I Got a Rock
Alas, there was a considerable paucity of Trick-or-Treaters in the neighborhood this year. Zero. We simply are not in a high-yield candy zone because the houses are too far apart, so the kids aren't likely to visit us. I am debating about whether this is the last year we bother to do anything more than decorate. This year, I did what I consider the bare minimum: flag, some light-up ghosts, and a trio of pumpkins on the porch. In years past, I have put out strings of pumpkin stake lights along the sidewalk, put ghosts in the trees, and put out little glowy gravestones. I'm still debating about getting some of those glow-in-the-dark angel memorials the local cemeteries use. Normally, I also do some decorating inside, but with the first floor still in disarray from our renovations, I didn't feel like adding to the chaos.
And on top of all that, I had no idea that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown had moved from CBS to ABC, so I in spite of having an antenna, I missed it. Meh. ealdthryth is taking our meager supply of Hallowe'en candy to her office today so we don't consume it.
Nuzzle Fu
Queen AElfgifu graced us with purry nuzzles this morning when we visited her on her improvised throne. She purrs and rubs her face into the palm of your hand if she is happy. Sweet girl!
Logistics Fu
We've been pondering the logistics of taking Ignatius with us when we visit the family. The parental units have offered to let Ignatius come with us, and he can stay in the garage, in our room, in the study, or in a large dog cage. I'm thinking we will have to endure high dhrama and feline hysterics for an extended drive, and then we have no idea how he will behave once he is there. I think the dog cage is a very bad idea considering what happened at the vet's. Closing him in a room probably isn't too smart either.
The paternal unit's less-than-brilliant idea is humans can go a day or two without their medication, so can the cat. That's one lump of coal for Christmas. The other option is one of us stays home with the cats, but I think that will make the upcoming holidays suck.
Reprieve
Today's traffic more than made up for the lightness of yesterday's. All three lanes clogged up near my office, and then the jerks in my lane behind me started cutting over to the merge lane and cutting ahead in line--making the traffic worse. The reason for the clog? A rather substantial wreck on the overpass followed by some sort of incident on the other exit ramp at the other side of the overpass. Yeesh.
Changes
Hmmmm. Now that the State has been hacked and all our personal information is in the hands of criminals, we've locked down our accounts as best we can. And then we got informed by the bank that they have proactively changed our account number. We thought it might be spear phishing at first, but all our normal tests came up negative, and ealdthryth called the customer service number and was able to verify the bank had indeed done what the email said in spite of the suspicious nature of the message.
And then we got angry. Not because the bank was diligent--we're cool with that. We got angry over the continuing reports from our Goobernor (yep, she now rates that moniker for this debacle) and the announcement that businesses will receive free "lifetime" monitoring, but the rest of us schmoes who are much more likely to be hurt through identity theft will only get one year of said monitoring free. Obviously, businesses are more important than individual people. I'm also P.O.'ed because as a computer professional who has to deal with security policies, the State's utter lack of regard for protecting personal data is close to, if not actually, criminally negligent. A class action suit would be in order except the taxpayers would have to pay higher taxes in order to pay themselves off in any settlement or judgement against the State.
On the other hand, a lot of folks around here don't seem to be worried. Most of them don't have enough money or credit worthiness to be at risk for much of anything. Was it really worth the effort of stealing personal information from a State full poor people?
Too bad we can't get new SSNs issued, unlike businesses which can get new tax IDs.
I am thoroughly displeased
And on top of all that, I had no idea that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown had moved from CBS to ABC, so I in spite of having an antenna, I missed it. Meh. ealdthryth is taking our meager supply of Hallowe'en candy to her office today so we don't consume it.
Nuzzle Fu
Queen AElfgifu graced us with purry nuzzles this morning when we visited her on her improvised throne. She purrs and rubs her face into the palm of your hand if she is happy. Sweet girl!
Logistics Fu
We've been pondering the logistics of taking Ignatius with us when we visit the family. The parental units have offered to let Ignatius come with us, and he can stay in the garage, in our room, in the study, or in a large dog cage. I'm thinking we will have to endure high dhrama and feline hysterics for an extended drive, and then we have no idea how he will behave once he is there. I think the dog cage is a very bad idea considering what happened at the vet's. Closing him in a room probably isn't too smart either.
The paternal unit's less-than-brilliant idea is humans can go a day or two without their medication, so can the cat. That's one lump of coal for Christmas. The other option is one of us stays home with the cats, but I think that will make the upcoming holidays suck.
Reprieve
Today's traffic more than made up for the lightness of yesterday's. All three lanes clogged up near my office, and then the jerks in my lane behind me started cutting over to the merge lane and cutting ahead in line--making the traffic worse. The reason for the clog? A rather substantial wreck on the overpass followed by some sort of incident on the other exit ramp at the other side of the overpass. Yeesh.
Changes
Hmmmm. Now that the State has been hacked and all our personal information is in the hands of criminals, we've locked down our accounts as best we can. And then we got informed by the bank that they have proactively changed our account number. We thought it might be spear phishing at first, but all our normal tests came up negative, and ealdthryth called the customer service number and was able to verify the bank had indeed done what the email said in spite of the suspicious nature of the message.
And then we got angry. Not because the bank was diligent--we're cool with that. We got angry over the continuing reports from our Goobernor (yep, she now rates that moniker for this debacle) and the announcement that businesses will receive free "lifetime" monitoring, but the rest of us schmoes who are much more likely to be hurt through identity theft will only get one year of said monitoring free. Obviously, businesses are more important than individual people. I'm also P.O.'ed because as a computer professional who has to deal with security policies, the State's utter lack of regard for protecting personal data is close to, if not actually, criminally negligent. A class action suit would be in order except the taxpayers would have to pay higher taxes in order to pay themselves off in any settlement or judgement against the State.
On the other hand, a lot of folks around here don't seem to be worried. Most of them don't have enough money or credit worthiness to be at risk for much of anything. Was it really worth the effort of stealing personal information from a State full poor people?
Too bad we can't get new SSNs issued, unlike businesses which can get new tax IDs.
I am thoroughly displeased