I have huge nostalgia for older analog audio and photo formats for many many reasons. I also don't really miss them. Had a lot of fun and memories with vinyl and processing B&W film in a darkroom--also shot a lot of slides--but you can't go home again and all that.

I actually keep an old pair of (good) noise canceling ear buds for travel. Even with retainers I don't really like using my Bluetooth AirPods on a plane. Aha, located them for an upcoming trip.

I'm always reluctant to do non-standard stuff for presentations. There's enough that can go wrong even with a direct HDMI out. I've done it in a pinch but pretty much always carry a laptop with me when I'm presenting along with local copies of my presentations. I've actually gotten a text in the middle of the night asking me if I can fill in for another speaker who forgot and are in a different country :-)

On an upcoming trip I'm actually going to give an iPad with magnetic keyboard I bought a couple years back, assuming different travel patterns than I've had, a try. It seems to work fine. An iPad is also great for plane/train entertainment without a keyboard. But, honestly, it's no lighter than a MacBook Air would be and if my ancient MacBook Pro dies--have a newer one up in my office--that's what I'll probably buy.

I have traveled with just my iPhone and can get by but don't really love it.

Microsoft has been SO successful with trying to converge devices </s> I'll agree that Apple has business reasons for keeping device classes separate. But I also think that keeping at least phones and laptops separate makes a lot of sense. I CAN use my phone as a full computer, but having done so traveling, it's not the best experience.

DESQview never really clicked with me. Did run DoubleDOS and when I was a TA (or whatever it was) providing support in the computer lab in grad school (most people didn't have their own computers) it was a convenient way to switch between whatever official systems I needed to access and my own stuff.

State taxes can be a bit of a mess, E&Y (accountants) were enlisted to started looking at expense reports at a long-ago former employer to be sure people were staying within the guidelines. There are "jock" taxes mainly intended for pro athletes and entertainers but they theoretically apply to everyone for even a one night stay in some states. (Shortish stays for "normal" people were ignored but not sure how kosher that actually was.)

you're giving me flashbacks to my time at Microsoft where a one night trip to another state meant hours wrestling with EY's filing system to record the trip and quizzical questions from my accountant about why Microsoft paid $0.23 to South Carolina for my taxes.

IIRC it really got going in the pandemic when states realized that all these knowledge workers were earning nice money and not paying a cent in taxes to the state they had run to to get away from the virus.

Yeah. This started during the pandemic. And there were some messages from people on internal message boards along the lines of... but... such and such a state has a requirement that taxes be filed for even a day (which, frankly, would have been cheaper for me to pay out of pocket than to pay for my accountant to file an additional state filing). But said employer apparently decided to ignore de minimus travel stuff though I know people who actually spent a lot of time out of state did need to keep track.

But, also yeah, MA and NH had a bit of a spat over workers at an MA company who lived in NH who just stopped coming in and therefore stopped filing MA taxes.

In fairness, manufacturer rebates have pretty much (mercifully) disappeared in the US as well as they were basically a scheme to mentally make you account for a lower price you wouldn't end up being rebated for various reasons.

And you still need bank branches every now and then for various things. Still don't understand how various expansive bank branches are profitable.

I'm in the US and things are definitely less check-centric than they used to be but I still probably write or receive a couple a month.

I guess there's also a difference between "can use checks" vs "have to use checks" because, aside from rent, I can't recall having to write checks.

Everything else allowed either credit card or direct debit on top of allowing checks.

> I guess there's also a difference between "can use checks" vs "have to use checks" because, aside from rent, I can't recall having to write checks.

Landlords, IME, insist on a physical check for the first payment. I think they're performing some sort of blood ritual with it in the back of the office. After the sacrifice is complete, though, they'll switch to ACH.

The only other place I've ever had to use checks is for large purchases, where the amount exceeds that which cards are capable of. Even these would be pretty rare for most people, since there's a likelihood you would finance a large purchase with a loan instead.

I think my last car purchase I paid deposit by card but paid the balance by personal check. In years past that balance would have been by a cashier check but I guess systems these days can confirm there's money in the account.

Both my housekeeper and contractor use checks and, while I could get the bank to "write" them checks, it's easier to just hand them a piece of paper. I've also needed to pay my neighbor something from time to time and it's easier to just write a check. I do also periodically receive checks from various institutions.

I guess to me there's just a big difference between what you're describing (which matches what I remember) and "stubbornly check-focused" as ancestor comment said.

I do find the money transfer options where I am in Europe much easier, though, and they do make checks and PayPal/Zelle/Venmo pretty obsolete too, IMO.

I think that's fair. I do carry a few checks in my travel folder but I don't think I've ever used them in Europe. Do carry some backup US cash.

But in the US, there's probably a general expectation that you can send or receive checks at least now and then. There are often other options but that's probably the lowest friction one even if my bank can send checks if needed, albeit with some delay.

Maybe you aren't required to, but there can tend to be downsides to the other methods in practice:

credit card: - often extra fees or minimums for nontrivial expenses - privacy of course

direct debit: - payee gains ability to debit any amount, and while resolution plays out, you are stuck with the consequences - limited ability to cease payments

check: - fixed payment amount; violating this would be clear fraud not attributable to "mistakes" that can happen with DD