Wednesday, November 30, 2016

All My Relations Uncle Zapski

Behold Uncle Zapski. "The Juice." He's related to me through marriage to my Aunty Sparknishzevska Wronski. Zapski, as you could imagine, was one with the so-called exciting personality. Electric. Some would say.

The image of him is not some sort of theatrical pose. That's him on any given day. Eccentric. Sure. Electric. Don't stand too close. You might catch it. Good man to have on a cold day when the car won't start. Come to think of it he did in fact work part time there during a few winters for AAA.

At the Country Club the pool would empty when they saw him coming. No wonder. Fortunately, owing to his other benefits to the community, he was held in esteem. Just, not in the pool. Any pool.

If you see a Wronski family resemblance, it's because of his Zelig-like ability to morph into whatever social situation he found himself.

Also, it should come as no surprise that the Zapski's saved a ton on utility bills. "Just hook me up" was his catch phrase. And, he was a good neighbor. I believe the whole block ran on Zapski's juice.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

That Trump! Or, Is It?

Related image

I just don't get the hew and cry over the fact that Donald J. Trump is now President Elect. 

I'll come right to it. Isn't Mr. Trump nothing more than the apotheosis of the values which are part and parcel to the culture we have made for ourselves? Everybody wants changes. But ... Who wants to change? Demonstrated especially so in how detractors want to remove the offending part without really changing the conditions which gave it rise.  Let's be real. After Trump goes you can count on a new improved faster acting, longer lasting stronger version down the road.

You can certainly see the point — changing a part, but not the whole — from observing our relationship to health care. We mostly operate with an orientation stated thus: "Doctor, make it go away." Which the doctor is all too happy to do with pharmaceuticals and/or surgery; those two main favorite procedures of modern medicine. Never mind the cure. The money's not in the cure, it's in the medicine. Besides, a cure would engage us in having to look at ourselves holistically. And, make changes. Just where in the culture do you see any support for that sort of approach? 

So, back to Trump. Evidently there's a recent article suggesting that it is inevitable that the President Elect resign, or gets impeached. That's David Brooks in the New York Times. I don't think Brooks would be one to eschew real structural social/economic/political change. He's just probably speaking to the same point I'm attempting to make here. Remove the symptom. Keep the cause. 






Monday, November 14, 2016

Thursday, November 10, 2016

POST Election BS


After 2 years of campaign BS rhetoric — you know, when it netted down to one candidate would be a disaster; the other, the apocalypse — now we have a fresh serving immediately post election.

After all the negativity delivered in unambiguous, absolute terms, now ... now we are told to come together to "unify" and "heal".

"Unify the country." Does anyone know what that even means? It sure sounds good. Who isn't for unity? Healing? Ditto. 

I'll be good and damned the day I look for unification and healing from some politician. They break it apart, then they put it back together again. It only has to do with getting a vote. Or, to be really cynical, making it appear that we have a say in things. 

I go with the Course in Miracles: "Love has no opposite." "What's real can't be threatened. What's unreal doesn't exist." 

Are we really going to wait for whomever is in the high chair to heal us? It's ours for the taking. NOW.

ADDENDUM: You know that phrase, "What God has put together, let no man put asunder"? That has been appropriated for the vows of marriage. Fine. 

But, there's a larger meaning: What God has joined together, no one can put asunder. Unity is the rule. The delusion is in the very idea of separation. 

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

The Millennial Approach

The Millennial generation has its particular slant on life. I think I have some insight on this.

I don't know if this is the key to understanding young adults today, but it's a perspective that fits. Here it is: "Make It Perfect". And ... "Fun!" It has to be "Fun". 

It may be an outgrowth of that rather well seated notion, "If you apply yourself well, there's nothing you can't accomplish". And, of course, the technological equivalent, "Science and technology can solve any problem". The latter will no doubt explain how come we seem to go down any road we want without too much, if any, forethought about the consequences. Witness the smart phone. Ever more complicated and "refined" iterations. To do what? Play games, listen to [low-fi] music, watch/make videos, take photos. (I use a basic phone.)

Here's a good example of the Millennial generation mindset. There's a new coffee maker gadget out, funded by a kickstarter campaign. Crowd funding ... that should make it Millennial right off the bat. The new device is called the Fellow Duo Coffee Steeper. It'll set you back $99.00.


The Duo is a drip coffee device which is touted to deliver a consistent, grounds-free cup of Joe. In short, a clean cup of Coffee. Have you ever had Turkish or Greek coffee? If not, just to say ... there's grounds. Lot's of grounds. Hadn't been a problem for umpteen hundreds of years for them. The Duo is supposedly an improvement over the French Press. In short, it's a new gadget. A better gadget, by design. And, boy! Is it designed!

There is a video introducing the product at the end of this piece. No amount of human time, energy, or ingenuity seems to have been spared. I'm sure it works just as promised. But, hey, how much do we have to think about making a cup of coffee?

In our home we use a "Coffee Sock". A thick cloth bag fixed to a ring with a handle. Boil water in a pot, put the grounds in, let it steep, pour through Coffee Sock ... enjoy. It'll set you back $1.99.

