Not much to update

I really don't have much of an update on the identity theft/stolen wallet scam. I did go to the bank to straighten things out and the CVS that the one police detective went to, credited back the fraudulent charge on my account. That's one good thing. However, there was another charge! How can that be you ask? Well, if you don't know this already, take note. When you use your ATM/Debit/Check Card, it reserves $1 on your account. As the bank explains to me, it's done to see if the account is "good." It then takes 24-48 hours for the actual charge to debit your checking account. Of the phone calls I made Thursday and Friday, no one bothered to mention that there was a $1 hold on my account for another possible transaction. Fortunately, it was only $16.91 (still doesn't make it right, but at least it didn't drain my account). I also found out that they tried to make a $300+ purchase at Autozone, but I had already froze that account so the transaction was DENIED!

I also found out yesterday, that one charge that I was told was pending on my account at GFS in Southfield (3 transactions there by the way, so take note that they don't bother to check ID and see that a man is using a women's credit card). Since I reported the card stolen, AMEX was able to deny that hold on my account. Poor GFS. I feel so bad that you got ripped off . . . not! Check ID people!

Another funny. I got a letter in the mail Monday (5 days after the fact) from one of my banks telling me that they tried to reach me by phone and there were some suspicious charges to my account. You think? I've only talked to you on the phone 5 times in 5 days and in person once and I'm the one that told you!

So, I'm just waiting for some form to dispute some charges for one bank, and then I think I've cleared up the whole shopping spree. The future is unknown. Although the police feel that this yahoo was just looking for a joy ride and isn't confrontational, who knows who gets my wallet next. I'll probably be paranoid for awhile.

On a positive note, I have to say of all the companies I've worked with over this mess, US Bank is the best. From the minute I realized that there were fraud charges, they were on it and never even let the charges hit my account. They were A+ by all accounts and I would recommend doing business with them.

The latest update

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from a detective from one of the police departments yesterday. He went to the CVS where one of the crimes occurred. He was able to give me a description -- the main thing being it was a MAN. Now tell me that a man using a woman's credit card isn't suspicious. Unbelievable! There are supposed to be procedures in place where a manager would come and over-ride the transaction (because of how much it is) and check ID. As luck would have it, the manager was busy, so nothing was checked.

I hope I get more scoop from the other cities and I hope the criminal is caught! I also hope that my credit card company gets their money back and makes CVS take the loss due to their own stupidity! I'm trying not to be bitter, but I am angry!

Where do I begin

Yesterday when I went to leave work I noticed something odd. My wallet was gone! At first I'm thinking, could I have left it in the cafeteria . . . no, I remember putting it back in my purse. I couldn't believe someone would just take it!

So, I call one of my credit card companies. While she's putting a hold on my account, she happens to verify my last transactions. Imagine my surprise when she says $500 at a Rite Aid . . . WHAT! There were three transactions at Rite Aid in Waterford -- each $400-500!

I had a credit card, 2 bank cards and a corporate card. They all got hit! When I added up the charges, it's over $4,300! They enjoyed shopping at Rite Aid, CVS, Gordon Food Service, and Farmer Jack. Nice!

My day was spent talking to the Franklin Police -- very nice by the way. Going to the Secretary of State, the bank, lots of phone calls. I also had to go to the Waterford Police, Bloomfield Hills Police and Southfield Police Departments. You have to file a report in each city/town where the crimes are committed. This ensures that if they are able to catch the @&#$% they can be prosecuted and not get off on a technicality such as jurisdiction. PITA! I hope they catch whoever did this and they ROTT!

I'm tired!

Pandora

So my work put the big stop to what is on our computers. We can't have pictures, screensavers or anything that is .exe programs. Now if anything needs to be upgraded or installed, it has to be done by a system administrator. I found myself looking for free internet radio that doesn't require software to be installed. I found a site called Pandora.
http://feeds.pandora.com/feeds/people/tawnydys/favorites.xml?max=50 Here's some of my favorites. You can design your own radio station with your favorite music, as well as rate their suggestions.

