I was watching an old Columbo rerun the other night and this idea came to me. How would it be these days where Columbo had to solve a murder?
With security cameras all over, he wouldn’t have to do much. It would almost be a 30 second TikTok video.
I did a Columbo cartoon awhile back, where he is asking Siri for the answer to the crime. But now with ring cameras and security cameras in every business and in so many homes, that’s a big help for solving crimes.
There’s a tv show I like called, See No Evil. It’s one of those murder shows in the I.D. Channel. They solve murders by following the cameras.
What I mean is, they track the killer through his steps shown on security camers – seeing his car through a gas station security cameras, then from a motel camera, then across the road from a supermarket or bank camera, etc. We’re always on camera.
My mother used to always say that Columbo solved crimes through circumstantial evidence – never concrete proof. But he managed to do it week after week.
After seeing so many reruns, I can always tell that he knows the murder from the start. From his first question, he knows who it is. What’s interesting about the show is that you see the murderer commit the murder at the beginning of the show, then Columbo comes in and does his thing.
I saw this cartoon by Robert Leighton recently and it really hit home because it’s so true. A couple looks like they are in Italy, on the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence. And the wife says to the husband, “Not only do they all speak fluent English, but they keep correcting your grammar.”
I’ve been saying for the longest time that in many foreign countries, people speak English, yet in the U.S., most of us don’t speak other languages. I find that very humbling. You can actually spend time in Rome and not have a language issue. Thanks to their ability to speak English.
So many people in Italy, France and other parts of Europe speak English and even in places like Egypt and the middle east, that’s true, to.
I’m told that’s because they learn in school from a young age and apparently they do an excellent job since it’s not something we learn in the U.S. and then forget. Learning from an early age is crucial to learning a new language.
Many have thick accents, of course, but that makes it even more endearing. And you can tell if people learned words from reading, rather than hearing them, when they pronounce them as they are spelled.
Along with English, I speak Spanish and I can understand Italian, but not speak it. And that sounds weird, but it’s because Spanish and Italian are so close in many ways, many words are the same or very close, but then other words are totally different, so it’s hard to speak one language when you speak the other – but not difficult if you can understand every few words.
When the new pope was giving a speech in Italian, I could get the gist of it because I might understand 80% of the language and could figure out the other words by what he was saying. So it’s easy to listen and understand that way, but of course, not an easy to thing to speak since I would have to know every word to speak it.
One of my friends goes to Italy at least once a year and she attends Italian school when she is there. This October she is meeting up with a group, but she is going there a few weeks earlier so she can attend the school. She also lives with an Italian family for a bit, so as to immerse herself in the language. I guess it’s like an Airbnb where you live on the premises with the owners of the property.
I learned Spanish in school when I was a kid, but I also live in Miami, where Spanish seems to be the prominent language in many cases – so I was immersed most of my life – my friends speak Spanish, and English of course; and I’ve learned from books, from tv and just hearing it on the street.
It’s all about immersion.
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I don’t know why, but today’s Tomversation cartoon makes me laugh out loud. I mean I usually laugh at my cartoons, otherwise I wouldn’t create them, but for some reason, every time I look at this, I crack up.
I guess I am picturing a calm lady explaining to her friend that she goes mad when her recipes don’t turn our right and she throws them across the room onto the wall.
At first, it was going to say something like, “Oh, that – Frank doesn’t like some of my recipes.” But I didn’t want to bring violence into it, so I made her mocking her own creations.
It sort of looks like modern art that she is creating.
I have a friend, who needed to start making money, so he started creating modern art; you know, abstract stuff and he it sells for thousands of dollars now. He never did this before, he just used his imagination and came up with incredble stuff.
They are huge canvasas, I’m not even sure how he transports them to houses and condos where his work is sold and hung, but he does work sort of like Jackson Pollock, that sort of abstract stuff. It’s awesome.
The huge canvasas go perfectly in very large spaces in condos and houses. They really complete the decor.
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Well, this morning I wanted to run downstairs to get something from my car and I felt I better scout the area first, so as not to be “attacked” at the elevator.
