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In a last ditch effort to save on our escalating car insurance rates (no thanks to insurance fraud) my wife and I decided to sign up for a Defensive Driving course. According to the AAA, taking this course would drop our insurance by 10% (for each driver) and as an added bonus, decrease our overall driving points by 4.

The class lasted 6 hours, with sporadic breaks inbetween including a lunch at noon. Our instructor, a retired NY state police officer who served for 26 years, shared his philosophies, humorous quips and suggestions for driving better and defending yourself against Lazy Larry, Fast Eddie and Beeline Betty.

These tips included:

• When you’re on a highway or freeway, your speed should match the pace of the other drivers. Even if the posted MPH signs say ‘65MPH’, if the traffic is going at the rate of 75MPH it’s best to go with the flow.
• Police officers grant drivers with what is deemed and measured by the “tolerance meter”. Meaning they will give you the benefit of the doubt if your speed is at 75MPH, only if that’s in accordance with the flow of traffic.
• Police officers are human, despite what you might think otherwise. There are the go-getters; the officers who pull over those who break the law at breakneck speeds, the procrastinators; officers who show up at 2 in the afternoon, circle their jurisdiction and go home, and finally there are the hard workers; those who pull people over but also are more likely to give drivers the benefit of the doubt.
• As for how much room you should leave between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead of you, it’s suggested that you pick out an object in the distance, wait for the vehicle ahead of you to pass it and then count how long it takes you to get to that same object. If it takes you less than 2 seconds (one-one thousand, two-one thousand), then you should back off. A good rule of thumb is that if you see their back tires, you’re keeping a safe distance.

To be honest, I think we both learned that about 99.9% of drivers suck at driving. After about age 20 our perception, judgement and common sense take a dive and it’s up you to take preventative measures in order to save your life and the lives of others. I’m not preaching, just making a point that practicing good driving habits provides a wealth of advantages. Next time your stuck inbetween Lazy Larry and Beeline Betty, maybe you’ll think twice before you slam your breaks or exude frustration at the situation. Assess the situation; that both drivers (Larry and Betty) are only adding to the problem. They need to work that out amongst themselves, it’s not up to you to prove a point and slam your breaks or cut someone off.

Just coast off the off-ramp, smooth sail to your driveway, put your car in park and vent your frustrations on a computer game like Unreal Tournament or Medal of Honor. Computer games, unlike real life, allow for saves and continues.

“Monster in My Pocket is described as a “range” in some of the UK press material. It was created by Joe Morrison and John Weems, president and vice-president of Morrison Entertainment Group. Morrison and Weems were former Mattel employees who had developed the Masters of the Universe toy line and served as production supervisors for Gary Goddard’s live-action Masters of the Universe film.”

Back in 1992, I remember how my brother and I loved playing the Monster in My Pocket video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I mean, what kid wouldn’t love jumping around as the vampire beating down zombie bad guys in your path? It was a highlight of childhood playtime, especially after a long winded day at school (at the time I believe I was in 7th grade, but don’t hold me to it as I’m horrible with dates).

The fun was in collecting these critters from whatever source available, be it cereal boxes or a local swapmeet. My cousins and I couldn’t get enough of the MIMP especially since you could haul them around at school in your pockets without anyone noticing. The only other time I hid a toy in my pocket was my Tamagotchi who died in the middle of Spanish class in 10th grade. It was pretty depressing considering I nutured that thing for a good week.

I remember owning the Hunchback, Windingo, The Winged Panther and the Warlock. You could stare at them for hours at their minute detail (subpar by today’s standards) and if you wanted to, you could educate yourself with their elaborate history as each figure came with a well-written description for their bio.

Being the constructive and imaginative person I was, I’d frequently use the MIMP characters in my “toy shows” at Studio C (the Couch). These were productions utilizing a sprinkle of imagination along with a handful of my toys (which included Ninja Turtles, GI Joe and the occassional Generic Toy).

These “toy shows” included special effects using Play Doh or Fimo clay as my makeup and behind the scenes excerpts immediately following the end of the show. Normally I’d use the couch as my setting, the cracks inbetween the cushions were hazardous areas, and from there I’d construct a production that would put Mr. Ed to shame.

As I mentioned, to add extra features to the characters I would use clay to build up their faces (add ears, horns, etc.) and usually tear off their faces to heighten the drama. Another special effect I’d use was closing my eyes for a split second to “warp” the toys to different areas of the set. After the show was over, I’d sing or hum the ending song and announce the “Behind the Scenes” portion.

The behind the scenes conclusion included showing how the special effects were created, the on-set drama between Leonardo and Papa Smurf and scene-by-scene shots with and without the sounds. It was a creative fun fest and literally kept me entertained for hours.

