Shaming, Exterminating, and Picketing Downtown

Went out to walk around after lunch today downtown. A whole lot was happening near the intersection of 5th and Cheyenne.

The IBC Bank Shamers were out again. They are out every day. IBC Bank must have done something awful bad to deserve this much shaming. It kind of reminds of the movie "Cold Comfort Farm" that came out a few years ago. One of the characters kept saying "I saw something nasty in the woodshed last night." (or something like that).

Come on IBC, say your sorry! These guys shaming you look really bored. Let them go home, or something.

The Exterminators were just down the street at the Mayo Hotel. They have a whole new crew but the same leader. The crew still pickets but they don't say much. The leader does the chants. He has a good strong, clear, loud voice. You can hear him all over downtown. They have added a sandwhich board that says "Honk for Labor Rights."

They are back to the basic chant "Get the Ra-ats Oo-ut, Get the Rats Out".

The old crew was much better at it. Maybe they got a recording contract.

Meanwhile, right across the street from the exterminators there are a bunch of picketers protesting the labor practices of the law firm Pray, Walker, Jackman, Williamson & Marlar. I didn't get a picture. For crying out loud guys, treat your people right! Whats wrong with you?

I think this all part of a plot myself. The mayor wants to bring more people downtown so the city is bringing in picketers. I mean you bring them in and after a while they are going to get tired and hungry so they'll buy stuff at the few stores and restaurants downtown. They'll get bored so they'll buy tickets for BOK events. These guys are of a downtown renaissance!

My World Tuesday #1

My World is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Among other things, Tulsa is known as an Art Deco mecca. There are many different Art Deco buildings in Tulsa and one that I like very much is the Tulsa Fire Alarm building, built in 1934. You can find all the details here in an article by the Tulsa Preservation Commission.

The building features a double headed dragon design over the front door. I tried to show it in the second photograph.

Please check out other My World Tuesday photographs from all over the world.

Movie Review "Seven Pounds" SPOILER

Sweetie and I had a date night the other night. Dinner and a Movie. The movie was "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith and Rosario Dawson. In terms of the the quality of the movie including the acting, and judging in terms of what I think the movie wanted to do I give the movie a 3 out of 4. Will Smith does a god job and Rosario Dawson is fabulous. However, this is one miserable little movie and I suggest that you go see something else.

I have real big problems with the premise of the movie. Will Smith's character, Ben Thomas caused an accident that killed seven people including his wife. So presumably to make up for that he arranges to commit suicide and donate his organs to seven people. These seven people though have to be good people and Ben Thomas is the sole determiner of what a good person is.

In doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What about the context? The seven people who died surely had loved ones, relatives, friends, and coworkers who cared for them. Where is their redemption? They don't get any, they just get one more person killed out of a tragedy. In fact they don't exist at all as far as this movie is concerned. How is that for compassion? Isn't there anything that Ben could do for the survivors?

From a Christian perspective I have huge trouble with this movie. How do you go about determining who is good and who is bad? What gives one the right to determine who lives and who dies? I know that on the wings we have Hitler and Mother Teresa. Most of us fall in the middle somewhere. Plus what about Ben Thomas's soul. He is cutting and running, leaving everybody else to deal with it.

Their is nothing to learn from or enjoy with this movie.

More Shots of Short

The New Yorker Winter Fiction Issue came in the other day. It has four stories in it.

• "Another Manhattan" by Donald Antrim -Thumbs up. Anxiety producing story of a two New York couples. The husband of one suffers from manic/depressive disorder and wants to buy his wife some flowers. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

• "Some Women" by Alice Munro - Thumbs up. Even though at the end I go "Uh." Munro's writing is hypnotic to me. So even though I don't have the EQ to understand the story I love the writing.

• "Meeting with Enrique Lihn" by Roberto Bolano - Thumbs sideways. I try to read without "rules." Phrases such as "A good story has to have ..." drive me crazy. All that matters is if the story is a good read. That being said I think that it is hard to make a story work that is one sentence and one paragraph for three pages of triple column type.

• "The Gangsters" by Colson Whitehead - Thumbs sideways. I about gave up on this but this story of gangster wannabees of affluent parents in Long Island finally got its act together to make it interesting.

Playing Pranks

Our 10 year old son, SuperPizzaBoy never fails to amaze me. He is one very complex little dude who I don't ever think that I'll figure out but enjoy just listening to and learning from him. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, that makes the process that much more interesting.

We found out something about him a few weeks ago after Sunday School. Our church has volunteers, called "Buddy's" who help the kids with special needs during Sunday School so the parents don't have to worry so much about their children and can more fully participate in the life of the church. The Buddys rotate so they don't get burned out either. It is a wonderful program.

