I'll admit, I have fallen for more than one scam. Ones like, "Evil Twin #1, you are the only girl for me," and "No, I am not dating anyone else."
In my search for an new apartment, I have run into a number of scams. Ones even more tricky than those crafty boys I dated.
So for example, I replied for an ad for an apartment at the Lighthouse. The response asked me to come to a showing of the apartment ready with a credit report in hand. Seems normal. Even ET#2 thought it was legit. The scam was that the website he recommends for the credit report is not legit.
Click to read the email
Some are a little more obvious. I mean any email from Africa has a twinge of suspicion. (Apologies to my scientific collaborators in South Africa. So when you get a grammatically erred email response it raises all sort of red flags:
Click to read the email
But quite frankly, I think some of the scams were quite sophisticated like this one. The woman says she is using a legitimate website to scam you.
Click to read the email
The worst part is that the rent's they are asking for are not that incredible all within normal range. Anyhoo, on with the hunt.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 05, 2009
The first of many...
Note: Please do not give me crap about my grammar and spelling on this post, as I am rather intoxicated as I type.
My gut kind of hurts from laughing so hard. I probably should be crying, but lets be realistic I am not capable of realizing how ridiculous I am.
Earlier today I convinced the nice quiet girl in the lab next door to mine to go the postdoctoral fellow happy hour. M is adorable, under five foot, Chinese, with a gentle high pitched voice. Anyway considering I did not get to work until 10:30 today, we did not leave the lab until 8pm. When we got to the happy hour, I randomly asked every group there if they were from the NIH. Alas, our group was long gone.
So we drank our Coronas a little disappointed we had missed out on the festivities. "Hey is this your first time here?" said the asian dude in polo shirt.
"Umm yes," I replied
The three of us continued with the same old conversation about work, where we lived, etc.. Mike was a resident starting his periodontist fellowship. I will say that he was adorable like an anime character. He had spiky hair, a baby face, and spoke softly. He kept on leaning into my ear to speak.
When I went to go get another beer from the bar Mike and his buddies disappeared. M told me they went, but I was not really concerned. We decided to enjoy my beer (because M stopped drinking like 4 beers ago since she felt dizzy) outside despite the dreary weather. As we were chatting, Mike reappeared.
"Hey, ET#1, you're back! I just wanted to tell you two that we are eating dinner 4 blocks away. When you are done here you should come join us."
"Oh thanks, " I replied.
"I know this is a strange question, but did you know any people that graduated from Stuyvesant? I know some of them went to Columbia." He said.
"Of course I do, " I said.
"What year did you graduate," he asked.
"1998" I replied. This is the moment I saw fear in his eyes.
"Wait did you go to Stuyvesant?" He asked.
"No," I said, "I went to high school in Massachusetts."
"You graduated college in 1998?" his voice was an octave higher.
"Um yes and you" I asked
" I graduated from Styuvesant in 2001." he sort of choked. I saw him taking a few steps back. "Well I need to get back to my friends." he said.
"Nice meeting you," I said. And off he went.
Poor thing. It must have taken a lot of balls to come back and invite us out to dinner, only to find out how ancient we are. I hope this does not scar him for life. As for me, I cannot stop laughing. I have never seen anyone run away so quickly after bad news.
My gut kind of hurts from laughing so hard. I probably should be crying, but lets be realistic I am not capable of realizing how ridiculous I am.
Earlier today I convinced the nice quiet girl in the lab next door to mine to go the postdoctoral fellow happy hour. M is adorable, under five foot, Chinese, with a gentle high pitched voice. Anyway considering I did not get to work until 10:30 today, we did not leave the lab until 8pm. When we got to the happy hour, I randomly asked every group there if they were from the NIH. Alas, our group was long gone.
So we drank our Coronas a little disappointed we had missed out on the festivities. "Hey is this your first time here?" said the asian dude in polo shirt.
"Umm yes," I replied
The three of us continued with the same old conversation about work, where we lived, etc.. Mike was a resident starting his periodontist fellowship. I will say that he was adorable like an anime character. He had spiky hair, a baby face, and spoke softly. He kept on leaning into my ear to speak.
