I rented the downstairs apartment the other day. I'm glad that's over with. It was a pain calling everybody back and setting up times for them to see the place. I also felt a little smarmy hawking the place. It's a very nice apartment, but there's something about selling face to face that feels dirty. But my landlord's giving me a $100 finder's fee, so it's all good.

I'm now a proud American Express cardholder. I'd never seen the point. They wanna be paid for using their card, while other banks give me 1% cash back. But here's the deal: you can walk into any AmEx office anywhere in the world and cash a personal check in local currency. No fee, practically no limit. So in the larger cities where they have an office, you can save the ATM fee you'd pay.

On that note, I found a Cincinnati bank that I think will give me free ATM transactions from anywhere in the world. If you maintain a reasonable balance, they'll waive the fee even if you use another bank's ATM. And they claim they don't charge any foreign country or currency conversion fees. The only charge I'd get would be whatever the local ATM adds to the withdrawal.

And while we're on ATM's. Some people have told me I shouldn't go to Mexico because kidnappers will abduct you and take you from ATM to ATM, withdrawing money till you max out your card. Guess what happened to a Cincinnati city council member last night here in town? He got abducted on the street and dragged to ATM after ATM. They got $400 out of him before giving up. You don't even have to leave home.|