Paradise Driver

Saturday, March 17, 2007

KISS ME

I'M IRISH

HAPPY
St. PATRICK'S
DAY

IT WORKED!

The GOOD karma was washing over me like waves on the shore. While I never left town, I stayed very busy with 27 fares for the shift and averaged $12 per trip. Drove 168 miles. I am bushed.

As I climbed into ONE-NINE last night I saw the phone, on the seat, just waiting for me. It was Friday night. My night to have the "football". As you all know, I HATE DISPATCHING! I do, however, try to approach each session as a game. Each time, a trial of my mental capabilities, gauging the ebb and flow of the traffic and crisis management, when someone throws a "monkey wrench" (spanner) into the "works". It's a personal test. I am the only one who can gauge it. At the end of each dispatch shift I reflect upon how well I did the job. Last night I was "smokin'". Some drivers, when they have the phone, like to "cherry pick" the calls, I've spoken of this many times. I don't. Like poker, its the "luck of the draw". Every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser. Its all in how you play the game (mahalos to Kenny Rodgers for that line).

Logged in a little past 7pm and was immediately dispatched to my first fare. While enroute, the phone was transferred and the game was on. Started with 7 cabs on the field and everyone of them was already engaged in runs. The hand-off from Art was mostly fumble free. But he didn't tell me who was working or where they were. All I knew was that no one was available and I didn't know when or where anyone would "free-up". Within minutes, the first of the day cabs went home and the other 3 followed within 90 minutes. That left just :Crazy" Brian (#09), Hardin (#25) and me (ONE-NINE) A lot of folks went out to dinner last night. Most of them before my shift started. Just as the returns began, #09 had a "special" in kahuli, coming back to the south side. That took him out of the picture for just over an hour. Then I get a call about needing 3 vans to move 14 people from Mulligans back to The Grand. #25 was going to have to shuttle them, since I obviously didn't have 3 vans available. Luckily all the runs in town were 4 people (ONE-NINE's maximum capacity) or less. By 10:30pm all the returns had been covered, #25 cleared up and #09 was back in town. Then the "wanna have a drink?" crowd started moving. From then until bar close we never quit moving. Bringing them into the "Triangle" and taking them back home. Kicked loose #25 at 2:00am and #09 at 2:15am, as they cleared their final jobs. The phone continued to ring, at a reasonable pacing between calls, for the rest of my solo hours. This shift was "normal" by last years standards. Only had one very minor ass in the cab last night and that is more mention than he was worth.

However, I also had some really wonderful guests.

~ Chad & Brianna ~
Nashville, TN, USA

This lovely couple were here for a conference that he was attending. Took them to and from dinner.

~ Ryan & Kelli ~
Tucson, AZ, USA

Brand new Newlyweds. Tied the knot on Friday. Picked them up from a private party and took them to their hotel.

CONGRATULATIONS!

~ Stacy & Crystal ~
Tucson, AZ, USA

These two beautiful ladies I picked up at the "Triangle" shortly after I had dropped Ryan and Kelli off. Turns out they were also part of the same "wedding group". Very appealing and very, very sexy.

To everyone. Thank you for all the positive thoughts directed my way. It was a big help.

Drop by anytime.
The pot is always on.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

MOLOKA'I

KALAUPAPA

St. Philomena Church
From The Coast Of Kalawao

Panoramic View
Looking East From
St. Philomena

Graveyard And Coastal View
St. Philomena

Graveyard
St. Philomena

Grave Of Father Damien
St. Philomena

Grave Of Reverend Father Emmeran Schulte
(1848-1912)
St. Philomena

Grave Of Brother Joseph Dutton
(1843-1931)
St. Philomena

Former Site Of The
Baldwin Home For Boys
Opposite St. Philomena

Former Site Of The Failed
U.S. Leprosy Investigation Station
Kalawao

Richard Marks
Patient And Owner
Damien Tours

Tour Buses And Picnic Area
Kalawao Coast

Jagged Coast
Rough Water
Kalawao

Steep Dropoff
Kalawao

Rocky Shoreline
Kalawao

Picnic Tables
Kalawao

Mokapu And Okala Islands
Coast Of Kalawao

Eastern Shoreline
Molokai

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Friday, March 16, 2007

JUST WHEN YOU THINK...

...THAT NOTHING ELSE COULD GO WRONG.

IT DOES!

At 5:17am, this morning, I am sitting at my desk, at home, when my phone rings. It's my "special" that I was supposed to pick up at 5:15am. I had forgotten all about her. Called dispatch and had a cab sent immediately. Her next two rides with me will be "freebies". I screwed up, badly.

The good news from yesterday was that I finally had a hot shower. It felt great.

Get to the garage and someone had driven ONE-NINE during the day. They parked it almost too close to another unit. I was just barely able to open the driver's door. I had left ONE-NINE full of fuel but found it had barely 1/4 of a tank left. The left headlight was blown. What else could go wrong? Logged on and was assigned to the 9th position in the line up.

