Farrier, not Furrier!

Last evening my wife mentioned our horse was not well. The old paint had taken to laying on the ground instead of standing, and at other times was stationery. I excepted that the horse may need new shoes, and she agreed that new horseshoes have been eminent for some time. Than she asks, "Will you take him to the furrier tomorrow?"

I was shocked. That she would want to have the pour beast slaughtered in order to harvest it's hide for a rug or blanket-- well this idea had a profound affect on my disposition. But for a moment. I realized, of coarse, she meant "farrier," not "furrier!"

Not wishing to correct her (a man must choose his fights carefully specially with his wife), and irregardless of my own pride, I gave my ascent. "Yes, darling, tomorrow, I will take him to the furrier, whom will craft excellent shoes for him."

Mortensen moments

Mortensen moment #1
On the Metro, I'm seated doing Sudoku. The young red-haired girl sitting next to me cranks up her iPod. I hear "Aye! Aye! Aye!..." then a vibraslap. Could it be? Wait for the guitar... YES! "Crazy Train!" I consider writing OZZY on my knuckles and giving her the devil/rock sign, but instead I do nothing.

Mortensen moment #2
On the sidewalk in front of my office, a pair of blue suede high heeled shoes, artfully arranged just so.

SecureCode and customer service

Yesterday I attempted an online purchase from a company in Hong Kong. According to the website to pay with Mastercard I needed to have my card signed up for "Mastercard SecureCode". Googling it, I got this:

MasterCard SecureCode is a simple and secure way to pay at thousands of online stores. A private code known only to you and your bank, your SecureCode enhances your existing MasterCard account by protecting you against unauthorized use of your card when shopping online at participating online retailers.

Because the overseas site did not tell me how to do this, and didn't link anywhere, it didn't look like phishing. It looked legitimate but I wanted to be sure, so I called my CC company, CapitalOne. While waiting for a real person (press 5 a lot) I did more searching. CapitalOne actually has information about SecureCode on their website. As does MasterCard. So it's looking okay. When I reach a real person at CapitalOne, they have no idea what SecureCode is. They put me on hold and talk to their supervisor. Minutes later, they say they don't know what it is, and will transfer me to MasterCard. After my call is dropped, I do this whole thing again.

Ten minutes later I am talking with a rep from MasterCard, who says "Your secure code is that three digit number on the back of your card." I say "No, SecureCode is a program described on your website. Please google it, one word, SecureCode". She says, "Just a sec, let me talk to my supervisor." Tick tick tick. She says, "I don't know what are talking about, your secure code is on the back of your card." I say no that's not it-- it's a program to make your card theoretically more secure by using a third party verification system. "You're gonna have to talk to the merchant." Then they pretty much hung up on me.

I signed up for SecureCode anyway, which makes me very nervous; I am going to have to check my online statement daily. The name "SecureCode" has been used in phishing scams. And my online purchase never worked using my MasterCard. I ended up using PayPal, which worked immediately.

Who lent me Elvis?

Last week I traded in my iPod that I had received for Christmas and bought a 500Gig hard drive instead. I figured I needed a big hard disk to store my music before I ever could put what I wanted on an iPod. So I am spending the next several weeks shackled to the computer loading and unloading CDs. Whee!

Among the piles of CDs all over the house (which is another reason to put all the music on disk) I found a DVD of Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint. WHO DID I BORROW THIS FROM?!

Please, if you are missing DVD of Elvis and Allen, let me know.