Snow Misses OKC, My Own Earth Hour and No Memphis

I had contemplated doing a number of things exciting last weekend however ended up doing none of them. My big Friday night plan was to head up north about 80 miles to Red Rock, OK to see a rock concert but then heard that we were going to get hit with a bad snow storm and shouldn't risk it.



Apparently April Fools Day came a few days early as the massive snow storm that was guaranteed to hit OKC didn't quite make it. Check out my picture of the incredible Spring snowstorm of 2009 (sarcasm). We were supposed to get hit hard with 4" to 8" of snow Friday night/Saturday morning. The news even had a 100% chance of snowshowers during the 7am Saturday morning hour. I woke up on Saturday morning and the only snow that was on the carport was the thin blanket that had fallen early Friday evening. Perhaps they should say 99% next time as I think of 100% as being a guarantee.



The snow did hit northern Oklahoma. An area about 100 miles northwest of OKC had 25" of snow over a few hours and other communities also got a far amount. It ended up being the 2nd biggest snow storm in Oklahoma state history but missed OKC. I never did hear how much snow Red Rock received. Hopefully it was a bunch so that I don't have to feel as bad about not going to my concert.

Saturday the weather warmed up quickly. I was supposed to meet up with a training group on Saturday morning for a 7 am 12 mile run, however I looked at the hour by hour weather forecast on line and realized that the temperature was going to be 30 degrees at 7 am and up to 60 degrees by noon so I decided to stay in bed longer and went running by myself once it warmed up another 30 degrees.

Saturday night was Earth Hour which isn't something that OKC recognized. I decided to do my part and turned off my TV, computer and all lights from 8:30-9:30. I thought about using that time to go out and get dinner but figured that would be cheating so I stayed around my apartment complex (went for a walk, hung out on my balcony and did some minor reading by candlelight). One of the things I did was mess with my camera. I took this picture of my apartment in the dark and somehow the candles made the exposure look like the place was on fire. Kind of interesting so I included it on the blog.





Almost went to Memphis on Friday morning for a weekend of basketball. One of my co workers was trying to put together a road trip to go watch the NCAA basketball tournament. Friday night Oklahoma played Syracuse followed by Gonzaga playing North Carolina. The winners of those two games played each other Sunday afternoon for the right to go to the Final Four. We thought this would be fun especially since the Zags of Spokane and OU were involved. Tickets were being sold for a reasonable price and my friend had a good source for an inexpensive hotel. I ultimately decided that I wasn't interested enough to drive 475 miles each way and to spend that kind of money. I also was hoping to stick around and enjoy the snow that never happened and was also committed to participating in an on line fantasy baseball draft with my Seattle friends so I didn't make the trip. I don't think I missed much as Oklahoma and North Carolina easily won their Friday games and then the UNC crushed the Sooners on Sunday. Would have been a long way to go to watch 3 blowouts.

I also had thought about going to the Ford Center on Sunday night to watch 2 NCAA basketball games from the women's tournament but decided to stay home and watch them instead. I talked about a big weekend but in the end didn't do much of anything but that was okay.

Yesterday saw more strange weather. Temperature was 77 degrees in the afternoon and not a cloud in the sky. Early evening I looked out my window and saw a large mushroom cloud that started heading in my direction. Within an hour the cloud was a huge dark blanket and for about 15 minutes it rained pretty good. I included a couple of pictures of this as well and you can see the blue skies in the background. Never a dull moment this time of the year regarding the weather.

PLU Students Pass Through OKC and Here Comes Spring Snow

(picture of Sonics Promo Crew alum: Blake, Trevor, Jacob, me and Isaac)

Bring on the snow!! The temperature has been in the 60s here lately but a cold front is coming in and they are saying we should expect 4"-8" inches of snow between this afternoon through tomorrow morning. 8" would break the OKC record for most snowfall in the entire month of March. I haven't seen a true snowfall since moving here (light snow fall a couple of times that barely blanketed the ground) so I am somewhat excited.

Got a nice surprise yesterday as my phone rang right as I was about to head out the door for a run. Four of the guys that worked for me on the Sonics Promotions Crew were about to be driving through OKC on their way back to Seattle from Dallas. They were in Norman and heading north so I quickly changed out of my running clothes and drove downtown to meet up with them. They stopped off near the Bricktown Ballpark and we talked for about 10-15 minutes before they were back in the car and on their way for 2000 plus miles of driving. All 4 play football for Pacific Lutheran University so I was sure to wear my PLU football hat and get a picture with them. Another teammate of theirs, Nick was also on the trip so I included a picture of the traveling 5 as well.


