Do You Need Advice From Grandma?

Of course you do and since I'm a grandpa now, I know how important this is.  My wife, is a grandma and I get great advice from her all the time. (Really honey, I'm not just saying this)

Take a look at this picture below, how funny is this?

About 12 years ago, a co-worker in New York City asked Mike Mathews for advice and he suggested they call his grandmother, Eileen for advice. She did and it made a big difference for her.  Mike bought a lemonade stand and set-up a Face Time booth for New Yorkers to talk with his grandma.  He said, "My grandma has so much love and her presence is to big for our family, she needs something more.

Every Saturday morning he would set this up at a different location on The Upper West Side.  He would come up with a question for the day to start conversation and the free advice was a big hit.  In 2018, his grandmother passed away at age 102 and he closed the grandma stand.

Recently he started the stand again with six rotating grandmas, three in person and three remotely. He believes that this helps people to reach out to their own grandmas and this makes our senior citizens more valuable.  Below is the new stand, which looks identical to the old one.

34 Hours in New Jersey

 

It was a short trip recently, eleven hours of driving from Myrtle Beach to Branchburg on Friday and then 11 hours the other way on Sunday. We were there for a Celebration of Life Day for my wife's cousin.  We were at the cemetery and then we went out to lunch with family.

We also squeezed in a few hours for a couple friends and our daughter and son-in-law.  I invited one of my friends, Larry, over to our hotel for a free breakfast Saturday morning and this was the second time this year I treated him at this hotel.  In April, he brought his guitar and gave me a private concert of one song in the pool area.  He is pictured below lounging by the indoor pool and saying hello to a former co-worker who was sent this picture.

Some of the other highlights of the trip were things that I learned or had never seen before.  This is an electronic salt grinder which is new to me since I don't use salt on anything and I needed an explanation on this object.

The dishwasher I saw was amusing because it actually has "dirty" and "clean" printed on it and you slide the message back and forth.  I think it's more fun asking my wife if it's clean or examining the dishes. Take notice that the white message is for "clean" and the darker one is "dirty."

Something amusing happened in the hotel shower.  I was sure I heard music playing and could not figure out where it was coming from.  According to my wife, it was not my imagination and this drain somehow plays music as the water hits it.  I thought I heard "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," but maybe it was just my imagination running away from me.  My wife also told me that it was the same drain the last two times we were there, but all I heard previously was water coming down.

MY MOST MEMORABLE RIDER COMMENTS IN OCTOBER

Me: "How did you two meet?" He said, "We met at the rodeo. My friend bet me $50 I couldn't get her number. I went over to her and gave her my phone and said, 'Can you fill this out for me?'" (Engaged and together ten years)

He: "What's the number one responsibility of a father? Teach your kids how to throw-up, so they get to the toilet."

Cleveland Browns fan: "For the last ten years every time the Browns lose I donate $1 to charity. (St. Judes) I'm going to go broke."

Me: "Have you ever gotten a gift from an Uber driver?" Her: "Maybe some fleas once."

The engineer who designs crosswalks, asked, "Why do they have so many crosswalks in Myrtle Beach that go nowhere?"

I asked him what he does for work in Kentucky and he said, "I make peanut butter for a living.  At Jiffy, we put out one million pounds a day and I get free peanut butter all the time."

I showed them a picture of the largest golf driver in the world from their home state of Illinois and she said, "Can you swing it?" Me: "It's 731 pounds." She: "I know a lot of strong men."

As he got in my car I asked the young guy, "What are you up to today?" He said, "I just skedaddled out of a girl's apartment." I asked, "Do you skedaddle a lot?" He said, "I do."

He: "Charleston is where all the beautiful women are. In high school they all sat at the same table, today they are all in Charleston."

He grew up in Boston and was a big Red Sox fan. I said, "How great is this? The morning after the Yankees win the pennant, I get to talk with a Red Sox fan! I've had a lot of great rides with Red Sox fans." He said, "This isn't going to be one of them." When he got out, he said, "F_ _ _ the Yankees." He was only half joking.

When I told her that the picture of the Super Bowl ring hanging in my car was from a woman working for the Chiefs in public relations, she said, "They let women work in the NFL?"

The Citadel student said, "I'm worried that some of my friends in other colleges are learning how to be functional alcoholics."

I asked the couple what they were up today and he said, "We're doing some swimming." He meant they were going to drink by the water. I said, "I really thought you were going swimming." He: "That's probably because I have a swimmer's body."

She: "English was my worst subject in school, because nuns were teaching it."

I asked the woman in medical sales for twenty years," What's the secret to your sales success?" She said, "Being genuine, knowledgeable, and persistent."

His real name is Moses and he said, "I had a number of teachers growing up who told me that I didn't act like Moses did."

She: "I wasn't going to come to the bachelorette party, but I won $1,000 on the slots, so I came."

She: "I drive badly so no one asks me to drive them."

The woman who lost her child eleven years ago during childbirth told me, "Every year I take off on that day and we release balloons to remember him."

The angry Verizon user said as he was getting out, "I better tip you now before I throw this phone through the wall."

                                             MORE RIDER COMMENTS

She: "I was named Sloane, because my dad liked the name from the girl in the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

The young guy said, "The day I got the DUI was the worst day of my life." (In a golf cart)

"In Thailand they have shrimp in their pizza."

From Canada originally I told him that I visited "Man and his World" in Montreal when I was a kid. (World's Fair in 1967)  He said, "You can't say that anymore."

"Chicago is the best city in the world to live in between June and October."

"The class that more people fail in college than any other is accounting."

Instead of saying her car was in the shop, she said, "My car is in distress."

He told me, "I was born to live out in the woods."

