The art of social nosiness is alive and well at Chevy Chase Bank

Have you ever been listening to a conversation with two other people and realized that you really wanted to say something? Have you seen someone reading a book that you loved so much that you want to emphatically tell them how great of a book it is? Have you ever been on an airplane and some moron behind you is telling his kid that the plane he is looking at is a Boeing 747 and you want to turn aroud and say "you idiot, you are lying to your kid - we are at Washington National Airport and a Boeing 747 wouldn't even make it off this piddly runway"? Ok, perhaps just me on that last one....

The art of social nosiness is one that draws a fine line between being nice and friendly or annoying and nosy. It just so happens that I have two examples - both of my examples happen to be at the same place - Chevy Chase Bank (2 different locations though).

The first one took place after our wedding. I was so excited to deposit the checks that we received as gifts that I went to the bank the day after our wedding which was also the day we left on our honeymoon. I listed the checks on the 2 deposit slips and went up to the teller. As we made small talk, the teller began to realize that I had just gotten married due to the large amount of checks. I guess I didn't look 13 and proud that I just read from the torah... Anyway, the teller started to input the checks when she stumbled upon one that was the biggest amount and said "Wow - this check is really nice". I laughed a little bit only because I knew that it was her social nosiness that felt the need to comment.

The other example happened more recently. Our friend Marci was writing us a check for a trip we are taking to Mexico later this year and in the memo, she had written the words "Mexico!". And lets be frank - an exclamation point is needed when you are going on a vacation of any sort. So when I went to Chevy Chase Bank this time, the nice teller was going through the deposit process and said "Ooh, looks like someone is going on a great trip to Mexico". Now for this one I was in a better mood. I ended up talking to the woman about the great deal we got on airfare and the resort and then she mentioned to me she had a fear of flying and hated turbulence. I told her that no airplane has ever fallen out of the sky due to turbulence and some techniques to calm people down if they are a nervous flyer. We had a great conversation and then I was off to work.

So the question remains? Is social nosiness ok in some situations and not in others? I remember once commenting to a woman on the metro reading The Kite Runner that the book was amazing (sorry jen p, the world disagrees). She seemed to be ok with my comment but secretly could have said "shut up boy and let me read my book!" In reality, for someone as talkative as myself - it is really hard to manage the appropriate level of social nosiness.

Maybe we can all do a test of the threshold of social nosiness? Next time you are writing a check to someone write in the memo one of the following:

• Bank Tellers are awesome
• Bank of America rocks my world
• Taliban Summer Camp Payment
• Imelda Marcos Shoe Buying Seminar
• Paris Hilton's Etiquette Class
• Smile if you love the Ebola virus

After that, your friend will ask you to pay them back in cash!

Is life easier when you're flat and laminated? Perhaps...

Over the past week, I have been very lucky to be picked to participate in the Flat Stanley project for Mrs. Fields' (my sister) 3rd Grade class at Oakland Terrace Elementary School. The Flat Stanley Project is based on a children's book from 1964. I have been matched up with Flat Mehret, the doll based on a very lovely Ethiopian girl from Mrs. Fields' class. Flat Mehret and Mr. Mann (as I am called in my summary) have been having some great adventures.

Flat Mehret and Mr. Mann have gone on airplanes, met interesting people, taken trains and eaten lots of food (although frankly, Flat Mehret is much better at not retaining water weight).

So, what are the benefits of being flat and laminated?

• Traveling light really means traveling light! TSA Airport checks are much easier and quicker.


• No worries about long term damaging effects from iPods (see Don, I got it right)


• You don't get as annoyed when two people across the aisle on the metro are talking like they are hanging out in a speakeasy while Mr. Mann is trying to read his book...

So enjoy - check out the pictures at the following link.

Play that funky music Efraym

For my Jewish sisters and brothers out there and even my non-Jewish friends - did you think that the popularity of Jewish musicians peaked at 2 Live Jews (best known for the rap song - Oy it's so humid) and Matisyahu (the very popular Chabad reggae artist)? Well there is a new guy in town (and not Adam Noah Levine, the lead singer from Maroon 5).

