Zander Chance wishes to thank the brave men and women of the Armed Forces! In between the BBQ and beer, take a moment to remember those who have lost their lives defending liberty.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!!

My buddy’s been RAVING like a lunatic ever since he picked up his Wii Fit.. After 3 days of hearing how great it is, I finally gave in and ordered one myself. With my hectic schedule, I never have time to go to the gym - But if this little sucker’s in my living room, I’m sure I can carve out 30-45 minutes each day..

And if it sucks, maybe I’ll give it away in a contest on here..

Identity theft is more prevalent than most people think. Over 200 million personal data records were lost or exposed in the United States in the last two years. Chances are your identity is already compromised.

You’d think that if you’re careful with your personal information, you shouldn’t be at risk. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

A few months ago, my wife received an e-mail at work from her company’s healthcare provider. Apparently, one of their computers was stolen, and a number of employees social security numbers and other personal information might have been compromised. Ugh!

Just last week, one of my employees received a call from his credit card company about the $6000 worth of wine he was trying to purchase in Napa Valley. The only problem? He’s in Ohio, and he doesn’t drink.

The interesting thing about this case was that he’s NEVER used the card in question, it was strictly used for a balance transfer. That means that there was an internal breach somewhere along the line.

Quick Facts About Identity Theft

• Identity theft hits 1 in 4 US households
• Over 79 million identities were lost in the past 12 months
• Over 3 million social security numbers are illegally traded online
• Identity theft costs people an estimated $6.4 billion/year

IdentityTruth is the leading provider of a new breed of service to help consumers safeguard their Privacy and Identity. Through innovative technology, individuals receive the earliest possible notification in advance of potential misuses of their identities so they can take better control. Early detection is the best protection.

Air travel is just awful these days.. At my old “corporate job”, I was traveling 52 weeks a year, as our big client wanted us working on-site.. I flew so much, I quickly made Platinum Preferred with US Air, and had well over 150K frequent flyer miles! But back in those days (1999-2001), air travel wasn’t as bad as it is today. You didn’t need to take off your shoes to go through security. You didn’t have to show up 2 hours before your flight took off. A simple belt didn’t set off the metal detectors!

After 9/11, things changed drastically. I flew about 2 weeks after 9/11 for a wedding, and there was a STRONG military presence in the airport, complete with loaded rifles. Ironically, I had a pocket knife in my carry-on that I totally forgot about, and it went by completely unnoticed. So much for their security!!

Anyway, now JetBlue is in the news, getting sued by a NYC passenger that was forced to give up his seat to a flight attendant (because her jump seat was uncomfortable!), and told to go “hang out” in the bathroom. He was forced to sit on a toilet for more than three hours before being allowed to return to his original seat.

He’s now filed a $2 million lawsuit against the airline, saying that JetBlue negligently endangered him by not providing him with a seat with a safety belt or harness, in violation of federal law. Talk about a public relations nightmare!

Here’s hoping that he wins big, like in Soul Plane.

So we’re finally leaving on our honeymoon tomorrow, only 6 weeks after getting married!

Don’t expect any blog updates for the next week.. Frankly, I NEED this vacation, and I’m not even going to THINK about work while I’m gone. Sure, uber-bloggers like John Chow would be posting daily updates from his cabin, complete with annoying Flip Videos (”Wow, this cabin isn’t very spacious, just look at my shower!”) - But I just don’t get it. Sometimes, you need a break, and there’s nothing quite like a cruise to “escape” from reality.

I could have preloaded a bunch of posts to tide you over until next week, but I wasn’t really motivated to do that.. I was completely unproductive last week, as all I could think of was leaving.

I wish I had planned this trip better.. Leaving in the midst of the NHL and NBA playoffs is going to cost me a bundle, as I’m shutting down all of my PPC campaigns for the ticket broker I promote. But, this is the itinerary I wanted to go on, and that made my options limited.

For those that are curious, here it the itinerary:

Leaving from San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Day 1 - St. Thomas, USVI
Day 2 - Dominica
Day 3 - Barbados
Day 4 - St. Lucia, WI
Day 5 - Antigua
Day 6 - St Kitts, WI
Day 7 - Return to San Juan

6 islands in 7 days, it should be a blast! See you all in a week!

Check out this prank - Over 200 people gathered at Grand Central Station in New York to pull off a ‘frozen in place’ act. The onlooking travelers who weren’t part of the act were mystified as to what was going on.

And then a bunch of students at the University of Minnesota decided to copy the idea!