Dean Blevins has not aged either!
A few more after the jump…
Continue reading ‘These are some old local news clips’
Archive for May, 2007
About 5 years ago, some friends and I embarked on what we figured would be an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition of floating the Illinois River. The first year, a bridge collapsed about 20 miles away from us. The second year, it was cold and rainy the entire weekend. The third…well…the third year never happened and the tradition stopped.
Now, after seeing this new picture surfacing of Amy Mcree, Maggie Carlo and Jessica Schambach, I’m think it’s time to get out the ice chest, paddle and pipe and float the Illinois again.
p.s.- A big thanks goes out to the person with the email address Mark.Rogers@koco.com for sending this picture. We salute you!
Dear Amy McRee and Maggie Carlo,
First of all, will you marry me? If the answer to this question from either of you is “yes,” you are more than welcome to stop reading now.
I wanted to say that I’ve been reading both of your respective blogs. Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging! I do have a few suggestions that I think may help your blog a little bit.
I understand that both of you have similar themes that you write about. Amy’s is “Your Life…Your World,” while Maggie’s is “What Matters To You.” This is all well and good, and I’m sure you both have provided some excellent tips, but I have to say that your blogs read just a little bit like my spam e-mail folder. It’s sort of hard to capture people’s attention when every post is simply a link to some product or web site with your endorsement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these are all wonderful products, but think about what a powerful tool a blog is! Don’t be afraid to add a few other things to your posts.
For instance, many people have used their blogs to raise awareness of some very important world issue, like Darfur, or the war in Iraq. Don’t be afraid to tackle the big issues and do something very meaningful with your blog, like writing an open letter to two local news anchors!
Sometimes it’s nice to share a personal experience. We can all relate to those funny, poignant, and sometimes downright wacky things that make this country a great place to live! Obviously you don’t want to reveal too many details about yourself, but those personal touches can bring readers back time and time again. Maybe you recently ran into a former schoolmate you hadn’t seen in years? Perhaps you saw a great band play for the first time? Maybe you got arrested in a bank robbery years ago? These are all excellent topics that help keep the reader captivated.
Or, you could spread gossip about your respective workplaces. Does Kelly Ogle walk around just randomly offering to give his two cents to anyone that will listen? Does Rick Mitchell ever go into a blind rage of jealousy because of the popularity of Gary England? These kinds of things are very interesting, and while they would likely make you very unpopular at work (and possibly lead to your unemployment), I would personally be very grateful for these sorts of tidbits.
In any event, best of luck with your blogs. I will remain be a loyal reader.
Sincerely,
Tony
So the Oklahoma Hall of Fame has announced eight new inductees, to be enshrined later this year, bringing the number of individuals inducted up to 621. The eight 2007 honorees are Sonics owners Clay Bennett and Aubrey McLendon, former Miss America Jayne Jayroe, Chairman of the Oklahoma National Gas Company David Kyle, civil rights activist Clara Luper, Choctaw Nation Chief Gregory Pyle, musician Linda Twine and… singer Toby Keith.
All right. Where to start? On one hand, it seems the board of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame is taking the title of their institution quite literally, and are attempting to recognize people who simply have gained a certain amount of fame. On the other hand, given the fact that there have been 621 people now inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, it appears that it’s a pretty low bar they’ve got.
Most Halls-of-Fame, to my knowledge, actually honor people who have done something truly great. The Baseball Hall of Fame, for instance, inducts excellent players as opposed to famous ones. John Rocker is a very famous baseball player, but he is not in Cooperstown.
If you do a Google News search for the phrase “Oklahoma Hall of Fame,” all the results have some variation of the phrase “Toby Keith, Others, Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall of Fame.” Is this really what we want, fellow Okies? We have genuine heroes like Clara Luper (and what took so long to get her inducted, by the way?) being overshadowed by this guy:
I know, I know. Toby Keith has his own charitable foundation and has gone on USO tours and contributes to many worthy causes. All of this is true. But the fact remains: he’s Toby Keith. It’s bad enough that I have to listen to the same interview during every OU football home game, but now he’s headlining my state’s Hall of Fame class? Toby Keith is becoming ubiquitous. And he must be stopped. Unfortunately, I’m very scared of him, and I can think of no good way for this to happen that does not involve a boot in my ass. I’m open to suggestions.
