T Town Tommy

Wild Winter Weather in Oklahoma and the Pains of Being a Florist

The last few days have been a bit of an oddity for Tulsa. It’s been mild, breezy and humid, almost a tropical feel for late November. Other than occasional morning rain; the balmy conditions have been nice for delivering poinsettias and flowers to local businesses. However today the crunch is on to get our mid week orders out.

We are going from the mid 70’s F Tuesday to 19 F Thursday! On top of that all this tropical moisture is going to turn into ice and snow starting today. We get to do an entire days work in half a day. A stressful day but if the weather forecast is right then I will be closed Thursday and everyone can deal with the stress of possibly 5”of snow total by Friday morning.

I did rent Superman Returns and The Da Vinci Code Tuesday. Since I missed seeing both in the theatre it should be a cool break to watch the movies while the snow piles up outside. Brandon Routh is very easy on the eyes! I will also be cooped up so I will be posting as the storm progresses.

Driving in ice and snow here is done of a mandatory basis for me; not because of my driving skills but because of the bad drivers in Tulsa. Twice I have had someone slide into me during snow storms. Those who have never visited Tulsa may think the area is flat; however we are at the foothills of the Ozark Mountain Range. We have plenty of steep hills to slide down and cause some nasty car pile up’s and wrecks.

I do manage to keep my shop vans in great condition for winter driving. The benefits as far as safety and for me, making money, far outweigh the cost in upkeep and repairs to my vehicles. I have included some safety links for vehicle upkeep and how to survive driving in winter weather. Reviewing these sites might keep you out of a ditch on the side of the road during winter conditions or they may save your life.

• Do It Yourself.com Winter Car Care Guide
• How to protect your car's paint job and interior in the winter months from Do It Yourself.com
• State Farm's Severe Weather Driving Tips
  

Man Banned from Tulsa Mosque for Publishing Anti-Terrorist Comments

A local Tulsa man is banned from his south Tulsa mosque. Jamal Miftah claims he has been banned from The Islamic Society of Tulsa for sending a letter to the editor of the Tulsa World in response to a recent video released by al-Qaida.

In the published letter Miftah states that al-Qaida leaders “are cowards for using young people to carry out attacks” and that Islam is a peaceful religion and terrorist such as Osama bin Laden should be brought to justice. Reaction from the Tulsa Muslim community according to Mr. Miftah has been mixed.

While some Muslim community members have been positive and supportive others have gone so far as to ban him from Mosque functions.  Miftah claims local Muslims have also reacted violently in response to the published letter and a police report has been filed with Tulsa Police.

Miftah states the leadership has instructed him that he will not be allowed back into the Mosque until he “apologizes” and “takes back his letter”. News Channel 9 in Oklahoma City has a broadcast online of the news report.

On a personal note: The Mosque in question is in my neighborhood. I have lived in the area now for two years and have had nothing but positive experiences with those attending worship. Parking can be a bit of a problem during prayer as their mosque has grown in members in recent years. However as someone trying to be a good neighbor, open minded and accepting; I find this story very disturbing. The actions of some mosque members and their leadership in reaction to the letter would lead outsiders, like myself, to question; if they are not “anti-terrorist” then what are they?

Oklahoma City News 9 Video Report

Saying Good-bye to Mars Global Surveyor

It looks like after a successful decade long mission The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is lost. The Surveyor was the first successful mission back to Mars in twenty years not just for the United States but for humanity. It was also the most successful probe sent; collecting more data about Mars then all other missions combined.

Using an array of five instruments including high resolution cameras and 3-D imaging the probe took over 240,000 images of the planet. Thanks to Surveyor we now have a great model of the planets surface for future space missions. Mineral deposits where charted as well as weather patterns giving geologist and meteorologist a wealth of information.

One of the surprising finds by Surveyor is the presence of weak magnetic areas and the possibility that Mars at one time had plate tectonics the same as Earth has today. Without active plate tectonics and the off gassing and eruptions that result; Earth would have little to no atmosphere much like we see on Mars.

"It really has opened up new vistas of Mars that we hadn't the foggiest notion of," said Arizona State University geologist Ron Greeley.

