Sooooooooo Sleepy!

Not getting much sleep these days.  It is not good but what can I do?  I can always hope I can get more sleep tomorrow.  I doubt it but I can hope.  Right?

Okay this has been a crazy, crazy week!  I received a call on Tuesday saying my tire willnot be here until Thursday.  Okay, tried to see if I could borrow a car for the next few days but that didn’t work out.  Okay, I can manage just fine.  I made arrangements with my day driver to get a ride from the train on Tuesday, Wednesday and maybe Thursday as well.  So I called a PA taxi service and was able to get a taxi to the train station.  Great!  Nice clean taxi and friendly driver.  I asked if he could pick me up on Wednesday as well.  He seemed to be excited to do so.  The train ride was uneventful and kept my day driver in the loop to where I was the whole ride.  I kind of liked not having to worry about anything on the ride into work!  I just wish the train left the city after midnight.  CalTrain only is available from 4:30 am to midnight or something like that.  I guess I can take the train when it gets a little slower during the week since I normally do not work past midnight.  It might work.  The cost to take a taxi and a train daily is much more than driving though.  Driving for the week my gas costs me between $30 and $40 and taking the taxi/train costs me about $37 a day.  I do not live close enough to walk but maybe I will look into bus times….  Mmmmmmm  That is the next step!  I have never really had to take public transportation much so I am not sure how to find times but I am smart enough to figure it out.  

This past week SalesForce had their big convention.  So many nice wonderful people in the city!  Most drive cars at home so do not normally use a rideshare company so the taxis in the city were BUSY!  I had such a wonderful week!  Most tip very well.  I had many $5 rides and they gave me $20!!  I am good but am I that good.  Yep!  Haha

On Thursday I ended up calling to find out about my tire.  At first no one seemed to know what was going on but then they called me back.  The rim was in!!!!  I guess it was delivered to the Target next door on Wednesday but made its way back to WW on Thursday afternoon.  Awesome.  Okay so they found out the tire had a slash in it so I would have to buy a new tire.  Yet again I didn’t care if they matched just a tire that works correctly.  I really needed to buy all 4 tires but I do not have the money to do that right now.  So I had to do with one right now.  Tire was put on the rim and I went to have them put the new tire and rim on my car.  I ended up going to work pretty late, at about 6:00.  I should have gone to the airport but I went straight into the city.  I did okay but at about 10:00 a migraine hit me.  I do not get them often but with all the stress I have been under I guess that is what set it off. So I went home to go to sleep.  Happy I woke up with it gone.

During the week not only did we have DreamForce we had, SF Opera, SF Jazz, many music venues (we have so many in the city that are always busy!  American Music Hall, Bill Graham, Fillmore, Warfield, Masonic ), Orpheum Theater (Phantom of the Opera is here now), Giants home games, many people out on date night and it was a very warm evenings!  We did get rain on Wednesday night and some of Thursday but that didn’t seem to bother anyone!

Friday was a fun night!  Straight to the airport and it was taking less than 1 hour which really hasn’t happened for about a year.  So great!  I got a ride into the city, actually picked someone up in the city was taken close to the freeway so I went back to the airport.  Got another ride into the city.  Even though the reports were that the airport was moving less than 1 hour I stayed in the city.  It was very busy!

Saturday was another warm day in SF!  If you have never been to our beautiful city, I would suggest it but do not come in summer.  It can be very chilly!  We are on a peninsula that funnels the ocean breezes and marine layer.  If you go down the peninsula the temperature raises about 20° on most days.

Wow!  I have been sick since I started to write this blog posting.  Sorry it has taken me so long to post it.  I will start the new post in a few minutes.

Thank you very much for reading my blog!   I love you very much!

Friday, slow Friday

Friday didn’t prove to be a much better day.  I got up early to go and get my tire fixed but found out they cannot just fix my tire it is the rim that is broken and not fixable at all!  I am so sick!  I am making okay money right now but I am still behind in paying my bills.  I do what I can with what I have.  I have cut way down on spending so there is little left to cut out except for food, gas or basic things.  Okay, I have to wait until Tuesday for the special order rim to come in.  It will not be a match to all the other rims but it is the same size and is much cheaper, ($89 instead of $207).  They will try to use the old tire but I suspect they will not be able too.  That seems to be my life.

