Blog

Yesterday, one of my other blogs was featured in the newspaper along other local blogs.

I haven’t subscribed to the paper for many years, nor do I read it online, but I found the link to the article in the morning and purchased a dead-tree copy on my way to work.

It was a nice gesture for the paper to tip its hat to the local blogging community, and I did a blog post welcoming anyone who might be stopping by after reading the article.

Total number of new commenters: 1
Apparent increase in traffic: Non-discernible
Only person who called after seeing the article: My 75-year-old dad, who will never, I repeat never, see the actual blog online due to his lack of computer skills.

I hesitate to draw sweeping conclusions from this one experience, but it certainly seems to confirm that the intersection of old media and new media is practically nil. It also seems to suggest that newspapers’ efforts to bring their content online aren’t having the desired effect either.

I’m curious about your media consumption habits. Where do you get your news? (Mine comes almost exclusively from Google News these days.) Do you read a daily newspaper? If so, is it paper or online? Have you ever typed in a URL you found in a newspaper or magazine?

I’ll be interested to see just how many of us have left old media behind for good.

On Sunday, my husband and I took a trip to the zoo. We’d had enough of being cooped up inside and we figured it would be a good way to kick off a spring full of walking and exercise.

It turns out that early spring is the perfect time to go to the zoo if you want to see lots of animals. Almost every animal was outdoors and feeling very playful. Some were a bit beyond playful; I couldn’t help thinking of this recent audio clip from The Onion, Abstinence-Only Education Ruined by Trip to the Zoo.

We walked briskly around and saw the majority of the exhibits. The walking part was a bit of a problem. After months and months of sitting in an office chair or on a couch for 99% of the time, it turned out I was in poor shape for hiking over acres of asphalt. My hip started hurting and I had to stop and do toe-touches a few times. This aging stuff is no fun at all.

There weren’t that many other visitors, but we kept catching up with one whiskey tango family who exemplified annoying zoo behavior. They banged on the glass to try to wake the animals, yelled at the animals (seriously, if one guy had shouted "meerkat" one more time, I was going to slug him), and spouted ill-informed speculation to their children, ignoring the correct information posted on signs all around the exhibits. I’m pretty sure I saw one guy tossing pieces of candy to a monkey. What part of "Don’t Feed the Animals" escaped you, man?

We eventually managed to evade that group and finish up our visit in peace. We wrapped things up after a couple of hours and headed out for a late lunch, hindered only by our inability to find my car in the parking lot.

We haven’t taken a walk since then, but I’m feeling optimistic that we’ll get outside more now that we’ve gotten a taste of it. Of course, it would be nice if the pollen counts would subside a little first. I don’t have enough room in my pockets for the tissues I’d need for an hour-long walk right now.

Last week, my debit card was declined when I tried to use it to buy lunch. Fortunately, the person accompanying me owned me a lunch anyway. The card worked for cash advances and any purchase that involved the PIN, so I didn’t think much of it until it was declined again.

I called my credit union and learned that there had been a couple of suspicious charges. They didn’t sound particularly familiar, but they were for small amounts and I was so fixated on the convenience of the card that I asked to have my account unblocked.

I learned just how stupid an idea that was on Saturday morning. I doing my morning Bloglines surfing when I received a call from Visa. There had been two debits the previous evening: $28 at a Mexican restaurant (legitimate – that’s where we had dinner) and $1,000 at Wal-mart. Uh oh.

I make a special point of avoiding Wal-mart, which left no question that someone was fraudulently using my debit card number.

All weekend long, I was forced to get by on old school purchasing methods: cash and checks. I don’t have a credit card anymore and I hadn’t realized how dependent I had become on the debit card.

The thing that really gets me is that I resisted getting a debit card for a ridiculously long time. I’d had an ATM card in the late ’80s, but had then foregone all bank cards until just a couple of years ago.

It didn’t take long before I was using the card for everything and never carrying cash. Lunch here, coffee there, a book, some groceries and a tank of gas – all on the debit card. La, la, la.

The credit union says I’ll need to wait for the fraudulent charge to hit (that is, wipe out) my checking account, then come in and fill out a dispute form. I guess there’s no police report or anything like that involved, although I can’t really understand why not. I want someone to track down the thief! Does this kind of crime really go unpunished?

In the meantime, the credit union has canceled my debit card and will be issuing me a new one with a different number.

When I get the new card, I’m not sure how to handle it. Obviously, the more I use it, the more chances there are the someone might copy the number. I hate to carry cash, but at least if someone steals your cash, they’re only getting the amount you have on your person rather than the entire contents of your checking account.

What a pain…

If you had walked into my office restroom a few minutes ago, you’d have caught me sticking Scotch tape to my eyelids and gingerly peeling it back off.

Why? Because nothing else I could think of would remove the last traces of the eyelash glue from last night. Every time I blinked, the corners of my eyes would stick lightly and it was driving me insane. The glue had hung on through two episodes of attempted makeup removal and a shower and I just couldn’t think of another solution.

Considering that fashion mags are always going on about "don’t rub the skin around your eyes because it’s SO fragile," I imagine I’ve done a bit of damage with the tape. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting a little.

However, it worked. So there.