Good thing I did, because, as you can see, there she is with the freaking dog, just lying in wait. If I had called the elevator up and went down, she would have been standing there, waiting to get in, as I was getting out.
This is a screen capture from our security cameras.
I fear I have turned into the stalker now – stalking out the layout of the place, to be sure that the coast is clear.
Am I being paranoid? I don’t know.
If you haven’t read the past blog post about this annoying neighbor, it’s here.
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There is a new couple who moved into our small building and it seems that every time I turn around, there they are – in my face. It’s not intentional, I don’t think, but I am beginning to hate them for it. They have been here a few months and they are driving me out of my skull.
They rent the unit, and over the years, I’ve known everyone who has lived in that unit, and I was friendly with all of them and liked all of them. And I never felt annoyed by them. But this couple – I can’t explain it – they are just there – they are always there.
It’s a young husband and wife with a baby, who seems to be about one-year-old, maybe younger. They own a small restaurant in town, but they seem to always be here at home, when I am, rather than at the restaurant.
They seem to walk the baby around in a stroller or walk their dog every five minutes – they are always doing it. But the annoying part comes in where they are everywhere I am. Just lurking.
If I’m going to the elevator, she is invariably standing there waiting for it. If not standing there waiting for it, when the door opens for me to enter, there she is exiting and I have to say hello to her, which I don’t want to do.
More than once, I would say maybe seven times, when I have come home, driving up in my car, as I try to park in my parking space, she is in the parking space, washing her dog! The hose is next to my car, but rather than pull it out across the lot to a more convenient area, there she is, in my space washing the freaking dog.
And she is always so sickeningly sweet – “Have a nice day.” “Have a beautiful day.”
Her husband, is usually on his bicycle and he is always there when she isn’t there. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them together. But I must have. But it’s sort of like they torment me one at a time – only not on purpose.
I’ve lived in this building for many years, it’s a small condo building, only 14 units. I can honestly say, I’ve never seen any one of my neighbors this much. I’ll go weeks without seeing anyone, except for them. I don’t even remember their names.
Another neighbor, my friend Mary, says I am conjuring them up, you know, willing their presence, by talking about them. But I don’t think about them ever – that’s what makes it so irritating, when they pop up in my face so unexpectedly. I feel can do a magic trick, regarding this if I wanted to. I can tell someone, watch this, I can push the elevator button and one of them will appear – no joke.
I have avoided them by not getting in the elevator with them, making an excuse that I forgot something in my car, just to get away and not ride the lift with them.
Mary says I sound crazy, and asked if I told anyone else about this. But I only told her, and now you. I know it sounds crazy, but imagine that every time you opened your front door the same person was standing there. Or you walk in your backyard and there they are. Or you go to park your car and they are blocking your spot. Daily, more than once a day.
I did say something to the lady with the baby yesterday. I came home from Publix with arms full of bags, I hit the elevator key, and out popped mamma and baby. I said to her, “You are always there! You are always coming or going!” She said, “Excuse me?” She wasn’t exasperated, she really did not understanding what I meant. I just let her pass and I got in the elevator without responding.
I’ve taken to using the stairs to avoid the elevator, but of course that doesn’t matter since she is always washing the freaking dog in my parking space and always walking the dog around the elevator area and always pushing the baby in the stroller. The husband, not so much, but again, he pops up when she isn’t popping up.
Another neighbor keeps insisting that we go this couple’s restaurant for lunch, which is right here in the village. I keep turning that down. I see enough of them right here up my ass every day, I don’t need to go seek them out.
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I’m dealing with insurance – auto and homeowners. It’s amazing how different the rates are.
I didn’t get the homeowners rates yet, what happened was my insurance company of so many years dropped me. Well, they dropped the whole state.
This happens a lot with Florida insurance policies, but this was not for hurricane and windstorm, it was for homeowners, you know, to cover a toilet leak or something. The big insurance for hurricanes, etc., I get through the condo association, we pay through our maintenance fees.
Anyway, regarding the auto insurance, I am with Geico now, but every once in awhile, I change companies because you get better rates that way. I had State Farm auto insurance for many years, when I changed to Allstate, I immediately saved $800.00 per year.
