FRUSTRATION AND...

JUBILATION

A 7¢ jump since Sunday morning. We hit our all time high, $4.049, right after Katrina. This might be just a brief bump. All our fuel needs (auto, aviation, industrial, marine) are served by 2 refineries on O'ahu. Chevron and Tesoro. The Tesoro refinery had a recent fire and production has been shut down.

Of the night crew, I was the only driver who never made it out of town. Which meant that I was the only one who didn't break the $200 mark on the meter. Came close but no cigar. I was relieved by 4:00 AM and had at least 1 run every hour of the shift. That hasn't happened in a long time. We stayed very active the entire shift, through bar close. This week's tourists, from the resorts, are leaving campus. Seeking some "night-life". I wouldn't exactly describe the "Triangle" as stimulating but, what the hell, it was good enough for Paris Hilton.

I found out from my relief that the radio in #14 had been fixed yesterday. They must have done the usual "Mau'i quality" of work, because at 10:00 PM last night I was receiving a dispatch and the speaker went dead. For the next 2-1/2 hours Kimo would call me on my cell to assign runs and I would call him back with every pick-up and drop-off. Very time consuming, very stressful. Quite often, near the "Triangle", the cell tower circuits would be overloaded and all I would get is:

"We're sorry. We cannot complete your call. All circuits are busy."

I did a lot of "10-counts" last night.

When Tina left at 12:30 AM, I switched to her cab, #11. At 4:00 AM I switched back to #14 and guess what. The !@#$%& radio was now working. That "thumping" sound you hear is me pounding my head against the wall.

My largest fare was $18.80 and the smallest was $4.70. Ironically, they were also my first and second trips of the night. Looking at the trip sheet, not one run was interesting. Dinner runs. Bar runs. Bar close. The "bread & butter" of my existence. But there were a lot of them. The trend from last week is continuing. Oops! I wonder if putting that out on the web is like saying that a pitcher is throwing a "no-hitter"?

19 fares / 127 miles / 4th quarter $100 bracket

The Democratic caucus was held in Hawai'i yesterday. Hawai'i born Obama won in a landslide over Clinton. That was a given. Thats also 9 straight that Hillary has lost.

Lets do a little poll. Who do you think the next President will be? Not who you want it to be but who do you think will actually win? I think that John McCain will take the oath on January 20th. This is not to be construed as who I want to win but who I think will win. Leave your response in the "comments". This should be interesting.

Everyone needs to read this post, and then this one, from This Just In. Goes to show the power of this global community of websters.

Everyone enjoy your day and I'll be back after work tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

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Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
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"Let's all be careful out there!"