Another New Bank?

Here’s the deal…

When I was a child, and daddy opened my first savings account for me, he impressed upon me the importance of not keeping all my money in one place.

Because of this advice, which came straight out of the Depression Era, I’ve always maintained two independent banking relationships. I normally have a checking and savings account in each bank. I’ve done it this way for 40 years now.

That all being said, the day when a bank offered you services gratis is pretty much over with, unless you maintain a relatively large hoard permanently on their books (minimum monthly balance). I rarely have enough money to maintain a hoard like that, so banks begin to service charge me to death. Once a bank that I’m dealing with begins the ol’ service charge BS, I’m gone.

Thanks to the new greed trend in banking (or maybe it’s not so new), I’ve had to change banks numerous times in the past 10 years… very annoying. Each time a bank notifies me that they are going to start taxing me to use their services, I immediately remove my hoard from their control and place it in other less greedy hands. Unfortunately, banking facilities that do not charge service fees are becoming very rare of late.

I’m at the last frontier of free banking services right now, I believe… credit unions. Most credit unions are not-for-profit operations, so greed usually doesn’t raise its ugly head, to use a cliché here.  About a year ago, I had to remove my hoards from Wells Fargo and 5/3 Bank nearly simultaneously, as they began charging ridiculous service fees after promising me in writing that my free accounts would always be free. HA!

All told, my accounts combined totaled about $47.63, but it was MY HOARD, DAMMIT! And I wasn’t going to let those greedy bastards continue to deplete it. At that time, I found a nice credit union and a small neighborhood bank to safely tuck my money away in. Unfortunately, the small bank failed and was given to a larger banking organization by the FDIC. The larger bank has now decided to tax my hoard at $10 a month! They can piss off. I’m taking my hoard out of there today because I found another nice credit union to join.

After today, my hoards will be safely stashed away in two institutions; one a state credit union, and the other a federal credit union. Oh boy! My hoards, which are currently valued at approximately $112.81, will be safe and free from the fat bankers and their fees-for-service. Service? HA! What a joke. I can’t even get a live human being on the phone at most of these larger banking operations.

Well, gotta’ run… I want to go transfer my hoard before those greedy bastards charge me another fee of some sort.

Later…

~Eric

Spring In the Air; Spring In Your Step

I’m sure many of you reading this wish you were seeing some signs of spring where you are.

Here in my part of the world (Florida, USA), the bees are buzzing, the trees and flowers are blooming, the hay fever folks are sneezing, etc. It’s beautiful! The world is awakening from its winter slumber.

Don’t worry, spring will get to you eventually. When it does, don’t forget to step outside of the house, or your office, or wherever you’re cooped up, and take a deep breath of that springtime air. Smell the flowers, listen to the bees buzz around; this is life, folks. Live it.

Have a wonderful springtime!

~Eric

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Cyber-life Interrupted by Real Life

Hello happy readers, commenters, lurkers, etc.

Beginning very soon, like right away, I’ll be somewhat absent from here. The reason for this is that I’ll be spending most of my waking hours (and some of my sleeping ones) for the next 8 or so weeks studying for my Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) examination.

If all goes well, I well have that coveted industry cert and those spiffy letters after my name sometime in March of 2013; with a good job to follow shortly thereafter, hopefully. 13 is a good number for me; maybe it’ll be a good year, too. We’ll see…

In the meantime, carry on. Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone.

Later…

~Eric

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Monolith’s Whisper

As many of you who read here know, I’m a fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. FPS video game series.

I’ve played these games numerous times with and without modifications. I’ve even recently read the book on which the series was loosely based. Last night, though, I experienced something new regarding this game. I watched a movie based on the original game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. It’s called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Monolith’s Whisper. I watched it again today, actually.

Anyone who’s ever experienced the game knows that there is a certain atmosphere, an ambiance, that feels unique to the game. If you play it enough, you begin to absorb that feeling of menace and impending doom. If you play like I do with headphones on in a darkened room, the experience can be nearly totally immersive. You catch yourself dodging and ducking in your chair at your desk. Non-gamers will not understand what I’m talking about here, unfortunately.

Stalker Team Uruguay, the movie’s production company, has managed to capture that atmosphere quite accurately, in my opinion. While watching the movie, you will recognize where you are and what’s happening. Gamers will be familiar with some of the situations and characters, and especially the sound effects. Costuming and props are interestingly and relatively accurately depicted. I was actually pretty impressed with that.