After Sunday School one day I was chatting with one of the buddys about SPB and he mentioned that PizzaBoy had been in a little bit of trouble basically trying to sneak in places that he wasn't supposed to be. Sweetie and I were a little concerned because usually we hear about good he is. I asked him about what was going on and after some discussion he said that he just wanted to play a prank because he felt mischevious. So we talked about that and later I talked with Sweetie. We basically agreed that we look for places he could play a prank but it had to be where nobody was hurt, nor property damaged, nor add undue work to anybody.

We had an opportunity today. We went on a shopping expedition today and at about the third store I noticed him kind of sneaking around. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was going to play a prank by putting a bunch of clothes on the floor. I said, nope, won't work. That will get the clothes dirty. So he started moving clothes between racks. I figured what the hey, many clothes are switched by regular shoppers so I said that is an ok prank.

He had a high old time doing that. After about five minutes I pulled the camera out and got him in video mode. I noticed afterward that my reflection is in the mirror on the right side of the image.




The kid cracks me up. His prank did genuinely seem to make him happy. I apologize to the employees of Kohls for them having to straighten his mess out.

Skywatch Friday #1

Strange day in Oklahoma. Warm moist air blowing in from the south. Strange dark sky at 10 am. Streetlights in South Tulsa still on. This was on my running route looking to the northwest.

See Skywatch Friday for additional pictures of the Sky.

Christmas 2008

Every year it seems like there is a theme for Christmas in the Yogi family. This is not a theme that is thought out beforehand. It just kind of happens on its own. This year was the year for critters. The Yogi family loves dogs and cats. We have two, Ginger and Abigail, and one, Chrissy, respectively. Sweeties Mom, Nana loves critters also she has Fiona, a shi-tzu.

Well this year we each added one animal. So we went from a combined four animals to six. SuperPizzaBoy got a kitten, yet to be named and Nana rescued a black lab - hound dog puppy named Snowflake. He is a loveable pupply, all legs, who is getting along well with the other dogs.

Below is Sweetie, SPB, and Nana with Snowflake.


Sweetie and I took all the mutts on a walk Christmas Eve. Snowflake ran out of gas and then got cold when I was carrying him back so I got to do the kangaroo thing with her. She really liked it.

Here is SPB with the yet to be named male kitten. He also got videogames, books, bakugans, bionicles, a digital camera, and other stuff but he said the kitten was his favorite.

Below are the two new critters together.

We have a giant Maine Coon cat named Chrissy. She isn't quite sure of what to think of the new cat. I just hope that she doesn't sit on it.

I for one am having Christmas hangover. Too much food, not enough sleep, too many animals. What a zoo.

Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Yogi, Sweetie, SuperPizzaBoy and all our various critters to you.


glitter-graphics.com

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular

The Yogi family ventured downtown Tuesday afternoon to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the BOK Center.

We saw why they call it a Spectacular, because it is. They had everything, the Nutcracker, Christmas Carols, Santa Claus (a bunch of Santa Clauses, he revealed the secret to why there are so many Santas floating around), a Christmas Pageant (complete with live critters, two camels, a donkey, and several sheep), ice skating (part of the thrust stage was a small ice rink), a bus tour of New York and of course the Rockettes.

The Rockettes were truly spectacular. The troupe is very fluid and precise. Their various routines are very intricate and they pulled them all of flawlessly at least to me. They did lots and lots of kicks. To the right, the left, and straight ahead. I had never seen so many legs flying around.

The special effects were also spectacular. The coordination between the video screens and the peformers on stage was unbelievable. One segment had a life size double decker tour bus on stage. Somehow, with the video screen behind the bus, it made it look like it was going on a nighttime tour of the lights of Manhattan.

The show is completely over the top in almost all respects. I loved it and recommend it highly.

We had an unexpected bonus of the show. We had bought nosebleed seats and we got a free upgrade to lower level, so it was a double upgrade. I don't think the show would be too enjoyable from the cheap seats. We bought the tickets prior to finding out at the Carrie Underwood concert that the cheap seats are not worth having.

We had a great time. I rate the show as 4+ stars out of 4.

Bluestone Steakhouse and Four Christmases

Saturday night we had a sitter for SuperPizzaBoy so Sweetie and I went out for a date. Dinner and a Movie.

For dinner we went to the Bluestone Steakhouse and Seafood Restaurant in south Tulsa at 101st and Sheridan. It is in a strip shopping center but the interior is very nicely done. That night they had a pianist playing which was a nice touch.

Sweetie had the Salmon Salad and I had one of the specials, the Ivory Tuna. The Salmon Salad featurd a huge portion of Salmon for only $12. Sweetie gave me a taste and it was great. The Tuna was very mild and fresh and cooked just right.

The service was very attentive. I had never been there before but we will be back.

Afterward we went to see The Four Christmases.
The movie has a great cast, Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play the leads, Robert Duvall, Kristin Chenowith, Sissy Spacek, Tim McGraw, and Dwight Yoakum are in supporting roles.

