The Hacking Process

 

         I’ve never done any readings about what to do if I were 

                                                HACKED!

 

WELL --- It finally happened! Here’s my story about what I’ve learned. I started to research and inform myself, as well our friends.

Don’t give out personal or financial information

Don’t share your personal and financial information - we will never call, email or text you requesting you to respond with your account number, PIN or access code

Scammers use different tactics and techniques to get victims to fall for their schemes.

They may pose as government officials, law enforcement or even Bank of America employees to steal your personal information. Messages will look identical to official correspondence. In some cases, they can be friendly, sympathetic and seem willing to help. In others, they use fear tactics to persuade a victim.

If you receive a call, text or email, or someone comes to your home asking for this information, don’t give it out.

·    Don’t feel pressure to respond right away.

·    Validate the request by calling an official phone number from their website or talk to a trusted family member or friend - don't call phone numbers mentioned in the questionable message.

·    Consider installing an app to block robocalls to your phone.

     I was sitting at my computer, and I opened an e-mail from an unknown source. Next thing that I knew, my screen turned into a flashing spectacular of all sorts of official looking warnings, accompanied by LOUD noises. The purpose was to rush your very being into a PANIC! Everything was to exude fear and make the subject/target/me lose control.

     Along with that was a warning not to turn off your computer and to call the large, red flashing telephone number (888-XXX-XXXX), X = possibly more eights; I don’t recall!

     When I called the number, it was from Supposedly, Microsoft Tech. support. He was there to help me solve my hacking problem. Believe me when I say that I felt as though it was a genuinely talking to a representative of Microsoft.

      He proceeded to tell me that he had to take over my computer. He sent me a request to merge---Merge I did!

                  I had called a supposedly genuine Microsoft number.

         DON’T CALL, or make ANY contact; go into a protective mode.

1-      BREAK the connection; no matter what they were telling you.

2-    Take the battery out for a half hour or so.

 

 Once you have killed the connection; go into cleanup mode.

1-      Call your credit card company and ask for the “Fraud” division.

2-    Contact the National Do Not Call registry and put in your number.

3-     If you are still enrolled in any of the three Credit Bureaus; Put your account on ‘Freeze’. We did that about five years ago. You only need  to contact the Credit Bureau if you want to re-open, if you need to apply for any large credit purchase. Then Freeze it again!

 

Now back to the crooks. The phone call from MSFT was passed to a connection supposedly with Bank of America Support.

       I noticed that the MSFT had the same Asian accent as the BofA representative. THAT really made an impression on me. The first agent was very difficult to understand; the BofA tech. support was more fluent. If you wonder, why I didn’t pull the plug; so do I! That was the degree of panic that had overcome me!

     If you have a high credit limit, you might call your credit card company and have lower your credit limit.

     You have the basic procedure to put an end to it; Do Not communicate with the perpetrator, he or she isn’t your friend!

 

THE REQUEST

 

The BofA impostor took over from the MSFT impostor and away we went!

He informed me that I had a $2500 charge on my account. He explained that we only had two hours to stop the charge from being paid!   More ANXIETY!

     He explained that there was a procedure (I forgot what label he gave it!)  It allows you to make another charge on your account. This duplicate charge can be deleted by me, immediately after it’s posted I asked to have any outstanding charges deleted. That was our plan (his)!                 Go to a CVS pharmacy or a Target Store and ask for two $500 gift cards. That will give us the ability to cancel them along with the phony (I think) charge.

     Whatever you do don’t break the phone contact and make sure to take along your car phone charging cable. It’s very important to stay connected!

     Into CVS, I entered, chose the two $500 giftcards. I was told to not tell them why? If suspicious, they may not approve the transfer, so said the predator! I was beginning to feel a little shaky about what I was into!

      In, I went to the checkout counter and made my purchases. When I presented my credit card for payment --- it was DENIED! I became puzzled and did the only thing that I could; I excused myself and explained the situation to the clerk and headed out the door.

      The predator and I arrived at the CVS (I, in person; He on the charging phone). He wanted me to leave the phone in the car and not take it to the store.

     This left me with two $500 charges and NO Gift Cards! No money – No cardie!

