Tag: 18 years

Identity Theft Protection With Lifelock

On By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LifeLock Twitter for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

AmeliaIZEA | skitch.com

My very first experience with identity theft was when I had just turned 18 years old and went to get a job.  The interviewer asked me how long I have been in this country and asked me for my green card.  They did a credit check and that said that I wasn’t me.  I had to schedule a new interview where I had to bring my social security card as well as my birth certificate and my California ID card to prove that I was me.  That was in 1988.  I wrote about this experience in my book.

My second experience was in 2004 when I tried to get our utilities turned on with PG&E, they told me that I had to bring in my ID card and my social security card because according to their credit check, I wasn’t who I said I was again.  This time I asked and they told me the first name was Marsha.

Many years had gone by and I started seeing these commercials where a man was telling the world what his social security number was and daring people to steal it.  That company was LifeLock.  I decided that I did not want my prior experiences to happen again, so I signed up with Lifelock.  I only pay $10 a month and my name and social security number has never been safer.  I have been a member since January 2008.

As a member, Lifelock will send you a credit report every year and they will put restrictions in place so not even you can sign up for a credit card or buy a car without showing proof.  They will send you email and/or text alerts when someone is trying to use your credit.

Here are some interesting and alarming stats.  Households that make $100K per year have the highest fraud rate at 7.4%.  The average cost per person who loses their identity is $1,513.  11.6 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2011 and $18 billion dollars was lost.  6.6% are smart phone users, 6.8% are people who interact with apps in social media websites, 8.2% “checked in” on websites with their smart phone with GPS and 10.1% are LinkedIn users.

How hack-friendly is your password?  If you have a password that is only 6 characters without any symbols, a hacker will figure that password out in .000224 seconds, but if your password is 10 characters and uses a symbol (&%$#@), it could take them 20 days which gives you enough time to change your password every couple of weeks.  How safe do you feel now?  If they can figure out your email password and send emails on your behalf, imagine them stealing your bank account password and draining your account without you even knowing it.

If I were you, I would sign up with Lifelock today.  Check out their website and LifeLock on Twitter.  It’s nice knowing that my credit is safe.

Visit Sponsor's Site

Our 18 Year Anniversary

On By Michel McDonaldIn Gay2 Comments

I wanted to post this a few nights ago but my blog stopped working…

Darrin and I met on March 25th, 1994 and have been together ever since.  I wrote in my book about how I thought that our relationship wouldn’t go past the 10 month mark because my relationships before only lasted 10 months.  I don’t know what it was about 10 months, but we have stayed together and now it has been 18 years.

I think that this should be a lesson to naysayers who say that a gay relationship cannot last.  I think we have more than proven that love doesn’t have a gender.  We deserve the same rights as every straight married couple out there in the world.

Here is to 18 more wonderful years together and the end of marriage discrimination.

My Book is Almost Ready for Publication

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, It Gets BetterLeave a comment

I started writing my life story many years ago, but really worked hard on it in 2011.  It took me 2+ months to write it and 4 months to edit it.  I have sent it off to a few people as an advanced copy and of course mistakes were found.  So it is not yet ready for publication, but it will be soon.

In case anyone is wondering what it’s about, I’ll tell you.  I was abused as a child by my stepfather; my mother and older sister also mentally abused me.  I tried to kill myself many times from the age of 13 until I was 20.  A woman attempted to molest me when I was 15 years old and I was raped multiple times when I was 20. I was homeless for 6 months at the age of 15 and for 10 months when I was 17.  I was also homeless in my early 20’s; I was living in motels, but that is technically considered being homeless.  I met my soul mate and life partner of 17 (going on 18) years and meeting him was when it got better.

I started out writing my life story (as if anyone cared because I’m a nobody) but then these gay children started killing themselves and it suddenly evolved into an “It Gets Better” book.  I want to show that I had a horrible life and I wanted to end it all, but it got better for me and it can get better for them too if they just hang on for a little bit longer.  It may seem like it’s never going to get better, and believe me, I thought for years it could only get worse, but it did get better.

My main goal is that it may help someone out there who is being bullied and wanting to end it all.  They will read my “it gets better” book and see that it got better for me and it can get better for them too.  If they don’t read it, and I don’t expect them to, then perhaps someone can read it and give them the cliffs-notes version to help them.

I am a bit nervous about publishing it because of course I don’t want the people who I wrote about to get upset with me, despite them being in the wrong.  They don’t even talk to me so I don’t know why I would care if they were upset with me anyway.

I am excited because I am finally finished and can publish it soon.  What makes me more excited is that I can finally help some charities when I get my first check from the sales of the book.  I have wanted to help these charities for a long time but couldn’t because I never had the money.

Today is Wednesday, so hopefully I will be able to publish my book within the next week.  Of course I will be advertising my little butt off here, on Twitter, on Google+ and on Facebook so stay tuned for that lol.

Thanks for reading.

Kidnapped 18 Years Ago, Found With 2 Kids

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

California Girl Kidnapped 18 Years Ago Kept as Sex Slave in Couple’s Backyard – Source Foxnews.com

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASx5ThZLMzQ

This poor girl was kidnapped 18 years ago by a sex offender and kept as a sex slave in this couples back yard.  The man who kidnapped her fathered 2 children who are now 11 and 15 years old.  None of them have been to school which is a real shame.

