Continued non-wellness

Shelby spent the day with me at work again. She woke up with a fever for the third straight day. We got a late morning doctor appointment, but nothing conclusive out of it yet. Her tonsils are large and covered with puss says the doctor. They did a strep test, which is thus far negative, but I think we're waiting on something more tomorrow. She gave us some sample antibiotics to get Shelby started back to recovery and the doctor will call us on Friday to see how Shelby's doing. If she's still feverish, they will have us go back in for a mono test. The doctor says that strep and mono cases have been abnormally high for this time of year.


Side Note:
On the way to the doctor's office, I saw this. Nearly got stuck in the traffic behind it.

Still not well

Spent half the day with Shelby at home. And she spent the other half of the day at her mom's. Hasn't had a fever since early afternoon, though, so maybe she's over it. Could be a little mind over matter, too, because she knows that if she's still sick on Thursday that she can't go on her summer camp field trip to the Omniplex. Shelby has this strange way of mysteriously resolving problems when it works in her favor...

Not well

A little after ten this morning Shelby's summer camp called saying she had a fever. I picked her up, gave her some children's motrin, and as she was still prety active, took her to the office with me. I only expected for her to tolerate that for a couple of hours before wanting to get out of there, but she did a really good job and we ended up being there most of the day. She played computer games, drew pictures, and threw some velcro toys against the cubicle walls for her entertainment, and that seemed to do the trick.

As long as she doesn't start vomitting like her sister did last week, I think we'll be okay.

Observations from a strange day

The day started out innocently enough. I took the girls to mass, we had lunch right afterwards, we hit the ATM machine and money fell out. Okay, okay, I put my card in and requested the money, but then the day got strange. Not bad, just strange. To me at least.


Free Ticket Destiny
I had determined this morning before we went to mass that we'd head back to Bricktown (guess we didn't have enough yesterday) for a ballgame. The game wasn't until 2pm, so I knew we'd have plenty of time between church and the game to have lunch and get down to the ballpark. While in line for tickets, a nice woman approached us with excess complimentary tickets that she had. The face value of the tickets was really $0, but it sure saved us $15-20. Just one of those moments that make you think about the timing of it all. For example, we forgot the sunblock in the car, but didn't realize it until we were halfway to the ballpark from the parking lot. Had we gone back for the sunblock would we have still gotten the free tickets? Or were we destined for the free tickets regardless?


Bumping Into Old Friends
I managed to keep the kids in their seats for four full innings, but I knew I would need to get them to the outfield amusements before they got torn down in the late innings, or I'd never hear the end of it from them.



While out there waiting for the kids, I ran into someone I used to work with at UPS, who was also waiting for his kids. I think the last time I saw him was probably 1994, so it had been ten years, though admittedly I didn't recognize him... he recognized me first. Neither of us had kids back then, but now there are 5.5 between us. I had gone to his wedding, and also with him on a camping/canoe trip down the Illinois River, so we weren't just work acquaintances. Not that we were best friends. But it was definitely good to see he and his wife again. I gave him a business card, so maybe we'll get back in touch.


Girl with Big... Lenses
It's perfectly legit, but it struck me as odd. And the guy in the photo agrees with me I think. I mean, I understand that sometimes you need to zoom in, but my gosh.




Rancid at the Brick?
If you've ever been to a Redhawks game, you'd know that between innings they either throw stuff into the crowd (shirts, frisbees, etc), have contests with audience participation, or sing a song. On this particular day, they had a movie trivia contest in one of the late innings (I think it was the 8th), and the "fan" they had chosen from the crowd was a very tattooed individual. So the "game show host" (what we'll call the guy asking the questions) asks the fan if he's in a band, to which the fan nods affirmatively. After the host asks what band, the guy responds "Rancid". The host was clearly no punk rock fan, so he just moves right into the movie question, which involved a scene being shown on the fanavision. The fan, as we now know to be a Rancid member, names the movie as required of him (with MUCH crowd help... it was Sweet Home Alabama... not something you'd anticipate a Rancid member seeing or admitting to seeing anyway). His prize? Movie tickets to a local movie venue. His response to the host? "Can't use 'em." So he handed the tickets to someone else in the crowd and sat down, at which time I snapped this photo (not a bad photo considering I was on the First Base side, they were on the Third Base side, and I was using max zoom -- 30X combined digital and optical).



