I watch a lot of videos and every week or so, I share some of my favorites right here. Not too many and I try to keep total viewing time for all videos under twenty minutes, but it doesn't always end up that way. There's just enough here for a quick break from reality and a nice cup of coffee. :) Please, feel free to share your thoughts on the videos or share a link to an interesting link you came across recently too. 

A Dramatic Surprise On A Quiet Square

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Epic!

Kara: A PS3 New Technology

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Wow. Do I have to get a PS3 now? Be sure to check out Quantic Dreams PS3 Kara Behind the Scenes video too.

Honest Trailers: Twilight

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They will have the romance of a lifetime, expressed entirely in stares.

25 Astoundingly Ridiculous Lawsuits

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I don't even know what to say about these.

Frank Warren: Half A Million Secrets

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If you haven't visited PostSecret, you really should. Better yet, why not consider sending in your own secret?

Dance Walking Fitness Ben Aaron. Time to Dance Walk Baby

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Find your happy place…and dance! :)

If you've come directly here, check out the first part of this story here. This is my own personal experience with Early Warning Services (EWS, I'll call them) and Regions Bank and how much of a mess is made from having a SSN identical to a TIN or EIN number of some business I have no association with.

March 20, 2012

It's the first I've gotten the chance to move forward in my own little investigation into this whole mess. I head over to the bank and see that the same woman I bawled like blubbering idiot in front of, is available. I step into her office and tell her I still need to get to the bottom of all this. I hand her the letter I received from Early Warning Services (EWS). She calls their fraud department and she starts getting the runaround. She mouths over to me that the guy on the other end of the phone is very rude and they haven't received any confirmation from EWS that I've been cleared. So she calls EWS and learns that they only sent me a notification verifying there were no records found. She calls their fraud department back and ends up emailing them a copy of the letter I received and we wait for them to call back saying they've received the letter.

While we're waiting, I start telling her about how I was/am still able to log into my account online and that I have a negative balance because a payment went through even though my account was supposed to have been closed. She does some digging around, but can't really give me an explanation as to why it went through. She assures me I won't be charged an overdraft fee for it.

She finally gets a return call from their fraud department and just like that, the account has been unblocked. I didn't go into the bank expecting for the account to still be open. I only went in to find out where this was all stemming from, but since they bank hadn't closed my account (for whatever reason and more than two weeks later than they said they would) everything is now just as it was before this whole thing started. Well, okay. I guess.

So basically, EWS said "Oh, she's fine. We don't have any records on her." Regions Bank basically said "Ummm…Sorry for the inconvenience, here's your bank account back." Meanwhile, I'm still left with unanswered questions and now I'm getting really pissed off. I ask the lady at the bank and she couldn't give me any answers. I can tell she knows…something, but she won't tell me. Instead she urges me to call EWS when I get the chance.

I go ahead and make a deposit to cover the negative balance on the account, order a new checkcard (I had already cut it up and threw it away knowing the account had been closed) and head home to call EWS. Finally, I'll be able to get to the bottom of this. Ms Lady answers the phone and I tell her I need to find out why this happened, if I'm a victim of identity theft, and what measures I need to take so ensure this doesn't happen again.

Here comes the nitty gritty…

Ms. Lady tells me that there is a business that went to a bank and entered in my social security number as their EIN (employer identification number) or TIN (tax edentification number). Then she starts talking about the laws in Texas regarding EIN's and I'm like "I've never even lived in Texas", but it leads me to believe that this business is based somewhere in Texas (not that it matters). Ms. Lady goes on to tell me that the EIN or TIN that was issued to this business is exactly the same as my SSN (social security number). The only reason my name/SSN was flagged is because this business has some outstanding credit issues or 'records'. It wasn't noticed until I tried to open up a joint account with my oldest son. I'm dumbfounded.

How the hell does this happen? Aren't EIN's, TIN's and SSN's issued by the government? So am I to understand that the government just issues out these numbers arbitrarily? With all the numbers that are floating around out there, you'd think that there would be some kind of check system to ensure that numbers are used more than once. Right? So why wasn't this caught in the database of all databases?!

I called the Social Security Administration and after being on hold for close to an hour, they tell me it isn't their problem – that I should call the IRS. So I call the IRS and am on hold for another hour before I get a live person on the other end. Ms. IRS lady simply says I need to fill out some forms and send them to their office. Within 60 days after receiving the forms, they'd send me a letter stating they're investigating. Ugh! How frustrating. Ms. IRS lady also suggests that I contact the three credit bureaus and get copies of my credit report. Double UGH!

