Paradise Driver

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

ITS ELECTION DAY

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Another pleasant Monday night. Picked Judy up from her place of work and then went and bought the daughter's birthday gift. She turns 34 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AMBER

Obviously, since she lives in California, her gift is going to arrive late. Its a Optimus digital camera. I added the 2GB memory stick. Her internet connection is on the fritz, so she won't be reading this immediately. I'll ship it out via UPS today, so she should have it by the weekend. Then, as soon as the internet problem is resolved, I'll start getting pics of her two sons on a more timely basis.

After that Judy and I went grocery shopping and then on to her place where I cooked the promised dinner. It was delicious. I only know how to cook for a small army, so there were enough leftovers to meet our dietary needs for the next couple of days, each.

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I use the free version of AVG for my virus protection. I see that starting 15 January, 2007, they will discontinue service for version 7.1. You can go to their website and download the new version 7.5.4 of their FREE anti-virus protection. For those of you using a pay service anti-virus system, you might consider replacing it with AVG when your next renewal comes up..

THE PICTURE GALLERY

An Off-shore Rainbow

Science City
Atop Haleakala

Inside Haleakala Crater

Hana Highway

Hana Bay

A Beautiful Protea

Green Sea Turtle

An Aquanaut Going Sub-orbital

O'heo Gulch During A Dry Period

Kaupo Store

Interior Of Kaupo Store

Buddha Statue At The Jodo Mission In Lahaina

The Jodo Mission Temple In Lahaina

The End Of Another Day
(the beginning of mine)

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Monday, November 06, 2006

LETS STOP FOR A MOMENT

AND PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE

The American airways are going to be filled with nothing but campaign rhetoric today.

View this video, pause and contemplate just how insignificant it all really is.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

VOTE EARLY

VOTE OFTEN

Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 7th) is election day.

Please exercise the power given you by our Constitution.

Whether you are on the extreme reactionary right or the far radical left, your vote is important. Most important of all are the votes that come from those in the "middle of the road". The ignored and forgotten moderate voter finally has a chance to determine where America is headed.

And to all the politicians, remember:

50.1% is NOT a mandate.

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London Metro Police have some interesting patrol cars.

They also have very strict protocols about who is allowed to operate a police vehicle.

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To clear up some confusion. OGG is the FAA designator for the Kahului International Airport. Like LAX, JFK, SFO, etc.

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Rather than taking Judy to dinner tonight, I have offered to cook dinner for us at her house. Yeah, I know how to do more than barbeque. Nothing fancy. Just a meatloaf. You can't get a decent meatloaf in any restaurant and I have had a hankerin' for one for a long time.

Ground beef, of course. Rather than bread crumbs, I use crushed Cheez-It crackers.. Tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. A packet of dry onion soup mix. Sliced black olives. Mushroom bits. Some diced red bell pepper. Just before it is done baking, I cover the top in cheddar, mozzerella and jack cheeses, shredded, and let it melt over the top without burning.

The leftovers make great sandwiches.

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Mana Kai

Ka'anapali

Assorted Views

Its Almost Whale Watching Season

Sunset
Where My Day Begins

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Sunday, November 05, 2006

I STARTED LATE

AND NEVER SLOWED DOWN

I was running about 15 minutes late when I logged on. Immediately sent to The Kea Lani for a run that had been waiting for nearly 50 minutes. Of course, they were gone. Then dispatched back to The Grand, one guy for OGG.

One of the things I do mentally, when starting my shift, is to account for all cabs on duty. One by one I figured out that all cabs were either enroute to OGG or were returning.

I completed my OGG loop and was immediately sent back to The Grand for some people going to Sansei. Couldn't find them and snagged a pu-pu to the Kea Lani.

I gritted my teeth as another cab checked into Wailea and was given another OGG trip. I was premature in my reaction. I was assigned a second OGG as soon as I cleared the Kea Lani.

WAIT
it gets better

As soon as I check in at the Kihei Town line, TMR tells me to wiki-wiki to the Maui Coast Hotel. Two people going to Front Street in Lahaina.

I was back in Kihei by 10:00pm with almost $200 on the meter, in less than 3 hours.

Sat for the next 2 hours.

Turns out that the other three night drivers had called off sick. One of the two "day" drivers faded about 10:00pm and the other hung in until 11:30pm.

From then until 2:00am, it was just TMR and myself to "make hay".

I pulled another 7 fares between Midnight and 2:00am, and continued the "roll" through my solo hours with an additional 6 trips.

My final run on the prior shift was the beginning of a very busy day for the company. I knew there were 7 OGGs scheduled between 5:45am and 6:30am. When the morning dispatcher/driver saw "those indians coming over the hill" he started calling out the "cavalry". Every "day" driver was called in early and they all ran a marathon of round-robins from Wailea to OGG. Night shift continued the loops until everyone departing on the various "red-eyes" were at the airport.

Metered $1.55 for each of the 216 miles I added to the odometer.

At one point ONE-NINE's computer told me that I was getting 20.7 MPG (11.3 LTRS/100km). Thats spectacular!

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This morning's moon. Taken about 5:15am while waiting for my final run of the night.