Vaughn and Witherspoon do a good job together. He goes over the top, as expected and she brings him back in. Many of the pieces of the movie are hilarious but the whole thing doesn't hang together very well. The end especially doesn't quite hang together. Overall though it is worth seeing. I give it 2.5 stars out of 4. Which is where 95% of romantic comedies end up.

Afterward we ran into Baloney and Doc in the lobby. Turned out they saw the same movie. We chatted a bit and then headed home.

Mayor Taylor's Fitness Challenge

I've got a new obsession. No, No, its not the Mayor!! You are sick! Its Reading Challenges. I'm talking about challenges to read and list books. I love lists and keeping track of stuff. I am absolutely OCD about it, and I love analyzing the lists also. That is one reason I love geocaching. Not only do I get to go find stuff out in the woods, the web site keeps track of my finds and there is software to analyze the finds. You know how you determine if a geocacher is lying to you? Its easy, if he or she say "I don't really care about the numbers .... blah blah blah", then they are lying to you, big time! and should have their, uh sorry.... Anyway, back to Reading Challenges. I've already signed up for three. I'm going to hold it there for the time being, at least through tonight.

Now, I'm looking for other type challenges. I love to run and keeping track of mileage and workouts and stuff is a classic runners obsession. I used to keep track of my miles but quit for some reason. Now I've found a running challenge. It is by our very own Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor. You can sign up here. It is called the Mayor's Fitness Challenge. Its free! Except I would use a web based email account not your real one to sign up with to avoid election emails.

Its based on running but you can credit for walking, aerobics, and other stuff. I didn't see one for TV watching but maybe that is coming.

So today at noon I trudged over to my gym downtown and put in three miles on a treadmill. Its painful but my friends with Metallica were pulling for me especially at the last where they played "Broken, Beat, and Scarred", "Judas Kiss," and "Cyanide" just for me. Now I've signed up with Mayor Taylor's challenge and it tells me that so far that:

928 people have signed up for the challenge, and they have run, or done eqivalent exercise, a total of

64,515 miles or an average of

69.52 miles each. Of which Mayor Taylor has done

53.45 miles and I have personally contributed

3.00 miles to that total.

So, she owes me. If I hadn't signed up then she would have only 64,512 miles on her challenge. Where would she be then? She owes me big time. I'm going to call her and tell her so.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

On a very cold Saturday Sweetie and I took SuperPizzaBoy and his buddy AgentQ to see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

If you like the first one you will like this one. Singing, dancing, romance, reconciliation. The whole package. A kid movie that the parents like. What is better than that?

3.5 stars out of 4.

Book Review "Look Me in the Eyes" by John Elder Robison

"Look Me in the Eye" is a memoir written by John Elder Robison, a very talented and determined man who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was 40 years old. Robison overcame indifferent if not hostile parents, no help from the school system, and a lack of education to eventually become an audio and special effects specialist for the rock band KISS and then later work for Milton Bradley developing video games and then eventually forming his own sucessful business restoring and repairing classic cars. He married twice and has child of his own.

The book is very heartening to this Dad of a 10 year old boy with Aspergers. Robison is a good writer, if kind of flat (like maybe he has Asperger's) and he has some hair rasing adventures to tell. One of the more fascinating things he talks about is how he thinks and how his method of thinking has changed over time as he became more social.


The book is very encouraging and I recommend it highly to those who have a child with Aspergers or is otherwise interested in the subject

My Lucky Day at the Yogi Employer Cafeteria

Thursday was another crappy weather day. There was no ice but a cold misty rain at lunch. I brought my workout stuff but I was starving at 11. So I went down to the good old cafeteria.

Pickings are generally slim down there. Tuesday is meatloaf day and Friday is pizza day and those are good but the rest of the time its dismal.

I lucked out. It was turkey and dressing day. So I had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and broccoli. I had it put in a very politically correct, very green, and fashionable biodegradable to go box and grabbed the similarly biodegradeable, no longer plastic I'm not sure what its made of, plastic silverware and retired to my cubicle to eat lunch. With these new boxes you have to eat fast because the food biodegrades the box quickly! Take my word for it. Small price to pay for sustainability, right?

I had to use my cell camera which has no flash. The food looked and tasted a lot better than the picture indicates. Time for a nap afterwards.

You can deal with almost anything, even $39 per barrel crude oil, if you are eating good and sleeping well.

Operation Actually Read the Bible

I have slowly been making my way through the Bible the old school way. I am starting at the front and working toward the back. Its working out to be about 3 or 4 chapters a week. I have finished Genesis and am now deep into Exodus. I've read most of the Bible before, this time I'm trying to read it as if it were a regular book. There is a lot of great stuff in there if you stop and look at the stories. There is also a lot of inconsistencies that I don't understand.

You can sign up here.

Just for the record: I'm a believer!

This is the home page for the project where I'll track my progress.