It's Efraym Elliott Yamin. The third place finisher from last season's American Idol. First, I heard his new song on the Billboard countdown on Saturday morning while driving to the airport and I decided to download his album last night. So onto my Ipod it went and (even with NBC 4's strong guidance on potential Ipod thefts on the Washington metro) I decided to give Elliott a chance.

People, this album is awesome! This young Bruce Willis look alike (with some recent reconstructive dental work to boot) has a ton of great songs to listen to and it even made me not completely unmotivated to go to work on Monday morning - and frankly that is difficult when all you want to do is play outside on a nice day.

Elliott is a son to an Iraqi Jewish father and a Jewish American (also born just two months ahead of me). Pretty awesome for raising the music strength of the "tribe". I know some of you probably thought we peaked at the Neil Diamond but we didn't - trust me.

So go and log on to Itunes or stop by Borders. Below is the album review from amazon.com - spot on!

"Elliott Yamin's debut is so agreeable and well-executed it may well convert hardened R&B experts--the kind who'd normally distance themselves from a disc with a TV pedigree. With sincerity and a voice that vaults itself to places no talent-show contestant should be able to go, Yamin bares his soul here in a way that would do his hero, Donny Hathaway, proud. Tracks like "Take My Breath Away" and "You Are the One" find him twisting a wrench around love-stained lyrics; "I'm the Man" and "Find A Way" flow with hat-in-hand grace (and, in the case of the latter, a scat worthy of a vintage jazz stage); and opener "Movin' On" immortalizes the season five judges'-table words of Paula Abdul: Ellliott Yamin is "one funky white boy." As he proves with this five-star album, he is also among the most gifted artists ever to a turn a stint on the show into a recording career. --Tammy La Gorce

And now a side note: You didn't think I was going to let this go without a history lesson did you? In biblical times, Baghdad actually had one of the largest Jewish populations - about 1 million inhabitants.

You gotta have a gimmick if you wanna have a chance

Remember that great scene in Gypsy when they sing about the need to have a gimmick in order to succeed? (well maybe just my mother in law and my wife and I do but that's not the point!) After last night, I have realized that gimmicks are everything right now in the restaurant world.

Last night, Karyn and I went out with our friends Esteban and Siobhan to IndeBleu. A downtown DC establishment that is a fusion of Indian and French. This restaurant, which is in the booming neighborhood around the Verizon Center and Chinatown markets itself as "an exotic menu that combines traditional French ingredients with the boldness of Indian spice". Anyway, we had a great time and the food was great but it made me think - fusion is the new fad in restaurants, especially in downtown DC. In February, Karyn and I went some other friends to Zengo which was fusion Japanese and Latin and I have to say it was pretty good as well. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good Five Guys burger or a grilled cheese from the IHOP - but I am totally drawn into these fusion restaurants.

And its not just the gimmick of fusion cuisine - its a gimmick of a theme in most examples. Even in our neighborhood of Silver Spring, there is a new bar called Piratz Tavern where everything is themed around pirates. (as the guy who cuts my hair says "Seriously, a pirate themed restaurant is good for your vacation at the beach, but on Georgia Ave?") I guess I am kind of interested in checking this out as well.

The first real fusion I can remember is when I was visited my friend Kyza in Minneapolis and she took a bunch of us out to Chino Latino on Hennepin Avenue. I was so intrigued and of course I was asking everyone "Should we ask for General Tso's Enchiladas or Moo Shi Arroz Con Pollo"? I remember that the food, dubbed as from the tropic zones, was incredible!

So here are some of my ideas for new fusion or themed restaurants:

• Queen Victoria's Colonial Grill
  Searching for that meal that tantalizes you with Indian bread, Caribbean conch fritters , a good Australian beer and Hong Kong Dim Sum? Then wait no further - come and taste all of the foods of Britain's Commenwealth at the height of Queen Victoria's reign. But we won't serve actual British food because it stinks!
  
