Tampa Taxi Shots

GAS PRICE HOLDING STEADY...SO FAR

The price of gas is holding around $1.87 a gallon.  That is what I payed this morning in North Tampa.  As you know, cab drivers buy their own gas and that comes right out of our pocket.  Last year when the price hit about 4 bucs, it almost killed me.  Any higher, and the taxi industry may have come to a halt because the company would never match us on gas.  It got so bad, I even had to shut this blog down because I could no longer afford it.  I have this feeling that gas will be going up during the summer.  What do you think? 

When that happens, will they still blame George Bush? 

DERRICK BROOKS: THE MIND OF A WARRIOR And Glaziers have no class

Very few things are as sure as death and taxes.  The setting of the sun, the moon revolving around the Earth are axioms we live by, so is Derrick Brooks being the greatest outside linebacker to ever play the game.  Not even an argument.

I know the NFL is a tough league.  Hell, life is tough, and babies should get off the field.  Guys are cut everyday.  For every Derrick Brooks, there's a million guys you never heard of.  He earned what very few players have earned-a straight ticket to the Hall of Fame.  He will not pass go, he will collect more than $200.  That is why the Bucs did him wrong. 

He had earned the RIGHT in my mind, to leave on HIS terms, not on some God Damn business decision by the Glaziers.  The Glaziers love only money.  That is good. 

When the old man dies, I hope they can pack enough of it in his coffin so he can have peace in the next life.  How could one man win a Super Bowl and a European cup Championship for Manchester United, and be so hatted in Europe and America?  You've got to work real hard at that.

Malcolm Glazier and his son Joel have no class.  They are just Rochester New York, aqua velvet wearing, bowling on Tuesday night, rednecks who got lucky and have no idea how to treat people.

I have the new 2009 NFC South poll up with new modern pictures of the team logos. The poll closes on September 13, 2;30 right after kickoff of the second game of the season.

NOT MY FATHERS GENERATION ANYMORE

Newport News, Virginia is home of the largest US Navy shipyard in the world. That is were I grew up. My father was a designer of ships, who found gainful and secure employment during the entirety of the cold war. The Fasano family lived for over twenty years in a neighborhood called Ivy Farms. It was a preplanned ‘hood for working class people who wanted a three bedroom home on a budget and expected to raise their children and live there for at least two decades.

Religion and Economics were real to my parents. They grew up during the Great Depression. Times were hard, but our family always had a roof over their heads and food on the table. My father believed that anything beyond that was a gift. They struggled, but they learned character. The Great Depression made a huge impact on the consciousness of them and their peers.

The “Greatest Generation” forged values that are rarely emphasized today and at a detriment to our society, I believe. For example, Mom and Dad were never in debt, they lived within their means and never put their children’s welfare and security at risk. I can say with confidence that everyone in my neighborhood in Newport News was living within his or her means. I never saw a perfectly good home knocked down to build an ostentatious mini-mansion for the purpose of a showy display of wealth. The Bible says materialism will build enmity with God. People used to believe such things as that.

ARM mortgages were non-existent. New cars were rare. People were genuinely happy and the holidays were a special time of year.

Things are not that way anymore, and it is the infestation of nihilism that is responsible.  Do you think this country is better since religion has been removed from schools and most media, that moral relativism has become mainstream, that the natural place of the family has been minimized? 

The seven deadly sins have consequences.  Greed being the most prominent.  Greed is a killer, and it's evil is found only in the hearts of men.  Mortgages became like drugs, and the pusher of $300,000 loans for $69 a month made more money than any Colombian cartel.  It had to come to an end.  It did come to an end.  You cannot escape with impunity.  I remember a time when that siren song would have been ignored.

I entered high school in 1969 at the time of the Vietnam war, then Watergate.  Our country got thru it.  We moved on and excelled.  We elected Ronald as President because he explained that Government, not people were the problem.  I still believed that a good job, a home, a car, and a nice vacation was well within my reach.  I was an American, and it was my Constitutional right.

The only thing people used credit for was a house and a car payment.  My parents had a Master Card for over forty years and never carried a balance.  They made the payment every month. The Government seemed to do the same thing.  There was the recession in 1974-75 which led to Stagflation, but it soon passed and the heady days of the 1980's were upon us and everybody made money.  I did very well during that time.

Now, for the first time in American history you would have done better by putting your money in a Banks passbook savings account, then the Stock Market.  The mattress is not far behind.

The interest on the National debt is now over $500 billion and growing.  The nation is in trouble. It was when Reagan took over and one of the first things he did was hire Paul Volcker to run the federal reserve.  President Obama has hired him as well.  You can't go wrong with him.  He will maintain a stable money supply, and market forces will eventually get us out of this.

