The OKC Blizzard of 2009, From NE OKC

Well, it snowed like crazy here today. The wind was also blowing really hard; I saw a reported gust of 61 at the Oklahoma County Mesonet site.

These are before and during shots. The first was taken about 0900, and the next about 1600.

We have snow drifts of about 18″ on the deck:

There is about a foot of snow drifted on the roof:

Our front porch is about 7 inches above grade, but with the snow there isn’t any distinction now:

Our bird feeder was very popular today:

I will look to get some impressive photos tomorrow morning. It’s the first snowy Christmas in a while.

25 December 2009 Update:

The snow made it easy to see the tracks of a deer that came from the wilderness to our east, through the yard, making a scrape, and then off to the yard next door.

There is a LOT of snow here. The circle in front of the house has about a foot of snow on it:

That’s Erin at the bottom of the hill after sliding down the driveway on a snow disc.

The birds are all out and trying to find something to eat. This was holiday-card-perfect, thanks to a little cropping by Raegan.

We have some huge drifts (more than 3 ft) on the roof. I’m glad the house is built with 2×6 rafters.

There are amazing drifts around the house.

I like the way the wind sculpted the snow around the mailbox.

All this snow, and in typical Oklahoma fashion, the temperature here at the house at 1419 is about 35F, so there is already liquid water dripping from the roof, so some melting is already happening. It’s probably going to be a yucky mess in the next couple days.

The Times Have Changed…

Just got word – FIRST – from Facebook that services at St. John’s are canceled tonight due to the snowstorm. It even beat the TV stations.

Media Coverage of the 2009 OKC Blizzard

Well, the OKC area is under a blizzard warning, the first I can remember. The local TV stations started wall-to-wall weather coverage at some point before 0830.

Right now they have a lot of people out standing at intersections watching snow come down, and driving around watching snow come down.

I don’t know that it’s necessary to put your employees at risk just to show your station is keeping it’s viewers informed. For severe events like tornadoes, the areas affected are typically small enough that you have to spread people out to catch that elusive video. But for larger, synoptic scale events like a snowstorm, pretty much everywhere in a couple hundred square mile area is affected, and the pictures from the parking lot of the station look the same as the view out my windows, and the view out of windows in Moore, Norman, and Warr Acres.

We had constant, steady sleet here for about four hours, and for the past hour or so it’s been pure snow. Pretty impressive, and it’s supposed to last for another eight or ten hours.

Irma’s Burger Shack, Oklahoma City, OK

I just knew I was forgetting something. Last week I went to Irma’s for lunch with a friend. I have driven past the Irma’s that is at 63rd and Classen many times, and saw in The Oklahoma Gazette Best of OKC poll that Irma’s had been voted best burgers. So when Pat suggested the uptown location, what could I say?

We got there around 1140 on a Monday and were immediately seated. The place was about 30% full.

There are a lot of things on the menu. We both got the Irma’s signature “No-Name Burger”. This is a six-oz burger that is allegedly made from Oklahoma beef. At $7 a pop, it’s not inexpensive. I found it to be OK. Not spectacular but not bad either. I started the meal with some of Irma’s chili, since it was kind of blustery outside. That chili was pretty darn good. It has the right texture, heat, and taste to it. It was the best part of the meal. We got onion rings to go with the meal, and they were pretty good also.

Irma’s has a CFS that is claimed to be hand-breaded and with home-made gravy; that’s what I am going to try next.

We left around 1300, and Irma’s was about 90% full. The check for the two of us was about $25.00. Service was pretty good; I never ran out of iced tea.

The restaurant’s web site is http://www.irmasburgershack.com/.

Is The US Senate Broken?

As I have said before, I listen to (i.e. literally listen to, watch, read) voices on both sides of the political spectrum (and in the more amorphous center). Back during the earlier days of the Bush presidency, there was a lot of discussion on the right about how the Senate was putting the brakes on all of the stuff that Bush and the Republicans were wanting to do, and that the Democrats were using the rules of the Senate to slow down progress. Now, there is a lot of discussion on the left about how the Senate is putting the brakes on all of the stuff that Obama and the Democrats are wanting to do, and that the Republicans are using the rules of the Senate to slow down progress.

I think that the while the rules of debate and voting in the Senate are arcane and seem opaque, they are appropriate in the scheme of checks and balances that make our form of government work.

A lot of the stuff that Bush and the Republicans wanted to do, I felt was not in the best interest of the entire country. A lot of the stuff that Obama and the Democrats want to do, I think is in the best interest in the entire country, but I am not opposed to taking a measured approach to getting there.

In both of these cases, the structure of how the two parts of the Legislative Branch interact internally, and with each other, acts as a natural brake on the process. While the Democrats have a significant majority in the House (in fact, one House Democrat changed parties today to become a Republican, and yet will cause no great changes in the voting numbers), they have 58 out of 100 votes in the Senate (counting the two Independents that caucus with the Democrats, that makes 60).

The one thing that can change this is the voters. If the voters give a significant mandate to the Democrats (or the Republicans), then THAT would be the grease that would cause progress to increase. While the voters in 2008 left the Senate with a theoretical filibuster-proof majority, in practice, it is quite a transient thing, and no one should be surprised if individual Senators take advantage of this to gain an advantage (witness Senator Nelson of Nebraska and the insurance reform debate).

If the Obama Administration gets significant health insurance reform passed, and then gets some incremental improvements, and gets a couple more things passed (carbon trading, maybe), then I think that will be the fodder that the Democrats will use to get a couple more seats in the Senate over the next couple years, and then the plan will be to go to town. I suspect that Joe Lieberman will be tossed under the Metro at the first opportunity.

But I do not think that the rules of the Senate need to be changed. Forcing a political party to have the brakes on is a good thing. Those brakes kept the Bush Administration from going totally off the rails with surveillance of this country, more torture, and the like. Those brakes will keep the Democrats from going too fast and grunting out ill-conceived laws.

Karaoke on Dish Network

I was just running the channels on my Dish Network, and saw a new one – DANCE.

Clicked it on, and it’s… karaoke. Tulsa girl Megan Mullally is in a karaoke for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”. This alternates with a music video for the ICBINB.

I’ll come back to this later, but it’s kind of odd to have a karaoke ad for oleo.

Note a couple minutes later: I looked at the channel guide, and the ICBINB block goes on until at least 0600 tomorrow.

3 Hour Limit on the Tarmac?

I just got a message from the Washington Post news email list that the Obama Administration will promulgate a rule that airlines cannot keep people sitting on an airplane on the ramp or waiting to take off, for more than three hours.

This falls into the “duh!” category for me. I’ve been trapped on airplanes for more than three hours several times:

DFW-MCO: An ice event was starting as we pushed back. We sat waiting for de-ice for 5.5 hours. This was on a 757.

OMA-DFW: We arrived, pulled up to a Gate in A Terminal, and waited for a ground crew to marshal us in. I was sitting up front, and saw a ground crew waiting the next gate over. I pointed this out to the Flight Attendant after we had been waiting for 45 minutes. After three and a half hours (!), the airplane turned around, and pulled into that gate. Couldn’t the ground crew have moved over a gate, instead of the entire airplane? This was on a Super 80.

IAD-ORD: We landed, and sat in the far reaches of the airport for four hours. No weather or anything like that, and no explanation. This was on a Super 80.

DFW-ATL: We boarded, pushed back, taxied out to the west side of the airport, and sat for three hours due to a ground stop in ATL. The pilot told us about the ground stop as we boarded. This was on a 727.

DFW-DIA: We landed at DIA, and then sat for four hours on a distant taxiway while it snowed like crazy. This was on a Super 80.