Books Completed

• Genesis ( one down and a bunch to go) - Main takeaway - Many powerful stories and a hard headed pharoah. Most memorable image, God forming man from mud.
• Exodus - Could be sub-titled "The story of a stiff nicked people."I was amazed at the the details of the tabernacle, tents, and such, on an on. The most memorable image was at the when they talked about the glory of god filling the tent. Loved it.
• Leviticus - I have taken a couple of Bible survey courses and this is one of the books that gets mostly skipped because it has a lot to do with the dietary laws. Well I went threw the whole thing and read every word. It has the dietary laws but also lots of laws about skin blemishes and such as that. Makes me glad that we are off the hook for a lot of the laws. I was impressed though with the scope of the laws. I wonder why though. I suspect just because God is God and that is the way he wants us is the answer. (2/15/2009)

The following list was provided by Into Thy Word that I found via link from Operation Read Bible. I'm going to use it help me chart my progress. The red numbers are the chapters I've read. At a chapter a day, 3 or 4 days a week it may take me a while.

Genesis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Exodus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Leviticus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Deuteronomy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Joshua 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Judges 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Ruth 1 2 3 4
1 Samuel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
2 Samuel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
2 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
1 Chronicles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
2 Chronicles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Ezra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Nehemiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Esther 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
Psalms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Proverbs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Ecclesiastes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Song Of Solomon 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Isaiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
Jeremiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
Lamentations 1 2 3 4 5
Ezekiel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
Daniel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Hosea 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Joel 1 2 3
Amos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Obadiah 1
Jonah 1 2 3 4
Micah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Nahum 1 2 3
Habakkuk 1 2 3
Zephaniah 1 2 3
Haggai 1 2
Zechariah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Malachi 1 2 3 4
Matthew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Mark 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Luke 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
John 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Acts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Romans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 Corinthians 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
2 Corinthians 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Galatians 1 2 3 4 5 6
Ephesians 1 2 3 4 5 6
Philippians 1 2 3 4
Colossians 1 2 3 4
1 Thessalonians 1 2 3 4 5
2 Thessalonians 1 2 3
1 Timothy 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 Timothy 1 2 3 4
Titus 1 2 3
Philemon 1
Hebrews 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
James 1 2 3 4 5
1 Peter 1 2 3 4 5
2 Peter 1 2 3
1 John 1 2 3 4 5
2 John 1
3 John 1
Jude 1
Revelation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
The Bible contains 1189 chapters: 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New. Reading 3 chapters each day and 5 chapters on Sundays will cover the entire Bible in one year. Follow some plan. Even one chapter each day will cover the New Testament in only 9 months. God's Word is alive. The more you expose yourself to it, the more it will expose itself to you.

Little Dixie Christmas Party

This has been the year for Christmas Parties for the Yogi family. We have had several. Some years we don't have any. Last weekend we journeyed down to Nana's house to attend her Christmas Party. A good time was had by all. For me the best part of a party is when most everybody is gone except for a few. Then you can do things that are hard to do during the party.

Here is a picture of the "remnant." Time for the post party!

Time to make, and drink, chocolate martinis. Sweetie is getting good at them. Note the "real" half and half. Lots and lots of fat grams!

And I can put on my favorite and most comfortable shoes. Sweetie hates them. I don't think that Nana likes them too much either. But they are very comfortable. You can get your pair here.

A dog breeder friend of Nana's brought over a $2300 maltese puppy. Sweetie fell in love with it. Made me kind of nervous. She gave it back though. Sweetie is going to make do with our two mutts.

Post Post party photo. Where is SuperPizzaBoy? He might have been taking the picture. Notice my favorite hat. A Dallas Cowboys Santa Hat. Sweetie gave it to me so I wouldn't wear my Antlers Bearcats hat. She doesn't show any pride in her school so I have to wear the hat. Except now I have my Cowboys hat.

Hello, is anybody out there?

I'm still trying to figure this blogging thing out. I've been at it for several months now and I really like it. Not only writing my own posts but reading those of others. I have come to find out that there are lots of really good writers out there who are worth reading. I have also come to know a lot of very nice, generous, and helpful people.

Two of the questions I have had is "How do people find my blog? And how can I make it easier for people to find?" I mean quality of writing and creative composition and hilarious jokes are fine, but how do you get people to your site? If your blog is lame then they will leave but the challenge is to get them there in the first place.

One good source I found is Michael Hyatt's Blog, From Where I Sit. Mr. Hyatt is CEO of Thomas Nelson Books, a Christian Book Publisher. He has a lot to say about various things plus he gives out free copies of his companies books to blogger in exchange for reviews. One of his emphases is what authors can do to help themselves in the online world. As far as I am concerned all bloggers are authors, right? He had a series of posts on online marketing in November. The one I found most helpful is this.

Basically he talks about services that will analyze your blog for you, for free. This is a lot of fun. When you realize that you can submit blogs besides yours for analysis its even more fun! The site he uses is WebsiteGrader.com. This site analyzes your (or a friend of yours) blog and gives several metrics to evaluate your blog.

