Who's Alan? Alan is a different person.

I took a trip to Florida two weeks ago with my girlfriend for valentines weekend and got stopped twice by the TSA - once on my way there and again on my way back.

Here's what happened leading up to the first incident:

1. We decided to go to to Miami beach last minute to avoid turning into ice cubes in NYC (it was 9 degrees on Saturday).
2. My girlfriend bought our American Airline plane tickets and she purchased mine under the name "Alan Lin".

The Problem

"Alan" is not my legal first name. I was born in China and my legal first name is "Peng". Peng Lin is my full name on pretty much on every piece of identification that I own. However, that's not the name I use to introduce myself to people. Everyone else knows me as Alan. My girlfriend knows this, but we were in a rush and I guess she just forgot. As far as any identification system is concerned, I am not "Alan". Immigrant problems.

Security Problems

Newark to Miami TSA

The guy sitting at the TSA checkpoint was comparing my drivers license with my boarding pass and then gave me a confused look. I didn't realize the mistake then so I was confused by his look of confusion. He pointed at my ticket and asked "Who's Alan?". Uh, bro that's me. He asked if I had alternative identification with the name "Alan" on it. No, I did not.  He then told me he couldn't let me through with the documents I had and that the only way for me to go through was to get an IVCC (Identity Verification Call Center) check. Okay, just a phone call. Not the end of the world.

I had to fill out a form with my information (name and address) while he dialed the IVCC number. He told me that once he gets someone from the IVCC on the line, I may have to answer a few questions as quickly as possible and that if I took too long to answer any of them or got them wrong I would be denied my right to board. Oh shit. After about ten minutes he finally got someone on the line from the IVCC and read them the details of my reservation. Ten minutes later, he told me I could go. What? Awesome! I didn't get the quiz! I guess the check provided enough confidence for them to assume that I was indeed "Alan". I'm done now, right?

Nope.

The next step of the process was having my bags completely searched and my body molested (not really, just patted). After I got through the body scanners, they confiscated all of my bags and started wiping them with what looked like Kleenex wipes. I later learned that this was called "swabbing" and the purpose is to help detect traces of explosives. While this was happening, another agent approached me with a pair of gloves and told me to open my arms wide and stand with my feet apart. He lightly patted every part of my body (except my genitals so thanks bro) and once he was done I finally got the thumbs up. Phew.

Miami to Philadelphia TSA

Clearly the experience was not traumatizing enough because we didn't even consider the possibility of having this problem again until we were sitting in the Taxi leaving Miami beach to catch our flight back to NYC. I think it's because we were already inundated with a lot of other things. We were also running late, so I needed to get my name changed fast. Unfortunately, you can't change the name of the ticket online. What you can do, however, is add a middle name. Okay great, I thought, I'll just add "Alan" as my middle name. Well, turns out that the middle name isn't actually printed out on the ticket. D'oh!

Time was not on our side. We had a 6:30 boarding time and by the time we reached the checkpoint line it was 6:00. When I stepped up to show the agent my documents and the same goddamn exchange ensued: A look of confusion followed by a stern request for identification. Okay, what the hell. I try explaining to the guy again but to no avail. So I ask for an IVCC check. The guy gives me a blank stare like he had no idea what I just asked for (he did) and told me he couldn't do it. Instead, he told me I had to go back to the American airline customer support desk and have them change my name. This didn't make sense to me for a couple of reasons:

1. How is changing my name through AA going to happen if I don't have identification for "Alan"?
2. Assuming that AA can indeed change my name without identification ... how the hell is that any more secure?

It was also maddening because I knew he could do it. So I asked him, "are you sure?" and he replied "Yes" without even looking up. Okay, fine, I'll give it a shot because I trust that you're not trying to screw me over.

Now bear in mind it probably takes about five minutes of sprinting to get to the customer support desk because it's at the opposite end of the building. So I'm running and running and by the time I see the main desk I also see a pretty long line. Shit. Luckily, the line moved pretty fast (I think I also saw a guy skip the whole line by doing a military crawl across line dividers ... risky but mad props for the hustle).

