Favorite March Riders

 THE OVERWORKED ACCOUNTANT: The spring is tax season and for many accountants it is incredibly busy and there's a lot of pressure to get everything done before tax day.  What if you suddenly find out that you have a potentially serious medical issue that makes your work more difficult to do? I took a young woman (25-30?) to work one day and really felt badly for her. I recognized immediately that she was a Type A personality and correctly guessed she was a first born based on her work ethic. I could easily relate to her from my work experiences and her short sleep schedule sounded very much like mine also. Her yearly bonuses are tied up in the billing hours she has this next month and a recent, large, unexpected hospital visit makes things more challenging.  She had an Uber driver recently who gave her this great quote: "Don't set yourself on fire, to keep someone else warm." She was very personable, but doesn't get to use her personality much in her job.  She's looking to move into a technology field, but she has to overcome her challenging situation immediately. She's too busy now to read this, but if she ever does see this: IF YOU SET YOURSELF ON FIRE, BECAUSE THAT'S WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ENJOY, REMEMBER THAT IT'S FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. THE ENERGY AND EFFORT YOU PUT INTO YOUR CAREER SO FAR, YOU HAVE PUT THAT ENERGY INTO YOUR HEALTH NOW, SO YOU CAN SET YOURSELF ON FIRE IN THE FUTURE. YOU CAN DO THIS!

THE YOUNG AND POWERFUL VOICE: My passenger yesterday morning was headed home to Ohio. I asked her what she did for work and she said, “I’m in charge of marketing for a Cancer Foundation.” She told me she had been doing it for 15 years and I asked if she had started in Junior High School. Usually, a rider will laugh at that, but she said, “I’ve only been full-time a couple years, I’ve been volunteering since I was ten when I lost my Mom to breast cancer.” The Karen Wellington Foundation sends families on vacation while they are battling cancer to give them a break from the disease and make some great memories for them. My rider is a tremendous writer and writes a blog on the stories of the people they have helped. (The KWF Living Blog)  You may not be able to read more than one of the stories on this blog at a time, but the second one, “Celebrating Strangers,” meant a lot to me.  I meet strangers every day in my car and have no idea what they may be going through. Angeline wrote this about her foundation: “Although our mission is rooted in FUN, our goal is to give back to thousands of deserving strangers LIVING with cancer.”  She summarized this blog by saying, “Never underestimate the significance of the time you give to others. Don’t forget to slow down just enough to be aware of those strangers who need a bit of extra love along the way.  You never know the impact you might have.”  The best part of my ride was reading about what she and her Foundation has accomplished. Her Mom lived a very full life and her daughter is making every day count too.

REMEMBER ME: Over the years I have picked up probably a few dozen bartenders. Some of them have been very memorable, but almost all are personable and friendly. It was early morning when I picked this bartender up and I can only guess he's in his mid to late 20's. "I'm different. I don't talk much with my customers.  I just bring them what they want and they love me." He told me that he usually doesn't talk to Uber drivers, but he talked to me and he was very interesting. "I'm situationally witty. I like it when someone says, "Can I ask you a question?" I say you just did and I walk away." He seemed like a more private person, however what he really wants is to be remembered. He said, "There are 7 billion people on the planet, I'd like 1 billion to remember me." If he made a conscious decision to talk to people, how could they not remember him? I hope I get another chance to talk with him.

THE SUNSHINE FARMER: So, there I was on my first full day driving my orange car. My business name is The Sunshine Man and I looked to my left and saw the cruise ship in Downtown Charleston.  The name of that cruise was "Sunshine." My rider on the right, was standing there with his five year old son and a very large suitcase, which was bright orange. Is there any doubt this was going to be a great ride? They were from upper state Maine, right along the Canadian border.  The little boy almost stole the show with his comments about his Dad, "he's getting old and fat and my sister and I beat him up all the time." His Dad, in his mid-thirties, quickly got my respect with his explanation of what he does on the farm-just about everything.  He said, "When the weather is good, we work 20 hour days. If you want to survive in Northern Maine, you have to work eight days a week?" Of course, I asked him if that's what the Beatles were talking about and we both laughed.  How did he get the work ethic he has? His Dad always worked on many jobs, but he was involved in his Dad's snow plowing. As young as nine years old he was out shoveling snow,(which he still hates), to help his Dad with his customers.  He never got paid and I told him that he should tell his Dad he owes him back pay. In high school he wound up with 9 W-2's. He got a great deal on his cruise and used it to spend some quality time with his son. I'm very thankful that they spent some time with me.

