Joelle said during prime time on June 8, 2007
Have you ever been standing at a checkout and had your debit card declined when you know there is money in your account? If so, you’re familiar with the feeling that comes over you. It’s a delightful emotional cocktail of embarrassment, annoyance and worry.
After a mad sprint to a bank kiosk where my card was also declined, the annoyance evaporated only to be replaced by flat-out fear. I called customer service and got stuck in a never-ending voice-activated phone tree. Oh, how I abhor those things! I managed to stay relatively calm (miracle!) and finally got customer service on the line. I thought perhaps the strip had gone bad on my card — I’ve had it for 3 years or so, though I did just use it last night. They told me there was a critical hold on my account and that I had to talk to their fraud division. At this point, I still didn’t really understand what they were telling me. I desperately hoped this was just some random charge I made that set off alarms — not a huge deal, more of an annoyance.
Boy, was I wrong. After reviewing my account and confirming my passwords and such, they told me that my card number had been part of an identity theft download. They quickly confirmed that my charges were legitimate, so it seems as though they put the hold on my account just in the nick.There are two small charges I noticed when I got home for under two dollars each. They came from some online billing service and probably lead back to someone teaching themselves a lesson in their mom’s basement. I’m going to call the bank tomorrow and ask them to investigate those charges. Seriously, who pays for it anymore?
I can’t begin to tell you how I love my bank now. I’ve had mixed emotions about them in the past, but this time, they get a cookie. I can’t believe they managed to block it before my account was drained — assuming anyone had interest in my pittance. Note to self: it can happen to you. I honestly can’t imagine where this happened, but I’m really happy they caught it.
I have to wait 5 to 7 business days to get my new card, so I’m kind of stuck until then — I should go into the bank in the morning and get cash, I suppose. I still feel a bit weirded out. Saying I feel violated seems a bit dramatic, but… I kind of do. It could have been so much worse, but now I’m a bit paranoid. At least my card is cancelled. I think I’m going to stay in the rest of the weekend — it’s just been an off week. We’ve got editing to do, anyway.
It’s all okay now, but I could still use a drink. Sheesh! 
I was talking with my friend Ross the other day about the origin of the letter Z (because these are the sorts of things we talk about). We were discussing how in England (where he lives) they say “zed” and we say “zee” and hey, why is that? So, we went on a Google hunt to find the answers.
After doing a little digging, we discovered that apparently all English-speaking countries say “zed” but us, the Americans. In your experience, is this true? As far as primarily English-speaking countries go, the only place I’ve been is England. Everywhere else I’ve traveled, I was mostly concerned with ordering more cerveza and finding the closest baño. My etymological interests tend to taper off after a few Negro Modelos.
Here are the basics of the letter zee:
- Both the British and American versions are derived from the Greek zeta, which makes sense.
- The French apparently use ‘zed’, as well.
- The Germans use ‘zed’, too.
- The first uses of ‘zed’ in British English is in 14-something or other.
- The first use of ‘zee’ in American English is in 1677, in a text book.
This leads me to wonder if this is your typical American snafu. If the primary Anglo population here in that time period was from England and that is really from whence our language stems, if the majority of the English-speaking world uses ‘zed’, and we most likely did as well until 1677, is it possible that zee is merely a typo? Some overzealous typesetter just plopped in the wrong letter? Assuming typesetters of that era didn’t use a QWERTY format and set their type using letters lined up alphabetically, doesn’t it stand to reason that he (or she, but most likely he) grabbed an extra E instead of that D right next to it? Seems reasonable to me!
Of course, if things keep going the way they are, in 500 years we’ll have de-evolved to the point of watching shows like “Ow! My Balls!” and won’t be able to form a complete sentence anyway, let alone worry about the etymology of one letter.
Joelle said around dinner time on June 7, 2007
Well, that was fun — if you like feeling like you’ve just wasted all your off time for the last three weeks and revisiting your lunch.
Around 6:00pm PST, I was tinkering with my CSS to make one tiny area a bit cleaner. Somehow, faster than Paris Hilton gets out of jail, my thumb accidentally brushed the touchpad on my laptop and I wiped out my CSS entirely.
Yes. Yes, I did.