Now you might counter with how something like that Duo Coffee Steeper is less fuss and muss than my Luddite approach. If that is the overarching concern, then Keurig is your cup of tea. But, yes. As far as prep time is concerned. Yet, when you look at the descriptive video you'll see that with all those parts, there is some doing you'll have to be doing just to get the device ready and go through the steps in brewing. But, clean up. That's where simple is still best. With our Coffee Sock, dispose of the collected grounds and rinse. Done. With the Duo ...

You should know the Duo has 6 parts [to assemble, then to take apart and clean]. In the video the point is made that there's no clean up before you drink your coffee. Great. But, what about after. I don't live with my parents. Mom won't do it.


And, you know that glass carafe will break some day. We had a glass Chemex. Nice, but quirky. It broke. We didn't replace.

All this takes me back to my marketing communications days. Yes, I was an Ad Biggie. Before there were Mad Men.

Once I had a client who marketed a very well known brand of packaged ground Coffee. During my initial learning time I spent a day with the Colombian Coffee Bureau in Manhattan. The take away was the "drip" method was recommended as the best. I brought this up with the marketing manager. My client, however, pointed to the fact that Coffee percolator sales were strong, and growing.

It took a genius to put all that together. The intuition is what I call the "gadget factor". Voilร : Mr. Coffee. Delicious drip style Coffee ... from a gadget. Key word: gadget. We love gadgets. I bring you back to my point about the smart phone. Almost talismanic in it's significance. Fetishistic, also comes to mind.

So now, yet another — but, better — gadget. I won't even go into the issue of just how much Coffee by volume this thing makes. They say 4 cups. Seems like they'd have to be small cups.

You be the judge. In watching the video just keep in mind my original thesis about the mind set of the Millennials — which may have gotten lost in my characteristic wrambling way.


Do you see what I mean?

















Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Taxi Dave 2016

The Complete Taxi Dave 2016 
TAXI DAVE 2016




"Hey, YOU! VOTE! [FOR ME!]"

What to do when you don't approve either candidate's message?


They said they wanted to "go to town". It was a figure of speech. 


Seems to be feelin' the Bern.


Quite a story. CLICK to read.


Man of mystery. Felt like we were being followed.


You just have accommodate a friend.


We made record time. I ate it all up cleaning the back. He sheds.


"Take me to Trump Tower. Make it snappy." Shall I take the bridge.


There you go whipping out that Mexican thing again!


Immersed in popular culture. Not something to take pride in.


He said he was going to "entertain" at a kid's birthday party.


Enough with the Cowbell already!


"Life is a carousel. And the sun is a scoop of ice cream"


Often I get into conversations with my passengers. Some truly intimate, heart wrenching stories ...

"My wife is in a coma."

Me: "So sad to hear that."

"Then the doctor tells me ..."There's one way to wake her up, but it's a little unconventional. You go in there and you have oral sex with her. I've seen it work."

So I go in there and come out after about 5 minutes.

"Doc, she's choking."


You hear some pretty fantastic stories in my line of work. 




Trust me. He's really not all that interesting.


Hey, Now!


It was a bumpy, curvy ride. I didn't complain.


"Wherever" isn't much for the driver to go on.


Well, he sure knows how to grab a pussy!


He wanted to go to the Village. I took him. You're Welcome, world.


Even Donald didn't want to grab this pussy!


So, you've been Trumped!



"I 'boned' Donald Trump!"


He has his hand up my tailpipe!



"I don't wear it in public. Or, when I'm being recorded." 

(Opps! I had the dashcam still turned on!)



Upon more than an occasion I see some action from "THAT" part of town. 


He said his name was David S. Pumpkins. Look him up.




They had a "Green Party" going on back there!



We got a flat. He fixed it.


Didn't give me much to go on. Just, away from the nihilists!


Bad Hombre.


His ball shined like "Cats Nuts". Not the sort to mess with though.


The night of the revenge of the consumer icons.


Of all the towns. Of all the cabs. Of all the cabs in all the towns, she had to get in mine ... the ex-wife.


"What's up?" I asked.


"You took me for a ride once, I figure another spin might do me some good," she said.


"But, why now?" I wondered aloud.


"Hair of the dog sort of thing, you know," was her come back. (Never shy with the come back, that one.)


I started with a dig into low gear. "Hope you'll get some satisfaction ... this time."


"Just what is that supposed to mean. Tell me!!!" was her shrill rejoinder as the tires screeched.


"Well, as I recall, your mother ... "


"That's so you!!! Don't go there!!!" she screamed interrupting me mid sentence..


And, off we went on our way. Down that same old road.



He was quite distraught. (He and Angie are kaput, you might have heard.) 

To cheer him up I used that old one, "There are plenty more fish in the sea". 

He said, "Yah, but it's not just the smell I miss."


"Take me anywhere in the world. Just, not west."


The whole ride he murmured quietly to himself ...  
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't."


I asked, "So, doll face, were'd you get that necklace?"

"I have a connection at the Montclair Farmers Market."



_____________________________













Taxi Dave Norm MacDonald

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