Just saying hey

Napoleon Bar in New Orleans.

Guess I am missing New Orleans but Mardi Gras is early this year and would be too cold. I can freeze my ass off at home.  The year this photo was taken there was a heat wave in the late fall and I had to buy an outfit or sweat to death. The sales lady was in red corduroy and when I saw her at Napoleon house for lunch she was in cutoffs.

Still no car.

The dishwasher would not run after the Roto Rooter visit so I hand washed the entire load and somehow Big Daddy got it up and running last night. Too weird.

There is too much going on here right now, strange things with Uber-not that I am driving at this time and the Flint water crisis. More on that later.

Late December back in 63

Look in the middle at the ground line, not everyone has a two story deer blind.

Yep, we saw Jersey Boys on Saturday and it was great. I loved it. We saw in the playbill an ad for the Whitney, a great old mansion in Detroit turned into a restaurant, and they had a special for all the shows in town. So, we showed up without a reservation and had a nice dinner special, and the food was great. I hate it when you go and the food is sub-standard because it is a special.

We got home after dark and the critters were not happy. They are so funny when the routines are changed.

Drove my Uber this morning and caught a booty call drop off, hilarious. She was in love and he was I gotta get outta here quick. The personalities of the folks are the best part of this gig.

No pings for me

I had forgotten about the cheap crappy faux designer bags in Shanghai.

Big Daddy brought me back the faux Chanel earrings. They are 3,000 dollars a pair and I like the look for less, under 10 bucks a pair. And they Chanel earrings are not even real pearls.

Well, on the busiest flying day of the year I did not get one ping to go to the airport or even the drugstore. Bah Humbug. There are so many Uber/Lyft drivers right now there is one on almost every block sometimes.

Getting ready to make my special version of the cheesy thumbprints to take to my MIL's for our Thanksgiving visit. Taking all the apps and wine and leaving before dinner is working out well for me.

Tonight is the Mediterranean chicken thighs with the preserved lemons. Yum.

Not feeling it

Sammy, when he was still looking good.

There is really something wrong with this dog, just don't know what. I think his hearing is bad and his memory is failing. And he is still brown from the horrible coughing. He is okay as long as he is on his meds but I wonder how long this is gonna last.

Curly is into her pink corduroy overalls, and damn she is cute in them.

This Uber thing is working okay, I either take people to work or the airport. And one girl to college.

This working on the other stuff, setting up the physical therapy and stuff. Boring.

I drove Big Daddy to the airport and picked him up using Lyft. He used to pay Metro Cars close to 100 bucks and Lyft with tip was half that. And he expenses it, so win win.

There was an interesting conversation on WJR this morning, Hamtramack the city that was the heart of the Polish community for many years is now predominately Muslim and Middle Eastern. But now the people working in downtown Detroit are looking to move there as it is quiet and clean and downtown and mid-town are too expensive. Who ever thought property in Detroit, that is livable, would be too expensive.

Getting ready for the holidays so more later.

This is hard to swallow

One of my gutta percha brooches.

Well all said and done, the TV is broken. Now Big Daddy is on the rush to get a new TV and get it set up before he goes to China.

No Uber today and again no Lyft, but last week was okay. I had the airport run and a couple random rides. Sunday I tried the Lyft along with the Uber but I never got a ping. And I only do this a few hours a day so I am not expecting to drive every time I try.

I did not get to see Curly on the Skype this weekend, she was not feeling the love. But I got a great picture of her with a poster her mom made saying Happy Birthday and I love you. She just never smiles that I can see. Grumpy Grue. We made our reservations for Christmas, the Hilton. The special hotel is out of the way and the rating were all over the place. The other place was not Big Daddy's favorite. We will see. So all that is left is pet help and a rental car. Because the kids car still is not fixed from the air bag recall.

More to come with the TV drama.

Just the facts

Sammy Dog with mountain man Big Daddy.

Went to the doctor this morning to tell him I am falling apart. He denied it. I have to get an X-ray about the back and sciatica thing, new meds for that, increased my thyroid, put me on Zyrtec twice a day and told me I have a boil in my nose. Now if that is not falling apart, I don't know what to call it.

And I did not even bring up the pain in my hands, different on each side.

So when I got home and peed I decided to Uber and the pick up address looked safe so there I go. It was a guy calling for a woman, who knows, and I had to take her into the hood. And I am talking the real ass hood.  I am remembering back in my years when I would not drive below 14 mile and now I am taking this really nice woman deep into the hood. As soon as I dropped her off I turned the Uber off and went home. I do not drive after 12 PM unless it is something special.