Talking to him how on the app Uber considers this a trip and not a ride.  He said, "It is called rideshare."

The big Chicago Cubs fan admitted, "When they won in 2016 I cried like a baby."

She: "As a med-tech I work seven straight twelve hour days and then I have seven straight days off. I get two weeks of work done every other week."

Woman originally from Denmark, "I'm retired as an ice skater and I've toured Europe, Canada, and the United States."

Very interested in politics, I asked him, "What do you think is going to happen in the election?" He said, "I think she's going to get smoked."

From Idaho, the teacher told me, "Idaho is on of the worst states in spending for education and Washington state is one of the best."

After I told him I had over 14,000 rides, he said, "They should get you a cake."

She said, "My friend's brother's girlfriend was the college student who got killed getting into a car that wasn't an Uber a few years ago."

                                UNIQUE OCCUPATIONS

Book Event Planner for Publishing Company

Crosswalk and Traffic Signal Designer

Confidential Secretary for the New York Stock Exchange

Peanut Butter Maker for Jiffy

Airplane mechanic and Pro Boxer

Retired ice skater from Denmark

His title is "Right Away Line Clearance.

President Materials Company

Tour bus driver for "The Temptations"

Law Professor

General Manager Steel Company

                                                    (She's from Chicago, Lily is from Kansas)

                      COMMENTS ABOUT LILY MY MANNEQUIN

"What's with the doll head?"

"I didn't even see her there."

She: "My mom was a manager in a department store and she had a young girl responsible for dressing all the mannequins and she used to talk to them too."

He: "She's hot."

"My daughter was told by another child that mannequins were really dead people."

"What is she looking at?"

                   COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

"You just made my day."

"This is so special-I never could have expected to get a ride like this."

"I had a really hard time all week, you are all the sunshine I needed today."

The company President said, "I love what you're doing. This is human-why we exist."

"This is the most interesting ride I've ever had."

"That was the best ride ever."

"You're so much fun."

"This is amazing."

"I love your car."

"Hope you get your 20,000 rides."

"This was awesome."

THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

 

Over forty years ago, I graduated college with an English and Political Science degree.  I've been a political junkie for all these years and I have a large library of books on both sides of the political aisle. I also love numbers, so election night for me  is bigger than The Super Bowl.  I've spent hundreds of hours reading about this election and I'll continue to read about it for months to come.  

It is only a few days from Election Day and this is my political blog with my predictions and why. Earlier this year I blogged that I didn't believe it would come down to Biden vs Trump and I got that one right. Four years ago, I made the below points before the 2020 election and I copied them below:

2020: I’ll make three points:   1. President Trump has no chance of winning the popular vote and never did.  I believe that Joe Biden will win New York and California by at least 7 million votes

 I think Trump will lose the popular vote by 8-10 million votes, most of them from New York and California and he will lose the rest of country by a couple million votes.

 I think President Trump pulls out Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but he falls short with a few of the states he won last time and Joe Biden is elected.  Some of these states will be close as there are always close races in some states.

I did pretty well here since Biden won California by 7 million, although Biden and Trump were in a dead heat over the rest of the country.  I did pick Trump to win Pennsylvania which he didn't, but I said Biden would win by winning some of the states Trump won in 2016.

Here are five questions and answers about the election:

1. Can Donald Trump win the popular vote? Absolutely, positively, NO! It is not going to happen and here's why: 

The two largest liberal states are California and New York.  Below are the popular vote totals for the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate from these two states and their totals outside of those two states:

California and New York                                          Rest of country

2008 Obama   + 5 million                                           +4.5 million

2012 Obama    +5 million                                              Even

2016 Clinton    +6 million                                            -3 million

2020 Biden      +7 million                                             Even 

Total                +23 million                                           +1.5 million

Harris is from California and she will win these two states by 5-6 million votes, Trump cannot overcome that many votes in the rest of the country. However, Harris will not win the vote outside those two states. Two points on California: it does not get their final numbers for a couple weeks because of their size.  Trump had 6 million votes in California four years ago, yet he lost the state by 5 million votes.

2.  Will other candidates impact the vote? It could have been a lot more, but only 2% of the vote four years ago were to other candidates and it won't be more than 3% this year.  

3. Will there be a declared winner on election night? No, it's extremely unlikely it will happen. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin do not count all absentee ballots until election day.  However, I think it's likely there will be a recognized leader very early the next day.

4. Did pollsters once again underestimate Trump's numbers? They have made concerted efforts to prevent this, but a race that is almost a dead heat will certainly swing his way if there is any miscalculating like this again.

5.  Over the last few weeks there have been many polls showing one candidate with a 1% or 2% lead. Is that significant at all? The margin of error is probably 3-4% so no, this is not significant. What a 1-2% lead means is that the race is up for grabs and it's highly unlikely a candidate will win that state by 5 points.

6. What issues will make the biggest difference?

A. My favorite Democratic writer, James Carville, famously said during the Clinton elections, "It's the economy stupid." The ECONOMY issue favors the challenger, Trump.

B. If CHANGE is what the country wants, this favors the challenger, Trump. I do believe that a woman's perspective and a younger person is change, but polls show that the country is not happy with the direction of the country by very large numbers and that cannot favor the incumbent party.

C. If MONEY is a major factor down the stretch, this definitely favors Harris since the Democratic party has a very large advantage here. (However, Hillary outspent Trump by half a billion dollars and lost)

D. If ABORTION is the key factor, this favors Harris, 

E. The IMMIGRATION/BORDER problem is a big issue that clearly favors Trump.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON RECENT EVENTS:

The Al Smith Dinner: I was shocked that Harris skipped this event and sent a video.  It's a non-partisan charity event every four years that the two candidates get to joke with each other and the press.  It is a very favorable event for Democrats, but only Trump attended.

