Tired of Bad News

And i'm sure you are, too.

It turns out whoever was in my AOL account was all over my computer remotely, and it was someone i know, but i can't figure out who or why. We know it was someone who has been in the house because they were using a teamviewer program, and i don't give out the info on how to get into my teamviewer. It's something i have to tell you, or you have to open the program on the computers and copy the info yourself.

They managed to install a couple of trojans and possibly a keystroke logger, i can't tell yet. A friend who knows computers has helped me get over the immediate trouble, and will be over soon to install a few things that will finish the cleanup. Ol' Bessy almost completely overheated from all the antivirus and antimalware programs i had to run, and we aren't through yet. Hope she doesn't bust a gasket over it all.

All online banking has been halted, and i called and changed my pass codes over the phone.

Although, if they know me well enough to quote my birthday and last 4 of my Social Security number, or my husband's, they can get around that, too.

As if the computer trouble isn't enough, we also got another of those 4am calls. You know the kind, where the child is stranded on the side of the road. #1 Son was getting off a 12 hour shift and swerved to avoid a cat. Two tires, two rims, and the transmission pan torn up. Yes, the cat survived.

When i went into the shop to pick up the car, i told them, "i'm here to pay for the $800 cat!" Yes, it was that much.

So everything has a new password, and my bank account is so depleted no one should want it. Guess that's my silver lining on this story.


Today is:

Clam Chowder Cook-Off -- Santa Cruz, CA, US (if you love clam chowder of any variety, this is the place for you)

Dance of the Secret Places -- Fairy Calendar

Februaristaking -- Netherlands (commemoration of a strike against the Nazis)

International Sword Swallowers' Day

Katsuyama Sagichosai -- Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan (music fest and burning of the new year decorations; through tomorrow)

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival) -- Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Let's All Eat Right Day -- in honor of the birth of Adelle Davis is 1904, an early pioneer in good nutrition; kind of defeats the purpose of the next entry

National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day -- some sites say any nuts will do, some specify peanuts; take your pick

National Clam Chowder Day -- not to be confused with New England Clam Chowder Day, back in January

National Day -- Kuwait

Open That Bottle Night -- time to finally drink that bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion; after all, the final Saturday in February only comes once a year (sponsored by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher of The Wall Street Journal)

Parke County Maple Fair -- Rockville, IN, US (lots of fun, and Maple Syrup! through tomorrow, and next Saturday and Sunday)

People's Revolution Day/People Power Day -- Philippines

Pistol Patent Day -- Samuel Colt received US Patent #138 for the first pistol on this day in 1836

Revolution Day -- Suriname

Showa-Shinzan International Yukigassen Tournament -- Japan; snowball fighting (yukigassen) at its best, through tomorrow

St. Ethelbert of Kent's Day (First Christian king of the Anglo-Saxons)

St. Walburga's Day (Patron of Eichstätt, Antwerp)

Soviet Occupation Day -- Georgia

Swamp Cabbage Festival -- LaBelle, FL, US (through tomorrow)

Quiet Day -- can't find the history behind this one, but mommy wants one!


Birthdays Today:

Sean Astin, 1971
Carrot Top, 1965
Lee Evans, 1964
Ric Flair, 1949
George Harrison, 1943
Tom Courtenay, 1937
Bob Schieffer, 1937
Sally Jessy Raphael, 1935
Bobby Riggs, 1918
Anthony burgess, 1917
Jim Backus, 1913
Adelle Davis, 1904
Zeppo Marx, 1901
Meher Baba, 1894
Enrico Caruso, 1873
Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841
Xuande, Emperor of China, 1398


Today in History:

The First Bank of the United States is chartered, 1791
The German Midiatisation is enacted, taking over 1,000 German sovereign states into about 40 larger entities, 1803
Samuel Colt patents the first revolving barrel multishot firearm, 1836
The first US electric printing press is patented by Thomas Davenport, 1837
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress, 1870
The US Steel Corp. is organized under J P Morgan, 1901
The Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Toronto Marlboroughs in 2 games, 1904
Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1912
Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax, 1919
Diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union are established, 1925
Glacier Bay National Monument (now Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve) is established in Alaska, 1925
Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain, 1926
Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission, 1928
The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier, 1933
In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis, 1941
The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1951
Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston, 1964
The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online, 1971
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, 1986
In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers and injuring 125 more, 1994
In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state, 2011