I can sum up today in two words: College Football. Very lazy day for me as I have only left my apartment twice. Once to go out for a quick (and chilly) jog and the other was to buy a newspaper. The UW game against UCLA is going to be on live TV starting at 9:15 Central time so I am staying home to root on the Huskies.
Yesterday was kind of interesting. I made the trip up to Edmond (about 15 minute drive) to get my Oklahoma Driver's License only to find out that I do not have the proper birth certificate. I have one that is issued by the hospital I was born in but not a state issued one. Since I don't have a passport (yes, I have never had a passport) I am going to have a birth certificate mailed to me which supposedly could take as long as 7 weeks. I guess that means I have to be an extra cautious driver as legally you need to have a new driver's license within 30 days of relocating to another state.
I also went out and bought a cheap computer table which required assembly. I am definitely not a good handyman and I showed it yesterday. The thing took me forever to put together but I finally did it and hooked up my computer. This is my first blog that I have posted from my apartment and it only took me a month. The table hasn't collapsed yet so I guess I did something right.
I also went out to my first Oklahoma high school football game last night as I went over to Putnam City Stadium to watch a playoff game between Edmond Santa Fe and Putnam City. I knew it was a big playoff weekend so I started going over all of the games in the newspaper and opened up my OKC map to see which games were close by. Putnam City is only about 9 miles so I checked it out. I don't know much about the high school football scene around here and don't know the tradition of either team. There are 3 Putnam high schools that share the stadium and one of them, Putnam North had a quarterback a few years ago named Sam Bradford who is now the starting QB for the Oklahoma Sooners and has a great chance to win the Heisman Trophy this year as well as be the first player selected in next year's NFL Draft. Kind of cool info.
Anyway, the game was a blowout which was great news for me because it meant I didn't have to feel bad about leaving early. Edmond Santa Fe was ahead 29-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter and the only thing worse than the Putnam City offense was the lack of feeling in my hands. It was a cold night and the 20 MPH winds made it unbearable. The weather had been warm up until yesterday but a cold front moved in and consequently it was not a good night to be sitting outside. Nice stadium though.
Saw part of the news earlier today and they said our low temperature tonight is supposed to be 29 degrees but that our high tomorrow will be 64.
That is all for now. GO DAWGS!!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Good Work Day and Sunny Weather
Just got back to the office a little while ago after our 5th regular season home game of the year. We played Orlando tonight and the game was almost over before it started. Durant and Wilcox didn't play tonight and we fell behind by something like 20 points in the first quarter.
From a work standpoint, it was the best night of the year so far. I think we are starting to iron out some of our wrinkles and things are coming together. I enjoyed the job tonight and I don't think I have really been able to say that too much up until this point.
The weather continues to be nice. I went for a 7 mile run up at Lake Hefner yesterday afternoon and it was my favorite one yet. The temperature was about 60 and for a change there wasn't any wind. I wish I could take the November weather here and bottle some of it up for Seattle. I would love to run around Greenlake with that kind of sunshine in mid November. Hope the floods aren't hitting too many people back in the NW and I was saddened to read about the kids that crashed into the Green River. I do miss a lot of things about Seattle but the sun has really made this move much easier on me. I think I have seen rain once in the last 3 weeks and it is nice waking up to sunshine.
Found out the other day that my Dad is coming to visit in a few weeks. My Mom was keeping her eyes open for a good deal and found that Southwest had some good early December rates of $88 flights each way. Early December weather can be hit or miss so we will see what kind of weather greets him for his first ever trip to OKC.
From a work standpoint, it was the best night of the year so far. I think we are starting to iron out some of our wrinkles and things are coming together. I enjoyed the job tonight and I don't think I have really been able to say that too much up until this point.
The weather continues to be nice. I went for a 7 mile run up at Lake Hefner yesterday afternoon and it was my favorite one yet. The temperature was about 60 and for a change there wasn't any wind. I wish I could take the November weather here and bottle some of it up for Seattle. I would love to run around Greenlake with that kind of sunshine in mid November. Hope the floods aren't hitting too many people back in the NW and I was saddened to read about the kids that crashed into the Green River. I do miss a lot of things about Seattle but the sun has really made this move much easier on me. I think I have seen rain once in the last 3 weeks and it is nice waking up to sunshine.
