It's an age old question tackled in this Potpourri episode where Jimmy Ahmuhdoofous and I share with you select pieces of prose and poetry collected over the past few months from Facebook. Some are designed to make you laugh, others to tug at your heartstrings, all of them to make you think.

If you sell cars for over forty years like my good friend Roger Beard, you're going to have some stories. Roger's adventures include selling cars to exotic dancers, ball busters, drunks, and a couple who had to offer their cow as part of the deal.

In addition to those humorous tales, he answers questionns about vehicles such as

• Is there a best time to buy a car?
• Should you use your own financing or go with the dealership?
• Do you need to follow the car maker's manual on items like cabin filters,,radiator and transmission flushing?
• How valuable is an extended warranty?

This is part II of our interview with this veteran of the car industry.

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Imagine leaving the nest and going off to college, only to find the academic scene a bad fit for you. You walk away from what you’ve always been told is the path to success. So, you pivot into a sales career, in which the first month you make zero sales: zilch/nada/nothing. More failure. Now what?

That’s the humble beginning to a successful forty plus year career in car sales for Roger Beard. He shares with us his early years as a young man trying to find his way, eventually finding traction as a car salesman and becoming a manager of used car sales at a large dealership in Florida that annually generated multi-millions of dollars in sales.

In part one of this two-part interview, Roger will tell us about the beginnings of Beard Pontiac, a Prophetstown car dealership that served the surrounding area for twenty years. He’ll tell us amusing stories about various sales he made and insider tips on how to buy a used vehicle, including why you should check the entire length of a seatbelt. [TN1]

[TN1]

Jimmy Ahmuhdoofus and I have been able to share with you interviews with people that have interesting hobbies or vocations, people who I usually don’t know that well, but this episode is a treat for me as I get to chat with a life long friend, Brian Zschiesche. He’s a good enough friend that not only do I know his middle name but also how to spell that wacky last name. Prior to his current interesting job at the Sterling hospital, he spent over three decades behind the mic at various radio stations, including 20 years at WSDR, where many of my Prophetstown listeners enjoyed his on-air antics. He’ll reminisce about DJs that influenced him, about the demise of radio as we once knew it, and how he disappointed women.

Leaving a mark

With over 30 years of service as a police officer for Prophetstown, Bruce Franks had many experiences that left a mark upon him, some of them quite sad, others inspirational. He shares these moving moments, his best and worst days as a first responder, his reaction to national events like the George Floyd murder, and his adjustment to retirement. This is part II of our conversation with Chief Franks.

Franks for the Memories- and your service.

“You’ve got to be willing to help people when they are at their worst.” This firmly held belief by recently retired Prophetstown Police Chief Bruce Franks was enacted many times throughout his career. Bruce will share with us stories about offering a hand to those he too often had to deal with that were mired in misery. He’ll also speak about his tireless involvement in community affairs like the Fishing Derby and Light Up the Park, the difficulties and rewards of wearing a badge, how he managed to avoid becoming cynical, and other aspects of wearing a badge, vest, and a weapon.

This episode is part one of our wide-ranging conversation covering his three decades of service. Part II will be available on the 15th of next month.

Listen at this website or wherever fine podcasts are hosted: https://okboomer.libsyn.com/site

Other links:

Thomas Nance website for audiobooks and voiceover: https://tommytones.webnode.page/

Email: ttaudioworks@gmail.com

How to Live - How to Die-- when you get to be my age, those topics become of interest. And so they are featured in this episode. The episode is in my occasional format of potpourri, an eclectic reading of various literary gems I've found worth sharing, many of them dealing with living and dying. But to be sure, there are plenty of humorous bits from Jimmy Ahmuhdoofous that will tickle you.

Once upon a time a Wauconda High School student, class of 2004, was floundering around, contemplating life as a painter, not terribly ambitious about anything. He had a below average GPA and a job at Jewel. He was enjoying life, perhaps a bit much. But holy about face, Batman! In a just a few short years, he was excelling in college, scoring a double major while holding down various jobs, all which led to his current position as a top-level executive at the Jim Beam corporation. Talk about a pivot! And he does talk about it and how persistence and passion catapulted him into a life that even today amazes him. Join Boomer and Jimmy Ahmuhdoofous for an inspiring conversation on how Rob Allen turned his life around.