After a bit with Allstate, I changed to Progressive and saved and then from Progressive, I changed to Geico and saved.
Now it may be time to change again, so I checked back with State Farm after all these years, I told them I would like to bundle the homeowners with auto. While I didn’t get the homeowners quote yet, I got the auto insurance – $1329.00 for six months. That’s with the bundle. Without the bundle, it’s $1466.00 for six months.
That’s almost $3000.00 a year!
Know what the rates are from Geico and Progressive? Less than $500 for six months ($481.00 with Progressive), and that’s with Snapshot, that thing where they track you. And according to my tracking – it isn’t perfect – but that’s the rate.
Maybe State Farm doesn’t want my biz or maybe they think I’m stupid or maybe they are punishing me for leaving them so many years ago.
They are calling me today with the homeowners insurance rates – that ought to be a laugh.
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This weekend, Twitter/X went down for me. I have a lot of accounts I still use for business, comics and other things. It just locked up and froze. I mostly use it for news.
I stopped watching cable news awhile back, for various reasons and occasionally I watch local news. So Twitter/X is it.
I know it sounds stupid to say that, but I’m talking about seeing reputable sites for news and verifying it if I questions something.
Anyway, I removed the app from my iphone and reinstalled it and I had to one-by-one, add my separate accounts. So many had different passwords, because that’s what you’re supposed to do – have different passwords.
I did this three times – deleted it all, reinstalled it all and tried to remember all the passwords.
Luckily things worked out after all that, and it’s all working now. My X account related to my cartoons and this blog is Tomversation, if you’re interested. I also have accounts on Bluesky and Threads, and they are related to this blog and my comics, too.
But now my Chrome browser on my computer, lost all the passwords! I had them all in the password manager – maybe 60 of them! And they are gone.
I remember most of them, but still, it’s an issue to deal with.
I know, I know, it’s a first world problem. It’s interesting that when one thing goes, everything seems to go.
Years ago when I worked with typesetting and all sorts of newspaper equipment, that was always the case. If one machine went, they all went at the same time.
So far, hopefully not jinxing things, but all things are well, now.
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The Today Show had a story on how chicken is dominating the fast food chain wars. Isn’t that old news? I thought that was a thing.
I remember the chicken sandwich being a big thing not long ago. Popeye’s introduced a chicken sandwich and then everyone started doing it. I think Popeye’s still has the best chicken sandwich.
I try not to eat most meats, including chicken and fish, but awhile back, I noticed I was not getting enough protein, so I went back to eating non-red meat things.
I was forgetting things – including names of people. A friend who is against vaccinations kept telling me it was that I got the Covid vaccine and that was the cause of me loosing brain cells, but I knew that wasn’t it.
Then one day, on the Today Show, ironically, a doctor was on and she said, “If you are forgetting names and other things, it may be because you are not getting enough protein.” And that was it! As soon as I heard that, I realized that was my issue.
For maybe six months or so, I was eating green. I mostly had a big salad, sort of like Elaine Benes, as my main meal of the day.
They knew me at Panera Bread around the county. I would go to various ones depending on where I was during the day, and I would get a cobb salad, minus the meat. I would also add extras in it like red onions, super greens, etc. But I was not getting any protein.
When they added the Mediterranean salad and Greek salads, I started eating those. I felt since the ancient grain farro was in one of these salads, it must be good.
I figured if it fueled the ancient Greek and Romans, it must be good. Then I realized this was an ancient grain, but people, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, didn’t live very long according to our standards. So farrow didn’t help them when you think about it.
Eventually I went back to chicken and fish – sometimes red meat, but hardly ever.
I like the Popeye’s chicken sandwich and also Wendy’s and Burger King. I also like Pollo Tropical’s chicken sandwiches and Publix makes a great chicken and fish sandwich, quite cheap, only the bun is always hard as a rock from sitting under the hot lights all day.
Popeye’s has Honey Lemon Pepper Wings – this drippy, zesty delicious thing. I think that’s my favorite thing right now.
