It’s happened again. Another one of my financial cards has been compromised. This time, it was my debit card. The one that’s linked to my actual checking account. It looks like the bank caught it in time. It’s doubtful that I’ll actually get stuck with any of the charges, and even if I do, the amounts aren’t all that high. Still, it’s frustrating.
Over the last few years, this has happened to me five or six times with different accounts. Usually, it’s been credit cards. This is the first time it’s happened with the debit card.
I have no idea how it is that my card numbers keep getting stolen. It’s especially curious with the debit card as I really only use it these days for ATM transactions.
I had an opportunity to capture this video while I was out for a walk yesterday:
We had fun when we took the train to Monterey. I hope we get to take another train trip sometime in 2011. I do miss being in an area with commuter trains like the ones in the Chicago. Trains in this part of California are for long trips only. No commuter trains here.
My friend Stephanie is on a train right now, on her way to Bakersfield. I hope she’s having an OK time. I said I’d walk down to the level crossing (the one seen in the video above) and wave at her train as she passes through San Luis Obispo. I’m not sure when her train comes through. I do know it’ll be going the opposite direction of the train in the video.
My friends Erk and Squeak are train drivers in Australia. I think that’s pretty cool. Also, my friends Woosang and Drue control the trains in Australia and tell them where to go. That’s cool, too.
This concludes today’s bit of train-inspired randomness. I need to get some sleep.
It’s the end of the year. As such, many of the music blogs I read have been posting their end-of-year lists. I find a lot of stuff on these lists that I’ve never heard. I’ve been giving some thought as to why that is. I have a few ideas.
1.) Since leaving the orbit of a major metropolis and moving to relatively-small San Luis Obispo, I’ve lost certain connections with mainstream media. I used to listen to WXRT a lot, and while the station’s legend grows ever-more blighted in these modern times, it was (and probably still is) one of Chicago’s best sources for new music. I don’t actively listen to the radio much these days, and even if I did, the closest approximation to ‘XRT in my area would be the local college radio station. Most of the time, my stereo receiver can’t even pick up the college station’s low-power signal, and because it’s a college radio station it’s very… college radio-y. It’s not really the same thing as WXRT.
Me and Jen put together this special Christmas medley song and video in honor of this fine holiday season. Download the mp3 and share it with the loved ones.
Being sick over the last few days has put me on a rather strange schedule. I found myself on the couch yesterday morning watching kids shows. In today’s podcast, I talked about those shows.
I couldn’t find any online videos for the first show. Here’s some kind of promo video for the second show:
Today’s podcast is dedicated to Wesley. Earlier today, I learned that he recently passed away. I am shocked and saddened by this news.
Wesley won an award at SXSW for this short film:
See his other videos here and here. Also, here‘s Wesley’s photo blog and here‘s the Facebook group I mentioned in the podcast. Finally, here‘s the song “Hey, Wesley.”
Some more video footage from 2007. This time, I have some wild chickens that we found in the old village of Arroyo Grande, CA. The chickens live in the park near the creek, downtown. They wander the grounds all day long, doing the things that chickens do. (Some pigeons make special-guest appearances towards the end.)
I’m taking part in this year’s NaPodPoMo. The podcasts I’m creating/involved in will be scattered across a few different sites. There’s a running list of all of my NaPodPoMo ‘casts here if you care to follow along.
For today’s entry, I’m posting a video that was originally recorded on July 7th, 2007. Jen and I attended a wedding ceremony that was held on a boat on the Mississippi River, near Minneapolis/St. Paul. I captured some footage of boats on the river as they passed by. This was recorded with my old Canon camcorder, and I think there was some moisture on the lens. So, the quality’s not the best. Anyway, I’m gonna try and clear out my backlog of videos during NaPodPoMo, so there should be some more as the month continues.
Despite the non-events of earlier this week, we finally got some rain here on the central coast. Yesterday afternoon, I headed downtown to have some lunch and enjoy the cool, rainy air. Here’s a few pictures.
