About a year ago, I had a random Mormon guy I’d never met before ask me via email about what it was like living in Norman, as he was considering a job at OU. With a few edits, this was my response. Let it serve as a warning to you all. OU OU is what I’d call a “good place” — students, staff, faculty, administration all genuinely care about the university and the community. In…
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When I interviewed at Utah State back in October, it seemed like things had gone pretty well, and I was kind of confident I’d get a job offer. So I figured I could be done interviewing and, relatedly, done having to shave. This launched me on a magical journey in which I continued to not shave (or use a trimmer) for the next six months. So here’s an FAQ for some reason. Do people…
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As this site continues its fast descent into a straight-up travel slide-show, I post this. This was based on an article on some Oklahoma tourism website (here). I just went to the five that seemed most interesting and reasonably close-by (i.e., not to the panhandle because it’s too far, and I’d already been to that one anyway), but, still, took less than a day. Most of that time was spent driving between the parks….
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On the way back from the greater Kansas City area, I stopped in Fort Scott, Kan. because there was a fort there. Do I really need to explain myself? Yes? Fine. Because there was a fort there, whatever. This was like in October or something. It was a cool fort, and everyone that ever drives by Fort Scott should probably stop and check it out. It’s been months now, though, so I…
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The drive from Monarch to Frisco and Copper Mountain was the most intense 104-mile drive of my life. It took three hours. During the trip I probably saw about five total miles of bare pavement, the rest was all ice-encrusted. I’ve been living in Oklahoma for the last three years; this was not an environment for which I’ve had a lot of recent experience. My goal for most of the drive was…
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From the greater Phoenix area, I headed back the way I came, up that one highway that probably has a number toward Holbrook. It was still pretty: Although it also spat snow somewhere in those mountains, a true harbinger of the two weeks to come. Which is good, since I cannot abide a false harbinger. I spent New Year’s Eve sleeping at an Air B&B place. It was like a casita at…
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Now that I’ve accepted a new job starting next summer, it’s my stated goal to minimize the amount of time I spend in Oklahoma. Sorry, Oklahoma. To that end, though, I spent most of the winter break in Other States. First up: I’m not sure which state I should list as first. I got in my Jeep in Oklahoma at 6:00 in the morning on 12/23. It was unusually rainy. It turns…
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A few weekends ago headed the 5.5 hours up I-35 to Independence, Mo. to check out church history sites. The best part was the barbecue place and the prayer for peace at the RLDS temple of division. Here are some photos and random, related (?) discussion. So that’s the RLDS (Community of Christ) temple in Independence. On the fun side, I happened to be there for the daily, 1 PM Prayer for Peace in…
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Because it’s what I do. Platt National Park (?!), which apparently was still a national park through 1976. Surprisingly, I don’t remember seeing anything in the paper about its dissolution into the Chickasaw National Recreation Area (I think it’s an NRA) back when I was 4. Was a voracious newshound back in the pre-K days. Anyway, it’s pleasant. It’s not exactly Yellowstone. I mean, *way* less traffic. I think it was supposed…
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Not sure it’s a sad day necessarily, but it’s the end of an era either way. Sold my 2004 Nissan Titan. Had owned it for 12 years and it was a pretty vital part of my life for most of that time. 2004. I bought the truck in June 2004, the first year the Nissan Titan was in production. It may well have been one of the first few thousand off the assembly…
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