HER FRIEND: Sometimes a traffic jam turns out to be a good thing.  I was driving a Mom and her adult daughter from a beach area to Downtown Charleston when we were stuck for about twenty extra minutes. I entertained them, but the Mom had a very interesting story.  A friend of hers for many years and recently passed away and she had been thinking about him on the beach.  His name is Paul Farmer and he was a Global-Health Pioneer and was very well known. He is the founder of Partners in Health, which changed the way the world cared for the poor. In his life he set-up clinics and hospitals and is responsible for saving many lives around the world. She spent time with him years ago in Peru helping people improve their health.  She told me the key was just, "To educate them to take their medicine every day.  One his favorite sayings was, "If you can't find a solution, be the solution." She told me this, because the sign in my car says, "If you can't find the sunshine, be the sunshine."  If it wasn't for the traffic, I probably would not have heard about her famous friend.

THE POSITIVE FLIGHT ATTENDENTS: They were not a couple, but they could have been.  They got a long very well and both had positive attitudes. The first thing the guy told me was, "I'm happy you have a great rating." Very few people mention my rating which is 4.99 out of 5. They were both very easy to talk to and joke around with. When he said,  "this was the best Uber ride he's ever had," she added that she had a great one in Las Vegas: "the driver had several things hanging in his car he had gotten from other riders." I interrupted her and pointing to the picture of my rider's Super Bowl ring, I said, "Yeah, but did he have a Super Bowl Ring or a $500 bill from the South Sudan?" We were all laughing now and she said, "the driver wrote a personal message on a post note for every driver. I still have mine." I was impressed, but I said, "it's too bad I don't have a gift for you," as I pulled out my list of favorite rider comments. I could have driven them all day-they were my best ride of the day.

THE POLITICS GUY: With 7,600 rides now I have only had the pleasure of speaking with five people directly in politics.  As a political science major who reads politics on both sides daily, my passenger gave me a special gift at the end of the ride.  He worked for many years on the Republican Congressional side and is currently a lobbyist.  He knows all the big names and has worked with many of them. He told me he's gotten the most done, "when I work with someone on the other side of the fence." I could have talked with him for a couple hours, but I had one important question I never thought I'd get answered. I told him that I knew on Election Night that President Trump had lost because his margins were not high enough to get him through the votes that were going to come in the next day.  I asked him if he thought that President Trump really believed the election was stolen? He said, "I don't think it was and I know a number of people close to him and he absolutely believes it was stolen." I thanked him very much for that, because to me what that means is that instead of it being, "the big lie," as we always here, he's just flat out wrong.(on this subject)

THE OUTCAST FROM NEW YORK: The final ride of the day in Charleston was just delightful.  My passenger was with her teenage daughter and it was a long ride to Mt. Pleasant, perfectly set-up to get me on my way home. Being a New York fan, she was kind enough to open her garage door and show off their full bar/mancave decorated with New York uniforms and framed pictures of New York sports legends. Two years ago her and her husband had a successful business and had just purchased a house to move into in another area of New York. The pandemic hit at that exact time and their life changed when they lost the new house. Her husband put her in the car for their anniversary and drove to South Carolina and had a realtor take them around and they found the perfect house in Mt. Pleasant. The friendliness of the South was ideal for her and a very easy transition, which is not the norm. Her kids are happy and her husband has a different business helping people financially. Not only was she easy to talk with, but she had a good sense of humor too. She wanted to name her daughter Isabella, but her husband's last name rhymed with it and someone in his family already did that. It was a great way to end the day and here are some pictures of her garage. (Gary-the Giants Jersey that is blocked is number 80, Jeremy Shockey)

My Last "Real" Vacation

Coming up this spring I'm going to go on vacation.  Going on vacation is a pretty normal thing for a lot of people, however, this is my first "real" vacation in 15 years. There have been many times I've visited family over the past four years and you could say it was a vacation, but a "real" vacation?

