Weekend Reflections - Oklahoma City Memorial

I attended a conference in Oklahoma City today. I skipped the luncheon to walk over to the Memorial. It had been at least 10 years since I'v been. The bombing happened just over 15 years ago.

Check out other reflections at Weekend Reflections meme on Newton Area Photo.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Sweetie got me a Kindle for my birthday. Amazon has loads and loads of free books you can download to it so I thought I give Pride and Prejudice a try. So I read it and I liked it. There isn't any sex nor violence in it, no cuss words either. What it does have is sparkling dialogue. The characters talk and talk and talk in whole paragraphs. And the dialogue is dense with lots and lots of information. This is a book that could be read a dozen times and still not discover everything the book has to offer.

Young Elizabeth Bennett, the main character of the book, is quite the woman. She can flirt with the best but when she gets her dander up she lets loose. She blasted Lady Catherine de Bourg when the old hag showed up and demanded that Liza not marry Mr. Darcy. The little teenager sent the royal dowager packing.

Now as far as the great romance between Liza and Mr. Darcy, I don't get it. Mr. Darcy is one of the most pathetic guys I have ever read about. He shows up day after day all distant and removed. And what is funny to me is that Liza doesn't see much in him until she goes to his house and falls in love with it. Then she thinks she might be able to tolerate him a little bit.

Oh, well. I'm a guy, I'm not supposed to get the romance. The book is good though. I give it three stars out of four. I'l be reading more Jane Austen.

Oklahoma Skywatch

We have had big ole beautiful white clouds in Oklahoma this week and then Wednesday the sky started falling in Tulsa.

Sunday I played golf. I don't play very well but I took my camera



Later Sunday we had a little drama in the sky



On Monday we had more big fat clouds



Today the sky started falling in Tulsa.

(Photo from TulsaWorld.com)

Sorry, I had meetings and couldn't get there in time before they removed the car and put up some plywood.





Fortunately nobody was hurt but several cars were damaged. Only one was still there when I got there.







This is not the year to own a Toyota is all I have to say.

Check out Skywatch Friday for photographs of our sky from all over the world.

Boys Night Out - April Edition

Lets see, last Tuesday in April, that means that Sweetie is heading off to her monthly Book Coven Club and SuperPizzaBoy and I have our monthly Boys Night Out.

It's a school night so we can't stay out too long. SPB had a pizza party with some of his buds so we aren't going to eat anywhere. "What do you want to do SPB?" "Lets go plant a cache Dad." The little dude doesn't have to tell me twice. We keep the makings on hand.

Here is before:



After:



Isn't camo duct tape wonderful. Mother's Day is coming soon!! In case you are looking for an idea. Camo duct tape is an example of a bad idea.

So we loaded up and headed off for downtown to a spot I've scoped out before. It was going to be the site of our new library until my fellow citizens voted down the bond issue. So SPB and I are using it for its highest and best use: Geocaching.

SPB is in charge of cache security, video game playing, and camera mugging.



Here is the final hide. Do you see the cache container?



No? Good!

Celebrate a successful placement with ice cream for me and a milkshake for SPB.





More camera mugging





(A rare Yogi smile with teeth. SPB wouldn't give me the camera back until he saw teeth.)

And then we finish up at the bookstore. Another BNO tradition, I buy any book he wants (no videogame cheat books!!)  Little guy loves to read.



It's dark, it's late, its a school night, and it's time to go home.



I filled out the cache application. Maybe it'll be approved today!! SPB and I have now hid 28 geocaches.

Looking forward to May's edition of Boys Night Out.

RHOK Tuesday - Newlyweds

The ladies of the Real Housewives of Oklahoma are having their McLinky Monday again. I'm participating on Tuesday so I'm calling it RHOK Tuesday. I hope they don't get upset. You don't want to make them mad. They may swarm.

The theme of their meme this week is to share funny newlywed stories.

I'm also going to this opportunity to post a wedding picture of my wife Sweetie.



You can see why I call her Sweetie. She has only got better looking over the years.

On the other hand, look what she got in the bargain:



I wonder where those frames went? You can get new lens you for them you know. Oh well, just one of the many things of mine that disappeared the first couple years of our marriage. Along with my Coleman camp socks and camo pants. She still pleads innocent, in a smirking kind of way.

The story she always brings up happened before we got married, the evening before as a matter of fact. We were at the rehearsal: Sweetie, me, her parents, my parents, and some friends and relatives from out of town. So, we got done with that and we headed off to the rehearsal dinner. Yeah, we did, my folks and I. I left Sweetie in the parking lot. Oops.