When I went to go get another beer from the bar Mike and his buddies disappeared. M told me they went, but I was not really concerned. We decided to enjoy my beer (because M stopped drinking like 4 beers ago since she felt dizzy) outside despite the dreary weather. As we were chatting, Mike reappeared.
"Hey, ET#1, you're back! I just wanted to tell you two that we are eating dinner 4 blocks away. When you are done here you should come join us."
"Oh thanks, " I replied.
"I know this is a strange question, but did you know any people that graduated from Stuyvesant? I know some of them went to Columbia." He said.
"Of course I do, " I said.
"What year did you graduate," he asked.
"1998" I replied. This is the moment I saw fear in his eyes.
"Wait did you go to Stuyvesant?" He asked.
"No," I said, "I went to high school in Massachusetts."
"You graduated college in 1998?" his voice was an octave higher.
"Um yes and you" I asked
" I graduated from Styuvesant in 2001." he sort of choked. I saw him taking a few steps back. "Well I need to get back to my friends." he said.
"Nice meeting you," I said. And off he went.
Poor thing. It must have taken a lot of balls to come back and invite us out to dinner, only to find out how ancient we are. I hope this does not scar him for life. As for me, I cannot stop laughing. I have never seen anyone run away so quickly after bad news.
Monday, June 01, 2009
The Evil Twins Take Maryland - Part 2
A Q&A between ET#1 and ET#2:
ET#1: You seemed to be fascinated by the architecture of some of the restored buildings in Baltimore. Did anything in particular stick out?
ET#2: I didn't realize how much of Baltimore's housing stock is comprised of 2 and 3 story rowhouses. So many of them are intact -- I hardly get to see so many large blocks like that in New York. Your neighborhood didn't have any buildings over 4 stories tall. It's nice to see the sky. Although, by mid-day, it would have been nice to have some more shade. It was so hot!
I was pleasantly surprised by the city's historic districts -- Fell's Point, the area surrounding the Walters Art Gallery, and the area near Canton Square are all lovely. What a contrast with the... not so nice parts of Baltimore.
ET#1: Scarier: ghetto in NYC, ghetto in Baltimore? Justify.
ET#1: You had fried chicken twice in the weekend. Which was better: at Lexington market served with white bread or in Canton with country gravy? Who made better crabcakes: Woodberry Kitchen or the Lion's club?
ET#2: Hmmm... it's hard to choose. I have to break this down into two categories: value and tastiness. Lexington Market takes both categories -- 3 hot and spicy wings for $3! And there was live music! The Chicken Fried Chicken was sooooooo good, so good that I didn't need to eat anything 24 hours... I think they must put crack in their country gravy.
Woodberry Kitchen was in such a cool space (a converted mill) and their food was excellent, but the Lion's club had the Crustacean Station and Miss Crustacean! It's hard to compete with that.
ET#1: Did the BF enjoy any of his Maryland treats?
ET#2: He enjoyed the cookies that I bought at Lexington Market very much. Unfortunately, he didn't get to try the Crab flavored Utz chips. I ate those for dinner on Tuesday. You snooze you lose.
ET#1: Was the 160 mile drive to Crisfield worth the softshell crab sandwiches?
ET#2: For the softshell crab sandwiches only? Not really, but taken together with Smith Island, Tastee Post Office and world's largest sea captain, definitely! Also that old lady that helped dock the boat was pretty bad ass. I am pretty sure that I would have fallen off the boat.
ET#1: Will Miss Crisfield make it all the way to the Miss Maryland contest?
ET#2: Correction -- you mean Miss Crustacean. She is cute, but I saw her mother. She should work it while she can.
ET#1: How scared were you that you would have to spend the night on Smith Island? Can you estimate how many bug bites we would have sustained?
ET#1: Contained more sugar: Smith Island cake, orange creme doughnut, Pitango gelato?
ET#2: No brainer -- Smith Island Cake.
ET#1: Estimate the number of showers you took. How many did you want to take?
ET#2: I think I took 5 showers over the course of 2.5 days. It was about right.
ET#1: Of all the many activities, what was the most story worthy? Why?
