A Head On Collision

I like to post about positive, unusual, and uplifting things, but sometimes it's challenging to do that with some stories. Last Tuesday afternoon I did some food shopping in my wife's Subaru, since she was not feeling well.  It went very smoothly until I pulled up to a red light to make a left turn a mile from our house.

I had just arrived there when all of a sudden a small, blue Nissan appeared in my lane and hit me head on.  The picture below is our totaled car.  It's important to note that the impact was in the middle of the front of the car and not to the right where the driver should have been driving in his lane.

The best part of the story is that my chest is very sore, but okay.  The air bags all came out and our emergency call system came on and I had someone calling 911 immediately. Two people stopped to help me and one got my phone so I could call my wife.  My legs are fine and one arm had a bad cut which is healing well.  I didn't hit my head or my legs and my back and neck are okay too.

I did go to the hospital to get checked out.  In the ambulance with me was the 74 year-old man who was driving the blue car.  He seemed to be in even better shape than I was.  At first he said to someone he was hit from behind, but that wasn't true.  He then said he didn't know what happened.  You know it's never a good thing when you clearly see the entire face of a driver right in front of you.  His car also hit another vehicle after hitting mine.  It's possible he moved into his left hand turn lane and then drove right through the light into me.

Everyone I came in contact with was terrific.  They were very helpful, professional, and thorough.  The State Patrolman interviewed me in the hospital and told me that the other guy was given a ticket for running the red light.  He also said that the air bags come on when a car is going 35 mph or more.  I wasn't surprised, he looked like he was shot out of a cannon. The officer actually drove me home and I got to sit in his front seat with his computer pictured below.

Finally, our food was saved by my wife.  Some of the containers were bruised, but not as much as I was.  She had some blackberries all over the car and told me, "I got them all, except one on the ground I left it there." I had a little box of pop tarts that was open and I thought one of the bags of pop tarts had actually "popped" out of the box, but they were all there.  The best news is that the rotisserie chicken was not bruised and it tasted great the following today.

Almost a week later my chest is still sore, but improving.  I have some beautiful colors spread across my belly from the seatbelt.   The car is totaled and our claim is being processed-Geico has been terrific.  A couple of rules for everyone to follow:

1. Always wear a seatbelt

2. Never run a run light.

3. Always be very aware of your surroundings when driving.

My Most Memorable Rider Comments From April

They were talking about this great special at Outback Steakhouse. I said, "You have to stop, I'm going to have cottage cheese for lunch today." He said, "It's about time you went on a diet. You're pushing the weight limit in this car."

"When you head back to the North (From the South), your friendly battery runs down quickly." 

She texted me, "I'm on the beach side, rockin' cool black pants and a sunburn." 

I told the couple who knows me, "I've been married for forty years." He said, "It sounds like a life sentence. I think 25 years is legally a life sentence.  You could have killed her and have been out already."

She definitely had enjoyed herself on the beach with some alcohol and pot. She pulled out a dollar bill, turned it over and wrote, "Be safe going home and be particular."

The college student was not drinking when she came up with this creative story, "I'm an old man in disguise. I'm really 82 years old.  My name is Bob-it's short for Bobby. I worked for Kroger for fifty years and never got a raise. The spirit of the old man will always be in this car."

She: "When I was eight years old my dad was a nursing administrator. For two years I worked nine hours a day, five days a week, doing some inventory and payroll."  I asked, "Did you get paid anything?" She: "God no."

When I told them I was going to give them a gift, (My list of comments) he asked, "Anthrax?"

He and his wife live in Florida with their two kids under ten, "To celebrate my 50th birthday we're doing 50 states in 50 weeks with our flexible work schedule."

One day after a Canadian assured me that some Canadian bills DO NOT smell like maple syrup, (which several people have told me), two Canadians said, "The $100 bill definitely smells like maple syrup and they were impregnated into the bills." (It is a real, fourteen year-old myth)

 He: "My friend became a truck driver across country and put on eighty pounds in ten months. His favorite stops are Burger King and Arby's. I offered to buy him a small fridge to put healthier foods in it, but he turned me down."

When she just retired people would ask her what she was doing and she would say, "I'm enjoying my front porch."

He: "Charleston is like an interactive museum."

He: "In The South you have to work to live, it should be you have to live to work."