ORD-OKC: We taxied out in a severe thunderstorm, and sat for three+ hours. This was on an RJ-45. A fun anecdote: At one point the pilot made a comment to us over the intercom: “We are going to watch that 737 take off, and if he makes it we are going to give it a try”. He then turned the airplane around a full circle on the ramp, and then got back on the intercom and said that in case we were wondering, he had fired up the weather radar, and then used the airplane as a rotating antenna to check the storm situation for 360 degrees. The 737 apparently made it, but we didn’t go for another hour or so.

To me, the limit ought to be more like an hour. The farthest I’ve been from the terminal at an airport is DFW – the runway on the NW part of the airport is probably a good mile away from Terminal D, and even if the airport is shut down for departures, there is no way in heck that airplanes can’t be taxied back to the terminal, the passengers unloaded, and the airplanes moved to a parking area if need be. Stuff like that happens at OKC pretty often when flights into DFW are diverted due to weather.

Any airlines schedulers are supposed to be able to move in a flexible manner to keep passengers safe AND comfortable as possible. Why trap people on airplanes, burning fuel, and earning negative goodwill, when the passengers can be in the terminal, safe and somewhat more mobile?

American Airlines Bag Handling

I’ve been flying for business and pleasure since 1982. While my favorite airlines were Western Airlines and American, the vast majority of my travel has been on American. This is mostly since both OKC and TUL have always been airports with a lot of AA service (Southwest in OKC is probably second there, and in TUL I would imagine).

I almost always check a bag. I’ve never had a lost bag in all that time. I have had misrouted bags a total of six times; four times upon returning home to OKC, and twice to SAT. The two times to SAT, the bags arrived at my hotel a couple hours later. The bags to OKC always came in the next morning, except for one case where it took four DAYS. That particular bag, I was going LAX-DFW-OKC, but the bag went LAX-DFW-LGW-BOS-ORD-DFW-OKC.

Anyway, the past couple months, American has been putting big orange PRIORITY tags in the bag tags when I have checked in. In every case except one since then, my bag has been with a group of bags that are first off the baggage claim area. In three cases, my bag has been first off the carousel, and a couple times it has been waiting for me when I came out to the bag claim area.

I think this is pretty neat of American to do. It’s not unusual to have to wait more than 20-30 minutes for a bag, but having the bag come out that fast lets me get to the rental car or my parked car that much faster, and out of the airport and on my way. American also lets me check someone I am traveling with in at the same time, and they get the same orange tag on their bag, so if we are outbound we can go get the rental car without having to wait.

China Buffet, Bellevue, NE

I have eaten at this place several times in the past year or so. It’s on Highway 370, just to the east of 36th street.

This particular evening, the air temp was about 8F. When I got to the place, I had three cups of egg drop soup to warm up a bit. It’s a thick soup with lots of egg white floating around, and hotter than heck. Just want was needed for the cold temps outside.

China Buffet has a standard super buffet of food. I usually get a lot of fried rice, and sweet and sour chicken (or pork, sometimes). It’s good, hot, and plentiful.

China Buffet also has (included) a Mongolian Grill. You go through a line and pick out one or more meats (I like beef and chicken, but they also have pork, shrimp, and other seafood), then load up on veggies and sauces. Then whole lot of it is dumped on a huge flat-top stove and essentially sauteed until everything is cooked.

I’ve gone through the line twice here a couple times. The iced tea is good, although the servers are sometimes a little slow in refilling.

My check this time was $11.98. I think that the value provided here is outstanding. The place was about 70% full when I got there at 1900 on a cold Nebraska night (did I hear Michael Murphy in the distance?), and about 90% full when I left around 2030. Really good.

Lil Burro, Bellevue, NE

This little place is on Capehart Road about a mile west of Offutt AFB, NE. It’s been there for years.

I ate there this week during my latest trip to the Omaha area. This time I got a two-enchilada dinner, with one ground beef and one shredded chicken enchilada. The whole thing is covered with cheese and enchilada sauce, and comes with rice and refried beans. There was something off about the meal; the enchilada sauce seemed a bit sharp. The meal was Tuesday and I haven’t died, so it must have been OK. The rice seemed a bit different also, the orange coloration was really vivid. The enchiladas were excellent.

I got a cup of the gringo chili (chile con carne), and it was pretty good. Not hardly spicy at all.

I have had a number of things here over the years. In particular, they make a really, really good half-pound cheeseburger.

They have good tea. One caveat – they do not take American Express. Visa and MC, and cash, OK. My check was $10.97.

Another Minor TSA Thing

I have gone through a number of airports recently. I usually use my Air Force issued Common Access Card for my ID, since I am on official travel. The airlines accept it in every single case. Then I head to the security checkpoint for the TSA check.

When I went through OKC outbound twice in the past couple weeks, the TSA person (who in all cases is a Federal employee) asked to see a second form of ID. Why, I said, the requirement is for a “Government issued ID”, which includes the Air Force. The TSA person said they HAD to see (in one case) a date of birth and (in the other case) a sex indicator (male or female).

I asked the first person why, and she gave me a very impatient “that’s what the requirement is”, or words to that effect. The second guy, when asked, said “We go by the national rules”. He repeated that several times, to the point that he started to sound like a robot. It was quite annoying.

Now, I went back and counted, and I’ve checked in through a number of airports (DCA, SNA, LAX, SAN, DFW, and OMA) in the past couple months, and in every single case, there wasn’t a second ID check that was performed due to lack of birthday or sex on the primary ID. So… either the TSO people in OKC don’t know what they are talking about, or the rest of the TSA people at the six airports I have checked in through are not following the “national rules”.

I do not like inconsistency, and this is inconsistent.

It should be noted that recently the TSA started doing “pre-flight” checks to match people that have a reservation to backend databases. I had to update my travel profile(s) to show DOB and sex (and something else I can’t remember offhand). So they are doing background checks on travelers using that information, long prior to a person showing up at the gate. I think that somebody at OKC interpreted that as a checkpoint item, and is now too clueless to realize and correct the mistake. Maybe they ought to.

There are other things that the TSA used to be inconsistent on, but have slowly jelled. Shoes (on/off), a second boarding pass check as you go through the magnetometer (a stupid rule if there ever was one), and several related items fall into this category.

A Small Work-Related Gripe

My employer considers me a “salaried” employee, but we still track our time (to the tenth of an hour). We are on a two-week pay period.

When we go over the standard 80 hours, and we are not on approved overtime, then we put down the extra hours that we work into what is essentially a tracking number. So far this year, I have something like 200 hours of this unpaid overtime, which is essentially five weeks of free work for our Government customer. In general, I’m OK with this, since it was stuff that needed to get done in a timely manner.

I am planning on taking a chunk of time off for the holidays, and I think it would be darn fair to take some of that unpaid overtime, and use it as vacation. Unfortunately, there is no policy in place to allow this. So, I have given a significant number of hours of my free time, and now I will take from my vacation hours for the next couple weeks. I just seems like something should be able to be able to be worked out.

I’m taking the time off regardless. The break is much looked forward to.

Charlies Chicken, Muskogee, OK

I first ate at a Charlies in what I have been told was the first one, which was York Street in Muskogee. Now I have seen them in numerous other towns, including McAlester and Shawnee, OK (although the Shawnee location may be closed now).

Since I had the famiily with me in Muskogee last Saturday, we decided to eat at the location on East Okmulgee.

My very cute and fried-chicken loving roommate, daughter Erin, and I got fried chicken in both white and dark meat. Son Ian got chicken chunks. It was all very good. I got a double helping of mac and cheese, and we also got mashed potatoes, potato wedges, and other sides, all of which were good.