Found out the other day that my Dad is coming to visit in a few weeks. My Mom was keeping her eyes open for a good deal and found that Southwest had some good early December rates of $88 flights each way. Early December weather can be hit or miss so we will see what kind of weather greets him for his first ever trip to OKC.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tornado Watch and A Great Trip to Texas A&M
It has almost been a week since I've blogged so I have some catching up to do.
Wednesday we had a Thunder game and with it came the first "tornado watch" since I arrived. The weather has been great all month (other than the wind) but we had a little rain for all of 10 minutes and talks of a potential tornado for a short time starting at around 4:30 that night. I wasn't too concerned though as I figure the Ford Center is not a bad place to be if we do get the "T" word. The warning was only in effect until 10pm and by the time it passed I was off of work.
Friday I headed to College Station, Texas to go to a Saturday afternoon football game between Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The Aggies of A&M have a very storied football history and tradition and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The drive was just a little under 400 miles each way and I pulled into town just a little after 9pm. Met up with my friend and former co-worker Mark who was in town to meet with a vendor for a few days and we went to a local bar/restaurant to grab dinner. While there the server told us about how the students and fans gather at the stadium at midnight for "Midnight Yell" which is a tradition that goes back over 75 years. It is very similar to a Pep Rally where all of the fans practice the various team "yells" and fight songs. It lasted for about 30 minutes and I would guess that over 5,000 people attended. It was definitely an experience that I would recommend.
The game on Saturday was a blowout but the experience itself was incredible. Oklahoma won 66-28 but the college football atmosphere at Kyle Field is unbelieveable. Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN is on record saying that he thinks the best fans in the nation are at Texas A&M and he might be right. The original home of the "12th Man", just ask the Seattle Seahawks who were sued by the university for using the phrase. The entire student body is constantly participating in various cheers and songs the entire game as they take their orders from cadets that keep them pumped up the entire game. The best part of the game though was their cadet band performing at halftime. Hardly anyone leaves their seats while the band performs and it is a must see if you go to a game down there. I've seen the Grambling State band and I've see the Ohio State band "dot the I" but this was the best college band performance I have ever seen. A long ways to drive for a football game but definitely worth it.
Left College Station at 9pm on Saturday night and got home at 4:15 AM on Sunday night. I did try to get a hotel about 100 miles from OKC but the 3 hotels I tried were full. Drove another 20 miles and pulled into the parking lot of a 4th hotel. As I parked my car I decided to recline the seat back and ended up taking a 45 minute nap. When I woke up I decided that I didn't want to spend any money on a hotel since I was only about 75 miles from home and had a "second wind" thanks to the nap. Drove home and jumped right into bed for a 4 hour "night" of sleep as I knew that I had a Thunder game waiting for me.
Worked our 4th regular season home game tonight. Still a little tired from my trip but my adrenaline is usually keeping me going once I get into the arena so made it through the game. Things continue to get better each game but still are not a smooth as I would like for them to be. We are getting there though and my stress level goes down with each game.
Time to go to bed and make up for the lack of sleep from my trip.
Wednesday we had a Thunder game and with it came the first "tornado watch" since I arrived. The weather has been great all month (other than the wind) but we had a little rain for all of 10 minutes and talks of a potential tornado for a short time starting at around 4:30 that night. I wasn't too concerned though as I figure the Ford Center is not a bad place to be if we do get the "T" word. The warning was only in effect until 10pm and by the time it passed I was off of work.
Friday I headed to College Station, Texas to go to a Saturday afternoon football game between Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The Aggies of A&M have a very storied football history and tradition and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The drive was just a little under 400 miles each way and I pulled into town just a little after 9pm. Met up with my friend and former co-worker Mark who was in town to meet with a vendor for a few days and we went to a local bar/restaurant to grab dinner. While there the server told us about how the students and fans gather at the stadium at midnight for "Midnight Yell" which is a tradition that goes back over 75 years. It is very similar to a Pep Rally where all of the fans practice the various team "yells" and fight songs. It lasted for about 30 minutes and I would guess that over 5,000 people attended. It was definitely an experience that I would recommend.