• Cafe Regime Change
  Does the thought of biting into a juicy pineapple from Hawaii make your mouth water with excitement? How about some chicken dishes from every Central American country? A lamb kabob from Iraq or Afghanistan? Then by all means and come sample our new fusion cuisine that blends all of the countries where America has overthrown some sort of government in the last 100 years!
  
• Pangaea - The Restaurant with everything!
  Have you ever been to a restaurant and you just can't decide what to get? Well stop by Pangaea and celebrate the cuisine of the most famous prehistoric continental mass of land? Maybe even throughout the meal you can get up and bring your food to other tables to signify breaks in continental shelves? Then you can even re-enact collisions of continents around dessert?
  
• Chez Hub Closure
  Thinking of fried ravioli from St. Louis? How about a Primanti Brothers sandwich from Pittsburgh? Local fare from San Jose, CA? Stop by Chez Hub Closure where you celebrate the reorganization of domestic U.S. airlines and their choices to close hub operations due to competitive threats and poor local market demand. Your meal even comes with 2 gate leases for you to do with what you please. Future possible additions: Memphis Pit BBQ and Slavic foods from Cleveland...

So there it is - just a couple of ideas - feel free to share yours as well. Maybe we can all start a restaurant and then have a sort of boulevard of fusion/topical themed places to cash in on!

America's Linen Store: In search of a new moral fabric

Today after work, I was on the metro on the ride home when a younger teenager came onto the train about 3 stops in and proceeded to not only talk on his cell phone but was cursing the entire time. It was so dissapointing to hear this because I knew in the society we live in, you never know what is going to happen to you if you actually complain to a perfect stranger. And this problem is not just on metro trains. People are just getting ruder, more entitled and frankly increasingly becoming focused on the wrong things. And it goes across all socioeconomic classes. Today, people seem to be more focused on new gadgets they can show off as a status symbol in stead of being a good citizen. 2 days ago a 91 year old man was beaten up in northern Detroit during a carjacking and a group of bystanders just stood there and did nothing. How about atleast letting out a scream? Absolutely disgusting.

The other thing I have been noticing is that some people now think that traffic lights just don't mean anything. I have been driving through major intersections (not those ones that are in the nether regions of a neighborhood) and people are just walking like an automobile going 40 miles an hour doesn't bother them at all. It is one of the few times I honk my horn - and my wife can tell you - I rarely honk my car horn!

People need to care less about the car they drive and instead focus on their moral fabric. Otherwise the only Good Samaritans will have been left behind in Samaria.

Come on ride the grain and ride it!

Does everyone know there is a new fad that is sweeping the nation? Well it's not exactly super new but each new day I feel like it reaches a new corner of my everyday world. It is the whole grain craze! The reason I love it is because I know I am eating food that is healthier for me with lower fat, higher fiber and *sometimes lower calories. This idea that the food is better for you has also led me to religiously start eating turkey sausage, turkey hot dogs, turkey bacon, turkey burgers, turkey meatballs.

Each week I feel like something else makes the magic conversion. First it was pasta (which BTW, Barrilla Plus is the best), then it was pizza crust, macaroni and cheese, donuts, tortillas, english muffins, pita bread....but seriously, yesterday I reached a new high.

My awesome wife came home from the grocery store with WHOLE GRAIN FIG NEWTONS!!!!

Hot diggity dog I was excited. (and yes, I like whole grain hot dog buns with turkey hot dogs!)

Side note: A cookie is just a cookie but a newton is fruit and cake.

But of course there is a fundamental problem with my new pro-healthy high fiber regiment. (and no its not the toilet) That is that my brains tells me that because it is healthier for me then I can eat more. But that is not correct. So I guess its a work in progress but it's still a lifestyle change that is bound to help me in the long run.

So SO LONG white bread and other white flour products. Better join the crowd of extinct products of this world along with travel agents, VHS tapes, cassette players, blockbuster video, etc.