The iced tea ran out while we were eating, but the staff refilled the big container immediately. The tea was good. When I left, I got a refill of Dr. Pepper, but it was just a little off. They are a Pepsi place, maybe that’s why.

There were two tables occupied when we got there at 1300, and we was only one table occupied when we left right at 1400. Our check was $35.34. A little expensive, but it was very good.

Oasis Grill and Bar, John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, CA

I ate at this place a couple years ago on the way home, and was in the same boat today.

I got in immediately at about 1145.

First I ordered iced tea. The server informed me that they only had bottled tea, and it was not free refills, and it was odd flavors (my interpretation). I demurred and got Coke.

I had a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger. It was a half pounder, done a perfect medium-well, and was very tasty. It came with some OK fries.

I got out at 1239. The check was $18.49, which is high, but not unexpected as airports eateries like to rip passengers off.

Guys, get some real iced tea.

Silky Sullivan’s, Fountain Valley, CA

After a busted time at hiking, and a busted visit to Fry’s in Fountain Valley, I decided to try this place when I found it via a Google Maps search from the Fry’s parking lot.

I got there about 1800 and got seated immediately. Both the greeter and my server were super friendly, the noise level was just right, and the place was well lit so I could work my USA Today puzzles without squinting. Very promising.

This place claims to be a restaurant and pub, but the closest thing to pub grub was Fish and Chips. No matter. The server told me about some things she liked, and then mentioned the Rib Eye – lots of people ordered it, and it was always perfect. That was it for me. I ordered one, medium, as usual.

I asked about the chili, and she brought me a small sample. It was good so I got a bowl. The chili was kind of Cincinnati style. It was kind of thin, had beans, and had chunks of red and green peppers. That means it couldn’t really decide if it was chili con carne or southwestern. It was good, however.

This is where the meal went kind of downhill. I was eating the chili, and working my puzzles, and about five minutes had gone by, when the steak arrived. It did not look promising. It was charred severely on top. The bottom was better, but one side of the steak was totally black on both sides. The inside was just past medium. I tried a bite, and it was like licking a fireplace log (yes, I’ve done that; don’t ask). After a couple minutes I got my server to come over and showed her the steak. She agreed that it was not good and took it back, after I asked her to make sure they did NOT hurry it.

It came back again in about five minutes! The darn thing was already in the process of charring on top (the bottom wasn’t too bad, but it was rare in the middle). I let the steak sit on the table for about 10 more minutes while I finished the chili, and it finally ended up medium rare.

There is really no excuse for treating beef this way. It was clear to me that the grill was set to Immolate. Why, I don’t know. This was not supposed to be a fast food experience. I told the server this, but if the information made it to the cooks, I have no idea.

The meal was accompanied by a decent baked potato, that included bacon (real!) and sour cream. There was also a medley of unidentifiable peppers or something. I tried a couple of the mushrooms in the mix, and then scraped it all off into the by-now empty chili cup.

The heck of this was that the beef was good beef, but it was not treated well by the cook staff. I do not understand why the cook staff would so blatantly ignore customer requests; it does not speak well of the management practices of the restaurant.

The service was good, and the iced tea was good and plentiful. The place was about 30% full when I got there, and about 70% full when I left about 1855. My check was $27.15.

Will I go back? I do not get to the Anaheim area very often, but even so I like to go back to places I’ve been and liked. I do not think that Silky’s falls into that category.

Studio Diner, San Diego, CA

This restaurant is across the street from a contractor facility that I have visited several times this year. I like diners, and after my post-work hike today, I decided to try it.

I was seated immediately when I arrived. My server brought me iced tea (which was kept full!) very quickly. The iced tea was good, a perfect strength.

I got a cup of chili, since it was kind of chilly outside. The stuff was amazingly good! It reminded me of the chili that my Dad used to make for us at home. The meat was ground fairly fine, there was a bit of red grease in the cup (which to me is not a bad thing), and there were NO beans in it! I could have eaten a huge bowl of it by itself for dinner. It was really good! They had oyster crackers to go with it, but no saltines. One thing I just remembered: they have two kinds of chili, the kind I got with ground beef, and another that is made with (IIRC) prime rib.

I ordered a Chicken Fried Steak. A new thing – my server asked if I wanted it with the veggies (as in dinner) or with eggs and hash browns! Right on! I chose the breakfast option.

One problem here, I had just started my chili when the dinner arrived. I think that the cooks moved a bit too fast. I know that the diner concept is eat fast and get out, but this was probably just a bit too fast; my food was getting cool by the time I finished the chili.

Nonetheless, the CFS was good if a bit bland, and the eggs and hashbrowns were great with a bit of the extra gravy my server brought me.

The place was about 50% full when I arrived just a bit after 1800, and about 75% full when I left right at 1900. My check was $19.02. The service was good, although the cooking was a bit rushed, I think.

I like this place. I want to go back and try some of the sandwiches for lunch.

My server mentioned that the crew from “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives” was here at some point. That makes about 10 places that I’ve been to that Guy and his crew have visited also.

Mission Trails Regional Park, Again

This has not been a good trip for hiking. First, on Monday, my flight was late, and there was snow at my target, Strawberry Peak, which closed the roads.

Then, at the meeting yesterday, it went a little long-winded, which got me to my target of Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park a little late, only to find that the whole park was closed.

So today, at the end of my meeting in San Diego, which also went long, I didn’t get to Mission Trails until about 1545. My plan was to head west of the Visitor Center, cross the San Diego River, and head up and over Fortuna Peak, returning via Oak Canyon Trail and the Father Junipero trails. Best laid plans…

The rains from the past couple days had filled the San Diego River. The low-water crossing was completely underwater:

San Diego River Over Trail

That measuring stick out in the middle shows that 3.5ft of water is running over the trail.

You can’t tell from the photo, but there was an actual waterfall to the left. I walked a bit up and down the river, but could not get across.

I ended up heading back on the Visitor Loop Trail, completing the half that I had not completed the first time I hiked this part of the trail a couple weeks ago.

This is the same shot of the San Diego River that I took a couple weeks ago, but there is a significant increase in the amount of water:

I ended up at the west end of the climbers loop, then headed down Father Junipero to the north end of the, and hiked a bit on the Oak Canyon Trail.

I deadheaded back on Father Jupinero. I got back under beautiful dark, clear skies around 1800. Total mileage was about 6 miles.

Mr. Cheney, Shut the Hell Up

The former VP was on Fox last night. He said that President Obama gives “aid and comfort” to the enemy, for following the Constitution by putting terrorists on trial, and that the Obama Administration is “radical”.

This guy, who believed that his office was neither part of the Executive or Legislative branches, who authorized and pushed torture, who belittled the American people (“So?”), and spit on the Constitution repeatedly, thinks he can call the President treasonous. Can Mr. Cheney actually point out what the President has done that is treasonous? NO. He is good at throwing what he thinks is mud. Cheney is protected by the First Amendment of the very Constitution that he constantly spits on.

As I have said before, the FORMER VP should just shut the hell up. I wish he had been impeached; even better, he should have never been elected or appointed. He was a terrible, un-American VP.

The MAPS 3 Election

I saw yesterday where MAPS 3 passed in OKC. I think it has a bit of risk to it, given that the projects are not actually what were voted on, and that the Mayor and City Council can change the projects as they wish. I hope that if this monied corporate welfare program tanks, the Mayor and City Council people that pushed it get to pay the electoral price for it.

Buca Di Beppo, Garden Grove, CA

I got to my hotel late this afternoon and noticed this restaurant on the parking lot. It claimed to be Italian. I asked the front desk guy who checked me in, and he said it was good, and then looked on the desk, and gave me a $10 off card for the place.