The interview with Harris on Fox News: I give her credit for going, but it was not good for her.  There were a couple moments I thought she did okay, but this was why her staff has been keeping her away from difficult questions.  She also showed up late and her staff was waving to end the interview.

Trump working at McDonalds: It was funny to see, but seeing pictures of him working the window reminded people that he is more like them.  He has always related well to regular people which is part of his appeal.  I'm sure it wasn't his idea, but someone should have gotten a raise for it.

Trump canceling several interviews: It does bring up the question if his age and stamina is a problem.  He has been running for the full year compared to only a couple months for Harris.  Watch where he ends his campaign.  In 2016 his last event was in Minnesota after midnight into election day because he was trying to win that state.(Lost by 1%) Hillary's last event was in the heart of Philly with all her supporters and celebrities.  He outworked her from beginning to end.

Trump did a three-hour interview with podcast star Joe Rogan: He did well on a long interview. To be fair, Harris has had trouble doing 20-25 minute interviews and she admitted this week that her weakness is that she has difficulty answering questions spontaneously.   

PREDICTIONS: 

THE POPLULAR VOTE:

If there are 150 million votes, a 3% victory is 4.5 million votes.  I think Trump wins outside of California/New York by 3-4 million votes and Harris wins those two states by 5-6 million. Predictions so far have said she needs to win this by at least 3% to also win the electoral college. I think she wins this by around 2 1/2%, just less than what Hillary beat Trump by.

My picks:

VP Harris 50%

Pres. Trump 48%

Others 2%

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

The seven battleground states are Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Arizona.  Most, if not all, will be very close with 1-3% victories.  I think Trump wins at least five of these, one being Pennsylvania. (Biden who was from Pennsylvania may have had a better chance to win there as he did four years ago)

It is very common in elections for there to be close races and these states for the third consecutive election will make the difference. 

I think Trump wins with 285-300 electoral votes.

THE REST OF US:

Whoever wins, it will be remarkable that they pulled it out.  It will not be the last election nor the end of the world.

The reality is that around 75 million people voted for the candidate you didn't vote for.  You may not understand how they could have, but they did.  It may be your neighbor, co-worker, mailman, or the server the next time you go out to eat, or even a relative. 

You don't have to like everything they do.  You don't want to have everyone around you agree with you on everything either.  Trust me, but if you don't agree, it won't bother me at all.

MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN OCTOBER

 

HE WON THE RODEO BET

There are many ways people meet, but rarely does someone win a bet and find the right girl at the same time. The couple from West Virginia met at the rodeo. He told me, "My friend bet me that I couldn't get her phone number. I walked over and handed her my phone and asked her, 'Can you fill this out for me?'" They are engaged and have been together for ten years. Who said it's a bad thing to bet?

I told her that I was going to write about this in my blog and she enthusiastically urged me on: "Do it, do it!" She is a nurse and he is an airline mechanic with an interesting hobby.  He told me, "I just became a pro fighter.  He also said, "I've always wanted to start a podcast and you would make a good guest." I told him that I would love to, but the only catch was that he wanted me to come to West Virginia to do it.  If you're reading this, you have my number.

THE UN-MARINE BIOLOGIST

My last ride of the month was clearly one of the best.  My passenger told me that, "I have the worst luck of anyone." Recently, her purse was stolen and her Uber driver canceled which is why I got her ride.  I told her that I give out a lot of good vibes and good karma and her luck was going to change starting now.  I quickly had her laughing and told her all the good things that were about to happen to her, including giving her a gift (My list of favorite comments), taking e a picture of us and hanging it in my car as someone whose luck had just changed, and I was going to write this blog about her.

She is a marine biologist with a masters, but she had to leave her job recently because her boss was constantly belittling her. She's temporarily working as a server in a restaurant, but she has a lot going for her.  She is obviously bright and has a delightful personality and a great laugh and big smile.  We had a good time doing a lot of laughing and just before we took our selfie she said to me, "I had a really hard time all week. You are all the sunshine I needed today." It was a great way to end my month.

DEAR UN-MARINE BIOLOGIST: You better have read this story, because your luck has changed.  Expect good things to happen for you and they will happen-all the best to you. THE SUNSHINE MAN

WHEN YOU NEED HELP, WHO DO YOU CALL?

No, not ghostbusters, but how about someone who can help you get electricity?  My passenger's real title is "Right Away Line Cleaner."  He was recently in lower South Carolina and also in Georgia removing trees and debris from power lines so the electric company can restore power for neighborhood's in need.  He said, "It's very rewarding to reduce the time they have to wait from 3-4 weeks to 4-5 days."  It's dangerous work though, and as many as fifty workers doing this in the past year have lost their lives.  

The biggest problem is the communication between the electric company and his company in letting them know which wires are still live and dangerous.  He told me that most people are very good to them, but sometimes they are upset because they believe that we can turn on their electricity.  I asked him, "Was there anything in your life that you've done to prepare you for this dangerous kind of work?" He said, "No, but they do give us a lot of training."

DRIVING "THE TEMPTATIONS"

If I had known at the beginning of the ride that for the last thirty-one years he's been a tour bus driver for one of the top Motown groups in the sixties, our ride would have been different. He got in the car angry at Verizon.  He had just bought his mom a house in Ohio and he was trying to get answers to two simple questions from Verizon. He had spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone and apologized to me several times for the language he was using on the phone.  He said, "I'm calling Ohio and I get India." I was able to calm him down some during the ride, but as he got out he said, "I better tip you now before I throw this phone through a wall." I would have liked to ask him about some stories on the road or if he could sing, but time did not allow it.  The Temptations performed in Myrtle Beach the next night and performed The National Anthem recently at a Mets/Dodgers playoff game.