     I went out to the car and confronted the predator with the “Bum Card” story. He told me that he’ hook me up with another department. He said that I should place an order for $2500, to be used as a collateral.

 

     The anxiety tripled in a heartbeat; I started to think, leaving him to wait for my response. While back at the car; everything inside of me was on major alert!  I could smell a rat! I was in the midst of a near perfect scam.

     As I sat there pondering my situation, I decided to hang up and check with my Visa Card Fraud Division. The call went through, however on hold --- on hold --- ON; I was caught in a quagmire! Finally, about 35 minutes later, a ‘legitimate’ representative (a complete switch) answered.

     They put a freeze on Marcia’s account and closed mine. The next day we called BofA and asked for a new card for Marcia’s account.

     I felt a sense of relief; my internal compass was back in control. The agent told me that the only recent charges that my account has was for the two $500 gift cards. [possibly the quoted $2500 charge that I was told early on, may not have been genuine. They had control of my computer and evidently, also my phone. I was told by BofA that the pirates could have had multiple options of interference.

     I’ve listed some valid points to side-step a hacked or data stealing attack.

     I bought a 5-computer program from PCCleaner with lifetime coverage for $148.88.

      I really hope that my writing this Hacking procedure will impart a sense control if ever you should be hacked!

 

I wished that, I’d been informed on the contents of this e-mail, before being hacked! 

 

Good Luck

Avocato Pit Procedure

 

 

     I was asked if I could give a detailed version on the Avocado Pit Procedure, here it is: The first thing is to remove the pit’s skin. We can’t process phytates, so get rid of them. I place the pits in a broiler oven @ 230 degrees for a minimum of 15 minutes. This allows you to easily pick off the skin.

     The next step is to cut the pits. Look for the pit’s seam as a guide to splitting it in half.

                                                         

             Before you start to slice the pits, trim and clean them. If the 15-minute curing time wasn’t enough time, put those pits in for another 5 minutes; that should cause them to peel more easily. In order to save time, I just trim whatever needs to be trimmed with a sharp knife.

     I cut them in half and then slice into 4 or 5 pieces, depending on the size of the pit. Then slice the half into smaller chunks, as illustrated, and place the small chunks into the blender (food processor).  Then get rid of the phytates!

                                  

  

           Place the chunks into the blender to reduce their sizes before placing them into the dehydrator.

                         

     You’ll notice a rather rapid red deepening of the ground material; that’s the normal oxidation as the ground pits meet the air!

                                                  

   I put paper towels on each side of the drying tray; it keeps the tray cleaner.

                   Use a fork to spread the ground pits into a flat even layer.

                                                         

     The following picture was taken after the 10 to 12 hour drying spell

     From here we go to sift the dried pits, with our fingers, inside a colander. The scenes shows that some of the ground pits are reluctant to be ground!

                            

                 There is a plan to take care of that; take your pick!

                                           

You’ll probably choose the coffee grinder; it’s very efficient. Once the reluctant grindings are small enough to go through the colander's mesh, use the finger grinding method. Those that are still reluctant --- toss in the trash! There never is going to be very much that gets tossed out. This picture has yet to be pushed through the mesh; it should all make it and be bagged.

                        

This is the final portion of the procedure, packaging for future use.

                                         

                    

                                                   La Fin

      

How I Met Marcia

 I'm going to lay out the events that wound up to our first meeting. So, please be patient. I have to go way back to my early 20's and set the scene. This would be circa late 1950.

    

      I had two aspirations for what I wanted to do in those days. The first was to be a jet pilot. This proved to be the more difficult. I needed a college education and also a learn-to-fly program. Then if I had those, I would be competing with those pilots coming out of the military who had many hours of flight time.

 I enrolled in a flight program under my GI bill program. As time went on I learned to fly and accumulated about 40+ hours of flight time and passed my written exam. I never took the time to take my practical test after my cross-country solo flight. The test was the last step to a pilot's license. I also enrolled in night school at Long Beach Junior College and was taking night classes. As time went on, I felt that I was way behind the curve of this ever being a success.

