Man, I have been neglectful! Holy cow, it's been almost a week since my last post. Now I guess I could have rightfully claimed that it was because I was out at Trail of History for most of that time and away from a computer, and that I was just too damn tired last night to post. But I know how much all of you demand my attention and I really should have tried to post something last night... and I didn't.

October has been flying by so far. I can't believe it's almost over and I'm just now getting around to starting to put up Halloween decorations. I'm WAY behind this year.

I do have some stories from Trail to share with all of you, but they'll have to wait. I've gone and hurt my back and I took some pain killers to help take the edge off, it's making it so I can't think clearly. I'll wait until things get better.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This last weekend I was having a conversation during football with some of my friends regarding what historical research I've done over the past couple of weeks.

When I uttered the statement, "Now that I can document zombies in in the 18th century, I can talk about them while at a re-enactment." Graumagus made the comment, "That statement is wrong on so many different levels of geekdom."

I think he might be right.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Today was a very interesting day for me. Around 11:30 this morning my health issues came rushing upon me with a vengeance. I've normally been eating good and taking care of myself. I've been taking my medication and trying to make sure I don't do things that aggravate my stomach too bad. Occasionally I have problems, but not very often. When I do have complications it's usually something mild and over with in ten minutes.

One of the complications I have is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). When it flames up, one of the issues is chest and back pain. Normally when this happens to me it lasts about ten minutes until the medication kicks in. The pain has been likened to having a heart attack. In fact my father, who has had multiple heart attacks, has stated that when his GERD acts up, sometimes he can't tell the difference. In fact twice he went to the ER thinking he was having a heart attack when in reality it was a GERD flair up.

This morning my acted up that way, and it kept getting worse. Finally after about 45 minutes I contacted Ktreva and told her I needed to go to the hospital. I was sure it was my GERD, I just wanted to get the "Gastro milkshake" that makes all of the pain and acid reflux to go away. Unfortunately when management in my office heard the words "Pain" and "chest" they wigged out and called 911, against my will.

I didn't want the drama so I walked to the front of the building and then even walked to the ambulance. I kept telling them it was nothing, but they wouldn't listen to me. The whole time I was telling them what the issue was and that they were over reacting. When I was in the ambulance I apologized to them for making them work. Heck I apologized to the ER staff for making them work too.

To make a long story short after two IVs an EKG, some x-rays, blood tests and 3 hours of my life lost I was diagnosed with...

... GERD.

Yea, I went back to work for a couple of hours, much to the chagrin of the other management, especially after I explained that I was again, correct.

The funniest thing about all of this is that I was asked 4 times if there was any stress in my life. After explaining Oklahoma and some other situations I had one of the ER techs said, "I'm surprised you didn't have a heart attack!"

Posted by: Contagion at 07:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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On Friday I asked the class were the best Barbeque was in Tulsa. Of course I was given different opinions, but half the class agreed on one place. That was Knotty Pine . Now I was warned that it is a hole in the wall restaurant that looks run down and very mom and popish. Don't let the fancy looking website fool you. I'm talking paint pealing off the building and sign, circa 1950 diner furniture, things looking hard used. But when you walk in, you will get hit with a great scent of barbeque. The staff was really friendly and when I told them that I was from out of state, they went down the menu and explained everything. Then they made recommendations. I ended up getting the assorted meat plate.

It was fantastic. This was some of the best barbeque that I've had in a long, long time. As I said, this is not a fancy place, but it's damn good.

Then on Saturday I went to a chain restaurant called The Rib Crib. This place also came highly recommended. Now this is a much nicer looking restaurant. Everything is new and modern. Nothing is in a state of disrepair or needs replacing. The smell is of campfire and barbeque. Again the wait staff was nice and friendly and they recommended a four meat sampler. It was good, but I'll be honest the Knotty pine tasted better.