Trying to get to the bottom of all this has been crazy. Knowing that there are actual IRS forms that have had to be made up for this very issue is scary. To think that the bank can just close or freeze an account without any kind of an investigation first, is downright scarier! I still have to fill out these forms (one of which is an Identity Theft Affidavit), and have to get copies of my credit report. For now, it's over. All there is left to do is hope nothing comes up on my credit report and wait for the IRS to do their investigation.

Thanks for following along. :)

In case you missed them, here are some of my favorite videos from the past week. What was yours?

"Fresh Guacamole" – PES

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In this follow-up to his stop-motion hit Western Spaghetti, director PES transforms familiar objects into Fresh Guacamole.

"Too Shy" Student Short Film (2011)

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Too Shy follows the relationship of a boy and girl from seniors in high school to senior citizens and explores the concepts of love, death and regret. ~ Written & Directed by Ryan Hutchins

Prometheus

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Oh please, please, please be as good as the trailer makes it out to be! I can hardly wait!

First Ski Jump

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"Well, here. goes. something, I guess." said the brave 4th grader, just before he (or she) made the jump.

MiniLook Kiev

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I don't know why I like these videos so much. Maybe it's because they're so colorful and each time I watch one I think to myself "Oooh, look at all the litle people moving around". Maybe I'm just easily amused.

Fun.: We Are Young ft. Janelle Monáe (ACOUSTIC)

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You've probably seen and/or heard the official version, but the acoustic version is just as good and was the first version I heard of the song.

I hope you have a wonderful week! Don't forget to dance!!

We're not a particularly religious family. We don't go to church. We don't celebrate any of the holidays for traditional religious reasons. In fact, the only religious-based holidays we celebrate and why we celebrate them are:

• Easter – Cadbury Mini Eggs. Other than that, it's no different than any other Sunday.
   
• Thanksgiving – Friends and family gatherings with turkey dinner and an excuse to pig out. Also sandwiches made from the leftovers.
   
• Christmas – Friends and family gatherings with ham and/or chicken dinners, egg nog and an excuse to pig out. Also, sandwiches made from the leftovers. Oh! And presents – can't forget the whole gift-giving and receiving thing.

Anytime Jacob has asked me about one religion or belief or God or gods, I've always tried to give him as much information as I think he can handle, with as many different perspectives as I understand them.

This week, he announced that he is an atheist. However, In the same breath, he also said that he believes in fate or destiny.

I think he's just as confused as I am now. My job here is done.

[Image via Brenda Anderson on Flickr]

If you've come directly here, check out the first part of this story here. This is my own personal experience with Early Warning Services (EWS, I'll call them) and Regions Bank.

It's Saturday and I post the following to Facebook.

March 3, 2012

So frustrated with the bank. I still don't know what's going on. The bank has blocked my (actually our) bank account…as in frozen….as in we can't do anything with it. No deposits, no withdraws, no transactions whatsoever. This, after banking with them for the past four years. And why? Well, apparently my business has been reported for reasons not yet made clear to me.

But here's the funny part. I HAVE NO BUSINESS! I'm not self-employed. Hell, y'all know I'm not even employed at the moment.

Know what else is funny? When I say this to the woman on the other end of the line, she asks me if I've been having issues with identity theft. Seriously?! OMG!

Know what else is funny? NOT A DAMN THING! I am pissed. I wish Monday would hurry up and get here so I can find out what the hell is going on.

We check the mail and I see that I've received a letter from Regions Bank. It simply states that they're using their right to close my account and have done so. No explaination. The letter also states that any monies left in the account would be sent to me via certified check, ten days from the date of the letter, which is dated March 1, 2012. Now I'm fuming and stressing out big-time. The rent is due. I have automatic web bill payments set up through this account and I don't have access to any of the money that's sitting in the account. Thank goodness we have another account that allow me to buy some necessities for the house (groceries, etc.), all of the bills that are supposed to go through have credit balances, and we can pretty much count on the landlord not picking up the rent until next weekend. Still, we'll have to call the landlord and tell him what's going on.

Sidenote: We did call the landlord and told him what was going on. Not only was he understanding, but he offered to lend us money if we needed it! Who does that?! Wow! Yayee for small-town living. :)

March 5, 2012

I go back to the bank to see why they've closed the account altogether and get any information I can get pertaining to a possible case of identity theft. Also I need to get a copy of the letter EWS wanted me to get. I'm thinking they want a copy of the letter EWS sent to the bank, which resulted in the closing of my account.

