Scam and Swindle

This entry was posted in Fun Stuff, Just Life on by .

I think one of the reasons that our society is having some issues is that we are always worried about getting scammed. Now that the internet is prevalent, we see it much more often. This makes us apprehensive when strangers approach, in real live and /or electronically.

I don’t worry about it too much. I put my name and address, plus phone number on my resume on my website. I’d rather be accessible than worry about the negative consequences of the action.

But saying that, the guys doing the swindling have step up their game. I wrote something last week about things coming in 3. Here it happened again.

The first one was the most perplexing. I’ve been kind of keeping a lookout for an AWD Sienna minivan. I’ve had a couple AWD Caravans, but Toyota is the only company making a minivan AWD now. Anyway, I looked on eBay and there is a 2009 with 40K. It shows a bunch of pictures and then says at the bottom of the description that 13K with buy it today. So I email the guy and ask him where it is and if that is true.

It takes a couple days and the response is that yes, 13K will by it. And he says it is in Topeka. I’m thinking, that is too weird. Then I get the normal letter than the guy is in England and that an eBay agent will meet me with the papers. He says the van in stored in his garage here. So, I knew it is a scam, but, I kept going, just to see what was up. I was getting the guys name on his email, Jeremy Stone. It was a Topeka-like email address, a Southwestern Bell internet address. I ask his address and he gives it to me.

I look the address up on Goggle Maps and can see there is a window in the garage. I decide to drive over there just to see if there is a .0001% chance this could be legit. I get there and the garage door is open. And there is sitting a AWD Toyota minivan. I think, man, this is too weird. There is a guy in the driveway and I ask him if he is Jeremy. He says that Jeremy isn’t there, but his wife is. So, the guy goes into the garage and knocks on the door and a nice woman comes out.

I say hi and explain a little why I’m there. She assures me that her minivan isn’t for sale. I show here my phone with the eBay auction and then the emails from supposedly her husband. She asks me to see the email address and says it isn’t his.

So, the guy on eBay, somehow can track my eBay name back to me living in Topeka, that isn’t such a big deal. But after that, he goes and gets a Topeka email address and then assumes the name of a real person that lives in Topeka that has the same color and model Toyota minivan. I have no idea how he even gets the van’s information. It seems like really a lot of trouble. I’m not sure how much money he planned or did receive. There was a $500 pre payment. Maybe if he had 20 stupid guys on the hook, he ended up with $10,000. But he would have to get 20 different email addresses and then find 20 AWD Toyota Sienna minivans. Seems pretty elaborate.

The next two were just the normal weird emails. One was that I had a up coming trip, but it was sent from Southwest. Maybe Southwest just screwed up, but it looked real. I have a flight from Las Vegas to Columbus Ohio on August 29th. I’d have to get to Las Vegas to make it though.

The last one was from one of our military guys. It’s below. I decided to respond, just for fun. I never heard back, boo.

Anyway, we are all getting bombarded continuously, hearing about these schemes and frauds constantly, it makes us less approachable, less friendly. When my doorbell rings now, I always think it is a weird guy trying to sell some left over meat or something. (All my friends just walk in.) I guess as our world gets smaller, mainly through electronic advances, we’re all going to be subject to more of this. I just hope it doesn’t get too much more sophisticated or guys like me will be in trouble.

From the military guy.

From the military guy.

My response.

My response.

My Southwest confirmation.

My Southwest confirmation.

The van in the garage.

The van in the garage.

I saw this truck after all this. We are so paranoid that we have big trucks rolling around that shred our paperwork.

I saw this truck after all this. We are so paranoid that we have big trucks rolling around that shred our paperwork.

Racing Hurt

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I’ve been pretty banged up this season. It started in January at Cyclocross Nationals and kind of just keeps on coming. I had a naïve read on the recovery time of the shoulder surgery, so I’m to blame for that. But, all these stupid little falls I’ve had training, on and off-road, were just plain bad luck.

I’ve raced a lot hurt over the years. It all started back when I was an intermediate, (junior 13-14). I broke my collarbone in Superweek and raced the Nationals Road Championships a little over a week later. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the world to do, but doctoring and medicine was much different back then.

That being said, during that era, racing bicycles hurt was sort of what was to be expected. In Europe, racing was a blue collar sport. Here in the US, once criterium racing became at least 50% of the scheduled racing, if you did the whole year, you fell, fell multiple times a year.

Back when the Nabisco series was happening, mainly my Schwinn years, we it was two criteriums at weekend, at least, for months. If there wasn’t a guy on our team with a broken collarbone, it was unusual.

I don’t quite understand now when these Pro guys fall, they lay on the ground for so long and don’t instantly get up and get moving. It seems like it is made for TV or something. They obviously do know that there are a million cars backed up and that they can virtually motor pace back on. That usually works, but every once in a while, like when Vino fell at the Tour a few years back, it doesn’t work out great. These guys should just get moving and then figure out how badly they’re beat up.

I was off the front in the Tour of Texas once, descending a blind corner and ran into the Campagnolo motorcycle that was parked in the middle of the road doing a wheel chance for Doug Smith, a future team mate. I hit the ground hard, slid into the guard rail and smashed my front wheel. The field was coming and the guy driving the motorcycle realized that he was “parked in a bad” space and took off. So, I was left standing there with a non-working bike. The field went by and I got a front wheel from a follow car and instantly started chasing. I knew I was pretty hurt, but also knew that if I didn’t get going quickly, I was going to be riding all day by myself. It didn’t matter, when I got to the next climb. I couldn’t use my left arm. I’d broken my wrist pretty badly and it was valueless. I then stopped.

Thurlow Rogers raced nearly the whole Coor’s Classic one year with broken ribs. That is pretty amazing. Mine have been broken for nearly 3 weeks now and every Monday after racing only one criterium each weekend, I can hardly move.

Anyway, what got me thinking about this was reading about Taylor Phinney and Philippe Gilbert crashing in the Eneco Tour and both stopping. They both hit there left knees and Taylor’s was bad enough that he couldn’t remount his bike. I honestly have no idea how badly either of them were hurt. Knee injuries are worrisome. And I do realize that they both have bigger fish to fry that the Eneco Tour. But if this would have been the Tour de France, I assume that both of them would have continued.

It seems like the only time the Pros keep riding while injured is in the Tour. The rest of the season doesn’t seem to matter. There is always another race and there are always other riders that can replace them.

I hated/hate quiting races. Getting hurt during stage racing is not usual. Riding through the injuries sometimes is actually the best thing you could do. It keeps you from stiffening up and after a few days it sort of becomes a non issue. I wish Pro riders would put more emphasis on the race they are currently doing and treat the races with more respect. Obviously no race is getting the respect the Tour receives, but when they are competing, they owe it to the fans and their team mates to compete fully. Part of that is falling down and getting back up.

This is a picture of a car that Andy Paulin and I ran into at the British Milk Race while we were riding on the US National Team. I was hurt pretty badly, broken leg, collarbone and hand. I didn't get up from that one.

This is a picture of a car that Andy Paulin and I ran into at the British Milk Race while we were riding on the US National Team. I was hurt pretty badly, broken leg, collarbone and hand. I didn’t get up from that one.