Skywatch Friday - from the Office

Front coming through this evening right at quitting time. Took this photograph out the window as I left the office.

For great pictures of the sky from all over the world check out Skywatch Friday.

Boys Night Out -

Sweetie belongs to a book group. A very literate and proper group of ladies who have monthly meetings to discuss a book they have read. They take turns meeting in their homes. This month the coven, I mean ladies, met at our house.

SuperPizzaBoy and I went out on our monthly Boys Night Out. We have lots of fun. We go to all sorts of places. So far we have avoided arrest and detention. We have to be careful because Sweetie has told us she is not leaving book group early to come bail us out.

We didn't eat this time. SPB had been at a pizza party so he wasn't hungry. I wasn't hungry either. I planned on scrounging the leftovers from the book group meeting when we got home.

First, SPB and I hid a geocache. Our 25th hide. We called it "Boys Night Out - Cedar Ridge" in honor of a nearby golf club. We have a whole series of "Boys Night Out" caches all over Tulsa.

Well it took an hour to hide it. We knew the general location where we wanted to hide it but we had to pick a specific spot. We did that. Then you have to get the coordinates. That took a while. Believe it or not, heavy tree cover screws up the satellite reception of GPS receivers so you have to spend some time checking and rechecking. See if you don't have good coordinates then the finders can't find the caches. So you have to do it right.

Below is a photo of the cache. I had to use the flash because it was dark. Notice the camo? Camo duck tape, a geocachers best friend, next to his GPSr of course.



Finally done with that we headed off to Laser tag. Usually SPB and I play alone. This time we teamed up. There was a whole bunch of teenagers we played with. They cheated, they cover up their sensors you see, which is a no no. But, so what, we had fun playing as a team. Out of 17 players, SPB finished 16 and I finished 17. It was fun playing with him, he gets a blast out of it. Next time, we'll be cheating with the rest of them. That's life, right?

Next, traditional stop at Barnes and Noble. Deal is I'll buy him a book. I got the new Green Day CD, SPB got his book.

Time to go home, I mark this BNO as a success.

Stealing and Cheating

A recent article in the Tulsa World about oilfield theft brought back some memories.

I got a graduate degree in oilfield theft, I can tell you all about it. Back in a previous life (and previous employer) during the 1980's to early 90's I saw a lot of it. I didn't participate I just had to deal with it. I got so that I could smell it a mile away.

I worked for a company headquartered in Dallas. They thought something was amiss in their West Texas Division headquartered in Midland, Texas. One evening I was told to be at the airport packed for a week. I showed up, we flew the corporate jet to Midland. A private investigator met us we went to the Region Office. Every single person in the Region Office was terminated. My boss and I drove to the field office a few hours away and announced we were taking over.

After a short time, we determined that every single person in the field office was on the take one way or another, about two dozen people. Further there were only about 2000 people in the whole county. If we fired these guys, who else could we hire to run the system. There wasn't anybody else. What do you do? We sold the pipeline system.

A year later, we went through a similar thing in the Oklahoma City office. We didn't fire everybody, just a few. We should have fired several more as we found out later. We paid the price, my family also. I had to work for several months with a guy who I knew was a crook while our PI did his investigation. It was one of the most trying things I've ever been through. Having to watch myself the whole time. I also worried about our safety. Big money was involved.

We ended up firing the guy, but not prosecuting him. Pissed me off then, and still makes me mad. Most energy companies sweep stuff like that under the rug. I still remember, like it was yesterday, the day I got permission to fire him. I thought he was going to jump across the desk at me. He told me that he didn't do it, and then he wanted to know if he could pay reparations. Like, if you didn't do it, why do you want to pay reparations.

The thing most vivid is that he asked if he could drive home and tell his wife and then come back and get his stuff. Uhh, he was a gun nut. "Nope, Frank (not his real name.) We are going to load your stuff up and take you home now." (He had a company truck so he needed a lift home.)

On the way to his house he reminded me that his wife had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I told him I felt bad about that. (His wife was a very nice person.)

