MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN DECEMBER

COULD HIS LIFE BE ANY BETTER?

Sometimes in life you have times that everything is going right and my passenger was in one of those times.  He was returning from a weekend golf trip with some of his friends from college.  On our trip from the airport I found out that he and his wife had graduated from Lehigh University a few years before my son did.  They just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and were expecting their first child in March. A month or two before his wife is due they have a friend who is getting married in Hawaii. They are planning to stay there for two weeks.  He was an engineer but now he's in real estate development. To top it off he explained he had just moved into his new house and as I drove into the spectacular neighborhood I wondered what his house looked like.  His house had a view of the mountains and his outside deck looked like there was room for restaurant seating.  These few months could be the best ones of his life, I enjoyed being a very small part of it.

AN ARTIST UNLIKE ANY OTHER

It is not possible in a paragraph to describe this rider.  He was fun and interesting to talk to and he kept surprising me with parts of his life.  He is an original, unlike anyone I've ever driven.  I looked him up and he was described as being an artist, a painter, a fine art bookmaker, an author of 17 books, a spoken word performer of seven albums, a musician, a founder of an art church and he's been a legal priest or reverend in a very unique kind of Church.  He has paintings displayed in Europe, some famous people own his works, he's been on the front page of The New York Times, and in the past he has put a curse on The San Francisco 49ers. He is very controversial, but a really nice guy to meet.  Below is a picture of Steven with my mannequin that he wanted to be hung up in my car with my other riders.

EXTREME GENEROSITY 

I have had many generous riders over the past 7 1/2 years, but this was one of the most unexpected tips I've ever had.  My rider was in my car for six minutes and three miles.  He had a local family business and he enjoyed the foreign money and pictures in my car.  It was a short conversation and when I went to drop him off he said he wanted to tip me on the app before he got out.  He had some difficulty finding it and then he put it in and it wasn't what he wanted to give me.  He handed me a $100 bill and asked if I had any twenties for change.  I was grabbing my wallet and said, "I'm not sure how much I have."  He replied, "That's okay, keep it.  I've been lucky in life."  I thanked him, shook his hand and wished him a Merry Christmas.  I didn't get a chance to tell him I've been lucky in life and as an Uber driver.  And now, his generosity will always be a part of my story.

A BARBER WITH INTEGRITY

I have over the years driven a number of barbers/hair stylists and they usually have a good story or two from talking with their customers.  He was a very nice guy and when I asked if he had a good story, he surprised me with this one which said a lot about himself.

This was the second time he had cut his hair, but his customer was bragging about cheating on his wife and wasn't concerned about telling him, because they had, "Barber confidentiality." He told his customer, "There is no such thing and if your wife came in looking for you I'd probably say you might be with your mistress. He was real quiet until I finished his hair and then he called me, 'An asshole.'" The customer never came back, but it says a lot about this barber and I will tell other barbers that story.

MONICA ENDS THE YEAR WITH GOOD KARMA

My last ride of the year was perfect. I knew it would be good when I saw her name, since my wife's name is Monika.  This Monica was visiting from Ohio and she was going to a concert with friends. She runs a software business and she definitely enjoyed the ride. The fifteen minute ride was filled with some laughs, some stories, and she made my day.  

It was just getting dark as I was dropping her off and she told me how much she appreciated the ride with several nice compliments. She had had had a rough day, which I did not know.  I told her it was my pleasure and a few minutes after I left her, I found a $20 bill on my front seat which I did not see her put there.  What she didn't know was that I had a very rare poor day driving all day and her generous tip was a complete and much appreciated surprise.  How do you beat that? At 11:59 that night on my final day of driving this year, Monica's tip for a couple dollars came through on the app to finish my day.  She told me, "I've never met a Monica I didn't like." She's now my second favorite Monica and hopefully she will read this thank you.

I have had a lot of wonderful riders this year in South Carolina and in Colorado and I've given them my best and many of them have given me their best. Thank you.

