Some Catching Up to Do
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.
Comments