I'm just not into you, KitchenAid

In the previous post, I chose my beautiful KitchenAid mixer as my number three most important recent invention, but some soul searching has forced me to face an ugly truth: given a choice of life without my mixer or life without my ATM card, I would chose life without my mixer.

Kids, I don't want to frighten you with this story, but there was once a time when you had to decide by 6 p.m. Friday how much money you needed for the weekend. The banks closed at 6 on Fridays (3 o'clock other days) and you had to go in and (usually) deposit your paycheck and take out the cash you thought you needed. The banks were closed on the weekends, and though, by the early 1980s, credit cards were pretty common (though not taken at every store), they didn't give you cash back. Yes, grocery stores and most other stores allowed you to write checks, but restaurants and movies and other places you might want to go on a weekend did not. Sorry, KitchenAid, I just don't want to go back to that. But you'll always be my number four. Until I think of something else.

I will also add another category--the invention I think I would most not want to live without if I got one, so I'm avoiding getting one: GPS for my car.