I am thinking of switching to Windows 10 as I don't need that stupid Internet Explorer anymore, m
Might do that soon.

And tomorrow is my birthday and I have to go pick up my cake.

Comcast is worse than ever

The horseradish is almost ready to be dug up. This stuff is great, no muss and no fuss and great food.

So Comcast is once again the nemesis from Hades and Big Daddy has a Customer Service Rep on the phone trying to help him fix the fact that we cannot turn on our TV when she breaks down and confesses, she has to wait for her husband to come home and fix the TV. WTF. Let me say that one more time. WTF. You are the person on the phone telling us how to fix the TV and you cannot fix your own shit?

Without your husband who does not work for Comcast?

Today BD spent some time on the phone with Comcast and they are sending all new boxes and remotes, these are the new ones that are not messed up. There is also a 39.00 installation fee even though BD is installing them. Thieving bastards.The reason the guy last week that came out here and worked his ass off did not do this . . .is because . . . the new superior equipment is not at the Comcast Service Centers, it is only available from the magic Comcast person that you will probably never get on the phone. This is why I drink lots of wine some days.

On a sober note, I Ubered a friend on Sunday morning and found something new in Macomb county. Round-a-bouts. I did not like them in England and I do not like them now. There is no rhyme nor reason for how they work. At least in England there were signs giving you a clue where the turn offs might take you.

The Uber thing is working out well for now, Monday I only took one ride, to the airport-nice guy going to Seattle. Turned the app off when I left him as it is not acceptable here to operate at DTW and when I was thinking to turn it back on I had to pee. Enough driving for that day.

The Italians were here today to do the masonry and I must go out and check. See ya later.

Just Stuff

The crooked house.

There are very few new homes built in the Grosse Pointes. To build a house you pretty much have to tear one down. There is one new home on a vacant lot on Lakeshore drive overlooking the lake. I am positive the owners of the lot where the house is going up live on the back side, and that they sold or are selling and that is why this new mini mansion is going up. They would have never given up their view while they lived there.

However, our little crooked house shown above is a tear down. And I am not kidding, it is crooked as hell. And I would be surprised if you can get a full sized car down the drive way when they are done. More photos to follow.

Comcast is flying someone in from India tomorrow to fix our television problems. I cannot wait.

But, I will not be here. I am getting a massage from the guru of all things massage related as my lower back pain is now out of control. I can only hope I can drive myself home.

I also have almost no toe nails. I think my nail tech over buffed with the wrong implement. She thinks I am old and falling apart. I am now taking Biotin and massaging in the creams. She has always been whack but also very entertaining.

Oh, yes it seems I am now also approved to drive for Lyft. Another way to meet people. I can't wait.

Random Stuff

Need a picture.

I loved out balconies in New Orleans.

So as far as the Uber goes, I took Big Daddy on a test drive and I had one rider today. I made $7.99. But, I also figured out I needed leather wipes and while I had the app online I drove to Notre Dame Pharmacy and got the leather wipes. And I had no more pings so I gave up as the game was on. What game you ask, why the Michigan v/s Michigan State game. The rivalry is back. Michigan has the brash and adored Jim Harbaugh and State has the beloved Dantonio. People are in heaven on this one.

Back to the Uber, I now have a new updated phone, Samsung S6 and I love it. Easiest phone so far to learn. $50.00 mail in rebate, which is a Visa gift card which you apply to your cell phone charges. I also have a new tablet supported by Verizon, the phone and the tablet attach to my dashboard so I can navigate and drive. I have an "auto plant necklace" as I call them or a blue tooth device you wear around your neck, the earpiece in one ear enables me to hear the directions on Google Maps on where to drive my riders. Still learning to coordinate this stuff but it is fun.

After mastering the contact lenses I feel empowered to do it all.

Observation: When you quit smoking seeing other people smoke, either in person or on the television really makes you crave a cigarette. Lately it makes me feel nauseous. That is definitely over for me. Just too nasty and smelly.  3 and 1/2 years now.

I finally have the house under control, not perfect, under control.

It was 34 degrees this morning, warning to you folks living east of Detroit. We got the last house plant re-potted and brought back in just in the nick of time.

Reading, but it is all slop. Nothing worth talking about.

Oh, I watched Scream Queens and it is hilarious. Will continue with that one. Watched American Horror Story Hotel and so far it is watchable. Still liking the Amazing Race and Survivor, but I am really appreciating this on Demand feature as I just cannot make the network schedules. I never thought that would be me, but I too am changing.

Maybe you can teach an old dog a few tricks.

The most expensive soap, can't afford this with the Uber gig.

