With the average NSF fee equaling more than $29, according to Bankrate.com, even one item overdrawing your account will hurt the pocketbook.

So how can you avoid paying extra fees when you don’t have the money to begin with? Start by balancing your checkbook. Knowing what you have available to spend is the best way to avoid an overdraft. And now there is an easy way to keep track with minimal effort and virtually no math involved.

1. Sign up for online banking
These days almost all banks offer online banking. Ask your current bank if they offer it, or shop around. Many even offer the service for free. Locally, Tri Counties Bank, Butte Community Bank, and others offer free online banking. Some national banks like Bank of America do as well.

2. Keep track of your purchases
This is tough for some people, especially with the use of debit cards. One easy way to keep track without writing everything down is to simply hold on to your receipts. Use one pocket in your wallet to store them all until you need to balance.

3. Use the online banking to verify your activity
Log in to your online banking and periodically check to make sure your purchases have cleared your account correctly. All you need to do is compare the receipts to the listing. With debit card purchases you can typically do this the same day.

The same can be said of deposits, though funds may be held a reasonable amount of time under Federal Regulation CC. Your bank is required to notify you of any delay in funds availability.

If you still write checks, it can take longer to see them clear your account. So keep checking back and don’t forget about them! Until they clear, you will need to subtract the amount of the checks from the balance shown.

That’s it! Now you know how much money you have, you don’t have to pay any pesky NSF fees, and it took minimal time and effort.

Is he, isn’t he? Probably, unfortunately.

Kami shuts people out when she’s overwhelmed, so one night after work I forced her to meet me for dinner so we could talk about her latest drama.

Over a steaming bowl of Mongolian barbecue, I started the conversation.

“I know that you like Trina,” I said.

Kami didn’t seem to know what to say at first. She had been dating Mike at the time and had even been shopping for a ring, but the whole time I knew she didn’t love him.

Sometimes I think that I knew my sister was gay before she would admit it to herself. I remember when she was in middle school I found a scrap torn off of a book cover sitting on a shelf. One side of the paper was multi-colored and shiny, the other side was plain white and had the name Jennifer written neatly in pencil inside a heart. That was over 10 years ago.

I sat there, watching Kami carefully plan what she was going to say next, as if her words were dancing around landmines.

All I wanted to know is what she was going to do, I told her. If she liked Trina, then she had to break it off with Mike.

Kami sat silent again, not to think out her next move, but to absorb the fact that this was easier than she thought it would be.

“So you’re OK with it?” she asked, just to double check that there wasn’t some kind of misunderstanding.

I told her that I remembered that scrap of paper and had known she was gay for years. She seemed to breathe freely for the first time.

“I knew you would come around eventually,” she said, “but I thought I might have to convince you a bit first.”

Hearing her say that upset me. No matter how close we had been, and how well we knew each other, she still doubted my ability to accept her.

My sister’s hesitation was validated when Trina came out to her family. Trina was equally close to her sister as Kami and I, but she threatened to disown Trina if the relationship continued. I cannot imagine the pain that kind of ultimatum inflicts on a person.

Now I’m embarrassed about how naïve I was to feel hurt over Kami’s uncertainty. Though progress has been made toward acceptance and equality, it is far from absolute.

Just last week a taxi driver refused service to a gay couple after seeing them hug in the back seat, stated the New York Post.
I am proud that my sister is able to deal with this kind of adversity on a daily basis, but more than anything I am just glad to see that she is finally happy.

He walked in just past 8 p.m., a slight lean with each step. The man didn’t appear to be the average Starbucks customer. His thick round lips looked more suited to talking trash than sipping a Frappuccino.

He looked to be in his early 20s, a few inches shy of 6 feet. His weight was impossible to determine since his body was cloaked in a gray fleece jacket the size of a comforter. The puffy collar stood up and wrapped around his neck like an ergonomic travel pillow, so if the caffeine didn’t kick in soon enough he could take a quick nap.

The top half of his outfit seemed strangely opposed to the bottom. His torso was ready for a blizzard, but the satiny black basketball shorts were more suited to a summer barbecue. To compensate, he wore tall black athletic socks with his plain, black, low-top sneakers. Apparently his shins get cold but his knees overheat.

