Category Archives: Observations

A Homeless Guy, Leviticus 23:22, and my Lunch

One day early this week I went over to my Subway on Cheyenne in downtown Tulsa and got my usual: 6″ roasted chicken on wheat, no cheese, pickles, onions, olives, with apple chips as a side and a Diet Doctor Pepper. It being a nice day I ventured east to our new park to eat and watch the goings on.

On my way there I was accosted by an old black man. Oh no, I said to myself here we go.

“Sir”, he said. That is how they all start out.

“Yes,” I said as I kept on walking.

“Could I talk with you just a second?”

“What about?”

“I noticed you just came out of the Subway.”

“Yep,” I’m still walking. Stopping is a no no.

“I was wondering if you had any spare change?”

“No, actually all I want to do is eat my lunch.”

“Sir, I need to get to Oklahoma City, because I want to go to Phoenix to see my sister and the ticket is $23.” and I’m thinking why do they all have to go somewhere to get somewhere else to see their sister? I’ve quit asking them.

“Like I said, I just want to eat my lunch.”

“You can look at my ID, if you want.” That’s another common statement. What would that prove?

“No, I just want to eat my lunch in peace.”

“I just need some money sir. I need to get something to eat.”

“I’ll give you my lunch, but I’m not giving you a penny.”

“I don’t want your lunch sir.”

“If you are hungry, you can have my lunch.”

“Uh, ok,” so I hand him my lunch, and then I said, “Here take the drink too.”  and he gives me the best line ever.,

“You didn’t drank from it did you?”

(I didn’t, I wouldn’t have offered it to him if I had.)

Now, I’ve done similar things before, not too often. A hungry man will not exactly snatch a bag of food out of your hand but you can tell somehow by the way they they put a grip on it when you hand it to them. This guy just stood there as I walked off.

I got clear of him on the other side of the park and turned to watch him. He walked over to the campaign office of one of our mayoral candidates and walked in. “What the heck?” I don’t even want to speculate.

The whole experience left me out of sorts and irritated. I bought another lunch somewhere else and managed to eat in peace.

I’ve always liked the scripture Leviticus 23:22:  ” ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'”  (NIV)

I’m not a farmer of course but I like the idea that you are to leave a little bit for others. I can afford to donate a lunch every third year or so is how it turns out.

The homeless situation really puzzles me. I don’t want to make light of the situation. It looks totally miserable and dangerous to me. I can tell you that I cannot stand to be hungry and hate that some people especially children go to bed hungry at ngiht. It just seems to me sometimes that maybe the homeless are enabled by the enterprises that support them.

I mean just in one area north of downtown Tulsa we have a homeless ghetto” The Day Center for the Homeless, the Salvation Army Shelter,  John 3:16 Mission we also have the Iron Gate Ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church and of course the City County Jail.

I don’t mean that these organizations are explointing the homeless or are not genuine. I am just wondering if we are supporting the lifestyle a little too much? Should we be trying to get them employed and in an apartment rather than just feeding them and kicking them out for the night? I was trying to do some research for this post and I found it almost impossible to get unbiased hard information about how many homeless there are. Their are widely differing statistics out there most of them by homeless advocacy organizations.

I don’t know what do you think?

By the way, I think I was totally scammed. I wanted my lunch back as soon as I gave it to him. Know something else, I don’t think he wanted it! I think he threw it away. We were like mutual victims of the conversation and couldn’t take it back.

WWOD? (What would Obama do?)
WWGBD? (What would Glenn Beck do?)

Green Day – “21st Century Breakdown” and Digressions


There are a few advantages to getting older. One is that you don’t have to be on the cutting edge of everything to be cool. In fact you don’t even have to be cool anymore. Uhh, truth is, you don’t have any choice, nothing you can do can make you cool. Cool! unless you happen to be married to somebody like that. Poor Sweetie.

Anyways, I was bee bopping through Target earlier this week checking out this and that and came to an end cap in the music section. There was a display that said “New Music.” It had Green Day CDs, “21st Century Breakdown.” So I said “cool”, bought it, and have been listening to it the last several days.

It surprised me. I think of Green Day as kind of punkish. Old punkers in their 40’s or so. They look the part. This CD, although it rocks is quite musical, in fact it is kind of “pop” in some tunes. It has 18 tracks and there is quite a variety here. I have listened to the whole thing a half dozen times and I’m not tired of it yet. The cd can rock but then it gets all melodic. I think that it is quite good.

Check out the bands web site here. It has cool stuff, except for the widgets bloggers use on our posts. None of their widgets work at all. Which is par for the course for band web sites.

The cd came out in May so its not like brand new, but I love it.

I give it a 3.5 stars out of 4. Which is good!

Anybody out there a Green Day fan? Tell us about it.

After I wrote this, I checked out the reviews. Turns out this cd is a rock opera in three parts. Imagine that, I had no idea. I don’t listen to lyrics, I cannot understand them anyway. (Drives Sweetie to the brink sometimes, this trait of mine!) The opera is all about how life was hard under George Bush. Ugh, I’m no W fan at all, but He’s gone folks. He is walking his dog in Dallas people. He is even carrying a pooper scooper! He is out of the picture. SO FOR THE LOVE OF PETE CAN’T I JUST LISTEN TO SOME MUSIC without some sort of political message. Ahhhhhhh!!! By the way, as a certified tax payer, and a certified Republican non fan of “W”, I’m willing to spend a little extra so that a former President of the United States of America doesn’t have to scoop his dog’s poop. Please!

