This is NOT a conversation between me and my friend Matthew. It is a conversation between me and someone claiming to be my friend Matthew. Luckily I'm of the generation that still calls mothers at the crack of dawn to verify the location of their sons.
But in all seriousness, please be aware of this fraud tactic. I'll be contacting the FTC and InterPol today.
Matthew
Need's Urgent Assistance!about an hour ago
Clear Chat History
7:03amMatthew
hey there
How are u doing?
7:03amZB
hi matthew. it's early! I'm just fine. how are you?
7:03amMatthew
Am not good
7:03amZB
what's wrong
?
7:04amMatthew
Im in some kind of deep mess right now
7:04amZB
how so?
7:04amMatthew
Im stranded in London
I got mugged at a gun point last night
7:04amZB
holy shit?
where are you?
specifically?
7:04amMatthew
All cash,credit card and phone was stolen
7:04amZB
did you go to the police?
7:05amMatthew
Im in a public Library
7:05amZB
what credit cards do you need to notify?
7:05amMatthew
i have reported to the local cops here.Investigation is going on
7:06amZB
who do you need called?
7:06amMatthew
I really need your urgent assitance
Thank God i still have my Life and passport
7:06amZB
sure - how can I help?
7:07amZB
The US embassy is helping me with my return flight home
My return flight leaves in few hour but having trouble sorting out the hotel bills
7:07amZB
what hotel are you staying at?
7:08amMatthew
Wondering if you could loan me some few $$$ to pay the hotel bills and take a cab to the Airport
I will def refund you when i return home
Would you loan me some cash?
7:08amZB
what's the quickest way to do that, western union? it might be easier if I call the hotel with a credit card
and then western union some cash
7:09amMatthew
you can wired it to me via western union
7:09amZB
can you go to the hotel so I can call you there and help sort that part out?
7:09amMatthew
Do you know any western union outlet around?
7:09amZB
where are you in london?
7:09amMatthew
Kentish town
7:09amZB
what hotel?
7:09amMatthew
You can wired the money to my full name as written on my passport
I checked in with cash...
7:10amZB
what hotel?
7:10amMatthew
Sector Inn...
7:11amZB
can you go back there so we can talk?
7:11amMatthew
Would you call the hotel Manager on my behalf?
I have limited time here
7:11amZB
Yes, I can do that - are you going back there before the airport?
7:12amMatthew
I cant go back to the hotel now..I need to return with cash Jessyca
How much can you spare me with right now?
7:14amMatthew
????
7:14amZB
hold on a sec
7:14amMatthew
ok
7:14amZB
I'm on the phone with your mom
who is certain you're in mississippi
and that you're reporting to teach today.
want to tell me who the hell this is really?
See recent report on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/05/facebook.impostors/index.html
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Saturday, August 01, 2009
the (little) devil in the details
In Praise of
The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki
At about 5 months along in my own pregnancy, I read The Second Nine Months with a bit of trepidation but with great recommendation from a friend of the author’s who insisted that I would enjoy it. I did. The trepidation had come not from worrying that it would be too negative or sarcastic, or whiny and insufferable as “Operating Instructions,” (the voice of which smacks of bitterness from not having a partner with whom to venture into parenthood among other meanderings about drugs and religious hooey) but out of a fear of my own feelings. I get annoyed at the neediness of the dog, how will I ever be a mother? It is the unabashed, unapologetic look at self doubt that makes The Second Nine Months a success – not in delivering us a new trend in baby-and-pregnancy-related books (though it will likely result in a string of copycats).
I have a brutally honest friend who announced early in her first pregnancy that she thought the whole thing was gross – including the idea of having an infant – and while at the time I confused her portrayal of motherhood as a bit cold and unemotional, what I missed in the statement was the very emotion in it, the questions in herself she’s willing to face, and the strength to say, “it’s not complicated, or it is, but the fact that I’m straightforward with myself about it is not.” She’s right, it’s gross. Not admitting it is more gross. Not being able to speak the truth can literally make one sick and further – for what I’d like to think is the urbane woman – makes us slaves to the marketing empire that is salivating for us to drop our precious load on the economy, oddly, making us “consumers” while really we are producers.
