tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37104921964232460872024-02-20T02:56:38.786-08:00Howard Yasgar StoriesHoward Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-35103940703415626562019-08-06T05:02:00.002-07:002019-08-06T05:02:49.884-07:00The Motorcycle Cop Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1958</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 8/01/2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think of this true story every time I read about the Marjory Stoneman High school police officer being prosecuted for not running into the school like an idiot and getting himself killed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in the 1950’s, I worked part time in a small Gulf gas station in Westville Connecticut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every Saturday, at around 2 PM in the afternoon, our local motorcycle cop Eddy, would stop by for a Coke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those were the days when New Haven motorcycle cops dressed in normal police clothes, not like storm troopers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eddy would ride his Harley up to our outdoor soda cooler where he would buy a 5 cent bottle of Coke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eddy would then back up his motorcycle into one of the two bays of the gas station. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When he was sure no one from the street could see him, he put down the motorcycle kickstand and sat there sipping his Coke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Naturally I was always anxious to talk to him, after all he was the Police, and he was armed, he was our first line of defense against the bad guys. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One afternoon as Eddy sat on his bike sipping his Coke, suddenly out of nowhere, a car sped by, it must have been going around 80 miles an hour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked at Eddy and said, aren’t you going after him?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will never forget what Eddy said, as he took another sip of his Coke, he looked me in the eye and said, “What do you think, I’m crazy, I could get killed”.</span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-15135423405044677682019-05-30T06:51:00.002-07:002019-05-30T06:51:46.347-07:00The Mardi Gras Trip 1983<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A really unique experience</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A Dracula in Drag</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2/11/2015</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was in January 1983 when my wife Katherine asked me where I was taking her for her birthday supper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine’s birthday was on February 9, which is just around Mardi Gras time in New Orleans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It also happens that New Orleans was one of her very favorite places to visit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So, I suggested that we go to New Orleans for her birthday, not only could we celebrate her birthday there with excellent Cajun cooking, but we could celebrate Mardi Gras with the thousands of other crazy people that converge on New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In 1983, Mardi Gras was to end on February 18, so we knew looking for a room there might be difficult at such a late date. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As it happens, we had been to New Orleans the previous year with our good friends Miguel Marquez and Raquel Roque. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Both Miguel and Raquel were Cuban refugees, that came from small towns in Cuba</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and neither of them had ever experienced anything as wild as Mardi Gras.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So once we knew Miguel and Raquel were coming with us, Katherine started looking for a place to stay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Trying to find rooms in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time is quite a task, as all the good balcony rooms overlooking Bourbon Street are booked years in advance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The best we could hope for was possibly finding a vacancy in a hotel on a side street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It wasn’t easy but somehow, Katherine managed to do it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine had somehow not only found a room for us, but she found a suite, that had ample room for our friends Miguel and Raquel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The suite Katherine located was at the Le Richelieu Hotel on 1234 Chartres Street in the French quarter, it was about two blocks from all the action on Bourbon Street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When we arrived we found out that the suite Katherine had reserved was actually the bridal suite, as nice a place you could ever find in New Orleans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Now, the reason I am mentioning our 1982 Mardi Gras experience now, is because it was the first time we were ever in New Orleans on the last day of Mardi Gras when it is at its wildest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So in 1982, besides from the hundreds of inebriated people throwing beads down to the crowds, there were many hundreds of people that were dressed in costume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Seeing all the people dressed in costumes and having so much fun, gave me an idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought, wouldn’t it be wild for us to come to Mardi Gras and do it in a costume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So, here I was, a conservative person, coming from the small town of Westville, a suburb of New Haven Connecticut, and I was thinking about doing Mardi Gras in costume,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dressing in a costume for Mardi Gras was just not something that I would ever have ever considered before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As I was growing up, I always knew that I would enjoy play acting, but my coming from a small town in Connecticut, I knew that I probably would never, ever have an opportunity to do anything like that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So when we were considering going to Mardi Gras in 1983, I broached the subject with Katherine about doing it in costume, and she didn’t say no.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She did ask what kind of costume I was considering.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told her, that a couple of years earlier I had attended a dance school and they had a end of year costume party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As I had no costume for the party, and I had no intention of renting one, I came up with an idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was 6 foot two, with jet black hair, so I bought a women’s ruffled shirt, put on black pants and black shoes, then I slicked my hair back, got a set of plastic Dracula fangs and a little fake blood dripping from my mouth, and I was Dracula.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I showed my wife a picture of me as Dracula, and I suggested that I would do it again for Mardi Gras and she could dress as a vampires.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The idea took hold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There was a restaurant we frequented, near where we lived, it was called 36 West.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The bar maid Susan, was a former June Taylor dancer, and when we told her about the costume idea, she loved it, and it just happened that her mother was a seamstress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Susan’s mom made me the most beautiful black satin cape with red interior and she made a beautiful white satin cape for Katherine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I then bought a long sleeved ruffled woman’s shirt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I had the same black pants, black shoes and Dracula fangs from before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We decided Katherine was to be dressed all in white, and I had a long leash to lead her around with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Before we left, we tried on our costumes, and I had an idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I knew New Orleans had a large gay community, we would always watch as they would throw beaded necklaces to the crowds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So I bought some balloons and I put two of them under my ruffled shirt, and thus I became a Dracula in Drag. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Some how Katherine did it and she again got us a room at the Le Richelieu hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I remember the first morning we woke up, we looked out our window to see around 20 gay men roller skating down the Chartres street with beautiful colored chiffon butterfly wings, and they were wearing only jock straps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That evening, as it got dark, we changed into out costumes and hit the streets with the crowds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were a big hit, it seemed like everyone wanted pictures of us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As we walked along Bourbon street, all the people on the balconies were throwing down necklaces and yelling, “Show your Tits”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I did my best to accommodate them, opening my cape.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was the best Mardi Gras ever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As we were in the plane flying home, to Miami, I was reading the editorial in the New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It said, Mardi Gras 1983 was sensational, and they had even spotted a Dracula</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in drag on Bourbon Street. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Hey, that was us.</span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-51484466926551042892019-05-30T06:47:00.000-07:002019-05-30T06:47:36.547-07:00The Simple Hinge Replacement Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2012 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 7/18/2016 Re-written 8/20/2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This story is just one of many that we experienced trying to do a renovation project in the Florida Keys. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most everyone we have ever spoken to has had similar situations, especially when dealing with local</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keys contractors or suppliers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have always considered myself somewhat of a craftsman, however this simple hinge replacement project, and our dealing with a Florida Keys supplier, took me to my limits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In September of 2001, we purchased a property located on 160 Palo de Oro Drive in Venetian Shores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The house, as well as the property had been neglected for several years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The home itself was built in 1967, by a well known local Keys contractor named Gene Rhodus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The actual owner and designer of the home was a Mr. Wittman, a retired engineer from Wisconsin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Wittman had sold his wood burning stove business to Sears Roebuck and then he went on to teach engineering at the University of Chicago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appears Wittman didn’t like teaching college in Chicago so he went on to teach in Japan where he was well received.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Wittman, returned to the states, it was 1966 and he purchased a building lot in what was then a new development in Islamorada called Venetian Shores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once Mr. Wittman purchased the lot at 160 Palo de Oro, he set about designing his house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the time hurricane Donna was still on the minds of people in the Florida Keys, so when designing his home Mr. Wittman built in all kinds of hurricane safeguards, like heavy duty concrete construction, twelve inch pilings and both gas and electric for cooking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being an engineer, he incorporated revolutionary features into the homes design. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His design was so revolutionary that pictures of the house appeared in Florida real estate news papers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rear second floor porch of Wittman’s house faced “Snake Creek” which is the main waterway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under the porch, Wittman designed a boat slip that was 20 feet wide by 50 feet long, and he designed a walkway that crossed over it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under the walkway, on both the left and right sides, he incorporated into his design, concrete storage lockers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each storage locker was four foot wide by four foot deep and four foot tall. Wittman used them to store his buoys, rope and other marine related items.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time we purchased the property in 2001, both concrete storage lockers had weather beaten and worn out plywood doors, that looked pretty bad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was the summer of 2012 when we were at a local Keys high school craft show where they had booths set up displaying work of local manufacturers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What caught our attention was a vendor making outdoor Adirondack chairs and tables out of a material called TREX, which is a white, man made plastic lumber. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He also made cabinet doors and he was embossing pictures of palm trees or fish on them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The vendor said that he could make anything we wanted out of TREX, so I asked him if he could make us new doors for our storage lockers, and he said yes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He came by our house and measured each concrete locker.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fellow said that he would fabricate two door frames one for each locker, each frame was to have two TREX doors mounted in in it, and he said he would also supply a finished molding, all for $385.00</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We told him to go ahead and to emboss green colored palm trees on the doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was to do it, just like we had seen on items he had on display in his booth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said that was no problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">About three weeks later, he showed up with the TREX doors already pre-mounted in the frames.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said that they were ready for me to install.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, I saw that the green palm trees were missing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I brought it to his attention that the embossed green palm trees were missing, he said, that it would be an additional $150.00 for each set of doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To say we were disappointed would be an understatement., but rather than call him a liar, I bit my tongue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Realizing that we were in the Florida Keys, my wife and I were already used to dealing with vendors, that do not do what they promise or say they will do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, we had already paid him $385.00 for the doors and frames.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we reluctantly told him we would pay the extra money to have the four palm trees embossed into the doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He did emboss the green palm trees, and when he delivered them, I installed the frames and both sets of doors onto the storage lockers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 2013, we had started using the storage lockers to put away the extra tile left over from our renovation of the house. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day when I went to open one of the locker doors it seemed to be very stiff, I found that it was because the all of the hinges were made of steel and completely rusted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appeared that the manufacturer had used regular indoor steel cabinet hinges, not stainless steel, salt water resistant hinges that we assumed he had used. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In an attempt to solve the problem, I removed one of the rusty hinges off the locker door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife and I then went to Home Depot to look for stainless steel salt water resistant replacement hinges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Home Depot, it was off to Lowe’s, and then all the independent hardware stores in the keys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appeared that everyone had similar style hinges but they were not the same, and none of them would work properly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not even one of the hardware stores had any style of stainless hinge that we could convert to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then in desperation, we started searching the internet, and that project also soon became a nightmare, it appeared that no one had a similar hinge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, don’t get me wrong, there were tons of hinges available on the internet, but not one of the hinges looked or functioned the same as what we needed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After many attempts including Amazon and Ebay, we were starting to get depressed, it appeared that the hinge we needed had been discontinued and was no longer being made anywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Several internet companies said that we should send them our rusty sample, but we didn’t want to do that and perhaps lose our sample.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now one might ask why we didn’t go back to the manufacturer that made the doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was because we were extremely hesitant to call him due to the bad experience we already had with him in the past regarding the embossing of the palm trees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually, I decided to just go out and buy a completely different style of stainless hinge and find a way to adapt them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I bought several different styles of stainless hinges hoping that I could get one of them to work. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Incredible as it may seem, I learned that not all hinges work the same, and none of the stainless hinges I bought would work on our locker doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, after a year had passed, we simply gave up. We had spent quite a bit of time and money trying every style hinge available that might work. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After much debate, we reluctantly called up the fellow that had originally made the locker doors for us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said yes he would get us stainless hinges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We waited several months, and we called him several times to remind him, but over a year went by with no word from him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day in the fall of 2016, we attended an art show at a local church, and the outdoor furniture vendor’s wife was working in their booth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We told her that we had been waiting for over a year, for her husband to call us with the replacement hinges and she said that she would look into it immediately.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We hoped that she would be a more responsible person than her husband, but there was no such luck, neither she nor her husband ever called us back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After another three months, passed, my wife decided to make one last try, and she called the door maker up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said, “yes” he had the stainless steel hinges waiting for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said they cost him $70.00, and we could pick them up anytime, so we said we would go to his shop and get them that very day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once we were at his shop, his story changed completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He now said that the original style of hinge was a discontinued item. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the one he had was similar to the original, and he said that it would bolt up almost the same as the original, all we had to do was slightly alter the door frames. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we sat there in his office, he was talking to us as if we were both professional cabinet makers with a complete cabinet manufacturing shop at our disposal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He held two small pieces of TREX in his hand as well as a new hinge and he explained how easy it all was to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He had already prepared four pieces of TREX boards for us, they were 3-1/2 inches wide by four feet long by ½ inch thick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said, all we needed to do, was to cut the TREX boards to length, and then install them in the doorframes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After that, we could easily install the replacement hinges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He assured me that all the screw holes in the doors would be the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our bill was $115.00 for the eight hinges, the four pieces of TREX board and the screws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As soon as we got home, I immediately removed one of the locker doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He had said this was going to be a simple project so I thought we could get it all done that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first thing I found was that TREX boards he gave us were too long.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately I had a cut off saw down in our utility room, so I set it up and I cut the pieces of TREX the correct length.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then when I tried to fit the newly cut TREX Boards into the sided of the existing door frames, I found that they needed to be notched on the top and the bottom in order to fit properly. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately I just happened to have a carpenter’s casement saw to do the job, but I needed a way to hold the TREX boards.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately I just happened to have a bench mounted vice in our utility room, to hold the boards while I was notching them. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then when I removed the other rusty hinges from the locker doors, I found that the new replacement hinges were completely different from the original hinges, all the screw holes were in different locations.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We debated if we should we drive back to his shop, and ask for our money back. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately I happened to own a battery powered hand drill and a large selection of drill bits, so I re-drilled the doors to accept the hinges. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After re-drilling all the holes, I was able to install two of the new hinges into a door. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I found that the one half inch thick piece of TREX board he gave us was much too thick to allow the hinge to work properly, why he had said they would work I will never know. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was no question, installing these new hinges was obviously a project better suited for a professional cabinet maker with extensive experience, it certainly was not a project for amateurs like us.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It now appeared that not even one thing that the vendor had told us was true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We studied the situation over, and over, and eventually determined that the long TREX board pieces he gave us might work if its 1/2 inch thickness could be milled down to 1/4 inch. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately, we just happened to have a professional carpenters Dewalt wood milling machine in our utility room, and we were able to mill the TREX down to the correct 1/4 inch thickness. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Milling the white plastic TREX produced volumes of white sawdust. The stuff filled our yard just as if it was snowing, it was a mess.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately we had an industrial size shop vacuum , left over from when we did our renovations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I then went to use the stainless screws that the hinge fellow had given us to use. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s when we found out they were all special oddball size indented square drive screws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately we had a bench grinder and I was able to grind down a Philips bit to make it fit the screws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was then that I noticed that the square drive screws he gave us were all too long to use anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately, we had some of our own stainless Phillips head screws to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife and I had now worked almost an entire Saturday on the project, and we had used every carpenter’s tool in our possession. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even with that, we had only finished one set of locker doors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Sunday morning, we made our only trip the hardware store for more stainless screws, and we finally mounted the last two locker doors.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It had only taken us a day and a half of labor, a wood milling machine, a cut off saw, an industrial vacuum, and every single carpenter’s tool we owned, to do the job.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife says that if we ever meet the lying bastard who sold us the easy to install hinges, she would thank him, and tell him we easily installed the hinges in 30 minutes, and they were a perfect fit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-65648887515516897722019-05-30T05:55:00.000-07:002019-05-30T05:55:29.402-07:00The Juan Peralta Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-14000168-7fff-a052-f5fa-acf953c92c11"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Juan Peralta Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1968</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 6/2011 Re-written 05/24/2016 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When I first met Juan Peralta, he was a young mulatto Dominican boy about 14 years old.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan was living with his mother and father in a small agricultural village in the Dominican Republic north coast, the farming village was called Isabella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When I first met Juan, he told me that he had a dream, he wanted to become educated, and he wanted to teach others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan knew that there was little hope of him ever being able to get a education, because of</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">his living in a rural community as he did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then, just by chance, in 1968, I met Juan, and I had the opportunity to help him realize his dream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This is the story of how it happened. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In 1968, I had become interested in searching for the gold of Christopher Columbus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I had a theory that the Columbus gold was still in the Dominican Republic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was certain the gold was where Columbus had built his second Colony in the new world, the one he called Isabella, after the queen of Spain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I had read that as soon as Columbus established the colony, he, and his fellow colonists started exploiting the native Taino Indians for as much of their gold as they could. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After I studied in detail what happened at Isabella, I became convinced that there was plenty of gold that had been left behind, I felt that it was left behind by Columbus and his family, and by many of the colonists that had exploited the natives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was absolutely certain there were caches of gold there that had been buried by many of the Spaniards, I was also sure that the gold had to be somewhere in the relative vicinity of the Columbus colony of Isabella. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> By the time I eventually got to go to the Dominican Republic it was 1968, and I was with my Cuban friend Miguel Marquez.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As hard as Miguel and I looked, we couldn’t find where the original Columbus colony of Isabella had been, it appeared that the government had plowed it all under.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At the time all we had as a guide was a Texaco road map, and it only showed a farming village of Isabella. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I had read that when Columbus first established his colony of Isabella, he had to contend with a lot of colonists that were just young Spanish adventurers and former soldiers that had come along with him not to colonize but to look for gold. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Those young adventurers were called “Los Hidalgo’s”, which means gentlemen in Spanish, but these guys were no gentlemen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They were just a bunch of spoiled rich kids, the sons of the wealthy families in Spain, and they had come with Columbus only for the adventure and the gold that he had bragged about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Eventually, over time, many of these unruly colonists had left the colony of Isabella, and it was said that they did it to get away from Columbus’s scrutiny. Many of them simply moved to nearby to wooded areas where Columbus couldn’t see them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My theory was that all those unruly colonists must have buried all their gold somewhere near where they lived.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was also sure that some of the colonists were able to eventually dig up their gold and return to Spain with it , however, I was also sure many of them had simply died and their gold has never been found. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When I decided to make the first trip to the Dominican Republic, I enlisted the assistance of my good friend and employee Miguel Marquez.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Miguel was a Cuban refugee that had escaped from Cuba in 1963, and had come to work for me in Miami. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Over the years, Miguel and I had become close friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If it wasn’t for Miguel’s darker complexion, we probably could have been taken for brothers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When Miguel first arrived in Miami he spoke Spanish, so I taught him to speak English and in return he taught me to speak his Cuban Spanish. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Little did we know that because I spoke poor Spanish and Miguel spoke some English the Dominican military would think that we were both communist infiltrators sent by Fidel Castro. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When they were interrogating us, I certainly couldn’t tell them that we were just there looking for Spanish gold, because removing antiquities without official permission was also illegal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So to avoid more problems I told the Dominican Government officials that I was just studying the history of Christopher Columbus, and Miguel was my assistant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I don’t think they believed us, but they did eventually let us go, however we were sure they were watching our every move as we traveled in the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Using our Texaco map, we drove from Santo Domingo to the City of Santiago de los Caballeros and then from there across the Cordillera mountain range all the way to the town of Puerto Plata. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> From the town of Puerto Plata we followed the map to the village of Isabella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> However, once we arrived there, we determined that the present village of Isabella was not the original Columbus colony of Isabella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We asked several people about it, but it was apparent they had been told by the police not to talk to us, thus Miguel and I wasted a lot of our time looking around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When we returned disappointed to Miami, I knew I needed more information if I ever intended to find where Columbus’s original colony was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When I was in Haiti, I had developed a good relationship with Dr. Marc Bulliet, he was the chief archeologist there, so I asked Marc for assistance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I flew to Port Au Prince, and Mark was nice enough to steal a copy of an old map from the Haitian archives, and give it to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was a copy of a 1776 map of the entire island of Hispaniola, it was originally made by the Spaniards for the King of Wales.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Once I obtained that map from Marc, it became my key to locating the original Columbus Isabella Colony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I felt, that once I found the original colony, it would be easy to find out where the rebelling colonists had moved to, and, then by my using a metal detector, I could find their buried gold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> While in Miami, I went out and bought the best Whites metal detector I could find. Then we took the map Marc gave me, and the metal detector to the Dominican Republic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Sure enough after using Marc’s map, Miguel and I were able to pinpoint exactly where the original Columbus colony of Isabella was located.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> However, once we were there, we found that the whole area had been bulldozed over a long time ago, and now it was part of someone’s farm growing crops. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After discovering this, I thought about digging a few holes to see if we could find some of the original Isabella colony building foundation stones. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I wasn’t expecting to find any artifacts of value, I just wanted to verify the colony’s existence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was a hot day, and the noon time sun was beating down on us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My friend Miguel volunteered to do the digging and I didn’t argue with him. I think the temperature was probably in the high ninety’s and on top of that the ground was very hard and dry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Miguel started digging anyway, and after few minutes we had attracted quite a few local people that came to watch us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was standing there next to Miguel with a big pad and pencil, I did it to make it look like what we were doing was official. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was then that I noticed one of the onlookers was a young Dominican boy that I took to be about 14 years old.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He was standing there looking very stern, with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After watching us for a few minutes, he asked us in Spanish, what we were doing?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told him we were trying to determine where the original Village of Isabella was. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then he became more serious, and he sternly advised me that we could go to jail for disturbing historical relics. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The boy was speaking to us in Spanish but I understood every word he said loud and clear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I advised him, that we knew all about the antiquities laws and we had no intentions of disturbing anything, or breaking any laws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I acted nonchalant, but really I was very concerned, because I knew we had no official permission to dig anywhere, and the last thing I needed was this kid calling the police over, as Miguel and I could both end up in jail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Miguel was sweating pretty heavy so as it was noon time, we took a break.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I suggested that we walk to the ocean’s edge and look for a place to slip into the water and cool off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We found a sandy spot and we both stripped down to our underwear and got in the water, but we soon found that the water was very shallow and hot like a bath tub. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We quickly got out of the water, and as I was dressing I saw that same young Dominican boy still watching us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He was about thirty feet away from us, squatting behind a bush.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He wasn’t hiding from us, he was just simply sitting there and watching us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Miguel, said hello to him, and asked what his name was? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He replied, and said that his name was Juan Peralta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Now, my friend Miguel was always quite the comedian and Spanish Jokester, so he started a friendly conversation with Juan, and before I knew it, Miguel and Juan were both laughing and joking around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan’s facial features had changed, he was no longer scowling, he was now laughing and smiling and happily talking to Miguel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan asked us where we came from, and what we were doing there in the Dominican Republic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I fibbed and told him that I was a student of Christobal Colon (Christopher Columbus). And I was traveling with my friend Miguel looking for the Columbus colonies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told Juan that Miguel was a Cuban refugee that had escaped from the Communists in Cuba. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan was fascinated, with us, and he wanted to know more about America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I could see that Juan was really a very intelligent fellow, and I guessed we might have been the first foreigners he had ever spoken to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan was curious if we had found anything yet that pertained to Columbus and the Spaniards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told him that we had brought over a metal detector to look for old Spanish coins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I could see that Juan had no idea of what I was talking about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I asked Juan if he had ever seen a metal detector and he said no.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We all walked to where I had parked our rental car and I opened up the trunk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I assembled the metal detector, and to test it, I threw two quarters on the ground.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Miguel had himself just a few days before learned how to use the metal detector, but now he was acting like he was a metal detector expert, and he was intent on showing Juan how it buzzed when he passed it over one of the quarters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After a few minutes, I told Miguel to let Juan try it, he did, and I could see Juan was very excited as he put on the head set, and we could hear the machine buzz every time he passed the wand over a coin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan started walking all around the area busily picking up bottle caps and beer can tabs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After a while, he got tired, and he came back all smiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I knew right then that we had made a friend out of Juan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We all sat down under a big tree and I told Juan what I had read about Columbus’s colony of Isabella. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said he learned all about the colony from going to school and also from reading books and newspapers, he had also learned all about Columbus by listening to local stories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said that the original Columbus colony had been abandoned years ago after a disastrous hurricane and later, many years after the colony was abandoned, the local people came and removed all the original stones, using them to build the nearby town of Puerto Plata. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told Juan how I had read how Columbus had built a stone warehouse at the water’s edge, a warehouse that had a window overlooking the ocean. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I had read that he did it so he could watch for ships coming from Spain with supplies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan smiled, he said that was all true and he said that sometimes the old floor of the warehouse became exposed, but it could only be seen at an extremely low tide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said that the warehouse had been bulldozed over for many years, but the waves from storms and hurricanes have since exposed it again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said, “Do you want to see it”? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I said yes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We walked along the water’s edge all the way back to where we had first met Juan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I didn’t know it but that day it was a super low tide and sure enough, there it was. Juan pointed to a hand laid stone floor with lots of broken Spanish roof tiles laying on it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I picked up a piece of the orange clay roof tile and I could clearly see the finger and palm print of the Spanish colonist that had made the tile for Columbus, over 500 years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I saw Juan watching me, so I threw the piece of tile back down on the ground.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As Miguel and Juan climbed back up the embankment, I picked up a smaller piece of the roof tile and I put it in my pocket. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We walked back to the car and sat in the shade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then I asked Juan what he knew about the original Taino Indians that had once lived there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said he knew all about what had happened to them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said the Spaniards brought diseases from Europe that killed thousands of natives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said that lots of Spaniards also killed the natives for no good reasons other than to take </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">their food and steal whatever gold the natives had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said many of the natives had hidden from the Spaniards, he knew that because he had seen the hiding places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was very curious, so I asked Juan more about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan told us that one very secret place was up on a mountain top and no white man has ever been there, nor has anyone from the Dominican government ever been there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I asked Juan if he would show it to us?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said we should come in the morning and he would take us there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The next morning we drove with Juan on back roads, driving deep into the Cordillera mountains. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> All of a sudden Juan said to stop, he said we were there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was a big mountain that looked just like a haystack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We got out of the car and climbed a long winding trail to the mountain top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Once we were there, it appeared as if someone was farming the land. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There were long furrows dug into the stony earth. At the end of each furrow was a tall pile of rocks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I set up the metal detector and started checking along the long furrows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As soon as I looked down I saw a small rubbing stone with all four sides worn down, it was some kind of Indian tool, so I put it in my pocket. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That’s when I saw Juan and Miguel on the far side of the mountain top, they were waving to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I went over to them and I saw they were standing right on top of the Indian village dump site.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There were large piles of oyster shells, and there were broken shards from bowls and pottery. Some of the bowls had small clay heads all around the border and some others had designs etched into them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When Juan wasn’t looking I put a few pottery shards in my pocket. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> On our drive back, I asked Juan if he knew anything about the Isabella colonists lived, the ones that were rebelling against Columbus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said he knew that many of the colonists had moved out of the Isabella colony and had made their homes at various places in the woods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said that he had heard that some of those colonists had taken as many as five native wives, so I asked Juan if he could show us where they had lived. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said it would be difficult as it was now over 500 years since the colonists had built native style huts there, and many other families had since moved onto the properties. