THE ROBOTS

One of my first jobs a very long time ago was going to high schools and talking about careers.  At one point I was giving presentations on the career of Computer Repair Robotics. To get attention and have some fun, I would bring a toy robot in to the classroom. One of them was really a balloon that you put fur on it and I would move it around the hallway and get some great reactions.  The picture below is very close to what I used and it looks like Cousin It from "The Addams Family" television show. I don't think I had a tray on it.

Arriving at my daughter's house I found out they had a robot vacum called, "eufy."  Couldn't they come up with a better name, maybe Alice the vacum cleaner or even Kris which could be male or female? I don't like the name.  I was told that a few times a week this vacum is programmed to go through the first floor in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping and it's as quiet as a mouse and does a good job.

The idea of something moving around the house while I was sleeping did not give me a good feeling. I usually wake up in the middle of the night when I'm there and I go downstairs to sleep on the couch. They shut it off so I wouldn't have to deal with it.  At 1:15 am in the morning, I walked right past the robot and fortunately it did not move. It definitely would have scared me.

Around dinner time I took my sister-in-law food shopping.  As I walked through the store, I was looking on the shelves when a sign caught the corner of my eye. I stopped and looked at it and I read the sign. It said, "I'm Tally, I check shelf inventory." And then, the robot walked right past me.

I would not want this in my living room.

What I Learned Last Week on Vacation

 

I think I should go on vacation more often, I seem to learn a lot when I'm away.  This one week journey up to New Jersey was not an exception, it was educational and of course fun.  Here's what I learned:

1. Rubbernecking: Am I the only one who did not know what this is?  I have heard a number of times while listening to a traffic report that there was rubbernecking somewhere.  I knew it meant traffic, but I didn't know it really had to do with necks. It refers to bystanders or drivers who staring at accidents and they are trying to get a better view of it.  Why? I have no idea. I stopped looking at them years ago. It is awful to be in traffic because people are slowing down to see how bad it is. I don't care. I hope no one is hurt, but stop the rubbernecking, please!

2. Where are the rest stops? Do you know how often I have tried to figure how far away we are when we're on the road on vacation.  This past week I mentioned that to my wife and she said, "I'll just look it up." All this time you could just put in rest stops and have the answer and she didn't tell me? It worked and now our traveling is much easier.

3. Dogs do not look straight up.  I was watching our dog Odin and I was holding him in my arms. (Aww) It was not fun, he's heavy.  There was a very large fan above us and he could hear the humming sound, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  I said, "Look up, look up." It did not work. I tried holding him belly up, it did not work. I tried moving his head, it did not work. If I had cheese in one hand I could have thrown it up in the air and it would have worked.  Below is me struggling to make it work, it never did.

 4. Corned beef and Cabbage: I have always loved corned beef, but I didn't like cabbage and I certainly didn't eat them together.  However, there it was on the table and I gave it a shot.  I was surprised, but it did taste good together. I might even try it again. If you haven't had it, go for it!

5. Filling up the plot hole. If you looked at that quickly, you probably saw pothole and not plot hole. There is a big difference, but I had never heard the phrase before.  My oldest daughter, who loves to write like I do, explained it to me. She said if you're writing a story you can't just bring up characters out of the blue or other things without introducing them.  If you do, you have a plot hole that needs filling.

6. Discrimination of Hindu Americans? Entering New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike, I was very surprised to see a very large sign that said, "Stop Discrimination of Hindu Americans." As of 2015, New Jersey had 278,000, second only to California. (I did not know that)  I did not know that there was a lot of discrimination against Hindu Americans, so it seemed odd that there was such a big sign just when you enter the state.

7. The last time I was in New Jersey I blogged about my battles with the electronic garbage can in my daughter's kitchen.  I was still having trouble opening it on this trip. Below is a picture of it and I'm pretty sure he know I was back.

For more of technology battles, stay tuned.  My next blog I will come face to face with Tally and Eufy.

I'm On YouTube Two More Times?

I can't believe it either, but it's true. In January, I blogged about the story of a rider I picked up who was legally blind and how I helped her move.  It was a ridiculous story because there were so many reasons that other drivers would not have accepted the ride. 