The bank tells me nothing and gives me the same telephone number for EWS. They also tell me that they're not authorized to give me a copy of the letter I need. So I decide to call EWS again, right there in the bank office. Again, Ms. Lady tells me that I need to fax over the form, the government issued ID, and the letter from the bank. When I tell them I all I have is the letter from the bank stating they've closed my account, Ms. Lady tells me that's what they need. So going to the bank a second time was a complete waste of my time. Unfortunately, I bawled like a baby while I was there, in front of this poor lady at the bank, who I was sure was going to break out in thears any minute, and made me feel even worse somehow.

I leave the bank and go straight over to Office Max to fax all this stuff. I fill out the form, gather the rest of the stuff and get it all faxed over. Then go home and wait. I'm stressing out and all kinds of questions are running through my head like:

• Does this have something to do with MDHDesigns (a little graphic site I used to have)?
• Does this have anything to do with my ex-husband trying to use my name for his old business, the one that went under?
• Is there someone out there using my name?
• Does this have anything to do with the fact that we opened up our account in AR and are now living in MS and some idiot at the bank got confused?

March 7, 2012

I call EWS to find out the status of my case. Ms. Lady tells me that it hasn't been processed yet. Ms. Lady also tells me to give it five business days. Well, of course it takes up to five business days – what was I thinking? It's only my identity that's on the line here. So I wait.

March 12, 2012

The weekend has passed. I somehow make through with my sanity intact and even managed a road trip to see my daughter. Now it's Monday and I finally get to find out what's going on. I call EWS. Ms. Lady tells me in a very matter-of-fact manner, no records have been found and a letter confirming this has been sent to me and the bank. Ms. Lady sounds happy to report this and I'm like "Wait a frickin' minute! What do you mean 'no records have been found'"?, but I didn't say this aloud. Instead, I just take this to mean it's all good and my name has been cleared. Then I get to thinking about it and asked Ms. Lady how this happened in the first place.

• Am I a victim of identity theft?
• Did all of this happen because wires got crossed due to the fact that my home branch is located in Arkansas?
• How can I prevent this from happening again and what steps do I take now?
• How long will this investigation remain in their database?

She proceeds to tell me that she's not sure how much information she can give me except to say that if there are any records found in their database, it will remain in their system for ten years. Then she says that Monday's are very busy, but that she will speak to her supervisor then give me a call back later this afternoon or tomorrow.

March 13, 2012

I wondered if I could still access the bank account online. I give it a try and sure enough, I'm still able to see the account. Only now, the account shows that I have a negative balance for a transaction that went through on March 6th. But how can that be? The bank closed the account on March 1st. Furthermore, with the two pending transactions that were sitting there when I last saw it, why didn't the deposit go through too? I think it's funny (not) how the deposit didn't go through, but the web bill pay did and now I'm assuming that the next time I look at the account (if I'm able to), I'll see that I've been charged an overdraft fee.

I still haven't heard from Ms. Lady of Early Warning Services. I will call them again tomorrow to see if what information I can get. I will also be going to the bank tomorrow with the letter and try to track down why the bank closed my account without doing some kind of thorough investigation themselves. Or maybe they did and if they did, what was it they found that threw up a red flag?

Sidenote: I imagine this could be much, much worse. There is comfort in knowing that aside, from the credit card issued to my husband for business, we don't have any credit cards – not one single credit card. We use our bank share/check cards and that's it. If we can't pay for it with what's in the bank, we do without. I imagine if I had credit cards to worry about, I'd really be curled up in a fetal position, in the corner, with my thumb in my mouth.

Obviously, this isn't over until I get all my questions answered. So I'll be updating again, probably with another blog post.

[Read more...]

[Image via 401K on Flickr.com]

I wanted to get this all out there. This is my own personal experience with Early Warning Services (EWS, I'll call them) and Regions Bank. This gets a little complicated because there is more than one issue going on here, but all the issues stem from simply opening up a new account.

A Little Backstory

When my husband got the opportunity to transfer to Mississippi, I started making all the financial preparations for our move. You know, closing out accounts for our utilities, our townhome rental, and the bank. After finding out the bank we had been using (Bank of America) didn't have a branch in the whole state of Mississippi, we decided to open up a new account with Regions Bank. We did so about a month before our big move, so we could have our direct deposits stuff all taken care of before we got to MS. Done. Our move was very smooth both physically and financially.

Fast forward to October of 2011. My oldest son, Andrew, decides to make some major changes in his life including moving from Virginia to Mississippi, with us.

