DIAGNOSIS

PNEUMONIA!

I talked to Judy last night. She is still in MMMC. She might come home today but we both think it will be Monday, at the earliest. She is recovering and hooked up to tubes and hoses doing whatever tubes and hoses do. She is sedated, which makes a conversation fun. I would tell her a joke and it would take 30 seconds or so before she understood the punch line.

She had read about my incident at the end of July and proceeded to describe every one of her symptoms. She was the one who suggested that I am, still, suffering from the same condition. She may be right.

I'll up-date as I get more info.

***

A pretty decent night. Started slow. Jumped into "high gear". Died for an hour. Then went hot'n'heavy thru bar close. Even had 1 "dog-watch". Spent the vast majority of the shift just "ping-ponging" up and down Kihei/Wailea. My final bar-close finally got me out of town. Far north Kihei to the harbor in Kahului. I did lose another run to Kahului at 3a. Asked for a $45 deposit and he didn't have any cash.

"Brah. We get there I run inside and get you cash while you wait. Okay, brah?"

Yeah, right.

I may have been born at night but it definitely wasn't last night. Besides, I already "suckered" for that one when I first started driving.

14 fares / 126 miles / 4th quarter $100 bracket

***

Everyone in Canada and the USA enjoy this 3 day Labor (Labour) Day weekend.

For the rest of the world:
The first Monday in September is a National Holiday in both Canada and the USA. It is also the un-official end of our summer vacation (holiday) period. Most K-12 schools have either commenced classes or will on Tuesday. Everyone will savor the waning days of summer that still remain and start preparation to winterize their homes and vehicles. Soon the "winter" clothes will emerge from storage while "summer" attire disappears.

***

Tonight we only have TMR and myself scheduled for the shift. He dispatched on Thursday. I did it last night. Neither one of us wants to do it. Maybe we can split the night 50/50.

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!

DON'T
DRINK
AND
DRIVE!

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Pukalani

Break In Clouds
Pukalani

Pukalani "Cherry"

Pukalani Square

Pukalani

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

A BEAUTIFUL START

TO A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT

Last Night's Sunset

At 9:30p I surpassed Tuesday night's meter. Passed Wednesday's at 9:45p. And beat their combined total at 1:26a. Then I added two more fares to the night.

I think this just about sums it up:

Had the pleasure of the company of these four lasses twice last night. I didn't get their names but they are from SoCal. Aren't they pretty? They were as nice as they were good looking. Even at the end of the night.

Also had two Irish lads. Mid-twenty's. The rudest people of the night. Not that they were deliberately trying to be rude, just that I was a "cabbie" and far below their station in life. I had them twice last night also. Their main interests were getting a blow-job, football (soccer), and seeing if they could get into a fight at the "Triangle" with a "local". They didn't think the people of polynesia were that tough. I don't know how they fared since I had only taken them to Mulligan's and later to the "Triangle". No ambulances were called to the "Triangle" during the shift, so maybe they sized up the competition and realized they were out-matched.

14 fares / 116 miles / 1st quarter $200 bracket

***

Received a call from Judy's new boyfriend/roommate, Richard, last night. Judy was taken ill on Sunday past and finally was transported to MMMC yesterday. Nobody knows what is wrong and she is scheduled for a CAT-SCAN later today. We don't have a MRI machine on Mau'i. Richard had just left her at the ER. They had doped her up and she was drifting off to the "Land of Nod". She told him that there was no reason to hang around and watch her sleep and that he had to call me asap or I would be pissed. And I would have been, too. I'll talk to him this evening and hopefully they'll have an idea of what the problem is. The only symptoms that he told me was that she was having severe chest and upper back pains.

I'll let you know tomorrow what I find out.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Pukalani
Upcountry Mau'i

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

REMEMBER HOW SLOW TUESDAY WAS?

WEDNESDAY WAS WORSE

One of the problems we have is lack of places to park while waiting for a dispatch. In Wailea, none of the resorts want us waiting around on their property. All beach access parking is closed at 7p and we are hassled by the Wailea Community rent-a-cops if we park anywhere in their patrol area. Even The Shops At Wailea kick us out. Of course, the difference between us and their regular traffic is that we have a yellow light on the roof and our vehicles are clean, late model automobiles that actually have wheels on them and no major damage.

