I’ve written about The West Wing on a number of occasions because it is my favorite television series ever. But it is also, for me, endlessly thought-provoking and topical. In the episode I am thinking of tonight, from Season One, Six Meetings Before Lunch, Josh is speaking with a fine candidate for assistant Attorney General. The gentleman asks him a question about an everyday item, that shows how we sometimes overlook most the things closest to us.
More below the fleur de kos!
JEFF
You got a dollar?
JOSH
Yeah.
JEFF
Take it out. Look at the back.
Josh does.
JEFF
The seal, the pyramid, it's unfinished. With the eye of God looking over it. And the words Annuit Coeptis. He, God, Favors our Undertaking. The seal is meant to be unfinished, because this country's meant to be unfinished. We’re meant to keep doing better. We're meant to keep discussing and debating and we're meant to read books by great historical scholars and then talk about them …
(From
westwingtranscripts.)
I was thinking about it because of a story Kathy told me, about how she and some friends paid for a great excursion by following a suggestion made by one of their spouses. The man suggested paying for the trip with ‘K’ dollars.
It worked so well, Kathy has saved K’s ever since.
So, what is a ‘K’ dollar?
From the Decoding a One Dollar Bill website, we can see a prominent letter on the face of every dollar. If you look at that page, the dollar shown has an F on it, not coincidentally ALSO the first letter of the bill’s serial number.
From that site …
There are twelve different Federal Reserve Banks responsible for printing paper money in the United States. On the one dollar bill, the bank can be quickly identified by a letter code in the Federal Reserve Seal to the left of the portrait of George Washington. The letter code is also found in the prefix of the serial number. A corresponding Federal Reserve District Number code is found in four locations. The following table is a handy reference for the bank codes:
Reserve Bank
Letter
Designation
Boston
A
1
New York
B
2
Philadelphia
C
3
Cleveland
D
4
Richmond
E
5
Atlanta
F
6
Chicago
G
7
St. Louis
H
8
Minneapolis
I
9
Kansas City
J
10
Dallas
K
11
San Francisco
L
12
(And much more is there as well!)
I don’t know how many things Kathy has paid for using K dollars. I do know she is not finished! And, where possible, I help!
Do you have any little conventions you use to facilitate saving? What is the last thing you remember noticing for the first time about something from your daily life?
Thanks for reading tonight! Happy Kibitzing!
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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