Other than that, over the weekend I went to the Bass Pro Shop. Which is huge. I spent a good 3 hours there walking around and looking at stuff. I even bought shirts for the family. They had an impressive selection of sporting goods. They also had a nice restaurant inside there, but I had eaten prior to arriving, so I didn't try it.

After leaving the Bass Pro Shop I drove around Tulsa. I had looked up gun shops and ranges in the area and had found a couple that had ranges and would let you rent firearms. Unfortunately the two places that I found both told me upon arriving that in order to rent a firearm you have to be a member. The cheapest membership was $75.00. I wasn't about to spend that, plus rental fees, plus ammo fees. Oh well. I did spend some time looking at their firearms and the costs. I ended up spending a couple of hours doing that.

The nice thing is that I've spent the whole weekend with out having to see Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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After spending the day drinking beer with Bloodspite yesterday, I finally headed off home this morning. Fortunately for me I was still tired so I could take a nap on the way home. Just kidding, I did not fall asleep driving the car.

In my travels of Oklahoma and Texas I did discover a couple of things. First off. Whomever keeps telling me that Oklahoma is flat and treeless is a damn liar! It's pretty hilly and there are a ton of trees. Now it's not mountainous, and even though they label it a mountain, Arbuckle Mountain is not a mountain. It's too damn small.

Secondly, I think I found all the Indian reservations that were kicked out of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. I passed through the Kickapoo, Sac and Fox nations. It seems like every 20 miles I would pass a sign telling me what nation I was passing into. At one point I was starting to wonder if there were any Indians outside of Oklahoma. I mean, I know there are not, but I was surprised at the number of nations here. No wonder my Indian jokes flop!

Finally, HWY 75/69 from Dallas to Tulsa is a horrible road. Not because state of the road, but because it's not a limited access highway. There were stop lights, road side stands, oh and casinos what seems to be at least every 20 miles. Lets not forget the speed zones where the speeds dropped down to 35 mph. It made for an annoying trip.

Either way, I made it back to Tulsa. Back to my room, where the cleaning staff can't follow directions. I left a do not disturb sign on the door and they came in anyway. They threw away a couple of receipts and a piece of paper that had important information on it. They had been sitting on my desk. I complained to the front desk, they apologized but had no way to get the missing stuff back. I left explicit instructions that in the future when I want my room cleaned I will take the sign off of the door. I don't care if they see me leave with a suitcase, they don't need to clean my room.

Now I'm just kicking back and relaxing. Thinking of Ktreva and wishing she was here... cause I really could go for her doing that thing that she does really well, but she hardly ever does it, but she's really good at it.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:37 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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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...

Posted by: Contagion at 09:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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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...

Posted by: Contagion at 09:54 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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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.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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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.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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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!

Posted by: Contagion at 08:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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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.

Posted by: Contagion at 03:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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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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I haven't eaten in restaurants this much in my life. I've been eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at various places, some of them good. Some of them bad. I thought I would give you all a run down on the places I've eaten at.

1) Joe's Crab Shack. Pretty good seafood... for the middle of the plain states! We enjoyed it. Nice decor, the wait staff was nice. In fact our waitress was also from Illinois.

2)Mexicali Border Cafe. This place looks like a hole in the wall, but it has some great food! They are reasonably priced. The best part was the salsa. I'm not sure if they make their own or if they buy it, but they have some of the greatest salsa I've ever had.

3) The Hideaway. They have some great Pizza. I had one that was called "Big Country". It was topped with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, polish sausage (Kielbasa), hamburger, mozzarella and cheddar cheese! It was a damn good pizza.

4) Jason's Deli. This place is a bit of a conundrom. It's a sandwich and salad shop. They make some pretty good sandwiches and have a nice salad bar. But they have some of the rudest people working there. Think of the soup nazi from Seinfeld. They don't have a menu over the counter, so when I walked up they asked me for my order. I didn't know because I was trying to figure out what they had. Now I wasn't even at the counter, I was a couple of feet back. There was no one else waiting. They lady told me to stand back from the ordering area until I knew what I wanted. They are very strict in their ordering policies. I've eaten there a couple of times despite this. They make a good sandwich, they ARE fast and it's less than five minutes from work.

