And not just any stranger: one on the opposite side of the world.

Do you need to feel better about yourself today? Would you like to be able to say to yourself, "By God, I may be limited in some respects but I'd NEVER do what that poor idjit did . . .?" Then read on.

I'd downloaded Skype (free phone call/communication software) and was enjoying it. I used it to talk to one of my daughters in another city; she also has an internet radio show and I was able to call in and 'guest' with her. And I was able to chat via voice or text with people at random around the world using the "SkypeMe" feature (which I have since renamed, using a bad word). It was pleasant to hear from Shelly how the weather was in Beijing, to find out what Declan saw out his window in Galway, to exchange greetings with Mounir in Morocco. "Gosh," I thought to myself happily, "the Global Village is really here! I feel like a citizen of the world! Isn't the internet fabulous?"

Mounir and I were chatting happily (in English and French, he politely assuring me that I was intelligible in the latter language, though I was probably asking him, to quote Steve Martin, to give me an old shoe with cheese and let me massage his grandmother). I was asking about Morocco and sharing information about Florida, when I decided to give him a link to a good site about the state. I did a CTRL-C on the address and then, in the texting box, hit CRTL-V to paste it.

That was the last good moment of my life.

To my absolute horror, what appeared was NOT a URL for Florida State Parks but a receipt for a online banking transaction I had made an hour ago.

Yes. Read it and weep. I sure as hell did. My full name (which I never gave out on Skype), the name of my two banks, the full account number of one and part of the other, the date, the amount, my GRE scores and bra size (okay, just kidding, but I couldn't have felt worse no matter what it showed) - were RIGHT THERE, instantly sent to him, and no taking it back.

I politely fell apart like a cartoon character despite his gentlemanly assurances that he had deleted the information without reading it. Consequent weepy frantic talks with both banks revealed that he really couldn't have done anything with the information even if he wanted to.

My money, such as it is, is safe. But my self-esteem? I probably oughta sell before it goes any lower.

If you're wondering what my computer saw after I hit that fatal CTRL-V, visit my photos and check out the one my granddaughter took of me with my cell phone. I imagine I looked something like that, only much worse.

There. You feel better, don't you?