I left him standing on his driveway with all his stuff. He asked me to help him carry it in. "Nope, I have to go." Not very helpful or friendly was I?

I could go on, but I won't. I had to deal with several others elsewhere.

Do you think you work with a crook? I know all the indications. Want to know a few?

• Guys who are overly helpful. They can take care of things that are not in their job scope. They know people who can help. Yep, there is a payoff lurking about.

• Support staff and subordinates who are not friendly or communicative. They have been told to be quiet and not talk to outsiders. How is this silence bought? Through threats is how. The way it works is they come to work on day and their boss says "Hey, I have something for you." It is something nice, a pair of ostrich cowboy boots (we are talking oilfield stuff here) lets say or a gift certificate, or something else. Later they get called in again. They get told, "You say something about what I am doing, you are going down with me." "What" the subordinate says, "I am not involved." "Oh yes you are." they are told, "Remember those ostrich boots? Where do you think they come from?" Works like a charm. I feel sorry for these victims. The guilt and worry they feel can literally wreck their lives. Doing something like that to another person is one of the worst things you can do to somebody.
  
• The advocacy of suppliers or contractors who are "really good" or the "the only ones" can provide the goods and services. These are the crooks. The condemnation of "sorry" providers. These are guys who won't pay kickbacks.
• Excuses and Lies. These guys are the kings of excuses and they lie a lot.
• Problems elsewhere, gambling, drinking, adultery ,money. These guys have integrity issues.

What all this means is hidden, until you come to your senses, by a "veil of trust." Once that falls away then it is very plain to see. It can be shocking to see somebody you trust be a crook.

Want to know something else that is shocking. Oftentimes companies are nicer to thieves than they are to honest employees. You should hear some of the crap I have heard over the years.

• We don't want him to sue us.
• We don't want this to get in the papers.
• This looks really bad for us.

So, I say "Prosecute them," "Sue them," Get rid of them.

Anything else is an insult to your poor dumb honest employees.

Book Review "Warriors: The New Prophecy Book One: Midnight" by Erin Hunter

SuperPizzaBoy and I just got through with this book. We have been working on it at bedtime for quite a while. This series is about cats. Cats who form themselves into clans. The cats have different personalities and roles. The clans have their rivalries.

It is primarily about wild cats. House cats are looked down upon. Humans are called two legs and are best avoided. The cats fear autombiles, they are monsters, and roadways are "thunderpaths."

This is the first book in a series. It has to do with the efforts of the cat clans to unify. The alternative is destruction for all. There is lots of adventure. SPB was enthralled with the story. We will be reading more in the series.

I give this book four stars out of four. A great book for children that adults can enjoy. Give it a try!

Irish Geocaching Hazard in Oklahoma

People who know me just a little bit realize that I am totally OCD about Geocaching. Its almost like breathing. I can go without for a while but I have to get some air every now and then. What a lot of people don't know is that I have a lot of Irish in me from my Mother. She took a lot of pride in it, and so do I. But there is a lot more to being Irish than getting roaring drunk on Saint Patrick's Day. You have to honor the other traditions, even when geocaching.

Saturday I went out to find some caches. I found nine, which is a good day for me. The first one I found was a tiny little tube tied to a tree out in the middle of nowhere.

Do you see it? Took me a while to spot it. I'm kind of proud of it because it was my 800th find!

Geocaching has its hazards. Saturday, I encountered ticks, chiggers, thorns, and poison ivy. I'm not allergic to poison ivy, yet.

Poison ivy is nothing to mess with! I am careful with it, even though I'm not allergic to it. Because you can get an allergy all the sudden.

I didn't see any snakes although I'm pretty sure some saw me in the waist high grass, swamps, and brush I encountered. I didn't run into any angry ranchers or farmers, or meth lab operators for that matter.

I did stumble onto something that gave me pause, that made me say, "I'm backing out of here really slow, I am not messing with anything, I'm P&A'ing (plugging and abandoning to us oilfield trash) this cache. I just want to get out of here in one piece." It was a hazard that geocachers with Irish blood know and respect.

