The Milkman Returns

At the house in Edison, New Jersey where I grew up there used to be a small milk box at the side door which led to the garage.  I don't remember what was in it, but I don't recall it ever had milk in it.  I'm pretty sure that it had pictures of milk and a company name, but maybe the milkman came when I was very, very young?

The first milk deliveries began in 1785 in Vermont.  It used to be delivered in barrels until the late 1800's when milk was delivered in glass bottles. Refrigeration and supermarkets appeared in the 1920's and 1930's reducing the need for home delivery.  In the 1960's 30% of houses were getting milk delivered to them, but by 1975 only 7% of houses received delivery.  In the 1990's less than 1% of houses had milk delivered although when the pandemic hit more people started using direct delivery from a farm.

Now in 2026, we are getting milk and iced coffee delivered by a local farm.  It's a couple less things to buy and carry from the supermarket and it's reasonably priced and arrives every Friday morning.  They put it in this container which looks a little nicer than the old metal can and they put some ice in it to keep everything cold.

This is a pretty nice brochure that you get when your service begins explaining the whole process of their operation.  You can order different things online of course and payment is taken care of that way too.  It's a lot different than the 1800's and we've been happy with the service.

What Can We Learn From a Roman Emperor?

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor 2,000 years ago in the years 161-180 CE.  He was also a philosopher and I recently read an interesting article on some of his most famous quotes.  Here they are with my comments about them:

"THE THINGS YOU THINK ABOUT DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF YOUR MIND. YOUR SOUL TAKES ON THE COLOR OF YOUR THOUGHTS."

Another way of saying, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."  Another great quote I've read before is, "You are what you think about."

"WHEN YOU ARISE IN THE MORNING THINK ABOUT WHAT A PRIVILEGE IT IS TO BE ALIVE, TO THINK, TO ENJOY, TO LOVE."

My first thought is, "What time is it?" Since I awake a few times a night, it could be many times.  It's hard to imagine you could come up with a more positive way to wake up than his advice.

"YOU HAVE POWER OVER YOUR MIND, NOT OUTSIDE EVENTS. REALIZE THIS AND YOU WILL FIND STRENGTH."

Definitely, we do have control over out thoughts and our actions and it does give you power and confidence.

"WASTE NO MORE TIME ARGUING ON WHAT A GOOD MAN SHOULD BE, BE ONE."

Discussion is good as look as two people are willing to discuss without anger.  Being the best one can be, should always be a top priority.  However, I'm open to discussion on it.

"IF YOU CAN, SHOW THEM THE BETTER WAY. IF NOT THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE THE GIFT OF KINDNESS."

I think I can understand why this guy ruled for so many years.

"WHENEVER YOU ARE ABOUT TO FIND FAULT WITH SOMEONE, ASK YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING QUESION: WHAT FAULT OF MINE MOST NEARLY RESEMBLES THE ONE I AM AOBUT TO CRITICIZE?"

It would be fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with this guy.  I wonder what influenced him?

"THE BEST REVENGE IS TO BE UNLIKE HIM WHO PERFORMED THE INJURY." 

A pretty cool way of getting back at someone.  I look at it as someone showing you how not to be.  He said it a lot better.

"IT CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE ONLY IF IT RUINS YOUR CHARACTER. OTHERWISE IT CANNOT HARM YOU-INSIDE OR OUT.

He obviously was a very strong and independent person of good character.  You can't help but being impressed with his words, which is probably the reason he is still written about.

How Much is a Penny Worth?

You have probably heard that the last pennies have been made.  They cost too much to make and have become pretty much irrelevant. But the last pennies made? They made their mark because they sold for close to $1.7 million.

There were two final sets made at the mints in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Denver, Colorado. In Philadelphia they created a 24-karat gold penny and the two last sets included the three dies used to make the last pennies.(Penny pictured below)

Pennies have been produced for 232 years and the first one was produced in Philadelphia also.  The last coin to be eliminated was the half-cent in 1857 and we all remember how that went.  It is expected that the cancellation will save the government around $56 million a year.

But you haven't see the last of the penny.  They can still be found in parking lots and gas stations all over the country.  It is estimated that people have hoarded 300 billion pennies and sooner or later we'll probably see those come out.

How much is a penny worth today? Not much, but it's always been worth that much. In the future if someone says to you, "A penny for your thoughts?" You may want to take the penny, because I'm thinking we're not going to be getting many of them in the future.

The Robot in the House

I remember watching "The Jetsons" television show a long, long time ago. The show first ran in 1962 and 1963.  It ran against "Dennis The Menace" and "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and as you can imagine it did not do well. Reruns ran the next two years and new episodes were out in the 80's including a movie in 1990.

The Jetsons family lived in the future in the space age and had a robot named Rosie who did all the cleaning. That is where my story begins, I am living as George and Judy Jetson did on their show.

A month or so ago our youngest daughter and son-in-law bought us a robot to sweep up, clean our floors, and wash them.  We call him/her, "May's helper." My wife's nickname is May, so she is her helper.  Here it is pictured below.

It's plugged in right into a wall in the kitchen and our seventeen month old granddaughter pressed a button and got it started.  I had no clue what to do other than unplug it.  My wife seems happy with it, but it does take hours to clean the house.(I could do it much faster, but I'm not challenging it.)

How advanced is this invention? My wife says that it can be programmed to find our dog in the house, take a picture, and then send it to her phone.  I can barely do that, but this thing? I think she made it up. The machine backs up, spins around, and the light flashes on.  I haven't heard any voices yet, but you never know.  

"The Jetsons" television show was a ratings flop, but pretty successful as a re-run.  I have a feeling that "May's helper" is going to do a lot better in our house, although our dog is not a big fan of it

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The Luckiest Man to Have Ever Lived?

