Protect your identity! Here are some tips I received from various sources over the last few months:

1.) Do not give out your driver’s license or social insurance number unless it’s absolutely necessary. You never know when paperwork will get into the hands of malicious people or professional identity thieves. As a small business consultant I’m constantly in the position of verifying my identity (especially when dealing with sensitive company information) and this can become a complicated situation.

2.) Don’t answer telephone surveys that ask too specific information. Again, I probably had telemarketers and phone survey people calling me at least once a month. When you run a small business you’ll end up on a lot of mailing and calling lists.

3.) Be careful of what links you click on in email. If the email looks suspicious, that should raise a red flag. Almost every popular website that holds personal information now has links regarding email security.

4.) Monitor your credit report at least once every 3 months. Most credit bureaus allow you to subscribe to a special service where they will contact you if a drastic change has been made to your file. Although it is natural for mistakes to show up once in a while, being vigilant will protect you in the long run, and don’t sweat the small mistakes, they can be corrected (although not necessarily quickly).

Any way, moving on. On Thursday I went to the doctor, and while sitting in his office waiting in ONLY my Homer Simpson boxers, he opens the door and I realize his office is right across from the waiting room, thus allowing everyone to see me.

On Friday the guys at youth went to a gaming place and we played computer video games for 2 hours. The last time I played a computer video game was on Mason’s computer about 4 years ago, and the last time I played any video game for 2 HOURS was probably 10 years ago. I don’t believe adults need to play video games that long.