Dear USAA

    It's probably childish, like every other aspect of my personality, but I really hate leading off letters with Dear Sir, Dear Sir or Madame or pretty much anything conventional. During the course of this marathon of business communication, I have tried out Mesdames/Messieurs, My dear friends and I think, Hey Dumbbutts! (All right, I didn't really.) When I was talking to a representative from USAA and she was telling me what I needed to put in a letter of instruction, she led off, just as a for instance, I think, with Dear USAA. "That makes sense!" I thought, and that's what I used. Other companies, of course, don't have the courtesy to make their name so short, so I probably won't be able to use that trick again, but I was well-pleased to be able to use it once. In future, I expect I'll go with Dear Friends and hope that I don't confuse any Quakers.
    The President is in town today, so travel is a little iffy. I actually ran three errands successfully (including a business meeting in an Arby's parking lot; I swear I wasn't buying smack) without hitting motorcade gridlock. I think I'm ready to call that a win and stay in until the evening. The weather is chilly and was highly overcast this morning but has been gloriously beautiful this afternoon since his plane touched down. Thanks, Obama!
    One of the errands was to pay the light bill in Dad's house using the estate's checking account; another was to pay the proceeds of the Arby's meeting (selling timber from what was once my grandfather's farmland) into the same account. There I found that there was still a hold on my previous deposit and the light bill check wasn't going to clear. I grovelled properly and the manager removed the hold, fortunately. I was REALLY glad I had run that errand, especially since I had chosen not to have overdraft protection. Probably a mistake, on retrospect.