It was a brisk mid-October morning in Provincetown, MA and we were hungry. Right in the center of town on Commercial Street we spotted Heaven’s Gate–and the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a wheat English muffin, with a perfectly hot cup of Joe–had to be the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever found. The cold air and the warm bacon egg and cheese, with the correctly toasted muffin, created a home run! And this was the morning after!
Just as I use a Pad Thai noodle as a dish to gauge how good a Thai restaurant is–the key to finding a good diner is to gauge the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich served on the menu. Let’s face it–it usually is a disappointment we ignore because we’re rushing off to work. So yah, the noodles at House of Thai on Larkin at Geary in San Francisco fit the bill of the most delicious meal I’ve ever eaten in my home town, but I was surprised to find something as pedestrian as a breakfast sandwich to break the ribbon for first place! Oh, and the speed in getting the order filled is also a key.
When the noodle or sandwich arrive within five minutes heady and ready to eat–you know you’re in the right place at the right time!
What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?
I first thought about the word “daily” and immediately went to my coffee maker and morning routine. My cheap Black and Decker Goodwill special curated after a cracked pot accident seemed inexcusable for this missive.
And then it hit me. My special coffee mug from Boy Scout Camp Thunderbird. I had been a camp counselor and a grateful scout who was too young to take the canoeing merit badge refused to leave the class on the first day and with fierce determination passed the hardest part on Thursday by pulling another canoe over the gunnels of an occupied canoe, with the help of another student.
On the day of his departure, he handed me a camp coffee mug and said thanks—he was going to go on a canoe trip with his troop and that he needed the badge to go on the trip.
I still use the same cup every morning for my coffee. It motivates me to keep grinding forward on any project I have in front of me.
I consider my fast pass as a priceless gift to a first class life!
I’m taking the bus to the airport tomorrow and I’m using my $45 a year fast pass to get there. I’m then going to fly first class to San Francisco to spend the rest of my life living there.
Yup. Honolulu has been expensive—and I hear it’s expensive to live in San Francisco also. But I don’t care about what others think or say. The money I don’t spend on a car gets me first class transportation the way I like it!
The most important things needed to live a good life are:
A dependable bike. Pickup trucks are a necessity if you are a tradesman for work, but no one is buying new ones anymore because the sticker price is sticker shock. 2. Have a bus pass, ride a bike, or walk.
Better yet, 3. be a bus driver and get a free pass for life! P.S. It’s good money and a steady paycheck.
Having your rides in a bus allows you to meet new people, and look at your phone legally. The price of fuel isn’t going down.
Dear Joe–With Techron, Doug
Take time to add up repairs, insurance, fuel, parking, tolls, tickets, and all the monthly payments–and put down the yearly cost. Now, add up the monthly fast pass for a public transportation and subtract that from the cost of owning a car. What else could you do with the money? Do you claim to be a friend of the Earth–and an advocate for reducing climate change? Well . . .
4. Widen your path. If you’re in a rut, put down the remote and climb out of the sofa.
5. Take in the sunset. They say the vitamin D you get is best at dusk.
6. And finally, the most important part of any steady diet–and the key to good living–is find a good Mexican Restaurant!
I hope you find this sage advice to guide you to a better way of life. If you’re going cuckoo in traffic,
–Pack it up and take a road trip!
Driver Doug is the author of several books about finding a life path in public transit that can lead you to the good life:
If you mean, do I pray to God and meditate daily , then yes, I follow routines similar to a devout Christian or Muslim or Jew or Daoist or Buddhist. Note how many different religions I just mentioned. How about Hindus or the Arabs? Religion is for people who don’t want to go to hell. Spiritual people I know in AA differ from the majority of churchgoers in that they have already been to hell and don’t ever want to go back! Hi, I’m Doug, and I’m an alcoholic!
I don’t burn bridges behind me—I burn them in front of me! See, I’m not one to sit and wait around for life to come to me. Nor do I blaze new trails and make things happen. I wake up from a debauch and say, “What happened?”
Recovery from alcohol and drugs in the Twelve Steps program of action has shown remarkable results in reducing my mental twists and allergy of the body. My spiritual malady of fearful thoughts feeling and emotions means I have no choice in having a moral morning practice of meditation and quiet time. So yeah, I’m religious, but I don’t tell you what you got to believe. I don’t ask you for money or demand anything. I offer my experiences in going through hell—and not going back!
Like Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Star Trek Voyager, I’d like to follow in the footsteps of great woman role models. I could only wish for Jane Curtain’s legacy series on SNL of being, “A Coffee Achiever.” And although I was told never to begin a new sentence with the word, “and,” I nevertheless, shadow in the footsteps of glory for all of us–men and woman included, who move forward in life with coffee. To me, there’s nothing like getting into editing or blogging on a venue such as Word Press and smashing the ‘Publish’ button. And coffee was there.