Random Thoughts To End The Year

1. Some people think my mannequin looks a little weird, what would they think about this head I spotted in a parking lot?

2. You could win a lifetime of chicken to guess what this picture is. I believe it is the crumbs from chocolate cake that were found after someone(not me, I would have eaten all of it) cleaned themselves off after eating.  Possibly some potato chips too. Maybe it wasn't?

3. When you're babysitting a 16 month old, you're also watching a bunch of other people that are pictured below. Take a look at the socks on that bear:

4. I didn't get a picture of it, but on the car in from of me it said this friendly phrase: "If I passed you on the right, you're an idiot." Who exactly is the idiot? I guess they are saying that you're driving too slow so I have to pass on the right. (which is dangerous and illegal)

5. Have you ever seen a seagull with shoes one? This is your one chance, look carefully.

6. Never, ever did I expect to see gas under $2.00 a gallon, but I paid this and enjoyed doing so.  Murphy USA does it again! I actually saw online that another Murphy USA in Colorado had gas at $1.88! And then it went down further, to $1.71!  I took so many pictures I missed the lowet one.

7. Walking in my neighborhood recently I saw this truck from a distance and I was thinking, "Why would someone put that much tape on a truck?" As I got closer I saw all the lights taped on the truck and I thought, "Why would someone put that much tape on a truck?"

8. Do you know the degree of difficulty to walk by these toy containers piled up early in the morning and in the dark without knocking them over and waking up the sleepers? I didn't want to breathe.

9. How many reminders do we need for a dentist appointment? I have to make my next cleaning appointment, but I don't want all the reminders.  Maybe I'll call them every few weeks to check if the dentist will be available on that day?  Since typing this my doctor canceled the morning of my physical.  Can I charge him?

10. Did anyone else notice that as you get older more people want to tell you what and how to do something? You're probably thinking I shouldn't have typed that out-see what I mean!

11. Now that the penny is gone, could the nickel be next? I read that we lose 9 cents every time a nickel is made and distributed, how ridiculous is that?

The Commercial That Wasn't

We have all watched a lot of commercials in our life.  My dad used to shut the volume off even during Super Bowl commercials which were always better than normal commercials.  There have been many people who became very famous doing commercials, such as Harlan Sanders, Tom Carvel, Dave Thomas, The Tidy Bowl man, and Mr. Whipple. ( I do know Mr. Whipple and the Tidy Bowl man are not real people like the others are.

                     

Have you ever thought about being in a commercial? I haven't either until a couple weeks ago.  When I published my book I did three television interviews on consecutive days.  It was a really fun experience for sure, but being in a commercial is something I never, ever imagined doing once or three times. Could it ever happen again?

A few weeks ago I found out that a company was working with Uber and they were looking for a few drivers to appear in a commercial about their experiences as an Uber driver.  I contacted a public relations person that I spoke with when my book came out and she had someone call me about the commercial.  I had a real shot at doing a commercial, how cool is that? What surprised me was that they were going to pay drivers for a few hours to film the commercial.  I didn't find out what they were paying, because they went with other drivers. I told them to keep me mind, so you never know, I could be the next Mr. Whipple.(with the Charmin)

Being A Left Hand

With my wife recovering from hand surgery I had to play a role I haven't played before-being her left hand.  She's doing well and realizing how valuable a left hand is even when you're righty.  It took a few days but she's using her fingers more on her left hand.  Below is the picture of the bandaged hand.

One of the things I've had difficulty doing is putting her socks on.  I've had plenty of practice recently putting on socks for our 16 month old grandchild, but putting socks on an adult is a different story.  I'm pretty sure I had trouble as a kid putting my socks on also.  Below is the pair of socks that I have struggled with. I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm just glad I'm not wearing those myself.

In addition to making eggs for the first time in my life, I've been refilling her water bottle, opening up caps on medicine, toothpaste, creams and also putting on a sleeve for the shower and a bathing cap too. Putting on a headband sounds easy, unless it's someone else's head.  I was thinking of practicing on my mannequin's head.