When it was my turn I did my best to muster a look of utter desperation in hopes that the lady behind the counter would take pity on my plight. Straight up denied. She could not change my name because I had no identification with the name "Alan". Okay, no surprise there really. So it's 6:20 at that point and I was certain I wasn't going to make it. I had no choice but to get the IVCC check. While I was sprinting back my bag opened and everything spilled onto the floor. Yup, not going to make it. Just as I was about to pull out my phone to tell my girlfriend to board without me I get a text from her telling me that the flight has been delayed for about 45 minutes and the new boarding time is 7:15. Wow, is Jesus / Buddha / Mohammed on my side?

Once I got to the checkpoint again there was a huge line. Oh hell no I ain't waiting in line. I walked up to the lady at the priority line and she actually recognized me as the guy who had to trek to the damn entrance on the other side of airport so she let me through. God is not dead. I went up to the same guy who turned me away and told him that there was no way AA was changing my name, for the same reasons he wouldn't accept on the basis of faith that I'am indeed Alan Lin.

He asked me if I'm sure and I'm like yeah I wouldn't have run this far if I wasn't. Guess what he asked me to do next? He told me to go back to AA. At this point, I'm fuming because I knew he could do an IVCC check and there's no way I'm running back there again. I told him I wasn't going back and demanded an IVCC check. He finally relents, gets up and then walks over to a female TSA agent who seems to be on break. I see him exchange a few words with her while pointing at his own watch - it definitely looked like he was asking her to do him a favor because he needed to be somewhere else. Wow, I thought, I almost missed my damn flight because some guy didn't want to be the person doing an IVCC check.

I finally got my check and went through the exact same procedure. Form filling. Phone dialing. Bag and body searching. I was drenched in sweat at this point. So much sweat that I had two different agents ask me if it was raining outside. Nope just panic-induced perspiration. The whole process went much quicker than the one in Newark and I could tell they had sympathy for me because they were working as quickly as they could to get me through. I really, really appreciated that.

After I got past the checkpoint, it was like 7:15 and I ran as fast as I could. My girlfriend told me that the bridge would be open until 7:30. Okay, almost there. One more obstacle though - turns out I had to take a damn bus shuttle to the correct track. Luckily that went smoothly because the shuttle came and left quickly. Once I got off the bus,  I ran into the airport, sprinted up the escalators and saw my wonderful girlfriend waiting for me with a minute left to spare.

I made it!

So that marked the end of my TSA problems, but here's the really scary detail that I left out about this ordeal: I actually got past the security checkpoint in Newark once with this error. 

The first time I got stopped in Newark? That was actually our second day at Newark. Because of delays the previous day, we decided to stay in Newark. So as uncomfortable and stressful being stopped by the TSA was, the fact that a first name mismatch did not stop be from getting through security that first day is alarming. It's a pretty serious mistake that calls into question the effectiveness of airline security because if they can't even detect a major error like that, what else are they missing?

After we got back from our trip I did some research to better understand why things happened the way they did and lessons I could take away from this experience.

So why this have to happen to me?

In 2009, a program called Secure Flight was rolled out by the TSA in response to the 9/11 attacks. It's a passenger pre-screening program that required all airlines to require that passengers provide their first name, last name, date of birth, and gender upon registration. The TSA would then check the identity of a passenger against national security blacklists maintained by the TSC (Terrorist Screening Center) such as the No Fly list. They perform this check on the passenger 72 hours prior to his or her flight.

In other words, you absolutely need your first name and last name on your ticket to match what's on your ID. Period. It also means that your middle name is irrelevant because that's not required by Secure Flight - so yeah, adding a middle name does nothing and would not have helped even if it did show up on the ticket.

If this happens again, what are my options?

If you notice the error within 24 hours of purchase, you can call customer support and to take advantage of the 24 Hour Reservation policy and just repurchase the ticket under the new name.