Mine turned out like this:

Website Grade 48
Google Page Rank 2
Google Indexed Pages 145
Traffic Rank Not Ranked
Blog Rank 870,402
Inbound Links 190
del.icio.us Bookmarks 0


The site describes what all this stuff means.

If you like run your blog through the evaluation. Let us know what the results are.

"The Woman of the House" by William Trevor

Pardon me while I try and work out how all the links are supposed to work on this reading challenge thing.

"The Woman of the House" is a short story set in modern day Ireland. Within the story are two parallel stories. That of a "crippled old man" and his female cousin living with him and two house painters from "Carinthia" (Wikipedia says Carenthia is a real place) but who pass themselves off as Polish.

The story is about the bargains people make with each other and themselves and the consequences of those bargains.

Not a whole lot of action here but the two stories slowly merge in a very clever and satisfying way. Not to say that everybody is happy.

I loved it.

I'm listing this story on my "100 Shots of Short" reading challenge list.

100 Shots of Short Reading Challenge

Way back in December I entered this reading challenge. When I updated it, I found that for some reason I didn't have the orginal post but I had this copy. So I'm posting it now.

I have decided to enter yet another Reading Challenge. This is is called "100 Shots of Short" and it is geared to short stories. There is no time period and the rules are very flexible. I don't have a predetermined list so I'll list them as I read them.

My first one is in this weeks New Yorker:

1. "The Woman of the House" by William Trevor. Read 12/15/2008.
2. "Another Manhattan" by Donald Antrium. Read 12/22/2008.
3. "Some Women" by Alice Munro, read 12/23/2008.
4. "Meeting with Enrique Lihn" by Roberto Bolano, read 12/24/2008.
5. "The Gangsters" by Zadie Smith, read 12/25/2008
6. "The Limner" by Julian Barnes, read 1/9/2009.
7. "Al Roosten" by George Saunders, read 1/31/2009.
8. "The Slows" by Gail Hareven, read 5/3/2009
9. "The Use of Poetry" by Ian McEwan" in the 12/7/09 New Yorker, read 12/5/09.
10. "Wiggle Room" by David Foster Wallace from the New Yorker
11. "Distant Relations" by Orphan Pamuk

Ron's Hamburgers

I hate ice storms. We had sleet Sunday night and ice Monday morning. I stayed at home until 10 and then went to work. Very slowly. I hate ice.

At lunch I was going to walk to somewhere downtown. Problem, ice everywhere. So I walked through the tunnel to the parking garage and drove to the Ron's Hamburgers on 15th street.

I used to go there a lot but they are very bad for you even though they taste good. My favorite was the chili cheeseburger. I have not eaten at a Ron's for close to 10 years, so it was about time.

I ordered the sausage cheeseburger. Half beef, half sausage, mashed together and grilled. Take a look. I gained half a pound just by ordering it. It has onions grilled in the meet, cheese, pickles, the whole deal. You eat it with a fork by the way.


I shouldn't have done this. I'll be back a lot sooner than 10 years I guarantee you that.

I rate this place 3 stars out of 4.

Ice

Woke up this morning to ice. The ice on the road doesn't bother me as much as the ice on the driveway. We have a pretty good slope to the driveway and I can see my pickup sliding out of control into our neighbors mailbox across the street.

So I'm going to have another cup of coffee and see how things go. I generally wait until everybody plays bumper cars at rush hour and then I'll go in. I'll probably stop at Lowe's and see if I can get some sandbags for the back of the truck. It makes a huge difference.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

It is Sweetie's birthday today. I hope that she has a good one. She says that she is not looking forward to this one. Maybe, but nobody enjoys birthdays more than she does.

I was looking for some pictures of her. It is hard. She is not one to sit around. If you want a photograph of her you better be prepared to run like crazy to keep up with her.

She is in constant motion. Organizing this, cleaning that, picking up a kid, calling or emailing somebody. Always working, caring, loving.
She likes to have fun with SuperPizzaBoy. The kid is spoiled. Like for Halloween. I think that he has maybe one store bought outfit in his life. (Buzz Light Year). She made Link the Windwaker this year. A couple years ago she actually made a SuperPizzaBoy costume.

No child had a more hardworking advocate for them than Sweetie. She works all the angles. She doesn't get mad, yell, and scream. She rolls her sleeves up and works with the school to make things right.

Sweetie is a favorite for SPB's friends also. Whatever they want, they get. They feel safe at her house. They'll tell me right to my face when I'm trying to impose myself "Miss Sweetie says its ok." OK with her, OK with me is my motto.



She is my best friend. I would rather spend time with her than anybody else in the world. I have more fun with her than anybody I can imagine.

I cannot imagine anybody else putting up with all my crap, especially geocaching and blogging. I have reapeatedly broken the no blogging and definitely no blogging picture rule multiple times.


She is my favorite subject!



She is the original critter advocate. She loves them all, nice ones, mean ones, friendly, shy, cute ugly, it doesn't matter. Sweetie has a heart for the animals. How many cats do you know would put up with a haircut?

