Monthly Archives: June 2009

Drowsy Chaperone

Last Friday night we left SuperPizzaBoy with Nana and Sweetie and I traveled downtown to see the touring production of “The Drowsy Chaperone.” I had never heard of the musical and had no expectations.

This might be one of the best musicals I have ever seen. The story line is incomprehensible but the production is magical, and the actors and actresses were “selling it.” It was great.

I rate this production a rare four stars out of four.

Special thanks to Baloney and Doc who let us have their tickets very close to the stage. Sweetie and I have tickets up in the second balcony and it was nice not having to bring oxygen and binoculars to the show.

That’s My World – Tulsa’s Midcontinent Tower

The Midcontinent Tower in downtown Tulsa at 37 stories is one of the tallest buildings in town. What most people don’t know is that it is actually two buildings. One built in 1918, the other built in 1984 and they don’t touch other.

As people working for foundation repair lafayette say, the quality of the foundation is the soul of the building. This would have been the secret here. The original building was built by Tulsa Oilman Joshua Cosden in 1918 in a tudor gothic style. It is 16 stories tall. The building passed along various owners to Reading and Bates Corporation, an offshore drilling company. By this time the building was known by its present name, the Midcontinent Building. R&B renovated the building in 1982. In 1984 they built the Midcontinent Tower. It’s ground location is to the west of the original building but cantilevers over the Midcontinent Building by about 40 feet. The two buildings do not touch each other. In the lobby the building security people will show you the gap if you ask. There is a rubber expansion gasket to keep the elements out.

The two buildings are free standing, each with their own foundations. The older building is concrete, the newer building has a steel framework. If you want to level your home with Smart Foundation Systems, you could click here and get the best service.

As with most of the significant buildings in Tulsa the security guys will encourage you to wander around the public areas and take pictures to your heart’s content. The guard in this building had a four page handout he gave me. He said lots of people from all over the country come in to look around.

The lobby is very ornate with different types of marble on the walls and the floor and the striking sculpture above.

The exterior is very nice. The tower required 85,000 pieces of terra cotta. You can hardly tell the old building from the new building. The 1984 expansion was done very nicely.

The lobby has two stained glass panels showing a panoramic view of the Tulsa Skyline.

Below is one of two paintings hanging in the lobby by one of my favorite western artists,Wilson Hurley. Mr Hurley died in 2008 at 84 years old. I got to say hello to him a couple years before that when he was touching up a painting of his that hangs in the lobby of the building where I work.

In the basement is an example of the steel work that went into the tower. I find this kind of stuff fun.

The building is immaculate and they welcome visitors. If you find yourself in downtown Tulsa with a few spare minutes wander in and look at it.

For other photographs and information from just about everywhere check out My World.

Ecumenical Exercise

I don’t like change too much. I am a creature of habit. For 17 years I belonged to the Health Zone exercise facility in Tulsa. They had two locations. One in South Tulsa and another smaller one downtown. So if I missed a workout in the morning then I had a bailout time at noon. It was great.

Well, all good things have to end right. The Health Zone shuttered their downtown facility. I wanted to have two facilities. One in South Tulsa and another downtown. And I didn’t want to pay much more money than what I was paying before. You see, I am not only a creature of habit, I also love a bargain. I love running downtown at noon but I like the amenities of the much larger south Tulsa facility. People kept telling me, “its over, you need to choose, get over it!”

They were wrong, I didn’t have to choose, I got what I wanted. I found the Youth and Family Center (“YFC”) of the First Methodist Church in downtown Tulsa. It is a facility about a half mile from my office with wonderful facilities. And the day before I walked in it turns out my employer cut a deal with them. The Health Zone cut me a deal also. So now I get two facilities for only $6 a month more for what I was paying before.

And its better! For my weekly kitchen pass run after work I go to the YFC and change and then run from there down to the river less than a mile away. I don’t have to change in the car after work hoping that I don’t get arrested for indecent exposure. Afterward I shower at the YFC instead of stinking up the car and the house.

So, I can exercise with the Catholics in the morning or run with Methodists later in the day. Its an ecumenical trend!

You guys who told me that I can’t have everything I want, go jump in the lake. What do you know?

Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian

Last week the Yogi Family went to see “Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian.” I enjoyed it thoroughly even though the critics didn’t like it as much as the original “Night at the Museum.” I agree, it wasn’t as good, but it was still very good.

Check out the web site for the movie. The web sites for movies are some of the best stuff on the internet. You will find information about the movies, games for the kids, trailer, all sorts of fun stuff.

Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, and Owen Wilson are great. Amy Adams plays a cute and sassy Amelia Earhart.

I rate this movie 3 stars out of 4. A kid movie that a grownup can enjoy. What more do you want?

Skywatch Friday – Front Range Sunset

South of Fort Collins, Colorado.

Almost the end of a great day.

For more views of the Sky from all over the world check out Skywatch Friday.

“Road Dogs” by Elmore Leonard

I just finished this book. It is a well done tale of two cons, legendary bank robber Jack Foley and millionair criminal and murderer Cundo, who “jail” together in prison (Road Dogs is a term for people who buddy up in prison). There is also Dawn, Cundo’s girlfriend who has waited eight years for him to get out of prison, Tico, the Monk, and an FBI agent out to nail Foley.