There are people who believe they have the worst luck. However, they have never heard of Frank Selak.  His story is one of the most amazing stories you'll ever hear about.  He was born in Yugoslavia in 1929 and he spent most of his adult life as a music teacher.  He passed away in Croatia in 2016 at the age of 87.  But during his life, here's what happened.

As a child he was born two months premature and he was born on a fishing boat. At eleven months old he had life-threatening intestinal problems and when he was eleven years old he almost lost his eye sight.  

In 1957 he was riding in a bus after dropping off all the students on a field trip and the bus veered off into a river when the steering wheel snapped off.  He and the bus driver were okay, but this was the first of seven times he cheated death.  Yes, seven times he cheated death as an adult.

Five years later he was on a train on a rainy evening when a mudslide took out a bridge and the train went into the water.  He broke his arm and had hypothermia and 17 passengers died in the accident.

In 1963 he took his only plane flight and was blown out of the plane and fell 800 meters, lost consciousness, and landed in a haystack.  He was in a coma for four days.

Three years later he was on another bus that skidded into a river and four passengers died.

In the 1970's he escaped two different car fires/explosions in his own car.

In 1995 he was struck by a bus and had only minor injuries.

One year later he avoided a collision on a mountain by driving into the guardrail, which gave way.  He was not wearing a seatbelt and he was ejected from the car and rescued holding onto a tree branch while his car fell 300 feet.

On June 5, 2002, he won the lottery, buying a ticket at the same store he had played the lottery for forty years.  He bought a bunch of things, got married for the 6th time and built a chapel.

By 2010 he had given most of his remaining money away to friends and relatives.

In 2014, he had a heart attack while taking a walk and spent 18 days recovering in a hospital.  Two years later he was gone.

Many of his stories have not been verified or have some details mixed up, but I only have one real question:  how did this guy not write a book about his life?

What's New in Babysitting?

When you're watching an eighteen month old who is going on three or four, lots of things are always happening in the house and here are some of them:

She has two dogs and the littlest one she calls "Little."  She recently got a stuffed animal dog who she calls, "Little." Can you tell which "Little" eats dog food?

This girl is going to like jewelry.  She saw my wedding ring on my finger and insisted on trying it out.

One of her new dolls is Rachel, who has her own television show.  This is her Rachel and the one on television.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                                  

My granddaughter's Rachel has been hanging out a lot with "Rainbow Bear," as you can see below they are on top of a slide and about ready to go down together which my granddaughter enjoys seeing.

I use different voices when I'm playing with my granddaughter and for Ms. Rachel I started talking like Mrs. Doubtfire. I had the male, British accent down pretty well and frequently I would say, "Helllooo! Oh my child, what would you like to play now? Help is on the way dear! How precious are you?"

I have been able to teach my granddaughter a new game-the old shell game.  I put a small toy piece under a cup and move it around. She manages to pick up every cup before getting to the right one. I think she may be catching on.  When she's an adult,  she's going to forget this, except for this blog.

Lastly, I was never very good at coloring and this picture will definitely prove it.  I could not stay in between the lines, partially due to her shaking my hand while I tried to color, is that really fair to me?

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                    

MY FAVORITE RIDER COMMENTS IN JANUARY 2026

 At 38 years old she told me about the only normal job she has had: "During the pandemic I started delivering liquor to homes and I was making $5,500 a month after taxes."

The die-hard Houston Texas fan said, "I ordered an Uber recently and before I got in I saw the car was full of Dallas Cowboy stuff.  I told the driver to cancel the ride, I wasn't getting in. When my boss wanted me to work in Dallas, Texas, I told him to get someone else."

Oddest question ever from a rider: "Are you from Paris?"

"Our daughter is one strong girl.  She was at only one pound when she was born and had heart surgery as a baby. She's sixteen now and doing very well."

"If you come across a ghost you should be mean to it and it will leave you alone."

The couple has been married 43 years and I asked, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?" Immediately the wife answered, "I just keep telling him that he's right all the time." Laughing, he said, "Telling jokes like that all the time."

He: "I grew up in the jungle in Honduras. I learned how to speak English when I came here in kindergarten and that's where I learned to speak it fluently."

I told her that a previous rider was a Cleveland Browns fan who had a separate bank account where he was saving money to buy Super Bowl tickets for when the Browns made it there. She said, "That money is going to get old."

I was telling her that one of my past riders was named after her dad's mistress and she said, "My sister was named after my dad's mistress-my mom had no idea where my dad got the name from."

I asked the 19-year-old, "How long have you been working at IHOP?" She said, "Since I've been 13." Me: "How did you get a job at 13?" She: "It's a family business." Me: "IHOP is in your family?" She: "My cousin owns thirty or so franchises."

He: "I recommend to people that the best side gig to have is working in an ice cream store because of the tips."

The chef said, "Chefs are the unspoken heroes of the service world."

The young guy said, "The world needs more smiles and positive vibes."

"People drive early in the morning with their lights off to evade the police."

I asked her what she did for work and the young New Yorker said, "I have two businesses in New York, I'm an over the road truck driver and I just got my real estate license and sold my first house."

He's ten years free of Leukemia, but when he was a child he had a wish through the "Make-A-Wish Foundation. "I wanted to meet Tom Brady.  All the players were on the field for it and I walked up to him and asked if we could have a catch and he threw a pass to me in the end zone of Gillette Stadium and I caught it."

She: "When I was 19, I was driving in the mountains in the dark shutting my lights on and off.  I crashed and was paralyzed. The doctors said I would be paralyzed for life, but there was no way I was going to lay in bed with my mom taking care of me.  It took me 6-12 months before I could walk with assistance and I'm fully recovered with some minor leg issues."