His deep tan skin contrasted with the sparkling white stud earrings he wore. His buzzed brunette hair, with the sideburns ending in points, drew even more attention to his ears.

When he heard his order called he walked to the counter and picked up a cold, blended coffee, topped with whipped cream and chocolate. Some of the drink had spilled over the side and he tilted his head to lick the side before it could trickle down further. A shadow of a moustache could be seen as he took the first sip.

Analysis

This person immediately made me think he wants to look like a tough gangster, but really isn’t. The oversized outfit and the way he carried himself seemed like too much work to be real. The “wanna-be gangster” stereotype would mean that he probably listens to rap, is misogynistic, and isn’t well educated or acts less intelligent than he really is. Speaking in an affected manner and using certain slang would also seem fitting. I think it is possible that he could also engage in small crime, like shoplifting to appear tough without putting himself in any real danger.

I think the most notable exception to this stereotype is the fact that he bought a Frappuccino, a blended coffee that is probably the sweetest thing on the menu at Starbucks. A tough guy would likely make fun of friends who prefer sweet to bitter, since a sweet drink is stereotypically feminine.

The main detail that made me think of the stereotype was the jacket. It’s simply ridiculous. The addition of the earrings made me think, “That’s his bling.”

Sweats are the New Muumuu

There would never be any question as to where this woman attended school; the Chico State bookstore appeared to have provided her the outfit.

A sloppy, oversized red sweatshirt read “Chico State” in big block letters across the chest. Her black sweatpants gave the school name on her left thigh in swirled white script. The hem of her pants was stuffed and bunched into her black Ugg boots, creating a strange puff above the ankles.

Her long brunette hair was equally messy, pulled into a ponytail without the assistance of a brush or comb. The haphazard look seemed more suited for a night at home than out on the town.

The only indicator that she was ready for the public eye was the makeup that she wore. A heavy layer of mascara made her lashes look thick to the touch, an unnatural texture for the little hairs. Her deep-set eyes had a slight shimmer on the lids. Her puffy lips were left bare.

Her eyebrows were arched and plucked too much, the ends tapered too thin. Even when she laughed her brows made her look severe.

But she did laugh a lot. Crowding around a small round table built for 2, she and her friends gossiped and joked with each other. She clutched her coffee with her fluorescent orange nails as she propped her feet up on the booth seat across from her, making herself right at home.

Analysis

My first impression of this person was a dumb party/sorority girl. I feel that there are plenty of girls at school who dress this way, and they give off a certain vibe to me. It’s like they were out partying last night and they didn’t feel like getting dressed in the morning, so they chose the classiest sweats they could find. By putting on makeup, they think it balances the outfit and makes them look like they aren’t trying too hard, but they’re still pretty. I feel like these types of girls also have poor relationships. Their friends are superficial and catty and their boyfriends aren’t very dedicated to them.

The fact that the sweats she wore said “Chico State” instead of Greek letters could indicate that she isn’t a sorority girl. It was Thursday night and even though she was downtown I didn’t get the impression that she was going to the bars dressed like that. Also, the conversation she was having with her friends was about their Mexican heritage, which means they have a stronger bond than just social activities. As a side note, their conversation would have been great for the eavesdropping assignment.

The way she dressed was the biggest influence in my snap-decision of her. Sweats and Uggs (or any similarly styled boots) are something that I detest and I admit that I always judge people harshly if they wear that in public. I think that pulling on a pair of jeans takes minimal effort and looks so much better. You can be comfortable without looking like a slob.

The curved corner of the sidewalk tells pedestrians where they are. In thin, plain type “NINTH ST.” is stamped into the concrete under foot, “CYPRESS ST.” is labeled just to the left.

From this vantage point on a cold, cloudy day, one would think that a bit of the old English countryside had found its way to Chico. The petite homes with their steep-pitched roofs sit atop proud lawns separating them from the streets. Behind the lacy kitchen curtains one can imagine white haired women sipping tea and slipping table scraps to their terriers.

The smell of exhaust and the sound of squeaky breaks disrupt the illusion.