This morning I woke up early and hurried to get dressed so I could take my daughter’s car to get an oil change and found out her oil was not readable.  We didn’t have the money to change the oil for a little bit so it got put off for a bit.  Happy we were able to take care of it today before that was a much larger expenditure!  We do not need anymore of those right now!

Work on Saturday was a slow start but ended okay.  Here are a few things I found interesting.

I was driving down McAllister and noticed a man walking toward traffic and he was roughly rubbing the fount of his pants with his hand and a brown paper bag.  It was a little obvious of what he was doing.  There was a bunch of younger ladies walking toward him but to stop at the buss stop.  He stopped doing what he was doing with the brown paper bag and started to talk to the young ladies.  They didn’t want anything to do with this guy so he started up with the brown paper bag and the rubbing.  That didn’t help them at all!  The young ladies started to move much closer to each other and most turned their backs to him.  I had the green light at this time so I had to move away.  I hope he left those ladies alone.  

Have you ever thought about swimming from Alcatraz to the city?  I have picked up a few who were going to swim this!  Crazy I know but they seem to be excited to do this swim.  I picked up a lady who was going to swim it on Sunday morning at 7:00 am.  She had never swam in our ocean/bay area so she was a little nervous but very excited.  She didn’t want to swim with a wetsuit since she swims outside where she lives and it is very cold water but they politely suggested that she does.  She did say she was going too just because it was a good idea.  I hope she enjoyed the swim!

We have a wonderful historic Cable Car in the city and we have a party bus Cable Car that drives around the city.  It looks like lots of fun!  Saturday night I was behind one of these busses and it had a very large number of people on it.  Every time they passed a couple they would shout KISS, KISS, KISS until the couple would kiss.  Most couples just blew them off so the people on the bus would boo and hiss at them.  They finally came up to a couple who kissed for them, not only did they kiss but the male picked up the female and swung her around.  That made the people on the bus go WILD!  Lots of cheering!  The male put the female back down and they kissed again.  The people on the bus started telling the couple to get a room.  The couple just laughed and moved on.  This happened a few more times along the street in varying degrees.  It was so much fun.  Hope they had a wonderful night!

Saturday night was the opening night of the opera season in San Francisco.  Sweeny Todd was playing!  I went to the entrance to wait for the end of the opera and the doorman asked everyone in line if they wanted to see the end of the opera.  I would have loved too but I was very sleepy and cold so I declined.  I would have loved to see the whole opera but just a quick taste of the end was way too much for me.  I waited for a few minutes and picked up a wonderful women who wanted to go to the curvy part of Lombard St.  I was very excited to chat with her about the opera and where she lived.  I asked her many questions about both.  She was very excited to answer any questions I asked.  She has lived on Lombard Street for 35 years and loves it there.  Most of the time the tourists do not bother her at all.  The only time they have a problem with them is when they are rude or do bad things to her home.  She says they pick things from a vine that she really likes and the trash left is not as bad as in some other places in the city.  City workers do come every day to clean up the street, happy that happens.  I asked about parking but she said she doesn’t drive much, mostly takes public transportation because she cannot park the car in her garage.  Her husband does drive and he pulls out carefully and backs into the parking spot with ease now.  She has one of the spots that has a little landing outside of the garage so it must be easier.  She hasn’t regretted living on such a busy street yet but some days it is a pain.  Happy I met her.

Many, many times I pick up very drunk men who think they are in love with me.  It happens mostly with hispanic males I pick up in the Mission District.  They are super nice and I enjoy trying to chat with them but I know very little Spanish and they tend to know very little English.  Some of the few words I know are ¿Hola, cómo estás?, Aquí, izquierda (I have to think I am ascared of turning left, haha),  derecho (I think it sounds like milk in Spanish) and a few other basic phrases.  I did take Spanish in high school but I was never any good at it, even then.  Okay, I do enjoy the attention and it is fun to hear how much they love me.  Hispanic men are very nice!