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said that over the years, some local people had even built permanent wooden homes on them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I didn’t tell Juan that I had a theory about those early colonists possibly having built small gold smelters on their property, and I hoped that possibly the remnants of those smelters would still be there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I knew that if I could find just one furnace, and then with a little luck, I was sure there would be gold buried nearby. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said he was afraid that we would find most of the old homesteads now had people living on them, but he remembered a couple of places that possibly had been abandoned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> On the second site Juan took us to, there was an old wooden shack, that was now falling down, but there was a suspicious looking pile of rocks right near it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As Miguel and Juan were walking inside what was left of the shack, I looked for a likely places to check with the metal detector. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I closed my eyes and said to myself, if I had lived there 500 years ago and I had some gold, where would I have buried it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I Turned on the metal detector and swung it near a tree root that was right next to a boulder and the metal detector started buzzing right away. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I quickly shut the machine off right away so no one would hear it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then I kicked the earth by the tree root with my shoe and believe it or not a small piece of gold appeared.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I just put it in my pocket as if nothing had happened. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The next day Miguel and I left the Dominican Republic for Miami, but I always kept in touch with Juan, and he wrote me often, always in Spanish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One day he told me that he could move in with an aunt in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros and he could attend High School there, so I assisted him financially for clothes and books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then, after high school, it was on to the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As soon as Juan graduated the University, he was offered the government position of inspector of rural schools at a salary of $40.00 a month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan was so happy, his lifelong dream had come true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A year later he wrote to tell me he had saved enough money to rent a small cottage for his parents, the letter was in English.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan invited me to come to see his parents new home, he said he wanted to have a party for us, so my wife and I went to the Dominican Republic. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The house he rented was just a wooden shack but it was heaven for Juan’s parents. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For the party, Juan had bought a large watermelon, it was wonderful. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In late 1986, I received a letter from Juan, again it was written in beautiful English. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The letter said Juan was now in the United States, and would like to visit us in Miami.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> On the very day Juan arrived at our house in Miami, we had guests visiting us from Australia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That evening Juan told us all his story, he said that while he was attending college he had a relationship with one of his professors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The professor was now retired and moving to France. So to join the professor, Juan had entered the United States illegally and was now working as a press man in a laundry in New Jersey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Juan said that he intended to buy a phony passport that would allow him to follow the professor to France. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The next day, we all took a trip to Key West in my wife’s car.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine and I were in front seat and Juan in the rear seat sitting between our friends Neil and Rosalyn from Australia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When we returned to Miami, Juan said goodbye to us all and then left to return to New Jersey, and I have never heard from him since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I hope Juan made it to France.</span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-70232984113941276912019-05-30T05:49:00.003-07:002019-08-06T04:54:30.642-07:00The Marijuana Cigarette Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Marijuana Cigarette Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1983</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2019 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1983 I was a 44 year old bachelor living in the Tahoe Springs apartment complex in Miami.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a Sunday afternoon, and I had a couple of good friends staying with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of them was a Cuban Refugee Miguel Marquez, who came to work for me in 1963 right after he had escaped from Cuba.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miguel always referred to himself as a Cuban hillbilly, but I felt that Miguel had an excellent Innate natural intelligence, so over the years, Miguel and I had become the best of friends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here we were, both of us bachelors, hanging around together in my apartment on a Sunday afternoon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On this particular Sunday, I also had another friend staying with me, his name was Bob Martinez. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob, originally came from Puerto Rico, and he was also a bachelor just like Miguel and myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob, was now living in Orlando, and he made his living as a salesman, he was selling fancy picture frames and other items to gift stores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once a month, when Bob called on his Miami clients, I invited him to stay with me in my apartment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On this particular Sunday, we were all sitting down at my only table when Bob produced a Marijuana cigarette, twisted on both ends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He laid it on the table, as Miguel and I stared at it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I knew very well what it was, and so did Miguel, but neither one of us had ever actually smoked a Marijuana Cigarette.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All my life, I had always heard about all the crazy things that happened when you smoked Marijuana, so I always made sure that I avoided it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miguel picked the cigarette up and looked at it closely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said, “You know this stuff is all bullshit, people all say things happen when you smoke this stuff, but I don’t believe anything really happens to you, I think they are all just exaggerating”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob reached over, took the cigarette and lit it up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob took a deep drag, and passed it to Miguel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miguel took a puff, coughed and passed the thing to me, so I also took a puff also handing it back to Bob.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miguel, looked around the table and said, “You see, nothing happens”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob, got up taking the cigarette with him and excused himself to go to the bathroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Miguel stood up and walked into my guest bedroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After a few seconds, Miguel appeared in the bedroom doorway and said, “How many Bob Martinez’s are staying here tonight?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only one I said, why do you ask?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said, “There are two Bob Martinez’s sleeping in the bedroom and there is no bed for me”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s when Bob Martinez came out of the bathroom, and said, “How about we all go get a Pizza”,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It sounded like a good idea, so we all went down stairs and got into Bob’s beat up 1979 Chevrolet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bob drove, Miguel was in the back seat and I was sitting in the passenger seat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I sat there in the passenger’s seat, I felt that my cowboy boots were really irritating me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The tops of the boots were constantly rubbing against my legs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It became so irritating that I kept reaching down with my hand just to keep the boots from rubbing so much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I sat there, I vowed that I would never buy or wear the cowboy boots again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we got to the Pizza place and I got out of the car, it was then that I realized I wasn’t wearing my cowboy boots. </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-7364936127040228272019-05-30T05:44:00.001-07:002019-05-30T05:45:06.088-07:00The Olympic Swimmer Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Olympic Swimmer Story</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2003</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> And how my wife and I did our part to assist the American Olympic swimmers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 2003, my wife and I, while living in Miami, had been visiting the Florida Keys for many years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Originally, when we first started going there, we had a Townhouse Condominium at the Executive Bay Club, which was located at mile marker 87 on US 1.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Staying at Executive Bay Club was a wonderful experience, but there was one drawback, we had to keep our boat at a local marina that was a couple of miles down the road.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we heard that the Marina was going to be sold, we realized we needed to buy a home that was on the water, we needed it so we could have a place to keep our boat , so that’s when we started house hunting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, once we purchased a home on the water, we decided that rather than sell our condominium at Executive bay, we would start renting it out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We opted to use a local real estate agent to assist us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the reasons we used an local rental agent, was because they took over the problem of advertising the unit, as well as qualifying any potential renters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The agent would also assists the potential renter to fill out the condo association papers which are required.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of this was all supposed to be done for us by the real estate agent, to make sure the renters were qualified. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because all of this takes a bit of time, so we felt that by our employing a real estate agent, they would take care of everything for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Condo at Executive Bay, was usually kept rented, for a year or two at a time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whenever a tenant left, it gave us the opportunity, to clean, paint and do whatever repairs were necessary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2003 our unit at Executive Bay Club was empty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having no one in the unit for a change, gave us the opportunity, to fix the place up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We wanted to paint the unit, also have the second floor carpets needed cleaning, we also wanted to replace all the window treatments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The condo had an older hot water heater and we decided to replace with a more modern “On Demand” hot water heater, but having done that it necessitated my doing some tile work in the downstairs kitchen closet where the former hot water tank was. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the condo, the rear of the first floor was all glass sliding doors, there were also two smaller glass sliding doors, one located in the downstairs front kitchen area, and another in the front guest bedroom upstairs, so we decided to install all new Levelors that we purchased from Home Depot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were taking our time, fixing the place up, and we thought that as soon as I finished the tile work we would have our real estate agent advertise the unit for rent again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a Sunday afternoon, when I loaded our car up with everything I needed to do the tile work in the closet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we drove up to the parking space in front of the condo, there was a U-Haul trailer parked there, and the front door of our condo was open. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neither my wife Katherine or I had any idea of what was going on, we hadn’t authorized anyone to rent the unit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we were standing there a tall lanky black guy with a slight Arabic accent came out of the front door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked him what the hell was going on?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he was a U.S. Olympic swimmer and he was in the Keys to train for the upcoming Olympics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While my wife and I are probably just as supportive of the Olympics as anyone, his answer didn’t sit well with us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While my wife called the real estate agent, I went into the unit to repair the tile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I was there, the Olympic swimmer introduced me to his wife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She appeared to be a blond American girl, and they had a blond baby daughter that looked to be perhaps 3 or 4 years old. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His wife said that they were from Alabama, but I have to admit, It all looked and sounded pretty strange to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appears that our real estate agent had authorized these people to occupy our condo without our permission.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The agent told my wife not to worry as she had the rent and a deposit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we asked her if she had the condo associations permission, it appears she didn’t, but she would get it taken care of. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What she told us was that since our town “The Village of Islands in Islamorada” had an Olympic sized swimming pool in our park, the Olympic swimmers were given permission to use it for training at no cost. However, no arrangements had ever been made to house the Olympic swimmers in the keys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it appears our Arabic guy, just loaded up a U-Haul trailer with his wife, and his kid, as well as some furniture, and headed to the Keys with no place to stay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seemed to us that everyone that was involved in this was so enthralled in trying to assist the Olympic swimmers, they all bypassed normal protocol. Thinking they were in some way doing their part in assisting the United States, us too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four months passed with no problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, the front entranceway into our condo had a cement walkway, and one of the concrete squares in it was cracked by the roots of a nearby tree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As it was dangerous, the association decided to replace the concrete square.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time we stopped by to see it, the new concrete had already hardened, and our Olympic swimmer had scraped in a very long message in Arabic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He had completely defaced the concrete walkway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We could see that no one from the association was anxious to say anything to him about why he did it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After eight months passed, Katherine noticed two rent checks had not appeared.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s when we drove over to the unit and found it was empty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it was not exactly empty, there was children’s furniture and trash everywhere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The newly painted walls were all marked with a child’s scribbling and it was all done in wax crayon which is next to impossible to remove.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I couldn’t believe it, even the brand new Home Depot Levelors we had just bought had what looked like bullet holes in them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I tried to figure out how they made round holes in the Levelors, but I couldn’t. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We found out that our swimmer and his family had lived there for two months without any water or electricity, and then they had left without saying anything to anyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When they left they took with them the Executive Bay access cards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife called the Olympic swimmers wife at their home in Alabama, and she asked her to please send us the rent that was due and the Executive Bay access cards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife asked her, “As a parent, how could you allow your child to scribble and deface all the walls with crayon?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her reply to my wife was, “You are just being derogatory towards us”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually the manager at Executive bay had all the Arabic writing on the walkway cemented over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all this, I can say, I think we have done more than our part to assist the Olympic swimming team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-86004447130258078282019-05-30T04:58:00.000-07:002019-05-30T04:58:23.376-07:00The Great Wall of China Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Great Wall of China Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1987 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A trip into Communist China </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 4/2011</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> On Dec 21, 1987, my wife Katherine and I were in Hong Kong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We had just finished a week long business trip to Taiwan and we had come to Hong Kong to spend a few days there before returning to the U.S.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> While in Hong Kong, we had decided to stay in the Regent Hotel, Located in Kowloon, it</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was a first class hotel and our room overlooked beautiful Kowloon bay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We had been to Hong Kong and Kowloon several times before, always trying different hotels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One reason Katherine had decided to try the Regent Hotel, because she had read about it, and the brochure said they would pick you up at the airport with a Rolls Royce Limousine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They did pick us up at the airport with a Rolls Royce Limousine, and we had thought it was a free service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I later noticed a $60.00 extra charge on our hotel bill. Let me tell you, back in 1967, that was a pretty stiff price for such a short limo ride.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After spending a day or so in Hong Kong, we had heard that it was now possible to travel to Mainland China as a tourist, even though China was still under Communist rule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We spoke to the Regent Hotel Concierge, and he confirmed that travel in China was possible but it needed to be arranged by an agent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That evening, the Concierge sent a travel agent to our room. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He confirmed that a seven day guided tour of Beijing and Shanghai was available and the cost would be $1800.00 which included everything, Air Fare, Hotels, as well as meals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He also said that we shouldn’t be concerned about the Communists, as they loved tourists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Well we signed up for the trip, and the next day we put our extra luggage in storage with the Regent Hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was still not 100% comfortable about how strict the Communist Regime in China would be considering all the bad things our government always has said about the Communists, so I asked Katherine to leave her jewelry in the safe at Regent hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We went to the airport where we got aboard a Russian Airplane for the flight to Beijing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This was our first flight ever in a Russian airplane, so we looked at everything closely to see</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Russian workmanship was like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were sitting in the left front row of the plane and to the right of us was a drape separating the passenger area from the stewardesses area and the pilots cabin. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Every time a stewardess passed through, she had to handle the drape. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We could see the drape was real greasy with hand prints, you would have thought someone would have taken it down and washed it, it was disturbing to us to have to look at it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Next I noticed that one of the screws holding our seat together was made off center, and I</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wondered if some of the airplanes engine parts might also be off center.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Despite our concerns, the flight took off and landed in Beijing safely, so we assumed the engines had been built in Russia with better screws than the ones in the seats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Once we were in Beijing we were pleasantly surprised to find all the Chinese Communist Soldiers and Customs Agents at the airport very friendly, and we passed through Customs quickly and we were driven straight to the Beijing Hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We quickly noticed that there were just a few cars on the road, but there were hundreds and hundreds of people all on bicycles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When we arrived at the hotel, we were again surprised, we expected the Beijing Hotel to be old and decrepit, but we found it to be as good as any First Class U.S. Hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were taken up to our room, and as we entered I could hear that the television was on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought I recognized the music, and I was right, it was a “Rambo” movie and he was shooting all the Communist soldiers in Vietnam. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Our room had a nice view of the main avenue that was below us and a large park on the other side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In the park there were several hundred Chinese soldiers all practicing rifle drill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought, so much for the Communists being secret, they didn’t appear worried that we might be spies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The next morning, we met our young Guide, his name was Han Lee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee was about 20 years old and just as friendly as can be. He spoke excellent English, and was all personality. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee rented a cab for us and he took us on a Beijing City Tour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Naturally I was very curious as to how the Communist system operated so I asked Han Lee a lot of questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At first he was hesitant to talk about it, but after spending the day with us and watching me remove a stone from the wall of the Forbidden City, ( It was for my mother in law’s rock collection), he then realized I was neither a Communist nor an American spy, and he became more talkative, and he eventually told us all about his personal situation and his problems with the Communist system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee said that after grade school, the Government had mandated that he go to the local</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">university, but there was a long waiting list, so he then became what they called, a student in limbo, he had to wait, but he was not allowed to work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After a few months of just hanging around, he became bored and his family got him an illegal job working with a relative.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said, his job was sweeping the floor in a store, and it paid near nothing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He soon became bored, and he left the floor sweeping job in disgust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It was boring just waiting as a student in limbo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then a friend told him about a new Canadian Company that was looking for English Speaking Tour Guides, but it was illegal for Han Lee to apply. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He went and applied anyway, and because of his excellent English and his personality, the Company faked papers for him so he could work. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But Han Lee said he was always afraid he was going to get caught and arrested.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In 1987, being a Tour Guide was the best job anyone could have in Communist China. The salary was controlled by the government at only $8.00 per week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But European, Canadian and U.S. Tourists would leave the guides with big tips and that is</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">why the job was so good, tour guides became wealthy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said that foreign money was illegal to have in Communist China, but it could be used if Han Lee ever left China for another country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Another good thing about being a Guide in China, you met a lot of Foreigners, and Han Lee said he had met a lady from New York who promised to help sponsor him to immigrate to the U.S.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That evening we asked Han Lee if we could go to see the Great Wall of China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said yes, there was a small town a few miles out of Beijing that offered the best access</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to the Great Wall, and it had several souvenir stores and a big restaurant especially for Tourists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee said we could rent a Cab to get there, but that was only if it wasn’t snowing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He said that if it snowed the Government had a law that would not allow any cars to travel on the highway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So early the next morning we rented a Cab for about $1.00, and left for the great Wall of China. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> All the roads in the city were clogged with thousands of people, all going to work, and they were all on bicycles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The only vehicles we saw on the road were antique looking Liberation Trucks that were loaded with laborers on their way to work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A Liberation Truck was quite a sight for us to see, because it is an exact copy of an antique 1947 International Harvester truck, its made in China from plans, that the Chinese Communists stole from the International Truck factory, when they confiscated it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So to us, it looked like everyone was riding in an Antique.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were only a few miles out of Beijing when all of a sudden it started to snow, and suddenly, an armed soldier stepped out into the road and made our taxi cab pull over into an empty gravel parking lot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I have know idea why, but the soldier started acting very belligerent towards our cab driver and demanded to see all his papers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I asked Han Lee what was happening but he motioned for me not to say anything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So we all just sat in the back of the cab freezing and watching, as the nervous cab driver kept unfolding more and more papers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I noticed that there was a path leading up a nearby hill and it looked like there was the Great Wall on the top .</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We got out of the cab and acted like we were stretching our legs, and we all slowly walked towards the path going up the hill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Once we were at the top of the hill, I looked back down and I could still see the Soldier still looking at all the cab drivers papers, and he was not paying the least attention to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Once we were behind the stone wall, we just kept walking and soon we were out of sight of the soldier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee said the country was loaded with similar rock walls, but they were not the Great Wall Of China, so I pried a few rocks out of the wall for Katherine’s mothers rock collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We walked along the path, as it seemed to run parallel to the highway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After a mile or so the path headed down to the Highway, so we then started walking along the highway,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The snow had stopped but it was bitter cold, and Katherine had no hat so Han Lee took off his hat and gave it to her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine was also wearing leather shoes and they kept making her slip on ice patches.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We must have walked for several miles without even seeing one car on the highway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I kept asking Han Lee how much farther and he said we were very close. Soon I started to think Han Lee really didn’t know where we were.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In the distance, I could see a train chugging along and we could read the writing on it’s side, it said Mongolia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Soon we were very tired and it was freezing cold. So jokingly I asked Han Lee if he was taking us to Mongolia, but I don’t think he got my humor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Out of nowhere, suddenly there was a Volkswagen Van coming from behind us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee flagged it down and we could see inside, it was full with six big Mongolian looking Chinese Laborers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After a brief animated conversation in Chinese, Han Lee motioned for us to get inside the Van. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Laborers all pushed together tighter and we managed to fit in the back seat of the van. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee, quietly said to me, it would cost us $2.00 U.S. for the ride.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> None of the workers appeared too happy about us getting in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine, later confided with me that she would have paid any price for the ride, and I agreed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When we finally arrived at the small town next to the Great Wall, we were surprised to find</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it full of Japanese tourists, and there was about six of their big chartered buses there, all with their engines running, and heaters on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We followed all the Japanese tourists to the entrance to the Great Wall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then we walked up and down it, taking in the amazing sight that it was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine was still slipping and sliding in her leather shoes, so after our walking along the wall all of us were nearly frozen so we went into the Government Tourist restaurant for a late lunch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Both Katherine and I thought the food was very good, but for some reason Han Lee chose to raise his voice making an issue about the food.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We never really knew what Han Lee was complaining about. But all the Japanese Tourists were staring at him, and us as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee later said that he felt the food was below standard, and he had told them so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine and I both left the restaurant a little embarrassed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We then walked into a very large government run souvenir store, we did it while Han Lee went to the parking area to see about getting us a ride on a bus back to Beijing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In the store we purchased a Panda Pillow, and then we happened to hear a very frustrated Italian couple that was trying to buy something. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As we got closer to them I realized that the couple spoke only Italian and the sales Clerk spoke Chinese and English. So I interceded, speaking to the Italians in Spanish, and the clerk in English.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Outside the Store, Han Lee said that he recognized another tour guide he knew, he said, she was a girl that he had gone to school with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> However, Han Lee said, he was afraid she would report him to the Government for illegally working as a tour guide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So Han Lee said that he told the girl that we were his personal friends from America, visiting him in China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She agreed to let us on her warm tour bus, which was loaded with Japanese.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So with lots of dirty looks from all the Japanese on the bus, we walked to the back seats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Han Lee stayed up front talking to the girl, and eventually we arrived at the parking area where the Soldier had pulled our cab over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Soldier was gone, but our cab and the driver was still there freezing, he had waited there all day for our return.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The next day we prepared to leave for Shanghai, but not before we said goodbye to Han Lee,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and gave him $100.00 U.S., tip, and that made him a very rich man in China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Back in Kowloon the Regent Hotel had our room waiting, and that evening a bottle of champagne arrived at our room with chocolates and there was a welcome back note.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Several months after our return from China, Katherine received a call from a lady in New</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">York asking if we had heard from Han Lee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Katherine said we had not, and that was the last we ever heard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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</span>Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-34845880389656596272019-05-30T04:52:00.000-07:002019-05-30T04:52:11.496-07:00Lou and the Flight to Bolivia Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Lou and the Flight to Bolivia Story</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b9fe55b7-7fff-e11c-a5c1-2a412891c32e"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1963</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know that I have written this true story before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the other day as we drove down 36 Street in Miami, we came to Curtis Parkway, and that’s where the Airport Hotel and restaurant used to be, its where I met with the people who are in this story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The building is still there, but I don’t think the Restaurant is, and the name has been changed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In mid 1963, I had just resigned from a corporation that was involved in several enterprises, the job had become too stressful as well as time consuming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was engaged and planning on getting married and I needed to do something different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the enterprises I was involved in was a used car lot on West Main Street in Stamford Connecticut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once I had quit the corporation, I still needed to earn a living, so I started buying and selling distressed merchandise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would find items available from Companies in the New Haven area and I would sell it to dealers on Canal Street in New York.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because I was selling to dealers on Canal Street, it required me to drive the Connecticut Turnpike from New Haven to New York, I did it every week</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On This particular day, as I was driving to New York, I saw the exit sign for the West Street exit to get off in Stamford.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The West Street exit was the one I used to take when I was going to our used car lot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wondered what had happened to the business, after I had left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The exit seemed to be like a magnet drawing me off the Turnpike, so I said to myself, OK, I would just drive by the used car lot and look, I had no intention of stopping there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I drove buy the car lot, I saw someone standing in the doorway of the office, and I could see there were a lot of nicer used cars there, better cars than our company ever had, so I turned in and parked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I walked right into the office, and that’s how I met Lou. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had heard about him for years, but I had never met him, rumor was that he was one of the best and well known used car dealers in Connecticut. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I introduced myself, and Lou said he already knew all about me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I liked meeting Lou, and he must have liked me because we sat there and talked all day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s when learned that Lou not only dealt in used cars and trucks but he was a regular entrepreneur, he was sort of a wheeler dealer, that got involved in many different things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I sat there, I could see Lou had a pay phone hanging on the office wall, it had a string hanging out of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said if you made a call and pulled the string all your money came back, so I tried it and it worked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As it got later, Lou invited me to have supper with him at a restaurant he was part owner of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said he had once bought a lot of used restaurant equipment and was going to throw it all away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead he was approached by a local cook with no money, and now Lou was a partner in a restaurant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had a steak sandwich there, and it was the best I ever had, Lou told the cook to put it on his tab, so I ate supper for free. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said that if I stayed in Stamford and worked with him, I could eat for free at the restaurant all the time, how could I refuse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said, if I decided to stay and work with him he would teach me all the tricks of the used car business, he would be like my mentor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did stay with Lou and it was an interesting experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think Lou knew every unsavory character in Stamford.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of them were really scary, I watched as Lou would buy used pistols from them, I assumed he was a gun collector.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually, Lou took me to Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, Jerome Avenue was the heart of the used car business in America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou knew everyone and they knew him, he introduced me to all his friends there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said he had a standing order with them for any older cheap Ford Taurus’s, and he would buy them and ship them to Florida. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day Lou said “Pack a bag were going to Miami for a few days”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was pretty happy about going as at the time my mother was leasing the small 24 room Norman hotel on Miami Beach and the trip would give me an opportunity to see her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou and I drove to Miami and checked into the Airport Hotel on Curtis Parkway, the hotel was right across the street from the corner of Miami International Airport, airport where lots of old airplanes sat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the morning we had breakfast with two pilots, who were Lou’s friends. They were the people he was selling the cars to, they told me that they flew into La Paz Bolivia every week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After breakfast, we drove across the street to their office, it was at MIAD, an older warehouse area inside the airport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their warehouse musty smelling place with a office. The only decoration was a map of Bolivia on the wall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once we were in their office, the pilots gave Lou a wad of money, it was for three cars Lou had sold them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Lou went out to the car and brought in a cardboard box with eight old revolvers that I knew he had bought in Stamford for $10.00 each. The pilots gave Lou $400.00 for them all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we all went out the rear door of the warehouse where they were loading a plane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wouldn’t know one aircraft from another, but I saw a worker was closing the cargo door, and I could see there was some kind of small car inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the pilots said they were leaving that night for La Paz Bolivia and did we want to go with them? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They said we would have a real good time meeting all their friends in Bolivia, and Lou could meet their wealthy business partner there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I told them that I didn’t have a passport, they said no one needed one as everything on the plane was being smuggled into Bolivia illegally, no customs inspection was required. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked at their old beat up dented airplane, I thought I saw oil dripping from one engine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou wanted to go with them, but I said I was going to Miami Beach to see my mother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We went back inside the office and Lou peeled off five $100.00 bills and gave it to me, he said it was my share of the money for the cars he had sold them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I left Lou there with his suitcase, he said he would call me in three or four days at my mothers hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He would call as soon as they returned and I could come and pick him up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I drove to Miami Beach and stayed with my mother at the Norman Hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the fourth day I became a little concerned as I hadn’t heard from Lou.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the fifth day, I was nervous that something had happened to them, no one answered the phone at their office, so I drove over there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The office door was locked and a neighbor said it was unusual they hadn’t returned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I drove across the street to the Airport Hotel and I called my mother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She said Lou had called her and he said that he had just arrived at the Airport Hotel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I went to his room and Lou told me what had happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That night they were flying over the mountains in Bolivia when one engine quit. The airplane became unstable and started heading down</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They all knew the plane was going to crash, and they would be killed, Lou said he was just holding onto the pilot’s seat and praying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The pilot yelled for them to push the car out of the plane, the copilot opened the cargo door as he took of the cargo straps, and Lou released the cars emergency brake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, with superhuman strength they both lifted and pushed the car as it rolled out of the plane, Lou said he thought they both would fall out with the car, but they hung onto the cargo straps as the pilot leveled the plane and they made their approach to the La Paz airport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said he was so nervous that he couldn’t breathe when they landed in the thin air of Bolivia, so they rushed him to a hospital and gave him oxygen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His pilot friends got him a flight back to Miami on another plane that was smuggling goods into Bolivia, but they both stayed there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lou said, “Never again”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He also said, “Some day some one would find that car up on a mountain in Bolivia”. </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-89836134039819454152019-04-05T11:08:00.000-07:002019-04-05T11:08:57.400-07:00The Jon Bloom and the Miracle Story<b id="docs-internal-guid-4d904bf7-7fff-db34-5b98-f172ce16db2f" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-87c6f340-7fff-120a-7ad7-156be633c3f7" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></b>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-87c6f340-7fff-120a-7ad7-156be633c3f7"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Jon Bloom and the Miracle Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story exactly how it happened</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1956, when I was seventeen years old, I had a good friend, Jon Bloom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like many of my friends, In 1957 Jon told me he was getting married.