I was at Whole Foods over the weekend and they had so many of my regular things on sale – the peanut butter I like, the Ceylon cinnamon I use, the apples I like, the oat bran I use and so much more of “my stuff” was on sale. I didn’t know any of it was on sale, so each time I went to get an item, I was pleasantly surprised to see it on sale.

I spent a lot of time going around piling up the hand carrier, that thing you carry around. It was quite heavy.

I finally get to the check out – the self-checkout, I like that, and the lights go out. The whole store went dark. The electricity was out in the whole building.

So all the customers waited around for the lights to come on, but that didn’t happen. We were then told to “evacuate.” They used that word and rushed everyone out.

We had to walk up the escalator, which was not working, to get to the garage, which is upstairs from the actual store, and as I reached the top, I asked a guy who was standing there, why we were told to leave and he said, “Because the electricity is out!” And I responded, “I thought it was some sort of emergency, you keep using the word “evacuate.”

I thought it might be a fire or who knows what. But it was just the electricity according to them, so we evacuated.

I was thinking they should have let everyone walk out with the stuff they had in their carts. So much of it was just sitting in the dark perishing and may be thrown out, like the prepared food and soups, etc. I mean are they even going to put back tomatoes and avocados and bananas and stuff one at a time after people handled it all and carried it around the store?

The next day I went back to get the stuff, I had to re-shop. When I went to get watercress, the same guy was halfway in the cooler, working there. I excused myself so I wasn’t in his way. I remembered him from the day before.

I mentioned to him that we did the same routine the day before and he remembered that, also, and said, “Yes, it was about the same time, too.

I asked him about the electrical problem and asked if that was all it was. He said that was it. I mentioned the word, “evacuate” and thought it might be worse because of that. He said, “That’s a silly word for them to use.” So we both agreed about that.

I got my sale items and other stuff and ended up spending twice what I usually do, so the sale wasn’t really a sale after all, was it?

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

We all use AI once in awhile, or often, whether we know it or not, even when you search for something on at a search engine, most times, the AI answers come up first.

The one thing that bugs me is being pushed to add AI notifications on my cartoons. WHICH ARE NOT AI GENERATED!

Here is an example, above, see it? It’s a cartoon I was posting to Facebook, and you’ll notice at the top it has a toggle switch that “reminds” me that the AI label is off. Should it be on? Not one part of this cartoon is AI generated, I drew every box one at a time, and I wonder how many AI agents have stolen it to use for future AI requests from others, but it’s drawn by hand, by me.

On Instagram, when I go onto a cartoon to make a change, usually a typed typo in the description below it, the first thing that comes up is not the caption where I need to edit, which should be the only thing available for edit, but what comes up first is an AI toggle switch, doading me to turn it on! It says, “Add AI Label.”

I see a day, not too far in the future, where every sententce,every article, every photo, every drawing will have an AI toggle switch, asking us to turn AI off, and to tell audiences that it is an original creation.

Right now cartoons and cartoon style sare being “used” by AI and the worst part- they are now copying signatures.

This signature may turn up one day in an AI image. Even though I did not draw the image. But I guess I should be glad that they are giving me credit for my stolen image, if that’s what they are using.

There’s a webiste that is all clickbait. In the past, they have taken 60 of my cartoons and posted them as content. Without permission. When I complained to them, they dropped it down to 30 cartoons.

They now know they are forbidden to touch any of my work.

Not long ago I came upon a law firm that had my cartoons on their site. I wasn’t looking for a laywer, I think it popped up on google alerts or something. When I complained, I was told, “We gave you credit and linked back to your site.” The site they linked back to was another site that stole my work and posted it. They infringed from another infringer.

To give them credit, the law firm was mortified and removed all the images.

AI does it every day without being mortified.

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

Two recent cartoons really got a lot of interest. This one with the doctor wait time and the coffee shop one. When cartoons hit home, they really take off.

I wrote about one of my creepy doctors who kept me waiting for hours, so I just got up and left and all this time later, just over two years, I still have not been contacted to ask where I went. Horrible doctor, horrible person, horrible office staff.

One time they would not renew a prescription because the renewal came in under Tom and not Thomas, which they had as my name on file. So rather than change the name to Tom in their files, everyone else – other doctors, pharmacies, etc., had to change everything to Thomas, which I hate, because every time someone calls me Thomas, I know they don’t know me because everyone I know calls me Tom or Tommy.

Then to find out after all that, that they have both names on file there all this time, Tom and Tommy.

Another cartoon, this coffee shop one, is an ongoing thing, where people set up shop and don’t buy anything. They take up space, use electricity and wifi, and that’s their office for the day.

One location in NYC has told me to get up more than once because I was sitting on a bench at the front vestibule. I explained that I was ordering coffee on the app. They said people are not allowed to sit there – on the bench! even though I told them I was ordering coffee, and showed them my phone. They didn’t care.

