FINALLY!

Hey they finally did it. Now Netflix accepts payments through Paypal. It's about Time!

I restarted my account, I had to build a new queue since my old one was older than 5 years old or so. Weird when they used to ask me to restart before they accepted Paypal they would let me use my old queue. Guess they finally deleted that since they are pushing their "View INSTANTLY" download service. I also had to fiddle a bit with the "renewing" to "delete" my old credit card info and be able to choose Paypal payments. Now I have switched to the 2 movies out service instead of the full 3 movies out. That was a bit over the top. This way I can still have one to view while the other is in transit. Now to fiddle with my old excel file (which I have actually updated to keep track of purchases somewhat) and get some of those obscure titles back on.

Mailinglist Name Misspelling Rant

Or What's In A Name?

OK I can live with the common misspelling of my last name using an "o" instead of an "e". It used to really tick me off, but I've learned to accept it, as I'm sure people with the last name of Smith who spell their last name Smyth. The Scandinavian spelling I use seems to baffle most people, even though Hans Christian Andersen is probably known more world-wide than Pamela Anderson (except to fans of Baywatch and Playboy magazine subscribers). Still most people spell the name Andersen with an "sOn". It's only natural since the surname in most languages and cultures means "the son of Ander (or Anders)".

I can even put up with some of the weird misspellings of my first name but the one that gets my goat, or grinds my gears is "Kirl". ACK! that's right some idiot data entry clerk at some credit card company, probably Citibank about 2 or 3 years ago, maybe even earlier somehow deleted my second "k" and combined my middle initial to my first name. Now there is a mailing list with that name on it. Wait, What? KIRL isn't even a name, it's not even the proper spelling of Curl. It's what you do to your hair, or with a set of weights, or even a very bad misspelling of a young person of the female gender.

I don't know how many times I've received junk mail under that "name". I used to tear them up and recycle them, but now if I want to take the trouble I mark those letters "Return To Sender" mark up the name a little and put a note that says something like "No such person", or "Nobody by that name at this address" and I usually put "Please remove from mailing list". Of course all this returned mail won't even be looked at, and half of it won't even be delivered by the post office. So why should I bother?

OK this made me feel a little better.

Maybe I should try to get a second identity under that name and get a second Social Security number. NO I would probably be arrested for identity theft, or trying to use an alias. Then how the frack do all those criminals steal names so easily, yet the victims spend many years trying to get things fixed and it never gets corrected?

Other misspellings of my name I can recall have been:

Akirk -I think this was another CitiBank special, using the first letter of my last name added to the front of my first name.
Curt - Often people ask me if I spell my name that way, Um NO I'm a Kirk not a Kurt. It is interesting how I haven't heard of a spelling of "Cirk".
Kick - Another Non-Name.
Kurt - Again I've been asked if this it the spelling for my name.

Rick -I know sometimes I've been called that by people who have misheard my name. I don't think I've received any mail under that name. Oddly enough I have sometimes also been called "Erik". I have a brother Erik, but often the people asking have no idea I have a brother with that name.
Turk - This I've just heard from people who have misheard my name. Again another NON-Name. I have never received any mail under it Thank Goodness

Not sure If I've gotten a "Kirt", or even a "Krik", but once several years ago from the magazine Scientific American (or maybe just Science Magazine) the label was addressed "Dr. Kirk Andersen". Somewhere I think I still have that subscription form. I liked that I was tempted to subscribe to the dang thing just because of the title on the label. It wouldn't have been worth it though as the subscription rates for that magazine was pretty expensive. With doctors as subscribers I guess they do gouge their subscribers a bit.

Good thing I don't have a complicated Middle Eastern name, that would get butchered by most English speaking people, both in pronunciation and in spelling. OK Rant over for now.

Credit Score Rant

Rant: WARNING this got me so angry I might use some very strong language.
As if anything related to credit scores could get any worse. I heard that now some companies are thinking of looking not only at your credit score, but also at your history on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The idea is to check out your associates and friends credit histories and compare theirs to yours. WT? Apparently some Creditors are Using Social Networks to check your credit worthyness. The idea is if your friend Joe Blow is chronically late with his payments then you might be also. Well if your friend Joe Blow had blonde hair and dyed it Pink and got a Mohawk then the chances are pretty good you would too. Right? Well that is the logic they are following and with a whole boatload of other things associated with your credit score THIS IS WRONG AS WELL.

First of all your credit score is oh so mighty and powerful, that without it you can't get bank loans to buy a car or house and now they are saying even getting a job can be affected by your credit score. UGH.

OK so there are thousands of commercials that say you need to know what your credit score is and you can get it FOR FREE. Well the catch is you can ONLY GET IT FOR FREE ONCE A YEAR! If you want unlimited access to YOUR OWN CREDIT SCORE you have to pay $7.00 a month or a year or some asinine amount to each of the 3 credit reporting companies. IT SHOULD BE FRACKIN' FREE 'NUFF SAID.

Oh and any creditor who wants to can check out your score any DAMN TIME THEY FEEL LIKE IT. AND YOU NEVER GET TOLD! Unless you start looking at your credit score yourself.

THIS SHIT NEEDS TO CHANGE. The individual should have access to their score AT ANYTIME. It's the CREDITORS SHOULD HAVE TO PAY $1,000.00 EVERYTIME THEY LOOK AT YOUR SCORE.

So Equifax, Experian and whoever else the BIG AND MIGHTY THREE CREDIT SCORE COMPANIES ARE PLEASE START GIVING ME MY FREE CREDIT SCORE EVERY MONTH AND TELL ME WHEN SOMEONE REQUESTS TO LOOK AT IT. AND CHARGE THEM, NOT ME TO SEE IT.

How long have credit scores been around anyway? It seems they have only been around for 20 or 30 years or less. Maybe I'm just too damn ignorant of what exactly the credit scores do or how they are collected, like millions of other Americans. If the crap is supposed to be so damn important than how come it's SO DAMN HARD TO FIND OUT and to correct if there is a problem. Worse yet why is it so damn hard for the victim of identity theft to correct the problem and straighten out their credit score, after having had their ID stolen.

I am beginning to think this whole credit score business should not exist at all. AMERICA LETS GET RID OF IT FOR A BETTER system that helps the individual and NOT THE BANKS or the CRIMINALS.

Money Whaaaooohs #1?

Money, money, money, money makes the world go round. At least that is what is sung in the movie of and the revival of the musical Cabaret Is it really true? MMMMMM could be. I certainly know that I've got more than my share of problems with it. Long story short I have signed up with a debt relief program to condense all my bills (well most of them at least the major PITA Credit Card ones) into one "easy-to-pay" monthly installment. We shall see how that goes. Anyway while I'm doing that I will not be able to use credit cards, so I wonder what sort of luxuries I now enjoy will dissappear because of any automatic credit card payments. I think I got rid of all those when one of my cards went BOOM! and my Netflix account screamed and died in a bloody mess. OK Whatever. NEXT!