What They Didn't Print - Phone Scam

I have no idea what happened. I thought I submitted this to the newspaper but I might have been mistaken or used the wrong email address for the new editor.  Perhaps they deemed it irrelevant even though I thought it might help others in our community.

Life has been chaotic lately to say the least. Gradually, things are getting back to semi normal. Anyhow, here's what I wrote that wasn't published.

A Warning to All

It happened during a lunch hour. I received a terrifying call on my landline. My body stiffened as I listened to a frightened and quivering voice. “I’m so sorry mom. I had an accident. I’m sorry”.

The next thing I heard was, “Hello ma’am, this is officer Patrick Albright badge #3147.  We have your son here at the police station. He’s been involved in a collision. He was texting and blew a red light, colliding with a rental vehicle containing some tourists.”

I was shaking as I inquired as to whether anyone was hurt.  I was told that my son had some cuts and bruises but generally, all were ok. He had been contrite and was honest about what he had done and this would help his case. I was in shock and feeling nauseated.

Then, something unusual happened. The “officer” used a different name when referring to my son. He told me that new laws about texting and driving were serious, that they were working on getting the charges reduced, and that someone would call me back shortly.

The next call came. A man introduced himself as public defender Paul Davis. I noted that he described the accident differently, discouraged me from coming to the Oshawa station, and claimed that the tourists in the rental car had paid the $3900 in repair costs after receiving a quick estimate. They didn’t want to be delayed as they were on their way to the airport for an evening flight home. This was all sounding too strange to me. I asked to talk to my son and was told he already had his one phone call. One phone call for a traffic accident? Why would there even be a public defender? I kept the individual on the line and continued to take notes as I was now becoming increasingly angry. I texted my son from my cell.

“Where R U?”

 Fortunately, the response was almost instantaneous. “I’m at work. Why?”

Next, I was told that I would only have to send half the damages for the rental vehicle, $1889.68. These people were obviously better at scamming than they were at math. I stayed on the line long enough to be directed to a convenience store in a small town near here. I was to send a money gram in the aforementioned amount to reimburse the tourists. I would receive my money back from the insurance company in a few days.

I had heard of these money scams where people pose as relatives, phone, and ask for cash to be forwarded. How could anyone actually fall for such a thing, I often wondered. Well, I don’t mind saying that when it happens, you’re caught off guard. The con artists work on your emotions, your fears, your pride, and your eagerness to rescue the relative who is in trouble. They are terrible, evil people who not only attempt to defraud but also cause emotional and potential physical harm to their victims.

Based on my experience, and hindsight, I would suggest that should such a call occur, immediately ask for the relative’s full name, birthdate, vehicle that they were driving or any other personal information that could help determine the validity of the call. Ask for a phone number and offer to call back. Above all, don’t give any information about yourself.

I am sharing this story as a warning to others. The predators are currently telephoning in our area. They are even going so far as to suggest a local money gram location to forward funds and make our relative’s problem go away. My wish is that we could make the problem of these telephone scammers go away. 

What If?

I know I haven't posted for a long time. Things have happened...deaths, broken computer, cancelled vacation. More on all that another time.

Today, is Mother's Day. I am now officially an orphan since my second mom, my stepmom, passed away this week. She went on her own terms, was organized, and was ready.

Being enveloped in final plans and thoughts of death, got me thinking. I wondered, "What if"?  I tried to come up with some "what ifs" that could be associated with final days before I realized, I was focusing on the negative. Let me elaborate.

Here are some thoughts I had...

     What if the last book I ever read was the a bad one?
     What if the last words I ever said, were harsh or angry words?
     What if the last thoughts I had, were mean or hurtful thoughts?
     What if the last song I heard was one I didn't like?
     What if the last trip I took was to a place I didn't necessarily want to go?
     What if the last thing I saw was something frightening or ugly?
     What if the last smell I smelled was noxious?
     What if the last face I saw, was the face of an enemy?
     What if the last dance I danced, was my last dance?