She brings it up every now and then in a good natured way. I still feel bad about it. At least she doesn't mention the worse things I did. I'm not either. I wouldn't know where to start, nor when to end.

Oh she put with a lot. My job for one thing. The energy business is either boom or bust. Well it kind of bust right after we were married. My employer closed the Oklahoma City office down and moved it to Weatherford, OK about an hour west of town. We lived about a half hour north of Oklahoma City. So we got married in September and we moved in November. Three years later we moved again, this time to Tulsa.

She was very patient. I had to start from scratch on the whole married thing where two people are trying to start a new life together. All the standard stuff furnishing the house, coordinating schedules, the whole yin and yang of married life.

And then there was the way I dressed. I was like into engineer beige if you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean then come see me sometime at work. I'll take over where the engineers are. So she dragged me kicking and screaming into the land of not beige.

And then the food thing. I was happy. I had a box of payday candy bars in the pantry, a case of beer in the refrigerator and Dominos on my speed dial. She actually cooked! Wow.

She has always been there for me. She would need a week or more to write about all the antics I've pulled over the years.

Ruby Tuesday - Red Barn

I played a round of golf Sunday with some friends from work. I'd never played the course before. We kept driving by the barn pictured above. It's in play on one of the holes. If you are a good golfer,you hit your ball over it. If you play like me, you go around it.

Check out Ruby Tuesday for other pictures of red from all over.

Jenks Herb Festival, Genesis 1:29-30, and the RHOKers are looking for Guest Bloggers.

The family loaded up #1 MIL Nana and went across the river to the Jenks Herb Festival.



SuperPizzaBoy and I are not too much into gardening. He decided to chill for a little while.



So I joined him to see what things looked like from the curb. I love those clouds.



They sell stuff besides plants.



Some of the stuff was actually pretty cool. I loved these baskets.



I don't need one but they are fun to look at.

I loved these cacti



Hey look at this, and wouldn't you know, right by a wine tasting booth.



Miss McGillicutty where are you? No matter where I go, the RHOK girls have been there. Go check them out; they are a hoot! They are looking for guest bloggers, if you are brave enough, give them a shout.

And then it was time to go home. Sweetie and Nana loaded up on lots of stuff. SPB and I satisfied ourselves with Boy Scout root beer.

"Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so." (NIV)

Go check out That's Baloney for other links to photos and scripture or contribute your own.

666th Post

This is my 666th post. Thank you dear readers who have stuck it through. I dedicate this blog and this post to you!

(Thanks Irritated Tulsan, this is the only award that I have ever won, in my entire life.)

Wikipedia number of the beast

Special thanks to the blogging ministry of That's Baloney for bringing to life 666BOI. She is to blame owed many thanks.

Sarah Borges

Who I've been listening to



Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles

Who are you listening to? Yes, grandkids count.

Flipping Out

SuperPizzaBoy inherited his Dad's coordination genes, which means that he doesn't have any. He also has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism, which makes it worse. He really can't keep track of his body in space. To help, Sweetie got him hooked up with Mr. J for tumbling lessons. SPB has been seeing Mr. J for about a year. I haven't attended a lesson in quite some time but Wednesday night I got to see them work together. I was amazed. SPB has gotten lots stronger and better.

Mr. J is a saint. Working with kids on the autism spectrum requires lots of patience. I mean lots of patience. No, I mean lots and lots of patience. Something that I often lack. I don't know how Mr. J does it. But whatever he does, works.

Sweetie is great at finding talented guys like Mr. J to help with our son. Way to go Sweetie, you also Mr. J, and you SuperPizzaBoy!

Skywatch - After Work Running

I run after work on Wednesdays a few weeks ago I took my camera with me.



Boston Avenue Methodist Church near downtown Tulsa. (Sorry for the splotch on the right.)



Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza on Route 66. You can tell there was a stiff breeze that day.



In case you are wondering why Tulsa is the Oil Capital of the World (or at least used to be.)

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

Wordless Wednesday - Oil Capital

Wordless Wednesday

(Excuse the reflection)

The Birds and the Bees

I was invited to SuperPizzaBoy's school last week to sit with my son while they received "the talk" from somebody from the county health department.

Who would miss such a thing? Well about half my son's fellow classmate's father's, is who. I don't get it? I hope you don't either! Sometimes you just have to show up, no matter how busy or important you are. The school let us know a long time in advance. I bet you either Bush or Obama would have saved the time, if they had sons. (OK, how come Obama, Bush, nor Clinton had sons? Plot, plot, plot, I am on to something here!?)

