Tonight

I had a nice chat with a young couple from Los Angeles. They were going from a downtown hotel to Pacific Beach, in search of "some killer fajitas." I brought them to Garnett St and wished them luck. They said San Diego is a nice getaway for a weekend vacation from LA. They asked me if the reverse is true, and I told them the truth -- LA is not a nice place for San Diegans to go. Fare: $38. Tip: $8.

I was the Town Clown for several hours tonight. Cabs all around me were getting $25 rides, while I got $7 locals and no-gos. At 7 p.m. I decided if my next ride was a local, I was going 10-21. It would have been my 7th in a row. My rule is four, then I go, but my roommate is moving out at the end of the month, and my rent is going to double -- I need the money. Fortunately the next ride was to the Gaslamp Quarter for $20. Since then I've had all fantastic rides, including the PB ride above.

There are big Cinco de Mayo (sp?) celebrations in the Gaslamp, Old Town, and PB is hopping (as usual). I suspect all big cities are boozing it up, not just San Diego. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the 5th of May is when Mexicans celebrate a small military victory over France dating to the middle 19th century. You can read that a couple of different ways. Mexico has so few victories that they celebrate a tiny, unimportant one. Or, France was so powerful back in the day that defeating them was memorable. More likely, the 5th of May is just another excuse for people to get wasted.

Tonight I raked in $25 on a $13 fare from two Navy guys who were almost too drunk to speak. Typically sailors don't tip anything. These guys gave me their address and said, "We're too drunk to drive." Yeah, no kidding. "You're going to get a good tip," one of them said, "because if we tried to drive many people would die."

Taxis = life.

The night is still young, so I'll continue saving lives and making money in the process. I have a new NASCAR race waiting for me at home on DVR, so I might 10-21 earlier than usual (2 a.m. or so). They raced in Virginia this evening, and it's the first time the "Car of Tomorrow" is being used on something other than a genuine short track. For the uninitiated, CoT looks a lot like the Australian V8 Supercars. Now if we could just ditch the ovals in favor of road courses, NASCAR would be a great sport, instead of a good one.