Coffee & Pretzels

lightsaber · Thu May 05, 2022 3:59 pm

FLDrifter wrote:
Good Morning,

Sometimes it's fun just to put out a cartoon that is light and fluffy. Not every one of them needs to be a kidney punch. If I've said that before, well, it's still true.Enjoying some days off and will be back in the saddle later this week.
See ya'll out there!

And here it is....

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

Light and fluffy is funny!

Lightsaber

FLDrifter · Thu May 05, 2022 4:18 pm

Good Morning,
This Throwback Thursday was a lot of fun to draw. Like most, I feel clowns are a little creepy and past their point of cultural relevance, but it was fun to itterate on a clown.
So hope you enjoy today's Throwback Thursday!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon May 09, 2022 3:24 pm

When I was in flight school, I was completely naïve to the structure and internal culture of an airline. I remember thinking to myself that some day I want to become a chief pilot, and then even rise up from that office too, "man, I'm going to climb that ladder!" Now I'm well into my career, and if I'm being honest, just past the half way point. I've been in training departments, safety departments and various committees and through it all, I've flown the line. I can't tell you how repellent it sounds to be anything than a rank-and-file line pilot. Show up, fly my trip, and go home. God bless those who want to burrow into the corporate milieu of an airline. Go for it! You can have it!

And on that note, today's cartoon was super fun to draw and write!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu May 12, 2022 4:57 pm

Good Morning,

Today's Throwback cartoon became one that simply needed to be created. The corporate evolution of airlines has come to a point where the joy of the career can be pretty easy to lose sight of. The last I checked, when you're in the thick of a four-day trip, maintenance, weather, passenger issues, operational delays, or ATC-traffic issues, it's your fellow crewmembers who get you through it all, on both sides of the FD door, so they should be the ones making the decision to let you in the club.

So with that rant off, here's Thursday's Throwback...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon May 16, 2022 2:24 pm

In this day and age, with the access to information and the landscape of labor, it's shocking that an airline management group can bargain like it's 1987.

And with that said, today's cartoon as one that I just reached up into the collective thought bubble above many pilots heads and simply translated it onto paper (and then into the computer)

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu May 19, 2022 4:05 pm

Good Thursday Morning,

I've said it before, there are times when a moment writes a cartoon, and today's panel was simply capturing a moment I had with Bill, really, that's his name. I thought that that moment would make a great cartoon. They don't all have to be knee slappers, sometimes it can be a groaner too.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Without further ado...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon May 23, 2022 4:56 pm

I rarely post from my phone, but I’m on a trip with the family visiting relatives and don’t have ready access to my laptop. I’ve been sitting on this cartoon for quite a while as you would imagine with all the delays in the production of top gun the sequel. It’s gone through a few evolutions of the caption, but there comes a point when you just Gotta let it go. I think we’re all pretty excited to see this movie!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

SQ22 · Mon May 23, 2022 4:58 pm

FLDrifter wrote:
I rarely post from my phone, but I’m on a trip with the family visiting relatives and don’t have ready access to my laptop. I’ve been sitting on this cartoon for quite a while as you would imagine with all the delays in the production of top gun the sequel. It’s gone through a few evolutions of the caption, but there comes a point when you just Gotta let it go. I think we’re all pretty excited to see this movie!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

As always well appreciated, thanks.

FLDrifter · Thu May 26, 2022 9:19 am

Good Morning Everyone,

Back to the laptop and still on the trip with the family. Today's throwback is subtle. This one isn't really directed at airline pilots, more operational and corporate clones, however, they can pull off corporate ladder-climbing too, but a lot of the time it looks like crabs in a tank.

And here is Thursday's Throwback;

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon May 30, 2022 2:25 pm

Good Morning,

I have had a run of serious cartoons and felt it was time to do some lighter fare. Last weeks was fun to finally get out. Still on a family trip a few time zones away, ok, a lot of time zones away, so it's also a neat process to figure out when to post in North America.

So here we go...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:27 pm

The office panels are fun to draw. I worked in various offices in a former life and try to capture a little bit of the culture there. I'm still a few time zones away from home and it's time for bed. So it's Thursday and here's the throwback.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jun 06, 2022 5:48 pm

Went through many versions of the caption for this one, but there comes a time when you're just spinning your wheels and arguing over the placement of a comma. I've had cartoons where I altered the caption right up to the point of posting. Some are easy and almost write themselves and others take some finess.

Hope everyone is well...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:04 pm

While the aisle seat is my favorite, and I won't turn it down when it's offered, I've grown to like the window seat more as it limits the butt-to-face time during deplaning. There's just less drama in the window seat.

