Idle Rambling Waiting For Weekly EIA Petroleum Report -- November 16, 2022

Life is funny.

I've never, never, never paid my automobile insurance with a credit card until last month and that was only in error.

The story.

I have a credit card that I have not used in over three years.

Two months ago, I got a letter from that credit card company telling me that the card would be discontinued if I did not use it in 30 days.

One month ago, I got a letter from that credit card company telling me that the card was discontinued because I had not used the care in over three years (letter dated October 8, 2022).

On October 18, 2022, I went on-line to pay my automobile insurance bill which I have done every month for years.

I always pay with a transfer from an existing bank account. I never, never, never use a credit card.

Until that day, October 18, 2022. 

I accidentally used that credit card about which I'm blogging. A mistake. The accounts were linked, apparently, and I clicked on the wrong button. I noted it but it was too late to change it, so I let it go.

Yesterday, in a flurry of activity, I deleted 267 e-mails -- don't ask -- and happened to see "high charge" connected with that credit card -- that I had not used in three years.

I paid the bill (of the credit card that had been discontinued, October 8, 2022); zeroed out the account.

Yesterday, I called the credit card company to see if that credit card was still active.

It was. 

Simply because I accidentally hit the wrong button on the "pay my bill" page. LOL.

But, I got 5% cashback. 

I assume most folks do this; I've thought about it often, but starting this month, I'm paying my rent, utilities, automobile insurance, with a credit card: to get 3% to 5% back -- and two of those three are big ticket items. 

I'm going to call it "my" Texas two-step:

• first step: pay these bills with a credit card.
• second step: one week later, zero out the credit card.

Not only do I get a cash-back reward, the credit card company sends me an itemized end-of-year summary of all my expenses. By category.

I assume everyone does this.

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The Book Page

For movie buffs, highly recommended:

• Cinema Speculation, Quentin Tarantino, published November 1, 2022. 

The book could easily be read in one sitting, but I'm enjoying it so much, reading it slowly.

It's not great literature and it's filled with typographical errors. But the stories and the anecdotes are great.

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Jiu-Jitsu

Watching Sophia at martial arts last night -- about 20 kids, two instructors, and a relatively small wrestling area, I imagined this was just like the wrestling gyms in Greece during their Golden Age.

Yes, I know: the Greek wrestlers would have all been nude and all would have been male, but clearly this was just Athens, 2,500 years later.