Missed a few days there – sorry about that. I got a small remodel job, and I’ve been trying to squeeze in time to work on that in between job hunting and chasing after a certain 2 year old.

Oh, and my nephew (the son of LeaAnn) got married this weekend. It was good to see the family in the area. I was doing OK until I saw my other sister wearing the outfit that LeaAnn was supposed to wear at Sean’s wedding. I gathered myself back up, went and hugged necks of my two brothers and their families that were in attendance, and then caught myself scanning the crowd for LeaAnn.

Nah, that’s not why I put my shades back on. It’s because the wedding was outside on a golf course on a sunny day that I put my shades back on.

No, really.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

On this day, in 1945, Mt. Surabachi on the island of Iwo Jima was captured and held by forces from the United States Marines. The second raising of the US flag generated this memorable photograph for Joe Rosenthal, to be a point of inspiration for the entire country:

I am on the tail end of a round of antibiotics (Z-pak is my friend!) and the resultant coughing up of a lung on a constant basis makes sleep difficult and muscles sore from the coughing. I’m going to go sit quietly until MEG wakes up.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Yup, raining here in the Valley of the Sun. I understand Flagstaff is expecting up to a foot of Global Warming (see #4) today, on top of the seven inches of Global Warming (see #4) they got on Sunday. Speaking of Sundays…

Did I tell you the one about NFC Sunday and the guy who should have lost his mancard privileges?

I had a cab on a 24 hour lease for the Sunday that the Cardinals played the Eagles for the NFC title. The “conventional wisdom” at the cage was that sitting at a cabstand at Westgate (where the University of Phoenix Stadium is located) (i know, naming a “professional” stadium for a college…) would be the big money. Knowing that the “conventionally wise” drivers would be doing just that, I stayed away from Westgate, on the theory (proven time and again, by the way) that while all the cabs are jockeying for places at Westgate, no one was available to pick up all the rides wanting to get anywhere else. So, I was busy from the time I got out of church until I turned the cab in on Monday morning. At any rate –

I had taken a short break about 1500, since I was near the home 20, and grabbed a bite to eat. I then got back on the stick, and cruised over towards Westgate, about three miles from my house to begin with. I was at the corner of Glendale Avenue and 91st Avenue when a 20something guy flagged me down. Geekboy jumped in, and said that he needed to pick up his girlfriend. He was on the phone with girlfriend, and kept chatting and cajoling her to hurry. Where was she? On Maryland Avenue, supposedly meeting him at 91st Ave. Maryland is one of the streets that got extended into the former cotton fields to provide more access and egress for Westgate and the resultant development around it. I couldn’t go south on 91st, since it was the fourth quarter and traffic control had already started setting it up for mass exit. I turned around, went to 83rd, and dropped south to Maryland there. An officer was working traffic control there, also, keeping non-residents from cutting through the neighborhood. I told him my fare wanted to pick up his girlfriend at 91st and Maryland. The nice officer let us through. (i’m pretty sure he thought i meant that geekboy’s girlfriend lived in the neighborhood in the vicinity of 91 and maryland, but that was not my concern) Once I got over to the other side, we saw that traffic control was not allowing traffic straight through – you had to turn north, so I pulled over to the curb. All this time, geekboy (and i’m being kind – he musta been born in the ugly tree, and hit several branches when he fell out) is on the phone, telling “Susie” to hurry and meet us – he had a cab, and we were sitting at 91 and Maryland…I know it’s a long way, but run, babe, because we hafta move soon…

The officer working traffic control on the west side of the neighborhood sauntered over. I told him we were waiting for geekboy’s girlfriend, and she should be right there soon. He told me he would work with me – I couldn’t sit on the curb like I was, but if I pulled up to the light I didn’t have to go through the light unless someone came up behind me. I thanked him, and pulled up to the stop line. Soon after, a vehicle pulled in behind me (of course!). I had to move, so I went north a little bit to the next break in the traffic cones, glanced around, and u-turned back to Maryland – we were going to get in!

