Fraud

If you have used your debit card at OfficeMax, you might want to check on your bank statement. NJ police have arrested 14 people in connection with stolen data & fake debit cards. The crime spree forced banks across the nation to replace hundreds of thousands of debit cards. It also stranded Americans in other countries with no cash, as their banks had locked them out of the international ATM network.

“But wait”, you say, “don’t you need a pin to get access to an account?” Yes. However, a lot of the equipment for debit sales is capable of storing pins & account information. It doesn’t necessarily need to be malicious either. If the system is not properly configured, some systems could end up archiving all this information, rather than using it for the transaction, then deleting it. Once this data is being stored, all it takes is someone with a little know how to make a copy of all this, and go on a spree.

I used to work at a financial transaction company (credit cards, direct withdrawals, etc), so I’m actually surprised this hasn’t happened more. It is probably also why I watch my accounts like a hawk. Convenience comes with a price.

Cambodia and Vietnam travel preparations

FedEx should be picking up our package to the San Francisco Consulate General of Vietnam in a couple hours. Unlike Cambodia, there is no mechanism to get a travel visa on arrival (airport visa). Vietnam requires sending in an application form with a recent photo, your passport, $45, and a prepaid return envelope.

Our flight tickets are purchased, time off is scheduled. We are committed. Our final itinerary after travel time (of which there is a considerable amount) is roughly four days in each Siem Reap, Saigon, and Hanoi.

Siem Reap – Most people know this tourist town by way of the temple complex a few KM away, Angkor Wat & friends. I’m not sure if 4 days here will be too much. I’m not worried about seeing it all, the place is so massive I’m sure we will barely make a dent, but I’m wondering if we will get temple-burnout. In any case, I think a day trip somewhere else would be easy enough to arrange. Time will tell.

Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh – I’m familiar with my history, and don’t want to visit the war museums, or the tunnels. Needless to say, its not what I’m there for. I’m hoping to spend a good portion of time wandering around city and people watching. There are some amazing opportunities to visit other spots if we can tear ourselves away from the city – Mekong delta and the highlands are going to be long, but amazing day trips.

Ha Noi – Ditto as above, but I believe Hanoi also has some decent art & history museums as well as local temple sites. I wish we had some more time here, as I suspect we will only have a couple days in the city. We will probably spend the other two days in Halong Bay – ideally with some deck time, kayaking, and snorkeling. There would have been a number of great multi-day trips from Ha Noi (Sa Pa, south highlands, etc) but we simply won’t have the time. All the more reason for more trips, right?

A better picture

After much deliberation, I made the leap. My starter kit is a Cannon Rebel XT (350D) with the 17-85 USM IS lens, a Sandisk 2 GB II card, and a UV filter for protection. I wanted to buy at a local shop, but at a price difference of 15% on the body and almost 20% on the lens (+taxes), I simply couldn’t justify it. I guess they will be my accessory shops.

I should receive my shiny new toys the middle of next week. I will have a week or two to play before making a decision to keep them or not. I’ll need to figure out a way to pack them around as well. It looks like something like the Lowepro Rezo TLZ 20 will be my best bet. Protected and relatively discrete (once de-labeled), I think I can even rig it up to fit attached to, or inside, my messenger bag.

Spending money always gets my mind wandering. Reading this post from Philip really hit close to home. If I’ve got money to make my pictures better, I’ve got money to make someone’s sight better. I made a donation to Sight Savers. I value my sight above all other senses, so it feels right in a number of ways.

On a side note, I had one of my poster sized prints mounted at Giant Photo a couple days back. I can’t recommend them enough. They aren’t going to be as cheap as other spots, but the quality and service are second to none.

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party

Anna and I snuck a burrito in and watched Dave Chappelle’s Block Party last night at the decotastic Pacific Gaslamp. Unless you reaaaally hate rap, I can’t recommend the movie enough. It is not really a concert film, but more of a documentary of the making of Dave’s dream concert. There are great performances, but most of the film is Dave interacting with locals (NYC and Dayton), the talent, and the crew. There are some fantastic characters in the film, and Dave’s natural comedy is a perfect fit.

San Onofre and Tecate

(Until I have the RSS feed fixed for gallery2, I’ll post links on the front page)

Photos of San Onofre beach and sunset.

A few weekends back Anna and I drove up to San Onofre beach to hike under the freeway and watch the sunset. Luckily we brought rain gear, as it stormed for a bit and cleared off the beach. Just us and the surfers. The sun came out and we were treated to double rainbows, dolphins, and great sunset. Worth sticking it out.

Photos of Tecate, Mexico.

The next day, Anna and I drove down to Tecate to wander around. It was my first time there, and Anna’s first in 5 years or so. I really enjoyed the town. It’s a great spot to drive down for lunch. As it is not really a tourist town, it was was nice to walk around and be ignored. Just be prepared for the border back over – the signs are not well marked to the start of the line, and the border closes at night.