The 100 Best Pizza Places in The World!

I had Pizza Hut recently and although I liked it, I was "shocked" to find out it was not on this list. As some of you know I'm not really fond of pizza anymore, but that could change. My kids ate too many pizza bagels and every other kind of pizza growing up and I lost my pizza taste buds. If I eat pizza a few times a year, I'm good.

In 2017, three Italians formed an organization 50 Top Pizzas and later started picking out the top 100 pizza places in the world. The number one place this year is Napoli on the Road in London. It somehow jumped from fifth place to first place.

What I find most interesting on this list is the cities that have a best pie. Would you have guessed this? Would you be eating pizza here?

Two of the top ten pizza places are in Tokyo. (RistoPizza by Napoli and The Pizza Bar on 38th.

Baldoria in Madrid is number 8.

Alleria in Chile is listed as number 11.

Fiata, in Hong Kong is number 16.

Gigi's in Sydney is also number 16.

La Clasica in  El Salvador is number 25.

Spaca Napoli, Seoul is number 28

Other places with great pizza in the Top 100: Bangkok, Philippines, Germany, Amsterdam, Peru, Slovakia, Japan, Uruguay, Vietnam, Buenos Aires, Costa Rica, India, Zagreb.(Croatia)

Italy had the most places with 25 and New York only had 7 and New Jersey had 1.

I may have to carry a list of this to let my passengers know who are traveling to these countries. I'm sure they want to know where to get great pizza on their vacation.

Sausage Anyone?

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile below was created in 1936 by the nephew of the founder of the Oscar Mayer company.  Today they have a fleet of cars that travel around the country advertising the company. I used to work with someone who used to drive one of them and I have a picture somewhere of my youngest daughter and I standing in front of one.

There's a new big dog in town, but it's made out of Lego brick.  The picture below is the largest Lego sausage in the world measuring 6 feet and 6.7 inches long.  A German man put together 65,000 Lego bricks to make this sausage and bun.

The unique idea came from talking with a sausage producer.  Tommy Schmidt gets the credit for making it and he said, "I have always enjoyed taking on unusual challenges."  This is a tribute to his area which is famous for its bratwurst.

How long did it take to make this? It took a full year to build it including six months in the construction phase. It took many people to move it from his backyard to the sausage company's headquarters. I guess he wasn't thinking about the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile or he would have put wheels on it.

The Millionaire Cashier

Believe it or not this is another story about Costco.  I do not work for them. Yes, I love their chicken and I did eat most of one last night, but I don't work for them. However, it can be a really good thing to work for them.

The article I recently read was about Tony Barzar, a 60-year-old cashier in Arizona, who started working for them in 1986, forty years ago. His 401k has over a million dollars in it. Costco's philosophy is to keep workers and pay them well which reduces the amount of money they have to pay for training new employees.

He is currently working part-time and still makes $32.90 per hour. He's also very good at his job. Although over the years he's been offered management positions, he's very happy doing what he does and has declined the promotions.

In 2009 his family bought a three bedroom house with a pool and they've traveled to Europe twice in the past decade.  He also has pretty good health insurance from the company.

According to Costco there are thousands of employees who have over a million dollars in their 401k account which is pretty impressive.  The first year turnover rate for employees is only 7% which is very low.

Two important things here: Saving money in a 401k does add up to a lot of money and there are some pretty great companies who do treat their employees very well.

A Nun Who Runs Marathons

Sister Stephanie Baliga works at Chicago's Mission of our Lady of the Angels, but she came close to being an Olympic athlete.  When she was a student athlete at The University of Illinois she was the sixth fastest freshman in the nation.  When she fractured her ankle as a sophomore she decided to dedicate her life to God.

For the past 15 years she has run in the Chicago Marathon to raise money for the their food bank. She has helped raise $2.6 million for the food bank.  She said, "We serve 400 to 500 families every Tuesday and we send about 300 deliveries to senior citizens each week. It's totally changed my life."

This year she is running with 200 others from their Mission and their goal is to raise $500,000.  Other members line the marathon route with funny signs such as: "Run Like You're Being Chaste," "2/3 of God's Name is Go," and "May God Have Mercy on Your Soles."  They have already raised close to $200,000 before the marathon.

There are times that one person make a very big difference in the lives of many.

A Repair Shop For You?

When you think of a repair shop, do you think of a car or computer repair shop? What if there were repair shops for anything you needed repaired and it cost nothing? Yes, it really costs nothing.  In 2009 it began as a free event, "A Repair Cafe" and today it is global non-profit organization with 59,000 members, almost 4,000 repair cafes, and 850,000 things fixed each year.

What an incredible idea! It gives people the opportunity to work together and get things fixed that are of sentimental value or in bad condition. It extends the life of things you want to keep. You don't have to give throw them out-how great is this!

The way it works is that you bring your item to a repair cafe and a repair export will work on it for you. The experts find it very rewarding helping people and fixing something that needs to be fixed. They get to show someone how to fix it.

Who has repair cafes? The Netherlands, The United Kingdom,  Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and The United States which has over 250 repair cafes spread across the country. How do you find a repair cafe near you? Click on the link below to check it out.

https://www.repaircafe.org/en/community/

"Have You Forgotten?" (25 Years Ago)

HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

Country singer Darryl Worley released a song, "Have You Forgotten?" in 2003 which became a number one song on the country charts. Today, September 11, 2026, is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attack on our country. In New York, Washington D.C., and Somerset County, Pennsylvania about 3,000 people lost their lives that day.