For an investment of $150 million to construct the spacecraft, I think we have gotten our monies worth of performance, data and understanding. The use of low cost probes in space exploration has been proven with Mars Global Surveyor. It has brought us great strides forward in actually planning a successful mission to our sister planet.

NASA / JPL

Taken by Mars Global Surveyor 11/07/06 over Mars North Pole.   

Oklahoma Centennial Downtown Tulsa Multi Media Fireworks Display

 
 

This month marks the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma statehood. Tulsa has been selected to
start off a state wide celebration. Events will be culminating state wide to the lead up to the actual celebration of our 100th anniversary in Oklahoma City. The people in charge of the downtown centennial celebration show tonight did an amazing job.

Over a dozen downtown high rise buildings where involved either in pyrotechnics, laser lights or serving as 200’ projection screens. Workers covered the sides of two office towers with white plastic sheeting to create huge movie screens. During the start of the show our newly reelected Governor Brad Henry addressed the crowd via video recording. Seeing the governor address the crowd below with his image being 200 feet tall above us had an Orwellian feeling.

However the show quickly moved on and images of our past came to life in stunning detail. Accompanied by a safe choice in music, a very impressive laser show and some cool fireworks shooting off the tops of the buildings; downtown was changed into something I never could have imagined. I managed to not even cringe too hard having to hear Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” for at least the ten thousandth time.

One of the other reasons I went was to test my photo skills with fireworks. I found some very useful advice sites MalekTips and Smithsonian Photographers for tips and tricks on how to get great fireworks display shots. The sites where very educational and this being my first time attempting this on a semi professional level I think the results came out decent. I learned a lot of what to do and not to do for this type of photography and will improve with the next show I attend.

UPDATE: For those in the Tulsa viewing area.

If you didn't make it downtown Saturday, don't worry. You didn't miss a minute. The News on Six had cameras all across the skyline, and we'll show you the ceremony again Sunday night on the CW. That's channel 12 if you have cable, and channel 19 if you're on antenna or satellite. Show starts at 10:30 Sunday night.

KOTV.com

Shatner off to a new frontier with game show

William Shatner, happy dancing gay guys and hot show girls. What else can you ask from a game show? Shatner was in top form last night for the debut of his new game show “Show Me the Money”. I forgot it was on and only watched “Heroes” last night on NBC. Clip found on DListed.

Update: The show got canceled very quickly...

A Wireless Nation

Being a small business owner the use of a cell phone has been mandatory for my success. With today’s technology I use my cell daily to get weather information, text, email, and stay in contact with my customers and vendors. Having this ability allows me to multi-task placing orders with vendors, answering customer questions on my business site and accepting orders all over one mobile device. With improved camera capability I can even take decent quality pictures to post while on the run. I will admit I am a slow text writer. I have seen 15 year old kids smoke on cell phones typing entire emails before I can get out a simple response.

I have been using cells and pagers now since 1992. During that time I have used probably every major service offered. Sprint ended due to high rate charges during my peak hours of business. T-Mobile had a huge dead spot in the area where I lived. It took the Better Business Bureau getting involved on my behalf to get them to drop over $150.00 dollars in termination fees.

Finally I have switched over to Cingular for a few years now and so far have had very few problems. I located a company owned Cingular store in my area and they have always worked with my business to get the best rates. I hit dead spots still in East Texas and parts of Oklahoma but I guess that’s just the realities of geography and market demand.

I did find a phone that I think will end my slow response time with typing out emails and text.

Cingular palmOne Treo 650

PC Magazine

Some great links for more information:

• Life Hacker Cell Phone Round Up
• PC Magazine's Cell Phone and PDA Buying and Review Guide
• 10 Ways to Improve Your Technical Skills
  

Back on The State of Oklahoma Site!

I made it back on the State of Oklahoma web site! Another one of my Downtown Tulsa photos is on display at our official state site. If you get a chance check it out.
http://www.ok.gov

Remember our Veterans

Remembering our Veterans this weekend I came across this video and story. I feel it's fitting to share with the climate in today's United States.