The liabilities we face are enormous when you factor in the Baby boomers and Social Security.  Are they going to take a cut?  Not likely. They will though, if we are to survive.

One thing I know for a fact is that when America was attracted on December 7th, 1941, something happened to this nation.  Prior to Pearl Harbor, Europeans thought we were a nation of pansies, who had no real spine.  After all, we claimed Hitler was their problem, and Japan was separated from us by a great ocean, and they were no threat to us.  We were wrong.  Once prodded this country moved toward GREATNESS.  A greatness never seen before on Earth.  The American people made real sacrifices(not just flying a flag on their car, or "we stand united" bumper stickers, seen after 9-11-2001) and we overcame toxic enemies to essentially save the world. 

That is what we will do this time.

We will perserver or enter the 1,000 years of darkness that Regan warned us about.

The stakes have never been higher.

AFLAC!

I had a call in building 8 of the Comfort Inn at stand 51.  As I approached the back, where the pond is, these ducks where in the parking lot and would not move.  I mean, I could have run them over if I had wanted to.  Fortunately, I had a big bag of popcorn that I spread out on the pavement away from the taxi.  The ducks quickly ran over and began devouring the popcorn.  I was then able to make my way to my fare.

My fare told me that he and his girlfriend had been feeding the ducks. 

I wonder if Shoe ever stayed here?

NEW FAD IN TAMPA

What is with all the mannequins on sidewalks that I am seeing in Tampa lately?  It used to be the gorillas at the vacuum store on Kennedy, now its hot looking store mannequins on Kennedy, Hyde Park, Columbus and several other locations. 

I am not sure why.  Perhaps, to draw attention to the business that it is out front of.

This one sort of got my attention.  She seems to be rather well endowed.  You will find her outside of Anytime Fitness at Kennedy and Habana (daytime only).

Some USF students once stole a gorilla from out front of the State Vacuum store.  They returned it, however, when the owner went on TV and said no questions would be asked if they brought it back. 

You would think some "Jeffry Damer" type, or garden varity pervert,  would steel one of the hot mannequins.

BUCS ARE MOVING ON

I was driving by the stadium today, and saw that the gigantic mural of Jeff Garcia on the south side of the stadium is still up.  Not for long. 

Garcia will be playing with another team next year, he is one of the casualties of Jon Gruden being fired.  It is sort of sad. 

Garcia has that heart of a lion.  What he lacked in talent, he made up for with shear determination.  Too bad other players don't perform like that.  He just does not fit in with the new Offensive coordinators scheme.

Jeff Jagodzinski, the new coordinator, runs a "zone-blocking" scheme that allows for many traps, seam passes, deep post routes, and bubble screens.  This should really jazz up the offense.  Unfortunately, that type of offense requires a tall QB with a bomb for an arm.  Garcia does not exactly fit that profile.

I will be glad to not see "Chuckie Ball" anymore. 

Good luck Jeff wherever you go.

UNION LABOR OR MEDICAL CARE?

There are a group of guys holding a very visable protest out front of University Community Hospital on North Dale Mabry Tampa Florida.  I have seen it before, today I pulled the cab over, and talked with these guys to find out what all the fuse was about.  I thought that maybe someone had died at the hospital, and a pissed off relative was in an outrage.

Not at all.

Come to find out they were union Sheet Metal Workers who are angry at the University Hospital system labor practices.  They told me that Union sheet metal workers build hospitals, and other things.  It seems that when University Community Hospital needs construction and maintenance work, they use contractors who often use scab and non-union workers so they can pay cheap wages and, perhaps, offer no medical insurance.  This could have an adverse affect on the medical system as a whole, for union workers often receive good medical care.  

Im' sorry, but can't anyone hire anyone they feel like in this Greatest Country on God's Green Earth?

The SHEET METAL WORKERS showed FACTS that the infection rate at this hospital is 2.5 times the State of Florida average. After viewing the rate of death for malfeasance, and the rate of law suites for wrongful death, it was enough to make ME think this place a public health hazard. You would seem to get better care at a local mortuary, than this place, allegedly (my opinion, not the SHEET METAL WORKERS).  I still don't know what that has to do with labor.

However, every driver that goes up Dale Mabry will see the Grim Reaper, and the coffin with the word GRAVE in their banner.  I would say that puts forth an hyperbolic opinion about health care, not labor.  What do you think?

INDEPENDENT FILMS ARE HOT IN TAMPA BAY

Are you afraid of sexy vampires and things that go bump in the night?

