The Paradox of Our Time:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology has brought this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete

(Author Unknown)

Ever been held up in a bank?

No-- not the kind involving guys in rubber masks with guns vs. yourself/other patrons, but the kind where; say you're on your lunch break and you pop in to do some quick business--deposit a check, withdraw cash for instance and you end up waiting in long lines to see a clerk and, God forbid! after all that waiting, you have to wait some more for instance, when the bank's computer system breaks down or the ATM malfunctions or when you're told you can't get access to your money for a few days via the check you deposited into your account, because it will be placed on hold--I'm talking about the legal hold ups...

On the other hand, sometimes it's not the bank's fault. It's not that the bank hadn't issued you its policy (in small print of course) or warned you when you opened your account 13 years ago or however long ago you've been doing business with your bank about it's check-holding rules, it's just that, you may have been doing business with your bank for so long and have formed a comfortable relationship that sometimes it's taken for granted until that one day when you're desperate; you need fast access to your cash via a check deposit and you learn that the bank will sit on your check for a few days--3, 5, 15, 25-35 days or so until it clears (meanwhile the bank profits from it)--I dare say it has happened to us all at one time or another.

In anycase, I brought this up because I've just come from reading the personal account of XDude vs. The Royal Bank of Canada and his attempt at trying to deposit his Warner Brother's US Check into his bank account. XDude presents his account via an interesting medium. At times you may want to laugh at the hillarious way in which he tells it but it's enough to make you kinda think twice about just what your bank's policies are.

As if things hadn't already been bad enough for Mr. Dude, check out the letter he previously received from Lucasfilm.