SEPTEMBER RIDER COMMENTS

 The mother said, "Arkansas is a terrible state." When I said that Bill Clinton had a library in Little Rock where they lived, the 14 year old boy said, "we don't condone him."

The recently engaged man said to me about first meeting his fiancee, "she has rich parents which kept me interested for awhile."(joking behind her back)

Former Uber driver: "I'd rather be pissed off, than pissed on."

He said, "Elon Musk's daughter's name is an equation." It is X AE A -Xii.

The three close friends, sorority sisters, were on a girl's weekend. One woman: "I don't think we've said anything funny to make your list of favorite comments." Another woman pointing to the third woman, a lawyer, " I have it. We have known her for 17 years and this is the first time we've seen her boobs."

Insurance agent: "I had a couple in my office and the husband said, "How can you expect us to pick what kind of insurance to get, we can't even decide when to have sex."

Retired and now a limo driver: "My best day for tips was recently when I made $1,150 in one day which included a $200 tip during the day and a $700 tip on a $600 bill in the evening."

Her: "My nickname is "Moon." As a baby when I cried they showed me the moon and I stopped crying.  I had a lot of male cousins and when I got a little older I would drop my pants and moon them."

"My friend and I were at a bar in New York and we looked online and saw that we could get tickets for the Michigan game for only $20. We got in our car and drove to Michigan without telling anyone. My girlfriend made me sleep on the couch for two weeks."

Me: "How long have you lived in Memphis?" Him: "too long."  Me: "What's the best thing about living in Memphis?" Him: "Leaving."

Two female police officers from Florida: "I sometimes hesitate to tell people what we do since some people love us and some people hate us."

Woman: "I work in research and development for a spirit company- I'm a supertaster." (they have more than 30 tastebuds on part of their tongue) "I really don't like how bananas taste."

Me to guy in his early 20's: "Did your strict upbringing give you a strong work ethic?" Him: "Absofuckinglutely."

Woman: "We were celebrating her birthday and we did drink a lot. We weren't drugged, mugged, or raped, but I did shake a tree a bit."

Insurance agent: "We had a very good customer who was having a mail order wedding, so we had it in our office.  We decorated with a lot of white, not knowing that white in Chinese represents death.(bride was chinese)

Woman: "I like the wind and air here, we don't really have wind in Ohio."

Me: "What kind of lawyer are you?" Him: "A good one."

"There was a 1947 Rolls Royce at the wedding we just attended here. There are only two in the world."

Couple in their 40's?: "Can you tell you us the best strip club to go to? When we travel we always go to one in each town."

Florida resident: "I'm not going to be taking my kids to Disney World, it's too commercialized."

Business owner with 85 employees: "I told my staff, if you're vaccinated and you get sick, I'll take care of it, but if you're unvaccinated and you get it, it's "fuck'n up to you."

Me: "What do you do for work?" Male: "I have 5 R&B's, I'm a slumlord."

"I plowed snow in upper state New York where we had 140 inches of snow in the winter.  One time there was 54 inches that came down in 24 hours.  We had to clear the roof to open the front door."

Visiting from Boston he said, "People are like in slow motion down here."

"I'm not into politics at all but when President Obama closed the pipeline for 18 months I lost $400,000." (Welder)

"My husband is an ICU nurse and he has seen so many people die violently without their family, it's been very difficult on him."

Mother: "My two year old has an Italian accent, she's saucy."

"Uber makes it too easy not to drive drunk."

After the man from Boston said the word "Karrr"(not car), he said, "I don't have an accent."

Male: "I'm from Louisiana.  I can only go so long without a woman."

Woman: "We've been engaged for four years.  Getting married is on our to do list."

Father: "My son and I had the talk this past week about how fortunate he is and how he should appreciate what he has.  We ended up hugging and crying on the couch, so I think he got the message."

Black male: "I'm a software developer making games for a cartoon called "Afro Man" which enlightens and inspires young children."

Woman: "When I was 11, I wanted a bathing suit and my Dad said, "If you want it, go out and earn it." I started working in a clothing store to get clothes and at 15, I was running a small store."

Two young men from Honduras working here on a visa: "We're coming back here early next year, we love America."

