I left Tulsa yesterday morning and drove to Oklahoma City to meet up with Rave and Mr. Rave. First we went to the Belle Isle Brewery. They had four beers that they made on tap. They weren't bad, but honestly not overly impressed with the beer. I was more impressed with the quality of company that I had. We talked, shared stories and then Rave told me we were going to go to another brewery they had in town.

We then headed to the Bricktown Brewery. We arrived there after a quick tour of the Bricktown area of OKC. The story was that we were looking for parking spaces, but honestly I think it was because Rave knew I was low on gas and was trying to drain my tank. hehehe, just kidding. She was looking for free parking. There was some kind of event going on so they were making people pay to park.

We went inside and drank some more beer and continued to chat. I really can't tell you much about the beer here. I had drank so many other beers at the first brewery that my taste buds had been tainted. But from what I tried they had a couple of really good ones. We continued to talk for a while and then They had to return home due to Little man's issues.

After leaving them I made my way to Irving, TX... yes Texas... to visit Bloodspite in prison. Okay, he's not really in prison, but it kind of seems that way. They are confined to this campus that looks like a bunch of apartments. They have no personal vehicles and are not allowed to use company vehicles for personal use. Their rooms don't have stoves, microwaves or anything to heat or cook food. If they want a hot meal they have to go to the cafeteria. Unfortunately the cafeteria isn't open on the weekend.

Then there are no restaurants for a mile. If they want to get to a restaurant or store they have to bribe an instructor to take them or pick stuff up for them during the week. On the weekends they can get a taxi voucher, but that's only on Saturday or Sunday. Friday night when the cafeteria closed early they where stranded with no food and no way to get anything.

Then to make things worse they live in a dry county, so they have to travel to get beer. Needless to say Bloodspite and his work companions were more than happy to have me show up with two cases of beer, which just barely fit into the fridge. Now today we plan on drinking beer, talking bullshite and probably drinking more beer.

Bloodspite got a picture of the fridge before we started doing damage to it. Click onto the extended entry if you are truly curious. more...

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Did you know that the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603) was apparently overrun with Johnny Dep looking pirates (Golden Age of Piracy 1650s to 1720s), Gypsies and Victorian Era Scotsman? Well apparently it is! Months ago I started planning a little romantic getaway for Ktreva and myself. This was long before this whole Oklahoma project started. On Friday we left work early, made our way to a little romantic hotel getaway in Chicago and spent the days at the Bristol Renn Faire.

For those of you that donÂ’t know, Ktreva and I got our re-enacting start in the Renn Faire circuit. We havenÂ’t been to the faire in years. So when I started planning the weekend, we decided that we were going to go back to our roots and visit the place that gave us our start. Even though we had long moved on, we still wanted to go. We thought it would be kind of fun revisiting a place that gave us the start in re-enacting, but also the first place we went on our first romantic holiday to.

Due to the number of pictures IÂ’m putting most of this post in the extended entry. Let me warn you know, some of the pictures from the Faire may not be NSFW but they may be hard to explain, and in a couple of cases just disturbing. Click at your own risk.
more...

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Alright I'm getting ready to head back to Okla-frackin-homa. This time I'm going to go down there better prepared. First off most of the problems that gave me issues at work I've already taken care of, they won't plague me again. Secondly, I'm going to make some plans to take care of number 1... me... while I'm away.

I'm going to be down there Labor Day weekend and the weekend after. So any of my readers and fellow bloggers that live with in two hours of Tulsa and want to get together, leave a comment. I've got a company car and I should be able to make my way to you.

If you live further out but want to meet half way, again let me know. I'm willing to drive. If you are a long hall driver and passing through the area... give me as much notice as possible and I'll free things up.

I figure I might as well get out and meet some of you good people out there instead of sitting in a hotel room sirfing the net for pr0n.

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1 You have my number, dude. And you should come down here. There's a bar or two we can hit...