Pink Floyd fans rejoice! This weekend, classic rock radio stations from throughout the country are airing their “Top 500 Classic Rock Songs of All Time” countdown. If you’re like me, you can only tolerate so much Rolling Stones and late Beatles stuff. That’s why I’ve created my own massive and controversial “best of” music countdown, complete with one YouTube clip and some inaccurate lyrics. So here we go, the “Top 5 Oklahoma Commercial Songs of All Time”:
Number 5: Brad Henry for Governor (2002)
I’m not sure why, but some people think that Brad Henry’s 2002 radio commercial and Barry Switzer’s endorsement is what got him the Governor’s office. I think it was a guy named Steve Largent. Anyway, if some people think that a song repeating “Brad Henry” 5,000 times got a guy elected governor, it probably belongs in the top 5.
Number 4: “Taco Mayo Me Baby”
Remember this one? Some hillbilly cowboy singing a country tune about what Taco Mayo items he orders on different days of the week, and then bellowing out “Taco Mayo Me Baby?” For some reason, I think this cowboy is a real person, and he is single-handedly keeping all Taco Mayo stores in business. Seriously. When is the last time you had Taco Mayo?
Number 3: BC Clark Anniversary Sale
This song seems to be the obvious number one, but it’s not. Sure, we all know the words. And when we see it for the first time in December, we all get little Goosebumps. But the song has become almost too popular, and BC Clark never shows the old commercial. They’ll now either brag about how popular the song is, or show customers singing the song. Plus, it has the line “Jewelry is the gift to give, because it is the gift that will live and live.” Trust me. I’m learning that’s not very accurate.
Number 2: Don’t Lay that Trash on Oklahoma
This commercial ran non-stop in the late 80s during afternoon cartoons, and for some reason, I think it worked. I rarely, if ever, litter, and now keep all trash piled high in my car. Thank you the State of Oklahoma and Ackerman-McQueen for keeping our state (and not my car) beautiful.
Number 1: Paul Meade Insurance:
I’m pretty sure it goes:
“Protecting everything you own,
like cars and trucks and mobile homes,
accidents or tickets, too,
call and we’ll take care of you…
524-1541.”
If you were singing along, we just connected. If you weren’t, you are probably at the wrong website.
So, I am supposed to do this blog thing for TheLostOgle.com. Nothing major, just every once in awhile I inject some perspective related to the metro area. That was the agreement I made with Pat. Of course, I learned today that I’ve been shirking my duties because apparently the site has been up for weeks (which in internet aging equates to approximately eons), and some guy named Tony has been churning out articles at the same rate that Starbucks puts up new stores. I’d have some choice words, but obviously if I didn’t know the site was running, I’m not in the know enough to understand the profanity policy for TheLostOgle.
Truthfully, I would have shirked my duties anyway. You see, I’m in Hell. About a year ago, I learned the company I worked for, which had been an Oklahoma City institution for 75 years (they took out a full page ad in The Oklahoman to celebrate this accomplishment in which my name could be read if you had a really strong magnifying glass–my parents were so proud) had sold to a Houston based energy company in order to make the wealthy CEO an uber wealthy unemployed guy. So, to keep my job, I would have been forced to move to the city I have affectionately referred to as “the armpit of North America” since college. I passed.
Instead, I took a job with another company explicitly stating that my objective was to keep earning a living good enough to keep feeding my family while staying in Oklahoma. After a month on the job, I got assigned to the one out of state client the company possesses, and they are located in…wait for it…the place I accepted the position in order to avoid.
The first week out here wasn’t bad. We caught an Astros game. The weather was beautiful. And most importantly, I wasn’t the one who had to drive. That all changed in week two. The Astros were out of town, the weather has cycled between “unbearably muggy”and “heinously humid”, and my attempts to navigate the highway system in the boat provided by Budget Rent-a-Car were anything but Magellanesque. By the way, Houston drivers can charitably be referred to as (once again, I’m not sure of the profanity policy), and they are hardly forgiving of an out-of-towner who doesn’t know when a highway is going to suddenly usher him in an entirely different direction. On the bright side, I have trained my ear to recognize the horn tones of cars that cost more than the GNP of most African nations.
