MY MOST MEMORABLE RIDERS IN AUGUST

It was a very short month for me, but I met some incredible people in just over one hundred rides.

 FOUR NIGERIANS MAKE MY DAY

My passengers really made my day with a very interesting ride about their home country, Nigeria.  I'm not sure I've had Nigerians in my car before, but they were great to talk with.  Three of them lived in Minnesota and the other in Thornton, Colorado, ironically the place my wife and I left at the beginning of the week while we visited family.  They had a family reunion of twenty plus people in Myrtle Beach, with some coming from Texas.

I learned that the weather in Nigeria is almost always between 80-90 degrees and it is hot.  The most popular rice in the country is Jollof rice which is a mixture of rice, tomato-based sauce, vegetables and spices. They are very proud of the rice that Nigeria produces. Nigeria is located on the west coast of Africa and it has the most populous black people in the world with around 230,000 black men. They were really nice guys and wanted me to take a picture of them to put up in my car and post here.  Thanks guys-keep smiling.

THE INSPIRING ATTORNEY

I've driven many attorneys over the past six years, but she is of the most impressive ones I've met.  Growing up in a family of accountants, she became an attorney for an unusual reason. She met a retired Harvard lawyer who was working for free for a non-profit and she was inspired.  She said, "I became a lawyer so I could work for a non-profit."  She helps people keep their homes due to a lack of money or the correct paperwork.  She told me that it was very rewarding and I have no doubt she will have a very successful career. Is she good with numbers? Absolutely, but I can tell she's very good with people too.

A VERY TALENTED YOUNG MAN

"In college, I made $100,000 working in marketing," which is extremely unusual. He has 125,000 followers on Instagram and the 27-year-old from North Carolina explained how he was able to turn that into a very profitable career at a young age.  He made me laugh when he said, "I made a lot of money and then I decided to be a rapper." I told him that I thought it worked the other way.  In his music business, he is working with four other artists and is planning on personally doing a tour in three cities.  If you're not impressed, he also wrote a children's book which sold very well on Amazon.  Who knows what he will accomplish in the future; he was very impressive.

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD

It took me a long time to get to her, but it was worth the wait.  She is a Leo and like myself, she just turned 64 years old.  She does very well as a server locally in Myrtle Beach and it is obviously due to her outgoing personality.  She has worked as an interior designer for many years, but she wanted a certificate or degree.  She's been going to college online in New York City and she is about to graduate.  She is a no-nonsense person and put in the time to make her dream come true-a true inspiration.

A TRUMPET LEADS TO HAPPINESS

When I asked him what kind of work he did, I was surprised when he said, "I'm a trumpet player."  He has one more year as a graduate student studying music, but his passion is his trumpet.  He's the only one in his family with musical talent.  I asked him, "What are you going to do when you graduate?" His answer was simple, "I'm going to enjoy my life."  He may wind up teaching music for a university, but I could tell that music was in his soul and he will reach his goal of enjoying his life.  He made my ride with him enjoyable and he didn't even have his trumpet!

AN UNUSUAL AND INTERSTING JOB

He had just moved from Massachusetts and I could have talked to him for a few hours.  He had a couple degrees including a masters in Clinical Sociology.  He was working with an organization called, "Turning Point USA," which I have heard about.  They are a non-profit organization that is dedicated to identify, organize, train and educate students on the subject of freedom.  He himself is a libertarian and he was very passionate about what he did. I am sure he will be successful at whatever he does in Myrtle  Beach.

My Dog Adventures

Odin, pictured below, is the first pet I've had in my life.  He is cute, funny, and he's a good dog.  Here we are clowning around-I think he has the better picture.  Getting used to a thirty-three pound dog running around the house has been a challenge for me, but it's working out.

The ultimate challenge is being around four more dogs at the same time which I did on vacation.  One of them weighs in at one hundred pounds and another one is sixty pounds. In Colorado visiting our two kids, I had a number of entertaining experiences with dogs.

1. On three separate occasions larger dogs jumped me, in a friendly way of course. Once, I struggled to get in a house and one of them got my arm and drew some blood, but it healed quickly.  At another house, the largest dog, went to greet me in the kitchen and I stopped his leap with one hand and balanced on one leg temporarily.  Another day, I was putting a book on a bookshelf and the same dog hit me in the back.  It should have been two minutes for roughing!