 

     I turned to my second choice which was to be a hair stylist. I transferred my GI Bill to cover my cosmetology school.

     Talk about radically different career goals!  I got a few raised eyebrows when I mentioned what I wanted to do.  In those days the cosmetology business was viewed the same as a man becoming an airline steward(ess). You've got to be kidding me. I'd never want to be an airline host(ess)!  Although if I wanted to, I suppose I could do it. I never had any qualms about my sexuality. I know who I am. I'm happy, but I'm not gay!  However, I'd like to make three points on the subject. 1. There are more straight people in this world than those that are gay. 2. Neither being straight nor gay is synonymous with pervert. 3. One would conclude that since we outnumber them, our group has more perverts. It would be quite possible for any family to have a pervert or two in its family tree! If so, I'll bet that person could be gay, or not, but definitely not happy!

     I have no idea where I got the bug to be a hair stylist. The very first day that I walked into the cosmetology school to fill out my application for admittance was also the first time that I had ever gotten a whiff of permanent wave solution! YUK!!! I think of it as something like smelling salts or some sort of sinus clearing vapor! It's on the opposite end of the scale from perfume. It doesn't bother me anymore. In fact it was a very lucrative part of my business.

     I enrolled in the class for a fourteen month course that would prepare me to take my California State Cosmetology Board Exam. The student body was composed of about 155 girls ranging in all ages from the late teens to somewhere past fifty. There were also only three guys. The surprising part of that statistic is that in an industry composed largely of females and quite a few of the "also want to be" guys. The three of us were all straight! The instructor, Mr. Ted, definitely would not be called one of the boys!

     I enjoyed the course and did rather well. I took to it like a duck to water. Soon, it was graduation time and then the taking of the state board. They only held the board exams a few months out of the year. My time gave me almost a two month wait before the exam.

     I had learned that the Clairol Co. (world's leading hair color company) had a free clinic at its Hollywood, CA office. The building served as the west coast operations headquarters as well as the clinic. This clinic allowed cosmetologists to bring any of their customers who had difficult hair coloring problems. Clairol furnished all the supplies and also the supervision of their color technicians. All free! What attracted me was that they also trained and encouraged all cosmetologists who came to work with the technicians. What a great opportunity. I went. Everyday, I would commute almost an hour from Long Beach to Hollywood. The clinic was open from 9 am until 9 pm.. It made for very long days.

     While I was there, the western states manager asked to see me. I went to his office and he asked if I'd be willing to come to work for Clairol!  DUH!! That was a no-brainer. I said yes, and found myself heading for New York City, their main office, to attend classes for a few weeks to be trained as a color technician.

     My duties were three-fold. I would work the clinic with the other technicians until I was needed for traveling. My travels were to be flown to a western city, where I would hook up with a beauty supply house. I would go with one of their salesmen on his regular route and visit the beauty salons that were his clients. My job was mainly to offer help if they had any hair coloring questions. It was a huge PR gesture on the part of Clairol. The real reason...I was there to push their products.

     I would also fly to wherever there was a "hair show". That was like a trade show or a convention. Cosmetologists would come to see the latest products and some of the leading and famous hairstylists perform hair styling techniques. The big draw was a judged hair styling contest. My job at these was to assist the featured stylists with their hair coloring needs in preparing the models for the platform demonstrations. While I was working behind the scenes, a stylist mentioned to my general manager who also attended these events, that I be given a spot in the program! That was a huge step up for me.

     They also set me up for a photo shoot with a famous photographer to the stars! This is his work.

     He took great pride in stressing to me that he had put the stars in my eyes! He was a real professional. These were used at the entrance to the ballrooms to display the featured presenters in the program. I had close to fifty of these made.  When Marcia and I moved to Alaska about seven years later, they suffered with the winter in our trailer. They all stuck together and mildewed.  I put them in the trash. Anyway, no need for them anymore. We just found this one with some of my mother's picture collection that Marcia had stored away in California. That gave me the idea to develop this journal on the events that led to our meeting.       NOW, back to my story.