Of course, the list could go on and on. It's really unfortunate that as we age, we begin to have more frequent negative thoughts. I was imagining how I could have the same ideas, but put them into a happier, more positive light.

Here are my revised thoughts...same what ifs, but stated somewhat differently.

      What if the last book I ever read was the current one?
      What if the last words I ever said were kind and loving?
      What if the last thoughts I had were considerate and caring thoughts?
      What if the last song I heard was one of the many wonderful pieces of music out there?
      What if I made the most of the last trip I ever took, whether I wanted to go there or not?
      What if the last thing I saw was nature, flowers, birds, streams and butterflies?
      What if the last thing I smelled was the ocean, flowers, or black currant vanilla bubble bath?
      What if the last face I saw, was a friendly face?
      What if the last dance I danced was my last dance?

How would you like to leave this world? Would you go with "what if" negativity or would you want to leave joyous and happy having established for yourself a list of "what if" positive possibilities?
       

Fairy Gardens R Us

On the weekend, my friend and I went to great class at a nursery, Van Belle's. They offered a course in fairy gardens. I hadn't heard of this new fad until a few months ago when I saw a gorgeous example at a relative's. She had found a lovely container and added a lot of tiny toys with help from her children. What fun. Since then, I've observed these quite often at garden centres.

Anyone can do it. In ye olden days we often turned our terrariums into similar scenes. On this particular Saturday, we were given the following items, along with a $25 gift card to shop for extras as part of the class.  There was a large group of participants...children and adults of all ages.

The instructor gave us a few hints about what fairies like to have as part of their garden....places to hide, glitter to light the path, and so on. The children were particularly enthralled. There were many materials including stones, wood, curly willow branches, moss, crushed brick and sparkly glitter available for our use in order to enhance our gardens.

Being a huge fan of gnomes and not so much of Tinkerbell-like creatures, I decided to create a differnt kind of garden. Similarly, my friend found some hedgehogs and toadstools for hers. Neither of us enjoyed the flower that we were given and sought out a different variety of plant. There were no small grasses so I ended up with a coffee plant. I used my gift card to purchase a house. After all, gnomes need a place to live don't they?

Almost done. The only things missing were the gnomes. As they say in the land of floral arrangements, "group things in odd numbers". I acquired three gnomes and two toadstools and placed them strategically in my garden. The third gnome is out back with the woodpile.

My friend was very creative with her hedgehog garden. I just loved how it looked too.

 We aren't quite ambitious or interested enough to tackle anything massive like the gorgeous fountain fairy garden display at the nursery, but we were proud of our efforts nonetheless.

 Here we are...all done and dehydrated after an hour and a half of creativity inside a greenhouse.

 It's so great to have a friend who is a willing participant in these sorts of adventures. That's truly the best part.

Warning! Scam Alert.

On 9/10/11, I wrote about "Frauds and Scams", specifically a phone call I received where someone wanted to hack into my computer by claiming to be from Microsoft. I wasn't fooled.

Yesterday, I received another much scarier call. These people need to be prosecuted. My heart rate must have skyrocketed and I'm certain that there are many folks who could become quite ill from such an experience. It's not even about the money. It's about the shock and the stress.

I'm not going to write details of what happened although as is my nature, I took copious, detailed notes. The reason is that hubby suggested sending it to the paper and I think that's a good idea. It might help others who could be sucked into this scam. Although I did not follow through with any of the instructions, or lose any money, the first part of the call was extremely convincing. Then it began to unravel.

I posted this on facebook. It's what I'll share for now. Later on, I'll add my newspaper submission as a blog. It will contain all the details.


 It happened today. I got THE phone call. Interestingly enough, they somehow had my phone number and a voice like my son's. "Mom, I'm sorry, I had an accident". Then, "This is officer Patrick Albright (unusual accent for a Patrick, but oh well). We have your son here at the police station...etc.etc." It was frightening. It was convincing. It was scary. My heart is still racing. They work on your emotions, your fear, your eagerness to help your child, and more. Then, the public defender calls you back and he asks you to go to Mr. Convenience in Baltimore and send a money gram to Peru to make it all go away. Really?  