I wrote the story up in a different way, explaining all the reasons other drivers would not have taken it.  I sent it to my friend, Sergio, who is one of the hosts of the show, "Show Me The Money," that I was on last year. His co-host, Chris, read the story and Sergio and Jeff, a guest driver from Las Vegas, commented on the ride I gave. A short video of them doing this was made and over 6,000 people have watched it this week.

Below is the clip and although I am not on it, it is funny to watch them go through it.  I did not mention in my story that it took me an extra half hour to get home after the ride, but there were plenty of other reasons that most drivers would not have taken this ride. (Just click on it and then click on the address below it.) There are some very nice comments below the video also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYmWXXjw488

In January, Sergio interviewed me for 25 minutes on why I accept all rides, my philosophy on driving and also some of the things in my car.  It's a good interview.  This just came out and over 1,000 people have watched it in the first five hours.  If you look at the comments below you'll see that there are many drivers who have a different philosophy on driving.  I'm going to have some fun Monday and answer some of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmH4EpagcPs&t=69s

How To Open A Sandwich Bag With One Hand

If you're sitting down in front of your computer it's pretty easy, but what if you're driving 70 miles per hour on a highway and the sandwich bag is on the inside of your door and you have to be quiet because your wife and your dog are both sleeping? (Yes, the sentence is too long)

I set it up this way on our long trip up to New Jersey and I knew that I was going to reach for my grapes at some point. However, I forgot to open the bag a little bit to make it easy.  My dog has bionic hearing and the sound of anything crinkling automatically makes him think I'm getting cheese and he NEEDS cheese.

So, what do you do? Do you pick the bag up and put it in your lap and risk opening the bag and having all the grapes roll out. They don't taste as good once they've been on the floor of the car.  Or, do you leave them on the inside of the door and open it somehow? I left them inside the door.  Here's how to  get this done:

Step 1: Since the grapes are on your left, grip the steering wheel on top with your right hand as if your life depends on it, because it does. If your wife wakes up and sees what you're doing, you're done for. If you go near the white lines on the road, your wife's annoying car will beep three times and that is louder than the bag of grapes and then everyone wakes up and you're done for.

Step 2: Leaning to your left, reach down and place one of your fingers on the top opening of the bag and press towards the door. With one of your other fingers pull the opening towards you.  This is called the, "Old press and pull" routine. All you need is a small opening and your treasure is yours.

Step 3: You now have access to your grapes, but don't take more than two at a time.  It is easy for some of them to start rolling around your floor and you don't want to be crushing grapes with your feet like Lucille Ball in that famous, "I Love Lucy." scene.

Conclusion: If you open the bag a little bit before you drive in the future, you can avoid these steps and just eat the delicious grapes and you won't have to share them with anyone.

 

Going To A Political Rally

 Members of my family know that I have been interested in politics for over forty years when I graduated with a political science degree in 1982. I think I first became interested in junior high school and I can blame it on the Kennedy's.  I was fascinated by the Kennedy family and I've probably read twenty or more books on them in my life.

I have a political library and I have read political stories every single day for a very long time. But, one thing I had never done was go to a political rally-until Monday.  Former South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, is running for President of the United States, and she was having an event in Myrtle Beach and I decided to go.

My first mistake was going to the wrong college campus, but I got to the right one in time. I was in the back of a medium sized room and this is what it looked on stage below.  It was an older crowd, but there were a lot of women in the room, maybe more than you usual see in a Republican crowd.

I was standing next to a guy who was one of the top people in the campaign.  I joked with him that he looked the part.  He said the room was supposed to hold 400 some people and they had 550 before it started.  Later, someone said they had 1,000, with some people with disabilities in a second room.  It was probably somewhere in between although a newspaper has said, "Over a thousand."  The sign below stands for South Carolina loves Nikki-I got the picture obviously from the side and not the front.  

She talked for 30-40 minutes and did an impressive job.  She mixed in a lot of humor, her past achievements, how she got into politics and why she's running for President.  I've said for a number of years that she will be the first female President, but I don't know what year that's going to be.  It's going to be an uphill climb for her, but she did do a very good job and I enjoyed being there.  If you have never been to a political rally, now you know what it looks like.