You can also call them and request the name to be changed on the ticket. This is known as a name correction and there are policies dictating what corrections are acceptable. Basic rule of thumb? Changing either first or last is okay, both is not. Oh, and you also need identification for the updated name. In my case, this approach would have failed miserably.

As a last resort, you just have to deal with the IVCC check and prepare to have your butt patted a few times.

Main lesson? Don't fuck up your name if you don't want the TSA on your ass.

Willpower Workouts

I'm currently reading The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. It's a practical psychology book that talks about the science of self control. Why do we have it? Why is it more important today than ever before? How does it work? Most importantly, it offers practical advice based on the research that helps you gain more self control to improve your life.

One exercise that Kelly suggests is a willpower workout. Studies show that willpower is like a muscle - the more you use it, the stronger it gets. In this model of self control, you can create a workout routine that increases your willpower.

There are three components to will power. Since we're using the muscle analogy here, you can think them as three muscle groups.

"I Want" power

This is the power of knowing what you want. Not what you want right this moment (which may be chocolate or ice cream) but what you want in the future. It's the power of goal setting and remembering what your goals are. When you make a new years resolution, you're exercising this power.

"I Will" & "I Won't" power

Knowing what you want in the future is what forces you to use your "I will" or "I won't" power to navigate moment to moment. The "I Will" power allows you to do the more difficult task when you really feel like doing the easier one because it will bring you closer to your goal. The "I Wont" power allows you to avoid doing something you really feel like doing that takes you away from your goal. On a daily basis, we're either using one or both to get closer to our goals.

You can say that the sum of these powers is the total amount of willpower you have. Just like a physical exercise program, a willpower exercise program should be well rounded. It's easy to give in to your temptations if your goals are unsexy. Or maybe you have a very clear and compelling vision of what you want to achieve but you have trouble sticking to your plan.

What exercises can we do to get more willpower?

To strengthen your "I will" power, Kelly says you should commit yourself to doing something everyday. It could be anything that you're not already doing every day. This will allow you to practice and strengthen your "I will" power every day and make you more familiar with how this particular muscle works.

To strengthen your "I won't" power, just do the opposite! Commit to not doing something everyday that you're currently doing. For me, that's not eating snacks at work during the late afternoon.

To strengthen your "I wan't" power, learn the art of create motivating goals. How do you make a mundane goal sexy or a sexy goal even sexier? This is an important skill because the more compelling your reasons for a goal and the better you understand those reasons the less you have to exert your "I will" and "I won't" powers to stay on course. Often times we feel like we really want something but the reasons are not always crystal clear. You can try to clarify it by doing these exercises

1. Think about all the ways you benefit form succeeding at this challenge or meeting this goal.
2. Think about who else would benefit from your success. Does anyone depend on your success? Who else will be influenced by this goal? How will this help them?
3. Imagine that this challenge will get easier for you over time if you are willing to do what is difficult now. How will your life change as you progress? How does that make you feel about the discomfort you might face in your journey?

Heart Like a River

"If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink..." - Thich Nhat Han

Ever since I've started practicing Zazen, I feel that my mind is slowly growing from a cup into a small river. I'm less likely to react to thoughts that used to consume me. My relationship with my thoughts seems to have changed. In the past, I often became my thoughts. Nowadays I'm able to watch them come and go from a distance much like how a bird soaring in the sky might look at the passage of land and animals below. Whether they're positive or negative thoughts, I have the ability to look at them when I want to and for as long as I want to.

This freedom from the bondage to my own thoughts seems to also be slowly transforming my relationships with people for the better. I don't react out of anger as often. This doesn't mean I don't feel anger. I'm still human. I'm just not consumed by it as often. What that means is that I can still think clearly because anger is like the salt that is being poured into a river. Having this power over my thoughts - especially negative thoughts - has helped me handle conflicts with people much more skillfully because I can stay calm enough to understand the many elements in a complex situation rather than getting worked up in my own thoughts.

Catching and Reading

Mortimer J. Adler, the author of How to Read a Book, has the perfect metaphor for reading: baseball.

How does the baseball metaphor work?

