Tag: Annoyances

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It Begins! A PSA

Microsoft account unusual signin activity

The SCAMMERS are out this Holiday Season!

BEWARE of all emails.

If you don’t recognize something or someone delete the email. Don’t click on any buttons, or links.

This email, shown above, is one I’ve been getting over the past few days. It looks a lot like the incessant email that Microsoft will send you if you happen to have an email account hosted by them.

The Microsoft email looks a lot like this, and because they send their Unusual Sign In emails virtually anytime you change networks, if you’re traveling and sign into your Parents WiFi or use a hotel network, you’re likely to have see the real Microsoft version.

This email is bullshit!

If you click on the “Report The User” Button, the handy “Click Here”, or even your own email listed at the top of the email, you’re directed to some website called techconsulting-pay.com not Microsoft.com.

The Indian assholes running this bullshit are targeting Americans who are scared of Russia so that they can rip you off. It’s probably some bullshit “Protection Scam” where they say they’re from Microsoft selling you some obscenely expensive Anti-Virus or “support” package. These “Support Packages” will often screw your computer up more than they help.

Don’t fall for it!

If you’re concerned about some kind of compromise in your email, ask the source!

You can go to www.microsoft.com, log into your account, then look for account management.

Once you’re there Microsoft will ask to send you a confirmation code. Retrieve the confirmation code and enter that into the requested location. From there you’ll be able to check “Security”.

Microsoft will display all the real “Unusual Activity” and allow you to confirm if it was you or not.

In my case, the only unusual activity was from my recent trip across the country. My parents, my brother’s place, and one point when I was using my phone as a hotspot in a hotel room.

There was no record of Russian login.

As noted above, the IP Address these jackasses are reporting is in Delhi India. If this was a real issue, the IP Address would actually track to Russia and there’d be some record of the activity on the Microsoft site.

How? You might ask did these people get my Microsoft email address? That’s easy! They purchased it from one of the numerous job search sites and are now trying to get a return on their investment. This is one of the MANY reasons I hate job search sites! There’s so much scamming on them they are almost unusable!

I miss the old way, the local newspaper and a real address and phone number that was verifiably local to where you were searching for a new job!

Then again, I’m older than dirt!

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Disadvantage of being out of a city

Well, there are actually remarkably few. The trouble is, when something happens it’s “big” and a royal pain in the butt.

It’s a disadvantage to be so far from shopping centers if you need or want something. Even the nearest Home Depot is 30 minutes away. The Lowes is 45 minutes away.

It’s tough to find people to do work on the house, especially people that know what they’re doing in this particular climate. For their additional knowledge, they’re more expensive. Meh, that’s how capitalism is supposed to work.

The biggest issue, is the septic tank. Sigh, it looks like that’s going to be the Thanksgiving and Christmas expense this year. 

(As an aside, I admire this picture of a septic tank and the model doing her level best to make it look at least a little sexy. Good Job! To the model and the company, thanks for making me smile about it.)

44510 750 Side Image 1024x768 2885845250

My septic tank is old. Really old. When the house was rebuilt in 2008, the builder didn’t think about replacing the tank at that time. I guess there was no real need, so why would the lazy jackass do something proactive?

The house was originally built in 1992 presumably that’s when the septic system was installed. At the time the house burned and was rebuilt, the septic system was 16 years old. The system wasn’t in use for a year while the house was rebuilt, but the tank itself is iron and rust never sleeps.

So here we are with a septic system that is 30 years old, and it’s failing. The tank was pumped out about a year and a half ago and at the time the guys said it should be replaced. I decided to wait because I was unemployed and didn’t have 7K to toss at that bill. That decision was at the time against my better judgement because I like to stay out ahead of maintaining things if possible. However given the circumstances it was a viable decision, even if it wasn’t the preferred one.

