I found out what balancing a checkbook was when I lived Over There. Since cheques stopped being important in Spain pretty much around the time electronic transfer and its daughters direct deposit and direct charge were invented, I hadn’t even held a cheque in my hand previously.
It just means looking at the report from the bank and verifying that every line that says something like:
Unidentified Store ----> Cheque 137 ----> $29.99
matches with the carbon-paper copy of Cheque 137 in your book.
Never understood how could people have trouble doing it, but apparenly it’s high math…
Nava, have you seen our public schools? At the college I attend, the majority of incoming students have to take remedial English and Math courses (with course numbers under 100–English 060, Math 090) before they can even start on their college requirements.
There a few addtional steps in balancing your checkbook. In addition to marking as paid the checks that have been written and cashed you also need to verify that the balance you think you have at the end of the column in your checkbook is the same amount that the bank thinks you have!
After subtracting off outstanding checks from the bank statement’s balance ending you should have a figure that matches your balance in your checkbook register.
The hard part is when it doesn’t match. A few dollars, not a big deal. However I have erred greatly (adding a check that should have been substracted or math error that radically changes the balance) and bounced a check based on my misconception. Sometimes finding that error can be detective work! Usually I would give up and just accept the bank’s version of the truth and edit my balance in my checkbook.
Nowadays? I don’t balance my checkbook any longer evenhough I used to be pretty picky about it. I rarely write checks and I am no longer (thank goodsness) living so close to the edge that being a few dollars off, or having a payment or two not yet cleared is such a big deal.
They’re designed to fit whoever they are tailored for, most mass produced clothing is not designed to fit people who are short and stocky or who have extraordinarily thick necks.
This is why if you actually want a suit to look good you have one made, don’t buy it off the rack. I don’t see this is an inherent problem with suits, but mass produced clothing in general.
Haven’t seen your public schools, but the last time I expressed my opinion of the US educational system based in my experience teaching at U of Miami and talking with grad students/TAs from other universities I got yelled at so I think I’ll refrain. Plus the notion of “we have to make everybody equal to the dumbest one” is quite extended, I’m afraid. You can learn some colorful Spanish nowadays by hearing what our college professors say about our current pre-college schooling system…
It’s not just the looks, it is a comfort thing. I find suits and ties to be restrictive in movement, hot, and gerally uncomfortable. I don’t understand why having something constricting my neck is a symbol of power either.
Here’s a run-down of my stats: I’m 5’7 , 160 lbs with a 42 inch chest and a 16.5’ neck. My waist though, is a slim 34’. So having a short bullish upper body, mixed with a slim waist and short legs makes even an altered suit and high collar shirt look weird on me. The collar and tie are an issue because I don’t have enough length to my neck to make it comfortable for me to look down. It bites into my neck, and my chin rubs on the collar. I CAN’T wear it any lower because my trapezieus muscles join up relatively high on my neck.
So My choices are: Spend a lot of money that I do not have on a fully tailored suit and hope it works out better; or find a job which doesn’t require one. In my area it’s pretty difficult to find a job that pays decently without having to wear the damnable suit.
Not out of spite. I quit writing cursive, like everyone else I’ve ever known, because writing normally (why you would call cursive “normal” when it’s never used anywhere I don’t know; have you ever seen a book, newspaper, magazine or website in cursive?) is faster and easier both to write and to read.
Unless “cursive” means something other than what I think it means, how on Earth can it be slower than printing each letter individually? Write letter, stop, lift pen, move pen, write new letter, stop, lift pen, move pen, write new letter… It would drive me absolutely batshit if I had to write anything longer than about two words like that. I’d say it takes almost twice as long to hand-print each letter individually than it does to write normally. Three times as long if I use individually printed CAPITALS, like some people do :eek:
Or maybe I have the wrong end of the stick and, by “cursive”, you mean this kind of thing. You know, the kind of handwriting that would appear in Charlie Brown strips when he was writing a letter to Santa with his tongue sticking out. I assumed that teaching that kind of handwriting had gone out in the 1950s or before, but things might be different in America. If that is what you meant by “cursive”, then I can see why you ditched it.
My dad is the only person I know that still writes like that. At school in the UK in the 1980s, we were all taught this kind of writing.
You don’t need to stop, and lifting the pen the fraction of a millimeter above the paper takes no time. I’ll happily have a speedwriting contest with you if we ever meet.
We learned something like that, but of course no-one could force us to write that insanely. The actual result was more like your second link. We all hated it.
Having to have a paper registration and proof of insurance in your car. Cops run your plates when they pull you over. Your registration info and insurance info should be there, too.
Maybe your writing style is as fast as cursive, but the real question should be: Is it legible? That’s the biggest problem I see lately–writing that is totally illegible…no matter which way you write please make sure others can read it!
Having printed “TV listings” is no longer relevant. I haven’t looked at a TV Guide in years and am amazed it’s still being printed.
I am totally on board with not balancing your checkbook. For that matter, getting a paper bank statement…it’s all available online! Print it out if you want it.
If I don’t focus, my handwriting sucks in at least seven different ways. But I can concentrate, write legibly and still faster than most people. Anyway, cursive is more difficult to read than print, so the point is moot.
That’s the way I learned cursive. I started school in 1980.
That’s more or less what my handwriting turns out like. I write in a combination cursive/print and sometimes do one or the other. A page of text in my writing will have half a dozen different styles on it, as if it were written by different people. I do actually handwrite a lot; entire books, in fact, since I have trouble concentrating when I’m at the computer; I sit on the couch with notebook paper to write my fiction and transfer it later.
But I haven’t balanced a checkbook in years. I still don’t know of a free, easy way to transfer money to someone else (like sending my sister money for a shared purchase), so I still do have checks.
IIRC, the lawyers don’t wear the robes in Provincial Court, but the Judges do. However, in the Court of Queen’s Bench (federal) court, and (as you mentioned) the appellate court as well both the lawyers and the Judiciary wear their robes. The RCMP also wear their serge when appearing in Queen’s Bench or higher courts.
Does your bank not offer online banking? All you need is the recipient’s bank account number and sort code (or regional equivalent) and it takes less than a minute to send. (Of course, banks being what they are, it still takes almost as long for payment to clear as it would if they paid in a cheque.)
