NO "ALL YOU CAN EAT" BUFFETS?

This virus thing has gone too far. Sickness, death, unemployment, businesses bankruptcy, people isolated from friends and family, sick people unable to get surgeries done, Republicans and Democrats agreeing on providing trillions of dollars of relief, but enough is enough.  How is it possible that there may not be any "All You Can Eat" places around for my 60th birthday!!!

Last year I had a plan. From March trough June I would lose 20 pounds.  In July, we would get to Disney World and meet our son there for a few days and I would enjoy eating some delicious turkey legs in the park. (and enjoy being there with my wife and son...also) Around my birthday in August our three children were going to visit together to celebrate and I wanted to go to several "All You Can Eat" places and see if I could eat 60 of my favorite foods.

So this virus thing starts, (from you know where), and I'm home for nine straight weekends with a refrigerator only a few steps away from me.  My courier work slows down and I don't burn off a few more pounds that I would have burned off. It is now five weeks from July 1, and I've lost only 9 pounds, the drumstick vacation in Florida is canceled, my children may or may not be able to visit, and THERE MAY BE NO "ALL YOU CAN EAT" PLACES!!!

I did hear that some places are doing it differently, serving you or you can order from the buffet, but it's not the same. The fun part is going up and down and up and down and piling the food all around. (yes, it rhymes)  I still remember the chicken and ribs I left on my third plate at Captain Georges Buffet!

Don't worry or lose any sleep about this, I'm make adjustments and I will have a contingency plan. What foods do I really need and how much of it do I want to eat for a week? Stay tuned, I'll let you know when I have it all set, but who would ever thought a year ago that we'd be talking about no "All You Can Eat" places? Am I the only one concerned about this?

Yellow Watermelon?

I've decided that there are way too many things I do not know about.  There are too many of these things that are completely foreign to me.  How is it that my wife knows about them? Did they cover these things in school? I hardly missed any school, still, I can't believe some of these things exist.

I came home from work recently and my wife was cutting up the watermelon, the yellow watermelon. It looked like pineapple, but it did taste like watermelon.  It wasn't the exact taste, but if you were blindfolded, you would have have guessed-watermelon.

It tastes a little sweeter and has kind of a honey or apricot taste.  It also has high levels of Vitamin A and C and of course not many calories.  It took some getting used to eating it, but it was good, especially when it was cold.

What if other red foods were yellow? Would we put yellow catsup on french fries? What would a yellow tomato taste like? Would you eat a medium rare steak if it was yellow inside? Would it bother you if you cut yourself and your blood was yellow?

Enjoy the holiday weekend and hope you have some red watermelon, it's better than yellow.

I'm Popeye The Sailor?

For 59 years I managed to stay away from eating spinach, although it's possible my Mom slipped some baby food spinach in when I couldn't say, "no way." It's not just the taste of spinach, but let's be honest, it looks awful too.  I know, they say you can't tell a book by it cover, but in this case that does not apply.

The cartoon character, "Popeye The Sailor", was an animated cartoon that was on television in 1960.  Believe it or not, the first episode ran September 1, 1960, thirteen days after I was born. which is why we have so much in common, we're the same age! The  Popeye character originally started though in 1933 in what they called "theatrical shorts" (cartoons) and it was owned by Paramount Pictures.

For those of you so young you can only say you heard of the sixties, Popeye was kind of a scrawny looking sailor with big arms that got bigger when he was in trouble.  Somehow, a can of "tasty" spinach would pop out and he would eat the whole can immediately. (this had to be enough to turn off little kids immediately, because it didn't look good on television either) However, eating spinach gave him super strength and he was able to save his girlfriend, Olive Oyl (yes, her real name) from his rival the evil Brutus. (no relation to the Julius Caesar "Brutus."}Brutus's name was changed to the much more serious "Bluto." There was some infringement problems with the popular name "Bluto", so they had to introduce the new evil guy, who they called "Brutus." (I'm not making this up)

Back to the spinach from my history lesson. I am now eating spinach, but not straight out of the can. My wife has put it in ziti, spaghetti, and lasagna. The secret to eating spinach is to mix it in with pasta or sauce so it dilutes the taste of the spinach. And, whatever you do, don't look at what you're eating!

Do I like it? I like the meal and I know the spinach is there, but I ignore it. I just hope she doesn't try to sneak it in to chicken especially chicken parmesan. I keep checking my arms in the mirror, so far I haven't seen any change. How much of this stuff do you have to eat?

A Final Facebook Post for Uber/Lyft Riders

For 56 days I wrote a daily positive post on the Uber/Lyft local website for other drivers.  A few times I used things that I have blogged about here, but a good number of things were directed towards the job of being an Uber/Lyft driver.  Below is my final post which went out on Friday.  It summarizes the 56 posts and I thought a few of you might find it interesting.

