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).

Jessica, now would be a good time to listen to "Waiting for the Electrician Or Someone Like Him"!

Canada still leads in debit card transactions:

[link]

US is not that far behind. Italians spend more per transaction..

recon...hahaha...cile...hahaha...whoa...excuse me....HAHAHAHA.

Yeah, much to my mother's horror, I haven't sat down and balanced my checking account for close to 10 years.

I use my debit card for most purchases, except now I am using a miles card instead and then paying one big bill to them each month.

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.)

IOW, "Beware the top-of-the-cabinet monster!"