 

     I would walk out onto the stage with a model and do her hair coloring application. What was surprising and unique about that, was the fact that I made the complete application to only the roots in less than a minute! Most of these applications usually take around ten minutes.  I just zipped through it. It stemmed from my work as a technician. At the clinic, I had to learn to speed up the process because I had a class of at least fifty operators who would need help. There were only three technicians per shift.  I couldn't afford to take my time. That was my job.

     My job got a little bit too demanding and I was straying further and further away from my goal of being a hair stylist.  I began to get dissatisfied with it. I had those long commutes to work and spent a lot of time away from home flying around the west in a DC 9.

      I asked one of the stylist, whom I befriended at the hair shows, if I could work for him. He owned a large salon in Hollywood. He said that he would hire me if I had more training in styling hair. He was absolutely right. I had zilch in that area. I only had my school training to offer as experience. This was a top notch salon and he couldn't afford a trainee!

     I set out to get my styling experience. I got a job at the Disney Land Hotel's salon. It was a small shop with just three of us working. It proved to be quite slow and wasn't giving me the experience that I wanted. I left them after about a month. I then found a job closer to home in one of the leading dept. stores, the May Co. I worked there for over three years. It was all that I thought it would be. They did a huge business. They put me in the first styling chair near the front desk and the entrance to the salon so that anybody passing by would be able to see me working. Talk about feeling used!!

     At that time I had two good friends. Al Hatten, Norman Dunn and I were hunting buddies. Al was a neighbor and a salesman for a parts supplier. Norman was a hair stylist who worked in the salon with me. Later when M and I were married, you might say that they were my "Best Men". It was a difficult choice so I said they were both our best men.  You're probably thinking, "At last he's going to tell us how he met Marcia." You're absolutely correct, we are close. But, no cigar! 

     Norman was a rugged looking, semi balding guy who smoked cigarillos (a small cigar with a plastic mouth piece). When asked what he did for a living, he'd take a puff off that cigar a and say, "I work construction. I drive truck."  He was straight but would rather not talk about being a hair dresser!. Al and I would roll in the aisles when he'd pull that one. Al, a heavy smoker, is gone now and I don't know about Norman. He's not on Facebook. I guess nowadays that's as good as being dead!

 

     Now, I felt ready to go out on my own. I bought space in a small strip mall on Artesia Ave. in No. Long Beach, CA. It was a new building and I had to design and build the interior myself. I knew what I wanted and I couldn't afford to have it done. So, I did it. It turned out well and I opened for business. I even designed my own business cards. It was a script written font, Mr. Henri Coiffures, printed on a red velvet covered card.

      My salon had room for four stations for stylists. Soon after opening for business, a young Hispanic man called Ceasar asked if he could work for me. I hired him and it was a good choice. He also wasn't one of the boys, however that didn't matter. In fact, I didn't realize the situation until he introduced me to his partner. I'll interrupt here to smell the roses and tell a story about Caesar. He worked for me for over three years and then opened his own salon. I then went to work for him for a short time after I sold the salon and before M and I moved to Alaska.

      So, we were good work friends. Fridays were very hectic long 12 hour days. We closed at 9 pm., which meant that we would go home before 10 pm. This one evening after work, I decided to introduce him to a small local bar called "Club 85". They had excellent steak dinners with salad and potatoes for eighty five cents to promote their name!!  Well worth it.

     A month or so later Caesar's partner came to pick him up after work. He hadn't made it a habit to do this. In fact, I only saw his partner probably three times in the three years. They pretty much kept to themselves. I happened to mention what a great time Caesar and I had after work on that Friday. Me and my big mouth!  I could cut the descending tension with a knife! His partner turned to Caesar and said, "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT THAT !!!" Caesar responded that it had slipped his mind.  I could see that Caesar was in deep poo poo!  I quickly said that it was no big deal. We were both worn to a frazzle and hungry. I made myself scarce and headed for home, leaving the two to settle the matter .That little scene still gives my heart a little chuckle. So, I'm sharing it.

     It was a couple of years later that I was going to hire another operator. A young lady right out of beauty school asked me for a job.

 

 NOW, Marcia makes her appearance !!!!!