Pregnancy makes you do weird things, like steal fruit from business breakfast buffets and google “why men find pregnant women so hot.” It makes you fierce and wilting a the same time. It conjures up all sorts of strange nightmares that progress with the pregnancy, of deformed babies and a deformed self image, coupled with a growing realization that while it may all be worth it in the end, the poopy parts might also have to be as good as it gets. It’s also a vibrant, pulsating time when you feel like there’s a beam of light on you wherever you go, a fecund image of life, family, sex and of loving a parasite. It’s confusing.
What I take most from Second Nine Months is that I know that deep, irrational love, the kind I feel for the first time with my future spouse and father of my child, and what I expect to feel for my child, comes with the capability to hate, a dark repose and broiling anger for the whole mess, the whole lot, and anyone that would dare step in my way as I couple with it. The balance between the two makes for a complicated woman, a light and darkness that defines us all, and a worthwhile life.
Thank you, Vicki. I will almost certainly give it a second read. If I have time. Which I have a feeling I will not. But I’ll want to.
PS
The one thing I would change if I could in the story? Wouldda sent that email and then FIRED her ass.
Millenials...
The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki
At about 5 months along in my own pregnancy, I read The Second Nine Months with a bit of trepidation but with great recommendation from a friend of the author’s who insisted that I would enjoy it. I did. The trepidation had come not from worrying that it would be too negative or sarcastic, or whiny and insufferable as “Operating Instructions,” (the voice of which smacks of bitterness from not having a partner with whom to venture into parenthood among other meanderings about drugs and religious hooey) but out of a fear of my own feelings. I get annoyed at the neediness of the dog, how will I ever be a mother? It is the unabashed, unapologetic look at self doubt that makes The Second Nine Months a success – not in delivering us a new trend in baby-and-pregnancy-related books (though it will likely result in a string of copycats).
I have a brutally honest friend who announced early in her first pregnancy that she thought the whole thing was gross – including the idea of having an infant – and while at the time I confused her portrayal of motherhood as a bit cold and unemotional, what I missed in the statement was the very emotion in it, the questions in herself she’s willing to face, and the strength to say, “it’s not complicated, or it is, but the fact that I’m straightforward with myself about it is not.” She’s right, it’s gross. Not admitting it is more gross. Not being able to speak the truth can literally make one sick and further – for what I’d like to think is the urbane woman – makes us slaves to the marketing empire that is salivating for us to drop our precious load on the economy, oddly, making us “consumers” while really we are producers.
Pregnancy makes you do weird things, like steal fruit from business breakfast buffets and google “why men find pregnant women so hot.” It makes you fierce and wilting a the same time. It conjures up all sorts of strange nightmares that progress with the pregnancy, of deformed babies and a deformed self image, coupled with a growing realization that while it may all be worth it in the end, the poopy parts might also have to be as good as it gets. It’s also a vibrant, pulsating time when you feel like there’s a beam of light on you wherever you go, a fecund image of life, family, sex and of loving a parasite. It’s confusing.
What I take most from Second Nine Months is that I know that deep, irrational love, the kind I feel for the first time with my future spouse and father of my child, and what I expect to feel for my child, comes with the capability to hate, a dark repose and broiling anger for the whole mess, the whole lot, and anyone that would dare step in my way as I couple with it. The balance between the two makes for a complicated woman, a light and darkness that defines us all, and a worthwhile life.
Thank you, Vicki. I will almost certainly give it a second read. If I have time. Which I have a feeling I will not. But I’ll want to.
PS
The one thing I would change if I could in the story? Wouldda sent that email and then FIRED her ass.
Millenials...
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