I suppose this is why the solar panels have been a thorn in my side. They represent an investment that will likely pay off over the next few years or at least break even. (Even though they still haven’t produced one usable KW of energy yet, Thanks Edison!) Even as the other half was wanting to move forward with the panels, I was asking, “What about the septic system?” Warm summer days would have been an opportune time to have that taken care of, in preparation for the Winter.

To be fair, installation of the solar panels had a defined expiration date. If we’d waited any longer, we wouldn’t have be eligible to lock Edison into paying us a fair price for the excess power we generated. The septic system was a ticking time bomb with no precise date of expiration. 

Hey, you put your money on the table and roll the dice! Sometimes you roll a winner, and sometimes you crap out.

(Yes I used that analogy with intent.)

Well, the septic system has, (oh hell I can’t resist,) crapped out. Fortunately, the weather is fairly mild and we have no winter storms in the forecast for at least a week or two. That means that the replacement can go ahead without fighting a foot of snow. Unfortunately, It’s not known due to the supply chain issues and all of that when we can get a new tank put in.

Additionally, with the insanity of gas prices and the cost of diesel, it’s gonna cost more. Yeah, the excessively high diesel prices will affect the cost. Figure it’s gonna cost more for the pump truck to come up the mountain, and the truck to bring a new tank up, the backhoe to dig out the old tank, the long distance transport of the tank from where ever it’s manufactured etc, etc.

This is one of those few times when I wish I lived in a city. If I did, I’d be connected to s sewer system and wouldn’t have to worry about much other than the cost of a plumber to occasionally snake the main pipes that lead to the sewer.

Ah well, we’ll be paying for this for a long assed time. Especially when you consider the interest rates on credit cards. 

These are all the things I was thinking while outside digging a cat hole to bury some waste that had been expelled from the pressure relief pipe at the front of the house. At least the plants next to the hole will be well fertilized come Springtime.

A plumber is coming up today he’s going to see if there’s some blockage. (it’s possible, not likely, but possible). I’ve also got calls in to a couple of different septic tank folks. I’m hoping we can have the existing one pumped out, maybe Wednesday. That should get us through Thanksgiving. Today I’m taking the water softener offline, which will reduce the amount of waste water going into the system. My hope is that we will not have to decamp to a hotel waiting for the tank to be replaced. The dog is the issue there. He freaks out in closed rooms.

Once I get a schedule for the tank being replaced, I’m going to be digging up the sprinkler system. Me & my trenching tool got some work to do. Yes, the sprinkler line crosses the yard in such a way that when the backhoe gets here it’s gonna tear up that line, if I don’t expose it, and remove it. I’m figuring that I’ll cut that section out, set it aside then temporarily cap the loose end. Come Springtime, I’ll finish the repair and reset the line and sprinkler heads.

Nothing living in the mountains is ever easy or straight forward. On the plus side, at least my knees may be completely up to the challenge by then. In a strange way I kinda look forward to being a shirtless redneck with a shovel sweating my ass off in the sun. I do not look forward to being a freezing redneck bundled up in 30° weather digging up the sprinkler line in the coming weeks, but you play the hand left deals ya.

I suppose I could have a portapotty delivered. Now that’s super redneck! Bundling up in the middle of the night to go take a leak really takes me back to my roots. Showers would be a problem in that case, but I suppose I could go out to the truck stop nearby and rent a shower there.

All I can say is Happy Thanksgiving.

Update: Well, it looks like the problem was some kind of blockage going from the house to the septic system. The plumber who is a godsend cleared it in about 10 minutes. There’s a reason we’ve been using this particular plumber for years. He’s on time, (calls with an updated ETA, if he gets stuck on a job,) has fair prices and does great work.

The ticking time bomb of the septic system ticks on, but at least we can plan for that expense instead of having to do it as an emergency.

So that’s what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving. 

Whew, dodged a bullet for now, here’s hoping that things hold together until Spring. It will just be a lot more convenient to deal with this when it’s warmer.

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Finally Back!

Got back to my mountain late yesterday.