Now for the analysis of that situation, as there are so many questions, I'm sure. First, was it really Rancid? Well, probably not the full band is my conclusion, but at least two members. What on earth were they doing at a Redhawks game? I guess they're baseball fans, which is cool. Or they could have been REALLY bored in Oklahoma City on a Sunday afternoon. Why were they even in Oklahoma City? My research has determined that they were here for a show at the Green Door, a punk club, also in Bricktown. Turns out Lars Frederiksen of Rancid has a side band called Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, whose recent CD is produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid. What do I know about Rancid? Not too much actually. Those who know me know I'm a closet punk fan, but most hard core punkers would consider what I listen to as impure or even lame, which is their prerogative. However, I do have several legally obtained Rancid MP3s in my collection, so I'm no imbecile in the matter either.


Running the Bases
It's not every day that your kids get to run the bases at the Brick. Maybe they do that a lot, but we've never taken advantage of it. The girls loved it.




Digital Photo Mayhem
After the game, the girls wanted to stay in Bricktown to eat. Shelby really wanted a burger, so we went looking for a place that had burgers and ended up at the Bourbon Street Cafe, which I can say is nothing like Bourbon Street, having been there less than a month ago. Anyway, a few tables down from us there was a large party of more than a dozen people. They had convinced the waitress (also our waitress) to take a photo of the group. But when she got done with the photo, someone else handed her a camera, and next thing you know, everyone at the table is passing down their cameras. She had to have taken that same picture with eight or nine different cameras, spanning several minutes, since each camera was different and she had to receive brief operational instructions for each one (I sure hope they tipped her well). And the funny thing is that I'm pretty sure they were all digital cameras. They could have taken just one picture and emailed it around, right? Same difference. Being the geek that I am, I of course pointed that out to our waitress when she got back to our table. She agreed with my observation, but that clearly didn't win me any points, not that I sought them.


Horse Riding Dog
Just when I thought seeing Rancid at a baseball game in Oklahoma City would be the strangest sight of the day, along came the dog that rides horses. Weird. Just weird.

Buffalo Mystery

We spent a couple of hours in Bricktown this afternoon, initially to look for something at the Outdoor World store, but then to check out previously unexplored parts of the canal trail, such as the Landrun Monument. And then the girls conned me into letting them get fountain soaked again (well, it was hot, and they stopped gripping about it).

But I wonder if anyone can help me solve the mystery of the buffalo. There are these buffalo statues ALL OVER the place in downtown OKC. I didn't even photograph them all, but they're everywhere it seems. I have yet to find a sign or something similar explaining to me what their significance is. I mean, they're kinda cool I guess, but why on earth do they need to be anatomically correct? There's just no need for that. And I noticed that they're all chained down to something, like we're gonna go walking off with one... anyway, whatever tips you can give me about what their meaning is would be nice, just so I can stop wondering.

Renewed

I'm good for another four years on my driver's license, after being reminded by my own blog about the impending expiration. I'm so glad that Oklahoma has moved into the present with a modern style of license (back). For years my friends in other states had things like 1- and 2-D bar codes, holograms, etc. on their licenses, but Oklahoma has been sadly behind until post-9/11.



A little related piece of trivia I learned from my soon-to-be UK-resident ex-employee... In the UK, a driver's license is good for life (until age 70), and there's no photo on it. They don't use it for ID typically. Since most Europeans travel country to country so much, they generally use their passport as their primary ID.

Would you recognize me by my last passport photo?

Un-crossed?

There was a note on my door when we got home last night from SBC. They say they have fixed my phone line. So I guess I should test it. Someone call me and see if you get someone else, or just my lame ansering machine message...