5)Kilkenny's Irish Pub. They have some great Irish food and a wonderful atmosphere. This is probably my favorite place I've eaten at down here so far. The best part is that it's very reasonably priced. Expect to pay much more if you get a beer or two.

6) The Elephant Bar Restaurant. It is an interesting themed restaurant. It has an African influence in the design and decor. Yet the food is mostly of a southeast Asian influence. They had a great crispy teriyaki chicken. The waitress we had did seem to ignore us, but the food was pretty good.

7)In The Raw. This is a sushi joint. When I asked where the best sushi in town was, this place was recommended by two different people. It's one of those trendy joints with the modern art deco designs and loud modern dance club music playing. The waitress we had was horrible. The hostess was rude as well as the manager. The wait staff ignored us, messed up our orders, it took forever to get the food. One of the Employee-M ordered a sprite and at one point the wait staff came around and topped her Sprite off with water. The sushi wasn't bad, but I've had much better. From the time we arrived until the time we left it was 2 hours.

All the other places we went to were fast food joints or major national chains. Now I'm going to have plenty of time to try other restaurants down here between now and October. So if you are familiar with any other restaurants down here and recommend some, please leave it in the comments.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:21 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 If they are still in business there is "Molly Murphey's House of Fine Repute." Was a good steak house when I was last down that direction.

Posted by: Garrett at August 01, 2008 03:14 PM (I4yBD)

2 I forgot to say don't wear a tie there.

Posted by: Garrett at August 01, 2008 03:15 PM (I4yBD)

3 Acambaro if they haven't gotten shut down over there for hiring illegals yet The Pickel Bar is kind of interesting

Posted by: BloodSpite at August 01, 2008 04:27 PM (N5h+e)

4 I seem to remember there being several good places to get lunch right in that "mall" area across the street from the hotel - at least a good Greek place to get gyros, a good sandwich shop, and a decent Chinese place, among others (though of course it's been years so whether or not they're still there I'm not sure). And I seem to remember Bourbon Street being pretty good...

Posted by: Shadoglare at August 01, 2008 08:57 PM (kSATY)

5 I had some pretty good food at Stone Mill BBQ and Bodean Seafood.

Posted by: spurs at August 02, 2008 05:37 PM (SQsl6)

6 Hey this is great! Good for you!!

Posted by: r at August 03, 2008 02:43 PM (Ka+QJ)

7 Sounds great!! Fun to explore new places...

Posted by: Richmond at August 03, 2008 03:19 PM (dmvnc)

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I've been told that all of my posts regarding Oklahoma have been depressing and kind of a downer. So I'm changing my topic for tonight... oh it still involves Tulsa, but a different aspect of it.

Every night as the sun goes down a massive amount of birds comes out and swarms around downtown Tulsa. When I say there is a massive amount of birds, I mean they number in the thousands! It's kind of freaky. They fly around, swarming the buildings. The trees are loaded with them almost bending under the weight of the plague of birds. I'm not sure what kind of birds they are, but it's really disturbing. They are loud. The are everywhere. They crap on everything.

I tried to take a picture, but I only had my picture phone and it didn't turn out too well. So I tried to use the video feature on my phone. All I got was this not so great clip, but it gives you an idea.

It's actually really disturbing. I'm not sure why they are there, I don't know what they are up to, but I'm really glad there is a parking deck for me to park in and a covered walkway so that I don't have to run outside so I don't get covered in bird poop.

Sorry about the sound, I don't know what the hell was causing that.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I boarded the bus to leave Rockford at 1 PM today and was able to get into O'Hare by 2:40PM. I was able to get through security rather quickly. I did make one faux pass, I didn't take my lap top out of my case. I wasn't aware that I had to... now I know. I've never traveled with one before.