This is not a $50M Spielberg film, folks. However, with the budget and equipment they had available, I think they did a fabulous job. I’m not sure where the movie was filmed, but some of the building ruins and forest scenes are going to look eerily familiar to players of the game. I like the trivia entry at imdb.com about the truck in the opening segment of the movie. It was not a working truck, yet the scene looked very realistic.

The story is about Alexey, a young Ukrainian man whose family was displaced by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Alexey travels from America back to the Ukraine after the mysterious 2006 events at the CNPP to search for his older brother who had previously returned to their childhood home.  Alexey must pay mercenaries to transport him to the edge of the Exclusion Zone, where he is then advised to seek out a loner Stalker called “Wolf”, who will help him further.

After some close calls, Alexey manages to make contact with Wolf at the loner camp in the south Cordon area. Wolf then introduces Alexey to Seeker, a Freedom faction veteran. Seeker acts as a guide and teacher to Alexey as the make their way north through the Zone in search of Alexey’s brother. Alexey learns much and experiences much danger on his travels with Seeker. Eventually, he reaches the Wish Granter… or does he?

If you’re a fan of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I think you’ll enjoy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Monolith’s Whisper. You can watch it right on their website. If you like it as much as I did, consider buying a DVD or purchasing a download. At the very least, drop them a $ or two in the tip jar as a sign that you appreciated their efforts. You can even contact them via email. They will email you back. Gabriel Zang, one of the Stalker Team Uruguay members and the actor who plays Alexey in the movie, personally replied to my email earlier today.

Enjoy your gaming and this excellent movie!

Later…

~Eric

Image credits: All of the above from miscellaneous game players’ screen shots of the actual game.

The (Almost) Lost Art of Making Brown Paper Grocery Bag Book Covers

Last night I was thumbing through some books here in my home looking for a specific one.

I was looking for Alvin Toffler‘s 1970 treatise on cultural change called Future Shock. I found it, but the book itself is not the story here today. My old 1971 paperback edition of this book was still in relatively fair condition. I wanted to re-read it, but I didn’t want to beat it up in the process. It’s a paperback book. Normally, I would use clear contact paper to create a protective cover for a cherished paperback. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any handy last night, so I decided to make an old-fashioned brown paper grocery bag book cover for it, like the ones that my dad taught me how to make 45 years or so ago.

I have books on my shelves currently that still wear some of those covers I made back when I was a kid. I also have some with more recently made covers. It’s a great way to protect a book and recycle those old grocery bags you have in the pantry. Of course, nowadays, it’s getting so many young children have never even seen a brown paper grocery bag. That’s progress… I guess? And the world moves on, which coincidentally, is the topic of Toffler’s book… sort of.

Some books on my shelves…

*click to enlarge

Two of my favorites…

*click to enlarge

Written on the back of one…

*click to enlarge

Tools and materials needed…

*click to enlarge

Even though these type covers are best for hardcover books, they work well for paperbacks also. I made one last night for Toffler’s book.

I hope this article has taught you younger folks something worthwhile, and maybe brought back a few good memories for you older folks out there. I love books. I have books in my home still that I acquired as a child. Books are like old friends to me. I’m reluctant to let them go. Unfortunately, reading the way I do and collecting books can sometimes allow your books to actually take over your home. I recently had to liquidate a goodly chunk of my personal library. Before the liquidation, I had nearly 10,000 editions. Now, I have a leaner collection of maybe 4000. I kept all my favorites, of course.

No, they don’t all have brown paper grocery bag book covers on them, just the ones I really treasure.

Enjoy and take care of your books. They may be a fading thing also, unfortunately. You’ll never have to make a brown paper grocery bag cover for your Kindle, will you? Of course, when society crumbles and the zombie hordes walk the earth, I’ll still be reading my books at night by candlelight. Your Kindle won’t even make a good doorstop.

Have fun!

~Eric

Additional reading:

• About.com’s how-to on making grocery bag book covers
• Alvin Toffler’s website
• 15 Uses for Brown Paper Grocery Bags

Tim Olshansky | Stay Home When You’re Sick! – a Reblog

I saw a link to this article on slashdot.org‘s website earlier today. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years.

I’ve always hated to see co-workers snorting and snotting all over the place. It’s unhealthy and disgusting. You can’t always blame your co-workers, though. In today’s modern work environment, you better be dying before you call in sick. At a call center where I worked in tech support, people were literally passing out and being taken out of the building by paramedics. The sick leave policy was so strict that you needed to have a doctor’s release for any absence in order for the company to grant you “excused” status. This, of course, resulted in a very optimal environment for the creatures at the top of the food chain (viruses) to thrive.