Reader = catcher

Author = pitcher

Information = ball

When you read anything piece of text, you are trying to understand what the author is trying to say. When an author writes, she is trying to communicate knowledge in a way that her audience will understand. Both parties are vested in the successful transfer of knowledge.

In baseball, catchers are trying to catch the balls thrown by the pitcher and the pitcher is trying to get the ball into the catchers gloves. Both players want the successful passing of the ball.

See how perfect it is?

Both activities are active. Although you may be sitting still while reading, the mind is active. There is no such thing as passive reading because the very act of trying to read is an activity.

Pitchers have different styles of throwing. Authors have different styles of communicating information. Some authors communicate succinctly, others more verbosely. Catchers need to both be skilled and on their toes if they want to catch the ball thrown by the pitcher. They need to have the ability to catch the ball and do their best to get it. Being lazy won't cut it.

The same is true for readers. If a reader wants to understand what the author is trying to say, they must also be skilled enough to understand the contents of the message and exert the necessary mental effort to do so.

How do you become a more skilled catcher?

By practicing.

Pragmatic Programmer Philosophy Part 2

In my last post I wrote about three of the seven key attitudes and skills that comprise the pragmatic programmers philosophy: Fixing broken windows, taking responsibility, and communicating effectively. In this post I'll summarize three more.

1. Be a catalyst for change

Big changes come from group efforts. One of the most valuable skills you can have whether you work for a company or run your own company is the ability to motivate others to work together on important problems.

When you have an idea that you thing has the potential to positively influence the trajectory of your company, words alone will often not be enough to motivate people. Old processes, much like old habits, die hard. You need to show people something - something that gives them a clear sense of what the future looks like. Showing people something means that you need to invest time in building it and the easiest way to do that is to just fucking do it. This doesn't mean you should shoulder the entire project on your own because in many cases that may not be feasible.

It does mean two key things:

1. Don't ask for permission to do it. Asking for permission is believing that someone else has the right to stop you from pursuing your idea. This doesn't mean never ask for permission. It's just that in most cases new ideas are met with staunch resistance that is rarely based on the merit of the idea itself. One common reason for resistance is strictly attachment to old ways of doing things.

2. Build enough of it to sell your idea and for others to build upon. If you build something that does not at all present your idea in the best possible light, you won't be convincing enough to motivate others. If, however, you do build something that gets people excited but theres no clear way for them to contribute to the goal, then you're still stuck by yourself.

2. Don't forget the big picture

Every project has goals. In order to meet those goals efficiently, the team must remember what the goals are and not get sidetracked. It's very easy to get sidetracked gradually by small things than it is by big things. A frog will jump out immediately if you drop it in boiling water. However, it will cook if you put it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat.

As programmers, we experience the rising temperature in many forms: bugs, features, politics. We need to constantly assess whether our decisions are bringing us closer or farther away from our goals to avoid being cooked.

3. Make quality a requirements issue

Time is a limited resource. Projects have deadlines. Projects that have high quality standards tend to take more time. Given these truths, it's nonsensical to not treat quality as part of your user requirements.

In some projects, there's not much negotiating room for quality. However, in the vast majority of projects - especially very new ones that do not operate under high risk environments - quality can be a sliding scale. What that means is that it should be set by conversations you have with the user. What quality do they need? How much time do you have to work with? Would they rather get the product sooner with less quality or later with better quality? In some cases, users would be more than happy to have a feature that works 90% of the time if they can get it earlier than have it be perfect and have to wait for a very long time.

Having quality as part of your process of gathering user requirements means that the user will more likely get what they actually need and not what you think they need. It also means you'll be much better positioned to say when it's time to stop working on something. You can almost always refactor your code to make a feature better, but if it meets the current quality requirements then that's not necessary.