                                                  MORE RIDER COMMENTS

Since she worked at IHOP, I asked her, "What's your favorite food to eat at IHOP?" She: "I'm a French toast girl.  They sometimes call me Frenchy at work."

She: "My friend works for the Denver Nuggets in IT and she has a championship ring and she let me put it on my finger-it was heavy."

The cop told me, "I was one of the Colorado representatives for the last Presidential Inaugural, each state sends them for every Inaugural."

The manager of a Jersey Mikes said, "I told by boss that we need to hire women so they can come in here and clean it up."

He was from Iraq: "When I took the test for citizenship I was very nervous, but I passed."

She: "I had just started working in a liquor store in Colorado when the pandemic shut everything down. It was announced that liquor stores were closing the next day and hundreds of people were in line going around the block and we were letting people in by twos. The closures were canceled the next day."

The accountant from Spain said, "People don't like us, they think our job is boring but I don't."

It's been a mild winter in Colorado and I said to the woman who spent ten years in Chicago, "You must be missing the cold winters there." She said, "No, this is totally fine."

She: "Comparing Charleston, South Carolina with Savannah, Georgia is like comparing pears and peaches."

She: "You should name your mannequin Makayla." Me: Her name is Lily it's on her, but I'll call her Lily Makayla from now on."

Selling pharmaceuticals for cattle she said, "My customers are also my friends."

I asked the woman from California if she was standing outside in the twenty degree weather waiting for me. She said, "I'd be insane to be waiting outside."

Her last driver canceled and she was late for work and she had a headache. At the end of the ride I was pulling up at a mall with valet parking.  She: "If you stop right there, they will yell at you." Me: "I'll go past there, the last thing we want is someone yelling at you today." She: "It would be a sad day for them."

"You're the second driver I've had who wrote a book about this.  He wrote about life lessons."

He: "Human connection is really important."

I was dropping two couples in sales from New Mexico off at the airport.  None of them had ever been in an Uber and as they got out three of them said together, "You're the best Uber driver we've ever had."

Me: "Have you ever got a gift from an Uber driver?" She laughed, "Yes, I got a small little duck with some unicorn stickers."

The 75-year-old man was on his way to Florida.  "I'm getting together with my six siblings to celebrate my mom's 95th birthday and our uncle's 104th birthday."

The guy in his seventies said, "We need to make more connections."

I asked the two couple who had been married 33 years and almost 15 years, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?"  One woman said, "Tolerance," and for the other couple the man said, "God.

The woman from Colorado looking at my mannequin said, "I had a mannequin for about twelve years. We found it in the river and put it on our raft. I just recently threw it out."

The couple met at a square dance club.  Married for 45 years I asked, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?" He said to the effect, "Yes, dear, " and she said, "Saying I'm sorry."

From Nepal, she said, "There are 25 houses in this neighborhood from Nepal." (In Colorado)

He: "The only thing that can brings out your talent is you."

Her last driver canceled and she was late for work and she had a headache. At the end of the ride I was pulling up at a mall with valet parking.  She: "If you stop right there, they will yell at you." Me: "I'll go past there, the last thing we want is someone yelling at you today." She: "It would be a sad day for them."

Wearing pink glasses in my orange car, I said, "I think me wearing those glasses would be too much for my car." She said, "It's never too much.'

Manager of clothing store: "I like when kids come in with parents or grandparents because then I know who has the money."

She: "We once had snow flurries here in Colorado in June."

Thank you to the college student from Rwanda for this bill for my 72nd country represented in my car.

UNIQUE OCCUPATIONS:

Pharmaceutical cattle sales

Researcher at Duke Medical Hospital

Accountant for an arcade company from Japan

Former equipment manager for Indiana University

Social media manager for a podcast in Los Angeles

Geology researcher

Bitcoin and stock trader

I DROVE PEOPLE THIS MONTH FROM:

Nepal, Philippines, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, The Congo, Mauritania, Vietnam, Turkey, Peru, Columbia, Spain, Sudan, Albania, Iraq, Japan.

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT ME AND MY CAR:

The artist said about my car, "This is a work of art."

"This is the most enjoyable ride ever, we should make a poster of you."

She: "This is the best money I've ever spent on a museum."

"This is a life well spent and well lived."

He: "This was so awesome, I never could forget this car. I've never seen a car like this."

He sent his girlfriend pictures of my car and then called her and she said, "You better tip the _ _ _ _ out of him."

"You took some time with this, you didn't just get in the car and "vroom". We're going to have to owe you some money."

"It's been such a blessing talking to you today."

"I loved this ride."

He didn't want to talk during the ride, but apologized at the end and said, "You have a really cool taxi."

"This is the best Uber ride I've ever had, 100%, I'm not kidding."

"I've never seen an Uber like this."

"This is an experience, I'm just taking it all in."

"You've provided a great experience for your customers."

"I really enjoyed your car."

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

"This is beautiful."

"I hope I get you again."

The Mexican woman in Spanish I think she said, "Magnificent experience."

"This was a  beautiful ride."

"This was very nice."

"This was an experience."

"I love your car."

"I really enjoyed the ride."

"Beautiful"

"Your car is beautiful."

"This is the coolest thing I've seen this week."

MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN JANUARY 2026

LAST MINUTE INSPIRATION

I was driving two co-workers of a cleaning company to their next house.  One woman, the manager,  told me that they had cleaned some million dollar houses for football great Peyton Manning, basketball star Nikola Jokic, and football great Brett Farve's mom. I was impressed with many things she said, but the one comment that stood out was, "I love America with a passion." In her younger days she had gotten in trouble, but had turned her life around.

