A thought from the Oklahoma trip, passing through the gates of time.
At long last…
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Wedding day update
I’ve updated Ricky and Tammy’s page to include wedding day information. I’ll write more on my own site later, but for now I’m off to bed – I’m exhausted.
The world I’ve missed
I now have access to the Internet at my grandparents’ house. This provides closure to my downtime, and reveals some things that are actually quite interesting to me, though I really should have known for quite some time.
For at least a couple of years now, the Net has been my primary source of information. By this, I mean that I usually get my news, sports, weather, etc., online. With the prominent exception of SportsCenter, of course. Even so, I normally go to espn.com at least a couple of times daily to read articles and find information about players and sports. The Net is the only place that I can find information on Aussie Rules Football or rugby. This and other ecclectic interests are not found on TV (easily, anyway), the radio, or the newspaper. What’s more, I can find information on how to improve my golf or tennis game free online instead of buying a book. Don’t know a definition? Go to dictionary.com instead of lugging out the Webster’s.
It’s become one of my main means of entertainment. I don’t watch a lot of TV…in fact, there are only a couple of shows that I really care about at all. There are a lot of people who have posted things on the net that interest me, from online games to stories. They tend to be better than what I could find on the television.
It’s become one of my primary methods of communication. E-mail is a way of life for me. There are plenty of times when I don’t need to get in touch with someone immediately, but I want them to know something, and e-mail provides the perfect solution. This site, and other ones that I maintain, are themselves a means of communication with the world. You can leave your mark on this site by commenting now. I’ve had people say that reading this site is like peeking inside my head. It’s the same with other sites that I frequent; those of friends and those who I do not know but whose lives are interesting just the same.
So now that I have finally come back online after a five-day hiatus (except for brief instances over at Ricky’s), I feel back in touch. Not that I don’t mind spending time in the real world – in fact, I’ve done more of that this summer than I have in a long while – but I need the wired world as well.
Hey from Ricky’s…
I realize that I haven’t been updating a whole lot since I’ve gotten back to Birmingham. I don’t have Internet access anywhere but when I come over to Ricky’s. That should change soon, though.
Things have not gone well in the job search. I went to Kindred today, and found out that they had hired someone else for the position that they had originally offered me. So we’re back at square one, unfortunately…
Anyone out there interested in hiring me? Jump to the résumé.
More trip notes
For road construction, nothing beats western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. There were nine different construction areas in Arkansas west of Little Rock alone…
I-40 is not a bad little interstate to drive in terms of scenery. A lot of farmland, and a decent amount of cities to break up the horizon…
While tubing, I tried to perform a trick where you intentionally flip the tube one full revolution as you swing wide to one side. I nearly got my shoulder dislocated for the trouble…
There are more “4th and Broadway” intersections in central Oklahoma than there needs to be. Hesper (my cousin) will get that, if she reads this…
I got sunburned on the first day, per the norm. It’s not as if I wasn’t trying to keep myself from it happening. I distinctly remember putting SPF-50 on at one point…
My golf game is about the same, whether I play in Alabama, Florida, or Oklahoma. I did have my worst score ever on a hole however: a 14…
More to come.
Stats about the trip
For you number-crunchers out there:
- Miles driven: 1,586.6.
- States: 5 (Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma).
- Wrong turns taken: 2 (both were in Memphis transitioning onto and off of I-55).
- Cities visited that fellow MBAs now live in: 3 (Birmingham, Memphis, and Conway, Arkansas).
- Stadiums visited: 2 (Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the University of Oklahoma’s football stadium, and Bricktown Ballpark, the home of the Oklahoma Redhawks minor league baseball team).
- New things tried: 2. I drove a boat and tubed for the first time. I almost tried skiing, but we ran out of daylight.
More a little later.
And we’re back…
Well, it’s about time I updated, isn’t it? I’ve been out in Oklahoma for the past couple of weeks, and I didn’t have much of a chance to update while I was out there. I’ve been back for a couple of days, but I can only update for now when I’m over at Ricky’s. The trip was a blast…there’s a lot to tell. I’ll do that later this week, because tomorrow I will be going back home to get my things that are down there (including my computer). I’ll be down there for a couple of days, and I’ll tell all about the Oklahoma trip then. Look for a lot here, and at least one or two thoughts to come out of the trip.
After that, I’ll come back up to Birmingham, set up camp, decide once and for all on my job situation, do the groomsman thing at Ricky and Tammy’s wedding, and start looking for places to live.
Oh, it’s on!
I see that Ricky’s been doing a little bit of gloating about his victory last night. That’s all good…it’s all part of the plan. First we give him the big head, then we swoop in for the kill.
And I also notice that while he mentioned ping-pong, he failed to note that he’s also never beat me in racquetball. 🙂
Heh heh…
I just thought of the perfect wedding gift for Ricky and Tammy. Shh! Don’t tell anyone!
The pressing on… summer tour continues
I’m now in Birmingham again. I’m staying a couple of nights with Ricky and going to Huntsville for a shower for Tammy and him on Saturday. We played tennis tonight…Ricky beat me 6-2. I figure that that’s two games better than I thought I’d do. 🙂 If I kept that up, I’d probably be in shape relatively quickly.
After that, I’ll spend a couple more days in Birmingham, then make the trip west to Oklahoma! Yep, I called out there today, and it’s been confirmed. I’ll probably make the drive on Tuesday (or possibly Wednesday) and spend about a week out there. I haven’t seen that part of my family since my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding, and I haven’t seen Oklahoma in at least 12 years. So I’m really looking forward to this trip. Well, all except for the drive, anyway. It will certainly be the longest drive that I’ve ever undertaken, beating any of my trips to Melbourne by at least three hours. But at least I’ll see a bunch of new things along the way.