Category Archives: Boring Personal History

Rejuvenated Rear End

I’m still higher than a kite about my new license plate number 666BOI. I was so excited I decided to the truck repaired. You see about three years ago I got rear ended by a male nurse on the BA Expressway. (I know ha ha ha, har har har, you all are so darn funny, I’ve heard it all….) and my truck got damaged. I settled with his insurance company and got a check to fix it and never did.

In the meantime I got two cracks on the windshield, both of them eventually spread across the width of the glass.

Well, I can’t have the best license plate in the country be attached to a truck with a rear end that needed fixed. (Again, ha ha ha…. enough). So I took it in to get both the bumper and the windshield fixed.

Before,

After

Have you ever seen a rear end that was so smooth and wrinkle free?

Paul Harvey, 1918-2009

Paul Harvey the radio broadcaster passed away recently. He was 90 years old and a Tulsa native. He started in broadcasting at KVOO before he moved upward and onward to national syndication.

I never paid much attention to him until I had my first summer job in the oil fields of West Texas, chopping weeds, painting, waxing floors, cleaning up and providing much amusement to the guys in the roustabout gang. They timed their morning and evening breaks to Harvey’s broadcast. “Stand by for News” and then the much anticipated “Rest of the Story.” So I kind of got attached to him.

I don’t know how good a journalist he was. It was hard to tell the news segments from the commercials but he seemed like a great guy.

He hasn’t broadcast for years but I still miss him. I don’t think they have him on Satellite Radio anyway.

Natural Gas, Nuclear Energy, Nick’s Law and What Else?

I had a whirlwind day last Thursday.

First I drove from Tulsa down to Oklahoma City for a meeting of Natural Gas and Energy Association of Oklahoma. They had the meeting at the Oklahoma History Center near the State Capital.

You could really tell that the price of natural gas is down. Not many people showed up. March prices for Oklahoma gas could be down in the $2.70 per million btu range. That is about 1/3 of last summer’s prices, and its winter. Doesn’t look good for the rest of the year. Also, the speaker was going to talk about Nuclear Energy in Oklahoma. To a bunch of gas folks?

Some people have told me that energy companies rig the prices. I tell them that the energy companies are pretty piss poor at it.

The Speaker was State Represenative Scott Martin of Norman. He is sponsoring a bill to facilitate nuclear power plants in Oklahoma. I think it is a good idea. That is for another post.

I kept thinking Scott Martin, Scott Martin . . . Seemed like he was involved in the Nick’s Law controversy going on in Oklahoma. He is a Republican . . . Some Republicans’ have suggested that Oklahoman’s with autism and their families maybe need to move to some other state. That kind of bothers me. Maybe the politicians need to move instead.

Anyway I got home and googled Rep Martin and was very pleasantly surprised. According to this Rep Martin was one of only four Republicans who stood up to their leadership to try and bring Nick’s law to the floor last year. So, I think that he is a good guy. I wished I had talked to him, but he had to go to a hearing, busy, buys, busy.

Speaking as a Republican, I have been wondering for some time now what they bring to the table, I mean, if you are not a big contributor looking for special favors in return for contributions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to turn Democrat on anybody. But still I’m wondering.

I had other things to do so I didn’t go through the Oklahoma History Center. I have done it before and I really recommend seeing it if you hadn’t before.

I did go through the grounds though. Lots of oil and gas stuff there.

Drilling rigs of various vintages. Look at the sky, you wonder why I didn’t want to stay inside?

A pumpjack, an older model. For pumping oil.

There was a geocache on the grounds. I’m sorry to report that I didn’t find it.

Now, a boring blast from the past. I used to live close to the Capital in my pre-Sweetie days in an old neighborhood. So I went over there to take a look.

I loved this house. I signed a 1 year lease and left before the lease was up. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was disappearing. I even caught a fine young coed from that great Methodist school, Oklahoma City University, stealing bricks from the back yard. She said she didn’t realize that they belonged to anybody. She offered to put them back where she got them. Boy, that was nice of her.

I then left the city and headed west, to western Oklahoma. To check on some projects I helped put together commercially. In particular a couple of compressor stations.

Here is what one looks like. Isn’t it a beauty? Ok, time to quit.

What a Day! – But I Ate Good! – and Worked Hard!

What a day. Gramps has gone back to Idaho. We had a good time. We had martini time every night. We ate very well, we looked at historical stuff and viewed great art. When I went to my Health Club this morning, I found that I had gained three pounds in a week. Whew, I feel like I gained 20. Plus, I need to talk to the club manager. The towels have shrunk. They don’t fit all the way around me any more.

The other thing is that I finally finished with the Cub Scout Popcorn. I drove down to the Scout Office and gave them the check. I didn’t do such a great job this year. I misordered popcorn and had to scramble to make up, forgot to order one kids prize, lost a case of carmel corn (I got it back at least), and just made a hash of things. But hey, I got everybody to pay! I’m very frank with people who are laggards and they know it, so they just pay rather than put up with me. I don’t blame them, sometimes I can’t stand me either.