This good ride turned into something extraordinary when she shared this story in the final 2-3 minutes of the ride. She said, "I was 19 and I had just had a fight with my boyfriend. I got in a car and was driving in the mountains with friends and I kept shutting my lights off but I kept them off two long.  My brother and I almost went off a cliff when the car crashed. When I was pulled out of the car I became paralyzed. The doctors told my mom I would be paralyzed for life.  There was no way I was going to lay in bed with my mom caring for me."

It took her 6-12 months before she could walk with assistance and she fully recovered except for some issues with one leg. A number of years later she met a 20-year-old girls who had just had a sports injury and was paralyzed. She was having a difficult time adjusting so my rider spent some time encouraging her. Years later she heard that the girl was walking and playing sports. I gave my rider a hard time for waiting till the end of the ride to inspire me. Her co-worker added, "She inspires me every day."

THE FRENCH TOAST GIRL

A short ride in your hometown can turn into a bunch of laughs with a smiling passenger.  She was heading to work at IHOP and I asked the 19-year-old, "How long have you worked there?" She told me since she was 13. When I asked how she got a job at 13, she explained, "It's a family business." I was laughing and said, "You have IHOP in your family?" Her cousin owns thirty some stores across the country.  Her mom helps get each of the stores going and she's been helping her.  

Since my wife loves eating at IHOP and we were there just a few days ago, I asked her, "What's your favorite thing to eat there?" She said, "French toast, I'm a French toast girl." I told her I had never driven a French toast girl.  My wife loves French toast also and I'm looking forward to driving "The French Toast Girl" again.

THE ALMOST DOUBLE LAWYER

I had never heard of a, "Double Lawyer," until this month. The woman told me that she was studying to take the bar next month and then she said she was already a lawyer.  In Columbia she had practiced law for seven years and then she took 5-6 years off to spend time with her kids.  In The United States she had to get a Master's Degree in Law and then pass the bar exam to be a lawyer here.  She confidently said to me, "I will pass the bar," and I have no doubt she will succeed.  We had a terrific conversation and she has a delightful personality.  I'm adding her to my collection of lawyer stories.

THE PERFECT COUPLE

The best ride of the weekend was driving this couple from Florida to the airport. They had a lot in common with my wife and I beginning with they were originally from Long Island, New York.  My wife and I are from New Jersey and we moved south to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina before moving to Colorado. This couple just had their 43rd anniversary and my wife and I will have ours in August. They also have three kids around the same ages of our three kids. We have two children living in Colorado and they have one.

Both retired, he was an orthopedic surgeon and she ran his office for thirty years.  My wife and I years ago worked together and I was her boss.  I asked them the secret of a successful marriage and she quickly replied, "I just keep telling him that he's right all the time." He answered laughing, "Telling jokes like that all the time." 

They also said that they were best friends and have been together a very long time. She said that she often says that she went to medical school with him since she went through it with him.  We had a lot of laughs in the car.  I did my best to console him after his Buffalo Bills lost the day before to the Denver Broncos and they were at the game.  I may get another chance to drive them when they return to Colorado and it will probably be just as much fun.

THE GODFATHER OF CLUBBING!

There are people you meet that you immediately like. This New Yorker in his seventies had a huge smile before he got in my car.  He was heading to Florida for a family reunion.  He was meeting his seven siblings to celebrate their mom's 95th birthday and their uncle's 104th birthday.  Over his career he had two stores for young people going to clubs and a long career as a merchandising rep and he call himself, "The Godfather of Clubbing." But, that smile? For sure, he's had thousands of smiles given to him because of what he gave to them.

The Winter Indoor Beach Party

This coming Monday is February 2, 2026. It is the 46th anniversary of one the most fun and crazy nights I've had in my life. (If you know me, I am not known for having crazy nights) My college roommate and I came up with the idea to have a beach party in our living room at Fairleigh Dickinson University on February 2, 1980.

We started planning it at the end of 1979 and he made seahorse invitations that we gave out to friends.  Over the winter break I was working at Burger King and my future wife saw the invitations, but I did not meet her until three months after the party.

We cleared everything out of the living room and put in a couple beach chairs, a blanket, and an umbrella. We had to have sand for the party so we bought some bags of sand and put plastic on the living room floor.  The 250 pounds of sand wasn't a lot when you spread it out, but I remember it as being closer to 1,000 pounds of sand which is in the song below. (We'll never know for sure)

Steve had this extremely large poster of I believe Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.  We put it on one wall and we had flood lights shining on it.(pictured below).  In the sky we put blue tissue paper over the ceiling and we had a little airplane up there with a sign that said, "Don't Burn Use Coppertone." I am in the middle pretending to eat sand and Steve is on my left and another roommate Russ is on my right.

We had friends from high school and college and some girls from Burger King.  Many people were wearing shorts and bikini tops since we turned the heat up.  The temperature outside was in the teens. We played beach music, especially the Beach Boys.

The two funniest moments of the party was that night when some guys from our building knocked on the door. They were not prepared for what they saw when the door opened.  The look on their faces while they were wearing heavy coats was priceless.

Four hours later we cleaned up and threw the sand into the garbage cans in the garbage room just outside our door.  The next morning a number of maintenance people were talking very fast in Spanish and trying to move and figure out what they were going to do with the sand.

Below is the picture of a blanket that most people signed at the party.  Many of the names are fading, but people who were there still remember it. There were about fifty people at the party. 

It went so well that six months later on August 2, 1980, I decided to have a Halloween party at my home and a number of people from the beach party were there. That's another story for August.

