Isaac Garcia's Blog

How To Protect Yourself From Credit Fraud

Do Not Sign the Back of Your Credit Cards
Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, write "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."  This enables the retailer/clerk to confirm the identity everytime.  Anyone can fake a signature - it is harder to fake a photo ID.

Hide Your Account Numbers
When you are writing checks to pay credit card bills, etc., DO NOT write your entire credit card account number in the "For" line.  Instead, just write the last four digits of the credit card account number.  The credit card company already knows the rest of the number.  This prevents all of the check processors and handlers from knowing/seeing your entire credit card account number.

Protect Your Identity
Try NOT to use your home phone number and home address on your checks. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone number.  If you have a PO Box or work address, use that instead of your home address. 

I know it sounds obvious, but NEVER have your Social Security number printed on your checks.

Photocopy Your Stuff
Make photocopies of all of the contents that you normally carry with you (your wallet).  Make sure you photocopy BOTH sides of your driver's license, credit cards, debit cards, etc.  This will be particularly handy when your wallet is lost or stolen and you need to call all of your credit card companies to cancel/report the loss.  This will prove to be invaluable when the time comes.

Again, I know it's obvious, but keep the photocopies in a safe place.  If you travel frequently or leave the country it might be a good idea to also keep an extra copy of your Passport (and keep an extra copy in your suitcase!). 

Shred Stuff
Shred all of your old canceled checks, check registers, bank / credit card statements, outdated correspondance from banks, credit card companies and Social Security Administration letters and any other printed materials that has your name, account numbers, and identification information listed.

If you really need to access old checks or statements - your bank has electronic copies that you can always request or access online.

What To Do If Your Wallet and Credit Cards Are Stolen? 
What if you become a victim of identity fraud?

Call Your Credit Card Company Immediately
Remember, you should have all of the phone numbers available on your photocopies, right? 

File a Police Report
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, ID, wallet were stolen.  Your credit providers and banks might need backup from a legitimate source that you may be a victim of credit card or identity fraud.

Also, should there ever be an investigation - this would be the first step.

Call the Credit Agencies
Call the top three national credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert on your name. 

Call the Social Security Administration
Next call the Social Security Administration fraud line number and report the incident.

And, just in case you need the phone numbers and websites - here they are:

Equifax: 800-525-6285
http://www.equifax.com/

Experian (formerly TRW): 888-397-3742
http://www.experian.com/consumer/fraud_faqs.html

Trans Union : 800-680-7289
http://www.transunion.com/corporate/personal/fraudIdentityTheft.page

Social Security Administration (fraud line):800-269-0271
http://www.ssa.gov/oig/hotline/index.htm

Someone sent me this information via email today.  At first, it read like a chain letter - but then as I read through the email it contained useful information that I felt was worth writing up in this blog post.  There was no credit or name provided as to who the original author was - so I'm just passing this along for everyone else's benefit.   Good luck!

Laptops in the Bathroom

This is going too far.

Source:  http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10878_11-4167-11.html

If you can't type, you're not worth hiring.

Mark Hurst writes a good piece on technology efficiencies.

It spurred me to reiterate my feelings about people who can't type:

#1  You are less productive than someone who can type.

#2  Why haven't you learned to type by now?

#3  It tells me you can't multitask.

#4  You can't think as fast as me (and I'm not a genius by any standard)

#5 I go absolutely crazy watching someone type slowly on a screen when they are trying to explain or tell me something. I have no patience for you.

#6 If you can't type, you probably want to hire an assistant who can type for you. Therefore, you are too expensive for our company.

No apologies to anyone.

INGDirect Pays 3.8% - Get a Referral

I just opened an INGDirect Savings Account.  They pay 3.8% APR with no minimum balances, no fees and its FDIC-insured.  I'm sold.

I'm ditching my Washington Mutual Accounts (only paying 2%), ditching my eTrade Money Market account (pays less than 2%) and moving to the Orange Dot.  Besides, we all need to embrace online banks.  Since when have you been to your local bank in person?  What have they done for you lately?

If you an open account with $250 they'll give you $25.  AND, if you open the account through my referral, I'll get $10. 

So, if you are interested, email me and I'll send you the referral.  And, next time I see you, I'll buy the beer since I'll be ten dollars richer.  Otherwise, you buy....b/c you'll be $25 dollars richer.

