Years ago I worked on a Neuropsychology service at a hospital in Seattle. We gave patients lots of arcane tests to see if their whatzit lobe or their lateral whozit or the ascending thingamajig in their brain were working right.

Meanwhile, the Occupational therapists were giving the patients real world tasks to see if they could cook a meal or remember to take a pill or understand simple instructions.

Over time it became clear that what mattered in the patient's life was the Occupational Therapy part, not the whozit, whatzit part. Yet the ascending lateral lobes got all of the attention. It was one of the things that sent me back to academia.

All of which reminds me that I need to pay rent. Fortunately, my landlady is pretty lax about dates... I don't think she's cashed last month's check yet.

My landlord in DC would sometimes go several months without depositing my rent checks, and then deposit them all at once. It drove me nuts trying to keep track of how much money I actually had.

Hil, that's probably what I'd do. But I can't do that when he wants me to physically hand him the thing (or stick it under the door that really doesn't seem all that secure).

Rick, I have a lot of theories about why OT doesn't get a lot of respect. Fortunately, we're starting to do some real, actual research that is showing efficacy (the stuff on post-stroke neuroplasticity, for example, is fascinating).

Now that I'm paid once a month, I wait for the paycheck to deposit before I write the rent check. And given how slow they are to make repairs, I don't feel any qualms about waiting the 5 days the lease says is the grace period.

Just checked - she did get the check.

I've realized I'm being too tentative at work - I got someone to help me yesterday and what he did ended up being useless. I could have done it better myself. I know more than I think I do, and just need to ask questions to double check when needed.

how many times can I say check in one post? Check check. Check.

I don't think she's cashed last month's check yet.

My guy will sometimes take 3 months to deposit. It can wreak havoc!

I do a direct transfer with Bank of America. Easy-peasy. Although I just discovered that I have a $1000-per-day limit with that, so if/when my rent goes past that, it will be annoying.

I can pay my rent online, so I don't have to worry about the check not cashing immediately. I really like being able to pay this way.

I'm not very good at remembering to mail a check. There are too many steps there -- remember to pay, find checkbook, find pen, write check, find envelope, seal and address envelope, find stamp, take envelope to mailbox -- and I always get distracted by something before I'm done. I've got my bank account set up to automatically print out and mail a check to my landlord at the end of each month.

This is me. ADD R ME. Before auto-pay and online banking, my financial life was a fucked-up wreck. Now everything gets paid automatically, and I pay for almost everything with my debit card so I have a constantly updated balance in my checking account.

The company who installed my heat pump has yet to cash the checks I wrote them, weeks ago. Almost $5000! Come on, guys, it's making me nervous, having all that money sitting there! I'm scared I'll accidentally buy something expensive and use up your money! Cash them!