2. One night, I sat at the corner of the couch next to the television that I was watching.  Both dogs started to make their move. One, came over and sat down right at or on my feet, which happened a lot-see below.

The other dog sat on the couch and slowly but surely made it's way towards me. I had the pillow up as my border wall and the dog put it's head on the pillow with its paw lying close to my legs.  My body was a pretzel, squeezed in between two dogs.

3. Early one morning, I was watching my dog and the other two  dogs were wrestling and searching for food.  I had had enough and I needed to get away, so I went for a walk.  As I turned a corner, a stray dog appeared near a woman with a dog. She knew the stray and called the owner.  The dog came over to me of course, for some comfort, and I had nothing to give it.  The dog walked in front of me until it was finally picked up by it's owner.

As I approached my daughter's house, I could only think of the song, "How Much is That Doggie in The Window?" In the window was the sixty pound dog waiting for me.  I waved and entered Dog Land again.

NEW THINGS I SAW ON VACATION (Part 1)

1. THE COSTCO WEREWOLF: I saw a bunch of interesting and unusual things on vacation, but I might as well start off with the scariest one.  Costco has 4,000 items on sale in a store.  A minute into walking into a Costco in Colorado I saw this below and it would look great in front of anyone's house, all year long. It's only $250!

2.  DIESEL FUEL PRICE: How is it that diesel gas is cheaper than regular gas at many stations in Colorado? I'm not sure I have an answer for this. The below picture would be great if I was showing you water on the window, but this is a 7-11 station showing diesel gas significantly less. (about twenty cents)

3.  HIGHWAY SIGN: The unusual sign on a major highway said, "Kill Relativity, Don't Kill Babies."  It's obviously an anti-abortion sign, but it was in a pretty odd place.

4. WINDOW SIGN: I've never seen this in a car back window: "Always Stay Away." It's probably good advice.

5. GOOGLE MAPS INFO: I have used google maps for a long time, but it had pictured on the map a 7-11 and it said, "As busy as it gets." How would they know? Who's counting for them?

6. CHICKEN PARMESEAN PIZZA: Do not look at this picture below if you are hungry.  My future son-in-law made this and I can assure you it was absolutely magnificent, even better than the picture. Look at the size of the chicken parm under the pasta-W0W!

7. GREEN GOO ANYONE! I was taking a walk in the morning by myself in the beautiful scenery of Colorado and saw this on the sidewalk and had to show it to you know so you can lose your appetite.  I don't know what this was, but I wanted to call "Ghostbusters."

8. THE CORVETTE: I wish I had a picture of this bright yellow corvette, but I was taking a walk with several people and dogs and it was too fast.  Did I mention that the battery was sticking out because there was no hood?

9. THE PICK-UP TRUCK: I was a passenger in a pick-up truck for the very first time.  My future son-in-law had this huge vehicle with a bunch of accessories inside that I have no idea what they do. It was very comfortable, even in the back seat.

10. ELLIE THE ELEPHANT: On the morning of our granddaughter's birth, we humans were not the only ones waiting for the birth to happen. Ellie, the elephant, was a gift at the baby shower from the new mom's best friend.  She looked a lot more relaxed than any of us.

What I Learned on My Vacation

As usual, going on vacation is more of an education than an entertaining experience. I never know what I'm going to learn and I have no idea if you know about this or we are both completely ignorant on the subject.  Here are some of the things I learned:

1.  THE FLOOR IS LAVA GAME: I've been told that everyone knows this game, but I did not. You have to avoid touching the floor by climbing on furniture and other things.  One touch on the floor and you will die.  I'm pretty sure that in some cases my parents would say the same thing about climbing on the furniture.  Can adults play?

2. OPE: In the midwest this word is used as an apology or as sorry.  Well, it is short.

3. WASHABI: This is small spice that is used for sushi.  It sound like a cool word to use, but it's very understandable why I had never heard it.

4: GLAMPING: This is basically camping with amenities.  I was camping once with my daughter and the girl scouts and having amenities sounds like a good idea.

5. STRESSED: The next time you're stressed, remember that backwards it is desserts.  This sign was posted in a barbecue place, but I have no clue why it was there.

6. DOULA: A doula is a non-professional who assists with health related issues. It is similar to a mid-wife, but it is not just for childbirth.  I've heard of a mid-wife, but not a doula.

