Dave's Good Stuff

Last night, I checked the mail and had three Netflix movies waiting for me! Excellent! Except for one small thing… I don’t have a Netflix account.

Huh. Immediately suspicious, I decided to dig in and see what I could find out. My first step, having opened the movies to see what they were (nothing worth watching, and no… no pr0n), I sat down at the laptop and brought up netflix.com. I’m not a member… well… I’m not a knowing member, so I had no idea what my username would be, much less my password. Normally, you can have instructions sent to the e’mail address on file, but I was confident that in my case, my own e’mail address wouldn’t be on file. However, they have a method of logging in if you don’t remember, or have access to the e’mail address you signed up with. It asks for the first name, last name and card number used to sign up with. Using my real first and last name, I started going through my credit cards to see which one had fallen into the wrong hands. I didn’t have far to go… I got a hit on the first try.

I started digging into the account, and while the name and address were mine, the phone number and e’mail address were not. I called the number, on the off chance that I’d find the person responsible, but instead reached a nice couple who (if they can be trusted) don’t have a Netflix account either. We talked for a while, and they’ll be monitoring their credit closely. I then called the credit card company and had the card canceled and a new one reissued. Finally, I called Netflix themselves and appraised them of the situation. They canceled the account and forwarded it to their fraud department, telling me someone would contact me in the next 1 to 3 days. Some scissors to the card and I’m all done.

I can’t help but wonder what kind of completely incompetent idiot steals credit card information to purchase goods online, only to have the goods sent to the rightful owner of the card! The mind, it boggles. It really worked out for me, b/c the proof of fraud was hand delivered to my mailbox, so I’m not complaining… but it begs a few questions… How did they get the card information? When did they get it? Could it be a diversion? Were they drawing my attention away from the real fraud? Or were they truly, just that stupid? There were no charges to any of my cards that I can’t account for, so if they’d planned other acts of theft, they hadn’t gotten to them yet. Still, I’ll be watching very closely.

This morning, I returned the movies I’d been sent in their very handy self addressed no-postage-necessary envelopes. Though it wasn’t necessarily the ideal of first experiences, my experience with Netflix was actually very very good. I might even consider signing up for an account.

In a final bit of humor, I did some searches for quotes about incompetence for the title, and one of the sites had a pop up ad for… you guessed it… Netflix!

I went to bed a few nights ago, as is my habit so that I might wake up the next morning, having slept the night before. This night, last night, was different…

You might recall that all of last year, or most of it, I rode my bike whenever possible to and from work, and many other miles besides. Logistically, this hasn’t worked out since about mid October. Furthermore, I’ve avoided pretty much any riding outdoors on account of the cold. I proved I could do it last year, and I realized I didn’t enjoy doing it (having forgotten that I already realized it back in my college years when I didn’t own a car). So this year, I’ve spent nearly all of my riding on the rollers. While they do make for a fantastic work out (once you start pedaling, you don’t stop until you’re done – there is no coasting downhill, there are no stops at intersections… it’s all on or all off), they’re also fairly boring when compared to the glorious outdoors.

So, my bikes have been been rather neglected, rejected, and ignored. They made this known to me on this night. I don’t know if it was a dream or not. I don’t typically remember dreams with this (or any) level of clarity. This felt real.

I awoke from a deep sleep, and was immediately startled into complete wakefulness by the horrific sight of two angry bikes, leaning threateningly over my bed. Their frames contorted in barely contained outrage, their cables seething with frustration, their chains grinding with resentment, and their brake levers pulsing with indignation, they lorded over me like cobras. My heart racing, I tried to scramble to the opposite side of the bed, but was caught in the sheets unable to move. Their cables, once smooth and lubricated nicely within supple housings, flayed about like the many heads of a hydra, and with evil and deadly purpose wrapped themselves around me, cutting into my flesh, and pulling me towards them. I was helpless against their will.

“WE HAVE WATCHED AS YOU CLIMB INTO THAT MONSTROSITY IN THE GARAGE, IGNORING US, WE WHO HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO NEW HEIGHTS OF GLORY AND FITNESS! WE SAY UNTO YOU NO MORE!!! WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU HONOR US WITH THE MILES WE DESERVE!!!”

With a final tightening of the cables around my arms and legs, they let me go, and walked… yay walked out of the room. All was silent.

I lay there, bathed in the cold sweat of terror for what seemed like hours, but was likely only a few minutes. You know how time stretches in the quiet of night. Anyway, I eventually fell back asleep (or dreamed I was falling back asleep – whatever), and awoke to the normal alarm. The sheets were rather ruffled about, and the area rug near my bed in complete disarray. The bikes, however, were as I’d left them the night before, or should I say, weeks ago…

Let it not be said that I heed not the warnings presented to me so clear! Saturday morning I took the Dew Drop out for nearly 30 miles over some of the better hills northwest Johnson County has to offer. The Drop was happy. I was happy. I expect to sleep well and undisturbed tonight.

I’m not dead. I’m very much alive, in fact. I’ve just had precious little to write about with regards to the primary focus of this blog… cycling. So instead of blurring the focus of the subject matter, I’ve opted to just wait until I had more to write. However, it’s been a while and some of you know nothing about me but what you find out here. So…

Some very positive things happening personally. Since I decided long ago to keep such things off this blog, you’ll just have to wait to meet her. I will say this… she must be pretty special. I’ve not been to church in 20 years, and she’s gotten me there no less than 4 times since late December… and maybe 5. My attitude towards organized religion is perfectly summed up by the Mohandas Gandhi quote “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” That said, I have met quite a few very nice people through her and the friend that set us up together, all of whom go to their church. It’s an interesting change of pace for me… Besides Church, we’ve done quite a few things together, and have quite a few more on the plate for the next few months. I’m quite optimistic.

I’ve been very busy at work lately. In ’08 I was nearly desk bound the whole year working on this and that. In ’09 I will be much more involved in the daily lives of my fellow employees… not sure how well they’ll like that. I am the local representative for Information Security, after all. It’s like the police without the uniform, firearms, or authority. I can’t arrest anyone. I can’t have anyone fired. What I can do is make them feel really bad about what they’ve done. Sometimes, I get baked goods as apologies. I can live with that.

I’ve been playing a lot of pool lately. Monday night, Wednesday night and Thursday nights all see me at various pool halls in leagues the likes of which I’ve never seen. Wednesday is pretty standard in terms of competition, but Monday and Thursday… let’s just say that if I make one mistake, miss one ball, or dry break, I’m done for the game. The competition is fierce. I like it that way. It makes me really focus, though there are nights when it does get tiring.

Cycling has seen a dramatic decline so far this year… without my daily commuting (logistically impossible at this point, unfortunately – at least not without spending a lot of money on another form of motorized transportation to keep either at work or at home so I’m not bike-bound all day), and with the cold, I’m pretty much limited to roller training. While I did keep up with it for a while, I’ve since fallen into a rather “fat and happy” mindset, and haven’t felt the motivation to roll. The weather is looking to warm up soon, though, and I reckon I’ll get my expanding carcass out on that saddle for some long rides here real soon like. I have to, b/c word is that my brother, as well as our hosts in Colorado are training hard for the Triple Bypass… July 11th is fast approaching! I may not be as fast as I was last year, but I’ve no doubt whatsoever that I’ll make it over them there hills just fine and dandy.

That’s enough for now. Later.