THE DREADED UNSUBSCRIBE CHORE

Why do I still have AOL? It’s crazy, I know. Very outdated. The Democrats made fun of Mike Pence because he still uses it. But there are too many people from my past who still contact me that way, and I think it’s too late in my life to change my e mail. Here’s the bad thing: AOL has some way of connecting me to every website I’ve ever visited, and places where I’ve purchased anything. Not only that, the politicians have wormed their way in, and dog me for contributions to causes and people I really don’t care about. Every so often, after receiving about 100 emails a day, I find myself faced with the dreaded unsubscribe chore.

The dreaded unsubscribe chose. It's tedious to unsubscribe. — The dreaded unsubscribe chore. It’s a tedious task, but every so often it’s necessary.

Do you know how to cut down on those unwanted e mails? I didn’t , until I read about it in Heloise. You know, the lady newspaper columnist who tells you exciting ways to re purpose toilet paper rolls. At any rate, Heloise said that first, you open the dreaded e mail. Then, you scroll to the bottom of the page. Put on your glasses, get a flashlight, and squint at the fine print. Somewhere in there it says,” unsubscribe.” You click on that. And, if you’re lucky, you will receive a message that you’re unsubscribed.

But it doesn’t always work out so easily. Often, you will be directed to another message which demands to know why you’re unsubscribing, and making you verify that you honestly don’t want to get any more emails from them. Or, they ask you to key in your email address–as if they didn’t know. After you’ve done that about 30 times a , it gets tiresome and time consuming. Sometimes, they’ll tell you that it may take a while to get unsubscribed, and not to worry if you still keep getting emails from them . That’s a sneaky way to keep you from losing track of who you’ve unsubscribed. The truth is, some of them will never let you go.

At any rate, today’s the day to start the dreaded unsubscribe chore. I will only give it an hour of my time, which won’t even scratch the surface. But you have to start somewhere.

April 27, 2020April 27, 2020

STAY AT HOME DIARY: WEEK 6

The #stayhome isolation is giving me a case of Covid-19 related hypochondria. A pulled muscle, cough or sneeze is not something alarming, under ordinary circumstances. But when I woke up with a sore neck last week, it had me worried until I realized I’d spent too much time reading my kindle. Consequently, I looked online and found that I could order a kindle holder, but it probably wouldn’t come very soon. Anyway, I’d never use it once the lockdown is over, because I prefer hard cover. Just wonder when that day will come. Stay At Home Diary: Week 6:

The closing down of meat processing plants has me concerned. Some of us lived through meat rationing during World War II, and it was not pleasant, unless you like Spam. I guess it’s popular in Hawaii, but to me it tasted like a combo of salt, fat, and rubber. I won’t eat Spam again, no matter what. I’ll go vegetarian with beans, lentils and other grains.

One high point of the week was a teleconference with our local Mayor. When people asked if all our city improvement plans were going down the drain, during the Covid-19 crisis, he had a great response. “We haven’t stopped, ” he said. “We’ve just slowed down.” I liked that slogan….a combination of caution and optimism, striking just the right note. Who said small town mayors from Indiana were dummies? He sounded far sharper than Trump, in my opinion.

On my weekly shopping trip, I noticed that fewer people are wearing masks. I can’t imagine why they are beginning to relax. Guess they’re just tired of it. Some grocery stores are doing a better job of following CDC guidelines than others. I won’t shop anywhere that doesn’t provide their clerks with masks and a Plexiglas barrier at checkout.

Major scare late Friday night. Got a call from a tenant in a property I manage that he had a leak in his bathroom that was spilling into the downstairs apt ceiling. What horrible timing! How many plumbers are available on Friday night? What if they weren’t working at all during the pandemic? Put in a call to my plumber, and had a fairly sleepless night. But he texted me next morning and said he would be out to fix it. Feeling fortunate to have a good relationship with this company, who has been there for me many times over the years. Plumber are first responders, too!

What would we do without plumbers during the covid-19 crisis — Plumbers are first responders, too. What would we do without them?

My oldest grand daughter’s birthday was Saturday. The night she was born seems like yesterday. Never thought I would live twenty-eight more years after that. I’ve been blessed with lovely grandchildren. They will always remember the spring of 2020!

It’s been a great week for gardening. Meijers had lilies on sale for half price, and I planted them right before the rain came down. Tomorrow, I’ll try to transplant some Hosta if the rain lets up. Notice a lot of people out working in their yards. We should see some pretty landscapes this summer.

Looks like we’ll have another week of grim statistics and politics, but as our mayor said. “We’ve just slowed down; we haven’t stopped.

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

WARNING! SPOOFERS TARGET SENIORS

Most seniors have email accounts, but aren’t too hi tech, otherwise. When they get an email from their bank, Pay Pal, or credit card provider, they perk up. Especially when the email warns them that A) their bank account is locked or B) someone from Zimbabwae is hacking into their account. Fear takes over. Consequently, when they’re asked to provide passwords to straighten everything out, they’re tempted. The email looks legitimate; it’s logo and format looks exactly like other emails from financial institutions. Warning! spoofers target seniors.

My husband and I use one email address for all of our financial transactions. Last week, we got an email from his bank. The logo and format was identical to the routine emails we receive from Fifth Third. It had been posted at 5 o’clock in the morning, and said he had been locked out of his account. All he needed to do was provide his pin and password, and he could get back in.

When we first get out of bed, we’re often a bit groggy. We didn’t quite understand what was going on. I lifted my fingers and started to key in the required information. Then I took a few sips of coffee, and my head began to clear. We didn’t need any cash, so why hurry? Two more sips. “ I think you’d better stop by your bank, “ I said. It was a cold and snowy day, but he had a scheduled haircut, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Turns out, he was the fifth person who’d reported receiving one of these e mails that day. Even one of the bank employees received one. You’d think the phisher or spoofer would be smarter than that. And yes, it was a fake. If we had provided the requested information, someone could have cleaned out his account, and there wouldn’t have been much we could do about it.

Spoofers and Phishers Target Seniors — This email was fake. It looks like it was sent from Pay Pal, but it wasn’t.

That was a bit unnerving, but we hoped it was the end of the fake emails. But it wasn’t. Yesterday, I got one (supposedly) from Pay Pal saying they were concerned about my account because someone from Zimbabwe was trying to use it. I clicked on one of the links, and they asked me to provide my pin and password. This time, I knew what was happening. It’s hard to speak with a real person at Pay Pal, but I finally managed to find a viable phone number. They said the email was a fake, and asked me to forward it to their “spoof” address. They also suggested I change my email address.

This is a warning to all seniors. Always call before providing pins and passwords in response to e-mails from financial institutions