Four years ago, my wife and I came down here to Myrtle Beach for the weekend to check it out as a place we might move to. You could say that was a vacation, but we went out with a realtor to look at neighborhoods and the area.  We went to the beach, but didn't step in the sand. (which is the way to do it if you're not a beach person) So, technically, we were away and I wasn't working, but it's hard to count that as a "real" vacation.

When you're used to working and you enjoy working and you need to pay the bills to raise your family, going on vacation isn't a top priority. My last "real" vacation was taking the family to Disney World by train, yes by train. It's easy to fly or drive, but taking a train is more of an adventure. It may have been the most memorable trip we've ever made to Disney World.

How bad could a train ride be? We didn't have a sleeping compartment and we thought at night time it would be pretty dark.  Unfortunately, there was one bright light near us that didn't go off which made sleeping a bit challenging.  It would be quiet at night, right? Well, there seemed to be a few kids who maybe didn't have parents and they would come through regularly in the middle of the night. On the way home, all the riders had to stand outside the train in the sun and 90 degree temperatures and we were basically read the rules of the train. It was not very customer friendly.

My next vacation is going to be better and I know there are going to be several times on the trip that I will say, "I feel a blog coming."

"Obstacles Exist To Be Overcome" Part 2

Four years ago, I wrote a blog about a book I had just finished that talked about the explorer, Ernest Shackleton and his leadership skills during his failed Antarctica expedition in 1915. The significance of this journey was that the 28 crewman survived a two year journey to be rescued after their ship, "Endurance", was stuck in ice and eventually sank. Shackleton rescued his crew by getting in an open life boat with five others and traveling 800 miles over 16 days before he could eventually rescue his remaining crew by securing another boat to reach them..

Only a few weeks ago, 107 years later, their ship, "Endurance" was found at the bottom of the ocean with the aid of modern technology. Below is a picture of the boat.

Shackleton did not succeed in his mission, but the rescue of his crew is legendary. His motto was, "obstacles exist to be overcome," and it's a lesson that obviously still applies today.

Are you facing any obstacle in your life today? More than likely, you don't have to survive in bitter cold with little to eat, or travel 800 miles in an open lifeboat. Life is full of challenges, some small and some big.  The most important thing is-what are you focused on? Are you focusing on the obstacle or the solution to overcome it?

MY ORANGE CAR HAS ARRIVED!

 It took 10 1/2 months for my car to arrive, but it suddenly made it last Tuesday. On Monday, I spoke with my salesman and he checked and said that it was still in the water coming from Spain. He had said they would know when it landed and he'd have a date when they would get it, but it didn't happen that way. Tuesday afternoon he called and said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm sitting down, but I can jump up and down if you have some good news." He said it was in and I replied, "You have it there?"

Wednesday morning I sold my old van pictured below with 257,000 miles on it.  Two years of use as full-time courier, 3 1/2 years as an Uber driver on the weekend and a number of round trips up to New Jersey. Below is a picture of this great car that also gave 7,500 Uber/Lyft rides.

The orange car is a tribute to my Dad who we lost a year ago.  His favorite color was orange and I'm pretty sure he never would have driven an orange car, but he would have loved this one. Below is a picture of me at the dealership and also the middle of the car. There are two more seats in the back, one is down for luggage.

The new car drives the same, but there are a lot more buttons to play with up front and I've got a way to go before I get the heat and A/C working the way I want it.  I have Sirius XM radio for a few months, but I have no clue how to get the stations and save them.  Don't worry, my wife has me in training already. 

