The mechanical paper tape adding machines setting on corporate desks next to high priced personal computers are not normally thought of as an inordinate expense. In fact, it is my experience that those mechanical machines are considered by companies to be a necessity. Nothing, in my opinion, could be further from the truth on either count. Those antiquated, mechanical dinosaurs can actually be a very expensive and unnecessary addiction to which there is an inexpensive alternative.

The next time you're in an office where personal computers are used, look on the desks. Chances are pretty good that you will see a mechanical tape adding machine sitting next to many of the computers. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Why are such antiquated pieces of equipment, that do little more than simple arithmetic, sitting next to very powerful, perhaps very expensive computing devices?

In my opinion, the advantages of a full featured adding machine program should convince most people that mechanical adding machines are expensive dinosaurs that have long outlived their usefulness for personal computer users.

Anyone with access to your credit card information can process charges against your account. However, you are not defenseless against this type of theft. There are Federal statutes that lay out specific guidelines for both the company that prepares your credit card statement, and for how you go about contesting invalid or incorrect charges. The process is not automatic.

There are three traditional methods of managing personal income.

1. Budgeting,
2. Keeping a spending history, and
3. Doing nothing (also known as living from paycheck to paycheck).

Budgeting involves setting what percent of future income is to be spent on which categories of expenses, and then recording all purchases in order to track how well spending is staying within the predefined limits.

Double Text is a repeat text writer that works with virtually any scripting and programming language. I use the program extensively to store, document and repeat code snippets for all of the programming languages in which I work. I find that it is to my advantage, therefore, to have this repeat text writer readily available to me regardless of where I am working in the Microsoft Visual Studio software development environment.

My Dad and father-in-law were at both ends of the spectrum when it came to managing their checking accounts. Dad would spend hours, sometimes days, tracking down a two cent error in his checkbook register. It drove him bonkers when his checkbook didn't balance to the penny with the account statement.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, didn't even keep a checkbook register.

Each article that I write for distribution via Internet article sites has these basic sections.

* Title
* Brief description
* Article text
* Author resource
* Keywords

I have set up a skeleton for new articles using a repeat text writer. With my Article Skeleton library file and Keyword Tree file, I can quickly start a new article that is structured and formatted identical to all of my previous articles.

I think a generally acceptable definition of reusable code could be "code or functionality that will probably be useful in one or more future projects." It's a category of code that few managers or developers, in my experience, seem to pay much attention to until they need it.

This is unfortunate since, in my opinion, reusable code, when upgraded to repeatable code, has the potential to save big on development costs.

Balancing your checking account against statements from your financial institution is a monthly task that I highly recommend. Not only can you make mistakes, but the people who process your checking account transactions are subject to human error as well.

Mistakes in your checking account and/or checkbook register can be small or large, and in your favor or in the bank's favor.