Tim And Tom's Big Adventure (History Making Baseball Game)

It was not the baseball history I wanted to see but I was glad to just be in the stadium after what happened Saturday. Tom called his customer about the bogus tickets we used Saturday to try and get into the Whitney Bank Club at Tropicana field. His customer is a business man, and had forgot that he had forwarded those tickets to an associate. He felt bad about what happened, and forwarded new tickets for the Sunday game for us. Cool! We were on our way. This game was the Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN; It was an eight o'clock start and I figured it would end about eleven.

The view from the Whitney Bank Club

We parked in the same lot we had Saturday, and were very happy to find out our $175 tickets were good!  We were in...How Cool Is That! You enter the Whitney Bank Club through a private entrance where the staff begin waiting on you hand and foot. After the elevator ride up to the club, our tickets were scanned again and we found a good table by a window with a great panoramic view of the field.

Me watching the game

We feasted on prime rib, jerk chicken breast, vegetables (we eat healthy), scallops and much more. They even had Chicago style hot dogs which we ate during the game while we washed all of this down with boatloads of beer...All of this is free if you have a tickets. I can't tell you how wonderful the food was, and how many trips we took to the carving station. We were indeed in hog heaven. We were not, however, prepared for what we were about to see during the game.

The starting pitchers Josh Becket and Jeff Neiman pitched eight lights out innings and left the game with the score tied at 0-0. Tampa had their chances with many long shots that almost went out for home runs. Boston had left 14 men on base at the end of nine innings. By rights, they could have easily won this game. It was by watching this, that I saw how good a defensive team the Rays are. They don't miss a beat. Sam Fauld ran down many long shots with terrific speed, and Johnny Damon got two hits and plays at a high level for a 37 years old dude; Even Longoria got a nice hit to break his streak (he is coming back from injury). Neither team gave an inch and the game went extra innings. It seemed that nobody was going to score. The Red Sox loaded the bases twice, but hit into double plays both times. The Rays could not get a man passed second base the whole night.

Tom on our private balcony

The highlights of the evening were when a Boston fan ran out into the outfield and was chased by security who tackled him and beat his ass, and when Joe Madden got ejected from the game (defending a player that was attacked by a chowder head player who broke a bat).. We finally left about 1:00 a.m. and went home. I found out in the morning that Boston finally won after 16 innings. This was the longest game in Ray's franchise history. Most of the people were gone before it ended. Of course, many people have to go to jobs on Monday morning and who would have expected this game to go on for almost six hours. What was strange was watching Alex Cobb getting in some pitching practice in the bull pin after midnight. A very strange experience.

One thing I noticed was that the majority of the crowd were Tampa Bay Ray fans. Years ago in a Boston series, that would not be the case. I am glad to see the trend is turning. Friends of mine know my opinion on this. If you are going to live in the Tampa Bay area, support our teams. If not, go back too where you came from. Its as simple as that.

I am going to miss this place as I head back to the 'cheap seats' were taxi driver should be at anyway. A hot dog still taste good there. However, if you can swing it, the experience you will have at the Whitney Bank Club is well worth. it. Just having privacy was worth it for me.

Tim And Tom's Big Adventure (Born Yesterday)

There is nothing like getting free tickets to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. These are not just tickets, but Boston Redsox vsTampa Bay Rays tickets. In fact, they are too the Whitney Bank Club high price seating. This is where the fat cats and the bigwigs go to watch a game. These $175 tickets include free buffet style food and free booze. There is prime rib, shrimp, lasagna, and everything you could dream of. The wait staff serves your every need, and we Tom and I had tickets.

My best taxi driver friend Tom Castros took a high-roller to the airport this morning and they businessman said he had the tickets, but his plans had changed and he wanted to just give Tom the tickets for the $25 fare. Tom took them in a heartbeat and called me on my cellphone. I said "hell ya! Lets go!" The game was set for a 4:15 start and we were both hungry. Free drink and food...I'm all over it! We would soon be surrounded by beautiful women and the rich and powerful in the Tampa Bay area. Wait till they get a hold of us.

Since we are cab drivers, we know how to get within two blocks from the stadium without ever encountering traffic. I am not exaggerating on this. Most people are on the interstate and it is gridlock. We know a parking lot that charges only $10 to park, and you are in the shadow of Tropicania field. How cool is that? We walked right up to the stadium and got someone to take are picture. We were on our way and breaking all the rules We felt like Thelma and Louise. This was going to be awesome.