I don’t like KFC; they really went downhill. It’s hit or miss. They have some chicken nuggets now, which are delicious if they don’t come out rubbery.
They are always trying to upsell at KFC. Before they even see you when you are around the bend at the drive-thru, the first thing they ask is if you want a 20 piece bucket. I guess they don’t realize that at noon, most people are there for a quick lunch, not a family meal. I try to joke with them about it, but they get offended, so I keep my mouth shut now and just order lunch.
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Ever notice on House Hunters that every time people see a nice balcony, overlooking a beautiful scene as they are house hunting, they say, it’s a perfect place to have coffee in the morning.
And of course, every spare room or small room, would make a great office.
I wonder how many people use the room for an office and how many people have coffee on the balcony.
I have a beautiful wrap around balcony where I live. I’ve been here for over 20 years and I don’t think I have ever once had coffee out there. I do use one spare room as an office, I’m typing this in the office right now.
I have another spare room that looks like an attic – it’s full of stuff.
My balcony faces the bay – it’s literally feet from Biscayne Bay and it’s beautiful. Whenever people would come here and see it for the first time, they would invariably say, “If I lived here, I would be out on the balcony all the time.”
I tell them, “I’m usually in my bedroom watching tv.” And they laugh, but it’s true. I guess the grass is always greener.
I was doing this thing where I was taking pictures of clouds and making images out of them. I was showing someone the balcony and said, “Here is where I take the cloud pictures. But I take them through the window, I don’t go out on the balcony to do it.”
The height of laziness.
I do appreciate the balcony and the view though. I look outside every day, it’s the first thing I do in the morning. I never get tired of it. I’m just not out there having coffee, or wine, or whatever. Maybe I should.
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A Metro-North Hudson Line train along the Hudson River
We’re going to a wedding this summer in upstate New York, one of my favorite places. I say we, because there are a lot of us – my immediate family including all my cousins.
After that, we are all heading back down to NYC. I had booked a train ticket, because I was going to leave before everyone else, but now everyone is headed down to the city on the same day, so I canceled the train ticket and I’ll ride with one of them in their cars.
I sort of regret it because the trains to and from New England, and upstate New York go through incredible vistas.
What’s interesting is that when trains were new in the 1830s and 1840s and beyond, the tracks were built going through towns that were big and small – mostly small towns and some not even existent yet.. So if you take a train trip these days, you pass through and stop at stations that are literally in the center of town. You can get off the train and be in a coffee shop, library, hotel or whatever, in what literally is steps away, in many places.
I’ve taken the train from Boston to NYC often and it’s amazing how you ride through and stop at the center of towns like Providence, RI; Mystic CT; New London, CT and so many more small towns. It’s how it was done in the past.
Upstate New York trains take you right next to the Hudson River, literally feet away. If the tracks were built today, I would guess that waterfront property would be full of houses and buildings, feet from the water. But luckily it’s not that way due to the train’s right of way. It’s a wide open view.
These small towns grew up around the train stations so it makes a lot of sense.
I believe if the trains were platted today, they most likely would be in warehouse districts or unseen places, away from the cities, sort of like airports, where we would have to Uber into town.
But since train tracks are permanent, we get to see the cities and towns that they encouraged to grow over the years. And in the beginning, they were built close to and inside of towns, and where there were no towns, towns were started and grew up.
A train ride is an adventure in itself. It’s about the journey, not the destination.
There’s a tv show I’ve seen called Mighty Trains, where this guy Teddy Wilson takes us on a trip through various countries – from one end to another. It’s enjoyable all because of the scenery and small towns along the way.
Another show I have seen in Railroad Alaska, where we follow two trains which travel from southern Alaska daily – one a passenger train, the other freight. The adventure comes in where the track workers have to clear the tracks of Alaskan elements – landslides, broken tracks, avalanches, etc. All while the railroads are running.
People live along the routes and flag the trains down to catch a ride – there are no stations along the way. It’s quite enjoyable.
If you have the time – train travel is worth the trip; and adventure. There are books here geared to train travel in the U.S. and around the world. Check them out for a new type of adventure.
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