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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

AN UNAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING

TO A NEW WEEK

At least for the night shift.. Apparently the daytime has been really hopping.. I hope it starts spilling over onto my shift. Metered barely over $100 last night.

Hotel bookings are way up, almost to 100%, throughout the rest of the month. Thanksgiving week is always busy but we are getting more visitors earlier this year.

The Caribbean is still recovering from the devastation of last years hurricanes. That usually takes 5 to 10 years to rebuild. Southeast Asia may take an entire generation to recover from the tsunami, two years ago.

Wedding bookings have "maxed out" and it is not unusual to see 30 or 40 different beach ceremonies occurring at the same time.

Looks like this winter is going to be extremely good (as in $$).

Speaking of weddings, I took this couple from The Grand to dinner and back.

Unfortunately, they have to leave on Saturday, since there is "no room at the inn", any of the "inns".
~ Kevin & Shannon ~
Memphis, Tennessee
Getting Married on Friday

Around 3:00am I received a call from a guy at a private residence in north Kihei, he wanted to go back to The Grand. He gave me his address and then started to give me directions to it. I laughed and told him that I knew where that street was. This seemed to astonish him. When I picked him up he even commented that he was used to cabbies not knowing how to find residential addresses.

I guess on the mainland, in larger metro areas, this could be a problem. Though most cities seem to have a grid pattern that can be easily learned. An exception would be the Boston Metro region, where all the streets were laid out by the easiest route from one farm or village to another back in the 1600s.

The final run of the shift were three "bar maids" from Life's A Beach. That was about 4:30am. I had spoken with each of them many times but we had never met each other. All three said that they love it when I am the one who answers the phone. I am easy to understand, give them a time estimate for pickup and never seem to be stressed out, no matter how busy it is. Like a duck skimming across a lake, I seem so serene. They can't look below the surface and see me paddling for dear life sometimes.



TSUNAMIS

This one goes under the assumption of a 100 foot tsunami. We already have historical evidence of there being tsunamis over 1,000 feet high. Thats the ONLY way that seashells ended up on the top of the island of Lana'i's highest peak.

Still a well done video.

A better video link at the National Geographic Website



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"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

HOW I SPENT MY BIRTHDAY

First off, mahalo (thank you) to all who left very nice wishes in the comments or e-mail. And isn't Miss Holly Muppet a little doll. She resides in the southern realms of Oz.

Got the daughters camera off to her via UPS Second-Day Air. She'll receive it on Wednesday.

Renewed my driver's license. Those damn things now cost $30. I get to renew it in 6 years, 2012, when I turn 65. Thats a toss-up.

Did my one large load of weekly laundry.

Cursed out Blogspot when my primary site went ERROR CODE 500 - INTERNAL SERVER ERROR for about 90 minutes. Don't forget, if you can't access the primary site, the "back-up", Blogger-Beta, site should be available. http://paradisedriver.blogspot.com. The only significant difference between the two locations is that "comments" are disabled on Beta. It just makes it easier for everyone to corral "comments" in one (Blog) spot.

Picked Judy up at work just a little past 5pm.
Took her to Ruth's Kris Steak House, at The Shops At Wailea.
(click logo to see their TV commercial)

She had the petite filet, I had the Filet. We skipped appetizers and salad. Lyonnaise potatoes and fresh asparagus rounded out our menu. A complimentary (my birthday gift) bread pudding, with whiskey sauce, was shared for dessert. We took home "doggie" bags. Scan around their site, its very descriptive. The food and service were impeccable. I would rate my steak as the second best one, by just a smidgen, I've had in my entire life.

After dinner we walked around The Shops. Some of the stores were very interesting.

Please note that art galleries really frown on people taking photographs of their merchandise. So I cupped my camera and tried my best to get some surreptitious shots. That explains why some are a bit out of focus.

Célébrités


^^^ Thats Judy On The Left ^^^





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"Let's all be careful out there!"