After being in pain for several weeks, I was doing a bit of research and discovered, to my horror, that the symptoms I had were the same symptoms as in testicular cancer. The thought that I might have cancer finally scared me into seeing the doctor. Well, it isn’t cancer (I am too old for that type of cancer), and it isn’t a hernia. No, I have a bacterial infection that is common in old men and gay men. Since I have seven kids, it’s can be reasonably concluded that I am not gay, so therefore I must be old. SIGH.
Archive for September, 2008
I Must Be Old, Then
Friday, September 19th, 2008Being Jim Cantore
Friday, September 19th, 2008Going into Wal-Mart Saturday night, it was raining heavy, but that was about it. Coming out, though, was a bit of a surprise…the tropical storm winds from Ike were in full force! I felt like Jim Cantore when I was standing out in the parking lot trying to open my car, as my hat was blowing, and the wind was whipping my raincoat and lashing my face with rain….
I had a hard enough time battling a lowly tropical storm. I can only imagine being Jim Cantore and braving a hurricane…..
The Sign Seeds Are Blooming!
Friday, September 19th, 2008I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but since the rains of last weekend, Eric Epperson signs have been sprouting throughout the county. I guess all those little sign seeds needed were a bit of rain and a bit of sunshine to bloom into signs!
Speaking of signs, what has happened to all the Bridges signs? Where there once was a bajillion back in July, now there are hardly any. Interestingly, I have also noticed a dearth of Vail signs as well. Does that mean that the County Commissioner race isn’t important anymore? I think it is the most important, as it impacts me (and my vehicles thanks to the bad roads) directly.
It’s Been A Long Time
Friday, September 19th, 2008It has now been almost six years since I moved to Oklahoma. It has also been almost six years since I last owned the house that I live in. When you have bad credit, it is extremely difficult to get a loan for anything, much less a house. It has taken me almost six years to dig out of the financial hole that I was in, and the brass ring is now clearly within sight. The Lord willing, I will once again be a proud homeowner come this time next week, and I feel blessed to have been given this chance.
Evacuation, Texas style….
Friday, September 19th, 2008My Aunt Lucille and my cousin Richard both live in Beaumont, Texas. When Beaumont was hit by Hurricane Rita back in 2005, both had left town to get out of harm’s way. After watching Ike thrash and trash the Texas coast, I was as concerned as an aloof nephew can be about the safety of my aunt and cousin. So, I called my mother, my aunt’s sister, to see if all was all right.
“Did Aunt Lucille evacuate?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Where did she go? Dallas?”
“No, she went to your cousin Richard’s house.”
To me, evacuation means leaving town, getting as far away as possible. To my aunt, evacuation means going down to her son’s place a couple of miles down the road. Of course, when the storm you are fleeing from is 500 miles across, it doesn’t seem like three miles would really make that much of a difference, but I am just a simple Okie and I just don’t understand complexities like those Texans do….
What A Difference A Day Makes
Friday, September 12th, 2008In October 2002, I received a job offer here in Oklahoma one day before I received an offer to become the stormwater engineer for Pasadena, Texas. Pasadena is southeast of Houston snuggled up against Galveston Bay. I suspect that had I gone to Pasadena, I would be a very busy stormwater engineer right now, given the fact that a giant hurricane is bearing down on Harris County. I think I’ll take Oklahoma’s tornadoes to hurricanes any time….
I have kin in Jefferson County and Matagorda Counties, and they are in my thoughts and prayers.
Where Were You?
Thursday, September 11th, 2008Where were you seven years ago when the planes hit? I was in my car driving from my house in Grand Prairie, Texas, to the law school in Fort Worth, and I heard it on the radio that the first tower had been hit. When I first heard, the second plane hadn’t hit, so they were calling it an accident. I called my wife and told her to turn on the television to see what was happening. While I was on the phone, she told me that the second tower had been hit. And then there was silence.