I checked it out. I got there at 1740 and got in immediately. When I left at 1855, there were a couple people waiting, even though there were tables open. Who knows.

This restaurant is another family-style place that serves HUGE quantities of food. The good news is that they have “small” and “large” sizes, which really translates to “large” and “huge”.

My server told me that since I was by myself, I could order from the lunch menu, with portion sizes approaching normalcy. But the lunch menu didn’t have what I wanted, so I went with the “small” size.

I ordered garlic bread to start, followed by Chicken Marsala and a side of Fettucine Alfredo.

The garlic bread was problably an entire load of french bread that had been converted to garlic bread. It was perfect, crusty and rough textured, and with a perfect amont of garlic. The server brought some olive oil to dip the bread in. I asked for Balsalmic vinegear, and it was brought immediately. The server mentioned that you had to ask for it.

The Chicken Marsala “Small” ended up being three decent sized breasts, plump and juicy. There was a lot of Marsala sauce, it was sweeter than I am used to. The Marsala had a fruity aftertaste to it. The dish came with some very large mushrooms that were also pretty good.

The “side” of fettucine was a soup bowl filled with noodles. There was not a lot of alfredo on the noodles, but it wasn’t too bad.

With the $10 discount, my check was $37.72.

I managed to put away all of the chicken and noodles, and about a quarter of the bread. It was all good.

Facebook and Polls

I was tagged in a Facebook poll this evening:

Bill voted “No” in the Intelligence Poll. 2,396 people have already cast their vote.

Question: “Are atheists more intelligent than Christians?”
- Yes
- No

I wonder at the motive of the people who created this poll. Are they atheists who want to enrage Christians, or is it the other way around? Or is it some person who really wants to know the answer to this question?

In reality, a question like this can only be answered with certainty by using a multivariate survey. One part of the the study would be to take a group of people and give them an intelligence test, or find their highest level of education, or their GPA, or something else that is fairly concrete (and yes, I am aware of the discussions about what is really measured in an IQ test). Then you would have to have some way to ascertain whether (and how much?) those people ascribed to Christian beliefs. The study would have to correlate the two datasets.

All of this just shows that an opinion poll does not answer the question that was posed. I know highly intelligent people that are Christian, and others who are not. I know people of less intellect who are highly Christian, and others who are not. I could tell you what I believe based on my personal observations, but that’s all that you would get, one person’s personal observations.

There are other polls on Facebook that are more appropriate for the medium. One that recently was posted was “Is spanking child abuse?”. The possible answers were Yes, or No. This kind of a question is valid on a personal level, but the problem with the Facebook poll is that there were not enough answers. First, there should always be a “Don’t Know” and a “Don’t Care“. You would also have to give a range of possible answers, like “Yes, for breathing” down to “Yes, but only if he burned the house down“.

So my comment to Facebook pollsters is to try and determine what you really want to know, and whether you have an axe to grind, and if not, then try to make the poll realistic and more valid.

A Minor Free Speech Annoyance

I do a lot of stuff on the web, and over the past couple months I have seen a lot of banner ads like these:

“Obama Backs Insurance Regulation”

“Obama Asks Moms to Return To School”

These are just come-ons to various websites that I am fairly sure that the President has not in fact endorsed. This leads me to think that the people running the sites are scumbags. I know that free speech rules, and I support that, but I also wish there were some more direct way (other than one guy making a blog post) of causing people like this to have trouble; something like crowd-sourcing something bad their way.

Just a little fantasy.

MAPS 3 Debate on Flashpoint Today

I am still undecided about MAPS 3. Today I watched Flashpoint on KFOR, which was a “debate” about MAPS 3. It wasn’t much of a debate.

There was one guy, Porter Davis, who clearly is not for MAPS 3. Arrayed around him were three fervent MAPS 3 supporters, Kirk Humphreys, Mike Turpen, and Ron Norick.

Davis tried to make points about what he thought was wrong about MAPS 3. While the other side also tossed out rebuttal, there were also a lot of personal attacks, particularly from Humphreys. He did make a couple valid points pertaining to statements made by Davis about Humphreys land ownership interests, and Davis admitted he had bad information, but Humphreys kept repeating “you were wrong” probably five or six or more times. Humphreys also made a personal attack on Davis pertaining to Davis moving out of Oklahoma to live somewhere else due to concerns about Y2K. About what I would expect of him.

Even Mike Turpen got into the personal attack mode, demanding to know if Davis had visited the MAPS stuff already built, and talking about how many investment dollars had been spent in response to the public money that have been spent.

I don’t know Davis, for that matter I don’t know that I know anyone who knows him. But I think he got the shaft on KFOR this morning. And good for him to go on that program, and know that was going to happen.

Davis mentioned his website this morning (http://killthemapstax.com/). I visited the website, and find that some of the information on it seems to make sense.

I’m going to read the election ballot today and come to a decision about how to vote. I am really not happy about how some of MAPS 3 is happening, but I do want OKC to advance and grow some. I don’t know that we need to spend somewhere between $300M and $500M for Myriad/Cox Convention Center replacement. But maybe as a corporate jobs program, or a local stimulus package, that’s OK. Except that the main benefactors are going to be the already-monied corporate interests.

I’ll update later.

Two Frogs, Ardmore, OK

This is my very first real-time blog post about a restaurant! The hotel next door has an open wifi connection…

I’m at Two Frogs in Ardmore. I have eaten here with work friends several times in the past, but it’s been three years or more. I remembered that Two Frogs was good from the previous visits. I decided to stop here on the way back from my latest trip down to the Dallas area.

I got a Chicken Fried Steak. It was really, really good. Hand breaded, the breading was a little sweet, but the beef was excellent. Fork tender. The server brought more gravy without my having to ask. The gravy was also very good, not too thick. The green beans were decent, and the mashed potatoes were mashed-up former baked potatoes, so they had a lot of texture to them. I even ate the two dinner rolls; I’m not usually into those, but occassionally they are good.

I just ordered dessert, and I tried something new. It’s chocolate bread pudding, with vanilla icing and ice cream. It’s good! Warmed up, which is good given that it’s kind of cold outside. The bread pudding is less dense than a brownie and more dense than cake, about like pumpkin pie filling. It’s also very moist. There is not a lot of chocolate flavor, but there is some cinnamon. I like it! I think there is enough here to share with between two or three people.

Iced tea: EXCELLENT. Got some in a to-go cup. Needed it, I have not had much sleep recently.

The check is $18.31. Kind of high, but the bread pudding was $4.95 of the total.

The service was really good also. The place was not very full when I got here around 1245, and now at 1335 it’s maybe got 25% of the tables occupied.

Ardmore has a winner here.

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Richardson, TX

After work today, I was not very hungry since I had eaten a late lunch. I drove past this place on the way back to my hotel, and thought it might fill the bill.

It did! I got “The Box”, which was really on a plate since I didn’t get it to go. The Box had five chicken fingers in it. They were plump and tender and juicy white meat, really tasty! They came with fries (OK) and cole slaw (creamy, and OK). The chicken fingers were served with a mysterious sauce that was pinkish and tasted OK (I think it is a mix of mayo and BBQ or something similar).

The iced tea was a bit strong even for me! I ended up doing my 80% unsweet followed by 10% sweet topped off by more unsweet, and that was a really good mix.

My check was $7.35, I think it was a good value.

President Obama and Afghanistan

Although the President made campaign promises to focus more on Afghanistan, I really wish that he had found some way to pull our troops completely out of the country. Although he made arguments that the fight in Afghanistan is in our national interest, I just don’t see that it is. Or if there are still bad guys there, why not hunt them from the air the way we are doing in Pakistan?

I just don’t see the national interest there.