Anyway kind readers, those with delicate sensibilities leave right now, because I'm about to get real. I mean real real.

I mean it!!

I really do!!!

OK

I kept notes. You know, I thought I might learn something and I did. It is the fault of pituitary gland. Yep, the pituitary gland. I am ashamed to say, that I didn't know that!

Here is the pituitary gland,

Yep, that's it. It weighs 1/2 of one gram. Or about 1/900th of a pound. Man, does it cause a lot of problems! Its hormones trigger all the various changes in the body that turn boys into men and girls into women.  It is right behind the bridge of your nose on the underside of your brain.

I kept notes on the rest of the talk. This is what was discussed. It was only an hour and that included a 17 minute video. The speaker was entertaining, informative, and blunt.

The Dad's that showed up, we all had big ole grins on our faces. The kids, will the boys were a little embarrassed by the whole thing. The girls, with their mom's were in another room, hearing their side of the story.

The speaker jumped in and we covered everything from testicles to wet dreams from hyperactive oil and sweat glands to American Idol, Zits to boners, broader shoulders to vocal cords, scrotums to morning wood, ovaries and eggs to federal income taxes, seminial vesicles to thinking about what kind of man you want to be, and prostates to deodorant.

Wow, I was worn out. The kids where shell shocked.

I give the talk a four on a scale of one to four.

Of course, this kind of thing is going to have to be revisited quite a bit. By the Dad's. Not all jobs can be outsourced!

"This puberty is going to be a little harder than what I thought" is what one kid said.

Yea, no kidding. You have no idea. Its kind of like when prospective Dad's at work who about to have their first kid say, "its not that big a deal." Yeah, right dude, Your life is not going to change much. A couple weeks, you will be back to the same routine. No big deal." "Hah, you fool," you want to yell.

I feel sorry for the Dads who were too busy or important to come, and for their sons.

Where Were You on April 19, 1995?

I was at work in the Oxy Building in downtown Tulsa when I heard the news about the bombing. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and watched the video. I remember it was all very confusing and nobody knew what happened or why. People didn't know if it was natural gas explosion or just what. There was a lot of speculation that it was middle eastern terrorists striking in the heartland.

We had a couple of customers come in from Oklahoma City for a meeting. They worked several miles north of downtown Oklahoma City. They said that they could feel the boom in their office but they didn't know what it was.

What a shock when we learned that it was fellow citizens that murdered so many people. The chief of coward's advice to survivors of the murdered victims before he was executed years later was "get over it."

A few days later I talked to another customer who worked just a few blocks from the Murrah Building. He talked how it blew out the windows of the downtown YMCA and injured children who were in the day care. He helped get the children out of the Y.

Sweetie and I went down a few weeks later to the site. What got me was the damage to the surrounding buildings.

It drove home to me the mayhem, violence, and chaos that can result from the power of morons.

I feel the same dread now, that I felt then. The political atmosphere is very similar. I know several people who think very strongly that the country is not on the right track and not a one of them I know would harm anybody and I will defend forever their right to express their opinions. But with freedom comes responsibility and when I see facebook comments such as, "where is Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him" I get very concerned. There is always a fringe group of morons out there who will act on things and they can cause great destruction.

So my prayer is not that people will suddenly make themselves happy with the present political situation. I pray that they will express themselves responsibly and keep faith in our democratic values and institutions and remember the weak minded out there such as the Murrah building murderers who had trouble distinguishing right from wrong. Words do have power.

It has been a long time since I've been to the Bombing Memorial. It was done exactly right.

I'm participating in a meme this week sponsored by the "Real Housewives of Oklahoma." The theme of the meme this week is "Where Were You on April 19, 1995." Go check out the Housewives. They are definitely real.

Fox News - Lying Then, or Lying Now, or Lying Then and Now

From erv

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News attacking Senator Coburn for dis'ing Fox News.

Of course O'Reilly attempted some spin control right away, notice the very carefully worded denial and the carefully edited sound bites.

As Huffington Post describes it:

"Ohhh, I get it! Very clever, Bill. I guess you win. Except for just a few things:

1) In the original exchange on Tuesday night with Senator Coburn (the full, unedited version of which you can watch here), O'Reilly didn't say "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance... during the time that the final Obamacare bill was being debated. Nobody's ever said it... during the time that the final Obamacare bill was being debated." No, what O'Reilly said was: "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it."