I made the turn in at Maryland, and was cruising along in the single lane of cone-marked access allowed, when geekboy said “There she is! Hey, Susie!” She was walking along the other side of the street, oblivious to the BRIGHT GREEN CAB that geekboy was hanging out of while talking to geekboy on the phone. I found a spot where the cones were a little spread apart, and pulled another u-turn. I am so glad the police were paying attention to the cones, and not me…

I pulled up next to oblivious girl – I mean, Susie – and geekboy jumps out, gets her attention, and they start talking about how she wants to stay and party at Westgate and he wants to go to their place. I have to interject here, though – she was not in his class. Actually, he was nowhere near HER class, based on looks – she was a drop-dead, stonecoldfox, good looking kid. You know – makes the cheer squad on looks alone type. I figure either he was a really good kisser (wink wink nudge nudge) or his credit line made Bill Gates look poor. I digress.

She wanted to stay and party, he wanted to go to their place. Why? It turns out that the Eagles were enjoying theire one and only lead in the game, and he was upset that the Cardinals had blown their massive lead. He kept telling me to go to 43rd Avenue and Union Hills (a pretty nice fare from Westgate, on top of the running in circles we had already done) and she kept telling him that she wanted to stay and party. All this time I was still sitting at the curb, and their argument was running about 45 cents per minute. Finally, he got huffy, told her to get in, and as she was getting in the back he got in the front seat. I took off, turning north on 91st and hitting a red light at Glendale, where the argument peaked. She said “Fine. Just let me out here, and you can go where ever.” “Oh, come on, Susie – don’t be like that!” The light turned green, and I started across the intersection.

She decided to assert her independence at that particular point in time, and opened her door – as we were accelerating across Glendale. I hollered at her to close the door and wait until I pulled over – I aimed for the bus pull out on the other side. No sooner had I pulled in there that she was out and gone. He was sitting there, looking all hurt, and kind of crying a little bit. I thought to myself “wow. what a weird chain of events.” Then, out loud – “Uh, where to, then?”

Being all butthurt, he choked out “83rd and Cactus. I wanna go to my parents house.”

When I got to the house he directed me to, the meter read $32 and change. He gave me two twenties, jumped out, and ran to the front door. I left, thinking I should have told him that the meter was $32 and his man card.

Still, not bad for a half hour’s work and I still had the rest of the night to make lots of runs – which I did.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I had an unusual fare Saturday evening. (not that there are “usual” fares when you drive a cab, but…) I picked up this lady who had called for a cab rather than drive home from a bar in Peoria. She is a bit older than I am, and she had very securely tied one on. She was unusual in a couple of aspects.

First – she declared that she called a cab only because she didn’t want to drive all the way home. Not that she would ever face a DUI ticket – she claimed to have diplomatic immunity (New Zealand citizen). I kept my mouth shut.

Second – she started rambling about really enjoying her evening out, since it was more a trip down memory lane than anything else. Seems she and her recently exed husband used to hang at the bar where she was pickled picked up. Everyone kept asking her where “the big guy” was, and she says she patiently explained the most intimate details of the divorce to one and all, including the fact that her big brute of a VietNam Veteran Marine husband of hers just couldn’t seem to handle his physical failings – the strokes just really “creeped [her] out.” I kept my mouth shut.

Third – she then tangented off to the new administration. (My thoughts on this subject are posted in the comment section of Texas Fred’s post, “MY Free Speech Regarding Barack Hussein Obama“) Her main point was that she could not understand how in the world the Americans could just stand by and let this happen to their country. I posited that we didn’t let it happen, so much as we had it rammed down our throats by the Defeatist, Elitist Media (h/t: BZ). She insisted that we “let it happen” so I went back to keeping my mouth shut.

Fourth – and this is the kicker – she waxed poetic about her adopted country (here in the US of A) and how she longed for the old days when she was in high school and college, and “they” would all gather together and demonstrate against the administration, that nasty war they had saddled us with, and generally Made Things Happen.

I could no longer keep my mouth shut.

We were near her address, so I opened up a bit. I told her in no uncertain terms that her attitude about the citizens of this country was misplaced – the anger should be towards her post-hippie, leftist leaning groupies from her college years, since they are the ones shouting longest and loudest about how The Messiah, TEH ONE, this Halfrican Wunderkind is going to Save This Country from itself.

