Greetings from a man on a 2:30 am adrenaline rush. I am sitting on the computer in the Thunder office after our first home game. I would go home however my Mom is still in town and has my car and I just don't have the heart to call her and wake her up to request a pick up. I have a ton of stuff I still need to work on regarding both work and personal items so I figured I would get some of it done in a quiet office and call her in the early morning for a pick up. 16 mile taxi cabs are not cheap in this town and besides, she has my apartment key so I might as well just feed off of the fact that I am still on a work high from earlier today.
Crazy day at the Ford Center. Worked at the arena on Tuesday until around 11:30 that night, going through rehearsal and getting things ready. Woke up early this morning and arrived at the office at 7:30 so that I could get some paperwork done. Headed over to the arena at 10:00 so that we could get the street out in front of the arena set up with inflatable toys, makeshift courts and other fan interactive events for our pre game festivities. Tonight was such a mess. There was uncertainty as to where to park since our passes are not good until 4:00, how to get parking passes distributed to employees since we are in a new parking garage, where to get the proper credentials and where people were needed most before the doors opened and during the pre-game rush. It is much harder to delegate when none of the people that are working for you have ever worked in the arena prior to today. Long story short, we planned for a big night but had little resources to do it. There were flaws however overall things went alright. I was so busy during the game that I didn't even see a moment of it until we were in the 4th Quarter. I will say this though, the Promotions Crew group that I hired is very good at what they do
The other news of the day was the article that came out on me on the front page of the Seattle Times Sports page. I have only seen it on the internet but I am told that the picture of me takes up a fairly large space on the front page of the Wednesday sports page. Here is the link in case anyone wants to check it out: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2008324225_soni29.html
Percy Allen wrote the article and is a great guy so I figured he would do a solid job and the aritcle reads well.
Gotta go but I will be posting again shortly.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
6:45 AM Rude Neighbors and Overflowing Toilets
I finally found a few minutes to send out a new post. Still keeping busy as Thursday and Friday were heavy interview days. Been bringing people in from all over the area. Most of the interviews have been college students attending University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University or Oklahoma City University and some are from other walks of life. Have interviewed a lot of great individuals and making decisions will be tough.
Yesterday morning got off to a rough start but ended up having a great day. The vent in my apartment was making strange sounds at 6:00 am which woke me up but I was able to blow that off and get back to sleep. At 6:45 one of my neighbors decided it was time to vacuum and they have a dog that barks the entire time that the vacuum is running. This was my first good chance in a while to get a good night sleep and it didn't happen. I worked at the office until around 11:30 the night before and really was looking forward to sleeping in. Then out of the TMI file, I went to use the bathroom, flushed the tiolet and as I started to wash my hands I noticed that I never heard the flush, suddenly I realized that I had apparently put too much toilet paper in and the toilet overflowed all over the floor (side note: it was clean water but still made a mess). For the record, I didn't use that much TP, I just realized that my toilet is more sensitive than most. I've now made a mental note of it but it certainly didn't help me as I was cleaning the floor and running to Walmart at 8am to purchase a plunger.
Later ran downtown to do some couch and furniture shopping with Mom as she is much better at picking out that sort of stuff than I am. Spent a few hours doing that and then went out a grabbed a bite to eat. Getting dinner at 7:30 on Saturdays in downtown OKC can be kind of tough unless you are willing to wait a while. We drove over to Cattlemen's Steakhouse and the line was out the door. My Mom mentioned that she wouldn't mind seeing Tobey Keith's I love this Bar so we went in there and found that they had a 90 minute wait. Finally went to "Coach's" which is a bar/restaurant located at the baseball stadium (windows look into the ballpark) but after being seated at our table for 15 minutes no one came by to serve us so we decided to leave and check Cattlemen's out again. By now it was 9:00 and the wait wasn't so bad so we ended up having our steak dinner afterall.
Just wrapping up some Sunday interviews right now while my Mom is checking out Penn Square which is one of our main malls. Going to pick her up shortly and then we are heading up north to check out Tulsa.
Yesterday morning got off to a rough start but ended up having a great day. The vent in my apartment was making strange sounds at 6:00 am which woke me up but I was able to blow that off and get back to sleep. At 6:45 one of my neighbors decided it was time to vacuum and they have a dog that barks the entire time that the vacuum is running. This was my first good chance in a while to get a good night sleep and it didn't happen. I worked at the office until around 11:30 the night before and really was looking forward to sleeping in. Then out of the TMI file, I went to use the bathroom, flushed the tiolet and as I started to wash my hands I noticed that I never heard the flush, suddenly I realized that I had apparently put too much toilet paper in and the toilet overflowed all over the floor (side note: it was clean water but still made a mess). For the record, I didn't use that much TP, I just realized that my toilet is more sensitive than most. I've now made a mental note of it but it certainly didn't help me as I was cleaning the floor and running to Walmart at 8am to purchase a plunger.
Later ran downtown to do some couch and furniture shopping with Mom as she is much better at picking out that sort of stuff than I am. Spent a few hours doing that and then went out a grabbed a bite to eat. Getting dinner at 7:30 on Saturdays in downtown OKC can be kind of tough unless you are willing to wait a while. We drove over to Cattlemen's Steakhouse and the line was out the door. My Mom mentioned that she wouldn't mind seeing Tobey Keith's I love this Bar so we went in there and found that they had a 90 minute wait. Finally went to "Coach's" which is a bar/restaurant located at the baseball stadium (windows look into the ballpark) but after being seated at our table for 15 minutes no one came by to serve us so we decided to leave and check Cattlemen's out again. By now it was 9:00 and the wait wasn't so bad so we ended up having our steak dinner afterall.
Just wrapping up some Sunday interviews right now while my Mom is checking out Penn Square which is one of our main malls. Going to pick her up shortly and then we are heading up north to check out Tulsa.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
More Interviews and Mom's Arrival
Good Evening, or should I say "Good Morning". It is almost 1 AM on Friday morning and I am sitting at my desk at the Thunder office. The last two days have been crazy.
Yesterday (or I guess I should now say "Wednesday") was moving day. Drove down to a freight company at 8:30 that morning and met the two guys from the moving company that were helping me with my move. Met them at the trailer that made its way across the country with all of my belongings and loaded everthing into the back of their moving truck. Then transported it to my apartment where we made numerous trips up and down the stairs into my place (I live on the 2nd Floor, no pun intended for those of you that like bad 80s pop songs). Finished with them at 12:45 and then an hour later my guest bed was delivered and just in time as my Mom arrived that night. Worked on moving boxes around the apartment and did laundry up until 4:30 and then it was off to the office to conduct interviews and get other work done. Stayed at the office until 9:00 that night and then headed to the airport to pick up my Mom.