After having several people from Boston who did not say "car" with a Boston accent, the woman from Boston told me, "I think the accent is dying out."

She: "I had an Uber driver who had about 50 green, Christmas air fresheners hanging from the ceiling. They were all identical."

Minnesota has been voted the friendliest state in the country in the past.  From Minnesota, she said there is a saying there, "People will give you directions to anyplace but their home."

He: "I learned from my grandfather when we were hunting deer. When I said it was hard to do, he said, "Nothing worth doing is easy." I always say, "Is anything easy worth having?"

She has around thirty clients for her cleaning business. Me: "Do you work with someone else?" She: "No, no, I need all my money!" (Eleven children ages 1 to 26)

She: "I used to be a lawyer. " Me: "What are you now?" She: "A lot less stressed."

He gets off of his security job at 7:30 am. I asked, "What do you do when you get home?" He: "I grab a couple beers and decompress, it's my happy hour."

He knew someone who had a business that his kids had been stealing from him. "He told me that he wants his ashes put in the toilet since his kids have been shitting on him his whole life."

When I asked the little boy, "How old are you?" He quickly said, "10!" His mom laughed and said, "He's four."

"Bringing her "Southern Charm" (her boyfriend from the South) to New York for the first time to LaGuardia Airport, the young woman from New York told him, "Don't look at anyone, don't smile, follow me, keep your head down and pick up the pace. If you can't pick it up, go in front of me and I'll move you and don't pet the police dog. I don't have time to go to the hospital because he bit your hand off."

 MORE RIDER COMMENTS

The bar manager said, "I had three job offers, The Ozarks, Martha's Vineyard, and The Rockies. I'm leaving next month for the Rockies."

I said I had a library of over 400 hundred books and he replied, "You have to do something when you don't have a TV." (We do now, after five years)

He: "Myrtle Beach is the Northern Florida."

His wife left Iran a long time ago and he says, "The best way to visit Iran is not to buy a ticket."

His name is Jesselee and he said, "I've researched it and there are only two people on the planet with this name and the other one is a comedian in California."

When I asked her how it feels to be retired, the accountant said, "I don't have to think anymore, you just don't care."

He said, "Charleston hasn't changed in 35 years, it's refreshing."

Taking the couple from Canada to the International Film Festival, I asked them, "Are you hear to see any film in particular?" She answered, "His."

Young military guy: "I was just hanging out, carrying around as a kid in high school, but the military gets that all out of you."

She: "We've been dating four years. If it takes him ten years to propose, he's my man."

I asked the man, "What do you?" His wife said, "He's a man of leisure." (Retired)

She said, "My weakness is shopping and seafood."

Restarting her life and considering missionary work, she said, "I want to make the world a better place, I want to make a difference."

She told her southern boyfriend, "This is Newark, a different king of hell."

The two best friends are getting married in August and one who is going to Italy and Greece said, "I'd rather go with her than my husband."

An elite high school basketball player in New York, "I played against Dr. J, Connie Hawkins, Dave DeBusschere, Nate Archibald, and Willis Reed gave me a chipped tooth."

"I'm not a bartender, because I'd rather have a life."

"I'm in Yacht management."

She moved out of New Orleans recently and said, "I think they recruit out of jail for the city government."

From Pennsylvania he said, "The country's largest buffet is Millers Buffet in Lancaster, Pa." (It really is)

"My name is Cyncerie and I have 13 Kids."

She: "My real name is Oz, it's a Turkish name."

"Life is so delicious."

She told me, "I have a 210 pound dog."

I told him I saw a school bus run a red light recently and he said, "Someone at work today told me they were hit recently by a school bus that ran a red light."

She: "I tattoo brows and it usually costs $600-$700 for the four hours."

He is convinced about this, "All sports is run by the Mafia."

The social worker said, "Some people don't know their lonely."

I asked them how they met and he said, "Playing kickball, we were on opposite teams."

ABOUT MY MANNEQUIN LILY:

"My mom has 15-20 mannequins, each with a different hair style. She puts them in a case and carries them to clients she has."

The college student from New Hampshire explained, "My mom bought a mannequin head and put it in our refrigerator and asked my younger sister to get something for her in the fridge.  We move the head around the house scaring each other all the time."

"You have hell-like security. Tell your girlfriend to stop looking in the back of the car."