Yet, these morons have people sitting at tables, setting up camp inside all day long taking up space. I did notice in NYC and in Hoboken, that many Starbucks have taken out indoor seating. Panera Bread has done it with almost all of their locations, too. They say it’s to keep homeless people out, but it’s keeping paying customers out, too – but also the people who camp at tables all day, I guess, so there’s that.

Some places encourage people hanging out, a couple of national banks are now set up as coffee and work spaces and I’ve seen places in NYC where they seem to want more people in the place working, than actually spending money. At these banks, you walk in and are in a coffee shop and you have to look hard ot find the bank, all the way in the back.

I guess the real questions are whether we’re in a coffee shop to buy coffee, work, or simply find a place to sit – and apparently, every location has a different answer. And at the doctor’s offices, we spend more time sitting than seeing the doctor. Fact!

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

So I never made it to New York, I would be there at this time normally. But I don’t mind not being there. I miss it, but I’m glad to be home, too.

I was going to fly in yesterday and when I woke up early yesterday morning it was nice not having to rush to get to the airport. I put the tv on at 6 am and was thinking, how nice it was, dark, quiet in the living room, when I would have been leaving for the airport at that very time, going downstairs at 6 am, waiting in the dark for an Uber to pick me up.

I won’t be pumpkin picking, well I probably will right here at home at the the Boys & Girls Club where they sell pumpkins locally. And I won’t be at Comic Con I have my pass, but I don’t know how to resell it, I have a friend in New York who likes to go, I think I still have time to send it to him. My cousin who goes works there at a booth, so he already has a vendor pass.

It’s interesting that I keep having “memories” pop up on Facebook from a year or two ago, showing me at Union Square surrounded by pumpkins and all the fall things. I think it’s going to be warm this week in NYC and it must have been last year, because one of the images had me eating a Mister Softee ice cream cone at Union Square. Usually Mister Softee is in for the winter by now, but with climate change and all, the ice cream trucks have still been out.

I did make plans for Thanksgiving, so hopefully I’ll be in NY for that. I’m looking forward to that, I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday now. It used to be Christmas, then I think Halloween, then for a bit Fourth of July, but now it’s Thanksgiving.

I’m not down about not being there now. I like the fact that I am sleeping in my own bed, not having to travel (the airports are no fun these days) and I’m in my usual routine.

I was thinking I do everything out of routine. When I was younger I was adventerous, now it’s all the same old same old and I like it, which is the problem. I shouldn’t be enjoying the same old same old.

Anyway, I’m home for October and I like it.

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

I went to Wendy’s to get lunch. I usually get the taco salad and when I get home I add watercress and avocado, and it’s perfect.

So, at the drive-thru, there’s a car in front of me holding up the line. The lady is asking stupid questions, and the person in the speaker was laughing, so I thought they were friends and the lady in the car was teasing her friend inside Wendy’s.

At first the AI speaker came on asking for the order and the lady in the car asked for a real person, so the lady inside got right on. Then the lady in the car started asking stupid questions. She asked what time the chicken was cooked/fried. Was it cooked early in the morning or is it fresh. Then she asked if the beans in the chili were soft.

I honestly thought she was kidding, so I yelled out of my car window, “Hurry up!” Well, I shouldn’t have done that because a big girl got out of the passenger side of the car and was ready to fight. She started screaming, “Wait your turn!” and the ladies went back to being fools with the questions.

Finally, I drove up to the speaker, and I placed my order -telling it to the AI robot what I wanted.

I drove around to the window, and they were still asking stupid questions. After what seemed like forever, they drove off.

I asked the lady at the window, who knows me, why she put up with that nonsense. She said, “Well, they’re customers.” Which I guess I understood, besides the two women looked like they could beat her up. So, it was self-preservation.

One time at the same Wendy’s a different girl at the pay window sort of threw my change out at me and it went under the car. I said to her, “The money flew under the car, can you give me more change and come out and get that when the car moves?” She said no, so I called her a bitch, but I didn’t realize I said it out loud. That’s a quirk I have. I think I’m thinking something, but it literally comes out of my mouth. I honestly think I am thinking something and I say it out loud. I’ve done that all my life. Not on purpose. When I said that to her, I realized trouble was coming.

I quickly drove to the pickup window to escape her and to my chagrin, there she was, hanging out of the pickup window – trying to grab, me, literally halfway out of the window. I’m not making this up. The ladies inside pulled her in, I grabbed my food and drove off. It was a year before I went back, I wanted to be sure she was long gone before I returned.

So anyway, the other day, the Wendy’s lady who I was talking to was nice enough to tell someone inside to remake my order, since it probably got ice cold from waiting so long to be picked up thanks to those fools in front of me.

