The Oil Crisis
Current mood: irritated
Category: Automotive

My Solution to the Gas Crisis

10:46 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

What a day
Current mood: bored
Category: Life

Today in history

1775 - The battles of Lexington and Concord took place.

1861 - The first casualties of the Civil War occured in Baltimore as a mob attacked union troops.

1882 - Charles Darwin dies.

1897 - First Boston Marathon

1903 - Eliot Ness is Born

1943 - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins

1989 - 47 sailors die in an explosion on the USS Iowa

1993 - The stand off with the Branch Davidians ends with dozens dead

1995 - At 9:01 people all over OKC ask "what was that noise?" we all know the rest.

9:41 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Traffic
Category: Automotive

I haven't blogged in a while and there are lots of personal and philosophical things I could choose to write about.  Instead I'm going to bitch about traffic.

There have always been a few poorly timed lights in the city, where it's become accepted to run a red if the car in front of you does.  What I mean is this.  A long line waits at a light.  It turns green and three cars go through.  It turns yellow and two more go through.  It turns red three more go through.  Finally those waiting at a green light for traffic to clear can go.  No real safety risk, because only an idiot goes on green without looking.  The west bound turn lane on MLK and 63rd might be the worst of these.  No, people should not go on red, but the lights need to be fixed as well, so more than three cars can legally get through at a time.

It has become contagious, however.  I don't drive far anymore, but rarely does a day pass that I don't see my light turn green and a half a second later someone come flying through.  Usually these are not people who had been waiting for a cycle, just people who think they are more important than everyone else.  The days Oklahoma could claim friendly roads is over.  I've heard some blame an influx of out of towners, but I think it is just a surrender of common curtesy.

The worst part is, I catch myself pushing yellow lights.  No one likes approaching a light as it turns and it is real easy to justify speeding up.  It all comes down to this.  If two minutes will really make a difference fine, go.  Next time leave two minutes earlier.  Usually it doesn't matter, people get in a hurry just for the sake of being in a hurry.

12:45 PM - 3 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

A Star Wars Universe?
Current mood: contemplative

The scientific method has become the accepted way to move our understanding of the universe forward. While the system works, it's not the only way. The Ancient Greeks were able to reason out a great many things through the use of logic. Among these "discoveries" was the existence of atomic and sub-atomic particles, something they could not possibly observe. Yet, through methods of rigorous philosophical thought, they got there. It is the Sherlock Holmes method of science in some ways. You rule out possibilities one by one and what you have left, no matter how improbable, is probably the truth.

We all use this method in our day to day lives. It's what leads us to look in the fridge for our keys. You rule out one thing at a time until they turn up. I use it at work when solving problems, as do most people. At least those who don't just give up and make someone else solve the problem, but that's another blog. I won't deny that the scientific method is probably superior. Especially, as our ability to observe and conduct experiments improves. However, there are some things that can not be quantified and many things we can not yet observe.

That doesn't mean we don't get to ponder them. In fact, these things are the most open for the regular guy. By definition, you don't need a microscope or supercomputer. You just need a topic and some time to think. I do this a lot. Normally I have a couple topics floating around in the back of my mind. Sometimes they just simmer until I see something that inspires a new thought. Sometimes when I'm driving or just bored, I'll think about it more actively.

So what this whole preface has been leading up to is a line of thought I've had on the likely hood of UFO's, and intelligent extraterrestrial life in general. Many of you have heard the argument about one in so many stars have planets, and one in so many of those have a suitable planet, and one in so many of those will evolve life and so forth. What you end up with is a depressingly small ratio of stars with planets where intelligent life may have evolved. Then you're exhilarated when you're reminded of just how ridiculously many starts are in our galaxy and that leaves thousands of alien civilizations waiting to be found.

So, where are they?  If you believe in UFO's and the stories and theories that go along with them, you probably believe we are being observed, but that the aliens don't want to reveal themselves to human civilization.  If you're into the conspiracy stuff, then you're giving our government a lot more credit than I do for keeping a secret.  I would love to believe that there are aliens among us, but it just doesn't jive with my view of things.  I don't think the aliens would keep themselves secret.  If there are a multitude of civilizations, then somebody is going to want to say hi.

We are starting to find out that there are even more possibilities for life than we previously thought.  Mars and several of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons may harbor life.  We'll learn a lot more over the next 50 years, but things are looking up.  Where I think the formula is flawed is in calculating the chance for a species to evolve and survive to become technically proficient.  Look at us on Earth.  We barely survived the last ice age.  Arguably, we barely survived our first few decades with nuclear bombs.  As I right this there are half a dozen disasters brewing that could seriously threaten our existence.  When Yellow Stone erupts we may not survive.  Not if, but when.  Comets, asteroids and plagues are all just waiting to happen.  We simply cannot know if Earth has an above or below average chance of disaster.  I'd have to say the chances are below average, just because no other aliens have showed up.

