Hometown Representing?

Home is defined by many different things. I've told my wife that home is wherever she and I sleep together (no I don't mean that sexually). Now, my home is in the USA. I could be more specific, but this is the Internet. However, Bartlesville will always be home to me. If you doubt this statement examine the next sentence. I still have my Alma Mater's website (BHS) on my Links bar at the top of my browser...really!

Any time I watch TV or hear the news about anything in Oklahoma, I get giddy. Yes, I said it: Giddy!

Just look at some of the most famous people from OK (and if you don't know them, let me slap you around):

If you don't know them - shame on you! However, some people you may not know yet are "representing" in current reality TV shows: American Idol and America's Next Top Model.

Alaina Whitaker from American Idol looks strangely similar to my personal favorite American Idol Winner (pictured above - and yes she is my personal favorite because she is from Oklahoma not just because she's attractive), but what is more incredible is that she, too, is from OK. She just lives further west than that blond bombshell did.

Then there is Amis from ANTM. She is actually from my home town!

I got home for lunch today and the first thing Jesica said to me was, "There is a girl on here from Bartlesville!" I didn't even take off my shoes. I just sat on the couch and scanned the women surrounding Tyra for someone I knew. I thought I might know her. Every time I go into the Super Wal-Mart I see at least 3 people I know...even after living in So Cal for 8 years!

There is a problem though. Not everyone in Bartlesville is like Amis. So, when she was shown to say some incredibly quirky things I was thoroughly embarrased, wishing that she hadn't given Bartlesville as her hometown. So, here is a shout-out to Amis:

If you don't like your hometown, say you're from somewhere else and save me the shame of having to explain why someone from there would be so full of condemnation for a city I love...jerk.

My Sad Realization

This evening while watching the phenomenom that is American Idol and listening to '60s songs for two days in a row, I realized that my chance to be on the show is slowing drifting away.

I'm sure that this came about for one of two reasons:
1. My voice really isn't that good. I'm not a soloist really, just a great bass.
2. The fact that I can't even sing along with these people without my wife plugging her ears.

I've missed you blogging world. Welcome back to my life...

It's a Sign

My last assignment: a paper on the importance of the three battles of Quebec in the 17th and 18th centuries, is due today! However, there was a problem - even before I finished (started) typing it.

Just as Murphy's Law states: I was lacking an important element.

So, I went to OfficeDepot to get a two-pack of black 94 ink.

I wasn't terribly excited about this purchase, but it signified an important event in my life - the end of undergraduate university studies! Can I hear an Amen?

What was more fun about this purchase was when I opened the box and pulled the 1st cartridge from the abyss. I hardly ever read the package within the package holding the product, but it was midnight and I was procrastinating finishing (okay...starting) my last paper.

Guess where this product came from!

Yep, you got it! This ink is a "Product of Puerto Rico".

Yes, there is a God and He's showing me what my future holds!

The Big 10,000

Sesame Street taught me a lot! I watched that show all the time. Even when I was at BHS I spent part-time job earnings on Sesame Street products like the gem of 1997. However, I always thought that there was one character who taught me more than I will admit:

Count von Count.

Lately, I have become fascinated with numbers again (this has happened before: like when I started to read the Doctrine and Covenants when I had 138 days left on my mission or when I was turning 15 1/2 and wanted my drivers permit or when I could go on my first date or even better counting the days from when Jesica and I kissed the 1st time to when we kissed again as boyfriend and girlfriend). Though, I must give credit where credit is due - I always remember the Count when my time is spent counting.

And since I'm in a counting mood, today is a really important day for all kinds of reasons:

There are only 2 more days that I have to go to college, ever, this week. (Well, until I start my Masters program next year...)

In 5 days I will be walking in a cap and gown, with passion and gusto.

In 10 days I'm leaving on a jet plane...and the next day (in 11 days) we'll celebrate Jesica's 22nd birthday.

In 98 days we'll celebrate our 2nd Anniversary, but 4th year together as a couple!

In 226 days I'll be 28 - Yikes!

In 2782 days I can run for President - go get those absentee ballots!

And today, Monday, 3 December 2007, I am 10,000 days old!!

So, thank you kindly for any of you who helped me get this far...I CAN count!

Oh, and I usually don't say this, but, "Happy Birthday to me!"