My Thoughts:

• The concept of making quality a requirements issue is very much part of the philosophy behind making minimal viable products (MVP). I think this is an idea that a lot of programmers who take a lot of pride in the code they write will have difficulty swallowing because it's pretty much saying that you should still ship something even if it's incomplete and crappy if that's what people actually want. As software developers, you're not just writing code for the sake of code. You're often solving other peoples problems. Key phrase: other people. Talk to them - what do they need? 
• I don't feel like I have a problem just going for something without asking for permission. I do want do think more critically about how we can improve existing processes at work. What I often do is I would be introduced to an existing process and if I become frustrated with it, rather than thinking about different ways of doing the same thing I instead tolerate the frustration or eliminate it by becoming extremely familiar with the process (doing the same task faster). I feel like I can be very patient but patience only changes your own perception of a process and not the process itself which may still be causing others a lot of pain. 
• I lose sight of the big picture very often. I have a tendency to get really absorbed in solving a problem without considering its relative importance to other problems I could also be solving. When I'm in that state, it's as if time becomes an unlimited resource and the only thing that matters in that moment is solving the problem. This can be great when I'm latched on to an important problem but it is very problematic when I do this with unimportant problems. My time is limited and not managing my time increases the likelihood of delaying the completion of a project. If someone gives me a week do complete four critical features and one non-critical feature but I spend 80% of your time on the unimportant one, I'll end up rushing (and probably screwing up) to complete the four other features that actually matter.

Pragmatic Programmer Philosophy

Andy and Dave define pragmatic programmers as programmers that are effective problem solvers and in the first chapter they lay out a set of skills that form the foundation for being a pragmatic programmer. The attitude that these skills are valuable and essential to being a pragmatic programmer is described as a philosophy because those beliefs serve as guiding principles for how to behave as a programmer both in and out of the context of writing code.

Here's my summary of a few of those skills:

Take responsibility

When you commit to delivering something, know what your responsibilities are and what factors in fulfilling those responsibilities are within your control. If unexpected failures arise and those failures are caused by your own negligence, take responsibility for it. Own up to your mistakes.

However, don't just stop there or else it's just an excuse. Nobody wants excuses. If your dentist accidentally removes the wrong tooth, is an excuse going to replace that tooth? No. Move on from the setback and provide solutions because part of owning up to something is doing your best to correct it.

Communicate effectively

As a programmer, your job is to communicate. You communicate in meetings about software design. You communicate to the users of your software about requirements. You communicate to your co-workers or boss about better work processes. You communicate to the computer about your how-to knowledge.

Learning to communicate is learning how to present your ideas. Presentation matters. In fact, one could go as far as to say that presentation is everything that communication is. If you have an idea but you don't communicate it, it doesn't exist for others. And if you do communicate it but you do it in a way that is difficult for others to understand (maybe you use really big words) then it's not likely to spread.

The type of language that's used and its contents are the presentation of your ideas. They vary by situation but the measure of how effective any presentation is based on the same thing: how effective was it in getting what you want? People who can communicate effectively are able to get what they want. Maybe it's convincing teammates to adopt a new tool or to ditch an existing process. Or maybe it's just getting people to understand you better. They're all just changes, whether small or large, that are brought about by your communication. So the better your communication, the more influential you are.

Fix what's broken ASAP

Whether it's a bad system design decision or an inefficient algorithm, if it's causing you pain or if you know it's going to cause you pain, go fix it. Don't let it stay around for too long or else according to the broken window theory it will cause others who see it to treat the overall system with neglect.

The broken window theory is a psychological theory put forth by researchers of crime and urban decay which states that it only takes a single broken window for a new building to deteriorate into a shit hole. Why? Because broken windows instill a sense of abandonment. That nobody is home and even if they were home they didn't give a crap because there's a damn broken window. So maybe it's okay to litter a little here and there and soon the accumulation of trash accelerates.

This theory can be generalized to apply to others systems including software systems. If you leave parts of the program in a shitty condition, other programmers that work on it will likely also treat it like shit. It's broken anyway and it doesn't look like anyone is bothering to fix it - why bother? That's not the attitude you want to have - no matter how screwed a system is - because all that does is make things worse. Much worse.


I completely agree with the authors about the importance of these skills from my own experience working as a software engineer.

