ANOTHER MONDAY

FADES INTO TIME'S MURKY MIST


Tonight it was Outback Steak House for dinner. Prime rib for Judy and pork chops for me. Got a kick out of their coasters. The above image is standard on one side and also on the flip side. However, they do throw in some with a message. The two below caught my eye and made the journey home.


The drama at her workplace ended last week and responsibilities were shifted around after the forced retirement of a very elderly co-worker. Now Judy is going to bring their reservation system into the 20th century. Everything is going to be computerized. Once that is done, they may make the move to the 21st century and put it "on-line". It is going to take 1 to 2 years to clean up the mess that she was bequeathed. The retiree kept reservations on 3x5 cards, post-it notes, cocktail napkins and miscellaneous scraps of paper. With that style of filing, no one has the slightest idea of when a guest will be checking in or if they have "space available". The retiree's desktop was piled over 2 feet deep with what was once time-sensitive material, some of it over four years old now. A management firm was hired to take over the books. They have found checks over 1 year old stashed in the pile. Judy has also spent the past week moving from a little cubbyhole on the fringe of the property to the main office. The time-share owners are now stopping by and giving her some very nice gifts. They are ecstatic that she will be handling reservations. The counter to that is she knows there are people that are going to show up, with confirmed reservations that she will not be able to accommodate. She guesstimates that she'll have everything working smoothly by late 2008. So 18 months of headaches and ulcers.

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Found another cab related blog this morning.

Taxi Tops is from NYC and is a photo-blog of taxicab roof signs. Those are illegal in Hawai'i, along with ads on buses.

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Cathy, at Cathy's Rants and Ramblin's, has made an excellent series of posts recently.

Everything Alzheimer's was outstanding. Both my maternal grandfather and my mother dies of end stage Alzheimer.

Cath also has written a thought provoking series of essays about cancer, and her battle with it.

Cervical Cancer... Part I....Myths, Lies, and Misconceptions

Cervical Cancer ...Myths, Lies and Misconceptions....Part II

Cervical Cancer ...Myths, Lies and Misconceptions....Part III

Finally, this story of hers shows just how much one person can love another.

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Elsewhere on the blog-front:




Have you ever had a "bad hair day"? I mean that literally. Lori, my favorite G'nightgirl at This Just In had the stylist from HELL.

Hair Today...

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Some more news stories about Sunday's fatal boating accident The victim was a 48 y.o. man from Highland Park, IL, USA.

Maui News

Chicago Tribune

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As always, thanks for coming over to this little back alley corner of the web.

Look forward to seeing you again, real soon.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Lana'i

No Rain
No Rainbow

Getting Out Through The Waves On The Big Island

Haleakala

O'heo Gulch
Upper Pools

Kohala Coast
Big Island

Kona Coast

Kona Coast

The Grand Wailea Resort/Hotel/Spa

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"Let's all be careful out there!"

SOME MORE PICTURES

OF "QUEEN" NORA

Love is ...

Grandpa

"Princess" and the "Queen"

"Enough of this 'photo-op'."

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A catamaran with 51 people aboard lost its mast in gusty weather off the Ka'anapali Coast Sunday afternoon, leaving 1 person dead and at least two injured. The boat sank but all 50 survivors were rescued.

STORY

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TMR did bring my money from last night's Speedi-Shuttle "no-pay". He also mentioned that the "Professor" did show up. Interesting.

***

I tried a "bright idea" with the blog today. It didn't work. Back to the drawing board.

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I added Google Analytics to the Paradise Driver. Not really impressed with it. Just a very poor statistics counter. Stat-Counter is much, much better. So is Site Meter.

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Found and added a new "Cab-Blog" today.
SoCal Cabbie is out of San Diego, CA, USA.

Just a relaxed day for me. Thanks for coming by and hopefully I'll "see" you tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Special For
"June In Florida"

Four Seasons Resort/Hotel

O'heo Gulch

Haleakala

"Upcountry" Mau'i

Tropical Jungle

Lovely Hawai'ian Beaches

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"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE "PROFESSOR"

WAS A "NO SHOW" LAST NIGHT

So, the question then becomes:

Will he show up for his shifts on Sunday and Monday?

Since I don't work those 2 days, I really don't give a shit.
I give the odds at 50/50 that he doesn't want to work with me anymore, after the lambasting I gave him last Sunday morning. Oh, well, as it says in the "footer", "Feces Occurs". Thats the essence of my Philosophy of Life.

TMR is back from vacation and he held the phone last night. The three "day" cabs bailed by 9:00pm leaving him, Hardin and myself to cover a Saturday night. All three of us raked in the cash. Drove 174 miles (280 km) and had 18 fares.

Started the shift with a Grand to OGG. Got another trip to OGG from the Maui Coast 90 minutes later. Also had a short "out-of-towner" from the far north end of Kihei to the nearest edge of Kahului. The other 15 were typical bar runs.