Happy Birthday Sweetie, I love you very much.

2009 Pub Challenge

I peruse so called "reader blogs" with great interest. I am always interested in what people read and why and am astonished by how many books some of these folks go through. Many of these blogs have "challenges" listed on them regarding goals for reading books. These can be for a specific time or specific theme or both, like "2009 Romance Novels." Each challenge is sponsored by somebody and they lay out the guidelines and rules.

I've decided to do the 2009 Pub Challenge as my first challenge. I first saw it on the Oklahoma Booklady blog. You sign up for the challenge here.

Basically you read 9 books first published in 2009. Five must be fiction and no Young Adult titles are allowed (it is a pub.) (Is the Twilight Series YA? I know that what has been published so far do not qualify)

I checked my local library books ordered list for my account and the following is what I have ordered that are due to come out in 2009. So I guess that this is my starting list. Note, I feel absolutely free to change my plans at any time, for any reason.

The thing about Challenges is that many of them allow crossovers. So I will be adding challenges as I learn more about them.

Wish me luck!

- "Runner" by Thomas Perry, due January 2009 - finished 3/2/2009

- "Murder in the Latin Quarter" by Cara Black, finished 5/2/2009.

- "The Associate" by John Grisham , finished in April 2009.

-"The Monster in the Box" by Ruth Rendell, finished November 2009.

-"The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood, finished November 2009.

-"The Associate" by John Grisham

-"The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" by Jeff Sharlet, 2009

- Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear by Max Lucado. 2009


-"The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown 2009

-"War Dances" by Sherman Alexie 2009

-"The Scarecrow" by Michael Connelly 2009

-"Roadside Crosses" by Jeffery Deaver 2009

-"Road Dogs" by Elmore Leonard 2009

-"Parallel Play - Growing up with Undiagnosed Asperger's" by Tim Page 2009

-"Runner" by Thomas Perry 2009

-"That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo 2009

-"Rough Country" by John Sandford

-"The Addict: One Patient, One Doctor, One Year" by Michael Stein

A Day Off

Let me tell you how my day off started. It started with my employer. Recently they changed their vacation policy to accomodate the many old farts like me who work for them. What they are afraid of is that their statistics shows that 60% of energy company employees are going t retire within 5 to 10 years. Now, I'm not going anywhere. I have a fifth grader with autism. (But don't tell them that!)

What they did was give us credit toward vacation for time in the industry, up to 15 years. So, I instantly went from 3 weeks of vacation (for another 4 years) to 5 weeks. They just handed it to us. So, I'm very happy with the Yogi employer.

Anyway, so I have a few more days I can spend with Sweetie. Her birthday is coming up so I took a day off, courtesy of my employer, and we spent the day together. We went clothes shopping for her. I cannot pick out clothes for her and the problem with gift cards can be that at some stores the clothes are picked over. Plus the good sales are before Christmas.

I told her that this was going to be on the blog, she said no pictures, so no pictures. Sorry.

So we went shopping. She released me from the dress store after the mandatory 8 count. Whew, isn't she sweet? Its kind of a safety issue anyway. Women's stores have an excess of estrogen on the floors and so they get real slippery for men's shoes. Its best for men not to spend too much time in them. I got to look at some of the other stores before going back so I could pay for the purchases.

I almost got my ass kicked while paying. I think I got high on the estrogen fumes. While I was waiting for Sweetie to finish I was talking to the cashier, "Char'" Char' was sorting a bunch of % off tags into nice neat little piles and tieing them off with rubber bands before putting them into a basket. I stupidly said "It looks like you just go through with a big sale."

She said "They drive me crazy with all these different prices. I have to switch the tags all the time and then resort them." I furthered my stupidity by saying "I would just throw them in the basket if I were you." She said "Then I would throw the crap away just like I did with my first husbands stuff when he didn't do what I told him." She didn't have a smile on her face either. So I backed away slowly and didn't make any sudden moves.

Don't mess with Char' is my advice.

Something else we did was pick SuperPizzaBoy up after school and take him to see Santa Claus. That was fun. SPB has to be prompted to look at Santa and has to repeat his list a couple of times.

It was cramped in there with Santa and couldn't get a good angle but I got a shot I like coming out. SPB looks like he got away with something. Sweetie looks relieved and Santa is like, who is that kid? He was a cool Santa. SPB was actually supposed to be the last kid but somebody else slipped past the rope, and the way Santa handled it was say, "Come on in here young lady!" That made me feel good.

Off to Starbucks for SPB's hot chocolate, and my yearly double tall gingerbread latte with no whipped cream. Sweetie got her usual drink. It is a very complicated concoction that takes about 5 minutes to order, like double tall, half whip, no caff, half skim, double pump, half kick, shuffle ball chain, heel toe, heel toe, step, dosie do, latte. Or something like that.