Below is the song I wrote in college to remember this unusual and fun college event.  The words go to one of my favorite songs, "Taxi" by Harry Chapin.  Who would ever believe that 46 years later I would be driving people around in my car.

                                                    "The Winter Indoor Beach Party"

It was very cold on that Saturday, it was February 2, 1980.                                                            Fairleigh Dickinson was kind of quiet that night, but it was only eight o'clock.                                      You knew there was something in the air, something was about to be done.                                          But you didn't know when or where, but somehow it would be fun.

So you walked around looking for a clue as your fingertips started to freeze. The force of the wind pushed you towards building two, your teeth chattered and you sneezed. Then the wind howled and led you right next store, next to building two was building one. You didn't know what you were going for, but the cold made you run.

When the door opened at Suite 1 1-A you couldn't believe your eyes. There was nothing you could possible say, the beach was quite a surprise. There were two lights shining brightly on the poster that was on the wall. There was a little plane that was flying right by saying "Don't Burn Use Coppertone."

You stared in disbelief as you looked all around at the pails and the shovels too.  And there was no doubt what was on the ground, there was sand in front of you. There were shorts and bikini tops all around, the umbrella was hit by a beach ball. The Beach Boys were singing in the background, a girl in a bikini was on the wall.

There was a thousand pounds of sand in that place, four hours later, it was time to go. It was a sight that you would have had to face, like nothing you'll ever know.

                                               

                                                            

 

MY FAVORITE RIDER COMMENTS IN 2025

2019 was my first full year driving rideshare with Uber and Lyft.  The people I met, the stories and comments I heard, they were incredible.  The holidays were coming up and I wanted to give a small, inexpensive gift to some of my riders. What could I give them that they would like?

Each month I had blogged about my favorite riders and my favorite rider comments so I decided to put together a list of my favorite rider comments of the year and give it out to some people.  The response I got was off the charts and I decided to give it out all year long to riders who I knew would enjoy it.

I can't tell you how much fun this has been, how surprised people are, and how much they have enjoyed reading them.  Below is my list of comments from 2025, some I heard in South Carolina and others in Colorado.  In 2026, hundreds of my riders will get to read this.  It's a great way to celebrate people.

I always tell people that some of these comments are funny and some are strange and some are just amazing.  These people made 2025 an incredible year for me:

                                                   THE BEST OF THE YEAR

He: "I put orange juice in my Captain Crunch and Frosted Flakes. It started when I was a kid.  I loved orange juice and I loved cereal, what could go wrong, diarrhea?" 

He: "My dad had me when he was 65 and my mom was 23. He had 22 kids, 67 grandchildren and 30-40 great grandchildren. I think the song, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," was written about him."

She: "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."

She lost her mom three years ago and has been carrying and wearing her mom's ring. "It has bad karma and I want you to take it and change the karma and give it to a Leo. My mom's birthday was August 15th and mine was August 17th." (I gave the ring to a passenger's daughter in the Army for three years)

He said: "Even the geese are nicer in Colorado than Indiana. Several in Indiana attack me-they are crazy and angry."

I asked the couple how they met and he said, "We met on e-Harmony. One of her pictures was in a Hazmat suit and I said, 'This is interesting.'"

She: "My cat brought a blue jay into the house so I decided to raise it. It sings and dances now. It's blue, white and black, like a cop."

The professional server gave this advice to give great service, "You have to read the room. You have to caress their face without touching them."

She: "My dad was a train conductor and he was a unruly grizzly bear. He had a distaste for the public."

He: "Out of college, five of my friends and I traveled out west looking for a lot of land to buy together. We bought 200 acres in British Columbia on a dirt road, with no electricity or running water, and an hour and a half from the nearest gas station. I built my house from scratch and we were there forty years." 

She: "I have one more Super Bowl ring than Jerry Jones. (Owner of the Dallas Cowboys) I inherited two of them from my mom and aunt who had worked in scouting for the Cowboys."

I told a rider I know that I was moving after seven years and he said, "You're like criminals, you're moving every year. You're a fugitive, people are going to want to know what your crimes were. Can't wait until your kids find out you're fugitives. I might just turn you in if there's a reward."

Former flight attendant's favorite story, "I was going around and taking meal orders and for one flight it was beef and chicken, but we were out of chicken. A woman said to me, 'Is there some way we can stop somewhere and get some chicken?' I told her it doesn't work that way."

Young guy: "When I saw your mannequin it creeped me out at first, but some people are creeped out by the things I collect: knives, swords, bows, and lighters."

Married only five months, the wife said, "You've been with me all day, are you sick of me yet?" He said, "No, I have the rest of my life to get sick of you."

"I go by JP, my initials. My dad is JP too and my sister and two brothers are also JP.  I named my two sons JP too.  When you call out JP you can get anyone."

In Denver, The New York Giants fan said, "We're going to the game tomorrow against the Giants and my friends who are Denver Bronco fans are going to dress up as New York Giants fans for me." The two friends said, "It's okay, we're going to wear orange underwear." (The Broncos color)

He: "I knew I couldn't live the rest of my life with an old girlfriend the one moment when she got mad at me. She stood on my sofa, pulled down her pants, and urinated on it."

He: "I was 46 years old with no hope. I was a drug addict and had spent twenty years in jail for three bank robberies." He changed his life. He met his wife and at 60 years old has two young boys. "A company hired me at $12 an hour, trained me, and later I became their operations manager supervising fifty people. I helped two companies become million dollar businesses.

A server for 18 years, she had an amazing customer. "I had lost my 22-year-old son and returned to work. A regular customer noticed I wasn't myself and found out why.  He gave me a $200 tip.  Later that day he returned and handed me an envelope with $1,200 in it and said, 'Do something nice for yourself.' I bought a gravestone for my son."

