All Thumbs Dot Me

• Resting my mind and watching a favorite movie of mine, Star Wars! #
• Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey. – Barbara Hoffman #
• Monopoly marathon, part two! #
• 23 done, one to go! #
• Gave my students their final today. Grades, makeups and closing up shop for the summer is all that's left! Two more days, two more days! #
• Isn't it interesting that when you're in a good dream, the alarm happens to wake you up? Have a great day everyone! #
• Nobody can bring you peace but yourself. – Ralph Waldo Emerson #
• Support @TeamRadioShack, @LanceArmstrong and the 28MM fighting cancer! Add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://twb.ly/bBPriT #Team28 #
• #tdf timetrial today. Andy Schleck lost more time to Alberto Contador. Tomorrow's the final stage. Looks like AC will win this year's Tour. #

• sending everyone a SoCal weekend greeting! Be safe and remember to enjoy some offline time, too. Aloha! #
• completed a refreshing run this afternoon! #
• "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone." – Bill Cosby #
• What's up with the cool temps? Laguna Beach broke a record for their lowest high temp today, 69 deg! It was a nice 78 here! I'll take it! #
• Funny to hear the "awwwws" turn into "ewwwws" today! #
• Today's instruction: SexEd. The wonderful world of puberty, fetal development and child birth! Anticipating both fright and wonder. Yay! #
• discussing genetics and the Human Genome Project with my students today. #
• is reflecting on an amazing weekend getaway and wishing for more to come! #
• http://twitpic.com/26lhfx #
• http://twitpic.com/26lhar #
• http://twitpic.com/26lgn8 #
• http://twitpic.com/26lg3i #
• Checking out the Farmers Market in San Rafael. Sunny day! #
• http://twitpic.com/26cmvy #
• Just finished a massage in Calistoga's Indian Springs! Ahhh! #
• http://twitpic.com/2671e5 #

• http://twitpic.com/25yryg #
• Purchased my first BART ticket! #
• Hearin' the rumbling of thunder. Maybe some rain tonight? #
• When does one concede that watering dead grass is a futile fight? I'm really not liking this water restriction thing and our arid climate. #
• Is looking forward to an awesome weekend! #
• Zippy's Chili for dinner. Delicious! #
• Oh boy, it's turning out to be a hot week! Looks like summer has made it here to SoCal. #
• Yes! #NL wins the #ASG First time since 1996. Great defense in the ninth. #
• Is praying… A good friend lost her father today. #
• Congratulations to Spain and the octopus… #
• Will the octopus be correct with #Spain winning the #WorldCup against the #Netherlands #
• Good day for Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador. After today's stage, I'm thinking Leipheimer has a better chance of being Radio Shack's guy. #
• It's not looking good for Armstrong today. He's had too many crashes in this years #tdf and can't afford any more. He looks frustrated. #
• Overcast now, but I'm sure it'll warm up later! (@ Soak City Waterpark) http://4sq.com/9I1Mlo #
• Eating breakfast and watching stage 7 of the #tdf Today's stage is just a small taste of harder climbing to come! #

On July 2, 2010, my iTunes account was hacked into and I was charged for a total of $100.99.  After receiving several email confirmations stating I purchased these items (an iPhone app and two $50 gift certificates), I began to investigate the causes and possible preventions to this type of situation.

As it turns out, this is a common occurrence and people have been taken for thousands of dollars.  With this information, I called my credit card company to deactivate my account, changed my iTunes password and removed the credit card information from my iTunes account.

In order to process the fraudulent use of my credit card, my credit union required me to submit a police report, of which I did.  This was followed by having a notarized copy of my request to dispute the charges that needed to be investigated.  This was certainly a first and hopefully the last.

Once I mailed the necessary documents (certified return receipt), it was time to wait for my credit union’s response.  This morning (July 13th), I happened to check my account balance and found that the fraudulent charges have been reversed!  Good news!

The process went rather smoothly and I’m glad about that.  However, based on the regular occurrence of these episodes worldwide, I’ve decided to discontinue my use of iTunes to purchase my media.  There are many alternatives out there and I’m very happy with Amazon’s music store so far.  If, for some reason, I do need to purchase something from iTunes, I will use a gift card instead of my credit card (a small inconvenience, but safer option).

In addition, I’ve reevaluated all of my online bill paying accounts and have changed a few for added security.  I suggest everyone do this frequently, especially passwords.  With the growing popularity of online financial transactions, there are exploits out there that can be taken advantage of.

The Internet should be safe, but as in life, it isn’t.  Be safe online and I hope this doesn’t happen to you.

Dwayne

• Sheesh! My email account got hacked. If you received an email entitled "discount news:" with some other characters from me, delete it. #
• 9 down, 15 to go! Summer school's in full swing! #
• 9 down 15 #
• Wow! That was a nice earthquake! #
• Back from the range and arms feel like they're falling off. Should've stuck with a medium bucket and consumed less caffeine. Live and learn. #
• Book and coffee in hand, will enjoy the day as best as I can! Have a great Monday! #
• Stage 2 of the #tdf was chaotic today. Tomorrow will be more as they ride the cobbles of the Arenberg Forest (Paris Roubaix style)! #
• Happy Birthday America and thank you to our forefathers and armed forces for our continued Independence! #
• Found 3 fraudulent charges to my card on iTunes account. Cancelled card & must now talk to my bank on Tuesday. Not thinking nice words! Grr! #
• Instead of the beach, we're here riding rides in the sun! (@ Knott's Berry Farm w/ 5 others) http://4sq.com/5TU5IH #
• http://twitpic.com/224t39 #
• Support Le Tour de France, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://twb.ly/9CBgso #