The neighborhood of Eastwood Park seems out of place in the streets of Chico, but it is a community that I wish I was a part of.

“Oh my gosh, did you see that thing on the Tucker Max movie?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so excited; I can’t wait to see it.”

“Yeah, it looks good. I don’t really get his whole thing, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, is all that stuff he says real? Couldn’t he like get sued for that or something?”

“Well, since he doesn’t say anyone’s name or anything I think it’s fine. But yeah, I think it’s all true. Some girl even tried to sue him, but he won.”

“Wow, that’s kind of crazy then.”

“I know. I love that guy, though. I’ve read his book and I go to his site all the time. It’s freakin hilarious.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I just love that he’s not afraid to say all that stuff.”

“It reminds me of—well, do you know that Chelsea Lately?”

“Oh yeah. She can be funny, but I feel like she’s so rude!”

“Yeah, she kind of is. She doesn’t even care.”

“I know. Like when she’s got guests on, she is so rude to them.”

“Yeah.”

“Like, I like how Tucker Max is blunt, but she’s doing it to their face, you know?”

“Yeah.”

The two girls having the conversation were standing somewhat in front of me in a cluster of people waiting for the bus after class at the stop by the parking structure on Warner. They were clearly friends or roommates. It was Thursday at around 2 p.m.

The first girl was average height and had an athletic build. She had wavy, dirty-blonde hair with highlights. She wore sunglasses, a white hoodie and cuffed jeans with flip-flops.

The second girl was short and of average build. She had dark tan skin, and dark brown hair slicked into a sporty ponytail. She wore a black tank top and jeans with sneakers, no jewelry or accessories besides a backpack.

Story Ideas

1. Where is the line between edgy and politically incorrect? When it comes to blunt remarks, are there differences in acceptability for men and women?

2. In this conversation one person is clearly dominating. What types of people are likely to become friends? Who makes a better friend: An opposite or a kindred spirit?

3. With Tucker Max’s exploits, the truth behind them is questionable. When does truth matter? Does society not mind a lie if it is an entertaining one?

Conversation 2

“Wow, there’s no one on the bus at this time.”

“Yeah, it’s not the busiest time.”

“Another guy might be on his way. He went to go get his books.”

“Well, I can’t really wait, it’s already running a little late.”

“Oh okay.”

“Sorry, he’ll have to catch the next run.”

“Yeah, he realized it 2 minutes before you came. Poor guy.”

“There’s another stop up here, too.”

“Oh yeah, maybe he came up to this one instead.”

(Other passengers board)

“So, did you have a good weekend?”

“Yeah, I actually went to a bus rodeo yesterday.”

“A bus rodeo? What’s that?”

“It’s actually just taking the bus through an obstacle course.”

“Oh, wow.”

“And you also have the option of putting the wheelchair on and securing high and low and things like that.”

“Oh that’s funny.”

This conversation happened on Monday morning at about 10 a.m. on bus route 8 between the bus driver and a passenger. The passenger boarded at Nord ave. and initiated the conversation.

The first person (the passenger) was a young female student, though she seemed more like a dorky mom. She was very pale and her brunette hair was worn up with a scrunchie. She wore purple shorts and a white t-shirt, and she had glasses.

The second person (the bus driver) was middle-aged with reddish-blonde hair. He had a bristly looking moustache. He wore a blue uniform, a top and shorts, and sneakers. He had a wedding band and a digital watch.

Story ideas

1. What is a bus rodeo? Who organizes them, what is the point, etc.?

2. What does it take to be a bus driver? What types of requirements are there and what job-related issues do they face? (could tie in to the bus rodeo)

3. In the beginning of the conversation, the girl mentioned the lack of riders on the bus. How busy are the bus lines? How many riders do the buses need to maintain a regular route? What would it take for more people to start riding the bus?

Conversation 3

“We haven’t really been having practices on Monday.

No, just on Mondays, in general.

So far, but you know.

No, next week.

Yeah.

No, yeah.

Well—Mom, shut up!

Um, I talked to him, but I just want to make sure…(trailed off)

Yeah, I just don’t want to…(trailed off)

I told him, but I don’t know if he forgot.