THE LAW PROFESSOR'S PERSPECTIVE

I enjoyed speaking with a local law professor in the banking area.  I would have loved to have talk with him longer, but I had one interesting question for him. I asked, "In the fifteen plus years you have been teaching, what difference have you noticed in your students?" He told me that he was surprised that, "Young attorneys were demanding things that they would never have gotten in the past."  He said that attorneys who wanted to be partners would come in 90 minutes earlier when the partners are there and young attorneys are intentionally not following traditional rules.  He said that they want a more balanced life and I had a young attorney later that day tell me the same thing.

LOOKING BACK: When I Ran For President

 

Once or twice each month I'm going to blog about something from my past and how it relates to today. As you know this coming Tuesday is Election Day, so maybe this story from forty-three years ago will get you in the mood to vote.

As a junior in college at Fairleigh Dickinson University, I ran for President of the Student Senate.  A year earlier I ran for a Dorm Senator position, but I lost.  Six months later, I ran for a Senator-at-Large position and I was elected.  The presidential election took place after I had only six months experience on the student senate.

The current President of the Student Senate was going to run for re-election and no one was going to challenge him.  I had no problem with him at all, but it bothered me that he was going to run unopposed.  I tried to talk several people into running until someone suggested I run.  When I announced I was running, a third candidate announced they would run and the President of the Student Senate announced he would not run.

The above picture is from the school paper on March 11, 1981 and I'm on the far left.  That is a mustache on my face and not chocolate icing.  My opponent had only six more months experience on the senate than I, but my real adversary turned out to be the guy running for Vice-President who was the second from the right.  According to this article, that guy, "Began systematically attacking, embarrassing and otherwise outraging his audience."  This was 1981 and not 2024.

It would have been a nice debate, but this guy had a different strategy.  He, "Accused presidential candidate Hoeing of incompetence in both the written mode of communication and his general lack of ability to run the senate."  He probably would not like my blog at all. The amusing line from the article was that after another attack, "These statements brought Hoenig to his feet, visibly shaken from the earlier attacks."  I may have just been stretching my legs.

I did win the election with close to 60% of the vote.  I would have given you the actual results, but I couldn't find them. I also ran the senate for a year and I did a good job and I got a lot out of the experience.

On Saturday my election blog will be out and I will answer some questions that you might have and make a few predictions too.  

Did I Tell You About My Movie?

A few years ago I had a couple of passengers who told me that what I do in my car could be a television show or movie.  One even said, "You could play yourself!" Denzel Washington was a Lyft driver in a movie, why couldn't I be an Uber driver on a show or movie? I am qualified after over 14,000 rides.

A couple weeks ago I blogged about some of the different scams or business propositions I have come across mostly since publishing my book a year ago.  This movie proposal was the most interesting:

After interviewing me about my book the guy on the phone told me that they wanted to recommend my book to a successful movie producer for a movie adaptation. The producer, who I looked up online, has a long list of movies including many that I have seen or heard of.  I was told that the producer would call me and he did, if it was him.

He's the first person I have talked to on the phone who sounded like he really understood what the book was about and he told me what he liked about it.  He really sounded like someone who is very creative and has been active as a producer for decades.  I was not my usual self on the phone, because he really sounded legit.

He told me that they were willing to pay me $4.59 million.  Of that money, I was told by the other guy that the company who reached out to me would get 15% of that or somewhere over $500,000. They would need a screen play written and cinematic trailer completed over the next about 6-9 months.

I was very skeptical and I told the literary agent (a second person) who had called me that I wasn't convinced that the producer was legit.  He had the production company send me an email that said exactly this:

"We have received all the requirements except the screenplay and the cinematic trailer.  Once confirmation of the creation of screenplay and the cinematic trailer will be submitted by your agent, a copy of the contract will be sent to you immediately."

"A film budget of $153M is allocated for this project which is 3% of the budget amounting to $4.59M goes to you as the author of the book.  We are looking to start filming towards the third quarter of next year 2025."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Imagine this picture is on this big movie screen.  I am still technically deficient.                                                                                                                                         

   

I spoke with my brother-in-law who used to be an actor and is familiar with the industry.  He said there were several red flags: one being a movie producer calling me, secondly, the large movie budget for a screen play and thirdly, a trailer would be done before any filming.                                                                    

My literary agent told me he would call me on Thursday and tell me how much the company would invest in my project and that the script and trailer would probably cost around $80,000.  My next call was on Monday from the first guy who contacted me.  He had no clue what had happened the week before and did not know I had gotten a call from the producer.

I was pretty rough on him because he was calling me and he sounded very confused.  He finally apologized and said he would speak to the literary agent.  The literary agent called the next day and had not spoken with the other guy.  He told me that the company would invest $70,000 into the project and my investment would ONLY be $10,000.  Five minutes later, those numbers were $60,000 and $20,000. 

I made a counter offer and said, why don't you just invest the whole amount and I'll pay you another 5% of the $4.59 million I would receive.  He laughed and said, "It doesn't work that way."  I told him, "Of course it doesn't, because you wouldn't have any of my money until everything was completed." Our phone call ended with me telling him that this was the second confusing and unprofessional call in two days and if you ever figure out what  they were doing, they could call me back.

One or both of them tried to reach me again, but I didn't answer the call.  I have a great story and a movie offer I can put in a frame on my wall.  Could my book really be a movie? I think so, maybe I'll get a better offer?

The Wish Wall

 

In my previous blog I told you about The Hangout, which is a large venue at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach where I live.  Part of the entrance is pictured below and on the very bottom of this blog you can see these two walls completely.  There are two more walls at the entrance also.

