Tag Archives: Life

Our World – Tulsa Tough and Crybaby Hill

I finally made it to a Tulsa Tough Bike Race and Crybaby Hill today (Sunday). I’ve missed out in past years but this was my year.

Tulsa Tough is a series of bike races held in Tulsa every June. It has grown and grown. It includes everything from a “Townie Ride” open to everybody to amateur and professional level criterium events. A criterium race, I’m told from Wikipedia, is a race on a short course consisting of closed off city streets. The race is a set number of laps. In other words they go around and around.

The formal name for the Crybaby Hill event is the “River Parks Criterium.” It is brutal. The riders start on Riverside drive and go for a short while and then climb up a steep hill and then make a right turn and then back down to Riverside drive down a very steep hill and then a greater than 90 degree turn. And then they repeat the lap, over and over. It looks brutal. Check this Tulsa World link for the story behind the Tulsa Tough races and Crybaby Hill.

They have classes all the way from youth to old guys and gals and professional levels. All sorts of very skinny yet muscular people speaking foreign languages this week in Tulsa.

Crybaby Hill is also a party. Check here for the origin of the name (if you didn’t before). Basically people get to the top of the hill and cheer the riders on.

I left today before it really got crazy. Next year I’m staying for the whole thing.

People wear strange outfits to the event.

In between laps the contractor handing the portapotties was racing to finish the installation. Everybody was yelling “clear the way for the *******. The orange lines are where the spectators are supposed to stay behind. They had to put those in because in years past, from what I’m told, the gap the riders could ride through got narrower and narrower as the day went on.

My favorite sign. Take that Westboro Baptist so called Church. The guys in the striped shirts are the supposed to keep everybody behind the orange lines. They enjoy their jobs.

The theme was “Under the Sea” so I guess that makes this guy King Neptune or something.

I’m not sure what she was supposed to be.

And some more characters. Notice the baby’s for sale. This is Crybaby Hill after all.

This is a brief video of the scene at the top of the hill where the riders are just about tuckered out and the crowd is cheering them on with cowbells, whistles, sirens and beer.

And this is a video at the bottom of the hill where they have to make a greater than 90 degree right turn on a steep downhill. You’d better have a precise line and good brakes to get through this unscathed.

Anyway a good time was had by all. And bikes were raced.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Post Memorial Day Weekend Update

Monday morning I got up, not too darn early, and headed out to Floral Haven Cemetery in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow. It is a huge cemetery and they have a program where a Veteran’s survivor can donate their loved one’s casket flag to be displayed on Memorial Day Weekend. There are over 3000 such flags put up and taken down every year by Boy Scouts and it makes for a great display.

I love it so I went to take some pictures. It is very inspiring especially since so many graves are decorated by loved ones also.

I love the idea of Memorial Day. A day where we remember those who went on before us and those who sacrificed themselves for our freedom.

And then I went home and attended to my smoking duties. My mother-in-law Nana found a local butcher in south Tulsa, Perry’s, at 81st and Sheridan. It is a small place but boy do they sell good meat at very reasonable prices. This is the second time we tried them and the results were great. The meat on the ribs pulled cleanly away from the bone and the chicken was very tender.

Heather was off running errands so Logan and I had to do some extensive sampling of the results . You know for quality control. We are all about quality control especially when it comes to food.

So we packed up the food including a birthday cake Heather made and headed off to Nana’s house. We made quick work of the main course and then Logan did a great job of blowing out the candles on the cake. You see we are getting close to his birthday and you can never start these celebrations too early is my mottow.

One puff is all it took so I guess that all his wishes will come through. I’m sure though that Super Bowl Championship for the Cowboys never occurred to him. I don’t know exactly where I went wrong raising the boy.

Here he is with his Mom.

And here is with his Nana.

And here I am with Rascal the Pomeranian. What is going on here? Is somebody trying to tell me something?

Anyway, we had a great Memorial Day, what about you?

Yarn Bombs, Baseball, Refineries, and a New Job

Some of the things I’ve been doing lately.

I came upon this yarn bomb just outside Elote’s in downtown Tulsa. I think Yarn Bomb’s are friendly graffiti. I mean they don’t age well but they don’t vandalize property either and they are kind of cute. I think Yarn Bomb’s are getting more prevalent. I’ve seen several around Tulsa.

Monday at the Gas Company we had our annual team building exercise. We go a daytime Tulsa Drillers AA baseball game. They feed us and we get to spend the afternoon watching the game. And then we have to go back to work cuz I work until 6. It is a very nice break in the middle of the day especially on a beautiful day like we had today. The Drillers lost one to nothing. It’s like cmon guys. You can’t score one run??