I lit into her about her attitude about her husband – how as a Marine, he was used to being the one who took care of others, and abandoning him just because he was having trouble adjusting to being the one who was being taken care OF was extremely selfish of HER.

I then told her in no uncertain terms that BRAGGING about demonstrating against VietNam and helping the enemy by being the catalyst to subverting the drive of this country was just out and out STUPID, and I bet out loud that she also thought the War on Terror was a waste of time, too – when she started getting upset that I had attacked this un-named bastion of her belief, I had had enough. I told her that it was HER attitude that was leading this country down the well-paved path to Hell, not the conservatives who were trying to keep this country’s head above water. She got kind of pissy after that – after all, I had just killed her buzz – and she paid her fare and stomped into her townhouse.

For some reason, I didn’t get a tip from her.

However, I was led to consider some of what she had said. Yes, we do have a socialist politician in the White House now – but we will get through this. One thing she kept on about was how the Americans she ran into were all “oh, this will pass” and didn’t appear to be too worried about our future. My reply to that was “Do not mistake my calm demeanor for not caring, anymore than you would mistake a duck on the river as not being very active.” In her drunken state, she missed the analogy. But know this – even though we appear to be calm in person, blogs such as most of the ones you will find in my sidebar are an indication (to me, anyway) that this country’s patriots are far from complacent about the direction this country is headed.

I must say that once her townhouse sells (good luck with that, in this market) and her current position is completed, that this country will perhaps be better off without her attitude – which I cannot peg as anti-American so much as pro-defeatist-American.

On a side note – I’ll try to get more cab stories up. Remind me to tell you about the two guys I picked up in The District who got to walk home after all…

I’ll chat with you more later.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – the Bailout of the Big Three didn’t pass muster with Congress. Good. Looks like UAW didn’t want to take a well-deserved pay-cut to put their members on par with Toyota factory workers, who seem to be able to put out economical models in a lean and mean manufacturing process.

Bush and Co. are trying to work a run-around so the Big Three can be put back into lean, mean, economical running again. Uh, yeah.

Now, for the “No, There’s no Connection” item:

From the Arizona Republic (no guarantee as to how long the link will last):

Chandler taxpayers paid $32,000 to buy Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn a 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid, The Arizona Republic has learned.

The car replaces the mayor’s 2004 Chevy Malibu with about 70,000 miles about two months ago, city spokeswoman Nachie Marquez confirmed Friday.

Well, gee – with only 70,000 miles on it, that seems like a waste of a perfectly good Malibu, wouldn’t you say? I wonder why they would dump an American Icon-Made automobile for one of those darned Japanese cars (which, by the way, really are made in America, not assembled in Mexico and shipped here)? Let’s read on, shall we?

Assistant City Manager Pat McDermott said the city opted to buy the new car because the Malibu was having some repetitive maintenance problems and becoming unreliable. It’s not immediately known how much in repairs the city has spent on the vehicle.
[snip]
“I think it was appropriate. He has a car that was breaking down. We saw the repair record and it was way more than it should be for a car with 70,000 miles. Partly because it was a pain-in-the-butt car, we started looking at an alternative.”

The city is keeping the Malibu despite its mechanical problems. It will remain in the city’s fleet.

Presumably, the vehicle won’t be used much and is sitting out it’s time until it is fully depreciated before the city sells it.

But, let’s take a look there – an American Made car, with an unacceptable level of repairs, being removed from the Mayor’s use in exchange for a car that (from personal experience) won’t even be fully broken in until it hits the 150,000 mile mark. Plus, it’s a hybrid vehicle, which means that it won’t be idling at all the ill-timed stop lights in town (thanks to the new and wonderful streetcar light rail that is due to come on line on December 27) when the Mayor does drive from Chandler to Phoenix. I don’t see any problems here.

The only problem I do see is the fact that the city is hanging on to the Malibu, even though it’s a piece of junk. I say, sell the rattle trap and get it off the city’s books. That would be the economical and environmentally sound decision.

Oh, wait – they did make the sound decision to trade up to a Camry, so I guess we should hold on to that thought. Can’t expect them to make a whole lot of changes at once, ya know…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!