another sharp poke in the bum

I'm not sure if JB believed me when I said something about the experiments using Food as a Vaccine Vehicle. Instead of "bend over and drop your pants" the doctor could say "take this with a glass of water". Perhaps the sadistic side of the medical profession enjoys poking me in the butt(ocks) with a sharp object, so I doubt this oral vaccination test is much more than a fad.

Speaking of sharp pokes in the bum, I see that today's the day that Texans are allowed to get a free copy of our credit report. The official site is AnnualCreditReport.com but I suspect many Unsuspecting Souls will be led to one of the many soundalike sites such as FreeCreditReport.com (owned by Experian); Free-CreditCheck.com (owned by TransUnion); MyCreditReport.com (probably owned by some guy in New Jersey named Guido), and so forth .. all of whom will try to sell you something.

An article in the DMN said one of the shortcomings of the law is that you can't get your Credit Score (FICO® = Fair Isaac Corporation) free. A small amount of A9'ing explained that FICO scores range from 300-850, and anything below 500 spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. I have no earthly clue what my FICO is, although Equifax offered to sell me my FICO® credit score for $6.95!

I chose Equifax at random, mostly. They're alphabetically first, so maybe it'll be easier for me to remember if I want another free report (from either Experian or TransUnion) later this year. Equifax was sweet enough to offer (for free) my Equifax Credit Rankings™ ("a $7.95 value!"). They cautioned: "Once you click [submit], you will not be able to reorder your free annual credit report from Equifax for one year" (but that doesn't mean I can't order a free one from Experian in 4 months, and one from TransUnion 4 months after that, ad infinitum).

Nicely, this was instantly available online, with the caution: "This Equifax Credit Report™ is available for you to view until 07/01/2005". Wow .. this gives me 30 days to peruse. Since mine printed to 18 pages long, it'll take me at least 30 days to decipher it anyhoo.