Category: Personal

My youth in a box

My brothers and I have been cleaning out my parents’ house, but it is slow going. We would go one Saturday, work a few hours and leave, but then we wouldn’t return for another week or two because things came up. But we are almost down to the wire.

Last weekend, I finally got most of the things out of my old closet in my old room. After weeks of cleaning the room out I found one box that was a treasure trove of my life. It was the last thing left in the closet after I went through everything else. It was quite large, sitting at the back of the closet and it contained a hodgepodge of things. There were old newspapers – ones I saved with news stories I thought were interesting and school newspapers I had printed, when I handled that with my printing business.

But there were lots of newspapers and magazines that I saved because my cartoons were in them. I used to do cartoons for local publications when I was in high school and college. I had forgotten about that. Some of them are excellent. I also had a lot of comic strips I was working on as a kid, they are not bad either.

I threw out a lot of the excess newspapers that weren’t needed, but I’ll show you some of the cartoons I had published and the comic strips I was working on when I get a chance. I noticed that the newspapers I had saved were of tragedies, like the Miami Herald with stories of 9/11 and Hurricane Andrew – things I would rather forget. Those I dumped. I didn’t need to revisit those times.

I found awards in the box, and diplomas from high school and college and lots of boy scout stuff – awards, badges, things like that. I also found letters – letters and post cards that friends sent me so many years ago. And I found random photos of myself and my family and friends. And everything brought back memories. There were lots of old computer parts and old computer programs from the early days of PC’s.

I worked at a local newspaper at one point and I sold ads as well as working in production putting the paper together for print. I drew a lot of things for them back then – I drew political cartoons but also I did drawings for advertisements that ran in the paper. I can see I really put a lot of time into them.

I found a color aid pack which I used in college. I still don’t understand the point of it for my classes after all these years, but I remember I couldn’t find it at the time and I needed it. My father ended up finding it in downtown Miami somewhere. It was expensive I remember, and I think we used it once or twice in class to cut out colors for something. Literally I used one or two color swatches from the whole packet.

I remember in one art class we used magazines to cut out colors from the printed images and we recreated famous art from that, gluing the odd shaped pieces into art. I did a small image of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. I’m hoping to find it as I clean out my old room, I’ve been looking for it all these years. I’d like to frame the little thing.

My recreation was only 3″ x 3″ and I remember seeing the original for the first time – it’s huge, it blew me away at the size after seeing the small piece I created so long ago. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon seems so large to me and my favorite, Starry Night is so small. Both at MOMA – worth the trip.

Anyway, I’ll show you some of the cartoons and things I found when I sort them out and hopefully some other things.

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Wendy’s

Yesterday I went to Wendy’s about 4 pm. I went to the drive thru and I got ready to place my order. The girl says her spiel through the speaker, which I never understand, and I say, “I just want a taco salad, please.” No reply.

I call out, “Hello?” No answer. The speaker went dead.

So I drive up to the second window, the first one was closed, and I wait a couple of minutes for the car in front of me to leave. I get to the window and I say to the lady, “I’m not sure if my order went through.” And she says, “Yes, sorry about that, we had a shift change.”

So in the middle of me placing my order, it just all stops and goes dead? Not even a, “One moment please.” Nothing. They just cut me off in mid-sentence for a shift change?

I was going to say something, but I want to go back, so I kept my mouth shut, because no matter what I said, even in a joking manner, I would look like a complaining Karen. And it would be them against me, and as my mother always told me, “You don’t argue with people who are handling your food.”

At this same Wendy’s a few years back, this lazy girl at the window hands me my change, but it blows away. I think it was $5.oo. I couldn’t open the car door because it was against the wall so I said to the girl, “My change blew away, it’s under the car, can you give me another $5.00 and then come out and get the one that was under the car?” She tells me no.

