Hacked Account and Viewing Christmas Lights

Our little sailor girl arrived for Christmas during the wee hours Saturday morning.  Tammi put together a list of things to do while she was on leave.  Our first adventure was a trip to visit Powell’s Bookstore downtown Portland.  I’ve mentioned that humongous store many times in the past.  It’s huge and we love it.  Obviously we wouldn’t let them go without us. 

From there it was on to Next Adventure to check out the kayak supply.  Even though Florida has lots of water and places advertising kayaking, it just doesn’t seem to have the supply of kayaks that Portland does.  Since Terry’s kayak had been damaged, we’re still looking at options for another one.

The town of Kalama sits on the mighty Columbia River.  A week ago that little town had been flooded and photos of the flooded streets were all over the news.  The town’s first  Festival of Lighted Boats Parade had been scheduled but needed to be rescheduled due to a storm that brought strong winds, rain and high flood waters.  Locals referred to the storm as “The Grinch” that had attempted to steal their festivities.   We were in luck though because all the festivities were rescheduled for this Saturday instead.  The weather was chilly but nearly all of the residents of the little town attended the festivities …. all 4,000 of them.  And, we were among those who wanted to see the Lighted Christmas Boats on the Columbia River.

To begin with Tammi and Robert set up a cover to block the cold and the wind.  They thought of just about everything to make it cozy.  Once the cover was up, out came the hot chocolate, spiced cider and nachos.     

We were bundled but we stayed pretty toasty because they also brought along their propane heater and blankets.  It was a great time watching the boats,  checking out Santa and listening to blaring Christmas music.

 

Ever gone online to pay your cell phone bill and discover it was a lot higher than expected?  Well, that happened to me the other day.  It took over 2 1/2 hours in a  chat with several AT&T agents to finally discover that our account had been hacked.  A bogus credit card was used to order an Apple iPhone 6s.  Evidently, someone in Pennsylvania wanted a new phone and expected us to pay for it.    

It took three agents to finally figure out the details.  Once that happened we were transferred to the Fraud Department.  The biggest problem was in finding an AT&T agent who believed there might be a problem and was willing to try to find out what happened without blaming us for the charge back.    Thank goodness the chat didn't end before speaking to a supervisor who finally figured it out. He even went so far as to check our account to be sure we weren't using that phone or that credit card on.   So much for being presumed innocent by AT&T..  

Have you ever noticed that when your post title includes disasters, crashes or similar titles, the views to that blog jumps?

 

We did have time for a family gathering at our very favorite Chinese restaurant in Kalama.  The food is always fresh, plates overflow and we love it. 

Next on our Christmas calendar will be Peacock Lane.  The lights on Peacock Lane have been a tradition for many, many years.  It’s “Portland’s Christmas Lane”.  Sometimes it’s open to vehicles and at other times only open to pedestrian traffic.  Hot drinks are free until the supply runs out.   All of the homes are decorated and it’s quite a spectacular event for about ten days before Christmas.

We're also looking forward to visiting Portland’s Winter Wonderland.  It’s listed as one of the top ten places in the U.S. to see Christmas Lights.  The event is held at Portland Speedway and will be a first for us this year.   There certainly is a lot on our calendar but it is the Season!

‘Tis life on the road.