Today my Mom and I worked at unloading items from boxes this morning and then it was off to the office for me to get more work done. I actually set up interviews with 12 different students at Oklahoma City University today and spent almost 4 hours on their campus doing that. Then headed back to the office and worked until around 8:00. Headed home and picked up my Mom so that we could go grab some dinner and then headed over to Wal Mart to do some shopping. I have the World's Greatest Mom. She stayed at my place all day and unloaded boxes and gave the apartment an thorough cleaning. She's the best!!
Dropped her back off at the apartment at 11:00 and then headed back into the office as I am still scheduling more interviews. Today (or yesterday) the University of Oklahoma's Career Services Department forwarded an e-mail to the majority of the students and already I have received over 30 applicants in just the last few hours. Hiring 40-45 people in a week is keeping me busy.
Now I am getting ready to make the 20 minute drive home to get some rest. Will be interviewing people tomorrow from 2:30-8:30 and then plan on grabbing dinner with Mom. We will hopefully do something exciting in the morning and possibly in the evening but definitely will try to check things out over the weekend (when I'm not conducting more interviews).
Crazy times but I am really enjoying it. Hope everyone is doing well.
Yesterday (or I guess I should now say "Wednesday") was moving day. Drove down to a freight company at 8:30 that morning and met the two guys from the moving company that were helping me with my move. Met them at the trailer that made its way across the country with all of my belongings and loaded everthing into the back of their moving truck. Then transported it to my apartment where we made numerous trips up and down the stairs into my place (I live on the 2nd Floor, no pun intended for those of you that like bad 80s pop songs). Finished with them at 12:45 and then an hour later my guest bed was delivered and just in time as my Mom arrived that night. Worked on moving boxes around the apartment and did laundry up until 4:30 and then it was off to the office to conduct interviews and get other work done. Stayed at the office until 9:00 that night and then headed to the airport to pick up my Mom.
Today my Mom and I worked at unloading items from boxes this morning and then it was off to the office for me to get more work done. I actually set up interviews with 12 different students at Oklahoma City University today and spent almost 4 hours on their campus doing that. Then headed back to the office and worked until around 8:00. Headed home and picked up my Mom so that we could go grab some dinner and then headed over to Wal Mart to do some shopping. I have the World's Greatest Mom. She stayed at my place all day and unloaded boxes and gave the apartment an thorough cleaning. She's the best!!
Dropped her back off at the apartment at 11:00 and then headed back into the office as I am still scheduling more interviews. Today (or yesterday) the University of Oklahoma's Career Services Department forwarded an e-mail to the majority of the students and already I have received over 30 applicants in just the last few hours. Hiring 40-45 people in a week is keeping me busy.
Now I am getting ready to make the 20 minute drive home to get some rest. Will be interviewing people tomorrow from 2:30-8:30 and then plan on grabbing dinner with Mom. We will hopefully do something exciting in the morning and possibly in the evening but definitely will try to check things out over the weekend (when I'm not conducting more interviews).
Crazy times but I am really enjoying it. Hope everyone is doing well.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Getting Ready for the Season and Mom
Another crazy day in OKC. Started talking to a few of the colleges in town and made some good contacts for getting a crew together for opening night. Oklahoma City University is right down the street and one of their folks sent out an e-mail to the entire student body and I have already received a nice handful of applicants from them as well as a few others. Probably going to be on their campus on Thursday to conduct interviews.
Found out today that the moving company is going to send two guys and a truck over tomorrow early in the morning to help me move all of my belongings. Hoping to have most of that done by noon or so and then my bed is being delivered between 1:30-330. Have a couple of interviews I am conducting tomorrow evening and then my Mom flys in tomorrow night. Busy day tomorrow.
Went out and assisted with an event today in which Kevin Durant and Damian Wilkins showed up and along with two members of our upper management, presented courtside season tickets to a local bank that is owned by one of the main owners of the Thunder. My job was to arrive at the location before the "talent" so that everything was ready to go once they arrived. It was a very short event but it was nice to get out to a different part of town and take in the response that the team is getting out in the community.
Heading home right now to get a bite to eat and then get ready for tomorrow. Still need to get a few things at the store so that the fridge and cupboards are not completely bare when my Mom shows up.
Found out today that the moving company is going to send two guys and a truck over tomorrow early in the morning to help me move all of my belongings. Hoping to have most of that done by noon or so and then my bed is being delivered between 1:30-330. Have a couple of interviews I am conducting tomorrow evening and then my Mom flys in tomorrow night. Busy day tomorrow.
Went out and assisted with an event today in which Kevin Durant and Damian Wilkins showed up and along with two members of our upper management, presented courtside season tickets to a local bank that is owned by one of the main owners of the Thunder. My job was to arrive at the location before the "talent" so that everything was ready to go once they arrived. It was a very short event but it was nice to get out to a different part of town and take in the response that the team is getting out in the community.
Heading home right now to get a bite to eat and then get ready for tomorrow. Still need to get a few things at the store so that the fridge and cupboards are not completely bare when my Mom shows up.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Open Practice and Power Outage
9 days until Opening Night. Things were kind of crazy around here today as my department was busy getting ready for tonight's Open Practice. I still don't have a place to work in the office and waiting for them to set up my e-mail. Am told that all of that should be completed by tomorrow so I'm hoping to get rolling on the hiring.
Left my apartment for a little while today and when I came home I discovered that my electricity had been shut off. I was supposed to make my initial payment by today so my plan was to stop by and pay it on my way into work this afternoon. Somehow they got a little confused and shut it off a day early. When I called into Customer Service they initially told me it would be back on by noon tomorrow. When I politely asked why it would take so long the guy told me it was because I was late in paying my bill. I informed him that I was told to pay by today and as soon as I said that he noticed it in his computer as well and started apologizing like crazy. Said he was going to make sure that the folks out in the field had it on by 5pm. I haven't been back to my apartment since as I am at the Thunder offices right now so I'm hoping that I have power when I get back.