We also assume that other intelligent species will have the same drive to explore and develop technology that we do.  Why?  Many Earth cultures do not value science and technology the way the West does.  Maybe this drive is a rarity among intelligent races.  So between survival and drive I can see a logical possibility that space faring species are very rare.  That said, there could still be dozens of races who have crossed the threshold.  Affluent human populations breed slower.  Western Europe and North America both have birth rates that don't or just barely keep up with the death rate.  It would take a lot of population to push a civilization far beyond their home.  It could take thousands of years for a species to really build real colonies and send manned missions out more than a solar system away.

Now what this thought led to was a rather strange twist.  That being that the Star Wars universe might be pretty accurate.  What I mean is a galaxy dominated by a single species, but where numerous others do exist at various levels of development.  Once that one lucky race starts to spread they would become a safety net for other start up races.  Just for the heck of it lets say we are being "watched".  If Yellow Stone did erupt, there is a good chance they would try to preserve our species.  Maybe they would feel compassion or just have some practical reason.  They might just be able to save a few hundred, but that would be enough.

As this dominant race spreads out, eventually they would engulf the entire galaxy.  It is likely that it would not maintain a cohesive government.  Colonies would rebel, alliances would shift and some populations might even become isolated and forgotten.  So, that's pretty much the train of thought at the moment.  In some ways it comes full circle, because it reopens the possibility of all sorts of "sci-fi" type possibilities.  Feel free to add your own thoughts.

8:26 PM - 7 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Our 7th anniversary trip
Current mood: rejuvenated
Category: Travel and Places

After numerous changes in the planning for our trip to Denver, Krista, Bullet and I headed out of OKC about 7:30 Thursday night.  The idea was to drive for a while, get a room on the road, and go on to Denver in the morning.  In the back of my mind I immediately wondered how far I could make it.  In the many changes of plans we did end up with one kind of silly decision.  We took the "scenic" route in the middle of the night.

The trip started quickly as we made our way to the panhandle.  Krista made our only kill of the night near Woodward.  Now we will never know way the possum wanted to cross the road.  We took highway 3 all the way to Boise and on North where it turning into 287.  We saw a few deer, a lot of coyotes and some rabbits.

We knew we were going to cut West over to highway 25 at some point.  Looking at the map highway 50 would have been the best choice, but at about midnight we turned left onto 160.  It is 112 miles from 287 to I25.  We did not see another car until we were less than a mile out of Trinidad.  I swear this is not an exaggeration.  After the first hour, I kept expecting to find a broke down bus that had been attacked by some horror flick ghoul.  Literally, we did not see another moving vehicle.  The small towns of Prichett and Kim were completely asleep.

The leg up I25 was pretty uneventful.  At this point I had decided we where going to make Denver before stopping.  North of Colorado Springs I slept for about an hour while Krista drove, before taking us on into Denver.  I walked into the hotel lobby not knowing what to expect.  It was about 8 hours before check-in after all.  They gave us a room on the spot.  It felt good to shower and clean up after being in the car for so long.

Not wanting to waste daylight, we headed into the mountains.  We spent Friday afternoon driving around Golden, Lookout Mountain, Central City and Idaho Springs.  It was all beautiful.  Highway 6 follows a canyon for many miles.  Lookout point looks down on Denver.  Well, I'll distribute the pictures as quickly as possible.  We went to bed pretty early Friday night.  I did pretty good for only having one hour of sleep, but it sure was nice to get in bed.

Saturday, we headed into the mountains again.  We had intended to go to the zoo, but two facts changed our minds.  First, we heard the zoo was kind of old school.  In other words, small enclosures.  The second bit of info was that the pine forests that cover the mountains, are pretty much doomed.  There is a type of beetle that has fed off the pines for years.  Normally, the winters kill off enough of them that the pines can keep up.  Now that the winters are warmer, not enough are dying off.  The projection is that the millions of pines covering the millions of acres of mountains will all be dead in a few years.

We went farther North on Saturday.  We drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  The peaks were much higher here, up to around 12,000 feet.  It was much cooler, of course.  We bottomed out around 40 degrees before the road started back down slope.  We didn't get to see any bears or elk, but we had a small scale snow ball fight.  At some point we crossed over the official continental divide.  We got back to the hotel a little later than the night before, but still went to bed at a good time.