Of course I reported this to the police department where these people claimed to be holding my son. They were very understanding, took down all the info, gave me an incident number and told me to
contact local authorities. The officer also suggested getting unknown numbers blocked by the phone company for a nominal fee. Apparently, the caller can be put through if they are willing to unblock their call. Interesting and a great idea. I also called the local police as was suggested because some
other people in this town might be easy targets. Since I hadn't lost any money, they were unconcerned and said I should phone the anti fraud squad (or whatever they're called). I did. The agents were busy...not higher than usual call volume, just busy. "Call back later" I was told.

So, here are some suggestions based on this experience. Immediately ask the "officer" for your family member's full name, address, birthday, vehicle type, or any other info they should know based on what they have told you. Ask for their phone number so that you might immediately call them back. Both of those should give you enough info. Be forewarned, they are smooth and they move fast. They can bluff their way out of questions and give convoluted answers.

So, the original Microsoft computer scam people called several more times over the years.  My daughter seemed concerned for my well being one day when she heard me yelling into the phone before I slammed down the receiver, "You're a liar and a thief. Your mother must be so proud ."

I just have to say, there's no telling what I'll do if  the latest evil scammers ever call back.

Hands Off!!

Remember this episode of Seinfeld where Jerry sees Poppie, the pizza maker leave the stall and return to the kitchen without washing his hands? With age, I have become much more 'empfindlich' as mom would have said.  Thus, I'm now the queen of hand sanitizer.

I once heard that a very low percentage of people actually wash their hands in public restrooms, especially if they perceive that nobody is watching. To that I say, "Ewwwww".

I used to insist that my small charges scrub up after using the bathroom. That was no mean feat considering it required watching them trek from a coat room where the toilet was, to a sink at the opposite end of the classroom. Although I probably didn't catch them all, I saw most as they exited the facility. My eye corners came in very handy back in those days. Even when I was in the midst of reading a story, a child would return from doing his/her business, eager to sit down. They'd see my raised brow and would follow my pointed finger to the sink as I continued reading aloud the adventures of almost any talking animal or dancing vegetable. I would then jokingly announce to other adults in the room, "You never know. They might be cooking our burgers at the retirement home one day."

Thinking back a number of years, I recall hearing stories of tycoon Howard Hughes and his germaphobia. He actually lay around naked in hotel room beds with kleenex boxes on his feet to keep them from touching anything. Clearly it was fortunate for him that in his day, there were no hotel room grunge exposés as there have been in more recent times. Although Hughes was actually diagnosed with a mental illness, I am beginning to understand how someone can become obsessed with germs.

The Centre for Disease Control gives some interesting facts. Not only do they state that a large percentage of foodborne diseases are spread by contaminated hands, they further state that pinworms, ear infections, trachoma, respiratory infections, and many other illnesses can be traced to improper hygiene. In fact, two million children a year are said to die from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, caused by infections which could be prevented.

Faucets, doorknobs, phones, remote controls, tables, shopping carts, almost all surfaces contain some degree of e-coli bacteria. Hence, the need to wash hands after touching almost anything. I did a bit more research and also discovered that many who wash their hands don't do it properly, long enough, or with sufficient soap. Water alone is not enough. It's even suggested you touch sink handles and door knobs with a paper towel when out in public. Good idea. I usually do that already. Then I go find the public sanitizer container or use my own purse sized dispenser to further kill of bacteria from aforementioned places. Thankfully, the public sanitizers are becoming more commonplace.

So, as I always said to the small children, "Sing Happy Birthday to yourself while you wash your hands." You are finished when the song is done. I on the other hand prefer to hum any Bon Jovi tune.

We Get Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart

I went to university in an Amish area. In fact, my children's grandma Rose came from a family who was shunned for having a rose painted on their horse and buggy...not on the horse, but on the buggy. Perhaps their fondness for roses explains her moniker.