The game on Saturday was a blowout but the experience itself was incredible. Oklahoma won 66-28 but the college football atmosphere at Kyle Field is unbelieveable. Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN is on record saying that he thinks the best fans in the nation are at Texas A&M and he might be right. The original home of the "12th Man", just ask the Seattle Seahawks who were sued by the university for using the phrase. The entire student body is constantly participating in various cheers and songs the entire game as they take their orders from cadets that keep them pumped up the entire game. The best part of the game though was their cadet band performing at halftime. Hardly anyone leaves their seats while the band performs and it is a must see if you go to a game down there. I've seen the Grambling State band and I've see the Ohio State band "dot the I" but this was the best college band performance I have ever seen. A long ways to drive for a football game but definitely worth it.
Left College Station at 9pm on Saturday night and got home at 4:15 AM on Sunday night. I did try to get a hotel about 100 miles from OKC but the 3 hotels I tried were full. Drove another 20 miles and pulled into the parking lot of a 4th hotel. As I parked my car I decided to recline the seat back and ended up taking a 45 minute nap. When I woke up I decided that I didn't want to spend any money on a hotel since I was only about 75 miles from home and had a "second wind" thanks to the nap. Drove home and jumped right into bed for a 4 hour "night" of sleep as I knew that I had a Thunder game waiting for me.
Worked our 4th regular season home game tonight. Still a little tired from my trip but my adrenaline is usually keeping me going once I get into the arena so made it through the game. Things continue to get better each game but still are not a smooth as I would like for them to be. We are getting there though and my stress level goes down with each game.
Time to go to bed and make up for the lack of sleep from my trip.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting, Car Registration and Tuba Man
I VOTED!!! This isn't normally big news but I wasn't planning on voting when I woke up this morning. My Dad sent me some mail last week that arrived yesterday and as I was going through it I discovered my absentee ballot. I called the Snohomish County Auditor office to see if I was legit (ballot says up to 5 year prison sentence so I REALLY wanted to be sure). I was informed that I could vote so I filled out the ballot, ran over to get 2 of my apartment managers to sign the witness signature lines and headed to the post office.
Also registered my car today. $504.50!!! Just a little more expensive than in Washington State.
A couple of friends forwarded me some very sad news out of Seattle today. Turns out that 5 punks beat up Ed "Tuba Man" McMichael who later died as a result of the attack. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/386267_robert04xx.html
Ed was a great fixture at all sporting events and I was fortunate enough to have a few conversations with Tuba Man over the years. My favorite took place back in the Summer of 1995 when I was working for the Seattle SeaDogs which was a professional soccer team (played at Mercer Arena in 95 and the Key Arena in 96 and 97). We used to set up this big inflatable Dog Head on the sidewalk outside of Mercer Arena before home games and Ed would sometime be hanging out there with us as he awaited the arrival of the crowd. One night he was just talking away when I sarcastically said "I will give you a buck if you play Stairway to Heaven". Tuba Man in his deep voice slowly replyed "You want to hear some Stairway to Heaven Do Ya" and then turned away. There was about a 30 second pause as I turned back to complete the work on the inflatable, figuring that he wouldn't be able to play the Led Zepplin classic and suddenly Ed started playing Stairway. Needless to say, I walked over and dropped a buck into his tuba case. I always made it a point over the years to give Ed some spare change or a dollar whenever I walked by him and his tuba. I hope they catch the other 3 guys that did it because Tuba Man deserved far better. R.I.P Tuba Man and thanks for the memories.
Also registered my car today. $504.50!!! Just a little more expensive than in Washington State.
