Simplicity Rules

First, let me say something that will shock people who knew me in high school: I love my Mac. With that out of the way, here’s one of the few things that really ticks me off about the current Mac OS:

Whenever I install the latest patches and security updates, I am greeted with this non-choice. I usually minimize the window, ignoring it all day until I feel like restarting… or shutting down.

It’s hard to believe that Apple is letting Microsoft beat them at any UI game, but here’s the much more user-friendly option from Windows XP:

There is some interesting Census data on households with computers, separated by state (via DTM). It also contains the percentage that have internet access. Nationwide, less than 62% of households have a computer, while almost 55% have internet access. This data is two years old, but still may surprise those of us who live our lives online.

Check out a more readable version, sorted by least households with a computer. Or, import it into your spreadsheet using this comma-delimited file.

As an aside, it would be interesting to see how many of those without a computer or internet access do have it available at work.

Life seems to move in themes. Today’s theme is rascally pennies and nickels, money I’d rather not track.

Over the last six months, I’ve been doing some moving around of my residence and office. Today I opened a final bill from my phone company, QWest. For four days of September, I was billed eleven cents in service fees. I looked up at my mailbox, where I’ve stored a refund from QWest from when I changed my office line. The check, by coincidence, was for eleven cents.

I turned the check over and signed it to the order of QWest. We’ll see how it goes. It cost me a stamp, but at least I didn’t have to write an eleven cent check.

For several years, I have been rounding up when I pay bills. If the electric bill is $42.81, I pay $43. Then I let them worry about crediting me nineteen cents. My original reason for doing this was to simplify my bank statement by only using whole dollar amounts… but it didn’t work.

My health insurance deducts automatically and always an amount that includes cents. I would gladly let them round up, like I do with electricity, but I don’t have that option when they extract the amount directly from my checking. When I use my debit card to buy a book from Amazon, I see the same problem. And though I make purchases often from Amazon, they don’t have a system to maintain my small credit from one purchase to another.

Bank of America has introduced a program called Keep The Change where they solve the debit example above. They round up on every debit purchase and deposit the remainder into your savings account.

If only they extended this to all transactions (including that pesky health insurance transfer), I’d be in. And I’m not even a BofA customer.