GOSH!

IT DOESN'T SEEM THAT LONG AGO

That I was giving him a bottle, changing his diaper and rocking him to sleep.

My grandson Zach (17 on Feb 6th). All "decked out" for a "Zoot Suit" Party

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The following images were sent as being part of Hurricane Katrina.

I don't believe it.

But the images are interesting.

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Yawl have a great day, hear.

See ya tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

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Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

OLOWALU

IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

The community of Olowalu is located 9 miles from Ma'alaea and 9 miles from Lahaina. In the absolute middle of nowhere along SR-30

It is also the location of Chez Paul. Which is where I took my "special" last night.

~ Ray & Pat ~
~London ~

I've been having fun with these sweet people all week. They come to Mau'i every year for the winter. He is originally from Australia and she is pure London British. I've never asked what he did for a living, he is obviously retired, and she owns/owned (?) a boutique, which explains all the very chic outfits she's worn this week.

After dropping them, I called dispatch to see how busy we were. Olowalu is beyond the range of our main radio channel and no one monitors the secondary one. He said things were pretty quiet, so I decided to try my luck on Front Street, in Lahaina. About 1 mile long, it is the commercial center of the west-side. It is also the old whalers village and the original capital of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. Cruised Front Street for an hour. And not one "flag"! It was Saturday night and the streets were packed with people as were the parking lots with their cars. Only saw 3 moving taxis that whole time. All the rest were parked. A fruitless effort, so I went back to Oluwalu to wait. I had them back home before 10:30 PM.

The remainder of the shift was asi, asi. Then AA#14 was canceled. That gave me 2 fares from the airport to Wailea.

Had 4, almost 5, more fares to closeout the shift. Just as I was turning over the phone to Murph, I received a call from another cab company, across the island, asking us to oick up some guy at the 7-11 (convenience store) and take him somewhere. I was having to go into town anyway to park #14 so I told Murph that I would cover it. Just about halfway there Murph calls me on the radio and advises that the guy just called back. The fare is going to Ha'iku. A $75 run. Also a 2 hour roundtrip and I hadn't brought my sunglasses. I asked Murph if he wanted it and he accepted. The money would have been nice but I was already pretty well sapped. I wouldn't have been safe. Prisons are full of people whose greed exceeded their common sense.

11 fares / 184 miles / 4th quarter $200 bracket

Two days off!

The ol' e-mail bag looks interesting this week. I'll share some tomorrow. Have a great day everybody. Until next time...

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

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Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

SOMETIMES YOU GET...

WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Earlier this week I wished that those good tip nights would occur on a big money night. By current (adjusted) standards, last night was an excellent shift. And my "take-home" exceeded the meter. Thats very rare.

Business was steady the entire shift. Never rushed and very little "sit" time. Up until midnight we had 6 cabs and then Tina went home. And bar close ended right at 2:00 AM, nobody needed to stay late to help me. The dog-watch added 4 additional runs. And I was home by 4:30 AM.

A very pleasurable night. No obnoxious drunks or anything.

On Thursday night we were informed by "Triangle" security that we were no longer allowed to park on "Triangle" property, for security reasons, to be as close to the bars as possible for "walkups". Last night we were informed that we would no longer be allowed to drop fares off or pick fares up on "Triangle" property. And by "we" I mean any taxi company. Of course our company is the only one working the south-side at night.

Part of the on-going battle between "Triangle" management and the bars on the property. If the management company didn't want that many bars they shouldn't have signed leases. I agree that 6 bars in what is about 150 square meters is assinine. Thats just trouble waiting to happen. Besides, having more bar locations would increase the number of fares as people moved from one location to another. Now they can literally pub "crawl".

So our lil' ol' cab company is the pawn in this power play. Secirity also puts chains up at all but the rear entrances sometime between 11:00 PM and Midnight. I think I've mentioned that before. They want to make it as difficult as possible for people to get onto the property after the "normal" businesses have closed.

