Senor Parrot's Perch

Gift cards are a great gift, especially for that hard to shop for person, you’re child’s teacher, or that teenage nephew that you no longer have a clue about.

Enter gift card fraud. What that, you ask? Its when someone with knowledge of your gift card number finds out if you have a balance and then uses that information to purchase something for his or herself, essentially stealing the money represented in the card. This is still very rare, but you still don’t want it to happen to you.

This is how it works. Gift cards are usually displayed at the checkout counter. The thief copies down the numbers of several cards and then calls the merchant several days later asking if there is any balance left on “their” card. If they they find that there is a balance, then the theft begins.

To avoid this happening to you, when you purchase a gift card, ask for one that hasn’t been on display. This way no thief can write down your card’s number to gain access to its funds, and you’re safe. At least from this scam.

I took the family to see Go Fish last night. It was the opening night of their 2006 Christmas tour.If you don’t know, Go Fish is a sort-of acappella group, but with percussion and some background music sometimes. They did have a piano player with them. They sing Christian songs, so we got to say Merry Christmas and hear about Jesus, the reason for this season.

Go Fish is what you wish for in a family concert. We all loved it, really loved it. This isn’t just kids music but “everybody” music. These guys had us all entertained and wanting more. As they say on their website, they don’t dumb down their music. Their recordings do concentrate on kids now, which is to say, its kidstuff according to the topic, but its performed up to the standards that adults want to listen to it, too.

We ended up buying all the CDs they had their-both Christmas CDs and both kids CDs. We already had their DVD, which the kids really love.

I really recommend them. Check them out at this link to some online mp3 snippets you can listen to. Buy their music. You won’t be disappointed.