The Irish Know to Leave the Little People Alone.

Psalm 19:1-4

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.a

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)

Clinton, Oklahoma High School Sub-Deb Club - 1958

My Mother-in-Law, Nana, had some friends from high school come visit last weekend. Everybody brought their scrapbooks, photoalbums, and old pictures and they had a great time visiting, swapping, and copying old photographs as well as catching up on the news.

She was telling us about this and showing us some of her old pictures when I came across this one. I fell in love with it, grabbed it from her and scanned it. I thought it was a very remarkable photograph about another time.

Nana is the dark haired girl behind the blonde in the blue dress on the right front row.

Skywatch Friday - Bike Ride

Sweetie and I went on a bike ride recently one evening. I kept stopping to take pictures. She left me behind! I had the keys to truck though. So I didn't have to ride in the dark all the way home. ;)

For other views of our sky from all over the world check out Skywatch Friday.

Kaitlyn Arquette and her Family

I had a bad shock recently. I got reacquainted with the notion that there is evil in the world. I learned this week that the little sister of a high school classmate of mine was brutally murdered 20 years ago. The murder was never solved. I didn't know anything about it until this week.

My classmate's name is Robin Arquette, her sister's name was Kaitlyn Arquette. She was murdered July 16, 1989 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the age of 18. The killer was never found. The police have given up. The family has a web site "Who Killed Kaitlyn Arquette" that tells the story and contains a ton of information about the murder and leads that were never followed by the police.

Robin was an acquaintance rather than a friend but still I knew her fairly well but had not kept up with her. I last talked to her at our 15 year reunion the year before her sister was killed.

Doing some research I find out that the Arquette's are a talented family. Robin and Kait's mother is Lois Duncan, who wrote the book "Hotel for Dogs" that was recently released as a movie. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is also her book. She also wrote a book about her the murder of her daughter "Who Killed My Daughter?" and is working on a sequel. She has several projects going including the filming of a movie for the Lifetime Network. She taught at the University of New Mexico and has 300 published magazine articles, and was a contributing editor to Woman's Day. She has a very nice web site. I don't ever remember even meeting Robin's mother.

The Arquette family is amazing. They are devastated by Kait's unsolved murder but are moving forward with their lives, while diligently and patiently pursuing justice for their daughter.

I pray that the killers are found.

My World - Tulsa Club

The Tulsa Club Building Now.

The Tulsa Club Building was built in the 1920's by the Tulsa Club and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber occupied the lower floors and the Club occupied the upper floors.

The building is in a city known for Art Deco and the building fits in well with Art Deco buildings but it is not Art Deco. It was designed by Bruce Goff and the building is known as a "Modern" Design. Mr. Goff was known for basically doing his own thing with buildings.

This is the Tulsa Club Then.

Undated photograph*, presumably from the 1920's or 30's. Any car folks out there who can date the cars parked? What interests me about this photograph is that the distinctive black tile work now on the building was not present in the earlier photograph. It's a mystery to me. Its not just the tiles, there appears to be a narrow addition or facade to the entire front of the building.


Above is a closeup of the tiles, below is a detail. I have studied them and I confess I think the design is totally abstract.

The new facade detracts from the clean lines of the original building, but maybe contributed to a more modern look. I could find no information at all about the addition.

In its heyday the club was a place for the elite to meet and party.*

Unfortunately, the building is not well preserved. The Tulsa Club folded in the early 1990's. The building was gutted for its fixtures and then sold to somebody in California, who apparently didn't do anything with it, including pay the annual assessments. The interior was badly damaged by vandals and squatters. The City is trying to foreclose and the owner is trying sell the building according to this article. The MODERNtulsa blog has a post with recent photographs of the interior. The photographs are hard to look at.

The future of this building concerns me.

For other views of the world we live in check out That's My World.

*The black and white photographs are courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.

Wicked - The Musical

Sweetie and I headed downtown Saturday afternoon to see "Wicked" a touring Broadway musical. It is the backstory to the Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland gave us only one side, this play gives us the truth!. As one character put it, something to the effect of, "Can you believe she took the shoes off my dead sister. You would think she was raised in a barn."