UPDATE, FIVE MINUTES LATER
Not five minutes after I post a message about my fixed phone line, the phone rings... How creepy is that? Granted, it was an automated message from SBC letting me know that my phone line had been repaired, but it still struck me as freaky at the time (remember, my phone almost never rings).

Farewell you (K), hello kids

We said farewell to one of my employees today. It was a very nice ceremony in which I had to make an impromptu speech, present a gift from the team, and poorly cut cake for a surprisingly large crowd. In just a couple of weeks time she'll be starting her new job in the U.K.

After work I got the kids back from their grandmother. They got a week long vacation from dad, though the last two days of it Darby was sick and throwing up. Fortunately by the time we reunited she said she was feeling better and there have been no incidents of regurgitation since.

We had dinner with their grandmother, visited with their uncle and cousin for a little bit, then left in time to get Darby a haircut. Her bangs were in her eyes and she had been dying for a trim, so we went ahead and took care of that since she was feeling better.

Note to self

RENEW YOUR BLOODY DRIVER'S LICENSE ALREADY!


It, like, expires soon and you have terrible luck. You'll get caught the first day it's no good and the whole thing will get crazy out of control. You've been forgetting for weeks, now get off your butt and get it done!






(which is more pitiful, that I read my own blog or that I have to resort to reminding myself to do things via my blog?)



(don't answer that)

The pre-goodbye

Today was the send-off lunch for my departing employee. We're having cake and farewells tomorrow. We had one last team photo taken in front of our building today. Of course, all of this can only mean that I will be A LOT busier next week, and for weeks to come as my new employee gets acclimated.

Hat trick

How on earth could I possibly beat the pool master three times straight at his own game? I'm stunned. Must be why I lost that next game.


Not pushing anymore since I reached my goal of a nine minute mile. Now I need to concentrate on extending my distance to 2-3 miles. Today I ran a 8:57 mile, then extended it to 1.25 miles. I didn't even note the time because I had intended to go 1.5 but had enough. Also I'm having strange just-below-the-knee pains when I walk, and it is probably attributable to my running, so I didn't feel like I should push it in general today.

Crossed

Apparently my home phone line is crossed with someone else's. I had a couple of people tell me that when they called they got someone else, even though they tried/verified the number several times.

Also, I'm a loser and never get phone calls, yet the last two days my caller ID is stacked with calls all over the place from stange numbers that I suspect are really trying to reach somewhere else.

So tonight I called myself from my cell phone. To my amazement, as I watched my own cell number appear on my caller ID, after only a couple of rings, all of the phones in my house stopped ringing, though the answering machine did NOT pick up. On my cell phone I could hear something on the other end, but not a person, so I'm really not sure what happened there, except to say that my phone call went to crossed-line purgatory.

So I called the ever popular SBC to see if maybe my line was being hijacked or something. They said that wasn't likely, but that they could run a quick test on the line. Sure enough, the test came back indicating there was some kind of crossed line problem. But they might not get out here until Friday to fix it.

Here's the strangest part... even though they could tell remotely that my line had a problem, they could NOT tell with whom I am crossed, so they asked me to answer the phone even if I don't recognize the number and ask the caller what number they were trying to call so that I could report it back to SBC. They said it would make it easier to diagnose the problem.

Waste NOT

The Spiderman 2 soundtrack is pretty cool. I dig all the songs I was looking forward to, and there are other gems as well. Oh, and since it was released today, Best Buy was selling it for the special price of $8.99 instead of the $13.99 sticker price, so it was a bargain, too. Now if only there were a fold-out poster of Mary Jane... :(

WASTED

I had the pleasure of making a completely wasted journey for lunch today. First, we went to a place that was only open for dinner. Then, the place of next choice was out of most food, which wouldn't seem so bad had they other retail sources of income. But this is my second incident with this place, and by the number of people that were there, I'm thinking the sentiment isn't isolated to me.

So I ordered my food, I paid, and shortly thereafter they said, "we don't have that, is there something else you want?" After looking over what very little they had left, I just wasn't interested in anything else they had, so I asked for a refund. This would be my second refund request from this place in as many tries. I don't think I'll give them a third opportunity.