Wishing everyone in “Rideshare Land” a fabulous Friday and a safe weekend. This is my final positive post during this virus and I hope you enjoy it. If you love music, a terrific documentary on Clive Davis, the music mogul, is on Netflix. He said, “the greatest gift in life is to love what you do.” I’ve always enjoyed the work I did and in some cases I did love it. Driving for Uber&Lyft is definitely something I love doing. One of the fringe benefits for me is clearly the riders. Meeting and talking to people from all walks of life has been more fun and interesting than I ever would have imagined. Eight weeks ago, when I knew I wasn’t going to drive, I decided not to focus on what I wasn’t going to do, but what I was going to do. My favorite singer, Paul McCartney, sang fifty years ago, “take a sad song and make it better.” How could I make this better? We each have unique skills, talents, and experiences that other people don’t have. For instance, let’s say you worked in the local unemployment office and you were also a driver and you spent your time to help other drivers get through the unemployment paperwork. It would be greatly appreciated, but that’s not something I could do.

 I’ve been reading positive books, biographies of successful people and have experienced many positive things in my life from using what I’ve learned. As a driver and manager of drivers for thirty years, I care a lot about being a driver and I have great respect for drivers. I thought if I posted something positive each day, I could get some laughs or smiles and give you a short break from the virus. I knew that many of you would be missing driving as much or more than I was going to. I thought I could give you some different things to think about. And, there will be a day in the future that you’ll have a tough day driving. I hope you’ll think about the great rides you’ve had in the past or make yourself laugh at something to change your mood. Hopefully, you’ll remember that your next ride could be the one you’ll never forget, or it might just be a very profitable ride that will change your day. To summarize 56 posts: Entertain your riders and let them entertain you. Educate your riders and let them educate you. Have fun, be safe, and spread some of your sunshine to your riders. Now more than ever, people are looking for some good news, for a few laughs, or for something positive. You can do that and make someone’s day.

My wife frequently says that I always like to have the last word.  However, I’m giving the last words to someone who has inspired millions of people for the past sixty years. My favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote is this: “If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.” (my wife is usually right) My final words-BE A GREAT DRIVER.

Sometimes History Repeating Itself Is Good

One real history story and one personal history for you.  I've mentioned before that I have a number of customers I deliver to as a courier who have presidential last names.  The two most common are Johnson and Wilson, but I've had Grant, Kennedy, Carter, Bush, Adams, and Hoover.  I may have missed a couple in that list.  This week I had my first Coolidge, which is not a common name. The woman loved history and I asked her what Coolidge was famous for and of course she knew. He was known as "Silent Cal", because he spoke so little. (like our current President) I told her a very famous story that she had never heard before.

Two women were at a party that Coolidge was at and they were talking about how little he talks.  One woman said that she would bet she could get Coolidge to say more than two words. The bet was on and she walked up to Coolidge and said, "I just made a bet that I could get you to say more than two words." His reply, "you lose." The woman Itold laughed a lot and I'm sure she now has a good story to share with other people, especially ones with the last name of Coolidge.

About two weeks ago I was coming out of a hospital I deliver to and woman had a cart full of Chick-fil-A sandwiches and she asked me if I wanted one.  I've had people offer me a drink or candy at Halloween, but never real food.  I said thank you and I enjoyed eating the chicken sandwich.  This week it happened again and I'm going to have to blame the virus. I was delivering water to a bank lobby and the woman offered me a bottle of water which I politely turned down since I had water in the car.  Then she offered me a "pop", which I haven't heard soda called that in a very long time.  I was able to politely refuse since I hadn't had any soda in two months since visiting New Jersey.

I could not resist her offer of a Mike Subs sandwich though.  On the table were a bunch of sandwiches and I walked out of the bank wearing a mask and carrying a sandwich. (money would have been even better) I was hoping for Turkey or Roast Beef, but it was an Italian sub, which I hadn't had in many, many years.  But, it was free and as my brother-in-law Steve says, "free is for me." I did have lunch a couple hours before, but I reached in the bag to find a bottle of water, chips and I grabbed the sandwich. It was pretty good, but my appetite was going and I wondered, is there another part to this sandwich?

About 12-15 years ago I was delivering magazines down in the Old Bridge/Raceway Park area and I was going to visit the Pick-It Deli. I had eaten a large sub there a few times and I was looking forward to it. I was really hungry and with a car full of magazines I stopped in and ordered the sub and asked them to cut it into fives since it's easier to eat while driving. It was a very busy day and the sub made the day special, it was great. I think it was corned beef, pastrami, and turkey with Russian dressing. Each part of the sub was wrapped up so I had a bag with a lot of garbage in it and it was messy.

I was done eating, but still hungry and I remember thinking I could eat a couple more of those little sub pieces. It was time to throw the bag out and I reached in and found one more piece of sub. I was thrilled and it was the best tasting piece of them all, since it was unexpected.

Fast forward back to this week and yes, history repeated itself when I found another part of this free sandwich.  It was not as good as the sub from the Pick-It Deli, but it was free and I did enjoy it. Next time history repeats itself I'm hoping for Roast Beef or Turkey though.

Running The Charleston Bridge

Yesterday morning I was thinking about what I was going to do on the weekend.  My wife needed a few holes dug in the backyard and I was very excited about doing that. We were also going to Home Depot to get some rocks and bricks which was almost as exciting as digging the holes. I knew I was going to run both mornings, but suddenly I had a brainstorm.  I had originally planned on walking the Ravenel bridge in Charleston in the spring, but I was waiting until the weather got a little warmer.

