MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN MARCH 2025 PART 1

March was a very special month with so many interesting stories. These first three rides will be three of the best rides of 2025 and I will enjoy sharing them with many others.  Part 2 of my favorite March riders will be out in a few days.

 GOOD VIBRATIONS ON SHIPS

I have driven people with over two hundred different occupations, but this was a new one for me.  Her position is Vibration Technician and she works in the engine rooms on ships.  She checks and fixes some of the machines so they work perfectly. She was going to go to school for medicine, but took the job to save money.  Her dad does the same work and he was able to help her get the job and he helped with her training.

In her mid-twenties (?) she said, "I often get confused with being someone's wife or girlfriend when I get on a ship." She frequently is the only woman on the ship. She is outgoing, well-spoken, and has a very big smile and I have no doubt she would be successful in sales or anything else she attempts to do. 

It was a great ride from the airport and even better when she gave me a bill for my 62nd country,  Australia, with Queen Elizabeth. She also gave me a hat from the company she works for which sits on my dashboard.  Her picture is front and center in my car and underneath it says, "Charleston Technician."

If that wasn't enough, when she went inside her house, I was cleaning my car up and she came out with a friend of hers.  She told me, "I told my friend I just met one of the most incredible people."  Her friend got the tour of my museum and gave me one of the best compliments I've had when she said, "You're a breath of fresh air, you value people." Rides do not get much better than this...ever.

THE GOOD KARMA GIFT

This month I drove two different women in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina and they led me to one of the best moments in my almost seven years of driving.  At the beginning of the month I picked a woman up on a Sunday at 8 am. She was barely awake, on no sleep, and managed to say hello before looking at her car.  I left her alone until I saw her looking at the money and pictures of riders in my car. We had a conversation and I got a few smiles and she woke up.  I told her some riders get upset that they don't have something to give me for my car and she said she did.

She's been carrying her mom's ring for three years since she passed and it's been bad karma for her maybe because they weren't on good terms at the end. She wanted me to take the ring, (maybe worth $130) and she said, "Change the Karma and give it to a Leo." She and her mom were born August 15th and 17th and then I told her I was born on the 19th of August. She was upset about the ring and I agreed to take it, but if she changed her mind I would return it.  I took her picture with the ring and she looked nothing like the woman I picked up and I put the words, "Good Karma" under it and hung it in my car.

A few hours later, I picked up a woman whose daughter was born August 14th and she was visiting in two weeks.  She is serving in the Army and I thought it be cool to give the ring to a woman serving our country. The ring owner loved the idea, so I set it up with the mom.

I would have picked them up on my time for no money, but my car had to be towed. I bribed the tow truck driver to stop at a gas station and the mother and daughter met me. I told the story to the daughter and she was surprised and she liked the ring.  I asked her if she would like this gift from my passenger and she accepted.  I thanked her for serving and told her if anyone doubts support for those who serve, she will always have this story and ring.

When I told the previous ring owner she said, "I'm so happy that she likes it! That brings me joy." 

The picture of the mom and her daughter will hang next to the "Good Karma" woman and underneath their picture below it will say- "The Gift." This story will be one of the best I have and it will be enjoyed by hundreds or thousands of riders in the future."

                                                        

KASSI-ISMS FROM CALIFORNIA

She and her two friends were in Charleston for her baccalaureate party and she put on a hysterical performance.  I'm going to have to consider her one of the top five funniest women that I have driven the past seven years.  I'm not even sure which of these are the funniest comments, but you decide:

1. "When I was a senior in high school I heard that they were building a senior living home next to the high school. I told my parents that my friend and I were going to move in there."

2. Her friend told me that Kassi once asked, "What meat is on a veggie sub?"

3. "I came to South Carolina about five years ago and I was rooting for the South Carolina Gamecocks. I bought a hat that said, "Go C o c k s ." When I got home, no one knew what that meant, they thought I was a whore."

4. "We were in a Tesla that was driving itself and I asked the driver, "What do you do with your feet?" He answered, "I don't have any limbs."