I have noticed a trend in my taxi.  It doesn’t me it is the way it is all over the place or even every time in my taxi.  When I have a couple (male and female) one of them tends to be chatty and the other very quite.  When the couple is Caucasian or black, the female does most of the talking and the man is very quite.  Most of the time it is the female that is begging the man to do something or she wants him to do something.  A lot of high pitched talking then.  Also the female is more than likely the one paying for the taxi ride.  When the couple is Hispanic the male does most of the talking or begging.  I do not know why this is the way but it is.  It really happens the later in the evening it is.

There are a few overpasses in San Francisco  that freak me out!  One going from the Glen Park BART station onto Hwy 280 (Monterey and 280 on ramp).  It is very high up and only one lane.  It feels like it is miles above the city and you are all alone.  I have to take deep breaths when I go over it all the time.  I think it is scarier at night.  You are all alone way up in the air.  I tried to find out how high it is but I couldn’t find it.  I did find out that an overpass can be as high as a 12 story building and they can be as low as 20 feet under the ground level.  That is crazy!

I am asked all the time where the liquor stores are in the city.  I really need to keep an eye out for them because I never know.  I was even sitting eating my pizza and someone asked me where a liquor store.  I had no idea where to tell them except to get beer at a 7eleven.  I guess I need to start paying attention to the things around me.  

Monday starts the DreamForce (for SalesForce) convention.  I am hoping it will be a good week.  DreamForce is such a big convention they have meetings all over town.  They are saying there are 46,000 people coming to San Francisco for this convention according to their website. That is a whole lot of people!  I will be working the city more than the airport next week.  OpenWorld (for  Oracle) will be at the end of October, another 60,000 people for this convention.  Both conventions take over Howard St between 3rd and 4th Street.  Makes driving in SOMA very difficult to do!  It is well worth the trouble in driving for the amount that each ride is.

Okay, I have so much to do tomorrow that I need to go to bed now but I love to tell my story that it is hard to break away!  Thank you again for reading my blog and I love you for it!

Crappy Thursday!

I was awoken to a text from my older sister, she had taken my mom to the clinic because she was not feeling good at all.  I guess she has acute kidney problems.  They are really not sure what is wrong at this time, lots of testing has to be done but she is in a good hospital and in good spirits.  I ended up not working last night because of concern for my mom.  She is 75 years old and is in “good” condition, not the best but better than some her age.  I picked up both of my kids and met my sisters and niece at the hospital last night.  We laughed and giggled with my Mom, lots of fun.  She is feeling a little bit better today but they are still doing more testing to find out what is going on with her.  My sisters said she just wanted to spend time in the hospital for AC, quiet and good food being made for her.  haha!  Yep, we are that family.  The temperatures here have been about 100° or so without any wind.  Horrible and very hot here right now!  She is enjoying all the well wishes from friends and family as well as all the attention the staff gives her.  She is not a person who asks for much but she likes it when people acknowledge her.  Sending her good healing thoughts and prayers to her speedy recovery!

On the way home from visiting my mom at about 10:00 pm I was driving down HWY 101N and getting off on my exit and I ran over, what looked like a 4-6 foot dark pipe in the middle of the road.  My car started to thump but it still moved.  It also didn’t sound like I had a flat tire at that time.  I kept driving until I got home, maybe about ¼ of a mile, not far.  I even had a policeman drive behind me so I do not think anything looked like it was wrong.  I made it into my parking spot and heard a hissing sound, like air was coming out of the tire.  Yep, flat tire.  CRAP!  I really cannot afford this right now!

In the morning I called for someone to come and change my tire, happy he did it because I wouldn’t have been able to get the tire off because it has a locking lug bolt on it.  Why?????  Okay.  I at least had the thing to get the tire off.  Yeah!  The tire and the outside of the rim looked fine but when he got the tire off a large chunk of the rim was broken.  DAMN!  I really wanted to cry at this time but the tow truck guy was really sweet and I was able to make it back into my apartment before I really cried.  I have an appointment tomorrow at a place to replace both tire and rim.  I don’t know much about cars or tires.  I posted on fb about my tire and someone suggested a junkyard for the rim.  Nope.  Not something I can do.  I do not know enough about tires to know if I am getting the right rim or even the right part.  I think these people really do not know me.  