When Studio B (otherwise known as the bathtub) was available I’d stage on set climatic sea battles using the soap dish as a pirate ship. Sometimes I’d utilize the bubbles to provide conflict to the characters and no matter what it always ended with the bad guy drowning.

We all come from humble beginnings and the same applies to first generation design work. Whether it be tracing from your Peanuts books, like I did when I was young, or finger painting, there is a beginning to every designer’s repertoire. Afterall, everyone had to start somewhere.

I knew I wanted to be an artist after my Dad taught me how to draw a pumpkin around age 3. Despite by age, it was something I strived for, especially after seeing my Grandmother’s paintings. Needless to say I was inspired to persue a career in art and the path from where I was then to where I am now had its ups and downs.

After seeing Randy (a friend from the past) drawing his own comics in grade school, I too wanted to draw my own comics. I can remember that day pretty vividly, coming home after being inspired and checking my house for pieces of paper, lined or not, it didn’t matter. I sat down at the kitchen table and began doodling characters for my “unnamed” comic. I eventually came up with an idea for the story, it would be about a kid in junior high who could warp to other dimensions using his locker. Still, I didn’t have a name and looked at these characters that I created from my imagination staring back at me. The kid, who I named Randy, resembled my grade school friend except for the addition of spectacles and tight green spandex.

It took me awhile, but I finally came up with a rather absurd title; “The Dingleberry Dimension”. Now that the comic was finally titled I brainstormed the layout which ended up being your standard comic layout; 3 rows with 4 boxes across. At first I drew the boxes by hand but tossed that task aside when we got our first computer (a Pentium II 300 Mhz). By serendipitous means, I found out that I could just as easily draw the boxes in Microsoft Paint and print out comic sheets by the barrel.

Over time I would create comics based on my character, Janitor Bob appropriately titled “The Adventures of Janitor Bob” and a comic based entirely on the eraser, Pink Pet. That comic in particular delved into the history of the spaceship, The Pink Pet (I know, stupid name for a spaceship) and its arch nemesis Black Pen.

After I finished a comic book I’d bind it by hand with a little help from the stapler and some tape for touchup. I’d then show them to family, who as you can imagine enjoyed them, and friends, who typically had mixed feelings about the content. I’d hear comments from my high school croonies like, “Why is the story so sappy?” or constructive criticism like “This is confusing, but well drawn.”, and to tell you the truth it didn’t matter. To me, what mattered was that I felt fufilled by drawing these comics and any negative comments I’d hear would go out one ear, and well you know the rest.

My point in all this, albeit an obvious one, is that we all start somewhere and that particular point in time is important for our growth from adolescence towards our lives and careers as adults and professionals. Never forget about where you came from because there is no point B without a point A.

There has been an increase in fake unauthorized emails from criminals posing as corporations claiming to protect theft identity. Often these emails look legitimate as they usually include the company letterhead and a message warning you of impending doom on your identity. The ironic aspect of these emails is that the message, warning you of identity theft, is a blatant attempt at retrieving your personal information.

For experienced users and properly configured email servers, these messages are filtered and immediately deleted. For the inexperienced, however, it can lead to a dangerous situation where your identity and account information is literally handed over to a criminal. How do they accomplish this? It’s simple, they create a form using the specific company letterhead (CitiBank, American Express, Washington Mutual, etc.) asking for your account information. This usually means your name and address and more importantly your username and password, which gives the criminal easy access to your banking or credit account.

As I mentioned, the target is the inexperienced user, who in an attempt to avoid “account termination or suspension” fork over their information thinking they are doing the right thing. Recently, I received an email from a person claiming to be in charge of Identity Theft Solutions from CitiBank.

Here is the email in its full context:

It was easy to identity the email as fake using the following visual indicators:

The sender email was from CITIBANK [identdep_op7216172929@citibank.com], which apon first glance looks legitimate. However, one must realize that any email address can be easily spoofed using a variety of methods including masking the email address. Generally, spammers spoof email addresses to prevent people from finding out who they really are. This also applies to criminals on the lookout for account information who would rather not be caught by the law.

In this case, if the email were legitimate, CitiBank would not state “Do not reply to this email”. It’s a good habit, if you’re suspicious, to go ahead and reply to the original sender about the legitimacy of the email and be sure to check the message header. In Outlook, Right-click the email and select Options. A “Message Options” window will popup showing you the detailed message header. It’s important to take a look at the Received: information, as shown below (it indicates the original sender location and IP address):

Another red flag for this email is that the content itself is represented by one graphic; in this case the Citibank logo and message text beneath the logo. There is absolutely no text in the email itself, everything is instead represented by the image. If this was a legitimate email from Citibank, it would include a letterhead and actual text in the message body. Unless it’s a promo from Citibank advertising something like cheap account fees, then discard the message and do not reply under any circumstances.