 

     I was training her on how I wanted her to drape the customers when they sat in the chair for service. This was a system that I had learned from Clairol that ensured a customer's comfort during shampooing, hair coloring or permanent waving. I was playing the role of the client when Marcia walked into the salon. The salon was an open concept arrangement. This meant that I had full vision of anybody in the waiting area. I acknowledged her presence and told her that I'd be right with her.

     I asked her how she found out about me. She said that her friend Pat, a customer, recommended me. She made a weekly appointment and became a steady customer. We fell in love.

      That was it!  The rest is history. One little side note...later after we had started dating, she confided in me, "That day when I walked into your salon and saw you sitting in that chair with that getup, I thought, oh, oh, he's gay!!!"

     I've spent the rest of my life trying to prove to her that I'm not.  I'm LOVING it, and I see no end in sight!!! 

       If I hadn't gone to beauty school and she hadn't gone to college to be a schoolteacher and then moved to California from New York, our paths would never have crossed. This journal would then be the saddest story never written!

     I'm flying high and I have a wonderful co-pilot.,

  

 

    

 This is in response to a request that I show the  procedure  for making Lox.

 

      Lox are not cooked, they are cured. The mixture is: 2 parts salt; 1 part sugar. 
After the filet is deboned  (I use needle nosed  pliers to pull the bones.) Place it skin side down  in pan. 
     Sprinkle about a shot of vodka or gin over each filet. Use enough to wet liberally. Don’t skimp.
     Sprinkle the mixture liberally (I use a teaspoon for control.) until it is fully covered with a white coating. Start with about a half cup per filet . The size of those in the picture  is about 12” x  5” x 1 ¼“. If you find that  your filets are smaller, then cut back to suit.

     These are King Salmon (Chinook) and came from about a 25 pound fish. I don’t think you’ll be in those sizes.
     The fish on the right  has the  mixture and some dried dill sprinkled  on top. The filet has developed some of its whiteness because the moisture of the mix has already started to react with the salt.

     Next, you cover with cheesecloth. I use some old T-shirts that have outlived their usefulness. Yes, the shirts are trimmed to exclude any sections  that would add unwanted flavors!
     Once you’ve covered the filets with at least 2 layers of material, sprinkle white wine liberally over the whole filet and around the edges to saturate  all the material
      I then place the pan in a cool place (refrigerator is good) for 3 days.

 

     After the curing period, rinse the filets to get the salt off of the surface. You can also rinse out the material and put it to be washed for the next application. Cut filets in 2-3 in. pieces for better smoke penetration.
    Place the filets on a slab of wood and pat dry with paper toweling. The reason for the wood is to prevent the cooking of the bottom of the filets during the “cold-smoke” process.
     Sprinkle onion powder and more dill over them.

 

I use a small barbecue as a smoker. You can also see that I’ve wrapped the wood plank that the filets are on with foil.

     The other plank that you see is the source of the smoke. Someone asked if I used alder or any of the smoking woods. I said that I use rough-cut lumber!
     The day that we went to the  Wedgeworths, Terry gave me a beautiful slab of hickory and a few pieces of oak. This batch was done before I got the hickory. It’s just taken me this long to write this up.
    Smoke for about 15 min.. Remember to keep it from getting too hot. You’re not out to cook, merely to add flavor.

 

Once the filets have been smoked, you can now process them for eating or preserving. If it’s preserving you want ,  then wrap in saran and if you have a vaccumm packer, use it. 

                                                                                                                               
      You can then freeze it for future use. I found that when we go to California for the winter that you can do just as well by buying Costco’s lox. By the time you buy the filet and go through the process of turning it into lox, you’re better off to buy it. The price is quite fair. However, it is farmed and not wild. It's not the same quality. But still very tasty..
  

   

     If you want immediate gratification, slice some off and eat with cheese and onions. Or make yourself a lox and bagel sandwich.
     For Lox & Bagel Sandwich use toasted bagel halves. Spread cream cheese on them with capers on top. Next put a layer of thinly sliced onion and tomato and top it off with a covering of lox slices.
     

We use this often for breakfast and sometimes for dinner.  The cheese and  onion version below along with crackers and cream cheese is almost a daily lunch for us.

 

THE END

 

Love, H & M