Locked Out: I went to Home Depot today to purchase a new hedge trimmer. When I went to the aisle where the battery-operated hedge trimmers, weed eaters, chain saws, blowers and the like were located, besides a demo piece for each, the boxes for purchase were all behind a locked fence. Guess I have not been in Home Depot recently. I was surprised. I understand locking up lithium batteries and small stuff like that which have hefty price tags. But fairly large boxes containing a trimmer, blower, etc.? Woman who unlocked the fence and got me out what I wanted to buy told me it’s a reaction to all the thefts they have had…including refrigerators from off the loading dock. While the demo models had theft tags on them, I don’t think the boxes of goods to be sold did. And there are probably not enough staff these days to watch people exiting the store with unpaid merchandise. We’re talking Chesterfield here, which is not a high-crime area. It’s everywhere. What will I awaken to next?

The following are steps you can take to protect yourself as much as possible. However, realize that hackers can access some of the databases where your information resides and get around some of these “fences.” And this assumes you don’t click on anything you shouldn’t!

1. Use distinct passwords, different for each place a password is needed. Change passwords from time to time.
2. Encrypt passwords using an app such as 1Password. And have 1Password generate the passwords for you given that the configuration will be random and will be saved in 1Password. If you have Firefox or the like generate a password, make sure to get it and the user name saved in 1Password.
3. Put a block on credit access on all three credit agencies. This stops people from opening up most charge accounts or bank accounts or credit cards in your name.
4. Get an app, such as the one offered by AAA for Experian, that notifies you of any changes in your credit score and/or fishing on the “dark web.”
5. For all your credit cards, get their app and set it to show you any and all transactions or just ones when the credit card is not present. I have caught false charges that way even before their fraud division calls.
6. If you use Apple Pay, the information sent in is encrypted. Another protection. Same if you tap your card on a WIFI reader at grocery store or gas pump.
7. For your checking account, have an app from your bank and set it up to notify you for all checks over as set amount (such as $100).
8. If you have regular charges for a credit card (e.g., Amazon, utilities), set up a Word doc that lists all these by credit card. When a card is compromised, you can then go to all these vendors and put in updated information.
9. If you do a lot of purchases on the web, you might want to get a card like Capital One where you can create virtual card numbers for each vendor. Thus, if that vendor’s database is hacked, all you have to do is to delete the virtual card number without having to replace the credit card itself.
10. Where you can, activate two-step verification.

Old Men at Lunch: Eight of us at a round table, an annual affair, now sixty-six years after we went to high school together. We are, as individuals, quite separate in our lives, friends, interests, marriages, health, and more. Our bond is “Class of 1958.” Of the 50 who graduated with us, 10 are gone.

We tell stories, some of which were told in previous years. We’ve lived through an age of fast-moving technology, medicine, and more, the pace of which is accelerating. 1940s first small-screen TV sets to 2020s digital wonders. The state of medicine today versus for our parents, most of whom died before the age we are now. We talked about the Apple Watch and how its ability to call 911 if we fall seemed a good reason to wear one.

And there was a long discussion of what things were like when we were young compared to now. Issues of community, safety. We played outdoors in our neighborhoods until dinnertime. We walked or rode our bikes down sidewalks into other parts of town, shopping and office areas, parks. Absent were all the ways we keep close tabs on one another today.

Some saw differences in relationships and communication of us to our parents compared to our children to us, and them to their children. No judgement, just differences.

After lunch, I walked to my car, wondered who would be at the table next year.

Art Saint Louis interviews its artists around various exhibitions. I was interviewed for Maturing and its Muse. Here is the link to the interview. My part starts about page 11. Enjoy.