Anybody else out there tired of the culture wars? What we can going to do about it? Class? Class?

Angelina Jolie Breastfeeding? – So What?

One of the oddest pieces of news I’ve read lately is that Oklahoma City is getting a statue of a nude Angelina Jolie breastfeeding two babies. Its kind of hard to figure out what it is all about because information is hard to come by. Many of the headlines talk about the statue being on the “Streets of Oklahoma City.” Apparently the statue is inspired by a picture of Ms. Jolie breastfeeding a couple of babies that appeared on the cover of W last year. The picture was shot by her husband Brad Pitt.

I didn’t look for the cover shot but I did look for the statue. You can check it out for yourself here. I don’t know anything about art, but this work doesn’t appear to be anything for the ages.

Despite what the headlines say the statue is going to be displayed in an art museum in Norman, Oklahoma. So we can drive around town without worrying about being flashed. Later on it is moving to London.

The piece was sculpted by a Daniel Edwards. He made the statue in order to encourage women to breast feed. So all you Okie pregnant women reading this, run on down to Norman to look at the statue in order to get your encouragement. Give me a shout back to let us know if it worked or not.

Daniel Edwards has done some other pieces according to the article in the link including a sculpture of Britney Spears giving birth. I haven’t seen it, don’t want to see it, but it is supposed to be anatomically correct. You will have to Google that one yourself.

So, I’m sorry, I don’t get the whole deal. I have seen all sorts of public breastfeeding. It doesn’t offend me or anybody else, and it is almost always done discreetly with some sort of drape and everybody averts their eyes and its cool. It has been going on for years in Oklahoma without any help from Hollywood actresses, their husbands, and flaky sculptors.

So I don’t think the statue is a big deal at all. What do you think?

Stealing and Cheating

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, I say “Prosecute them,” “Sue them,” Get rid of them.

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

Kaitlyn Arquette and her Family – Updated

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

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

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

Doing some research I find out that the Arquette’s are a talented family. Robin and Kait’s mother is Lois Duncan, who wrote the book “Hotel for Dogs” that was recently released as a movie. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” is also her book. She also wrote a book about her the murder of her daughter “Who Killed My Daughter?” and a sequel that came out in 2013, One to the Wolves, on the Trail of a Killer. She always had several projects going including the filming of a movie for the Lifetime Network. She taught at the University of New Mexico and has 300 published magazine articles, and was a contributing editor to Woman’s Day. She had a very nice web site. I don’t ever remember even meeting Robin’s mother.

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

17 June 2016 Update: Lois Duncan died at age 82 on June 15 at her home in Florida. She leaves a great legacy.

House Party on C Street

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

I find this whole thing incredible and disturbing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any Okies want to Moon Amtrak?

It is the little surprises in life that make it interesting. The things you don’t expect. I was going through the Wall Street Journal reading all about how ole Obama is ruining the country and the AIG execs are wanting their retention bonuses (Retention!? Darn let’em go I say. I could go to the plasma center and find people who could lose as much money as AIG has just on the execs regular salaries.) Oh, yeah sorry. Anyway I found out that in California there is a sport called “Amtrak Mooning.”
No lie!! It is absolutely true. It even has its own web site. (Note family safe link – there are lots of non family safe links if you want to Google or Bing “Amtrack mooning.”) They have been doing it for 30 years. It is done once a year in Laguna Niguel, California. You show up and when an Amtrak train comes by you moon it. The local tracks have 38 passenger trains a day starting at 7:35 in the morning and ending at 11:22 pm. So there is lots of opportunities. Thousands of people show up. They moon trains, they drink, moon some more.

You better hurry though. This year’s is tomorrow. So better get your tickets and head to the airport. Also, the town is hard to get to. The authorities suggest that you “Take the train.” Wow, moon and get mooned. Same day. A nice rhythmn, “moon in, moon, moon out.” Kind of like “Don’t worry, be happy.”
Be aware though, the local powers to be are threatening to be out in force and try to stop this event. It is a threat to public safety they say! I think Obama is behind the ban. Another attack on our way of life! Our traditional values and sacred rights! Are we Americans going to put up with this?

Note: Photo courtesy of Amtrak.

Trail Ride

On our trip to Idaho we took a two hour trail ride

SuperPizzaBoy about to mount his horse under supervision of Gramps, his grandfather.

Sweetie, always has a smile.

My cousin Merri Ann is all set to go.

We crossed a little stream.

My sister, Ellen, brother Bob, and cousin Karol.


I liked this picture mainly because of the horses ears.

It was a cool misty afternoon and we all had a pretty good time.

Sweet Dreams at Orpha’s Lounge

Downtown Tulsa is really pretty clean compared to a lot of downtowns. There are hardly any places to get in trouble. Urban renewal and the police have gotten rid of many of the dives.

There is one holdout though. Orpha’s Lounge. I walk by it regularly and one of my running routes takes me by it quite a bit. Over the years I have seen all sorts of people stumbling in and out the place.

A friend and I were walking by the other day and saw this scene. I guess one of the patrons was sleeping it off. I’ve never seen that before. Most people pick the alleys and overpasses to sleep it off. I guess this guy just couldn’t wait.