Sweetie and both thought this production was one of the best we have ever seen. The special effects are awesome, the music and singing are superb, and the choreography is wonderful. (I cannot figure out how the producers and directors can pack so many people on a stage all dancing and singing amongst props and nobody ever bounces into somebody else.)

Helene York was awesome as Glinda but Marcie Dodd stole the show as Elpheba. Ms. Dodd played the part on Broadway. The young lady can really sing.

The total time, including a short 15 minute intermission took about three hours, but it went very quickly.

I give Wicked four stars out of four and a special Do Not Miss this Show recommendation.

Flowers of the Field

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field, the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Psalm 103: 13-16

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

"Gone Tomorrow" by Lee Child is another Jack Reacher novel. Jack Reacher is an ex Army MP who is tough as nails, smart as a whip, and fierce. He carries everything he owns without a bag. When he buys new clothes, he throws away the old.

Legions of bad guys have found that when you mess with Jack you are messing with fire.

This time some punks from the middle east decide to mess with him. About 20 of them. They should have brought more help. It doesn't go well for them.

I can't tell you much else without spoiling the fun.

I rate this 3 stars out of 4. It was a little slow to get started.

Early Morning Skywatch

Last week I ran for 4 miles early one morning as the sun rose and the moon set.

Sorry for the shaky image, looking to the east as I start at dark thirty A.M.

Moon was setting in the west.

End of the Run!

Check out other photographs of the Sky from all over
at Skywatch Friday.

I hope eveybody has a great weekend!

House Party on C Street

What is going on in Washington these days? Used to be, if a congressman got caught conducting an affair their career was over. Done with, gone. Remember Wilbur Mills, Gary Hart, and others. It was over. We have entered a new era. Mark Sanford has an affair with a woman in Argentina. Goes to see here while leading his staff and his wife to believe that he is out hiking and gets caught by a reporter in an airport returning from Argentina. He admits to the affair on TV.


So the next step is that he resigns his office and seeks forgiveness from his wife right? Wrong. He is "trying to fall in love with his wife again" and He compares himself to King David. King David was a cool guy, I mean he wrote the Psalms right? Oh, but he did some bad stuff, he was an adulterer and a murderer. But he accomplished great things. So now Senator Sanborn tells us that he can stay Senator because King David got to stay king. What is going on here? I think he thinks he is a king is what I think.

Now another Senator, John Ensign of Nevada, another admitted adulterer, who has paid (or more accurately his parents paid) almost $100,000 to the wife of David Hampton, his former chief of staff, is also not going to resign. He sees no reason to do so. What is up with that?


Now comes our own Senator Tom Coburn, of Oklahoma. Who apparently urged Senator Ensign to end the affair and "make the family whole." In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, David Hampton says that Senator Coburn urged John Ensign to pay $1.2 million to the Hamptons so they could move out of Nevada to Colorado. (Senator Coburn has denied urging any financial payments to the Hamptons.)

Senator Coburn has further said he is not going to say anything because he, as both a physician and a church deacon, at least some of his discussions with Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., can remain off limits, even to the Senate Ethics Committee. He described those discussions as "privileged.''???

So what is the common denominator between these three Senators, besides huge egos? It turns out that they are all associated with a house in Washinton D.C. whose address is 133 C St. SE. Senators Ensign and Coburn live in the house. Senator Sanford has attended bible studies and meetings there. Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State and former Senator from New York, has attended meetings there.

Who runs the house, including the bible studies? It is an organization called "The Family." The segment below explains further, better than I can.





Sorry about dragging you through all this. This whole affair shows what happens when powerful individuals forget who they are and what they are and deceive themselves and others as to the true nature of Christ and Christianity. These three conservative Christians (Sanford, Ensign, and Coburn) have provided fodder for those who deride Christianity and I resent it.

I find this whole thing incredible and disturbing.