5. "I was in a hurry in the bathroom and I went to brush my teeth and I grabbed the Preparation H and it was disgusting. There was no minty flavor.  I probably needed a root canal after that."

THE SELF-MADE MAN

He was impressive and he told me that he was, "A self-made man." He talked like a very successful man.  "I turn lemons into lemonade; I don't believe in 'woe's me.' " He works for a big airline and handles all the media content for the corporate staff.  He was on vacation, but they don't like him to be away. He explained, "I save them $10-15 million dollars a month." He's overcome some personal challenges and he's very confident he's in the right place. I think the company is very thankful to have him. I wish I had more time to talk to him.

What's Wrong With Me Today?

"Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head."

These two lines are from The Beatles classic song, "A Day in the Life." One of the reasons this song is so special is that it is two different songs written by two different writers (Paul McCartney and John Lennon) and the music makes the two songs one. 

Did you ever think you had two different bodies? One body is the one you go to bed with and the next morning when you wake up, you have a different body. Something has changed from the night before and you have no idea how it happened.

This may only happen as you're getting older: you have an ache or pain or cut the next morning and you try to figure out how it got there. I've had this happen several times recently. Here are some examples:

1.  A couple days ago, when I looked in the mirror in the morning, I had a very small cut on my face and this was before I shaved. Did I scratch myself when I was asleep?

2. A few days before that I had a larger scratch on my hand.  It is healing since I've been putting medicine on it, but did our dog scratch me? How come I never feel these things happen? 

3. A couple weeks ago I had one of the most unusual surprises in the morning.  I had a bump under my thumb on my wrist.  It looked like I had banged my hand, but it wasn't sore and it didn't hurt. My wife looked it up and it's a ganglion cyst, which sounds a lot worse than it really is.  I knew it wasn't serious and I put some ice on it and since it didn't hurt and it's not in a very visible place, I just forgot about it.

However, in writing this blog I looked it up and if you ice it or heat it regularly, it can disappear. I am doing that regularly now, but I was amused at some of the things I looked up.  People most at risk are between the ages of 15 and 40 and female.  Repetitive hand actions could also be a cause of it, such as writing too many blogs. (I made that last part up)  The cause is unknown, but it may really be the time I spend on the computer. It can also be treated with medicine which I may look into.

4. If I haven't grossed you out enough with these minor medical problems, just wait,  I'm only 64 years old.  I am not a very good patient, so sometime a year or two ago I noticed that my big toe had two nails. When that happened I have no idea, but I probably just woke up one morning and my other body had this double nail pictured below.

That is a close-up picture, my toe isn't that big. It didn't hurt and unfortunately I could not peal the second nail off, so I figured it would just fall off by itself. (Really)  It did not happen and then my wife saw it.  I was getting a check-up and my doctor said I should soak it regularly and then peel it off.  I soaked and soaked and soaked, but I didn't make much progress and got tired of soaking it.  Finally, I gave into my wife and let her work on it and it looks better, but there's still more of a nail to pull off.  Maybe it will fall off so she doesn't have to work on it more?

I hope you're waking up each morning with the same body you went to sleep with.

Is This The Beginning of Something?

Recently I saw a picture online of the inside of the inside front of an Uber driver's car.  In the middle under the console there were a bunch of things like tissues, water, candy for riders, but there was something that really stood out.  There were a number a colorful index cards on them with writing. The driver told me that one day a passenger wrote a note and stuck it on his seat in appreciation for the ride.  Soon, other people were leaving notes with all different messages and he's collected them.

Could that happen in an airplane? Yes, it can and this is the story. Southwest flight attendant, John McKay took a notebook with him on a flight in 2023 and gave it out to passengers and offered them the opportunity of writing something in his book. The response he got was incredible. People wrote inspiring messages, favorite poems, drawings, jokes, and personal feelings about what they are going through in their life. People hugged him and thanked him and it was very rewarding for him.

