The economy is in a shambles. The price of oil is just above $40 and according to some is headed to $25 next summer. Worried about your job?
I’ve never been laid off (knock on wood) but I’ve been through the downsizing process plenty of times and “sold” 7 times.
Here is some good advice.
At noon today I took a little walk to check out the outdoor ice arena. It was a little chilly and all the machinery was going full blast but the ice looked very soft. I’m not sure this concept is going to work. One problem is the location. It is right behind the BOK Arena, right next to the downtown heating plant. Pretty ugly. I didn’t even take a picture of it it was so ugly.
Right next to it is what I guess is the city Christmas Tree. Isn’t it pretty? A spruce or fir from Colorado or Wyoming? Nope, its an artificial tree. Its hollow inside. You could fit a whole busload of homeless guys in there. I can tell you from my years of poking around downtown looking for good geocache hiding spots, that anywhere there is a hidey hole big enough to put a person into, someone is in it. So I didn’t poke around inside that tree too much.
You know, there are various tours of downtown Tulsa one can make. You can tour the Art Deco buildings, the Oilman’s offices, Historical sites, shoot they even have tours of the tunnels. I could show you where the homeless guys stay. What, do you think they live in the suburbs and drive in every day? Nope, they live right downtown. They are ahead of trend! They are taking up the best geocaching locations but I don’t hold that against them.
In the background is the BOK Arena. I don’t recommend the cheap seats but I love the way it looks. I don’t get all the whining, complaining, bitching, pissing, moaning, and groaning going on about it. I love the building.
All my wandering and wondering made me hungry so I went for a late lunch at Billie’s on the Square. You know the square where the circle is? They have the second best hamburgers in town and the best Chicken Sandwiches. I had my favorite: The Southwest Chicken Sandwich. No fries, just a diet soda to drink. It is the best Chicken Sandwich in Tulsa. I give Billie’s three stars out of four.
My Dad, Gramps, is in town visiting us for Thanksgiving. He is really into history and art type stuff so over the years we have taken him to the Gilcrease Museum, Philbrook, Woolaroc, the Oklahoma History Center and the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, the Chisolm Trail museum in Duncan, and several other places that I have forgotten about. So yesterday we traveled down to Tahlequah to check out the Cherokee Heritage Center.
It is very cool, we enjoyed it very much, and I recommend it to anybody. They have a museum that had a temporary exhibit on some very intricate beadwork. The exhibit that blew me away was the display about the double dealing and thievery by white people prior to the Trail of Tears where the Cherokee, along with other tribes, were removed from their lands in the east to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. It was a very brutal process.
Big weekend for SuperPizzaBoy. Birthday party Friday night and then his friend Q had a sleep over at our house. After a nutritious sprinkle donut breakfast and a mentally stimulating multihour videogame session we headed to the fairgrounds for Kids World International Festival put on by the Tulsa Global Alliance.
Its kind of an old school idea, that understanding cultures besides our own is of some benefit. I am not sure it leads to world peace or whirled peas but it was fun today.
Each child gets a passport and then goes to booths representing many different countries and organizations to get their passport stamped and maybe engage in an activity. Everything from trying out wooden shoes from the Netherlands to crayon rubbings to coloring to receiving a sample cd of songs from the Tulsa Opera. We spent a couple hours there and saw it all.
SPB and Q showing off their fish rubbings.
SPB showing some karate moves at the Japan booth.
The exorcists are still working. I guess the rats are still around. But the exorcists are getting a lot better singing and chanting and they have more songs to choose from. I have to admire their persistence. I still don’t quite understand all of what is going on. I see them most days of the week when I head to Topeca for my medium Americano, no room.
The picture was taken on Veterans Day. They shut down to watch the parade with the rest of us.
About 200 feet away up the street the Shamers were out. They have been at it quite a while also. They show up for a few hours every day. Used to be they were at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Now they are at IBC Bank. I don’t know what they have a problem with. Anybody have an idea?They are not as approachable as the Exorcists. The shamers put their sign up and then glare at the passersby. Hey don’t put a big sign up and then act hostile!
They put their sign up and watched the parade with everybody else also.
Tulsa is supposed to be a big pro-business, anti union town. What’s up? I did notice that the Air Transport Union and the United Auto Workers had entries in the parade. For businesses, Henry Primeaux had an entry. Were there any others? Hey banks were closed. Government offices were closed. Where were those guys and gals? Come on businesses and government employees, step up! Enter the parade next year.
Tuesday was Veteran’s Day. I don’t think most people realize it except when they look for the mail. If you work in downtown though you get to see the parade. I hardly ever miss it. I love parades and I think that the Veteran’s Day parade is special.
You see, not only are there Veterans in the parade but a lot of Veterans dig out their old field jackets or service caps and come downtown and watch the parade. Some of them walk off the sidewalks and into the parade. Nobody minds. This parade is for them! So go ahead, if you are a Veteran, get out and walk in your parade. Its for you.
For a good parade you have to have police motorcycles. This parade had lots of them. The city lost a lot of money in traffic tickets today. They’ll have to double up to makeup, so watch it.
And, of course, the parade had Vets. Lots of Vets. Walking, riding motorcycles, riding in cars. These guys rode in a trailer.
And you have to have flags for a parade, especially a Veteran’s Day parade. Their were lots of flags and lots of color guards. I thought the guys below were especially sharp.
This year we had a bagpipe band. I think that bagpipes are very cool. A bunch of them playing together is especially good. These guys were great.
My favorite entry in the parade was an alliance of home schooled children. They had a huge flag that they carried flat. They were walking along having a good time. They were not marching in step sharply like the JROTC squads, they were just in the parade like everybody else, honoring the Veterans who served and sacrificed in the past and the troops, sailors, airmen and others who are serving their country now.
What the parade was missing were men and women who are now serving. I think they are somewhere else right now.
For several months now a group of 20 or so people have been picketing in downtown Tulsa right on the sidewalk in front of the Mayo Hotel. Right at the door of Topeca coffee. I see them several times a week when I go in for my daily Americano. They are protesting the contractor working on the Mayo renovation project. To me it looks like the picketers are trying to do an exorcism.
Based on the book and movie, The Exorcist, I always thought that you had to be a priest to be perform an exorcism. Apparently it is not true, carpenters can do if led properly. That’s right its a bunch of carpenters doing this exorcism. I don’t know if they are ordained carpenters or not. They don’t look like carpenters to me. They look like homeless people and also needs roofing repair services to all their homes in their locality.
The head exorcist told me that they were all members of the carpenters union. I didn’t argue with him. He didn’t have the air of a man who really wanted to debate the difference between being a carpenter and being a member of the union. He did assure me though that they don’t have a problem with the coffee shop.
They might need to rethink their strategy. These men and women have been at this almost every day for at least two hours a day for months.
And the rats are still there. Yep, that is what they are trying to do is get the rats out of the Mayo Hotel. You have to admire them. These bunch of carpenters can chant loud.
“Get the Rats out, get the rats out,
Rats gotta go, Rats gotta go”
Over and over again.