Both of these have been parked at The Shops for well over a month.


I guess I could take "Maggie" and beat the shit out of our cabs so we look more like their "valued" customers.

***

The title of today's missive says it all. My second fare of the night was a good one from Wailea to a hostel in Wailuku. A young couple from "Sacratomato", CA USA. He just flew in today and she has been here for a week already, with her parents.

Contributed a 25% tip too!

4 fares between 7p and 11p. 1 on the dog-watch.

If this is boring to you, then consider how I felt.

Oh, yeah. We had 4 cabs on until 2a. Started with a lot more than that.

My morning relief advised me that he will be taking the next 5 days off. I have no idea who will be my relief on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Feces occurs. I'll just hang in there until someone shows up.

The next 3 nights we only have 3 cabs on until bar close. And we might get some business from the Three Dog Night concert in Wailuku this evening.

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

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Pukalani
Upcountry - Mau'i

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

"HACK"

MELISSA PLAUT'S BOOK

Yesterday was its release date. I can hardly wait to get/read it. USA TODAY had a nice write-up about it. I've heard that the current edition of American Way, the in-flight magazine for American Airlines, also has a squib but I couldn't find it on their web edition.

I hope it becomes a best seller. The only "spoiler" that I've heard is that she is gay. Which matters nothing to me.

***

Today is the third anniversary of hurricane Katrina hitting NOLA.

***

My last fare of the shift ended at 11:16p. My relief didn't showup until almost 4:30a. 5 hours of nothing to do.

"Murph", ONE-NINE's day driver on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, only added 85 miles over the last 2 days.

Half a dozen fares during the prior 4 hours. Had one couple twice, taking them to and from dinner. And had another girl twice. A kama'aina, I took her from work to her home and then picked her and her roommate up a half hour later, headed to the "Triangle".

The second fare was one of note though. A mother and 10/11-ish daughter from Portland, OR USA. They had attended the luau at the Maui Prince and were headed back to their condo, in north-central Kihei. She was a psychic vampire. A person who can suck all the energy out of a room by just walking into it. You know the type. Started of with wanting to know how much the fare was going to be. She got my standard answer:

"Whatever the meter reads when we get there. It starts at $3.50 and adds $3 for each mile traveled."

'Will it be more than $25?"

"Probably closer to $30 / $35."

"It only cost me $15 to get here."

"Not in a cab."

The rest of the ride she whoaed and bemoaned about her entire visit. The fridge in her condo wasn't working and all the food she had purchased was spoiling but she didn't want a repair person to come in when she wasn't there and her "dance card" was full for everyday of her stay. As we approach their condo she starts in on the little girl, saying that everything that has gone wrong was all her fault and that she didn't want to speak to her the rest of the night. Definitely "Mother Of The Year" material.

The fare was $31.10 and they gave me $31, exactly. Not only stiffed for the tip but also shorted on the fare. But somehow I knew it was going to turn out that way during the first 30 seconds of the ride. As she exited, I told her

"Lady, you had better start to learn how to take control and responsibility for your life and quit blaming others, especially your young daughter, or you will end up alone and miserable when you reach my age. Grow the fuck up."

6 fares / 63 miles / 4th quarter below $100 bracket

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

3-D Relief Map Of Haleakala

Makawao Avenue Upcountry

Moonrise Over Haleakala

Pukalani Upcountry

Pukalani The Lights Of
King Kekaulike High School
Sports Field On The Horizon

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

BOY! THE MOON IS REALLY BLUSHING.

WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?

This is the raw image taken just a few minutes ago:
The moon is located in the lower center.
As shown on this image:
And this is what I got pushing the image to its usable limits:





"Let's all be careful out there!"

MORE FROM

THE OL' MAIL BAG:

***

And so, as one smart bear once said...

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you."

~ Winnie the Pooh.

***

3900 Marbles

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life."

"There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on" she asked with a smile."

"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

***

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Stop over tomorrow when you get a chance.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Upcountry Rainbow

Pukalani
Upcountry Mau'i

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"