Okay, I need to sleep for a little bit so I can go to work tonight.  I am very, very sleepy right now.  Hope my mind stops and I can sleep even a little bit.

Started good but ended very bad.

Well, I dropped my phone in the dog’s water dish!  I am so pissed at myself!  I was getting ready in the bathroom and I was texting a friend about Sunday, I sat my phone on the edge of the counter and plop it fell into the water dish.  I have thought, maybe a thousand times I should put my phone in a baggie when I am in the shower or when I am getting ready for work.  I will do that from now on!  I often am texted when I am in the shower so having a baggie around it will not make it so I can respond to the text but the drips will not bother it too much.  Well, I have a phone I can use until my 3 day rice “soak” is done.  I have been using my iPad mini while I am at home but I really need a phone at work for many reasons.  

Well, sometimes I use my phone for directions.  I don’t always know where I am going.  I was asked to go to a hotel I had never heard of last night and I was happy I at least knew the street it was on and they could tell me what side of the street it was.  Also I give out my cards to many passengers and I like to be able to respond to them quickly.  Plus in an emergency I would need my phone.

I will tell you about some things that happened in the past week then I will tell you about last night.  Yep, saving the best for last, I guess.

9/1/15

Is it really September?!?!?!?!?!  Crazy, it feels like it still is April or May.  Time flies when you are old.  Also is there a full moon tonight?  People are driving so crazy!  Cutting other cars off and turning into pedestrians.  I have tried to stay calm but sometimes I just want to yell at them!  I want to find out where they learned to drive and how they are able to pass the driving test!  Okay, done with that rant!

I picked up this young lady who didn’t seem to know where she lived.  Just that she lived by the Target off of Geary and the street number and name.  Happy I know where the Target is but I wasn’t sure where her street was.  She was really snippy when I asked for a little help with directions.  I let her just sit in the back quietly and I drove to the Target and she said she wanted to go to the Target instead of her home for food (yep, just the information I needed to know).  She wanted to pay with a credit card but give the tip in cash.  After she was done with the credit card transaction she said she was trying to save money so she couldn't even give me a tip.  She tried to tell me what she was saving for but I cut her off by telling her to have a good night and out she went.  Wonderful, she is saving for whatever and I am trying to pay my rent.  Did I have a right to be unhappy with this customer, no not really but why would she be saving money and not wanting to give a tip?  She works as a server, according to her.  Nice

What or who is Australian Pink Floyd?  They are at the Warfield this weekend and it seems like it will be a big concert!  They are they only group on the marque.  

I was driving around Fisherman’s Wharf one afternoon and I noticed a young male about 10 to 12 standing on a very busy corner.  He was looking very nervous and concerned so I pulled over and asked him if he knew where his parents where.  He nodded and turned around to walk off but didn’t go far.  I bet he really didn’t know where his parents were but was afraid to tell me.  I don’t really blame him.  I was a scary lady in a taxi.  Hope he found his parents or who he was with quickly.  When I drove back around the corner he was no longer standing there and I didn’t see him anywhere.

9/2/15

I picked up a young man whose family is from Palestine.  He owns two pizza places, one on Polk and one on Geary but there are like 5 pizza places in his family.  He was super nice!  We chatted about all kinds of things, I will go to his pizza place and try it, if I can find parking!  We talked about how he grew up wanting to follow his religion.  He never dated a female, just his wife.  They met and knew each other, chatted with each other at family parties and gatherings.  They never went out on typical dates but really liked each other.  He asked her to marry him and they were engaged for 3 years before they married.  They have been married now for 2 years and have a baby on the way now.  They are almost traditional Muslim couple.  They didn’t live together before marriage, they didn’t touch before marriage, she wears traditional abaya dress when outside the family and can wear what she wants (within reason) around family or very close female friends, the only thing they are doing different is not having a child right away as well as having as many children as they can have.  He is the 2nd youngest of 12 (I think that is what he said).  He said that was WAY too many children and they were planning on only having a few.  They are expecting their first child in May and he is very excited!  He is happy they waited to get to know his wife before having a child.  So excited for them!  He was so much fun to chat with and I hope to drive him again some time!  I gave him my business card.  Oh!  I forgot, he says he always asks people how they feel about his religion and how he is living his life.  I said, I have a billion questions but not trying to be mean but just to learn stuff and he was happy to teach me more.  I hope he calls for a ride again so I can ask so many more questions!