I ended up waiting for my co-worker to finish eating, running over to the eating establishment next door, and getting a to-go order. It's amazing how much of a different world it was next door. It was packed, but faster. They had exactly what I wanted. And it was overall entirely hassel free.

The whole experience was matter/anti-matter -ish. But all I really did was drive across town to sit around for an hour so that I could then eat at my desk. So even with the good ending there was so much wasted.

The longest day

The fact that the first day of summer is the longest day of the year is the best and worst fact all at once. Everyone that isn't insane loves long sunny days (putting aside the heat for a moment), if they are in fact sunny of course (we had yet another rainy morning and sunny afternoon). But at the same time the fact that the days will only get shorter from here out is an unpleasant harbinger.


But I digress... My new employee started today, so we had to go through the runaround of in-processing. A couple of times it really felt like the longest day as we were waiting at the badging office to get him base credentials. But I sure am glad I took the time to process a bunch of his paperwork on Friday because it would have been a lot worse today without it. We only have a little over a week to ramp him up before my other employee leaves for the UK. It's going to be a challenge.

I did work a little late today since the kids are away, but not too much so, just enough to catch up from being gone a big chunk in the middle of the day.

Afterwards I ran an 8:53 mile. I had intended to slow it down and go for 1.5 miles, but it didn't work out that way and there was just no way I was making it more than one. I don't know if it's the Monday thing or what, but I was just zapped today after the run.

Figures

It was a pretty mellow father's day. The girls and I went to breakfast before going to mass. Before, during, and after mass it was raining fairly profusely, so I pretty much put out of my mind the thought of going to the airshow. It had been raining off and on the last couple of days.

So I went ahead and took the girls to their mothers so she could take them to their grandmother's. They will be spending their traditional week in the summer up in Kingfisher, so I get some time to work late every night. Well... I'm trying not to do that, but that's more than likely what will happen.

Figures that on the way home the rain stopped, the sky started to clear, and I saw lots of airplanes flying around in the approximate area of the airshow... grrr.

S2

I'm simply going to HAVE to buy the Spiderman 2 soundtrack. Previously unreleased tracks from several of my most frequently listened to bands... Taking Back Sunday. Ataris. Yellow Card. Dashboard Confessional. Plus there are other goodies from Train and Hoobastank. How can I NOT get this CD on Tuesday when it comes out?


UPDATE 23 JUNE
Speaking of Taking Back Sunday, I JUST learned they have a new album coming out 27 July. The track from S2 is on the new album, and if it's any indication, the new album should ROCK. I so can't wait.

Picked up the kids this afternoon for a family father's day lunch, though my own father had to work.

Shelby wasn't feeling well from the moment I picked her up and she hardly ate, so we went home and took a nap after lunch. Turns out she had a 102 degree fever, so I gave her some children's motrin before her nap.

After naps, I had planned for us to see a movie, though wouldn't it figure that there was no sign of the morning's dreary weather. We went to the dollar theater to catch the already out of first run theaters New York Minute. The girls are big Olsen fans, and they really liked this one.

Afterwards, we got some dinner and then went to say bye to my dad and his family who are heading to Arizona for a couple of weeks of vacation.

The Final Tally

Pun intended.

I got the girls' final report cards today. Darby's tally count for the year was 58. Ouch. What's crazier is that Shelby got more tallies than Darby, but they don't track them on the report cards until first grade.

Grades wise, the girls did well. Darby is still on the honor roll, though she had an unexpected grade drop in English (87, down from 95 in the first quarter). Shelby had "Satisfactory" on all of her subjects.

8:55

As promised, I ran my mile is less than nine this morning. The trick will be sustaining it.

713

My FICO credit score. Which is not bad, considering 850 is the best. But there are a couple of hits against me on my credit report within the last 14 months due to my ex-wife's car. Those issues have since been resolved, so my score should improve in the next ten months or so...

...except that by necessity I may become a Philadelphia property owner (landlord) with a renter before the year is out.

Weekend fizzling (thanks to the drizzling)

Got the last of the paperwork to in-process my new team member done today. Hopefully that will all go as hitch free as possible on Monday. So for a short time I'll have a six member team instead of five.