Babe’s Chicken House, Garland, TX

After a day at work, I decided that I wanted some fried chicken for dinner. I’ve been wanting to try a Babe’s (there are several in the area) for a while. Conveniently, there was a location a couple miles south of the plant I was working at, on Belt Line Road, so I headed that way.

Ordering is simple, no menus. You choose fried chicken, chicken fried steak, or one of four or five other things that I can’t remember. The entree is brought with bowls of stuff served family style. The green beans were excellent, the pinto beans were good (a bit mushy), the semi-creamed corn was very good, the mashed potatoes good, and the gravy pretty good. These are all served as all you can eat, so it turns out to be huge amounts of food. You also get biscuits; they are a bit flat, but tasted just fine with the butter and honey on the table.

The fried chicken – it was a full half chicken. I could not finish it! It was crispy and good. The breading was not greasy or fat soaked, and the meat had an excellent taste. It was hotter than heck, so it was clearly fresh cooked.

All in all, I really like Babe’s. I would be happy to bring my family. I felt a bit sad to leave so much food on the table. I ate about 90% of the chicken, leaving some of the wing behind. But I only was able to eat about 1/3 of the all the other stuff, and I walked out of there absolutely full. I would make a suggestion to the management: single diners should be given the option of having a bowl for the extras that is smaller than a soup bowl.

The iced tea was good, and provided in quantity.

The place was only about 20% full when I got there at 1745, and maybe half full when I left an hour later, stuffed to the gills.

My check was $13.36. I think this was TREMENDOUS value. Just for the huge amount of chicken provided, not to mention the unlimited veggies. Service was outstanding, always prompt but not smothering.

Stevenson’s Barbeque, Pauls Valley, OK

As I cruised down I-35 on my latest trip, I was getting hungry. I pulled off at Pauls Valley with the intention of grabbing a burger and pressing south, but I saw a big “BBQ” sign on a former Braum’s building, and decided to check that place out instead.

This place was pretty darn good. I ordered a two-meat with chicken and brisket. There was enough there to feed two people, or three if it was me, Raegan, and Erin.

The brisket was really tender. It was a little fatty, but not too much. There was really nice flavor to it. There was a LOT of it.

The chicken was huge! It was a full half chicken, truly smoked, and good!

I had slaw (creamy, not vinegar), and pintos, kind of sweet, both really good, and in good quantity.

Stevenson’s had mild and hot sauces. Both were thin. The mild had a taste I could not place. It was not overly flavorful. The hot was not immediately hot, but had an “aftertaste” that was more spicy. Not too much to detract from the food. I tried the two mixed 50%, and it was just odd. So I would recommend using just the hot to enhance the flavor of the meat. It was especially good on the chicken.

The tea was OK. There was a very slight odd taste to it, but it was also really hot since it had just been made. I drank the first glass of it straight, but the second glass went about 80% unsweetened, then about 5% sweet, then the rest unsweetened, and that was really good. On the way out, I got a DP, and it had the same slight odd taste! I think that it was the water in the place, maybe Pauls Valley did funny things in the water treatment plant.

My check was $14.65. A little high for one, but for a two-meat that was big enough for 2-1/2 people, not bad.

Restaurants and Tipping

I ran across this article today via my Earthlink start page and TheStreet.com:

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/it-illegal-not-tip

An excerpt:

Well, earlier this month, a group of college students went out to a local pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Apparently, the service was terrible and it took more than an hour just to get an order of chicken wings. On top of that, the group had to fetch their own silverware and drinks because their waitress had vanished into thin air.

So when the bill arrived, the group was shocked to see a $16 gratuity charge automatically added on.

The end result was kind of out of proportion. When the group paid the bill, less the forced tip, the wait staff or management called the police. The police arrested the group for failure to pay for services. After a bit of time, and what was obviously escalation to someone with more brains, the charges were dropped.

I eat in a lot of restaurants, and pay a lot of tips. My rule of thumb is that if the service is OK, I will pay the customary 15%, rounded up to the next dollar. Even incremental better service gets 20% or 25%, rounded up again. For outstanding service, or getting a smile when it’s busy, a pregnant server, or something similar, I go 30%-50% (especially when I am on per diem). It takes a lot for me to go less than the 15% level, but when it’s warranted, I will go to 10% or zero (there is usually a floor function at work here; if it’s that bad I will go directly from 15% to zero).

Now, that all being said, I am adamantly opposed to forced tips. Even if there is a group of eight or more, the tip should be a discretionary item; the discretion being the DINERs. I will rarely go back to a restaurant that has such a policy, even if I am by myself, and I make it a point every time to seek out a manager and let them know that they lost possibly many meals from me to extort 15% or 18% once. Frankly, I never add any to the tip in such a situation (but I have occasionally slipped cash directly to a hardworking server).

A couple observations about the article referenced above.

The restaurant staff was stupid to call the police. There is no contract between the diner and the restaurant to extort payment of a tip.

The police were stupid to arrest the group that refused to pay the extorted tip.

Good for the group! The only way to get business to listen is to tell the management when they do something wrong. Sending an overcooked steak back is one way, paying less tip is another.

So I support servers that make the effort, and try to really reward those that really bust tail. But I do not support forced tips: they are not tips then, but a tax.

Couple Cool Things From The Air, 20 Nov 2009

I had the first three-leg flight I’ve had in a while on 20 Nov. I went SAN-LAX-DFW-OKC. The highlight was the first flight I’ve ever had along the SoCal coast SAN-LAX (I was in a RJ-45 with a total of four other pax). I saw a couple cool things and got some photos.

After we launched, we made a hard right turn, and I saw the La Jolla/Torry Pines area. I’ve been hiking at Torry Pines State Park, and stood outside the fence of the famous golf course. Too bad the low clouds were there.

La Jolla

I saw TWO observatories; first, the Palomar Mountain Observatory. Then, we made the turn into LA and I saw Mount Wilson and the Observatory in the distance, and above the crud. In both cases, the dome is visible as a small white dot on a ridge (you might have to look at the full-resolution version by clicking the thumbnail).

Mount Palomar

Mount Wilson

There was a tremendous amount of crud in the air over the LA basin.

After we launched out of LAX, we looped around the harbor and Long Beach area and headed east, om the southern routing into DFW. We overflew what looks like a pretty obvious eroding volcano with an alluvial fan around it. This is Arizona’s Picaho Peak State Park, north of Tuscon off of I-10.

Picacho Peak and State Park, AZ

Just a little farther, I looked down and saw several ENORMOUS piles of dirt that were obviously human-made. A bit of research o-line lead to the discovery that this was the remains of the Magma Copper Company, at San Manuel, AZ, which included a couple copper smelters. This place was the largest producer of copper until the late 90’s when it was shut down. It was an underground mine (as opposed to open pit mines where they just dig down). An Australian company bought it in 1996 for a couple $B, then shut it down in 1999. They did no preservation or anything, but let the mine fill with water. They then spent something like $120M to close the place down, including blowing down the smelter smokestacks.

Those enormous piles are in fact tailings. If you look at a topo of the area, the tailings piles are more than a mile long, and 300+ft thick at the eastern ends. That’s a hell of a lot of dirt/debris.

There is a blog about this town and the mine at:

http://theclosetentrepreneur.com/remembering-my-hometown-of-san-manuel-arizona

Quite a bit further on, in south central NM, we flew past what I believe is a high altitude research balloon. I could resolve the upside-down teardrop shape of the balloon by eye, but the camera sees a dot.

The last thing I saw on the ground was this large semi-circle. Turns out it is a firing range at Fort Bliss, in this case in NM (Fort Bliss starts down in El Paso, TX, and runs up to the southern edge of White Sands).

