Business account

One of my side jobs is for the Department of Edu. To pay me I needed to get incorporated to get on the DoE approved vendors list.

Starting an LLC is pretty easy. In HI it's about $50 and some paperwork. Once I got my business license I submitted my invoice and received a cheque written to the name of my business. To cash this cheque I need a business account.

My bank's requirements are the business license, Article of Organization and a EIN.  The business license and AoO come together as part of the application process, the EIN comes from the IRS and can be applied for online using a Wizard, but only during business hours.  It takes <10 minutes if you have all the information ready, the same information outlined on the business license and the AoO.  Additionally, my bank asked that I hand write:

I am applying for a business account with [my bank].  I will be the only member to access the account. 

They asked why type of business I have. IT consulting.  They didn't know what that was.  After all these incantations the account was opened and deposited my DoE cheque which, despite being issued by the state, has is held for 2 days.

None of the requirements are available on the website.

Art is not a competition

Art is not a competition, it's not an achievement . Liking music does not make you cool. The art you create makes you cool.

Every now and then I come across this meme:

It's smug and snarky. When I meet someone that feels this way then I don't want to be friends with them.  If you share your art then the feeling they get from experiencing it belongs to them.  If you experience someone else's art then that feeling belongs to you, the art does not.

Time != money

I spent the weekend rebuilding a server for a customer. A server that I didn't break.  They're paying me, but for what? Ten or twelve hours of my precious weekend?

I still went swimming twice.


I taught my after school programs today and the kids are borderline savage.  Most of them are in fourth and fifth grade so that shouldn't be too big of a surprise.

I went swimming afterwards and saw two turtles swimming together.  There was a lot of cloudiness in the water which caught the light in an enchanting way.


Now I'm home and working on a laptop for an acquaintance, recovering pictures.  In the last 6 weeks I've probably worked on four or five laptops.  I don't accept money when working on personal gear. Money brings with it expectation and I don't want any expectations.  The $25 or $50 they can't afford to pay me is not worth the obligation, expectation and guilt that comes when their shitty laptop dies in 6 months or their kid installs shitty adware and I get blamed.


 So I work for free, or if they insist then I accept food which is what I would've spent that $25 or $50 on anyway.  But this way they get to share a piece of their life, they're expertise with me in exchange for mine. Usually I prefer not to get anything in return, because it means I generate good will. I produce Aloha and that is much more valuable than anything else.  I make the ties to my community much stronger.

My time is spent working on computers.  The value of those few scant hours is immeasurable in community building.