Paying bills always makes me grumpy. More than just the drain on my wallet, it's also the sheer hassle and tedium.

I think it was last year that I finally switched over to using electronic billpay. (I'm not always an early adopter.) The hassle is less and I seldom write checks now.

I'd like to know why electronic payments take days, not milliseconds, to clear. More predatory bank practices, no doubt.

I wrote several checks tonight. For months I had been putting off renewing my membership in various do-gooder organizations like the ACLU, the EFF, and GLAAD. Some I wrote checks to, others I used their online forms.

I'm going to be getting a couple of dozen checks in the next few weeks. I'm the treasurer of Freely Speaking Toastmasters and our semi-annual dues are due at World HQ on October 1st. We had to raise our club dues by $5, as we moved our meeting location and now have to pay rent.