Fun Things I Learned This Week

This week, I learned a couple of new tricks (what is that saying about teaching old dogs?) -- and it's only Tuesday!

Trick One:  PicMonkey

This is one cool little program for making collages and will solve the issues I have with blogger when I want to do a blog that is mostly photos with very little text (e.g., Zebras:  Boys will be Boys).  This is going to save me hours and is a hell of a lot easier than moving over to a blog platform that is more photo friendly.   Plus, it makes for more interesting visuals when posting to Pinterest.  Woo hoo!

I doubt that it will lead to me being a more prolific poster though.

Trick Two:  Depositing Checks from Home

My first bank account was a savings account with a passbook.  Deposits, withdrawals were all recorded by hand -- requiring a visit to the bank, a paper deposit slip, and a bit of a wait in line.  That was followed by a checking account with -- gasp -- my very own checks and statements that arrived once a month in the mail.  Fast forward to present day (didn't want to bore anyone with the history of banking and its move to all things electronic).  Banking paper is pretty much gone from my life.  My paycheck is deposited electronically, I pay my bills with a few swooshes of the mouse, and I can transfer funds between accounts with a couple of clicks.  I haven't converted to a debit card -- someone has to keep the Mint in business -- so ATMs and paper money are still very much a part of my life.  

Up until yesterday, paper checks were the bane of my existence.   You know, the refund check because you overpaid something, that check from your sister because you bought the tickets, or the reimbursement check from work.  I'd never have them with me when I was at the bank or they'd land in a pile of bills, forgotten until the stack got so tall that I'd have to do something about it.  Until yesterday - the first time that I ever used the SmartPhone app for depositing checks from my bank.  Nirvana (OK, I'm easily pleased) ---  endorse it, take a couple photos, hit submit and just like that the funds are deposited.  Wow!  

.......Now, if I could only retrain my brain patterns for the layout of my new keyboard at work so that I stopped hitting the 9 key when i'm in search of the delete key.......  maybe by next week?