I'll stay in my book as at least five rows deplane past me and then nonchalantly gather my stuff and leave. What's great too is when the guy three rows ahead of me gets the people standing in the aisle behind him to crowd-surf his bag to him. You don't have to participate in that short-sighted selfishness sitting in the window seat.

Plus, during the flight, I don't mind nudging the person next to me with a grimace and a, "gotta go pinch one".

And It's Thursday so....

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:01 am

Just got back from a long trip with the family and couldn't get this one posted until this evening. The golf scenes are fun to draw. I actaully love golf, but finding time in the day to carve out the time to play even 9 holes is a challenge.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jun 16, 2022 3:57 pm

As with most of my cartoons, I stumbled on the cloud characters because they are kind of fun to draw and as a pilot, I spend a fair amount of time among them. It doesn't matter how sophisticated your airplane is, there's a point where you must give them the respect they deserve, especially when they are painting your radar screen red. When your daily office is in the sky and especially during the summer you are bobbing and weaving around them, it's easy to anthropomorphize them.

My clouds are also the only characters where I still consistently use the "Garfield" eyes. I used them on my earlier cartoons because they were easy to draw, and easy to show expression. Garfield was the first cartoon I truly became a fan of and I would draw all the characters, so it was natural for me to use that device. I'm glad my nephew Michael has picked up the Garfield baton and is the current family fan.

Yes I placed a Garfield cartoon below. If I get a cease and desist order from whatever organization owns them, I'm framing it and putting it over my desk. Come on team of Viacom layers, bring it!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:02 pm

Good Morning,

I know I'm not really breaking new ground with this Monday's cartoon, but I till think anthropomorphic clouds are funny. And I have to imagine they have had this conversation, obviously to no avail. Summer time flying can be just a pain in the neck, compared to winter flying. Autumn is the best, no question.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jun 23, 2022 7:13 pm

I'm guilty of dipping into old corporate clichés, and referencing "Wac-A-Mole" to describe midlevel management at any company was not revolutionary. I felt creating a ridiculous scene of a group of managers at an arcade was fun though, so I went with it.

I also had a real problem drawing the guy with the mallet, so I gave up and had my wife take a picture of me holing a hammer in the kitchen. Thankfully she's used to me interrupting her with a, "hey hun, can you take a quick picture of me?"

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:20 pm

Good morning,
This one was fun to draw and a silly way to look at all the identity thing going on in our culture that makes a lot of us scratch our heads. At the end of the day, if you're simply a nice person, that's all that matters, but a lot of the identity pronoun changes can be disorienting, I'm sure for the folks doing it too.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:34 pm

It's pretty easy to figure out where some of the ideas for my cartoons come from. Such as today's; looking down at another small town in the middle of the country during the winter and wondered again, "what are they doing down there for entertainment?" So I flipped it on its head.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jul 07, 2022 5:20 pm

We all get it; gate agents are one of the many unsung heroes of the airline industry. They are one of the front-line groups supporting airline policies that can quickly defy logic. Most of them do an amazing job under withering pressure from passengers and airline management. But it's amazing how much of a spectrum there is among gate agents regarding how well they manage the process of boarding an airplane.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jul 11, 2022 2:10 pm

Good Morning,

Today's cartoon was a grind. I had the original idea and wrote the caption with it in mind. But it was clunky and just didn't work so last night I grinded away for quite awhile and am happy with the final lines. Some come easy and some don't.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:48 pm

I realize the thin ice of eccentricity I'm treading on when I do a cartoon that simply makes me laugh. This is one of those. I just hope that others find it funny too.

And yes, I graduated high school in the early 90's and had a mullet. It was feathered and looked pretty darn good.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:26 pm

Good morning,

So today's is one which supports why I changed the name of my cartoon to something more general. It has nothing to do with flying, just some commentary on the way some, usually young, people live. Yes, I'm guilty of using my cartoon as a digital soap-box. It's always in good fun though.
Cheers,

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Jul 21, 2022 6:13 pm

As the years tick by in my airline career I can begin to look back at a few landings, not many, but a couple, where the pilot I am now, probably wouldn't have made the approach and landing that I did when I was a younger, eager-beaver pilot with something to prove. When you find yourself rationalizing a landing and know that everything has to work out, maybe it's time to go to an alternate.

What better figure to represent an over-eager guy than Tony The Tiger who hears some bad weather and is all in and raring to go.