Found out today that my moving trailer finally arrived in OKC. Called a moving company and it looks like we are going to set up a moving time for Wednesday. They were supposed to call me back late this afternoon to confirm a moving time but the call never came. Hopefully we will talk in the morning and I will have my belongings in the next 48 hours.
Open practice went fairly well tonight. Had about 2,000 fans show up to watch the team practice and then scrimmage for a bit. Easy on my end as I probably did a total of 45 minutes of
work. Came back to the office to get on the computer and here I am. Getting ready to head home in a few minutes (about a 20 minute drive) as I have a 9:00 meeting in the morning and then am helping with a big season ticket presentation tomorrow.
Left my apartment for a little while today and when I came home I discovered that my electricity had been shut off. I was supposed to make my initial payment by today so my plan was to stop by and pay it on my way into work this afternoon. Somehow they got a little confused and shut it off a day early. When I called into Customer Service they initially told me it would be back on by noon tomorrow. When I politely asked why it would take so long the guy told me it was because I was late in paying my bill. I informed him that I was told to pay by today and as soon as I said that he noticed it in his computer as well and started apologizing like crazy. Said he was going to make sure that the folks out in the field had it on by 5pm. I haven't been back to my apartment since as I am at the Thunder offices right now so I'm hoping that I have power when I get back.
Found out today that my moving trailer finally arrived in OKC. Called a moving company and it looks like we are going to set up a moving time for Wednesday. They were supposed to call me back late this afternoon to confirm a moving time but the call never came. Hopefully we will talk in the morning and I will have my belongings in the next 48 hours.
Open practice went fairly well tonight. Had about 2,000 fans show up to watch the team practice and then scrimmage for a bit. Easy on my end as I probably did a total of 45 minutes of
work. Came back to the office to get on the computer and here I am. Getting ready to head home in a few minutes (about a 20 minute drive) as I have a 9:00 meeting in the morning and then am helping with a big season ticket presentation tomorrow.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
College Football and Dokken
Busy weekend!! Went to the office on Friday and found out that we are now going to have a Promotions Crew, similar to what I was Managing for the Sonics. The thought was that we were going to have Non Profit groups come in and help with giveaway distributions but the decision was finally made to bring in our own staff. I am in favor of this as it is much easier to manage people when they are truely your employees. Harder to tell someone to tuck their shirt in when they are a volunteer and will possibly never see me again at the end of the game. The bad news is that I now have 9 days to go out and hire 35 people. Normally I hire 10-15 new people per season over the course of a month or two and I am using a network in Seattle of people that I know and trust. I will definitely have my work cut out for me this week. I will be making many phone calls tomorrow trying to find applicants and setting up interviews. Good times.
Friday night I got my first taste of Bricktown on a weekend. Went out and had dinner with 6 of my co-workers (all former Sonics employees) at a nice little bar/restaurant. Afterward we went to a good bar in Bricktown called Drinkz and hung out there for a few hours and were joined by a couple more employees. It was a good environment. I don't like night clubs and this was just a regular place with rock music being played in the background. Bricktown is much more vibrant on the weekends as many of us have noticed that there isn't much night life around here Sunday-Thursday, although that is fine with me.
Saturday was my fun day!! I went up to Stillwater which is about 60 miles north and attended a college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Baylor Bears. OSU is ranked 8th in the country and looked really good as they won the game 34-6. I bought myself an inexpensive t-shirt at Wal Mart earlier in the week so I was sporting the Cowboy orange (I did get a picture of me at the stadium but I'm still without my computer). T Boone Pickens just gave their athletic program MILLIONS of dollars to renovate their stadium, which is named Boone Pickens Stadium and it is a nice facility. Kind of a horse shoe like Husky Stadium only the open end without bleachers is enclosed by the Basketball Arena/Athletic offices. Nice place. Stillwater is 100% college town. I never even saw a sign on the highways that read "Stillwater" until I was 9 miles away. I thought that was odd as even Pullman has signs pointing you in the right direction.
The people up in the North area are very nice and the stereotypical "midwestern accent" is much more noticeable there. I always tell friends and family back home that I don't even notice the accents much in OKC but definitely heard it all around me in Stillwater.
After the game I went up to a Casino about 25 miles north into a small town of Red Rock, OK to watch my favorite childhood band, Dokken. Go ahead and laugh at me but as many of my family and friends already know, I was a big fan of "glam rock" growing up and still listen to quite a bit of it to this day. The big hair bands of the 80s, groups like Poison, Skid Row, Motley Crue and others. It was always a good way to get fired up for a sporting event I was participating in so I was a fan as a kid and still like the music, although I like many other genres of music as well. Anyway, my favorite band starting in the 7th grade was a group out of Los Angeles called Dokken and just my luck, they were in Oklahoma this weekend. I just happened to have the radio on a couple of weeks ago when I was in OKC looking for a place to live when a commercial came on for their upcoming concert. I've seen Dokken probably 4 or 5 times up in the Seattle area over the last 10 years so I knew that it was time to head out to Red Rock. Got to the casino about 20 minutes before they took the stage, quickly downed a sandwich at the casino deli and went in to where the stage was for the show. There were probably 200-250 people in the concert area and I had a blast. They played for about an hour and 20 minutes then I hopped in my car and made the 80 mile drive home. Got home at around 11:30 and laid on the floor with the intention of watching the Huskies football game that I recorded. Managed to watch the first half before falling asleep (imagine that, doubt I would have fallen asleep during the 1991 National Championship run). Woke up the next morning and watched the 2nd half of another UW loss.
Started today off with a 4 mile jog around Lake Hefner which is about as close to Green Lake as you can get around here (I really miss Green Lake). Hefner is about 9.5 miles around so I drove my car over and just jogged part of the way. I only live a few miles from the lake and have been wanting to check it out for a while now. The sun was out and it would have been perfect weather other than the fact that it was incredibly windy today. The high temperature today is supposed to be around 80 but it didn't feel like that at 10:00 this morning with a nice 25-30 MPH wind. Still enjoyed it though and plan on being somewhat of a regular at the lake from here on out.
Also went out and made a few purchases today. I bought a matress and box spring for my guest bedroom and just in time as my Mom arrives on Wednesday night and that is the day the bed will be delivered. Also bought a recliner which is in my car right now (I'm at the Thunder Offices using the computer so I will unload it as soon as I get home). This means that I WILL NOT BE SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT. Heading home in a few minutes to watch the Seahawks as well as the big baseball game while eating some dinner in my recliner. Sounds like a pretty good evening to me.