No, he said, um, like he has to ask the athletic director, and he’s all, ‘I’m sure that will be fine, I just have to ask.’

That’s why, you know, ‘cause he had to ask someone else, so I just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t forget, you know.

Uh, last week.

Well, I don’t know. He could have asked last week, but I don’t know.

Yeah, I just have to wait, though.

I hope I’ll find out soon, but yeah, I’ll let you know.”

(Followed by yeahs and goodbyes)

This cell phone conversation happened on Monday at about 9:30 a.m. at the 2^nd and Salem transit station. The girl was sitting down on a bench next to me facing the campus.

The girl seemed like the average student. She had long, straight, dark brown hair. She wore a blue polo, oversized sunglasses, brown shorts, and flip-flops. She was thin and had very tan skin. She wore a green rubber bracelet (like those fundraiser bracelets), a woven friendship-style bracelet, and a woven/braided anklet.

After the conversation on her phone, she listened to her iPod.

Story ideas

1. What are student-parent relationships like? For students who are from out of the area, does that relationship change once they are no longer close to home? Does they miss having family near or do students feel liberated?

2. The girl was by herself and she clearly did not want to look unoccupied (hence the timing of the phone call and the immediate retrieval of the iPod afterwards). Why do people need to be constantly connected? Is there a fear of appearing lonely? Does technology prevent us from engaging in new interactions with new people?

3. The fundraiser-style bracelet made me wonder about actual charity and activism versus the appearance of activism and involvement. How often are people who wear items that say they support a cause (like the various green slogans, the line of various “red” products, etc.) actually involved and fully aware of what the issue is? Do their purchases reflect their actions? Is it becoming trendy to appear involved? If so, is that a good thing?

Theme Presentation due Oct. 5

The town of Paradise was still sleeping when he was driving to work.

The Poe Fire had been burning for five days now, since Sept. 6, and Cal Fire Division Chief Mike Santuccio was headed to the morning briefing.

At 5:30 a.m. everything was dark and the only sound through the night was the music coming from the radio in his truck.

While driving down Clark road the music stopped and a voice came on to announce that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The details were unclear, but Santuccio knew that the firefighters in New York were dealing with something much bigger than the Poe Fire.

The Life of an Army Soldier after 9/11

The night was as hot as a fever, 105 degrees. Too hot for 2:30 a.m.

It was May 15, 2003 and Tom McGuire spent 2 days traveling on a Boeing 747 from Travis Air Force Base to his camp in Kuwait. When he arrived, a lunar eclipse greeted McGuire and his unit. It felt like a sign.

Since Sept. 11 McGuire embarked on a journey that was part hell and part divine intervention. He was the only soldier selected from his original unit to be deployed, both a compliment and a curse. He lived amongst death and ruin, but somehow he still feels like he was blessed.

“I should have seen angels four times,” he said. “Prayer works in mysterious ways.”

1. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive. …” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?”

This story is being told in first person by what I assume is a male in his 20s or 30s. The reckless activities described–such as driving while on drugs–tends to conjure a younger, more masculine image. As they say, boys will be boys, and younger people don’t seem to be as aware of their mortality. These characteristics are also assumed of intended audience, who will likely find these exploits laudable.

Additionally, the casual tone of the piece supports the notion of a young narrator. He* speaks colloquially and uses run-on sentences as if he were retelling the story to a friend over drinks. The details, such as exact quotes, are vague and inexact, like his memory. He may even be exaggerating about the speed to sound more impressive. This is a person who likes to do crazy things just so he can live to tell the tale.

Due to the cavalier way drugs are discussed, it seems the story is set in the 1980s. Other works written about that time, such as Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction address the topic in a similar manner. It was a social norm for the upper-middle class to take drugs recreationally.

In this piece, I don’t feel that the voice of the narrator and author can be easily distinguished. The story-telling feel of this passage makes it seem like the author and narrator are one in the same.

….

2. In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.

Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tennessee Titans to sell out of tickets to the play-offs. It’s the length of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It’s the driving distance from the Vermont  border to the town of Sterling, New Hampshire.