The Road Dogs get out of prison and the fun starts. I cannot say more without ruining the story but there is much conniving and double crossing going on.

I rate this book three stars out of four.

Nano’s

SuperPizzaBoy and I snuck in another geocache while coming back from Nana’ s house the other day. I won’t tell you what cache it was because of the picture above. What SPB is holding in his hand is the cache container, the little metal container on the left and the log, the rolled up paper on the right. You see, knowing what the container looks like on this particular cache would make it much easier to find it, thus spoiling the experience. Geocachers generally like to find the caches on their own. This one was our 772nd find.

Caches with very small containers are called “nano caches”. Finding one is like the needle in the haystack. SPB and I have one in downtown Tulsa called “Tulsa Club.” It is a pentel pencil lead container. A surprising number of people find it.

Give a cop a hug, or not.

After 54 years of living under the radar, 2009 is Yogi’s year for pissing policemen off. Earlier this year I got growled out via a loudspeaker from a cop car about 15 feet away from me at about 5:45 am.

Last Friday, I took a late lunch downtown and went for a run. On my walk back I crossed a street midblock about a block ahead of a police car. He pulled up to the intersection to the stop light facing north. I was going north, I wasn’t even thinking of him, I looked east and west and thre were no cars so I started across the sidewalk without a walk light. He honked his horn and yelled at me.

I went over there and asked him what was wrong. He was very angry. He said “I can’t believe that you jay walked right in front of me and now you are going cross that street against the light with me sitting right here.” I said sorry about that. He waved his arms and yelled, “Yeah well what up Bro” and burned rubber taking off.

So, I am a little puzzled. He wasn’t worried that I was doing anything that was endangering myself, him, or others. I was disrespecting him! By serial jaywalking!

I have been walking and running extensively around downtown and surrounding neighborhoods for 17 years. I hardly ever cross streets at intersections. Do you know why? Because it is dangerous that’s why! The cars turning don’t look for pedestrians. I cross mid block generally. No turners.

What is wrong with our policemen! I don’t think they are feeling the love. I’m not either.

I’ve always got along great with policemen until this year. I think that have very stressful jobs and are underpaid for what they do. My best friend in high school, Jeff Russell, eventually became an Albuquerque policeman and died in a car crash while on duty in 2002.

Anybody have any ideas about what we can do to make our policemen feel more secure?

My World – Modern Run

When Tulsa residents think about architecture they think about the art deco buildings downtown. These buildings have been documented well and many of them are well taken care of by their owners.

Just south of downtown are several modern buildings that are interesting either visually or historically. I went past several during a noon run last week.

First up is the Abundunt Life Building on South Boulder. It was built in 1957 by the Oral Roberts Ministries who occupied it until they moved to south Tulsa. There are all sorts of wild stories about the building during the Oral Roberts ownership. Since I don’t repeat rumors, you will have to read them yourself here. The building has been empty since the 1980’s. The city is after the present owner to bring into compliance with code.

Above is the “new” Mapco Building, below is the “old” Mapco building. Mapco was a natural gas liquid pipeline company that was purchased by Williams in 1997. I tried to do some research on the internet but was not able to find out when the buildings were built or who architect were.

The new building is very bold in design, but cool and corporate. The old building is warmer and humane but has two interesting features to me. One is the large flag that always flies over the building . The building overlooks Veteran’s Park which is the prime fireworks viewing spots on July 4. The flag always looks great with the fireworks.

The second feature is the cool little individual shades over the windows. It makes for interesting shadows during certain times of the day.

The new building has shades over the windows also. It can get hot in Oklahoma in the summer.

Below is an apartment building on my running route. I guess that you could call this modern in design. It looks better in the picture than it does in real life. It looks like it is made of reinforced concrete. It might stand up well in a tornado. Note the overhands at each level which could function to shade the windows.

Below is a more attractive modern apartment building. It is a Tulsa landmark and overlooks the river.
Below is the former Getty Oil building. This building has really grown on my over the years. The exterior lookss like it is a lattice. I never really noticed it before.

Below is the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. Again, it has overhangs that can shade the windows during the heat of the day.

That’s about it. What struck me about researching the more modern buildings compared to older buildings is the paucity of information about architects, builders, etc. Just like everything else we won’t appreciate many modern buildings until after they are are gone.

ModernTulsa is a web site and blog that is very useful in learning about modern buildings.

Check out My World for more photographs of our world, from all ove.

No Rest on the Seventh Day, but I am not Complaining

Sunday:

Lets see, up at 5:15 am, get dressed, drive down to the Arkansas River. Run six miles with Burt and Jeff from church. Drink coffee at Starbucks until 8.

Drive home, get dressed, we missed church today but Sweetie is teaching 4 year olds and I’m helping her so we all load up and go to church anyway. SuperPizzaBoy goes to his Sunday School with his buddy.

Sweetie and I go to see the 4 year olds. Not enough adult help (2 deep adult leadership for child and adult safety, married couples don’t count!) so we had to combine with another class. Take to big group and then since so many kids they play on the playground.

SPB’s new bed is in at the furniture store. So I drive up there with the truck (sneak in a geocache on the way.) Pick the stuff up, take back to the house.

SPB’s kid furniture needs to go!

His old ceiling fan needs to go also