We have had a lot of rain the last week and lots of storms and in central Oklahoma some tornadoes. One day we had flooding and tornadoes and some big cats got loose at one of those low rent ripoff private zoos. We even had a tragic accident where somebody died in their tornado shelter. I’m telling you Oklahoma weather is pretty wild plus now we have earthquakes. The reason I’m telling you this is because on Wednesday instead of going for my regular long run on Turkey Mountain or the river I went on a short run of only about three miles. For part of the run I went where I wasn’t supposed to and got a good picture of one of our local refineries. Being the chemical engineer that I am I just love refineries and I think they are beautiful. What do you think?

While I was over where I shouldn’t have been I checked out the new not opened pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River. I thought about running down there and seeing what I could see but I didn’t like the big curve that hides the end. I mean, who is just around the curve. Bridges are creepy enough already. So I will delay my run across the bridge until I know that it is open. I’ll let you know.

Next, here I am at the barbers. Rozetta and Billie at Antonio’s in the Petroleum Club Building have been cutting my hair, or what is left of it anyway, for 23 years. Anyway, I was getting my hair cut because it was picture taking day at work. My official picture was taken fifteen years ago when I started work and I hated it. So I needed to make the most of it and so here is the new pic.

So here it is!! In case you are wondering, that is my smile, thank you very much.

And my job has changed. I am now helping develop projects and am less involved in the commercial area. it’s a good change for me. I had the job as Director of Gas Supply for Oklahoma (and for several years Kansas) for about 13 years and although I loved it, I’ve been ready for a change. I’ll be working with many of the same people I was before helping develop projects to achieve our commercial goals. Projects like pipelines, compressor stations, natural gas processing plants and all that other fun stuff.

Hey, have you had any changes lately? Tell us!

Overnight Retreat and Pub Crawl

Saturday afternoon we dropped the kid off at Nana’s house and Heather and I headed downtown for a little parents night out action. We checked in at a swanky hotel and then headed to the Brady District for dinner at Sisserou’s.

We had some great shrimp appetizers and a salad a couple of fru-fru cocktails. We had a nice relaxing time.

Afterwards we took a stroll around the Brady District and Guthrie Green and chatted with some friends.

And then we hopped in the car and drove over to the Blue Dome District to see if would could catch some live music. First though we stopped in at McNellies for a pint. I love that place.

We checked out a couple of other places that were supposed to have live music but the vibe wasn’t quite right or it was way too smoky, like at Arnie’s Bar. So we went to the Dust Bowl Lanes and had another pint. During our walking around me and coworker said hello.

So then it was like what the heck lets head back to the hotel. They have a fabulous rooftop bar so we just stayed up there and watched the people and enjoyed the breeze. We had a great time although we may have stayed up a little later than usual.

Sunday morning, we slept in and walked to a restaurant, ate a nice breakfast. The waitress recognized us from the Blue Dome Diner that we used to frequent about three years ago. That is Tulsa. You can’t get away from anything here. The biggest small town I’ve ever lived in.

And then it was time to retrieve the kid an get back to real life.

A Long Day

This morning I got up and caught a plane to Dallas. What a day to catch a plane to Dallas. In Dallas, the grass was green but the weather was gray and drizzly.

Dallas has the most spectacular intersections I have ever seen. In fact Dallas has more concrete than any city I have ever seen. Concrete is big business in Big D it looks like. I don’t know if you can tell but I’m not a Dallas fan. Except for the Dallas Cowboys, now I like them. I am not a fan of the Dallas Fort Worth Airport though. I have been flying to it or through it for almost forty years and I hate it. The food is awful also. Hey, I like the Dallas Cowboys though.

I’d never seen Dallas so drizzly. Enough on Dallas, okay? We went to see a custoemr and it was a short meeting . Too short. We flew back to Tulsa just in time to…. Go to work!!! Groan. That is okay because I was going to go run on Turkey Mountain afterward with a group of people.

So I went to Turkey Mountain and there were three other people to run the trails with me. Trouble was, there were all fast and I am slow. Actually if I speeded up I would be considered slow. I don’t apologize for it, it is what it is. Anyway when it came to time to go I said I would go run the paved trail instead of going with them. They were nice about it and if I wanted to go with them they would have stopped every now and then to let me catch up but neither they or I would have been too happy with that. So they headed off to the mountain and I headed down the hill to the paved trail.

I didn’t want to run by myself on the mountain at night. I run all they time during daylight by myself and never get turned around but I do get turned around at night on the mountain.

Running on the paved trail on the west bank was pretty eerie. Kind of Blair Witch Project Eerie. Starting with the message on the road above. Why should I keep going.

I ran about a mile and a half up the trail to the poop plant. A city wastewater plant. they have a flare where they burn off the poop gas.

And a big huge spherical tank. I don’t know what is in the tank. I don’t want to find out.

The trail has a railroad crossing. It was kind of spooky at night.

I was glad to get off the trail and back home because I had some research to do after such a long day.