I was always fortunate to have great crew members in Seattle over the years and keeping in touch with as many of them as possible means a lot. It was great to see the guys and it really made my day.



Quiet week on the basketball front. We did have a home game against the Lakers on Tuesday which is always exciting as many fans show up early to watch Kobe Bryant. The Lakers looked like potential NBA champs as they jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back. Also had our final season ticket holder party on Wednesday night at the Oklahoma History Center. Always fun to see the fans interacting with the players and watching Robert Swift go head to head with one of them in a game of Guitar Hero. Not sure who won.

I had to include a couple more pictures that I thought were fun. I took these last weekend when Stacie and Jesse were visiting. I guess this is called "kite surfing"? Lake Hefner tends to be very windy, especially on the east side of the lake so it is a popular place on the weekend for people looking to combine wind and water. Some of these surfers were getting about 30 feet of air. Looks exciting but it also looks like a lot of work. We watched one couple putting their equipment away and they were having a heck of a time with all of their cables.

Stacie and Jesse Visit OKC

Had a great 3 day visit over the weekend as my sister Stacie and her husband Jesse flew in for a visit from Seattle. Now my entire immediate family has visited me in OKC.

They flew in on Thursday night just as I was getting off of work as we had a Thunder season ticket holder party over at the Oklahoma History Center. Picked them up shortly after 10pm and headed to Bricktown for some dinner. Our intention was to have dinner at a Mexican Restaurant that I was told served food until 11pm however we found out that was not the case. Asked an employee of the place what other restaurants in Bricktown were still serving food and she knew of only one.........Hooters. The "owl" themed restaurant ended up being their first OKC meal. Sorry that I have no pictures of the glorious event. Stacie had been sick the entire week leading up to the trip and I was told no photos that first night because supposedly all of my photos end up on my blogs :-) We also drove over to the Memorial site as it is important for everyone to see it at night.

Friday morning Jesse and I headed over to Lake Hefner for a 4 mile jog before starting out on the rest of our day. The Thunder had a home game so the three of us had lunch at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar before work. Both of them are huge fans of TK so this was a must for the trip. I then dropped them off at the Memorial and headed to the arena (less than a mile away). They went through the Memorial Museum and then walked around Bricktown before heading over to the Ford Center for a night of basketball (Thunder lost to the Jazz). After the game we headed over to Mickey Mantle's to hang out. Half of the bar was full of Thunder employees so it was fun to introduce the family and the co-workers.

Saturday we all slept in to get ready for a big day and night. I gave them a Visitor's Guide and Stacie wanted to check out Western Avenue and the Paseo Arts District. The Western Avenue trip lasted about 2 minutes as we found that the street billed in the guide as having "an abundance of charm and herritage" just didn't interest us. Paseo was better as the Spanish style village did have some nice shops and galleries. The best part of this trip was that we asked someone at one spot where we should go eat lunch and they recommended the Iron Starr Urban BBQ (http://www.ironstarr.com/) where I had one of the best sandwiches ever. Had the BBQ Club with thick slices of turkey breasts and BBQ aioli on grilled texas toast. I also had corn pudding for the first time which is to die for. AWESOME FOOD!! We then drove around OKC and quickly checked out the location of some other landmarks (State Capitol, History Center, Zoo, Remington Park and Casino, Softball Hall of Fame). Didn't have time to go into any of these places, perhaps some other time.

Stacie was still fighting the tail end of her illness so she wanted to go home for a quick nap before our big night out. Jesse and I decided to head down to a bar right down the street while she slept and played a little shuffleboard. Was kind of disappointed that the bar didn't have the Washington-Purdue basketball game on the TV as they were playing their tournament game at the same time that Oklahoma was playing Michigan. The bar didn't have a satellite so we had to watch the score updates in the corner of the screen. CBS did however switch over and show the last 30 seconds of the game so I did get to see the Huskies season come to an end. GREAT SEASON DAWGS!!

