Really? For this Dress? Really.

Posted in Complainments, Me Me Me! by Marci

Tell me this is not the most hideous dress you have ever seen. And I will tell you that, in fact, it was purchased from Bloomingdales.com for nearly $300. The dress is not mine, nor could you pay me $300 to wear it. Nor would I pass it along to any of you fine folks for free.

The reason you, dear readers, are subjected to looking upon this eyesore is because some *ass monkey* took it upon themselves to steal my debit card number (I still don’t know exactly how that happened, since I still have the card) and make several online purchases. Two from Bloomingdales, and one from the Apple Online Store. The purchases overdrew my checking account and I received an overdraft protection notice shortly after the second Bloomingdales purchase was made, so I was on the phone with my bank immediately. They actually were great – they refunded the money to my account, canceled my debit card, issued me a temporary debit card, and opened up a fraud investigation.

I also called the police about the matter, since it was unlikely that the bank would actually ever pursue a criminal investigation because the amount of money was so small (just under $500 for bloomies and I don’t know how much from Apple, since the charge was pending for $1.00 when I canceled my account). I wanted to know how people could get away with ordering something online, having it delivered, and *not* get caught. It turns out that they can give a fake address and when the order is returned to the shipping warehouse, they get an email letting them know that the delivery address was incorrect but that they can come to the shipping facility to pick up the package. Or, they can have things delivered to a P.O. box. And, it’s fairly easy to get credit card numbers to sell or give away – at restaurants when you give your credit card away to be run, sometimes an employee will just make a copy of it to keep. Or at a gas station. Or anywhere, really. So keep an eye on your card!

The detective called Bloomingdales to get information on the purchases, which had billing addresses in Kentucky and Texas (i.e., fake addresses), and a delivery address in Alameda, CA. But apparently, someone got nervous because they did a little research to find my work address, and changed the billing address to my work address. And for the second Bloomingdales purchase, they also changed the delivery address to my work address. Which is how I got the dress (which I plan to return, since it is not mine and I didn’t pay for it). Maybe they saw how quickly I caught the fraudulent activity and got scared; maybe they decided they didn’t want the dress after all – I don’t know. But it really pisses me off that Bloomingdales let the purchase go through even though the billing address didn’t match the one on my check card account…if they don’t need to match, why do we even provide that information when we place an online order???

So this begs the question…why would anyone risk prosecution, commit identity theft, screw up someone’s finances, all for such an ugly, hideous dress? The answer, I think, is that there are people out there who have horrible taste, not only in fashion, but in the way they choose to live their lives, with little regard for others and no concept of being accountable for one’s own actions. These are the leeches on our society, and they try to disguise themselves as normal humans with fancy clothes and expensive toys. It’s difficult to tell them apart from hard-working responsible decent folk, but evidently they often wear excessively ugly dresses.

So good luck with the whole karma thing, buddy – let me know how that works out for you. You apparently know where to contact me.

23Jun2010

Superstar!!!

Posted in Entertainment, Music and Dance by Marci

Much like Molly Shannon as her Mary Katherine Gallagher character, I have secretly yearned to be a superstar: worshiped by audiences, adored by fans, and lusted after by teenage boys who have posters of me above their beds. And yes, dear admirers, that day has come – for I have survived my very first bellydance performance.

Ok, I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous. I’ve been taking neo-tribal bellydance classes at Euphoria Studios for a while now and about a month ago we started rehearsing for the annual student show. There are three beginning 2 neo-tribal classes (which is the one that I take) that performed together to do a veil and improv piece; I had my doubts as to whether it would all come together or not because we hadn’t all practiced together in the performance studio (no mirror to watch everyone else!). But in the end, all of us coalesced into a colorful veil-spinning group that made it through the performance without anyone tripping on a veil or passing out. And I didn’t even get blocked by anyone trying to hog the spotlight from *me*! As if they even could…hee hee hee! :oP

Chris took some really nice pictures of our group and the other performers, and I was happy to have him in the audience cheering me on. Yes, I had my concentration face on, but I tried to remember to smile and shake it like the best of them! It really was a lot of fun and I hope that I get another opportunity to perform for such a supportive and enthusiastic audience.

5Jun2010

A Sunny Weekend in Seattle?

