One-Way Streets: It is perfectly OK to travel the wrong way on a one-way street as long as you are driving backwards.

Bank One mini-branches are hatching all over the city like mosquitos. I’ve always preferred them to the other banks around here because I don’t have to memorize where their ATMs are. All I have to do is look for a Walgreens, and there are plenty of those around.

I’ve banked there since it was First Chicago–maybe 12 years? I had the same account for six or seven of those years, and way back then I had a habit of bouncing checks. However, I’ve become fiscally responsible–not secure–responsible. And yet, in all that time, and after all those thousands of dollars that I bounced, they were patient and I finally got caught up on my balance.

So imagine my surprise when in March I got a letter in the mail informing me that they were going to close Brian’s and my checking account. This came out of nowhere. All it said was we had X amount of time to withdraw the balance or they’d close it and send us a check. WTF?

I called Brian immediately. Unknown to me, he sent them a “contact us” e-mail. We were charged for an overdraft because we miscalculated our balance or something, and he was outraged about the fees. I already knew that they take your first-born, so I didn’t know what the big deal was, as long as we were careful. Besides, we don’t have kids.

Well, he told Bank One exactly what he thought of them. Something along the lines of “you fucking suck.” In those exact words.

I was angry at first, then I laughed because it was, well, funny. But I didn’t think they could close our bank account just for that. I mean, don’t they want to know what customers think? The least they could have done was give us a free toaster or something. Hell, even a pen would have been nice.

Can they do that for me? Apparently not.

BrainStorm (dead link, 11/30/06)

1. What did you do? For Whom?
I’m not sure if I have done anything nice for anyone lately, but that’s because I don’t see a lot of people during the course of the day–I work at home.

I guess I could say that I did something nice for someone on an online community I’m a part of. Like me, he’s in Chicago and was looking for a kali/eskrima class, which is a Filipino martial art. I just started training in kali myself, so I told him about the classes available at my school.

2. How did it make you feel to do something nice?
In this instance, it wasn’t that big a deal, but in general I feel good about helping people out.

3. How did the person react?
Kind of hard to say. It was over the Internet after all. But he thanked me and gave me the link to another local class that he found.

4. Did you expect anything in return?
Just to let me know how his class went.

5. Write about some nice things you could do for the people around you over the next week or so.
I can continue to support people I know at other online communities. Maybe do some of Brian’s chores for him to help out. I also have all kinds of get well, birthday, anniversary cards, etc. that I need to send.

Click to enlarge–it’ll open in a new window. Then click again to zoom. Enjoy!

from VG Cats

The Weekly Bit (dead link, 11/30/06)

1. How long have you been online? Not today, but in total, how long have you had your computer?
1996

2. Do you have many online friends? Have you ever met any in person or spoken to them over the phone?
Some, but except for one or two people, we’ve only communicated via e-mail.

3. What are your favorite things to do while online?
Besides e-mail? Check Borders inventory; play online video games; surf blogs; procrastinate.

4. List your favorite websites.
Besides my own? Here’s my new favorite: Awful Plastic Surgery

5. Do you know HTML, Javascripts? Do you create your own webpages and graphics?
Do you have any websites?
Just enough HTML to change font attributes and insert links/images. The first personal site I created was in ’98–the final project for Intro. to computers 101, composed in Netscape and uploaded via FTP. I have absolutely no idea how to do that now. I’ve only messed around with graphics by creating icons and avatars. Below are links to my pages.

slacktivities (old blog, dead link, 10/09/05)

Cell 2187 (old blog, currently in the process of importing posts and comments to this blog; 11/30/06)

6. What do you hate about the Internet? What annoys you most about it?
When it’s s-s-s-s-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-w. And we have cable Internet. Having grown up during a time in which various time-savers appeared on the market (microwave, fax, word processors, etc.), unfortunately, my impatience has increased.