Finally, I caught the day/night terminator, twilight, and sunset colors along with a quarter Moon.

Nice trip, I don’t get to fly 767’s very often. They are a nice ride.

Pro-MAPS Ads in OKC

There are a couple ads running on TV in support of the MAPS 3 proposal. I have already said that I am not necessarily either a supporter or detractor or MAPS 3.

At least one of the pro-MAPS 3 ads uses the term “does not raise taxes” several times. I am not sure that statement is honest. The existing MAPS sales tax is going to expire (in April 2010, I think). MAPS 3 proposes extending that sales tax for a number of years. So, MAPS 3 is a tax increase; MAPS 3 raises taxes. It may not raise the tax rate, but in the end, it raises the taxes extracted from the OKC economy.

At a minimum, the pro-MAPS people ought to tell it like it is.

Memo To News Media

I would like to point out to the news media in general: It’s Not News If It Happens All The Time

Examples of this:

“Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday”, especially when it is reported day after day before. This includes “stories” about people camping out a couple days before the stores open.

T-Short shops gearing up to print T-shirts after some sporting event (like the Cotton Bowl).

Boxing day: People queuing up to return presents they don’t want.

This is all filler, as far as I am concerned. It is not news.

Rachel Ray and Health Care

Ms. Ray was interviewed on Nightline this evening. She made some observations that I never thought about, and bravo to her!

The point she was trying to make was if we can control obesity, then our need for an amount of expensive health care can decrease. She is trying to get school lunch menus to offer things like broccoli, or carrots ground up in cheese sauce, or whole grain pasta, to help get healthier food into kids.

Bill Maher has made comment about this as well, that the glut of processed foods is the most unhealthy choice that we can consume.

I hope she makes progress. It could be that the debate comes down to cost vs convenience vs health.

I know that my personal actions are slow but so far sure – eat less and exercise more (yes, I know I did not object to the T-Bone getting upgraded to a Porterhouse last week, but I also walked about 10 miles in addition to the normal daily walking around).

ISS Passes Thanksgiving Week

There will be some very bright International Space Station (ISS) passes this week. The Station is especially bright since construction has made it larger, and the Space Shuttle will be attached to the ISS most of the week. The Station is also a lot lower (roughly 122 miles above the Earth) than it usually is (typically around 220 miles).

The data below is from Heavens Above, a site that tracks lots of satellites (not just the ISS), and is as of 22 Nov.

ISS – Visible Passes | Home | Info. | Orbit | Prev. | Next | Help |

Search period start: 00:00 Sunday, 22 November, 2009
Search period end: 00:00 Wednesday, 2 December, 2009
Observer’s location: Edmond, 35.6530°N, 97.4780°W
Local time zone: Central Standard Time (UTC – 6:00)
Orbit: 336 x 344 km, 51.6° (Epoch Nov 22)

Click on the date to get a star chart and other pass details.

Date Mag Starts Max. altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
23 Nov -1.0 18:07:48 10 N 18:08:41 11 NNE 18:08:57 11 NNE
24 Nov -2.0 18:28:42 10 NNW 18:30:52 25 NNE 18:30:52 25 NNE
25 Nov -3.2 18:50:30 10 NW 18:53:02 66 NW 18:53:02 66 NW
26 Nov -2.1 17:37:58 10 NNW 17:40:23 24 NE 17:42:47 10 E
26 Nov -0.8 19:13:06 10 W 19:15:20 21 SW 19:15:35 21 SW
27 Nov -3.5 17:59:41 10 NW 18:02:33 85 NE 18:05:24 10 SE
28 Nov -0.7 18:22:09 10 WNW 18:24:28 22 SW 18:26:46 10 S
30 Nov -0.5 17:31:05 10 WNW 17:33:29 24 SW 17:35:52 10 S

The key values in this table are magnitude (brightness), the first time, and the direction. Look for a very bright star that is moving (and doesn’t have red or green blinking lights). For magnitude, the smaller the number the brighter; -3.5 is far brighter than -0.8 (most stars are positive magnitude, and so are dimmer).

The pass on the 27 ought to be spectacular. -3.5 is the brightest value I think I have seen, and the 85 degree angle is virtually overhead (remember the horizon is 0 degrees and 90 is straight up). So that pass is horizon to horizon from the NW to the SE.

You can check updated pass information at http://www.heavens-above.com/. Go there, enter your location using the “From Database” link.

Cowles Mountain – Mission Trails Regional Park

On Wednesday (18 Nov), the meeting I was at got out earlier than expected, and a work friend and I decided to hike Cowles Mountain (it’s pronounced “coals”). Cowles is a part of San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park. We got to the Park about 1515, and headed right up.

Cowle's Mountain Trailhead

Most of the hike is a series of switchbacks. It starts out quite steep. About half way up, you go around a sub-summit and walk a forty yards or so along a saddle. There were a ton of people on the trail, I’ll bet there were a couple hundred on the mountain while we were there. We took a couple breaks on the way up. Some of the breaks were for short rests, but a couple times we managed to miss the trail for a short bit, and we found ourselves in uncharted territory for a minute or so.

Most of the trail looks more like this:

In a fairly short time, we were at the top! The view up there is spectacular. Cowles is the tallest point in the city of San Diego. I took a panorama that I will post when I get it stitched together. This is the view off to the ENE, towards El Capitan:

This is the view to the south. That’s Lake Murray, where a couple of us took a hike last week:

While at the top we read the various signs pointing out the terrain around the area, and went over and checked out the antenna tower (hey, a couple comm guys, we have to check out comm towers or we lose our union card…). Eventually we headed down. There was a breeze blowing and the temperature was pleasantly cool.

We got to the bottom right at 1715. There were still people headed up the trail! So for a two-hour hike, we ended up doing a bit more than 3 miles round trip, and about 933 ft of altitude gain.

This was a fun hike, and a great way to spend a couple hours after work. I am really impressed by Mission Trails park. Congrats to San Diego for creating it.

Mission Trails Regional Park, San Diego

After work today, I headed out to Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) to get some hiking in. I checked out the VERY nice Visitor Center, grabbed a trail map, took a long drink, planned my route, and headed out. Good planning, lasted about a half hour.

Mission Trails Regional Park entrance

I started out on the Visitor Center Loop. My plan was to take the Grinding Rocks Trail to Father Juniper, then the Climbers Loop, then to the NE end, Oak Canyon, and around South Fortuna back to the entrance.

The Grinding Rocks trail, is along the San Diego River, which really isn’t much more than a stream thanks to the old Mission Dam, but there is tree-shade along parts of it.

Along Grinding Rocks Trail

The trail was wide and smooth.

MTRP Trail

There are a couple places where the San Diego River is very pretty.

San Diego River

I got to the Father Juniper Trail right at the west trailhead for the Climbers Loop. There are some nice looking rocks to climb up there, I thought. Too bad I didn’t bring any gear…

The trail up there is narrow and steep. You get an advertised 400 ft elevation gain in less than half a mile. Problem is, when you get up to the base of the climbing rocks, the trail just fades away. The trail is very poorly marked. I tried following boot prints, but they kept leading up and up. I eventually had to boulder my way to the top, with no safety gear. I was never in any danger, but if you can’t get up a four-foot boulder, you have to work your way back down. I really wish the darn trail was marked better.

When I got to the top, I looked back down, said a few bad words, sat down and ate the rest of the Sun Chips I had saved from lunch, and drank one of my water bottles. The view down was spectacular. What was supposed to be a maximum elevation gain for the loop trail, about 400 feet, had turned into 800 feet, most of the extra altitude done via bouldering.

