Days like this I don’t miss working in IT at the user support level. But there’s also a shared camaraderie that comes from replacing the same file over, and over and over and over again and getting people back to work that’s satisfying as it is mind-numbing. #Crowdstrike

Had a marvelous time in Amsterdam. Taylor Swift puts on an incredible night of theater. The Van Gogh museum was excellent!

Then I came home to a cold and tweaked my back which kicked up my sciatica. Everything in balance I suppose.

I told my wife I felt like a tottering old man. She said I think it’s doddering. Like daughter with a d. So I looked it up and she’s right.

Doddering is for old me. Tottering is for structures like a teeter totter.

Want to make a scene look futuristic? Add dirigibles. Want to make a scene look European? Add light rail.

#Amsterdam

Flew all night. Starting the day off right. Even if 9am feels like 3 am. #Amsterdam

We had a good day thrifting yesterday in Frederick, MD. The tulip tea pit and cows on a couch pot came home with us. The rest remain for others seekers of whimsy.

Star Trek is my favorite world to live in.

I’m sad to see Discovery come to an end. I will miss this crew.

Sitting at lunch with my wife swapping tales of our work days. She’s running therapy groups for memory care and dementia. I’m trying to coerce a chat bot to follow directions.

We are both having one sided conversations with someone/thing prone to making things up.

Enjoy some evening birdsong from Maryland.

Birds: American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Chimney Swift

I’m starting to go through my massive collection of photos from the past 20 years from various exports. Picasa. iPhoto. Google Photos. I’m using digikam to remove duplicates and couldn’t open the trash folder to empty it.
Found the folder on the operating system.

28,429 items totaling 29.2 GB
Oh.

My sister-in-law law has invited us over to sing karaoke with her and her son and it’s hilarious.

They have a battery powered microphone and they cast Spotify do the TV and use the lyrics it provides (as needed).

It’s hilarious and so much fun. Highly recommended.

Mowing the lawn, completed
Plopped down to rest
As the first rain drop landed

Returned from vacation directly into the waiting arms of news a friend I’ve played Destiny with for nearly a decade had a heart attack and died this afternoon.

RIP Jackly13 / Nick

Take your incredible RNG into the next life.

“A Picasso next to the bathroom. That’s worthy of a picture!”

— My wife at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Why are three guys roaming around downtown Philadelphia with a bass and snare drums like their own marking band?

Who knows. Cities are wild.

14 years. 💍

Breakfast by the lake. Finding space to breathe this week.

I’ve had the urge recently to do a major cleanse, dump, or revamp of what I own, what I read, and how I interact with my devices. As I sit here folding clothes on my bed, I’m contemplating whether to empty my drawers and start fresh with the clothing I’ve worn in the last 10 days or two weeks. It’s a mix of work pants, shorts, pajamas, and various shirts. Some items need to be thrown away or don’t fit anymore. It’s time for a big purge to make room for things I actually want to wear.

Similar thoughts extend to my digital life. Today, I reorganized my apps to make them more accessible, realizing it was inefficient to dig through folders. I wish my phone could automatically sort apps based on usage, making it easier to find what I need. It’s frustrating that I have to work to access my own usage data, which I’m sure is being used elsewhere for profit.

These changes reflect a broader shift in how I perceive my identity, both personally and professionally. I’m questioning why I hold onto old habits and belongings that no longer serve me, hindering my growth. This introspection extends to newsletters, tasks, and commitments that accumulate, creating a sense of backlog and unease.

Now, I’m at a crossroads, deciding whether to make incremental or radical changes to align my life with my evolving identity and priorities. I seek catharsis and clarity amidst the chaos of accumulated possessions and commitments that no longer resonate with who I am or who I aim to become.

Amsterdam is on the horizon for July.

Beat Saber is so much fun!

All the smashing of fruit ninja with the immersion of the Quest 2 headset.

Absolutely loving it. It’s cardio. It’s fun. It’s great for working off frustrations with your virtual light sabers / drum sticks.