The calls were spaced nicely and getting the opportunity to take restroom breaks was not a problem and even had time to grab some pupus to snack on. But the pacing was such that it took me almost 2 hours to consume what I had purchased.

I have made the decision to not accept any Speedi-Shuttle hand-offs in the future. It has been quite awhile since the last one, so when I got the Coast to OGG dispatch I was hoping for the best. No such luck. The prior 5 times I have dealt with Speedi-Shuttle, getting paid was a problem. The procedure is that we do the run and then go to their counter in Baggage Claim, present a receipt and get our cash. 5 times in a row, NO CASH. "Please come back tomorrow." Last night was the same. TMR is going to stop by there on his way to work, he lives "upcountry", collect my funds and drop it by my place sometime this evening. That made the sixth time in a row and enough is enough. They have very inept dispatching and routing of their shuttle buses doing the returns to the airport.

If you come to Mau'i and don't rent a car, then using Speedi-Shuttle is a very cost effective means of getting to your hotel or condo. Especially if you don't mind taking the long "scenic route". Just don't rely on them to get you back to the airport in a timely manner. I think we covered 5 or 6 of their pickups in Kihei last night.

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This is a 3-day weekend in Hawai'i. Monday is the annual celebration of Prince Kuhio Day. State and County Offices are closed but Federal Offices are open.

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I realized tonight that I get kissed a lot in this job. Intoxicated women, young, old, pretty or plain, have this overwhelming desire to give me a peck on the cheek when de-cabbing (I may have just coined a new word). In no way imaginable could you call me attractive. On the 1 to 10 scale, I'd rate myself as somewhere between a 2 and a 3. I guess the kisses are the result of being "blind" drunk.

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I hauled a "regular" twice last night. His name is Steve and he earns his livelihood off the internet. Google sends him a monthly check in the 5 figure range. They are not the only one. He has read Paradise Driver and offered me some suggestions about increasing my ranking in Google's search engine and some concepts for using this blog to generate some cab-bi$$. So you might notice some subtle changes in the near future.

Hey! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?!

I know my readership drops drastically over the weekends and I want to thank all of you who managed to swing by. It is appreciated.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Hawai'i

Full Moon Mau'i
Our "Midnight Sun"

Whale Season
December Thru April

Not Just A Sign
But Also
A Way Of Life

Beautiful Flowers
Abound In The
Rain Forests

Haleakala

Beaches
Large And Small
Can Be Found
Everywhere

Tourist Bumper Sticker

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"Let's all be careful out there!"

OUR TYPICAL

"SPRING BREAKERS"

~ Erin & Elizabeth ~
College "Juniors" from the Sea-Tac area
Here on "Spring Break"

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Considering that we were two cabs short for the shift, TMR (#27) returns tomorrow and Hardin (#25) was a "no-show", we were never overwhelmed. Mosied into work at 7:09pm and the phone was in the cup holder, just waiting for me. Logged on and the calls were transferred within 90 seconds. I guess Art was hungry. By 9:00pm all three "day" cabs were pau hana. For a Friday night it was quietly active. The bars were full and people were behaving themselves. The wonderful trade winds we are enjoying may have sedated the population. Tina (#05) and "Crazy" Brian (#09) went "adios" by 2:05am. A couple of decent overnight runs. Relieved by Flor (#27) about 4:30am. Only had one reservation to pass on. That makes for a slow start to the day-shift.

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The general reaction about the three young ladies from yesterday's edition has been universal. Everyone is flabbergasted that they were as young as they were. You should have seen MY face when I found out. I think my lower jaw bounced twice on the steering wheel

When they got into ONE-NINE, I pegged their age as early 20's. They weren't pulling my leg though. The conversation they engaged in was definitely that of their stated age. Girls in their mid-teens talk differently than their older sisters. There is a drastic change in topics with just the addition of 5 or 6 years of life experience. The main theme is still the same, BOYS, but modified by maturity(?).

I also hope that none of what I wrote be construed as criticism of the girls. They were being typical teenagers, on an adventure. Totally naive to the dark side of the real world. However, I think their parents/chaperons should be horsewhipped.

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I finally met the new owners this past week. A nice couple from Sacramento, CA, USA. Larry and Darcy.

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Well, today is Saturday and the "Professor" will be dispatching tonight. Lets see how it goes.

I can always hope.

Can't I?

***

Hey, I really enjoyed your visit.

See ya tomorrow?

MAHALO

ALOHA

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Haleakala

Silversword

Fairmont - Kea Lani

Four Seasons

East Side Of Mau'i

Maui Ocean Center

Sorry
I Forgot Which Hotel This Is

A Mau'i Red Sand Beach

Moloka'i

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"Let's all be careful out there!"