| Author | Message | ||
     Mikej |
Okay, here's a tinfoil hat issue what with all the international terrorist possibilities and such. Got a telephone call last night on the cell phone, couldn't understand the person, sounded sort of Spanish Mexican maybe but not quite. She rattled off some name I couldn't understand and can't come close to even coming up with anything similar. She didn't understand English, didn't directly reply to my "who?" or my "you have a wrong number or misdialed". No, I didn't try speaking slower with more emphasis to help her to understand. She called back a second time about 10 minutes later, same linguistic dance as before. This was around 10PM Central Standard Time in the U.S., haven't done the math to see what time that would have been in Pakistan. I'm not really up on international calling, but with a bit of googling and reverse lookup I think the call came from Nowshera Pakistan. The caller id shows the following for the number: 923076934785 Some web page I found shows a country code of 92 for Pakistan, somewhere else I somehow came up with Nowshera or maybe Nowshehra. There is a Nowshera in Pakistan between Islamabad and Peshawar. There is also something like Nowshera Of Soon about 150 miles or so southwest of Islamabad. There is also some small place in India called Nowshehra and apparently some gas station in Pakistan by the same spelling according to some indirect googling. Anybody local to Pakistan feel like calling the number and asking what's up? Or should I start being concerned about some new MikeJ signing a rental lease in my name for a shack in Pak? Maps.google.com doesn't have a ready satellite image of the area so I don't even know how populated it is. I'm just curious at this point, probably just an accidental wrong dialing, but you just never know. Anybody have any good links to good international reverse telephone directories handy?????  If anybody wants me later I may be talking to the black suits in the black van about why I'm digging a hole in the backyard. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Perhaps she knows where Osama Bin Laden is | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
She's probably with the credit card company. Did she say anything about credit protection or identity theft? | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Spanish, of course, is the official language of Pakistan.(?!?) I get wierd calls too, Spanish and other. Hang up and go back to what you were doing - it's a wrong # Hell - some of them use re-dial to call me right back to see if the number they dialed is now magically correct! Cell phone use is apparently Rocket Science, to these people. Whatever it is you're smoking, lay off for a while - you starting to sound a bit paranoid! | ||
| Rainman |
Even the paranoid have enemies. | ||
| Xb9er |
I always get calls asking if im american general. I guess my cell phone and american generals numbers are alike. I think they catch on when i ask for their full name, address, ssn, and a current credit card number right off the bat. | ||
| Guell |
Ive had latin americans call and call and call before. After the 2nd or 3rd time i just tell them im calling immigration and i never get a phone call back. Works awesome.  | ||
| Swampy |
Just go down to your local Walmart, buy a 12 gauge and a couple of boxes of ammo and wait it out in the basement! I just hate it when I get wrong numbers, some times its worse when I get the correct number | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
This morning before dawn: THUMP! I'm awake on my feet.... Thump! rattle! Someone breaking in? I prowled around, peering out of windows, nothing moving, no further sounds. So I tucked my .45 under my pillow and waited til dawn to go out. In the light of day I saw my "enemy" A rotten branch fell onto my house and then rattled the aluminum awning over my front door.  | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
One night I was skulking around outside with a 9mm and a flashlight after we heard a series of odd thumps on our roof. It turned out that a local squadron of flying squirrels were using my roof as a landing strip. I later found they were nesting in my attic. The details of the ensuing total war shall remain CLASSIFIED. | ||
| Tom_b |
"even the paranoid have enemies" Good line, have to remember that one. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Just cuz I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me!!!  | ||
| Chadr81 |
Some may call it paranoid, I call it good home security... the sound of a shotgun loading a round is enough to scare anyone out of a house. While pistols are great due to being compact, they only have 1 point of impact. With a shotgun with some buckshot in it, that guy's gonna get hit by something. I can deal with a little home repair from the rest of the buckshot. The .45 is usually on the hip with the shotgun in hand when clearing the house. Oh good times!  | ||
| Rocketman |
"Me paranoid. I'm not paranoid! Are you effing joking. Paranoid?"  Rocket | ||
| Tq_freak |
Chadr81 - I totally agree, nothing sounds more intimidating then a pump action 12 ga. and what's a little spackle and paint, nothing you cant take care of on a Sunday. | ||
| Mikej |
Okay, I'll use the tin foil to wrap up tomorrow's lunch. Just never had a call from Pak before, and like a co-worker said it might be someone over there calling relatives here saying "get me out of here now". We've got a couple of large evergreens with tons of pine cones, everytime there's a big wind it sounds like paratroopers are landing on the roof. We've also got squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and raccoons in the neighborhood, plus a neighbor owns a wolf-hybrid, gets real interesting at night sometimes trying to decipher all the sounds. And then an owl will snag a rabbit or possum and a few new sounds will sing in the night. Mix in the high schoolers who live up the street, the jr. high schoolers who live down the street, the county jail a few blocks away, the work release inmates working in town and running back to jail before lockdown in the evenings, yep it gets real interesting at times. I'm still tempted to find a pay phone and call the number back to see who answers. As to the sound of a pump action in the dead of night, couple it with the sounds of several dogs running down the stairs or hallways and the next thing you should hear is the screen door slam. If not then you've either got a serious intruder or else the raccoons are in the garbage again, and some of them raccoons are serious. Thanks for the input, I'll put the shovel away ...(for now anyway).  | ||
| Chadr81 |
Mikej - you are funny as hell man! Sounds like a fun neighborhood! | ||
| Blake |
Some single engine military fighter jet just flew right over the house here in Kilgore a few hours ago and at a fairly low altitude. Apparently the news is out and they are scouting all your friends and relations. Thanks a lot buddy!  Or, it could have been one of the blue and white NASA chase planes covering the shuttle landing. How convenient. These folks will stop at nothing to cover-up their clandestine activities! | ||
| Mikej |
Sneaky, ain't they ... | ||
| Irideabuell |
Do you own a Dell computer? Perhaps you have won something and they were calling to let you know! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
It's just your friendly neighbourhood call-centre operator calling you back. I could sit here all night typing pakistani gags, but I'd be labelled a racist. So anyway this American walks into a bar & says OW, It was an iron bar! badoom, thank you, thank you, I'm here til closing time, don't forget to tip your waitress. |