The Double Tree is a little old and it shows, but it's still a nice place.  From my little experience with hotels it seemed about right for the price.  The restaurant is good, we had a couple meals at it.  They've got internet access for a little extra.  It's obviously not part of the original amenities.  The extra for Bullet is only $25.  They've got an outdoor hot tub, but it was so windy it was full of leaves and dirt.

Saturday, we left Denver about 10.  We went up to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was only a couple hours from Denver.  The heights were even more extreme than what we saw Friday.  Once again, I'll get you pictures as soon as I can.  We didn't see any wildlife, except for some little squirrel-like varmint.  It's amazing how far you have to drive sometimes just to get a few miles.  Often we could see where we had been half an hour ago.

I'm really glad we rented a car.  The gas would have killed us in the truck.  Not to mention the wear and tear on the poor thing.  It's been a while since I've driven anything new, well except for the bmw last weekend. 

Our trip back was pretty normal.  We left about 9 central time and got to see the stuff we had missed in the dark on our way up.  We took a slightly different route cutting through the corner of New Mexico.  We got to see a few antelope and the Capulan Volcano.  I will say that the longest stretch of road anywhere is the 60 mile stretch in that area.  I thought we were never going to cross over into Texas.  Once we did we went through a few small towns, slowly tracking South and East.  We eventually linked up with I40 and, of course, from there it was a straight shot.  We were glad to be home, but the king sized bed and brand new car would have been nice to keep.  For those interested it was 2008 Malibu that we rented.  I don't know if we were the first to drive it, but we were close.

There is one more piece of the story to tell though.  About the time we pulled up to the Condo, a young lady was parking.  She approached our neighbor's door and starting knocking.  As a bit of background, our neighbor, David, has recently got a new roommate.  It was someone he did not previously known, he had to place an ad in the paper and just hoped for the best.

I was unloading the car, so was regularly passing by the young lady.  She was their to pick up her baby from "the baby's daddy".  Shouting and crying could clearly be heard from upstairs, but he apparently could not here the door bell.  She looked to me a few times, and I finally told her "If it was me, I'd try the door."  That's all it took, and she headed up the steps, into the condo.  A few moments later she was screaming for help.  I, and some other neighbors, got to the door about the time she was coming out.  She had the baby in her arms and was sporting a quickly darkening bruise on her cheek.  Krista was dialing 911 in a heartbeat.  He didn't follow her out .

To make a long story short, the paramedics, ambulance and the cops showed up in that order.  They checked the lady and baby over, and the cops had the daddy in handcuffs without a discussion.  With all the bad stuff they see, I bet the cops just love to hear a woman say she'll press charges.  It looked like a classic scene from "cops".  He had no shirt, no shoes and smelled of alcohol.  It was pretty clear it was more than just liquor affecting him.  Last we heard no one had put up the money to bail him out.

Last minute drama aside, it was a great weekend.  I had no problem with allergies in Colorado and, even though they were setting record highs, it was cooler than it was here.  Still Oklahoma is where all our friends are, so it is home.  If a time does come to look for a new home, though, Denver will be on the list.

7:11 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

You would tell everybody too.
Current mood: pleased
Category: Life

The AIDS Walk was today.  You all should have known that, because it was so freakin hot today.  It's amazing how many people I know in the circles that do AIDS and GLBT rights work.  I was sitting at the NLA table, folding broshures and pretty much minding my own business.  Out of no where Danny Morton, this years AIDS Walk committee president came up and asked me a question.  In his English accent he said.

"Lewis, would you mind driving Ms. America in the walk today"

It only took a few moments to figure out the right answer, "uh, sure."

After about twenty minutes of trying to reconcile this being an intro into several adolescent fantasies, the lady from the car dealer ship showed me the car.  It was a black BMW Roadster.  By far the most expensive car I've ever been in.  I pretty much forgot that girl after that.

Driving, what turned out to be four passenger in a two seater was interesting.  Ms. America's "handler" was in the passenger seat.  I got the impression she was pretty much a bitch.  Lauren sat in the middle up behind the seats and two guys from RAIN sat on either side of her.  Now you have to realize the AIDS walk isn't really a parade.  As we made our way through bricktown, there really wasn't any crowd for her to wave at.  Hell, if anyone has ever been down there on a Sunday afternoon, you know the place is dead.  Lauren and the two guys in the back were just chatting away, like you would expect a beauty queen and two gay guys too.  Meanwhile her and her handler said very little to each other, but when they did it was very short.  I get idea they don't really get along.

So, just to restate.

I DROVE MS. AMERICA TODAY.