"My mom has five mannequins that she uses for clients.  I have one that I call Susan."

"The head got me."

He said, "I thought she was a reminder of your wife, some men are very attached to their wives." Me: "I've been attached for forty years."

ABOUT ME AND MY CAR:

He said, "This is like a time traveling machine."

He said, "This gives me more faith in humanity."

She: "I'll remember this forever."

"I've never seen anything like this."

She: "This was a great way to start my morning."

The bride to be said, "You're teaching me more than I've ever learned in my life."

"This feels like the best Uber ride ever."

"You made my day great!"

In the mental health field, I asked her if she had an analysis of me and she replied, "I would need to ask a lot more questions."

The social worker said, "You're like an undercover social worker."

The young guy was getting out and said, "This is one helluva car sir."

She: "You may be the best Uber driver ever." Me: "May?"

"I love this."

"It's beautiful, I love this."

"You should be in the papers."

"So cool I got to see you(the car) in the daylight."

"You're the most interesting driver I've ever had."

"What a great ride."

Giving me a big tip, the man from Brazil said, "You are a very nice man."

"You're the best."

"I've been in a lot of Uber's, this was my favorite Uber."

"This was amazing-it was so much fun."

He said, "This was fabulous."

"This is so cool."

"This is the best ride I've ever had."

My Favorite Riders In April

                                                     

 BARBADOS IS NUMBER 50!

There were two women from Barbados that I was driving and when they saw my collection of bills, one of them said, "We don't have any money from Barbados."  A couple minutes later after entertaining them, I was handed this bill for my 50th country represented in my car.  The windmill on the right is on the back of the bill.  I think when I said I had 49 countries represented, they wanted to be #50.                      

TWO BRIDES TO BE

There is a first time for everything and these young women are both getting married this August.  They are best friends and definitely had a good time the night before.  On the way to the airport, they entertained me as much as I entertained them, maybe they entertained a little more.  One of them did say, "You're teaching me more than I've ever learned in my life." One bride to be is going to Hawaii on her honeymoon and the other is going to Italy and Greece. I'm not going to say which one, but one did say about her honeymoon, "I'd rather go with her than with my husband."  They are not getting married in the same place.  I wished both of them forty years of happiness and I'm still waiting for the picture they took of all of us at the airport.

HER "SOUTHERN CHARM"

She is from New York and the longer the ride went, her inner New Yorker kept coming out.  She met her boyfriend in South Carolina and she calls him, "Southern Charm." I laughed a lot when she told me about taking him to New York for the first time.  She kept giving him instructions and directions on what to do.  At LaGuardia Airport she told him, " Don't look at anyone, don't smile, follow me, keep your head down and pick up the pace. If you can't pick it up, go in front of me and I'll move you."  He loves dogs and she pointed to the police dog and said, "That is the police, do not pet him.  I don't have time to go to the hospital, because he bit your hand off."  She is clearly in love after four years, because she told me this: "If it takes him ten years to propose, he's my man."  

HOOP TEA

It was a great way to start my day with an inspiring success story.  My rider who was in distribution, received a promotion in Maryland to move to New York with only a small increase in pay. After turning it down, he later accepted a very good severance package from the company.  He called a friend who had a cafe on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md. and a small brewery next to it.  The friend was selling iced tea with 4% alcohol and they decided to get serious about the marketing of the product, Hoop Tea.

The head of Anheuser-Busch found Hoop Tea in a local store and loved it and called the two entrepreneurs.  Hoop Tea is now an Anheuser-Busch product being run by my rider and his friend.  The drink can be found in around twenty different states and it is growing well.  I received a little swag from my rider and it now sits with my hats in my car.  Congrats to them and a great future.

             

CELEBRATING HIS 5OTH BIRTHDAY

The Florida couple are celebrating his 50th birthday by doing a 50-50.  No, not a raffle, but they are going to take their two kids to 50 states over 50 weeks and continue to work at the same time.  They were both former Uber and Lyft drivers and she has been with the Walt Disney Company for ten years and works as a server in a restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios.  He runs their Etsy business and with flexible schedules they have this adventure planned out.  As a big Disney fan myself I was surprised when he told me that he has been to Disney World around 2,000 times in his life. What a great way to celebrate a special birthday! I enjoyed driving them in Charleston and helping them with their fun quest.

