Crystal G

I’ve been slacking in the spyware defense department, mainly because Firefox had been crashing constantly so I was using Google Chrome temporarily instead. However, I just noticed in the recent update of Firefox that it hasn’t crashed yet so I am hopeful they fixed the problem.

In addition to that my motherboard is going up so I’d been waiting to replace that so I could actually backup my computer (right now any external devices plugged into it make it crash, so no external hd hookup for me).

Anyway, a classic free spyware tool for me has always been Spybot. I used Lavasofts Ad-aware back in the day before it started to suck. I’ve tried another one today called Spyware Blaster that is also free, though they have a pay for version that provides automatic updates. But I’m fine with doing manual updates to save money. So far Spyware Blaster seems to be fairly nice.

I’m hesitant about trying Microsofts Defender because I just never like anything from Microsoft.

To be honest, the best defense I’ve seen against spyware is just using Firefox with their NoScript plugin. It just blocks every script on every website except those you allow.

As far as paid tools like ZoneAlarm, I can’t say I know anything about them. I usually like to stick to free or opensource (preferred) programs.

Not all spyware programs are good programs. Some are down right malicious. But there are two sites that regularly update lists of bogus or malicious programs that claim to be spyware programs.
Spyware Warrior and StopBadWare.org.

I mentioned before that I had an old old closed bank account with some fraudulent activity back in 2007. The account was closed but BB&T still called me to verify that it wasn’t my transaction. Considering it was in Italy, obvious not.

Anyway, that Heartland issue that came up recently and screwed up a bunch of people had also hit my USAA military credit card. Well not me specifically, but enough USAA customers that they’ve sent everyone new cards (I’m still waiting for mine).

Well now my ING checking account has been hit. Luckily I check all my accounts daily, so I noticed a $1 pending transaction with amazon.com today. Knowing that I haven’t purchased anything from there since my Juicer at the beginning of January, I immediately called up ING to see what was up.

I have to say that ING was awesomely prompt and efficient during my phonecall with them. I was immediately transfered to a head honcho at their headquarters who spent significant time with me while he attempted a trace with Mastercard to see where this transaction was coming from.

I have to wait for the transaction to go through on March 2nd, and then put through an official dispute through ING, who will then handle the dispute with amazon.com, I think… Hopefully it won’t be a huge chunk of money, but at least the process is started to get this all taken care of. I’ve no clue where the information could have been stolen, I’m usually very careful. Then again I have some suspicions, which are easy enough to fix.

Anyway, so technically it’s my second time having to deal with identity theft, at least both times were caught early and hopefully taken care of swiftly. I don’t know why people try and do this kind of stuff, I guess there’s good money in it. But it really is annoying, and hurts a lot of innocent people.

For the most part.

Our old house we were living in has finally sold. I mentioned before that my circle of amusement would be complete if the house sold for $100k, which is what I offered back in April 2008. Well it did.

For those unaware, the short backstory is that our 90+ year old landlord had died leaving 3 farms and no Will, with no children. His entire estate was to be divided up between 6 nieces and nephews. He owned 3 farms, one of which was the one we’ve been renting forever. The other two sold for 3 million a piece, but they wanted double the price ($200k) of what ours was worth ($100k) because ours was condemned. So they gave us 30 days to get out. We took all the livestock to the auction, plowed up all our crops, and left a lot of trash behind.

We moved in with my Aunt and lived with her for 2 months while we searched for a place to live. We eventually bought our awesome house here in Gettysburg and are all the better for it.

Anyway, back to the old condemned house. They had it listed for $124.9k with no bids. An old neighbors son actually offered $100k cash and the estate took it. The guy apparently plans to fix it up rather than mow it down and rebuild, which surprises me.

He did say, however, that if there’s anything we want off the property after settlement that we can come take it. There are a couple things I wouldn’t mind having, so that was nice of him.

He also asked us if we wanted to rent it once it’s rebuilt. Dad said “Hell no, we have a good house here in Gettysburg.” so that was that.

In a way I’m sad to see the house sold. I’m glad it sold for what it did because it serves the greedy bastards right. I’m just sad to think of it changing and it permanently not being ours anymore. It was literally the house I was born in and one of many houses I was raised in.

Maybe he’ll let me take some more pictures before they start doing whatever they do to it. It will be a good investment for him, and the neighbors are happy that he’s the one buying it.

I’m not opposed to loaning money to people in unfortunate binds. I am opposed to loaning money to people who create the scenario that they are in. I am not opposed to gifting money in any form, so long as you don’t expect to get it back.

On this topic, I present Abraham Lincoln’s letter to his brother-in-law, who asked him for money:

“Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to comply
with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you
have said to me, “We can get along very well now,” but in a very
short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can
only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I
think I know. You are not _lazy_, and still you _are_ an _idler_. I
doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day’s
work, in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and
still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you
that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting
time, is the whole difficulty; and it is vastly important to you,
and still more so to your children, that you should break this
habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to
live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it
easier than they can get out after they are in.

