My Credit Card Number Was Stolen...Again

Yesterday morning I received a voice mail message from my credit card company regarding some possible fraud on my account. You might think this would freak me out, but I've been down this road before with the same credit card company and the same credit card, so I simply couldn't get terribly excited about this. Plus, until the last few months, I've carried a balance on this card for the last couple of years (making on-time payments each month), but as of Thursday the card will be 100% paid off. So to be honest, when I heard there may be fraud on the account I thought they were worried the fraud might be having no balance and how that meant they would no longer collect interest from me.

Unfortunately, it turned out that there was actual fraud on my account. Some enterprising whippersnapper was attempting to travel around Europe on my dime. Well, on my credit card company's dime. And fortunately, the company caught it within 12 hours and called me immediately. Using my credit card number (but not the card which was safely in my possession), a Eurail pass had been purchased in Belgium, along with travel club membership, some fun stuff in Paris, and some movies from Netflix.

Was I currently in Europe? the nice woman from customer service wanted to know. I was sitting in the parking lot of a shoe store in Rolling Meadows, most definitely not Paris. Moments later, the charges were reversed, my account closed, and a new card was on its way to me.

As I mentioned, this is actually the second time this has happened. In November 2008, someone got a hold of my card number and joined a bunch of porn websites. In that situation, my credit card company was also on top of things and handled the matter quickly.

Two years ago, I believed there was a breach with the card company and today, I'm more convinced than ever. Why? Because I don't carry my credit card with me (I keep it in a safe place), I'm obsessive about shredding, I don't receive paper statements, I pay bills online directly with the card company, have all kinds of security on my computer, and rarely use the card (in the last 2 months I've used it twice for a total of less than $100 in purchases). Plus, in today's Tribune, I read an article about $3500 being stolen from ATMs of the same bank my credit card is through using credit/debit cards that the four victims said were still in their possession. Clearly, it's not me; it's the bank.

All of this talk yesterday about traveling through Europe got me to thinking: Even if I wanted to hop on a plane tomorrow and spend a few days wandering the streets of Paris, I couldn't do it. I don't have a passport.

I'm 38 days away from turning 40 and I've never left the country and couldn't if I wanted to.

So tonight I completed a passport application. And I'll formally apply at the post office during my lunch hour on Thursday.

Check another item off my Bucket List.

Ron Miller Remembered

In the five days since Ron Miller's passing, I've read many comments on Facebook and Foresters Forever (the Lake Forest College alumni website), participated in numerous conversations with friends, and heard two tributes to Ron at Lake Forest's commencement yesterday about the lives he touched. Touched is the wrong word. It's not strong enough. Ron changed lives. He left an indelible mark upon everyone he came into contact with.

In a conversation with Tim on Thursday about Ron's Kids, we discussed how Ron will live for generations at LFC because so many of Ron's Kids work at the College or serve on the Alumni Board and mentor students in the same way Ron mentored us. Those of us not directly involved with the College are out changing the world in our own ways, as teachers, police officers, counselors, religious leaders, activists, etc., relying on the lessons Ron taught us. It also struck us how many of Ron's Kids are still closely bonded all these years later. Ron brought us together as students and helped us form lifelong relationships that we celebrate in the good times and lean upon in the sad times.

There's a terrific article in today's Chicago Tribune about Ron's life from an interview with Ron's son Jim and executive director of Common Ground, Jim Kenney.

My favorite tribute to Ron was posted on Facebook by a woman I don't know and is actually a homily Ron gave for a man named Harold Kimball, who, according to his obituary, served on the board of Common Ground. While Ron is speaking of his friend in explaining the Beatitudes, the same words could easily be spoken of Ron. "In the Beatitudes, we find the heart of Christianity and in the Beatitudes, we find the heart of Ron Miller." (13:58 with a slight modification)



A memorial service for Ron will be held on Wednesday, May 11th at 9:30am at Christ United Methodist Church, 600 Deerfield Road, Deerfield.

