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.

Peter Max, the pop artist passed away last week. It reminded me of an interaction I had with him a few years back.

I was the editor/publisher of our daily news in the village and we had a Peter Max Night at one of the galleries which featured his work. I promoted the event and wrote about it to alert people.

The night of the event, I entered and saw Mr. Max standing there. I went up to him and introduced myself and asked for a photo for the news. Mind you, it wasn’t a selfie of me and him, it was a news photo, him standing with art or something at the event.

He declined, he said, “No one gets a photo of me unless they buy a painting!”

But I wasn’t having it. I needed the photo for the story I was writing covering the night’s event. I replied, “Well, I brought half the people here tonight, so I’m taking your picture!”

Max got all flustered and walked over to Roy Black, his attorney who was nearby, who helped him with some fraud charge in the 1990s. As we walked over, Roy called out to me, “Hi Tom! How are you doing?” I knew Roy from the gym.

We didn’t work out together, but in the village everyone knew everyone else.

So that greeting from Roy may have relaxed Max, but it also deflated his large ego. I got my photo and covered the rest of the night’s news, which was wild and colorful and had the whole village out.

The sad part is that I can’t find the photos now. I had the images on another server and that’s gone. I do have them on file somewhere on my computer but after so many years of publishing, I must have 30,000 or more pictures on file, none of them tagged or marked! I looked for the images for days, but so far, no luck. I even had Chat GPT check all my files, but no luck.

If I find them, I’ll post them another time. I’m still looking. In the meantime, that’s my Peter Max story.

Speaking of pop art, I have my own cartoons selling as pop art. I have small and large sizes, different subjects that go in homes, offices, anywhere really. Lots of Dorm Decor – which is a thing now. The pop art is here at Etsy.

While looking in my files for an image of Peter Max, I found this old thing. I mean the old photo, not me.

We used to have a Coconut Hunt in our village every July 4th, for months in advance we painted up to 500 coconuts to hide on the day of the event. There was a winning coconut and runners up. Anyone was welcome to come to a local gallery on Friday nights to paint the coconuts which went on for a few months in advance.

On the morning of the event, a friend and I walked through the village, hiding the coconuts by handing them out to various places that were part of the hunt. It was hard to hide them without people seeing us. One year, I put them in garbage bags and walked with them on a dolly.

As we walked through the village, various people who would see us would say, “Tom, where are you going? We have a dumpster in the back, throw the trash in there!” But I would say, no thanks, and proceed to place the coconuts out, trying to be secretive about it.

Some weeks before the event, I was walking by the bank one day, and Sandy, the bank manager, yells out to me, “Tom, you want a bike?” I thought she meant for me, but she meant as a prize for the upcoming coconut hunt. Of course I said yes, and this picture is me riding from the bank to where we kept the bike before the hunt. I think we ended up showing it in the bookstore front window, as an incentive to join the fun on July 4.

Village life, just another fun memory from days gone by. Now the village is overgrown, overdeveloped and more like a city than a small artsy village, which it once was. The coconut hunt and so much more is long gone.

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 was talking about the beach the other day, it reminded me of one incident some years back.

I was at the beach one day, it was midweek, not very crowded, in fact, I may have been the only one there, but there were people walking along the shore.

I was laying on my towel. Behind me there is a little forest area and I noticed a big dark green Hefty bag, you know the type, those big bags used for garbage and lawn cuttings, etc.

The first thing that came to my mind was that it was either stocked with cash or maybe drugs – cocaine or marijuana. This was Miami after all, and many things have washed up along the shore.

The bag looked like it was deliberately hidden under the bushes. I had to see what was in it, but as I got up to look, people would pass by along the shore, running or walking.

As I waited, I was thinking, “How am I going to get this huge, heavy bag to my car without people noticing?” I spent a half hour thinking of this as people came and went. I also wondered how I would sell the contraband once I had it home.

Finally after it sort of died out, and I was there alone, I got up, went up to the bag hidden in the bushes, and I opened it. Know what was in it? More bags!

The bag was full of more garbage bags. They must have been left after a beach clean-up. Disappointment set in.

I ended up taking one bag out and started cleaning up the beach. Back then, people would randomly clean the beach while they were out there. I didn’t need to drag that full bag of garbage back to the parking lot when I left, there were trash cans along the beach where I put it.

I left empty handed that day.

An observation – I noticed that whenever I draw a wife in my cartoons, she has bright orange hair. I don’t know why. I guess brown is blah, and blond doesn’t show up. I’m really not sure why.

You can flip through this slide show and see a few here.

When I look at them in a group, when they are published one after the other, it almost seems as if it’s the same lady. But it’s not.

Maybe it’s an homage to Wilma Flintstone. Who knows. Maybe I’ll try pink or blue next time, to mix things up.

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 have a neighbor who never seems to look at his text messages. Whether they are a group text regarding the whole condo or a private message sent by anyone, including me, he’ll sometimes take days to look at them.

I’m always complaining and asking him, “What if it’s about something important?” He doesn’t seem to care. And now I am thinking about that.

Our building texts and neighborhood texts have really gotten annoying. We have a building text just for our small condo, with about 20 people on it and there is a WhatsApp text chain with the whole cul-de-sac, with maybe 50 or 60 people on it.

And while our condo text turns into long chains about someone’s lost Amazon package, so has the neighborhood text – with people not only looking for their lost delivery at their next door neighbor’s house, but around the whole neighborhood.