I guess I said, “Stupid bitch,” it was one of those things where I thought I was thinking it, but I said it out loud, or at least under my breath. So she heard it. When I got to the second window to pick up my food, there she was going crazy, literally trying to jump out of the window to grab me! She was halfway out of the window! A couple of her co-workers had to hold her back. They threw the bag of food at me so I could make a speedy getaway. I didn’t go back for a a long time after that, hoping that when I did finally return, she would be gone, which ended up being the case.

I like the taco salad, so I keep going back.

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Avoiding the car dealership

I keep having issues with wheel sensors on my car. For years with my previous car, it was flat tires, now it seems to always be sensors.

I’ve never had a problem with this before, maybe it’s the new cars today. This will be the third wheel that needs the sensor replaced. My service writer told me last time that they are all eventually going to need replacing, but since the car is under warranty, they can only replace it when needed, they can’t do it as a precautionary thing.

I hate the whole dealership experience and going through the whole ordeal, but I have it down pat now.

I have the car towed over. It doesn’t cost me anything and the car goes to its destination and is out of my mind. I don’t have to sit in traffic, I don’t have to wait to speak to the service writer, I don’t have to deal with getting home, it just sort of having my car Ubered to the destination. I just have to pick it up when it’s ready. Out of sight, out of mind. I don’t have to think about it while the sausage is being made.

Some drawbacks – the other day it took three hours for the tow truck driver to arrive, so if I was stuck in the middle of the expressway or something, that would not be a good thing. And two – for the second time, I asked for a flatbed tow truck and was assured they only used flatbeds, which was not true, because for the last two times, they sent the wheel lift type, where the back wheels are on the road. And one more thing, I just hand my keys to a total stranger in my front yard and wave as he drives off with the car, just because he showed up in a tow truck. I did a similar cartoon like that years ago.

Last time they took a week just to get to work on the car, which was a fast fix when they finally got to it. They are that busy at the dealership, which doesn’t bode well for the car company. But they gave me a loaner, which I loved more than my own car and I was hesitant to return the loaner after a week!

But the good part is that I drive out with all zeros on the invoice. I’ve never gone to a dealership and not left with a big bill, but since it’s all covered under warranty, it’s a pleasure to pick up the car and leave and I usually tell them, “Hope I never have to see you again.” And they laugh, I laugh, and of course some months later I am back again with something or other.

It could be worse, I caught the problem in my own driveway. Unlike Jlo and Affleck who recently found out that the cars don’t have spares these days. I found that out not long ago myself. And recently we had that car blow up in our front yard, so my problem isn’t really an issue in the scheme of things.

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The haunting

I wasn’t sure if today’s cartoon would be understood by many people. But it makes me laugh.

My father used to always say, “Stop haunting me!” when we were kids if we nagged him about something. It was just a common expression around our house, I guess we “haunted him” a lot, because I remember him saying this often.

I guess there are so many old expressions that will soon be extinct. It sort of reminds me of sounds that will soon be extinct, like the sound of a ringing telephone or a typewriter bell.

I sometimes think of the opposite – of things that we hear today that maybe 100 years ago or so we would never hear – like a plane flying by, or a lawnmower, or any type of motor. If you go outside and listen, you’ll hear all these sounds which seem second nature. Freeways are loud, “Can someone turn down the freeway?” asks cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, as he painted a mural that says, “The future is emission free!”

But imagine 100 years ago when a person would go outside and maybe just hear the clopping of horse feet on the pavement and maybe that’s it!

We have a construction site across the way, and the sound of that non-stop “beep, beep, beep,” of trucks and equipment backing up, is maddening. One of my neighbors called me one day to see if I could do anything about the sound, it was driving him nuts. “What could I do?” I asked him. “You know people, call someone!” was his reply.

I didn’t know who the call, so the sound goes on and on Monday thru Friday. It’s quiet on weekends.

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The name game

This actually happened. Not the kneeling part, but the barista calling out, “Neil! Neil!” for his coffee. Of course my mind got to working when I heard that and I came up with this cartoon.