2) While most of the clips in our highlight reel were indeed from the fall of 2009, two of them -- Rush Limbaugh speaking on "Fox & Friends", and Bill Hemmer on "America's Newsroom" -- were from February and March of 2010, the time referred to by O'Reilly as "the final bill debate." So even if we ignore point 1, O'Reilly's still wrong.

3) Of course, the original claim put forward by Fox News all those times back in the fall of 2009 was itself a lie. Factcheck.org debunked it back in November."

Give it up guys,

Patty Griffin

This is what I've been listening to this week



What about you? What are listening to?

Look Who is Blogging Now

The world's greatest sister, Ellen, who lives in Colorado with the world's greatest brother-in-law Irv has started her own blog Ellen's Blog. Please go check it out. Her latest post is about her trip to Hawaii. As a bonus, BIL Irv shows off a geocache that he found. Hawaii and geocaches, it doesn't get better than that unless they can throw in some Fat Tire Beer.

If we are nice to her she met share a few photos with us from her trip to Australia.

Ellen is a fellow Forest Service kid, except she is a lot smarter and better looking than I am. Now if I can just get brother Bob in Fresno blogging our lives will be a total open book.

Weekly Skywatch

From the Back Yard



From the Office



Check out Skywatch Friday for photographs of our sky from all over the world.

Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

I had really been looking forward to reading this book and I finally got my library copy. I kept it way past the due date so they are probably going to rip up my library card. But this is supposed to be "the" book about our last presidential election.

Wow, has there ever been an election like the last one. It was fun. First we had Queen Hillary prancing along with King Bill like it was going to be a coronation and then along comes this guy Obama who kicks her butt. I mean bad, from one end of this nation to the other. Along the way John "Hair" Edwards gets shown for what he really is, a creep. Obama swept to the Democratic nomination all cool, calm, and collected. Hillary fought tooth and nail to the very end. At the Democratic convention Hillary gives a great speech. Good enough to get Secretary of State! But hey O, what's up with Joe Biden? Joe Biden O, is that the best you got?

And then on the Republican side. You had McCain, war hero, POW, and hard working Senator, and the seven mutts. Mitt Romney completely changing his positions to align with the electorate, same with Rudy. McCain starts strong and then runs out of money, goes rogue and low budget and comes storming back. McCain changed all his positions in order to bow, scrape, and kowtow to the religious right. It didn't do any good, they weren't buying it. But they aren't going to vote for Obama, no matter what. But hey this is politics. It's not about principles anymore, maybe never was. It's about focus groups, positioning, wedge issues, marketing, and money. Big on the money.

Anyway, McCain is getting his butt kicked good by Obama. Obama is harvesting the money off the internet like nobody's business and McCain is not doing very well. The old fighter pilot knows that he runs the same old campaign with a predictable running mate he is going to get shot down. So he picks Sarah Palin, who? We had never heard of her but have you ever heard a better convention speech than what she gave? It was awesome! She kicked some butt. McCain got a kick in the polls and the race was on.

The press started checking on Palin. They check thoroughly. What do they find? Well maybe she was not exactly opposed to the "bridge to nowhere," maybe she didn't exactly sell the State airplane on ebay. It turns out that a lot of what she claimed just plain was not true. And then what about her experience, mayor of a small town. Ethic investigations in the Statehouse ("Troopergate"). The McCain campaign kept playing catch up with her on various issues.

I'm actually sympathetic to Palin. The book claims that the McCain campaign only spent a couple days checking her out. They are not looking for somebody who is spotless, nobody is. They just want to find all the warts, freckles, and wrinkles so they can develop a strategy for dealing with them. I don't think she understood just how closely the microscope is that she would be under. So, the McCain campaign kind of threw her under the bus and she had to fend for herself. I also don't think she understood how grueling a campaign is with every minute scheduled and an army of press ready to jump on you if you make a mistake.

She also just plain wasn't ready. She still gets mad at Katie Couric for asking such "unfair" questions like "What newspapers do you read?" She is a great communicator. I don't think we have heard the last of her. Whether it is more gaffes like the whole "death panel" thing or if she uses her charisma in a positive manner is an open question at this point.

Palin was a bold gamble for McCain and it could have paid off. The country was ready for a change and they got one. We'll see how that works out.

Anyway, the book explains all the ins and outs of the campaign. It is very sympathetic to Obama. Cool, bright, and capable, yet unexperienced. McCain the principled, fly by the seat of the pants fighter pilot who wouldn't go down without a fight.

This is a great book. If you found the last election fascinating, I recommend it. Four stars out of four from me.