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store's PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store's leadership role in adopting the Legion's "two minutes of silence" initiative. He felt that the store's contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o'clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry's anger towards the father for trying to engage the store's clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was later channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, "A Pittance of Time". Terry later recorded "A Pittance of Time" and included it on his full-length music CD, "The Power of the Dream"

Remembrance Day for Canada is the setting for this video.  But this video not only applies to Canadian veterans, but the United States veterans.

To All of Our Veterans .... Thank You

Blog Photos Update

  Adams Hotel Close Up Art Deco 
  Originally uploaded by T Town Tommy.

Due to the growing number and popularity of my photos I have now moved my photo albums to flickr.com. I have found their web site to be much more feature rich and extremely blogger friendly for photo publication.

For those who are not bloggers but casual readers and enjoy photo collections flicker.com offers sometimes thousands of photos on specific topics. A user account with the web site is free and feature rich in tools and photo publishing capability.

I will be experimenting over the next few weeks sharing some photos hosted on their web site in my post. In order to control the size of my side bar with my growing photo album list everything is now condensed into a flash applet with the flickr.com logo. The applet gives a preview of some of my photos and will take you directly to my online photo gallery. For those with free flickr accounts photos can be downloaded or printed onto posters, postcards and various other media.

Mexico City approves law recognizing gay civil unions

Mexico City today approved gay civil unions. 

MEXICO CITY – Mexico City's assembly voted to legally recognize gay civil unions, a measure that would provide gay couples with social benefits like those of married heterosexuals for the first time in the country's history.

Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas has spoken in favor of the bill approved Thursday, and was expected to sign it into law. A conservative group said it was considering seeking a court injunction against the measure. The bill would grant gay couples inheritance and spousal rights and allow them to register their unions with civil Authorities. Heterosexual couples can also be registered under the new law.

San Diego Union Tribune

Oklahoma Family Values

Addendum to the previous post.

To Vote or Not to Vote in Oklahoma

I don’t know about the rest of the nation but I am suffering terminal burn out with the mud slinging and over the top political attack ads. I have almost broken the television remote from flipping channels trying to avoid the negative barrage of accusations and spin.

The Republican Party broke out the tried and true vote getting strategy targeting Gay Americans residing in Oklahoma. They’re pandering to the less educated in the state that may go vote tomorrow as always. Another politician is running an ad against an incumbent that voted against our legislators blackmailing librarians in regards to books with gay characters being placed where the librarian sees fit in libraries. The politician claims that the incumbent allowed pornographic material to be viewed by children. So according to this person running for public office in Oklahoma; books with gay characters are by default pornographic.

I don’t mean to preach about gay minority issues in this election when there is so much more to consider. It is no secret that Oklahoma has a horrendous human rights record when it comes to minorities. Our roads are still some of the worst in the nation and our bridges are almost all dilapidated and hazardous. The education system in the state lags behind the national average. Our economic outlook is grim and being held up on a wish and a prayer.

Local and state politicians will claim our Oklahoma economy is strong but being a small business owner I can attest otherwise. The only thing propping up the Oklahoma economy is high natural gas and oil prices and stronger demand. It is an economic bubble that can burst at any moment.

Being a Libertarian and neither a Republican nor a Democrat I have a strong opinion when it comes to government and the economy. It is government’s job to create the infrastructure for business to thrive and grow. If our state legislature would focus on modernizing our roads and transportation, completely rebuilding our education system, repeal the state income tax, and drastically improve our human rights record people will start moving back and investing. Fortune 500 companies that have domestic partnership benefits wont shy away from looking at the quality of life that Oklahoma has to offer and would start creating high wage jobs in the state.

Do I see those running for political office offering rational solutions to this growing stack of important issues? Unfortunately no I don’t. What I see is mud slinging, spin, pandering for votes while attacking minorities, and some really bad quality ads.  I haven’t decided yet if I will even bother to vote. A vote for the lesser of two evils is not a democracy in which I care to participate.

Brad Pitt Vanity Fair

This is the latest cover for Vanity Fair. Brad's not looking bad for 42! Not sure I am good with the whole rain, boxer shorts and blue light concept but it's interesting. The photographer is Robert Wilson. For more photos and video head over to Mollygood.com.