A couple of friends forwarded me some very sad news out of Seattle today. Turns out that 5 punks beat up Ed "Tuba Man" McMichael who later died as a result of the attack. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/386267_robert04xx.html
Ed was a great fixture at all sporting events and I was fortunate enough to have a few conversations with Tuba Man over the years. My favorite took place back in the Summer of 1995 when I was working for the Seattle SeaDogs which was a professional soccer team (played at Mercer Arena in 95 and the Key Arena in 96 and 97). We used to set up this big inflatable Dog Head on the sidewalk outside of Mercer Arena before home games and Ed would sometime be hanging out there with us as he awaited the arrival of the crowd. One night he was just talking away when I sarcastically said "I will give you a buck if you play Stairway to Heaven". Tuba Man in his deep voice slowly replyed "You want to hear some Stairway to Heaven Do Ya" and then turned away. There was about a 30 second pause as I turned back to complete the work on the inflatable, figuring that he wouldn't be able to play the Led Zepplin classic and suddenly Ed started playing Stairway. Needless to say, I walked over and dropped a buck into his tuba case. I always made it a point over the years to give Ed some spare change or a dollar whenever I walked by him and his tuba. I hope they catch the other 3 guys that did it because Tuba Man deserved far better. R.I.P Tuba Man and thanks for the memories.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Dislikes About OKC
Today hasn't been quite as eventful as other days so I thought I would include a fun list. It was close to 80 today which was good. I heard Seattle had very similar weather today :-)
So I have mentioned a few of the things that I like already about Oklahoma (traffic, sunshine, cost of living, nice people, obsessive college football state). How about a few things that I don't like as much:
1) It is windy in OKC. Not as bad as my experiences in Ellensburg (not that I am an expert on E-Burg but I have passed through town enough to know that it can be windy) but much more so than Seattle. Even 75 degree days start feeling like 50 degrees when you go jogging.
2) They still allow smoking in their bars and there appears to be a higher percentage of smokers than Washington. No offense to my smoking friends but I'm not a fan of smoking and wish all of you would kick the habit some day.
3) Almost all of the restaurants downtown stop serving food earlier than Seattle. This is not good when you work past 10:00. Seems like the only place you can walk to from the Ford Center and get a meal after a game is either Hooters or Sonic. One has awful food and the other is EVERYWHERE.
4) Business dress attire is way more formal than Seattle. This disturbs me as I start to think about getting a full time job. You see suit and tie outfits everywhere. Do you really have to be that dressed up to do business? I thought this was the 21st century. Where is Bill Gates when you need him.
5) Red dirt is everywhere. It gets blown around by the extreme wind (see #1 dislike) and gets all over your shoes and my car only stays clean for about an hour. There are a lot of car wash places down here and you can blame the red dirt for that.
6) State Income Tax. I don't really dislike this one just yet as I'm sure it has somewhat enabled me to get better pricing on my car and furniture. My Washington dollar goes farther here. A state income tax is probably a good thing but it just means my paycheck will be that much smaller.
7) Haven't seen too many true grocery stores out here. Seems as though you have to get everything from either Wal Mart or Target.
8) Not as many joggers around here. Greenlake always feels so alive and vibrant with activity everywhere and I like that when I am jogging. Lake Hefner can be lonely and the neighborhoods around where I live are lacking sidewalks. Where is the jogging community??
9) Saturday noon testing of the tornado alarms. I really don't hate these, especially now that I know what they are (it went off last Saturday and I couldn't figure out what was going on). I'm glad that they test them but it is also a reminder that mother nature can play dirty when it comes to this part of the country.
I'm sure I have other things that could be on this list but I can't think of any right now. Enjoy!!
So I have mentioned a few of the things that I like already about Oklahoma (traffic, sunshine, cost of living, nice people, obsessive college football state). How about a few things that I don't like as much:
1) It is windy in OKC. Not as bad as my experiences in Ellensburg (not that I am an expert on E-Burg but I have passed through town enough to know that it can be windy) but much more so than Seattle. Even 75 degree days start feeling like 50 degrees when you go jogging.
2) They still allow smoking in their bars and there appears to be a higher percentage of smokers than Washington. No offense to my smoking friends but I'm not a fan of smoking and wish all of you would kick the habit some day.
3) Almost all of the restaurants downtown stop serving food earlier than Seattle. This is not good when you work past 10:00. Seems like the only place you can walk to from the Ford Center and get a meal after a game is either Hooters or Sonic. One has awful food and the other is EVERYWHERE.