TGIF

I don't know about anyone else, but this felt like a long week! I have to work for a few hours tomorrow, so it's going to feel even longer!

Today at work we had the Detroit Historical Museum. They brought us lunch and told us about their museum. Very interesting. It's being renovated right now, but reopens September 29. I can't wait to go check it out. They have an actual replication of a Detroit city street - fascinating! They have a special event in October call "Taste of the D" It's a beer tasting for my beer lovin friends!

On a different subject, I stumbled across a cool website that can give you traffic updates by email or phone: Traffic.com. You can set it up for most big cities around the US. Now I get a phone call in the morning if there are any traffic delays on my "route." Today going home, I hit some traffic, so I called the number and it told me where the problem spot was and the anticipated delay. I'm lovin it!

Happy Birthday to my niece Natalie. I hope you had a great birthday!

Too Tired to Only Be Tuesday!

It's only Tuesday!? Too much going on! Tomorrow is picture day for Elijah and I can't wait to see how they turn out with his new haircut!

Not much else other than juggling work, school, parenthood, and extra-curriculars -- ahhhhhh life in the fast lane! Not quite the fast lane I would have predicted years ago, but ya gotta love it!

The First Week

Elijah did very well for his first week of school w/o a nap! He seems to be having fun and learning a lot!

On another note, I took him up to the mall today and we did some clothes shopping. He's hit a growth spurt, so this was the first time we went in a dressing room and actually tried on clothes!
After buying some outfits, I walked him over to Carnival Cuts. If you don't know, Elijah does not do well when it comes to haircuts. Well, I just marched him in and told him it needed to be cut. He got to sit on a horse and watch Buzz Lightyear while he got a haircut. The stylist also used the electric clippers on him. He looks so grown up. Pictures for school are next week, so they should be nice!

Congratulations Nikki & Steve

Congratulations to my cousin Nikki who got married yesterday. It was a beautiful day and a great celebration. It was good to see some people I have not seen in a long time, and to see others again on a happy occasion. I wish you both all the best!

Happy Birthday Laura!

Happy Birthday to my niece and Goddaughter Laura! I'm glad you had a great day and I hope to see you soon!

Elijah started kindergarten yesterday. So far so good! He said he likes it . . . we'll see how he feels at the end of the week!

Last full day in Orlando

Today is our last full day in Orlando. I'm not sure what we are going to do. The boy is still sleeping -- his schedule is way off!

Yesterday we went to Universal Studios again. We were on our second trip to help ET save his planet when a bad storm rolled in. They closed everything outdoors because it was lightening. We went to MIB, but it just would not let up. After 15 minutes of standing in the store waiting for it to let up, we decided to head back to the hotel.

On the way back to the front, we encountered several areas that had flooded. At one point I was standing in a puddle up past my ankles! As we were leaving, we were going to stop and try out the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co for some lunch, but boy was maxed out from all the disappointment of the weather. Back to the hotel we went.

Later, we met up with a friend from work that just transferred down here. Off to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co we went! The food was awesome and the service was great. They had trivia on the Forrest Gump movie, which I did very well since I love that movie. After, we walked around Citywalk and played some games.

Not sure what today holds, but I'm sure we will have fun! See you soon!

Happy Belated Birthday Pammy!

Yesterday was my cousin Pammy's birthday. I didn't get a chance to log in last night to post her a message so I'm doing it now! I hope you milestone birthday was great!

Ernesto

Well, we made it through Ernesto! There were what they call rain squals, but other than that it wasn't too bad until around 6 p.m. Then the downpour began and did not want to stop!

Last night we went to a Pirate Adventure dinner theatre. It was great, but of course we got caught in the downpour! Everyone but Elijah was pretty soggy. It was a great show and the food was good. Elijah was too shy to participate on stage, but he did participate from his seat!

