BEAUTY

AND THE BEACH

Image Courtesy Of:
MAUI ACTION PHOTOS
Mahalo, Van!

***

It was a night of action, adventure and excitement. For everyone, except me.
5 "10-13's" (no-load/no-show). Not my personal best worst but just one shy of that infamous figure. Other cabs getting dispatched to OGGs or long dinner runs. I kept getting pu-pus that never showed up. And while I was waiting for those "no-shows", the cabs behind me raked in the moola.

First run of the shift was a medium length dinner return from town to Wailea. A family from Moscow, Russia. $13.70 fare and he hands me a $100 bill at the destination. I tell him that I don't have enough cash to change it out. I didn't understand his mutterings in Russian but I am sure I was being royally cussed out as he and the missus searched her purse for the $15 I was eventually given. There has been a large contingency of Russians at the Kea Lani this week. I think I am the only driver that received any form of a tip from any of them.

Later in the evening I picked up a nice family out of El Lay from Safeway back to Wailea. They expressed an interest in living on Mau'i when they reached their sunset years. I told them that it is not as idyllic as it seems from a tourist POV. On any given day 100 people move here from the mainland. One year later maybe 1 of those is still on Mau'i. They can't adapt to the culture shock. We are the richest "third world" nation and the operative phrase is "THIRD WORLD". The way things run here is like nowhere else in America. I've harped on this before, as my regular readers are aware. Mau'i is not Lodi nor Springfield and is definitely not El Lay, "Shy Town" or NYC. Anyone thinking about living here should probably take an extended leave-of-absence before selling the ol' family estate. Come and rent a place for a year before casting your lot. This way you have something to fall back on when everything goes to hell-in-a-handbasket.

9 fares / 105 miles / 2nd quarter $100 bracket

***

Well, I made it through the week. I sure hope this Quasimodo hunchbacked stance I've developed starts fading over my days off.

I know, I know. Life's a bitch and then you die.

Two days off!

I plan to sleep through most of them. Alone, sadly.

I'll be back for Monday. Hope you will be too.

Sorry about the blurry image of the "hotrod" above. There was some sort of car show going on at Azeka-Mauka Shopping Center last night. I didn't have time to stop and snapped that image on-the-fly.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Gated Home
Wailea

Wailea Beachwalk

Wailea Seascapes

***

98201



"Let's all be careful out there!"

ROLLIN' HOT

FROM THE GITGO

Log-in and head to the front. 3 runs pending. Potluck, first to ONE-NINE's door gets the ride.

The winner was three young guys going to the "Triangle" for dinner.

While I never left town, my tips were fantastic!
The biggest was $35 paid on a $20.30, which was also my biggest fare of the shift, and the smallest was $20 on a $9.20. Maybe my Quasimodo physique is eliciting a "sympathy" tip. I'll take them any way they come.

By 9p, when I took over the phone, we were down to five cabs. Lost another one at 10p and yet another at 11p. That left 3 of us to cover the Friday night bar close. So many cars out on Tuesday nights and not enough on Friday. Well, I can't change it so I just have to deal with it.

Then it got worse. One of the guys got dispatched for a WAilea/MMMC round trip.

And then there were 2.

And we never stopped moving. Bar rush blended seamlessly into bar close. The guy that went to MMMC was back by 1:30a and snagged a Wailea to Ma'alaea Harbor. He could do no wrong last night. Then his luck ended. His last fare was "Uncle Tata", a really nice old scrawny Samoan guy. A "regular". Takes him to his house, which on a cul-de-sac off of our main drug street, a dead end road about 1/2 mile long. As he attempted to leave, the local punks had blocked the road with trash cans, boxes and boards. Then they threw stones at him when he tried to move some to clear a passage. He backed way off and called the police. Fearful that he was going to be attacked and robbed. Cringing in the shadows, he waited until MPD cleared the road.

2 runs on the dog-watch finished my night and I was home by 4:30a. Exhausted. One more to go.

17 fares / 115 miles / 4th quarter $100 bracket

***

Do me a favor.

Please.

As soon as you read this, go HERE and leave a comment. All it is going to cost you is just a few minutes. For each comment left, the site owner will donate $1 to TOYS-FOR-TROOPS. You may only leave one comment and it stops on Sunday, I believe. Maybe later today, so don't dally.

Those innocent kids in Iraq will appreciate your effort.

***

Have a great weekend and I'll chat again tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Marriott Luau

Polo Beach
Wailea

Wailea

***

97914



"Let's all be careful out there!"

2,201 MILES TO GO!

1,201 MILES UNTIL ENTRIES CLOSE

So, please review your guess and make adjustments as necessary. And for those who haven't entered you still have time and those whose prior entries have expired still can Re-Enter.

GOOD LUCK!

***

Gas has dropped another 2-cents. "More bang for the buck", you might say.



15 minutes into the shift I am assigned a Wailea/OGG.

Kewl!

NOT!

Pulled to the front of the pick-up and the desk clerk comes out and asks:

"Are you here to take some people to the airport?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I specifically told them I needed a van."

"No worries. I'll get one here in just a moment."

"I told your call taker that there was a large amount of luggage."

