Tampa Taxi Shots

I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and try new things. This is Tampa International Airport at 5 in the morning. I have never tried to work the airport this early. I hear there are some red eyes that come in from Los Angeles and you can get some good runs out of here. I will let you know how all this works out.

We did the Xmas camping trip and now I'm

I have to leave where I'm at tomorrow because I can't afford to keep this modest roof over my head. Our business has been devastated by Uber. They have taken it all. We are down to poor neighborhoods and the airport. That's it. George and I will be camping over the Christmas holiday. I will forget my troubles and enjoy the campfire and holiday dinner. I do wish it was a little cooler, however. After Christmas, I will be living in the taxi. At least I won't have any rent payment. Try to think positive, right? The only thing holding my head together right now is my exercise. That's it. If not for that, I would have nothing. posted from Bloggeroid

I heard from our shop supervisor Paul that as of Thursday, the HCPTC was back in action giving tickets to illegal Uber drivers. They said it was in the interest of public safety. So far, no media outlets have picked up on this. Something must have changed to give them clearance, or Victor Crist finally made a bold decision. I am hearing stories that Uber drivers in the Tampa Bay area are not making the money they used to. Uber has saturated the market and that slice if the pie is getting thin. Good. I knew that would happen. posted from Bloggeroid

I just had an intense 10 minutes of Boot Camp with Sworkit #Sweaty #BestFeeling posted from Bloggeroid

This is Elena's front porch with the intricate Christmas lights she strung with care. She is very creative and gifted. This shot was taken around 6:00 this morning. posted from Bloggeroid

Elena wanted me to post photos from Gabriel's first birthday party. Sorry I did not take more images but my phone went dead. Here is a stressed out hippy mama. You got to admit, Gabriel is a handsome young man. posted from Bloggeroid

I wrote this on March 5, 2007 when Julliane Lea died: "I lost the love of my life today. I found Julianne's lifeless body this morning in her condo in Hudson. I had not heard from her since last Thursday. She did not call over the weekend. I am very busy on the weekends and she knows this but always calls. Monday morning I had a bad feeling. This was unlike any other feeling I had ever had. At first, I thought she had found a man in a bar and was with him. Unfortunately, that was not the case. When I got there today after work, the condo was the same as I left it. The curtain and blinds had not been moved and the light in the hallway was still on. I was very alarmed. I found the maintenance man of the association and he had a master key for the door. It would only work for the door handle and not the dead lock bolt. I knew she was in trouble and kicked the patio door in and from the sliding glass door you could see her body lying on the living room floor thru a crack in...

Ybor City Stogie blog had these photos posted of yesterday's event. You can see me in the yellow shirt.."Same ride..Same rules." posted from Bloggeroid

Today at the hockey arena in downtown Tampa, all of the local Tampa Bay state representatives and senators gathered  for the transportation hearing. What was first and foremost on the agenda was the subject of uber and its relationship to the Tampa Bay community. Both sides offered their reasons many of them anecdotal in nature. (Senator Jeff Brandes from St Petersburg, the one Center in the picture, came across as an arrogant asshole. He was rude and belligerent and combative with all speakers. This is an example of someone who bullied his way into a political position, no doubt. Sorry for the sidebar). State senator Arthenia Joyner was the best of the lot. She asked the most pointed questions and dug deep into the real issues. She pointed out to the room that seemed surprised to find out that all of the fees that apply to the cab companies by regulation uber has none of that. There are insurance requirements, licenses and fees, and fees associated with the airport authorit...

NOTE: this post was from 2006..."This morning I got a ride out of Tampa Airport to clearwater beach and the way back on the causeway there was this spectacular sunrise. Of course, I could not resist getting a killer image. Later in the morning the back office called me to say I had won the door prize drawing from the TBT* event yesterday and that I had some mail! Cool! Addison Phillips sent me a copy of photoshop! I took it home and immediately got into it. I have already found out what the magic Lasso is! The potential of this is off the chart. Keep in mind that I have always maintained that you need a good image first. The sunrise shot is publishable in anything. No photoshop can give you a great image it is up to the artist to do that. Thanks Addison. You are great! posted from Bloggeroid

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons today in a close contest. I work the game because there is money to be made at the game. While I was waiting in the taxi holding area I could see the jumbotron from by Taxi and could hear the audio very well. I watch the Bucks come from behind and win the game and then people began leaving the stadium. I picked up several rides today from the stadium beginning at the end of the first quarter. I have always been amazed at how early people begin leaving NFL football games. You would think, since they have a lot of money invested in tickets, that they would at least stick around to watch. But it seems, people have their reasons and they need to get to other places. Such as this group of guys that were more interested in going to a whorehouse than watching the rest of the game. They of course, relied on the experience cab driver, me, to take them to a local cat house. I took them to one that uses the guise of massage. The reason was be...

I received a warning from Google that Blogger hosted blogs using a private URL will not be HTTP protected anymore. I do not really know what that means and if I really need it. Below is what a search found..Does anyone know anything about this? HTTPS  (also called  HTTP over  TLS , [1] [2]   HTTP over SSL , [3]  and  HTTP Secure [4] [5] ) is a  protocol  for  secure  communication over a  computer network  which is widely used on the  Internet . HTTPS consists of communication over  Hypertext Transfer Protocol  (HTTP) within a connection encrypted by  Transport Layer Security or its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer . The main motivation for HTTPS is  authentication  of the visited  website  and protection of the  privacy  and  integrity  of the exchanged data. In its popular deployment on the internet, HTTPS provides authentication of the website and associated...

I just got back from seeing the movie Creed. It was a really good movie. I think people my age may relate to it more. Rocky is old and waiting to die. The son of Apollo Creed comes into his life and Rocky now has a reason to get out of bed in the morning. The film really takes off as Creed trains to not only fight the world champion, but to claim a legacy from a father he never knew. Personally, I am getting old and NEVER had a real relationship with my father. I could relate to both characters. I may be the only one to feel this way but Creeds success against Pretty Ricky Conlin seems not a connection with his father, but an affirmation of the now. Today is all we will ever have. I loved this movie. Stallone will win best supporting actor. He us really, really good in this role. Someone else directed it. All he had to do was act. posted from Bloggeroid