5.30.2005

Save a tree! Opt out, baby, OPT OUT!!

I may not be the most public-spirited person in the world, but boy oh boy do I hate junk mail and encroachments on my financial privacy (real or imagined). That being said, with apologies to those of you who live outside California, but with a sincere recommendation that you find a similar resource in your home state, this website is extremely useful for tips and tricks on how to protect your identity from being stolen, your credit from being damaged, and your sanity from being further eroded by the incessant flood of phonecalls and direct mail from people offering you crap you don't need. Nationwide, you can now call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (that's 567-8688 for the unlucky few whose phones don't have letters) and telephonically opt out of free credit, banking, and insurance offers extended to you by virtue of the nation's four largest credit bureaus' extremely rude and bad habit of selling their lists of names and addresses to financial institutions and insurance providers. All you need is your SSN and a little bit of patience to deal with the voice-activated robot lady on the other end of the line.

Another fine resource is 1-888-382-1222, the national do-not-call registry whereby you can take your phone number off those annoying and time-consuming cold-calls whose source, I suspect is not only the credit bureaus' above-mentioned bad habit, but everywhere you have to give your phone number or address at a department store or elsewhere. You can also register online, here. Oh! A propos of all such intrusions, by the way, you know you don't have to give your real zipcode, right, when some clerk at the checkout counter asks for it? I like to use 02134, which, in addition to being easy to remember, is also the zip for ZOOM. (Whubich yubou shubould ubalsubo chubeck ubout!) Heh.

Pubeace, y'uball!

5.10.2005

I love Paris in the Springtime

Please note that the title of this post is misleading, because I've been to Paris in the winter and fall as well, and love it just as much. Still, I came across this little travelogue on the Times' website and thought I'd share it, having nothing much else to talk about at the moment.

Granted, there are many wonderful places to go in the world, Florence and New Zealand being just two that leap to mind, but I do love me some Paris, France. You should go there. I'll be going back next year, myself. We could meet up. Have an Orangina. Wear black.... Play-smoke. Sneer at some tourists. You know, the usual: pretend we're French.