Horror at Work

On Halloween, Jesica and I (and some friends) discovered the joys and pains contained in silent movies. We, for the first time, experienced the horror that is Nosferatu. It actually was a little scary - in more ways than one...I mean, look at the guy, err monster. The point is, as we sat around and made fun of the movie with our friends, we were ingrained with the walk of the monster, with the look of the monster and with the creepy music that played throughout.

So, knowing that Nosferatu could be looming, even after his doomed ending in the movie, it is even scarier when you see someone walk like the monster. If you think that it is creepy on film, I can tell you of an office where you can see this hideous figure daily.

You may think this is rude and malicious - let me explain. She doesn't look like Nosferatu! She only walks like him, hovers like him and I feel the hair on the back of my neck raise as though creepy music is playing in tiny ear pieces I have yet to find when I see her walking towards me.

I'm actually glad that she isn't in my office. And fortunately for you, I won't tell you where to find her. Just know that she is out there waiting for your visit. When you see her, she'll have over-zealous eyes and a craving you just can't understand.

Thanksgiving Delights

Every Thanksgiving for the last four years I've worn my favorite shirt. It is Christmas green and simply states with holly for quotation marks:

Holiday Magic

Jesica hates it with a passion! But she puts up with it because - well, I don't know why she puts up with it (maybe I should be worried). There are a great deal of things to be thankful for today and there is a certain kind of magic in the air. So, as we sat around the dinner table with her family, I stated a few things I am thankful for. The two items that top my list are: Family and a safe place where my family can reside and do what we want to do when we want to do it...

...within the bounds of the law.

But there are some other very important things and I'd like to thank a fellow student of mine in AP Literature in 12th grade - Charles "Chuck" Kidd - for engraving them in my mind. I have lots of quotations and stories to attribute to Chuck, yet one stands out every Thanksgiving.

We were discussing what we were doing for Thanksgiving. I discussed the Turkey bowl, key lime pie and a movie. He had only three things to discuss, as well, and then an exclamation. I'll forever remember his comment:

"Evan, I only have three things planned for Thanksgiving and school work is not one of them:

Eat,

Sleep,

and Watch Football...

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!"

Chuck, thank you kindly! Need I say more? Oh, Happy Thanksgiving!

Patent Pending

When I was a kid we went to Galveston, TX. It was the only beach I knew (until we made it to FL for a vacation)...and I loved it. They had seashell shops by the seashore (say that three times fast). They had salt water taffy. They had those little shark heads with a handle at one end that made the shark bite two feet away.

Yeah, like that, but it was a red handle and it was really fun to pull hair with...I digress.

The point is, I got one of these in Galveston. I loved it and thought that it was really handy for a kid. But then I got to thinking about how beneficial it was because I was short. I could reach the snacks on top of the fridge without a chair, though they had to be light enough to grab and transport. So, my little genius mind began to turn.

The world needed a better grabby tool.

So, I began my creation. In less than a month, and with help from Dad, I had a nice grabby tool able to lift 10 lbs at a two foot distance away. It was made of wood and strong wire cables. It was perfect. And then it sat for years.

When I was a teenager, I saw the first one in a store.

Now you can purchase them anywhere and you can choose from 20" all the way to 48".

Recently, I've spoken a lot about the hope that someday someone will invent a DRR (not the Disneyland RailRoad or a Disaster Risk Recovery or a Digitally Reconstructed Radiograph, but a Digital Radio Recorder), much like a DVR (Digital Video Recorder or TIVO for those of you who like name brands - I have a Dual-Tuner myself), but for the radio.

Imagine listening to the radio and talking on the phone at the same time, but you're really involved on the phone and something is said on the radio that was really funny or controversial. But you don't know what it is because you were chatting on the phone. With a DRR you could easily rewind the radio and listen to what you missed.

Imagine, then, hearing a song that you just love and you don't have your mp3 player in the car. With a DRR you could listen to your song over and over and over again.

This is my idea don't steal it!

So, I missed out on the grabby tool. I'd like to make a DRR, but don't have the knowledge to do so. Then last week I went to the store and found another missed Opportunity.

No, I didn't invent York Peppermint Patties, but Jesica's mom gave me a recipe that I thought only she and I had yet discovered.

Holiday Brownies

They are fabulous. And I've only told a few people the secret recipe. Consequently, I was devastated when I got the bag home (and horded them in secret) because I saw the recipe for Holiday Brownies on the back of the bag of holiday packaged York Peppermint Patties.

Mofra, I'm sorry, Hershey stole our recipe!

What have I learned?

Well, if you have a dream, make it happen. Yeah, and don't let other people beat you to lots and lots of money!