Paradise Driver

Thursday, September 21, 2006

10 HOURS

4 RUNS

But 30% more on the meter than Tuesday night.

I am not really complaining. This is how it goes in September, as I have mentioned before. It is like complaining about the weather. It gives one something to talk about.

The nice thing about last night was that each of those runs were very generous in their thanks. I tipped out at almost 50% of the meter.

Oh, the driver that refuses to dispatch decided to go home prior to 8:00pm. That was nice.

My only fare of note was a threesome that I picked up at 1:30am from the "'Triangle". They are on the island for a wedding that is taking place today. The girl, who is going to be a very hungover Maid-Of-Honor today, was staying at a vacation condo in north-central Kihei and the two guys, one the Best Man at today's ceremony, were staying down at The Prince in Makena. The young lady was one of those drunks who can't stop talking and asks questions but never waits for, or hears, the answers. No matter what is said to her is wrong. About 5 minutes into the ride I started laughing and told the one dude that he was just wasting his breath. He thought I was implying that he was attempting to "bed her". I laughed even louder and said that I didn't think he had a chance of that either but that I meant that he was wasting his time because she never heard a word he was saying. He paused for a moment and then both he and his buddy started laughing too. He agreed that I was right and just shutup. She nnever heard a word of the conversation over her incessant whining about the short speech she was going to have to make at the reception.

After we dropped her at the condo, all the guys could say was to get them away from her as fast as possible, in case she changed her mind and wanted to go with them to their hotel.

She kinda reminded me of one of the constantly yapping lap dogs that are a pain in the ass.

Total take on the run was $78 on a $37.10 meter.

As the old punchline goes, "Can't beat that 10% profit margin."

THE PICTURE GALLERY

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

PATHETICALLY

SLOW NIGHT

4 runs between 7:00pm and 2:00am
5 runs from 2:00am to 4:30am

Totalled out $90 on the meter.

This is how empty the parking lot
across from the "Triangle" was last night

The new police cars have a different striping scheme
Old style on the left
New on the right

My good buddy, Tammy
I posted a pic of her back when
Paradise Driver came into existence

I hope your day is better than mine was

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Rainbow

Desolate Beach - Moloka'i

Beautiful Beach

View From North Kihei

Hana - Near O'heo Gulch

Rain Forest - East Mau'i

Road To Hana

A View Of Lana'i

Kaua'i - North Shore

Lahaina Harbor

A Beautiful Silversword

On The Island Of Lana'i

Windward O'ahu

Sunset

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

FUNNY CARTOON

Fellow cabbie, Lugosi, at Mirth, Musings & More posted this today.

It has to be shared.

Tom Toles,The Washington Post

"Let's all be careful out there!"

CHINESE

FIRE DRILL

Just before the end of my shift, on Saturday, I was talking with one of the security officers at The Grand. Security has been having a lot of "drills" recently. Fire, safety, medical, etc. While they can be a pain, they are necessary to determine where flaws in a situational event can occur.

I related a story about a drill we had when I worked in Nevada.

The FAA inspectors decided that they wanted to see how a backwoods ambulance service, fire department, sheriff's office and police department would respond to a small commercial airliner crashing on the runway. This was in the days prior to the 9-1-1 emergency phone system. The initial call was received by the fire department, which triggered the fire siren at city hall, alerting all volunteer firefighters to respond to the station. The paid fireman on duty came on the radio, all the above agencies shared one radio channel, and notified the sheriff dispatcher that a plane was reported to have crashed on the runway at our little local airport. There was a reported fire and multiple victims scattered along the runway.

I was on patrol in the central part of town. The main entrance to the airport was about 5 miles north of town, on the US highway. Just at the north edge of town was a fence and gate that provided access to the far south end of the runway, less than 1/2 mile from my location. This fencing is the typical "school' style, chain-link and a matching double gate. The gate is secured with chain and a padlock.

Since I didn't know where on the runway the crash had occurred, it made sense, at least to me, that I should enter at the closest point of access and then continue north on the runway until I reached the crash site. This gate was located adjacent to an autowrecker's yard and I was doing about 100 mph when I hit the gate, taking it off its hinges and sustaining some minor damage to the front fenders of my car.

Turned onto the runway and floored it. Couldn't see any smoke or flames anywhere. Advised dispatch of what I couldn't see and continued north to the far end of the airport. The Sheriff and the Chief of Police were in the airport terminal with the FAA inspectors, looking down the US highway for the responding emergency equipment, stopwatches in hand.

They hadn't seen me on the runway and were upset when I advised that there was no crash. Pulled up to the terminal and was immediately given praise by the FAA inspectors. They were impressed by my initiative. The Sheriff was amused and the Chief was pissed because I had damaged one of our four patrolcars. He kept his mouth shut about his displeasure because the FAA guys were ecstatic. All agencies received letters of commendation from the FAA and I received a personal letter of praise from them. Those letters changed the Chief's attitude and the city also wrote a letter of commendation for my actions. Seems that the mayor and city council were also impressed with my actions.

I wish I had some film of that. It must have been spectacular when those gates went airborn. Oh, this was back in the days when cars were made of metal and weighed about 6,000 lbs..

When people run drills, they have to expect the unexpected.

LOL!!

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Beautiful Wave