I have officially decided that O'Hare is the most jacked up airport I've ever flown out of. I want to know what mental midget came up with the layout for this freaking maze? It absolutely is staggering the way they have the gates and concourses laid out. Thank god for a mobile GPS system or I would have been completely lost. Oh, and I thought they had free WI-FI at O'Hare. Nope, they don't. You can get on to check the status of flights, but if you want to get to the internet you need to buy time. Yea, that wasn't about to happen. It's not that I'm cheap, even though I could squeeze a nickle until the buffalo farts, it's that I'm not paying $12.00 to use the internet for 30 minutes.

We got there in plenty of time for our flight, we should have only had to wait for about 20 minutes before boarding. Then they announced they we delaying our flight. Not for weather, not for mechanical problems, but because the First Officer on our flight was flying in a plane from Philadelphia and isn't due to arrive until 4:45PM. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:45 PM. United must have had a screw loose to make that kind of scheduling error. Apparently they realized their mistake and found another First Officer to take his place, so we only left 30 minutes behind schedule.

We arrive in Tulsa to a very vacant airport. It's nice, clean and was easy to maneuver through. There wasn't a huge crowd of people you had a fight past. My traveling companion, Employee-M, and I had to laugh when we got the rental car. Apparently my company thought I would love to drive this Kia Rondo. It's like a clown car that I barely fit in. Not because I'm of noble girth, it's because I'm about 2 inches too tall for it. Employee-M nicknamed it "The Clown Car". Because even she, who is inches shorter than I am thought it was awfully small.

When we get to the hotel, we checked in easily enough. I get to my floor and I instantly notice that it smells like mold and mildew. Now, I'm staying at the DoubleTree in Downtown Tulsa. This is supposed to be a really nice hotel. When I get to my room it also smells like mold and mildew. So I go back down to the desk and tell them that it stinks really bad, they where very quick to change rooms for me. They explained that there was some kind of leak on the roof that when it rains hard it leaks all the way down to the third floor... and only the third floor.

Since we hadn't eaten since before noon, both Employee-M and I were hungry. We headed into town to get something to eat... at 7:30PM. We ended up going to Joe's Crab Shack and had a great dinner. I also received all the voice mails and text messages from those of you that called and texted me when I turned my phone back on. Unfortunately it was late, and I didn't feel like responding tonight.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:33 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Glad to hear you made it ok - and that you found a connection to blog on! I forgot about the crab shack! I love that place! And I don't even like crab!

Posted by: Shadoglare at July 21, 2008 06:08 AM (q1yPG)

2 Mmmm, crab..... Glad you made it down alright.

Posted by: Wes at July 21, 2008 07:12 PM (1crE/)

3 Here's a tip - never...ever... ever travel to Logan in Boston. EVER. It makes O'Hare look like a model of efficiency. Really. Not that it's big - it's just supremely inefficiently run. I try as hard as I can to fly out of Providence RI. It's small, but a terrific airport. O'Hare isn't too bad once you get the hang of it - it's simply huge and that can cause issues all by itself.

Posted by: Teresa at July 21, 2008 09:41 PM (D1AXO)

4 Okay- since I have been on vacation, I had no idea you were in Oklahoma. Going to be here long? I believe you are home this weekend, but are you coming back? And if so, how long are you going to be here? I was in Tulsa on Tuesday. OKC for the past three days. And I leave for Temple Texas day after tomorrow for four days. I will be back in OK on Thursday night. You going to be here? Call Teresa or Tammi or Richmond- they have my number!

Posted by: Rave at July 25, 2008 09:18 PM (hVKpB)

5 货架、 货架

Posted by: Steel pallet" rel="nofollow">钢托盘 at March 07, 2009 08:19 AM (xEqmt)

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Today has been filled with ups and downs. I learned more about my upcoming predicament, aka the Okla-homie trip coming up. It seems each day the news is worse and worse. I was pretty sure on Monday that I would be able to get everything done with in three weeks, but now I'm not so sure. We'll see what the rest of the week brings me.

