Legitimate Credit Monitoring Offer or ...?

Breaches in consumer account data are prevalent. Unless you're a child or live on the street and use only cash for everything, you probably received a notice from a lien holder that its data was broken into. Your notice might include a free offer of credit monitoring. All you have to do to accept this free offer is to navigate to a website and enter every last bit of personal information you have.

"Yeah right," you think to yourself, or you should.

Certainly I knew that Countrywide bank, with whom I had a mortgage, had data stolen several months ago. But how could I ascertain whether the offer of free credit monitoring was just another scam, a bit of clever social engineering? I called the phone number, which was answered by a pleasant-sounding female voice recording. She identified ConsumerInfo as an Experian company. But anyone could take out a toll-free number and find a pleasant-sounding female to record.

I decided to go directly to the Experian website instead. I was familiar with them, since I occasionally get a free credit report from them every three months or so. I searched the site and found this reassuring FAQ result¹:

Dear Experian,

I received a letter about an incident with an archive tape being lost with critical data. The letter offers a free subscription to Triple Alert. The site does ask for a Social Security number, birth date, etc. The letter provides a number to verify the issue, but how can I verify it separate from the letter?

- BAR

Dear BAR,

-snip-

Your question is a very good one. Here are a few tips for verifying the information for contacting Experian is legitimate:

* Look closely at the Web address provided in your notification letter. Experian owns and operates several different Web sites that provide consumers with credit monitoring products. The following Web addresses are legitimate Experian Web sites:
o partner.consumerinfo.com
o partner.experiandirect.com

Please note that there may be other information after the “.com” part of the address. This other information also is legitimate and is no cause for concern.

And so I signed up for the service rather than let the offer lapse as I've done two other times.

Perhaps this will help you figure out whether to accept your offers.

---

¹ http://www.experian.com/ask-experian/20080709-ensuring-security-breach-notices-are-legitimate.html

Wednesday Weigh-In 20110728

I think I might've lost weight over the weekend. I was involved in a painting project to paint my daughter's room. With that activity, plus the fact that it was too hot to cook, and with my food-providing wife away, I would eat tiny meals just to stave off starvation.

But if I did lose weight, it all came back plus one pound. I guess the eating binge I went on as a reward might be responsible for that.

Waist = 38.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20110720

No change from last week -- very strange.

I once underwent a physical for a life insurance policy. The nurse asked my weight, so I said "160 plus or minus five pounds." She mentioned that it wasn't a good sign if your weight changes a lot. I let the matter drop, but I thought she was clueless. There are a lot of factors that determine weight even assuming you're not trying to gain or lose weight. They are hydration (you can weigh five pounds less just due to strenuous exercise), seasonal effects, scale accuracy, whether you've, um, voided fully. Then you have athletes who have their training & competition weight versus their "off-season" weight.

So anyway, I was thoroughly astounded this morning to find that my three numbers this week are identical to the previous set of numbers.

Waist = 38.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20110714

Yesterday I ordered Chinese food from the "steamed" portion of the menu. I got the beef with broccoli, and they gave me a choice of sauce. I asked for red pepper sauce (because I think that's mostly just red pepper flakes in oil) but they didn't have that, so they gave me spicy garlic sauce. I didn't care what they gave me -- it was provided "on the side" (in a separate container).

The plain beef and broccoli tasted fine on its own, so I never did bother to use the sauce.

I'd love to have them make Hunan Beef without adding flour or corn starch (or food coloring) to the sauce. I realize that it would be thin and runny, but I wouldn't mind because then I wouldn't feel sleepy afterward.

Waist = 38.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Green Tea Electrolyte Drink

Lately I've been drinking a new concoction -- a Green Tea Electrolyte drink.

First I prepare the Green Iced Tea by adding 10 green tea bags to 1 gallon of water. I also add several mint leaves that I tear into small pieces. Let that steep in the refrigerator overnight. If you don't have fresh mint, you can use Tazo Zen tea bags. It's great tea, but a lot more expensive. (I buy my green tea bags in a box of 100 for about $5.25.) Or you can use your favorite herbal tea for a caffeine-free version. The mint leaves and tea bags will usually float, so it's easy to remove them after it's done steeping.

Pour a glassful of the steeped green iced tea and add pinch of sea salt, lemon juice and sugar or agave nectar. I use nearly 1/4 teaspoon of salt and three teaspoons of sugar and the juice from about 1/4 lemon.

SDP: Goop for Ceramic Stove Tops

My dad was a machinist. I recall that he had something called Goop that he could put on his hands before work so that when they got dirty, they'd be easier to clean. It was a sort of protective film for his hands, like an infinitesimally-thin, dissoluble glove.

Ceramic stove tops are the most difficult things in the kitchen to clean. The microscopically rough surface of the ceramic makes liquids soak in and bind, leaving a residue that's nearly impossible to remove. Even water leaves a stain!

Amazing how the manufacturers of these stoves market them as being easy to clean. The old range top we had was easy to clean. I'd just wipe the enamel-painted surface with a wet sponge and it looked like new in about five seconds. Now we need to apply a special, expensive stove top cleaner and scrape with a razor!

My idea is to create a Goop-like film that could be applied to the stove top so that it would repel spills, or at least make them easier to remove.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20110706

I'm walking more again, so that might be helping keep my weight from escalating.

Waist = 38.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.