Personal

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Dealing With a Fraudulent Client

This week, I learned that I really need to spend more time on Google before accepting contracts. Usually, I’m very good at sniffing out the scams, but this person [redacted] got me by making me sign documents, contacting me by phone, appearing eager to pay me, and plying me with more work. Thankfully, I noticed that she ignored my requests for payment and refused to take on more work. Had I taken the time to Google her email address I would have found at least one person who claims she’s running a scam.

I really don’t expect to be paid for the work I did for this person/company this week, but I didn’t just take being defrauded sitting down.

I reported the email address to a number of companies, explaining how it was used to run a scam, which is a violation of any legitimate company’s TOS. These companies were:

-Gmail, the email provider;
-Dropbox, the service through which I was sent and received the digital files;
-Craiglist, the service through which the scam was advertised and responded to.

I have a name and a PO box mailing address, so my next step could be to contact authorities in that town and see what would be involved in filing charges. There might not be anywhere near enough to go on; the name and address could very well be fake.

The contract (which was very interesting) involved the transcription of an interview from a non-famous person involved in the sports and entertainment fields, so I suspect I have more than enough information to find out who is heading this project and and perhaps get some assistance at that end.

This person picked the wrong week to piss me off.

Updates:

Waiting for the eCheque to Clear

The eCheque Cleared!

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Discipline

I think of myself as a very undisciplined person. I procrastinate a lot and need external motivation to do the chores I hate. So I’m always amazed that I can successfully work for myself at home. I dragged myself out of bed at seven this morning (seven!) and was in the office hard at work by eight. I knew that tomorrow’s deadline is doable but would require very long days. I was right; I didn’t clock out till 8 tonight and it’ll probably be the same tomorrow.

But, of course, I don’t work straight through. I took a break in the morning to put ingredients in the breadmaker, had a proper lunch break,  went on a walk in the late afternoon to regain my focus, and had a proper dinner break (mustard chicken with veggies and fresh bread to mop up the sauce!). I still managed to put in close to a ten-hour work day.

This is truly the way I prefer to earn my bread; working in intense spurts at my own pace. I’m not going to give up working at building a viable and steady self-income stream even while I am very open to finding an external job.

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Simplicity Can Be More Complicated

We’ve come to the time of year when I start to crave iced coffee. I usually just cold brew my own since coffee shops charge a lot more for the cold variety than they do the hot. But McDonald’s is having a promotion right now for any size of cold beverage at $1, including their oh-so-delicious iced coffee.

Regardless of which McDonald’s I go to and where, the following conversation, almost verbatim, ensues every single time. This wouldn’t be worth a post if it didn’t always happen!

Me: Hi, I’d like a (size) plain iced coffee, no syrup, half the cream.

McDonalds: What kind of iced coffee?

Me: Plain. No syrup, half the cream.

McDonalds: You just want cold coffee and cream?

Me: Yes. Cold coffee and half the cream.

McDonalds: Sugar?

Me: No, thank you. Just cold coffee and half the cream.

The cashier then takes my order, still looking puzzled, and goes to the person who makes the iced coffee.

Cashier: Can you make me an iced coffee, no syrup, half the cream?

Coffee maker: No syrup, half the cream? Just cold coffee with cream?

Cashier: That’s what she wants.

Coffee maker (to me): What kind of iced coffee do you want?

Me: Plain. No syrup. Just cold coffee and half the cream.

Coffee maker: (makes my drink at last!) Sugar?

Me: No, thank you, that’s perfect!

It boggles me, really, since they have no problem with my order for hot coffee with half a cream. I think the cold coffee is seen as being a dessert more than a beverage. There’s no other way to explain it!

I’ll be making my own again soon enough, with skim milk instead of cream, and lots of cinnamon, but in the mean time, it’s fun to confound people. 😀

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An Image From My Old World

Parts of Montreal’s South Shore along the banks of the Richelieu River, where I spent the bulk of my childhood, are under water. It’s so bad it’s turning into a scene I haven’t witnessed since the Ice Storm of ’98:

Photo Credit : Jean-Pierre Rozon

More images of the army marching into the South Shore on the TVA news website.

I lived through a flood in my childhood and I would not want to go through something like that again. An RV isn’t a guarantee of being able to evacuate, but it’s a fighting chance.

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Two Different Versions of the Same Life

Even though I’ve been on the road now just shy of three years, I’m still only beginning to figure out how I want to full-time.

A recent post by Tioga George led me that conclusion. He’s in southern California right now and having a hard time finding a place to spend the night without getting evicted in the wee hours of the morning. He seems to be having fun playing cat and mouse with the cops and still holds onto his preferred method of full-timing: moving around several times a day.

I thought about that for a while. His idea of spending the day in a prime, scenic, location and then moving to an overnight spot makes sense. I’ve even done that a couple of times.  Then it hit me: I hate packing up the rig to move it, but I love being underway.

I used to have two very different visions for my life. In one I was a homesteader and the other a nomad. RVing really fused those two dreams, but I’m still caught in a tiring dichotomy. When I am parked somewhere for a long spell, I am very glad to be back to an easy life where my toughest decision is what I’m going to make for dinner. But then I get myself back on the road, where every moment is challenging, and I don’t want to stop because I feel so alive.

It’s like mornings. I have a really hard time getting out of bed but once I’m dressed I’m unstoppable. It’s hard for me to build up momentum and once I do it’s important to get it going. Otherwise, I fall back into my old habits and I start to coast through life again. I find myself slowing down as soon as I spend as little as two nights somewhere. Yet, these periods stopped in one place are important since they allow me to do long term projects and really get to know an area.

Another thing that George’s post made me realise is that I pretty much hate driving the rig. I find it very constraining. I love driving both my vehicles separately, but together they take away as much freedom as they provide. So I doubt very much that I will ever succeed in creating my ideal full-timing life with my current setup.

All that pondering aside, I am still more content than I ever dreamt I could be, living, as Froggi Donna would say, my imperfect todays rather than waiting for my perfect tomorrow…