Just a Capfull

 I was scrolling on Facebook the other day and I came across one of those made up scenarios involving a husband and wife and a boat. The guy is standing at the back of the boat waiting for the wife to pass him the five gallon jug with the gasoline. Meanwhile she is waving him off and telling him to wait a second, while all along she is emptying the container into the lake. She then fills it up with water from bottles, gives it to the husband, who then puts it in the engine. Stupid. Then he waves his arms in amazement  when he realizes it's not gasoline.

Now, if she poured that fuel into the lake it would be a mess. How do I know that you may ask?

Well, when I owned a boat, we had it docked in Haverstraw Marina in Rockland County, NY. I just happened to be in the marina on quiet weekday and no people were around. I was doing some maintenance and adding some fluids. I had a small cap of power steering fluid and without realizing what I was doing, for some crazy reason, I flicked it over the side of the boat and into the river, well actually in the marina, but we were on the Hudson River. 

I'm talking a very small capful. Mere drops! I thought we had a second coming of the Exxon Valdez. Holy crap. I sprayed it with the hose hoping to dilute it, but this dumb move just made it worse. I'm looking around to see if anyone is watching this Haverstraw environmental disaster as it started spreading all around the dock area and beyond my little section. 

What do I do? I know. I loaded all my stuff onto the boat, untied my boat, started it up and went for a ride on the Hudson like I was never there. This ain't good. Off I went,  out for about a half hour. But I got to go back sometime. Boy, I hope it's gone.

Not sure what happened, maybe the fish gobbled up the fluids, who knows. But it was gone, at least from my dock spot where my marina home was. I parked the boat, packed up all my stuff and got into my car and headed home like nothing happened.

So, five gallon jug of fuel and no mess. Really, I've been there.  At least when you make those fake videos, try to make them a little more realistic. My spill, probably wasn't as bad as I thought and it must of dispersed itself. After all, the marina is filled with 100's of gasoline powered boats.

Something else about the Internet. Reviews. Do you read them? I breeze through some, but the main thing is you have to pay attention to, is how many people wrote them reviews. Like, if there is a 4.9 rating, is that from one person two years ago or twenty people in the past month. 

Last August I applied for a home warranty with a company called SHW. The reviews were 9.9, but I didn't follow my own advice. I just saw 9.9 and went with them. Then in January, we called them because we were having issues with our clothes dryer, which is an LG and not even two years old at the time. Second issue, first it was still under LG warranty. Poof, that was gone.

The mechanic comes out and says it is a electronic control board. He called the company and they denied the claim saying I didn't have the right program. I didn't get the electronics warranty, just the motor. Why in the world would I do that.

Anyway, fast forward to last week. I filed a claim on the web site for my refrigerator. Leaking water from underneath when I hit ice dispenser I wrote An hour later I get an email denying my claim. They don't cover dispensers!

Two requests two denials. I better read the reviews better.

US Men's Soccer Team took a meaningless loss last night to Turkey, but boy, to lose in the last 10 seconds really has to hurt. Go Team onto the next round.

John A Sutich

Just Another Story Blog

"No Stinking License"

 Back in 2008, and a few years before, Perfect Limo needed to find chauffeurs with a CDL license, which made hiring chauffeurs a little more challenging then in the earlier years. Oh, you could drive a regular sedan or SUV with a normal DL, but if you wanted to drive the larger vehicles, limousines, vans and buses you needed to pass the Commercial Drivers License test. It was no longer the "can you walk, talk and chew gum at the same time" era like in the 80's. This was a good thing though.

Now, I bring this up, because in order to fly a plane, you know, those big things with wings that go up to 35,000 feet in the air and have a few hundred people on them, you need to have a Airline Transport Pilots License or ATPL as it is referred to.

Turns out, Air Canada had a pilot who was employed for 17 years flying those planes that I'm sure are a lot more sophisticated than the 'Kitty Hawk" that Orville and Wilbur took off in 1903. Also, they were probably thinking, "license, we don't need no stinking license".