Picked up a father's day present for my dad today, but he's leaving Sunday morning for a two week vacation. He said he'd be packing Saturday, so it doesn't look like we'll be doing any father/son bonding on Father's Day.

Was planning to take the kids to the airshow this weekend, but it's looking like rain all weekend (actually, the ten-day weather.com forecast only shows two wetness-free days). That bites. Looks like we'll have to confine ourselves to indoor activities.

Bad to worse

What a day. Busy busy. More than I've been in a while. There were at least three instances where I was needed in two or more places simultaneously.

Then there was tragic news (see the PDF if prompted for registration). Didn't think I'd end up close to a story of that type. I would wager I saw Father Charles near daily during my time at that school (though I know others were closer to him scholastically). But I never would have imagined him to be part of such a thing.


My only victory of the day came as I defeated the office pool champ for a second time in as many tries (sure, it followed a great failure of a loss, but that one can be forgiven).


After working late, I ran me a 9:06 mile. I'm looking to break nine on Saturday. But then I've said that before.

Filled

The job vacancy on my team, recently referenced, has been filled and the original posting has been updated. Hopefully someday my team will expand and I will be looking for more good help.

HVAC Reprieve

Both home and work A/Cs were fixed today, and at less cost than expected. Tough to beat that!

It is so nice to be cool again. Though many will argue the validity of my coolness.

Hot Hot Heat

No, the title is not a tribute to the very swell band (i.e. Bandages), but an accurate reference to my day of non-coolness.

First, the A/C at work went out, which is never good on the computer equipment to begin with, but doesn't help the people much either. Then I learn that the A/C has gone out at home as well. With the temperature reaching the 90s and with 94% humidity, things are far from comfy (though they could certainly be much worse). Fortunately I still have my car A/C (knock on wood), which I made thorough use of after my 9:23 mile today (yes, I know, I'm stagnating).

Well, I have staved off complete disaster at home, but I don't know what will happen at work tomorrow. I had planned to buy my mother a portable A/C unit because her house in Philadelphia doesn't have central HVAC and not all the rooms have window units. It seemed like a handy idea that she could move the unit around as needed to keep cool in the summer (plus I have no idea how to install a window unit, though it doesn't seem terribly difficult). So instead of getting the unit in a couple of weeks before I head East, I picked one up this evening after visiting five places to find what I was looking for. So while the rest of the house is an uncomfortable 82 degrees (it's ten degrees cooler outside), I have both kids in one room (with the portable A/C churning away) sleeping in comfort. I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to repair the home A/C. The bad part about all of this is the cash I'm having to spend just before a major family vacation.

Reciting Again

Darby had another recital today. As previously alluded, after lunch I picked up a new dress for her so she could be pretty in addition to not being in the same dress as the last recital.

The atmosphere was mostly nicer for this recital (which was at a music/piano store), but Darby didn't do as well as the last time. She did well, but was more nervous this time and less confident, so she had few pauses as a result. Nothing big, but she clearly didn't feel as comfortable this time around. Not sure why.

How many ways can I embarrass myself?

Let's see, today at lunch I spilled my soda, belched out loud, and I know there was at least one other thing... probably something I said... oh yes, I made the comment that I needed to pick up a dress without following it with "for my daughter."

My drink had gotten low, so I was tipping it to get at what was left. However, our swift waitress swapped out my drink with a refill under my nose so the next time I picked it up I spilled it into my food as I was tipping it needlessly. Fortunately I was mostly done with the main portion of my food. I did eat from the unaffected areas, but I tried to stay away from where there was ice.

Later, as I was adamantly arguing a point with my coworkers, I had an unexpected belch sneak up on me and create further embarrassment as it was largely unrestrained. And I was speaking when it came up, so it was like college all over again for a moment.

There were several other little things that happened throughout the day that created tiny points of embarrassment, but nothing like lunch. Most that know me, though, have come to expect these small, usually self-induced moments of non-composure. For it is the essence of Shawn.