When the virus hit, I started running and I changed my goal.  I figured it would be perfect to run the bridge, which I could do in the fall. I had no big plans this weekend, why wait for the fall?  This morning I got up early as usual and instead of sleeping a couple extra hours as I have been on the weekend, I got ready to drive to Charleston.

It was only 60 degrees when I left the house at 5 am.  It was a nice easy drive as usual and arrived at the bridge at 6:30. I stretched some and put on my winter hat since I knew it is always windy up on the bridge. I started the walk up to the bridge and then began my jog, uphill.

I knew there was an incline, but it went a long way. If it was flat I could of jogged to the middle of the bridge which I think was 1 1/2 miles.  I stopped way before that, walked, and then jogged some more. The incline did flatten out which made it easier. I took some pictures and held on to my camera for dear life, it was windy.

Walkers and runners stay to the left and bikers are in the right lane closest to the traffic. (with a barrier keeping us from the cars)  I sat down for a few minutes towards the middle of the bridge and then made the jog/walk back down.  Not surprisingly, the way down was easier.  I was on the bridge for about 50 minutes and then got in my car and drove home.

It was fun-it was a different kind of Saturday morning.

Hiding The Tuna Fish

Let's face it, it's not a common thing to be hiding tuna fish, but I did it just for the fun of it.  I like to eat a small container of tuna for lunch once in awhile as a break from having a sandwich. I'll ask my wife to make me some tuna and she makes it for me. I would make the tuna, but she doesn't want me to since I make a mess.

It's been so long since I made tuna I'm not sure I remember how. I think you get it out of the can by peeling off the top or jabbing it with scissors or using a can opener.  You put it in a bowl and mix a glob of mayo in it and mush it up until it looks edible. Then you try to rinse out the can and have it dry off for recycling and the bowl you rinse off or you lick the bowl, either one.

She made two little containers and I used to eat them on back to back days, but she said she might eat the second one.  We were getting ready to go to sleep and I said, "what if you can't find the tuna, because I hid it?" She laughed and asked if I really thought she couldn't find something in the fridge. (I'm the one who always can't find things, sometimes because she hides them in the back)

The idea of hiding the little Tupperware-like container in the fridge was funny to me. This morning when I got up, I did remember the tuna.  The fridge was half empty, which didn't seem like a good test.  My wife had made blueberry bread and wrapped the small pieces up. I unwrapped one and wrapped up the tuna container and had it in the back.

I knew she would find it and of course she ate it. Now the fridge is full and I have to find something good to hide so she won't find it.

Rod Serling appears in Myrtle Beach

"The Twilight Zone" is one of my top three television shows of all-time. For the past six weeks I've been doing a daily post on the Uber/Lyft Facebook site helping drivers get through this difficult time.  I've been doing some positive posts and also discussing different areas related to driving for Uber/Lyft.  Below is my post today which I thought some of you might be entertained with:

(The picture is in black and white) The announcer, Rod Serling, of the Twilight Zone speaks: “You are looking at a parking lot, it is empty. This is just not any parking lot, it’s an airport lot and it could be Anytown, USA. It’s a lot usually filled with dozens of Uber and Lyft drivers parked every which way, waiting for planes to land and customers to drive. What you’re about to see is a driver, lonely but long-winded, who is struggling to find an answer. When the riders come back, how does he talk to them while he’s wearing a mask? He will find his answer, today, in this lot…in the Twilight Zone.” ((He drives into the lot and parks his van and opens all his doors pacing back and forth) “My voice is muffled wearing a mask, no one can hear me sitting behind me. What if I clipped on a microphone to my shirt like they do on stage and I could talk into it? Can you clip one inside a mask? (This is your driver. We are traveling at 55 mph and our time of arrival is 2 pm.) If I talked a lot louder without a microphone, would they hear me? Would it be annoying? I could get a portable microphone for the back so I could hear them. They could pass the mic around like they are on a game show.

(looking in the van he gets another idea) The shelf above the front dashboard, I could tape pieces of paper that hang down and write with markers. The first one, WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Then, like a flip chart the next one would say, HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED THERE? Maybe one or two other questions and then the next sheets of paper for locals: HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED HERE? WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS? I could point to these.  How do I tell my favorite stories? Maybe a little tape recorder? I could tape 6-10 stories and play one depending on who I’m driving. Or, I could type them up on separate sheets and give one out? Or, maybe a loose- leaf notebook with the stories inside and my favorite rider quotes, that could work. I got it-I’ll do all of these and alternate between riders!” (Rod Serling’s voice comes back: “It’s only one lonely driver of many across the country, still searching for his next ride. Today, he found an answer on how to communicate, but he created another problem. How does he get all this done before the next plane arrives, for him, in The Twilight Zone.” Tomorrow's post on Magnificent Monday: The young rider who impresses everyone. I don’t know about you, but because of the virus we’re getting a number of discounts from companies we do business with.