Previous “By The Numbers” posts

By The Numbers: Banking

Information Update

Phone calls and bank trips needed to initiate a change on my bank accounts: 3

Confirmation letters received to my “old address”, making sure this change was authorized: 2 (one for each account)

Confirmation letters received at my “new address”, informing me of the change: 1 (oddly, one letter for both accounts)

Changes of address I was actually making: 0

Number of letters I was removing from my name: 1

Understanding of why bank fees are so expensive, when it takes all this to go from Paul R. Kafasis to Paul Kafasis: High

TD Bank Redux

Number of days from when the new TD Bank put up their “Open 7 Days A Week” sign to when they opened (predicted): 85

Number of days from when the new TD Bank put up their “Open 7 Days A Week” sign to when they opened (actual): 107

Logic of putting a sign claiming to be open up first, and then finishing construction of the actual business: 0

Records

Encouragements to “go green”, and use paperless electronic bank statements: Nearly ∞

Cost savings to the bank when I did so: >$0

Cost savings to me when I did so: $0

Months’ worth of electronic statements my bank keeps readily available: 12

Cost to retrieve an older statement: $15

My understanding of the phrase “going green” in this context: “Reducing unnecessary use of paper, thereby saving trees”

Actual meaning of “going green” in this context: “Your green is going into the banks’ coffers”

By The Numbers: Birthday Wishes

Snail Mail

Birthday cards received via mail: 3

Percentage of cards received via mail which were sent by my mortgage broker: 33.3%

Scoring from 0 to 100, value given to “Has the lowest rate”, when shopping for a mortgage broker: 99.999

Scoring from 0 to 100, value given to “Sent me a birthday card”, when shopping for a mortgage broker: 0.001

Email

E-cards received from friends and family: 2

Other emails received from friends and family, with birthday wishes: 6

Emails received from assorted companies, and the automated emailing robots which represent them: 9

Ratio by which programmed robotic love outweighs human love, using email as a benchmark: 9:8

Gifts

Facebook, Twitter, and other non-email well-wishes received: Dozens

Facebook virtual gifts received: 0, thankfully

Coupons and gifts received from the previously mentioned companies and robots: 3

Savings ING Direct is offering me at the ING Direct Store, for bright orange and belogo-ed things like “mugs, bags, books, and more”: 15% off

Gratitude I feel for this particular “gift”: None at all.

By The Numbers

TD Bank

Number of days since the new TD Bank put up their “Open 7 Days A Week” sign: 47

Number of days the new TD Bank has been open since erecting said sign: 0

Estimated number of days until the new TD Bank will be open, as predicted by the construction foreman: 38

Pontiac Silverdome

Cost to construct Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome, built in 1975: $220 million (2009 dollars)

Cost to purchase Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome in 2009: $583,000 (2009 dollars)

Price I would have bid, had I known it was on the market, just to say “I own the Silverdome”: At least $583,001

Number of chicks I would have gotten with the pick-up line: “I own the Silverdome”: At least 1

Car Alarms

Number of minutes a car alarm has been going off in a nearby lot: 13

Number of people who seem to give a rat’s ass: 0

Annoyance level, on a scale of 1-10, at the useless car alarm industry: 7.6

Number of Fenway Park Authenticated Bricks currently in my house: 2