DK's Taxi Cab Chronicles (from 2/21/10).

Sundays. The so-called "day of rest". Well not for me...besides I've had way too many of those to care to count ha. I started out kinda late today, I'd say around 4pm and ended my shift at 1130pm.

Story of the Day: I arrive at the cabbie parking lot at JFK. All cabs that want to pick up passengers from the airport must first report there & wait "on-line". This process could take 30-90 min depending on terminal activity. Not even a minute after I get to the lot, I see this Indian dude and this African dude explode out of their respective cabs. The Indian accuses the African of cutting in front of him (somewhere); and vice versa. The Indian dude is feenin to swing at the African who goes "c'mon you want some??" The African goes for a shin kick which missed which allowed a chance for the Indian to go for a punch. The cat-like reflexes of the African however allowed him to miss getting hit & the altercation was later squashed. I didn't have any popcorn.

Tippers of the Day: Two hella short rides which netted me $4.30+tip= $7 each. First, a father-daughter who wanted me to go from 74th street...to 82nd street. ON THE SAME AVENUE. Later on, this group of four that was over around 45th street and 7th avenue who wanted to go to Penn Station (34th street side) did the same shit.

Cheapskates of the Day: Right after my excursion to Penn Station I figured I'd wait there to pick up someone. Out comes this dude lookin like Rabbit from 8 Mile with a Yankee fitted on asking me to drop him off at Grand Central. $6.60+tip= $7 SMFH. My last ride of the day was an airport trip & I was blessed that it was going to Long Island (the only time you'll ever hear me say something good about LI really). This older broad who I had a pretty good conversation with apparently flew from Florida to Texas to Chicago to here all in one day and I dropped her off in Nassau County (Williston Park for my LI cats). $51.30+tip= $55. Things that make you go hmm, even though it wasn't the worst thing ever.

Grade A Jackass of the Day: Some woman & her son I pick them up on 72nd street and Amsterdam & they need to go crosstown. I made a small mistake not remembering where the 79th street transverse was (it goes to the West Side from 79th but goes to the East Side on 81st street) and the broad begins muttering as if it was the end of the world & I was lost or some shit. Her son corrected me & I made the necessary U-Turn to rectify the problem but I can clearly hear her bitchin about how she'd have to pay an extra 40 cents SHADDAPPP. As I apologized & told her it was my 3rd day she was like "oh great..." They were a weird one...first they were arguing to each other; then the broad was bitchin about some woman bc she can't hang out with the "crew" who have couples because her husband had passed so she's considered single. Strange shit that I could care less about. Anyhow, I get them to where I need to be and she asks me to turn on the back lights. I'm not 100% familiar with the cab so I didn't know where it was (I do now though). She gets uptight again. They give me 12 one dollar bills for a fare that was $9.90. The son says goodnight, the lady just gets out. As I'm situating myself for the next round I can hear her STILL bitchin over the small error I made. You'd think in a broad that looked like she was 60 that menopause would have set in by now...I guess the next generation of medicine is saying otherwise?

Aside from that, it wasn't all THAT eventful. I did get yet another JFK-Bronx trip which was $48+tip= $68 but it had zero drama. Sunday nights if you want action...hella lame, at least compared to the weekends. But hey.

And so on.

DK's Taxi Cab Chronicles (from 2/20/10).

Saturday nights in the city are always on some next level crazy tip obviously. But now being a part-time cab driver...I notice this even more now. Hella money is out there to be made because something I've noticed over my first two days working is that people will come to the East Village from deep in the Upper East Side; resulting in $10+ cab rides every time. Here I'm basically gonna give you the story of the day, tipper of the day and the grade A jackass of the day.

Story of the day: Since I live about 10 minutes from JFK...it makes sense for me to start my trip from there. I'm sent to the Delta terminal but I go to the wrong one (there's two of them). Nevertheless, the dispatcher gives me this chick who's goin to the Bronx. Immediately I'm like fuckkk since driving-wise I'm hella unfamiliar with the BX so she's gonna have to give me directions. Apparently I'm goin towards the Bronx/Westchester border so that right there is gonna be some bread. She was comin in from Little Rock but describing the hell she was in bc she was staying in a small town on the extreme southern edge of the state. We actually have a pretty good convo about her dad abandoning her & her siblings but now that he's sick he's being more contrite, etc. Everything is all good...until I get to her & her husband's house. Peep this sketchiness:
- Her husband deadbolted the door so she couldn't get inside (she had house keys but not the keys to the deadbolt).
- She didn't have enough cash with her or a credit card (she was talkin about how if she carried her cards she would have o'ded on spendin while down in AR). Her husband was holdin on to them and he was takin the train back to the crib...so we had to wait for him to get there.
- When he finally did 45 minutes after I got to her house, he gave her her card...only for it to be declined. So now they had to pay with the cash that her husband was carrying.
-Final total: $63+ tip= $80.

Tipper of the day: After being sent to Brownsville, I went back to the airport & had to wait quite a while for the next set of passengers. I come across this couple that had been chillin in LAX for the past month or so and carried quite a bit of luggage. They were heading back to their apartment on the East Village...which at 1230 is EXACTLY where I wanted to be heading. After cruising & getting to the apartment in due time...I get $45+ tip= $60.

