Happy Tax Day

Though I filed and paid my taxes already, I still intended to grumble a bit about the meaning of April 15, but lost interest upon learning Peter Steele died yesterday. I’ve been to more Type O Negative concerts than any other band’s, most recently last Halloween at a rock-n-shock festival in Worcester, Massachusetts. I had every intention of catching Type O again next time they came through town, so I felt momentarily melancholy when I realized I couldn’t do that anymore.

Then a giant volcano exploded in Iceland, and the resulting ash cloud shut down air traffic over most of Britain and Europe. Things probably aren’t too pleasant for the Icelanders, either. If I were the Fred Phelps/Pat Robertson type I’d say “God is punishing them for shutting down their strip clubs” but of course I’d never do that, especially not while I’m in mourning over Type O Negative concerts.

Then I got home from work to find a letter from ECMC, a guarantor of federal student loans. Last month, hackers broke into their computer and stole data about 3.3 million student-loan borrowers, but I wasn’t worried because I’d paid off my student loans years ago.

Turns out that doesn’t matter; the letter told me “We believe that information about your student loan, including your name, Social Security number, address, and date of birth was stolen, resulting in the potential loss of your personal information.” (Italics mine.) I’m getting a free year’s enrollment in some special credit-protection program, though. That's better than the three months I got from Connecticut when they lost my data back in ’07.

I am going to bed now before anything gets worse.