Two cops from Maryland: "We're in town for SWAT Training." Me: "Where is the training?" Him: "Yes." Me: "I was going to ask if it was top secret." Him: "No, not top secret, but yes."

Me: "I really don't have any good Ohio stories other than I've been told they are bad drivers." She: "So in addition to being bad drivers, we're boring?"

Me: "When you retired five years ago, was it an easy transition?" Her: "No, I went into therapy and I'm still there.  If you're waking up with nothing on your schedule to do, it's depressing."

His Dad was in the Navy, so as a child, 4-7 years old, he lived on an island off Italy. "I came home to Philadelphia when I was 7 and it was 1976, The Bicentennial. They were having parades and celebrations and I thought America was like that all the time."

"The Uber driver told me that he was taking the half dozen married women to a Gay strip club so they could have fun without being bothered. He also said recently he took a few guys there purposely who were not looking for a Gay strip club." 

She: "The world doesn't spread enough kindness."

Employee of The Kansas City Chiefs: As I dropped her off at the airport she said, "If you promise not to mug me, I can show you something," She showed me her Super Bowl Ring from 2020 and allowed me to take a picture of it on my finger. The ring is worth $70,000 now.

"I'm headed to New York today.  I'm the DJ for the 9-11 benefit with Dave Chappelle at Madison Square Garden." "I owe my radio career to a pug that got lost on 9-11 in the attack, but eventually turned up okay.  I call him "Devil Dog."

Two men: "We were both there on 9-11 in two of the smaller World Trade Center buildings.  When the first plane hit we ran out and somehow bumped into each other.  We escaped by water ferry.  One of my cousins survived after being on the 82nd floor.  One of my friends didn't make it. It was his first day back from his wife having a baby that week."

I asked the white couple in their mid to late 20's who had been dating 6 months: "how did you meet?" They replied: "Our families arranged it. They knew each other and invited us out to dinner and didn't tell us the other one was coming until we were on the way.  There were two open seats at the end of the table next to each other and when we talked, the table went quiet."

The blind couple told me, "During the pandemic we've done 5,000 zoom calls as a support group for blind people which has spread out to other countries."

Advice: "It's important to smell the flowers and blow out the candles."(letting things go)

Man about his wife sitting next to him, "Everything she says is unusual."

Restaurant Consultant: she said, "I'm required to drink on my job, but I can't drive home."

Me: "What made you decide to go into the military?" Manager in the Marine Corps: "I was pissed off about 9-11. When I was in third grade I was in class and someone said that planes had gone down from Los Angeles to Boston. A girl in our class said her Dad was flying from LA to Boston.  The teacher turned pale and said, "we have to get you home."  Her Dad was on the plane that crashed.  I just wanted to give something back."

The morning of 9-11: She said, "I was there that morning. I just got to work at the Hyatt which was not close to the attack. I was there about 12 hours before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge with my brother." (I dropped her off and looked at the clock which said 9:11)

"I know a lot of miserable rich people."

"My wife does financial work for a woman who sells undergarments for women that covers their private parts and she sells thousands of them."

"90% of hip hop sales are from white people."

Woman from California, "I was approached in a restaurant and the guy said, "you're not from here. I can tell from how you dress and how you present yourself."(meant as a compliment)

Young couple dating three years: He said, "she asked me recently what I love about her and I said, "you're pretty, beautiful and I love your glow."

Male: "My name is Miachel, I'm named after my Dad.  However, his brother and mother call him Michael and I saw his name once in the newspaper as Micheal."

Woman said to me: "My advice is, never work for a fast food place when you're pregnant." Me: "As a 61 year old male, I'm going to follow that advice."

Woman: "I'm crashing the wedding with my girlfriend."

She said, "A lot of people are moving from California to Tennessee where we live.  Many of us say, "You're welcome to enjoy our beautiful state, but leave your politics at home."

"We have a saying in Tennessee, "Don't California our Tennessee."

"Denver is awesome."

Woman: "I majored in Art and I'm doing accounting work for a company now." Me: "So, they wanted someone creative working on their books?"

Tennis coach: "Pickle ball is not a fad. I knew a guy in college who was an average player and he went pro as a pickle ball player."

Male: "When the kids moved out we said, "we're rich."

