Catching Up with Belgian Banking in the 90s

My bank recently sent the following breathless announcement:

"Great News! Effective May 2008, we're enhancing Online Bill Payment to offer you faster payments. In most cases, you'll be able to pay your bills in as little as 24 hours."

Well, gee, that was fast. I've been using online banking for about 10 years, and in all that time, the bank insisted on taking 5 business days between my placing an order and their being ready to deliver money to the payee -- just like the old days of the "float" in paper-based checking accounts. Even after the laws required faster processing of actual checks, electronic payments preserved this quaint custom of the 5-day wait!

I always found this frustrating, because back in 1993-94 when I lived in Belgium, it was possible to send instant electronic payments not only to big businesses but to corner shops, friends, and scout den leaders, anyone! -- and the transfer was overnight! Like most Americans, I assumed we had the most advanced of everything, but the silly little country of Belgium was miles ahead! (Thanks to this system, we went from writing 50-60 checks a month to maybe 5 or 6!)

Meanwhile, back in this country, it seems now we are finally able to make electronic payments that actually reflect the technology behind them! Why did it take so long? Presumably because the banks could get away with it -- I wonder who was using that money from the time it left our accounts to the time it reached its destination 5 days later. I'm sure the change from my bank reflects more consumer-friendly practices of upstart customer-centric banks, and the old guard has finally decided to fall in line.

But not without a little self-congratulation: "It's just another way [bank] is working to make banking better for our valued customers." Gee, thanks!

Things To Do While Not Doing Your Taxes

- Dust and vacuum
- File away all papers
- Print new labels for all your existing file folders
- Replace the shelf paper in all your kitchen shelves
- Change the oil in your car
- Rearrange your closets
- Transfer all your CDs to your ipod,and toss the CDs
- Scan all your proposals, reports, storyboards, etc from all past projects
- Cut up last year's Christmas cards, and make a collage!
- Read that [DVR/VCR/TV/phone/camera] manual at last
- Alphabetize your library
- Alphabetize your CDs (Oops, never mind, we tossed those)
- Pack up some clothes and shoes for the Goodwill
- Rearrange all the accounting categories in Quicken
- Delete all that pre-installed crap on your computer
- Do the laundry
- Write a few long-lost friends
- Start your memoirs
- Digitize all your old family photos
- Reorganize all the photos on your computer
- Try a new operating system!
- Change cell phone carriers (that will take a few weeks)
- Update your family pictures in their frames
- Make some lists!

Architects and Real People

Has it ever struck you that architects continually design features into buildings that people who use their buildings continually ignore? For example:

- Architects continue to make men's and women's bathrooms the same size. It makes for a nice symmetry in plan, but women take longer, so you always find long lines of women outside their bathroom, while men zip in and out. This has been going on for a long time! Come on, architects, wake up!

- Architects always seem to think their interior spaces will remain as immaculate as they are on the day the last coat of paint is applied. But virtually every interior space occupied by humans -- especially office and work spaces -- are covered with pieces of paper, affixed to painted walls with tacks or tape. Why don't architects design shared spaces with some kind of surface treatment designed to accept attached documents?

- Architects generally put double doors as the main entrance to any public space. But have you noticed how often the occupants of that space open only one door and leave the other on locked? OK, I would have to fault the users in this case, but why do they do that? Do they think they are saving "wear and tear" on the bolted door? Do they enjoy watching people yank at one door, feel the frustration, and then open the other one? If people are going to behave like this, maybe there is some design approach that would make this practice seem normal or expected.

Anyone else out there have any architectural pet peeves?