tomversation

Remembering Scott Adams: Our unique interview

Scott Adams, Dilbert creator and cartoonist passed away yesterday, of prostate cancer.

While I didn’t agree with Scott’s politics, he didn’t agree with mine. I started my column “10 With Tom” some years back for the Huffington Post and I asked Scott if I could ask him the 10 random questions. He said he didn’t want it published in the Huffington Post, but he was a good sport enough to do the interview if I had it published elsewhere, so I had it published here in my Tomversation blog.

Here it is, from August 8, 2016.

10 With Tom
10 questions in 10 minutes

After looking over the 10 With Tom I did with Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine cartoonist, I thought why not ask the 10 questions of Scott Adams, creator and Dilbert cartoonist, after all, it was Scott who was Stephan’s tipping point. He liked the strip when it was kind of new, talked it up and overnight it became a sensation, something like that.

Here are my 10 With Tom questions with Scott Adams.

Tom: Are you recognized on the street?
Scott: Almost never, except locally.

Tom: If you had to kill off one of your Dilbert characters, which one would it be and why?
Scott: I have a character named Ted the Generic Guy. I kill him whenever I need something bad to happen in the strip. After that, probably Dilbert, but he’d come back to life somehow later.

Tom: What newspaper(s) did your family subscribe to/read when you were a kid?
Scott: Albany Times Union

Tom: Which comic strip, past or present, would you like to crawl into and spend the day?
Scott: Sounds like a sad life any way you look at it. But I’d go with Mutts because I like pets.

Tom: Without looking, what color is Lucy Van Pelt’s dress?
Scott: I’m thinking yellow or red. My final answer is…yellow?

Tom: No. It’s actually blue.

Tom: What do you usually order at Starbucks?
Scott: Cafe Mocha (hot) with whipped cream.

Tom: Me too! Always.

Tom: Last book you read
Scott: Hard to Ignore by Dr. Carmen Simon.

Tom: What bores you?
Scott: Listening to someone describe food or TV shows.

Tom: Tell me about someone you envy.
Scott: Someone has a better life than I do? My life hasn’t always been easy, but at the moment it’s spectacular. I honestly can’t think of anyone I envy. (But envy isn’t a big part of my personality in general.)

Tom: Do you still feel that Trump will win the election? (I know you endorsed Hillary)
Scott: It wouldn’t be any fun if I changed my prediction now, would it? My prediction assumed Trump goes into a deep hole before powering out toward the end. So we are right on schedule.

Thanks, Scott. Good sport.

Till next time . . .

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Smart cars, smart phones

I finally saw one of those self-driving Waymo cars, although I suspect that I have been seeing these “smart cars” all the while. I think I have seen them, but have been thinking they were a Google Maps cars with the camera thing on the roof.

But recently there was a news report about the Waymo cars and I realized that’s what I’ve been seeing. Then the other day, one drove by and a friend said to me, “Isn’t that one of those self-driving cars?” And I realized it was.

I’m thinking now of all the times I’ve seen the car, but I never really looked at it, or looked inside it. I’m always in my own world and I’m not really nosey, so I guess I never looked over at the car to see who was in it – to see that nobody is in it! But I will look over now and probably freak out at the empty car.

To think, they’ve been in front of me, behind me and around me and have been interacting with me and I didn’t even know it!

I read, I think on Reddit, that Kyle from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) is using the term “Hey Siri!” often, because she uses Siri a lot to do things for her like call her sister Kathy Hilton, remind her of an address, things like that. And the issue with viewers, according to Reddit, is that her voice is carrying through the tv to their own devices and it’s calling Kathy Hilton, who they don’t know or it’s doing things they don’t want done like looking things up on the phone, etc.

Has that ever happened to you?

I don’t watch RHOBH, but it’s happened with other people via the tv and even if I say something out loud to myself while driving or something, Siri sort of does it. She opens up the phone and starts looking for answers to questions I didn’t even ask.

Social media sites seem to be more sensitive or maybe it’s the iPhone that’s more sensitive. I seem to send or almost send things to people that I don’t want to send.

Three times I’ve sent a direct message to one of my cousins by accident, and the odd thing is that all three things had to do with Broadway or acting or something related to that – and he’s an actor! But it wasn’t intentional, I didn’t even think of my cousin and I wasn’t interested in the meme or article.

I wasn’t following these sites who posted these Broadway messages and memes. For instance, one was about a Broadway show closing soon, and I was just deleting it or swiping through that post, but it swiped right into my cousin’s Direct Message and was sent to him. This happened three times – messages sent by me, going to my cousin regarding something about acting to my cousin who is an actor.

Very strange – and he never responded – I presumed he just thought I was hacked and it was a random message from the hacker. I don’t think he ever opened them. I asked him about it when I saw him and he said he never saw them. I don’t think he uses Facebook Messenger, so he probably never did see them.