Just arriving in town the two women took a bunch of brochures from my car and said, "you're awesome, you're our one stop shop."

Bartender: "One Christmas party a fight broke out and they knocked over the Christmas tree and broke all the lights."

Couple from New Jersey who bought a house here. Husband: "We can't move down here until her mom goes somewhere."(88)

I asked two mustang enthusiasts: "What's the best thing about mustangs?" One of them said, "everything" and the other said, "nothing," at the same time.

Me: "What do you sell?" Woman: "I sell trash." (gets new customers for collection)

Recovered from brain surgery: "you have to talk about what you want.  It creates the belief and attracts what you desire."

Male: "I can't eat bad food."

Fireman: "You don't become a fireman to make money."

Retired from 45 years of owning an Italian Restaurant: "I used to tell people in the business that we need to create something so customers can eat our food for breakfast."

Young woman about getting engaged: "I don't want to get engaged on a holiday, I just want it to be on a regular day."

 "My Dad said, "if you're going to live in this house you're going to have to be a Yankee and Giant fan."

Young woman: "I do miss the people in the south living out in California, but I do hang out there with a lot of east coast people."

Male accountant: "Anyone can do accounting, but treating people the right way is the most important thing."

The couple is spending a few weeks visiting southern towns to see where they would like to visit more or possibly live.  When I told him I suggested that to my wife he said, "Tell her that you saw your future."

Restaurant at Broadway at the Beach: "We lost 12 people since COVID started who went to real estate school."

Me: "How do you slow down as someone newly retired?" Him:" I don't let anyone put me on their schedule."

Front desk female at hotel- "I'm just not ready to deal with people today."

Yankee fan: "I was working in upper state New York in a guys house that wasn't there.  I came across a World Series trophy in a enclosed case.  I think it was the Red Sox trophy for 2007 since the home owner was a part owner of the team."

Land surveyor: "There's been a shortage of land surveyors for 25 years." Me: "You should open a school for land surveyors." Him: "Will you run it for me?"

Male owner of real estate office in Florida, "It took almost losing my best friend(38) to the Delta virus, for me to get the vaccine."

Her Mom had a stroke in the past year after constantly watching the news and worrying about the virus. "The news doesn't add anything to your life."

Male engineer: "I tell my kids and any young person-whatever you're going to do in life, get an engineering degree first."

"The weather in San Francisco gets better and better each year."

TSA agent: "There were 41 agents from across the country that came to Myrtle Beach due to the large amount of passengers.  Most of them are gone now. It went smoothly, but in New Jersey those people can be snippy with you."

"At the NASCAR race, the cars were so fast that if you blinked you would missed them.  They were so loud you had to wear earplugs."

Jokingly he said, "I'll give you at least two stars."

Male doctor from Detroit: "I'm in town for a bachelor party, but I'm flying out right away for a wedding in  Ohio-it's pretty much hell."

Woman married 38 years as my wife and I, but she has 11 grandchildren and we're waiting for our first. "You're going to have plenty of grandchildren, I'm already speaking it."

Guy in his 20's, "I love talking about food. I have the same problem you have with chicken being your favorite food."

My nickname is Tripp because there are three John's in our family."(triple)

Him: "When I set up the account on the Uber app, I was worried about losing my money, so I made up my name as "Cash." (only rider all day to give cash tip)

Insurance agent: "My client asked me what kind of carpet I should get in his house."

"The people here are much nicer than in Philly."

"The last time I was in Myrtle Beach it rained every day. When I looked at the forecast and saw rain every day I thought this would be the worst vacation."

Young man who was arrested and was going to pay the fine, "I'm in trouble, but I'm not really in trouble-you know what I mean."

25 year old male who just had his dream car, a Mercedes stolen-"There's no reason for me to get all upset, nothing I can do about it."(earns $26 per hour)

"I moved to California near Los Angeles and the weather is pretty much the same everyday, but I can't break the habit of checking the weather forecast daily."

"I moved to South Carolina for the quality of life."

"A year after 9-11 I won a golf tournament in Idaho and the trophy was a large picture of The Statue of Liberty, The American Flag, and The World Trade Center."

"I went to first NASCAR race.  I'm from Louisiana, but I was surprised how everyone was dressed, it was a different kind of country than I'm used to."

