That is awesome! congrats!! Will be there one day, but hopefully not too soon, lol.

Damn, SA is 200 miles away. When you make plans to go, though, hit me up and maybe I can work something out. Good chance to have a beer!

 

That would be nice, David. Not sure at this point when we'll be traveling over to see the baby, but I know it won't be until late January at the earliest.

 

A crisp 18* F here this AM with a forecast of 1"-3" of snow starting around 1300.

 

Man I love living where I do. House is small but was ok with 2 kids, now it is a little cozy with 4. House payment went up due to insurance this year. 392 and change with taxes and insurance a month. Looking to find something out of town in 2 years or so.

 

Anyone see the holiday Land Rover commercial? Well, that's how it feels here in so cal, dry and hot. Not the type of weather you want fur Christmas. Makes me want to pack the fam up and hit the mountains

 

Mornin' fellas...not bad here in the Hill Country. A balmy 55* and overcast day. It feels like a Texas winter. Gonna go move some cattle tomorrow and enjoy the day. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Just let me know. Have other friends up there and in Austin I haven't seen in years. Would be a good chance to meet up.


Probably will be in the family car though, lol.

 

Paid off the house last year and DO NOT miss that $1,200 payment at all. It took 10 years, but it is done. The home is just big enough for the wife and I and the 3 kids. The wife and I agree, though, our next home will be just big enough for the 2 of us.

Looking for something now around Shiner (where they make the best beer) or like that for a place to grow old.

 

David, you must be close to us? We are in Bandera. Shiner is a great town!

 

No, we are down here at the border.

 

Hope you all had a better weekend than we did. Some worthless scum in Michigan got ahold of our debit card # and bought new injector worthy amount of stuff from Amazon We've never bought anything from Michigan, haven't even been there. How they got a card # we never use online, and only comes out of my wallet once every month or two is beyond us. At least after a couple hours on the phone and trips to the bank today everything is back to normal.

Y'all keep warm in the home stretch to the holidays

 

We purchase online often & get Our credit card # stolen about once a year now.

 

I've had a couple experiences with account fraud and I've learned a few lessons.

Many, many years ago, I had to take my now ex-wife to the ER for severe abdominal pains. I paid for the ER co-pay with a credit card. Several days later, charges for hospital scrubs and other medical supplies showed up on my account statement. Lesson learned: Your card number is safe nowhere. Thieves are everywhere. Always diligently check your account statements for unauthorized charges.

A few years ago, I paid for fuel at a Walmart station here in SC (they had the cheapest diesel in town for a while). A day later, my bank called me when suspicious charges appeared on my account from a Walmart in Texas. Lesson learned: Your bank should be a good first line of defense against account fraud.

Another time, I was buying some homebrew supplies online and my account had fraudulent charges appear two different times after using a particular vendor. I had to have cards re-issued twice. Lesson learned: It is a real PITA to have to enter new credit card numbers in every time I want to buy something from Amazon (where I have never experienced any fraudulent charges) when my card number changes every month.

One last story... I was at HF buying some junk when my card was declined. I knew I had about $7500 in there which was more than enough to cover my HF junk. I called my bank and it turned out that someone called their customer service department, convinced them that they were me, and had two certified checks sent overnight to a NYC address for the entirety of my checking account. This took a few days to resolve and in the meantime, I had no access to any funds at all. I lived on what I had in my pocket for almost a week. Lesson learned: One, always ask about and opt for any additional security measures your bank offers. I have an app on my phone that generates a secure token ID that you must have in order to log in or speak to a rep. Then there is a secret passphrase that is required that is separate from any other authentication information on the account when you talk to a rep. It's pretty tough to break into it now. Two, make sure you keep money stashed away for emergency purposes.

I also use paypal wherever possible for online purchases. This has completely insulated me from any kind of fraud with any of these transactions. I don't keep any money in my paypal account, I just have it linked to my bank. That way Paypal is the only entity with access to my account information (which is not even a credit card number; I have it verified via account/routing number).

Of course, limit your online purchases to reputable vendors. The more places you use your card, the more likely it is to get stolen. Avoid using your PIN whenever possible because it's like a password and it can be easily stolen with only slight modifications to typical POS (point of sale, not piece of ****) equipment.

 

Good tips, Andy!

Chase has been our credit card company for about 15 years, now, and their fraud identification process has been flawless. They typically catch fraudulent charges about 1-2x per year, notify us immediately, manage the communication with the credit rating agencies, and we have replacement cards within 48 hours. Managing the new card numbers is sometimes a PITA, but as long as Chase keeps their record and keeps our credit rating from getting dinged, I'm sticking with them.

We've had some weird fraud charges before, most very small and relatively minimal, but one (our first) will forever stay in my mind! We were living in Texas at the time, and got a call from Chase about a questionable charge. I asked what the charge was, and where it was made, and they said the amount was for $22,387 for "beauty supplies", and that the charges were made in Israel! Turns out it was concentrated peroxide which was probably (my suspicion) being purchased for making bombs! Needless to say, we confirmed the charges were not made by us, and we had new cards the next day.

All that said, we try really hard to be very careful and shrewd with all CC use, and I ALWAYS thank the cashier when they ask to see our ID to verify who we are because I'm grateful that they are following good protocol.

 

A really late Morning HI lol....