Vote 666BOI as Tulsan of the Month

My good friend 666BOI has been nominated for the July Tulsan of the month. 666BOI is a cuddly guy dedicated to making sure that every person in the world gets what they deserve. 666BOI is facing tough competition from a convenience store station, and other non deserving parties, and needs every vote. In fact the prize for winning the vote is 1.2 trillion dollars.

If 666BOI wins he promises that everybody that votes for him will get 1 billion dollars, upon receipt of the $1.2 trillion. Any money remaining will be split toward the stimulus package or financing national health care. So by doing the right thing, you will be set up for life plus help your country’s economic recovery and finance health care for millions of people

It is a win win win thing.

So, even if you don’t live in Tulsa, please make your way to Irritated Tulsan’s Blog and vote for 666BOI.

I’m looking forward to my billion dollars, aren’t you?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Guess what, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a darn good movie. Just like the other movies, just like all the books. I love the book and love the movies. I love how the books changed as the characters got older and so are the movies.

The main story is you know, foiling the dastardly plots of “you know who.” That’s great. What I loved though is that the hormones have kicked in big time for Harry and his pals and gals. I love the wistful looks, the tortured expressions. Emotions are running high! I love it.

Go look at the the movie’s web site. Movie web sites are absolutely wonderful. You can look and do all sorts of stuff. You can even check out the latest news. I was absolutely stunned to find me in the Daily Prophet.

Autographed copies available.

Psalm 34:5 – Radiance

Those who look to him are radiant,
Their faces are never covered with shame.

Psalm 34:5 (NIV)

Ripping Music

The Yogi family had big plans for today. I get every other Friday off these days and Sweetie and I were going to downtown for some business with an attorney, then lunch, while a baby sitter watched SuperPizzaBoy. Then we were going to go see G Force in the afternoon.

SPB had some digestive upset, severe digestive upset, so we cancelled the attorney and the baby sitter. I ran a couple errands including getting an estimate to repair a door handle on Sweetie’s care. ($78, I didn’t know they were allowed to charge that little.) I ran some books back to the library (all three of us together had a huge stack overdue). Then of course I found an opportunistic geocache.

So we couldn’t really go anywhere, SPB had to stay close, if you know what I mean. Sweetie ran two grocery runs. One for us, one for her Mother, who has broken her leg and although she is recovering nicely, is homebound for now. Later Sweetie is going to the gym. She has been burning the candle at both ends taking care of her Mother and taking care of SPB and me.

SPB is alternating between watching TV and reading. The kid is a championship reader. Here is an action shot of him reading.

Meanwhile I started to rip music. The Yogi family is big into music SPB loves everything but hard rock. Sweetie loves all sorts of music and so do I. I have two ipods, a Nano that I run and exercise with and an Ipod Touch that does almost everything including play music. So I gathered up a bunch of cd’s and ripped them.

Everything from Metallica to Michael Jackson to his cousin Alan Jackson, Dixie Chicks, AC/DC, Lionel Richie, Mercy Me, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Miles Davis, Martina McBride, U2, Alecia Keys, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shania Twain, Madonna, and of course, Oklahoma’s own Garth Brooks.

Most music already on my ipods was downloaded. A little bit different group there: Barenaked Ladies, Blink-182, Bride, Carrie Underwood, Cold War Kids, the Eagles, Gov’t Mule, Korn, the Killers, the Pastels, Patsy Cline, the Pixies, Red Fang, Santana, and Taylor Swift.

We have a bunch of classical and jazz music. I like listening to that while in the living sprawled out on the couch with a glass of wine in hand.

I can’t wait to listen to all this forgotten music!

Do you have an ipod or mp3 player? Do you use it? What kind of music do you like? Has the kind of music you listen to changed over the years. I wanna know!

Skywatch Friday – from the Office

Front coming through this evening right at quitting time. Took this photograph out the window as I left the office.

For great pictures of the sky from all over the world check out Skywatch Friday.

