Delayed gratification

I made the people at the Chevy Chase Bank on Old Georgetown Road annoyed with me today.

You see, they have a fee-free change counting machine. Nowhere does it say that you have to be an account holder to use it. I'm not an account holder, and I used it. I used it to the tune of $492.84. (That's a hell of a lot of coins, by the way. About 6-8 years' worth of pocket change.)

I walked into the bank carrying an extremely heavy box full of mostly-wrapped coins, and asked if I could use the coin sorter. They asked me if I was a commercial account holder. I answered "no." They then told me that I had to feed the coins in slowly or it would jam. I was about two thirds of the way through my stash when someone asked if I was an account holder there. I answered honestly: "No. I used to be, though." Then I was informed that I would never be allowed to use the coin sorter again, or I was welcome to open an account with them.

I kept feeding the coins in (stopping at one point to let a teller come replace three of the collection bags under the machine). When I'd finished after about 45 minutes of feeding and sorting, I gathered up my stuff, including the receipt that would allow me to claim my $492.84. When I went over to the tellers (who were not in the slightest bit busy), they dutifully retrieved my cash, the whole time trying to convince me to open some sort of account. I repeated that I used to be a customer, adding that I switched when I was able to join a credit union. One of them finally conceded that it was impossible for them to beat a credit union's benefits. I did ask for information on their CDs to be polite, but I'll never do anything with it.

Now I need to figure out what to do with my newly paperized currency. I think I'll use it to buy books for my upcoming Design Methodologies class. The reading list (with shipping) comes to around $400, and the other $92.84 can be my walking-around cash for the next few weeks. Works for me, anyway.

Finished (for now)

Success!

Today I finished my second quarter in pursuit of my MFA at SCAD. Last quarter was Web Design I and History of Graphic Design. This quarter was Graphic Design Studio II and Typography Studio I.

I will be enjoying my relative freedom for the next two and a half weeks, until I get shackled to the oars again with Design Methodologies and Contemporary Art. It's quite possible that during this time I will actually post to this here blog thing. Seriously.

Ewwww....

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The standards keep getting lower and lower...

...while the maximum age for enlistment gets higher and higher.

The Army has raised its maximum age for enlistment twice in the last seven months. First, they raised it in February from 35 to just under 40. In June they raised it to just under 42.

Man, they're getting desperate. Although it makes sense if they expect to have an army large enough to take on Iran in the coming months, no?

You can read the whole USA Today story here.