The community members had a slight accent which actually baffled me since many of their generations had been born in Canada. I always enjoyed the story about an uncle who went to a shop and said "Can I please haff a pound of budder?"

To his bewilderment, the sales clerk proceeded to give him half a pound of butter.

While at school, I picked up a few oft used expressions. Although the wording seemed somehow twisted, the sayings always made sense. For example, when sitting down to dinner, who wouldn't understand "eat yourself full"?

For financial matters, they might have resisted the temptation to spend money impulsively or frivolously with a line heard early in life. "I went to town and bought myself poor."

Rushing to get a task done, or preparing too quickly for an event often can often cause problems which create the opposite effect. The Amish have an expression for that too. "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."

One of my favourites, which is of more relevance to me now is "vee get too soon oldt und too late schmardt"...easily translatable. This rings more true with each passing day. It's particularly the case when it comes to health but certainly works for money, jobs, relationships, and life in general. I think the Amish have many things sorted out.

Why does it have to take us until it's too late to figure out a healthy lifestyle? Who amongst us hasn't been told to drink plenty of water each day? Are we ever told why? How about don't look at the sun, at an eclipse or any other bright phenomenon?  Or, don't drink alcohol when using certain medicine and don't take too many aspirin, tylenol, or cold remedies and definitely don't combine them with alcohol. Again I ask. "Why?" We were never told.

Moms were always best at trying to give us reasons. An example is the ever popular "don't look at the sun, you'll go blind". In fact, as young boys will attest, the "you'll go blind" line was used for purposes other than staring at eclipses. Nonsense and we knew it.

Mom told me not to sit on the ground, on cement walls and the like. "You'll get hemorrhoids",  she announced for all to hear. I was five. It sounded ominous but nonetheless, as we all now know, abdominal pressure of varying kinds causes these problems. It has nothing to do with cold concrete.

How difficult would it have been for someone, (preferrably a doctor in our early adulthood) to tell us,  "Drink plenty of water. It flushes the salts out of your system and keeps your blood pressure down."  or  "Wear sunglasses and don't look directly into the sun or you'll develop cataracts at an earlier age." or  "All medicines are processed through your kidneys or your liver and adding alcohol to the mix can harm those nearly irreplaceable organs." Why aren't we given these simple explanations?

Yes, it's true. We get too soon old and too late smart about so many things in our lives. We remember all our failures and imagine how we could have done things differently. We think about much and often daydream about what it would be like to have a "do over". Those "what ifs" seem to fly around our heads as we have more and more time to obsess about them in our senior years. All we can do is begin from here and do the best we can with the time that's left. It's not too late to be smart even if we are older.

Now,  I believe I will outen the lights und have a nap.

My Three Knives

I was at the Home Show recently and passed a knife display. Salesmen were extolling the virtues of their lovely wooden handled sets. Then I heard one of them make a faux pas. At least, I would think it was a foolish thing to say considering they were trying to sell their inventory of knives.

He said, "All you really need are three, just three knives."

I'd heard that before. In fact, there are sites that tell you which are the only three knives you need. Some claim that expert chefs use only a paring knife, a chef's knife and a serrated bread knife. On other sites, three different knives are offered up. I suppose it's personal preference. I have two which I deem essential and use consistently and one other which I use from time to time.

"Where's my little knife?" I bellowed about a week ago. "I need it and it's been missing for days. I can't function without my little knife."

I thought that "little knife" was enough information for anyone who had ever seen me working in the kitchen. My essential paring knife had come home with me from Europe many, many years ago. It was Henckel or Zwilling brand or some combination of those names. Now, it was gone...possibly tossed out inadvertently with a pile of recent peelings.

I searched and I searched. Several other knives were offered to me but of course, they were not my knife. How could someone think I could just use any old knife? I tried to peel and cut using one of the dozens of other utensils in our kitchen drawer. It just didn't work as magically as my little knife. My perfect parer fit my hand as if it had been made for my palm and I loved it.