RIP Ron Miller

If you're a Forester, the name Ron Miller probably instantaneously sends you back to your days at Lake Forest College. To at least a couple of generations of Foresters, Ron was Lake Forest College. As the Dean of Students, Ron was at the same time our champion and also someone to be a little bit feared. As a professor of religion, Ron was tolerant of everyone and made religion relevant in ways most of us probably had never experienced before.

Ron died today. I don't know the details other than what's currently on Facebook. That he was in New York City and had had a late night/early morning conversation with his son, Jim about how he wasn't feeling well. A few hours later, Jim got a call from the NYPD that his dad was dead.

When I heard he news at work today, I'll admit I cried a few tears.

College was not an easy time for me and at a number of points, I seriously considered leaving LFC for (what I perceived to be) the greener pastures of two well-known universities, where in hindsight, I would not have flourished. Over a number of conversations in his office, Ron convinced me to stay and gave me a great deal of sage advice, some of which I followed and some of which I was too headstrong to follow. All of which, 20 years later, I wish I'd taken.

When my mom tried to kill herself in June 1992, Ron called me early on a Saturday morning at my mom's house to tell me that whatever I needed would be taken care of. It was two days before my summer school final exam and he told me he'd already spoken to my professor and I could take the final when I returned to school, but that should be on my own timetable. I took my final exam in a stress-free environment about 10 days later and was never made to feel bad about the fact that my professor had to give up some of his summer vacation to accommodate me. When I finally returned to campus, there were notes in my mailbox from multiple professors and senior staff members offering me whatever support I needed (even though I had not reached out to anyone) and I learned I'd been given a single dorm room for the summer and would not be having a roommate move in. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not. I've always assumed not because that's the kind of place LFC is and that's who Ron was.

There was a phrase for those students that Ron took under his wing. They were simply known as "Ron's Kids" and for years I looked a bit enviously on those special chosen classmates, until I recently realized that I was one of them too, even if I didn't share all the same qualities they did.

For many years, Ron and my cousin Alan (also a Forester) were close friends, and Al and Ron and I shared many social dinners after I moved back to Chicago. We shared dinners in Glenview and Highland Park and even watched movies at Ron's apartment. No matter how long it had been since I'd spent time with Ron, it was like time had stood still and conversation flowed easily.

Without hesitation, my favorite Ron moment took place in December 2006. The morning of the First Annual Marshall Field's Memorial Dinner & Christmas Party, my cousin Alan called to ask if he could bring Ron. The fact that I hate to turn anyone away from a dinner party combined with a few last minute cancellations meant we had room, so I said of course. The more the merrier. As it turned out, dinner was almost entirely comprised of Foresters. Tim, Tony, Ron, Alan, Christopher, my brother Dave (a Forester by blood only) and me. Always the religion professor, Ron gave the blessing that night and from there, conversation went straight downhill. I can't tell you everything we discussed (this is a family blog afterall), but I can tell you the conversation spanned from world events to celebrity gossip (and everything in between) and I can't remember a time I've laughed so hard for so many hours in a row.

In the midst of a conversation on pop culture, Ron jumps in with "Who's this Ropa woman I hear so much about? She's all over the television. You know R-O-P-A." Conversation stopped and we all looked at each other confused, as if to say "who the hell is Ropa?" And Ron asks us again. "Who is Ropa? She's got that talk show?" "Oh, you mean OPRAH!" Tim says confidently (since he and Tony live across the street from Harpo Studios). "Yes! Yes! That's her! Ropa!" Ron says as we all about fall under our chairs laughing, with him, not at him.

I have no idea where the conversation went from there, but I do know that we were all glued to our chairs at the dinner table until the wee hours of the morning, laughing so hard our sides hurt. The conversation was extraordinary, but the friends around the table were better. As always, Ron challenged us to be our best selves and we all left just a bit better than when we'd arrived.

Whether we were 18 or 38, Ron let us be ourselves. Heck, he expected us to be ourselves and wouldn't have put up with anything less. He created the environment for us to discover who we were and what we believed. And even though he's no longer with us, generations to come will benefit from Ron's peace loving, embrace everyone sort of ways.