After work tonight I went with Graumagus down to Tammi's place to grab some furniture she has decided to part with. Grau took much of it for his new bachelor pad and I took the golden throne and foot stool. I agreed to this before the whole Oklahoma trip came up. I still want it, now I'm just wondering if it's going to be making the move out of state anyway.

After grabbing the furniture from Tammi's we all headed to Fritz's so that Tammi and I could have one last beer together down there. It was nice talking to her, and I'm sure going to miss her. Either way yo0u look at it, she's leaving the state, I'm leaving the state... not really boding well for a reunion.

After a couple of quick beers, we returned and unloaded the furniture into the respective houses.

I think I'm going to go to sleep now.

Today really made me think about my situation and I'm not happy about it. I mean things could be much, much worse... but damn.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, first let me state that I'm writing this post from my new lap top. I went out and bought a lap top in preparation for my upcoming and unavoidable trip to Oklahoma. Ktreva and I discussed it and we decided that not only will this help me while I'm gone, but it will help reduce the tension and stress in the house fighting over who gets to use the computer next and when. With two we can both use one or the other at the same time. The lap top is primarily mine, but when she goes on trips to Chicago for work she can take it with her to use after hours.

This last weekend I spent with some good friends. I will have a full blown post about this past weekend sometime later this week. It was good seeing all of my friends again. It was nice being able to talk to them about the upcoming trip. Especially since this may be the last time I see many of them for a long time.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go finish loading all of the software on here that I use on a regular basis.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:27 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Okay, in an effort to help my gastro problems and just to be healthier I’ve started eating “Healthier” breakfast cereal. I’ve tried four different kinds so far and I’m about to give up on it, especially this last one. Let me give you a run down on what I’ve experienced so far.

A) Kashi Go Lean Crunch: Interesting flavor, I wouldnÂ’t say itÂ’s bad, but IÂ’m not sure IÂ’d say I like it either. There is a very interesting texture to it. It gave me gas.

2) Kashi Go Lean Crunch with Honey Almond Flax: Again interesting flavor, I think this one tasted better than the regular, IÂ’m still not sure I like it. The texture was interesting. It gave me gas.

D) Life: Okay, this one may not be considered a “Healthy” cereal, but it had the green sensible solution box on it and comparing it to “healthy” cereals it matched up pretty good. I liked the flavor, I liked the texture. My family liked the break from the gas.

4) Grape Nuts: How this cereal stays on the market is beyond me. Seriously the smell kind of reminds me of silage. The flavor reminds me of the remnants of the mash they use to make beer. It doesnÂ’t taste like beer, it tastes like fermented grains that were boiled, dried and served with milk. I kid you not I think IÂ’d rather eat the box. I put four packets of sweetener into my cereal container just to choke it down this morning. Now IÂ’m sitting here feeling like there is a lump of soggy cardboard in my stomach. Except the soggy cardboard would probably have tasted better. To make matters worse not only did it give me gas, but it gave me unspeakably foul gas. I emptied a conference room with a tiny squeeker. Fortunately the cheek flapping, sphincter hurting colon bomb I let loose in the bathroom. When I regained consciousness and picked myself off of the floor, I helped the other victims evacuate the restroom.

I just want to know, is there a decent healthy cereal that A) Tastes good and most importantly 2) DoesnÂ’t give me gas.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:58 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Grape nuts does not smell like silage. At least it never did to me, and I have literally judged silage in competition before. I don't mind the flavor of it, but it does have a slight resemblance to mash. The best way to eat Grape Nuts is with some fruit in the bowl-usually enough to have a piece of fruit with each spoonful of micro-mountain oysters. When I eat them, it is with a banana, but you could use any fruit, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi maybe. Possibly even melon. The reason for the gas is most cereals like those you have mentioned are LOOOAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDD with fiber, and when you mix that much fiber with someone as full of s*^t as you, BAM!!!!, mustard gas. Try beano. A bottle with each bowl.*** ***This advice is based on absolutely no medical training. I am not responsible for huge explosions in the sub-cockles of you system.***

Posted by: Petey at June 24, 2008 07:54 AM (tmnSV)

2 Even Wil likes this one, General Mills Oatmeal Crisp. If you must eat cereal this one is healthy & tastes good at the same time.