Posted by: Rave at August 20, 2008 09:40 AM (Jh0RL)

2 Who...me?

Posted by: BloodSpite at August 20, 2008 10:19 AM (pShgj)

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Things almost seem like normal. I'm back in Rockford, at least for the next two weeks. I'm trying to reacclimate to life here in Rockford. The high yesterday was lower then the low most of last week in Tulsa. That and trying to get used to doing things I didn't have to do while living out of a hotel. Simple things like picking up after myself, the cleaning staff took care of that. There was no cooking as we were eating out all the time. I didn't have to do things like grocery shop or just simple housework/maintenance. Now I do... and is it ever nice.

Clone has been attached to my hip since I've been back. Just about every night he doesn't want to go to bed. The last time I left for Tulsa, I had to leave the house at 4:30 AM. I had said goodbye to him the night before and told him that I wouldn't be there in the morning because I had to go to Tulsa. Now he's afraid I'm not going to be here in the morning when he wakes up. He's asked me 3 of the last four nights "Dad, are you going to be here tomorrow?" Poor guy.

Ktreva is having to get used to my snoring again. She says she can't sleep well when I'm not home, but then again she can't sleep at all when I am home. I think she's torn between having me home and getting some sleep. (grin)

I was able to get together with some friends Saturday. We sat around the backyard drinking beer, eating burgers and me telling them the stories of Oklahoma. It was good to be able to have male conversations with friends again. It was also good to sit down and drink a case of beer with friends.

Today I had to go to the office for the first time in three weeks. When I arrived this morning I was hit with all the bad news and little surprises they were keeping from me. Yea, that was pleasant. That's okay, I turned it around on them and told my peers and management that even though I'm in the office, they might as well pretend I'm not, since I'm leaving in two weeks. That went over not so well, but I wasn't caring very much.

All that aside, it's good to be home.

Now I'm getting busy preparing for the Galesburg Heritage festival. We're heading down Thursday night, I took Friday off. I figured work owed me.

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Tonight Employee-M told me that for dinner she wanted steak. Now you have to understand she is a health food nut. She doesn’t eat red meat, or “unhealthy” food. In fact when we first came down here I told her one of my goals was to get her to eat a steak. I know you find this hard to believe, but I kept up at it long enough to start to annoy here. So when she said that I actually stopped the car dead in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, to ask her who the hell she was and if she was feeling okay.

She said she was fine, she just decided she wanted a steak, fillet mignon to be exact. So we find this local steak joint that was recommended for great steaks. When we arrived, the sign on the side of the building said “Prime Steakhouse” and “Wine Bar”. At first I thought, this is not the kind of place we’re looking for. Then I see a group of people walk in wearing shorts and T-shirts so I thought it couldn’t be that bad.

We walk in and the first thing I know I hear the hostess say that there is a dress code to the group in front of us. GREAT! They didnÂ’t seem to have a problem with how we were dressed. We were seated; our waitress came up and showed us the menus. Yes, menus. One for wine and one for food. The one for the wine was three times as thick as the food menu. She took our drink order and left to fill it. We all took a look at the food menu and then looked at each other simultaneously. Emp-P and Employee-M have this wide eyed shocked look on their faces. The cheapest thing on the menu was a chicken breast, for $32.99. The average price on the menu was $49.00.

That didnÂ’t include sides!

The cheapest side dish was a baked potato for $9.50. For a baked potato! IÂ’m sitting there trying to figure out how IÂ’m going to justify this on my expense report. I figured that maybe my staff was really excited about eating a really nice restaurant. No, they were shocked at the price. They werenÂ’t comfortable eating there, so I made the decision to leave. When our waitress came back with our drinks I apologized to her and explained we were on a corporate expense and that was not the kind of restaurant we thought it was going to be. We offered to pay for our drinks, but she told us it was fine. I left her a five dollar tip for being nice, but tore out of there.

We ended up going to a Lone Star for steaks, and laughed about the whole thing, but damn. IÂ’m just happy I didnÂ’t have to explain that one on an expense report!

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On my way back to the hotel from the restaurant tonight, I saw a bunch of squad cars with their emergency lights on along the side of the highway. When I got near there was yellow tape on the hillside by the cars. As I looked over I could see a uniformed man taking pictures of a body laying on the ground.

Yea, that about sums up this trip... a dead body on the side of the road.