Way Down

I checked the map and made a reroute. I made for the top of Kwaay Peak, since I was standing on it’s shoulders now. There were a lot of small trails going back and forth up there. It was absolutely beautiful, with a nice breeze and the setting Sun. Cowles Mountain was off in the distance. I found the top of Kwaay, and started back down. The trail was better and wider, but it was steep, had few stairs, and was steep in lot of places, and slippery with dust. This is looking back up-trail at one point.

I saw a hawk or owl dropping at one point on the hike from the climbers area to the top of Kwaay, and I saw four of five more on the way down. They were not compact pellets (long), and there was very little bone in them, indicating that the stomach of the critter doing the eating had very strong acid in it.

Somebody's Lunch

When I got to the bottom, I checked out the Old Mission Dam. It had a bit of the San Diego River backed up behind it. Since the dam was built in the days before Caterpillar existed, there was a lot of labor involved.

I walked back to the Visitor Center and my car along the Father Juniper, with a very thin crescent Moon and a bright Jupiter above.

At the end of the hike, this was a fairly uncrowded place. There were a number of people on the Father Juniper, but I didn’t see a single person on the Visitor Center Loop or the Grinding Rocks Trail. On the Climbers (alleged) Loop, I saw three people, and over Kwaay, three people.

I got started around 1415, and ended up back at the car under clear, dark skies at 1650. Total mileage was about 3.8 miles, and total elevation gain was 880 feet (and of course, back down 880 feet). Coming on the heels of the Cowles Mountain hike yesterday, this was a great workout.

I am really impressed by MTRP. To have such a large outdoor area so close to a major city, and to see all the people using it, is a good thing. I have hiked a lot of the western part of the park in years past while visiting San Diego, but only hiked about 20% of the park. There is still a lot to go, and frankly the total mileage of hiking trails I have barely scratched. I’ve also walked the Point Loma trails, the San Diego State Parks trails in La Jolla, and Blacks Mountain. I made a run at El Capitan back in February, but it was too late in the day to get very far. So hooray for San Diego and the state of California for building all these trails, and to the citizens that use them.

McNellie’s Public House, OKC

My very cute and civic-minded roommate had jury duty this past week, so for the first day lunch break I picked her up, and we went to lunch.

We tried an OKC institution that used to be called Kaiser’s Ice Cream, and is now called the Grateful Bean, but they were closed Monday’s. We made a trip across the traffic circle to Brown’s Bakery to pick up some doughnuts and cookies, and then headed more around the circle to McNellie’s. It smelled pretty good.

I started off with some Chili as my soup. It was very chunky, and not too bad at all. Since the temperature outside was 41F, it hit the spot. I also got the Cottage Pie, with mashed potatoes on the side. Cottage Pie is essentially Shepards Pie, and so had mashed potatoes in it. I didn’t finish the side order, but they were good. The Cottage Pie was really good, not too spicy, but hotter than heck. It had some peas and carrots in it, and the gravy in it was a good complement.

Raegan got a BLT, and she was very happy they had Sweet Potato Fries to to with it. The BLT was more BBBBLT, she took some of the excess bacon off and I ate it. It was a thick cut, with a lot of maple flavor.

We both got iced tea, which was good.

We ended up the meal with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Our check was $27.60.

El Torito

After a series of meetings, a work friend and I were on the lookout for lunch. We arbitrarily chose El Torito since we drove by it.

They have a buffet and a menu. We decided to get the buffet since we were on a schedule. It really wasn’t very much. Some salad, cheese enchiladas (not very good), and cooked-for-you fajitas. The fajitas were OK; they had chicken and beef for the meat items. The one problem is that usually get my fajitas sans peppers; the peppers were in this case mixed in with the onions. There were not too many of them, though, so I was able to fish them out.

The iced tea was terrible. It was a concentrate, I think, and it just tasted bad.

Our checks were $12.55 each.

Venice Ristorante and Wine Bar, San Diego, CA

This place was recommended by the staff at the hotel I am staying at, the Embassy Suites La Jolla. It was within a couple minutes walk of the hotel.

I went here with a work friend after we had hiked Cowles Mountain. I thought some carbs would be in order, and Jim wanted some seafood.

First of all, the iced tea was worthless and weak. At least at first, it got better over time. I guess they had just brewed it, and so we got to sample the tea life cycle. It finally started acquiring some taste about half way through.

The staff brought us very good crusty bread, and oil and balsamic vinegar to dip it in, yum.

Jim ordered a shrimp dish and thought it was OK.

I got Capelllini con Pomadoro e Pollo, which is interpreted as angel hair pasta and chicken chunks in an odd but OK-tasting orange-pink sauce. I wanted to know what the above term meant. I started with Italian, made no sense, then tried Spanish and French. Here are the translations:

Capelllini with Pomadoro and Pollo

Capelllini with Pomadoro and Pollo

Capelllini idiot Pomadoro E Sports shirt

So I copied “Capelllini” out to Google; no translation, but a reference to the stuff being angel hair pasta. Pomadoro isn’t a word that I could find, but there were references to it as a tomato-based sauce, which explains the coloration.

So the place was OK. My check was $20.61.

Some caveats: if you think you are going to get food here like at an Olive Garden, you will be disappointed. This is, I guess, an “art food” restaurant.

KVPR

I am listening to KVPR via a live stream at the moment. I like KVPR, I listen to it a lot when I am traveling or at home.

KVPR just so happens to have a friend of mine working there. I have called him Mr. Sunflower in the past, due to his teaching at a small school in southwest KS for a couple years. KVPR is a part time gig for him, and he’s good at it, and it’s cool to hear his voice.

KVPR is an NPR station, but they have a number of programs that we don’t get on KOSU or KGOR, our local NPR stations. There is a show called “Footlight Parade”, about Broadway, a program of medieval and Renaissance music called “In The Mode”, and others.

Check them out at http://www.kvpr.org/.

Black Angus, San Diego, CA

After a long and tiring hike, I was on the way back to the hotel when I passed the Black Angus. I decided I wanted STEAK! I made an illegal right turn and pulled into the parking lot. This location was on Friar’s Road just east of I-15.

I think that this restaurant used to be called Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus, as it looks like others of that chainlet. Maybe Agent Smith got a Mr. Anderson finally.

I was seated and got some iced tea. Very good iced tea. I ordered the T-Bone, medium, with some sauteed mushrooms, and with Baked Potato soup and mac and cheese for the sides. I told the server I was in no hurry, as I wanted to read my USA Today, and work the puzzles.

The soup was excellent. It comes “loaded” with sour cream and stuff, I asked for it to be taken off, and went with a bit of bacon and cheese. Really, really, really good. I was having my soup and working the puzzles when it went rapidly downhill.

The steak showed up. It didn’t look right; there was no juice on the platter. I cut into it, it was 100% gray all the way through. The tenderloin was a brick. I lifted it up, and the bottom was burned uniformly black; I would have needed a Sawzall to cut it. That steak had been put on the hottest part of the fire, something heavy put on it, and it was left to die. I actually tasted a bite, and darn near spit it out. It was like rubber, except rubber tastes better.

I got the servers attention, and quietly said that I would like to get a steak that was medium. She immediately agreed that it was bad and took it away. I told her again that I was NOT in a hurry.

A couple minutes later, a manager brought a replacement. Too short, I thought. I checked the steak – it was now medium… rare. I asked the manager to please have the cook put it back on the fire for just a minute more, and NOT repeat NOT to brick it. He did, and came back about two minutes later, and the steak was now perfect. A bonus – it was also a Porterhouse, so I got upgraded from a 16-oz steak to a 24-oz. And it was really good, that perfect pink in the middle. The tenderloin was just over fork tender, and wonderful.