His first notebook is complete and he is working on a second one which is now called, "This is the Beginning of Anything You Want." He said, "You can kind of tell sometimes that somebody needs to see something. And I've gotten some really amazing responses from it. People have told me that it feels like medicine to them."

He said that he likes to, "Brighten people's day," which is something I can relate to. He got the idea when he read on the internet of a frequent traveler who had done something similar. 

You never know when one good idea can give you another good idea.  Spread your sunshine the way you want to.  You never know what can happen-maybe this is the beginning?

What About King Tut?

I recently saw a clip of comedian Steve Martin doing his surprise hit song, "King Tut," back in 1978. The next day, I read an article about the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb on November 4, 1922 in The Valley of the Kings in Egypt.  A week later, it was in the news that they just discovered the first royal tomb since King Tut and it's the tomb of King Thutmose 11.

King Tuts' Tomb had been hidden for over 3,000 years and they found 5,000 artifacts in the tomb.  There were a few items that I found very interesting, so here they are with my comments.

1. THE MANNEQUIN: We might as well start with it since now I know that I had something in common with King Tut-we both had mannequins.  He had a very large wardrobe and was supposedly, "A snappy dresser." I wonder what that really means in 1300 BC.  They found hundreds of his clothes and he used this mannequin to put clothes on it to figure out what he should wear.  I'm just glad my wife doesn't have one of these.

2. BOARD GAMES: Since Monopoly and air hockey were not invented yet, his board games looked a little primitive.  They only found four games and this was one of the them below. The games were made of wood, ebony and ivory too.  They played, "The game of 20 and Senet." The game of 20 was not, "20 questions," which came much later. Board games were a very big thing in ancient times.

3. SANDALS: The mummy was found wearing these sandals and they are 11.6 inches long.  He did not wear them when he was alive and it's a very good thing. These do not look comfortable.  I have enough problems walking in the sand, this would make it almost impossible to do that. I think it would hurt.

4. THRONE: It looks nice, but would you sit in this for more than a minute? I don't think so, it looks very uncomfortable and I think with his wealth he would have bought a La-Z-Boy.  Especially, when he was a boy, right?

5.  BREASTPLATE:   Would you put this anywhere near your chest? It's colorful, but I can't imagine wearing that. And women complain about wearing a bra? Maybe it was for his afterlife?

6. CANOPIC JARS: Yes, they are jars and inside the jars are not cookies or jam.  This is where they preserved his organs. His liver and lungs were found in the below jars among other things.  I believe when he showed off his palace, he probably did not explain what was going to go in these.

7. THE WOODEN BOX: You would think something that looked so spectacular would have a much better name, right? There are hunting scenes all around this box.  I guess he really liked to hunt.

The legend was that if you disturbed King Tuts' tomb, you would die. Howard Carter is given credit for the discovery and although he lived another seventeen years, his benefactor did die suddenly soon after one of the great discoveries in all of history. 

Steve Martin, the comedian, is alive and still funny.  This is how he looked singing, "King Tut."

               

"My Colon Had The Highest Score"

Sometimes it is impossible to avoid writing a blog about something.  This is not just something, it's my wife's colonoscopy this past week.  It's pretty serious stuff as you probably know. My wife got great news and now she is very proud and told me at the dinner table, "My colon had the highest score."  

I always brag about my wife and how amazing she is and all the incredible things she does well.  Now, I can brag about her colon. She got a 9 score out of a possible 9, perfect, for cleanliness. I would have shared pictures of her colon with you, but she might be framing them. Before we went to bed that night, she said, "I love the pictures." This picture below shows how happy she is.

This is not a picture of my wife jumping, her body was not in the jumping mood when we got home.

You take a whole day before the big event cleaning yourself out.  You drink only liquids and then drink "Drano" and hope that it all comes out.  And it certainly does-more than you ever thought could come out.  You hit 10,000 steps going to and from the bathroom and just like on a treadmill, sometimes you pick up the speed to get where you need to be.