Boys Night Out –

Sweetie belongs to a book group. A very literate and proper group of ladies who have monthly meetings to discuss a book they have read. They take turns meeting in their homes. This month the coven, I mean ladies, met at our house.

SuperPizzaBoy and I went out on our monthly Boys Night Out. We have lots of fun. We go to all sorts of places. So far we have avoided arrest and detention. We have to be careful because Sweetie has told us she is not leaving book group early to come bail us out.

We didn’t eat this time. SPB had been at a pizza party so he wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t hungry either. I planned on scrounging the leftovers from the book group meeting when we got home.

First, SPB and I hid a geocache. Our 25th hide. We called it “Boys Night Out – Cedar Ridge” in honor of a nearby golf club. We have a whole series of “Boys Night Out” caches all over Tulsa.

Well it took an hour to hide it. We knew the general location where we wanted to hide it but we had to pick a specific spot. We did that. Then you have to get the coordinates. That took a while. Believe it or not, heavy tree cover screws up the satellite reception of GPS receivers so you have to spend some time checking and rechecking. See if you don’t have good coordinates then the finders can’t find the caches. So you have to do it right.

Below is a photo of the cache. I had to use the flash because it was dark. Notice the camo? Camo duck tape, a geocachers best friend, next to his GPSr of course.

Finally done with that we headed off to Laser tag. Usually SPB and I play alone. This time we teamed up. There was a whole bunch of teenagers we played with. They cheated, they cover up their sensors you see, which is a no no. But, so what, we had fun playing as a team. Out of 17 players, SPB finished 16 and I finished 17. It was fun playing with him, he gets a blast out of it. Next time, we’ll be cheating with the rest of them. That’s life, right?

Next, traditional stop at Barnes and Noble. Deal is I’ll buy him a book. I got the new Green Day CD, SPB got his book.

Time to go home, I mark this BNO as a success.

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.

Book Review “Warriors: The New Prophecy Book One: Midnight” by Erin Hunter

SuperPizzaBoy and I just got through with this book. We have been working on it at bedtime for quite a while. This series is about cats. Cats who form themselves into clans. The cats have different personalities and roles. The clans have their rivalries.

It is primarily about wild cats. House cats are looked down upon. Humans are called two legs and are best avoided. The cats fear autombiles, they are monsters, and roadways are “thunderpaths.”

This is the first book in a series. It has to do with the efforts of the cat clans to unify. The alternative is destruction for all. There is lots of adventure. SPB was enthralled with the story. We will be reading more in the series.

I give this book four stars out of four. A great book for children that adults can enjoy. Give it a try!

Irish Geocaching Hazard in Oklahoma

People who know me just a little bit realize that I am totally OCD about Geocaching. Its almost like breathing. I can go without for a while but I have to get some air every now and then. What a lot of people don’t know is that I have a lot of Irish in me from my Mother. She took a lot of pride in it, and so do I. But there is a lot more to being Irish than getting roaring drunk on Saint Patrick’s Day. You have to honor the other traditions, even when geocaching.

Saturday I went out to find some caches. I found nine, which is a good day for me. The first one I found was a tiny little tube tied to a tree out in the middle of nowhere.

Do you see it? Took me a while to spot it. I’m kind of proud of it because it was my 800th find!

Geocaching has its hazards. Saturday, I encountered ticks, chiggers, thorns, and poison ivy. I’m not allergic to poison ivy, yet.

Poison ivy is nothing to mess with! I am careful with it, even though I’m not allergic to it. Because you can get an allergy all the sudden.

I didn’t see any snakes although I’m pretty sure some saw me in the waist high grass, swamps, and brush I encountered. I didn’t run into any angry ranchers or farmers, or meth lab operators for that matter.

I did stumble onto something that gave me pause, that made me say, “I’m backing out of here really slow, I am not messing with anything, I’m P&A’ing (plugging and abandoning to us oilfield trash) this cache. I just want to get out of here in one piece.” It was a hazard that geocachers with Irish blood know and respect.