THE CREATIVE COLLEGE STUDENT

I mentioned  to the three college students that I write about my favorite riders each month and their favorite comments and one of them wanted to know if she could be on the blog.  She then told me a story that started, "I'm really an old man and I'm 82 years old. My name is Bob, which is short for Bobby. I worked in a Kroger for fifty years and never got a raise." For a good five minutes she added to the story and told me that it all started, "On the beach when I saw a big X." I was driving and having difficulty following the story, but she ended it by saying, "The aura of the old man will always be in this car."  It was a terrific performance.

THE ALASKAN SCIENTIST

Sometimes there isn't enough time to talk to a rider.  I spoke with my passenger for twenty minutes but did not get to talk about living in Alaska.  She's only the second Alaskan I've driven and the other was not a permanent resident.  As a scientist, she is working on environmental clean-up.  She told me, "I've been a chemist and a biologist." She also owns a Ford Transit passenger van like I do.  What does she put in the van? How about a 210 pound dog? Her dog weighs seven times the weight of my dog, but I didn't have time to discuss her dog. She had a great laugh and we had a good time talking, but ten more minutes would have been better.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD

She needed a new start and decided to move from Ohio to Mt. Pleasant in the Charleston, South Carolina area. She works in finance and being a number's guy, we got to talk about some numbers and we had an entertaining ride.  She's thinking of maybe doing some missionary work, because she, "Wants to make a difference in the world." When I dropped her off, she handed me a folded up $100 bill.  I was speechless and she said, "I want to make a difference in people's lives." I think she's off to a very good start in her new life.

A GREAT BOOK SALE

I have blogged about my favorite day of the year before, but here's a summary.  When I was a kid I used to go into bookstores and look at the sports section and history/biography section and pick out the books that I'd like to buy.  On more than one occasion I would think that when I got older I would buy a bunch of books and spend $100 in one day.  I did not know about inflation.  I also thought about how cool it would be to actually write a book and I did publish, "Driving On The Sunny Side With 10,000 Strangers" this past October.

In 2001, at the age of 40, I found out about The Hunterdon County Book Sale and I absolutely loved it.  I probably went home with 25-30 books and spent $30-$40.  There were several years my kids went and at least one that I took my dad to this event.  Between 2001 and 2017 I bought 25-40 books here each year except one.

Below is a picture of the large room filled with books, including the boxes and boxes of books under the tables.  It is an extraordinary scene....for a reader.  I want to thank The Friends of Hunterdon Library for their incredible event that has meant so much to me and thousands of other readers.  I will be sending this blog to them.

In 2017 we planned on moving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and my library of 800 books could not all go with me.  It was difficult and painful to do, but I packed up over 500 books in boxes by subject and donated them back to the library. Below is the picture of what my vehicle looked like with 30-40 boxes of books.

This past Sunday morning I pulled up for half price Sunday at 9 am, an hour before the doors opened.  The woman I parked next to thought it started at 9 am and she wanted to know where she could go so she wouldn't sit in the car.  She had only been to the book sale once and I encouraged her to stand in line with me and we had a great conversation.  She turned out to be Jewish, from Edison, and also an author and a writer.  The third person to show up was from Edison and also an author.  It was the most fun I've ever had in a line in my life.

Usually it would take me only thirty minutes to find the books I wanted, but on Sunday I took a whole hour and had a great time.  Below is the picture of my 38 books which cost $39.  I'll mention only four of the books, because of how unique they are:

1. The journals of Henry David Thoreau will be a more difficult read, but he was a very special individual. Of his most famous quotes has always been one of mine: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."

2. "Milton Berle's Private Joke File", is one of the largest books and who knows how much I'm going to laugh while reading it.

3.  A biography on Thomas Edison is something I have never read before. Growing up in Edison, New Jersey, this will definitely be a fascinating read.

4. Last, but not least, I did buy four books on former President Donald Trump.  One book is for Trump and two are definitely not and the fourth one is entitled, "The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump." I laughed when I read the title and I have to guess this is a tongue in cheek, analysis or samples of how he talks.  It will be different to read for sure.

A FABULOUS WEEKEND

Everyone always wishes you a good weekend and let's face it, we've had a lot of good weekends in our life.  However, what about those fabulous weekends we've had? It could be the day you were married, or the birth of a child, or when your team wins the Super Bowl. There have been some really fabulous weekends.

