WHAT’S AN UBER?
Had quite a week— flew out to Chicago on Thursday and began what was supposed to be a very productive trip— quick stop at Chicago Comic Con, get some other personal business done and all of it came to a screeching halt when the rental van I was in suddenly started smoking and the dashboard let me know that the transmission had given up the ghost.
Chatting with Enterprise produced a solution, but it would mean getting from my current location to some 55 miles to the East. I went to bed in my hotel thinking this would be an easy thing. Boy was I wrong.
Now I love the middle of the country— those charming small towns that still have Main Street Stores really harken back to a better time in America. The people are salt of the Earth too.
After a quick breakfast I pulled out my phone and ordered an UBER ™ for my 55 mile ride east— and got that dreaded symbol that made it clear they were sending out a call for drivers but nobody was biting— because they told me I should be able to see my driver and car options in about 90 minutes. Now in UBER ™ talk that means at best in 90 minutes a driver would bid to take on the ride and then depending on how far away he or she is they would come and get me— which could mean I’m sitting there for 3-4 hours.
I tried UBER ™ rival LYFT ™ and they were no better. I asked the front desk if they had Taxi’s in town, and he dusted off a card and handed it to me— and the number was out of service. We finally got someone called KRAMER CABS but he had to make a “quick stop” in Chicago first— okay— that’s like 3 hours to the West so roundtrip 6 hours. I finally found a company that was family run (I’m not going to name them here because I’m going to tell it straight— rest assured I gave them 5 stars on Google because at the end of the day they got the job done) and after about 5 minutes what looked like a 1997 Dodge Caravan whisked into the hotel parking lot with two little old ladies sitting in the front seat with a tiny 4lb dog.
We got into the minivan which smelled of old cigarettes and our driver, who was turning 80 in two days, managed to hit every curb in the two block trip to the gas station. I offered to pump the gas for her but she insisted on doing her own. She got back in and proudly said to her co-driver “We’re going to take the interstate!”
I learned a lot about life on that ride— I learned a lot of what makes the middle of America the heartland, and as she pulled into the wrong Enterprise lot — I knew it was the wrong one because I was looking for Enterprise Truck and this was loaded with cars— but I didn’t have the heart to tell her, and I wanted to get into some fresh air, so I opted to walk the last half mile down the road to the correct location.
ROYALTIES don’t make you a KING
As someone who works in publishing I often get royalty checks. They’re always a nice surprise because you don’t know how much its going to be. Sometimes it’s a check for $63 sometimes it’s a check for $6300— always a nice surprise. Today I got an email from a publisher I have in England and the check was a decent one. Unfortunately they needed an updated I-9 and Bank Routing form— I hate filling out forms almost more than I hate broccoli and that’s saying something. Rather than putting it off I did them right away— proud of myself I got an email from the folks at San Diego Comic Con saying my Professional Credentials were up and I needed to re-verify that I’m a working professional in the comics industry— more forms. I got those knocked off— and they do a nice job of making it easy to do— and then the publisher reached out and said they needed a voided check too. Ugh. I don’t keep a lot of checks around, all of my bills are paid electronically so that would mean digging through the safe to find a check for the account I had given them the routing number for.
IN SADDER NEWS
Johnny Mangaul passed away this week— he ran THE HALL OF COMICS in Westboro Ma— he was only 58 years old— and he was easily one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with in comics. I last saw him around Christmas time— I’m not a regular of his shop (I’m not a regular of anyone’s shop if I’m being honest) but I would try and stop in at least twice a year— and he came out of his office to make a point to say hello to me in his very busy shop. He was always doing something for Charity and he was going to run a marathon sketch-a-thon and I mentioned I’d love to be part of that next year. We shook hands and went our separate ways (I did manage to spend some money at his store), and that was the last time I would see him.
Life is funny like that sometimes. It was great to see some old friends last week at Chicago Comic Con— it’s a big convention but it’s not unmanageable the way New York Comic Con is— and it’s a good show for comics— I picked up a lot of great old comics, maybe that’ll be a post.
But the loss of John gave me pause— we don’t know how long we have with people, treat them well.