Bank (time, money)

Yesterday turned into another goof-off day. I met M at that diner thingy at Porter Square for brunch and the opportunity to start paying my share of the apartment-nabbing cost, presenting her with a $500 check. This was less than half of what I owed, but better than nothing. I was hoping to have dislodged all my money out of the ORA machine by now, but this was not to be, so I paid what I could.

She lent me Acts of the Apostles, which has a been a primary reason for recent off-goofing. I am already halfway through it. The lawyer-chaff of mangled place and company names is a little distracting (the characters write "espresso" programs and meet at Boston's famous "Wursthaus" deli (it takes place in the mid 90s, before the real-life Delihaus went away)) but I'm otherwise terribly absorbed in it.

As soon as I got home, though, I received a check for about half of what's coming to me. Cool. Today, I opened a checking account at Wainwright Bank, about which several friends have given rave reviews. One friend saying anything positive about a Boston financial institution would sway me, let alone a bunch of friends, because all I hear from Fleet, Citizen, or Sovereign customers is pain, great pain.

So, I finally have a local bank. I have enjoyed their services for the 90 minutes or so I have been using them so far. According to a press release on their website, they have good coffee at their new Davis Square branch. This is promising. We'll see how it works out.

I can pay the rest of my share to N or M next I see one of them, now. That's a good thing. I'll also hit Maine sometime very soon to close my checking account way up in Waterville, at last. (I'm also overdue for shmoozing with the boys at Arcus. I think that they think that I don't have any time to work on contracts, because last time they saw me I was still sweating over two books.)

Today I will get back to work, but first I shall beorderize the ducks, bringing my two-months-stagnant Quicken file up to date. That will probably take a while.

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Feeling slightly antsy now because Robin (perl-xml community leader and the P&X book's French translator) mailed us with lots of nitpicky things in P&X. None are showstoppers, and many are matters of opinion. He still digs the book, and framed his list as stuff he'd like in the second edition. It makes me think about what my answer will be when that time comes. Right now, my answer would unequivocably be No, no, no, no, no, and no. But this is the me of 2003 or 2004 we're talking about. Dude, I can't even predict the actions of next week's me. So, I just let be, let be.

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I admit to sinking some hours into Geneforge, too. I was skeptical about its claim-to-fame game mechanic, but I decide that I rather like it.

Its gimmick involves the fact that you really have only one PC, who has the ability to magically create critters to serve as his or her allies, as needed. The game uses a standard magic-point system for spellcasting, but creating a critter works like an investment: their creation cost (which varies depending upon how tough you make them) represents a permanent loss while they're still alive. The critters follow you around and help you until they get killed or you choose to "reabsorb" them in order to liquidate your invested magic points. This makes me feel kind of bad, since doing this makes them fall over and go splat, but I suppose we must maintain a Randian stance here.

Like all Spiderweb CRPGS, the demo lets you romp about the first few quest areas all you'd like, but locks you out of the midgame until you type in a registration code. So the game is a timesink only until I've beaten all the freebie parts. This is probably just as well.

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I just got another ORA check. Still not everything, but I can't complain.

Credit where due: My housemates may have absconded with the mailboxes I bought for them, but they use mine properly, putting mail for me in it, though they drop mail for themselves in the mountain of envelopes beside it. So, um, that's OK, I guess.