For the past few years I’ve recorded a podcast with two co-hosts about Destiny 2. Two Titans and a Hunter just surpassed 400,000 downloads. It doesn’t feel real and it’s been so much fun covering this game through its ups and downs and looking back at just how many friendships I have from it.

Cryptoops!

For a fun jolt to your Friday morning, I recommend dipping the honeycomb into the honey bear and adding some honey to your coffee. And when you lick your finger because a little bit spilled down the side of your coffee cup, but realize it was hot honey. 🥵 🍯

It’s been a week since I wrote When your address is being used as an Airbnb by someone who is not you. Let’s see how that “special team” is doing.

I emailed Airbnb again since it’s been about a week and I’ve heard nothing from them.

Hello,

I am looking for follow-up on my case: {number redacted for post} My home is being used fraudulently in your system and it’s been a week since the “special team” was supposed to be in touch and I’ve heard nothing from you all. I’ve not been contacted by anyone from your company and do not believe any action has been taken.

Thank you, Carl

To which I got the reply:

Hi Carl, You may search your house address on Airbnb and once you have the link you may send it to use, so we could assist you regarding your concern about your address being used for fraudulently activity.

Now, to anyone who has used Airbnb. You can search a city or location, but you cannot search an address and have it returned to you.

But I do, and I search my home address and copy the URL with the listings and include that in my reply with:

This is not a helpful search. I do not know which of these listings is using my address and directing people to my home, which is not an Airbnb!

Thank you, Carl

So then I get the “we’re not going to help you and it’s up to you to help us help you reply”.

Hi Carl

I understand that you are reaching out with regard to unauthorized use of your address for a listing.

For us to be able to locate the said listing, we will need the link of the listing or any reservation code . Without it, we won’t be able to locate the said listing.

We want to make sure that the said reservation is really coming from Airbnb and not from a different platform.

If ever it happens that this will continue and someone will still show up at your address, I highly suggest asking them with the link of the listing or any reservation, so we can help you locate it and file a report.

Please know that Airbnb will do our best to help you, but we will need this information for us to be able to locate the said listing.

When you have time, it’s worth having a read through the following Help Center articles:

www.airbnb.com/help/sear…

Now, instead of directing me to a helpful article, I got a search results page of their help center.

Not one of their 63 results is relevant to my issue. How in the world do you run a company, where the entire purpose is to send people to houses with the intention of renting them, without a way for a homeowner to report that someone is using their address fraudulently?

I’ve read through your help center. I’ve called your help line. I was told you all were able to identify my address in your system and this would be forwarded to a “special team” to handle this and they would be in touch. My address is {redacted} which I have been told is in your system as an Airbnb rental. What do I need to do to get you to remove my address from your system?

I’ve already had two groups show up at my house from Airbnb. The first was a man who deaf and he typed out questions on his phone (is this {home address}? is this an airbnb?) He showed me an Airbnb listing with photos of some other address that is not mine.

The second group were three men who were in no state to share much of anything, let alone their confirmation.

The next time someone appears at my door and is pissed off about spending $1700 to rent a house and being directly incorrect to mine, I’ll be sure to ask them for their confirmation number.

From what I see, Airbnb will offer me absolutely no assistance with my address being used in your system and people coming to my house, scaring my family, because you all can’t be bothered to follow through on a safety request I have made to have my address removed from your system and now I feel I have been lied to over the phone about my address being located and the matter being forwarded to a team to handle this.

Surely, this is not the first time your company has encountered such an issue. Very poor support all around.

Who can I speak to about having my home address removed from your system? Or do I need to wait for another group of people to show up at my doorstep and attempt to enter my home?

So now I get to wait and see if another group of parties or very confused people show up at my house and attempt to enter it, looking very confused at all the stuff. Because it’s not your Airbnb. And Airbnb doesn’t seem interested correcting this issue.

Has anyone within sight of this post been successful with getting support from Airbnb for someone using your address on their listing?