I am beat. I’ve got laundry running, the car is filthy and there’s rain and snow predicted for this week. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up on chores around the house before Winter really sets in.

On the plus side, since I was traveling across time zones during the few days leading up to DST. That doesn’t seem to have hit me as hard as usual. I don’t know what time it is and haven’t known the time for at least the past two weeks.

Election Day is tomorrow, I specifically told the family that I needed to be back to vote, (A little white lie…). I’ll be voting in person and producing my ID even though it is not required. I want to make a statement. My statement will be ignored, but at least I’ll sleep secure in the knowledge that I made it.

Driving across country is always enlightening. When I left California, I made sure that I bought only enough gas to get me across the border to Arizona. 50 miles over the border, I filled my tank with 93 Octane for 4.50 a gallon. An immediate savings of about 2.00 and my car gave me a range of over 550 miles with that fuel blend. When the computer in the car said that was my estimated range I thought something was wrong. In California with their 91 Octane blend, I’m lucky to get 380 miles per tank. As it turns out, the computer was correct. 500 miles later I stopped to refuel.

Tell me again, how shitty gas saves the environment? It seems to me if you go further using less fuel and that fuel is burning efficiently that you’re doing more for the environment. Less drilling, less emissions, lower costs. But I’m just one of the unwashed morons what do I know?

When I got to Florida the Octane was still 93 and the cost per gallon was 3.80 The Floridians were complaining about the cost of fuel and I just smiled. There was one guy who saw my smile, I pointed at the California Plates on my car and shrugged. The man laughed and said, “I guess it’s a matter of perspective.”

I’ve also decided that TX is not for me as a possible place to escape the insanity of California. Every single time I’ve driven through TX, they seem to have more roads torn up than actually in good repair. Houston, Dallas/FtWorth, San Antonio, even Amarillo are terrible. 

Coming back to California, the last 30 miles of the I-10 in Louisiana all the way through Houston was a solid mess of construction, and traffic jams that were worse than Los Angeles at rush hour. San Antonio was a shit show and by the time I got there all I wanted was to find a straight country road to take me off I-10. I easily lost a day of travel just because of poor traffic management due to construction.

New Mexico, I blew through both directions. Last year they were still doing all the bullshit covid masking kabuki theater when I went through, and this year there was still some evidence of that. Plus their gas prices were noticeably higher than either Arizona or Texas which leads me to believe they’ve got some dumbass state taxes on the books that, like California aren’t being used to keep their roads in good repair. Fortunately, the gas range on the car meant that I only had to stop once. 

Texas may always have roads torn up, but at least there aren’t potholes that you could lose a city bus in. New Mexico on the other hand…

Most of Arizona is also out of the running for me personally as a retirement location. There are some very pretty places in Arizona. I’m fond of Flagstaff and the surrounding area. Coming through Tuscon and Phoenix felt like I was already back in California, just further from the beach. Flagstaff is a maybe, the rest of AZ not so much.

The sad part of the trip for me was that I’ve been driving across country for years. I can remember when the I-10 was a smooth ribbon of concrete. You’d often notice you were in another state because the road surface itself was a slightly different color. In Arizona for example, the I-10 had a reddish color I always thought that color was because of the color of the sand from the state. Now all the roads are gray and nondescript. What variations there are now, are from tar patches filling in the potholes. 

Approaching the California border there seemed to be a lot of U-Hauls heading East. Doing 70 behind a long line of 18 wheelers I wondered if those people apparently leaving would remember to leave their California attitudes behind or would they recreate the same conditions that led them to leave California at their destinations. 

I suppose only time will tell.

When I finally get to leave California for the last time, I’ll be sad. But I will do my best to leave all the California bullshit politics, bad ideas, and baggage at the border.

Bad ideas aren’t a crime, not recognizing a bad idea and continuing to double down on something that isn’t working is a crime. California seems to have done a lot of doubling down and not a lot of introspection.