....tomorrow's topic, how the entire world is slowly moving towards the 100 calorie snack packs. I can't wait for the bag of 100 calorie gyros, 100 calorie vietnamese lemongrass chicken or 100 calorie Boardwalk Fries from the beach.

Hey Mister, that's my name up there on the marquee

Last night at Karyn's birthday party, one of the attendees came up to me and stated "Howie, I love your blog! I am obsessed with it and I just really want to be in it". So then as I sat down today to do a mental checklist of my thoughts I concentrated on that fundamental excitement about seeing your own name in print. Of course there are some good times to see your name in print and some bad times.

How many of us sat through high school and college graduations to rifle through a program just to see the Mann, Howard K. Or maybe you were quoted in a local newspaper or were featured in a tv news spot? I was once quoted in 8 words in a USA Today article and also once in the Allentown PA Morning Call. Karyn was interviewed by Chicago News at O'Hare Airport but in the caption they used the wrong name (Andrea Reynolds - one of my pet names for Karyn - fyi, the next person interviewed was quoted as Kryns Pincus, pretty funny!).

I do also know we have seen our names printed in bad situations as well. That speeding ticket that I once got on Rockville Pike and was stupid enough to think my mom wouldn't find out about. Then my mom called Geico to question an increase in her rate and the operator noted "Um, a driver on your plan named Howard Mann got a speeding ticket a month and a half ago and the rate reflects that infraction". Whoops on that one.

But the point is this - everyone loves seeing there name - either as a reference, a quote, a honor given or dare I say a building named after you at a local college?

So here are my top places I would like to see my name in the future:

• A Metro station: Farragut North/Howard Mann's work I mean I spend so much time there it should have my name included
• Airport terminal: Washington Mann International Airport - sure John Foster Dulles was a secretary of state but he corrupted numerous Latin countries in the name of big business in the U.S. and as I am learning he was incredibly anti-semitic. But I still love the airport so it should be named after me - and while I am alive so I can enjoy it.
• The Howard K. Mann Center of Frequent Notations of Random Trivia in the World at the University of Pittsburgh (better start to actually contribute to the university before that happens).

So I wind down my weekend thoughts, I am pretty excited about moving forward in my goals to get one of the above 3 a reality....

But first, let me give written appreciation to the reason this post is here on this blog:

Marcia Paige Allison, the shining star of the Show-Me State, thanks for being an avid reader of my blog!

Side bar: If you want to see pictures of Karyn's Birthday celebration, click here.

Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Mambo

This morning I walked into the coffee shop and as I waited in line (which included people who, like everyone else, are pretty much silent until they get their morning cup of joe) a song started playing....Dean Martin's "Ain't that kick in the head"...

How lucky can one guy be;

I kissed her and she kissed me

Like the fella once said,

Ain't that a kick in the head?

So as I was sitting listening to this song play, I really just wanted to start singing the lines! That song is soooo good and you always hear these great songs when you are in public and you can't do anything. Which is why I think we need to bring back random group choreographed dance numbers to our lives? True, most previous ones were in movies but this has to happen sooner or later. I mean, maybe this could help solve some of our world problems?

Imagine the scene - the 6 party talks are in progress along the Chinese-North Korean border about nuclear proliferation. Kim Jung Crazypants and George Bush join the leaders of Japan, China Russia and South Korea at the table. And instead of coming to a jam in communications - one of them (a la West Side Story) could just scream out "MAMBO". Then they could do a dance around the rooom - give a little solo to Kim Jung-Il (like Anita had) to make him feel better, get out all that pent up frustration of diplomacy and then bam - we could really move forward with solving the worlds problems. Of course if Jenna Bush and Kim Jong-nam (eldest son) feel in love, they would have to secretly roam the streets of Pyongyang singing "Tonight"....But I digress (not to mention that West Side Story didn't end that well for everyone involved - maybe the Oklahoma Farmer and the Cowman example is a better one?).

So as I stood in line listening to this great song - all I wanted to do was sing at the top of my lungs - and by seeing the smiles around the place as Dean's voice permeated the morning boredom of commuting into work, I bet you other people would have joined me....