Finally, after an adequate amount of whining and mourning, I made a decision. I would go out in search of a replacement. It wasn't going to be easy. My knife was special.

I went downtown to the local kitchen shop and stood before the vast locked display case of Henckel knives. I saw none for less than $89.95 with prices ascending into the hundreds of dollars. Disturbing. I proceeded to tell the sales clerk about my knife. How is it possible to describe something so near and dear...such a part of the family?

I was immediately told they had no such knife. I needed to be certain. I began with essential details. I described the front as slightly lunar shaped and the handle as small, black and comfortable. I demonstrated how well it fit into my hand using an imaginary knife. Then I moved my fingers to simulate the metallic curve at the front of it. Suddenly, as I looked hopefully at the clerk, I could see that a lightbulb had gone on. Either that or she thought I was totally crazy. As she turned her back and walked away from the vault of knives my heart sank. Then, all of a sudden, she reached behind the counter and returned carrying this model, identical to my parer!  

"That's it!" I announced joyously, tears forming in my eyes. (Ok, ok...so I'm being overly dramatic).

"Actually", she said. "This one's made in China."

 I didn't care. It was close enough. I was overjoyed. Then, I asked the price.

"$6.99", she announced. 

That certainly explained why it wasn't in the padlocked area of knife storage.

"Seriously? I'll take two." I said since I wanted to be sure I was prepared should another mishap ever occur.

My parer has been replaced. My chef's knife which I use for chopping and dicing veggies is safely stashed away. Instead of a bread knife, I use a slightly smaller slicer which could double for carving meat if necessary. Those are all I need. They're my three knives. They are the ones I use almost exclusively.  If I had a choice of only one, however, the decision would be simple. You now know which one I would select.

Incidentally...Get a Dictionary When Tragedy Strikes!

I have begun many a blog about the deterioration of the English language. Very few of them have actually been completed. They are instead sitting in my drafts folder. I suppose I've given up, admitting defeat. Every now and again, however, I just get so agitated that I begin yet another blog. This was the case during the past few weeks. Perhaps this time, I'll actually finish.

There was a news report on or about mid February. It described the brutal murder of three students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They were honour students in their early twenties, a married couple and the wife's sister. They frequently did volunteer work in the community. They also happened to be of Muslim descent. The neighbour, a forty-six year old car parts salesman shot them in the head. Why? Unknown to this point. Some say, a dispute. Others claim it was racially motivated. Either way, it was horrific. When I saw this on the news, there was an interview with the wife of the murderer. "It was an unfortunate incident," she said.

I later saw a New York Times quote about this despicable act.

In the afternoon, Ripley Rand, the United States attorney for the region, said the shooting appeared to have been “an isolated incident” and “not part of a targeted campaign against Muslims.”

Whereas "isolated incident" is in this instance not incorrect, in my opinion, it could have been better stated as an "isolated occurrence" or an "isolated event."

Recently, there have been other news reports describing riots, deaths, kidnappings, and killings. The newscasters have referred to these occurrences as "incidents". I cringed.

Does anyone even know the meaning of the word "incident" anymore?  Is everyone so lacking in vocabulary nowadays that they can't think of proper terminology when something occurs, or are we all so desensitized to the news that everything has become an incident? 

A facebook friend agreed. She said:

"I don't think it's meant to trivialize occurrences. I think it reflects an ever shrinking pool of words to which people are exposing themselves. Language evolves with each generation. We know and understand that. However, it still doesn't make it alright for paid wordsmiths to misuse the millions of words at their disposal. Get a thesaurus for goodness sake. Few of our parents were university educated but they had a far better grasp of eloquence and precision in language than one witnesses via media sources today."

So here's my gripe. I was always taught that an incident is a minor occurrence or an embarrassing event. Using it differently is akin to finding a big word in the dictionary that you don't really understand, and using it willy-nilly. It's not that I haven't done that before, but then I don't profess to be a professional newscaster, journalist, or public figure.