Tim and Tom outside Topicania Field

We walked up to the gate with our expensive, high baller tickets and proudly gave them to the ticket people. The lady scanned my ticket with a light and said, "I'm sorry sir; something is wrong with your ticket" I could not believe that. She did point out that we needed to go to gate 6 and perhaps everything would be all right. Tom and I headed over there. We could not believe that had happened and felt we would be fine over at gate six. Wrong. Now this was something out of a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode.

Sir...There is a problem

Security said that the tickets had been 'forwarded' yesterday to another party. In short, these tickets were no good. There was nothing we could do. Its bad enough to get beat out of a fare, but to go through all this and get your hopes up so high is just cruel. David Shields was pitching and I really wanted to see how good he would be against this powerful Boston batting lineup.

It was very hot and we just wanted to get to some kind of air condition. We had no water because we were going to get that in the club suite. When we went back to the parking lot, the guy asked us why we were leaving so early. We told him that we had been ripped off and he was good enough to give us a refund of the $10 parking fee. At least something went right.

On the ride home Tom's friend called and said that he has a special who gave him tickets to Sunday's night baseball game between the RedSox and the Rays and he could not go. He wanted to know if we wanted to use the tickets. We told him yes. He then said they were not just tickets - they were to the Whitney Bank Club and they were $175 which included free food and booze. Great! I can't wait for tomorrow night.

Obamavilles And The Starch Diet For Poor Taxi Drivers

A Shanty Town Under Obama's Rule

Am I the only one that is tired of working everyday for 10 hours with no time off and needing to work weekends to make money? All you can do during the week is pay the lease, and buy some pasta for yourself...who can afford meat?

Many of Tampa's Taxi drivers are functionally homeless. They have personal clothes and grooming items stored in the trunks of their taxi cabs or they live day to day out of a motel. Many just have nowhere to live and they gather at the pavilion in the holding area at the airport (where the taxi cab drivers wait during the day) and spread out their sleeping bags and sleep. When the floor gets to hard for them, they sleep in the back seat of the taxi.

This is reminiscent of the Depression era when people would sleep in 'Hooversvilles' or shanty towns. Those people had no jobs. So why are these men willing to work 120 hours a week to live like this? I have no idea. You can do nothing in this country and be homeless.

I am getting fat, however. Why is that? I thought you were poor? I am but when you are poor in America you gain weight. The poor people in America are the fattest in the world. Did you know that? Poor people can only buy potato's, pasta, rice and beans..the starch diet. That will make you fat. I long for meat and fresh vegetables. Tonight, I will use kidney beans in my pasta for some variety. I do have some black pepper.

Mike, you are right. I did rant the other day. I just don't how the owners of these taxi companies can be millionaires while the drivers have nothing and live like worms during the Depression while living in 'Obamavilles.'  That is if the police don't run you off in the middle of the night trying to create the illusion that there are no homeless people in the Tampa Bay area. I guess it is the economy stupid. Does Obama get your vote again? Is there anyway out of this jam in the near future?

Not Much Going On In The Tampa Taxi Business - Except Corruption

74 miles in 12 hours

Taxi drivers need to drive over 100 miles a day to have a chance of making money. Lately, I am lucky to get 50-70 miles. I have never heard of that before. When you are only getting about 5-7 calls in a twelve hour period, you don't have much chance of making a living. The HCPTC had a meeting the other day about the state of the economy...Big deal. Stop letting the companies put on so many Goddamn drivers, and let some very poor people make a living. That would be the best thing you could do.

We don't have the money to give mortgages to people with no collateral loans like Michael J. Mosses (Owner of start up cab company who made his money off of ALF's like what Govenor Scott did) when he gave a $83,000 mortgage to Keven White as a mortgage (White was arrested by the FBI on corruption charges for receiving bribes from tow companies..I predict White will roll over big time to avoid prison).

What I hope is that the hobo drivers that think they have a job, need to go get a $7 an hour gig and they will be better off. They can then move out of their motel rooms and homeless shelters or stop sleeping in the back seat of the cabs.

Why does everyone want to be in the transportation business in Tampa? Why not open some other business and stop sucking the blood out of immigrants from third world countries. It sucks now, I now have nothing to lose.