Yes, you can always add power and go around. It's the braking action report that's the kicker for me.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Jul 25, 2022 2:15 pm

Good Morning,
In today's current staffing and training environment at the airlines it might seem silly to envision a quiet period, I still feel it was a fun cartoon to do.
Hope everyone is safe out there
-GK

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Fri Jul 29, 2022 5:22 am

You know if they could seek counseling, many of them would echo what our poor pooch is saying. This is one of the latest posts I've done in a while, just a busy day. I hope everyone is good, be safe out there.
Cheers,
GK

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Aug 01, 2022 2:59 pm

Good Morning,

I had never planned my cloud characters when I first started doing them but I'm happy how they have grown to be a fun part of my cartoons. They usually write themselves and I just have to put my pen to paper.

Happy Monday!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

penguins · Mon Aug 01, 2022 7:06 pm

FLDrifter wrote:
Good Morning,

I had never planned my cloud characters when I first started doing them but I'm happy how they have grown to be a fun part of my cartoons. They usually write themselves and I just have to put my pen to paper.

Happy Monday!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

LOL This one is to funny! Keep up the greatwork... Happy Monday!

FLDrifter · Tue Aug 09, 2022 12:29 am

penguins,

Thanks for the kind words. I never know if anyone really reads these, sure I can look at thread hit count, but I usually just post the cartoon and get on with my day. It's not like I'm a comedian on stage getting immediate gratification with a good joke or a bomb. I simply post into the blind and hope people enjoy them.

And I'm on airline time today... late! so without further ado, today's cartoon...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

Cheers,

-GK

FLDrifter · Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:44 pm

Good morning,

This cartoon was personal for me as I spent the first decade of my career flying turboprops. I've now spent the second-decade flying big-time jets! I'm so important now I can barely stand myself! Nor can anybody else!

I also love the eternal debate as to which is better, jets or props. It's like debating what is better, a screwdriver or a hammer. They are different tools for different jobs.But there are tools that still need to debate it periodically

And it's Thursday, so...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html.

FLDrifter · Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:24 pm

Good Morning,

There are times when my cartoons take on shades of what's going on in our life as a family. Our twin daughters just turned 16 and have their learners permit. The only car that they will have access to has a manual transmission, so I've been teaching them how to drive it. Wow, there was a moment when I was about to give up, I figure I'd better before the clutch gives up. But then it was amazing when it just clicked and they got it. But in the process we put on the student driver magnets on the hood and rear of the car. I wish we had those 30 years ago when I was learning how to drive, but back then I sweat people weren't as aggressive.

So that's a lead in to today's cartoon.

Fly safe out there ya'll.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Aug 18, 2022 6:23 pm

This has been one of those mornings. My usual laptop Sh!t the bed, so now I'm using my daughters lap top which has been in the back of a drawer for the last couple years. It's painfully slow, hence why it's taken me this much time to get today's throwback out as I'm on the road.

Hope ya'll are safe out there and I'll see you Monday!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/th...thursdays.html

FLDrifter · Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:01 am

Hey folks,

Late as all get out. Been one of those weeks! Chasing my tail and finally got around to sitting down to push this Monday's cartoon out. Interesting times with all the new contracts that are being or about to be negotiated eh?

Fly safe out there!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Aug 25, 2022 6:10 pm

This was one of those head-smacking obvious cartoons to do. I couldn't believe nobody had drawn this one before. After I put it out, a friend texted me about being careful with treading on trademark stuff. Did it cross my mind? Of course. If Apple, who owns Peanuts, one of the most valuable companies in the world, feels the need to task their legal department to go after some dork like me who put out a one-off cartoon with a threatening letter. Well, I'd frame it and send them a thank you letter!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Aug 29, 2022 3:08 pm

Good morning,

It's crazy times in the airline staffing models out there. It's funny, I don't consider myself an old timer, but I'm 20 years deep from the first time i began flying a Jetstream J41. The way airlines and especially regional airlines are sourcing pilots is mind-bending considering what previous generations had to go through to climb into this business. Guess we have to just get used to it.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:03 pm

Playing with words that have grown to hold a lot of snooty social baggage is fun. And what better airplane to carry that load than the venerable Beech 18? Emanating from in the late 30's during the early golden age of aircraft design, it's simply a beautiful airplane.

And remember to click on the image below, you will be treated to a great scene featuring the C-45, the military version of the Beech 18. I didn't know that that was technically the airplane from that movie. I always thought it was a Beech 18.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Sep 05, 2022 1:24 pm

Good morning,
Today's cartoon was a fun one, well they are all fun, but some are more than others. It's not a knee slapper and it's not really groaner either, but it's fun ever the less. Hope everybody is enjoying their holiday!
Happy Labor Day!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Sep 08, 2022 5:28 pm

I find myself saying that one particular cartoon is my favorite when I end up feeling that way about a lot of them. Not all, but most of them. And then I'll scroll back to this one. It's pretty darn up there for being my favorite.