Last Pack Meeting

SuperPizzaBoy's Cub Scout careeer is winding down. Last night was his last Pack Meeting. He started five years ago as a Tiger Cub and is now a Webelos II. We still have a Pack Christmas Party next week and in January a Pinewood Derby Meeting and then he graduates during the Arrow of Light Ceremony.

I don't know if he is going on to Boy Scouts or not. We'll just have to see. What he would like his some sort of videogame ranger organization.

Below is Cubmaster (and Patrol Leader) Rick leading the kids in a song. Rick has really been a blessing. He has a heart for scouting and the kids and has worked very hard, along with many of the other parents, to make sure that SPB had a good scouting experience,

After the meeting, I chatted with a few of the parents and then couldn't find SPB. I found him outside the gym in a reading nook that the school had. SPB used to go to school there and it seemed to me he spent most of his time in the nook. The kid always has his nose in a book.

Special Exhibition

Several months ago fellow blogger Baloney posted about an art project that her son did in school. Baloney had the art made into various objects and I ordered a mouse pad.

I am not using it as a mouse pad, I put it up on a file cabinet that doubles as my map wall. It has generated a lot of comments and I have told the story of its origin several times.

I see the young artist from time to time. I may have to get him to sign it for me.

Book Review "The Best American Short Stories of 2008" edited by Salman Rushdie

I am addicted to short stories. I even liked them in the English Lit classes in High School. It is easier, I think, for an author to sustain a mood, or intensity level, or tension than in a novel.

If you like short stories then try out this book. I have been buying these books for over 20 years. There is a different editor every year, generally an author of some renown, who selects the stories so you get a little insight into what they like. Also, they have a small bio of each author selected that is interesting and they write a little about what inspired them to write the story. Often is just an image they had in their mind. It is amazing that some of the stories have been years in the making and sometimes dozens of drafts.

This book contains the latest craze, a vampire love story. It also has failed redemption after cold blooded murder. Also science fiction, love turned cold. All sorts of genre's.

I give it 3.5 stars out of 4.

Try the 2007 edition. Steven King was the editor. Not only can he write, he can pick out stories.

Chocolate Martinis and Pancakes

John and Donna came up from Little Dixie to impart a little culture to us Rubes in Tulsa. I hope that we didn't embarrass them too much.

First, we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Two in our party got a little carried away. I don't what these two are doing except Sweetie was talking about her favorite television show as a child was "The Flying Nun."

Then we went home where John taught Sweetie how to make chocolate martinis. Back in school I took all sorts of chemistry labs. I had never seen anything so complicated as the preparation of these drinks. It was taking them a lot of time. I was having to drink beer in between rounds to keep my buzz going.

I don't know what all the fuss was about. Those martinis were not any good.

The next morning after we came to, I mean woke up. I made pancakes. My one or two readers know that I'm very particular about the 1/4 cup rule and face centered cubic structure and all that but there is one exception. The "dog cake" traditionally the last of the batter is made into a large pancake and given to the dogs.

I changed the tradition some time ago, to the consternation of the dogs. Now, I get the dog cake. Of course I eat in honor of the dogs so the spirit of the dog cake is preserved. Just to make sure that nobody gets confused about whose pancake it is I monogram it.

All good times must end so we had one last party pic. SuperPizzaBoy and I were headed to a Cub Scout Meeting. Unfortunately Mr. Rick wasn't going to have us work on the bartending merit badge. SPB might have been able to meet the requirement for Specialty Drinks.

Good Advice

The economy is in a shambles. The price of oil is just above $40 and according to some is headed to $25 next summer. Worried about your job?

I've never been laid off (knock on wood) but I've been through the downsizing process plenty of times and "sold" 7 times.

Here is some good advice.

Major Sponsorship Opportunities Available

The accompanying video is by my friend Tom, local celebrity engineer, inventor, mexican food gourmet, violin builder, beer expert, and crusty bike rider, thanking his sponsors for the money raised for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for the MS 150 bicycle race he rode in last summer.

Tom, does the ride every year, I am looking forward to sponsoring him again next summer. I'll also be letting my one or two readers know of the sponsorship opportunities available. As you will see from the video, Tom takes care of his sponsors.

What Kind of Ornament Are You

Yet another idea stolen from Reading Adventures. Take this quiz and find out what kind of ornament you are. Let me know. Supposedly I'm an angel.

You Are an Angel

A truly giving soul, you understand the spirit of Christmas.

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

Space

I think that many men and women of my generation got involved in science and technology not because of computers and video games but because of Space. The race to the moon was a big deal when I was a kid. It was a national mission.

It is kind of hard to get worked about it today for some reason. Even with two tragic accidents it seems pretty routine. The only reason the last Shuttle mission got an press was because somebody lost their toolbag up there.

The big things in technology now, are computers, (yawn) and biotechnology ("YAWN").