Last weekend Darby got to see the latest Harry Potter with her grandmother, but I thought it would be too much for Shelby. So she was taken to see Garfield with her grandmother this weekend, only now there this disparity because I was going to take them both to see it at some point.

Birthdays and baseball

We made it right on time to the birthday party. I can't believe it. It was a bowling party, and the girls each got a couple of games in. They really like bowling (they go every other week with their summer camp), so they had lots of fun. Only one "incident", when Shelby hit the front of a bumper (instead of the side... ie she rolled it directly into the gutter) full force and the ball came back towards her instead of down the lane.

After the party we were supposed to go to the park at the kids' request, but they were arguing heavily and at this point had probably a dozen idle threats from me about it to no avail. So we went home and took a nap instead. Hopefully that will reset their parental hearing tolerance back down to (or near) zero.

After our more than hour long nap, we got some dinner and headed to Bricktown for a ballgame. It was a really good day for a ballgame. We lasted four innings at our seats before the girls were just too antsy, so then we went to the grass seating area so the kids could run around while I watched the rest of the game. The game went til about 10:30 and there were post-game fireworks, which we watched from the of the 8-story parking garage next to the ballpark (where we were parked).

We should have just hung out up there for awhile, because we ended up being stuck for 20 minutes trying to get out of the garage. The line started on level 4, so 5 minutes per level we were waiting to get out of there. It's always a gamble parking in that thing. It's very close to the game, but on Saturday nights when Bricktown car and foot traffic is at its peak, it can be tortuous getting out of the area.

Let's try that again... without the oops

Last night while I was out (saw the movie Troy... pretty good) I realized that we had a birthday party today that I forgot to RSVP for, and it was already late when I realized, not to mention the invitation was at home and I was on the other side of town. So I called about an hour ago and got an answering machine and I figured they were already at the party place setting up and that we would have to miss the party. But they just called and all is well in that regard, so now I have less than two hours to get to the store, buy a card and gift, drive across town to pick up the kids, and drive back to this side of town for the party. That should be fun.

For my second oops of the last 24 hours, last night was the rehersal for Darby's next Piano recital on Monday. Eeek. I thought it was today. Soooo... some time this weekend we are supposed to go to the place where the recital is at (a music store) and have Darby run through her music on the piano that will be used on Monday. That should also be fun.

You may already be a winner

My company is auctioning off outdated computer assets. I threw in a bid yesterday not figuring I'd get much out of it, but I learned this morning that I ended up winning (probably means I paid too much) an old Dell 550. Which is good because the kids' computers are P133s, which are still mostly viable (with Win98) for what they need them for, but one of them is having an issue right now, so it can just be replaced with the "newer" unit. Though it will need some work first.


I had what will hopefully be the last interview today with a candidate for my open position. Thank you to all those that applied. We looked at everyone closely and didn't just discount anyone. Now for the harder part... training the new person. Ugh.

Let me be the first to say that even bad days can have a happy ending. I'd like to thank those of you out there that helped with the ending. You know who you are. Couldn't have done it without you.

The crapiest day

Okay okay, not THE crapiest day, but quite chock-full o' crap. Mostly of the non-good weather variety.

It's not even that the weather has been terrible, just consistently non-good enough to be... crappy.

It could be much worse I realize, but I'm a boy of summer, and this several straight days of seemingly continual rain just doesn't work for me. And no, I could never live in a Seattle-esque place (unless I got to be roomies with any member of Pearl Jam or something).

Sure, crappy weather doesn't always make a non-good day entirely crappy, but I've had to be out in it WAY too much. Just when I think I'm not so damp anymore, it's time to get back out in it.

Today I had to leave work for a bit -- and in the process got thoroughly soaked -- to take the kids to their mother's work so she could take them to the dentist (she had an appointment at the same time). Unfortunately for Shelby, she's got a cavity. We haven't really divulged that to her yet because she is going to freak out about having to get drilled. She freaks out so much at the dentist that they're considering gasing her for the de-cavitation procedure.