Tomorrow I will return to the beautiful place I call home, at which point I will hopefully be inspired to write more OKC-centric blog entries.
The 2007 US Chess Championship finished up yesterday in Stillwater, finishing an 8-day event that captivated the world. That sound you hear is no one knowing that this was happening. Actually, since it’s the US Chess Championship, I guess it was just a lot of Russian descendants that invaded Stillwater. In any event, there were a hell of a lot of people at Eskimo Joe’s with names that ended in “-ov” and “-insky.”
What’s fascinating to me is that in attempting to find out information about this event, I came across this post, which includes this quote:
Michael’s second home can actually be considered Stillwater, Oklahoma. He has played so many tournaments there and he’s basically a part of the Stillwater chess scene.
Wait. What? There’s such a thing as a “Stillwater chess scene?!” I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Stillwater over the years, and I have to say I don’t remember seeing an inordinate amount of chess boards around town. What’s next, I’m going to hear about the underground Parcheesi movement in Watonga or the Purcell Chinese Checkers scene? Apparently Stillwater really is a fairly big chess town, which I find somewhat fascinating, though I’m not sure why.
Oh yeah, and see this kid?
This kid’s name is Ray Robson, and he is thirteen years old. He participated in the event over the weekend, winning three games and drawing in one. He holds the rank of National Master, which is apparently very good. I know we’re all supposed to be amazed by the stories of kid genius, but frankly I hate hearing about them. I cannot tell you how depressing it is to realize that a kid half your age is twenty times smarter than you and has already accomplished more in his life than you ever will.
I’m getting more and more used to this conversation…
Friend: “What are you doing these days?”
Me: “Oh, I’m making petty observations on some blog about Oklahoma City.”
Friend: “Cool. Did you hear about that 12 year-old girl that is helping map the human genome?”
Me: **muffled sobbing**
After watching this video from 1990, I’m not sure which is scarier. The fact that Mike Morgan hasn’t aged, or the fact that weather tracking equipment was this unsophisticated.
Maybe in 1989, Mike found a genie lamp at Lake Overholser. Maybe instead of wishing for more wishes, he wished to never age, for better radar equipment and to get to move over to Channel 4. Stupid Mike. Little did he know that Gary England is more powerful than a genie, and that he is the person who grants them their wishes.
For nerds like myself, next week is one of the greatest of the year, as it means the Scripps National Spelling be will be upon us. On May 30th, 286 geeky kids with glasses will descend upon Washington DC in order to determine just who is the best speller. Now, for most people, the Spelling Bee is nothing more than a novelty, and another of many reasons to complain about ESPN (it’s a fair complaint, really, as there’s not exactly a lot of athletic ability on display and you’re about as likely to find a sports fan on hand as you are to find a contestant who isn’t awkward around girls). But for us nerds, it’s our chance to shine. Our fifteen minutes in the spotlight.
We here at The Lost Ogle will be pulling for the two local Okie spellers, Audrey Kaye Foote, who will be representing the Daily Oklahoman, and Bruce Haiduk, representing the Tulsa World. Both are first-time entrants and are probably considered longshots compared to grizzled veterans like Samir Patel (entered for the fifth time) and Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas, Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, and Matthew C. Evans (all entered for the fourth time). Still, you never know what the Bee has in store for us, and Audrey and Bruce should be congratulated on making it as far as they have. I myself was not that nerd-worthy, having been ousted during the regional competition on “diuretic,” a word that means so much to fifth-graders.
Hardcore Bee fans can follow the results over at A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago, where Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes will be liveblogging the results, as she does every year. If you’re just interested in the local contestants, we’ll let you know how Audrey and Bruce do.
But I urge you all to tune in so you can recognize the signs of the nerd.
Being able to get excited about being able to spell words no one will ever use better than everyone else:
Really bad attempts at humor that invariably end up with someone saying “What?” instead of laughing:
Anxiety attacks, but even more so, resilience in the hope that no one will remember what had just happened:
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
From Post Secret via Deadspin and Burnt Orange Nation, where they make a half-hearted effort to convince us that they really are open and tolerant before giving up and playing Laugh at Teh Gay.
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