Just when I thought it couldn't get more difficult she wanted to put on earrings.  She put it in her ear, since I would have drawn blood, but I to put the tiny piece to hold it in.  I dropped it a few times and finally was able to do it without drawing blood although I almost got myself.  Below is the best picture of her ear I've ever seen.

One day I'm going to get practice being her right hand.  I can't wait-it should be a lot of fun.

Holiday Giving in 2025

What's new with technology and giving? How about a Giving Machine around the world?  Pictured below is a kiosk that is called a, "Light The World Giving Machine."  It can now be found in 126 cities across 21 countries and 6 continents.  Look at the size of this thing!

It is not brand new because it started in 2017, but I've never heard of it. The organization that started it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with the theme of  "love one another".  People can pick a dollar amount or an item to donate to a charity.

It gives people a chance to give instead of getting something from a vending machine.  Machines may have different gifts depending on the city, but it's a wide variety of things as you can see below.  Mostly 100% of the gift goes to the charity with little or no overhead.

Has it had success? I think donations of $50 million is a pretty good amount. In 2024, 2 million meals were given to feed people, $500,000 children were provided with polio and measles vaccines, and 25,000 refugees received emergency food boxes.  Once the donation is made it can up to 12 months for it to go through.  Below are a few of the cities that you can find a kiosk:

 Washington D.C., Rome, Italy, Bangkok, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Kansas City, Missouri, Provo, Utah, Buenos Aires, and Nairobi, Kenya.

I Made Eggs Today!

It finally happened. At the age of 65 years, 3 months, and 22 days, I cooked eggs for the first time. Is cooked really the way to say that?  My wife is recovering from hand surgery and today, December 10th was my first lesson in making eggs.

I actually cracked a few eggs and we only found a couple small pieces of shell in the bowl.  She couldn't really do it with one hand and I barely did it with two hands. Below you can't see the egg, but it was there.

Once the yoke was in there I was told to "fold it in." What she really meant was that I should stir them up until it turns white, which I did.  As you can see below it looked pretty good, before it turned white.

Pouring it into the frying pan I was then told to fold the eggs which meant to mix them up or "stir the pan" when they are cooked. I don't have a picture of that, because I was busy cooking them.  Here is the final product which looked good and they tasted good too.

Our dog Odin was waiting for the eggs and he was shocked that I was making them.  You can see the look on his face below.

My wife said I would never be a cook, but on this day, December 10, 2025, I was the cook in the house. I did it the next day too, believe it or not.

Happy 100th Birthday Dick Van Dyke

On December 13th Dick Van Dyke will turn 100 years old.  For over sixty years he has been an American icon, and has starred on Broadway, television, and in the movies.  On December 24th, his new book, "100 Rules for Living to 100" will be released.

His career began in the 1950's and his first big success was in 1961 when he won a Tony award for the Broadway show, "Bye Bye Birdie." He then had a television show, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" for five years with Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, and Carl Reiner.  He was also in "The Carol Burnett Show in 1967-1968. In 1993 he had a television show, "Diagnosis for Murder" for eight seasons.

In the movies, his biggest performance was in "Mary Poppins" in 1964 and "Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang" in 1968 and appeared in several other movies including "Night at the Museum" in 2006.

I was curious if he had written any books or if this was the first one.  Here are the books he has written:

"My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business"

"Keep Moving and Other Tips and Truths About Aging"

"Faith, Hope, and Hilarity: The Child's Eye View of Religion"

"Those Funny Kids!"

"Altar Egos"

"Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest"

He is known for his positive attitude and zest for life.  For decades he has promoted the philosophy of "keep moving" as a way of staying young.  He recently said that for as long as children will be singing the songs from his movies, "the most important part of me will always be alive."

When I think of Dick Van Dyke I'll always think of him in "Mary Poppins" dancing on the rooftop or with penguins or singing "I Love to Laugh" in "Mary Poppins."