• I've contributed to poor code that resulted in hot fixes and had to decide between making an excuse or owning up. When I own up, I take responsibility and eventually fix the mistake. If nobody takes responsibility, nothing gets fixed. Or someone else will be generous enough to fix it for you but deep down they'll start to resent you.
• Each and every day I'm in situations where I have to communicate effectively. During our morning stand ups I have to communicate the status of what I'm working on and what I'll continue to work on. If I'm not clear, others will start asking questions and the meeting gets prolonged. Also, when I'm driving during our pair programming sessions I have to constantly communicate to my partner my thinking process so they understand my intention and thus are better equipped to evaluate the code that I write.
• We maintain a few legacy systems and there are parts of it that are pretty ugly. If I need to modify it, I usually do my best to leave it in a better condition than I found it. Sometimes, however, the mess is so terrible that I don't even try to make it better. I just want to get it to work and then GTFO. I don't think that's a good attitude even when we're dealing with parts of a system we deem hopeless because you're more likely to be careless and introduce new bugs.

In addition to these three skills, there are four more skills in the chapter that I'll summarize later.

• Invest regularly in a knowledge portfolio
• Make quality a requirements issue
• Be a catalyst for change
• Remember the big picture

Messages: The Communication Skills Book by Matthew McKay, Martha David, and Patrick Fanning

I picked up this book in college because I wanted to understand others better. Just kidding. I just wanted to get better at expressing how wrong other people were because I was involved in a lot of arguments. Back then, effective communication to me mostly mean't being able to clearly articulate my opinions so that others can understand where I'm coming from. My opinions. My feelings. Now had I taken the time to read the book or maybe just learn to have some compassion for others I would've realized that communication involves a whole lot more than just the words that come out of my mouth.

It's been over two years since I've graduated and a few weeks ago I decided to crack open this book again because I really did want to understand others better in order to have better relationships. I had the feeling that in most conversations, whether it's at home or at work, I wasn't fully engaged with what others had to say. I wasn't really listening. This isn't the case all the time, but it happens often enough with people I really care about such as my girlfriend (who rarely passes up an opportunity to point out when I'm not really "there") and close friends to make me feel like I needed to do something about it.

I'm digesting a bit of this book each day and what I really like about it so far is that it really emphasizes skills. It doesn't just present theory on what good communication is, it also offers exercises for me to apply in life so that I can actually have better communication. For example, in the first chapter of the book the authors introduces the difference between pseudo-listening and real-listening. One instance of pseudo-listening is when someone is only listening for a specific piece of information and ignores the rest. Real-listening involves complete engagement. However, the authors don't just stop there! They follow up the theory with strategies for engaging in more real-listening such as applying active listening techniques like paraphrasing as well as ways to apply those techniques in life.

I'll be sharing a lot of what I learn in the next few posts, starting with ... chapter one!

How to Write a Check

When I graduated from college in 2013, one of the first "real world" skills I realized I had to learn was how to write a check because apparently not everyone accepts venmo payments. What a bummer. In this post I'll explain how to fill out a check as well as offer some basic answers to common check related questions that people have, such as how to void a check.

Here's how a standard bank check looks like.

Now lets go through and learn how to fill out each field from top to bottom, left to right.

Date

This is the current date. The general format is month/day/year. So if I'm writing a check on new years day in the year 2015, then I can write the date in one of the following ways:

Jan 01, 2015
January 01, 2015
01/01/2015

I always write it using the last format (01/01/2015) because it's the shortest.

Pay to the Order Of

Who are you giving this check to? If it's your best friend Marcus Aurelius and Marcus Aurelius is in fact his legal name (probably worth double checking if that's really his name ...) then write down "Marcus Aurelius". If it's an organization, call the organization or look them up online to see what name they want checks to be addressed to. This is important because the name you think they go by may not necessarily be the name they want checks paid to. For example, you'll find this line on the IRS website:

"Make your check, money order or cashier's check payable to U.S. Treasury."

In other words, if you're writing a check to the IRS you'll write "U.S Treasury" in this field.