Of course it gets annoying when people respond. For instance, someone will text, “Did anyone see my Amazon package?” And then all the responses come in – “not me,” “not me,” “not me,” “not me,” and so on. Annoying.

In our condo text, we have one neighbor that has to comment on everything, mostly with “Thank you!” Someone will say, “I planted a bush out back” and she’ll respond, “Thank you!” Or someone will say, “I moved my car so the plumber can park in my space,” And she’ll respond, “Thank you!” Even if it’s not her space and has nothing to do with her.

The other morning a new guy who moved in texted us all at 6 am to tell us he spoke with the mayor about an issue we actually don’t have in the neighborhood, but wants to make an issue. Of course my other neighbor had to play into his nonsense with a big, “Thank you!” only she said, “Thank you very, very much!”

We have one family text with a friend we grew up with since we were kids. Billy is really one of the family after all these years and his texts consist of a long chain of things, all in one text – usually pictures. If the Miami Dolphins win, he sends 20 images of the Dolphins and some text, if it’s someone’s birthday, he’ll send 40 pictures and some text. He’ll do that for whatever comes up.

I have the sound off for that, because the non-stop binging sound of everyone replying and starting a long conversation drives me nuts. Many times, I’ll glance at my phone and see “40 texts” waiting to be read. After freaking out, thinking it’s an emergency, it’s Billy texting something about Paul McCartney’s birthday or something else – he’s a huge Beatles fan from childhood.

I fell for his Dolphins text yesterday – I looked at my phone and saw 30 messages. I looked at it wondering what it was, and it was Billy celebrating the start of the football season, with a bunch of Miami Dolphin images and logos. After yesterday’s Dolphins big loss, I guess he will be quiet for a bit today.

But if I wasn’t part of the texts I would feel left out. So, I’m glad I’m part of it. And once in a while I’ll answer Billy’s texts if it’s someone’s birthday or something. I always answer all my other texts. Or ignore them if it requires no response. Which most do these days.

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.

Mac’s Club Deuce is celebrating 100 years. It’s seen so much over the years. It all started before South Beach was called South Beach.

It’s hard to believe they have a website here. It doesn’t seem like it would, it’s such a throwback to a different time.

What used to be a dark, dingy place was lit up by the Miami Vice people – those neon images you see across the walls were added in the 1980s so there would be more of an experience to film there.

I hung out with my friends there. We were there so much we just sat down and they knew what we drank, they just put it in front of us.

My friend jak, brought CDs in, with music he liked, and they added it to the jukebox, which had that music in it for years.

I remember hot dog Sundays, and watching the Golden Girls there on Saturday nights. I remember watching a guy run down the street through the large picture window, with a computer in his arms, which he had stolen from the travel agency down the block. This was before computers were popular, so no one know what to do with it.

Mac, and Mary, his wife, were still there every day and night. I think Mary owned a vintage art deco shop across the street at one time.

One Saturday night there was a fortune teller in the bar, or a clairvoyant or one of those people. I remember chasing her down the block asking for the lottery numbers for that night. But then I realized if she knew the numbers, she wouldn’t be walking from bar to bar trying to make a few bucks with her predictions.

One time a bunch of friends were at my house and we all decided to head to the Deuce. It was still light out, so it must have been in the afternoon. We all took separate cars since everyone had their car at my house and wanted to leave separately from the Deuce.

I remember us being in a long train driving from Coral Gables to Miami Beach, over the causeway, and then parking all one car behind the other on 14th Street, right in front of the Deuce. There wasn’t much traffic or tourists back then, so parking was easy.

Across the street on 14th and Collins was a gas station – Madonna took pictures for her famous book there and every time we drove by, someone mentioned that. The Deuce is one of those places where millionaires drink next to street people. Everyone is welcome and feels comfortable there.

I haven’t been back to the Deuce in years. I don’t really drink that much anymore and I don’t usually go to Miami Beach, but one of these days I’ll have to pop by, I’ll see if jak’s CD is still in the jukebox.

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 often get texts from companies telling me my such-and-such trademark is expired and people want it. And I wonder if that’s the case, let them have it. Why are these trademark companies getting involved. But of course, they just want me to renew through them.

I have an old trademark from the daily news site I used to publish. I guess it’s still active, but quite often I get texts telling me people want it and I should save it. But to be honest, I own the URL, the social media sites and other things, so I almost hope they take the trademark and then have to deal with me, and hopefully pay big bucks for the social media and URL, where the big money is.

Interestingly enough, quite a few years back, this one guy sort of “stole” the websites of mine and other people in town and was sort of holding them hostage. He changed just a word or added a dash or something and it confused people. I ended up almost having a fist fight with him and he relinquished the thing.

Oddly now, his mother lives in my condo building. She recently moved in. I know her quite well, too. Her father, his grandfather was a big politician in Florida when I was a kid, so I guess it’s typical for a politician’s relative to do shady things. Like grandfather, like grandson.

The other day got a text saying that “Tomversation” trademark was in play. But I didn’t think it was. I went on the LegalZoom site to check it out and it was confusing, so I went to the government’s site and that really was confusing. I could not navigate anything there. It’s a heavy, overloaded site, sort of like the government itself. I had the actual legal form, but it didn’t show an expiration date on it.

So what I did was ask ChatGPT. I gave it my registration number which I found on the legal form and in seconds it sent me a link to the government site which said my trademark is all up to date. I’m fine and don’t need to renew anything.

Guess it’s true what they say about this A.I. stuff – it saves you a lot of time. This surely did.

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.