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Yesterday’s forecast was ugly so we dashed off to New Jersey to do a shopping run before the crowds made it out. By the time we finished it was beautiful, if a little cool, so we put the rag top down and went for a drive instead of returning home.

We stopped at Hiram’s for chili cheese dogs and fries then wandered vaguely West on Route 5. We found a county road we recognized and followed it until it hooked up with Route 23 and from there we puttered around until backroads until we got to the lakes region. From there we took roads North, crossing into New York into Sloatsburg and then meandered around until we found Route 59 and the Pallisades.

It was a perfect day. Okay, almost perfect. It was a little cool and sometimes cloudy. And I didn’t wear a hat so now I have the first sunburn of the year on my face and shaved head from the first top-down drive of the year.

We’re looking at another Victorian in Brooklyn this week. It looks very good on the realtor’s site and we’ve seen others in the neighborhood. We haven’t entirely given up on the others but we’re not waiting around for the outside chance to happen.

Received an email with an interesting take on the 419 (Nigerian) scam. See below: From: ELIZABETH WOODS xxxx_xxxx@xxxx.xx Subject: HSBC PRIVATE BANKING : AN INVESTIGATION To: xxxx_xxxx@xxxx.xx

HSBC PRIVATE BANKING : AN INVESTIGATION

Good day ,

My name is Elizabeth Woods I am a senior partner in the firm of Capa
Consultants:Private Investigators and Security Consultants. We are
conducting a standard process investigation on behalf of HSBC, the
international Banking conglomerate. This investigation involves a
client who shares the same surname with you and also the circumstances
surrounding investments made by this client at HSBC Republic,the
Private Banking arm of HSBC. The HSBC Private Banking client died in
testate and nominated no successor in title over the investments made
with the bank.
The essence of this communication with you is to request you provide us
information/comments on any or all of the four issues:
1-Are you aware of any relative/relation who shares your same name
whose last known contact address was in Holland Netherlands
2-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a
person at the Private Banking Division of HSBC Bank PLC?
3-Born on the 1st of october 1930
4-Can you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume
status of successor in title to the deceased? It is pertinent that you
inform us ASAP whether or not you are familiar with this personality
that we may put an end to this communication with you and our inquiries
surrounding this personality. You must appreciate that we are
constrained from providing you with more detailed information at this
point.
Please respond to this mail as soon as possible to afford us the                             
opportunity to close this investigation. Thank you for accommodating our
enquiry.

Elizabeth Woods (Mrs)
For: Cappa Consultants

This one has been kicking around since at least October 2003 but it is the first I’ve seen of it. Judging from a March HSBC news release and newsgroup discussions it is prevalent in the UK and Australia. What is interesting about this take on the account transfer fraud is the more subtle “phishing” of this initial contact instead of declaring the amounts and details up front.

I finished reading Robert Sullivan’s Rats. I bought it after reading an early review and excerpt. I was a little surprised that it is, essentially, what a humorist once called a “Me and Ed went fishin’” story. There’s nothing wrong with a meandering story and there is nothing wrong with this one either. I enjoyed it. I even enjoyed the tenuous connection of historical figures to rats and allusions to their likeness to rats. What is irritating are the subreferences to Thoreau, Melville and Whitman (not even sophomore English Lit. majors go around quoting this stuff outside of bars) and buttressing the story with footnotes and bibliography. It’s as if the author felt guilty for his narrative about watching rats and talking with the people who deal with them and needed to pump it up a little with some scholarship.

By 12:15 today, I had made the cake, the soup and matzoh balls, the brisket, polished the silverware and set the table. The brisket took a bit longer last night than I expected, and I slept like hell and woke up at my usual time, but the recipe is very good so it’s worth it. All that remains to do is roast the chicken, cook the veggies and straighten up the apartment. This is going better than I thought it would.