"Montana was a beautiful place when I lived there."

"Thank you for getting our day off to a great start."

"I'm a big Steeler fan and I got to go to Canton to see three Steelers inducted into the Hall of Fame recently, it was great."

Couple: "We have a COVID dog." (bought to keep them company)

When he saw the Super Bowl ring he said, "Damn!"

Me: "So you're a Cowboy fan?"  Guy from Dallas, Texas: "Unfortunately."

Young woman in Charleston, "I wouldn't say the people down here are friendly."

"You're an excellent driver."

September Rider Stories

 THE DJ:  I've picked up DJ's before, but this DJ turned out to be a famous DJ. The morning after 9-11 I took him to the airport.  He was heading to New York to DJ at Madison Square Garden for the 9-11 benefit with comedian Dave Chapelle. He was tired after working the night before, but he was in a talkative mood.  I asked him if COVID had affected his work and he said, "No, I just worked in the red states where governors didn't care about their people." He mentioned a number of rappers he has worked with and also Howard Stern and Opie and Andy. (radio personalities)  The most amazing thing he said after seeing the framed picture of the Twin Towers I had in my car was this: "I was there that morning. My studio was next to The World Trade Center, but I left there at 8:30 am., shortly before the first plane hit." He said that a famous DJ had lost his pug that morning in the attack and could not work.  He was asked to substitute for him on three shows and then the dog was found.  They offered him a job, because they said he was funny. "I owe my radio career to that pug, I call him devil dog." He's been on the radio since then and has been a DJ in a number of foreign countries also. My wife would have really enjoyed driving him and I'm sure she would have had a great conversation with him since she enjoys rap.  I checked him out on the internet and he's the real deal.

"THE ATTITUDE ADJUSTER": If I picked out my favorite 25 riders in the 6,000 rides I've given, one of the riders would have been the guy I met in January 2019 who worked at Trader Joe's greeting people at the door.  Without a doubt he was one of the most inspiring people I've ever met.  When I dropped him off that early morning at a restaurant, he was standing at the locked door and making someone laugh inside because he was flapping his arms like a bird.

This month, I had the pleasure of picking him up again, but he was wearing a mask and sitting in the back and I did not know it was him.  As he got in I said, "how are you today?" He said, "Amazing." He told me, "every day I wake up I'm amazing." He said in 1988 in high school he was in a horrible accident and the doctors did not think he would make.  His parents kept encouraging him and he kept getting better despite the doctors saying he would need to be put in Assisted Living.  He recovered from brain surgery, worked for four years helping researchers help people recovering from serious injuries and also volunteered helping kids recover from injuries.  He told me, "you have to talk about what you want, it creates the belief and what you desire."  I asked him what he does at Trader Joe's and he said, "I rap there." Still not realizing who he was I said, "you know a couple years ago I picked up a guy who was an attitude adjuster at Trader Joes." He said, "I'm the same person." I was floored and so excited to see him again.  He was very happy that I remembered him and some of the story he told me last time. He made my day and I think I made his.

THE SUPER TASTER: Sometimes, it's what the person does for a living that is not just interesting, but it's very unique.  The woman who got in my car said she was in research and development for a Spirits company. My first thought was the occult, obviously ridiculous, but her company develops and manufactures alcoholic beverages.  My rider, is someone who is able to taste and smell at a greater intensity than the average person.  By definition, she has more than 30 taste buds on a small part of her tongue which makes her unique. In the past, she worked for a Pastry Chef using her skills. There may be as many as 25% of the population who could be considered a Super Taster, but they may not know they have that skill.  She told me that she likes what she does, but she doesn't like the taste of bananas.   