One time I sent someone, I think it was my electrician or a/c guy, a picture of something when I was swiping trying to delete a picture! I don’t remember what it was, but luckily it wasn’t something personal or important.

Yesterday, I was home alone, and I heard a guy talking. I got startled. It was in my pocket, some video started playing and that was the voice I heard.

Smart phones? Too smart.

Till next time . . .

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.

Resolutions to Influenza

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.

Ubering in style

I brought my car in for service today – I needed schedule A service and I needed tires.

I go early, before my mechanic arrives, and I leave the car and the key with the gas station attendant in the store part of the place. I block the main garage door, and I leave a note. So when the guys arrive, they get to my car first and it’s done by lunchtime.

I dropped the car off at 7:30 am today!

When my gas station guy called me to discuss the car, I asked him if he was surprised the car was there so early. He said, “No, you always do that.”

My Uber ride home was a Tesla. My second Tesla. I was thinking it was my first, but when it was time to open the door to let myself out, I couldn’t find out how to do it, and it reminded me that on my ride to LaGuardia Airport in NY last month, I was also in a Tesla.

I’ve been in three or four Ubers that were Mercedes and one Ferrari. Yes, a gleaming white Ferrari driving by a beautiful blond girl. It was at Miami Airport, coming home from NY a couple of December’s ago. Maybe it was for Art Basel people, which was at that time, maybe not. I was tempted to ask the girl why she was driving an Uber, but it was none of my business.

A few of the Mercedes were in New York and one in Miami. One Mercedes was an SUV – really nice.

I sometimes think it might be fun to drive an Uber. For maybe a day. But then again, I hate to drive down the block to the supermarket, so that’s out.

We used to have a Freebee service in our village. Many towns in the Miami area have them. They are golf cart type things that you summon on an app and they take you anywhere you want in each particular town. It’s free, hence the name Freebee. You just leave a tip.

So basically in Coral Gables, you are picked up and dropped off in Coral Gables. In Key Biscayne, the same – only service in Key Biscayne, etc.

Miami neighborhoods also have free trolleys. I used to use that often when dropping off my car, but they changed the route so that I would have to take two trolleys, which isn’t bad expect for the wait for the trolley. So a half hour wait, four times – two and from, wastes a lot of time.

So for now, Uber will do – until I pick up my car later today.

Till next time . . .

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The evolution of neighborly bonds

One of my current neighbors and I, met an old neighbor for lunch, over the holidays. The one neighbor who had moved away some years ago was in town, so we met up. We have all been friends for so many years.

I often think of when I moved into my condo building so many years ago and how I miss those days. Today I barely speak to some of the current neighbors, I just don’t like them and we’ve fallen out.

The sad part is that I don’t speak to them, but I don’t think they realize it. I don’t make it obvious, I just avoid them. As I get older, I’ve decided to get rid of people who are toxic to me. Unfortunately, there are many.

In the old days, we had neighbors who were jerks, but for some reason, since it was in the past, it seems great and I miss those days.

It’s almost like a tv show. We had our original cast of characters and then over the years, people left and new people came in and it’s different.

I saw a documentary on Cheers the other day, the tv show. And they were saying that when Shelley Long left, they thought it would go downhill, but arguably, it got better with Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe.

And when Coach died, they thought the same – that it was the end of the show, but Woody Harrelson as Woody, did a wonderful job to take over. Interestingly enough, the character Woody was named before there was an actor to play the part, so Woody Harrelson ironically just happened to end up with the part, and he was perfect for it.

With my neighbors, I don’t think it’s gotten better with new people moving in over the years. I miss the old ~~cast members~~ neighbors.

There was a time we used the elevator as a dumb waiter. People would bake and put things in the elevator for us to share. And at Christmas, it was non-stop up and down with gifts – we all would exchange gifts via the elevator, which now that I think about it, might have been nicer at a building Christmas party instead of the dumbwaiter way, but that’s how we did it.

We used to have so many condo meetings at that time, that maybe we felt we didn’t need a party, every few weeks the meetings were light and fun and sort of like a party. Now we barely have meetings. It’s a different building and world.

Back then, one neighbor used to own citrus groves and he would give each neighbor a case of grapefruits for Christmas. They were so fresh and delicious. I asked him how they were so juicy. He said that at the supermarket, by the time we got them, they literally were touched by 20 hands, but the ones he gave us were just touched by the guy at the orchard who pulled the grapefruits off the trees and put them in the cartons. One hand touched them!

But that’s a thing of the past, and so is he. He passed away a couple of years ago and we all miss his old grumpy self.

Here’s to 2026, hopefully we’ll have a bit of the old days this year.

Till next time . . .

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Happy New Year!

This week’s Tomversation toons.

Subscribe via email to my cartoons and my blog here – the toons will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts will arrive during the week.