On the excercise front, my mile run has degraded to 9:21 because I learned I was doing something wrong. I was running with no incline, but was advised I should be using a 1.0 incline. You wouldn't think such a thing would make that much of a difference, but apparently it does.

Back.... to.... work....

The first day back to work in nine days is always fun. More so when you're sleepless (though some things are worth losing sleep over). Of course, as it stormed a little while I was gone, there were new changes to get used to. But really, it could have been a far worse day.

Probaby the worst thing was getting back on track with my running. I ran a 9:11 mile, but I was huffing more than usual at the end.

After winning a seemingly impossible game of pool, I fell from grace and lost two in an intended hurry (meaning they were non-quick games contrary to intention). But that's okay, because the usual champ was not only beaten by me of all people, but faced two (2) additional defeats thereafter. I'm thinking we should get him into a game of poker ASAP while his balance is off.







(ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...)

Ray-gun RIP

I heard on the radio on the way back from Tulsa that President Reagan had passed away. It's good that his suffering is over, but such a shame that he had to pass without remembering his contribution to peace and prosperity in our time.

Most generations can look back at their lives and pick a president that quintessentially defined the world in which they grew up. For some, especially on this D-Day anniversary, it might be Roosevelt, for others Kennedy. But for me, it's difficult to see past the influence of the Reagan years when reflecting on the world during my lifetime. He was the right man for the job at the right time, and I can't help but think that we would still be cold warriors had he not come along when he did.

Best wishes, Gipper, in the great beyond. You've earned it like few others.

Flashing the preist

We had that wedding up in Tulsa today (technically, Broken Arrow), so that was fun. We just got back so it's been a long day. 250 miles just for the Tulsa drive round trip.

I fulfilled my daily embarrasing moment quota with a prayer interruption. During the wedding I was taking pictures, and therefore was not paying attention to what was being said. I noticed in a couple of pictures that people had their heads down. It took me a minute to realize we were in the middle of a prayer and that I was being completely disrespectful shooting off photos -- WITH FLASH no less. I'm reasonably certain the minister would have kicked my head in were it Christ-like to do so.

Gift cramming

We have a wedding to attend tomorrow, and despite all of my intentions to order a gift online last week, it didn't happen, so there we were this evening at Foley's trying to pick up something from the couple's wedding registry. It would have helped if that store had half of the stuff shown on the list. But it worked out. I was able to find something on the list in my price range that also seemed like a real gift.

Back, for now

Only got lost once heading to the New Orleans airport. All of that was mostly uneventful. However, once we arrived at the OKC airport, we were delayed on the tarmac for about 20 minutes. Then it took longer than usual for the baggage to reach the claim area.

It's mostly good to be back, but there's no time to sit still. We have a wedding to attend tomorrow. I'm on the way to pickup the girls and then we have some gift shopping to do.

Yippie/shucks

I'm torn as to whether I'm glad or sad to be done. There has been fun and learning, but it went by quickly.

After the conference conclusion today, we checked out the Riverwalk Mall and went back to the House of Blues to pick up some souvies. We then went back to our respective hotels for a bit to take care of personal affairs. I used the opportunity to finally get a run in at the hotel gym, but there were some problems. First, I had to pay. Ten bucks per day when all I wanted to do was jog. Grrr. I didn't want to be dressed up for nothing, so I paid and jogged a mile and a half. But I have no idea what my time was as the timer wouldn't set back to zero for me to get a good reading and I didn't jot down (on what?) the reading at the time I started.

I noticed there was a sign that read "observation deck" on the way to the gym, so after I ran and got a shower back at the room, I grabbed my camera and went back to the gym asking if I could take pictures from the observation deck. Well, it wasn't what I expected. I thought observation deck meant a view of the city from the roof, but their idea of observation deck was an area with chairs and a bar overlooking the basketball and tennis courts. Blah. But on my way out as I expressed my dissatisfaction with their "observation deck" the lady that worked at the gym desk pointed to another door and said I could go out there and take pictures.

Well, that door lead to the actual roof. So of course I took the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures, but I have a feeling that was a little against policy. I mean, there were cables of various sorts, ladders, and other equipment out there. And I walked right up to the edge and looked down and could have easily fallen off or something, so I'm thinking if she realized the liability issues she might not have pointed the way.