It hadn’t quite sunk in yet, as my fellow Texans went about their daily commute. I drove as fast as I could to the law school, hoping to hear more when I got there. Every television was on and tuned to the news; the students sat in their seats and silently watched in horror. By this time, the first tower had fallen, and I got to watch in horror the televised spectacle of people plunging out of the remaining tower to their deaths and its sudden, spectacular collapse. To say it was surreal seeing American landmarks collapse is an understatement.
After the collapses, there was a general state of panic. Was the President safe? There had been rumors that Air Force One had been shot down. What other cities were under attack? We knew about the Pentagon, and we knew there was a missing plane headed west, somewhere, United 93. Being a structural engineer, I was queried by my fellow law students about how the buildings could collapse like that. Students engaged in conversations, some of them completely pointless, just to take their minds off of the horror we were seeing. Our country, the United States of America, was under attack, and there wasn’t a thing any of us could do about it!
After several hours mesmerized by the t.v. news, we were ordered to evacuate. The I.R.S. occupied the top floor of the building, and there was a very real fear that all federal buildings were under attack. It wasn’t just our low-rise three story building that was evacuated — all the high-rise buildings in downtown Ft. Worth were too, just in case.
Walking out of the law school, I witnessed a fear and pandemonium I hope to never witness again. People were constantly looking to the sky with worry that Ft. Worth would be the next to go. Cars jammed the streets; panicked drivers laid on horns and drove through barricades into closed off streets in an attempt to get out of the city as fast as possible. It was chaos.
When I got home, the first thing I noticed was the quiet. You see, my house was under the flight path of not only DFW Airport, but two smaller GA airports as well. On a normal night, the planes would be so low you could pretty much read the serial numbers, and you’d look up in the sky and see a dozen or so planes. On that night seven years ago, I looked up in the sky and saw nothing. I had gotten so used to the noise, that the quiet was very disturbing. What I had known, what I had gotten comfortable with, no longer existed. Things had changed; my heart was heavy.
Like him or not, Bush has kept the country safe from further attacks during his watch. Since that fateful day, there have been terror attacks in Spain, in London, in Indonesia, and throughout the world, but none here in the United States. That is Bush’s legacy.
Alaskan Independence Party
Thursday, September 4th, 2008There have been some false rumors that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin belonged to the Alaskan Independence Party, a third party that seeks a vote on secession. Her husband belonged in 1994. The party’s website is interesting. Check it out!
American Woman
Thursday, September 4th, 2008I watched the conventions for the first time last night, and for one and only one purpose — to hear Sarah Palin speak. She did not disappoint; in the thirty years I have actually watched conventions, her speech ranks among the best. It was just that good!
When I have been asked who I was going to support in November, my honest answer has been, “It depends on who McCain chooses as his running mate.” Obama is a socialist, and being a libertarian, socialism is anathema to me. However, I don’t like Mitt Romney, because he is a big phony who completely changed his views in a very very short time frame to suck up to the right-wing, and I do not like phony baloney suck-ups. Not at all. If McCain would have selected Romney, I would have held my nose and voted for the socialist and hoped for the best. But, I don’t have to do that now!
Sarah Palin reminds me of Sheriff Marge from the movie “Fargo”. If you have never seen Fargo, Marge is a very pregnant small town sheriff in Minnesota who is trying to solve a crime. When she traces the crime back to Minneapolis, she seeks the help of the Minneapolis P.D., who dismiss her as stupid because she is a small town hick sheriff, and also a woman to boot! In the end, Marge gets her man and solves the crime.
Gov. Palin has already been deemed unworthy of the job because she is a small state hick governor (and a former small town hick governor) and a woman and mother, too boot! Just because someone is from a small town or is a woman doesn’t make them stupid, and I thought the piling on was tacky and in poor taste. Like she pointed out, her family has issues, like every other family does! I don’t understand why only the “perfect elite” should be eligible to hold the highest offices in the land. The thought of having another commoner on the ticket, even the second slot…all I can say is, “It’s been too long!” (Since Harry S, actually…)
Go, Sarah, go!
Goodbye, Gustav
Thursday, September 4th, 2008While I don’t really like 90 degree days in September, I am not quite ready for the October-ish weather that Gustav have given us the past two days. It was a reminder that winter is just around the corner….