In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem.

In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

The narrator in this passage is using second person to begin telling the story, but I believe that it would likely switch to first person if one continued reading. Often times people use second person when speaking in generalizations, “you” meaning “someone.”

I believe that the narrator is a modern woman, but a housewife, and it was written for today’s female audience as well. The tasks described that could be completed in that 19 minutes are traditionally feminine, such as baking, child rearing, and house keeping. However, the revelation that this is a revenge tale makes me believe that it is about women taking control and liberating themselves.

The overall tone created is suspenseful due to the repetition. Listing off such mundane tasks build up the tension for the final, unexpected task that is finally revealed. This repetition also makes the narrator seem cold and calculating. The calm way in which revenge is paired up with normal activities shows that the she is not remorseful for whatever it was that she did.

In this piece, I feel that the narrator’s voice could potentially be separated from the author’s. If the story did end up switching to first person as I mentioned, then the difference might become apparent. This opening passage seems that it would be more of the author’s voice, carefully structured and without having much reference to who the narrator actually is. If it switched to first person, then it would seem it would be told from the narrator’s perspective and therefore become the dominant voice.

….

3. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And so the problem remained; lost of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with the digital watches.

This passage, written in third person, seems to be geared to an audience that is more difficult to identify. Rather than having an audience based on gender or age, it seems to be focused more on ideals. The audience must first have a certain type of humor and must be somewhat critical of the world. This has a clear message against materialism, and the intended audience should share that belief.

Although this piece would likely be relevant fifty years from now, I believe that it was probably written sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The reference to the digital watch dates this to roughly this period since, according to Wikipedia, the digital watch was first available to common consumers in 1975.

This harsh tone taken with the human race as a whole initially makes the narrator seem cynical. However, it may be that the story ends up telling a redeeming story of a man or woman living in this world, which would create a more humanistic tone. Since the piece turns us on our heads by poking fun at our very existence, I would expect the latter to be true.

I would best describe the voice in this passage as clever. The way it diminishes our significance isn’t to make the reader feel badly about him or herself. Rather it is trying to get us to re-prioritize; to analyze ourselves and not take things too seriously.

The voice of the author seems dominant here. The narrator as a character is insignificant, and what is being said is the important part. The author clearly has a message to get across, and creating a character to tell it seems secondary. In this case the author and the narrator are one in the same.

….

4. He was tall, about fifty, with darkly handsome, almost sinister features: a neatly trimmed mustache, hair turning silver at the temples, and eyes so black they were like the tinted windows of a sleek limousine – he could see out, but you couldn’t see it. We were sitting in the living room of his Victorian house. It was a mansion, really, with fifteen-foot ceilings and large, well-proportioned rooms. A graceful spiral stairway rose from the center hall toward a domed skylight. There was a ballroom on the second floor. It was Mercer House, one of the last of Savannah’s great houses still in private hands.

At first, the narrator appears to be either in third or first person. It isn’t until halfway through the passage that the narrator uses the term “we.” The description is stated as fact rather than opinion (though it very well may be), and that sort of power and authority in the voice makes it ambiguous at first. Because of this, it seems that the narrator’s voice and the author’s voice both come in to play. The author seems to be making the description, while the narrator as a character is explaining the events.

The narrator seems to be a woman due to the description of the man entertaining her as “darkly handsome,” though it cannot be for certain since the voice seems to belong more to the author than the character. Even so, I would still assume that the intended audience would also be women.

There isn’t much for me to speculate on for the time of this piece, though I would guess some time from the 1980s to today. The analogy to a limousine is clearly referring to modern vehicle, especially with the tinted windows. If it were not for that clue, it could have seemed much older.

The voice is focused on creating an image rather than a tone, though it is established that the man is a bit creepy and mysterious. It seems formal except for when the narrator says, “it was a mansion, really,” which is only slightly more conversational. Overall, the passage seems more like the author wants things to be explained rather than establish the personality of the narrator. Or perhaps that is the narrator’s personality; unassuming and bland.

*Since I imagine the narrator to be male, the pronoun “he” is used for the sake of simplicity, though it may not be factually correct.