$

How much money are you writing the check for? Just write the amount in numbers (e.g 135.32 or 1,353.23). No need to overthink this one. For all the overthinking programmers out there, yes it's base 10.

Dollars

Write the amount of money in words. This is probably the most complicated and time consuming part of check writing. I think the best way to explain this is by examples. I'll show you how to write the amount of money in words for each dollar amount in numeric format.

$1 = one
$100 = one hundred

... so far so good

$105 = one hundred five

Notice that it's not one hundred AND five. Yeah, not exactly how you learned it in kindergarten.

$123.50 = one hundred twenty three and 50/100

On the other hand, you do in fact use the conjunction word "and" when you're specifying cents. Instead of writing out the cents in words, you use fraction notation.

Okay, lets do one more!

$1,356.01 = one thousand three hundred fifty six and 01/100

Hopefully that gives you a good enough idea. If you're still uncertain, you can use this cool online tool for converting a numeric amount into check specific words!

But wait! We're not done. If you notice that there is still room on the line after you've written out your amount, draw a line in that space.

Here's an example:

Uh ... why is this necessary? 

It's not required. It's just smart to make a habit of doing so that it's very unlikely for someone to turn your eight dollars into eight million dollars. It's for your own protection. Just do it.

For / Memo

This is usually optional. You can use this field to add any additional details regarding the check like if you're giving your friend a check for being a good friend, write "for being my friend" in the memo.

There are times when it's not optional.

For example, if you're paying your landlord, there's no goddamn way for him or her to know that this check is for the unit you're living in if you don't specify it in the check. I mean, I guess you can include it in an envelope with your apartment number and name on it ... but what if that gets lost? When I'm paying my apartment maintenance fees I always specify my apartment number in the memo.  That's what my building management looks for. When in doubt, just ask the party you're writing a check for.

Signature

Yo sig.

Additional questions

How do I get a checkbook?

Typically banks will mail you checkbooks when you open a checking account with them. If you have a checking account but no checkbooks, you can just call up your bank and have them send you some. Some banks will charge you for them. Citibank, for instance. Those cheapskates.

What's the minimum or maximum you can write?

The smallest amount would be a cent. The maximum? Well, if you're asking that question then you must be very rich. Send me a check for a thousand dollars with your email in the memo and I'll tell you the answer :)

How long is a check valid for?

According to article 4-404 of the uniform commercial code, a bank is not obligated to pay after six months. In other words, if you hand someone a check and they don't cash it until six months later, they might come looking for you.

How do you void a check?

When I got my first internship I was asked to bring a void check to payroll. I remember calling my bank and requesting a void check. I was met with ten seconds of silence. Knowing what I know now, I believe it was stunned silence.

Please don't do that. Don't call your bank asking for "void checks". A void check is just a disabled check and you can just disable one yourself.

Here's how to do it:

1. Get a check
2. Get a sharpie
3. Write VOID diagonally across the check using the sharpie. Make sure the word covers most of the check.

Congratulations, you have a void check.

What if I misspell the person or organizations name on the check?

It depends how egregious the error is. Banks have different identification procedures for dealing with errors like this. In most cases, if it's just a off by one letter error the check can still be cashed. Otherwise, it depends.

What happens if there are insufficient funds in my account?

You go to jail. Just kidding! It depends how much you're short by as well as your history with the bank. If you write a check to your buddy for $500 but you only have $480 and you're an extremely loyal customer, your bank may still honor the check and pay your buddy. Regardless of whether or not they choose to honor the check, you'll almost always be slapped with an overdraft fee. You don't want that. Always make sure you have enough money in the bank.

A check that cannot be honored is known technically as an NSF (non-sufficient funds) check. You'll typically hear people refer to them as "bounced checks" or just "bad checks".

What does MP under the signature line stand for?

MP stands for Micro-print. Micro-print is a security feature that allows banks to easily verify valid checks and make it difficult for people to fake checks.

How does the security feature work? It's a printing technology that prints extremely small letters (so small that a printer would be unable to copy it) onto the check. You see the line that's right below MP?

That's not really a line. It's a series of extremely small letters.