4) Business dress attire is way more formal than Seattle. This disturbs me as I start to think about getting a full time job. You see suit and tie outfits everywhere. Do you really have to be that dressed up to do business? I thought this was the 21st century. Where is Bill Gates when you need him.
5) Red dirt is everywhere. It gets blown around by the extreme wind (see #1 dislike) and gets all over your shoes and my car only stays clean for about an hour. There are a lot of car wash places down here and you can blame the red dirt for that.
6) State Income Tax. I don't really dislike this one just yet as I'm sure it has somewhat enabled me to get better pricing on my car and furniture. My Washington dollar goes farther here. A state income tax is probably a good thing but it just means my paycheck will be that much smaller.
7) Haven't seen too many true grocery stores out here. Seems as though you have to get everything from either Wal Mart or Target.
8) Not as many joggers around here. Greenlake always feels so alive and vibrant with activity everywhere and I like that when I am jogging. Lake Hefner can be lonely and the neighborhoods around where I live are lacking sidewalks. Where is the jogging community??
9) Saturday noon testing of the tornado alarms. I really don't hate these, especially now that I know what they are (it went off last Saturday and I couldn't figure out what was going on). I'm glad that they test them but it is also a reminder that mother nature can play dirty when it comes to this part of the country.
I'm sure I have other things that could be on this list but I can't think of any right now. Enjoy!!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
First Thunder Victory!!!
2 blogs in one weekend!! Just got back to the office after our 2nd home game. Our staff is still a work in progress but things did go much smoother than on Opening Night (not that it would take too much to top that one). My job seems to have changed a little bit since the Sonics days but I am adapting. I am much more of a behind the scenes guy now and hardly even dealing with anything that is related to what is happening on the court. If it works for the department, it works for me.
WE WON TONIGHT!!! Unfortunately for many of my Seattle family and friends, your wish will not come true and the Thunder will not go 0 for 82 this season. This doesn't mean that the folks of OKC should rush out and purchase their playoff tickets just yet. It was nice to see the team get a victory and watch all of the fans celebrating it afterward.
What is happening to my Seattle teams??? My Dad told me tonight that the headline on the Seattle Times sports paper this morning was 114-0 (combined score of what the Huskies and Cougars lost by on Saturday). I guess they can now change the headline to 140-7 after the Seahawks loss today. Luckily for me the internet on my phone was down all day so I just heard about the Hawks about an hour ago.
WE WON TONIGHT!!! Unfortunately for many of my Seattle family and friends, your wish will not come true and the Thunder will not go 0 for 82 this season. This doesn't mean that the folks of OKC should rush out and purchase their playoff tickets just yet. It was nice to see the team get a victory and watch all of the fans celebrating it afterward.
What is happening to my Seattle teams??? My Dad told me tonight that the headline on the Seattle Times sports paper this morning was 114-0 (combined score of what the Huskies and Cougars lost by on Saturday). I guess they can now change the headline to 140-7 after the Seahawks loss today. Luckily for me the internet on my phone was down all day so I just heard about the Hawks about an hour ago.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
OKC National Memorial, Mom Heads Home and Oklahoma Football
Life seems to have slowed down a little now that the first game is out of the way. Ended up staying at the office until 6:00 am after the game Thursday morning and went home to sleep until noon.
Friday my Mom and I went over to where the infamous Federal Building Bombing took place on April 19, 1995 and toured the museum. What an emotional experience. The location is just a few blocks from the Thunder offices and I had already been to the memorial site a few times however this was my first trip into the actual museum. Seeing all of the artifacts, pictures and various other media reports really put it in prospective. One wall had the very famous picture of the firefighter carrying the dead body of little Baylee Almon who had just turned a year old the day before and then you walk around a corner and see an individual tribute to all 168 of the victims and there is another picture of Baylee smiling in one of those ball pools. Suddenly she becomes that much more real and is not just an image in the picture of the aftermath. The museum and memorial are outstanding tributes to all involved in that awful event and it is something that should be experienced by anyone that comes to town.