The "Triangle" has two different security services. One covers the daylight hours and their personnel look like an English Bobby sans the hat. The night service varies between 3 to 10 people and are dressed like prison guards or Mexican Police. One of the ladies is maybe 130 pounds but the rest are well over 250 pounds (male & female).

This new setup really won't bother us much. We've already been requesting that the bars send their guests to us at the FoodLand lot or to the Uno-Cal 76 Station on the other side.

The night guard service also patrols 2 other properties, The center where Safeway is located and the Kukui Mall, which is ½ mile north of the "Triangle". They won't let us park on those properties either.

Oh, well. Feces occurs and you already know my opinion of Rent-A-Cops.

Never left town and never had a fare that reached $20.

16 fares / 123 miles / 1st quarter $200 bracket

One more shift to go and I'll start my night with a "special" from Kihei to Chez Paul. Plus the return. And maybe, just maybe, we'll stay busy.

Check back tomorrow to find out.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

***

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

AN OVERWHELMING SHOW OF FORCE...

CURTAILED THE PROBLEM

Rumors wer going around last night that there was going to be a major fight at the "Triangle". After I had heard it from 3 separate sources I called MPD and gave them a "heads-up". Supposedly, one of the individuals involved in the melee last Thursday was seeking retribution and 40 Tongans from O'ahu had arrived to provide the muscle. The grapevine said the trouble would start sometime after 1:00 AM.

MPD brought in officers from other police districts on the island and had about 20 officers stationed at the "Triangle", at FoodLand and patrolling the perimeter. The show of force did waylay the plans of the antagonists. Every minor infraction or disturbance was pounced on by the officers. Naturally, there were those few idiots who decided they wanted to fight, anybody, and either failed to see all the uniforms surrounding them or didn't care. The typical fighting "posture" is to step out of the bar and immediately rip off your t-shirt. One idiot did this and before his shirt hit the pavement he was in handcuffs and being escorted to the impromptu "command center" that the police had at FoodLand. The cops were ready for any contingency. Fortunately, their presence did defuse the situation.

Talked to some of the bartenders after bar-close and each told me that they had noticed a large number of Tongans on the property. People they had never seen before. Its a small island and strangers do stand out.

In one respect, I guess I "cried wolf" but I think that if I hadn't passed on the intelligence there would have been major problems, beyond what the 6 or 7 cops in Kihei could have handled alone. I'd rather err on the side of caution.

9 fares / 77 miles / 4th quarter below $100 bracket

Yessirree, it was another slow night. 5 cabs working the ghost town. We did get active at bar-close when people realized that trouble was brewing and skedaddled for "home".

I'll be back tomorrow. See you then.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

***

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

WHAT A BORE...

I HAD THE PHONE

And was definitely not a "chore". The calls were sparse and by the time it reached 10:30 PM, I had 3 cabs on the road. Well, actually parked. Among the 3 of us, I was the statue again. Not one fare, what few there were, reached $16. I did get some nice tips and my take was almost equal to the meter. Wish that would happen on a really excellent night.

Had a brief conversation with a young guy in the "Triangle". I had just dropped his wife and 18 month old son off. She was coming down to get the car keys and drive home. She wanted to be positive that he wouldn't become another statistic. He offered to do some body work on the cab, minor scratches, and was disappointed that I wasn't the owner. He asked how business was and I told him the truth. He agreed. He sells used cars at a lot in north Kihei and people have stopped buying.

This pending recession is already showing its affect here. The resorts are full, the condos are full but the tourists have drastically downsized their expenditures. The car rental companies are moving out vehicles, hand over fist, but the renters are not upgrading to the fancy and sporty models. That means the rental agents are getting lower commissions and spending less.

Restaurants have seen a slide in business. They still have their peak periods but those are a lot shorter than before. And fewer "tops" means reduced tips and hours for the servers.

I could go on. Obviously there is a classic "snowball effect" to all this.

6 fares / 62 miles / 3rd quarter below $100 bracket

Typically, Thursdays are an improvement on the week. Lets hope that adage holds true tonight.

See ya mañana.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

***

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"