one

a + b = mia

i recently purchased airplane tickets to go on a trip to vancouver and LA, and a funny thing happened.

i was online trying to buy these tickets around 2am on wed night. and after i hit the submit button, my transaction wouldn't go through. the page told me to call the airline. so i called the airline, and they told me to call my credit card company.

and do you know why they sent me on this wild goose chase?

my credit card thought my card had been stolen bc i, little mia, who has owned this credit card since 2005, does not typically buy airplane tickets. i set off all these red flags over at my credit card's headquarters. i imagined an old man sitting at a company, watching me make this transaction on my card, thinking, "surely, mia isn't buying an airplane ticket! she NEVER does that! let alone a ticket to CANADA?!" hahaha. but sure enough, i was. =)

so i had to sit on the phone with the bofa ppl and tell them my entire itinerary of when i was traveling and where i'd be going so that this wouldn't happen again.

after this big hullabaloo was over, i sat on my bed wondering - how did they know?? how does my CC know me so well? how does it know that i never buy plane tickets? i theorized that maybe someone was assigned to me, and has been watching my purchase history for years now so that when my card gets stolen, they'd know. but i checked with a friend, and she said that this is not the case. haha, that there are computer formulas and codes to calculate these things.

it's really crazy to think that a simple algorithm could KNOW a person so well. that it would know my habits, my likes and dislikes, my favorite foods and books, and even the interests of my loved ones based on gifts that i buy for them. it made me realize that what i buy says a lot about who i am.

so i analyzed my credit card statements, and this is who i am:

- i eat a lot of hale& hearty
- i always take out cash on friday evenings
- i eat burgers often (especially 5 guys - at least once a month)
- i buy presents for ppl every month
- i shop a lot at ann taylor loft
- i buy transportation tickets from the MTA and metro-north
- i eat at the mcdonalds near church office fairly often
- and most recently - apparently, i eat in ktown very often
- i buy a new batch of books every 4 months or so
- i buy a lot of cupcakes and cookies from all kinds of bakeries


my spending radius is pretty small. i really don't leave this area much, do i? well... hoho... looks like that's about to change. at least for a week and a half! =)

credit card - you better watch out! mia's going to be doing some unusual things!