Fifty Dollar Debacle!

Which fifty dollar bill is real? Look closely because it duped my wife as well as me. The bank teller called my wife saying a counterfeit bill was found in her deposit. Apparently, a real five dollar bill was "washed" and reprinted with fifty dollar markings. The real currency is above the fake bill in the picture. My wife even has a special pen to spot fake bills. In this case, the pen did its job verifying the integrity of the paper and not the fraudulent ink job.













The close up of the real bill shows the legitimate watermark of "USA 50" in fine legible print.



The close up of the fake bill shows a legitimate watermark of "USA FIVE", but of course with fake fifty dollar markings.

To make the counterfeit debacle even worse, the bank did not even credit my wife the five dollars of the fake fifty. I was so astonished by this amazing feat of forgery, I wrote about it in The Consumer Warning Network website.

Sacrament of Confirmation

My niece received the Sacrament of Confirmation this morning. Dressed fancy and her hair done up, she walked up to the altar to be "Sealed with the Holy Spirit" by the Archdiocese of New York.
Her Mom would have been proud how her first born grew up to be such a beautiful girl.

1996 seemed liked just yesterday when I was holding her in my arms when she was born. She was my sister's first child. She was my parent's first grandchild. She was my first niece. I was living at home at the time because I was only two years into my TV job earning entry level pay. The money did not matter because seeing my niece all the time is payment enough. My mom was the baby sitter while my sister worked and I worked the night shift gathering news for the 10pm newscast. This gave me a lot of "Big Uncle" quality time.
At the time, I would of never imagined 10 years later I would have two kids of my own. It was the farthest thing from my mind and to think my kids go to the same school as my niece and nephew today.

My niece will be a freshman in High School next year. Scary to think she was just a baby not too long ago. Since she is the oldest, she has a lot of cousins that look up to her as the wise and all knowing teenager. She is in the National Honor Society in her school and she personally tutors my daughter after school with math and reading. What a great cousin! I intentionally put my kids in the same school with my niece and nephew, so they can spend quality time together. There are closer schools where we live but I think the decision was all worthwhile.

2006 seemed like just yesterday when my sister died of breast cancer. During my news career, I saw death and destruction. People at the worst and best of times. Car accident here and missing person there. I did not think it would happen to me.
I am well aware cancer strikes anyone. The cancer might as well as struck everybody in my entire family because our minds were so filled with grief. I am a grown adult with the desensitized mind of a journalist with 12 years of news gathering. I was devastated. I was more devastated to think my brother in law lost his wife and my niece and nephew have no longer a mother.
I know she is looking down from heaven with a proud heart.

You can see more of the proud moment here.

Valentine's Day on the 11th!

Since "heart" day falls on a Sunday, it would be difficult to hide a bouquet of flowers all weekend from my wife or my kids, to say the least. So the pretty image above is the arrangement I sent to my wife's office to "surprise" her. Like she was "surprised" the last birthday,valentines and wedding anniversary.
Now to the nitty gritty irony of this week. The Law Firm that I work for as an Investigative Photographer operates a non-profit consumer advocacy website called The Consumer Warning Network. It exposes all the consumer fraud in the country happening today and IMHO we are making a difference in people's lives. Our featured story this week just happens to be Valentine's Day Flowers. What about Valentine Floral arrangements that could peak the interest of today's consumers? ANSWER...Where should people buy flowers for their significant others.
Almost $400 and over 6 dozen roses later, our fabulous story beautifully written and produced by my coworker Angie Moreschi, creatively edited together by my other coworker Larry Wiezycki and photographed by none other than "moi". Enjoy!

Tampa Museum of Art Opens Today!

Today marks two big occasions. The first is the official opening of the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Riverwalk. The second is the first official start of my own photography blog. It is the blog site to my www.ChadSorianoPhotography.com
It is a work in progress so be patient. Thanks!