Did you get got?

Is your Social Security number amongst the billions of personal information records that were hacked from National Public Data, a background check service? Apparently a hacking group stole all of that information, and has been offering them for sale on the dark web. You can go here to check if your very own personal information is a part of that data breach.

I am lucky: there were no matches found for my information. Unfortunately, I have friends and coworkers who were not so lucky. They now have to freeze their credit at the three major credit bureaus, and keep a hawkish eye on their Credit Karma accounts.

It’s crazy to think that back in the day - well before my time, San Francisco State University ID numbers were people’s Social Security numbers! Either that was the stupidest thing ever, or indeed it was during a time when the Internet isn’t what it has become today. Back then, even if you know a person’s Social Security number, using it for nefarious stuff isn’t so easy. To open lines of credit, you would have to physically visit a bank. Pro tip for those looking to commit fraud: best not do so in-person, at places with security cameras.

Obviously it’s whole new world these days. A name with a matching Social Security number is a gushing gold mine for opening credit cards. Some ill-gotten spending power is just a few clicks on a banking website away.

You know what they should do? Invoke a second factor authentication whenever Social Security number is used. Something that only the actual person would know, or have access to that information. Perhaps the total gross income from a specific tax return year. The bank should be able to verify this with the IRS. It’s a hassle, sure, but I would definitely want that safety when my credit identity and worthiness is at stake.

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So fast.

One sleep hack

As an avid purveyor of proper amounts of sleep, one of the prime difficulties is ensuring I am getting the necessary hours. It’s not enough that I block out the eight hours per night, because we really don’t fall asleep immediately, do we? Unless of course we are damn tired from a hard day, but those are thankfully few and far in between.

What usually happens is I would spend about 10 to 15 minutes after getting to bed trying to fall asleep. And that’s on a good day. Some nights it takes what feels like an interminably long time before I enter into sleep. The problem usually compounds, because I would get frustrated that I’m not falling asleep fast enough. I’m going to miss my eight hour target! That frustration of course would then further prevent me from going to sleep.

A vicious cycle!

So what I’ve done these days is allocate time for that period of trying to fall asleep. For my optimal eight hours of sleep, I would block out nine hours of actual in-bed time. It’s a win-win: if I enter sleep quickly, I get the benefit of an extra hour of slumber. If I struggle to fall asleep, I have about an hour of buffer before it actually affects my optimal sleep. No need to get frustrated: I’ll fall asleep eventually and it’ll still be alright.

Obviously, this is predicated on me actually going to bed at the appropriate hour. Too many potential distractions out there: twitter, Youtube, TV, and video games. It takes discipline for sure. If you’re the type to burn the proverbial candle late into the night, this sleep hack of mine isn’t going to work for you.

Unless you don’t have a job to go to the following morning!

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BART and you’re there.

Car dealers don't like email

It seems techniques in buying a car have changed, and and in some ways returned full-circle.

Six years ago when I bought my first car, the “hack” thing to do in order to get the best deal was to email plenty of dealerships, and then pit the respective quotes against each other. The prevailing wisdom back then was to get the numbers down concretely in email before you even step a foot inside the dealership. While I didn’t have the dealerships I contacted compete with each other because one in particular gave me the deal I had wanted immediately, the deal was indeed done completely over email. I remember spending just over an hour actually inside the dealer premise.

I really like that way of car buying.

The problem with the Internet being able to easily disseminate information to the masses is that what was once an obscure car-buying method used only by those in the know have evolved into a technique utilized by nearly everybody. The dealerships get bombarded with email inquiries, and for them it’s difficult to ascertain who’s a serious buyer and who’s simply looking for numbers to be used at a competitor. Due to this they aren’t quite as keen to do business over email as before.

I found this fact out last week when I was in the motions of buying a car for my father. I looked up the dealerships within travel distance and then sent them an email, detailing precisely the model and trim I wanted and to please provide me with a suitable quote. I wasn’t looking to shop the quotes afterwards to attain the best price: I was completely ready to pull the trigger with the first salesperson to email me an offer within the price target I had researched (TrueCar is nice).

Of the half dozen dealers I contacted, only one was willing to talk concrete numbers over email. The other salespeople replied with generic boilerplate asking when I am free to visit the dealership or to give them a call for the best price. Initially I was extremely put off by this because why can’t they respect my time and preference to communicate over email? I even wrote in the initial email that I was ready to purchase by the end of the week.

It was after mulling it over few days (and working out a deal over text-message) that I realize these days email inquiries are a dime a dozen and therefore dealers treat them as not serious. Contrast to over half decade ago when a detailed email from a customer would denote a knowledgable buyer with zero bullshit. To convey the same intentions today, one needs to do the opposite and actually call or show up: person to person communication projects a customer’s seriousness.

It’s definitely more time consuming that way, but what was once a hack is no more, and the personable “traditional” way of buying a car is now the hack. Funny how that is.

Clean Nissan S14s are difficult to find. I hope the owner of this car keeps it like this forever.