7. MAPLE-FLAVORED RAISIN BRAN: As you can see in the picture below this is a real thing, but I have no idea why.  I ate the box of cereal, but when I would start to pour it out, all I thought about was pancakes. They tasted okay, but it didn't really work for me, but someone is buying them and eating them. (maybe with pancakes?)

8.  DRYER MACHINE BALLS AND SHEETS: I thought it was a joke when I found a few balls in the dryer.  They keep the clothes separated so they dry. Dryer sheets are thrown in to keep the clothes softer.  When I closed the washing machine door I was told you should keep it open because it prevents rust. You let the air in which prevents rust? This all sounds very confusing to me.

9. TAPING THE BOTTLE OF SHAMPOO: Maybe my bottle just wasn't closed enough? It was a mess and I lost 75% of the shampoo, but next next time I'll wrap it up like a mummy when I travel.

10. GOOGLE MAP DIRECTIONS: I use it all the time, but never knew how to figure out how far two destinations were from each other when you're not at either one. I can't believe it's that easy and my youngest daughter taught it to me.  I know, you know how to do this-that makes two of us now.

11. EUCHRE-THE CARD GAME: My future son-in-law told me this. It's a trick taking card game played in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the middle of the USA. It sounds easy! You can use a deck of 24, 25, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. The goal is to win three tricks.

12.  THE DISHWASHER: Over the years I have put things in and taken things out of the dishwasher.  I have never run the dishwasher.  This is why I didn't know that it normally takes a couple hours for it to run.  How much faster would it be to just wash everything by hand? (Just a rhetorical question.)

12. CHICKEN FLAVORED GUM? How is it I never heard of this? My wife told me while we were walking with a herd of dogs that there is chicken flavored gum. for dogs. However, pictured below is Bubblegum Fried Chicken for humans! Are you kidding me? They look like drumsticks!

13. Duvet: It is made from cloth and can be like a large bag like a comforter.  Does that even sound right? I read a comparison of a duvet and a comforter and they are really close.  I'm going to still say comforter, how about you?

14. Vole: I saw a squirrel sitting in the middle of the road.  My wife said it was a Vole, which meant nothing to me.  Then, she decided it was a prairie dog, which I have heard of.  It still looks like a squirrel, but the picture below is of a prairie dog.

 

15. I learned about poo-pourri, which is not only sprays for your toilet that you use before you go, but also the name of the company.  I had never heard of it.  I thought someone was talking about a potpourri bowl as displayed below.  I couldn't understand why you would be throwing these things into a toilet bowl before you go.  I cannot tell you how hard some of us were laughing about this.  It was the best laugh of the vacation and we had some good ones.

 

A Concert at Red Rocks

Over a year ago, I picked up a young guy who had lived in Colorado.  He had worked at Red Rocks, one of the premier concert venues in the world.  He had been to 500 concerts there and the more he talked he became emotional about missing it and said, "If you ever get the chance to see a concert at Red Rocks, you have to do it."  This blog is for him, because he was absolutely right.

Red Rocks is an outside amphitheatre built out of and surrounded by beautiful, large rocks.  It is owned and run by the City of Denver and was officially opened in 1941. It holds 9,525 people and the altitude is 6,450 feet. It is ten miles from the city of Denver and below is how it looked from our seats. during the day,

It is fair to say I am not a concert-goer.  I believe the only concerts I have been to in my almost 64 years have been, Barry Manilow, The Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers, and The Captain & Tennille.  Those are some pretty big names, but for a lifetime it is not very impressive.  This past Monday I went with my wife and two daughters to see the group, "The Head and the Heart."  I had listened to a couple of their songs online and they are a pretty mellow, folksy type group from Washington State.

The scenery at Red Rocks is spectacular and is something that you have to see.  This picture below was taken by my oldest daughter looking out from Red Rocks and it looks like a painting, but it is real.

When you take a bathroom break at Red Rocks, you're going on a full-scale exercise workout.  During my long journey down the endless amount of steps, I could still hear the concert clearly and I got a close-up view of the stage and saw it on a couple of television screens.  Suddenly, I opened the bathroom stall and heard Elton John singing his first big hit, "Your Song." For a split second, I thought-finally, they are playing a song I know and it's a very good impersonation of Elton John. I quickly realized that it didn't just sound like Elton John, it was Elton John and the song was being piped into the urinal stalls.