Headed to Bricktown on Saturday night to have a quick drink at the Biting Sow, a bar that is known for having good live Blues music. Jesse is a fan of the country band Big & Rich and wanted to say that he had a drink in the same bar that I spotted John Rich in a few months back so we were able to cross that one off of the list. We then headed over to the Stockyards for a great dinner at Cattlemen's. Jesse is a steak afficionado and said the meal was comparable to Daniel's only at about 1/3 of the price. We then headed over to Club Rodeo to drink while watching dancing and bull riding.

Sunday I got up early for a 6:30 am 20 mile run with the marathon training group. I had my share of drinks on Saturday night and only got 3 hours of sleep but surprisingly I felt good during the run. I did sleep well last night though :-) Stacie and Jesse had just woke up shortly before I returned so I cleaned up and we went over to try another restaurant. They mentioned pizza so I got on the internet and some guy listed his Top 10 pizza places in OKC. #1 was a place I had tried (and wasn't overly impressed with), #2 was a little on the fancy side, #3 was Sophabella's Chicago Grill and is only about 7 miles from where I lived so we headed over there. We arrived at 1pm and Stacie noticed that most of the patrons were eating breakfast items which had all of us debating whether or not we still wanted pizza. Jesse and I decided to have breakfast instead (our decision was helped when we found out that the breakfast items came with homemade cinnamon rolls) and Stacie had a personal veggie pizza. I don't do veggie so I was only able to try the crust. Might have to go back again later and try the pizza and I found out that they do all you can eat pasta there on Monday nights. I will be back. We then went over to Penn Square Mall and walked around for a bit before heading home to relax and watch a movie until it was time to take the visiting couple to the airport.

We had a great time hanging out and the 3 days went by way too quickly. Glad they were able to come experience OKC.

Arizona Trip: Baseball, Ostrich Race Tragedy and Thunder Game in Phoenix

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Yesterday was March 16th which marked my 22 year anniversary with the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder. March 16, 1987 the Sonics defeated the San Antonio Spurs 122-111 and on March 16, 2009 the Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 78-76.

Got back late Sunday night from a quick 3 day trip out to Arizona to spend some time with my parents. Great trip that won't soon be forgotten for a number of reasons.

Friday we went to a Spring Training baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers. Usually I go watch the Mariners play every March however we decided to go check out the Dodgers brand new training facility in Glendale. Very nice place that has a southwestern motiff (will try to never use that word again) with a rust colored stadium. The biggest shocker was that half of the seats were empty. The Dodgers have always conducted their Spring Training in Floriday before this season so I thought the folks in SoCal would flock to Arizona but apparently that isn't the case. Perhaps another sign of a struggling economy?

Saturday had us witness an event that initially appeared to be very tragic. The city of Chandler is near the home that my parents own so we decided to head over and check out their Ostrich Festival. I thought this was going to be a tiny little town carnival however it was fairly large. Lots of carnival rides, food stands, arts and craft tables, entertainment shows and live bands (Foghat, Starship and The Grass Roots were all scheduled to play over the 3 days). One of the main features are the Ostrich Races that take place a few times over the course of the festival so we decided to catch the 2 pm races along with probably 2,000 other people. The very first event was a race between 3 ostriches each with a rider (a man, a woman and a 9 year old kid). The ostriches took off and as they came around the corner the ostrich with the kid came right toward the fence I was near and dumped the youngster. My initial reaction was that the kid could have been hurt and I was grateful he wasn't, unfortunately there was another accident off to my left that I didn't see and the woman rider wasn't so lucky. Her ostrich ran into the metal fence about 20 yards from where we were and she was knocked unconscious. A few seconds later her leg started shaking uncontrollably and the man on the PA system started asking someone to immediately call an ambulance and was asking the crowd if there were EMTs or doctors in attendence. Here is a link to the video that shows the accident but doesn't show the aftermath: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ostrich-race-accident/4058248597/?icid=VIDLRVNWS03

Apparently she was thrown into the ground and the ostrich landed right on top of her. It was a very scary moment as various people ran to help and we waited for 10-15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to take her away. They mentioned that she was alert and moving her toes and the show continued on (have since read on the internet that she was later released from the hospital and is doing well). It was a little strange watching the remainder of the show that lasted about 30 minutes but the positive announcement put our minds at ease and we were able to enjoy ostriches and camels race around.

Later that night my Dad and I attended a basketball game in downtown Phoenix between the hometown Suns and my OKC Thunder. The Thunder had an early 10 point lead but the Suns came back and pulled away in the 4th Quarter for a106-95 victory. I still had a great time and posed for some pictures with the Suns player cut outs on my way out the door.