Fast forward to February, 2012. Andrew files his tax returns and gets a little bit of a refund back from the government. I suggest that he open up a bank account and stick most of the money in there.

February 29, 2012

Andrew decides to go ahead and open up an account. I request to be on the account too. The only reason for requesting I be on the account was to kind of oversee my son's spending and having access to his account would make it much easier for me to transfer or deposit funds into his account. We head to Regions Bank to do just that. Done. Smooth. Great. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong.

On the night of March 1st, I logged into the account my husband and I have together and notice that I'm now given the option to choose which account I want to see. There are two account numbers to choose from and I'm assuming that one is for Andrew's account and the other belonging to me and my husband. Then I kind of freak out because the account number listed on the website doesn't match the account number I actually have.

Subsequently, I expect my husband's paycheck to have been directly deposited into our own account later that night and had tried to purchase a couple of things online. Each time I tried to make a purchase, I received an error saying that there was something wrong with my card. At this point, I'm not too concerned about it – maybe the bank is late in processing the deposit.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may remember the following post.

March 2, 2012

Currently in PANIC mode!! Someone, somewhere is going to get hurt if this isn't cleared up by the end of business today. I don't know what's going on, but as of last night, I'm seeing someone else's account number, mine is nowhere to be found. But when I click on that account number, my account stuff is fine. And this is just the tip of all that's going wrong with my account. :-S

After I had posted this on Facebook, I received a call from Regions Bank informing me that in order for Andrew to keep his account, my name has to be dropped from the account. They didn't say why and all they could do was give me some telephone number to call for more information. They requested that I come in to fill out the paperwork to remove me from his account.

I try to download a free app for my Kindle and I receive another error saying that I haven't set up a payment method for my Amazon account. Now I know there's got to be something wrong with my card. I check Amazon and everything seems to be okay – the credit card information I gave them was correct. I check the bank account, and everything looks good there. I change my Amazon account information to a different bank account.

Also on this day, Andrew receives his checkcard in the mail. He calls to activate the card and is informed that he will have to come into the bank in order to provide additional information before the card can be activated.

1) Why am I seeing a different account number online than the one I actually have on my checks?

2) Why am I being requested to take my name off of my son's account?

3) What additional information does the bank need from Andrew to activate his checkcard?

4) What's wrong with my card?

So for these reasons, my son and I go to the bank. We spoke with the assisstant manager, who informed me that the numbers I saw when I logged in to access my account are online account numbers. I wasn't aware that two numbers were assigned to the same account – one for online banking and one for walk-in banking. So as it turned out, I was freaking out for no reason. Or so it seemed until…

The assisstant manager also informs Andrew that his account has been blocked for some unknown reason. Not only has his account been blocked, but my account has also been frozen. The assistant manager can't tell us why because she doesn't know herself. She only knows that she recieved a letter from the corporate office or somewhere that both accounts have been blocked and it has something to do with my name.

The assistant manager then gives me a telephone number to call and I decide to call right then and there, in the office. In the meanttime, she tries to get in contact with another bank branch somewhere in Alabama, to get information for Andrew as to why his account has been blocked and why my account has been frozen.

I call this telephone number and give the lady on the other end, who I will call 'Ms. Lady', the reference number given to me from the bank, along with a client number. Neither of the numbers I give her come up with anything so then she asks me for my social security number, at which point I finally think to ask "Where am I calling again?" Then she tells me its the Early Warning Services. I ask her what kind of company it is and she tells me it's some kind of agency that gives banks and/or corporations an alert when someone or some other corporation has been reported for things like credit card fraud or some other kind of dirty dealings. Ms. Lady asks if I want to give her my social security number so she can look up this case. I reluctantly give it to her.

Ms. Lady informs me that my name has been flagged due to some connection with a business. She can't or won't give me any other information about this case other than my name is connected to some business, which she won't give me the name of. Then she asks me if I've been a victim of identity theft. At this point I'm going bonkers, with a thousand and one thoughts running through my head.

Meanwhile the assistant manager is sitting in front of me on another phone, still trying to get in contact with this other branch and discovers that because of the big storms coming, the branch has decided to let their employees go for the day. She's reached a dead end. It's Friday and this branch is about to close. I know she's wanting to get home herself.

Back to Ms. Lady – She begins to go through some spiel about how I can send her a copy of a government issued ID along with some form she will be emailing me and a letter from the bank. I am befuddled. All I could do was wait for Ms. Lady to email me this form.