Busy day tomorrow. We have an Open Practice at the Ford Center tomorrow where the fans can come by and watch the team practice and scrimmage. We will run it similar to a game so there will be promotional activites during breaks. Also working an event on Tuesday in which players will be stopping by a few select businesses to drop off season tickets. All of that and the hiring frenzy. Should be enough to keep me on my toes.
Friday night I got my first taste of Bricktown on a weekend. Went out and had dinner with 6 of my co-workers (all former Sonics employees) at a nice little bar/restaurant. Afterward we went to a good bar in Bricktown called Drinkz and hung out there for a few hours and were joined by a couple more employees. It was a good environment. I don't like night clubs and this was just a regular place with rock music being played in the background. Bricktown is much more vibrant on the weekends as many of us have noticed that there isn't much night life around here Sunday-Thursday, although that is fine with me.
Saturday was my fun day!! I went up to Stillwater which is about 60 miles north and attended a college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Baylor Bears. OSU is ranked 8th in the country and looked really good as they won the game 34-6. I bought myself an inexpensive t-shirt at Wal Mart earlier in the week so I was sporting the Cowboy orange (I did get a picture of me at the stadium but I'm still without my computer). T Boone Pickens just gave their athletic program MILLIONS of dollars to renovate their stadium, which is named Boone Pickens Stadium and it is a nice facility. Kind of a horse shoe like Husky Stadium only the open end without bleachers is enclosed by the Basketball Arena/Athletic offices. Nice place. Stillwater is 100% college town. I never even saw a sign on the highways that read "Stillwater" until I was 9 miles away. I thought that was odd as even Pullman has signs pointing you in the right direction.
The people up in the North area are very nice and the stereotypical "midwestern accent" is much more noticeable there. I always tell friends and family back home that I don't even notice the accents much in OKC but definitely heard it all around me in Stillwater.
After the game I went up to a Casino about 25 miles north into a small town of Red Rock, OK to watch my favorite childhood band, Dokken. Go ahead and laugh at me but as many of my family and friends already know, I was a big fan of "glam rock" growing up and still listen to quite a bit of it to this day. The big hair bands of the 80s, groups like Poison, Skid Row, Motley Crue and others. It was always a good way to get fired up for a sporting event I was participating in so I was a fan as a kid and still like the music, although I like many other genres of music as well. Anyway, my favorite band starting in the 7th grade was a group out of Los Angeles called Dokken and just my luck, they were in Oklahoma this weekend. I just happened to have the radio on a couple of weeks ago when I was in OKC looking for a place to live when a commercial came on for their upcoming concert. I've seen Dokken probably 4 or 5 times up in the Seattle area over the last 10 years so I knew that it was time to head out to Red Rock. Got to the casino about 20 minutes before they took the stage, quickly downed a sandwich at the casino deli and went in to where the stage was for the show. There were probably 200-250 people in the concert area and I had a blast. They played for about an hour and 20 minutes then I hopped in my car and made the 80 mile drive home. Got home at around 11:30 and laid on the floor with the intention of watching the Huskies football game that I recorded. Managed to watch the first half before falling asleep (imagine that, doubt I would have fallen asleep during the 1991 National Championship run). Woke up the next morning and watched the 2nd half of another UW loss.
Started today off with a 4 mile jog around Lake Hefner which is about as close to Green Lake as you can get around here (I really miss Green Lake). Hefner is about 9.5 miles around so I drove my car over and just jogged part of the way. I only live a few miles from the lake and have been wanting to check it out for a while now. The sun was out and it would have been perfect weather other than the fact that it was incredibly windy today. The high temperature today is supposed to be around 80 but it didn't feel like that at 10:00 this morning with a nice 25-30 MPH wind. Still enjoyed it though and plan on being somewhat of a regular at the lake from here on out.
Also went out and made a few purchases today. I bought a matress and box spring for my guest bedroom and just in time as my Mom arrives on Wednesday night and that is the day the bed will be delivered. Also bought a recliner which is in my car right now (I'm at the Thunder Offices using the computer so I will unload it as soon as I get home). This means that I WILL NOT BE SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT. Heading home in a few minutes to watch the Seahawks as well as the big baseball game while eating some dinner in my recliner. Sounds like a pretty good evening to me.
Busy day tomorrow. We have an Open Practice at the Ford Center tomorrow where the fans can come by and watch the team practice and scrimmage. We will run it similar to a game so there will be promotional activites during breaks. Also working an event on Tuesday in which players will be stopping by a few select businesses to drop off season tickets. All of that and the hiring frenzy. Should be enough to keep me on my toes.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Taste of Bricktown Is No Bite of Seattle
Is it time for an air matress?? I don't sleep on the floor very well unless I am really tired so getting back to back nights of quality sleep is not easy. I slept in on Wednesday morning because I really needed it but then I couldn't sleep on Wednesday night. At midnight I decided to fool around with some of my new purchases and realized that I needed to cut open the packaging in order to get to my new shower rod. All of my cutting items are in route on a truck (don't ask where the truck is, the tracking info I have says it is scheduled to be in San Bernadino CA later today). Luckily the Wal Mart a few miles away is open 24 hours. Wal Mart is EVERYWHERE down here. Went over to Wal Mart and bought some scissors, knife and a bunch of groceries. Ended up "going to bed" or "laying on the floor with my blanket and pillows" at around 2:30 and finally fell asleep at 4:00.
Yesterday morning was very exciting (sarcasm). Went for a nice 3 mile jog around the new neighborhood and then started making phone calls. I do now have car and renters insurance so that is a good thing. Also managed to change many billing addresses for a few accounts. Was watching the news around lunchtime and saw that there was an event called the "Taste of Bricktown" happening later in the evening so I decided to check it out. Brickdown is the happening place in downtown OKC. Imagine Pioneer Square minus Belltown, Capital Hill and Lower Queen Anne. In other words, Bricktown is it. It is where you go if you want food, drink, live music or any other entertainment downtown. I love food and I hadn't really explored Bricktown yet so I figured my night was set.