A nice home grown Oklahoma Imperial Stout.

Man, what a long ass day is what I say.

How was your day?

A Week in Photographs

I take pictures all the time. I carry my cell phone, an ipod, and my Nikon point and shoot with me everywhere.

I take walks at lunch. Generally about one or two miles and I go all over downtown. I always pay attention to my surroundings and nearby people and I’ve had to pay extra attention. We have a new crop of homeless people downtown. It has changed the complexion of downtown and how people perceive the homeless. The new, younger, more thuggish group is a lot more aggressive than the older people who were the most polite homeless people I’ve ever seen. There is a lot more drug dealing downtown and it is done right out in the open and the participants don’t seem at all concerned about who sees them. This is a disturbing trend.

On another noon day I went out to west Tulsa to find a geocache. It was the first time I had been noon geocaching in a long time. The cache was on an abandoned road. How exactly does one decide to abandon a road? Anyway, it was fun.

About two weeks ago I moved offices in our building from the 17th floor to the 5th. So my views to the west for sunsets is different. No more views of the refinery or the Arkansas River. Instead I get the above. I’m not complaining.

But hey I got a different view toward the city center also. Everything always seems to work out.

Got my teeth cleaned and xrays. No cavities!!! I hardly ever have cavities. The secret is regular flossing. I always floss the night before I go see the dentist.

This morning I took the kid to school on my day off. After I dropped him off I parked on the Arkansas River and walked a little and took some pictures. I loved this bench and the bare branches of the tree, along with the River and the swell of Turkey Mountain in the background.

Friday night Logan had a comedy improv show. Laughing Matter Teen Improv at Clark Theater is a lot of fun. Logan is second from the left. We have been going for years and it has been fun watching these young people grow up.

So that is what I’ve been up to, what about you?

Hanging Out on Friday

At work I am on a 9/80 schedule which means that I work 80 hours over nine days and get every other Friday off. I live for those every other Fridays. It’s the day Heather and I get to hang around with each other.

So yesterday we dropped the kid off at school, grabbed a quick bite at Einstein’s Bagels and then Heather treated me to a pedicure. I kind of like them especially when they don’t get too rough with the bottoms of my feet. I hate the cheese grater they use.

We ran some Christmas errands and had lunch at an Antique Mall and then browsed. I like browsing and taking pics of the merchandise. I never feel led to buy anything though. I guess that I’m cheap or maybe we have too much stuff already. Most people I know have way too much stuff.

I know that the owners of the booths are in it to make money but I think it has to be a passion for many of them. Many of the booths are laid out very well and you can tell that a lot of thought went into the merchandise on sale. I like it when I see passion and what one does for a check aligned. Unless the passion is making money then it often turns ugly.

Later on we took Logan to his play that he is in, Clark Theater’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (or “BCPE” to the old pros). They have two casts and they are doing lots of performances and it ends tomorrow. Last week the Director came to talk to me. Apparently Logan had been doing a little improvisation on his lines and singing and she wanted him to stick to the script. He has been doing Improv for years and this is his first play so we had to convince him that the character he plays, “The Reverand” is not supposed to be funny. He bought into it and from all reports he is back on track with the latest performance.

He is on tonight and tomorrow afternoon when the production ends. It has been quite an experience for him juggling a heavy performance schedule and finals but he is doing fine. He and us are stressed but we’ll get through it.

Anyways we are proud of the kid. He is doing great.

Pondering on Upselling

Upselling (sometimes “up-selling“) is a sales technique whereby a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. Upselling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products but can be simply exposing the customer to other options that were perhaps not considered. Upselling implies selling something that is more profitable or otherwise preferable for the seller instead of, or in addition to,^[1] the original sale.

A sales strategy where the seller will provide opportunities to purchase related products or services, often for the sole purpose of making a larger sale.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/upselling.html#ixzz3DXMcfofi

“…to try to persuade a customer to buy a more expensive item or to buy a related additional product at a discount.” (from dictionary.com)

I got to thinking. In the three years I have owned my little Kia Soul, nobody has tried to “Upsell” me on anything. Some of my coworkers are actually embarrassed for me. Almost all of the kids at my son’s high school drive bigger and faster cars than me.

When I take it to the car wash though I get charged extra because it is a “plus sized SUV.” I love that car wash! What salesmanship!!!

I guess that I am a lot more glad than sad about that. I don’t miss it.

What about you? You want to supersize those fries?

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world

Tag Archives: Life

Our World – Tulsa Tough and Crybaby Hill

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Post Memorial Day Weekend Update

Yarn Bombs, Baseball, Refineries, and a New Job

Overnight Retreat and Pub Crawl

A Long Day

A Week in Photographs

Hanging Out on Friday

Pondering on Upselling

Linking with Our World Tuesday

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