I get home and sure enough, there's an email from Ms. Lady containing two attachments – the first, a form letter stating they've received my request for an investigation; the second, a form to facilitate the disclosure of my file. There's really nothing I can do at this point except to fill out the form and wait until Monday to fax it over.

[Read More...]

[Image via 401K on Flickr.com]

In case you missed them, here are some of the videos I came across this week. What was your favorite video this week?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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Now that's a kick-ass president. Let's see Obama or Bush do that. The movie is based on the book Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and has had great reviews.

Lego Millennium Falcon Stop Motion Assembly 3d

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The details that went into this falcon and the video – nice.

ABCinima

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All the letters of the alphabet via film. How many of them did you catch?

DreamGiver by Tyler Carter

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A regular night of dream delivering turns into a literal nightmare when a boy's book of ancient mythology comes alive.

Celebrity Sleepovers – Mark Malkoff

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Genius! I wish I had thought to do something like this. I wonder how long he will be able to keep this up.

Adele – Set Fire To The Rain (Boyce Avenue cover)

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There is so much talent on YouTube!

In case you missed them, here are some of the videos I came across this week. What was your favorite video this week?

Ultimate Tazer Ball- UTB The Future of Sport?

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Eight tazers and one really big ball – could this really be the future of sport? Maybe. No joke – this game took place somewhere in California. The next event will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, March 3rd-4th. I'm not sure what to think of it except to say it looks pretty dangerous.

Psycho Siri

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Kinda makes me happy I don't own one. I knew that thing could be evil.

Facebook Parenting: For The Troubled Teen

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A lot of people have been criticizing his tactic, especially about him shooting the laptop. Here's one of the comments I made on the video:

I wasn't particularly impressed with him using a gun either. I would've rather seen him use a sledgehammer to the thing. People are also criticizing him for not giving the laptop away. I tell ya, if I was that ticked off at something my daughter had done [especially in this case], giving it away to someone would've been the last thing on my mind. I would've smashed the thing to bits and pieces without thinking twice about it.

I'd also like to add that if he wanted to destroy the laptop he paid for, I think he had every right to do so. What do you think about what this parent did and how he handled it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

1970 Living Barbie Commercial with Maureen McCormick

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There's this site called Star.me that I rarely pay any attention to, but have an account. There are daily missions or questions and you get a virtual sticker for each activity you do. Like I said, I rarely pay any attention to it, but one of the missions this week caught my eye. It was to find a commercial from the year you were born. This is the one I found for [gasps] 1970. Is that…Marsha?! Oh Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

A Valentine's Day Video from Rooster Teeth

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If you're into the whole Valentine's Day tradition, then I hope you and your significant other have a wonderfully romantic day and night oozes mushy, lovey-dovey kind of stuff. Me – I'll probably eat some homecooked meal while watching TV with the husband and the kids.

Saving All My Love For You

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With the news of Whitney Houston's death, I'm sure you watched a video or two (I did) to reminesce on some of your favorite songs sung by her already, but I would be remiss if I didn't include my favorite song here.

Let's celebrate this whole breathing thing we do. Don't forget to dance!

In case you missed them, here are some of the videos I came across this week. What was your favorite video this week?

World Waterski Record Run 145 Skiers Official Team Video

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Now that's something you don't see everyday. 145 skiers…145! They've broken a world record, becoming the largest group of people to water-ski simultaneously, for one nautical mile. It's amazing that noone got tangled or bumped into each other!

How to protest SOPA and PIPA

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I know, I know. It's a little late for this now, but just in case you were wondering…

Doritos® – Sling Baby

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Nope. I didn't watch the Super Bowl, but I did manage to catch all the ads thanks to YouTube. This one was my favorite, although the ad for The Voice was great too. You can see all of my favorite ads on Pinterest.

Flying People In New York City

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I wish they had painted them to look like some of our beloved superheroes.

Losers [NSFW - Profanity]

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I've seen a thousand anti-bully videos, but this one stands out from the rest.

Valentine's Day, Cracker Barrel & Butter!

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"Bacon. I don't think I need ta say more about dat… And last but not least, butter."

This is not the first time he's done this. I've warned friends and family when I know he's on the site. I don't know what questions he answers. I don't know what answers he gives. I only know when he's on the site because he tells me so, then I hear him giggling from the other room. I am not proud of him doing this, but I guess there's really no harm in it…or is there?

Well apparently, it's finally caught up with him. He just told me that Yahoo! has suspended his account for a month, saying he's been reported by many people.

I'm just sayin'.