My legacy in photography is to take pictures of persons, places, or things before they disappear.
Getting its start around the turn-of-the-century by bringing books to the people online–and now number one in the world–is the largest and widest river in the jungle out there–Amazon. I can take my manuscript and upload it direct and set my own royalties! I can produce an audiobook using the mic on my iMac (Apple my second favorite brand), and upload it to audible dot com–an Amazon company:
What’s becoming very evident, though, it Microsoft’s incursion surrounding the walled garden of Apple’s Safari browser. Shopify apps. and KD Pilot–KDSpy, Abundant Scribe–all work best on Chrome in a pc loaded with Microsoft. You can try to download the apps on a Mac, but good luck when the iOS is no longer supported on your device. Indeed, Word now clearly out-Trumps Pages. Apple is losing the app battle competition. Good luck using the search function in locating files. Who knows where the disappearing iTunes library files and iCloud Photos go? Indeed, Samsung is looking pretty smart!
The best brands for being a writer is Microsoft Word and Kindle Direct on Amazon. The best for art is FineArtAmerica using an iPhone.
The best for search and apps for your brand website and video rendering is Google and YouTube. Chrome, Microsoft and Word now beats out Safari, Ventura and Pages.
The biggest brouhaha with network brands is the sickly attempt by Paramount Plus as yet another ten dollar app draining our pocketbook every month with streaming controls vastly inferior to Netflix. The talent setting-up the controls and metrics just don’t have what it takes. Disney was able to hog up Marvel and Pixar, and have enough content to keep us from deleting them–but it’s almost like there should be a law against the Redstone estate to break up or block CBS, or Viacom. The Star Trek franchise–which started in Desilu, and went to Fox / CBS –is now left for dead on Paramount. Tom Cruise should be sad his Mission Impossible series is no longer to be found on Netlix.
Netflix should be able to have a studio section for Warner Bros. Paramount, Universal, and MGM, with rotational ups so we never have to delete, and never have to keep chasing studio product. Or start a classic television series with our favorite TV shows, with a series payment for access.
And don’t get me started on this fee structure for ad based streaming. Have you seen the way they interrupt the episode with ads? And the type of ads displayed are indicative of Diabetic Nation and Sedentary Nation. Fortunately, Audible is bringing up the fresh change once we say, “Enough!”
The person most on point right now is Francis Hunt as the Gold Sniper. His technical analysis with the Gold to Silver ratio is telling about the smack down we in the West have been experiencing–keeping the precious metals price too low to prevent us from seeing how much purchasing power we’ve lost from endless wars. Tom Bodrovicks is also an admirable YouTuber, especially–
–with his Palisades Gold Radio channel. His guest list and interview style is better than any mainstream media pundit. Francis’ site is worth a look: especially with Bill Holder in a more recent video:
This video above should knock your socks off.
Are you In it To Win It? Then Sunday nights should be spent watching Steve Barton. If you don’t know what RSI, the Stochastic indicator or the MACD crosses are, you don’t have to know, because Steve has the best chart presentation making it easy to see when it’s a good time to get in to buy. His breadth on commodity stocks is a nice spread and the time stamps with the symbol descriptions on the progress bar make for easy fast forwarding to any position you have.
Fortunately, most countries aren’t engaged in ridiculous energy policies and know a good value when they mine it–and here’s just a great example of bringing a guest on, such as Matt down below to take a deep dive into coal:
Run through the coal mines and diversify your commodity portfolio with Matt and
Let’s not forget David Morgan:
Be Prepared is the Motto of the Boy Scouts–and Silver Stackers!
I’ve just been sent to the hallelujah mountains with Jordan’s channel of being able to get past all the financial terms to do thoughtful analysis on the miners–and he breaks down all the gobbledygook financial values into an easy to understand whiteboard analysis in plain English. Check out these gold nuggets as the Mining Gold Monkey:
Do Fortuna’s executive board need be paid north of one million? What about future production? What about the so called “safe jurisdictions?” Jordan’s got you covered in this recent video:
It’s hard not get captured by his subtle but infectious excitement during his breakdown analysis. Step over from Bitcoin and the sinning side to the winning side.
Indeed, Google has finally taken away the restrictive barriers of entry into the world of radio and television–and has allowed anyone to transmit their world view in podcast style over the internet–and to make a living at it without having to be censored by media holding conglomerates. God bless the Freedom of YouTube! Go Indy and be your own commentator!
For me, I love being published on Amazon and Audible. There are no middlemen between me and my writing.
Most of those I admire sit behind the wheel of a large automobile.
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 