Paradise Driver

Thursday, August 16, 2007

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

NO ENTRIES/RE-ENTRIES/ADJUSTMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED

A vehicle exited the south entrance to the "Triangle" about 9:30p. Drove directly across South Kihei Road, over the curb, through the fencing and trees into Kalama Park and struck a person in the park. The vehicle then left the scene. The injured party was transported to MMMC. The fatal accident response team was NOT called out, which indicates that it was not an apparent fatal. The image was a very long time exposure, hence the blurriness.

I picked up my best fare of the shift at 11:12p from the Prince, way out in Makena. A lady from the San Jose, CA USA area, here for a wedding today. She needed to go to Safeway to do some shopping and "Would you be so kind as to wait for me?". Mileage alone on that trip would be just under $60. DUH!!

"Not a problem,Miss."

She was inside Safeway for almost 1-1/2 hours! She tipped more than $20 at the end. She also had an interesting story A little over a decade ago she was employed by a major car rental company in the "Bay area". She and her co-workers were robbed and taken hostage. Threatened with execution unless the robbers got more money than the $800 the agency had on hand.

"You know how people say that your life passes before your eyes when you think you are about to die?" She asked.

"Yes. I do."

"That didn't happen to me. All I saw was a blank slate. Nothing on it."

"Thats when you were reborn, 'Susan'. The moment your new life started."

"You are absolutely right. Thats how I look at it. I am a completely different person today than I was then. I suffered from a long bout of post traumatic stress but have finally come to terms with the whole issue and am happier than I have ever been."

It felt good speaking with her.

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what company the owner of this vehicle might be associated with? The first two don't count.

10 fares / 92 miles / 3rd quarter $100 bracket

***

As I stated earlier, when ONE-NINE's odometer reached 99,000 miles that would be the closure of accepting guesses for the 100,000 date. I turned over 99,000 miles at 3:16a today. I will revise the CONTEST post in a while to reflect the remaining entrants. The winner will be the person who comes closest to the date/time that ONE-NINE turns over 100,000 miles without exceeding the actual date/time. It should occur sometime next week.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Flash Flood
This is what we need badly.
Okay, maybe not THIS much
but close

Kamaole Beach

Beach Flora

Another Kihei Beach

***

99011

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

FLOSSIE WAS

A FIZZLE

As anticipated, hurricane Flossie got within 65 miles of South Point, on the Big Island, right at midnight. The northeast (energy) quadrant of the storm rammed into the 14,000 feet of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and sheared right off of the eye of the storm, which quickly dissipated. It was only a CAT-1 at the time and within minutes it was a tropical storm. That same action turned the storm on a due west course. It had been moving west-northwest.

Meteorologists say that those "miniscule" mountains would have no effect on a hurricane and yet this is the second time I have seen it occur on radar.

It was very warm and extremely humid all night, and still is this morning. The air was so thick with water that ONE-NINE's a/c was causing the exterior of the windshield to fog up. Changed the control setting to "Floor/Defrost" and rolled down the windows. The only workable solution that I have been able to devise.

I had a spectacular shift! Left town 3 different times. Once to Ka'anapali. Once to Wailuku and then our "pay-day" airline kicked in, about 1a, with yet another canceled flight. Sadly, almost 80 people were unable to get accommodations and had to spend the night at the airport. Not knowing when they will be able to get off the island.

If you are planning on coming to Mau'i, please do NOT have U.S. AIR / AMERICA WEST as your departing flight. Their track record on Mau'i is atrocious. More cancellations than all the other airlines combined.

10 fares / 167 miles / 3rd quarter $200 bracket

Please enjoy the rest of your day and I hope to see you again tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

North Kihei

On The Water
Kihei

Riding The Wind

Rolling EMERGENCY

South Kihei Road

***

98793

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

HURRICANE FLOSSIE - UPDATE

RADAR LOOP

Now a CAT-2 Hurricane

It may be just my imagination but it looks like the "eye" just did a bump to the north. 1626 hrs - 2007-08-14

Have to keep a watch to see if that is correct.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

HURRICANE FLOSSIE

WILL PASS BY TONIGHT
and Wednesday

All emergency preparations are "on-line". The County of Hawai'i government offices will not open for business today. The State Department of Education has closed all county public schools. The State of Hawai'i will close all their offices on the Big Island today.

Airline schedules have yet to be altered, pending any change in weather conditions. Most businesses on the island of Hawai'i will be closed. Long lines exist for gasoline and propane. Stores are running out of rice, water, flashlights and first-aid kits.

All the other counties are on "stand-by" since a northward shift of 1-degree in the storm's track would cause Flossie to impact the entire island chain.

Hilo side of the Big Island is anticipating winds in the 50mph range and surf in the 15-25 foot range. The hurricane force winds should not reach the islands as Flossie passes about 85 miles south of South Point on the Big Island, the most southern part of the United States. Currently the entire Island of Hawai'i is under a Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch. No watches nor warnings for the other islands have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS).

Currently Flossie has calmed a bit over cooler waters and now has sustained winds of 121mph with gusts to 150mph. That makes it a CAT-4 hurricane.

Two USAF 'Hurricane Hunter" WC-130 aircraft arrived in the islands yesterday and are flying into the storm every 6 hours to gather meteorological data.

To make matters worse for the Big Island, they had a 5.3 earthquake in the Kiluea region (where the volcano is erupting) that has caused some rock/land slides. My readers from California know that a 5.3 is just a "yawner" as far as earthquakes go. Wouldn't even disturb your morning latte in El Lay or Frisco. Different strokes for different folks.

Here are some links, if you are interested in following the storms progress today:

NWS - Flossie Products Page

NWS - radar for the State of Hawai'i

NWS - radar - South Point (Big Island). That large blue arc that you see is smoke/particulate matter from the Kiluea Volcano.

The Weather Underground page on Flossie. It has tracking maps, satellite images and more information than you'll ever need to know.

Glenn James' Hawaii Weather Today.

"Big Blue"