Have no fear, Nolan Canova is here.

Do you like horror?  Star Trek? Troma flicks? Troma flick chicks?  B flicks, and independent films made by very talented people?  Then Nolan is your man, and he is located here in Tampa Florida. 

He publishes one of the most venerated blog/websites for over ten years www.crazedfanboy.com and has recently been focusing on the Tampa Independent film culture/community.

Apparently, there is a large, if not, booming independent film culture in Tampa.  A culture that has flown under the radar of the mainstream media and most alternative rags and bloggers.  That is a shame.  A real Tampa treasure going this unnoticed while a billion people want to watch the women's "airport meltdown" on you-tube.  Canova is making it his mission to get the word out about these films.

He is using his contacts in the media (mostly small radio and public TV access) and his popular website, www.crazedfanboy.com to inform people about this important  movement. Nolan can get very excited about the things he loves that deal with pop-culture.  He has a link on his site to Paul Guzzo and Independent Tampa film news.  Check it out.

Noland is one of the most intelligent people that I have ever known.  His irreverent attitude and sarcastic humor only ads to his character and the way he relates details to his stories.  Ask Nolan what time it is, and he will tell you how to make a watch.  He loves pop-culture, and has one of the longest standing websites devoted to that subject. 

Nolan is one of the few people on Earth that has met everyone in the industry from Bill Mummy to Gene Rodenberry.

The Tampa Bay Independent film culture is of extreme interest to Noland.  He maintains that there is an abundance of great work being created on our backdoor, and nobody is even noticing.  People seem to be only interest in mainstream media and $8.00 buckets of cold popcorn.

Nolan was recently interviewed on local www.tampabaysmediatalk.com and you can check it out at this link.

MAYBE LARRY WAS RIGHT

There is no doubt that many calls now go to drivers on their cell phones.  We call them specials.  Specials, in theory are a good thing.  The customer can call you directly, and nobody knows about it except you.  The really of this arrangement is now causing me some heartache. 

Larry, when he was a driver, always had his "specials" call dispatch first, and if he was available, he would go on the call.  Tom123 and I used to think this was a left handed way of doing specials.  I now can see the profound wisdom of this for local people.

What happens is the special will get upset when they learn you do not work 24 hours a day.  They will always call at the wrong time, like when you are out of town, or when you are home watching football on the downside of a six pack, and they expect  you to drop everything and just come and get them. That seems to be happening with me, quite a bit.

I would suggest that you only have specials that will call only at the same time every day, not day and night. And only have specials that you have a change of making any money off of.

Thats what Larry used to do, and worked for him.

GEERT WILDERS WAR AGAINST IGNORANCE

 Geert Wilder is a rising political star.  He is a politician from Holland.  Many say he is their Barrack Obama.  He is young, smart, ambitious, and has taken his party from nowhere to a 25% representation in Hollands Parliament.

Now, he is in fear for his life.  The reason is that he has had the guts to expose what the real enemy is that we face in this war on terror--ignorance and political correctness on the part of Western Cultures that are allowing the menace of Fundamental Islam to spread throughout the world. 

And it's all happening because of a 10-minute movie that hasn't even been made yet.

Geert Wilders calls his movie "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization." Wilders plans to present it to his country on television sometime next month.  He wanted to present it to Britain, but instead of them understanding who the real enemy is, they cast Wilders as the threat and refused to allow him into the country. 

Ironic. I was struck with the idea on 9-11-01 that whoever had done this to us, immigrated to our country and operated freely within our borders so they could kill us.  Now we are protecting these vermin, and prosecuting the exposers of the real evil we face.

Even an Atheist can understand this:  Man has created God in his image in every culture and civilization that has has ever existed.  The Jews needed a God to justify their captivity and meekness, so they created a God that sanctioned them as "Gods People."  The Christians need a God to justify poverty and hardship, so they created a God that gave them their reward in the next life.  Islam was founded by 7th Century tribal nomad warriors that need a God to justify pillaging and conquest.  Even the Koran has a sword on the cover, not exactly a pacifist symbol.

For England to expel Mr. Wilders from their country and embrace and allow people who want to kill them to live within their midst, shows how far this insanity of Political correctness has spread. England would rather be on their knees with masked men about to behead them, and they would say this is wonderful, we are so tolerant as a people.

Any life force that takes measures that allow its own destruction is an irrational life force.

That is now the Western World. 

If Rod Serling were alive today, he would probubly say that:

"The ability to conquer is not limited to guns and bombs and Iranian nuclear programs.  There are things such as fear, ignorance, and persuasion, weapons found only in the minds of men.  For the record, fear can kill and an ignorant search for a scapegoat that liberalism has persuaded you as the enemy, has a impact greater than any nuclear program by Iran.  They don't have to take action; they can just sit back and watch with amusement as the West grinds itself to a level lower than beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Sign post up ahead, the world has just entered the Twilight Zone."

As Reagan once said the decisions that are made today will determain weather civilazation moves forward, or is headed for 1,000 years of darkness.

PHOTO SHOOT VICTIM OF ECONOMY

I used to attend a photo shoot twice a year in Arizona called the Arizona Shootout sponsored by Dave Hall a professional photographer from New York.  This event allows aspiring photographers and professionals alike to get killer images and shoot Playboy models that would not be possible under ordinary conditions, such as the beautiful Anna I photograped to the left.

I have recently been going on his website to find out about signing up for the event, but it has not been updated in a while. I fear the worst. I hope it is not another victim of the bad economy.

Dave has not made any public announcement that I can tell, so I can only conclude it is the economy that has done this event in, temporarily I hope.  Perhaps I am overreacting and the event will still go off as usual.

As an aspiring photographer I find this event very useful for upgrading my skills and improving my "book" to show agencies.  I also have a website, and this event was useful in acquiring new content.  I also enjoyed the social aspect of this event and many of the participants have become friends of mine.  I hope the event will back soon.  If anyone has any info, let me know.

I have been looking at Bob Anderson's event in Cabo Mexico in October.  It is very expensive but it is a Ujena catalog shoot.

TEMPORARY RECOVERY, JULIO, AND OBAMA

Things are good right now.  I hope it is not a temporary recovery simply because it is winter time.  Yes, the Super Bowl and Gasparilla were good, but there seems to be more going on, at least in the Tampa Bay Area. 

I was driving back from Clearwater this morning after getting a ride to the beach (there seem to be more of these rides lately).  I pulled off the side of the causeway and took this shot of downtown with the sun rising just knowing that it was going to be a beautiful day in Tampa Bay.  I really enjoy living here. Florida is beautiful and you can make a living.  Unfortunately, there are parts of Florida that are not doing so well.

I just saw President Obama in Fort Myers holding a town-hall meeting were he fielded the final question from some guy name Julio who identified himself as a student who had been working at McDonald's for over 4 years.  He wanted to know what Obama could do to help this communication major.  I can help, get out of Ft. Myers and head north to Tampa.  Things seem to be coming around somewhat...I hope.

I mean, I am picking up people going out to the Gulf beaches and people going to their hotels for the conferences and conventions that are in town.  This seems like the old days.  It needs to continue. As long as we can continue to get these events, I can make a living as a driver.

There is no doubt that the exposure Tampa got on national television during the Super Bowl is going to have a long term economic impact in our area.  So if you live in a place that is dead, like Julio does, get out.  I have heard many taxi drivers say they are getting out of Tampa, and I only wonder where are they going.  The grass is not greener on the other side. Life has taught me that.  However, there are places that simply offer more opportunity, that is just a fact.

Just look at the photo above and ask why you would want to live anywhere else.  I don't.  Well, perhaps not the best photo I've ever taken!

WELCOME TO THE BEACH, A TOPLESS CAB DRIVER AND JOHN UPDIKE

Check out this new YouTube.com posting I did this afternoon after I dropped off at the beach after getting a $70 fair out of the airport....Man I love this time of year. TOM,HERE IS THE QUOTE FROM JOHN UPDIKES A&P: "I just saunter into the electric eye in my white shirt that my mother ironed the night before, and the door heaves itself open, and outside the sunshine is skating around on the asphalt.... Looking back in the big windows, over the bags of peat moss and aluminum lawn furniture stacked on the pavement, I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he'djust had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter."

TAXI MAN ON THE RUN!

Watch as my older sister chases my twin brother and I around a tree circa 1958!  That was a long time ago.  My father was using super 8mm, state of the art at that time.  I imagine many people from my generation can find an old box with old film in it, a real treasure if you can find it.

WOODROW AND A SLOW JOSE GASPAR DAY

I picked up Woodrow today, like I do every Gasparilla day.  He is a long time rider and a member of the Cuban Krew with a float in the parade.  Most drivers who have been around for a while know Woodrow.  He is a ballet dance teacher who also instructs Cheer leaders and a dance competition team that goes to New York every year for the Macy Parade.

I could not help but notice how small the crowd compared to previous years.  You could easily get down Howard to Palm with very little traffic, and the same for Swann to Boulevard.  It was kind of strange.  I guess it is the economy and maybe not so many people from out of town coming to the event.  I know the paper tomorrow will say 1.2 million or something like that, but I doubt it. 

Don't get me wrong, we did have a bunch of calls on the board, and if you wanted to work, you would have made money, no doubt about that.  It just did not seem the same.

"Shoe" our weekend dispatcher must have had a hangover because he had no tolerance for anything that was going on today, and when a driver would "step on" another driver by not using proper radio procedure, he would just go on a cigarette break and come back latter.

And of course, I got to go on a four cab order on a very busy day.  Most cab drivers don't like multiple cab orders because the people are usually arrogant (expecting that many cabs is a clue), never ready, and often the last cab to show up will not load. We all loaded, but of course, they made us wait. I've got to admit, they did take care of us.

LARRY AND TOM'S BLOG

Check out this cool blog called Larry and Tom by two old (I mean OLD) cab drivers.  The format has been redone, and they have a lot of relevant content that I did not know about.  Did you know that Jacksonville cab drivers were getting $100 flat rate for downtown runs during the 2005 Super bowl?  Read what these seasoned veterans have to say about a lot of stuff.

REFLECTIONS AFTER A GREAT WEEK

I am sad today.  Sad that the Super Bowl people are now all gone.  They should have this event in Tampa every year.  My understanding is Indianapolis will host the 2011 Super Bowl.  I don't know why the NFL wants to have these things in cold climates, maybe they think with global warming Indy will become Miami.  Look at all these Steeler fans enjoying themselves in Ybor while there is 10 feet of snow in Western Pennsylvania.  Good call NFL.

Lot 11 was a cluster fuck.  The NFL logistics committee had this idea that all pick ups and drop offs would be at lot 11 at Hillsborough Community College. That all 70,000 people would flow in an orderly way to be picked up after the game was an insane idea. Most cab drivers never made it to lot 11 without fans piling into their cab.  What Nancy wanted us to do was lock our doors, roll up the window, and just go to lot 11 so United Cab would not look bad under the circumstances.  The men needed to make money, so that plan was a disaster.

Tampa is a great city.  I hope many of the VIP's toke note of that fact.  Perhaps they will include the Tampa area in future business plans..all of that ties into my economic philosophy of let people control their own destiny's, we really don't need a community organizer from Chicago giving me the honor of constructing the latest put-put golf course (which will never happen anyway because by the time he finally seats a cabinet, the economy will begin to get better by natural market forces. Why has Obama not checked out the background of his corrupt appointees...change man, change).  Just schedule big events and let the community make money.

Even many of the strippers who were here TDY, are now considering moving here.  I wonder if that was in the stimulus plan!

DROPPING MONEY OUT OF A HELICOPTER

A phenomena happened in the Tampa Bay area this weekend.  It was massive in scope with an impact perhaps immeasurable.  It was a Super Bowl which brought an enormous economic impact to our region of the world.  It had nothing to do with the federal government, and that is why Obama should take notes if he wants to get us out of a recession and full recovery.

The NFL put on this event without the dictates of Congress or the approval of the Senate.  Nobody would have shown up unless they wanted to show up.  That is called "consumer sovereignty."  The right of all people to spend their money in the way they see fit, not as the governments says you should. The hotels, the cab drivers, the strippers, bartenders and on it goes, everyone benefited from the freedom of people to spend THEIR money they way THEY want to.

Obama said he was watching the game--he should have been watching something else; he should have been watching the money and how this little event in Tampa proved his stimulus plan is doomed to failure. It is a matter of money and the way it circulates.

There was a man named Milton Friedman who wrote A Monetary History of the United States (1963), which sought to examine the role of the money supply and economic activityin U.S. history. He tracked the supply of money from the Grant administration thru FDR. A striking conclusion was one regarding the role of money supply fluctuations as contributing to economic fluctuations. Several regression studies with David Meiselman in the 1960s suggested the primacy of the money supply over investment and government spending in determining consumption and output. These challenged a prevailing but largely untested view on their relative importance. Friedman's empirical research and some theory supported the conclusion that the short-run effect of a change in the money supply was primarily on output but that the longer-run effect was primarily on the price level.

Friedman rejected the use of fiscal policy to generate demand.  He basically proved that economy's would grow beyond their natural unemployment levels by maintaining a stable money supply and with that leave the federal government out of the mix and let the people spend as they are guided to do so, like they did in Tampa this weekend.  Friedman believed you could not stimulate an economy out of depression by "dropping money out of a helicopter.

Im afraid our President is severely misguided.