THE BARTENDER/POET: It was one of the longest rides of the month, 48 minutes from North Myrtle to the airport.  It started as a discussion about capitalism and the minimum wage, but it changed dramatically during the ride.  She was a bartender/server like my wife, but she also loves to write  poetry. (she was a nurse in a Nursing home}  In the past year she had her book published and I checked it out on Amazon when I got home.  She read one of her poems to me in the car and there is a religious connection to her poetry. It was interesting to listen to her..  She enjoyed hearing that I liked to write and was going to check out my blog also. We had no problem talking the entire trip and it was a lot of fun.  I'm sure this young woman has a bright future ahead of her.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: No, I'm not really going to say I had a witch in the car.  It was a young couple for my last ride of the day and they were from Salem, New Jersey.  They had been together for nine years and I told the guy that I wasn't going to ask why he hadn't popped the question yet.  I told him a few marriage and relationship stories and we were laughing most of the way to their destination.  The girl said that her boyfriend was puzzled when they moved to Salem, because he didn't see anything "witchy." He didn't realize the witch trials were in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem, NJ is actually south of the Delaware Memorial bridge which brings you into Delaware.  You have to drive north from Salem and then go south to get to Delaware.

THE WELDER: This passenger surprised me throughout the ride. He did not come off as someone who was very successful, but he definitely was.  When he told me he sold his large property in upper state New York, I asked, "I guess you did pretty well with that?" His reply was, "I didn't do badly," which was obviously an understatement these days.  He plowed snow up there for five years where they can get as much as 140 inches of snow and told me about the challenges you have because the plow freezes.  "We once had 54 inches fall in 24 hours and we had to clear off our roof to open the front door." His main career most of his life has been a pipeline welder and he had worked in every state except Maine. "I'm not into politics, but when President Obama canceled the pipeline for 18 months, I lost $400,000.  There were many weeks that he worked 100 hours as a welder.  He said there are currently a lot of people unemployed after the pipeline was recently canceled. "One year I worked every day except 9 days and there have been years I worked only three months."  This is a guy who has had a very interesting life and he made my ride very enjoyable.

REMEMBERING 9-11: I had picked her up before, but on the morning of 9-11, our ride was short.  She saw the framed picture I had in the car of the World Trade Center and she told me she was there that day as a 19 year old working for Hyatt Hotels.  She wasn't close to where the attack was, but she remained there for 12 hours.  She said, "my brother was working in the city too and he stayed with me for about 12 hours before we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to get out of Manhattan." She didn't have a chance to say much more, but it was obviously a difficult memory.  When she got out of the car I looked at the clock, it was 9:11 am, the morning of 9-11.

TWO FRIENDS: Sometimes you know for sure that you were meant to pick someone up and these two guys certainly fit the bill.  Two weeks after 9-11 I was telling them the DJ story above and they said, "We were both there that morning." They had worked in two of the smaller buildings at the World Trade Center and ran out of their buildings thinking a bomb had gone off.  Somehow, with all the people on the street, they bumped into each other. They were two of thousands of people who escaped by water that day. One guy said, "One of my cousins survived after being on the 82nd floor" of one of the towers. He also described a much sadder story: " One of my friends didn't make it. It was his first day back from his wife having a baby that week." It was difficult hearing a first account of that day, but it was something I'll never forget.

How To Wash Car Windows

I have no idea, not even a clue.  It may be one of the most difficult things I have ever attempted to do in my life. For years, my wife would be sitting next to me in my car and say, "how can you drive with your windshield like that?" And I would reply, "like what?" She would tell me, "it's dirty," and I would say, "I only look through the clean spots.'

But things have changed now and who's to blame? Uber. I have people in my car who are paying for the ride.  Keeping my car clean is tough enough, but the windows? They are impossible to keep clean. Last Friday, as I drove down to Charleston with a clean windshield, two birds pooped on my car and one bug made a kamikaze attack on my windshield.

When I roll down my windows(ok, press the button to lower them), when the widows come back up they are all messed up.  If I use my wipers, the corners on both sides get messed up.  Are the windows dirty on the inside or the outside? I have no idea. Am I using the wrong spray, too little spray, or the wrong cloth? What if it's all three?  My wife says the secret is to do it in cooler weather? We're in South Carolina! Do I have to drive to Pennsylvania to get my windows clean?

My wife has been promising to "train" me.  I'm getting desperate. On Sunday, I was parked at a convenience store and cleaning off my windows with a dry rag.  A guy walked by and said, "if you need some Windex I have some." I thanked him and said, "I'm really awful at cleaning windows." He said, "I know what you mean." I replied, "there has to be a secret." His answer was, "Yeah, but they're not telling us."

If you know the secret, how much is it going to cost me-just name your price!

