April visit with my sis

Mandy and I visited my big sis in Arcata in April. We had a relatively low-key visit, but we did a lot of fun things. I booked an early morning flight, thinking specifically of having a late breakfast at Big Blue Cafe, yum, love that place! We went for lots of long walks in the cool moist beautiful redwood forests. We met her friend for a nice dinner at Plaza Grill. We had a very special dinner at Larrupin Cafe, a really delightful place just a short drive north of Arcata in Trinidad. We watched some DVDs and streaming shows, in front of her wood-burning fireplace. She made toasted bagels with Albacore, cream cheese, and capers, a snack she introduced me to, that has become one of my favorites over the years. Her dogs and Mandy got along well enough, all of them snuggling up with us on her new reclining couch.

Spoofed call (not) from Xcel

While I was walking this morning, I received a phone call, supposedly from the Xcel Energy Outage number I have in my contacts. The person (I think it was a person, but it might have been synthesized) calling tried to inform me (they knew my name) that there was a power disconnection order for my home address. I interrupted them to ask what city they were calling from, and they wouldn’t tell me. When I persisted, they ended the call. I think that they were hoping to rattle me enough, that I would allow them to give me a way to send them money, to avoid having my power disconnected.

It really bothers me, that any jerk with the right technology can fake their caller ID to look like it’s coming from a legitimate source.

I’m glad that some of our legislators are working towards updating the technology, so the phone companies might some day have the tools they need to prevent spoofed calls. BTW, I did call Xcel to verify there is no such disconnection order in place.

I thought my friends might appreciate this idea I had, that if you ask the caller what city they’re calling from, it forces them to come up with an answer that you might be able to easily cross-check.

Y’all be careful out there!