Posted by: red at June 24, 2008 08:16 AM (Xw6pC)

3 Petey: I will caveat my identifying the smell of grapenuts as silage. I'm a city boy, even though I spent a summer working on a farm as a kid, I rarely had an exposure to silage. I do smell it about once or twice a year when I visit a farm. But to me, the scent is very reminiscent of what my memory of silage smells like. As for eating it with fruit. Well I don't like fruit and I'm sorry there is nothing you can add to Grape Nuts to make it taste edible. You may be diluting the taste, but it's still going to be bad. Red: Once I finish my box of silage I'll have to see if I can find that one and try it.

Posted by: Contagion at June 24, 2008 08:21 AM (Jfxjt)

4 Try Total. And good luck with the gas....

Posted by: Richmond at June 24, 2008 08:30 AM (r5dRC)

5 Honey Bunches of Oats are great. Also, Quaker Toasted Oatmeal is pretty yummy AND good for you.

Posted by: Omnibus Driver at June 24, 2008 10:03 AM (WOXRM)

6 Raisin Bran or Mini Wheats, Brown Sugar flavor. Both Yummy! Adding raisins, fruit or dried fruit to any flake cereal would greatly improve the flavor.

Posted by: Quality Weenie at June 24, 2008 10:41 AM (uHRYR)

7 I'm also a fun of the honey bunches...

Posted by: Shadoglare at June 24, 2008 12:23 PM (Volhe)

8 Omnibus Driver: I'll have to add those tot he suggestion list to try. QW: Isn't the mini wheats with brown sugar packed full of sugar?

Posted by: Contagion at June 24, 2008 12:23 PM (Jfxjt)

9 Actually it's Cinnamon streusel in the mini wheats. 180 calories / 10 from fat 1g total fat 0 cholesterol/sodium 44g carbs (5 fiber/12 sugar/27 other) per serving, 24 biscuits equals 1 serving

Posted by: Quality Weenie at June 24, 2008 04:31 PM (BksWB)

10 I eat AllBran and add either raisins or dried cranberries. raisins give me gas.

Posted by: vw bug at June 25, 2008 05:01 AM (FPOeI)

11 What is this fixation people have on eating cereal for breakfast... I hate cereal (guess that's why I don't "get it"). How about eating leftovers from a healthy dinner the night before? I often do that instead of breakfast food. At least when I remember to eat in the morning - most times I forget... LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at June 25, 2008 11:45 AM (mMa3+)

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Today Ktreva decided that I need to get some new clothes. Apparently she decided that a major update to by wardrobe was past due. The last time I went clothes shopping for non-work related clothes was the summer of 2003 before Clone was born. These do not count novelty T-shirts I buy. I'm in my mid-thirties and no longer feel the need to actually dress "trendy". As long as the clothes aren't ragged and fit, I'm happy to wear them.

Since most of my "going out in public" clothes are hardly worn, they are all in good condition. Usually I spend the weekends wearing shirts that really were never meant for me to wear out in public for a social gathering. You know, they look fine, but the message on them is a little "disturbing". IE My zombie, blogger, fire arm t-shirts, etc. Usually on the weekends I wear those or if I'm going out with friends I'll still wear them as Ktreva is not coming with to be embarrassed by me.

Today, Ktreva had enough and decided it was make over time. I was going to get some new clothes that she won't be embarrassed to be seen in public with me wearing them. Ones that are fit for proper social occasions. Not only is she making me get new cloths, she's making me grow my facial hair back. And when I mean making, I really, truly mean making. She vowed never to do that thing she does that I like very much that she doesn't do very often, but she's really good at it until I grow my facial hair back. She also said if I shave it off again with out her permission she'll stop all together. It's amazing what the power of blackmail is.