Sunday I went for a 12 mile run late morning in the Arizona heat that kicked my butt. I wasn't ready for that kind of heat and probably should have done out a couple hours earlier. Oh well, I survived. Hung out with my parents and we had a good dinner in Tempe before heading for the airport.

At the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport I ran into my Thunder co-worker Christina as we were on the same flight (picture of Christina and I at the airport is included). She flew out to Phoenix to escort 2 sisters that won a trip to watch the Thunder-Suns game that had been given away at one of our viewer watch parties. Ended up sitting by all 3 of them on the plane and it sounded like they all had a good time.

Big 12 Tournament Comes to OKC

I am looking out my window and snow is falling. Hard to believe it hit 80 degrees a few days ago and yet it is 31 degrees right now. Strange weather.

Yesterday I attended the first two games of the Men's Big 12 Championship Tournament at the Ford Center. All 12 colleges that make up the conference qualify for the season ending basketball tournament and this year Oklahoma City is the host for both the men's and women's Championships. The women's tournament is starting today and is taking place right across the street at the Cox Convention Center.

The top 4 seeded teams in the Men's tournament received byes for the 1st Round so I didn't get to see any of the big guns like Kansas, Oklahoma or Missouri. I did however get to see #8 Nebraska vs #9 Baylor followed by #5 Texas vs #12 Colorado. I thought the Nebraska-Baylor game would be good since they finished close to each other in the standings however Baylor pulled away early in the 2nd half and won 65-49. Neither team is very exciting or good for that matter so it was a boring game. The game was played at 11:30 in the morning and I would estimate the crowd was about 2,500 people. Starting today they will probably start seeing near capacity crowds, especially for the game tonight between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Texas beat Colorado 67-56 in the 2nd game and the outcome was never really in doubt there either. 2 mediocore games but I still enjoyed checking it out. I won't be able to go to any of the remaining tournament games. GO SOONERS!!

I headed over to the Cox Convention Center after the two games to check out the Fanfest that was set up. Kind of fun to see people walking around and supporting their schools with various clothing and signs. I even got a chance to run into some of the mascots for the schools and sponsors and of course I included pictures. The lowlight was watching a 2 on 2 basketball game. One team had Boomer, the Oklahoma Sooners mascot and a Chick Fil A Cow playing against Chip, the Colorado Buffaloes mascot and another Chick Fil A Cow. Very sloppy 8 minute game won by Chip's team 6-4 on a late basket.

20 Mile Early Morning Group Run, J Styles and Thunderstorm

When I got home from work on Sunday night I was tired and ready for bed. Springing forward for Daylight Savings Time did not happen on an ideal day.

I was planning on staying home Saturday evening to rest up for Sunday however I found out that the newspaper was incorrect and that the Washington vs Washington State basketball game was not on local TV as reported. A Huskies victory would mean the first outright Pac-10 Championship since 1953 and I wanted to see it. The Thunder were having a watch party at Buffalo Wild Wings near by so I texted my co-worker Todd to see if the Apple Cup game was on TV there and he confirmed it (UW-WSU started at 5pm and the Thunder game was at 7pm so a handful of my co-workers were at BWW getting things set up). I then headed over to BWW and caught the 2nd half of the game while enjoying a tasty Parmasian Flatbread meal.

3.5 hours of sleep Saturday night, that's all I had. I went to bed too late on Saturday night and woke up early so that I could head downtown for a 7am marathon training run with the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. The temperature for the run was in the mid to high 40s and I would guess that around 300 people showed up for a 20 mile run throughout the city (many of the group ran approx 10 miles as they were training for the half marathon). I've never run in a training group before and have to say that I loved it and wish I had done it in the past. Water stations were set up every 3 miles, complete with Powerade, pretzels and Gu as we ran the majority of the marathon course and there was a nice layout of snacks at the end of the run. I'm not someone that talks much when I run and had minimal conversations during the 20 miles but it was just helpful to run in a pack from a psychological standpoint. Also was a great way to see parts of OKC that I had not seen before or in some cases had driven by without paying much attention. Everyone runs their own pace and the group I ran in changed from one water station to the next. Much better than training by myself.

Normally you want to let your body rest after a 20 mile run however the Thunder had a home game on Sunday so I headed home to eat and shower before heading down to the Ford Center. We played the Philadelphia 76ers and easily won the game. The highlight of the night was seeing "J Styles" and his Dad Rick. J Styles is 7 year old Jalen Testerman, an amazing kid from Seattle who is a talented break dancer (type in his name on YouTube and watch his appearance on Ellen last year). J Styles performed regularly at Sonics games over the last couple of seasons and the Thunder flew him out to have him dance for the OKC crowd. I didn't know they were going to be at the game and of course they show up on the night that I leave my camera at home. Jalen performed twice and I missed both of them although I did catch him running off of the court after the first performance and got to hear the crowd applaud his efforts. Good to talk with him and his Dad though before and after the game. Always like to catch up with Seattle familiar faces.

Awesome thundershower here last night. Lots of rain, thunder and lightening which I enjoyed watching from my living room. It was 80 degrees here yesterday but that doesn't keep the elements away. Tis the season and I'm sure there will be other days and nights like this to follow in the not so distant future.

Vandalism, OSU Basketball and Military Appreciation Night

Vandalism, warm weather and a basketball trip. Interesting week in the OKC. The weather has been warm lately. Mid 80s yesterday and expected high of 83 today.

Last night the Thunder hosted a party at Red Pin, a trendy bowling alley and bar downtown (wrote about it one other time when we celebrated my friend Jasmine's birthday party there). It was an opportunity for our players and coaches to mingle with suite and courtside season ticket holders. It was the nicest evening of the year from a weather standpoint so we used the plaza out in front for an autograph table and everyone had a great time. My primary job was to help direct the players into a secured parking area. Turns out some of our players have really nice vehicles.

Wednesday night the Thunder played the Washington Wizards and it was Military Appreciation Night at the Ford Center. I think I heard we provided tickets to something like 1500 military folks and those that brought military ID were able to get a nice looking coin to commemorate the evening. The Promo Crew handed out mini american flags at the door and we all wore camouflage Thunder t-shirts (pictures from that night are included on the post although you might have a hard time spotting me and my co workers since we are wearing camouflage). Personally I think they should have all military wear nothing but khaki in the midwest as that would be the true camouflage around here right now. Not a lot of green vegetation in the winter.

Tuesday was a day to remember. I parked my car in a small parking lot at Lake Hefner and went for a 45 minute run. When I returned I found that someone had tried to break into my car by breaking out my front passenger window. I didn't have much in the car and nothing was stolen. Turns out I have thick windows and they didn't completely knock it out. Wish I would have taken a picture but I didn't have time. I immediately grabbed the only thing in the car that has any value, my cell phone and called my insurance company. They were able to get a 3 way call going with an auto glass place that said they could fix it that afternoon if I got the car into the shop within 30 minues. They were across town so I quickly drove home to grab my wallet (which I don't take jogging for this very reason), changed clothes and went to get it fixed. The whole thing was inconvenient but not the end of the world.

Before I went running, I was planning on heading home right after the jog to shower before heading north 65 miles to go watch Oklahoma State University play their final home basketball game of the year against Kansas State. I didn't have a ticket in advance so I figured to cancel my trip after my car was broken into as the game started at 6:30. While my car was getting fixed one of my co-workers who is a student at OSU sent me a text message saying she had an extra ticket for the game if I wanted to go. I thought about it for a second and decided I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to see my first OSU Cowboys game because some idiot busted my window so I called her up and told her I would love to go but would have to show up late.

Got to the OSU game with about 2 minutes to go in the 1st half and am very glad I went. It was a great game as OSU won 77-71 and it is always fun to see the final home game of the season in a college arena. OSU has a couple of popular seniors and it was nice to watch the fans cheer for them as they exited the game for the very last time. OSU's arena is very intimate and I had an incredible seat (thanks Katie). We sat near center court, 3 rows up in the 2nd level. The lowest level only has 3 or 4 rows and the wall dividing the two isn't very high so our seats were low and the wall creates a feeling of sitting right over the court. Might have been the best seats I have ever had for a basketball game. Overall it was a great day regardless of someones attempt to ruin it by messing with my vehicle (HA HA BAD PERSON).

Thunder update. We are currently in the middle of our first 3 game winning streak. Very impressive when you consider Durant has missed all 3 game and Green the last 2 games. 13 wins and 16 losses since December 31st when our record was 3 wins and 29 losses.