Out To Change The World Of Work - Leslie Perlow

Last week, Sarah Murry from Financial Times wrote about how Leslie Perlow is Out to change the world of work.

Leslie says that she looks at:

. . .  things like how often people are interrupted or how many times they check on e-mail during the day,” she says. “If you ask someone: ‘What did you do yesterday?’ they might say they worked for four hours on the computer, but what does that really mean?”

She also digs deeper into working patterns by conducting experiments in which certain practices are established. In one US company, for example, she found that software engineers working on product development were doing all their work in the evenings and at weekends because that was the only “quiet time” they could find.

We touched on this in a previous post at Central Desktop Blog about interruptions in the work place. 

I find myself working later and later in the evenings because of the "quiet time" that the night provides.

Dignity is Deadly?

Kathy Sierra summarizes a Paul Graham speech (a recent favorite essayist of mine):

When you evolve out of start-up mode and start worrying about being professional and dignified, you only lose capabilities. You don't add anything... you only take away. Dignity is deadly.

 Shakespeare provides us with a nice summary as well:

"Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."
King Lear, II, iii

We like the way this sounds....but is it really true?

In general, I'm in agreement with Kathy's (and Graham's) take on this, but I would argue that there is a line of demarcation that people try not to (and should not) cross.  I don't mean "don't cuss" or "don't wear ripped jeans."  Rather, "don't be dishonest to your customer", "don't mislead", "be truthful" and "don't lie."

Although, I don't think any of my customers would appreciate being told to #@$! off, even if it WAS truthful or my honest opinion.    (I realize that neither Kathy nor Graham are advocating this, but isn't this a twinge of dignity and professionalism?) 

Perhaps a better descriptor is "restraint."  As companies (and people) mature, we learn to restrain the outward expression of our impulsive feelings.  I'm not saying that we should repress emotions, but shouldn't we learn to "restrain" ourselves from vomiting every fleeting emotion onto our customers?  I'm guilty of acting on impulse, gut feelings, intuitions and irrational exuberance, but I like to believe that my (weak) attempts to restrain the outward expression of *some* of these feelings are steps towards maturity (and dignity) and are a notch above my two year old daughter's unbridled screams and temper tantrums.

Gmail and SSL

I noticed a few weeks ago that my Gmail was now SSL.  I realized that it happened after I downloaded the Gmail Notifier Extension for Firefox. 

Here is a screen shot of the SSL icon in my Firefox status bar:

Here is a capture from my browser navigation bar:

Here is another capture of the SSL Thawte Cert:

More on Productivity, Business & Open Source

I came across Ken Thompson's short post on the Success secrets of Open Source project teams. 

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one drinking the kool-aid.

He summarizes a short essay by Brian Teeman into three points that are key to any team's productivity success:

1. Personal motivations are crystal clear for every team member


2. All work is voluntary and the leader cannot give orders


3. Each project passionately nurtures its network of supporters

On Becoming a Self-Producer and What Business Can Learn from Open Source

For the month of August, Paul Graham has an outstanding essay on "What Business Can Learn From Open Source."  If you are sitting in a corporate environment (especially if you are a manager or in a position to influence change in your company) you should read it immediately.  If you are in a start-up environment you should also read it immediately to remind yourself of why you work at a start-up and what you are doing to preserve the edenic qualities of your company.

Towards the end of the article, Graham self-summarizes his essay into three key points:

(1) that people work harder on stuff they like
(2) that the standard office environment is very unproductive
(3) that bottom-up often works better than top-down.

I know (and Graham knows) that these three points are obvious, but that's usually what 'nuggets of truth' are....simple and obvious.  I'd like to boil it down even more.  I believe that the most emphatic  lesson that 'open source' teaches business is that employers should seek ways to find and retain "Self-Producers."  "Self-Producers," are by definition, those individuals who are able to contribute value to the company without any external resources or motivation.  More than likely, Self-Producers enjoy what they are doing, they work hard at what they are doing, they didn't always start at the top of a company (they started as founders of a company or came up through grass-roots) and they often work 'on their own time.'

For example, start-up company founders are self-reliant and internally driven to create and produce; CEOs draw from inner strength and self-inspired leadership to manage companies; Successful sales representatives are self-motivated beyond the compensation plan; Good Project Managers take pride and ownership in meeting deadlines and are duty-bound by personal choice, not management requirements. 

