Vindication, Validation and Vacation

Today at approximately 14:45 EST, oral surgery was performed and both the wisdom teeth on the right side of my jaw were removed. Initially I had the "Marathon Man" fantasies ("Is it safe?") or an early black and white silent movie with a dentist, pliers and a lot of yanking. It turned out to be more like my other surgeries than anything else, except without the mid-sentence knock-out. This time it just seemed that time stood still. For me, the moment they started was identical to the moment they stopped, except for the pass of about an hour of time. The painkillers and diet consisting of frozen pops and ice cream is to die for. I even went as far as to cauterize the open (and still bleeding gashes) with a splash of bourbon. The pain/discomfort is not any different than the pain I was feeling last week, except with the realization that in a few days it will all be better and the problem will not occur again (at least no on that side of my jaw). The ice packs feel great as well.

I felt further vindicated by a news story that ran on the late night local NBC affiliate, in regards to the loss of funds I experienced due to electronic theft. Apparently I am not the only one affected. Apparently so far about 6000 HSBC customers were also affected and all lived in NYC. No other banks or institutions have responded with similar incidents, so it sounds like a calculated and targeted attack. Initially I felt violated and that there was something I could have done to prevent it. In light of these new developments I feel somewhat relieved and more cautious about future transactions.

The guys at the Consumerist.com apparently broke the story first :

http://consumerist.com/358842/is-hsbc-straining-under-an--unprecedented-wave-of-fraud-activity

http://consumerist.com/361914/hsbc-confirms-customer-card-data-was-stolen

And today's follow up via WNBC4 in NYC :

http://consumerist.com/362088/hsbc-fraud-story-on-wnbc4

This all leads me to believe I need to start looking for another banking institution, especially in light of reports like this :

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/bank-of-america.html

Hope I feel better tomorrow and ready to take on a brand new day of tasks, TPS reports and sometimes clueless (yet often unmistakably personable) users.