Sidewinder

Used to be you'd see signs (see) at gas stations & convenience stores, "American Express Money Orders sold here." But I do not see those signs, like anywhere at all, anymore. : / I find this concerning, as I should like very much to expand the aforementioned List. It would be more like rounding it out than completing it, because I don't know who else (besides banks, whose fees are silly) has ever been in the money order business. : /

at the Carr's Safeway in Palmer on Tuesday. This places Western Union alongside MoneyGram (gross) and the United States Postal Service on your List of Types of Money Orders Sidewinder Has Purchased. Which, is exciting.

A reminder to each of you to add "Municipality of Anchorage Alaska," "Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska" and "Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska" to your List of U.S. Counties or County Equivalents Sidewinder Has Set Foot In.

Correction: It was a Pelagic cormorant.

...that you will be first considered for their ChevronTexaco co-branded Visa card whether you like it or not, and if you don't qualify for that then and only then you will be considered for the gas card. However, at the Chevron station in downtown Palmer, Alaska (the one across the Glenn Highway from Fred Meyer) there's a QR code on the pump to apply for the regular (i.e. gas only) card. Which, is why I traveled to Alaska; see.

soaring over Prince William Sound yesterday, while I was on a glacier cruise. Also saw sea lions, otter pups, and orcas, the latter among them under a rainbow. (I say this to rub y'all's noses in the fact that I am in Alaska right now. : D )

at the Anchorage airport has the exact same birthday as I. To the DAY!! On checking my ID she noticed it had been my b-day a coupla days ago and wished me a belated happy birthday, and then moments later had an "Oh. MY GOD!" moment about it. (I've also met like three hundred people who have this birthday. I think it's the most common one there is.) Also they put me in a electric SUV so that's weird. : /

Whether in Bloomington or not, everything on Lyndale is always ridiculous. How does a Valvoline shop "upsell" you? Dude checked out the head & tail lights, brake lights, and what we Bostonians call "blinkizz," (and that was only after I told him I had a tail light out), and at the end of the service he axed, casually like they do, if there was anything else they could do. I really don't even see how anything going on there could be called "upselling."

Which, is what I said basically.

I know.

Now THAT'S one hell of a sign-up bonus.

Well I might want to noodle around a little bit (a very little bit, these days) in yon stock market; see. As a still-happy Bank of America customer (I get that they were probably spending more on customer service for Minnesota customers ten years ago, when they were first introducing themselves around here, and offering sweet deals ($300 bonus for new checking accounts) but it's been ten years now so I'm waiting, with more and more incredulity, for the other shoe to drop : / ), I visited the "Investing" part of their website and I do not believe that you can ACTUALLY make "unlimited" trades with 0% commission. First ten or so trades per month, sure; that's a bit more believable. Unlimited? At zero per cent commission? I WILL NOT BE SUCKERED INTO... whatever the scam is there. They're not actually doing UNLIMITED 0% trades. What would be in it for them? (Should I go back to TD Ameritrade? Was pretty happy with Scottrade, before they got eaten.)

Today's offer was $7,000; same rate. My creditworthiness has increased 3,100 dollars' worth in eight days.

Why don't they go all Costco and pick one. Exclusivity in return for lowered fees.

...in the "My Verizon" app, I get a confo# which I am not permitted to copy, copy-and-paste-like, that I may then paste it into my personal money management system (which I can access via spreadsheet, an OpenOffice Base form, or directly from the DOS prompt (where pasting is always a clunky thing to attempt, but still)). And I _want_ to copy-and-paste it, because there is invariably an "O" or a "0" in it and I can't tell from looking whether it is an alphabetic "O" or the numeral zero and this compromises the accuracy of the info in my system and then that means my system which I spent a lot of time building is less awesome than it's supposed to be and then that's not good which introduces the prospect of nothing anywhere ever being any good ever again EVER. However, when I pay by phone, the voice reads out my "payment reference number" the identities whose constituent characters are explicitly announced; never ambiguous. For that reason, I am going to pay my Verizon bill by telephone. Instead of the app. You heard me.