One time in Starbucks in NYC, there were four of us in there waiting for our orders. It was about 8:00 pm and they were getting ready to close down. All four of us customers were men.

They called out, “Tom!” And I went to pick up the order, but it was for another Tom who was there. And the same thing happened a couple of other times – there were four Toms in Starbucks waiting for our orders. No other customers in there, just the four Toms.

That was some sort of Universe message or something. Not sure what but I’m sure that will never happened again anywhere.

Every time I pass that particular Starbucks at 26th and Broadway, I think of that Tom incident.

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Happy 2024

I wrote last week that the week between Christmas and New Years was one of my favorite weeks. But I think the days and probably the whole week after New Year’s Day is also my favorite. I like when everything goes back to normal.

Things start off slow and ease into the New Year, which is a big change from the chaotic period between October and December, which I also love. But when it’s time for the chaos to end, it’s nice that January comes just in time. Of course by the end of February, I’m ready for something to happen, I feel that the months between January and maybe April, are boring.

I never make resolutions for the new year, not sure why, I just don’t. Guess I’ll just start taking the Christmas tree down and boxing up Mariah Carey, Home Alone and the leg lamp (yes, I have one, it was a gift a few years back).

Happy New Year!

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Finagling out of going

When I was younger I went to a lot of parties. I don’t know if I was a party animal in the sense that I went to every party, which I didn’t, but I enjoyed going to quite a few, plus all my friends were there, so I sort of had to go. These days I don’t really care to go. I do, but I would rather not attend.

There’s a condo get together next week, just about a dozen of us are attending, I would love to not go, but I guess I should. I mean I just have to take the elevator down a few floors.

A few years back, I didn’t go to my brother’s for Easter. I had just seen my family a couple of days before at Pizza Night and I didn’t feel like taking the long drive out to their house. When my nephew asked me why I didn’t show up, I said, “You expected me to drive all that way for a fukn slice of ham?”

I can still see the look on his face, his reaction. He jumped back, the way Charlie Brown does when he sees the little Christmas tree all lit up and decorated at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas. I laugh every time I think of it. I’ve been to so many events at their house over the years, I just didn’t feel like going that one year.

I was just with about 20 people at Thanksgiving at a cousin’s house in New York – that’s a yearly thing, I wouldn’t miss it. And this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I’ll be with my family here in Miami, I wouldn’t miss any of that.

One time I didn’t go out on New Year’s Eve. It was my first time being alone, ever. I’m including when I was a baby and a child up to adulthood. I was never alone.

I don’t remember the reason for being alone this one year, but it was very uncomfortable at first. I’ve always been with family or friends or at parties or whatever. But this was so odd. I didn’t know how to react. But you know what? I loved it. I look forward to not doing anything on New Year’s Eve every year now. As they say, that’s a night for amateurs to go out.

I’m known for not doing things I don’t want to do. Typical Gemini.

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I was almost hit by a bus in New Jersey!

This is the situation at the Hoboken bus terminal.

I’m back in NYC for Thanksgiving week. I took the Amtrak down from New England.

I was telling my friends how bad the drivers are in Boston, and I guess karma came and got me. I was almost mowed down by big bus in Hoboken yesterday!

I was leaving Hoboken, and it was cold and windy. I usually walk along the Hudson River to the train terminal where I could get the PATH train back to the city (NYC), but I took the back way and walked through the bus yard, which is part of the train terminal.

There were only three buses and they weren’t moving. The whole big lot was empty otherwise, so I proceeded to cut through to get to the trains. Just as I was standing in the center of the lot, one of the buses started moving, and it appeared to be coming right at me, but I figured the driver saw me, he was going to bypass me, there was 100 feet or more on either side of me.

But no, he came right at me. Then as he reached me, he proceeded to make a U-turn – right into me! I started running along the side of the bus, at the driver’s side window to avoid ending up under the bus. If I ran to the left, I would be under the bus, if I stood there, I would under the bus, so I kept running, and yelling and the driver didn’t see or hear me! He was alone on the bus, so there was no one to distract him.