Happy Birthday Martha Berryhill

I opened up the Tulsa World this morning and they had an article about Martha Berryhill of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, a Muscogee (Creek) citizen who celebrated her 109th birthday yesterday. She may be the oldest person in Oklahoma. That is quite a feat in anybody's book.

What makes it even more amazing is that she is the tribes last surviving Dawes allottee. The Dawes Rolls are the basis of membership in many of the tribes in Oklahoma. The whole process of the Dawes Rolls that were compiled in from 1898 to 1907 is described very well in Angie Debos, "And Still the Waters Run."

Anyway, enough for that, Happy Birthday Martha!

My World - Tulsa Driller's Baseball Game

One day last week SuperPizzaBoy and I decided to go to the ball game. Tulsa's Drillers, our AA Minor League team. They played the Corpus Christi Hooks (like in pirate Captain Hook, get it?) The Drillers are affiliated with the Colorado Rockies.

He is not called SuperPizzaBoy for nothing folks.

After the Star Spangled Banner: "Play Ball."

Got to have a little ice cream, right?

The kid takes a half decent picture. Of course, he didn't have much to work with.

Lights are getting a little low. We left early. Look at the view from our seats. $6 each, free parking!

The Drillers are moving next year to a new ballpark downtown, ONEOK Stadium.
Can't wait.

Check out My World Tuesday for other great views of the world.

Millennials, a Carpenter's Union, and the Homeless. Explained by an Old Crusty Gas Guy!

These Millennials flooding the workplace are something else. They know how to work in groups, they are technologically adept, work hard and are eager to learn. They have also had their butts kissed since birth and like it. And we Baby Boomers love them. They are our kids. Generation X'ers apparently hate them, but I'm not going to get into that!

Millennials don't know everything, I have proof! Some things have to be explained to them. For example here in Tulsa the local Carpenter's Union (Local 943) in conjunction with their parent organization (Arkansas Regional Council of Carpenters) is in a two year campaign to force a local contractor, Green Country Interiors ("GCI"), to convert to a union shop. They are doing this by picketing jobs that Green Country Interiors are working on now and businesses that have used GCI previously. The Union is even picketing the entrance to the neighborhood of the president of Green Country. I give this as a little bit of background.

The Union has outsourced the actual picketing to homeless people who get $10/hour and no benefits. Brilliant! I think the problem may be that actual carpenters are actually working and may not be too excited about taking off work to picket. So outsource the labor. Way to go local 943. Turn the tables! Out of box thinking.

My employer has hired a bunch of new college grads each of the last several years. One of our selling points is our extensive training program. My part of the training program is to sit them in a conference room and bore them past tears to total despair as I drone on ... and on. However, I do wake them so we can go to lunch, (because I'm nice guy). As we were walking to the restaurant we passed the picketers who were marching and chanting. The Millenials asked what was going on? I summarized the above. They asked "So these homeless people want to go to work on the building?" Oh, no, I don't think that is the plan at all, I told them. The Union wants GCI to be a union shop. That way GCI's workers will become union employees. "What about the homeless people?" they ask. I say, "What about them?" I tell them maybe the homeless folks can take their newfound picketing and chanting skills and go to work for the iron workers or something. Or more likely they stay homeless.

These Millennials who are supposed to be so smart couldn't figure any of this out. They don't think it makes any sense, further they don't think it is very fair. That is why companies will need old crusty guys like me to keep stuff like this all sorted out. Or at least that is what I tell myself.

Summer Soiree

Sweetie and I went partying Saturday night. Left SuperPizzaBoy with Nana and headed to Southern Hills Country Club for a fund raiser for SPB's school. Town and Country. It is our annual get dressed and go have fun event.

Town and Country School is very dear to us. SPB has really thrived there. They go to extremes to help kids learn. It is for kids with learning difficulties including Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism.

The past two years we have been a sponsor.

As you can tell from the picture below, I was out of control. Sweetie had to rein me in. I need to get a handle on partying one of these days. I just go berserk. Are we not cute? Purple and purple, Sweetie's favorite color!