The size of this piece of rock is just ridiculous.  The evening shot below shows the same rock and I felt it could have been on a movie set-it did not look real.  Also, in this picture below you can see the silhouette of my youngest daughter with the big head on the left.  Sometimes, parents put their child on a pedestal and I put her in a rock!

Finally, the band put on a very good show for close to two hours.  My wife and I did not know the songs and had a very difficult time understanding the words.  They were speaking our language, but we did not understand much of the songs.  They have great voices, played some beautiful music, and the crowd loved the show.  And one final thing, IF YOU EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE A CONCERT AT RED ROCKS, YOU HAVE TO GO! It is a once in a lifetime experience and wear comfortable shoes, because you're going to get some great exercise.

Showing Gratitude Can Change Your Life

When people get in my car there is a lot to see.  One thing that many people miss is the sign I have behind my rear view mirror in the middle of my car:

I'm giving them a ride, but I make it a point of thanking them for the ride. Showing gratitude and thanking people is important, but recently a study showed that it may help us live longer. Apparently, gratitude is good for your mental and physical health.

Another article listed seven ways to express gratitude:

1. Write a thank you note.  When was the last time you sent one or an email thanking someone?

2. Be specific in your thank you.  What is it you are thanking someone for?

3. Thank someone also with a gift. Thanking someone twice is better than once.

4. Keep a gratitude journal. I guess if you have a list of things you are grateful for so you can always look back at it.

5. Show your appreciation for a service industry worker or a health care worker.  That would include me and I have many riders who do verbally thank me and tip me.

6. Make it a priority to take notice of people around you who are doing well.  They said it was important to look for the positive things in life which I agree with 100%.

7. Be sure to show appreciation for yourself.  Asking yourself what you can do better is definitely valuable.

Another thing I have in my car of course is money from 54 countries.  For each country I have written thank you in the language of that country.  I could have used another word, but thank you is a great message. Here are a few of my favorites:

Senegal: jerejef           Ethiopia: ameseghinalehu            China: Xiexie          Georgia: gmad lobt

Philippines: salamat           India: dhayavaad               Scotland: ceart-ma-tha   Albania: faleminderit

Brazil: obrigada            Romania: mutumesc             Thailand: khob khun kha   Bulgaria: blagodarya

Fifteen Memorable Vacation Quotes

For years I have copied down and printed memorable quotes from people in my car so I decided to record some of the interesting and funny comments during my five week vacation in Colorado.  Here are the first fifteen with my explanation of it.

1."I can write a better blog as you than you can."

My youngest daughter who is a very good writer said this.  I was going to write a blog as her writing a blog about me, but I started to get confused trying to write it.  Maybe she'll do a guest blog sometime?

2."Best mother-in-law ever!"

While we were staying with my youngest daughter and her fiance,  my daughter was away for a few days and my wife was cleaning and then did our future son-in-laws laundry when he said these words.

3. "I can train you for chicken."

Our future son-in-law said this to me that he could train me how to deal better with dogs and I said I would do it for chicken.  We haven't started training yet.

4. "Do It For The Blog!"

My youngest daughter was encouraging me to feed her sixty pound dog and below is the picture of me doing it once and smiling for the blog.  I still have all five fingers.

5.  "Someone might steal you."

I had said I could drive from Myrtle Beach to Colorado by myself in two days and my wife said she didn't want me to do it and my daughter blurted out the above comment. Can you steal a person?

6. "I got nothing."

I was trying to communicate with the hungry dogs that I had no food and started using this line which none of the dogs probably understood.  It came from the George character in "Seinfeld."

7. "He's going to try to eat the lawnmower to protect you."

I had to ask my future son-in-law to repeat that comment. I was mowing the lawn for him and his dog was definitely not happy about it.  Fortunately, the problem was with the lawnmower and not me.

8. "I'll send you two rotisserie chickens a week after you finish a personal training session." (This was revised as, ""I'll send you two rotisserie chickens a week after you finish two personal training sessions in a week.")

My daughter-in-law said this because she wants me to improve my balance.  Supposedly, I will be less likely to fall after I get pushed by a big dog.  She wants me to stand longer on one foot, is this like karate training? 

9.  "I did a cartwheel the other day and my hips opened up."

