I will remember this as the day that people took me for a fool. Well, that happens often to everyone i’m sure but I truly felt under attack today.

First attack, I get a telemarketing call. I was a telemarketer in high school, so I know the tricks, I know if it’s too good to be true it probably is. But even though our home number is unlisted I got a call today. He said that I had entered into a drawing at a computer exposition this past winter, which was true. He said I won a trip to Disneyworld and a cruise to the Bahamas. Yeah, right. He went through all the things I’d get to do and what I’d have to do for them to promote the sweepstakes, blah blah blah.

All sounded great, and I figured since he knew I was at the computer show a few months ago, it could be legit, but I figured it wasn’t so I asked him right off the bat, “Am I obligated to anything? How much does it cost me?” He lied and said no obligation and kept going on his spiel. Then at the end of the call, he needed a major credit card number and billing information to verify my age, and they would have to take a SMALL fee of $299.99 per person for taxes.

I said,”Wait a minute here, did I not ask you if there was any obligation from me?”

He goes, “Yes you did, and I told you that you would just have to speak at a presentation to promote the sweepstakes.”

I responded “That was not what I meant! I also asked you how much it would cost and you didn’t say anything about $299.99 at that time.”

So I thanked him for wasting my time, and told him to pick someone else and I hung up. What a joke. I figured it wasn’t legit, I guess I was just curious to hear the catch. I wonder how many suckers actually buy into that.

Second attack. I was parking at a meter today downtown while at class, was paying the meter the entire time, but when I came out I noticed that there was a parking ticket on my car, but still time left on the meter. I was so furious, ready to hunt down the meter maid and scream at them. But then I looked at the ticket, and noticed that it was issued to a Blue Honda Civic with a Minnesota license plate number. Wait a minute, I thought, I drive a Blue Chrysler LeBaron with North Dakota plates, this is odd. Then I looked at what parking meter number it was. I was parked at meter #AB-27, the ticket was issued to meter #AB-31.

So I went four parking meters down the street and sure enough, there was no car parked at meter #AB-31. I immediately realized that this person probably stuck it on my car thinking I wouldn’t even read it and just pay it for them. What a thoughtful trick, but it wasn’t happening to me. Not today. So I called the phone number on the ticket, got a hold of someone at the Traffic Regulation place, and they asked what officer issued it and called up the officer to come out to where I was. So the meter maid that issued the ticket came and said they clearly remember putting it on a blue Honda Civic down the street. They confirmed that my theory that the person with the Honda was trying to sucker me into paying it was probably correct. They said it happens often. So they called over a real cop (no offense to the meter maid, he seemed like a nice fellow) and I filed a police report. I guess they’ll be getting a summons in the mail and will probably be getting a fine. They didn’t say how much the fine would be. I hope it’s a lot.

I thought these events made for an interesting day. Not much else took place, I just had class and a very short shift at work.

I put up a new schedule page tonight, it’s set up a little differently. Now you just click the day on the calendar and a daily schedule comes up. So for those of you who need to track me down for whatever reason using the schedule, I hope the new schedule page is a little easier to use. I’ve also made some changes to the Family Tree pages, and have added a few names. But that’s about all for now, talk to you next time.