All the colors you see are little pieces of paper that visitors have written a wish on and they have put them in little slots in the wall.  Being a number's guy I could not help trying to estimate how many wishes are here. I believe there are over 20,000 wishes on these walls.

I asked one of the workers about the "Wish Wall," and she told me something even more incredible-they regularly empty out the wishes to make room for more wishes.  I asked her, "What happens to all the wishes?" She said, "I tell people they go to the Wish Fairy." 

What do people wish for? I only pulled out a couple of them, but here's one I read before the event last Sunday:

The wish says: "I hope I find a handsome, funny, smart, Rich, Man soon and Live happily ever after." I hope she does too.  

I've been told some of these wishes on the wall are heartbreaking.  But, it does lead to an important question, "What do you wish for right now in your life?" A wish is only a wish unless you're doing something to make that wish come true.  

May all your wishes and dreams come true.

Sunday Was Connecticut Day

There is a National Connecticut Day and that was on August 10th and it was created to recognize the contributions of the state of Connecticut.  Locally, here in Myrtle Beach, Connecticut Day, was this past Sunday.  The event was for anyone from Connecticut who has moved to the Myrtle Beach or surrounding areas.

It has been run for the last twenty years and this year, my friend Neal, was in charge of running it and I helped him out for the day.  Close to two hundred people paid a $15 admittance fee to get into "The Hangout", a local facility here at Broadway at the Beach, the largest tourist attraction in Myrtle Beach.(350 acres)

Each person bought their own food and drink and enjoyed the free cake pictured above. (Coffee too) There was a 50-50 raffle and the winner received $325.  About thirty-five beautiful gift baskets were raffled off made by Cynthia, who has run the event for all these years. The group also played some "Connecticut Trivia". Below is a picture of most of the crowd enjoying their meal.

The Hangout is a great place for food and entertainment and they had a bunch of very large television screens for everyone to enjoy.  Connecticut day took place on the second floor which can hold over four hundred people.  The large windows on the right in the above picture open up completely to enjoy the breeze and the sights of Broadway at the Beach.  It was a terrific event and everyone had a great time.

The most amazing part of this venue for me was the front entrance which has a "Wish Wall." I'll fill you in on that in a few days, it is pretty incredible.

A Modern Stop at Willoughby

In 1960, the brilliant writer, Rod Serling, produced one of his favorite episodes of his show, "The Twilight Zone." It was called "A Stop At Willoughby."  An advertising executive gets chewed out by his boss and the combined pressures of his home life result in him falling asleep on a train and waking up in a peaceful town in 1888. 

There are places in this country in 2024 that are slow and peaceful and for people who need a break from the hustle and bustle of modern life.  One of these places is Mackinac Island in Michigan. Over 1 million people visit this place each summer and there are only 500 residents.

Since the beginning of the 19th century cars have been banned here.  They do have emergency vehicles, two fire engines and one police car and one ambulance.  They have incredible fudge here and produce 10,000 pounds a day during their busy season.  That sounds like a ridiculous amount of fudge, I hope they have plenty of milk.

A couple other unusual facts about this island.  There are only 70 students in their entire school system.  80% of the island is state property and it had an active military post for a hundred years.  If you're looking for some natural beauty, this may be what you're looking for. It is more beautiful than Willoughby.

 

"LOST" Again

It was twenty years ago that the television show "Lost" appeared.  When I heard that a show was going to begin where people were stuck on an island and it wasn't a comedy like "Gilligan's Island," I had no interest watching it.

However, that night I was flipping channels waiting for my youngest to fall asleep and I was mesmerized immediately.  The first thing that struck me was that it looked like a movie not a television show.  The pilot was the most expensive pilot ever made.  Secondly, it was full of unusual things such as a polar bear on a hot island. Third, the music was striking and a significant part of what was going on.

Our two oldest children and my wife and I watched the show every week for the six years it was on. I wish I had a dollar for every time we said, "What does that mean?" The characters were terrific.  The plot was extensive and fascinating.  It had everything you could possibly want in a television show or movie.  Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on.

On May 23, 2010, the final episode aired from 9-11:30 pm.  The local news was moved back thirty minutes.  Episode 121 had everything in it from the last six years.  Although some people panned it as disappointing, I remember when the show ended they had a special show on with some of the actors and a live audience. The first seconds of that show had an audience member crying after just watching the ending. (He was not the only one)

I've always considered "Lost" one of my top three favorite shows, with "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone being the other two.  I found it impossible to rate the three since "Lost" was so new and the others were from the sixties.  

In the fourteen years since the show ended, I have watched a couple shows again, but I've always thought about when I could watch the entire series again.  One hundred twenty-one shows of about forty minutes each is a lot of television.  "Lost" started on Netflix in the past year and my brother started watching it from the beginning. Surprisingly, my wife said that she would watch and in August we started by watching the incredible pilot.

This week, we watched the last show and it is clearly my favorite show of all time.  My wife said that she thought, "It was better watching a second time." The plot is still incredible, the humor was more than I remembered and the great and unforgettable moments were absolutely remarkable.  

When I first started watching this show, it reminded me of "The Twilight Zone."  One of my favorite songs is a one-hit wonder in 1969 by Zager & Evans called "The Year 2525."  I wrote the below song twenty years ago to the music of this song and I sang it probably a hundred or more times in my car.  

Congratulations to everyone involved in "Lost"-it is still a special show and I had a great time watching it again.

                                        LOST and FOUND?

                                          “The Year 2525”

 

There’s a place, oh so far away,

Where there are people, trapped today.

No one knows where they happen to be,

After their plane crashed tragically.

 

What did the psychic see in his head?

Is Jack’s father really dead?

What did Ethan want with Claire?

And how does a hot island have polar bears?