Every once in a while though something comes around that ignites the imagination again. For me it came from the most unlikely source: the Reading Adventures blog. She has an advent calender type thing going which I don't really understand but it led to a link that literally made my jaw drop. Its a Boston Globe newspaper web feature called the Big Picture which is about news in pictures. They have an ongoing advent feature on photographs from the Hubble Telescope. It is awesome stuff. Show your kids!

Space science has been transformed since I last paid attention from the static to the dynamic. It used to be hey, this galaxy is 50 gazillion light years from us (yawn) to hey look at this star exploding (WOW, look at the pictures), this galaxy has such a strong gravitational field that it is acting as a lens to look at other galaxys (Huh, what's that all about?)

If you have kids, give them a look, who knows what may happen. Little girls also. When I lived in Houston I was acquainted with three engineers who worked at NASA. Two of them were women.

Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner, da da da da da da

Two OU Engineers, Ray & Bubba,were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up.

A woman walked by and asked what they were doing.

'We're supposed to find the height of the flagpole,' said Bubba, 'but we don't have a ladder.'

The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down.

Then she took a tape measure from her pocket, took a measurement, announced, 'Eighteen feet, six inches,' and walked away.

Ray shook his head and laughed. 'Ain't that just like a woman! We ask for the height and she gives us the length!'

Ice Escapades and a Chicken Sandwich

At noon today I took a little walk to check out the outdoor ice arena. It was a little chilly and all the machinery was going full blast but the ice looked very soft. I'm not sure this concept is going to work. One problem is the location. It is right behind the BOK Arena, right next to the downtown heating plant. Pretty ugly. I didn't even take a picture of it it was so ugly.

Right next to it is what I guess is the city Christmas Tree. Isn't it pretty? A spruce or fir from Colorado or Wyoming? Nope, its an artificial tree. Its hollow inside. You could fit a whole busload of homeless guys in there. I can tell you from my years of poking around downtown looking for good geocache hiding spots, that anywhere there is a hidey hole big enough to put a person into, someone is in it. So I didn't poke around inside that tree too much.

You know, there are various tours of downtown Tulsa one can make. You can tour the Art Deco buildings, the Oilman's offices, Historical sites, shoot they even have tours of the tunnels. I could show you where the homeless guys stay. What, do you think they live in the suburbs and drive in every day? Nope, they live right downtown. They are ahead of trend! They are taking up the best geocaching locations but I don't hold that against them.

In the background is the BOK Arena. I don't recommend the cheap seats but I love the way it looks. I don't get all the whining, complaining, bitching, pissing, moaning, and groaning going on about it. I love the building.

All my wandering and wondering made me hungry so I went for a late lunch at Billie's on the Square. You know the square where the circle is? They have the second best hamburgers in town and the best Chicken Sandwiches. I had my favorite: The Southwest Chicken Sandwich. No fries, just a diet soda to drink. It is the best Chicken Sandwich in Tulsa. I give Billie's three stars out of four.

What a Day! - But I Ate Good! - and Worked Hard!

What a day. Gramps has gone back to Idaho. We had a good time. We had martini time every night. We ate very well, we looked at historical stuff and viewed great art. When I went to my Health Club this morning, I found that I had gained three pounds in a week. Whew, I feel like I gained 20. Plus, I need to talk to the club manager. The towels have shrunk. They don't fit all the way around me any more.

The other thing is that I finally finished with the Cub Scout Popcorn. I drove down to the Scout Office and gave them the check. I didn't do such a great job this year. I misordered popcorn and had to scramble to make up, forgot to order one kids prize, lost a case of carmel corn (I got it back at least), and just made a hash of things. But hey, I got everybody to pay! I'm very frank with people who are laggards and they know it, so they just pay rather than put up with me. I don't blame them, sometimes I can't stand me either.

But hey, there I was at the Scout Office, relieved to be done with it but hungry. The Scout office is located at about 41st and Garnett right in the middle of an office park ghetto. Nowhere to eat. Then I had a vision. Popeyes, near 41st and Mingo. So off I went.

Now, Sweetie may disagree but I think that most of the time I eat pretty well. Its just the volume but still, I eat downtown at Subways, Roast Chicken, whole wheat, no cheese, all the veggies, yogurt, diet soda, or something similar at Quiznos. I like those meals and all but its not like I look forward to them and wouldn't it be a tragedy if, God forbid, one of those was my last meal?

I lived in the Houston area for years and ate tons of Popeyes chicken before I started my migration to Oklahoma . So there I was at the counter, Three pieces, mixed dark and white, dirty rice, and a biscuit. If I'm going to eat food that is bad for me, I'm going eat good bad food. Lunch was great! And I lived to eat another low fat lunch.

I give Popeyes three stars out of four. Plus, its at the Gateway to great geocaching in Tulsa.



I'm not done yet. You may, but I'm not. I got home tonight and finished the molding in SuperPizzaBoys room. It took about 20 minutes to nail it in. I measured and cut the molding about three years ago and it has been sitting in his room all this time. You just don't want to rush a project is what I say.

Now, I'm done. You can go now.