男の子の日

KODOMO NO HI

The 5th of May is "Boy's Day" in Japan. It is a national holiday.

Oh, yeah, it is also the day that the American "booze biz" has adopted as a celebration of a very minor holiday in Mexico. Called Cinco de Mayo.


I remember hearing one early 20-something girl last year complaining that she hated Cinco de Mayo because she would do too many "Ta-Kill-Ya" shots and wake up naked, in a strange bed, the next day with a bleeding rectum.

The night started at a walk and progressed to a sprint. As usual, we were in the doldrums from 11pm to 1am. Those are the prime drinking hours and folks don't tend to move from one bar to another. Bar close was a madhouse.
I know there was some sort of incident at the "Triangle" on Thursday night. I thought it was minor but my opinion has changed. Those guys in the photo (left) are all plain clothes cops. The vans are their "Task Force" vehicles. The "Triangle" had also added 5 additional security officers for the night. Do you think all that stopped the idiots from fighting?

Yeah, right.

Just before 2am I was "flagged" in the FoodLand parking lot. 4 Tongans headed just past the northend of Kihei. ONE-NINE was seriously loaded. The smallest guy weighed about 350 lbs (159 kg). One sat shotgun and the other three somehow managed to squeeze themselves into the back seat. While mildly intoxicated, they were all very polite and well behaved. ONE-NINE has a rear "air-suspension" system and throughout the 5 mile ride I could hear the compressor motor trying to adjust/level the load.

***

A new definition of

STRONGARM ROBBERY

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At 12:34pm tomorrow, it will be

1-2-3-4-5-6-7

***

I am dead tired. I need to get some rest before tonight's melee.

Have a good weekend and I'll be back mañana. Hope you will be too.

Mahalo

Aloha

***

SURF'S UP!

photos courtesy of :
MAUI ACTION PHOTOS

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Haleakala

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"Let's all be careful out there!"

REACHED OUT HIS HAND

AND TOUCHED THE FACE OF GOD

Walter M. Schirra
1923-2007

"Let's all be careful out there!"

A CHANGE (BACK)

FOR THE BETTER

I logged in and was given my position in the Wailea queue. Then TMR announced that, effective immediately, we were changing our SOP for dispatching at night. Without going into a complete wiring diagram of the changes, what we have done is switch back to what we were doing a little over a year ago. The old owner had got a wild hair up his ass back then. Upset that we dispatched by a different sent of "rules". Every regular night driver was very happy to hear we were going back to the old way. It is more equitable to everyone and addresses the fact that the call flow does a dynamic shift after dark. The load of calls is Wailea-centric during the day. People go places, do things. After dark the need and focus shifts to Kihei. Basically moving drunks from point A to point B.

There was also a minor change in the boundary lines of our two zones.

The new owners do read this blog and I want to tell them:

THANK YOU!!

***

The shift started off pretty slow and it was an hour before I reeled in my first fare. A Wailea pupu. Half an hour later, another Wailea pupu. 30 minutes after that was my 3rd pupu in Wailea. (see a trend here?) 2-1/2 hours after starting I had my 4th Wailea gut wrencher.
By 10:00pm I had moved into Kihei and covered 6 more pupus. At midnight I had completed 10 trips. Only one of which was over $10. The number of fares was great, but the $$s were low. I haven't had 10 trips by midnight in one hell of a long time.
After the "witching hour", the volume of business slowed but the distance of the runs lengthened, which means a bigger meter. The "Triangle" was packed with people. As far as I know, there was only one minor incident there to mar the evening.
The way things died, I thought my solo hours were going to be quiet. But the phone came alive shortly past 2:30am. One of which was a nice trip from the Coast to MMMC. While on that nearly $50 jaunt, the phone rang 4 0r 5 times. Where were these people when I could of really used them last week?

Finished off the morning with a small hop from the "Triangle" to the Kihei/Wailea line.

The last two shifts have come within pocket change of metering $200.

Tonight is my phone night. Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, our third or fourth busiest night of the year. The American spirits industry have really transformed a minor Mexican holiday into a major quasi-event north of the border.

Used the credit card "thingy" for the third time last night. The fare was $8. When I got to the part about a gratuity, I explained that if he wished he could include that on the chargeslip.