But hey, there I was at the Scout Office, relieved to be done with it but hungry. The Scout office is located at about 41st and Garnett right in the middle of an office park ghetto. Nowhere to eat. Then I had a vision. Popeyes, near 41st and Mingo. So off I went.

Now, Sweetie may disagree but I think that most of the time I eat pretty well. Its just the volume but still, I eat downtown at Subways, Roast Chicken, whole wheat, no cheese, all the veggies, yogurt, diet soda, or something similar at Quiznos. I like those meals and all but its not like I look forward to them and wouldn’t it be a tragedy if, God forbid, one of those was my last meal?

I lived in the Houston area for years and ate tons of Popeyes chicken before I started my migration to Oklahoma . So there I was at the counter, Three pieces, mixed dark and white, dirty rice, and a biscuit. If I’m going to eat food that is bad for me, I’m going eat good bad food. Lunch was great! And I lived to eat another low fat lunch.

I give Popeyes three stars out of four. Plus, its at the Gateway to great geocaching in Tulsa.


I’m not done yet. You may, but I’m not. I got home tonight and finished the molding in SuperPizzaBoys room. It took about 20 minutes to nail it in. I measured and cut the molding about three years ago and it has been sitting in his room all this time. You just don’t want to rush a project is what I say.

Now, I’m done. You can go now.

Geek License part iii

As my one or two readers know I’m working with the State of Oklahoma trying to keep my PE license. I have a continuing education requirement. I got audited and I sent in my documentation and the State rejected it all for what I think are arbitrary reasons.

I don’t really need a PE license because I don’t do engineering anymore. I’m in more of a sales job now. But that PE license took a lot of hard work.

First I had to fill out a detailed resume detailing all the engineering I had done. I had to describe my role in detail and provide references who could attest that what I said is true. That took months.

Then I had to take a test. It was only a one day test. The CPA test takes several days so I’m not expecting any sympathy but the test about killed me. When you take the test they mix up the disciplines. So Chemical, Mechanical, Civil, and Eletrical engineers don’t sit next to each other. After the test was over I knew right away I didn’t pass it. I felt worse because the guys sitting around me were saying, “I thought this was supposed to be hard” and other such comments.

Anyway, that was in late October and in due course of due time I found out that indeed I had not passed the test. I turned around and took it again the following April.

Sure enough, I showed up for the next test, and there were the same guys! Maybe they were taking it again for fun but apparently they didn’t pass the first test either. I am not ashamed to say that I was glad to see those guys! I do hope that they passed the test the second time and perhaps learned a little humility in the process. Does it show my rotten character if I admitted that I wouldn’t be heartbroken if they didn’t pass the test?

I passed the second time. Hallelujah! I got my certificate and I got a stamp and a seal. I have never used them except when I stamped the Engineering Badge certificates that I passed out last spring when I taught SuperPizzaBoy’s Patrol the basics of engineering. Too many laws, rules, and regulations about stamping engineering drawings and documents for me to be stamping and sealing things left and right.

Anyway, the PE is very dear to me because it took a sustained effort over time to get it so I try and follw the various rules closely to keep it. I’ve been told by other engineers that a PE is not that big a deal. Funny though, none of the people saying that actually have a PE. I don’t know why that is. I might be one of them if I don’t get this straightened out!

Well I’ll get back to the point. I obtained a letter from the organization that provided the seminars I attended for my CE credit. The letter verifies that I was there at the meeting where the seminars were held. They were nice enough to hand deliver the letter to me downtown. So I scanned it and emailed the scan to the State PE board along with a letter asking them to reconsider their earlier decision. Was it too much to mention my hungry wife and children and the landlord who was going to evict us and how world peace (or at least whirilled peas) hang in balance?

So, we’ll see what happens next.

Brennan’s Burns Down

I was surfing the net this morning reading about and saying silent prayers for the 20,000 morons on Galveston Island who had decided to “ride the storm out.” When I noticed that Brennan’s Restaurant near downtown Houston had burned down completely last night.

The story is here. Their web site including the menu is here.

That was the best restaurant in Houston and was a great place to take a date. The waiters were very old school and professional. They were more interested in making sure that you enjoyed the experience than being your buddy. The food was very rich and very good. Dinner took a long time to complete. Their signature desert was banana’s foster. It was quite a show. They prepared it on a cart at your table and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything better.

Pre-Sweetie, when I was still single back in the mid 1980’s I was dining at the restaurant with a date. We had a great meal and had just finished the banana’s foster and their strong coffee when all the sudden I passed out and fell out of my chair. I was not out very long and when I came to I had quite a crowd around me including a couple of physicians. (No, I had not a drop of alcohol.)

The staff had called an ambulance but I was feeling quite well. So I got up and walked out of the restaurant. The manager of the restaurant although very nice was glad to see me go told me that the dinner was on the house. What a deal.

My date, who was a nurse at one of the hospitals at the Houston Medical Center drove me to an emergency room. Never did find out what happened although rich food and caffeine and stuffy air can make me light headed.