I picked up a very drunk man who was talking a lot of nonsense things.  I seem to be picking up a lot of them lately.  Why?  I have no idea.  This guy was even preaching to me about rent control apartments in the city!  He asked me to take him home to the Haight area but then remembered he parked his scooter in the street and he needed to move it before the morning or he would be ticketed.  So he told him to take him to 2nd and Brannan and I got him there and he told me to stop but when he got out he said we were on the wrong street, he wanted Bryant instead.  He seemed to think it was all my fault and I wasn’t following his directions.  He was giving them to me by the way.  Oh, well.  I hate the time around a full moon.  People are even more crazy.

Okay so I am back to yesterday.  I think that is all the stupid crazy things that happened to me this past week!  Who knows but I may remember more later.

After my phone dropping in water my world seem to drop out below me.  I am not sure if it was the lack of having a phone or just the stress of regular life but things are not going as good as they should.

I went to the airport and spent 1 ¾ hours there waiting for a passenger!  That is WAY too long to wait at the airport.  The ride out of the airport was just into the city but it was two very nice men.  Nothing special except they were nice.

Most of the night was spent picking up and dropping off very nice people, nothing special or exciting until I was driving down 16th Street about to turn onto Mission.  I was flagged by a guy and I waited for him.  He got into the front seat and laid it completely back.  He closed his eyes and when I asked him where he wanted to go, he said, I just need to get out of this area and to just drive and drive far.  I said, I need to know where you want me to go before I move or he will have to get out.  He said “turn right”, so I did.  He said drive faster “turn right”.  Why are you stopping.  I let him know people were crossing the street so I needed to wait.  He seemed okay with that.  As I was turning right he started chanting…  Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me.  I was starting to freak out!  I wasn’t sure if it was because I did not have a real working phone or if he really posted a threat to me.  I asked him again to tell me where to go and he said Motel 6 Millbrae.  He had turned me around the wrong way, since I was very nervous about what was going to happen I actually took the longer more full of people way.  Fortunately by the time I got to the freeway he had passed out.  I was a little stressed at this time so I got onto the freeway and took him to what I thought was the Motel 6 in Millbrae.  Okay what I thought was the Motel 6 was actually a Travelodge and I started to look for the Motel 6 in Millbrae then the guy sat up and started to get out of the taxi.  I asked if this is where he wanted to get out of the taxi and he said, “no, maybe 5 more minutes”.  I drove a little farther and he acted like he wanted out of the taxi again and he said “no, maybe 5 more minutes”.  I asked him again where he wanted to go. This time he asked me where his friends were at, I didn’t pick up anyone else, I let him know.  He said, just take me to Motel 6 in Redwood City with my friends.  I said, I only picked up you.  At this point I was actually getting pissed off!  Again he was telling me to go someplace else.  This time there was a small inn and BART ahead so I told him I wasn’t going to take him any further because he kept changing his mine.  He said he understood and asked how much the ride was and paid me.  Then got out of the taxi but asked where his friends were before he shut the door.  I said, I have no idea.  They were not there when I picked him up.  Hope he found a place to sleep off whatever he was on and found his friends.

I think that is all I missed over the past few days.  I have been struggling to get this all written.  I would start and then doze off, not knowing what I have written.  I guess it has been harder to write lately than in the past.  I am very sleepy all the time.  I need to do something different but what?  I do not know.

Okay, I think that is everything I can think of tonight!  Nothing much happened on Tuesday night.  Kind of slow, my guess is because it was the end of the holiday weekend, kids are back at school and the people that went to Burning Man are still trying to become human again (haha).

Thank you again for reading my blog!  I love you very much!