This was said by my nine month, pregnant daughter-in-law a couple days before giving birth and I absolutely believe she did this. She is very athletic.  I cannot do this and have never done it.

10. "I have 1,200 pillows and I got them one at a time."

Pregnancy may have brought out the humorous side of my daughter-in-law.  She probably exaggerated a bit here.

11. "How big was that fly? It looked like it ate a person."

It sounds like her again; she is very entertaining to be around.

12. "We're going to have eight kids and eight dogs and when we take pictures the children will be on each dog."

My future son-in-law I believe said this. I can see the Christmas card now. I will not be in that picture.

13. "She already gave me the finger for the first time."  "It won't be the last time."

The new mom was talking about her baby in her first week of life and I had a quick reply for her.

14. "I saw him holding the baby like he's been doing it for a million years."

My son picked up on it very quickly and his wife, the new mom, was very proud.  I saw him hold the baby in one arm and their small dog in the other.  He has not attempted any juggling fortunately.

15. "You have never eaten an Aunt Chalada?"

My son asked me this question and I told him I have eaten an enchilada.  His pronunciation was off just a bit, but we got a very good laugh.  This one will be repeated many times. You may not be able to say enchilada correctly again.

What About That Unusual Hobby Your Spouse Has?

Maybe your spouse has a Mr. Peanut collection or he has a collection of old newspaper clippings or a collection of Starubucks mugs from all around the world, what if it turned into something much larger? How is it possible? Does that really ever happen? Guess what? It really does happen.

His real name is John Anderson and he lives in Washington state.  For almost fifty years his hobby has been picking up things from beaches and over the last ten years he turned his hobby into, "John's Beachcombing Museum."

He loved adventure as a kid and he hasn't lost his passion for it. Some of the things he has found include a fossilized mammoth tooth from the Pleistocene era, dozen of Nike shoes that fell overboard during a storm in 1990, and items from the 2011 tsunami in Japan.  He's also collected a bunch of messages that were found in bottles.

What is his advice for creating something much larger? He said, "Get up early in the morning and go to some remote beaches.  Get a big building to put it in and hope your wife lets you haul it home."

He made his dream come true, how about you?

A Baby Is Born

I am sure that every minute of every day there is a baby born somewhere.  However, when the baby is in your family, it is pretty special.  On Saturday, my wife and I became grandparents for the first time.  Our son and daughter-in-law gave us a 6 pound, 11 ounce, baby girl, Riley. 

When we first heard that her name was going to be Riley, we joked that when we would call her we would go, "Oh Riley," which sounded very Irish.  Hearing a few "Oh Riley's" made me think of the old  song by Ritchie Valens, "Oh Donna".  I knew I had to write a song/parody for our grandchild.

"Oh Donna" was one of three hit songs Valens had.  He died tragically at the age of 18, in a plane crash during a snowstorm with two other star singers, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper in 1959.  Two weeks after his death, "Oh Donna" hit number two on the charts.  In 1972, Don McLean wrote the song, "American Pie" which was about that tragic day, "the day the music died."

I wrote the ballad pretty quickly and printed it.  My wife framed the song and decorated it beautifully. She said she wanted to sing it with me and five hours after Riley was born, we gave her and her parents their first gift.  

Below is the picture of me holding Riley and her song which will be hanging in her room.  It was a magical day, one we will all never forget.  

How Old Is Your Coffee?

Since I don't drink coffee (ok, twice in my life), it may seem odd for me to write about it. However, coffee is a big deal for a lot of people.  You may find this interesting.  Researchers recently discovered that some of the best coffee dates back more than a half a million years.

The most popular coffee in the world is called Coffea arabica, which coffee lovers know as "arabica." I of course have never heard of it. Apparently this makes up 60-70% of coffee in the world and is served by Starbucks, Tim Horton's, and Dunkin Donuts. Yes, I have heard of them.

Researchers made a family tree and found that this type of coffee is 600 million year old. It started in Ethiopia and was first roasted in the 1400's in Yemen. Arabica coffee plants are more at risk today to diseases which results in a loss of billions of dollars of revenue a year.  They are trying to find ways to protect the plants which is why the study was started in the first place.

So, when you're sitting there in the morning and enjoying that cup of coffee, you're probably not thinking about where that coffee came from, but at least you have some idea now.  Don't think about it, just enjoy the cup of coffee.