My run in with a credit card thief

A few weeks back I got a call from my credit card company. Apparently they were concerned about some of "my" recent transactions and some guy trying to purchase a laptop at the lemon grove Target. During this conversation I find that I no longer am in possession of my card and someone named Mckinely Thomas charged about $100 at several gas stations, a 7-11, and a Wendy's. I had to admit, I was impressed about the $80 charge at Wendy's, but his flaw was crossing paths with Target's security. Apparently these guys stopped him from purchasing at least one Laptop and maybe some other stuff also.

Over the next day or 2 I find myself going over the same stuff with the Credit Card company, the local SD PD, the Sheriff, and Mckinley's Parole Officer (oh yeah, thats right). All ask about the same questions;
-Do you have your credit card in your possession? no
-Did you authorize anyone to use your card? no
-Do you know Mckinley? no
-Do you know anyone who fits his description? no
-When was the last time you saw your card? last week
-Any idea how he got it? nope

The interesting thing was what I learned about this guy talking to the random law enforcement officers. First off, I find that he is wearing a GPS unit. Jeez...wonder why he was wearing one of those, and a lot of good it did :-) I also find that he is out on parole and is looking at another year in jail just for breaking that. In addition I find that he has 3 or so cases now against him. Apparently everyone wants a piece of this dood.

I also find that the sherrif's dept has a nice website that allows anyone to find out who is in jail. I found that Mckinley is in cell 5b. I hope the accomodations are nice. Its also cool because you can apparently email anyone in Jail through this site, find out when you can visit people, and when they will be in court. Interesting stuff.

The latest event to happen is today I recieve a subpena to appear tomorrow at the courthouse as a witness. I thought that was releatively short lead time, but between that and work and that, it wins out this time :-). On the advice of Rick, I decide to call the DA's office and find out whats going on. I learn it will probably take all afternoon and there is a lot of stuff to go through. I then find out that apparently the DA sent a sherrif to hand me the subpena, but I guess our neighborhoods high security gate kept him out and he wasnt able to deliver it. So they issued a new one for me which we got today. This one is to have me show up in court and before a judge get me to commit to coming back next week for the preliminary hearing.

Since I told the DA that I would come back next week she said that I no longer needed to come tomorrow and she would send out a new subpena. I sure hope they send the same sherrif to deliver it. I totally want to get a video of him trying to figure out how to get in our gate :-)

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Shark boy loves eating fingers...

...or anything else he can get in his mouth. The level of ferocity and determination in his eyes always cracks me up as he is going for food. He is also starting to realize that everyone else is eating different food than he is and wants to try it. He could truely be one of the worlds most perfect eating machines if this grows with his size.

Amgen Tour of California

Somehow we managed to get the kids rolling down and got a great spot next to the rail just over 100 meters from the finish. It was a lot of fun waiting around for the riders, but by the time they came by we were pretty tired. Jon told us "This is just too exciting. It's too exciting with all the bikes, motorcycles, and police cars. I want to go home".

We have more pics on our picasa site.

Someone is finally on solids

Apparently we hate rice cereal.
But anything mixed with bananas is cool with us.

dads, kids, and motorcycles

I have been playing around with the idea of building a kit car with Jon when he gets older. This past Christmas I spent a little time with my dad fixing some of the things on my motorcycle and a little time playing with Aaron on the bike. I am even more intrigued by the idea of doing something big like building a car now. What is it about doods and motors?

Adding a New Family Member

We have recently become a family of four! Our newest addition made his entrance on September 15, 2008 at 3:33pm. He was 7 lb, 9 oz at birth and was 19.5 inches long. We named him Aaron Kenneth Small. He is such a joy to us and it has been fun so far getting accustomed to two little ones around the house. Jonathan loves being a big brother and has been really helpful. We had a little bit of a transition trouble, but overall everyone has been pretty well-behaved. :)

I am adding a picture here from the Fall Festival we went to last night held at our church. It was a lot of fun and here is Aaron (left in lion suit) with his little friend from church, Wyatt Simbro! (Thanks, Heather for forwarding the picture to us!)

We'll keep you updated on how things are going (like today is the first day Aaron rolled over on his own from front to back!!) and post more fun pictures as we get them!