Don't know what the day holds for today, but it is sunny again! We did make it to Islands of Adventure the other day and there is a new ride at Seuss Landing. It's a train ride in the sky. We rode it twice and it takes you around Seuss Landing and you can see other parks within the park. Once again it is HOT here! When we left on Tuesday at around 4 p.m. it was 99 degrees!

Another Smokin Day

We're down in Florida and it is HOT! Sunday wasn't bad, there was a couple of quick sprinkles and cooled things off a bit. Yesterday it was sunny and hot! At one point the car thermometer said it was 104 degrees.

So far we've been to Universal Studios and Disney MGM. Today sounds like it's Island of Adventure, but that can change.

Cross your fingers that we don't get evacuated for the hurricane!

Now that's a fire

I forgot to mention that earlier this week we had a fire in our front yard! Robbie was acting funny and naturally you assume he just wants to outside time. Well, when the door to outside was opened, it smelled like burning wood. After a good search of the house - basement and furnace included, we couldn't find anything. While I was upstairs looking out the windows for something, I hear "come quick!" Next thing I know there's a small blaze in our front yard and it is close to the bush . . . yikes! I extinguished it with a bucket of water (and another to be safe). Note to self -- keep mulch off of outdoor lighting!

The New Belt

Today was testing day at karate. Elijah did well and earned his white with yellow stripe belt! He was so proud! They gave him a certificate as well! He stayed focused and worked hard. I'm so proud of him!

I'm writing this from Orlando. We made it down after a brief flight delay -- 30 minutes at the gate and then another 15 in the plane. When we landed we had to wait another 10 because there was lightening and they could not let us off the plane for safety reasons. Then our bags were delayed as well. Overall I think it set us back 1 1/2 hours, but we're here! Hopefully tomorrow will be a smoother day!

Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday Janinne!

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Janinne! I hope your day was great and I'm glad you liked your cards!

The Green Stripe

Elijah earned his green stripe in Karate. Next Saturday he gets to test for a belt -- white with yellow stripe! It should be interesting. After that we get ready to leave for Florida.

Not much else is going on. Have a great weekend!

11 Days and Counting

I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but I stumbled across a sweet deal to go back to Florida. 11 days and counting! I had a week of time share left from 2003 and it was about to expire. The crazy thing was I could only confirm it 2 months in advance, so it's no surprise that I'm down to the wire and book it at the last minute. On a good note, I will be on break from school for 5 of the days, so I'm really excited about that.

On another note, I passed the pre-requisite for Finance. It was pass/fail, so my effort wasn't high, but it's nice to know I passed. We will see how the "real" class goes now! In less and 14 months I will be done! That is very exciting!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cincinnati

Yesterday I drove down to Cincinnati for a business/pleasure trip. It was to visit the Kingsgate Conference Center, and see the area. Since it was a Friday, I brought Elijah, along with Grandma & Grandpa H.

We started with a great lunch buffet. From there, we (others from my office and myself), split off from out guests and did a tour of the University of Cincinnati Rec Center and Student Union -- which BTW has a movie theatre and a bar in it -- I think I got ripped off in my undergraduate education! While we were on the tour, the fire alarm went off, so we got to see Cincinnati's finest come in and save the day (well, they would have it it wasn't a false alarm)! After that excitement, we headed off to a great place called Newport on the Levee. Great place to shop, eat and have a great time. It's on the Kentucky side, but has a great view of downtown Cincinnati.

On Saturday we wrapped up with business and were off to enjoy the rest of the weekend on our own. Thanks to the great team at Kingsgate, (and it looks like our friends at the SpringHill Suites as well), we received free tickets to the Beach Waterpark. What a great day! Elijah had a blast -- actually we all did!

We are about to go down and have dinner . . . enjoy the rest of your weekend!

My big boy

Elijah had his first sleepover last night. He stayed at Aunt Laurie's and hung out with Madison. This was his first night away from home without me. Needless to say I think he slept better than I did! He didn't come home until after 4 p.m. today! He said he had fun and I think Maddie had fun too!