Highlighting certain parts of a piece of paper...: Don't make a fool out of me. I want my money, man.

In this life,

one thing counts.

In the bank,

large amounts

...So, upon getting access to my bank account, and finally getting in to make my deposit, I noted that I had a few $12 charges I was unsure of, and was advised to cancel my card and call the bank corporate office to dispute the charges...

I ignored that and went home, researching the company listed on the transactions, and found this, which points out that a lot of people purchasing plane tickets online got scammed and automatically signed up for what is advertised as a shopper discount program that saves you money or gives you rewards on purchases, but in reality just charges you monthly fees of generally $9-12.

I called the number, cancelled the subscription, and stayed on the line to talk to a rep, to request the previous charges be dropped, which was completely smooth and without question, and the dude actually informed me that I was signed up for 2 different subscriptions, only one of which I had just cancelled through their automated phone system seconds before. He cancelled the second, and informed me that I would be credited four $12 charges within three business days.

Being busy with work through the holidays and because my account was locked, I never noticed the charges from last month, which occurred around the time I purchased movie tickets online. Looks like this is an internet fraud that has no trace entering your local computer to be blocked by protection software, nor is it disguised as a web page that could be blocked by anti-phishing tactics. It's fucking brilliant, and it's not new.

Here's how it works, but I've got to interrupt and put this link in, which is both hilarious and awesome:

Software developers created an online shopping cart service with several aliases, and marketed it to companies that obviously sell services online. It's totally legit and professional software that works exactly as intended. The companies targeted just have to agree to include the advertised offer to sign up for the rewards program on every transaction, but the catch is, apparently customers don't have to agree to sign up. The ads can get contact and charge info from the shopping cart forms, which the consumer never assumes is even released from the same company as the ads. The biggest problem is, the monthly fee they charge for the "subscription" is never advertised. This means people will potentially consciously sign up, but on the flip side, it also means they can't legally charge you, which is probably why it was so apparently easy to get my money refunded.

Bang!

Also, I finally got Windows 7 to run, but had to use Virtual PC, and it's pretty slow and unexciting.

Here's a digg comment that I am proud of.* (Show Carrie):

*Please note that I was struggling to decide what to post in the seconds before I typed it. I've been wanting to use this response for a couple years, but I also had in mind a response to the same quote, "I'll try anything once," from Dead Poet's Society: "Except sex."

It's been a long post again. Here's another break with a similar video.

Here's the tree and my face: