Tampa Taxi Shots

The new logo and colors of the Tampa Bay Bucs are in display on the side of Raymond James stadium. I like the dark motifs and think it is mire menacing. With Lovie Smith at the helm, the Bucs may be looking at many years of stability like in the Tony Dingy era.

I got a ride to Sarasota out of TIA today from a cameraman from NFL films (I could do his job). There is a practice combine down there that is showing potential draft picks how to put on the best show. He was part of a documentary about this. Crossing the bridge was the hard part. I did like the $154.00 I got for the ride.

More dogs are taking up car surfing and loving it. This is now a new category.

I picked up a family at the airport that had arived from Cuba (Tampa has direct flights to Havana). The man gave me a gift of a real Cuban Covina cigar. This is the brand that Fidel Castro smoked. It is illegal to sell them in the United States but you can bring in a small amount for personal consumption. I will smoke this on a special occasion. The photo below confirms it is authentic. I got it off a Havana website.

I had to prove to the internet police that I owned the domain Cigar City cabbie . GpDaddy froze the URL until I complied. It was a complete waste of my time. Check out the blog.

There were thousands race walking in the Gasparillia run Saturday. It was raining hard but they looked happy. I caught a glimpse from the Hyde Park bridge and got this shot. Looked like fun. More fun then driving a taxi cab.

I saw my first Hillary bumper sticker today. What? If you support her explain to me what she offers you. I have no problem with a women leader. I just have a problem with this women who betrayed everything modern feminism represents. One is Tammy Wynette "stand by your man." She mocked it. Then, did exactly that for political expediency. We don't need that.

What happens when 9,000 people from Ohio State want cabs at the same time because they need to get to the Buckeye cruise? Meltdown. There were no car rentals available at TIA and our starter was gone. The airport director was out trying to organize the plaintiff hoards. For drivers, this was awesome. Its good to have people approaching your cab like a third world flash mob. This beats the help out of sitting around in the scorching heat of July, with nothing to do. Lets hope this keeps up.

I had a ride to the Tradewinds resort and we passed Bats Taxi on St. Petersburg Beach. I had to direct my fares attention from their marquee because the advertising a rate to Tampa International Airport of $54. My meter was already over $75 and I did not want to field questions about our higher rate. What I hear is Bats has the beach sowed up. They make their money on volume. Cool. I just hope their lease payment is lower then ours.

Just some cellfees to get off my phone of me,, Tim Fasano. You can find me all over the internet.

I don't care what any driver says, we ARE NOT having a tourist season. Cruise ship passengers on the weekend does not make a season. Its Monday morning and no airport flights are going out, just like all last week. I am not making money. I am on the brink of eviction. I owe the company money. I am wearing dirty clothes because I don't have the 5 bucks for Landry. I have nothing and I work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. Something is wrong.

Stacy and Dave won the final round on Spike TV Bigfoot Bounty. The won a research grant of $100,000. I could have used a piece of that to find no evidence. They were in the upper peninsula of Michigan in the final round which must have bee beyond awesome.

I have been tracking the movements of the Ybor City chickens for months. A flock of them have taken up residency at 6th ave and 15th st. They roam freely around the parking lot and this cat totally ignores them.

These people were celebrating this morning from the balconybof a downtown Tampa condo. They were chanting "USA..USA" while cars were blowing their horns. I found out from a fare that we had just beat Russia in hockey at the Winter Olympics. Considering they said they would sacrifice all their gold medals just to win hockey, how cool is that,!

This is Mac's desk at Tampa International Airport. He is not there. No reason. What the heck. Most of the flights have been cancelled at a time of year when we should be cooking. People just can't get to Florida. We pay the lease no matter what and we are hurting. I have not seen it this bad

I see it every day in Tampa. They seem to be at every intersection. Their pleas for help are drawn on the back of cardboard and they seem as common as the traffic lights themselves. Who are these people? What led them to the streets? Should I give them money? Whatever is going on in America is driving people to the street corners, and in Florida, the broiling afternoon sun to try and survive. Some people subscribe to the Urban Myth of the homeless guy “Flying a Sign” and making a couple hundred a day and then going home to his spread in the suburbs. I don’t know about that. Flying a sign does not seem to be a very profitable activity, considering the competition today. Some people believe we should give them a bag with some lame ass crackers and directions to a social center inside instead of money. I think the condition that exist today cannot be solved by directions to a county office. It is more chronic than that A few years ago, I considered these people to be bums. Nowadays,

Always use caution when picking up flaggers All taxi drivers need to be cautious of flaggers. When you see a stranger on the sidewalk, make sure you go by your gut before you let the person in your taxi. Who knows what may await you if you don't go by the "gut." Don't be tempted by a pretty lady. You may be surprised. Just to be fair about the matter...its not raining!!

This guy was proud to be riding in this truck. He looked like a friendly dog and posed for the camera.

With football season over, I thought I would put up a picture of Tony dungy his first day of training camp for the Bugs. His first season on his first day. Who knew how successful he would become. This was at the University of Tampa sports complex running across the street.

Many think this historic cigar factory is haunted. It once employed hundreds of cuban and Italian cigar rollers decades ago. The tobacco was brought to Tampa from Havana because of its natural port and skilled labor. Tampa known as the Cigar capital of the world. Now, these factories ate empty or used as art studios. Several paranormal groups have investigated for energy or spirits. Enigmatic Anomalies did a live remote from there last year. The results were inconclusive.

This pooch was enjoying riding in a convertible on a sunny Florida day. I could take shots like this all day for most dogs will stick their heads out the Windows. I think they think they are flying.

Here is the beautiful Michelle. There is a possibility she may be at the spring shootout. Lets hope so. She is a pro in every way and represents Dave Hall and what he is doing well.

The weather had been strange. We will have two days of sunshine, then, two days of rain and forty degree temps. The north is covered in snow (global warming). Airlines are canceling flights by the thousands and adversely affecting the taxi business in Tampa. That's not all. Kevin and I can't even get into the woods. George has booked a few dates later this month for a primitive campsite. I hope the dry, cool weather will be here then.

I had the winter Olympic Games on last night. They were showing some kind of boogie board downhill event with jumps. It looked like an X game event. It was rather cool. Everyone that watches must have in the back of their mind security. Lets hope there is NO incident.

I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in the Academy Award winning CAPOTIE. He was brilliant and displayed an amazing range of character development rare in today's cinema. That being said, Hoffman killed himself. As someone who first hand had a loved one continue on a path that leed to her death, there is NO other conclusion. He was an addict. Nobody's love would have been enough. Its sad but like the song says "if you love them, let them go." That is something I should have done and moved on with my life. Hoffman, you killed yourself. The tragedy is someone actually gave a shit.

They got a lot to do with my taxi Thursday. Not just an oil change but they will put in a router that will keep my calls from falling off. We will see. Perhaps that will boast my mood.

Almost. After giving my landlord all the money I made this weekend. I now start Monday with $3 for gas. I also need to pay $182 to the taxi company for the lease on the taxi. I will put in about 12 hours today to go home with three dollars again. This is what I do every day and I am getting nowhere. I'm like a herbal on a wheel and there is NO way out of this crab trap. I never have a day (1 day off in the last 5 years). I am tired and long over this shit.

It is halftime at the superbowl and the Denver Broncos are losing 22-0. I think its funny. John Elway can look at stats all he wants but Payton does not play well under adversity. Tim Tebow thrived in that environment. You kicked Tim to the curb and now your Broncos are flaming in epic proportions. Tebow would be the guy to bring you back now, but front runner Payton is not. I'm just a Gator fan named Tim hoping your enjoying your shit sandwich..

The Colts run the flea flicker and Earl Morrall missed a wide open Jimmy Ore for a certain TD Bubba Smith said to his dying day that the 1969 Superbowl was fixed and he believed players and the coach were in on it. The key was the play of Earl Morrall. The Colt QB threw three red zone interceptions and missed a wide open Jimmy Ore on a flea flicker pass to end the first half. Coach Don Shula waited until six minutes were left in the game to put in Johnny Unitas. This was when the Jets were leading 16-0, and with no two point conversion, the Colts would have to score three times in a tight time frame. Why would they throw the game? Simple, the league wanted this to happen. The Superbowl was not the event it is today. The game kicked off at 3:30 pm similar to most normal NFL games. The NFL needed to make credible the AFL which they had merged with. A New York win would create a mythology about the game and propel Joe Namath to super stardom. The league could see the billions ar

Derrick Brooks becomes the third Tampa Bay Buc to be elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. It was considered a lead pipe lock that he would make it. Congrats to a class act and perhaps the best outside linebacker ever!

My favorite model (she is from Italy) may return to the Arizona Shootout. That will be more of a reason for me to return, as well. I spent time in studio (a hotel suite) over two days to get awesome images. She is beautiful and down to earth. She has also been one of the most successful nude models in the last ten years. Enjoy this video. Photography by Tim Fasano Baby It's Cold Outside - The classic revisited with a twist - watch more funny videos

I pulled on 26 st and there it was - Tampa's Italian cemetery. Many of the prominent homesteaders and famous citizens are buried here. Tampa was once a mob town and many mafia types who ran the bolita are buried here. I did not have time to look around so a return trip is needed.