Corporate a$$holes - your friendly local bank division

Those of you who bank with TCF, check your statement carefully this month.

1) They are implementing a monthly fee for their No-Longer-Free-Checking service if you don't maintain a monthly minimum balance (which appears to be $2,500, if I read the tiny-print gobbledygook correctly). I don't actually object to this, since a checking account is actually a useful service and I think I'd rather have them charge for it honestly rather than instituting cheap accounting tricks and usorious fees to break even. However, I'm annoyed by the format of the notification which is practically unreadable and on a slip of paper so small that I wouldn't even have looked at it if I hadn't read about this upcoming change in my local paper.

2) THIS IS THE PART THAT MAKES ME MAD. Unless you send back an opt-out form (on your own stamp, incidentally) within 30 days they will start selling your address and account information to unnamed 3rd parties. The opt-out form is at the bottom of what looks like a standard privacy statement - be sure not to miss it.

Assholes.

Finishing up last week's lunches

I was just too tired to make lunch Wednesday night, so I threw the green box together on Thursday morning. Actually, it looks just as good as the ones I've spent an hour or more on. I think it's because there are no new ideas in it. Frozen dumplings have now become one of my staple food items to keep on hand. They combine really nicely with practically any leftover to fill one tier of a two-tier microwavable box. No hinged fish on Thursday because I just couldn't think of anything to put in it.

Somebody finally went shopping and bought some salad greens, so I could use my last idea for the hinged fish on Friday.

	Bento #23 - Last Minute Bento Small tier: Frozen pot-stickers with succotash and a few cheese stars and soy sauce. Larger tier: hummus and various foods to be eaten with it: black olives, carrots, mini-toasts and a few sweet pickles. Canned plums for dessert. Turned out to be a delicious combination.
	Bento #24 - Hinged Fish with Salad [low-carb] Carrot-raisin stir fry in the removable container (to be microwaved). Grapes in the other small section. Salad: spinach, black olives, artichoke hearts, avocado, grape tomatoes, piquante peppers stuffed with cream cheese. Dressing in the honey bear, Asian salad sprinkles in the fish.