Okay, so normally I look at the price before I buy something. Back in the day when I was still raking in the big bucks Big Daddy and I were at Farm's Fresh Market. We were just picking up a few things, this store is expensive. They have it all that any good Grosse Pointer could want, but we just usually get Friday dinner and a few things. At the check-out they had a basket of soap. When I picked it up to look at it one of the worker bees told me that stuff was flying out the door, what did I think of it. Well, gosh darn that cinched it, I had to try this fabulous soap.

I took it home and unwrapped it as that is how I was taught to treat soap, you must unwrap it and let it sit before you use it. (When Punkin Head went off to college my mother sent him a case of unwrapped Ivory soap.) So then I quit my job, had just put the fabulous flying out the door soap in the shower and off we went to Farm's Fresh Market. As we were checking out I grabbed the soap looked at the price and screamed. It was $12.99 U.S. dollars. Who in the hell was as stupid as me to be buying this soap. I kept asking BD, the cheapest man in the world why he had not told me the price of the soap. He didn't look either.

Now we are showering with this soap and it is the soap from hell. There is no lather, it does not feel silky, it does not smell like the wings of an angel. It is crap. Every day I am bitching about this soap. Then one day I go in and the soap has committed suicide in the shower. This soap is now nasty. There was at least 6 dollars worth of crappy soap left.

WTF.

Yes I am an Uber driver

This pic is just to show Punkin Head I am still normal. He Skypes with the baby and I have not been looking to0 hot on Sunday mornings. Don't want to scare the kids, mama is fine.

So, the Uber thing. I did all the stuff you need to do and it is quite a bit of stuff. Uber has all my personal information. I paid to have a 2015 vehicle inspected. I passed a criminal background check. I got rubber mats for my car. I bought cheap ass small bottles of water and packs of gum and snacks.

It was so hard to do that first ride. I was very nervous, not about the ride-about doing everything right. So of course, I did everything wrong. I hit the navigation button and the phone screen changed and everything was odd. I got to the address and this asshat calls me and says I texted you with a different pick up spot. I got him and he had a different name, but I just thought I was a wacko.

Well, it went okay. Then he wanted to stop for fast food. Which took forever and he was a talker. He worked at the place I picked him up, he was a new server, and he had no transportation. And he could not afford Uber he said. But he was paying almost $15.00 for fast food. Huh, who pays that much for fast food?

Finally, on our way he starts wingdinging me out on how he gave a burner phone and it does not match his name and talking about creepy stuff and I was ever so grateful to drop him off. And then the app started working and it was a different name. And I screwed up the app, my first ride and I screwed it up and got a wacko.

Today Uber called and asked why I was not driving. They are fixing it and I am taking Big Daddy for a drive to figure out the app. And I will not make the same mistakes again, should have never let that asshat in my car. Gotta be more careful and diligent. Also only driving daytime. We will see.

Retirement, or who cleaned this house?

I collect Kenneth J. Lane in all his forms, and these are older bracelets he did, the frogs and the turtles. Love them. This is the anniversary present I bought for myself from eBay, just handed it to Big Daddy and told him to put it away for the main event. This was months before the date and he was frantically searching for it when I reminded him I had given it to him for safe keeping.

After sleeping for a few days, I was looking to start my retirement and viewing a dirty house at the same time. I let the cleaning service go and now I am wondering why I paid them and what the hell they actually did. And these people were not cheap.

Yesterday BD told me one of his work mates had a leak underneath his brand new vehicle and he was pissed. I inquired where this leak might be, and could he tell me the color of the fluid. Oh yea, another one of my hellish problems. Reminded why I retired. One less bell to answer, one less egg to fry . . . just thankful I don't need to answer this one.

Today we had a dog vs cat rumble, these are quite frequent and totally non violent. I think they are falling in love.

I just got a smarter phone and accessories. Big Daddy is so excited he has new toys to play with. I also got a blue tooth necklace. This is for my new jobs (yes, that is plural), more to come on that later. I really did not want one, but Verizon convinced me they were so much better than the ear piece. I always called them the auto plant necklace as every factory rat wore one and they were supposedly illegal as hell to wear in the plant. "The company" said they interfered with the systems. My ass, they interfered with the attention span of the worker. Not good for quality.

I am quite taken with the second season of How To Commit A Murder with Viola Davis, I am really loving this show and BD just does not like it. Watched Quantico, too crazy ass for me. And I have to watch American Horror Story to see if I can stomach this one, the clown shit was too much.

Well, I did my first Uber Driver session and it was a disaster, tell you about that next time.