Posted in Travel, Vacations by Marci

Yes, I know I’ve gotten a little bit behind in my blogging. But I’m still here, right, so that’s a vast improvement from last year (and by the way, I’ve already surpassed the total number of blog entries that I wrote in all of 2009. Yay, me!). So in an effort to catch up, I thought I’d tell you the story of a sunny little weekend adventure that Chris and I took up in Seattle a few weeks ago.

We drove up on the afternoon of Friday, May 7 and made excellent time, narrowly missing the closing time of Starbucks (whew!) by convincing the drive-through attendant that he should definitely let us order a strawberry-banana vivanno smoothie. Additionally, I tried my first crispy bean burrito at Taco Time, which was excessively yummy and aided in padding my ass so that I am better equipped to enjoy long car rides. Chris had made reservations at the Hotel Monaco, right downtown, and we were lucky enough to receive a free upgrade to a suite…it even came with fancy animal-print robes and free honor bar treats (up to $10 value, please)!

On Saturday we summoned our car from the valet (Chris dials the valet…ring ring…”Hello, Mr. Sigman – will you be needing your vehicle this morning?”), who was named Mario and who, I’m fairly certain, was an undercover secret agent spy who only had the valet job so that he could grab a car to make a quick getaway which would likely involve jumping over an open drawbridge. Seriously, Mario was a bad. ass. with his shaved head, fancy suit, and little secret agent earpiece with the curly wire down the back of his neck. I decided that it would not be in our best interest to mess with him, so Chris tried to tip him well.

Anyway, we headed out for a delicious breakfast at Glo’s (coffee cake and huevos rancheros…yum!), did some shopping, then walked around the International District where we explored Uwajimaya, a huge Asian grocery store with all manner of sea creatures (yes, to eat), vegetables, boxed and canned goods, and household objects. They also had a food court area where I bought a couple of pork buns, but I can’t say that they were among the best I’ve had.

I also was told not to take pictures of the roasted ducks hanging behind a counter. But take that, Uwajimaya! I got me a hanging duck picture!

Later that afternoon we drove north of the city just a bit to say hello to Chris’ dad, Walt, who still lives in the house Chris lived in as a kid. It was nice to meet him, and the garden in his back yard was amazing – I especially liked all the rhododendrons (blooming in purple, orange, and white) and the several varieties of Japanese maple he had. After that, Chris and I drove down to Bothell to his mom and grandmother’s house where we met up with them and his Uncle Bruce. My hair was passionately molested by one of Cynthia’s kitties (Peep), who apparently has some sort of uncontrollable fetish. We went out for a Mother’s Day dinner at Grazi’s and enjoyed some delicious Italian fare. I don’t remember much beyond that because I think I was in some sort of food coma. So full!!!

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day – warm and sunny. The day before, I learned that Chris had never actually eaten dim sum, so I found a reputable dim sum restaurant in the International District and away we went. Jade Garden was completely packed, but Chris and I were one of the few non-Asian patrons so I considered that a good sign. In the waiting area there were all these aquarium tanks full of crabs and fish and things that were still alive but waiting to be eaten. After about a half hour (Seinfield, party of four!) we finally got a table. The dim sum carts did their little parade and before we knew it, we were stuffed with *good* pork buns, shrimp balls, and other tasty morsels (but no chicken feet or black jello; although the pork noodles were flaccid and slimy). Success!

After brunch we (so sadly) checked out of our room at the Hotel Monaco and said farewell to Mario. But since it was such a nice day we decided to explore Pike Place Market, which was super-crowded with people who were also out enjoying the day.

It was a fine, fine way to spend the weekend, and I had a good time meeting Chris’ family. We’ll definitely go back to the Hotel Monaco and I recommend it highly! If you want to see all the pictures we took that weekend, you can view them in the slideshow at right, or here.

3Jun2010

Mo’ Modeling, Mo’ Modeling, Mo’ Modeling!

Posted in Entertainment, Music and Dance by Marci

In case you’ve been wondering how the whole belly dancing thing has been going, it’s been great! I’m taking a couple of classes each week between a few different instructors, all different, all amazing dancers. Ziggy (below, red hair) got me into modeling for an online belly dance clothing company; we did a couple of photoshoots in May, and it was a lot of fun getting all fancied up in clothes I would otherwise never get to wear! Here are a few shots of me doing my thang.