monies and currency

I found a lovely little gem in my mail the other day. A notice informing me that I'll be receiving my stimulus check in the mail soon. Which is fantastic, just I never expected to get one. Being a dependent and all I thought I wasn't included in the government's very odd plan to mail us all money to try and get the economy going (my feelings on the economy hearken back to my study of Japan after the housing bubble - but that's for another time). At any rate it's a lovely $300 I wasn't expecting to have. And a unfortunately the same day my work e-mailed and confirmed my reservation at the Ramada for training . . . so that's where my stimulus check will go. To Canada. The irony. Because in reality I really wanted to buy another pair of shoes (like Ralph Lauren's Lauren wedges). I never thought shoes would become the bane of my existence but here they are. So sad.

In other related news I went to a bank bank since my credit union here at home doesn't offer the same as PEFCU back at school (another reason why I miss it so). But I wound up asking if I could buy some currency for Japan (especially since I'll get there Saturday night and banks won't open to cash traveler's checks until Monday). And unfortunately the lady ordering it for me couldn't figure out the website, and who am I to try and figure out why the bank's online stuff won't work. So I have been left with little to show from my trip to the bank, except my mother buying me a shirt from SimplyVera at Khol's.

The thing that gets me is, why can't a credit union do things like, cash bonds, order foreign currency, etc. Is it not in the set up? Credit unions are practically taking over banks as the main form of savings and checking, at least for most young people. Or perhaps that's just a Purdue phenomena. Purdue offers a credit union to its students and alumni as well as employees. But Purdue is also a large institution that probably employs hundreds of thousands of people and services over thirty-five thousand students on a yearly basis. My sister doesn't use a credit union through her school, but UVA is a much smaller school. Perhaps they lack the infrastructure to support such a system. At any rate, the annoyance of having to use my mother to do things at her bank and yet keep savings in a credit union else where is becoming tiring and overly annoying. Ah well, welcome to being a grown up I suppose.