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After he was married, I did get to visit Jon once, but it was the same as it was with my other friends, once they got married, their wives weren’t exactly happy to see any of their unmarried friends show up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Especially friends that were involved in street racing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the years flew past, I went in the Army, got married, moved to Florida, got divorced, and got married again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But all those years, I always wondered what ever had happened to my good friend Jon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, whenever I had a free moment, I would Google his name, but I was never really sure of the correct spelling, nor was I sure if his last name was simply Bloom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the years, I sent out quite a few emails, but none of the people were my friend Jon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I even went to Pratt and Whitney, where Jon worked, and they still had a Jon Bloom working there, he replied to me, but he wasn’t my Jon Bloom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whenever my wife had a moment, she also searched for Jon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it appeared that my friend Jon Bloom was possibly “Living off the Grid” and I wasn’t going to easily find him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day there was a message on my wife’s I phone, it was on Facebook messenger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The inquiry was from a lady named Helene, in Canada, and she wanted to know if I remembered her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helene said that years ago, she had breakfast at my house, and she was there with Jon Bloom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I immediately called her, and I asked her if she knew what happened to my friend Jon, I told her I have been looking for him for 55 years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She said, she had gone out with Jon several times and they had remained friends for long time, she heard that Jon had moved to Texas, but that’s when she had lost track of him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, she remembered Jon’s middle name, it was Maxwell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With this new information, my wife did a search. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well she didn’t find Jon, but she found his divorce papers, and his ex wife’s phone number.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife asked me if I wanted to speak with Jon’s ex wife? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At first I didn’t, but then I thought, it’s been 55 years looking for Jon, why not call her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I called the number and a man answered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was Jon’s Ex Wife’s new husband and he couldn’t have been nicer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I told him Jon and I were friends as teenagers, and I was trying to locate him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he didn’t have Jon’s phone number, but he knew someone that would, and he gave me a phone number.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was late on a Sunday morning when I called the number.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one answered, so I left a message, I said who I was, and that I was looking for Jon Bloom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife and I then went shopping, leaving her I phone at home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we returned there was a message on it, someone had returned my call.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I called, it was Jon Bloom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We talked a long time, Jon was living in Texas and had four sons, and yes he was “Off the Grid” no cell phone or computer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Jon said something very strange.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said every morning, when he woke up, he said a little prayer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That very Sunday morning, in his prayer, he mentioned the name of two of his neighbors, and for some strange reason after 55 years had passed, in his prayer, he had mentioned my name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jon has since come to visit us in Florida with two of his sons, and we now talk regularly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-22222347461246840682019-03-18T09:04:00.001-07:002019-03-18T09:04:46.666-07:00The British Car Parts Story<span id="docs-internal-guid-d140fbd4-7fff-f929-920b-744c342d2082"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The British Car Parts Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1995</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Re-written 1/2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following true story will best be appreciated by anyone that knows anything about the auto parts business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1995 I was in Detroit, I was there looking to buy deals on large quantities of auto parts that I could bring to Florida and sell for export to Central and South America. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our company always had importers coming in that were looking for deals on quantities of car parts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My good friend in Detroit, Barney Kaplan, told me that he had just received a large quantity of automotive electrical parts, and I should look at it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next day I went to look at what he had. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was four large pallet boxes filled with electrical parts made by the British company Lucas electric, located in the U.K.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Right away I knew it would be difficult for me to sell, the reason being that Lucas parts only fit British vehicles, and I knew nothing about British cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All my export customers wanted U.S. Car parts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, I looked the parts over and there were lots of red tail lights, and all kinds of British relays and car switches, I knew the parts could be worth a lot of money. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, against my better judgement I bought the whole lot for $1.00 a pound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I now owned a thousand pounds of all new British car parts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We shipped the entire lot to Miami. One by one our customers came in and looked at it, but nobody wanted British car parts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I started thinking perhaps I had made a bad deal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Someone suggested that I spread the parts out on the warehouse floor, and make a master list of each Part number, then I could sent the list to foreign car parts dealers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took me over a month, working every day spreading everything out and put it all in numerical order, After sorting, I could see there were mostly tail lights for British cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once I had it all spread out, one of my friends, a Venezuelan exporter named Vasquez stopped by and said he was very interested, he said that he had a customer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vasquez asked how much, and I said $1.50 a pound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vasquez was a good negotiator, he knew I was sick and tired of sorting all the parts, so he offered $1.25 a pound. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was right, I was ready to sell at any price, and I accepted his offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked Vasquez if he wanted to complete the numerical list or did he want to come and pack the parts in boxes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vasquez said no, he said his customer had to ship the parts to his country as mixed junk to avoid paying any duty. so if the parts were all mixed up it was perfectly ok.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vasquez was driving a big Ford station wagon, so he rolled up all the windows 3/4 of the way up and we threw all the British car parts inside, until we filled the car completely up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took Vasquez two car loads for him to take all the parts. But when we were done I was happy the stuff was gone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It bothered me that I had wasted over a month of my life working on sorting the parts, and now they were all mixed up again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was out of town for a week, and when I returned, I was shocked to see all the Lucas British car parts piled up on my warehouse floor again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But now it was like real junk with all the parts falling out of their boxes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems my friend Vasquez returned everything saying that his customer refused the merchandise, and Vasquez had no intention of paying me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked him why his customer rejected the parts, and he told me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His customer came from a country with American cars, and all the British cars were left hand drive like American cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appears all my parts were for British right hand drive cars like they use in some of the former British Countries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My next move was to the trash dumpster.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-1748062644122842492019-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:002019-02-28T06:00:54.969-08:00The Suva Bay Fiji Story<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Suva Bay Fiji Story </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1993</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 01/04/2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story that happened in Fiji, it was a one in a million chance </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Dec of 1993, I was talking to my good friend Neil Metcalf who was living in Brisbane Australia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neil suggested that after my yearly business was done in Taiwan, my wife Katherine and I should come and visit him in Brisbane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neil said that if we could come to see him and his wife Roselyn , he would then like us to join hem a trip to Fiji,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was where he and Roselyn had spent their honeymoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neil said that he wanted to take us to the very same resort where he was married. It all sounded pretty exciting so we told Neil that we would do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, here comes the interesting part of the story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At my business in Miami we have a room where we kept our fax and copy machine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over one of the desks, someone had put up a beautiful 8-1/2 x 11 picture of swaying palm trees with water in the background, I assumed it was a Florida picture someone had cut out of a magazine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every time I went into the room, I looked at the picture, thinking it was taken somewhere in Florida, and finally one day, I went over and looked closely at it to see where the picture had be taken. In fine print it said “Suva Bay Fiji”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wow, what a coincidence, here I was, planning a trip to Fiji, and here was a picture that must have been taken somewhere in Fiji. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I gently removed the picture off of the wall.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I showed my wife the picture and we decided to take the picture with us to Fiji, who knows, there was possibly one chance in a million we would recognize the place where the picture was taken. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were on a mission. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well once we were in Fiji, Our friend Neil was a perfect tour guide, and he took us sightseeing everywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually we ended up heading for a hotel in the capital city of Suva.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the way to the hotel we passed Suva bay. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I took out the picture, but nothing around Suva Bay looked even close. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After checking into the hotel in Suva, I decided to give finding the picture one last shot.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we went downstairs for supper my wife and I walked over to the front desk clerk and I took out the picture and showed it to him. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He studied it for about a minute and said, sure, he said, I know this picture, it was published in a magazine years ago. It was taken from the balcony of room 235 upstairs on the second floor. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said the room is presently unoccupied, would you like to see it? Sure, we said, so he took us upstairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At room 235 we walked out on the balcony with the picture in hand, and sure enough there it was, the swaying palm trees with Suva Bay in the background. We had actually found the exact spot the picture was taken from, our mission in was accomplished.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-83764355926968647052019-02-26T11:57:00.001-08:002019-02-26T11:59:41.127-08:00The Smart Consultant Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> The Smart Consultant Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1967</span></div>
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 09/2016</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-1bdfa5fc-7fff-37be-5431-49e63aa2cdc9"></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-1bdfa5fc-7fff-37be-5431-49e63aa2cdc9"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This story was told to me by an associate named Abe Zion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe was one of the smartest people that I ever had the privilege of meeting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He told me that this is true story, and actually had happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think he told me the story to teach me something and I am glad he did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe was involved in many things, one of them was business consulting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ace was a freelance consultant, he was available for a fee to come into a business and advise the owner how to improve it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Usually Abe was called upon when a business was already failing. But that was not the case in this story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day Abe was in New York City having lunch with a friend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As they sat there, Abe’s friend recognized a fellow that had a highly successful candy manufacturing company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He called the fellow over to introduce him to Abe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The candy manufacturer winced when he heard Abe was a consultant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said his operation had already been studied by all kinds of consultants and engineers and it was the most modern candy manufacturing plant in New York.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe asked the fellow if he could see his operation as possibly he could learn something. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The candy manufacturer was hesitant but eventually said yes, Abe could come over and see his operation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe said the factory was huge and employed over 400 people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The owner took Abe on a walking tour of the company, he was very proud of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They started walking where the raw materials like sugar, chocolate and the different flavors, were mixed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Abe saw all the latest and most modern candy making machinery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were several automatic tunnels where the candies were covered in chocolate and came out on conveyor belts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were rows of women sitting there making pretty swirls on top of each candy to identify what flavors were inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From that point the candies cooled and went to the packaging department.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the candy reached the end of the production line it was a thing of beauty to watch as several women put 30 assorted chocolates, all with different flavors into special boxes that had room for exactly 30 pieces.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As they placed the cover on the box it went on to be plastic wrapped. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other than the women putting the candy in the boxes everything was pretty much automated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The factory owner proudly told Abe, “You can see why I don’t need advice from any consultants”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When they were back in the office, Abe thanked the owner for allowing them to see his operation. Then he said, would you give me $3000.00 if I could increase your production by 10%, and it wouldn’t cost you a cent to do it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The factory owner gave Abe a dirty look and said, “No”, so Abe gave him his business card and told him if he changed his mind to call him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">About a week later, Abe got a call, the factory owner said he had looked his operation over several times since Abe was there and he spoke to his son and his plant manager as well as their staff engineer and they all said no one could increase their production by 10%. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They said that the owner should challenge Abe. If Abe increased production by 10%, he got $3000.00.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If there was no 10% increase, Abe should pay them the $3000.00.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 18pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe came by the next day, and with everyone following behind him they walked to the packaging line, where the candy boxes with the 30 little compartments were stacked by the hundreds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abe walked to the next stack of candy boxes, he removed the cover from the top candy box and threw it into the trash. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone in the room watching him were flabbergasted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The women packers no longer had to remove the candy box cover before filling it. The next uncovered box was waiting for them. As they filled each candy box they now removed the cover from the next box and used it. leaving the next box uncovered and ready to be filled, Abe got his $3000.00 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This story true or not, was a good lesson which I have never forgotten. </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-56317612955918360512019-02-19T12:46:00.000-08:002019-02-19T12:46:29.784-08:00 The Barney Kaplan and his Dog Story<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Barney Kaplan and his
Dog Story<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1979 <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Written 08/2016 Re-written 2/2019<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Howard Yasgar <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
Mid 1970’s I was doing business with a company in Detroit called Barney Kaplan
Surplus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
started making monthly trips to Detroit to see them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
first started going there the warehouse workers said I needed to stay clear of
“Red” he was the watch dog there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw red, he usually was laying down in
Barney’s office, but every so often he would walk around the warehouse and I
saw him looking at me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Red was a
good sized dog, he about two feet tall and he appeared to weigh in t about 75
to 100 pounds, and he had a reddish color. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked one
of the workers there what kind of dog he was and he said Red was an Australian
sheep dog.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to
admit, I was a little concerned that Red might bite me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I realized that all the employees
were all having a good time at my expense making me think that Red might rip my
arm off.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day as I
walked around the warehouse, out of the corner of my eye, I caught Red watching
me and his tail was wagging, and I knew a wagging tail was the sign of a
friendly pooch. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called his
name and he came right over to me so petted him, and he didn’t want me to stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to
admit the guys weren’t lying when they said Red was a good watch dog, he was,
because from that time on he never stopped watching me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every
day when the lunch truck arrived, one of Barneys employees would buy Red a
meal, not only that but he also got every ones leftovers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I soon found out that Red lived at home with Barney
and his wife Sara Lee, Red went home with them in the evening and came to work
with them every morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Barney
and Sara Lee talked to Red as if he was a member of the family. I watched as
they had lengthy conversations with him. Red never replied but you could see in
his eyes and when he cocked his head, he understood what they were talking
about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I was
returning every month to Detroit my relationship with Barney and Sara Lee
