Hey, have I mentioned yet that I'm the Data Information Security (computer geek) education and awareness manager for a 50,000 employee bank? Not going to name the bank, but I'll bet you can guess.

It's my job to keep people informed about safe computing and keeping our customer information safe. You're doing the right thing by password protecting. It's amazing the things people are doing these days to steal information. Oh the horror stories I hear....

To Lynlee, It's not about baking cookies, It's about doing one kind act for someone you don't know, a gift freely given.

Dealing with Christmas is hard for some people and having to deal with the PCS symptoms makes it even harder.Your tried you don't feel good your emotions are bouncing off the walls and your having to pretend your someone your not and all of these symptom have a negative effect on our social and personal lives. No Fun I have to deal with the same issues.

I would weather be sitting down at The Tender Box smoking cigars and enjoying a good cup of coffee with my friends planning my next fishing trip or making money so I could pay for the fishing trip, but that's not on my plate right now.

Re building my brain is on my plate and I need to stay focused on that task.

In my opinion Many people have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.

A lot of people here understand how difficult it is to deal with the PCS symptoms and how dysfunctional it makes one Holidays or not. The last several Christmas have not been a piece of cake for me either so I try to stay focused on the good memories and hang out with the people who love and care about me today. I am a very Blessed man because I have real friends who are there in the good times and the hard times.

Take Care Jeffn

Hi Lori Thanks for the feed back. Talking to the boy's in Seattle on this one. I only get sucker punched once.

It's not the laptop, street value 50.00 - 100.00 bucks it all my personal information, photos, research projects business and personal contacts and software that was stolen. That is my concern. I can only hope these people are stupid enough to pull the hard drive and try to sale the laptop for parts.

This is not going to happen again. Any idea's or suggestion on this matter would be most appreciated.

I'm thankful no one was hurt.

Being very Pro Active on this issue. Jeffn

If you had your passwords saved on your computer- change all of them immediately.

Contact all of your financial institutions and let them know that your data has been stolen

I'd contact the credit bureaus and put a hold on any new credit offers. That's the most important thing of all. They can flag your account so if any one tries to open a new account, they have to notify you first.

You can google "protect credit information" or "identity theft" and you'll find lots of links to places to help you.

I guarantee you that if someone has your laptop, they have enough information to open new accounts and steal your identity.

I'm glad you're taking this seriously. I'm also sad that you lost pictures and things.

Lori Thank you for the insight. I wasn't looking at the identity thief issue still in shock that this happened in the first place.

I'll get on this Monday am. Your right there is enough personal information on my laptop to create a new identity. Not Cool.

I do have the police report and that maybe helpful, no financial information on this unit, but it would be smart to change everything at this time and create a firewall. Bank accounts and credit card information.

I know people who have had their identity stolen and it is a nightmare I don't need to deal with at this time.

Thank you for the help.Jeffn

Most banks, etc. are open on Saturday. I highly recommend that you do it tomorrow rather than Monday. Some have 24/7 customer service.

Yeah, I know, I sound like an alarmist- but I know what can happen. All an identity thief needs to know is a combination of your name and only one of the following:

Your birth date
Your social security number (of course!)
Account number(s)
Your address

With any of those combinations- they are set to steal your identity. Trust me, that's a HORRIBLE mess to unravel.

When anyone has a company laptop stolen at my company- we automatically go into panic mode. Even though we have encryption software on all of our computers, those hackers can be brilliant. I hope for your sake that they're just out for the laptop and not the information in it.

OK- done with the lecture. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Lori, Thanks for the heads up I'll be at the BANK at 9:00 am tomorrow. No I don't think your being an alarmist at all identity thief can ruin your life for along time. This laptop was stolen 11.20.07 so the thief had had 10 days to extract bits and pieces off the hard drive. I really don't think there is that much personal information on this unit as I do most of my business in paper,but it is better to error on the side of caution.

Let's hope there are no identity thief issues related to this laptop thief.

Thank you very much for your insight into this matter. I would have been blind sided.

Sincerely Jeffn

Egads, I love this forum!

So happy to help you- because you've given so much info to me.

OK- I'm signing off for the night (hubby is FINALLY done watching The Matrix for the umpteenth time!).

Have a great night everyone!

~Lori

I agree with the optimism. This stuff in one person's life is one too many, let alone many people's lives. We need this stuff beaten. I don't know about everybody else, but it destroys my ability to get or keep anything but very simple low-paying jobs. It completely halts my ability to pursue music, which is one of the few true joys in my life. It's directly or indirectly ruined many relationships with other people. It's robbed me of many wonderful memories. It's time for this stuff to go. I believe that we can all learn from having had to go through this stuff, but now, it's time to get better, to have our lives restored. Someone will find the right doctor, who will find the right med, or treatment of some other kind, and we will be on the road to improvement, and maybe total freedom from it. Let's not do ANY resigning ourselves to it. We're just waiting for the doctors to become more familiar with it. We will get to our better days. Best wishes to all, again.

P.S. Has anyone ever had their doctor tell them that "there is nothing wrong with your head, physically," and basically imply that you are making up the symptoms? I don't see this as being very professional.

I'm super lucky with the Neurologist the ER assigned me to for after care. She TOTALLY gets it. I'm also lucky(?) in that my brain injury shows on a MRI- so there is no doubt that it's there.

If you're not getting support from your current doctor- I suggest you go elsewhere and keep searching until you find one that will take care of you.

I'm one of the lucky ones that can still work and be productive. I'm not saying that it's always rainbows and unicorns, because it's not. I have days that I get lost on my own floor because I'm in such a confused state. Most of my job involves writing, which is a good thing because I don't have to think off the top of my head.

I must give a big shout out for spellcheck and thesaurus!

I'm also lucky in that I am able to do my job from home 3 days a week. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to go into the office every day. I don't think I could do it.