Self-Producers are rarely driven by external authority, compensation plans, politics or peer pressure.  Self-Producers are self-motivated by something deeper and more often by a higher purpose (not necessarily in a religious sense, but sometimes that too).  That higher purpose is what enables Self-Producers to focus on the job/task at hand and not be distracted by office politic, TPS reports,  water cooler discussions or mindless meetings. 

Within every company, its the Self-Producers who get things done. Self-Producers don't need to be "managed" or "monitored."  They just produce.  They sell.  They decide.  They lead.  They finish.  They complete.  They work.  Not because they were told to work; Not because of a stock option;  Not because of an external stimulation.  They produce, because they want to.

The open source community produces better software because its comprised of hundreds of thousands of Self-Producers.  No one tells them to Q/A or test code.  They just do it.  They want to do it.  They enjoy doing it.  And, by golly, they give back.  They create and they produce on their own time, in their homes and no one told them (or even asked them) to do it.   Imagine a company comprised entirely of Self-Producers.  No 'fat', no 'worker bees.'  Just a lean-mean-producing machine. 

(Note:  In a company comprised entirely of Self-Producers there isn't a need for such labels as 'worker bees' as everyone is producing and working equally (so to speak). A company comprised entirely of Self-Producers cancels-out the over-used phrases of 'there is a place in every company for worker bees' or 'you've gotta have 'em' or 'someone's gotta do that job'.  Those are usually self-indulgent catch phrases that employers use to justify and protect unproductive employees and catch phrases that employees use to justify their own unproductive habits.  You could say that Self-Producers are all worker bees, or vice-versa....YOU could say anything you wanted, because the Self-Producer isn't listening to you anyways. ) 

One common theme amongst Self-Producers is that they all share a Pride of Ownership.  They are all proud of their work and are proud to have their name attached to the product, company, code, sale.  Founders and CEOs must be proud of their company and they must take pride in their ownership.  The same goes for open source coders and hackers; each of them take enormous pride in their individual contribution to the software.  They know that they will forever own a piece of that code.  And they are proud.

If you are going to found a company, you better be a Self-Producer; and your partners better be Self-Producers as well. Corporations and businesses would be wise to create environments and schedules that attract Self-Producers. 

The funny thing is that we all KNOW THIS STUFF ALREADY.  Its obvious and its simple yet we refuse to act on our own consciences.  We know how to become Self-Producers.  We know what we should do to foster and encourage Self-Producers in the workplace. 

In case you forgot, go back and read Paul Graham's essay. 

 

"With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving..."

I finally setup a stand-up desk.  I've been wanting to do this for years.  My lower back has been killing me from sitting 12-14 hours a day and I finally converted from a sit down desk to a stand-up desk.  Instead of opting for the custom made desk that cost around $2,000, I decided to make my own poor-man's stand-up desk.  I went to Ikea and spent $99 on the Fredrik Computer Workstation.  The height of each level is adjustable and I was able to find the perfect height for my keyboard and monitors.  Unlike other furniture that I've bought at Ikea, this desk was quite easy to assemble and I had it up and adjusted in about 15 minutes. 

Come to find out, I've joined the ranks of some famous people who have used stand up desks.   Sir Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Jefferson worked at stand-up desks.  Donald Rumsfeld works at a stand-up desk and if my memory serves me correctly, Vladimir Nabakov (one of my favorite writers of the 20th Century) wrote his novels on index cards at a stand-up desk.

In the tradition of great writers and thinkers, I'm glad I made the switch.  I've found that my energy levels stay higher through out the day, my back is less sore, I don't get sleepy at my desk and I can easily walk back and forth from my desk to the white board and jot notes, ideas and mind maps. In general, I just think better on my feet (no pun intended) and feel so much more alert, efficient and productive.  I also tend to 'pace' when I'm on the phone.  Standing and walking just feels more natural when I'm talking on a headset.

In the picture of my desk, you'll notice that I do have a barstool that I use for sitting, leaning and stretching.  I've discovered a rhythm, or cadence, that alternates every 10-15 minutes between standing, sitting and leaning.  This keeps me moving and productive.  I've been so happy with this desk that I bought another and set it up behind my computer desk so that I have a separate work surface for reading, writing and spreading out papers.  I'm going to buy another set of desks for my home office too.

As you can tell from the quotation, even Shakespeare agrees...

"With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving..."
The Tempest, II, i