 

There are questions in our mind,

We’re looking for answers all the time.                   CHORUS

We don’t know what theories are true,

So we’ll keep watching until we do.

 

How did Locke get out of his chair?

How did he become a leader there?

What’s the story with Hurley’s weight?

And what will be Claire’s baby’s fate?

 

Is Sawyer really bad?

What will happen the next time he’s mad?

Will he go after Sayid or Jack?

And when will the monster next attack?

 

REPEAT CHORUS

 

“No monsters,” Danielle said,

Is the rest of her party really dead?

Why would someone kill for a toy plane?

Or kill themselves with drugs-that’s insane!

 

Can the boy make things appear?

Who are the voices in the woods they hear?

Will each person find what they’re looking for?

Or will they find something much, much more?

 

So now it’s been about fifteen shows,

How it will end, no one knows.

Will they ever get back home?

Or, will they be stuck there, all alone?

 

Why is there magic in the air?

What is happening on that island down there?

Why do so many people care?

Can’t you just tell us about the polar bears?

 

REPEAT CHORUS

 

There’s a place, oh so far away…..

MY MOST MEMORABLE SEPTEMBER RIDER COMMENTS

 

She: "The one thing I am very good at is I am the best parallel parker."

The anxious male college freshman, suddenly said to me, "I'm not getting kidnapped, am I?"

How did you two meet?" He laughed and said, "We met at McDonalds where she was working. She was in high school and I was in college. The first time I saw her she took my breath away, and it's the only time in my life everything slowed down like a movie. The first thing I said to her was, "I'm going to marry you." (Married 38 years)

He told me that, "Saddam Hussein was addicted to nacho cheese Doritos, it was his heroin." AP fact check: "He could down a large bag in 10 minutes."

He was almost 81 years old and I asked him, "How are you in such great shape?"  He said, "Cheerios." After I stopped laughing he explained, "I used to eat the colored ones when I was young." He meant Fruit Loops.

I asked them, "Do you have anything funny for my blog?" She said, "That kind of pressure makes me feel like the most horrible person on the face of the earth."

The amazing woman told me, "When my fourth child was born, I was cleaning the crib, and I had to give birth suddenly by myself.  I called the midwife and she came to cut the cord."

My frequent rider said, "I just got an oil change and my 10th one was free, when do I get a free ride from you?  Even American Airlines gives us two free Uber rides a month." Me: "I'm working on a Frequent Rider Discount program."

The young woman asked me a question no one has ever asked me- "Can you do a cartwheel?"

After speaking with the singer/songwriter about the songs I've written, he said, "You don't know how close you are to writing a hit song." (How far is Pluto?)

The man from Tennessee said, "It took me thirty years to find the love of my life." She: "It was 28, you're thirty now."

Jack Moore was an instructor on the PGA tour and a great putter: "I once gave Tiger Woods a tip, I won two hundred amateur tournaments, and have trained golfers at $3,000 per hour.  I also sold four million videos at over $50 each."

He: "I've always wanted to be an animation character, maybe a cat."

I asked, "How did you two meet?" He said, "Through the divine power of the internet."

I told him I drive nine hours a day out to Colorado and he said, "I'd have to be on acid to take a nine- hour ride."

The 26-year-old Brazilian has four car dealerships in the Boston area. "We come here to work, we go home to sleep. There is so much opportunity in this country."

I asked the guy from Texas, "Are you a Cowboys fan?" He replied, "I used to like them when they played, but now they are just cowgirls."

How did you become a lawyer? She said, "I didn't want to do math and I said, 'Why not?'"

The intelligent singer said, "Life would work so much better if each person would be working in a job that they are passionate about."

I asked the experienced salesman what the secret of his success is and he said, "I don't have customers, I have friends."

The woman is about to turn 30, but she looks closer to 20.  I said, "You could wear a grey wig to look older." Her boyfriend said, "That would turn me on."

The English major who graduated from Harvard is writing in the film industry. She: "I'm working now on a movie for Amazon, "Sixty-nine Million Reasons Why I Hate You."

I asked, "Have you ever gotten a gift in an Uber?" She said, "I once got a Koran."

She said, "My favorite Uber driver was in a $100,000 truck. He looked like Greg Allman or one of the Doobie Brothers and his car smelled intoxicating.  He said the smell was called, " My uncle's pipe.'" After our three-minute ride, he's now number two!

The Uber driver in Pawleys Island said, "When I was new, I took a ride from Georgetown in the pouring rain.  She was an Uber driver from the Charleston area and thirteen drivers turned the ride down.  It was a three-hour ride to Buford and she told me a lot about the app and helped me.  When I dropped her off, she gave me a $200 tip."

MORE RIDER COMMENTS

I asked her if she was in sales and she said, "How did you know?" Me: "How do you think I knew?" She: "Because I'm so charming?" Me: "I think it's charming that you said you were charming."

I said to the man from India, "The people in Thailand have the reputation of being very friendly."  He replied, "A little too friendly."

She: "We were out in Nevada in a gated community for Halloween and they hired a band to play in the park in the middle of the development."

She: "I come from a long line of hoarders and I throw everything out."

She: "I'm writing a book about stories in my life and it's called, "Seriously Folks, All Day Long, I Kid You Not." I'm going to write about you."

The college professor's advice: "Stick to the things that bring you joy."

I asked the couple who had been married for 27 years, "What's the secret of a successful marriage," and he said, "Whatever she wants-most of the time."

She: "We call ourselves, 'The Two B's.' We're just two bitches."

She: "The beaches here in Myrtle Beach are better than the West Palm Beach area."

"I had to change careers and do something doable and didn't irritate me." He became a college professor.

I asked the two friends how long they have known each other and she said, "I've known him almost since birth."