THE SUPER BOWL RING

When each month ends the past few years, I have blogged about my favorite riders of the month. Some of these riders have been funny, strange, incredible people, or the ride itself was unforgettable. I would have waited until the end of this month to tell this story, but it was not only a good ride, but it had a very surprising ending.  This is one of those handful of rides I will always talk about and it will be enjoyed by at least hundreds of riders in my car.

Some of my best rides are my first ride of the day and when I picked up a woman at 6 am., I had a feeling this was going to be a great way to start the day.  She was heading to the airport to return home to Kansas City.  Getting a ride in the early hours can be difficult so we started discussing that and her vacation visiting with friends. She was definitely awake, friendly, and very easy to talk to her.  I thought she might be in sales or management, but I noticed she definitely had excellent communication skills to deal with the public.

She has worked for the Kansas City Chiefs football organization for the past twenty years.  As a big sports fan and football fan, I really enjoyed hearing about her work.  Her job is to make and keep Chief fans happy and her office handles requests of all kinds. Her office tracks all requests that are made and it helps them figure out what requests might not be legit.  It's a very rewarding job and I could tell that she enjoys it and she's very good at.

As we pulled up to the airport I was giving her my list of favorite rider comments when she said, "If you promise not to mug me, I can show you something." I said, "sure," and turned around to see her Super Bowl ring from two years ago.  I was shocked, but I took it and put it on my finger and took the below picture. I thanked her and told her I hope to see her the next time she visits.  I checked the picture, which may not be the best, but the ring is all that matters.  Two years ago it was worth $35,000 and today it may be worth as much as $70,000.

It was a very good ride with a great ending, but the best rides I have, never really end.  I showed a number of riders that day the picture of the ring and it was a big hit.  I told one guy an hour later, "you were this close to a Super Bowl ring, she was sitting right where you're sitting." Two young guys from Honduras who are not football fans, were thrilled since The Super Bowl is the only football game they ever watch. I'm printing this picture and hanging it up in my car for all my riders to enjoy.

As thrilled as I was to put a Super Bowl ring on my finger, it's really not the best thing about this ride.  When you come across someone who gives you great service, they stand out immediately.  She was literally in the last few minutes of her vacation and she went the extra mile to give a football fan an unforgettable experience. She probably did not consider how many other people would enjoy the moment, but this is what she does- she make people happy.

She does have my blog address, so there is a chance that she will read this.  However, when someone does something special for you, it's important to thank them in a special way.  I just have to figure out the best way of getting this blogpost to her-THANK YOU FOR A GREAT RIDE.

Fifty Years of Fasting

 Today is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a day of fasting. The first time I fasted was when I was 11 years old, in 1971.  That actually makes this my 51st fast, but the 50th anniversary of fasting once a year. The holiday is "A Day of Atonement" for your sins. One of my sins clearly is eating too much, so this is the proper punishment, going 24 hours without eating.

During most of my years of fasting I did not eat or drink. Over the last ten or twenty years, it made sense to drink water since I was working on the holiday.  I am in the 18th hour of not eating and I've been drinking a lot.  My wife just burnt some toast and it really smells good. I walked into the kitchen and watched her eating a sandwich and yes, it looked good too.  She was eating pickles and no, it looked awful and there's no way I would eat a pickle.

After eating dinner the night before fasting, I've never had a problem going without food that night.  Usually, waking up in the morning, I'm good for a few hours. However, once lunchtime hits, the countdown begins.

1:30:  I asked my wife if we can have an early dinner and she said, "yes." I'm ready when the brisket is ready.  I think I'm still four hours or more away from eating it though.

2:00: Brisket starts cooking.  ETA is 5:30, but my wife says, "it might be earlier."

3:00: Cleaning out my car I find a grape that's been there since Sunday.  I think about how good it looks and then I throw it out.  It still looked better than the pickle.

4:00: I can smell the brisket. I close my office door to keep out the odor.

4:30: After waking up from a short nap I set the table.  At this point the brisket smell is intoxicating. I had no problem making lunch and getting food ready for my road day tomorrow.  The fast is almost over.

5:20: The brisket is coming out and I'm heading that way.

5:50: It is done and just to prove it are the pictures below.  It tasted terrific and in case you're wondering, I did eat most of it.  Heading out to mow the lawn, I have energy and I'm ready to go.