"Yeah, sure."
"How much should I indicate, sir?"
"Give yourself $8"

100% TIP!!

"Okay. The fare is $8 and the tip is $8, giving you a grand total of $16. Just sign next to the 'X' sir."

SWEET!

But as far as tips go, the one to MMMC was the winner. A middle-aged man from Iran, who had fled in 1979. Persians speak English in the same machine gun pattern as they do Farsi. He never stopped talking the entire 30 minute trip. I was his hired audience. As a secondary character is his personal drama, my role was to respond with an appropriate blurb, on cue. I must have passed the audition. He gave me $100 ("it all yours") on a $46.70.

***

This is a pretty common sight on Mau'i. Seeing 3 boards on one vehicle is not. But it does show that their owner is a serious surfer. Each of those boards is of a different size, necessary to accommodate changing surf conditions.
Here are some people to give you a more visual explanation.

photos courtesy:
MAUI ACTION PHOTOS

Van sent me 40 of these great shots, taken yesterday. A nice south swell, from New Zealand, arrived on Tuesday. I'll be posting 5 of Van's surf images each day until I run out.

***

Each of you have a great weekend.

PLEASE!

!!DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE!!
I am not going to be polite about this.
Just DON'T FUCKING DO IT!

See y'all tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

O'AHU

Waikiki

Bishop Museum

Diamond Head

Pre-"Contact" Home

Post-"Contact" Home

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"Let's all be careful out there!"

A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT

IN A LOT OF WAYS


Any night that starts with a Moon-rise as beautiful as this can't be all bad.

Sat around for about 40 minutes before I had my first fare. A trip to Sansei, out of Wailea, with an older Filipino couple. As I cleared, I was assigned a pickup just 4 doors away, at Hirohatchi, back to Wailea. A young couple from Japan. Thats what we call a "bounce back". Basically a roundtrip but composed of two separate fares.

Then we all just sat for another hour. Going nowhere very fast. Thats "Maui Jim" (#17) to the left. Off-camera, to the right, Kimo (#22) was parked and PrimaDonna (#18) was behind me.

I had a "special" about 9:15pm, bringing my first fare back from Sansei. About 45 minutes later , run #4 took me from Sarentos to the Four Seasons, A foursome from SoCal and Phoenix.

Then things started improving, a little. Sent to Lulu's, with no further info. A guy hops in and off we go to the harbor in Kahului. A crew member of Pride Of Hawaii

Then nothing, for almost 2 hours.

The "Triangle" was a ghosttown.

Next assignment was at 1:30am. 2 people going into Wailea. Pulled up and 4 people immediately get in ONE-NINE.

"Where are we headed?"
"The ship."

Not the run I was assigned but I had no intention of kicking them out. Advised dispatch to send another unit. TMR picked up the Wailea folks. Two runs in less than 2 minutes from one bar caused Kimo to cruise through that area of the "Triangle". Sure enough, he snagged a "flag" to the harbor also.

As I cleared the ship, I was sent over to Maui Memorial Medical Center, "triple em cee". A lady needing to get back to central Kihei. Another "bounceback"!

The phone never rang once during the "dog watch".

Flor was the first day cab in at 4:30am

My final fare was a sweet young lady from San Francisco, on her first visit to Mau'i. Took her to KBR (Kihei Boat Ramp). She was going diving at Molokini.

The Moon was approaching the western horizon as I cleared.

About 2/3rds of the way down the right side of the pic you can see some lights on the horizon
I cropped and enlarged that portion and you can see a cruise ship. I have no idea which one.

***

Van, my friend who owns Maui Action Photos, dropped these in my "in-box" a couple of days back.


Mahalo, Van!

***

Found another "Barber's Pole".

Outside of Star Market.

I forgot there is a barber shop there.

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While I only had 9 runs the entire shift, 5 were very good, 3 were great and 1 was a pupu. Unlike Tuesday night, everyone was extremely generous in their gratuities.

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Thank you for coming by.

Its nice to know that someone, besides me, reads this.

I'll be back tomorrow. I hope you will be too.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

MOLOKA'I

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"Let's all be careful out there!"