Voila Revisited

Those of you who follow my blog may recall my post about a guy I work with asking me how to spell "voila" and then not believing me when I told him.

Let's call him V-Man. He sits in the cubicle next to me. He's a good guy, I really like him. And yet, yesterday, when I was talking to a friend on the phone about what travel site she uses on line, V-Man sent me this instant message:

"Kayak is a great site. I didn't mean to ease drop."

Ease drop.

It makes sense in a weird sort of way. It was easy for him to overhear me.

Still, V-Man, you're killing me.

Balancing Act

Does anyone balance their checkbook anymore?

I think I'm possibly the last person on earth doing it. And I do, I get a piece of slate and a sliver of coal and I sit near the fire trying to figure out if the bank is accurately taking care of my money.

Actually, I don't write many checks anymore, but I also record and track my debit purchases, which is another thing I think few people do. I've had many people tell me they just look at their online balance and if there's money in their account, life is good.

I just can't do it. It almost seems foolhardy to me.

Back in the day when the bank actually returned my checks AND sent me a paper statement, I would try to balance to the penny, but my personal cut-off point was one dollar. If I could reconcile with the bank within a dollar or less, I'd do the math adjustment and call it a day. If the bank and I were off by more than a dollar, though, I'd look for it. I'd check my math. I'd compare the amounts written on the checks with the amounts I recorded. I spent a lot of time looking for a little bit of money.

That seems foolhardy, too. In all these years of balancing my checkbook, I've never once had to go to the bank about a mistake THEY made.

Yesterday I used my online statement and balanced my checkbook. More or less. This time the bank and I were off an even $25. I made a note of it, and moved on. I just haven't decided if that's personal growth or mere laziness.

Groaner

So a guy at work today was moving from his cubicle to the cubicle next door. To expedite matters, he sometimes just tossed things over the wall.

I'd call that decorating style fling shui.

Ode to a Pen

I just bought a new pen
and it’s like being ten
when new school supplies
brought stars to my eyes

The pen’s ergonomic
not like a Bic Stic
contoured and tiny
smooth, blue and shiny

When it comes to cool pens
I don’t care what I spends
so for 3.99
it had to be mine