The big event took 11 minutes and we spent 3 hours and 20 minutes at the hospital.  I am not complaining.  I read eighty pages of a book that was published forty-five years ago.  In the recovery room, the nurse was Joe, and he was a true professional.  My wife told him he had a great voice and could be in radio. She was still a little groggy, but I'm sure it made his day.

My wife told me the secret to her colon success: she did everything she was supposed to do to prepare for the big event. She said that some people don't follow the detailed directions they are given.  Are you kidding me? Spend a day in the bathroom preparing and forfeit your chance to have a perfect colon and you don't follow the directions?

My wife and I are a good team, she has a perfect colon and my eyes at age 64 don't need glasses and probably won't in my seventies!(I do have it in writing from the optometrist) The next time she mentions her perfect colon, I will tell her this: I have perfect eyes.

Saying Goodbye to Success

It's time again to say goodbye to a few things I have had in my possession for over forty years.  They all involve success and they may be helpful to someone else down the road.  

1. First up is this poster I think one of my daughters may have had and I got it from her.  The words were published in The Wall Street Journal by United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, Connecticut.

It says: "Don't Be Afraid To Fail: You've failed many times, although you may not remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you? Did you hit the ball the first times you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot. R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.  John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times but he also hit 714 home runs. Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try."

It's great advice. It reminds me of the very famous quote from the great Thomas Edison who was asked how he felt about failing 10,000 times to discover the light bulb.  He said this:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

2. I had this hanging in my dorm room in the late 1970's and I've had it hanging in my office for most of the years since. I'm not a skier or a mountain climber or someone who takes great risks, however, this framed poster means a lot to me.  My wife says it's worn and old, but to me it looks great.  The guy is walking on air and pulling himself across to a snowy mountain and the message is pretty special.

To live your life in your own way, to reach for the goals you have set for yourself, to be the you that you want to be-that is success.

3. I bought this somewhere, but it's title is: "21 Suggestions for Success," by H. Jackson Brown. Jr. I'm going to combine five of them and then list the other sixteen. They are all very good.

Five of them: "Be generous, loyal, honest, a self-starter, and have a grateful heart.

#6 Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.

#7 Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.

#8 Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

#9 Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

#10 Be forgiving of yourself and others.

#11 Persistence, persistence, persistence.

#12 Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.

#13 Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

#14 Commit yourself to constant improvement.

#15 Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.

#16 Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.

#17 Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.

#18 Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did."

#19 Take good care of those you love.

#20 Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.

"See you in another life." (Quote from the television show, "Lost")

Are You Ready to Find Your Lost Luggage?

This is one of those things I've never heard of before.  Have you ever lost a piece of luggage? Where does it end up? It ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama.  The Unclaimed Baggage store is 50,000 square feet and it receives 7,000 new items a day from around the country.

How did this start? Doyle Owens had a friend who worked at Trailways bus service and his friend told him he had mountains of unclaimed luggage and he didn't know what to do with it.  Owens, borrowed $300 and sold a Chevy pick-up and drove to Washington D.C. to get the luggage. He put ads in the newspaper that they were having a sale and mobs of people showed up.

How popular is this place? They get 1 million visitors a year which is more than some real tourist attractions. Items are sold for 20-80% less than retail.  They once sold a Rolex for $32,000 at half price.

They also have a museum in the store with unusual items like a suit of armor, a set of bagpipes, and a Gucci bag with Egyptian artifacts.  There are some people who visit the store more than once a day to find bargains.

Will this ever end? It's not likely since 7 out of every 1,000 pieces of luggage are lost each year. Although 99.5% of those bags get back to the owner, the others wind up in your friendly neighborhood unclaimed baggage store in Alabama. 

"The Fruit of the Month Club"

Have you ever had something happen in your life and you immediately flashback to something you saw on a television show? One day we got a large box and it was filled with different fruit.  It looked like it came from our health insurance company.  Why would they send us a box of fruit? So we would eat better? 