I asked the physical therapist, "Why did you move to Florida?" She said, "There's a boat load of old people there."

From Wilmington, North Carolina, he said, "I'm a musician with a hard rock band." Davey Williamson

I asked, "How did the two of you meet?" He said, "We were in a running club."

Married 29 years, I asked them, "What is the secret to a successful marriage?" He said, "Understanding, understanding."

I asked her is she had any funny stories and she said, "We have funny stories, but they are not funny to other people."

"It feels like a vacation here everyday."

The young Mexican woman said, "Americans are so kind."

He: "My job is now inside so I don't have to experience the 900 degree summers."

I asked the funeral director how he got interested in the profession.  He said, "My dad was a pastor and I went to a lot of funerals with him."

I asked, "Have you ever gotten a gift from an Uber driver?" She answered, "Yes, I've gotten the gift of kindness many times."

She: "I've had a couple Uber drivers that were falling asleep."

She: "I had to get a reservation at The Dayton Hotel.  When my daughter was two, I won a contest to stay here when I submitted a picture of her at the beach."

She: "What I liked about New Jersey was that it's always busy."

The woman in the car with three friends said, "I hate those people."

He educated me about this: "Purple and orange are complimentary colors."

Me: "What do you like most about Charleston?" She: "I love everything about it."

He said, "After thirty years in the hotel business, I've had enough of people."

SPECIAL OCCUPATIONS:

Working for the NBA doing social media.

Funeral Director

Georgia Tech professor

Fire watchers on a boat

Fire engine technicians on an island

Hard rock musician

Very successful PGA golfer and instructor

Data Scientist

COMMENTS ABOUT LILY, MY MANNEQUIN

Waving at her, she said, "Is there a camera in there?"

The esthetician said, "She has perfect skin."

"It's hilarious."

"She's awesome."

"And who's the pretty girl?"

The country of New Zealand is my 58th country in my car and this coin has Queen Elizabeth on it.

COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

"You're creating memories."

"You're such a fascinating human."

"This is as cool as all hell." (I'm pretty sure he was complimenting me,)

"This has been so memorable and unforgettable."

I said to him that the bills were insane and he said, "Amazing, fascinating, but not insane."

"What an experience!"

"This was the most fun I've ever had in an Uber."

"This was a great ride."

"We were lucky Uber gave us you."

"You  have the customer service, I hope you can keep it up."

"We enjoyed your museum."

"I really had a good time."

"This was the most fun ride."

"This was the coolest Uber ever."

"Amazing!"

Hearing the dolphin and seagull impression, she said, "I can do a whale." It really sounded like Dory from "Finding Nemo" movie.

"You're a great guy."

When she heard the seagull impression she said, "It's not great." (She's the only one)

"This is so fun."

"Take care sunshine."

"You do a great job."

"This is the most entertaining Uber we've had."

"This is the coolest Uber I've ever been in."

"This is the best ride I've ever had and I like your stories too."

"This was the best Uber ride of our trip."

"All I can give you is this taradactle penny." (It said, "Myrtle Beach")

"I hope you get the record for most Uber rides."

"There's a lot of information here."

"That was a good ride."

"That was interesting and cool."

"I love the history on how this all started."

"You would do very well in sales."

MY MOST MEMORABLE SEPTEMBER RIDERS

                                                                                                                                                             

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

I have picked up a lot of couples and I have heard some amazing stories on how people met, but this may be the best one.  I picked up a couple living in Florida and they told me that they had been married for 38 years.  I asked the husband, who had his own finance company, "How did you meet?" He started laughing and told me this story:

"We met at McDonalds where she was working.  She was in high school and I was in college. I was with friends and they were talking to her at the counter.  I was sitting at a table and one of my friends moved and I saw her for the first time. She took my breath away. It's the only time in my life that everything moved in slow motion like a movie. I walked up to the counter and the first thing I said was, "I'm going to marry you."

I asked her what her response was and she said, "I blew him off and through away his number." She was dating someone else.  He visited the McDonalds several times and when her relationship with her boyfriend was ending, she gave him her number.  The rest is history.  

I enjoyed telling them that I met my wife at Burger King and we've been married 41 years.  We have a lot in common.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A FRENCHWOMAN

She was from the Bronx, New York, and she was impressive.  Her marriage was breaking up and she had four children between the ages of 1-15 and she decided to move to France to get a fresh start.  She did a little bit of everything to make it work and also had another two children in France where she has lived for 32 years.  Her best story she told me at the end of the ride. She said, "I was due with my fourth child and I cleaning the crib and I had to give birth suddenly by myself.  I wrapped the baby up in a blanket and I called the midwife to come over and cut the chord." She is one independent woman!

A GOLFING LEGEND

I am not a golfer, but I could tell this guy had done very well in the golfing world.  He said that he was, "A putting guru," and learned from one of the greatest.  He told me, "I once gave Tiger Woods a tip." He once got a putting tip with Jack Nicklaus from E. Harvey Ward, who was one of the best golfers in the 1950's. He told me that he won two hundred amateur tournaments and as a golf instructor he would charge people, "$3,000 per hour."  With another golfer he sold, "Over four million videos," on how to golf.  He's had quite an exciting career traveling the world and when he saw my money collection, he said, "I'm impressed."

EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG

He is close to turning 81, but he gave me the best laugh of the day and it was totally unexpected. He was in great shape so I asked, "How are you in such great shape, what's your secret?" He said, "Cheerios."  After I stopped laughing the black man said, "I used to eat the colored ones when I was young." We figured out that he actually meant, "Fruit Loops."  In his life he worked as a photographer, artist, and musician and he is still working in a store nearby where I dropped him off in downtown Charleston.  He did get around to saying that he has eaten healthy for a long time and, "Stayed away from the meats." He was a pleasure to drive, but I don't think I'll look at Cheerios the same way again.

