Credit Union not in the 21st century

I had a charge refused on an online purchase I made with a credit card from my credit union on Wednesday. Then it happened with another online purchase on Friday. After that one, I went online and checked my account. Everything was up to date and there was nothing to indicate a problem. Today I tried the card in a store and it was also refused. In this afternoon's mail, I had two letters from the credit union letting me know that both my credit card and ATM card had been cancelled because some company which processes some of the transactions had stored account information when they shouldn't have. Both of my cards were in the range of numbers which were compromised. They are in the process of replacing the cards for many people who have accounts there, something which may take more than a week. The question for me is why did they rely on snail mail alone to notify people. There's nothing on the website and there have been no emails indicating there was a problem. They do have a recorded message if you call them, but it seems to me that they should have covered all the possibilities.

KFI - The Tech Guy

I like to listen to Leo Laporte on KFI on weekends. He's on from 11-2 Saturday and Sunday, but the station doesn't come in at my house although it's okay in the car. I can get it online at KFI640.com. While the content of the show is usually pretty good, there's just not enough of it. Each half hour is good for about 18 minutes of content and he may take 3 phone calls. Lots of commercials and news.

PayPerPost convention

PayPerPost is going to have a conference for their bloggers and advertisers in Orlando June 8-9. $200 to attend. It might be fun but I don't think I'll be able to go. Too far away and too expensive to get there for me, but maybe once there are more details on what's happening I'll be a little more interested.

Steve Sarkisian

When it looked like the Raiders were going to hire a new coach -- Steve Sarkisian -- he woke up from this bad dream and realized what he would be getting himself into. He withdrew from consideration today, leaving the Raiders empty handed and backpedaling, saying that he was never offered the job. Maybe not, but who cares. So we know it won't be Sarkisian or James Lofton coaching the Raiders next year. My money is on Rob Ryan, the Raiders' defensive coach. At least the defense was good, so why not reward this guy and let him find an offensive coordinator so the Raiders can double their wins next year.

Walking across America

I read a book about a guy who walked across the US many years ago. Not something I would do myself, but it's still interesting to see how many nice people there are out there. A couple of weeks ago, Matt Gregory passed through Temecula. I saw him at the Temecula public library. He is walking from Bellingham, WA to Miami. I guess that's going to take a year to do. Right now, he's in Yuma AZ. He's doing the walk to raise money for cancer research. Check out his blog.

#84

I thought maybe Chris Webber had an advertising deal with 84 lumber when I saw him in his new Pistons uniform. Or maybe he's going to play tight end for the Detroit Lions next season and keep that number. Actually, his nephew had a dream that Webber was wearing #84 for the Pistons and that's why he chose it. Sounds funny, but apparently it's true.

Lakers keep winning

Anyone who thinks Phil Jackson isn't a great coach hasn't watched the Lakers this year. They have almost the same team as last year yet they are doing much better and beating teams like the Spurs and the Mavericks. I am not sure why they are so much better since Lamar Odom has been out and they have also been missing most of their big guys, but the guys they do have are much better and Maurice Evans is an excellent player who has really added quite a bit. I think Radmonovich will do better as the season goes along and the Lakers are going to stay near the top. I don't think they can beat the Suns in the playoffs however.

Mystery box from PayPerPost

I got a nice surprise on my front porch this morning. Some books I ordered were left there sometime yesterday along with a mystery green box from PayPerPost. I didn't order anything from PayPerPost, so they must have sent it just because they like me so much. :-) Inside the box was a big foam finger. That's going to look nice next to my painting of dogs playing cards... I also got a huge pen and a t-shirt which was folded up so small that I didn't know what it was. I was going to throw it into a bucket of water because I thought it was something that would expand in water. I also got a job search audio course from Trump University and a couple of other nice things. Thanks!

American Idol

I don't usually watch the American Idol show, but last night I saw some of it. They were in Minnesota so lots of people did Prince songs, although not very well. The thing I don't get about the people who show up at the auditions is how they can be so unaware of themselves in terms of their singing. I can't sing at all and I wouldn't pretend otherwise, but some of the people who show up are absolutely terrible. Yet when they get some honest feedback, some of them act like it's a big shock. Of course, the show relies on these kinds of people in the early stages to keep it interesting. That's obvious since they spend so much time on the characters who don't make it.

At work chatters

Once you get that Internet addiction, it can be hard to break the habit. SFGate has a Q&A column for business questions and today's item is about a co-worker who chats online all day long and doesn't get her work done. The recommendation is to enforce the policy that the computer belongs to the company, not the worker, and the use of the computer can be monitored. Also suggested is to install keylogger software. I bet there is a way to block chatting also, but wouldn't telling the employee that their chat sessions will be recorded be a step towards ending that?

Beckham getting a raw deal in Spain

Sounds like Beckham is not going to be playing in Spain again. When your boss calls you a Hollywood actor and says you didn't have any other offers, you probably aren't playing much before you leave the team. If he really didn't have any other offers and he can't play much, why are the LA Galaxy making him the highest paid team athlete ever? Somebody's story doesn't add up.

T-shirt at Saints game

In a brief crowd shot during yesterday's Saints-Eagles game, there was a Saints fan with an interesting t-shirt. The shirt exposed her stomach, which is probably why she was on camera, but the camera operator didn't pay much attention to the message on her shirt. It said "Fuck Da Eagles". I'm guessing that's not allowed on television and someone may be paying a fine, but I could be wrong. A few other people caught it too -- here, here, here, and here.

Beckham advertising starting already

There is a banner ad in the LA Times sports section featuring David Beckham in today's paper. That didn't take long. He may not be on the team for another 5 months, although since the Real Madrid coach says he won't be playing for them again, who knows? Maybe Beckham will show up early and play with the team the whole season.

Disappointing end to Chargers' season

The Chargers should have won today. They blew it in the fourth quarter by wasting two timeouts and getting two stupid 15 yard penalties. One timeout was wasted when they challenged a call where there was no reason to challenge. The guy clearly fumbled, so wasting one of your 3 timeouts was not wise. The second timeout was wasted when they called it following a long stop in play after an injury. They had plenty of time to call a play and be ready to go, but for some reason, they called timeout. This really cost them at the end, because with two more timeouts, they could have run at least two more plays and thrown the ball over the middle and gained more yardage. The result would have been a much closer field goal attempt. 54 yards was too far away.

The two penalties were ridiculous. One bailed out the Patriots after they had failed on 3rd and long and the other gave the Patriots good field position after the Chargers had to kick off from the 15.

They beat themselves and gave Tom Brady a chance to come back, which he did. Disappointing.

Sign Spinners

I see people standing on corners spinning signs just about any time I drive around Temecula on a weekend when it's not dark. They are usually promoting a real estate development and sometimes they get pretty excited and put on a show. It looks like a boring job, although if you have an iPod and enough to eat, I guess it could be bearable. This morning I saw something I never imagined I'd see -- a woman with one of those signs with the name of a church on it. Now, I don't think it was for any purpose other than locating the church because I don't think too many people out driving around are going to spontaneously decide to go to church. I guess they might consider it for the future if it's in their neighborhood, so maybe that was what she was doing. She didn't have an iPod although she was wearing sunglasses.