Watched a bit of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" this morning. It's amazing how once-common topics are total mysteries to younger adults. Today it was a 30ish guy with a $4000 question that boiled down to, "What's the current rate for a US first-class postage stamp?" He was totally stumped, so he called a friend (female about the same age) for help. She made what sounded like a wild guess at the last second and he went with it, they were both wrong. (The correct answer is 44 cents, in case you were wondering.)

I can remember my parents and grandparents sitting down with a pile of bills a couple of times a month, writing checks and mailing them out. Grandpa kept a roll of stamps on his desk in a little acrylic holder. I get most of my bills by email, bank statements too, and pay via online banking and the billers' websites. No wonder the post office lost several billion dollars last year. I can't remember the last time I wrote a personal check, yet thanks to debit cards I've gone through three checkbook registers before using up one pack of checks.

As Brad Paisley puts it, "Welcome to the Future".