became<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>very friendly and they suggested
that I stay with them at their house in Bloomfield, rather than my staying at a
hotel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the next
time I came to Detroit I brought my luggage to their warehouse and in the
evening I went home with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a
lovely home, and the guest room even had a plaque on the door with my name on
it. I learned later that they did it for all their good customers that stayed
with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
morning when we all had breakfast including Red, we all clambered into Barney’s
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>new Chrysler.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barney drove,
and I was in the passenger seat, Sara Lee sat behind Barney and Red sat behind
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
realize it, but Barney, Sara Lee and Red had a morning routine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barney would
drive to a street corner where there was a dog waiting, Then he would roll down
his window and Red and the dog would have a barking conversation for about five
minutes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I
thought it was pretty cute, but Red’s barking was loud and it was right in my
ear. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that
wasn’t bad enough I felt something wet on my neck and back, Red was slobbering
and drooling on me as he barked to his buddy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barney made
two more stops, where Reds friends were already sitting there waiting to talk
to him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard they
continued doing this as long a Red lived. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-47056957841899250262019-02-18T12:35:00.001-08:002019-02-18T12:35:18.901-08:00The Haitian Bombing Story<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Haitian Bombing Story<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>June 1968<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
attempted coup and the bombing of the Haitian Palace.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Written 08/08/2016 and Re-written 2019<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Howard Yasgar<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in June of 1969 when I was in Port Au
Prince Haiti helping my friend Lou Gladstein remove the Haitian<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Railroad.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
railroad had been bankrupted by the Haitian Government <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>years before and my friend Lou had offered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$2.00 a ton to purchase all the railroad
track that was remaining.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking
apart a railroad and digging out the old track was quite an undertaking. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I had
experience with using oxygen acetylene cutting torches, I wanted Lou to use
cutting torches to take the rail apart, but Lou didn’t agree with me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lou felt that
using a cutting torch was too expensive, and he could do the job by using by
using Haitian laborers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
to cut the nuts and bolts by hand using sledge hammers
and chisels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time, Lou said that he could hire all
the laborers he wanted for about $1.25 a day, and 10 cents for their lunch. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted
to prove to Lou, that using a cutting torch would be a much faster method, and
not as expensive as he thought. So on a beautiful sunny morning we loaded up
Lou’s Toyota Carolla station wagon with Lou’s cutting torch, its<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gauges, its <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hoses, and two empty oxygen and acetylene<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cylinders to be refilled at the welding
supply store in Port au prince.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We drove down the mountain to Port Au Prince
and we exchanged the oxygen acetylene cylinders for full ones. Lou had a few
errands to attend to, and we were driving down an avenue that would take us
past the Haitian palace. That was where the Dictator Papa doc Duvalier lived.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lou’s Toyota station wagon was not air
conditioned so I had my passenger side window down, and I could see the white
Haitian palace coming up on my right about a quarter of a mile ahead. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked
ahead to my left, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw 2 or 3 plumes of
dark smoke rising, they appeared to be pretty far off behind some buildings, I
thought someone was burning trash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of a
sudden I heard what sounded like a huge aircraft over our heads. It was loud like
a distressed plane sounds when it is struggling for altitude. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it
turned completely dark outside, as the giant plane cast its shadow over us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could hear
lots of popping noises just like 4th of July firecrackers going off. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the shadow
disappeared, I heard a loud noise and an incendiary bomb went off about 300
yards in front of us, I thought it was Napalm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
amazing, as Lou made that Toyota wagon do a complete 360 degree maneuver and we
were<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Now racing away in the opposite direction as fast as the
Toyota would go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked out
the back of the station wagon and I could see the wall of flame coming after
us. The two full oxygen and acetylene cylinders were banging together on the
floor of the wagon, they looked like two torpedo’s waiting to go off. I knew
that in a matter of seconds, the wall of fire would engulf us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, somehow it didn’t, and Lou with his hands
shaking and sweating drove us back up the mountain to his house. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We assumed there was some type of a coup
going on, so I suggested to Lou that he take me to the airport first<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Thing in the morning. If it was a coup, I wanted to fly
back to Miami quickly, so as not to get stuck in Haiti.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
airport, everything was very normal and I caught the first flight out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once back in
Miami, I was still shaken up, but I listened to the news hoping to hear what
had happened in Haiti.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day
I read the papers but not a word appeared. Finally after 2 days a small article
appeared in the Miami Herald newspaper. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It said there was an attempted coup in Haiti, one
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fire bomb had been dropped but it missed
the palace and blew up behind some stores killing a civilian.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article said the failed coup was financed
by two Haitian groups, one in New York and one in Montreal. The whole story
sounded pretty phony to me, but that was all that I could ever find regarding
the attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, from
1968 fast forward to 1991.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My fiancé
Katherine was managing the Miami office of a large international freight
forwarding company called MSAS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had in her office a customer that wanted
her to ship F14 fighter planes from Singapore to Amman Jordan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Katherine knew I was in the military supply
business so she introduced me to Ralph Edens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all met at Rousseau’s nightclub at the
Doral golf course.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph was
about 40 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with a medium build and slightly
graying hair, he was a pretty normal looking guy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph said
that he was a photographer and had worked as a photographer and editor for
Soldier of Fortune magazine. He also said he served in the military in Cambodia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph said he
was in Cambodia when we weren’t supposed to be in Cambodia, and he had served
as a mercenary in South Africa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph said most
recently he had served in Central America fighting in Nicaragua.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently Ralph was a Soldier of Fortune.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to
engage Ralph in conversation but we had very little in common to talk about as
I had only served in the Army Reserves during peace time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I ended up
telling Ralph about my close call with death in Port Au Prince Haiti, in 1969 when
the palace was bombed, and Ralph said he had heard about the attempted coup.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a few drinks, Ralph suggested that I
meet with him one evening for a beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggested we meet the next evening at Tom’s
NFL club which was located on NW 36<sup>th</sup> street in Miami across from
the airport and right near my office.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t occur to me at the time but Tom’s
NFL Club, was the watering hole for all the CIA guys that worked with Southern
Air Transport Company, the CIA owned airlines that was right across the street.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph was
waiting for me, and had ordered me a beer, he said that he didn’t want to talk
to me in front of Katherine, but he was the guy pushing the fire bombs out of
the airplane over Port Au Prince in 1969, the fire bomb that almost killed me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph went on to tell me the whole story.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
recruited by the C. I. A. with several others, they were to transport a group
of armed Haitian soldiers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
To Haiti, They had a rented Constellation aircraft and
they filled up 6 55 gallon drums with aviation fuel and taped flares to the
barrels, they also had 1 phosphorous bomb, a big water bottle with phosphorus
in a plastic bag inside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Haitian
soldiers failed to show up, so they decided to bomb the palace anyway. The bottom
of the plane was loaded with web gear and guns to arm a rebel force that was
supposed to be waiting for them once the palace was bombed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they
flew over the palace Ralph said they lit 3 flares and pushed 3 barrels out the
planes door. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
trajectory was wrong, so they made another attempt, and pushed out more fire<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bombs, that was one that<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
almost killed me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By time they
made a third pass the military and palace guard were shooting at the plane. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the
popping noises we heard, and the plane got all shot up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
attempted to land on the Cap Haitian airport but it was blocked with trucks, so
they landed on a U.S. radar landing strip in Freeport Bahamas. The plane was
all shot up, when they were asked what the hell was going on the C.I.A. agent
Casey said they were just out for a spin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were all
arrested, and charged with breaking the neutrality las and all sentenced to 18
months prison, however it appears they were all out after a few months.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what
happened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-22064018864877363242019-02-09T09:39:00.000-08:002019-02-09T09:39:10.267-08:00The Grandfather and the Miracle Story <br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Grandfather
and the Miracle Story<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>1959<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>true and a very real Miracle
Story<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Written 2006 and Re-written 2/2019 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Howard Yasgar<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1959 I was
twenty one years old and living with my mom and dad in Westville Connecticut.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Westville is
a suburb of New Haven.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
grandfather, Eddie, was seventy one years old at the time, of this story. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandad Eddie
had retired in New Haven and retired to Miami Florida in 1952.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I was
growing up, I always remember everyone in our family saying Grandpa was crazy, because
Florida only had swamps, mosquitoes and giant cockroaches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However I always remember my grandfather
saying <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Florida was the land of milk and
honey, and he said all kinds of delicious fruit grew everywhere, and was free
for the taking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prove it, Grandpa
return to New Haven with his suitcases full of all kinds of ripe fruit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would lay them out on our kitchen table and
cut them up for everyone to try.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us had ever seen most of the fruit he
brought, not only that but everything he put on the table was already over ripe
and some were rotting from being in his hot suit case for so long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t like
it, when they did it, but everyone laughed at my grandfather behind his back, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt real bad for him, as he just loved
Florida, and he had no bad intentions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even my mom said that Grandpa probably found
the fruit in someone’s garbage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, while Grandpa <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was staying with us, he <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>got real sick, and it looked very serious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mom who was a registered nurse thought Grandpa
might die. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All my Grandpa
would say when he was conscious was, “Please let me go home to Florida”. Once I
am there I will be OK.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>getting Grandpa home to Florida was no easy
task.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>long 70 mile ride to the airport in
New York, and then there was the night owl flight to Florida, and who would get
Grandpa home from the airport once he was in Miami.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there
was the question, what if he died along the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
subjects and others were discussed around the kitchen table, I wasn’t invited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally,
after several hours, the family had made their decision, I was elected to take
Grandpa home to Miami Florida.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, my goodness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom said, don’t be afraid, if <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandpa passes away on the airplane, just tell
the stewardess she will know what to do. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was really scared
when I said I would do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Grandpa
looked terrible, he was unconscious all the way to the airport in New York.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a wheelchair and a lot of assistance from
airline employees we got on board a night owl flight to Miami.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane had
lots of open seats so I sat Grandpa next to a window. He looked very bad, he
looked so bad I didn’t want to look at him. He just sat there with his eyes
were closed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one and a half hours into the flight, Grandpa’s
eyes opened, he looked at me and said “I smell Florida”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought he was becoming delusional and I got
real frightened, is this how people act before they die.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandpa
started taking deep breaths, and his eyes stayed open.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said to me “ I know we are near Florida”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time
we landed it was close to four in the morning in Miami and my Grandpa was in
perfect health.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He walked off
the airplane with no assistance, and he carried his suitcase.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stepped
out of the Miami terminal onto 36<sup>th</sup> street where all the car rental
agencies were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grandpa rented
a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blue 1959 Chevrolet and he let me
drive him home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me this
was truly a miracle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-88416686804933818532019-02-09T06:50:00.001-08:002019-02-09T06:51:21.019-08:00 The Counterfeit $20.00 Story<span id="docs-internal-guid-d58c8ffb-7fff-4920-192a-e510e4ef7af4"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-d58c8ffb-7fff-4920-192a-e510e4ef7af4"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Counterfeit $20.00 Story</span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-d58c8ffb-7fff-4920-192a-e510e4ef7af4"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2018</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Re-written 2019</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In January 1990, I paid my grocery bill with a $100.00 dollar bill.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I received my change as usual, and tucked it into my wallet.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few days later I decided to organize my wallet, and that’s when I noticed something strange, one of the $20.00 bills was a lot lighter color of green than the others.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I couldn’t believe it, I had never seen a $20.00 bill with such a weird color before.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I took it out and really looked it over closely.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure enough, some of the printing on the bill was pretty good but several other things just didn’t look right to me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The biggest problem was the color, it was obviously a counterfeit bill.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had a Auto parts business in Miami , so Getting counterfeit money was nothing new to me, but usually I didn’t catch the counterfeit money, but the bank did, and they kept any counterfeit they found.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes when I made a deposit, the bank would inform me that there was a few fake $100.00 bills mixed in with the deposit. Then the bank always confiscated them, so I never had the opportunity to look at them closely.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once when the bank confiscated $300.00, it was a lot of money, so I asked them for the bills back, but they said by law they had to confiscate them. They said if I got them back, I would probably try and cash them somewhere and they were right about that, I would have.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They said that if I did try and pass them, I would be arrested for passing counterfeit money.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So when I had the fake $20.00 I was excited to actually have a real counterfeit bill. I carried it in my wallet and I always showed it to everyone, it became quite a conversation piece for me. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I showed it to someone it was easy to tell it was counterfeit because of the weird green color, you could spot it as a fake as soon as you saw it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day I was staying at the Sheraton hotel in Detroit Michigan, and I was waiting for my friend to come pick me up for supper.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had time to kill so I told him, that I would be in the downstairs bar having a drink.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friend showed up on time and I left with him to go for supper.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once we were at the restaurant, I mentioned to him about my counterfeit $20.00 bill that I had. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, you guessed it, it wasn’t in my wallet.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was dark in that bar at the Sheraton, and I must have used the Counterfeit $20.00 to pay for my drink. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</span> Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-61642922553453908142019-02-09T06:44:00.001-08:002019-02-09T06:44:44.585-08:00The Prosciutto Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Prosciutto Story</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b77f5b0a-7fff-e95a-71c4-8826c9f96850"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2017 </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a very good friend and who was a detective working for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One evening he told us the following story, and we couldn’t stop laughing.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I still laugh when I think about it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In his duty as a detective, he was working on murder case that took him to San Jose, in Costa Rica.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was in Costa Rica to look over an airplane that might have been involved in the murders. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now when a government employee travels they are allowed a “Per Diem”, that is a fixed allowance for their meals while traveling.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The amount allowed varies but it is usually Pretty conservative, perhaps $10.00 to $15.00 for breakfast, possibly a little more for lunch and a fixed amount for supper. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The actual Per Diem amount depends on where you work, it is usually sufficient but not excessive. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, there is no per diem for evening entertainment, so if you stop somewhere for a beer, it strictly an out of pocket expense. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friend had an entire evening to kill, so a couple of hours after supper he went into the Hotels bar and ordered a beer. His intentions was to nurse along a couple of beers until it was time to go to his room.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As he sat at the bar, a waiter was setting up a large prosciutto. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Prosciutto was mounted on a very fancy stand that holds it in place as a waiter cuts off very thin slices with a special knife.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friend watched as several people got up, took as small plate and stood in line as the waiter sliced the prosciutto placing two or three thin slices on their plate.