How many of us remember President Ford falling down some steps? It was minor and it was embarrassing. It was an incident. President Clinton falling asleep during a Martin Luther King memorial speech was an incident. President Bush vomiting into his dinner in Tokyo was an incident.

The cold blooded killing of three students, the death of yet another Canadian soldier, and the kidnapping and murder of people by Isis are not, I repeat, NOT incidents! They are tragedies and as such, deserve to be called nothing less.

Who Cares? Let's Just Agree It's A Dress!

The latest thing trending on the internet, on facebook and the like is the discussion over this dress. Is it blue and black? Is it white and gold? It's the great dressgate debate for those with too much time on their hands.

 I personally, don't fit into either category. I see neither blue and black nor gold and white. To me, this looks rather like blue and a greenish/brownish sludge type color.

The way the story goes is that someone's mother wore this dress to her daughter's wedding. When photos were sent to friends, there was some disagreement as to the color of the dress. Although it was in actual fact, a blue and black dress, some saw it as gold and white in the pictures. Of course, had it been gold and white, this would have been a major faux pas on the part of the bride's mom so clearly, any thinking person would realize it had to be some other color. It's prettier in gold and white I think.

Apparently, there was some type of optical illusion involved in how people view the color of the dress. Scientists...yes, indeed scientists have weighed in on this earth shattering, world changing issue. The way people see color supposedly varies greatly.  A professor of color science and technology said that the lighting in the photo contributed to the confusion. Makes sense I suppose.

Some have said that how we see the color of the dress is influenced by our mood at the time. Interesting but is this the case for everything we look at?

In The Washington Post, it was suggested that "The answer has something to do with science. And eyes. And color and lights and color balances....Some things don't need to be explained." Good point.

So? What color do you see when you look at the first photo? Is it blue and black? Is it gold and white? Or, like me, do you see something entirely different?

I think we should quit obsessing over this and all just agree.... it's a dress. Not only that, it's a dress which has now become part of pop culture and therefore can probably be sold on ebay for more than the original $70 purchase price.

Thanks to Meanwhile in Canada for the following rather amusing image.

Vaccinations-The Correct Point of View

A number years ago, I saw a celebrity who shall remain nameless expounding the horrors of vaccinations. It made her son autistic, she claimed.

"Ridiculous", I said.

It was a foolish statement then, and it's proving itself to be even more costly now. One of many hot topics nowadays is whether to vaccinate or not. I'm not certain how there is even a question. I found a comment on the internet/facebook by a particularly intelligent parent who said -

" I am the parent of two autistic children. Yes, 100% of my children are on the autism spectrum. I do not think that vaccines cause autism. In fact, I know for certain they did not. Both of my children exhibited signs of autism well before they received vaccines. Further, my husband's grandmother has Aspergers Syndrome. She was born in the 1920s, well before childhood vaccines were available. So, if we believe that vaccines cause autism then how do we explain people with autism who never had these vaccines? We can't. And that's the point."

When I was a child, I received some shots, smallpox I believe. I know this because I bear the mark of something akin to a branding on my arms. Would I have wanted it any other way? No, of course not. I also have other scars...on my face, arms and regions I don't care to disclose. Why? Measles, chicken pox, rubella...childhood diseases which were the norm until the development of the MMR vaccine in the 60's and its eventual widespread use. Would I have wanted it any other way? Absolutely. If someone had offered the option, given me a choice, given my parents a choice, of course we would have taken the vaccination.

People  who "choose" not to vaccinate their children are posing a risk to their own children, as well as those with compromised immune systems. Why is something that was once compulsory, now considered a choice? Who is best qualified to make that choice...an uninformed parent who relies solely on the info given by a second rate actress? Perhaps they've been using Dr. Google as a dependable source. I have news. It isn't.

I could go on ad infinitum, but instead, I'll share this youtube video. Funny? Yes. Crude? Slightly. The message, however is clear. There is absolutely no logical reason and no need for the recurrence of childhood diseases which had been eradicated during the last few decades.