I had no intention to do any emotional support cartoons, I felt that the whole concept was so ridiculous that there was nothing I could mine there but in spite of myself, I ended up doing a number of them.

Can you imagine? It's 1847, and the family has decided to leave Pennsylvania and head west to try to make a new life. You then walk up to your partner as final preparations are being made, and declare that you're taking Puddles on the seven-month trip that you may not survive.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:34 pm

Good morning,

Crazy times in the airline industry. Yes sometimes events will inform the cartoons that I write and this one is front and center for that process.

I start a four-day tomorrow, so I'll see ya'll out there!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:03 pm

Well, it's Thursday and it's time to throw it back. The one I'm posting today is a cartoon I did super early, not really sophisticated but it's true.
On day 3 of four, running down to Mexico and back today.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:37 pm

When I finished inking this one, I showed it to my wife and she laughed and groaned at the same time, which is always an interesting sound. The start of a new week and I start a 3-day trip tomorrow. Have a layover in MCI, which doesn't happen very often, looking forward to it, because it's a great city!

Cheers!

And today's cartoon...

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Sep 22, 2022 4:17 pm

Happy Thursday, so it's time to throw it back.

Today's throwback was my very first cartoon, at least under the title of Coffee and Pretzels, even tho back then my cartoon was known as PIREP, which was a horrible name.

I thought it was a funny take on a pretty supported observation out there in the world. As usual, I didn't mean to offend anyone, but as the great Suicidal Tendencies once wrote, "if I offended you, then maybe you needed to be offended, and here's my apology and one more thing..."

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

casinterest · Thu Sep 22, 2022 5:17 pm

FLDrifter wrote:
Happy Thursday, so it's time to throw it back.

Today's throwback was my very first cartoon, at least under the title of Coffee and Pretzels, even tho back then my cartoon was known as PIREP, which was a horrible name.

I thought it was a funny take on a pretty supported observation out there in the world. As usual, I didn't mean to offend anyone, but as the great Suicidal Tendencies once wrote, "if I offended you, then maybe you needed to be offended, and here's my apology and one more thing..."

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

lack of

before posting.

Corrected Link.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:58 pm

I got tired of coming back from a trip to have my wife ask a question or ask if I knew about something happening with another airline or my own airline for that matter! So I wrote this cartoon. It had to be done.

Start a 4-day tomorrow, see ya'll out there!

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:57 pm

I feel this caption is still relevant. Right now it appears that the opportunities abound for airline pilots, but old timers, and I'm beginning to put myself in that category, will attest that the only thing consistent in this industry is change. Hope the party lasts a little longer and somebody doesn't unplug the DJ booth and take the punch bowl away.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:22 pm

Good morning,

When I started doing my cartoons, there was a flight attendant who was also putting out an aviation related cartoon, "Jetlagged". She did it for a number of years and then hung up her pens. Normally I would have been pretty self conscious about encroaching on her side of the door, but I felt this was a fun one to do.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Oct 06, 2022 10:52 pm

Some of the ways the career works out isn't supportive of a young family. In many cases, by the time you have the seniority to be helpful around the house with the kids, they have grown up and moved away and their childhood memory of you is that of a voice or image on a phone.

Make your career moves wisely. It's not always about the money or bigger metal. Sometimes it's simply about being there to tuck in a scared little girl or boy on a rainy night.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

FLDrifter · Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:26 pm

Good Morning,
Getting started early this morning. I wrote today's cartoon way before the whole controversy over student debt relief, not that this cartoon has anything to do that per se.
Cheers,

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Mon Oct 17, 2022 3:47 pm

Good Morning,

I put my Throwback out last Thursday but I didn't upload the link like I usually do, just busy. But today's cartoon was fun, a little inside baseball. If you've ever interviewed for almost any job in the last 20 years, then you've probably bumped up against the, "tell me about a time..." question. Those can be harder than technical questions that mostly have a right or wrong answer.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/

FLDrifter · Thu Oct 20, 2022 5:53 pm

Last week I got my Throwback Thursday out on the website, but I just didn't get the links out to the small clutch of forums I usually post to. Surey ya'll.

I had no intention of ever doing an emotional support animal cartoon. I felt it was low-brow and played out, but here it is, the first one of a line of them.

https://www.coffeeandpretzels.com/throw ... sdays.html

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