It will be on the news tonight for anyone who reads this before then.  We are DVR'ing it for anyone how wants to come over and see it later.

5:01 PM - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Forth of July - 2007

Over all it was a great day.  Friends, food and all that good stuff.  I finally got to enjoy the pool at the new place.  We have a big new gas grill and I had to relearn how to cook.  For those who don't know, the difference between gas and charcoal is as dramatic as the difference between a stove and a microwave.  Everybody said it was good though.  If you were lying, thank you.  If you weren't, your welcome.

Krista and I went to the Red Hawks game last night.  It was a good game and we won, yeah.  I hate knowing that I know so little about a sport I'm watching.  After investing so many years as a football fan and coming to undersand most of the nuances, I know full well that there is a lot I don't know about baseball.  All in time I guess.  Mostly I'm just interested in filling the gap 'till football.

A blog wouldn't be any fun without a complaint though.  Apparently Integris was one of the big sponsers for the fire works last night.  Some genius decided the scoreboard screen should display their logo for the duration of the show.  It was a simple Integris logo with fireworks going off behind it.  The effect was a strobe light that constantly drew you eye away from the real show.  We left.

Turns out it was a great choice.  The fire works were much more enjoyable on the walk back to the truck, which leads me to my next complaint.  Would it really be that hard to tweak the stop light cycles and do a little traffic control, to clear an area after a big event.  I can't imagine it would be.  Just designate a few exit routes and fascilitate their smooth flow.  Store owners in Brick Town would probably have mixed feeling about it.  I'm sure they get lots of business from people stopping in for a drink while traffic clears.  At the same time, though, how many people stay away, because they don't want to deal with the gridlock.

Too much griping.  I had a really good forth, hope everbody else did too.

6:06 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The weather
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Life

After a two year drought that had everone thinking dust bowl, the rain has come.  Last week we were 7 inches ahead for the year.  I really don't remember seeing this much prolonged rain, ever.  Water drains behind Greer when it rains and it's turning into a swamp.  The toads have moved in, so the alligators can't be to far away.

We've gotten lucky a couple times though.  We moved on the 16th and didn't get rained on.  Yesterday it didn't rain on the pride parade.  I guess that's one good thing about them splitting the festival and parade between two weekends.  At least the parade was dry.

The seven day forcast has been an adventure.  They'll show a 10% to 30% chance for every day and then suddenly bounce it up to 70%.  Thing is its raining on those 10% days too.  The disaster monger in me keeps thinks, 'just one more good rain and it will flood. mu ma ha ha ha" Seriously though, the ground is soaked and the rivers and lakes are full.  We've already had days they've had to close streets.

40% today, 60% tomarrow, then 70%, 50%, 40% and 30%.

The other weird things is that it is coming from every direction.  The last few days the storms have been coming straight out of the East and tuning North when they get to the city.  Last week the were coming out of the South and the week before out of the North.

At least MySpace is nice and dry.

1:52 PM - 6 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Our first Red Hawks game

Krista, my Tilley and I went to our first Red Hawks game last night.  They won and I ate some peanuts.  I've never been a baseball fan, but the gap from March to September is entirely to long.  I think football season needs to be stretched into March or April and Basketball should be a summer sport.  Oh well, no one listens to me.

3:01 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

My memorial day
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Friends

If you would have told me 10 years ago that I'd be going to any rodeo four years running, I'd think you were loony.  Especially one sponsored by the OGRA.  We first went with the YOTSO kids in 2004, then a couple years manning a PFLAG booth.  This year we staffed the Aid Walk table.  It was fun.  It's weird how many people we bump into maybe twice a year, each of us barely remembering the other.  I think the event is becoming more popular each year.  I don't think there were as many vendors this year, but their where a lot of people.

Who would you tell if you spent $70 dollars on a hat?  Everyone, of course.  You might be thinking, big deal, it must be a nice hat and I'm sure it was worth it.  You need to remember, I'm a cheap bastard.  It is a nice hat though, it's a Tilly and it fits.  I haven't had a hat that fits for . . . hmm, well maybe never.  Of course, I've never owned a hat with an owners guide either.

Went to Mom's Sunday.  I got up at five and drove to Claremore.  We left Claremore for Kaw City about nine.  Spent 5 minutes in the rain at the cemetery, (by the way Diana, all your cows are dead.) then drove back to Claremore.  Mom and I cleaned up around the yard a little bit.  We got the brush pile really burning just in time for down power, then I drove home and went to bed.  Great day.

Today, Monday, we got a new dog and that's about it.  Hope you're all having a great Memorial Day Weekend.

This blog has a sarcasm rating of Zero.

1:41 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment