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I was checking some blog stats today and realized that I have 250 post published! So to celebrate I thought I would share a find straight from our Saturday mornings as kids. Video Sphere has an excellent guide to all the Loony Tunes Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. A person published all the cartoon clips on YouTube. Hurry though if you want to view any of them as Warner Brothers might possible yank the videos.
After being in East Texas this month I thought these stories from the area where fitting after a week living in their culture.
The owner of a golf course in Lufkin was confused about paying an invoice, so he decided to ask his secretary for some mathematical help. He called her into his office and said, "You graduated from The University of Texas and I need some help. If I were to give you $20,000, minus 14%, how much would you take off?" The secretary thought a moment, and then replied, "Everything but my earnings."
You got to love those Longhorn women.
A group of Jefferson friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day. That night, one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of an eight-point buck."Where's Henry?" the others asked. "Henry had a stroke of some kind, He's a couple of miles back up the trail," the successful hunter replied "You left Henry laying out there and carried the deer back?" they inquired. "A tough call," nodded the hunter. "But I figured no one is going to steal Henry!"
A professor at Baylor was overheard saying... "When the end of the world comes, I hope to be in East Texas. When asked why, he replied he'd rather be in East Texas, because everything happens in East Texas 20 years later than in the rest of the civilized world.
The young man from Gilmer who went to Texas A & M came running into the store and said to his buddy "Bubba, somebody just stole your pickup truck from the parking lot!" Bubba replied, "Did you see who it was"? The young man answered, "I couldn't tell, but I got the license number."
NEWS FLASH! -Bryan/College Station's worst disaster occurred when a small two-seater Cessna 150 plane, piloted by two Texas A&M students, crashed into a cemetery earlier today. Search and Rescue workers have recovered 300 bodies so far and expect the number to climb as digging continues into the evening. The pilot and copilot survived and are helping in the recovery efforts.
A Texas State trooper from Marshall pulled over a pickup on I-20. The trooper asked, "Got any ID?" The driver replied, "Bout whut?"
A man in Tyler had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait. A passerby studied the scene as he drove by and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was. The man replied, "I have a flat tire." The passerby asked,"But what's with the flowers?" The man responded, "When you break down they tell you to put flares in the front and flares in the back! I never did understand it either."
Kathy Griffin, star of Bravo's My Life on the D-List, performed to a sold out show Saturday night at the Tulsa Brady Theater bringing the inside scoop of celebrity life and the stars who keep us tuned in daily. No celebrity was safe from the stories and comments Kathy shared from her appearance on Larry King Live and Oprah to spending a few hours with Paris Hilton one on one. Kathy admitted that Tulsa was her first visit to Oklahoma during the opening of her show and commented on Hideaway Pizza and discovering that Ranch Dressing goes well with pizza, calling it "Hillbilly Ketchup". Also in part of her ongoing dialog regarding Clay Aiken, Kathy commented on the incident involving the singer's bare feet being on the lap of an airline passenger and the fight that erupted on the plane in Tulsa. Ironically Kathy pointed out; she was performing on the same stage Aiken sung on a few weeks before at the Brady.
Many of the stories and commentary that where part of Kathy's stand-up tour set came from jokes from her Emmy nominated show My Life on the D-List but she did manage to bring freshness to her live stand-up act. Staying probably a bit more up to speed on the event in Hollywood than some in the crowd Kathy staged a hilarious no holds barred rant about Lindsay Lohan's arrest last week and Paula Abdul's new reality show Hey Paula also on the Bravo Network.
Every comic like an actor on stage has his or her own style and Kathy's stage presence is like Whoopi Goldberg in that it was a conversation with the crowd. One could suppose that seeing someone for a few years on a screen and then finally seeing the character in person can throw people off. However with her act and quickly connecting with the crowd she was able to get people to start listening to her and begin her monologues. Kathy took an interesting poll of the audience at the start of the show by seeing how many where gay, straight, military, women and who where those few unfortunate husbands dragged to the concert by their wives.
Not surprisingly the crowd was about 70 percent gay and provided a show unto itself. You can't have a fun show without a fun audience who are up on the latest celebrity news, in Griffin's case, and the younger and gay crowd delivered in spades. For Tulsa it was a mini Gay Pride event with the amount of Tulsa's gay society A, B and some cases D-listers in attendance. Many people I had not seen in years and happily almost all looked polished, cleaned up and enjoying summer with plenty of smiles and good vibes to go around. Everyone in the know noticed the row of queens that disappeared halfway through Kathy's set for twenty minutes to go "powder their noses" much to pitied amusement of some since this troupe has been doing the same thing since the early 90's. Also the almost traditional smell of pot wafting through the air out of the men's bathroom added to the concert experience of attending a show at the "Old Lady on Brady".
Overall the show was a success and a fun way to hear firsthand the exploits of Kathy and the celebrities she has encountered during her career in the entertainment industry. Experiencing such a large gay turnout added to the vibe of cracking up at the stupidity and ridiculousness of Hollywood. Everyone was connecting in an almost group dialog with the Lady in the Know of all things D-List. For anyone who is a follower of her show, addicted to TMZ or wants a firsthand experience of gay and pop culture hilarity at its best don't miss out on Kathy Griffin's live tour.
Fox News and Rupert Murdock attack bloggers, you decide...
Details are slowly emerging regarding the upcoming eleventh Star Trek movie. Director J.J. Abrams announced at this year's San Diego Comic-Con that the casting of the younger Mr. Spock is a done deal. Actor Zachary Quinto best known as the villain in NBC's hit show "Heroes" will be staring as the younger version of the science officer. When asked about the casting choice of Quinto, Nimoy commented that the casting choice was "logical". The Star Trek rumor mill has William Shatner also reprising his role as Captain Kirk for the upcoming movie with possibly singer Robbie Williams or Matt Damon playing the younger character of Ensign James T. Kirk.
After a week on the road and over 1000 miles clocked on my car I am back from Texas. I spent the week trying to visit with as many members of my extended family as possible, catching up on family gossip and news. Many of my cousin are having families now of their own and I had to learn over a dozen names of new additions to the clan. Luckily I will be around sixty when many of them graduate from college and the cycle starts again learning new names.
It was a nice rest being unplugged for the most part from the news, the internet and in some cases cell coverage. However I am back and there has been all kinds of things happening since I have "unplugged".
NASA has been in the news prior to the launching of the refitted Endeavor space shuttle. The committee commissioned to investigate Lisa Nowak's crazy 900 miles road trip discovered at least two incidences of astronauts taking off in the shuttle while drunk. I can see taking a Xanax maybe but I would hurl in zero G while drunk much less from the take off itself. It was also discovered this week by NASA inspectors that wires in computers to be installed on the International Space Station to control power had been purposely cut by a worker. Charges are pending but would treason count as an offense?
Moving on to Broadway news the musical version of "Brokeback Mountain" is hitting the Big Apple.
X-Men co-stars Hugh Jackman and James Marsden have been named as the two actors they are shooting for to star as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the weeper love story.
Hugh Jackman had a tony winning performance singing in "The Boy from Oz" where he played gay singer and songwriter Peter Allen. Jackman also starred in the musical "Oklahoma" playing Curly McLain. To many Jackman is best known from his role as Wolverine from the X-Men movies. Marsden who played Cyclops in the X-Men franchise can be seen in this year's film "Hairspray". Truth is stranger than fiction.
On the local front QT Corporation has bought the naming rights to the Expo Center in Tulsa. The county and QT signed a 10 year 2.6 million deal for naming rights and is building a new kiosk and promo booths for the company at the fairgrounds. With the removal of Bell's Amusement Park and additional parking available the county gets an interesting deal from QT.
When I drove from Texas back to Oklahoma I noticed many ranchers bailing up the large rounds of hay you see on the side of highways and rural roads in the region. Thankfully the rain that has slammed Oklahoma and Texas has let up and equipment can get into the overgrown fields. With luck two more cuttings will be possible this year. I was a bit surprised that the price paid to ranchers is less than 40 dollars for a large roll. I counted well over 150 rolls in one rancher's field outside of Paris, Texas.
I had a productive trip but after being gone most of the month of July I am happy to get back into the swing of things. This weekend Kathy Griffin will be performing a sold out show at the historic Brady Theater. Read about the history of the Brady and see who has performed over the years. My partner and I have tickets to Kathy's show and I will be posting a review for your Sunday reading.
Dr. Seuss political commentary from the early 1940's, somethings never change...
Going to be taking a short break for several days. Will be on the road and Wi-Fi will be hit and miss till I return middle of next week.
Peace Out,
~T
Jenks, Oklahoma a small thriving community adjacent to Tulsa made it in Money Magazines top 100 best places to live 2007. With its low crime rate, cheap cost of living and recent development on the Arkansas River the town has grown from just an antique shop mecca to a thriving and happening community. Check out Money Magazines review. No other city in Oklahoma made this list.
Sun Microsystems and Adobe have announced newly found security holes in their popular Java and Adobe Flash Software respectively. Both companies have moved swiftly to patch the newly found security flaws. In order for the patches to work however some user intervention is required.
To Take Care of the Java Update:
Go to the "Do I Have Java?" link and click on the verify installation program on the page. If you don't have Java Version 6 Update 2, then you need to upgrade. The upgrade can be found on the Java.com Version 6 Update 2 update page. Once the new version is installed you can go to your windows Control Panel then to Add and Remove Programs and remove any older versions of Java. Below the "Java Version 6 Update 2" are the older versions of Java. Java updates do not automatically remove older versions and they take up lots of unneeded room on your hard drive. Note: Apple users will have to wait for Sun Microsystems to develop an update for your OS.
To Take Care of the Adobe Flash Update:
The newest and secure version of Flash was released on July 10th. To check and see what version you are currently running go to the Adobe Flash Site. The site will show in a small box to the right of the screen what version you are currently using. The version you are looking for is 9.0.47.0, anything of a lower number than this version needs to be replaced. The automatic upgrade page for Adobe flash can be located at the main Flash install page. Follow the instructions on the page for this simple update.
Happy and Safe Web Surfing!
For those who didn't notice Bob Howard's Crown Auto World has vacated the long standing Crown Buick location at 46th and S. Sheridan Rd. as of last Saturday. Changing the name to BMW Tulsa, Howard is joining the glut of auto dealerships on South Memorial Drive. In the works is a possible purchase of the now abandoned property by Sam's Club currently residing just north of the old S. Sheridan location. If purchased Sam's Club intends to expand its current location offering more services and a larger merchandise selection for members. No word yet if the current building Sam's Club occupies will be demolished and a larger one built on site or a simple expansion of the current structure. In the last year Sam's Club at the 44th and Sheridan location built a free standing gas station exclusively for members with a fractional discount on gasoline.
Twelve hundred troops from Poland were deployed to Afghanistan in June as part of a NATO buildup to patrol the Pakistan border, searching for Taliban forces, but Polish commanders admitted that they would not be combat-ready for several weeks because the keys to all their Humvees had been stolen. One commander said spare keys had been ordered.
Do not be lulled into thinking that extremist killing is reserved exclusively for Islamic fundamentalist in the name of Allah. We have our own madmen in the United States killing in the name of Christianity. Ignoring the most heralded guidelines in the Holy Bible, The Ten Commandments, one of which is Thou Shall Not Murder/Kill, here now is the monster Terry Mark Magnum. Brought to us by the Houston Chronicle.
A Cypress man charged in the death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant said Saturday that he was doing God's work when he went to a Montrose-area bar last month, hunting for a gay man to kill.
"I believe I'm Elijah, called by God to be a prophet," said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. " ... I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing."
Interviewed in the Brazoria County Jail Saturday morning, Mangum said he feels no remorse for killing 46-year-old Kenneth Cummings Jr., whom relatives described as a "loving" son who never forgot a holiday and a devoted uncle who had set up college funds for his niece and nephew. He worked at Southwest for 24 years.
Mangum, who described himself as "definitely not a homosexual," said God called on him to "carry out a code of retribution" by killing a gay man because "sexual perversion" is the "worst sin." Mangum believed Cummings to be gay. "I planned on sending him to hell," he said.
Mangum — who claimed he has studied the Bible for "thousands and thousands and thousands of hours" — said God first commanded him to kill during a "visitation," or dream, while he was in prison in 2001. He said his victim must be a man because men "carry the harvest of the sinner."
After six months' planning, Mangum said, he went to E.J.'s, a Montrose-area club, where he met Cummings. After they drank a couple of beers, he said, the two went to Cummings' home in Pearland.
Mangum said he stabbed Cummings with a "6-inch blade."
"It's not that I'm a bad dude," he said, expressing concern that people might view him as "strange." Pausing briefly, he said, "I love God."
Cummings disappeared June 4. His charred remains were found June 16, buried on a 50-acre ranch near San Antonio owned by Mangum's 90-year-old grandfather.
Let it be noted that the Holy Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. This is a horrific and barbarous case of Christian extremism spawned by the ala carte popular twisting of the Bible.
It was 37 years ago today in Houston, Texas that I was introduced to the world. My how time flies when you’re having fun! Looking back over the past year I think I have accomplished many of my goals and came through this year’s challenges a better person. One of my big goals this past year was to lose weight. After age 30 your body starts burning food a bit slower and I ballooned up to 240 lbs. Being a former athlete I have always been big but that weight was making life too difficult to endure. So with portion control and walking a lot I have managed over the past year to get back down to 195 lbs. I still smoke about a half pack of cigarettes a day but I have to have something to aim for this coming year. Hopefully with the support of friends, family and my doctor I will finally kick this nasty habit before it quits me.
My plans for my birthday this year are simple as usual. Unlike some gay guys who want a grand gala I will be content with a nice dinner at Steak and Ale with my partner of nine years and some close friends. I am going to see the new "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" movie tonight. Having never seen any of the Potter movies in the theater and never read any of the books I expect to be totally lost but with the excellent reviews of the film I will try to pay attention and follow the story along.
Thanks to all who have sent me well wishes this morning, my inbox was over flowing. I love the fact that so many of you have taken the time over the past year to enjoy my blog and join my ever growing circle of friends on the T Town Tommy MySpace page.
My wishes for this birthday are simple but some not so easy:
1. World peace
2. A good and honest president in the next election
3. Equal marriage rights for all
4. An end to world hunger and poverty
5. A cure for AIDS
6. Safety in my travels
7. That my partner and I have another wonderful year together… repeat
8. Even more blog readers
9. A healthy body and spirit
10. A springtime tour to Paris and London with Drew from Drew-o-rama!
Continuing with the laundry list of anti-gay/secretly gay national conservative leaders, may I now introduce you to Republican Bob Allen. State Representative Allen from Florida was arrested on Wednesday in his home state trying to solicit an undercover male cop for oral sex.
Florida state representative Bob Allen held a tearful press conference after being arrested and charged with peddling oral sex for $20 to an undercover officer, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Bob Allen, a married Republican from Merritt Island, was charged with solicitation to commit prostitution. He was later released after posting $500 bail.
"I am filing a not guilty plea," Allen said at a press conference Thursday. "I am going to vigorously fight this. I am not resigning my office, because the people who elected me want me to do a good job, and I am going to do a good job for them in finishing this term.... This is an ugly and unpleasant situation that has been thrust on me and my family. It is not true. It is inaccurate, and therefore [I'm] not guilty, and I will be standing strongly for that."
Allen and his attorney did not take questions from the press and urged members of the media to be accurate in following the case.
Conservative Republican State Representative Allen is or was the co-chair for the McCain Presidential campaign in Florida and has quite the history of being anti-gay in his state political circles.
In March, Allen cosponsored HB269, the Lewdness and Indecent Exposure Bill, which outlined enhanced penalties for “offenses involving unnatural and lascivious acts or exposure or exhibition of sexual organs committed within specified distance of certain locations." The bill would also have authorized warrantless arrest for specified violations. The measure, however, never made it to a vote.
Allen also signed a resolution, adopted in April that encourages educating parents and children about the dangers of sexual solicitation and abuse.
About six years ago, he was one of 21 Florida legislators to sign Gov. Jeb Bush's friend-of-the-court brief supporting the state's ban on gays adopting children.
"Practically as soon as he got into office, he wanted to go on record as being antigay," said Bartsch, whose Orlando-based (Rainbow Democratic) club gave him its worst possible rating.
Local police were on burglary detail at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Titusville, Fla.—about 40 miles east of Orlando—when they noticed a suspicious man, walking in and out of the public bathroom. An undercover officer went into a bathroom stall, and moments later Allen approached the stall and offered to perform oral sex on the officer in exchange for $20, according to the report.
The officer took Allen into custody after identifying himself. Police lieutenant Todd Hutchinson told the press that Allen did not mention that he was a state legislator until after he was arrested.
(excerpts from "The Advocate")
I feel some pity for Representative Allen; self hate is one of the worst hells any human can endure. Hypocrisy at the cost of those whom you were elected to represent rights and freedoms however is one of the most damndable sins.
Recently the CIA released their long held documents showing the dirty underside of the organization. Everything from domestic spying, assassination plots, drug experimentation on unwilling persons, etc etc. All of these illegal actions where approved under the watch of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Not to be outdone, our current President opened the door to torture and abuse by the CIA and the military in
February 2002, when the president decided to chunk the Geneva
Convention.
One soldier, whose recent story was told on 60 Minutes, came forward with a data disc of photos showing some of the milder torture going on in the CIA run prisons. The cost he paid was a discharge from the Armed Forces, death threats, and total osterization by his home town. Think the torture stopped and the Geneva Convention guidelines started to be enforced after the photos where made public? Think again...
Oops I missed the Monday Morning Humor edition this week! To make up for it here is the now famous YouTube "Will it Blend?" guy, Tom Dickson, doing what he does best. The victim this time you ask? The now infamous Apple iPhone. Even if you have an extra $600 bucks laying around, don't try this at home.
After almost a two week stay in Seattle I am back home in Tulsa. As usual whenever I leave for a little while I spend a few days just getting caught up with the business and the home. Between the jet lag, Frontier Airlines losing my luggage and a hasty upgrade to Windows Vista on my computer I have been swamped! Thankfully after a lot of hustle and some readjustment of my sleeping schedule back to central time I am back to my normal day to day routine.
I had a blast in Washington State and Seattle. I spent the last half of my trip in the north most part of the state hiking in the evergreen forest and walking down the cold rocky beaches. Being land locked in Oklahoma for so long seeing the massiveness of the ocean was both overwhelming and refreshing. The fresh spruce smell of the forest, the carpet like feeling of the trails and the feeling of ocean breeze on my face was simply incredible.
I only spent a couple of days in Seattle proper; my goal was a commune with nature. I needed to put behind me the stress of everyday life and the hustle that goes with running a business. To go on a hike with me through the Washington State Forest and a look at the coast head over to my flickr.com site to see the photos. I think you will find them as breathtaking as what I experienced during my little escape.
May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ... For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.
~Last Letter Written by Thomas Jefferson on the 50th Anniversary of Our Independence Day
Day five is over of my vacation to Seattle. I spent the last few days doing what most normal families do during the holidays. Something most of you take for granted being allowed to have a nuclear family by our government but is a rare treat for me. I spent Sunday at a church picnic and finally learned how to play croquet; I was the last one out and still not sure exactly who won. Winning of course was not the point, having fun and enjoying other company is the true goal of the game. The food was great, I ate way too much and the church members made me feel more than welcome to join them in fellowship. It was the first church picnic I can remember attending since I was probably fourteen years old in Humble, Texas my original home town before I became an Okie. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed family church functions. Memories came flooding back to me of years past, bittersweet but enough to savor.
Yesterday I visited the Microsoft campus in Redmond. To those doubting the health of Microsoft I can attest to the growing of the grounds and the rapid expansion of new buildings for upcoming projects. I was given a guided tour of the campus, some behind the scenes glimpses of day to day operations and a visit to the Microsoft store. One of the most enjoyable highlights was getting my hands on the new Microsoft Surface interface in the visitor center. The company has a overhead map up of the city of Redmond and instead of using a keyboard or mouse I had the freedom of using my hands and fingertips to move the map, rotate it 360 degrees, zoom in on points of interest all using the power of touch on a huge glass surface.
Yes the cost for the interface is going to be outrageous but being able to interact without the tethers of keyboards or a pointing device that have tied down computer users since the first personal computers in the early 1980’s was amazing. After using the interactive map I had a good enough idea of the area to make my way around the computer geek utopia that is Redmond and the city is great. I shopped the malls for several hours and will need an extra suitcase to get everything back home.
Today I spend the day earning my keep and was able to let my gay designer side come out in my own version of Color Splash Seattle. Seems some straight husbands don’t quite have the knack for painting and color. My friend’s wife and I got rid of the white walls upstairs in her house and added some character and style. Tonight we cleaned up and headed into downtown Snohomish for a steak dinner for the family, my treat, then off to the movies.
My friend and I went to the new Bruce Willis movie Live Free or Die Hard. After the massive disappointment in movies this spring and summer, seeing Bruce doing what he still does best was a great change. The script was smart, the action sequences where tight and mind blowing, and the movie kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat. The other movie sequels this year so far have kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to leave, not so with this installment of Die Hard. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to what a summer action movie is suppose to be and go see the best installment of the Die Hard series.
The weather here is still absolutely wonderful with sunny and mild days and cool breezy nights. The residents here are bitching about low 80 degree days being hot. I laugh as I know what’s in store for me when I return to Oklahoma. I looked up the forecast for my return on Sunday to Tulsa; humid, oppressive, and the mid 90’s. Oh to be an Okie!
After my flight experience this past week I felt this was appropriate. God I hope no Delta pilots read this blog!
Found this on Incurable Insomniac's blog. If your a blogger take the test. The truth is sometimes ugly.
It was one year ago today that I started T Town Tommy! After 228 post and tons of comments and emails, the conversation has been great. I want to thank all my readers, link partners and fellow bloggers, both in Oklahoma and around the world, for all the help and encouragement. I mainly started this blog both to give a face to gay life in Oklahoma and to show that the thoughts of gay people about our world is not that much different from straight people. Looking back at my first post, my writing has gotten better and so has my photo skills. I hope everyone has enjoyed taking this journey online with me and wait until you see what I have up my sleeve this next year. I am working with video and audio podcasters to add a further dimension to T Town Tommy. Be on the look-out for some podcast coming straight from the buckle of the Bible Belt! I knew all those acting classes would come in handy one day.
Thanks again to all of you for making T Town Tommy the success it is today,
Thomas
Who would possibly think that there is a terrific gay life in Tulsa,
Okla., right in the heart of the Bible Belt? Well, it is wonderful!
More on the Story With Kansas City "Camp"
The fun of traveling is you never know what’s around the next corner or the unexpected surprises that wait to fall in your lap. I usually try to catch air flights early in the morning giving me at least an extra half a day in cities that I visit. However for my Seattle vacation the shortest flight available left at 5:30 pm from Tulsa International, so I was traveling during the evening. I usually don’t fly Delta airlines and now I know why I try to avoid their flights. The smaller regional jet was late leaving the gate in Tulsa getting me into Salt Lake City with ten minutes to catch my next flight. Unfortunately my next flight was at the other end of the airport and I was hauling a 40 lb back pack.
Now I am not a twenty five year old, I will be thirty seven in a couple of weeks. The thought of running from one end of a large international airport to the other with the equivalent of a little person strapped to my back with my blown knees and only walking for exercise for the past year was pretty daunting but I went for it. To my surprise I made it to my connecting flight totally out of breath with my calves and knees screaming for mercy with thirty seconds to spare. The others flying with me from the previous connection trying to get to the same airplane where about to pass out from the run. Looking at their bright red faces I realized that all that walking is paying off. I was not in near the bad of shape as I had thought compared to other some younger than myself.
The flight attended at the gate gave us a sadistic smile and said the plane will be delayed another thirty minutes. All the running and panic was in vain. You would think the flight attendant giving us the head start at the other end of the airport could have been more up to date and possible avoided some passengers from pushing a heart attack running a mile in under ten minutes.
Finally boarding the Boeing heavy I noticed some chaos and confusion while people where trying to make it to their assigned seat and row. Migrant workers, some of which I will assume have never been on an airplane before, just grabbed a random seat throughout the entire airplane. I can understand the thought process assuming flights work the same as a bus ride on the ground with first come first serve on seat choice. Chaos ensued and none of the immigrants spoke English. The desperate attendants trying to get the second leg of the flight off the ground kept trying to communicate in English by speaking slower and LOUDER.
Ok lets step back for a minute, I don’t speak Korean, if you speak to me slower and louder in Korean I am STILL not going to have a clue what a person is saying. Finally the attendants had all the Hispanic immigrants stand in the aisles until everyone was seated then just stuck them wherever there was an open seat. Forget about announcements to put your chair in the upright position or raise your tray, they had to go to each immigrant and again speak LOUD and slow to them to no avail. At least I got a great laugh during my flight.
I have received various calls, text, emails and a comment asking me if Seattle was raining as much as Tulsa and the answer is a resounding no. Yes it was cool and pouring down when I arrived and a few off and on showers yesterday but over all the weather has been cool, sunny and just a beautiful as I have always remembered in the Great Northwest. I spent yesterday visiting with my friends and packing up for a overnight stay in Seattle proper and a welcome party. A party that ended at 4:00 am pacific time while my body is still on central time. Lots of great food, plenty of cocktails and wine, great company, lively debates, and a beautiful view of the Sound kept me going till the sun almost rose. I think the full moon must have played a role in everyone acting pretty ornery.
I finally woke around 11:00 am today with what felt like a marching band thudding in my head and a knotted up stomach. Yet another reminder that I am not twenty five anymore. By about two pm I was good to go again and we headed to the Seattle Convention Center for a ride to the top of the Space Needle.
Visiting Seattle off and on for the last seventeen years I had never gone to the top of the over 600’ tall structure and I was determined to finally check it off my list of things to do on this visit. The city of Seattle has done an outstanding job maintaining the facility and the view at the top was worth every penny spent in ticket fare.
True to my “family” being around the world, I of course got cruised by two cute guys while up trying to get some great pictures of the city. It was nice to know I still got “it” but with kids in tow and my wonderful straight friends, nothing other than my beaming smile and a cowboy nod was as far as they got with me. After a day of sight seeing including the Troll Under the Bridge, a statue of Lenin imported from Russia that actually kind of looks like me, and a wonderful meal we headed back to home base of Snohomish. The sunset over the huge spruce and cotton wood trees with the mountains in the background was breath taking.
I have a gut feeling this week is going to be a wonderful break and a blast. Stay tuned for some fun pictures of my trip, including the Troll under the bridge, the sights from the top of the Space Needle and other interesting sights from the Northwest.
Change is good
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