Look at that Horse!

Five Weeks and Counting

While I love summer, I must admit that I really love fall more.

Why? Football.

Penn State kicks their schedule off on August 30th against the formidable Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Every year I get really excited about a powerhouse football squad, and this year is no exception. With seniors like Derrick Williams, A.Q. Shipley, Josh Gains, Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood, Tony Davis, Kevin Kelly, Rich Ohrnberger, etc. -- we have a good shot at being a real power house football team.

Of course there are questions. Star Linebacker Sean Lee will be out this season -- but I'm sure that PSU can pick up the slack here. We always seem to be loaded at the Linebacker position. The more curious question will be Quarterback. We have the Michael-Robinson-like Darryl Clark who seems really good at giving us an option as a mobile quarterback (but I've never seen him throw). We also have the highly decorated Pat Devlin (who set many Pennsylvania State high school quarter back records), who has yet to see any playing time. Will we see a two quarterback system? Will we move to a spread offense this year? With running threats Stephon Green and Evan Royster, will Joe Pa just use the receivers to set up the run?

Ah... someone like myself can just get giddy thinking of all of the possibilities.

We have a tough schedule this year: back-to-back-to-back games with Wisconsin, Michigan, and then Ohio State.

I can't wait to see how this season plays out. In the mean time, here's the obligatory PSU rah-rah video:

Worst Wheel of Fortune Move... EVER

I love Wheel of Fortune.

I don't watch it anymore, but I used to watch it all of the time when I was little. In fact, my parents used to tape the episodes on the VCR so that we could watch it together as a family at night (and try to figure out the puzzles before everyone else).

This has to be two of the biggest wheel of fortunes mistakes ever....

(A little bit of) Freedom

The worst thing about being in a cast right now is the lack of freedom.

I cannot drive. I am dependent upon people (and their schedules) on when I go to work, when I leave work, when I eat, when I go out to do stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I am very thankful for everybody who helps me about. But it still sucks.

Today, a small victory. I was able to get myself dressed and down the stairs... all by myself.

This means that I can get up a little early, and have a little bit of quiet time (typically what I love to do on the weekends). ... and I don't have to wait for anybody or wake anyone up to help me.

One step back to being normal.

Back in a cast!

I got my staples removed today - about 20 of them in total. The picture to the right is after the staples were removed; Jenn wasn't too keen on watching and taking pictures when they were getting removed!

The swelling on my foot is definitely down. My leg is definitely starting to atrophy.

I got a brand new cast. And the guy cleaned my leg before putting the cast on. Getting my leg cleaned felt sooooooooo good. (I never thought I would be excited to have my leg cleaned by another guy).

I'll be in the cast for at least for more weeks. I am hoping to start physical therapy in early August. I'm hoping that I can be somewhat normal by September! *fingers crossed*

PNC are also Ass Clowns.

Another day... another problem with a bank.

I am a new customer of PNC (not by choice - my old bank is merging with PNC).

I got my access to my online banking account today. I got myself locked out because the PIN that I thought would get me in is really not the PIN that they used.

I called up to get my account unlocked and my PIN reset. Citing "security concerns", they were unable to tell me my new PIN, and would instead mail it to me.

Really? I answered three or four of your security questions, and you can see that I am calling from my home phone number. If I did all of that, the letter you send me in the mail next week ain't gonna help at all.

The thing that really irritates me is that they mail me and print my FULL SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on the letter that shows me my user id! In other words, they are using my SSN as my user id!

PNC: You guys a bunch of fanny bandits.

How hard is it to give me a random number for my user id? Even if the SSN is my user id, why not just tell me this in the mail ('your userid is your SSN')? As a tax-paying citizen, I should know my SSN. You certainly don't need to print out all 9 digits in the letter!

Please STOP using my SSN for things you shouldn't be using my SSN for. And stop printing it on a letter and mailing it to me!

Go America!

Fourth of July is no exception. There's always one guy in the neighborhood who over-does it.

Bank of America is a bunch of ass clowns

Today it took me about 15 minutes to activate my credit card.

I have a card through Bank of America. It's a card I hardly ever use (because I'm an Amazon.com card guy). But, I keep the card around in case of emergencies.

Unfortunately, they were unable to verify my identity because the phone number from which I was calling was different than the one I had online (I moved five years ago and must have never updated my home phone number).

So, they had to "dive further" to establish my identity. They asked for my last-4 digits of my ssn. Check. They asked for my mother's maiden name. Check. But they were still having difficulties. They had to transfer me to a specialist.

The "specialist" went in for a deep dive. This including giving him my current billing address and then asking for two intersecting streets to my billing address.

So lets look at the pieces of information you used to establish my identity:

+ Last four digits of SSN - just about everyone and their mom knows this number. Everyone asks for this number (and they shouldn't). Only the IRS, my employer, and myself should know this number so that they can report taxes. But because of SSN abuse, this isn't really a safe number any more. My doctor knows this number, PennDot knows this number, my bank knows this number, my credit card companies know this number. Hell, comcast probably knows this number too.

+ Mom's maiden name - 15 minutes of social engineering can easily get this piece of information

+ Billing Address - Hello? If I stole your mail, I probably already know this.

+ Two roads that intersect with my billing address - I can get this information in less than 15 seconds, using Google Maps.

Dear Bank of America:

While I truly appreciate your need to protect your profits and my card from identity theft, I think you guys suck. None of this information really helps to establish my identity and can be easily thwarted by anyone who wasn't an idiot.

Please implement something better in the future.

Bad Commercial Placement

Freaking hilarious:

Stairway to Heaven

Big victory for me today. I was able to use my crutches to get up the stairs. While this might not sound like a big deal to a lot of people, let me tell you: when you first start using crutches, climbing stairs is really scary.

Over the last couple of weeks, I got very good and competent with getting in and out of the house (where I either have one step onto the porch or one step into the garage). Curb hopping is now really easy.

Last night, I just told myself: "it's just a series of 20 really easy curbs". I was right. It was really easy to get up.

I did have Jenn to spot me as I went up the stairs. No, I don't expect her to catch the full weight of a 300 pound guy falling down the stairs, but she is more-than-capable of gently nudging me forward when she sees my balance teetering.

This was a small victory for me. It feels normal to walk up the stairs. At least, much more normal than scooting and crawling.