Off and on

In 5 weeks in March and April this year I published 4 books. Things are going fine as far as I am concerned. Marketing, distribution, event planning all have learning curves that are not about writing.

Anyway, those activities have kept me from the keyboard. There have been a few shuttle stories lately that remind me what fun/work it is. And, then there is the self-help material that waits begging.

Summer is not over but I don't think I am waiting for the chill to set in before I sit back down at the typer.

Talk to you soon.

Swayz Mexican Restaurant

I met a couple ladies yesterday. A mother and daughter duo. We had some high-spirited fun while I took them home.

I asked what was for lunch. It was noon. I was looking for ideas. They thought Mexican. I said this, this and this place and they said no, and no, and no.

It turns out that they own a Mexican restaurant. Well, no wonder they are so discriminating.

We're nearing their destination and I said the name of their place. They were surprised. They had not told me. I said it had been a couple years but that I had eaten there and had always meant to return.

Anyway, we had been talking about things they know and I do not; tacos al pastor and corn tortillas specifically. What kind, where from, etc.

I invited myself to dinner soon with the idea that they might take me into the kitchen and show me how to handle fresh corn tortillas on my own. 

The mama seemed to enjoy our conversation enough to give me free margarita coupons.
I think she likes me.

Swayz

4048 S. Packard Avenue Saint Francis, WI 53235

www.swayzrestaurant.com

Reviews

A couple friends surprised me with reviews of Drive Time. I'm touched. Very lovely.

Bing Video Mapper

On the 4th of this month I posted a pic on another blog of a Bing video mapping car I saw in town. It was blue with Colorado plates. The very next day a few blocks away I saw another one. It was silver and had plates from a different state. I couldn't get close enough. He turned. I had customers on board. 

The very next day after that here was that second car up on the rack in our dealership. Amazing.

The magnetic Bing signs were removed and the camera was down and wrapped carefully. 

The car has been in the shop a full week. Apparently a new transmission was in order. Today it's done.

I 'd like to meet the fellow that operates that car. I have questions. I did ask one of our service advisors if he might bring it up in conversation with the fellow. 

I figure he's not working and I'd buy him a root beer float and he could tell me a couple stories for my next book. So far nothing. 

Compliments. Thank you.

Bob and Kathy sent a lovely email after their visit to the dealership yesterday. 

I was able to both drop and pick up the husband Bob. On the way home they sat in the back seat together and he talked the whole way. He's very smart and experienced and enjoys proving it. 

They had a lovely conversation between them about almost everything. No wonder she doesn't know my name.

Kathy writes; "Our compliments to everyone we dealt with on our recent visit. The shuttle driver, Paul, was exceptional."
Yes, ma'am, ya got part of it exactly right. I'll take it. Thank you, ShuttleDave.

Drive Time - the book

There are enough stories to start another book and I may do just that.

Meanwhile, Drive Time - the book - is available from a couple sources.

Amazon.com/author/davidlwhite


If you get it from me I will include an author-graph if you wish.

DoHappyBetter.com/books

And it seems I might be looking into the eBook aspect as well.

Thanks for reading along.

No free pony

Andrew on Estes near the lake showed me a new shortcut. When getting off I-43 north at Holt to get to Oklahoma take the first left/north west of Applebee's. It goes straight to Oklahoma bypassing two traffic lights. I love a good shortcut.

***

I dropped John off at the AT&T building at 722 North Broadway. We talked a little bit about general meta-data, security, privacy and digital whatnots. He's a project manager there for the last 25+ years. No corporate or state secrets were divulged. Other than that there’s a family reunion he’s looking forward to in a couple weeks. Good for him.

***
I called Michael ‘Richard’ by accident when he got out of the van. I feel kind of bad about that. He's had other customer service issues regarding parts, his prior recall and the least I could do was remember his name.

We talked mostly about stress reduction, physical health and lucid dreaming. He can easily drop off into a 10 minute meditation at lunch.

He practices lucid dreaming and keeps a dream journal. He doesn't recommend any specific technique, it just comes naturally to him. He has seen his hands and can change locations if something’s bothering him. In the dream. Real life is still real life.

Once he saw himself floating above himself and was so freaked that he sucked himself back in shifting the bed so violently he woke his wife. That only happened once and it's still quite vivid. Too much like death.

***
I met Nyan again, a civil engineer originally from Bangladesh. We talked about the winter. He asked. He started.
“How is the winter going for you,” he asked.
“Talking about a long hard winter all day long is harder than living through it.” I said.
“Well, not for me.”

Nyan has only been in America seven years and so this was a bad winter for him. I’ll grant him that.  I’ve had a little more practice.


***
Wed Feb. 13th.
Oklahoma and Lake Park Freeway
Heiser Toyota - Metro Ave. off Good Hope
Wilde Toyota - Hwy 100 N of Beloit Ave.
Illinois and Oklahoma
E. Oak Lane- SE of Howell and Ryan
1007 N. Marshall - Downtown
Whitnall & Pine-ish
19th and Wisconsin
3rd and Cherry

Third longest distance in a six hour shift today: 130 miles around town.


***
Jamal, a balding Arab businessman, and I, had the most minimal conversation during our ride. He was thumbing and thumbing and thumbing through his photos looking for something.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app called Find Photo where you could search them by keywords?” I asked.
“You must be reading my mind.” He said.
“No, I can hear your thumb.”
He didn't laugh. He was busy thumbing.

So when we got to a stop sign I got my phone out and made myself an audio note to search the app store for ‘find photo’ with keyword search functionality. I like to think that I invent things sometimes but usually someone has beaten me to the punch. I did not find an app. I did discover a need. Any developers out there?

Anyway Jamal told me he found a couple photos and while we were driving he posted them to a social media board called Tango. Never heard of it. I think he said he's on Facebook but not as much as Tango. He likes Tango. His friends like Tango. Et cetera. A little search finds this: www.tango.me

***
So here is the remarkable idea of this day. Why don't I take a few minutes to talk a story into Notes; a text capture, rather than continue to employ my regular habit of audio capture of the notes? More often than not the stories do not get transcribed, edited and published because ... I just do not sit down and do it. If I speak to text most of it will get done more often. My goodness - how long simple things sometimes take.


***
I took Mary home to Shepard Avenue south of Ryan Road.

“What are you going to do while your waiting for your car?”
“With three boys I'm probably doing laundry.”
“Maybe you could sneak in something fun to do for yourself. What might that be?”
“Laundry.”
“I heard a book mentioned on the radio yesterday about training your spouse like you were training Shamu. Maybe you could train your boys to wash their own clothes.”
She laughed.

“Really,” I said, “a woman actually trained her husband to pick up his socks and otherwise help around the house by rewarding positive behavior."
She giggled and thought that might be some fun.

(The book is: What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers, by Amy Sutherland.)

At any rate Mary thought she might sneak over to the arena and ride her horses.

“Horses? Well, my goodness,” I said, “horses plural?”

It turns out she has a Paso Fino and a Rocky Mountain. Apparently there is life beyond laundry. She grew up in the city, always wanted a horse, and now they have a couple of them boarded at a place with an indoor arena. It didn't seem like she had a truck and trailer to take these horses anywhere although they do ride some trails south into Racine County.

So, I took the grand opportunity to talk about my Annie Oakley mother Lois, her Morgans, and the free pony that my brother Roger brought home way back in the day.

By the way, there is no such thing as a free pony, in case you were wondering.