9th!!

Oh, gawd!

Actually, it could have been worse. TMR (#27) started his vacation on Thursday, he'll be back on the 24th, and if he had been there I would have been 10th.

Thank you fates for that little favor.

There were no reservations.

Almost 3 hours later, 9:47pm, I get my first fare.

3 HOURS!!

Give me a friggin' break.

It started raining about 8:00pm, again. Rain cancels most people's plans to go out at night on Mau'i. By 11:15pm we were down to just "Crazy" Brian (#09) and me. With only 2 cabs working we both thought that we would start raking in the money. Our pants pockets would be so full of greenbacks that we would look like we suffered from a massive double hernia. We were wrong. The calls were few and far between. I did get a dispatch for a wonderful run from Kihei up the mountain to Kula Town. He didn't have any cash for a deposit. His girlfriend was going to pay me when we arrived. Why is it that those type of runs ALWAYS have something hinky about them? I really wanted that trip but not without some twinge of getting paid. I call his girlfriend. Sure enough, she was planning on paying for the cab.

"What credit card do you take?"

DAMN!
DAMN!
DAMN!
DAMN!
DAMN!

We don't take plastic and I didn't go to Kula. One call during the solo hours and he wasn't there when I arrived. Called him back and it was

"I'm sorry. A friend came by and picked me up."

@#$%&+*!

Flor (#27) and Prim (#22) checked in prior to 4:30am and I had a brain fart and went home. Totally forgeting my 5:15am "special".

I am headed to bed shortly. Hopefully this bad karma won't follow me over to my "tomorrow".

***

Ambrosia still hasn't opened yet. By the look of the pic above, it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon. It is the new bar that is going into where Neptune's used to be.

***

Still no sign of the missing swimmer that I spoke of yesterday. About 50% of missing swimmers are never found. Latest news story.

***

According to Glenn James, Mau'i's great meteorologist, the weather should start improving today. Albeit with very gusty trade winds in the forecast. The weather this past week caused 2 major accidents, one was a fatal. Very sad.

Thanks for stopping by. If you can, would you please send some GOOD Karma my way. I sure could use it. Come back by tomorrow, maybe things will be better. I really appreciate you visits.

Mahalo and Aloha!

THE PICTURE GALLERY

MOLOKA'I

KALAUPAPA

St. Philomena
Roman Catholic Church
Kalawao

Original Section
St. Philomena

Main Altar
St. Philomena

Side Altar
St. Philomena

Stained Glass Window
St. Philomena

Statue Of St. Joseph
St. Philomena

Statue Of The Virgin Mary
St. Philomena

Statue Of Father Damien
St. Philomena

Pews In St. Philomena

Siloama Protestant Church
Kalawao

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Thursday, March 15, 2007

A MAN HAS GOT ...

... TO KNOW HIS LIMITATIONS

We had WEATHER yesterday and I slept through it. Judy asked me last night, when I was taking her home from a dinner party, if the lightning and thunder had woke me up.

"Uh, what lightning and thunder?"
"I knew you were a sound sleeper."

Apparently we had a real "gully washer" yesterday afternoon. When I left for work, I noticed that everything was wet but the skies were a beautiful sunset blue. Not a cloud in the sky.

Sometime after 8:00pm we all noticed the Maui Department Of Fire Control (a/k/a Maui Fire Department) helicopter

was flying low over the water just off Keawakapu Beach, on the Kihei/Wailea border. An obvious search & rescue mission. On the street were a MPD unit and a firetruck, from the MFD- Wailea Station.

Word on the street was that a 75 y.o. man liked to swim there at sunrise and sunset every day. Last night he didn't return. I don't know if he was ever located or not. A check of the local news sources proved negative.

I can't understand why anyone who lives here fails to obey the rule of the sea that you don't swim in brown water. The coast was inundated with the run-off from the thunderstorms. I think being the object of a tiger shark feeding frenzy is not what most people have in mind when they want to commune with nature. [shudder]
Mother Nature is unbiased and unforgiving in the enforcement of her rules.

***

It was a pretty quiet night. By 1:50am all the other drivers had gone "pau hana". I didn't break $100 on the meter. Bummer.

The only incident of note, other than the story above, was a "two-hit" fight. Guy #1 hits guy #2. Guy # 2 hits the ground, "lights out". Police, fire and an ambulance responded to Alahele Street, the southern border of the "Triangle", behind Lulu's and Bada Bing's. If the ambulance transported him to MMMC, they didn't roll "emergency".

***

You may remember that we had a couple of moderate earthquakes on October 15th, last year. Power was knocked out for most of the day. The bad part was that every radio station on Mau'i was "off the air" all day. No emergency backup generators. Well, it appears that some of the stations have rectified that problem. Here's the news article. Of course, they had better set up a SOP so the generators are tested on a weekly basis.