Another Book Review

I will not be doing a book review on every book I read, but there are some that are incredibly fun to read and fascinating for different reasons.  

By page two, I loved this book.  After around ten pages, I knew I would read this again.  The book is three big stories in one and here's a very quick summary of the stories:

1.  A very independent woman goes to law school and decides not to be a lawyer.  She goes into the field of opinion research and then opens her own business.  She becomes one of the best in the business because she polls and listens to a lot of people outside the Washington Beltway.  Her husband, George,

is a successful lawyer and a graduate of Yale law school.  Both Republicans, they live in a building owned by Donald Trump.

2. Her political career takes off when Donald Trump after many attempts gets her to join his 2016 Presidential campaign.  She then moves into becoming the first female campaign manager of a successful Presidential campaign.  She is one of the few people Donald Trump listens to and that made a big difference in the campaign.  The ins and outs of the campaign and what she did as his Presidential Advisor were great to read about, but I'll spare you the details.  She really knows politics and people.

3. The third part was her family life. Accomplishing this while raising four kids was of course challenging and a major accomplishment in itself.  Her husband was very supported of her and President Trump and enjoyed several visits to the White House, but then something changed.

In 2016, her husband George was on twitter and had no tweets.  By 2020, his tweets totaled around 100,000. Keep in mind that was in around 1,400 days.  Many of the tweets were against President Trump and what his wife was doing.  He got a lot of publicity which he loved and it consumed him. 

Their 15-year-old daughter was on TikTok and she became very popular and there were media who were contacting her for interviews instead of contacting her parents.  It was obviously too much for a 15-year-old to handle, but this was overcome in a short period of time.  

In the end Kellyanne left the White House to spend more time with her children and she opened up a new consulting firm. In 2023 her and George divorced, but they are friends and very involved with parenting their kids. 

In April, 2024, George donated the most money you can legally donate to a Presidential campaign.  He gave over $900,000 to President Biden's reelection campaign.

It's a terrific book.

 

I Don't Believe in Conspiracies Even on Christmas

I got up early Christmas morning to do some writing and not to look under the Christmas tree or to go out and drive.  I did get some writing done and a couple other things in my office until I realized why I woke up so early.

I was doing some reading online and glancing out the window in case a flurry of snow came down and then I saw something that made me laugh out loud, but quietly.  The headline read, "Paul McCartney Sets Record Straight on Whether his Classic Christmas Song Encourages Witchcraft."  It was from The New York Post which I used to read regularly, but this was a real story.

There are big conspiracy theories such as "Oswald didn't kill Kennedy himself," "We knew about 9-11 before it happened," and some recent ones like, "Russia is responsible for Trump becoming president in 2016," and "President Trump Really Won in 2020." I don't buy any of those, but this story is hilarious.

In 1979 McCartney, (my favorite musician), wrote the song, "Wonderful Christmastime." He recently explained, " There is a theory online that the song is about people practicing witchcraft, getting found out and trying to cover it up. Thank goodness they found me out.  This is completely true and an actual fact, I am the head wizard of Liverpool. Either that ...or it's complete nonsense and you know it's the latter."

It gets better when he explained that fans mixed up the words, "The mood is right," but they heard the words "The moon is right."  He explained, " The thing is about this stuff, it's so easy to convince half the people in the world."

The song itself was voted by Esquire magazine as the worst Christmas song ever.  However, I did read the comments from a music professor who listed the lyrics as:

'The moon is right, the spirit's up, we're here tonight, and that's enough... Simply having a wonderful Christmastime." 

The word is mood and I hope this changes your mood the next time you hear some conspiracy theory whether it is minor or major.  Think about Paul McCartney being accused of encouraging witchcraft and you'll understand that most conspiracies are just nonsense.

(The picture above is the back of the album of his greatest hits album with his band Wings which came out on December 1, 1978 and Paul is on the right side)

MY 10 BEST RIDES IN 2025 (Part 2-Inspiration)

I've been very fortunate to have driven some incredible people over the years who inspired me.  These five stories all came from Colorado and they are very different, but the people were all incredible.

HIS WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF HIM

I picked up the college student with an unusual name that sounded like "A-ton."(means sturdy) He told me he had a very difficult childhood and his name didn't help.  Kids would tease him and call him, "A ton of s_ _ _."  When he complained to his dad, he laughed saying, "Your mom and I spent a lot of time coming up with a special name that you wouldn't be teased about." He told me that the GPS used to say his name, "but it gave up because it was too difficult."  He said, "My mom got into politics after I tried to kill myself as a kid." She got several bills passed to help kids get therapy.  He's doing great today with a terrific sense of humor and very creative ideas to be in business for himself in the future. I loved talking to him.

THE INSPIRING FUTURE NURSE

She lives in Alaska and majored in journalism.  After a successful career in journalism and in her 50's, she's going back to school to being a nurse.  About ten years ago she contracted a serious virus from her daughter. The doctors had great difficulty diagnosing her and she spent six months in a coma.  She received incredible care and one night a nurse saved her life.  She's completely healthy now and she wants to give back the great care that she got to other people. She will succeed.  She left me one of the best comments I've heard in my car, "If you're not helping people, you're not living."

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Sometimes a rider can almost leave me speechless after hearing their story. This young woman was headed to a fundraiser and I took my wallet out and made a donation to her cause, the only time I've ever done that with a rider.  She was born with a brain disability and has gone through several brain surgeries.  It's rare, but her brain is too large for her head.  She's in college studying theology and she's going to be a pastor in a seminary.  Bright, articulate, and very personable, you would never know the adversity she's gone through at this point in her life.  She'll be able to help a lot of people in the future to recognize how lucky they are.

