Today (well yesterday to be precise), I became the victim of some pretty high tech credit card crime. Got a call at around 4pm from my bank, asking whether I had just used my credit card - the answer to which was no, why. "Well sir, when last did you use it?". Truth is that I last used in on Sunday 12th Nov, to buy some groceries. Holding the guy on the phone, I quickly logged into my bank account to pull a credit card statement, and sure enough, starting yesterday, there were five transactions, ranging in value from R75, to over R5000 - everything from Nando's Chicken burgers, to CD's and furniture - a total of over R10,000.
I'm not really annoyed at the amounts, as I know that the bank will refund the fraudulent transactions, but I am very irritated at the audacity of how it was done.
I suspect, and after talking to the credit card division at my bank, I'm fairly certain that my card was skimmed at a restaurant, and the details obtained from it were used to create a duplicate card. If the transactions were internet based, then this would not be the case, but because the card was used in store, there was definitely a duplicate card present at time of transaction.
So, looking further into it, I have narrowed it down to 4 possible restaurants - and I suspect that it was the one that K and I had lunch at last Saturday. Reason being, is that we know for sure that another restaurant in the complex has suffered the same fate, as they were investigated by a bank that a friend of ours used to work at.
If there's a lesson to be learnt, wherever possible, when paying for your meal make sure that the waitron brings a hand held point of sale to your table before handing over your card, or accompany them to the POS if there is no hand held available.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
POTD: 15 Nov 2006
The view from the 6th hole at Observatory Golf Club, looking back towards the clubhouse. Not the greatest round that I've played to date, but still good to get out into the sunshine and fresh air. Notice the Jacaranda trees in the distance - the Kensington/Observatory area is full of them, in full bloom at the moment, blanketing the streets and lawns with their purple flowers.POTD 14 Nov 2006
Interesting choice of name for your business.I spotted this in Edenvale yesterday, Greenvale Road.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Another week down...
Well, I haven't exactly been able to play as much golf as I wanted to. Been rather busy with other 'stuff'. Have spent quite a bit of time swimming over the past week - bit of cycling too. Now that I have the time, I'm spending some of it in the gym - not that work should ever have been an excuse not to go to gym, but its just much easier now. Have also been running around sorting out the admin surrounding our trip to St Anton in December. Organising visa forms, collecting itineraries for application purposes - photos, train tickets...
Went and saw Frank's new place on Friday evening - he has a nice little place that he's recently moved into - with a massive communal garden - really nice.
Didn't really get up to much else this weekend - other than watch the Springboks lose to Ireland. Having said that though, I did take great pleasure in seeing Argentina pull off an historic victory over England. Lets hope SA can do the same this coming weekend.
Currently reading: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. I've just started, so will give you an update once I get into it.
Plan for the day: Try and get a round of golf in, before I need to make my way across town for my squash game this evening.
Went and saw Frank's new place on Friday evening - he has a nice little place that he's recently moved into - with a massive communal garden - really nice.
Didn't really get up to much else this weekend - other than watch the Springboks lose to Ireland. Having said that though, I did take great pleasure in seeing Argentina pull off an historic victory over England. Lets hope SA can do the same this coming weekend.
Currently reading: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. I've just started, so will give you an update once I get into it.
Plan for the day: Try and get a round of golf in, before I need to make my way across town for my squash game this evening.
POTD 13 Nov 2006
The view from the Westcliff, where K and I went for our anniversary dinner the other night.Monday, November 13, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
POTD: 09 Nov 2006
Happy Anniversary. K and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary yesterday. For those of you that attended our wedding, this is the same candle that we lit 4 years ago.On another celebratory note, this is my 100th post.
(he raises his bat in acknowledgment, as the stadium erupts into thundering applause)
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Triba Launch
Went to the launch of Triba last night. What's Triba you ask? Well, the way I understand it - its a wellness centre for women - and women with young children in particular. I worked with the guy whose wife is starting this whole concept, and thats how we got invited to the launch.
The centre is located in Craighall Park, and is still under construction - but the launch party was pretty impressive, with the likes of the Royal Bafokeng family as honoured guests, the guys from Watershed, the 2005 Miss SA, and the Big Brother SA winner Ferdie Rabie.
The concept is pretty novel - mothers with new babies and young children get to use the centre to pamper themselves, get some relaxation and even do work from the centre if they like. The idea is that you take your child along, and the centre will look after them whilst you catch up on sleep, go for a facial, read a book in the library, or log on and do some work. They claim that it is a first of its kind - and in this day and age, I reckon they're onto something. Good luck to Anton and Dale.