                                                                            BEFORE

                                                                        AFTER

What They Say About Me

 I haven't done this post in quite awhile, but some of these comments are really worth it.  On the Uber app, each rider can rate the driver and make a comment.  I'm not sure how many actually rate me, but I only get a couple comments each month out of a couple hundred rides.  The comments unfortunately, can only be seen by me, so this is really top secret information.

1. "Awesome person, need more people like you in the world." I think I know who wrote this and I actually deserved this comment. Driving back from a three hour ride, I turned on the app to see if I could get a ride in the last hour. I picked up a young woman who was having a lot of problems.  She had been visiting a friend in the hospital and her grandparents were afraid of COVID and would not let her back in the house to sleep.  She had an argument with her Mom who would not let her in the house due to COVID. The ride was set-up by her boyfriend who would not be in town until the next day.  The ride took her to her grandmother's who left her clothes outside since they had been arguing.  I took her to get her clothes and offered her a free ride to the grandparents for the rest of her things.  In the car I tried to encourage her and she called her Mom who agreed to set up a tent in the garage port for her to sleep while she quaranteened. I got a generous tip and I think those kind words.

2. "I am not a morning person but I did enjoy my ride and conversation with my driver.  It was a good start to my day."  These words could have been from a lot of people since I am a morning person and so many riders are not. 

3. "I never leave reviews for Uber but it was legitimately a pleasure riding with Jeff." I probably enjoyed the ride just as much and I think this was a woman?

4. "Greatest Uber driver in South Carolina." This one just makes me laugh, but I do appreciate the compliment. I would like to think I'm one of the best, but the greatest? 

5. "Best ride ever." I think this was the couple who loved the Red Sox and the guy said this was "the best Uber ride ever." as he got out. I said, "that's because we talked about the Red Sox the whole time." They did have a lot of fun.

6. "Thank you so much for an unforgettable ride! It was such a pleasure meeting you."  I'm pretty sure there are a number of my riders that will remember riding with me.

7. "Jeff honestly made my ride so enjoyable.  Extremely funny guy." I had to put this one in for my kids who sometimes don't think I'm funny.  She also gave me a heart. (guys most likely would not give a heart to another guy)

8. "Thank you soo much, you are my hero jeffronofro." Another comment that makes me laugh.  They enjoyed my nickname that I was given by a rider and used it in the comment.  I've actually repeated this one to some riders.

Since the comments are so rare, they actually mean a lot more.  Thank you to all.

I'm Having Trouble Spending Cash!

 I know it sounds ridiculous, but spending cash these days is not easy.  If you don't know, I've spent most of my life walking around with $15-20 in my wallet. I never spend a lot of money and although I was always out on the road working and driving, I was mostly buying gas for my car.  Sure, I would have a soda or some donuts and occasionally a pint of ice cream, but I'm not buying them anymore.  

Driving for Uber I usually get some cash tips and I've started carrying a little more money, but I'm not spending any.  Last week, my wife and I went out to lunch and I took out some cash from my wallet and spent it! Lunch was good, but it was really nice to spend some cash. I can't even believe I felt that way.

A number of months ago, I wrote about how there was a run on Cocoa Krispies, my favorite cereal.  I couldn't find them anywhere. Finally, I splurged and bought three boxes and hid two in my office for a rainy day.  That day came and went and I finished all the boxes and once again, I could not find this cereal anywhere.

I'm thinking about sending Kellogs an e-mail to see if they can drop a shipment at my house.  Will they accept cash? I came up with a plan.  There's a small supermarket that opened near us and I was thinking they might have some boxes since there was less people shopping there.  I hit the jackpot!  I picked up my three boxes for $3.29 each and I went to the register with my ten dollars in cash.

They were on sale and it was two for five dollars and you get one free.  I've never heard of deal like that. They gave me back five dollars in cash.  I wasn't taking that from them.  I went back to the cereal aisle and grabbed three more boxes which are pictured below. So, I got six boxes of cereal for ten dollars. It takes a lot of  effort to spend money these days, but I'm working on it.

I Have A New Phone???