"Ma'am. I am sure you did. Somebody didn't read or record that info. I apologize. I'll have a van here in just a couple of minutes."

"Thank you."

--- --- ---

"ONE-NINE"

"Go, 1-9"

"WBV advises that they specifically requested a van. Please dispatch next unit to WBV for that 7:30 OGG.

"10-4"

So much for going to OGG. I resumed #1 up. My consolation was a $5.60 hotel/hotel

A while later, I do get an OGG from the middle of Kihei. The house numbers didn't sound right for the street name. Also was given a telco # for the party. That was a good thing. I was correct about the numbers not sounding right. Dispatch had given it to me as 1258. It was 258. Called the party and made the pickup.

With ONE-NINE being a sedan, I am constantly getting screwed out of fares. It's beginning to irk me.

Over all, it was dead last night. Of my 8 fares, only 2 were tourists. And what few fares I had all tipped above normal. Thankfully.

8 fares / 102 miles / 1st quarter $100 bracket

***

Looks like we may have some "weather" headed our way.

Hurricane Flossie will probably only be a tropical storm by the time it reaches Hawai'i, maybe less. Looks like it is going to pass about 400 miles south of Mau'i. Most likely it will freshen the trades and add more rainfall to the windward side of the island.

The leeward sides of Mau'i (Lahaina/Ka'anapali, Kihei/Wailea) are in a prolonged drought. We could use some rain. Badly.

Enjoy your day and your weekend.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Luau
Wailea Marriott

Wailea

Wailea Marriott

***

97799



"Let's all be careful out there!"

CHECK BACK TOMORROW

WHEN I AM, HOPEFULLY, NOT SEEING "DOUBLE"

Please excuse this short post.

I am beyond dead tired and nothing exciting happened.

Yup, that about sums up the shift.

13 fares / 94 miles / 3rd quarter $100 bracket

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Wailea
assorted venues

***

97632



"Let's all be careful out there!"

DO NOT PANIC!

NOTHING CAN GO WRONG! [click-click]
GO WRONG! [click-click]
GO WRONG! [click-click]
GO WRONG! [click-click]...

As I turned down the hill into Wailea, headed for work, I glanced at the sunset. It was the most beautiful one I have ever seen. And that is saying a lot. It made the one at the end of today's THE PICTURE GALLERY look lame. So, you are probably asking, why did I post this photo on the left. Sadly, there wasn't time to stop and snap off a couple of quick shots. 10 minutes later is what is shown. Being in the tropics means that we have neither lingering sunsets nor sunrises.

"What time does it get dark here?"
"About 7:30 P M."
"No! I mean really, really dark."
"Oh. You mean really, really, really dark?"
"Yeah."
"Seven-Thirty-One."

From a conversation I had with an elderly lady out of Washington State, USA, when I rented cars at the airport.

***

For a Tuesday night, it was pretty decent. And, from what the other drivers told me, it was also the busiest night they've had since I have been gone. It even beat Friday and Saturday past. So it looks like I didn't miss anything. The biggest issue regarding my absence was who had to cover the graveyard shift. Not my problem.

My night wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped. Went to print up some business cards and the toner cartridges were almost empty. Printed two sheets (10 cards ea.) of "side 1-front". Reloaded them into the printer and printed "side 2-back". Right over the top of the top of what was there. I had mis-inserted the damn forms. I knew I had a few left on the sun-visor of ONE-NINE and that was going to have to suffice.

Get into ONE-NINE and the tank is below 1/4 full. 72 miles til empty. [sigh]

Check-in and head for the look-out. Turn on my digital camera and all I can get on the view screen is pure white. And since all settings are only displayed on the view screen, took the above shot "blind".

Looked down at my wristwatch and it was dead. An analog face and the hands read "4:16".

By 10p I had enough money to fuel up ($52.60). At 11p I stopped into Long's Drug Store and bought one of those cheap Casio digital watches for $20.

All the night crew stayed busy until 11:30p, when the shift ground to a halt.

2 drivers bailed at midnight

2 barclose finished off my night.

I am sitting at home, about 3:20a, when the owner calls and asks what arrangements have been made to "Meet & Greet" a private jet at OGG's General Aviation side.

NONE!

No info had been passed on to me. A 2-van request to haul luggage only back to a Wailea resort. The passengers would be using a streeetch limo. I used to have access keys for every vehicle in the fleet. Not anymore.

The two early day drivers are hustled out of bed and sent off to do the greeting. And then were canceled. The owner had misread the date on the reservation request. It is for Thursday morning, Not today.

A "Chinese fire drill" would be an apt description.

12 fares / 74 miles / 1st quarter $100 bracket

***

Lori Stewart (a/k/a/ g'nightgirl) was on the radio in her hometown yesterday. Promoting the "Spaghetti Feed" benefit to raise donations to get all those toys and sundries mailed to Iraq in her Toys For Troops campaign.

Check out this audio feed:

***

I am off to bed. I made it through the entire shift without a break and now I need to whisper "sweet nothings" to my pillow for awhile.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Wailea
Assorted venues

***

97538



"Let's all be careful out there!"