A COLLEGE PROFESSOR

I had a great time talking with a professor from Georgia Tech, the school my youngest daughter graduated from.  He was working in product development for medical devices and was not enjoying it. "I decided I needed to do something doable and that didn't irritate me. He got the job at Georgia Tech and would up teaching a class in senior design and a semester many years in Ireland.  He's about to retire and he had some great advice for anyone-"Stick to the things that bring you joy."

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

I was driving in a remote area of Charleston, South Carolina, probably 2 1/2 hours from Myrtle Beach where I live.  A moment before leaving the area I got a ride from a woman who used to live New York. I'm from New Jersey and it's not unusual for me to pick up someone from New York, but when she said she lived in Myrtle Beach, that is very uncommon.  She said to me, "What are the odds," and that was odd. The book I am currently reading, that was in my car, is called, "What are the odds?"

We continued talking and laughing about the coincidences and she asked where I lived in Myrtle Beach.  After telling her, she said, "My parents live right there!" They live in the same neighborhood.  She asked me if we had a dog and I told her we did and we walk around the neighborhood all the time.  Her parents have a dog and the dog's best friend is Dewey.  Dewey is my dog's best friend.  If that wasn't enough, I found out the night or two before we met, I was walking with a few people which included her mom. What are the odds of that?

IT'S FINE, FINE, FINE!

Usually when there are four passengers in my car there is a lot of talking going on and this was no exception. There was one couple and two friends going to a party, which of course is fine.  One of the three women did say, "I hate these people," but she was joking. They were not a young group, all over thirty and under seventy and if I'm wrong it will have to be... fine.

One woman told the story of going to another party recently that she had to pay I think $130 to go.  She was surprised, but said, "It was fine." She said, "It's fine," many times and the one guy and I started repeating it.  It was not the normal conversation I have in the car, but it was fun and of course, it was fine.  They were all very nice, but it's probably the only ride I've ever had that centered around one word....fine.  

What Store Would You Like to Live On Top Of?

If you didn't see this in the news, it's pretty unusual, creative, and interesting. This past week construction began in South Los Angeles and pictured below is a Costco surrounded by 800 apartments. The Costco warehouse/store is 185,000 square feet and the apartments range from 350 to 605 square feet.  

The complex will have 23% of the apartments for low income residents.  They will also have a rooftop pool, basketball court, and gardens.  This may be the future in solving the housing crisis.

This got me thinking about chicken, Costco's famous rotisserie chicken.  Would you be able to smell chicken in your apartment? I once drove a guy who lived on the same block as a barbecue place and he loved waking up in the morning and smelling barbecue-I get that!

I have seen apartments or condos in Charleston that are above a Publix supermarket, but what other places would you like to live next to or on top of?

PIZZA PLACE: For those of you who love pizza, can you smell the aroma with your bedroom window open? How about a pie delivery in three minutes?

STARBUCKS: It's not that they are at every other corner, what if you lived with a Starbucks? Could you somehow resist getting a coffee, now? How about, now? What about after you finish reading this?

WAL-MART: It's all there. You have an aisle of cereal with 4,495 different kinds, according to Mr. Google. It's not just in your neighborhood, you are their neighbor!

MEINEKE: You want an oil change? They come to your apartment, get your key and go to parking space 222 and they bring the key and the receipt back when they are done right to your door.

So, the next time you are ready to move, who would you really like to have as a neighbor?

Can You Say "Scammer"?

Over the years I've come across a number of situations that involved scammers or potentially a scammer. Below are three areas I have experienced this, but I'm holding one more situation that is the most interesting and questionable situation for a separate blog.

UBER DRIVER: 

For many years Uber has had a problem that scammers are contacting drivers on the driver app and pretending to be Uber Support which almost never calls drivers. (We call Uber Support which is our customer service and the riders too.)  Scammers have been able to convince some drivers to give them personal information and they emptied money from their Uber account that the driver had made.

I have probably gotten this call or text about six times in six years, but I knew it was a scam for two reasons.  I read about it on our Uber Facebook site and the scammers were clearly not as friendly as Uber Support.  

FACEBOOK: 

When I published my book a year ago, I was on many Facebook sites announcing the book and I replied to hundreds of positive comments about the announcement.  I also received a number of friend requests, some with a question about Uber or how they could get me as a driver.  I also got some scammers or people with questionable objectives.

I found that their Facebook site was usually very sparse in content. They frequently would message me in the middle of the night and would say, "How are you?" I did communicate with a few of them and asked who they were and what they wanted, but did not get a reply that made sense.  I also had two people with the same scam-they had just gotten money from a government program and saw my name on a list when they received the money.  I can't believe people fall for that. The second time I got it, I told the person I already had this scam.

PHONE CALLS ABOUT MY BOOK: 

I have probably received a couple dozen calls from so called different companies that want to market for me, represent my book in Germany, Mexico, or Canada, get me into more bookstores, or get a movie contract.  I have talked with them about my book and in almost all cases their deal involved me paying $700 to a few thousand dollars.  The record was from last week, $3,800, but they would take care of most of the costs.

The companies all had websites, but usually the person I was talking to was not convincing and did not understand what my book was about. I was interested in what they were saying and how they did it and I told many of them that they were not believable and I wouldn't be interested.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Anyone who knows me understands that I do not spend money quickly or easily, so I am a very difficult sell.  The important thing is to not give out any account numbers and a minimal amount of information. How many of these people who called me were really scammers? I have no idea, some of them could have been the same people. I did check their websites and some of them probably do marketing and promoting. By talking with some of them, it was easier to spot the red flags and things that may not have been real.