There's Nothing Like Wrapping Up a Long Work Day with a Little Credit Card Fraud

Last night I received the following text message:

"<> Fraud Department needs to speak with you about activity on your account. Please call XXX-XXX-XXXX ASAP."

Its a message you hope you never receive. But its also a comforting message. It feels good to know that my credit card company is looking out for me. (Well, really they're looking out for themselves, too, but we'll pretend its all about me.)

I hadn't lost my card, but someone had still gotten hold of my card info somehow and went on a little online shopping spree. Well, the shopping spree of an anti-social, basement-dwelling, Code Red-drinking teenage boy at least. EVERY SINGLE fraudulent charge (and there were quite a few) was for Gamefly and Marvel Entertainment.

So thank you, Credit Card Company, for recognizing that I had not taken a sudden interest in Captain America or launching an epic Halo 2 campaign.

Side Note: I'm so unfamiliar with the comic book world that I had to go to Marvel.com to find out which comic book characters were actually theirs. On the site you can search characters by category (Heroes, Mutants, Villains, etc). But the best category of all........Canadian. Really, Marvel?!?!?

I Canoed 18 Miles Against a Head Wind, and It Sucked

Last month, John and I (and by that I mean mostly I) organized a canoe trip down the Fox River. We modeled the weekend (and by modeled I mean stole every detail) after a trip we went on last year with a bunch of people we didn't know. We had a great time last year and figured we'd have even more fun if we went with all of our friends.

Overall the weekend was a spectacular success of camping, drinking, canoeing, drinking, board games, and drinking. There are way too many great stories to tell them all here, but lets just say the highlights involve roasted marshmallow in places it should never be found, John falling out of the canoe in a most graceful fashion, and one of the most intense games of Apples to Apples I've ever played. Here are a photo that doesn't even begin to show how fun it all was....

Sunburn - Check! Unexplained Scraped Knee - Check! Lack of Shower in 2 days - Check!

But all good times must come to an end, and that end was Sunday. Since John and I had only does this once before, the exact details of the trip were fuzzy. We remembered that one day you had to canoe farther than the other, but didn't remember which day that was. So we set off Sunday expecting a short, leisurely day on the water - maybe 2-3 hours.

The first thing to go wrong was that there was a strong head wind against us the whole time. No more taking it easy and floating the river for us! The next thing was when lunch time rolled around and the designated lunch spot was no where in sight. John was convinced we'd accidentally passed it. I feared something much worse.....that this was the LONG canoe day and we were still not even to the 1/2 way point yet. My fears were confirmed a hour or so later, when I heard John say "Oh, F&#K." Yep, there it was. The spot we were supposed to stop for lunch. But it was already 2:30.

My despair - along with the dirty looks from the rest of the group - grew as we came around bend after bend and we still hadn't reached the end point. Then finally, SIXTH AND A HALF HOURS after we first launched our canoes that morning, we arrived at the end. Or so I thought.......

Turns out I had rented canoes from a different company that was still ANOTHER MILE down the river. As you can imagine, this did not win me any points from the rest of the group. In fact, I think they were all sketching out what kind of Jackie Voodoo Doll to make when they got home. That is if they could still use their hands with all the blisters they'd developed from rowing all day.

We did finally make it to the right drop off spot, caught our ride back to camp, packed up our things and drove back to the city. And surprisingly, everyone is still speaking to me. I think next year we'll just have one day of canoeing.