Suntrust teller

I was behind an older gentleman in line at the bank. The teller gave him a receipt for his transaction. The gentleman asked him what that was for and the teller told him for his deposit. The gentleman/customer said that he was cashing the check - not depositing it. The teller said, "no, no, no .. you told me you wanted to deposit it... " Then he litterally threw his hands in the air and walked away from the window and huffed down to a co-worker to complain about the customer telling him the wrong thing. What? When he came back he huffed at the customer about having to redo the transaction. What happened to, "Oh, I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood you ... let me fix this..." Even if the customer did say that he wanted to deposit it (which I don't know because I didn't hear that part...) Perhaps the teller doesn't realize that the glass isn't a two way mirror and we can see and hear him.

So much for spring -

Of course, we went from two weeks of beautiful 70-80 degree weather to humid and sticky. Speaking of the weather, I had a conversation with a conservative friend of mine the other day and he truly believes that we humans are having no more than an insignificant effect on the global weather patters. In other words, there is nothing we need not do any longer because what we are doing isn't affecting the weather. Cut down the jungles, pump tons of green house gasses into the atmosphere, generate heat, and create waste as much as you want - it's insignificant. I'm open minded enough to consider this - I am just waiting for the follow-up data to support the claim.

Such a fun run

Recently the local Catholic Parish Elementary School (Blessed Sacrament) put on a 5K fund raiser run. It was mostly a bunch of middle-age moms and dads that run recreationally - but there were some professionals in the race too. Of course, we didn't see much of them after the first 100 yards. The local neighborhood roads were closed for an hour and a half as the run took place. The parish Monsignor and school principal were there to support the runners and a host of volunteers cheering and directing along the way. Why mention this? Because it was a great example of what makes DC such a small town. This was a small-town Americana event. It was idyllic. The run provided everyone with a great way to kick off a perfectly beautiful weekend and see each other outside the normal confines of church, school, and soccer. The course took us past our local grocery store, barber shop, and pharmacy which are reminders of what small-town life is like. The neighborhood kids walk to the pharmacy for nickle candy and a soda. The local grocery store on Brookville Road still maintains monthly accounts for those that live in the neighborhood. Simply give them your number and they will bill you monthly.

Start a 5K or 10K run in your community. America needs to see more of each other and needs the exercise.

No - not the comedian/actor

For those outside of the Washington DC area - Chevy Chase is NOT named after the actor. After watching an episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" I am no longer surprised when asked, "Is Chevy Chase named after that actor from the Vacation movies?"

Here is the quick and dirty on the name. Back in around 1890 a senator and his business partners started buying up parcels and tracks of land in northwest Washington, DC and planned on developing a streetcar suburb. One of the tracks of land was already named Chevy Chase so they used that name for the aggregated land. I guess that plot got its name from some 1300's battle between some English and Scottish royalty that where fighting over some hunting grounds - also called a 'chase.'

For the long and clean on it check out the Wikipedia entry on Chevy Chase, MD.