On September 13, 1996, the very first episode of the comedy "Everyone Loves Raymond" aired and it ran for nine years.  In the first episode, Ray, (Played by comedian Ray Romano), and his wife sent a box of fruit to his parents.  His parents suddenly had more than a dozen pears and his mom asked, "What are we going to do with all these pears? There is so many of them."  Ray suggested that she give them to her friends and she said, 'Who am I going to give all the pears too?"  One last comment was while talking with someone on the phone she said, "I can't even think straight, there's so much fruit in the house."

When she found out that another box was coming each month for a year, she said to her husband, "They have gotten us into a cult." Finally, Ray had to give in and said he would cancel the fruit deliveries.  This scene was a running joke in other episodes over the years.

We had only a couple pears and we ate some of them and some other fruit, but we never expected to get another box.  I'm not sure which box this was, but below is either the second, third, or fourth box of healthy food we received.

We did eat some of the food and gave away some also. We talked about calling our insurance company to stop it, but we never expected more boxes.  After the fourth box we called and was told that they only send four boxes of healthy food.  We didn't ask why, but the idea that we were getting the fruit of the month club kept us laughing each week. 

My Favorite Rider Comments February 2025

He ran with the bulls in Spain and said, "It was the most horrifying, terrifying experience in my life. I'm glad I did it, but I would never do it again."

I asked the married couple, "How did you meet?" He said, "We were cadaver partners in medical school."

The birthday girl, (28), said about herself, "I'm so funny, but I'm unintentionally funny." I asked the occupational therapist who works in a hospital, "How do you get your patients laughing, what do you talk about?" She said, "Body fluids, we have a lot of them in the hospital."

On vacation in Saint Lucia, the couple had three large suitcases and a smaller one.  The bag checker there said, "Is that luggage all yours? I've never seen two people with that much luggage?" She said, "We're here for two weeks." He replied, "Are you moving here?"

I asked, "Have you ever gotten a gift from an Uber driver? " Yes, he opened his trunk and had a cooler and gave us each a cold Miller beer."

The older woman said to her friend, "Look at his pictures, he's looking for famous people. You won a contest." Her friend replied, "That was a hundred years ago." Me: "If you won a contest a hundred years ago, I want to know about it." (Former Miss South Carolina and first runner-up for Miss America)

Seeing my picture of four riders from Nigeria, the former Navy guy said, "Did they tell you about the kill factories?"

From Mississippi and getting married in May, she said, "I wanted to elope with 20 people, but we invited 230, the venue holds only 200 and we expected to have 160-180 there."

She: "When you live near the beach you can go there with your problems and the waves can wash them away. In a place like Colorado, you have to climb a mountain to work out your problems."

Returning from Hungary, she told me, "It's not a lot of fun going home when you have a lot of shit to do."

The Navy guy said, " Navy pilots are nerdy, not cool like Tom Cruise."

He: "When I was practicing to be a barber, I accidentally cut off my older brother's dreads."

He: "My dad was a welder who helped build the Ravenel Bridge. (In Charleston) When he was taking apart the old bridges he kept one of the lights on top of the bridge."

I asked them how they met and they said, "We met in Istanbul working at a camp."

"With the two old bridges the Ravenel Bridge replaced, cops had to regularly help remove cars of tourists who were too scared to cross the narrow bridges; they just stopped and blocked traffic."

"I'm a cost accountant, but I'm really a problem solver."

She told me, "Laughter is the best medicine."

In psychology, she told me, "The reason some people are afraid of mannequins or dolls is called "uncanny valley." (It's a psychological effect that people have when something looks human but isn't)

After telling her I met my wife working at Burger King, she said, "I met my husband working at Wendy's."

COMMENTS ABOUT LILY BY MANNEQUIN

She had some sight issues and after getting in the car she asked, "Is that your wife or daughter?"

"She's iconic."

COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

He is one of my most frequent riders and he said, "You'll always have a place in my heart."

Starbucks manager: He said, "It was worth getting a flat tire to meet someone like you."

She: "This was awesome, you made my day."

"This is so nice, you're blessed. You have the personality for this."

"This is so unique, I've never been in a car like this."

"You are very committed."

"This is such a great idea."