"Life Is A Highway" Tammy's Birthday Party

Life is a highway and Tammy has enjoyed her tenure in the Tampa Bay area as a veteran taxi driver. She had her 50th birthday party at Hillsborough River State Park and it was quite an event. There was a DJ, a sit down dinner, door prizes, and lots of her friends from over the years to add to the festivities. The A/C was not working well in the pavilion she had rented, other then that, it was a good evening. I thought I had the 'guess how many pennies in the jar' contest won but someone else was dead on. I still think it was rigged..LOL. When the party was over, we went over to the campsites and settled in for an all night party with a keg and more contest. Its too bad that I was the only taxi driver that showed up. I have always believed most cab drivers have no social life; I think I am right.

The Dance Floor

Tammy with the DJ at the party

If you missed the party, then you missed "Tammy Trivia" and all the door prizes and some wonderful southern cooking. I liked the event and was glad she invited me. I brought my tent and sleeping bag and set up home on the River Edge campsite. It was a little warm, but the bugs were ok and it was not too bad.

A photo of Tammy and Jack that was on display

Its hard to get cab drivers to take a day off. They should try it more often; they just might like it. See the campfire party below.

Republican Convention Coming To Tampa August 2012 - What Tampa Offers

A popular tourist destination

The Republican convention is coming to Tampa next year. I have a few thoughts on the matter. First, I wonder if the city will do an 'operation shakedown' to get rid of all the street corner sign fliers. The sight of unemployed panhandlers with orange vest on will be something the city may not want delegates to see, but it does underscore a real problem with the current administrations ability to create jobs. So I say, let them see it and have it on the cable news. Second, will the delegates actually use the taxi cabs. I am sure they will have Mears bus service and limos working the hotels, along with the transportation services. This is why we need a strong cab commission to protect our interest. I am sure the delegates will be using the taxi to go out on the town, however.

Bill O'Rilley says he has never been to a strip club. Do you believe that? Maybe. He did write a novel with a cunningligus scene in it. He missed the mark (clit). It was as if he had never eaten a girl out before. Don't take my word for it, you can buy the book on Amazon. However, Tampa is known for many things and that is tourist love to come here. .

Tampa is known for beautiful beaches, great golf courses, penetrating defense, Ybor city, gaybor...and strip clubs!  I bet they are mobbed. With Bill Buckhorn now the mayor; I wonder if he will install the ten foot rule again and start locking up all the Republican delegates that get to close to a naked lady.

I believe it will be busy, but don't hang your hat on it. You will make a few bucks but don't drive for the next year making no money hoping to make a killing next summer. There were drivers that made no money for six months in late 2008 just so they could have a good 4 days during the Super Bowl when it was in Tampa. Don't do that too yourselves guys. You will just be able to pay your bills that week and that's about it.

"Searching For Bigfoot" Comes To Florida

Saga Magazine 1973

I recently got the opportunity to work with Tom Biscardi - the worlds self-proclaimed best Bigfoot hunter - in the Green Swamp of central Florida. (Many of you may remember in 2008 when those two law enforcement officers in Georgia claimed to have a Bigfoot in a freezer and swindled Biscardi out of $50,000 for something that turned out to be a monkey suit frozen in ice). Tom has been looking for Bigfoot since he was a young man and I remember an old Saga Magazine article about him when I was a teenager. He is still at it, and has collected important DNA that is currently being analyzed to prove that an unknown primate exist on the North American continent.

Tom caught up with me at a meeting point at the north end of the Green Swamp which is part of Richloam track of the Withlacoochee State Forest, and I took him to an area that has been known as a Bigfoot active area for some time. Tom travels with his research team and a trailer full of all kinds of high tech gadgets such as thermal night vision cameras, sound microphones, and computer imaging radar. He does not play around. We went miles deep into the swamp looking for evidence of animal tracks that could be where the big guy is hanging out looking for a food source. We found such an area near a prairie with high grass and pigs running around and clear deer tracks. This is where we decided to do our 'night operation.'

Tom doing an introduction for his upcoming movie about Bigfoot

Tom and I checking out the target area

 About one hour before sunset we set out into the swamp and that is when Mitch saw something moving in the Palmettos and went searching. Since we had already set up the camera traps in the area where the thing was headed, our search yielded a possible print. We believe it was because it was in the area where we saw the movement.