Best part, Capt. Oops, who flew over 900 flights in that time span, retired in 2025. (Upon further review, he was actually released) He was probably sitting in his backyard enjoying a nice cold beer and wondering how many more minutes until he has to move the sprinkler. When in come the authorities and arrest him.

Apparently, he must of been a good pilot and he did have a pilots license, but in Canada, you need this ATPL certification. So, the problem as I see it, he was just living in the wrong country!

We had a part time employee a few years back, like in the 80's once again, who at her place of business they hired a guy. On his application he stated that he worked in Ohio for 17 years straight. Steady employment, that's good. Then after a few weeks, somehow, they discovered that those 17 years he was a painter alright, but at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Hey, it was steady employment!

I guess background checks isn't such a bad idea after all.

What about those Knicks and thier historical comeback! When the game got done, I was happy, did a little fist pump and said "go Knicks, baby". Then went to bed. But, for thousands of fans who were in NYC Wednesday night after the victory, they thought it would be better to celebrate the victory by doing dumb things like, damaging vehicles, fighting with police and even throwing an egg at a Spurs player, Victor Wenbanyama.

56 people were arrested. How is getting arrested a celebratory thing? I must live a very boring life.

One more thing. This Sunday is the Montvale Chamber of Commerce June 14th, which is 14 years of this wonderful event. Come out and see us the VIP Tent between 10 AM and 5 PM.

Be safe.

John A Sutich

Just Another Story Blog

Not That Old, Baby

 Yesterday, Doris and I went to NYC to see The Great Gatsby, to the 2 PM matinee. We always think we're old for going to the afternoon show, but I'm not too sure about that. It's about eating.! How's that you may ask? Let me explain. 730 PM show, you are eating at maybe 5 to 530. Way too early. But, the 2 show gets you done at 430 in time to get home for a 7 PM dinner time . All good.

We had pretty decent seats and we were one seat off the aisle. I'm thinking to myself, this is great, I'll be able to slide one seat over and sit in that vacant seat and stretch my legs.

After getting familiar with our seating, we went to use the facilities. In the old days it also was to buy my Twizzlers, which the theaters don't have anymore. Why did the Twizzlers get dumped? When we came back, we were surprised to see a woman sitting in that vacant seat. After some small talk, turns out she was a school teacher from Charleston, SC, who taught theater to grammar school kids. She was in the city to visit some friends and see some shows. I'm still upset she took my aisle seat.

Anyway, she mentioned to us that Madonna, you know, Madonna!, was going to be doing a free show in Times Square at 530 PM. Why not, the Gatsby got done at 430 PM, so all we have to do was kill an hour. So, we made our way to Times Square and mixed ourselves into a pretty decent spot, although, we had no clue where Madonna's stage was going to be. It was getting crowded, like uncomfortable, with pot smell amongst the crowd. 

530 became 630 and still no Madonna, when all of a sudden one of those big billboards that light up the streets of Broadway opened up and a stage appeared in the wall. The crowd went crazy. Although, from where we were standing it was hard to make out anything that was going on. The saving grace it was all captured on the massive video screen to the side. She looked good for 67, but she made sure to make those up and down dance routines were done with a lot more caution then she would of done 20 or 30 years ago. 

Yes, can you imagine she started in the early 1980's and here we are mixed amongst this crowd of young people celebrating Gay Pride month who were all singing along to her songs, like 'I Love New York' and 'Get Together' which were out in 2005. I had no clue she was this popular in 2026, because the only Madonna song I ever sung along to was 'La Isla Bonita' which was released in 1987. Talk about withstanding the test of time!

In the early years of Perfect Limo we did have the pleasure of working with a Los Angeles based limousine company that had connections to all the stars of the 80's, both screen and stage and when they would arrive in New York we would transport them around town. It was fun. Just like being in that crowd watching Madonna, even if was only for 15 minutes.

Be safe.

John A Sutich

Just Another Story Blog