I never use my touchpad and I guess when I did a system restoration a couple months ago, I never went back to deactivate it, so without even thinking I hit “save” and sayonara, CSS! And guess who didn’t back up her stylesheet. Aw, go on! (This is the part where my lunch comes in, followed by a few thousand expletives that rhyme with “duck”, “truck” and “other shucker”.)
I am totally retentive about backing up my client’s templates and stylesheets — like a freak about it. I have no idea why I didn’t back up my own. After a few minutes of inconsolable ranting and raving, Kathy (oh-so-patiently) suggested I contact our illustrious host, Hosting Matters.
If ever I wanted to shout from the rooftops my praise for our host, it’s now. Mitchell of Hosting Matters, today you are my own personal hero! He restored my site and managed to keep everything, save one or two minor CSS edits. Hosting Matters tuned crisis into calm in just under 60 minutes. How’s that for service? Thank you, thank you!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go turn on everything that backs up anything in the history of ever.
Joelle said in the late morning on June 7, 2007
So, I was watching one of those endless, cut-rate celebrity-laden list shows on VH-1 and it occured to me: why do people even make videos anymore? Who sees them? Where do they play?
MTV sure doesn’t play them. Jenny McCarthy and dating show Singled Out paved the way for a deluge of crap. Don’t get me wrong, I have a strange fondness Jenny McCarthy and Singled Out — I’m not sure why. But now it’s nothing but intellectual gems like Pimp My Ride, My Super Sweet 16 and Who Wants to Be a Baby Prostitute? OK, that last one isn’t real, but for a second, I bet you thought it might be. See? They’re that bad.
Then there was MTV2. Oh, OK, this must be where they play the videos. What a crock! It’s all the same crap. In fact, if you visit their website, it’s almost purely advertising.
Alright, fine. VH-1 it is. I really used to love VH-1. I’m a whore for Behind the Music. I could watch a Behind the Music marathon for days if you let me. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Behind the Music marathon. They claim they still run it, but I’ll be damned if I ever see it actually on. Now it’s just more of the same ol’, same ol’ — list shows about shocking celebrity hairdos (which if they think Andre Agassi’s mullet was shocking in 1991, they really should have brought their camera crew to my local mall) and D-list, hack no-names who have nothing better to do then pass off flaccid, milquetoast critique as comedy. Did they run out of artists that screwed up their lives or something? Cough it up, VH-1! There’s a coke-head, born-again, has-been bass player out there somewhere. Where’s my Behind the Music?!
OK, so there’s Fuse, but I feel too old for Fuse. Not only are they starting to creep into the crappy tv market, but I don’t know who half those bands are. Most of them sound the same to me (though, I’m sure chickrawker would totally disagree) and I find myself wondering where everyone’s mom is. How do you even get your body into pants that skinny? With the exception of OK Go, who I think are fantastic, not only musically, but for their clever foray into YouTube viral marketing, I really don’t connect that much with newer bands.
I’ve never been a huge video watcher, but what happened to them all? Occasionally friends will say something like, “You know, like in that video...” or “Remember that video?” Nope, sorry! But, I do enjoy some from time to time, especially if it’s a great song or if it’s got cool creative direction. Too bad I never find any actually on during waking hours.... I just can’t figure out why they need to blow millions of dollars producing videos no one sees.
So, I’m left with The TUBE music network, which has no real rhyme or reason to it. One minute I’m enjoying some Earth, Wind and Fire and the next it’s Michael Bublé, then it could be Poison for all I know (or, like now, The Alarm). You never know what it’s going to be, which can be fun when there’s nothing on, I guess. Ooo! Ooo! Bryan Ferry’s Slave to Love just came on! La la la la la....
I feel a bit sated, but I’m still pissy about Behind the Music.
It is absolutely gorgeous this morning. I snapped that at around 7:20am. Then, about an hour later…
Joelle: The front door is open and I’m watching a cruise ship port, the sun is shining… I’ve got some Brazilian samba action playing… it’s a good day!
Kathy: Here its hot and muggy like the underside of a nutsack.
Apparently, it’s not only hurricane season in Florida, it’s nutsack season, as well. I wonder if that’s like Duck Season vs. Wabbit Season. All class, kids. That’s our commitment to you.
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