 For most people, the headline would read, I HAVE A NEW PHONE!!!  They would be so excited and they would want to show it to everyone they know. Me? Not so much! Since I have used my phone for work as a courier and as an Uber Driver, I am constantly charging the phone and it was difficult to do that since the chord kept falling out of the phone.  My wife informed me that I needed a new phone.

Everybody does it-it's easy! Fortunately my wife took care of all the "easy" details. She looked online at all the phones and she suggested one that was similar to mine. I think it's an iPhone 72 or something. I told her that whatever fancy things the phone can do now, I don't want it.  Somehow it did not cost $800, or so she told me.  It came in three colors and when she said that men usually don't get red, I knew that was my color.  I would have taken orange, but they didn't have it.  She ordered the phone and it would be here in a couple days.

The box the phone was in made it look like a large deck of cards.  I tried for a couple minutes to get the phone out, but I am not that talented and I did not find it easy.  My wife got the phone out and then the easy part began.  Spread out on the kitchen counter were two phones, the sim card, and a couple chords.  Since the phone was slightly different than mine, the chords would not work, but my wife had one that would.

Once the phone was charged the easy part began.  She switched everything over and checked to make sure it all came through. My e-mail did not work so we had to come up with another password which affected my e-mail on my computer.  I changed that password and then my wife changed the password on my phone a second time. 

The case and a new plastic cover came in a few days later and now when I turn the phone over, I can see that it's red.  The phone charges and I can use it.  I am not sure how many hours this easy process took over several days, but I am so glad that I'll never have to get another phone.

Odin's First Vacation

The first time you go on vacation can be a memorable experience, if you're old enough to remember it. But what if you're a dog like our eight month old puppy, Odin? What will he remember? Here are some of the highlights so when he's older he'll know what happened:

Last Wednesday we woke him up around 4 am., and no doubt he had no clue what was going on.  We got him in the car before 5  am., and the first thing he said was, "are we there yet?" He had been in Doggie Daycare the day before and he is usually exhausted the next day.  He slept about 80% of the trip to New Jersey to visit my sister and her family.  It was the longest car ride he's been on and when he was awake he was looking out the window(see picture below) and saying, "I can't believe I'm missing all those smells."

The next day we drove up to Pennsylvania where my son and his future bride have two dogs.  I've been told you're not SUPPOSED to use real names in blogs, but I don't know if it applies to dogs too.  I have made up two nicknames for the dogs.  "Lazy Larry" is pictured below in his favorite spot, sleeping on someone or the couch.  He's usually exhausted from "playing" with his brother, "Rugged", who is the 85 pound puppy is in the picture next to him.  "Rugged" is very gentle with smaller dogs and you can see he is really a puppy when you look into his eyes. Odin, all 18 pounds, is pictured all stretched out on his back in the next photo. He played for several days, mostly with "Rugged." With teeth showing, the two dogs wrestled around until they wound up exhausted next to each other like in the fourth picture. Fortunately, no blood was drawn all weekend, but many adults got licked, goosed, and bumped by the 85 pound puppy and you can't ask for much more fun than that..

Odin had never jumped off the couch, but it was on this trip my son encouraged him and he did it many times with us cheering him on.  Each time he would pace back and forth, scratch, procrastinate, and get up the courage to do it, before he actually jumped.  We'll have to see if he  remembers how it's done in Myrtle Beach.

The final day of our trip, Odin slept most of the day, but he was productive when he was awake.  The morning we left, Odin managed to slip out of my wife's fingers and end up at the front door.  I could not grab him fast enough and he ran down a bunch of stairs for the first time and made a mad dash up the street.  I was right behind him and getting closer, but how was I going to scoop him up on the run? We got lucky and a neighbor was right there and started petting him. I grabbed him and the two of us went back to the house and both of us were panting.(him more)

Odin was not done though.  At a rest stop, he found a girlfriend.  The cockapoo pictured below (a few months younger), was sniffing the area too and they played and kissed for about ten minutes.  She lives about two hours north and it's possible they may see each other again. They knew immediately they were the same breed and here are the best two pictures of their first date.

We arrived home about twelve hours after we left.  Odin and I really bonded on this trip, although he ignored me when his dog cousins were around.  Odin jumped out of the car and ran into the backyard and I thought I heard him say, "Dad, do you want to have a catch?" (Maybe it was all a dream?)