In other news, I've become sadly addicted to the minute-by-minute Tour de France newsflashes. Mostly, they say things like "blah blah blah is leading the peloton by 3:25 at the top of some hill in the middle of nowhere" but every once in a while you get one like "the yellow jersey is now scratching his left foot". If we could only get a baby panda to ride the Tour, it would be the perfect timewaster and all the time from now on would be wasted forever.

ARGH.

There are two electricians in my kitchen, along with the landlord. Landlord has no fucking clue what she's talking about, but thinks she does, and so is screaming and cursing at the two electricians who are telling her what needs to be done (which is just different enough than what she assumed needed to be done that she's screaming at them for doing it wrong). I'm hiding out in the A/C-ed living room until it's done. Honestly, I don't care if it's the outlet, the wire, or the breaker box. I just want to be able to plug my stove into the wall.

I don't pay a fee on my debit card. It's through a credit union, though, and my fees in general are lower than anything I paid at a bank.

Is your debit card masquerading as a credit card?

No, I don't think we have those here. I don't pay any yearly fees fro my chaquing account, so I am dinged on a per service basis. I think I get a few free withdrawals and debits a month, then $$ for each from then on. I should really get tot he bank one day and see if I can change that. It would probably be cheaper.

Canada was ahead in debit card purchasing, IIRC, since I used it before I left in 93, but it didn't pick up in MI until some time after I got there.

That's my understanding too, but when I was in NY and DC debit payment seemed to be everywhere.

I've never used my debit card anywhere other than the ATM. I'm irrationally paranoid about giving someone else an electronic pipe to ALL MY MONEY. Of course, check processing these days is basically that, but like I said, irrational. Same reason for why I don't have it autobillpay my credit card.

Also, it is so much easier for me to reconcile my account in larger time chunks. A series of 5 or so checks written every month, instead of keeping up on a daily basis. I mean, really, I've been known to charge as little as $1 when I have no cash (even more likely now since they have credit card parking meters.) Let the credit card company keep track.

My kids think I am the meanest meany mom evah for not allowing GTA. Oh well. I tell them when they are 35 or married, whichever comes first. It's my standard answer.

I never seem to have cash so I pay with debit card most of the time. If I happen to have cash on me I tip in cash. When I was vacationing in NY I got some great cash discounts. When I paid in green folding a few merchants deducted the sales tax. That was a large and sweet discount. This tax avoidance is not causing me any guilt.

Where are you getting the Tour de France updates?

The electricians and landlord are gone. They will apparently be coming back with a better electrician at 2:30. Since I'm also waiting for a UPS package to arrive, this means I can't leave the apartment all day.

Joy.

I could also interpret Sue's sign as "If you look on top of the cabinet, you will be so dreadfully surprised that blood will spurt out of your head." (Or maybe I've been watching too many horror movies.)

Where are you getting the Tour de France updates?

Today, it's at [link] -- stupidly enough, the URL changes for each stage, but if you go to letour.fr and pick "English version" on the front page, you'll get what's happening that day.

OLNtv.com runs the same updates, but they're 5-10 minutes behind, and they have much, much less other info (riders, teams, rules, blah blah) than the official site (and they're as Lance-o-riffic and generally lame as their tv broadcasts).