're all doing well.