Paradise Driver

Thursday, October 12, 2006

LOOKING BACK NOW...

I SHOULD HAVE JUST CALLED OFF

The heat and humidity were so bad yesterday that I woke up after about three hours of sleep. I, and my bed, was soaking wet. Got up and drank about 1/2 gallon (2 liters) of iced tea. Crawled back into bed at 4:00pm and fell into a very deep sleep. Reawoke at 6:00pm and almost called off due to shear exhaustion. But I need the money. The daughter's birthday is on the 7th and I am going to send her a special gift. Mine is a month from tomorrow. I actually have that night off and will take Judy out to celebrate (make that a DOUBLE iced tea).

Waited around til 7:45pm for my first run, all the way to the Kea Lani ($5.60). There were two airport runs scheduled from The Grand to OGG. One at 8:45pm and the other at 9:00pm. Kimo nailed the first one and just 5 minutes before I would have been dispatched to the second one, the damn phone rang for a pu-pu at the Renaissance. Crazy Brian was next up and started laughing at my misfortune. Then he was dispatched to the Renaissance also, just one minute before the time to assign the second OGG. TMR ended up getting the OGG, where he had just returned from.

The life, and income, of a cabbie is sometimes just pure luck. Finished the shift with a whopping total of $115 on the meter and 11 runs. The few runs I did have were generous in the gratuities, which really helped.

About 3:00am I get a call from Denny's for some people heading to Kahului Harbor. I was told there were 4 people. I pull up and 7 people try to get into my cab. I explain that 4 passengers is my maximum load and I would have to make two trips. They couldn't get it straight that I was serious about the load limit and kept offering me money to take all of them at the same time. After 5 minutes of this BS, I just pulled away and left them standing. I have no idea how they got to the harbor or even if they did. Nor do I really care.

*** *** ***

Blogger/Blogspot was down this morning. The entire system. Kept getting ERROR CODE 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR. The bummer about this is that it occurred during the time I try to pre-load all the pictures, etc.

This just wasn't my night at all.

HALLOWEEN

With Halloween rapidly approaching, here are some templates for unique "jack-o-lanterns"

Click on the templates and then print out the larger image. You may have to make the template larger, since Blogger/Blogspot does automatically reduce the size on even the large images.

Print the templates out and then use them to mark your pumpkin for the necessary surgery. There is a left and a right, so you can do two and have your entryway adequately covered.

The first picture gives an idea of what the final result will be.

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Beach On Kaua'i

Lovely Waimana Beach, O'ahu

Riding Through Haleakala

Assorted Kihei Images

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

NOT EVEN ONE

OBNOXIOUS DRUNK

Considering what the past few Tuesdays have been like, I would call last night a success. Both dayshift holdovers were gone before 8:00pm, leaving the 5 night drivers. Crazy Brian got a special that took him on an extended trek, til 1:45am, to the westside. Good money! Our globetrotting driver, Tina, is back and worked until just past 11:00pm. Kimo, TMR and I had no problem holding down the fort. Between 2:00am and 5:00am, I garnered 6 pu-pu runs, which added aboutb $40 to the nights haul.

I sat for almost 3/4s of an hour before my first run of the shift. That was a whopping run from The Grand to Joe's Bar & Grill. A massive $5.60. The next run wasn't until 8:25pm.

My third job was the most interesting. Had a sedan request for a couple at Sarentos on the Beach. There I picked up a newlywed couple from El Lay. Well, thats where they live now. He is from the Ukraine and she is from Russia. Drove Roman and Irina to a condo on the far north end of town. Since TMR was dispatching, I asked him to wish them a happy life together in either russian or ukrainian. He chose ukraine and it really choked Roman up. Later, TMR asked me to never do that again. He does not like speaking in either language, now that he lives in the US. Fair enough.

Isn't Irina beautiful?

~Roman & Irina~
My relief showed up at 4:45am and the dash clock read 5:01am as I shut off the engine, at home.

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Beauty Along The Hana Highway

Assorted Views Of Kihei

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

DEAR SANTA CLAUS.....

PLEASE BRING ME AN AIR CONDITIONER
and the money to operate it!

It has been really hot and humid this weekend. The "Trades" have died off and the air is still. This is when those of us who live here truly know that we are in the tropics.

My two ceiling fans are "whirly-birding" like mad and my Vornado floor fan is on HIGH amnd aimed right at me. All I am doing is moving sticky air from one place to another.

Just typing raises a sweat.

MORE VACATION VIDEOS

Feast at Lele in Lahaina (08:42)