Subscribe via email to my cartoons and my blog here – the toons will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts will arrive during the week.

Hail and Farewell 2025

I saw this on CBS Sunday Morning, the tv show, last week. It was “Hail and Farewell” to all those celebs we lost in 2025.

What got to me was the sheer number. The segment went on for over 25 minutes! If I had to guess, I would have said about 15 minutes, but I see the time on the YouTube video.

One person who did not make this tv segment is Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK, who died yesterday. Another sad moment for the Kennedys. Tatiana’s mother, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, lost her mother, father, uncle, brother and now daughter, many due to disastrous circumstances. It hurts just to write that.

When the CBS segment came on, I stopped and stood in front of the tv, and just stood and watched in silence for those 25 minutes.

Check it out, I think you will be surprised at all the people we lost.

If you are in a country that doesn’t show my video above, you can see it at the YouTube site here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GZNUHPAEbo

Till next time . . . Happy New Year!

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Technology; past and present

A few generation gap instances happened during Christmas. There were probably more, but I remember these few.

One of my young nieces received a pink digital camera as a gift. A small hand-held plastic thing where you take pictures then take the chip out and put it into a small printer and print the pictures, or you can just keep them on the camera and see them digitally. It’s funny how she felt that an actual camera was a new invention. I guess what’s old is new again, I’ve read where people are going back to malls and movie theaters, too.

I told her about the “old days” where we would have a limited amount of photos on the film cartridge, usually 12, 24 or 36 and that we would take the pictures and then have to have them developed, waiting a week to see the results.

In time, there were one hour photo processing places and I also explained before the cartridges, that rolls of film had to be inserted into the camera. I explained film, negatives and developing. It all drew a blank stare.

Later, we were talking about the new year and I was telling her about something that happened in the 1980s. That drew a blank stare, too. I guess she only knows the 21st century.

Then there was. MY DVR. Apparently DVR’s are ancient, according to my nephew. I know cable tv is, but so are the DVR’s. He was flabbergasted that I have DVRs connected to my tv. He was flabbergasted that I still have cable tv. So am I at times, I pay too much and watch too little.

I like to do cartoons based on the past, where people thought they were in the most modern of times, which they were, but to look back, it was almost primitive.

I often see old photos online, from the 1890s or 1912 or 1920s and I look at the people in the photo, who think they have it all. And they did for that time period. I’ve seen old photos of NYC in the 1860s, where people dogged big white trolleys and horses around the city. Strange by today’s standards.

Another instance involved a new pen I received as a gift. It’s a beautiful pen I received from another young relative. At first I thought it was a fountain pen for drawing, because she kept talking about the “ink refill.” It turns out, she meant the ballpoint pen ink cartridge that you just slip in when the ink runs out, which you can purchase anywhere. But she made it sound as if I needed to fill the ink from some sort of well.

I think she is so used to throw-away plastic pens, that it was something interesting and new to her that you can just buy an ink cartridge and slip it in the pen without throwing the pen itself out. I almost told her about quill pens, but I didn’t.

Speaking of living in the modern world, one of my nephews helped me set up SoFi, the investing site. I had the app on my phone but I never completed the sign-up process, so I did that, I completed the sign up process and now have a robot making all my stock decisions. He claims the robot makes him 9% on all the trades it chooses, so let’s see how it goes!

Years from now, what we do today will look ancient – the digital photos, the DVRs, tv and stock trading, but for now, I’m living in the moment.

Till next time . . .

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Christmas week toons

Well, here they are, this week’s Tomversation cartoons.

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Merry Christmas!

This cartoon was published this morning. But it replaced the one below it, at the last minute. It was a quick change of Santa, as you can see.

I kept thinking after the cartoon was published that it needed something else, and it seemed that if Santa was lying back on an easy chair, it would be the thing.

So after the first one (the close-up of Santa cartoon here), was published, I quickly drew a new Santa sitting back on an easy chair, and I had the published cartoon changed to the easy chair one.

I do this often – not usually changing the whole cartoon, but finding a typo or something minor and I change it before people hopefully see it. After the cartoon is published, it gets passed around the internet quite quickly, so sometimes the “wrong” one gets shown around.

I really like the close-up image of Santa, but I think the other one conveys the message better.

Anyway, that’s it. A quick change on Christmas Eve morning.

I’ll be with my family tonight and tomorrow, hope you will be, too. But I am thinking of Italy and I saw something about Christmas in Rome on the news this morning, and I sort of willed it, you know, manifested it, that I’ll be in Rome for Christmas next year. I’m really feeling it, you know. As I thought it, I felt it. And that is really how manifestation works.

Let’s see if that plays out!

Till next time . . . Merry Christmas!

Subscribe via email to my cartoons and my blog here – the toons will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts will arrive during the week.