The back seats are something else, since you have to move them back and forth to get a flat surface for luggage. I didn't figure it out this weekend, but the light bulb went on today when my wife explained it. I got by this weekend taking luggage and putting it in the back, but not on a flat surface. On one trip, I opened the back which goes up and the woman's suitcase slid down and out of the car, perfectly standing up the right way. It was a "10" landing. The woman laughed and said, "What a car!" I'll do better next time I'm driving.  

The orange car, or the sunshinemobile, should take me through the next 10,000 to 12,000 rides-it's going to be fun!

What Are You Reading Now?

I don't mean right this moment, I know you're here. It seems everywhere I turn recently the importance of reading comes up. Yesterday, I read a quote from Elon Musk who said that one of the things that determines who you will be five years from now, is "the books you read." A blog I read said this, "Your brain is a muscle. Reading exercises the muscle like lifting weights exercises your biceps. When you exercise your brain by reading, it can help prevent cognitive decline and memory loss down the road." 

Next month, April 22-April 24th, The Hunterdon County Book Fair will take place in New Jersey. It was canceled the past two years, but unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year. If you're in New Jersey and you like to read, look it up because it is awesome. I'm definitely going next year. 

I did something recently that I had never done. I ordered three books online that I had been thinking about reading for awhile and they were pretty inexpensive. I'm reading one of those books which is a collection of columns by Pulitzer Prize Writer, Leonard Pitts, Jr. I've read many of his columns in the past which includes his 9-11 column which I read every year on 9-11.  Many years ago, he wrote a column about how expensive Disney World was and I wrote him and told him it was "the value, not the cost" that was important.  He actually replied to me.

The book I'm close to finishing is on President Theodore Roosevelt.  Right now I'm reading about how he won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the peace between Japan and Russia in the war of 1905. Japan embarrassed Russia and it's really interesting to read this now with Russia attacking Ukraine. Below is a picture of my bookshelves. The top right hand corner are the books I still need to read, many of them used to be my Dad's books.

So, what are you reading now? Find something you can read that you'll enjoy.  It could be anything, I even have a whole shelf of comedy books which are obviously fun to read.  If you read a few minutes every day, you're going to be better off. You can't count on me to blog something every day for you, do if for yourself.

  

What's The Difference Between Geese and Swans?

 My last blog had one minor mistake.  I referred to the two swans below as geese. My wife, as usual, straightened me out. If for some reason you did not get this picture in the last blog, here it is again.  The title of the last blog should have been, "Why Do Swans Cross The Road?"

It was a silly mistake, because they really don't look alike.  Below is a picture of two geese and one swan. However, they have a lot more in common than you might now. They actually came from the same family and evolved together.  That is not me saying it, I looked it up.  About 12 million years ago the families split up.

Geese typically have shorter necks and weigh more, about 20 pounds. Swans are bigger, but typically weigh only around 15 pounds. Is any of this important? Of course not, by I didn't want you to think that the swans in our neighborhood were really geese.

By the way, I did see more deer on the side of the road yesterday early morning, showing me their ass.  Maybe I never noticed it before?

Why Did The Geese Cross The Road?

 We all know the joke/saying, "Why did the chicken cross the road?", and the answer of course is, "to get to the other side." However, is that why geese cross the road? Below is a picture of two geese that roam our neighborhood.  We actually have four in our development.

Geese must be pretty smart, because they take the same paths every day.  Maybe they are getting their steps in at the same time my wife and I are walking our dog? There is however a reason for them walking-they go from pond to pond.  Here's a great picture of where they are headed this morning.

A little while back I blogged about the deer I see on the side of the road as I drive to and from Charleston.  Deer are attracted to the headlights and sound of the highway and they feel more secure on the side of the road then from predators in the woods.  A week ago Sunday, going to Charleston, I saw something I've never seen-two deer in different places that were not facing the road, they were facing the woods.

Was it a good sign or a bad one that I saw two asses facing me? I checked Mr. Google, whom I'm told knows everything, but I didn't find an answer.  Could it be they were just facing the woods to watch for predators? I don't know, but that Sunday was the best day I've ever had financially as an Uber driver.  Probably just a coincidence, but I'm okay if the deer aren't facing me, as long as they stay off the road.