We had martinis, a fine meal with wine, desert. A short talk was given by a graduate of Town and Country School. A young man,Brian C. Britt, diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, who could not function in public school. He enrolled in Town and Country and thrived. He graduated from there as a National Merit Scholar, obtained his B.S. in Communication from the University of Tulsa, and is now studying for his Master's Degree in Organizational Communication at Purdue University. He teaches two classes in public speaking , an astounding accomplishment for a person afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome.

Then we had the live auction. I love live auctions. Jay Litchfield did this one. He is good at it. He does lots and lots of charity auctions in the Tulsa area, free, gratis, many times more than one a night. He is a great guy.

They had a band, we danced the night away, sorry, no party pics. Believe me, you appreciate that.

Our Children

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Mark 10:13-16 (ESV)

Amtrak Mooning - 2009 Update

YouTube post on the 2009 Mooning Amtrak Festival which apparently is proceeding today despite the best efforts of Laguna Niguel Mayor Robert Ming and the City Council. Read all about it here.

I see this as an extension of the "Tea Party" movement. Obviously Amtrak symbolizes the coddled and cuddled excesses of big government as exemplified by Barack Obama and his communistic, Godless, cohorts who are now in charge of running the country under the constitutionally flimsy and Biblically wrong excuse that Obama won the last presidential election. The mere 10,000 or so brave, conservative, god fearing, Republican "crack troops" out of the millions of Californians are trying to show their contempt for Obama and the like despite the crackdown by the Peoples Republic of California to eliminate this protest. I stand with the brave martyrs who are exercising the rights to bare their butts despite the pressure of oppression.

Any Okies want to Moon Amtrak?

It is the little surprises in life that make it interesting. The things you don't expect. I was going through the Wall Street Journal reading all about how ole Obama is ruining the country and the AIG execs are wanting their retention bonuses (Retention!? Darn let'em go I say. I could go to the plasma center and find people who could lose as much money as AIG has just on the execs regular salaries.) Oh, yeah sorry. Anyway I found out that in California there is a sport called "Amtrak Mooning."

No lie!! It is absolutely true. It even has its own web site. (Note family safe link - there are lots of non family safe links if you want to Google or Bing "Amtrack mooning.") They have been doing it for 30 years. It is done once a year in Laguna Niguel, California. You show up and when an Amtrak train comes by you moon it. The local tracks have 38 passenger trains a day starting at 7:35 in the morning and ending at 11:22 pm. So there is lots of opportunities. Thousands of people show up. They moon trains, they drink, moon some more.

You better hurry though. This year's is tomorrow. So better get your tickets and head to the airport. Also, the town is hard to get to. The authorities suggest that you "Take the train." Wow, moon and get mooned. Same day. A nice rhythmn, "moon in, moon, moon out." Kind of like "Don't worry, be happy."

Be aware though, the local powers to be are threatening to be out in force and try to stop this event. It is a threat to public safety they say! I think Obama is behind the ban. Another attack on our way of life! Our traditional values and sacred rights! Are we Americans going to put up with this?

Note: Photo courtesy of Amtrak.

Skywatch Friday - Oklahoma Edition

The storms have been rolling through northeast Oklahoma yesterday and today. Scary skies followed by cool, clean, dry air. The bonus is no tornadoes out of these storms, yet.

Below is yesterday afternoon, from my office window about an hour before I left work to go for a run on the Arkansas River. Pretty scary uh? If you click on the picture you can spot the sun's disk.

This is a little more than an hour later about 20 minutes into my run. All nice and sunny. ( I love crepe myrtles.)

Below is about a half hour later. Perfect weather for running.

This is on the drive home. I pulled off into a parking lot.

This morning, it started all over again. Storms and then rapid clearing. I had to run out of the building at 10:30 this morning to get this picture. The storm is moving roughly right to left. Dark skies, heavy rain, followed by nice cool air following.

It is supposed to be way over 100 degrees on Saturday. Coming to Oklahoma for a visit?

For great views of our skies from everywhere check out Skywatch Friday.