Sometimes you have to spend money to, um, spend more money

I ordered checks today.

That doesn't sound very news-worthy, but this day in age, how many checks do you really go through in a month? Six months? A year, even? There's the rent/mortgage, a long-distance birthday, things like that. But we swipe the plastic even for "real money" purchases with our debit cards and pay most of our bills through online banking. I don't think Mike even knows where his checkbook is.

So, it surprised me when I realized I was down to my last check. How can this be? I flipped through my register and realized that in 3 1/2 months, I've written 17 checks to medical institutions. And 0 to celebrate a birthday.

Don't worry; there's been a birthday or two to celebrate. We just send gift cards. It's our way of forcing people to do something we want them to do.

"You will go here and you will buy something you do not need! 'Cause we said so! Now, march!"