This poor girl, now woman, is going to need a lot of therapy and so are her 2 children.  This whole story makes me sick that she was kidnapped and kept as a sex slave.

The couple and the kidnapped victims all walked into the police station where the couple turned themselves in.  It’s just too bad it took 18 years for them to do the right thing.  This should’ve never happened.  Now the man is claiming that he is a different person and that he’s changed yadda yadda yadda.  He is a registered sex offender, how did his probation officer never search the property?  I think they should start searching the property of all these sex offenders every so often.  You never know what your gonna find and they just might save lives.

Merlin on NBC

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Tonight Merlin was on NBC.  There were 2 1 hour episodes and considering magic is one of my most favorite things to watch on TV I just had to watch it.  I was a little bit disappointed that the King banned magic or face death but I guess it will make it even more interesting to watch.

As I said there were 2 1 hour episodes.  I completely forgot it was going to be on so I almost missed it.  I IM’d a friend of mine who I know wanted to see it so I reminded her and she didn’t even know it was 2 hours either so she had to go into the program on her VCR to add the extra hour.  She records it then watches it the next day.  I on the other hand have to watch shows on their premiere night so I can turn around and come here and post my comments.

I liked it.  There, I said it.  Keep in mind that my kind of show is more of a modern day show with cars and computers and the use of telephones instead of horses, abacus and shouting at each other but it was good.

The actor who played Merlin looks very young like he’s 17 or 18 years old, he’s very skinny but he plays the role great.  I loved how at the beginning he didn’t have to say anything to cast spells, it just happened.  That was pretty cool.

Now next week he will be exposed and face death but you can’t believe he will because they just started the show, why would they throw the towel in after 3 episodes?  Now when I say exposed, I mean the King finds out he is a wizard, not that he dropped his towel in front of someone lol.  Come on people, get your mind out of the gutter.  Oh wait, that was my mind.

Anyway, hope everyone else enjoyed/enjoys Merlin Sunday’s on NBC.  Ding ding ding.

$5 Footlong? Really?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Food, ScamsLeave a comment

I’ve loved Subway since the first time I ever went there when I was 18 years old when I moved back in with my parents when they moved to Quartz Hill in the Antelope Valley.  We went there all the time and I remember that I always got the same thing.  The Cold Cut Combo.  To this day that’s the only sandwich I ever get.  Sometimes I’ll be different and get a meatball sub or turkey but it’s usually always the Cold Cut Combo.  It tastes good to me.

Recently in the last few months or so I’ve been seeing the commercials for their $5 footlong.  They are competing with Quizno’s because Quizno’s has a good deal too for $5.  So they are just trying to keep or lure their customers away from the competition.  That’s fine and $5 is a good price for a 12″ sub.

We went to Subway for dinner tonight and they had their sign (or window sticker) that says “Any” which implies what?  All?  That’s what it implies to me.  By saying any that means if I want a footlong meatball sub then it’s $5 right?  Wrong.  The definition of “Any” for Subway means that they have a couple footlong sandwiches for $5.  So isn’t that false advertising?

I’m lucky the Cold Cut Combo just so happened to be $5 for the footlong because that’s what I wanted anyway but it would be nice if they had more of a $5 selection.

I think that if a sign says “Any” then everything should be $5 and not just a select few.  There were maybe 5 items on the menu that were $5 footlong.  That’s not a lot of choice.  When we got to the register to pay for our $5 footlongs they asked if we wanted chips and a drink for $2 more each and we were like screw that.  $1 for a drink and $1 for a little .50 cent bag of chips?  Are you joking?  We could go to the store across the street to buy a bag of Chips and soda which we ended up doing.  We bought 2 large bags of Doritos (buy 1 get 1 free) and 2 bottles of sparkling flavored water for .79 cents per bottle.

I like Subway but I don’t agree with this false advertisement.  I think it’s crappy because they lure you with the promise of a $5 footlong then you are stuck paying $7.59 for the sandwich you intended on buying.

Update: We were shopping today for new work clothes for Darrin and we had to go to Walgreens to pick up some things and decided that we would go to Subway for lunch.  I was bitching about their false advertising and so Darrin purposely ordered something that was not $5, Roast Beef.  It says on the menu that it’s like $6.79 or something like that and he asked is that $5 footlong? And the lady said yes.  We got to the register and the total for both sandwiches was $10.

So Subway, I apologize that I made such a quick judgement.  But in my defense if any footlong is $5 you should change all the prices on your menu board to show that any footlong is $5.  Because I would see the prices and immediately not order something because it doesn’t say $5.

Christmas Tree

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

We are supposedly going to go to Sears and buy a pre-lit fake christmas tree. The last time I had a Christmas tree I was 19 years old and my neighbors in the apartment building who were all gang members asked me to give them my tree with all decorations and I said no and they threatened me and so what else could I do? I gave it to them. So this will be my first tree in 18 years. I had no idea when I was 19 years old that I’d have to wait 18 years to get another tree. I can’t wait to get it. We have some old decorations from our friend Meg from when she passed away, nobody wanted her Christmas ornaments so we took them. Also Opal has some decorations and ornaments which we can dust off and use. I’m just afraid that they are too fragile. I’m also going to be crocheting some snowflakes for the tree so all is not lost. I want to also make those little mini christmas stockings to hang on the tree branches with little mini candy canes inside them. That should be cute. I will have to put those instructions in my crafts section here.