The Sunshine Award

Sometimes good things happen in unusual ways. Last year I appeared on a YouTube show called, "Show Me The Money," about Uber, Lyft and other drivers in the gig economy.  Sergio, who was one of the two drivers running the show, has become a friend of mine and we have talked, texted, and e-mailed a lot.

A week ago on his show he told a story about his wife who was delivering food for Uber Eats and she had a big problem. The credit card that she needed to use for a big order for Uber Eats did not work and was told by Uber Eats she could cancel the order and receive only a few dollars.  She had spent a lot of time and effort doing this so she came up with another option and used her own credit card for $160.  She did not get paid right away and although I was sure she would get paid, I offered to pay it because she went the extra mile for her customer.

She did get paid, but it gave me the idea that for what she did, she should get more than that.  I sent Sergio an idea that they have a contest on their show and every month one driver is selected to win $100 and I offered to pay the award.  I said they could call it "The Show Me The Extra Mile Award," or the Sunshine Award.  Everyone thought it was a great idea and since it promoted the show, they would pay the award out and I would select the winner each month this year starting with March.

Below are the graphics they put together and it was announced Tuesday night. It would have been nice to put my face inside of the sun, don't you think? It's going to be a lot of fun giving out this award each month!

Going The Extra Mile to Entertain Our Server

When you go to a restaurant, there are two big moments.  The second one is obvious-your food comes out, it's hot, it looks good, you're hungry and you're going to do some serious eating.  However, the first moment is frequently overlooked: it's the moment your server greets you. Sometimes your first impression is not a good one, but usually you get a smile and a pretty good feeling.

However, once in a while, you get a very big smile and a great feeling as if you had met your server before. Last Thursday night, after traveling 13 hours from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, (Near Princeton) we went to dinner at the Red Lobster near the Quakerbridge Mall and it was a very memorable experience.

We were early and had a room all to ourselves and then our server, who I will call "M" (For magnificent), turned the corner and greeted us.  When she smiled, I really thought the room got brighter. My wife immediately connected with her since she used to be a server and we were laughing a lot with her immediately. She told "M" we were from Myrtle Beach and "M" had a friend who lived there. My wife said that she should come down and visit and look us up. I think if we had dessert, "M" would have have been invited to stay in our spare bedroom.

My wife brought up we were Uber drivers and she told the first story. (Really) "M" did not have any other customers so we had a live audience and soon I told her two of my stories. I told her she should pull up a chair and I almost brought her one.  My wife told her that I had a blog and I said, "I'm going to have to write about you," which of course she loved.

Half way through my meal, The Admiral's Feast, I realized I should take a picture of what I was eating. We were laughing and having so much fun with "M", the meal was really secondary. 

The meal was over and as we got up, "M" was starting to take care of the table behind us and she brought over some biscuits and said, "I ate one in the kitchen." I could not resist and I said, "She ate one from our table too.  I didn't mind the first one, but she wanted a second one too."  As we walked out of the restaurant, we were laughing, the four people at that table were laughing, and so was "M".

When "M" walked over to our table she found a double tip from us and the below note for her exceptional service she gave us. It said, "Keep smiling and laughing and spreading your sunshine."

Now, I know that "M" is reading this, so I have THREE more things for her:

1. Always remember that any table you serve can be a great table and your personality will automatically make it a better one.

2. I noticed that your General Manager is also named Jeff. Print this out and show it to him.  I'm sure he appreciates the service you give his customers, but something like this from a very happy customer will mean a lot. From now on, when we think of Red Lobster, we're going to think of the great dinner we had with you.

3. "M"-You had a choice of picking one of two great southern hospitality stories I have and you chose the first one. Below is the second one and thanks again for a terrific dinner and maybe we'll see you in Myrtle Beach.

                                                            THE STEAK DINNER

The woman told me this great family story of how they try to get together every few years despite living in many different states. She said, “My ten brothers and sisters and I met at a nice restaurant in Georgia along with a few spouses.  The older couple sitting at the next table loved the fact that we were all family and having such a good time.  The woman told me that she hadn’t spoken to her two sisters in a long time and one of my brothers said that he would pray for her that it would work out. When it came time to pay we were arguing about who was going to get the big check and the waitress told us it was taken care of by the older couple.  They even paid the tip.”  I am pretty sure that family will always remember that night, because of that couple’s generosity.