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An empty beer glass sits on a table. There is a slight residue of the amber liquid it held just moments before in the bottom of it. I sit there staring into the bottom of the glass contemplating the events of the last two weeks. What protective shell IÂ’ve built up in preparation for this event quickly crumbles around me. ItÂ’s time for me to leave the restaurant before I make a mistake.

Just this morning I was at my mother-in-lawÂ’s house lying in a bed with my wife. It had been a rough night for me. I couldnÂ’t sleep, even though I was tired. I kept thinking of what has happened.

On Saturday the entire family went to KtrevaÂ’s grandfatherÂ’s memorial. This was for a man that I liked and respected. He had promised to tell me more stories the next time we saw each other, that time never came. It was unavoidable. Distance, time and health prevented us from getting together again before his passing. Justifying it all I want doesnÂ’t make it feel any better. He enjoyed telling me those stories and I loved to listen to them. We bonded over those stories and I feel I robbed him of something there at the end. Truth or not be damned, thatÂ’s how I felt.

Thursday I found out that I will be able to return home on August 8th for two weeks. When I return they will be buying me a one way ticket. Not because this is a permanent transfer, but because they arenÂ’t sure how long they are going to need me and I really canÂ’t come home on the weekends, IÂ’d have to fly home on Saturday afternoon only to fly back Sunday Afternoon. ItÂ’s just not feasible. Since we donÂ’t know what is going to happen we donÂ’t want to buy a round trip ticket only to cancel my coming home at the end of the week. The tickets are non-refundable. So if I am able to come home for a weekend, they will buy me a round trip ticket from Tulsa to Chicago. At the end of the project they will be me a one way ticket back to Chicago.

Monday night Clone lost his first tooth. I wasnÂ’t there for this first milestone in his life. No, I was working when I received the call. The closest I got was to talk to him on the phone and see a picture of a smiling five year old proud of his first lost tooth.

So as I lay in the bed last night, thinking of how my project isnÂ’t going well and everything that has happened and what IÂ’ve given up for this, the stress gnawed at me. My stomach problems flared up and I was coughing up and puking stomach acid all night. I wasnÂ’t even able to enjoy the simple pleasure of being able to sleep in a bed with my wife. Listening to her breath, feeling the warmth of her body laying next to mine, gazing upon her in all of her beauty and peace as she slept.

Then I left my family. They drove back to Rockford, while I returned to Tulsa. I followed behind them as long as our routes traveled the same path. Watching over them, escorting them, protecting them in what meager manner I was able. Waving at them goodbye knowing that I head back, alone, to someplace where I canÂ’t be with them. Returning to a city where I am by myself.

I sat alone in the hotel room alone for a while, smiling in remembrance of my family and what short time I had to spend with them, Less than 40 hours. After a few short minutes it dawns on me that I am, yet again completely alone. No family, no friends, nobody. So went someplace familiar in hopes of trying to take my mind off of things. I drive to Hooters. There I sat down and ordered beer and wings.

All seemed betterÂ… for a few short minutes.

Something just didnÂ’t seem right. I was there alone. None of the people I usually go to HooterÂ’s with were there. No friends, no family, nobody. I sat there in a restaurant full of people, yet I was alone. Sure there were other people there, but they werenÂ’t there with me. They were there with their friends and their families. As I finished that glass of beer it dawned on me. I had prepared for everything except this. I was bored. I was alone. Most importantly, I was depressed.

While IÂ’m down here I have no one. IÂ’ve been working from 6:00AM to as late as 11:30 at night. Yes, most of the time after 6:00PM IÂ’m in the hotel room, but thatÂ’s all IÂ’ve been doing. I canÂ’t go out for stress release, because there is no one to go with. I canÂ’t go with the people that came down with me, for they are my employees. They directly report to me. I canÂ’t go out with the local staff because either IÂ’m training them or they are in positions below me. The company discourages fraternization outside of the workplace in this situation. Plus they are all female and IÂ’m not about to put myself into a situation that could kill my career.

So I sat there, looking into the empty beer glass, and all I could think of was, “What’s next?”

Posted by: Contagion at 03:40 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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