A possible skunk ape footprint we found after we saw movement

One of the cool things about digital technology is the development of all kinds of high-tech gear. Tom has a thermal imaging camera which is used by the United States Military to see in the dark. We used this camera, and others, to peer into the dark in the Green Swamp to see what we could find. We did see several coyotes move across the plain, but on this night, no Bigfoot. That is how this kind of research goes. It is a waiting game, I did have a lot of fun and this was unlike anything I had ever done. 

A night optics camera that can see in the dark

United Cab Lot Full Of Taxi Cabs - Casey Anthony Moving To Tampa?

I went by the United Cab shop this afternoon to shop my cab #597 because I find it impossible to believe that I am not getting bids based on position. There must be something wrong with my cab and I was going to shop it. I know how to drive a cab; I have been driving one for 16 years and know all the 'hot spots' to sit and wait for a call. Youngbloods cannot  beat me at this game. That is why I think I must have a software issue with my taxi. I came across something on the lot that I did not expect when I was looking for a new cab to check out. The lot was overflowing with taxi cabs and all of them were dirty, and had no gas in the tanks.

That tells me that drivers have been quiting because they are not making any money. That is lost revenue for the company and they have done this to themselves. The economy is very bad and this company has never figured out that they could not go on an expansion campaign during the worst economy since the Great Depression. Historians will refer to this period in American History as the "Great Recession" and I could see clear evidence of that on the taxi lot today. Guys are suffering and giving this up. I could hardly find a place to park my taxi! I have never seen it like this.

I worked this morning from 5 to 8 and never got a call. In 16 years of driving I did not think that was possible. I was considering shopping my taxi under false conditions just to get a cab that had some gas in it until I got a little call that allowed me to 5bucks in the tank (enough for one run).

I will let you know tomorrow if it was just my computer. Who knows, if I make money with my new cab that seems to have a good functioning BlackBerry dispatch system, then I will be singing a different tune and loving life. I hope so; I need to be loving life.

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I always thought (for some reason) that the Casey Anthony murder trial was just a local Central Florida issue. It has been all over the local news, and involved people that live in Florida. The jury was picked from the Tampa Bay Area and they only had to go to Orlando (87 miles from Tampa). However, it seems the entire country has been following this case and all of the major cable news outlets. Today, I heard that Vivid entertainment withdrew the offer they had for Casey of one million dollars to do a pornographic film. Vivid succumbed to public outrage, and withdrew the offer. I guess even the porn industry has standards. I suggest she move to the Tampa Bay area where the jury pool was picked. At least she has 12 friends she can lean on. There are jobs at day care centers where she can work. I understand she has real maternal instincts. She can even get a job at Untied Cab as a dispatcher! How cool would that be?

Things Are Very Bad Right Now

Its not only slow; its very hot in the Florida sun

What is going on now in the taxi business in Tampa is not just having "a bad day." Most drivers are getting somewhere between two to five calls a day. That's it. "Don't worry, it will be better tomorrow." a customer told me. I am worried.  Each day is just the same. For example, this morning I came out at Five a.m. and did not get a call until Nine. There has never been a time when a driver during the morning hours would not get a call for over 4 hours.

The new dispatch system is inherently unfair. If you are not close to a call, it will not give you one, nor will it even send you a f*****g bid. Without the bid, I cannot make any money. Paul Hinton says I simply need to park my cab where the calls are going to come out. How in the hell do I do that? The calls could come out from anywhere. I have no psychic abilities, so I guess I am screwed.

Talking to Paul Hinton and Eddie Munster (the computer guy) has proved useless. They don't even know what the algorithms are set at or the parameters of how it will give out a call. Paul just says that one day he will call the main office and find that out. Great! That will do me a lot of good while I STARVE!

The only reason I have not left United Cab to go to Yellow Cab is that I am in the Lighthouse program for the blind school children. After that, I am on my way to a company that will put me to work and provide me with business. I am ready to work and I  need to work. With my years of experience, I will be an asset to any company that wants a quality driver, not just someone that can fog a mirror.

Tampa Taxi Shots Now On Blogger

This is a decision that I have taken much time to consider. I am now publishing my popular blog Tampa Taxi Shots on the free service Blogger. My Typepad blog is now being attacked every day by hackers and span comments. I find it hard to keep pace with this and try and block and remove all comments. I do not have this problem with Blogger which is by Google. I have a ton of archives on my Typepad site, so I guess I will have to maintain it because it is a body of work that I am very proud of. Sorry for this transition period but I feel it is necessary and the time is right for this move. I have a lot of work to do, and I am ready to get going.