Didn't do any homework (keep in mind I still don't have my own computer) so I went to explore the "Taste of Bricktown" without knowing details. I was picturing the "Bite of Seattle" meets "Taste of Edmonds" but I was wrong. Got to the heart of Bricktown and not much was happening. Ran into 2 co-workers and one of them looked it up on his phone and found that it was at the Coca Cola Events Center which is just a few blocks from central Bricktown. Walked over and peeked in and saw that there were a bunch of tables set up and that the cover charge was $65. No wonder the small handful of people I asked on the street had never heard of it. I can get a lot of food and drink for that kind of coin so I quickly ruled out the "Taste of Bricktown". Met up with my friend Jonathan, a co worker who also made the move from Seattle and we decided to go grab dinner and a beer at "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar". Keith is from the area and the bar is one of the better known landmarks around OKC. It was a nice and big place with a couple of bars, large TVs everywhere and a stage for live music. No live music there last night however there was country music being played throughout the bar but it wasn't too obnoxious so we had a good time. Afterward I returned to my apartment and watched a couple of shows that I recorded on my DVR (why did I not get DVR a lot sooner, what a great invention) while relaxing on the floor.
Heading down to the office this afternoon to get some things done and then am hoping to do some furniture shopping. If time permits I might try to catch a high school football game somewhere tonight but the real fun hopefully is tomorrow when I am planning on going to a college football game and possibly a concert afterwards. FYI- expecting sunny weather and temperature in the mid 70s through the next 4 or 5 days. Not bad!!
Yesterday morning was very exciting (sarcasm). Went for a nice 3 mile jog around the new neighborhood and then started making phone calls. I do now have car and renters insurance so that is a good thing. Also managed to change many billing addresses for a few accounts. Was watching the news around lunchtime and saw that there was an event called the "Taste of Bricktown" happening later in the evening so I decided to check it out. Brickdown is the happening place in downtown OKC. Imagine Pioneer Square minus Belltown, Capital Hill and Lower Queen Anne. In other words, Bricktown is it. It is where you go if you want food, drink, live music or any other entertainment downtown. I love food and I hadn't really explored Bricktown yet so I figured my night was set.
Didn't do any homework (keep in mind I still don't have my own computer) so I went to explore the "Taste of Bricktown" without knowing details. I was picturing the "Bite of Seattle" meets "Taste of Edmonds" but I was wrong. Got to the heart of Bricktown and not much was happening. Ran into 2 co-workers and one of them looked it up on his phone and found that it was at the Coca Cola Events Center which is just a few blocks from central Bricktown. Walked over and peeked in and saw that there were a bunch of tables set up and that the cover charge was $65. No wonder the small handful of people I asked on the street had never heard of it. I can get a lot of food and drink for that kind of coin so I quickly ruled out the "Taste of Bricktown". Met up with my friend Jonathan, a co worker who also made the move from Seattle and we decided to go grab dinner and a beer at "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar". Keith is from the area and the bar is one of the better known landmarks around OKC. It was a nice and big place with a couple of bars, large TVs everywhere and a stage for live music. No live music there last night however there was country music being played throughout the bar but it wasn't too obnoxious so we had a good time. Afterward I returned to my apartment and watched a couple of shows that I recorded on my DVR (why did I not get DVR a lot sooner, what a great invention) while relaxing on the floor.
Heading down to the office this afternoon to get some things done and then am hoping to do some furniture shopping. If time permits I might try to catch a high school football game somewhere tonight but the real fun hopefully is tomorrow when I am planning on going to a college football game and possibly a concert afterwards. FYI- expecting sunny weather and temperature in the mid 70s through the next 4 or 5 days. Not bad!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
OKC's Newest Resident
Hello from one of Oklahoma City's newest residents. Haven't reported in a few days and quite a bit is happening so here comes a LONG posting.
Arrived on Monday nice and tired. Didn't go to bed at all Sunday night but managed to sleep on the plane for a couple of hours. Got into town, picked up my car and went straight to the Thunder office. Met with my boss and grabbed some lunch before heading to the apartment to sign all of my paperwork. Got to the apartment at 3:30 and by 5:00 I was heading back to the Ford Center to run through our game night rehersal for the following day. Stayed at the Ford Center until 8:00 and then headed straight to Circuit City. Bought a TV as they were closing and then hurried off to Target to get 20 minutes of "necessity shopping" in before they closed. Got back to my empty apartment at 10:15 and realized that I am only one person and have no way to get my new TV up the stairs. Called my friend/co-worker MarcTaylor and he came over and helped me out. Finally ran off at 11:00 to grab some much needed dinner. Got to Sonic at 11:05 and found out they had closed so I started driving around until I found a Wendy's and had some outstanding cusine.
Didn't sleep very well on Monday night even though I was only going on 2 hours from the day before. Bought 2 pillows and a blanket at Target and the floor is currently my bed. Woke up at 5:30 AM and never could get back to sleep so I went for a quick jog. Got home and showered in my tub that still didn't have a curtain (turns out that showering without a curtain causes water to go all over the place). Before I could even get dressed there was a knock on the door, the cable company showed up at 8 AM exactly to do the install. Found a place to iron my pants and they did it for free (I'm wearing a lot of "Seattle" clothes so quite a few people are asking if I moved with the team) . I still paid the woman a couple of bucks even though her boss told her no charge. The people here are great and are excited to have us.
Had our first pre-season game Tuesday night which was an interesting experience. New arena, new town and a lot of new faces as well as those that I already know. The first game of the season is always a little rough and this one wasn't any different. We are still a work in progress. We hired a temp service for the first game and 18 of them helped with the roster distribution at the doors. They did a nice job and then it was onto the game itself. We kept everything fairly simple and there weren't any major hiccups. We had over 16,000 people show up for the game which we lost 90-88. There was a lot of energy in the building and you don't normally experience that at a pre season game. After the game a bunch of us headed over to Hooters as they are the only bar/restaurant within walking distance that serve food after 10:00. Walking out of the arena I realized just how surreal all of this is. Usually I walk out the credential entrance and look up at the Space Needle.
I actually slept in today. Went to bed at about 1:30 and didn't wake up until 10:30 (I did wake up a couple of times in the middle of the night as apparently I don't sleep as deeply when I am sleeping on the floor). The sleep was much needed. Still have quite the choir list going and got a few things done today. Went to the store to buy a bunch of things that I was still lacking: shower curtain, shower rod, bowl to eat out of, spoons, soap, napkins, FOOD, etc. The apartment is still fairly bare other than the TV but I am getting there. Also made some phone calls regarding insurance and electricity (have it but need to transfer it to my name instead of the apartment building). Still need to do Furniture shopping tomorrow.
