Well, dear readers, what is this brave new world, this world of computer hackers and cybercrime? Crime has been with us since the beginning and always will be. But in a way, this brave new world of cybercrime makes you long for the old days when gangsters were gangsters, not faceless, anonymous networks of cyber criminals who, every day, make millions’ of people’s lives misery. And mostly they get away with it. Mostly law enforcement agencies can’t be bothered or even smirk when you call to report cybercrime. Thankfully, there are elite cybercrime units around the world and they are doing whatever they can to try and abate this brave new world cottage industry. There is only one thing one can wish upon these pathetic, preying groups – death in the most painful and prolonged way. That is the karmic retribution these horrid people deserve but probably won’t get. Yes, you’ve probably figured it out by now – yesterday morning I awoke to find that for the second time in just over a year I had a credit card compromised. There’s no blame to be assigned and there’s no possible way of knowing when, where or how it happened, as satisfying as that would be. This is a vast network and these jerks operate from various countries all over the world, from the United States to Russia to Brazil to wherever. They hack credit cards, sell them to people, who then try to buy as much as they can as quickly as they can. Fortunately for me, the only credit card I really use is easy for me to track because I receive an e-mail for each and every purchase made with that card, whether online or in a store or restaurant or wherever. So, when I awoke yesterday at around nine-fifteen, I saw an e-mail from the credit card folks. I always look at the charges immediately, which I began doing last year when the same thing happened. I saw two charges I’d made the previous day and then saw a $900 charge for an Ikea purchase in Great Britain, as well as a $1.17 charge from Louisiana. I’m sure the latter was just a test to see if it worked. I immediately called the card people, they immediately shut down the card, restored the $900 to my account and that was that, so Louisiana was, I’m afraid, out of luck. I already had a hatred for Lafayette, Louisiana (where the charge was from), and this just doubled it. The card people told me that the Ikea charge was a pending charge (they take the money from the account at the pending stage) but they told me it would never have gone through because the billing address was wrong. So, I now have to wait ten days for a new card – when it arrives, it was suggested that I get a secondary card, which will have a completely separate number, and that way should it happen again, I can immediately activate the secondary card and not have to wait the ten days. I’ll definitely do that.
So, that is how my day began and I was furious about it, but we’re all powerless to do anything about it and all the railing and howling about how sickening and unfair it is is pointless. I know it’s recently happened to a few dear readers so the problem is becoming truly epic in proportion. I had to go to the bank and get some cash for the next week because I refuse to use the bank debit card – that is just too risky at this point. Therefore, I will probably not be making a planned trip to New York in a couple of weeks, unless I can use Paypal to pay for the ticket. I then let the annoyance go and moseyed on over to Musso and Frank for an early lunch with a friend. A couple of years ago I was dismayed to find that Musso’s had changed – after eighty years, they were offering trendy-type specials, they changed the butter they were using and worst of all they took two of my favorite things off the menu – the cracked crab and the pounded steak with country gravy. I have been going to Musso and Frank since around 1974 and the one thing I loved always was its predictability. I could always order my favorites, they were always the same and excellent and it was just one of my favorite hangouts. Since the change, I’ve gone less, but every time I’ve gone the food has been dependable. Until yesterday. I had my beloved Seafood Louie with thousand island dressing and a little cocktail sauce. It’s a $32 salad that during the last two years has so dwindled in size it’s barely more than a few bites – five shrimps, a tiny bit of lobster and a medium bit of crab.
But nothing tasted that good, and I have to say, the thousand island dressing, which is ALWAYS great, was terrible yesterday and the cocktail sauce, which is ALWAYS great, was horrendous, so bad that I almost spit out the shrimp I’d dipped in it. So, I didn’t use the cocktail sauce at all and I didn’t eat nearly the amount of thousand island dressing that I do. A huge disappointment and perhaps it’s just the lunch chef. I’ll give it one more try in the evening and hopefully it will be back to normal, although I will never forgive the removal of the pounded steak. But the lunch was fun, dirt was dished, and when we were done I got up, looked at the booth next to us and there was our very own Mr. Grant Geissman. Go know.
I then came back to the San Fernando Valley and picked up one package. The irony of what was in the package was amusing – a book I’d ordered from amazon called Dark Market by Misha Glenny, which had been highly recommended to me by composer John Scott. The irony? It’s a non-fiction book about cybercrime and “carders” and the internecine networks of cyber criminals and the forces at work who are trying to stop them. Later in the evening I read the first forty pages and it reads like a terrific fiction thriller – the fact that it’s true is sickening. I’m looking forward to reading the rest.
I came home, answered e-mails, had one really long telephonic conversation about something that’s really been bugging me and it was a good conversation and hopefully something good will come out of it. We got most of the CDs shipped and the rest will go out early this morning, so that’s 1500 CDs out the door. I saw and commented on the ongoing Sandy Bainum packaging, which is looking really good. I listened to some music I needed to listen to, did a three-mile jog, wen to Gelson’s for a little fruit and a tiny bit of crab salad from the salad bar, and that was that. I ate it all up, then read those forty pages of Dark Market, which took up the rest of the evening.
Today, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and also early and bright and I will do a jog then go do errands and whatnot, after which I think I’ll be having a meal with the Staitman clan to discuss a few things. The evening, I’m hoping, will remain free and clear and I’ll probably read.
Tomorrow, I’m going to see some talent showcase that’s taking place at the Pasadena Playhouse. Tom Griep’s daughter is in the show and I promised I’d be there to support her – we’ve used her once in a Kritzerland show and she’ll be in the first episode of the season three Outside the Box, which it looks like we may actually start shooting in a few weeks. After the talent show, which I’m told will last a little over an hour, then I have a dinner meeting. Next week I have several meals to do, and three days of working with Sandy on two shows, one the Gershwin show she did at the Signature and is about to do at the Metropolitan Room in New York, and then the CD launch show, which will basically be the songs from the CD save for one or two, and then some other stuff we’ll appropriate from the first act we did. So, a very busy week, plus we still have one person to cast for the Kritzerland show as well as find a guest star, although with Sally Mayes I feel we really don’t need one. Once we finalize the cast member then I can finish choosing and assigning the songs, but we’re still a full four weeks away so we haven’t really lost any time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, eat with the Staitman clan, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Cybercrime – have you been a victim, were you able to report the crime and have anyone give a flying Wallenda, and what do you think about the ease with which these ASSES seem to be able to compromise our personal information. While the Internet has been of great benefit in certain ways, this kind of identity theft and compromising of financial things rarely happened pre-Internet – and this brave new world needs to have safeguards that will stop these peckerwoods from doing their dirty business to people. I haz spoken.