In his passing today, Ron leaves a legacy far and wide. He touched more lives than he will ever know and he found his unique superhero powers that allowed him to leave the world a better place. Like many Foresters, I will miss him, but when faced with a challenge will answer it with the question "WWRD (What Would Ron Do)?" I miss him and wish I'd made it a point to tell him of the impact he had on me, but tonight I'm especially glad I had the privilege of having Ron in my life.

Mr. Bellito to Read & Sign "First Time Around"

Join Michael Bellito (Mr. Bellito to all JHHS alumni) on Thursday, May 5th at 7pm for a reading and book signing of First Time Around at the Prospect Heights Public Library. I'll be there and I hope you will be too.

From my January 11th blog post:

Do you remember your first crush or first love? If you're like most of us, it took place sometime during junior high or high school.

Maybe it was the boy who walked you home throughout junior high and carried your books... Maybe it was the Greek God who turned your world upside down because he was just always there... Maybe it was tennis player who wrote with the red pencil in summer school, making it difficult to read his name on his paper, but ultimately had you with that first kiss... Maybe it was the Band Geek who drove you home everyday... Maybe it was someone else.

Whomever it was, I'm sure you fell hard. And if you stop to think about it now, you can probably instantly go right back to that moment and how you felt. If you're like most of us, it didn't last. Only very few of us actually get it right the first time around.

In his second novel book, First Time Around, Michael Bellito takes us back to that time. That time of innocence, when the world was easy, yet our love seemed all-consuming and the heartbreak heart breaking.

For John Hersey High School alums, Mr. Bellito was one of our favorite English teachers and/or speech coaches. More than anything, he introduced me to my lifelong love: the love of words and how to weave them together to tell a story.

Transformers Dark of the Moon Sneak Peek!

Remember last summer when they were filming Transformers Dark of the Moon (aka T3) in Chicago? The sneak peek of the movie is out. Now I've never been into "blow stuff up" movies, but I have to admit, I'm pretty interested in seeing this one.

Judge for yourself.

We've Got Serious Problems and We Need Serious People

Did you hear the President's comments yesterday morning when he released his birth certificate? Later in the afternoon, he sat down with Oprah for an interview that will air on Monday. The Huffington Post has an almost 3 minute segment of that interview. When I listened to it a few minutes ago, President Obama's comments reminded me of another president who addressed silliness.

First, watch President Obama's comments this morning when he released his birtch certificate...



Now watch President Obama's comments to Oprah and see if you can figure out who I was reminded of...


Did you get it? Well, watch the video below...


Yes, President Obama spanked the Birthers and Donald Trump just like President Shepard spanked Senator Bob Rumson in The American President.

Now let's get back to addressing the serious issues we have facing our country.

Little Merry Sunshine Quoted in TribLocal!

TribLocal had a Twitter chat tonight. You can find it by doing a hashtag search on Twitter for #TribLocal. It was a pretty interesting chat about how to build an audience for your blog. For the most part, I was a lurker, reading the comments of other participants, but question 6 really piqued my interest and I jumped in with my opinion.

@TribLocal: Last question! Q6. What is your favorite blog that you have written? #TribLocal

I thought for a second because I have a number of favorite blog posts, but there are two that are my absolute favorites and based on the feedback you gave me and the number of hits LMS received on the days these posts ran, they are two of your favorites too.

@Jessica_Gardner: @TribLocal I have 2 Little Merry Sunshine blog posts that are my faves: http://bit.ly/iHXMvK and http://bit.ly/ifHbDR #TribLocal #Q6

Those bit.ly links take you to You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover and Who Are We Not To Be Great? Or I Had A Chat With The Voices Inside My Head. Both posts are about Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent.

About 30 minutes after my tweet, I received a reply tweet from TribLocal informing me they'd quoted me in the story about the Tweet Chat! You probably remember that almost exactly two years ago, Little Merry Sunshine was named one of Chicago's Best Blogs by the ChicagoTribune.com and appeared on the front page of the Tribune's website.
Nope, that picture never gets old.