This past weekend was a fabulous weekend for me. My wife and I spent most of the day Friday driving to Pennsylvania and most of Monday driving home to Myrtle Beach from New Jersey.  But, in between? Here are the highlights:

1. In those 48 hours from Friday to Sunday night I managed to eat a bunch of my favorite foods: chicken parmesan, a roast beef triple decker sandwich, a corned beef and pastrami sloppy Joe, a Jim Dandy sundae at Friendly's with coffee ice cream, and chocolate cake. I enjoyed them all immensely.

2. We had a very nice Italian dinner with our son and daughter-in law on Friday night and my wife surprised her with a gift, a Brahmin purse.

3. On Saturday, we were at the baby shower for our daughter-in-law.  Below is a picture of the cake which was chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  Below that picture was the "Gender Reveal" which involved the mother-to-be kicking a rugby ball. (Since she plays) However, the pink smoke did not come out until my son kicked it. The third picture of course is the pink smoke.  The baby's name will be Riley Constance, named after my dad, Richard, and my daughter-in-laws favorite aunt, Connie.

3. Early Sunday morning my best friend, Larry, was celebrating his 64th birthday.  After I treated him to the free breakfast at my hotel, he decided to play his guitar, which he did in the pool room.  It was a short concert and I was the only witness.  In the parking lot I gave him a pizza box with candles and a little song I wrote inside to the tune of The Beatles song, "When I'm Sixty-Four." He didn't read it, he sang it with a British accent.

4.Sunday morning: I drove to the big book sale I haven't been to since 2019 and in an hour picked up 38 books I'm looking forward to read. It cost me a total of $39 which is ridiculous. I think it was my 18th book sale there since 2001, but who's counting.  I had a great time, more on the book sale coming soon.

5. Sunday afternoon: We drove down to the Trenton area to spend some time with my wife's aunt and uncle and we went out to an early dinner before heading to our hotel for a few hours of sleep before heading home at 3 am Monday morning.

Where Did My Package Go?

It seems like every other week someone in our neighborhood is looking for a package they had ordered. I'm sure with Amazon's popularity, this is a common thing in many neighborhoods.  There are many different companies delivering, including some packages coming through the person delivering the mail. Sometimes, the package never appears, but never can be a long, long time.

For example: what if you're a carpenter and you live in the Faroe Islands and your name is Niels. Your wife decides to send Mr. Ladsen's fiance a red sweater in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Did I mention that it is 1807? Your package doesn't arrive because it is seized two weeks after being mailed. The British Navy grabbed it during the second battle of  Copenhagen.

It sounds far fetched, but below is the package that was finally opened 200 years later. The United Kingdom's National Archives finally opened the package and found a red dress in pristine condition, pictured below. It looks more like a blouse, but maybe the fiance was very small or it shrunk?

You know that package that never arrived at your door? Maybe someone else will be opening it 50-100 years from now? 

Is There A Chocolate Crisis?

I don't want to alarm you.  There are a lot of serious things going on in the country today, but if less chocolate is going to be available, THAT is really serious.  Maybe you read the story about how the price of cocoa recently went up by 25% in one week? 

Chocolate is produced mainly in four West African countries, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria.  They have 75% of the world's production of cocoa. The problem is that production will be short 374,000 tons this year, (300,000 more than the shortage last year). The shortage is a result of not enough new trees being planted, bean disease, and bad weather.  

There is more demand than ever for chocolate and whose fault is it? All of us are guilty-The Mars Company, Hershey, (The town and company) and The Girl Scouts too. What would happen if there were less thin mints? How much would a box cost then?  What about M & M's? What about Valentine's Day?

This is a list of the top five chocolate companies in the world:

#5 Lotte, a Korean Company- 2022 revenue was $10.62 billion

#4 Ferrero, an Italian Company-2022 revenue was $1.94 billion

#3 Mondelez, operates in 160 countries-2022 revenue was $31.50 billion

#2 Mars Wrigley Confectionery- USA-2022 revenue was $47 billion

#1 Nestle SA-Swiss-2022 revenue was $108.13 billion

I think the whole world really likes chocolate. Supposedly, the chocolate companies are saying that consumers will have to pay more due to the shortage.  Will Kelloggs start taking "The more cocoa" out of the Cocoa Krispies?