Someone from above was there to protect me. It had to be, it was the only explanation. Finally the driver saw me and stopped. He opened his window and started yelling at me. Sure, I was wrong to cut through the lot, but I would assume a driver could see a man walking alone in a parking lot.

I was so pissed and upset, that I just ignored him and walked away. Another driver who witnessed this from her bus, started yelling at me. I told her I was lost and that’s not a reason to not be paying attention. If I was a stray dog, would he have run over the dog, too?

I walked away from her since they weren’t going to take the blame.

So after all these years of almost being hit by Boston drivers, I now have the distinction of being almost struck by a Hoboken City bus; at the bus terminal.

It was very scary. Remember that old Dennis Weaver movie, Duel? It was a bit like that. Not really, but almost.

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Finding masks all over the place

I’m headed to NY for a couple of weeks, don’t worry, I’ll take you along.

I’ll be doing my usual things – NY Comic Con, pumpkin and apple picking upstate, maybe the Oyster Festival and some other thing in the Hamptons, etc.

I was trying on a couple of jackets to see which one I’ll take. For a guy who lives in Miami, I have a ton of jackets, coats and hoodies. Not sure why.

As I tried various jackets on, there was one common denominator with each of them – medical masks in the pockets – backups I guess for when needed during the pandemic. I think I used them this summer when I traveled, but not sure. But I knew they were there, I just forgot until I put my hands in the pockets. I still have a bunch in my car, too. I don’t know why, but I guess I want to be prepared for whatever. But even when I’ve gone to the doctor’s or visited someone in the hospital lately, I haven’t needed to wear a mask, so I guess I’m just packratting. I come up on some in the house once in awhile, too. In draws, behind things, in couch cushions. And my luggage, I have some masks in pockets in my luggage. Just in case.

They may come in handy on the subway when I’m in NYC with so many people crowding the trains, but in the last year or so I’ve noticed only a handful of people wear masks on the subway.

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Getting back in the game

Sunday’s triathlon, the bicycle part

I wrote in a previous blog post about getting back into village life, but this past weekend, I really extended myself. it felt like old times.

On Saturday night I went to a family birthday party, it was a lot of fun. As I was leaving, one of the guys in our condo texted me about the elevator – it was stuck. I know how to unstick it, so for the next hour or so, someone else and I worked on it.

Yes, we called the elevator company, but they ended up coming hours later, so we fixed it and I headed out to the family party.

Got home late, but then woke up early Sunday morning to go to a triathlon, my sister-in-law was participating.

I drove out to Key Biscayne where it was, met up with some of my family members and we cheered Laura on. That was a lot of fun, too. It was at a beach I’ve been going to for most of my life, I must have been there 1000 times.

It was beautiful out. I live near there, so it was a quick drive over. Thousands of people were there. It was exciting. Most of the activity was out of sight since they swam, ran and rode a bicycle for 12 miles. But were there there at the finishing line for the bicycle and running parts.

Laura came in third in her category!

My breakfast, avocado toast with egg.


From there we all went to breakfast (in the village) which was nice. I had avocado toast with an egg on top.

After I parted with everyone, I spent a lot of time at the mall looking for jeans – I wanted Levi’s 513s, supposedly the fit is the best, from what I read.

I went all over the place from department store to department store and finally went to the Levi’s store where I was told the 513s are discontinued – I should try the 511 or 514 instead.

I found a pair of 511s at J.C. Penney, and waited for this cashier to ring me up, but he took so long with the previous customer, I just dropped the jeans I chose and left. I wasn’t really crazy about them anyway. And I had time to think while waiting on line.

I made a pit stop at Whole Foods and headed home.

At home I checked the jeans I was trying to replace because I didn’t like the fit and lo and behold, they were Levi’s 513! I spent all that time at the mall looking for a discontinued pair of jeans, which I own, which look like new. I just didn’t like the fit.

So it was a busy weekend. I’m glad to be back in the game.

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