So now that I've been in a Tribune publication TWICE, maybe now the big blogging bucks will start to roll in. I really don't want this to be my life.

RIP The Empire Man

If you didn't grow up in Chicago during the 1970s or 1980s, this post probably isn't for you because you probably think the guy in the Empire Today commercials has always been a cartoon character.
The truth is that every kid in the Chicagoland Area got his or her first singing lessons from Elmer Lynn Hauldren, better known as The Empire Man.

He passed away today at 89. You still know the words. And in Lynn's honor, on the count of three, let's all sing it together...

1....2....3....



And because those cartoons will never really replace the real thing, here's another commercial.

How Are You Saving Money On Gas?

I woke up Friday morning to a horrifying story on the morning news: gas prices in Orlando, Florida are at $5.69 per gallon and could hit $6 nationwide by summer. A wave of terror ran through my body because I think current gas prices are outrageous.

I drive 40 miles round-trip to Lake Forest each day five or six days a week and fill my car weekly (not because it's on empty but because I can't afford to let an 20 gallon tank get to empty). If I fill up in Arlington Heights, gas ranges between $4.24 and $4.39 per gallon, but filling up at Costco in Mettawa (practically across the street from my office) yesterday, I spent $3.99. I saved $4.60 or 10% of what I spent. The national average is $3.84, up $0.98 from a year ago, and in Chicago it's $4.18, up $1.10 from a year ago. Ouch.

Wanting to share the good news with my Lake Forest peeps, I sent the following tweet: "Hey Lake Forest peeps! Need gas? Costco on 60 is $3.99. FYI. @LFCollege @LFGSM #GasCostsTooMuch." I was immediately re-tweeted by my friend Carolyn who drives further than I do.

To avoid pain at the pump, some people are slugging. This was hugely popular in Washington, DC when I lived there in the 1990s. Slugging is when people share rides with total strangers. In DC, there were slug parking lots in Northern Virginia where people would park and then get in the slug line waiting for someone to pick them up. At the end of the day, there were a couple of designated pick-up spots on 14th Street where slug lines would form waiting for drivers. The idea of course, was to catch a ride in the morning with someone going near your destination because it would be rude to ask someone who'd just given you a free ride to out of their way and possibly be late for work. At the end of the day, you wanted to make sure you were getting in a car with someone headed to the I-395 slug lot rather than the I-66 slug lot so you ended up getting home in a reasonable amount of time. The benefit for the driver was that by having more than three people in their car, they could use the designated carpool lanes.

How are you saving money on gas? Are you telecommuting more? Does your company have alternative work arrangements where you could work four longer days and have a fifth off or work hours that allowed you to miss rush hour? In mid-May, I can officially start telecommuting on a regular schedule and I can't wait.

In addition to filling up at Costco and telecommuting when I can, I have eliminated the one-off errands. Now I run errands in bulk and I make sure get all my groceries in one trip. Last weekend I actually did a cost analysis of driving versus taking the train into Chicago on a Sunday. Driving ended up being less expensive because I had free parking, wouldn't need to take any taxis as I would getting off the train, and because the train schedule simply wouldn't allow for convenient commuting times.

Do you check gas prices online before heading out? My favorite online tool is Gas Buddy. Just type in your zip code and it pulls up local gas prices from lowest to highest. While John McCain may not believe it to be true, keeping your tires properly inflated increases your gas mileage and driving the speed limit, reducing excess weight in your car, avoiding excess idling, using cruise control, and using overdrive gears also helps with gas mileage.

Because I believe the days of low gas prices are long gone, it's imperative on each of us to insist our elected officials to invest in alternative fuel and demand all car manufacturers produce the most fuel-efficient cars they can, along with producing more hybrid and electric cars that run longer between charging.

In the meantime, let's share the wealth on gas-saving tips.

You'll Never See the Milky Way Like This Again

One of my favorite activities in the world is laying out under the stars, watching the Northern Lights, and contemplating my place in the universe, so when I clicked on CNN and found this unbelievable video of the Milky Way, I knew I had to share it with you.

Wow. You too will be in awe. I promise.