Spent the latter part of the day at the Thunder office discussing staffing. I am going to be responsible for 2 staffs. One will be the folks that help with giveaway distribution before the game and we are still trying to determine if we are going to hire a staff much like what we had in Seattle or if we will use non profit groups to help. The other staff is the "Interactive Squad" which will be responsible for livening up the games with their talents and dynamic personalities. This will be a 12 person staff. 5 of the 12 are our new Dunk Team that will be performing acrobatic dunks at many games and will help with on-court promotions as well as other in arena events. The other 7 have yet to be hired. We start looking to fill out this crew ASAP and will probably be looking for various talents (dancing, tumbling, balloon makers, improv artists, etc). People that can entertain our guests in the concourses before and during the game as well as get the crowd motivated with cheers when needed during the game. It will be a different set up than how we did things in Seattle but they are changes that I am very excited about.
Anyway, it is now 8:15 pm and I am in the Thunder offices and have yet to have dinner. Signing out for now but I will be better in the near future with my updates.
Arrived on Monday nice and tired. Didn't go to bed at all Sunday night but managed to sleep on the plane for a couple of hours. Got into town, picked up my car and went straight to the Thunder office. Met with my boss and grabbed some lunch before heading to the apartment to sign all of my paperwork. Got to the apartment at 3:30 and by 5:00 I was heading back to the Ford Center to run through our game night rehersal for the following day. Stayed at the Ford Center until 8:00 and then headed straight to Circuit City. Bought a TV as they were closing and then hurried off to Target to get 20 minutes of "necessity shopping" in before they closed. Got back to my empty apartment at 10:15 and realized that I am only one person and have no way to get my new TV up the stairs. Called my friend/co-worker MarcTaylor and he came over and helped me out. Finally ran off at 11:00 to grab some much needed dinner. Got to Sonic at 11:05 and found out they had closed so I started driving around until I found a Wendy's and had some outstanding cusine.
Didn't sleep very well on Monday night even though I was only going on 2 hours from the day before. Bought 2 pillows and a blanket at Target and the floor is currently my bed. Woke up at 5:30 AM and never could get back to sleep so I went for a quick jog. Got home and showered in my tub that still didn't have a curtain (turns out that showering without a curtain causes water to go all over the place). Before I could even get dressed there was a knock on the door, the cable company showed up at 8 AM exactly to do the install. Found a place to iron my pants and they did it for free (I'm wearing a lot of "Seattle" clothes so quite a few people are asking if I moved with the team) . I still paid the woman a couple of bucks even though her boss told her no charge. The people here are great and are excited to have us.
Had our first pre-season game Tuesday night which was an interesting experience. New arena, new town and a lot of new faces as well as those that I already know. The first game of the season is always a little rough and this one wasn't any different. We are still a work in progress. We hired a temp service for the first game and 18 of them helped with the roster distribution at the doors. They did a nice job and then it was onto the game itself. We kept everything fairly simple and there weren't any major hiccups. We had over 16,000 people show up for the game which we lost 90-88. There was a lot of energy in the building and you don't normally experience that at a pre season game. After the game a bunch of us headed over to Hooters as they are the only bar/restaurant within walking distance that serve food after 10:00. Walking out of the arena I realized just how surreal all of this is. Usually I walk out the credential entrance and look up at the Space Needle.
I actually slept in today. Went to bed at about 1:30 and didn't wake up until 10:30 (I did wake up a couple of times in the middle of the night as apparently I don't sleep as deeply when I am sleeping on the floor). The sleep was much needed. Still have quite the choir list going and got a few things done today. Went to the store to buy a bunch of things that I was still lacking: shower curtain, shower rod, bowl to eat out of, spoons, soap, napkins, FOOD, etc. The apartment is still fairly bare other than the TV but I am getting there. Also made some phone calls regarding insurance and electricity (have it but need to transfer it to my name instead of the apartment building). Still need to do Furniture shopping tomorrow.
Spent the latter part of the day at the Thunder office discussing staffing. I am going to be responsible for 2 staffs. One will be the folks that help with giveaway distribution before the game and we are still trying to determine if we are going to hire a staff much like what we had in Seattle or if we will use non profit groups to help. The other staff is the "Interactive Squad" which will be responsible for livening up the games with their talents and dynamic personalities. This will be a 12 person staff. 5 of the 12 are our new Dunk Team that will be performing acrobatic dunks at many games and will help with on-court promotions as well as other in arena events. The other 7 have yet to be hired. We start looking to fill out this crew ASAP and will probably be looking for various talents (dancing, tumbling, balloon makers, improv artists, etc). People that can entertain our guests in the concourses before and during the game as well as get the crowd motivated with cheers when needed during the game. It will be a different set up than how we did things in Seattle but they are changes that I am very excited about.
Anyway, it is now 8:15 pm and I am in the Thunder offices and have yet to have dinner. Signing out for now but I will be better in the near future with my updates.
Monday, October 13, 2008
3 Hours from Pick Up
It is a little past midnight and the packing is finally completed. My Dad and I just put the finishing touches on the trailer at around 11:30 and the airport shuttle is coming to pick up in 3 hours. Hope I can sleep on the plane.
I had a very enjoyable day yesterday. My friend Alyssa informed the Seattle Times about my blog on Friday and on Saturday longtime great Seattle Times Photographer Rod Mar was at my house taking pictures of me loading up the trailer while I was wearing an old Sonics sweatshirt and a Thunder hat. Don't know when and if the picture will end up in the paper but I will be sure to keep everyone posted.
Had a great time at Jersey's last night. Estimated that around 40 people showed up to say goodbye and I thank every one of them. Good to see my friends and family one more time before heading out.
Tomorrow's schedule: fly to OKC and arrive around 12:45 PM, go to the car dealership and hope that my new purchase is still on the lot waiting for me, go to the Thunder office to check in, get to apartment building between 3:00-4:00 to check in and introduce myself to my new place, go to store and get a few things (#1 item tomorrow will be air matress), go to bed in my empty apartment. Tuesday morning I have the cable company coming between 8:00-10:00 to get me hooked up and then I will head over to the arena to work the first Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game ever played in the Ford Center.
Won't have a computer in my apartment for a while but I will hopefully be able to hop on a computer at the Thunder's office and get everyone a progress report.
Hope everyone is doing well. Take care of the Pacific Northwest while I am away.
