I paid some bills today...the old fashioned way...by writing checks and sticking them in envelopes. A good deal of people pay their bills online these days. I have one of those accounts...and every now and then pay a bill that way...but I just really like writing checks. My personal checkbook is never on my person...it is a three-to-a-page version with a hard cover...too large to carry around in a back pocket. I pay bills about twice a month...so when I pay them there is usually a good stack of them. That was the case today...about 10 bills in all. Most of the bills come with return envelopes...that are the proper size...so the bill fits nicely in the envelope along with the check. Then there are the problem bills...those that don't have return envelopes...and even more problematic...those with return envelopes that the bill and check just don't fit properly into without multiple folds. Let's start with those bills with no envelopes...the lawn and snowplow guy (same guy)...no problem...small business man...I can get my own envelope for him. The dry cleaning bill...it's iffy here...he seems to do pretty well for himself...probably can afford to put envelopes in his bills...but maybe he counts on the fact that people just pay their bills in person the next time they come in to pick up dry-cleaning. And one of my wine groups...OK...we don't have a lot of money...I can get my own envelope. So I guess I am OK for the most part if the business or club does not send and envelope. But what is up with the people that send an envelope that does not fit the bill properly? The picture above is the bill from Eagle Newspapers...wanting me to renew my subscription to the local paper called the Republican (a joke...because I havn't read a sound conservative Republican idea in that paper ever). As you can see in the picture...the bill is larger than the envelope...and larger than the check. So...I am forced to fold the bill TWICE...just to get it to fit and to fold the check once. What is up with that? One of the golf clubs I belong to...OK...I'll name it...no...I better not...they do the same thing. They send a small envelope that requires the bill to be folded twice just to fit in the envelope. There are multiple culprits in this story...I can go on...but you probably already are thinking that I am pathetic...or just out of interesting things to write about...to be digging so at the bottom of the barrel (a metaphor for the sediment left at the bottom of a wine barrel...just in case you wanted to know) . You might be right...but in truth all I have done is vented just a bit.