"You have been amazing."

"This is the coolest Uber I've ever had."

My Favorite Riders in February 2025

 ALMOST MS. AMERICA

I was driving these two women in Mt. Pleasant to their independent living location.  One of them said to me that the other woman, "She won a contest." The woman in black said, "That was a hundred years ago." I told them, "If it was a hundred years ago, I want to know about it." That's when I found out that the woman in black was Miss South Carolina many years ago and she finished first runner-up to Miss America.  I told them that we have to take a picture of them for my car and it's now hanging with many of my other passengers. Although they've only been friends a few months, you could tell they were already best friends.  

ADVICE FROM THE NAVY

He had been in the special forces for the Navy and had quite a career.  When he saw my picture of four riders from Nigeria, he asked, "Did you ask them about their killing factories?" He told me that trafficking body parts was a big business.  He also said that, "Navy pilots are nerdy, not cool like Tom Cruise." It was difficult saying amusing things after that kind of information, but he made the last part of the ride very interesting.

RUNNING WITH THE BULLS

He's an architect and a Starbucks Manager and he will be one of the most interesting rides I have all year.  He is probably the only rider I've ever had who ran with the bulls in Spain.  He told me, "It was the most horrifying, terrifying experience of my life. I'm glad I did it, but I would never do it again." If you have never seen the legendary event in Pamplona, Spain, you should look it up.  As part of a nine-day event, on average 2,000 volunteers are chased through the town by 6-10 bulls running at the speed of 15 miles per hour. He saw people thrown into walls and there was some blood in the streets.

I was impressed with his management skills also.  He made a point of telling me he works only 40 hours and he doesn't understand why other managers work so many more hours. He's hired some good people for sure.  He used to work full-time as an architect, but now only takes occasional jobs.  He told me that his dad worked as a welder building the famous Ravenel bridge in Charleston.  When his dad was helping take apart the two bridges that were being replaced by the Ravenel bridge in 2005, his dad kept a light from the top of the bridge as a souvenir.  You couldn't catch me on the top of any bridge or running anywhere near a bull, but I experienced them through him while I was driving.

THE FUNNY BIRTHDAY GIRL

It wasn't just the birthday girl who said, "I am so funny." Her friend was laughing a lot and told us that once her friend made her laugh so much, "I peed in the dressing room at Abercrombie & Finch." The birthday girl was turning 28 and told me, "I'm unintentionally funny."  As an occupational therapist working in a hospital she explained, "Laughter is the best medicine."  She did show off her comedic talent when I said, "What do you say to your patients to make them laugh?" "I talk to them about body fluids-we have a lot of them in the hospital."

WHEN IS A RIDE NOT A RIDE BUT JUST AS MUCH FUN?

Last month I blogged about driving two cousins to church on a Sunday morning in Mt. Pleasant and it was a lot of fun.  I took their picture and you can see it on the far right above the woman's head in the picture above. My big face and Lily, my mannequin are there with the two girls.

One Saturday this month, The Chapin Library in Myrtle Beach, had a big book event and I got to meet a bunch of readers and sold some of my books.  I was very surprised and it made my day when a couple who lives close to me showed me the picture of the girls, because one of them was their daughter.  We had a great time and I gave them the grand tour of my museum.  It may have been even more fun than my ride last month with the two girls. (Just kidding girls, I know you're reading this)

How friendly and kind were they? The next morning I woke up to find the mom's text that they told the girls all about our visit and shared the picture. She also said, "The girls loved their ride because you bring joy and sunshine to all of your surroundings. They loved that we met the "best Uber driver ever" and that you created such a great memory for them and for us."

But, there's more! When I started talking with them, I was already talking with Chris, an Uber driver in Myrtle Beach that I did not know.  He has his own YouTube channel, "CARGO JAMROCK" and he recorded my table at the library and my car tour above. He wants to interview me another time.  He did a great job and you can watch the eight minutes below at this address:            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4awSweGhk

This is a great example of  how sunshine and kindness can be spread by many people to the benefit of all.