Headed home that evening to be prepared for the trick or treaters, however we didn't get a single visitor so there is now extra candy in the apartment. Just what I needed.
Mom headed back to Seattle today after her 10 day trip. If it wasn't for her, I would still be living out of boxes right now. Always good to have Mom around and I think she really liked the area. My move has probably not been an easy one for her but she seems to be better with everything now that she has seen that I have landed in a good place and am surrounded by a community of nice people.
I went to my first football game at Oklahoma University earlier tonight. Went with co-workers Todd (Seattle guy) and Tyler (Oklahoma guy) along with Todd's girlfriend Nicole (another co-worker from Seattle). Nicole actually had tickets with another co-worker so just us 3 guys sat together. The drive to Norman is about 30 minutes from OKC. Final score; Oklahoma 62 Nebraska 28. Oklahoma was ahead 35-0 at the end of the first quarter so there wasn't much suspense in the game but we still had a good time. After the game we walked over to a local bar that had a large block party type of environment set up outside with a very large video projector on the side of the building. We ended up watching the last 6 minutes of the game between Texas and Texas Tech on the screen along with probably 500 people. I won't bore anyone with details but Oklahoma really needed Texas Tech to win the game if they are to have a chance to win the national championship. Texas Tech was ahead when we got there but then Texas took the lead with just a couple of minutes left in the game. Texas Tech then drove down the field and scored the winning touchdown with 1 second left in the game and the entire block of people were cheering and going nuts. It was a really cool experience and I'm glad we were able to be a part of it.
2nd Thunder home game tomorrow. This one I'm much more excited about as there should be considerably less chaos and stress. I will let you know how is goes.
Friday my Mom and I went over to where the infamous Federal Building Bombing took place on April 19, 1995 and toured the museum. What an emotional experience. The location is just a few blocks from the Thunder offices and I had already been to the memorial site a few times however this was my first trip into the actual museum. Seeing all of the artifacts, pictures and various other media reports really put it in prospective. One wall had the very famous picture of the firefighter carrying the dead body of little Baylee Almon who had just turned a year old the day before and then you walk around a corner and see an individual tribute to all 168 of the victims and there is another picture of Baylee smiling in one of those ball pools. Suddenly she becomes that much more real and is not just an image in the picture of the aftermath. The museum and memorial are outstanding tributes to all involved in that awful event and it is something that should be experienced by anyone that comes to town.
Headed home that evening to be prepared for the trick or treaters, however we didn't get a single visitor so there is now extra candy in the apartment. Just what I needed.
Mom headed back to Seattle today after her 10 day trip. If it wasn't for her, I would still be living out of boxes right now. Always good to have Mom around and I think she really liked the area. My move has probably not been an easy one for her but she seems to be better with everything now that she has seen that I have landed in a good place and am surrounded by a community of nice people.
I went to my first football game at Oklahoma University earlier tonight. Went with co-workers Todd (Seattle guy) and Tyler (Oklahoma guy) along with Todd's girlfriend Nicole (another co-worker from Seattle). Nicole actually had tickets with another co-worker so just us 3 guys sat together. The drive to Norman is about 30 minutes from OKC. Final score; Oklahoma 62 Nebraska 28. Oklahoma was ahead 35-0 at the end of the first quarter so there wasn't much suspense in the game but we still had a good time. After the game we walked over to a local bar that had a large block party type of environment set up outside with a very large video projector on the side of the building. We ended up watching the last 6 minutes of the game between Texas and Texas Tech on the screen along with probably 500 people. I won't bore anyone with details but Oklahoma really needed Texas Tech to win the game if they are to have a chance to win the national championship. Texas Tech was ahead when we got there but then Texas took the lead with just a couple of minutes left in the game. Texas Tech then drove down the field and scored the winning touchdown with 1 second left in the game and the entire block of people were cheering and going nuts. It was a really cool experience and I'm glad we were able to be a part of it.
2nd Thunder home game tomorrow. This one I'm much more excited about as there should be considerably less chaos and stress. I will let you know how is goes.
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