THE THIRD JOSE WAS THE CHARM

He made my Sunday morning special with tipping me before and after the ride.  He was the third Jose in my first six rides and he was a really good guy  But the story he told me ranks as one of the best stories in 16,000 rides and explains why he is a special guy. This was it and there's nothing more I can say:  "I should have died when I was 16.  I was in a gang shooting and a bullet hit my heart.  The doctor couldn't believe I was saved and it was a miracle. "I spoke to a nurse who said, 'God put his hand over his heart because you have more to do on this earth.'  A few days later I was looking for that black nurse and I was told that they didn't have any black nurses in the emergency room and I never saw her again."

HE CHANGED HIS LIFE

The 60-year-old man in December left me with my mouth open and shaking my head. Fourteen years ago he was hooked on meth, had spent twenty years in jail for three bank robberies, and had no hope in his life.  He went to some kind of meeting that convinced him to change his life. He met his wife at a recovery meeting and they have two young boys.  He convinced a company to hire him at $12 an hour and they trained him to code and much more.  He turned out to be their operations manager managing fifty people. He's helped two companies become million dollar companies.  He's a totally different guy with a big smile and that smile will always hang in my car. He had me grinning all the way home.

I Made My First Meatloaf!

I started 2026 by cooking meatloaf for dinner.  Yes, my wife helped, but I did a lot.  I took the meat out and plopped it into the cooking pan.  I helped mush it up, flip it over, and make the egg disappear. I don't exactly know where the egg came from, but she probably put it there when I turned my head.  I put the meatloaf in the oven and when it was almost cooked, I took it out.  My wife said, "Put the ketchup on it."  I asked, "How does it go on?"  She said to cover it. Here's the picture below.  I was kind of going for a "flag" topping.  Let me know if you can see it.

My family is going to have to start calling me Chef Jeff Sr.  My son-in-law, Jeff, is a terrific chef.  We call him Chef Jeff Jr.  I'm only 3-4 light years behind him.  Below is the picture when it came out.  I'm going to start taking "meatball dinner" orders.  I can be reached right here through my blog.

They almost look like the same picture.  I'm pretty sure the top one was before it cooked.

MY 10 BEST RIDES IN 2025 (Part 1)

I was trying to pick my top five rides of the year and it was impossible to do.  In 2024 I gave around 2,300 rides and in 2025 I gave over 1,300 rides.  Here is a short summary of ten incredible rides and I broke them into three categories: most unique, funniest, and inspiring.

MOST UNIQUE:

A SIMPLER TIME

The two hour ride to Savannah in April was fascinating and shocking.  The couple told me their story which was worthy of a book. After college five of his friends searched the West for a lot of land that they could their own houses.  They wound up on a dirt road in British Columbia and hour an a half from a gas station.  The wife said to me, "When we got electricity after 13 years, it was a hallelujah moment, I was a happy woman." They built their own house and lived their forty years before recently moving to the city. What an interesting life they have had, so different than just about everyone.  They were very generous to share it with me.

THE GOOD KARMA GIRL

What happened in my car that morning in March will never happen again. A woman in her late twenties(?) had no sleep and she looked it.  At 8 am. I gave her a twenty-five minute ride and she completely changed in my car and I don't mean her clothes.  She was inspired by the car and after 10-15 minutes she was smiling and we had an incredible conversation.  She lost her mom three years ago and she's been carrying and wearing it. She wanted me to change the Karma and give the ring to a Leo since her and her mom were also Leo's.  I was too and I took her picture with the ring and it hangs in my car with the words "Good Karma" under it.  I gave it the daughter of another female rider in the same town who was serving our country in the Army. Their picture hangs in my car too. The "Good Karma Girl" has inspired others through me-it was an unforgettable experience.

FUNNIEST RIDES

KASSI-ISMS FROM CALIFORNIA

The woman in her twenties was in Charleston, S.C. with two friends for a baccalaureate party in March and she put on a hilarious performance.  Her comment about grabbing the Preparation H instead of toothpaste made my list of top comments of the year.  Her friend said that she once asked, "What meat is on a veggie sub?" In a short period of time she had me laughing a lot. The last time she was in South Carolina she went to a basketball game and was rooting for the South Carolina Gamecocks and she bought a hat that said, "Go C O C K S." That was fine in South Carolina, but when she returned to California, she said people thought, "I was a whore."  She's been like this her whole life and I can't imagine what it is like having her as a friend, but this was a lot of fun.

HOW MANY JP'S ARE THERE?

This ride in September had it all including two of the top comments of the year, a short ride and then a long one to the airport, a cash tip, several Mexican bills and a picture of his family visiting Mexico which is pictured below.  This truck driver from Louisiana regularly puts orange juice in some of his cereal and has a whole bunch of family who go by the name of JP, their initials.  He told me that when you call out JP at a family event, "You don't know who you're going to get." A hard-working guy with a beautiful family and a very good sense of humor.

MY MOST FREQUENT RIDERS

Near the end of April just before leaving Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I had one final ride with Paul and Susan who had become friends over the past three years.  Paul has been hilarious throughout, but this ride was so funny that Susan kept yelling out, "My stomach hurts." He has called my car an, "Old jalopy," told me I was pushing the weight in my vehicle because of my weight, and he said that, "It's Un-American not to have a TV, even people in third world countries do." For the third year in a row he made my list of top comments for the year claiming that my wife and I were like criminals and that's why we have to move every year.  Their picture hangs in my car and it was always an adventure driving them and they will be missed.

HONORABLE MENTION:  My family chicken ride taking my daughter and son-in-law to the airport was hilarious, especially since they gave me a rotisserie chicken.