Later, I met back up with the guys I had been hanging with, and after an amazing steak dinner, we visited several other gift shops, where I got stuff for the girls. We walked all over the rest of the French Quarter and stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe as well. But we called it a fairly early night, as we all had to pack for morning flights.


Oh, it turns out that most of my laptop problems were actually hotel wireless network problems. I wasted SO much time uninstalling and reinstalling stuff that I thought was breaking me, and there was no hardwire option.

I got the blues

After the conference events for Wednesday, Nokia thew a kicking party at the New Orleans House of Blues for attendees. That place rocked. There were two blues bands in two different rooms, a tatoo artist, a palm reader, a tarot card reader, and a guy rolling cigars right there and handing them out for free. There was free drinks and food galore, and the place was packed. All in all, they really put on a good show.

Afterwards, the folks I was hanging with were eager to move the party to Bourbon Street. I went along, and while I had a good time, I also ended up participating in various forms of unmentionable corrupt behavior.

I tried again to work on my posts when I got back to the room (man did I smell like cigars from all the folks smoking at the HOB), but my major freaking laptop problems continued.

French Dip

The plan was to be at the airport at 9am for my 10:14 flight. But since I didn't do a very good job at getting packed and in bed at a decent hour, I found myself quite behind instead.

I got the girls to summer camp, and then headed to their mother's work to drop off their suitcase. On the way from there to the airport, my timeliness was further threatened by a serious accident. Fortunately I wasn't on I-40 itself to be stuck behind the mess, but I did get slowed down quite a bit going though the I-44/I-40 junction as they completely closed the ramp, so there was chaos instigated by the people who intended to take I-40 and didn't know how to react to a closed ramp.

Once I got to the airport I found that the vast construction going on at the OKC airport had worsened since I was last there. I think when all is said and done, they will have completely reconstructed the place. I wonder if anything original will be left.

Then there was my suitcase inspection. I don't really care about the ruffling through my clothing, but I really wish they would stop digging through toiletries so intently. I mean, if I was carrying a bomb, would I really put it in the tiny side-pouch of my toiletry bag? Wouldn't I have some kind of mock deoderant can (or something) instead? Did they even evaluate the authenticity of my deoderant? No, they just poke around all the tiny crevases looking for who knows what. And they need to turn their little privacy screens another direction, because everyone in the room could see what was going on in my suitcase, which was slightly disconcerting on principle alone. I think next time I'll just bring my stuff to the airport in a couple of garbage bags and I'll just pack right there in the presence of the TSA folks.

Once I got to New Orleans, I immediately had a rental car issue (my car wouldn't start) and so had to get another, which of course caused delay. Then I got lost twice on the way to my hotel. My first observation about this place is that they're not real good with signs. Seems ironic for such a hot tourist destination.

I'm on the 10th floor of the 27-story Riverside Hilton, but I'm facing the Missippi and the view is fantastic.



After registration at 4pm, we had a reception for conference attendees from 6pm-8pm, which was chock full of free food and drink. Afterwards I went up to my room on the tenth floor, which had an excellent direct view of the Mississipi. Before I headed up I had met up with a couple of like minded folks who said they were going to hit Bourbon Street later and would give me a call when they did.

As I didn't get much sleep the night before, I fell asleep in my room watching the news, so when the call came I was quite groggy. They told me the place they would be at (they were in a different hotel) on Bourbon Street, but I was so out of it when they called that when I made the walk several blocks down to Bourbon Street, I had forgotten the location by the time I got there. So instead I walked the entire length of Bourbon Street a couple of times, taking in all the sights, and also hoping my memory would be jogged (turns out I walked by them more than once).



So after my little excursion into the French Quarter, I headed back to the hotel with hopes of working out, getting my jogging in at least. Unfortunately the gym closed at 9pm. Terrible hours. Doesn't look like there will be much working out for me this week.

So it was back to the hotel for me. I'm having laptop trouble, though, so not sure how real-time my posts will be.