You are now in need of some ready money; and what I propose is,
that you shall go to work, “tooth and nail,” for somebody who will
give you money for it. Let father and your boys take charge of
things at home–prepare for a crop, and make the crop; and you go
to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you
owe, that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your
labor, I now promise you that for every dollar you will, between
this and the first of next May, get for your own labor either in
money or in your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other
dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from
me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your
work. In this, I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or the
lead mines, or the gold mines, in California, but I mean for you to
go at it for the best wages you can get close to home, in Coles
County. Now if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and
what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from
getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year
you will be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give
your place in Heaven for $70 or $80. Then you value your place in
Heaven very cheaply, for I am sure you can with the offer I make
you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five months’
work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed me the land,
and if you don’t pay the money back, you will deliver possession–
Nonsense! If you can’t now live _with_ the land, how will you then
live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not now
mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow
my advice, you will find it worth more than eight times eighty
dollars to you.

Affectionately your brother,

A. LINCOLN. “

I just spoke with my dad and he said a friend of the family that was in the accident this morning stopped by to give us their contact info. Apparently the woman has a broken hip and some fractures in her legs (explains the screaming agony when they pulled her out), and the man has some fractures in his face.

Apparently the ambulance guy says he hit the dog with the ambulance? But I don’t remember seeing that, and I watched him arrive and leave. But no one knows where the dog is, if its hurt, or worse…dead. It may require some searching in the woods.

Additional Edit: On the way home my I called my dad again and he said the dog was hit a second time by a woman. But apparently not hit directly, just sorta side-swiped. The woman and my dad went all through the woods and couldn’t find the dog. I did some whistling and put out some food when I got home, but I have yet to see this dog.

“Thank you for your payment. Once HSBC has determined that this payment is sufficient to pay the account in full and that there are no returned items on your account (including confirmation that this payment has cleared your financial institution), the title/line release will be released within seven to ten business days (or earlier, if required by state law).”

Yessss. NO CAR PAYMENT AGAIN EVER.

I was woken up this morning around 4am by some guy screaming outside. Dad was up putting wood in the woodstove, and a young couple hit a patch of ice out in front of our house and smashed directly into a huge rock on our property. The guy was able to get out and scream for help, which is what woke me up (not the crash). Then my dad ran out and yelled for me to call 911 (whaaa? *in a daze*). The ambulance actually slid past us when it finally saw us trying to flag it down, so I know the roads were crazy icy.

The woman was stuck, they had to use jaws of life to get her out. The guy was in pain but could walk. They had a dog with them too but it jumped out and fled the moment the guy got out.

They blocked off the road with all kinds of flashing light vehicles. It took them an hour to get the woman out, and when they were pulling her out she was screaming in pain which sent chills down my spine. They are getting the vehicle towed now. I took a brief walk in the woods where I could see to see if I could see the dog anywhere, but nothing. If we can find him we’ll hold onto him and feed him until the owners get out of the hospital.

I’m pretty tired now, I may go into work late and let some of this ice melt and get this chill out of my bones.

Here are some pictures after I came back inside. They had already gotten everyone out and were just cleaning up at this point. You can see the huge black void in front of the vehicle, that’s the big rock they hit head on.

From Snow and Ice Shenanigans

Since I’ve been unable to find a bed frame that I like, I’ve decided to commission my uncle to make one for me. My dad said he is a very talented wood-worker so I am glad to be able to provide him with some money for his skill, especially since he’s been laid off.

I’ve been needing a “grown-up” bed since we moved. Prior to this I’ve had day-beds because that’s all that would fit in the old house.

I told my uncle I want pretty much exactly this style in hopefully a queen size (I have to measure my room to make sure it will fit, otherwise I will resort to a double). No finish, all natural light knotty wood, which will be a good contrast to the dark chocolate walls.

Then I have to go mattress shopping, which I’ve never done in my life and have no idea what to expect.

Someone asked me about pet insurance the other day, and what my thoughts were about it from when I worked at an emergency vet hospital.

We didn’t have many clients with pet insurance. Honestly pet insurance isn’t worth the cost unless you have a pet that goes to the vet regularly. And by regularly I mean monthly, not once a year for vaccinations.

In a summary, pet insurance works by you paying the Vet out of pocket, and submitting a claim to the pet insurance company for reimbursement. In addition to that, you pay a monthly fee for the service. It’s not a huge fee, like most insurance policies, so it’s well worth the investment if you’re going to use the insurance regularly.

Plans have probably changed since I worked at at Vet Hospital, I’m hoping they’ve improved. Personally I’ve never had the need for pet insurance, but would invest in it if I had a pet diagnosed with diabetes or an illness that would force regular prescriptions and medical visits. I take my dog for his vaccinations and if he hurts himself, but I personally do not take him for anything else. No regular check-ups beyond the vaccinations, no nail clippings or anal gland maintenance. I just don’t think they are necessary, and I’ve owned dogs since I was born and worked at an emergency animal hospital.

That’s my 2 cents

From Bastian

Dad and Bastian sitting in the garage. Look at that serious expression! Grr!