alexist

I went to the EZPass website a few days ago. I manually topped it up by $25, then switched the card it was using for automatic top-ups because I don't regularly keep money in my personal checking account. Fine, right?

Nope. Somehow, I managed to trigger the auto-top-up anyway (when your balance goes below $10, it automatically triggers a top-up) and it used my old card and sent it into overdraft. I only noticed it today when I checked my bank--I WENT to check my EZ-Pass balance Friday but the system was down for scheduled maintenance for 3 days. I finally got in, and the primary card is correct. I have no idea why it charged my old one, and how I triggered the top-up (we did use the pass the day after, maybe it took time to update...)

So, I now have $54 on E-ZPass and a $35 bounced transaction fee. Grr.

I am stoked and pleased to report that as of January 2009, Smarties (i.e. British Smarties, made by Nestle) no longer contain E120 (carmine/cochineal) and may now freely be consumed by the observant among us.

Go forth and consume the sugary goodness. Unless you keep chalav yisrael, in which case, sorry!

This will, of course, also be good news for vegetarians.