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It looked pretty good, and was a nice touch the hotel offered. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When there was no line he took a plate for himself and the waiter cut him a few thin slices.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the course of the evening as he nursed his beer he went up three or four more times for prosciutto.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By 10:PM he had enough, and decided to call it an evening.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He looked at his beer bill which he said was $8.50 plus he needed to give the waiter a tip. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As he took out his credit card, a waiter tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a bill for the prosciutto.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was $220.00. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-51503825912665074872019-02-09T06:35:00.000-08:002019-02-09T06:35:02.505-08:00The Alaska Gold Story<span id="docs-internal-guid-75eab175-7fff-d3ea-6acb-5224f6dbedb2"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Alaska Gold Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story written 3/2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My wife and I had gone on a cruise to Alaska.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we reached Sitka, we signed up to go salmon fishing side trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were only four of us fishing on the boat that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was my wife and I and a couple of fellows from Michigan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The captain, his name was Blackie was doing everything himself, he was steering the boat, baiting the hooks, absolutely running himself ragged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were so impressed with Blackie that when we returned to Miami, we invited him and his wife to come and visit us in Florida, and the following year they did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When they came to Florida we couldn’t help but notice that Blackie’s wife had a beautiful gold necklace and Blackie had a gold ring, a gold necklace with a gold pendant and a gold watch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blackie noticed me looking at his necklace and said that there was an unusual story behind where all the gold came from.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blackie said that years before he was working in Alaska as a mechanic, repairing the trucks that traveled on the Ice road, and it was there where he met his future wife who was working as a waitress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once they got married, they needed to find a place to live. So they shopped around until someone told them about a log cabin that was available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They went to look at it, and found the cabin to be a bit remote, but the price was right and they rented the cabin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day the toilet stopped working and Blackie went to fix it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He removed the tank top and saw that the bottom of the tank had about a half inch of darkish mud with gold flecks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He cleaned the toilet tank out and brought it to town to the local gold assayer, who melted all down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It ended up being several ounces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that’s a story. </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-27173270851404957732019-02-05T08:49:00.003-08:002019-02-06T05:56:09.337-08:00The Triumph Motorcycle Story The Triumph Motorcycle Story<br />
1956<br />
A true story<br />
Written 2010 and re-written 04/2016 unedited<br />
Howard Yasgar<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I was 15 years old when I ended up owning a 1950 Triumph motorcycle for $500.00<br />
Originally my friend Ritchie Andrade had wanted to buy it.<br />
But then Ritchie let me try it out, I got on, but because I had never rode a motorcycle before, I became confused and I squeezed the clutch lever thinking it was the brake lever, and that’s how I drove the bike right into a Bocce ball court maintenance shed.<br />
Fortunately I was lucky and didn’t get killed, but the bike was a mess, and like it or not, I now had to buy the bent up Motorcycle. <br />
When I called to tell my father, didn’t like it at all when he heard what happened, but he came with his 1952 Pontiac and we brought the bike home sticking out of the cars trunk.<br />
He didn’t ask and I didn’t tell him how much the motorcycle was costing me.<br />
Any way, once I got it home, I looked it over closely.<br />
The front wheel was bent like a pretzel, the tire was cut, and the front fender was all bent to hell.<br />
The headlight and it’s shroud were broken. Also the fuel tank had a few dents in it.<br />
After reading my hot rod books, I had always wanted something to fix up and now I had it.<br />
I had read in the magazines how to do body work, but I had never done any of it.<br />
So, using the tools we had, I took the bike apart, then using a hammer from my father’s workshop, I hammered out the headlight shroud and the fender as best I could.<br />
Back then plastic auto body fillers like “Bondo” hadn’t yet hit the market, and auto body work was all done using lead.<br />
My friend Ritchie drove me to an auto body repair store, and that’s where I became exposed to all the special tools that were used in doing bodywork, it was a whole new world for me. <br />
They had hand held metal anvils that you used when hammering out dents, and they had all the tools<br />
to use to straighten and reform bent metal.<br />
It was at that same store where I first saw horse hair pinstriping brushes.<br />
Pinstriping was all the rage in California and I saw pin striped cars in the magazines, but I never knew how they did it.<br />
The brushes were only $1.50 each, so I couldn’t resist buying a few different sizes.<br />
The store people gave me a quick education on how to use lead to repair dents.<br />
I bought 4 sticks of lead, a couple of wooden paddles, a block of bees wax and a bottle of acid.<br />
There was no You Tube in those days so I had to learn everything by trial and error.<br />
I dug into my savings account, (My mother) and bought a small torch set and a mini compressor to spray red primer.<br />
I heard that up the road in Bethany Connecticut there was a grizzly old fellow that had a body shop, his shop was in an old barn behind his house. everyone told me to stay away from him, but I went to see him anyway.<br />
I told him about the motorcycle accident, and he had a good laugh, he couldn’t believe I was a kid that wanted to learn how to do bodywork using lead, so he gave me some pointers, and he said he would paint my motorcycle when I was done fixing it up. <br />
My friend Ritchie had heard about a Triumph motorcycle shop located in West Haven, so we went there. It was owned by a short wiry Italian fellow he moved so fast we had to chase him around just to talk to him.<br />
We couldn’t understand why he was so hard to pin down, he just didn’t want to pay attention to us.<br />
But now, many years later, I realize that he had sized us up as no money customers, and we were just wasting his time with a million questions.<br />
Once he realized he couldn’t get rid of us, he eventually slowed down and helped me find what I needed, he had a good used wheel and tire, and head light bulb.<br />
Once I was ready, I brought all the repaired motorcycle parts to the auto body guy in Bethany, he painted everything in multiple coats of beautiful black lacquer, and he only charged me $10.00.<br />
Then I put the motorcycle back together.<br />
It looked good but was very plain, so it was my opportunity to try my hand at pinstriping.<br />
I bought cans of white and red enamel and gave it a try.<br />
I found that I was a natural at doing pinstriping designs, so I did the entire motorcycle.<br />
Everyone that saw my pin striping liked it and the next thing I knew, guys were bringing their cars and I was pinstriping them. <br />
My father had brought home two pieces of stainless steel 2-1/2 inch diameter tubing, so I took off the<br />
original mufflers that were dented anyway and I welded the stainless tubing on in place of them.<br />
This made the bike more than twice as loud as it was before.<br />
I was sure that everyone within several miles of my house knew I had a motorcycle, and some started complaining to my parents.<br />
Once I was 16 years old I got my drivers license.<br />
By now there were so many neighbors complaining that I started walking the bike down the hill from my house onto Whalley Avenue, before starting it up and riding it.<br />
With those stainless steel straight pipes, that Triumph motorcycle sounded really powerful.<br />
So everywhere I went, guys wanted to race me.<br />
They all thought that because that bike looked and sounded so hot, that it was fast.<br />
Unfortunately the bike wasn’t all that fast, and I don’t think I ever won a race, it was really embarrassing.<br />
So I asked the owner of the Triumph motorcycle shop how I could make the bike faster.<br />
He showed me a Triumph motorcycle like mine that he was building for a customer to race.<br />
He told me I could make my bike fast, I could bore the engine from 650 CC to 900 CC, and he said that I could raise the compression and install racing camshafts.<br />
Winter was coming, and I was now earning money working in a gas station, so I decided to take the motorcycle all apart and bring it down into our cellar where the oil burner was and it was nice and warm.<br />
My dad had a nice workshop bench all set up.<br />
So over that winter I did everything the Triumph dealer told me to.<br />
The problem was my Triumph Motorcycle had all metric hardware, and my father didn’t have even one metric tool. I don’t think anyone had a metric tool back then, so I just used an old adjustable wrench to disassemble and reassemble the entire Triumph engine.<br />
Over the winter in 1957, I worked every evening souping up the engine on that motorcycle.<br />
When I was done, I had a real sense of accomplishment.<br />
Come spring time, I enlisted my father’s help and we tried to walk the motorcycle up the cellar stairs. But it wouldn’t fit.<br />
Like a jerk, I had assembled the motorcycle never thinking we couldn’t get it up the cellar stairs.<br />
It reminded me of the story of the fellow that built a boat in his cellar, never thinking how he would ever get it out. Now I could see how it happened.<br />
I disassembled the motorcycle again we and brought the pieces upstairs from the cellar, and I reassembled it.<br />
It was now 1957 and I had spent every penny I earned on that motorcycle, but at the time I felt it was all worth it as I now had a motorcycle with a 900CC Triumph racing engine. <br />
I will never forget the week I took my souped up bike to the parking lot at Jimmy’s hot dog restaurant in West Haven.<br />
That‘s where everyone that had a fast car or motorcycle hung out.<br />
There were a couple of fellows that had brand new Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycles. Those<br />
Sportster bikes were about the same size of my Triumph, and I had never seen one before.<br />
They said the Harley Sportster was a brand new model.<br />
Well that evening I raced one of Harley Davidson’s new Sportsters and I think it was about twice as fast as my Triumph.<br />
So that’s when I realized that my Triumph motorcycle racing days were over before they had even started.<br />
So to avoid the embarrassment of losing any more races, I avoided Jimmy’s restaurant and I started riding mostly on the rural back roads of Woodbridge and Bethany, Connecticut.<br />
In those days you hardly ever saw another car or motorcycle on those beautifully paved country<br />
roads.<br />
The Triumph motorcycle had a knob that allowed you to tighten the steering, it made it easy to ride the motorcycle straight with no hands on the handlebars.<br />
I found that the motorcycle could be ridden with no hands simply by simply leaning to one side or another.<br />
I had never thought that I would be riding a motorcycle for miles with no hands on the handle bars, but I did.<br />
When that started to get boring I started standing up on the motorcycle seat. I did it just as I had seen it done in the circus.<br />
I never gave it a thought as to what would happen if I hit a bump and fell off the bike.<br />
One evening, I decided to go again to Jimmies Restaurant in West Haven.<br />
At about 11:PM while I was on my way home, it began pouring rain.<br />
I was riding behind a two tone brown 1954 Chevrolet that was loaded with a bunch of girls, I could see that two were sitting in the back seat.<br />
I saw them watching me riding in the rain right behind them.<br />
We were in West Haven, heading towards New Haven and going along at about 40 miles per hour.<br />
Suddenly for no reason the 1954 Chevrolet slammed on their brakes.<br />
I was perhaps 75 feet behind them, and it was still pouring rain.<br />
When I applied my brakes, the motorcycle, it didn’t stop, the road was too wet.<br />
I was wearing motorcycle boots, and as the motorcycle slid out from under me, it fell down on the left, so I pushed the ground with my left boot and it righted the bike, but then I was already out of control and the bike fell down onto the right side, so I hit the ground hard with my right boot.<br />
The motorcycle was now wildly spinning around out of control.<br />
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a big plate glass window of an car sales agency. And there was a<br />
small alley about four foot wide next to it.<br />
I just knew I was going to crash through that plate glass window.<br />
They say that when you are about to die, your whole life flashes before you, and at that very moment I saw myself in a hospital bed hanging there with casts on my arms and legs.<br />
The motorcycle was now spinning fast and out of control, and it was still pouring rain.<br />
The last thing I remember was seeing my reflection in the plate glass window.<br />
Don’t ask me what happened next, because I don’t know.<br />
I was in the alley, the bike was laying down underneath me and I was still holding onto the handlebars, but both the left and right handle bar had been ground down about an inch.<br />
The motorcycle was still running underneath me, and it had stopped raining.<br />
So here I was straddling the bike, and besides from shaking like a leaf, I appeared to be alright, there was no blood, and no broken bones.<br />
I lifted the bike up and I could now see how narrow the alley was, I couldn’t imagine how the spinning motorcycle had ever fit in there.<br />
I drove back onto the road and again I headed towards New Haven.<br />
As I got to the intersection of Derby Avenue and Forest Road, and the 1954 brown two tone Chevrolet was sitting there in front of me, they were waiting for a red light to change.<br />
When they saw me coming, I saw them locking their car doors. They must have thought I was going to kill them, they knew that they had slammed on the brakes just for the fun of it.<br />
This near catastrophic accident got me to thinking about just how dangerous motorcycles can be. I had survived the crash into the Bocce ball shed, and now I had survived this spinning crash into the alley way. That was two strikes against me.<br />
I was several months later, I was at home in my yard doing general maintenance on the motorcycle.<br />
I had lubricated all the areas that needed lubricating and I had loosened the knob that tightened the steering, I had intended to re tighten it, but I forgot.<br />
I then took the motorcycle out for a test ride around the block.<br />
I drove down the street in front of my house and took a left turn, I intended to make another left turn at the next corner.<br />
I could see a milkman’s truck coming towards me.<br />
In those days the milk delivery trucks were all Divco’s. They were popular for milk delivery, as the driver could stand up while he was driving.<br />
Since there was plenty of time for me to make my left hand turn before the Divco milk truck would be at the intersection, I sped up to about 40 miles per hour, and sharply turned my handlebars to the left.<br />
Because I hadn’t tightened the steering knob, the handlebars turned completely to the left and the Motorcycle completely flipped over with me on it.<br />
I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was laying on the ground, completely entangled with the motorcycle.<br />
I didn’t feel any pain and the Divco milk truck pulled up next to me. The milkman looked down at me and said, “Are you hurt”?<br />
I said, I don’t know, as I tried extracting myself.<br />
he Milkman said, “I never saw anything like that, do you know that you completely did a flip in the air, are you sure you are alright. <br />
I wasn’t hurt, or burned or anything, so I stood the bike up, and walked with it the rest of the way home. That was three strikes and I was out.<br />
I put the bike in front of my house with a sign $600.00, and I never rode a motorcycle again.<br />
<br />
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-73166500051214365882019-02-05T08:39:00.001-08:002019-02-06T05:51:56.758-08:00 The Buying a Motorcycle Story<span id="docs-internal-guid-d4cfb4d2-7fff-afdd-bffd-b48beabe5254"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 22.5pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Buying a Motorcycle Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1956</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 2010 and re-written 04/2016 unedited</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1956, I was 15 years old and I didn’t yet have a Connecticut driver’s license. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had a phone call from my good friend Richard Andrade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard lived on Springs side Avenue in New Haven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard and I were good friends, as we both always hid in the back row of home room number 12 when we attended Sheridan junior high school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When no one was looking, Richard and I would sneak into the library behind us, and get the National Geographic magazines that had lots of pictures of naked Africans. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Richard called me said that I should come over to his house right away to see a motorcycle he was thinking of buying.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I rode my bicycle down to the Gulf gas station, and one of the fellows there drove me to Richards house. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard was there along with his two brothers, they were all standing around what looked like a motorcycle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard’s home was built right next door to a lawn bowling court that the Italians called “Bocce Ball”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bocce ball court was owned by a private club, and they had a big fenced in area where about 10 teams could play Bocce at the same time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next to the fenced in bocce ball courts was a long gravel parking lot, it was for all the bocce ball players when they came on Saturdays and Sundays. The parking lot was about 400 feet long, and 75 feet wide.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the very end of that long parking lot was a wooden shed about 10 foot square that contained all the bocce balls and the Bocce ball court maintenance equipment.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bocce ball players gathered only on Saturdays and Sundays, so the rest of the week my friend Richard used the big parking lot like it was his.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not knowing anything about motorcycles myself, I was very curious as to what was going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I walked over to see what they were looking at.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a motorcycle and I noticed that it had hand levers similar to the brake levers on what we called at the time an English bicycle, and I knew how to ride one of those.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I watched as my friend Richard got on the seat of the motorcycle, he did it just like he knew what he was doing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then with his right foot he hit the starter lever, and the motorcycle engine roared to life.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could see Richard was hesitant like he didn’t know what to do next, so I watched as he turned the key and shut the motorcycle off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The guy wants $500.00 for the motorcycle,” Richard said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So are you going to buy it, I asked him?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes, I want to, but I don't have $500.00 right now.” Richard replied. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then Richard said “Why don't you buy it?” </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I said I don't know how to ride a motorcycle.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It's easy,” Richard said. “Triumph is an English company so it’s just like riding an English bicycle.” </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Then he said, this rubber thing on the handle is the gas, and this lever is for the brake, and this one is the clutch, and it’s as simple as that.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> You turn the key on, hit the starter lever with your foot and the bike will start.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then you kick this other lever, it’s the transmission which you operate with your right foot, other than that, it is like riding a bicycle.” </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Still It was all a bit confusing, I wasn’t so sure which was the brake lever and which was the clutch lever, but I didn’t want to appear stupid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard got off the motorcycle and I got on.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was right, it appeared to be very easy, my left foot was on the ground and held the bike balanced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My right foot hit the starter lever just like Richard had done. As the engine started up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How exciting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I released the clutch and the bike lurched forward, and everyone jumped out of the way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my panic to stop the motorcycle, I accidentally turned the gas and the bike went forward even faster. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was terrified, I knew I had to watch my balance, and I was now going pretty damn fast right down the middle of the bocce ball parking lot.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I knew I had to remember which lever was for the brake and which one was the clutch. That’s when I looked up to see the wood shed at the end of the Bocce ball parking lot, it was getting closer.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just then I remembered which lever was the brake and I squeezed it, but it was the wrong one, it was the clutch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was all over in a matter of seconds, the motorcycle at about 30 miles per hour proceeded right through the wooden wall of the shed, with me on it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately the wall of the shed was built correctly, and the handlebars of the motorcycle hit the wooden studs and this stopped the motorcycle pretty fast, but it didn’t stop me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Had the two 2 x 4 wood studs not stopped the motorcycle, I would have gone completely through the shed. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I sat there on the motorcycle dazed. It took a few minutes for my adrenalin to recede back to normal, and for me to realize that I was still alive.