We spent our entire lunch looking for new clothes for me. I had to try items on pick and choose things... it was hell. There was some negotiation, and I earned a couple of concessions. There was this nice embroidered Jack Daniels shirt I found that I wanted. She wasn't going to let me get it because she didn't want to be seen in public with me wearing it. But I agreed to get this orange plaid shirt she found if I can get the Jack Daniel's shirt. She agreed and I got the shirt I wanted!

I also found a t-shirt that said "Case Worker" on it and it had a picture of a case of beer. She found a green safari shirt she thinks would look good on me. We negotiated and I got the t-shirt and the safari shirt. All in all I picked up a week and a half's worth of new shirts. 7 of them "going in public" shirts. Even though I got some shirts I don't like that much, it's more important that I picked up a couple that I liked a lot. As for the orange shirt and the safari shirt... yea, between you and me, they're never leaving the closet.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:49 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Okay, I know I haven't posted in a couple of days. Sorry, about that. Let me fill you in on what happened.

First Friday at work we had a big meeting about the Hot Dog issue. First the other department had to be included, then they decided not to. Well long and short management said that they had to I got the the pleasure of cooking the hot dogs. We went over logistics and who is going to do what and when. It really was a colossal waist of time.

After work I went out with what was to be some of my peers for drinks and just kind of a"get to know you" think outside of work. It ended up just being me and one of my other co-workers as the rest all backed out. Fortunately Ktreva trusts me because me going out to a bar with another woman could seriously look like a date. However, since I'm completely devoted to Ktreva and not about to screw up the best thing in my life, I was just having drinks with a peer and talking shop. It was fun. My Peer had been going through a rough patch in her life and really needed to go out and get drunk. Fortunately for her, while many of you know me as Contagion... my secret identity... I'm also the heroic (Insert music) Drinkin' Buddy! (insert more music).

Yea, I learned two things about my peer that night. First is that she really has no self-esteem and she gets drunk on 6 drinks... in a 6 hour time span. At least she's not a crier.

Then today I had to go to work and cook the farooking Hot Dogs. I was borrowing a grill from Wes and I had meant to pick it up earlier this week. Unfortunately I had forgotten to, so at 7:30 AM I went to his house and picked it up on my way to work. I found out this evening when I dropped it off that while I thought I was being quiet, apparently I woke up his wife and a neighbor. OOPS!

Work was kind of a joke. I spent 7 hours there not actually working but being more of a morale coach. Of course I was wearing my "The floggings will continue until morale improves" t-shirt from the Bristol Ren-Faire. But I'm not going to go into that, lets just jump to the nitty gritty of it okay, the hot dogs. We had taken a roll call of how many people said they were going to work on Saturday and that wanted a hot dog. It came out to 40, I ended up getting enough food for 45 (feeding the 5 supervisors that were going to be there as well). At two hot dogs a piece, I bought a bulk amount of 90. The other department showed up with 3 packages of 80 hot dogs. So we had a total of 330 hot dogs.

Of course none of them helped me, and to be honest I told them they didn't need to help me cook, but I could use help in shuttling the finished hot dogs into the office. Well, I guess they took that as I didn't want their help at all. So I was cooking from 10:00AM until 1:00PM. It was a long hot day for me.

When all is said and done, at 3:00PM when the office closed, all of the other management but one of my peers from my department stuck around to help me clean up. There was about 100 hot dogs left over. I tried giving them away, I told the employees they could take some home. But no, nobody wanted them. I ended up taking home the left over hot dogs and buns. When I dropped the grill off to Wes, I showed him my gratitude for letting me use his grill by giving him 24 hot dogs and buns. It's not much, but hey I figured he could use them and they'd probably end up getting tossed.

All in all the day sucked. I hate my upper management and the peers from the other department, I'm annoyed at my peers from my department.

The only bright side is that I didn't get one complaint. Everyone like the hot dogs. For which I'm sure upper management will take credit for the idea.

Posted by: Contagion at 03:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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