Steve
I had a very enjoyable day yesterday. My friend Alyssa informed the Seattle Times about my blog on Friday and on Saturday longtime great Seattle Times Photographer Rod Mar was at my house taking pictures of me loading up the trailer while I was wearing an old Sonics sweatshirt and a Thunder hat. Don't know when and if the picture will end up in the paper but I will be sure to keep everyone posted.
Had a great time at Jersey's last night. Estimated that around 40 people showed up to say goodbye and I thank every one of them. Good to see my friends and family one more time before heading out.
Tomorrow's schedule: fly to OKC and arrive around 12:45 PM, go to the car dealership and hope that my new purchase is still on the lot waiting for me, go to the Thunder office to check in, get to apartment building between 3:00-4:00 to check in and introduce myself to my new place, go to store and get a few things (#1 item tomorrow will be air matress), go to bed in my empty apartment. Tuesday morning I have the cable company coming between 8:00-10:00 to get me hooked up and then I will head over to the arena to work the first Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game ever played in the Ford Center.
Won't have a computer in my apartment for a while but I will hopefully be able to hop on a computer at the Thunder's office and get everyone a progress report.
Hope everyone is doing well. Take care of the Pacific Northwest while I am away.
Steve
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Last Weekend In Seattle
48 Hours from now I will be on a plane and heading toward OKC!!! Unbelievable. This is going to be my last Seattle weekend for a while and it should be interesting. Thursday the trailer showed up and it is HUGE. It is 28' and when you drop the ramp it takes up even more space. I definitely need to start getting pictures on here because this thing is a monster.
Last night went to my last Mountlake Terrace football game and they beat Shorewood 14-0. As many of you know, I am a Terrace alum and proudly follow the team even though we haven't had a winning season since 1986 (I think I jinxed them since I entered the school the following year and we only won 5 games in the 4 years that I was a player in the program). My high school friend Tony is the Head Coach and he has the Hawks at 3-3 for the season so this could be the year and unfortunately I will have to follow them from afar. Met up with my friends Dave and Andrea (Tony's wife) and even ran into my friend and longtime Sonics co-worker Mark Moquin who was there because his wife works at Shorewood. The game was at Shoreline Stadium so I decided to give myself one last treat on the way home and picked up a pizza from Spiros. They have the #1 pizza in town and it remains to be seen if anyone in OKC can top them.
Tonight at 7:30 I am going to be at Jersey's in Shoreline so that I can meet up with and say goodbye to friends. I sent out a massive e-mail to as many people as I could but everyone is invited (it wasn't a dis if you weren't on the e-mail, I just did it quickly and I'm sure I left some people out). Will be there until at least 11:00 so feel free to drop by if you read this today. This is a very last minute thing. I had family and friends asking if I was going to do a going away party and initially I said no for a couple of reasons. 1) Wasn't sure if time would allow it. 2) Didn't want to make a big deal out of it. This is still my home base and I will be back in the area whenever I can so I didn't want to create a sappy environment where it felt as though everyone was attending a wake. I started to give it more thought though and came to the realization that I have so many people in my life that mean a lot to me, therefore the more of them that I can see before leaving would be great. Also gives me a great excuse to get away from the whole "moving" thing for a few hours and have some fun :-)
Got to go for now. There should be a lot to report on this weekend so I will be sure to add to the blog 2 or 3 more times before the end of the weekend.
Last night went to my last Mountlake Terrace football game and they beat Shorewood 14-0. As many of you know, I am a Terrace alum and proudly follow the team even though we haven't had a winning season since 1986 (I think I jinxed them since I entered the school the following year and we only won 5 games in the 4 years that I was a player in the program). My high school friend Tony is the Head Coach and he has the Hawks at 3-3 for the season so this could be the year and unfortunately I will have to follow them from afar. Met up with my friends Dave and Andrea (Tony's wife) and even ran into my friend and longtime Sonics co-worker Mark Moquin who was there because his wife works at Shorewood. The game was at Shoreline Stadium so I decided to give myself one last treat on the way home and picked up a pizza from Spiros. They have the #1 pizza in town and it remains to be seen if anyone in OKC can top them.
Tonight at 7:30 I am going to be at Jersey's in Shoreline so that I can meet up with and say goodbye to friends. I sent out a massive e-mail to as many people as I could but everyone is invited (it wasn't a dis if you weren't on the e-mail, I just did it quickly and I'm sure I left some people out). Will be there until at least 11:00 so feel free to drop by if you read this today. This is a very last minute thing. I had family and friends asking if I was going to do a going away party and initially I said no for a couple of reasons. 1) Wasn't sure if time would allow it. 2) Didn't want to make a big deal out of it. This is still my home base and I will be back in the area whenever I can so I didn't want to create a sappy environment where it felt as though everyone was attending a wake. I started to give it more thought though and came to the realization that I have so many people in my life that mean a lot to me, therefore the more of them that I can see before leaving would be great. Also gives me a great excuse to get away from the whole "moving" thing for a few hours and have some fun :-)
Got to go for now. There should be a lot to report on this weekend so I will be sure to add to the blog 2 or 3 more times before the end of the weekend.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Junk Collector
Turns out I own a lot of junk. I kind of already knew this but preparing to move 2000 miles has reaffirmed it. I have spent the better part of two days going through boxes of paperwork and magazines and have managed to throw a lot of things out. I filled up the entire backseat of my car with items today and made a run up to the Recycling Center (I'm sure that isn't the name of it but it is the location across the street from the dump where you can recycle just about everything).
Tomorrow morning the 28 foot moving container shows up at the house and I will be able to start loading my belongings (minus the junk mentioned above, YEAH!!). For those of you who now are under the impresson that I must own a lot to need a 28' container, I am only going to be using only approx. 12 feet of the space. I get charged by the foot. I will have a few days to load everything up as the moving company is going to pick up the container on Monday after I have boarded the plane that same morning. Crazy times indeed.
Tomorrow morning the 28 foot moving container shows up at the house and I will be able to start loading my belongings (minus the junk mentioned above, YEAH!!). For those of you who now are under the impresson that I must own a lot to need a 28' container, I am only going to be using only approx. 12 feet of the space. I get charged by the foot. I will have a few days to load everything up as the moving company is going to pick up the container on Monday after I have boarded the plane that same morning. Crazy times indeed.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Arizona, Wrestling at the Key Arena and Moving Preparations
Back in town after a 3 day visit to Arizona to watch the UW lose another football game and to visit my Mom. Kind of knew that the Huskies probably wouldn't win but I still had fun. Went to the UW vs Arizona game in Tucson on Saturday night with 4 friends that I met up with down there. Got back into the Phoenix area Sunday morning and made it a true football weekend by going to Glendale to watch an NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals. Kind of a last minute decision so I went by myslef and still enjoyed it. That stadium is a great place to watch a football game (I guess that is why it hosted the last Super Bowl and College National Championship game). The Cardinals won easily but not everyone left happy as I would guess there were about 10,000 Buffalo fans at the game.