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked over myself and I didn’t see any blood.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By then Richard and his brothers had reached me and they stared as I tried to extract myself from the mess of broken boards.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were broken pieces of wood everywhere from where the front wheel had hit the wall.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could see that the headlight on the bike was broken and its housing was all bent up. The front fender was also a bent and twisted, there were several dents in the gas tank and the front wheel and tire was bent like a pretzel.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The motorcycle was a mess, and I was scared, I knew I must be hurt somewhere.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It turned out I was OK, </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It looks like you just bought yourself a motorcycle.” Richard said.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> And that’s how a 15 year old boy that never rode a motorcycle before became the proud owner of a bent and broken early 1950’s Triumph 650cc Bonneville motorcycle.</span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-46218593343824125352019-01-31T07:52:00.001-08:002019-01-31T07:52:56.721-08:00The Aunt Adele's Medicine Story (Short)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aunt Adele’s Medicine Story (Short)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-d7500d11-7fff-919e-12d9-05c63ae8b063"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 1/28/2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aunt Adele was one of three sisters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My mom Betty was the oldest and her sister Lilian was the youngest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> By 1964 all three sisters had all lost their husbands and were living on Miami Beach.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Eventually the youngest sister Lillian left for Connecticut, and my Mom leased a small 24 room hotel on Collins Avenue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Adele met a nice guy named Al. Al, was a retired electrician from New York, they got along so good that Adele eventually moved in with Al who was living at the Monte Carlo Hotel on Miami Beach.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adele’s son Allen and his wife Diana had 50 foot sailboat and every year they came from Colorado to sail in the Caribbean. When they did it, they always stayed with us a few days.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the years when my wife Katherine and I visited Adele, and we noticed her ability to talk to us was diminishing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Soon it was at the point where she would only say “Hello dear”, and “Yes dear”, and that was it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was almost Impossible to have a conversation, actually it was embarrassing trying to talk to her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day when Allen was in Miami, we were all on Miami Beach visiting Adele.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We noticed that on her night stand, she had about thirty different medications, all in plastic bottles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I asked Allen what he thought all the medicines were?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen picked one up and asked Adele who the doctor was and what it was for. Adele didn’t know, but she had been taking it for years. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen read the label, it had been prescribed many years before by a doctor in New Haven Connecticut, it was for some malady that Adele hadn’t had in years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen made a complete list of the medications and went to see Adele’s Medicare doctor.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen presented the list to the doctor and asked if he would review it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It appears the doctor for whatever reason took offense and said, “Exactly who are you”, Allen replied, “I am Adele’s son”. Perhaps the doctor was afraid that it was a list of medications he had prescribed.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Are you a doctor, the Medicare Doctor asked?” </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen, seeing an opportunity to further irritate the Medicare doctor said, “Yes I am a doctor”. Allen actually had a doctorate degree but it was in Engineering”. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Medicare doctor said leave the list and he would look at it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course Allen never heard from the Medicare doctor again. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next time Allen and Diana were in Miami, we all went to visit Adele, but this time Allen had a computer, and he looked up each medicine on the internet. He was able to eliminate about 80% of the medications. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the next visit to Miami, when we all went to visit Adele, she was in a convalescent home for a few days recovering from minor surgery. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It had been several months since she had been off all the old medications.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We all met in the Convalescent home dining room. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To our surprise, Aunt Adele was her old self again, she was a talker, and we all talked about everything including world events. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-63343531857824717442019-01-31T07:16:00.000-08:002019-02-09T10:10:21.397-08:00The, Where is Wasseal Story. <br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The, Where is Wasseal Story.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2006<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A true story <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Written
2017<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Howard Yasgar <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
story was told to me several years ago by one of my good friends and neighbor, named
Charlie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We always
ask Charlie to tell this story every time we have a get together, it’s a
classic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlie is originally from New Jersey, and his
wife is from Natchez Mississippi.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charlie’s
wife’s family still owns a considerable amount of farmland in Mississippi.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So every
year they drive to her ancestral home a couple of times. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
While Charlie’s wife takes care of family business,
Charlie, being a craftsman, always spends a couple of weeks fixing up, and repairing
all the old farm buildings on the property. Some of the old buildings are more
than a hundred years old.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One year,
Charlie’s project was a farm building that was pretty old and needed quite a
bit of exterior wood replaced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A decision was made that after he rebuilt the
building, the best approach would be to coat it with Thompsons Water Seal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thompson’s
Water Seal is a popular product sold worldwide. It is used <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to preserve and protect wood from the elements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can buy Thompsons
Water Seal in any hardware store it’s sold by the gallon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Charlie
estimated that he would need at least five, 5 gallons of Thompsons Water Seal.
It was much more than he cared to have to haul up to Natchez Mississippi in the
back his pickup truck.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Charlie called the Thompson water seal company,
and they told him that they would arrange it so he could pre order what he
needed, and they would make sure it was waiting for him when he got there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They said the Natchez
Mississippi hardware store would have the water seal compound ready for him
when he arrived.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So just to double check, before he left for
Mississippi, Charlie made a call to the hardware store.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, he wanted to confirm that his order
for the Thompsons Water Seal would be ready when he arrived. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
silence on the phone for several seconds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the
clerk replied, Wasseal, he don’t work hear no mo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously the
clerk misunderstood him, so Charlie, again said, I just want confirm my order for
Thompsons Water Seal is ready.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clerk said, “Just a minute” and there was
silence on the phone again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the clerk once again came back on the
phone and said, “I done told you, Wasseal don’t work here no mo”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-64259569365843599802019-01-31T07:10:00.002-08:002019-01-31T07:11:17.613-08:00The Ugly Looking Tomato Story<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Ugly Looking Tomato Story</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written 11/2018</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I was told this short story back in the 1990,s by a good friend Richard Schneider.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard was an entrepreneur who was involved in various businesses. He always had his eyes open for the possibility of a new venture.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One day, Richard was driving South on U.S. 1, he was heading for a meeting in Homestead Florida.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At the time Homestead and the surrounding area was the tomato capital of Florida, possibly the world. Hundreds of acres of farm land was devoted only to growing tomatoes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Today, NAFTA has changed all that, the tomatoes now come from Mexico and all the acreage in south Florida that was devoted to growing tomatoes, now have private homes and condo’s built on them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Anyway, as Richard was driving South on U.S. 1, as he was passing through Homestead there was a terrible smell, it smelled like a garbage dump.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Now, every day, when Richard drove down U.S. 1 there was always the awful garbage smell.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> He noticed that the smell was strongest as he passed by all the vegetable packing houses.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Back then there were all kinds of packing houses in homestead, packing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that were grown in South Florida. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> One day Richard decided to drive behind the packing houses, and find our where the smell was coming from.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It took a bit of maneuvering to get behind the packing houses, but when he did he couldn’t believe what he saw.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There was a absolute mountain of tomatoes, with a Caterpillar bulldozer driving over the pile and crushing them all, that was the garbage smell, it was tons of rotting tomatoes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard got out of the car and walked over to the mountain of tomatoes and picked a couple of them up. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The tomatoes were perfect except they were deformed, one was a double tomato, like two tomatoes grown together, another one looked like some ones behind. He picked up another one and it looked like a pair of boobs. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The packing house foreman saw Richard looking and came over to him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I think at first he thought Richard was some kind of inspector, or possibly the police, as I’m sure it was illegal to just crush tons of tomatoes, like they were doing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard asked the foreman why they were crushing thousands of perfectly good tomatoes?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The foreman said they were the ugly rejects, he sais the buyers of tomatoes only wanted perfectly</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> round ones, and all the deformed ones were all thrown away.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The first thought Richard had was, there are millions of starving people all over the world that would be happy to eat an ugly looking tomato.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Every day Richard thought about it, why not just crush the tomatoes and make tomato sauce out of them, or tomato juice or something, Richard felt that anything would be better than throwing them away into the garbage.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard had heard that the actor Paul Newman had just come out with all kinds of tomato based</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spaghetti sauces.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Richard felt that he was sure he could get all the deformed tomatoes he wanted for free perhaps he should Call them, he had heard that Paul Newman’s company said they want to help feed needy people.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> What could be better, he could sell the tomatoes to Newman’s company for next to nothing, they could just pay the freight and a small commission for Richard to arrange it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> So Richard called Paul Newman’s company and to his dismay, they weren’t even slightly interested. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It appeared they all knew about ugly tomatoes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The tomato growers and packers have tons of deformed tomatoes and no market to sell them, and they must to pay to take them to the dump. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-13864893516126937292019-01-31T06:29:00.001-08:002019-01-31T06:29:23.143-08:00The Medical Researcher Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Medical Researcher Story</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1983</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Written in 2016</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A true story that happened when we attended Mardi Gras in 1983. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was Mardi Gras time 1983, so my wife and I decided to head to New Orleans. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">After several calls we found a room at the le Richelieu hotel located on Chartres Street, a nicer place you could never find. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once we were there, we checked the parade schedule and found that there was one slated to come down Canal Street that very evening.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So about two hours before parade time we walked down to Canal Street hoping to find a good spot along the parade route, I hoped to find a place where I could catch some of the colorful beaded necklaces that they threw from the parade floats.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">That evening, even though we were two hours early, the crowds had already started lining the streets, and in some places they were already lined up 6 or 7 people deep, and that was for the entire length of the parade route. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eventually we found a spot and we edged our way in, we did it until we had only one or two people in front of us.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the parade eventually started coming by, I noticed there was a fellow standing next to me, he was standing on a small plastic cooler, the height of the cooler made it easier for him to catch the necklaces that were being tossed to the crowds. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the passing floats slowed down and several of the marching bands started going by, the fellow got off the cooler and opened it up. He took out a pint size cold bottle of Southern Comfort, and took a few slugs from it.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As he put the bottle back, I looked him over, he appeared to be a pretty presentable and normal looking guy about 30 years old. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could see he was already a bit tipsy, but I thought he was a pretty smart guy to have brought a cooler to stand on, so I complemented him on it, and then we started talking. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said that he was from Chicago, and he was going to be in New Orleans for a couple of weeks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So to make conversation, I asked him what he did for a living in Chicago.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said that he worked in a laboratory as a research chemist.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I said you are fortunate to have a job that lets you come to New Orleans for two weeks. Yes he said I’m very fortunate it’s a good job, they pay me while I am here, I come to Mardi Gras every year. I have been with them for several years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was curious, as to what the hell a young guy who was a research chemist does, as I have always liked to fool around with chemistry projects myself.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I asked him what he was researching?</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he was working for a government funded company that was researching for a cure for cancer.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had to stop and think for a second, then I said, what happens if you find a cure, does that mean you are out of a job, and won’t be able to come to Mardi Gras?</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">He stepped back up on the cooler and he looked at me sort of like I was an idiot, and with a wide smile, he said, I don’t think you ever have to worry about that. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I took that to mean, he wasn’t worried, because his company had no intention of ever finding a cure.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, I have to admit it got me to thinking about how many companies are paid by our government to find a cure but they never seem to find one. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I bet there are hundreds of them, they are all taking part in the same scam of supposedly seeking a cure.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">That conversation was back in 1983 and I bet he is still getting paid to go to Mardi Gras, and who knows perhaps the fellow we met is the president of the research company by now. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">My opinion is, perhaps the government should put term limits on all the cancer cure research companies, 4 years and no cure and the money stop, what do you think? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3710492196423246087.post-69846171671082532292019-01-31T06:16:00.000-08:002019-02-09T08:09:17.964-08:00The High Blood Pressure Story<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-5290fb06-7fff-6857-77a9-c0d32ae0985d"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5290fb06-7fff-6857-77a9-c0d32ae0985d"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The High Blood Pressure Story</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This true story happened in 2002</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Rewritten 1/21/2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Howard Yasgar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In the summer of 2002 my wife and I were in Islamorada, in the Florida Keys. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I needed a new pair of eyeglasses so we thought it would be pretty easy to find a local optometrist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My wife thought she had seen one in the local Tavernier shopping center, so we drove over there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Sure enough, there was an optometrists office there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We went inside, and standing behind the counter was a very nicely endowed young woman with extensive cleavage and she was proudly displaying it the best she could.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She appeared to be too young, but she said she was the optometrist. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Trying not to stare, I told her that I would like to buy two pairs of glasses.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She said that I would have to go through a full eye examination, and I agreed to do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As my wife took a seat and was reading a magazine in the outer waiting room, I followed the optometrist into the examination room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In the examination room I sat down in the optometrist’s chair, and she said that she needed to take my blood pressure. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought that strange as I never had an Optometrist take my blood pressure before an exam. But what the heck, I knew my blood pressure was always normal anyway. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As she prepared to take my blood pressure, she was leaning over me with her bosom no more that a inch or two from my face, and I couldn’t help but stare at her cleavage as my nose was practically in it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She pumped up the blood pressure machine and stared at the dial. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She said, “My goodness” your blood pressure is very high, it’s so high that it’s actually off the scale. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I became very alarmed and I asked her what I should do? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She said I needed medical attention right away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Fortunately, right next to the same shopping center was Mariners Hospital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I told my wife what the optometrist had said, that my blood pressure was so high it was off the scale.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My wife immediately drove me to the emergency room at Mariners Hospital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> By now I was sweating profusely, and fearing the worst.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As we registered at the emergency room desk, the receptionist asked what was wrong and I told her that the optometrist said my blood pressure was so high that it was off the scale.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She went into action immediately, and found a nurse who rushed me into a room and rapidly hooked me up to a blood pressure machine.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> You can be sure I was really concerned as to what she would say, was I having a heart attack? </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She said, “Who told you your blood pressure was high”, so I told her it was the Optometrist. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The nurse said your blood pressure is perfectly normal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The hospital didn’t charge me anything, for the blood pressure test, and I got my glasses in Miami. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Howard Yasgar Storieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364357787496246728noreply@blogger.com0