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

I’m debating whether to go to New York this year. I’m supposed to leave Saturday. The thing is, I don’t have the money. I’ve always been flush with money, but these past few months have been an issue. I don’t know why, but I’m struggling. But if you own a business, things happen, it’s just the way.

I am house poor. I’m sitting here waiting for the condo developers to scoop up our condo building which always seems to be happening “next month.” Well I’m ready to sell this month!

I have my New York Comic Con ticket – I bought that earlier this year. For 15 years I received a press pass, but I no longer write for certain publications, so I persona non grata when it comes to that and I have to buy my ticket now. First world problem.

I have my plane ticket – it’s a frequent flyer ticket so I didn’t have to pay anything for that and my accommodations have been paid in full for months since I paid for that when I bought my Comic Con ticket – so it was all one big purchase at the time.

So basically, I’m all paid for, but I shouldn’t be pissing away the money. I can get a refund on my accommodations and that’s quite a chunk of change.

While I despise AI for doing any sort of art, especially cartooning, I did use it to revamp my business website. I asked ChatGPT to modernize the pages and do certain things and it’s all looking good. AI knows me and my sites too well, and that’s scary.

When I would return days later to add or change something, it would ask me, “Do you want me to make the changes the same way I did that other page last week?” And I would tell it, “Yes, do your thing.” And it did. Within 30 seconds of less, out popped the HTML code or whatever it was – all ready to be published.

Anyway, I’m hoping for a bunch of money to come in this week, and we’ll see how it goes. I’ll know by Wednesday or Thursday this week whether I am going up north for my usual fall jaunt – pumpkin picking, apple picking the oyster festival, Comic Con and generally all things Fall in New York.

And then next month, Thanksgiving will be another decision for me to make. Stay tuned. Or subscribe now so you won’t miss it! It’s free, another thing I should do, start charging for my words. This is work, afterall, coming up with cartoon ideas, drawing them and then blogging a few times a week.

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.

The other day, a guy called me from the front gate. He says, “It’s Tony! Remember me?” That’s a common name, so I ran down to see who it was. It was a neighbor who we all did not like when he lived here.

He moved to Colombia years ago and now is back and he wants to move back into the building.

First off, he aged so much, I did not recognize him. I asked him to take his sunglasses off. He was in a wheel chair. A mess.

When he lived here, he was a bully. He did illegal renovations to his unit and didn’t care what anyone else said, because his excuse was, “I’m an architect.” We never believed that because he was a mess and never knew what he was doing.

As I spoke to him, a neighbor walked by, I had to tell her who he was since he changed so much. She was shocked. She did ask him mockingly if he was still an architect. I honestly don’t believe he ever was.

He literally put a window in his unit without permission and without permits. We’re lucky it didn’t crack the whole facade of that side of the building while he was drilling illegally. I kept picturing a crack going up from his first floor apartment, all the way up to the roof, and then splitting the building in two.

Anyway, I was stuck downstairs talking to him. I told him there was nothing available and there usually never is in our small building. He asked about the two cabanas that people own and I told him they were not for sale or rent and it was against condo rules, and the law, to rent out cabanas as apartments. We are right on the water and that’s not a safe place to be.

He would not leave. I didn’t know what to do. He kept insisting on buying or renting, but there was nothing available in the building. It’s a small building. I know what’s available or not.

He would not give me his number, which was strange, because I told him I would call him if something came up. Which I knew nothing would come up. And even if it did, I was never going to call him.

Finally he went to the building next door, because it is larger and perhaps they had something available. I was glad he went, because he said he took the bus over and with the wheelchair and all, that had to be a project. I was afraid he was going to ask me to drive him somewhere and getting the wheelchair in my car would be an issue, I did it one time for someone and we shoved it in so hard, we could hardly get it out after that.

But since he went next door, he never called me or showed back up again. For all I know, he is still there bending someone’s ear about wanting to move back into the neighborhood.

I will give him credit for one thing – I had this leak where I could never figure out where it came from. I thought it was the washing machine, but it wasn’t. One day, when he was doing some of his illegal work, he called me to his unit to see something. I was the president of the board, so I was involved in everything, whether I liked it or not.

He showed me water coming out of his electric box, where all the breakers are. When we went up to the roof, we saw the main conduit was exposed and water got in. That’s what was happening to me all those years. The water was leaking in through the electrical box, which is right next to my washing machine.

Thanks to him, we had the thing fixed and no more leaks. So that was a good thing that came out of this mess of a guy. And water in the electrical box is not a good thing, so Tony did one good thing in his life. He complained selfishly about his own place, which lead to me fixing a major problem in my place.

Until next time . . . .

Subscribe via email to my blog and cartoons here – the cartoons will arrive each Friday plus occasional short blog posts are sent during the week.