Got into Seattle late this morning and headed to the Key Arena for the WWE event tonight. I'm not much of a fan of wrestling but the arena was needing some volunteers to act as seat fillers so my Dad and I agreed to help. The wrestling match was shown on live national television and our job was to sit in the seats that are seen the most frequently when people get up to go to the concessions or restrooms. This way it constantly looks like all of the seats are full at all times. The crowd was very interesting and it was fun to check out something different.
Time to start getting ready for the move. On Thursday a 28 foot empty trailer is getting dropped off at the house and will be picked up by the moving company and shipped out to OKC next Monday. I am catching a plane next Monday morning to OKC at which time I will officially be a resident.
Got into Seattle late this morning and headed to the Key Arena for the WWE event tonight. I'm not much of a fan of wrestling but the arena was needing some volunteers to act as seat fillers so my Dad and I agreed to help. The wrestling match was shown on live national television and our job was to sit in the seats that are seen the most frequently when people get up to go to the concessions or restrooms. This way it constantly looks like all of the seats are full at all times. The crowd was very interesting and it was fun to check out something different.
Time to start getting ready for the move. On Thursday a 28 foot empty trailer is getting dropped off at the house and will be picked up by the moving company and shipped out to OKC next Monday. I am catching a plane next Monday morning to OKC at which time I will officially be a resident.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Huge Purchase Day!
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures. I have had a couple people ask when I am going to post pictures. That might have to wait a couple of more weeks until I get all of my own things set up and am using my own computer. Even when I am in Seattle I am using my Mom's computer these days.
I had three primary goals for this trip and I accomplished all three today:
1) This morning I purchased a vehicle, the GM that I mentioned last night. Cars and trucks are much less expensive down here so I got a little more bang for my Western Washington dollars.
2) I bought a new cell phone and now have an Oklahoma City phone number (not going to post it here). Special thanks to Keeney's, Lisa (owner) and Steven (General Manager) for allowing me to use my old work phone this week while I took care of this.
3) I found a place to live.
Was about to rent a house in Edmond which is about 15 miles north of downtown but at the last second decided to check out some apartments. The last building I looked at was a gated complex in the Quail Springs area which is in North Oklahoma City, about 11 miles from downtown. For the same price as the house I was able to get a nicer place in a much better area. There are over 300 units in the complex and they offer some nice amenities so I jumped on it. Originally wanted a 3 bedroom but this is a 2 bedroom with plenty of closet space. Quail Springs is where everyone goes when they need just about anything. There is a large Quail Springs Mall along the stretch of road that I will be moving to and strip malls everywhere. Just about every chain of restaurants, clothing, banks, etc is within two miles. Very convenient. My move in date is October 13th. According to my Garmin GPS device, I have 3 Sonic drive ins within 1.8 miles of the complex. Sonic is based out of OKC (how fitting with that particular name) so they are EVERYWHERE. I've been to 3 different Sonic locations and have to say they are tasty.
Vegetarians might not want to read the next part. Went over to the Cattleman's restaurant tonight to have dinner with 9 other co-workers. Cattleman's is located in the Stockyards which is about 5 miles outside of downtown. I believe it is the largest stockyard in America and Cattleman's is a famous steak joint right on the main drag. It isn't a fancy place like some of the Steakhouses that Seattle people are used to (usually my idea of fine dining is Red Robin so I'm not able to compare it to Ruth's Chris or some of the other places back home)but they are known for their excellent steaks and we all left full and happy.
Catching a plane back to Seattle tomorrow morning. The highlight of the trip will probably be the 3.5 hour lay over in Denver. Get home tomorrow night and then I am heading to Phoenix on Friday morning for 3 days. Still need to catch up on all of my e-mails. I will get there eventually.
I had three primary goals for this trip and I accomplished all three today:
1) This morning I purchased a vehicle, the GM that I mentioned last night. Cars and trucks are much less expensive down here so I got a little more bang for my Western Washington dollars.
2) I bought a new cell phone and now have an Oklahoma City phone number (not going to post it here). Special thanks to Keeney's, Lisa (owner) and Steven (General Manager) for allowing me to use my old work phone this week while I took care of this.
3) I found a place to live.
Was about to rent a house in Edmond which is about 15 miles north of downtown but at the last second decided to check out some apartments. The last building I looked at was a gated complex in the Quail Springs area which is in North Oklahoma City, about 11 miles from downtown. For the same price as the house I was able to get a nicer place in a much better area. There are over 300 units in the complex and they offer some nice amenities so I jumped on it. Originally wanted a 3 bedroom but this is a 2 bedroom with plenty of closet space. Quail Springs is where everyone goes when they need just about anything. There is a large Quail Springs Mall along the stretch of road that I will be moving to and strip malls everywhere. Just about every chain of restaurants, clothing, banks, etc is within two miles. Very convenient. My move in date is October 13th. According to my Garmin GPS device, I have 3 Sonic drive ins within 1.8 miles of the complex. Sonic is based out of OKC (how fitting with that particular name) so they are EVERYWHERE. I've been to 3 different Sonic locations and have to say they are tasty.
Vegetarians might not want to read the next part. Went over to the Cattleman's restaurant tonight to have dinner with 9 other co-workers. Cattleman's is located in the Stockyards which is about 5 miles outside of downtown. I believe it is the largest stockyard in America and Cattleman's is a famous steak joint right on the main drag. It isn't a fancy place like some of the Steakhouses that Seattle people are used to (usually my idea of fine dining is Red Robin so I'm not able to compare it to Ruth's Chris or some of the other places back home)but they are known for their excellent steaks and we all left full and happy.
Catching a plane back to Seattle tomorrow morning. The highlight of the trip will probably be the 3.5 hour lay over in Denver. Get home tomorrow night and then I am heading to Phoenix on Friday morning for 3 days. Still need to catch up on all of my e-mails. I will get there eventually.
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