We Celebrated Christmas on a Snowy Day!

Recently my wife and I watched a Christmas movie about a small town in Vermont which took place on Christmas week.  In almost every scene it was snowing.  All my life I have seen movies and television shows where it snowed on Christmas Day.

Growing up in New Jersey and being Jewish, I never recall seeing it snow on Christmas. My wife and I lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the past seven years and it definitely did not snow on Christmas.  We went to the beach once or twice on Christmas.

Moving to Colorado this past year, I was looking forward to seeing it snow on Christmas Day. Did it happen? No, the high was sixty-seven degrees; no chance this year.

But wait, our plans to get together with our son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and daughter and son-in-law, were pushed back due to several of us being under the weather.

It was a snowy early Sunday morning a few days later and I tried to get a picture of some snow coming from my office window.  I'm not sure you can see it.  There were some spots on my computer screen, but when I tried to clean off the white spots, some of them did fall down.

I'm not sure I have good proof that I saw snow falling on the day we celebrated Christmas, but I did go out to shovel and I found about a dusting or an inch in the front.  We have turf in the back and since our dog uses the grass daily, sometimes hourly to pea and poop on, I shoveled about two inches from the backyard for him.  Here's my proof that is snowed on "OUR Christmas Day."  What year will it happen on December 25th?

MY MOST MEMORABLE RIDER COMMENTS IN DECEMBER

 He: "I was in a pub in Europe and overheard a woman say this, 'I'm going to visit my sister in Texas and we're going to drive to South Carolina, Florida, New York, and back to Texas the same day.' I had to explain to her that it would be impossible to do."

She told me she was in a band in Colorado.  "Check us out online and make sure you type in "Girls on Top Band," or your wife won't be happy with you if you don't put "Band" in."

Talking with a young woman who was a very big football fan, I told her that a Green Bay Packer fan took his Packer hat off his head and gave it to me and that's why it's in my car.  She said, "I'm a Detroit Lions fan and if you put the window down I can throw it right out the window for you."

She: I was working in a school and my friend and I decided to scare some of the other employees.  There was a mannequin head that we hooked up in a closet so when the door opened it swung out. We did get in trouble for that."

She: "One year when I was working at McDonalds an older man gave me a $100 tip at Christmas time, because I always knew how he wanted his coffee."

I asked how they met and he said, "We were both in Vail on the ski slopes but we really met in the hot tub."

She worked for an optometrist in town and I asked her which one? She said, "America's best." I said, "What's his name?" She said, "America's Best is the name of the company."

She: "A lot of people in Minnesota say, "Toodaloo" when they are saying goodbye, because it's less permanent than saying just goodbye."

Barber: "My customer was bragging to me about cheating on his wife and said that we have, 'Barber confidentiality.' I told him there was no such thing and if his wife came in looking for him I'd probably say you might be with your mistress.  He became quiet and when I finished his hair he called me an, "Ass_ _ __" and never came back."

He handed me a $100 bill and said, "Do you have some twenties for change? That's okay, keep it. I've been lucky in life."

                                                 MORE RIDER COMMENTS

The grandma said, "Babysitting is hanging out at grandma's."

Monica said, "I never met a Monica I didn't like."

She: "I was almost kidnapped as a teenager riding a bike with a friend.  Years later a medium told me that it was an international sex ring."

I told the guy from Egypt what passengers have said about the crazy driving in Egypt.  He said, "When I go back there in a couple days I just start driving like everyone else."

After 37 years of marriage I asked them what is the secret of a successful marriage and he said, "Communication and compromise."  She said, "It's okay to go sleep mad, but in the morning it doesn't seem as important. I always think about how he looked the day we got married."

"My uncle was at a football game watching closely the great empty seat in another section.  Before the last quarter he went down there and asked a guy if the seat was taken and if he could sit there for the last quarter.  The guy said he could.  His wife usually sat there, but he was at her dad's funeral."

I asked how they met and she said, "It was on a blind date in high school. I knew who he was because there were two girls in my class who were talking about him like he was the best thing on the planet. I wanted to date him so could tell the girls I had a date with him."

I asked the husband, a football player in high school, "Did you have a bunch of girls in school that were big fans or groupies?" He said he did, but it wasn't a big deal. However, "My brother was like a man-whore."

I asked the guy if he liked what he did and he said he did and, "Half the people I work with are pleasant to work with and the other half are less than pleasant."

"I once made $10,000 one day on solar panels."

She: "I was named Jamaiqa because my mom was a big fan of Bob Marley."

Telling her that I was celebrating Christmas a few days later with family, she liked the idea and said, "It's Christmas all week."

From Iowa, I had to talk to him about "The Field of Dreams." He told me, "I saw Tim McGraw in concert at the field."

He: "I was lost in high school so I joined the Air Force."

I DROVE PEOPLE FROM THESE COUNTRIES:

Egypt, Nicaragua, Nepal, Togo, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Chile.

UNIQUE JOBS

Philanthropy for Merck

Former paintball referee

Glazer

Pipefitter

Outside fork lift operator in Colorado

COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

"You are giving out joy and love."

The musician said, "Your car is whimsical."

"You have an amazing car.  Keep doing what you're doing."

"You're a delight."

"Everything was positive from when I got in the car. You're a positive guy, a light in the world.  You have a delightful demeanor."

"Thank you for your stories and the funniest Uber rider I've ever had."

"This was the most impressive Uber I've ever been in."

"You're the best Uber driver I've ever had."

"I enjoyed the conversation with you."

"Keep spreading joy."

Handing me a cash tip he said, "We enjoyed this very much."

"I enjoyed talking to you."