Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Heard at NEO
At Microsoft's New Employee Orientation, they were impressing upon us the diversity of the company. "What country are you from?"
"Canada"
"Trinidad and Tobago"
"Iran"
"England"
"Quebec"
...about half the room got the joke, but not the presenter.
"Canada"
"Trinidad and Tobago"
"Iran"
"England"
"Quebec"
...about half the room got the joke, but not the presenter.
Monday, September 17, 2007
The Joy of Being a Globetrotting UW Co-op Student
Money is a giant pain in the ass - why can't it all be a lot smoother?
I'm writing this because I'm sitting down to pay the month's bills. Comcast, Rogers, Puget Sound Energy, BRE Trails, Visa cards, and ISTA, oh my! And, of course, Rogers's website is down. Again.
When (if?) I successfully pay these bills, I will get to go forth and scatter bills for the amount paid via social money management tools, such as my favourite, BillMonk.
In the two years that we've used BillMonk to track the shared expenses in our households, I've racked up $46,723.83 of "stuff". That's not necessarily $46,723.83 of expenses, mind you. Some of it is, of course: rent, utilities, entertainment, food, furniture. But some of it is just paperwork to shuffle debt from person A to person B to make settling up easier -- these line entries can add up, as person-to-person lines of credit often get close to four figures during a semester. Some of it is neither expense nor accounting acrobatics: BillMonk is currently tracking multiple security deposits that I jointly hold with four other people totalling $1,921.16.
Why do we even have to think about this stuff? Where's the infrastructure to allow multiple people to commit to expenses jointly and seamlessly? Failing that, where's the infrastructure for people to autoapprove bank transfers to specified individuals (not corporations) up to specific dollar amounts?
The Pareto principle likely excludes me from getting the kind of banking and money management scenario I want, since I suspect my experience is pretty far outside the bell curve of normal. Relocating (with new housemate, nonetheless) every four months has its downsides. I can't wait for this to be over.
I'm writing this because I'm sitting down to pay the month's bills. Comcast, Rogers, Puget Sound Energy, BRE Trails, Visa cards, and ISTA, oh my! And, of course, Rogers's website is down. Again.
When (if?) I successfully pay these bills, I will get to go forth and scatter bills for the amount paid via social money management tools, such as my favourite, BillMonk.
In the two years that we've used BillMonk to track the shared expenses in our households, I've racked up $46,723.83 of "stuff". That's not necessarily $46,723.83 of expenses, mind you. Some of it is, of course: rent, utilities, entertainment, food, furniture. But some of it is just paperwork to shuffle debt from person A to person B to make settling up easier -- these line entries can add up, as person-to-person lines of credit often get close to four figures during a semester. Some of it is neither expense nor accounting acrobatics: BillMonk is currently tracking multiple security deposits that I jointly hold with four other people totalling $1,921.16.
Why do we even have to think about this stuff? Where's the infrastructure to allow multiple people to commit to expenses jointly and seamlessly? Failing that, where's the infrastructure for people to autoapprove bank transfers to specified individuals (not corporations) up to specific dollar amounts?
The Pareto principle likely excludes me from getting the kind of banking and money management scenario I want, since I suspect my experience is pretty far outside the bell curve of normal. Relocating (with new housemate, nonetheless) every four months has its downsides. I can't wait for this to be over.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Comments on Amazon
One great thing about the Internet is you can rarely tell strictly from the text whether a person is being gut-wrenchingly sincere or devilishly deadpan. Take, for example, this review for the boardbook Guess How Much I Love You:
A minor concern: The characters are Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare. For those of us with mild dyslexia, it is too easy to refer to them as Little Brown Nut-Hair and Big Brown Nut-Hair, which is very different and considerably changes the tone of the story. I accept that this may be my personal problem, and I don't even believe it is appropriate to share it in in this format.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Win the battle, lose the war
I've chatted in the past year with my father and Dan about merchants asking for photo ID when making Visa purchases. Turns out, this is against Visa's Rules for Merchants.
So, while making a purchase today, I refused the clerk's request for photo ID. In his ignorance of the rules, he would not permit the transaction to go through. However, after escalating the issue to his manager, I successfully made the purchase without showing ID.
On the downside, this was done in the US. And to get in to the US, I was incorrectly asked to present my fingerprints and smiling face for the record. As I didn't have the balls to challenge Mr. R. Chai, the friendly customs officer, my biometric data is now sitting in one more database. Thanks, Department of Homeland Security -- that's one more terrorist that will never slip through your borders!
So, while making a purchase today, I refused the clerk's request for photo ID. In his ignorance of the rules, he would not permit the transaction to go through. However, after escalating the issue to his manager, I successfully made the purchase without showing ID.
On the downside, this was done in the US. And to get in to the US, I was incorrectly asked to present my fingerprints and smiling face for the record. As I didn't have the balls to challenge Mr. R. Chai, the friendly customs officer, my biometric data is now sitting in one more database. Thanks, Department of Homeland Security -- that's one more terrorist that will never slip through your borders!
