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This Week with The Chicowitz: |
[last week: "The Death of a Friend"]
| Each week our Boomer-in-Charge, Hershel Chicowitz, has something to say about life, society, or what's going on... from the perspective of a baby boomer. This is what's on his mind the week of May 5: |
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I can tell that Friday is a teacher's favorite day of the week. I live
near a credit union for school teachers. I often drive past there on
Friday afternoons; the drive-thru lanes are always packed. I use the ATM
there; there is never a line for the drive-thru ATM. I just don't get it. I can drive right up to the ATM, get my cash for the weekend and be gone within two minutes. Meanwhile, people are stacked up in five other drive-thru lines like the tellers were shooting hundred-dollar bills through the pneumatic tubes. Have you ever noticed when you're inside that most banks have only one or two tellers working all the drive-thru lanes? What does that tell you about how long you're going to wait out there? As Miss Jones, my sixth grade teacher said so often, "This is simple arithmetic." When I am done at the ATM, I always get out of my car, turn around and look at the mess behind me in the other lanes. I'm still shaking my head as I drive away. Sometimes, if I am not in a hurry, I'll drive around the building and go through the ATM lane a second time.... zoom... right up to the front. No lines, no waiting. I withdraw another $60, get out and look, and then I'm on my way again. It feels so wonderful! I have beaten the system! It feels so good, in fact, that I have been known to do it a third time. This time some of the people in line notice my antics and scowl at me as I get out of the car and turn around. I stare right back at them and stick my tongue out. Now, I know that Miss Busek, my second-grade teacher, would not approve; but she did not approve of playing baseball during recess, either. Besides, I have learned that in today's tough world, you have to take victories where they come, however small they may be. I revel in the trivial pleasures of my otherwise monotonous and uneventful life. That I have won a clear and absolute victory over the rest of society demands another demonstration of my power. I think of it as a victory lap. It is a small, but powerful demonstration of my hubris. If I am short of cash in my account, I'll use the ATM just to check my balance. I don't need money; I need revenge. Why do people -- and in this case, intelligent, educated teachers -- insist on punishing themselves so? Don't tell me that Friday afternoon is the only time they can possibly steal away to get to the bank; I know better. And if they have simply failed to plan to go to the bank earlier in the week (or, for some strange reason, have an aversion to ATM machines), they had better plan ahead and make certain they are not low on gas. Running out of gas with three people ahead of you and four behind you in the drive-thru lane is a open invitation to road rage. There's a reason why they call it the DRIVE-thru lane, even if you spend most of your time sitting. Is this really a teacher's idea of how to spend 45 minutes on a Friday afternoon? If so, I have overestimated their intelligence.... or badly misjudged their idea of a good time. Get a life, teach! Or.... do you suppose they really *do* shoot hundred-dollar bills through those pneumatic tubes? Lead on, Miss Jones! It's simple arithmetic.
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Exploring My Roots: A Chicowitz History
Membership details here.
Terrific boomer memorabilia!!
Remember this?
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Printer-friendly version is available here.
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Hershel will have something else to say on May 12: mark your
calendar 
to
remind you to come back to BBHQ every Monday.
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Did you miss last week's essay, "The Death of a Friend"?
You can still read it here.
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| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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