I couldn’t agree more with Tim Olshansky’s rant here.

Read on…

Tim Olshansky | Stay Home When You’re Sick!

Try to have a little consideration this year and don’t infect any of your fellow workers just before Christmas.

Later…

~Eric

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

As some of you may know from reading here, I’m a fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of PC 1st person shooter games.

When I first found out about this game, I did a little research on it and found that it was loosely based on a 1972 Sci-Fi novel called Roadside Picnic written by two Russians, brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was originally written in Russian, of course. This would have made it a bit difficult for me to read, unfortunately, as I don’t understand Russian at all. Fortunately, in 1977, a translation to English was made by Antonina W. Bouis.

About the same time I started playing the game, I searched local bookstores and online sellers for this book, but was never able to find a copy at a reasonable price. I had already checked my local library system, so I knew they didn’t have a copy. Recently though, I was informed about the Inter Library Loan system used by many libraries all over the world that allows books to be borrowed from source libraries other than your local system. I immediately put in a request for this book.

A little library in Clewiston, Florida was nice enough to send their copy of the book to my local neighborhood branch, where I recently picked it up. I read this story in about two days. It was a wonderful Sci-Fi story. I was impressed with the imaginative plot. While it’s not that closely related to the storyline of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, you can see where the creators of the game got their inspiration; even certain terms like stalker, artifact, anomaly, and others are common to both the book and the games.

If you’ve ever played and enjoyed the games, I highly recommend reading the story. Even if you haven’t played the games, the story is a wonderful piece of classic science fiction writing. I think you’ll enjoy it as a stand-alone read. And if you grab a copy of the same edition I read…

this one:

… you’ll get a bonus story from the same authors called Tale of the Troika, which is a hilarious Vonnegut-like sci-fi story that satirizes the inane world of bureaucracy; like the old Soviet system, which it is obviously lampooning.

Contact your local library about this book or maybe use the Inter Library Loan system like I did. You may even want to purchase a copy for yourself. When I get a couple bucks in my pocket that isn’t needed for food or gas, I’ll be buying a copy of this book to keep in my own personal library.

Happy reading!

~Eric

Additional links:

Addall.com book search results for this book

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games website

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky at fantasticfiction.co.uk

The True Battle of Chernobyl – Uncensored, a movie on YouTube

What This Season Means to Me

For many years, Christmas meant pretty much nothing but an annoying time of year to me. This was from my mid-20s till about my late 30s. Then, after many years of not even acknowledging the holiday, I spent what turned out to be the last Christmas with my mom. For a little more insight on this, read The Little Christmas Tree, if you haven’t already.

As I got older, I began to miss that innocent joy that this season brought to me when I was a child. I can still close my eyes and relive the thrills of sitting under the Christmas tree and tearing wrapping paper off the gifts that my mom, dad, brother, and Santa had brought me. I can still smell the wonderful foods my mom was cooking up in the kitchen. I can still remember the feel of a warm sweater and pants on a cold Christmas morning out in the backyard. I can even smell the wood burning from the fireplaces around the neighborhood.

I did not grow up in a religious family. I did attend Catholic schools for 11 years, but that did more to turn me away from religion than inculcate me into that syndicate. That’s neither here nor there, though. My point is that this season, which was originally based on a pagan rite of the winter solstice, is not about religion or religious beliefs. It’s not about unfettered capitalistic greed. It’s not even about Christmas Day football games.

What it means to me is a time when human beings should put aside their hatreds, their prejudices, their general thoughts of malice and love one another for just a short span. Stop butchering each other for a while and help your neighbor rather than beat him senseless in the street. Feed those who can’t feed themselves. Provide a warm blanket for someone who doesn’t have one. Draw your family and friends closer to your breast and realize that they won’t always be there.

My feelings on this season are that it should be as I see (wish) it 365 days a year. That’s not going to happen, though. I’m a pragmatist. I know these things are just a dream. Yet… yet, maybe just for a short time?

However you celebrate this season, whatever your beliefs (or lack of them), alone or with a big family; try to remember that it’s about people, not things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let’s try to remember that it’s not all about stuffing your face and then going shopping.

It’s about being thankful. It’s about waking up on Thursday morning and counting your many blessings. Yes, you do have many. You just have to sit and take a little inventory. Stop taking so much for granted in your life. Value your family, your friends, your job, your pets, your health, etc. It’s not about how much money you have in that wad in your pocket. It’s not about that fancy sports car you drive. One day that will all be dust and rust. Be thankful for the simple, yet truly important, things in your life.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Later…

~Eric