Grade A Jackass of the day: Really it's a tie. They did nothing wrong in terms of attitude or whatnot...it's just that the cheapness confounded me a bit. Group 1a goes to these 2 black women who were with 2 kids. I stop at Penn Station hopin to pick up some of those infamous B&T slores who are ready to head out. Just my luck I see these ladies walkin towards my cab carrying a suitcase. "Where are you going?" Them- "Brooklyn...Brownsville." For those familiar with the 5 boros...Brownsville is one of the 5 places you really DON'T want to be. The ride was for the most part smooth...but the broad tried questioning me as to why I went across 14th street instead of the West Side Highway. Um, it's pretty much the same shit & I actually saved you some time. Final total: $33+tip= $35. Cheap asses. And you wonder why cabs don't stop for us colored folks.
Person 1b was right after I had dropped off some Jersey slores ($7.50+tip=$10). This punk rocker lookin fella gets in my cab goin towards the Upper East Side. This mothafucka uses his credit card & gives me a 59 cent tip. SMFH.

Miscellaneous broad of the day: After my $60 cab ride, I get this drunk chick headin back to money-makin Park Avenue. She calls her boyfriend who answers (but apparently he hadn't been answering her calls all night or some shit). Look, if you and your significant other are gonna be partying at separate venues...you need to relax. She apparently began getting paranoid that he mighta been talkin to other chicks. She was beggin for him to go outside & have a real conversation with her...WTF? Then she was pleading for him to go home because she was in a cab alone and began crying. Rule #1 of my cab...there's no crying in that bitch. She gave me though $11+tip=$14 so I let her rock ha.

Overall, Saturday nights are an interesting cast of characters. You got the people who are doing the upper-class shit (going to see a show; coming from a wine tasting, etc.) and then you got the ones that just wanna PARTY. My final cab ride took me back to Brooklyn but this chick gave me $19+tip=$24 which is how it SHOULD be done you cheap ass Brownsville broads.

And so on.

Typing Etiquette.

Since no one talks on the phone anymore really...I've decided to come up with my personal rules of textin/AIM'in/Facebook chattin or whatever.

1) Guys should NEVER use any emoticons if talkin to one another.
2) Women can use them freely.
3) If you're a guy & are talkin to a woman...the only two emoticons I tend to agree on using are the wink face and the stick-my-tongue out face.
4) A Q is NOT A FUCKIN G. It is "good morning" not "qood morninq" sweet Jesus.
5) If someone uses 5 words or less to answer shit on more than 3 consecutive responses...face it he or she does not want to talk to you at the moment.
6) "lol" is filler. If I say "ha" it serves the same purpose. Anything else like "lmao, rofl, haaaaa, etc" I'm actually laughin.
7) If I don't answer you right away it's because I'm legit busy doin something.
8) If I text someone & they don't answer right away...I don't try to full court press em & text 20 times before they finally answer. Wouldn't that scare you?
9) Shorthand is fine...just don't OD with it.
10) If you have a lot to say texting-wise especially if it's after 10pm & I'm at home...it's better suited that you call me or hit me up on skype (when I get my cam back).

Any others that you have feel free to add. DISCUSS.

And so on.

Super Bowl Prediction/Reasons to Root For or Against The Saints or Colts.

Last Week: 1-1 both straight up & against the spread.
Overall: 4-6 straight up; 5-5 against the spread.

The Colts will definitely cover the 4.5 points...and make the game go over. The Saints thrive on turnovers, but they'll get one AT MOST on Sunday. With Dwight Freeney not at 100% due to him trippin over Mark Sanchez' leg (haa) it may slow down Indy's pass rush...but they're not predicated on one person & their overall team speed makes up for their anonymous defense.

Indianapolis 38 New Orleans 21 FINAL.

So you're probably wondering who I'm pullin for this Sunday. Although I'm pullin for the Saints since the Colts knocked my Jets out of the postseason and their guys had some parting shots afterwards which I didn't take too kindly...here are some reasons to root for these teams. Some of these are what I've heard from ppl too.

New Orleans:
Positives: First-Ever SB appearance; resurrection of a moribund franchise; Katrina; Drew Brees taking full advantage of reviving his career after being left for dead in San Diego; considered by many to be the new "America's Team"; vindication for Jeremy Shockey (depends on which way you wanna look at it tho); Jonathan Vilma (for me).
Negatives: Dirty as fuck defense; always having a feeling in the back of my head they're hella overrated for a 13-3 team; arguably the most bandwagon fans currently in the game waters down an otherwise great story.

Indianapolis:
Positives: Another SB for Peyton Manning will solidify his legacy even further in regards to being the greatest QB of this era...if not ever; the whole "black coach" thing with Jim Caldwell (I don't want to hear it...but hey, it's why my dad's rootin for em); Pierre Garcon (for me); don't have anyone on their squad who you can truly hate.
Negatives: They beat my boys & I honestly believe it was more us shooting ourselves in the foot than anything; I've grown to hate Clint Sessions; another Manning ring will lead to even more exposure of him on commercials than he already has.

If yall wanna add reasons; go right ahead...DISCUSS.

And so on.