The centre is located in Craighall Park, and is still under construction - but the launch party was pretty impressive, with the likes of the Royal Bafokeng family as honoured guests, the guys from Watershed, the 2005 Miss SA, and the Big Brother SA winner Ferdie Rabie.
The concept is pretty novel - mothers with new babies and young children get to use the centre to pamper themselves, get some relaxation and even do work from the centre if they like. The idea is that you take your child along, and the centre will look after them whilst you catch up on sleep, go for a facial, read a book in the library, or log on and do some work. They claim that it is a first of its kind - and in this day and age, I reckon they're onto something. Good luck to Anton and Dale.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
POTD: 07 Nov 2006
Close up of the herbs that we have growing on our balcony. All legal of course.Pictured here - bit of mint, some parsley, and a some thyme.
POTD: 06 Nov 2006
Killer tuna pasta, made by yours truly. This was dinner on Monday evening, and let me tell you something, there was nothing left in the dish afterwards. Awesome. You can see I'm putting this free time to good use.
POTD: 04 Nov 2006
Coastal Jungle - taken on the 'forest walk' at a tea garden called The Waterberry, in Ballito.
Its tough being off...
Check the time out...after nine thirty in the evening. Yup, another busy day. Started off this morning with a round of golf at the Wanderers Golf Club - very nice. I played with some ex-colleagues of mine - guys I used to work for and with about 6 years ago. Was good catching up again. And I won the golf.
Then off to lunch with Grant - followed by a trip to the travel agent to organise our train tickets (for our Dec ski trip). Then off to the gym for a couple of laps in the new pool at Old Eds, followed by my weekly squash league game - which I lost.
As promised though, I'll be posting the first set of POTD pics after this.
Later...
Then off to lunch with Grant - followed by a trip to the travel agent to organise our train tickets (for our Dec ski trip). Then off to the gym for a couple of laps in the new pool at Old Eds, followed by my weekly squash league game - which I lost.
As promised though, I'll be posting the first set of POTD pics after this.
Later...
Monday, November 06, 2006
Post Ballito Update
Whoa...its been a while I know. Its been a busy while though. As you know, I decided to leave my job at the beginning of October. Well, October flew by, and here we are in November already. And even though I'm not working anymore - its been a busy period indeed.
The last few weeks in October were spent wrapping up and handing over responsibility at work. I told myself that I would not get all nostalgic about my experiences over the past four years and nine months. In reality though, its very difficult not to look back at what you have achieved and where you have come from. Its been good - and I have no regrets, which is the important thing I guess.
K and I then flew down to Ballito during the last weekend of October, to join the rest of the family on our annual pilgrimage to the holiday flat that we have been going to for as long as I can remember. We had to fly back on Sunday 29th, as I wanted to work my last two days, and wrap things up properly before leaving for good.
The last two days were good - ending with a farewell drinks session that lasted around 10 hours at the Zoo Lake Moyo. We then flew back to Ballito for the remainder of the week, and came back last night.
As usual, a great time was had by all - the weather was really good to us this year - at times too nice as the temperatures rose to the upper thirties. Even snuck in a round of golf at Prince's Grant, where I shot an respectable 87 (2 birdies and 3 pars).
On a completely different note - I decided to take up the Photo of the day (POTD) challenge. I've started on 1 November, and will try to keep it up until 31st October 2007. I have the pics taken in Ballito on each of the days, and will have to "back-post" them as soon as I get a chance.
Watch this space.
The last few weeks in October were spent wrapping up and handing over responsibility at work. I told myself that I would not get all nostalgic about my experiences over the past four years and nine months. In reality though, its very difficult not to look back at what you have achieved and where you have come from. Its been good - and I have no regrets, which is the important thing I guess.
K and I then flew down to Ballito during the last weekend of October, to join the rest of the family on our annual pilgrimage to the holiday flat that we have been going to for as long as I can remember. We had to fly back on Sunday 29th, as I wanted to work my last two days, and wrap things up properly before leaving for good.
The last two days were good - ending with a farewell drinks session that lasted around 10 hours at the Zoo Lake Moyo. We then flew back to Ballito for the remainder of the week, and came back last night.
As usual, a great time was had by all - the weather was really good to us this year - at times too nice as the temperatures rose to the upper thirties. Even snuck in a round of golf at Prince's Grant, where I shot an respectable 87 (2 birdies and 3 pars).
On a completely different note - I decided to take up the Photo of the day (POTD) challenge. I've started on 1 November, and will try to keep it up until 31st October 2007. I have the pics taken in Ballito on each of the days, and will have to "back-post" them as soon as I get a chance.
Watch this space.
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