Don,

It actually costs *more* for us to pay electronically with some of our
bills. E.g., city water/sewer charges an extra fee for that "service".

I have a couple of annual bills that charge a small fee like that (1
dollar I think). The alternative is to write a check, put it in an
envelope, stick a stamp on, and drive to the post office to mail it. All
of those add up to a lot more than the dollar service fee. Even if it's
cheaper to write the check, the convenience is worth it to me. With a few
clicks I can pay and be done with it.

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to paying bills on time.

I'm the same way, which is one of the reasons I setup auto pay for every
bill I could. Paychecks get deposited and bills get paid even if I'm
sick, on vacation, or otherwise unable to pay them on time.

The only catch is that you have to have the money in the bank account,
but we budget the money before we even get the bills, so it's always
there.

Flash drives that see repeated use tend to fail, IME.
OTOH, I'm pretty confident copying last year's tax return onto the
"Finances" thumb drive that we keep in the bug-out-bag.

Yep, writing is harder on flash drives than reading, but you're still
relying on an electrical charge that fades over time. The odds are good
that your data will still be readable, but there's always a chance it
won't be. What if you lose the flash drive, or it gets damaged
physically?

I've had great luck with optical media (CD/DVD) lasting 5 or more
years.

Optical discs tend to degrade from the outer edge inward as the organic
dyes break down. Most discs aren't filled to capacity, so the degradation
may not be a problem for most uses.

Back when I used CD's for backups, I used software that split the data
over multiple discs. It filled each disc to capacity, so data was written
right out to very edge of the disc. I babied the discs in cool, dark
places too, but several discs had numerous errors just a year later when
I tried to verify them.

Likewise, tape and MO media.

Magnetic media seems to be fairly reliable as long as you keep them away
from magnetic fields.

Yes. I probably have ~20+T in my archive. But, that incorporates the
redundancy -- at least two copies of everything. I have every
"object" tracked in a database using a simple schema

My system is no where as complicated. I keep everything on the 1TB drive
in my computer. That gets backed up several times a day to an external
3TB USB drive. Once a month or so, I swap that backup drive with another
drive I keep in a safe deposit box at the bank. Then once or twice a year
I make a "last hope" backup to blu-ray discs.

Ironically, I haven't needed to restore anything from my backups since I
put the system in place many years ago.

Exactly. The flaw in most backup scenarios (and why I have the
"active scrubbing" mechanism outlined above). You *may* get an ECC
error ("read error") when you try to make that backup. But, the
"drive/transport/driver" usually won't let you see the raw,
"corrupted" data in those events! So, you can't even decide if
"everything looks intact except the name on the document is AnThony
instead of Anthony (single bit flip)!

Yep, it's extremely rare, but it has happened to me in the past.

I wish someone would make external WORM drives (write once, read many)
with decent capacity at an affordable price. Sandisk used to make 1GB USB
WORM drives but I don't think they're available anymore. 1GB is way too
small these days anyway. It wouldn't even hold a short HD video.

The M-Disc's are probably the closest to that idea, but they're expensive
and the 25GB capacity is still quite limited.

Yup. And CD/DVD/BRay/MO/tape/etc. are just as vulnerable to fire,
water damage, etc. OTOH, paper rarely suffers from a "bearing
failure"... :

That's why I keep a second backup in my safe deposit box. If I have a
major disaster at home, I'll still have the drive at the bank. If the
bank is destroyed, I still have my copies at home.

I live on a mountain, the bank is down in the valley. So the odds of us
suffering the same disaster are unlikely. If we're both hit, my computer
data is probably the least of my worries...

(Do you have backups of the various *drives* that each of these media
require?)

Nope, but I have redundency. If one drive fails, I still have two other
copies to fall back on. Three if you count the Blu-Ray discs.

I also migrate my backups to new drives as technology improves. Actually,
I usually upgrade to new drives long before they wear out because I need
more storage space.

frown Thankfully, I don't appear to have any similar problems.

I used to live on fried foods. Then my wife insisted I started eating
healthier. It took a while to adjust but now that's just our normal diet.
Now if I try to eat the foods I used to enjoy, they make me feel tired
and bloated.

Unfortunately, I have *lots* of "seasonal allergies".

I am thankful I do not have any allergies. Every spring the pollen here
in the forest is so bad my black car turns a shade of green. It's a mess
to clean up, but I don't get so much as a sniffle.

I find it invaluable for "lack of sleep" headaches.

With only rare exceptions, I have never had a problem sleeping either.
I'm out as soon as I hit the bed and easily sleep 8 hours without waking
up. I wake up refreshed and excited to start a new day.

I guess I just consider sore muscles to be a natural consequence of
physical labor. Never thought of "taking" anything for them

Unfortunately, I've struggled with back pain most of my life. Sometimes
it gets so bad I have sharp painful spasms that drop me to the ground.
Extremely painful. I usually have to go to the doctor and take muscle
relaxers for a few days when it gets that bad.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com