ET#1: Is Natty Boh still your favorite beer?
ET#2: If I don't want to get drunk off of 1/2 a beer. Yes. I also really like the mascot. He's cute.
ET#1: You seemed to be fascinated by the architecture of some of the restored buildings in Baltimore. Did anything in particular stick out?
ET#2: I didn't realize how much of Baltimore's housing stock is comprised of 2 and 3 story rowhouses. So many of them are intact -- I hardly get to see so many large blocks like that in New York. Your neighborhood didn't have any buildings over 4 stories tall. It's nice to see the sky. Although, by mid-day, it would have been nice to have some more shade. It was so hot!
I was pleasantly surprised by the city's historic districts -- Fell's Point, the area surrounding the Walters Art Gallery, and the area near Canton Square are all lovely. What a contrast with the... not so nice parts of Baltimore.
ET#1: Scarier: ghetto in NYC, ghetto in Baltimore? Justify.
ET#2: Baltimore, by far, mostly because there is so little foot traffic. And there were far more burned out, boarded up buildings in Baltimore than in the areas of NYC that I've seen. Safety in numbers, as they say. Also, what's with all of the plastic bags blowing across the streets like tumbleweed? It's creepy.
ET#1: You had fried chicken twice in the weekend. Which was better: at Lexington market served with white bread or in Canton with country gravy? Who made better crabcakes: Woodberry Kitchen or the Lion's club?
ET#2: Hmmm... it's hard to choose. I have to break this down into two categories: value and tastiness. Lexington Market takes both categories -- 3 hot and spicy wings for $3! And there was live music! The Chicken Fried Chicken was sooooooo good, so good that I didn't need to eat anything 24 hours... I think they must put crack in their country gravy.
Woodberry Kitchen was in such a cool space (a converted mill) and their food was excellent, but the Lion's club had the Crustacean Station and Miss Crustacean! It's hard to compete with that.
ET#2: He enjoyed the cookies that I bought at Lexington Market very much. Unfortunately, he didn't get to try the Crab flavored Utz chips. I ate those for dinner on Tuesday. You snooze you lose.
ET#1: Was the 160 mile drive to Crisfield worth the softshell crab sandwiches?
ET#2: For the softshell crab sandwiches only? Not really, but taken together with Smith Island, Tastee Post Office and world's largest sea captain, definitely! Also that old lady that helped dock the boat was pretty bad ass. I am pretty sure that I would have fallen off the boat.
ET#1: Will Miss Crisfield make it all the way to the Miss Maryland contest?
ET#2: Correction -- you mean Miss Crustacean. She is cute, but I saw her mother. She should work it while she can.
ET#1: How scared were you that you would have to spend the night on Smith Island? Can you estimate how many bug bites we would have sustained?
ET#2: I wasn't really that scared. I figured that we could buy bug spray at the little general store by the dock. After dousing ourselves in DEET, I estimate that you would have 15 mosquito bites, and I would have about 35. There was NO WAY we were missing the ferry back to Crisfield.
ET#1: Contained more sugar: Smith Island cake, orange creme doughnut, Pitango gelato?
ET#2: No brainer -- Smith Island Cake.
ET#1: Estimate the number of showers you took. How many did you want to take?
ET#2: I think I took 5 showers over the course of 2.5 days. It was about right.
ET#1: Of all the many activities, what was the most story worthy? Why?
ET#2: During our drive to Crisfield, I was fascinated by the lack of stand alone post offices. Combination Tastee Freeze/Post Office/Tastee Chicken and combination Post Office authorized Precious Moments vendor. I've never seen that before. Also, I won $1 from that scratch ticket I bought in Fruitland!
ET#1: Is Natty Boh still your favorite beer?
ET#2: If I don't want to get drunk off of 1/2 a beer. Yes. I also really like the mascot. He's cute.
Addendum: I liked Baltimore a lot more than I thought I would. The last time I was there was about 20 years ago and all I remember is how pissed my mom was that our minivan had been broken into while parked in the hotel parking lot. Also, I have started watching The Wire. Thanks, ET#1for pointing out the project where they filmed it while driving me to the train station. It's nice to recognize places on tv shows.
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