There are times in each person's life that are unforgettable: weddings, births, new houses, new cars or new jobs or promotions. On the other side, there are the difficult days that we wish we could forget.

Three years ago, I blogged about this day with pictures and stories from two scrapbooks I made with my 11-year old daughter about this day and the days and weeks following it.  The time I spent with her working on it was special and each 9-11 I spend 30-60 minutes going through each page of those scrapbooks to remember what happened. 

Tuesday, September 11th is one of those days that millions of people wish they could forget. On this day and the following days in 2001, there were so many amazing things that happened that we should always remember them too. The number of heroes are impossible to mention, but on 9-11 remember some of these stories and people:

Some of the best known heroes were police, firemen, rescue personnel, and the passengers of Flight 93 who fought back and stopped their plane from killing more people in Washington, DC. Some of those passengers names are well known, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and flight attendant Sandy Bradshaw.

Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, lost 658 employees that day and donated 25% of their profits directly to those families, over $180 million dollars. He also promised jobs to any child who lost a parent and more than 50 of them have been hired over the years.

Victoria Cross Kelly, the Deputy director of the Path train system, stopped the trains from entering the World Trade Center and is credited with saving 3,000 to 5,000 people that morning.

Elevator mechanic, Chuck Costello Jr, 46, of New Jersey had four kids.  A couple blocks away from the attack, the Navy veteran ran towards the building because he knew his experience would be helpful. He worked with rescue personnel to get people out of elevators and survivors referred to him as, "The elevator man." His body was found several months later.

Welles Crowther was 24 years old and he worked on the 104th floor of the South Tower. He tied a red bandanna around his face that many survivors will never forget. Known as "The man with the red bandana," he was a volunteer firefighter and he took charge and gave people instructions. He found a staircase and kept carrying people and led two groups to safety, but he never made it home.

Amy Sweeney, 35, was a flight attendant going from Boston to Los Angeles that day. She immediately started talking with personnel on the ground when the hijacking took place.  For twelve minutes she gave detailed information and seat numbers of the hijackers. Fellow flight attendant Betty Ong was doing the same thing and providing invaluable information to authorities on the ground. Their last moments was Amy communicating that something was wrong and the plane was too low.

Rick Rescorla was born in the UK and served in the British Army and in Vietnam.  He was a security guard and became Vice President of Security for Morgan Stanley in the South Tower in 2001.  After the attack in the World Trade Center in 1993, he warned people that the next attack would be in the air.  He ran so many evacuation drills people complained about him.  On the morning of 9-11 he ignored the announcement for people to stay at their desks and he's credited with leading almost 2,700 employees to their safety. How did he do it? He had a bullhorn and he sang Cornish and Welsh songs to keep the line moving.  He made one last sweep to make sure no one was left behind. Unfortunately, he was the one left behind, but he will always be remembered by thousands of survivors and their families.

One of the most incredible stories was the 500,000 people who were evacuated from Manhattan by boat in nine hours. About one hundred fifty ships of all kinds picked people up and helped get them home. It is the largest maritime evacuation in history.

Lastly, every story about 9-11 should include the incredible people in Gander, Newfoundland. When United States airspace was closed on that September day, thirty-eight jetliners heading to The United States were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. (A total of 250 were diverted to Canada) With a total population of 9,600, the people of Gander took care of over 7,000 stranded passengers for four to five days.  The passengers started a foundation for scholarships for their kids and to date has raised over $1 million dollars to thank them for their generosity.  The award-winning book, "The Day The World Came To Town" by Jim Defede is an amazing book to read. 

The key chain below I bought at the gift shop at Ground Zero in Manhattan and my keys are on it. I always tell people when you go to New York you need to visit Ground Zero and always remember the whole story of 9-11. 

How Many Diners Have You Visited?

I grew up in New Jersey which is fondly referred to as "The Diner Capital of the World." There used to be over 600 diners in the state, but now it appears there are "only" around 450 diners in New Jersey.  They say that it all began around 1870 in New Providence, Rhode Island.  A guy named Walter Scott noticed that around 8 pm near the train station there was nothing open so he loaded up a wagon which was moved by a horse and put in it...hard boiled eggs? Yes, and coffee, sandwiches and donuts.

In the early 1900's New Jersey had some of the best roads in the country and diners were located right off the highway.  Diners provided good food at reasonable prices and were very popular in New Jersey. Times have changed and many diners have been bought out and their menus have also changed drastically.  The menus used to have many, many pages and that has been cut back to a much smaller amount to be more efficient.

Diners used to be open 24 hours a day, but there are only 16 of those left in New Jersey, one of them being The Clinton Diner in Clinton, New Jersey which used to be very close to where I lived.  I've eaten at this diner a number of times since leaving New Jersey and it's train cars and this monster burger are a couple things it's none for.  They do serve a lot of good food also.

                

I recently read an article in the Fairleigh Dickinson University Magazine about a couple who met on campus and live in Bergen County, northern New Jersey. They decided to visit all the diners in New Jersey and currently are at 325 diners with 125 to go. Why would they do that?

Here are some of the things they said in the article:

"We're just doing our part to support these diners, these small businesses in the state as we bond and travel."

"I call it a vacation without a suitcase."

"We're not comparing, just enjoying."

"There's such a nostalgia to diners, and they're near and dear to many, many people."

The couple has been married since 1984 and their diner travels have led to them being on some television news shows, throwing out the first pitch at a Somerset Patriots minor league baseball game and filming a scene in an upcoming gangster movie where they appeared in a diner.

Working in the magazine delivery business for many years I have visited a lot of diners in New Jersey and I've eaten at a number of them too.  How come I never got to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game?