My check was $30.97. The service was OK.

One amusing thing, I got one of those survey requests on the check. I took it, and there wasn’t a question to ask if you LIKED the experience or if there were any problems. So the next time I go to a Black Angus, free dessert!

The sides were mushrooms (comp’d now), very good. Also, mac and cheese. It was in a white cheese, with a white cheese crust on top. Not a lot of flavor, but not bad either.

The bread served with the meal was really good, a dark grain that produced a bread with a lot of texture, that really took butter well!

Bar-B-Que House, Take 2

A couple of us at lunch here last week. I came back to San Diego again this week, and got in around 1700. I-5 was horribly backed up for the northbound lanes, so I decided to get an early dinner at BBQ House. I found it OK again.

I got a combination plate, with a half of white meat chicken, and a couple spare ribs. It was all excellent! The chicken was some of the best BBQ chicken I have ever had. Truely smoked, and with a “medium” sauce that tasted like a medium ought to: just a little bit of sweat on the forehead.

The ribs were pretty darn good also. I rate the spare ribs as a 9 out of 10. The order included about four rib ends also. They were not as good, as they were a lot of fat.

The french fries and baked beans were all really good. I didn’t get any bread, and was offered a third side; I got cole slaw that was a pretty standard mayo-based salad. They had brewed iced tea that we pretty good.

My check was $13.64, which I think was excellent value. Bar-B-Que House is the best BBQ that I have ever had in California.

Hooray for Google

I’m at OKC waiting to board for my latest trip. This is one of the airports where Google is footing the bill for people to use wifi for free through the holidays.

Wifi ought to be free at the airports anyway. More enlightened airports have provided it for a long time (COS, SMF, TPA, and MCO come to mind).

So hooray for Google. Maybe increased usage here will get the airport authority to offer it for free for those of us trapped in airports often.

MAPS 3

I am of a couple minds about the MAPS series of projects (and for that matter, the closely related efforts to get the OKC Thunder basketball team here). It has always seemed to me that our city leaders were more for the sports and business-oriented parts before the parts that most of the public can benefit from.

We’ve spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer-provided dollars for what can be argued are big-ticket items that few people can directly enjoy. We dug the OKC Ditch (er, Bricktown Canal), gave the franchise to a single company, that then charges high, non-competitive prices to take citizens on boat rides; this mainly benefits the single boat operator. We spent many millions to dam the Oklahoma nee North Canadian River, then the City Council promptly passed an ordinance making it a criminal offense to put a boat in there, except for the rowers, a water taxi, or a kayaking rental place. We spent millions building the Ford Center, then put ANOTHER $70M into it to get a basketball team that only seats about 4000 people at a time (and many of those tickets are with season ticket holders, which restricts the general public), and it’s too expensive for most people anyway. We spent a large number of dollars to update Civic Center Music Hall; again, it’s a limited use to the general public since it’s a limited audience and it’s relatively expensive to go. Some of the money went to finance Bass Pro Shop, which is owned by the Gaylords, and which family unsurprisingly supported MAPS wholeheartedly.

The stuff that the general public could use, for example the trails along the river, were among the last things to be completed. The VERY last? The Downtown Library, arguably the most useful and accessible to the public venue on the list.

I’m all for OKC getting upgraded. But one thing that bothers me, we have had arguably conservative/Republican leaders for the last three mayors, and in the Council, and one of the Republican keystones is local business investment to make Good Things Happen. MAPS is more like a government-run jobs or corporate welfare program for a few people or companies that already have huge amounts of money.

Mayor Cornett was on KFOR Flashpoint this morning, and one thing he and former mayor Humphries kept saying was “a vote against MAPS 3 is a vote against Oklahoma City advancing”. Well, Mr. Mayors, where is the anti-tax conservatism? Where is the direct investment from local firms (and I don’t mean getting Chesapeake Energy to finance a rowing boathouse on the Oklahoma River)? Where is the investment from the Thunder management/ownership? Why don’t the Bricktown companies that are the recipients of all this City largess finance the supposedly critically needed upgrades to or replacement of the Myriad/Cox Convention Center? The Mayors (and even Democrat Mike Turpin) kept talking about how we All Have To Pull Together if we want OKC to advance, but I’m not seeing any cash promises from any of the already-monied interests around here.

MAPS as a concept is not a bad idea. But it just smells bad to me; a not-so-vast business-wing sorta-conspiracy of corporate welfare and good-old-boy networking.

Trying Terror Suspects in NYC

The media is reporting that some people suspected of involvement in the 9/11 attack are going to be transferred from the Guantanamo Bay prison to New York, to be tried in a civilian court. There is a also speculation that other Guantanamo prisoners will be transferred to the United States.

I think it’s about damn time. I oppose trying terror suspects via military tribunals. The 9/11 suspects committed crimes, and should be tried in a civilian court. If there is evidence, let it be shown. This country is a country of law, and we need to follow the law, no matter how heinous the crime. We show ourselves to be better than the terrorists and their supporters in this way, that our system of justice is better than their system of supposed revenge and centuries-old feuds.

When this was being looked at by the Obama Administration, a lot of politicians started whining and complaining. Our own Rep Fallin sponsored a resolution opposing housing any suspected terrorists in Oklahoma, and a lot of other places had similar resolutions submitted for them. This is craven, in my opinion. There is really no difference between a suspected terror mass murderer and any other serious criminal. I think that our prison system is quite capable of handling them, getting them tried, and keeping them in prison for any sentences that might be handed down.

In general, I oppose the very concept of anyone being “too dangerous to try, too dangerous to release”. Whether captured on the field of battle, or participating in a conspiracy, anyone who ends up in US custody should be charged with some crime, tried, in open court, with the rights of any other accused, including access to evidence and accusers, and locked up if convicted, or freed if not.

If we can’t follow our own law, our own process, then we are not much better than the lawless that attack us.

Coits, Oklahoma City

Coit’s is an established drive in that has a couple locations around OKC. I used to eat at the location at Portland and 50th quite often when I lived near there.

Yesterday I decided to hit Coit’s for a quick cheeseburger and some root beer. Coit’s makes excellent root beer, and a couple months ago, we found out that they started doing free refills! I had three mugs of the stuff with lunch.

I got a hickory double cheeseburger there yesterday. The hickory sauce had a fine, smoky flavor to it, and there was not too much, so the burger wasn’t messy. Usually, the meat there is really good, but it seemed a little flat yesterday, not much beef flavor. Nonetheless, it was good stuff for a quick lunch. I was in about 1115 and out at 1140, and the check was $8.

Gathering, San Diego, CA

A group of work friends and I found this place quite by accident one evening. Our intention was to hit local BBQ place Phil’s, but one of our number wanted to go back to his hotel and change,about 10 miles away. While we were waiting in the parking lot, I did a Google Maps search on my Blackberry for “BBQ”, and there was another Phil’s, in the University section just behind the hotel we were sitting at. Looking at the crawling traffic on I-8 led me to find that other Phil’s instead of driving back the the Sports Arena area.

So we drove there, and found a parking place right down the road. Problem was, the building that was supposed to be Phil’s was some other place. I called the phone number in the Google listing, and the recording said that Phil;s in that location would not be reopening. Grrr…

But there was a decent-looking place called Gathering on the corner we were parked on. Not “The” Gathering, just Gathering. We decided it would do.

We got in there are were seated by our absolute pistol of a server. She was funny and smart and witty, and cute too. Us guys are a fun-loving and dissing bunch, and she joined right in.

I got one of the specials, beef stew in a bread bowl, but without the bread bowl (I would rather have all the juice to eat, rather than soaked up by the bread bowl). It was pretty good. The meat to veg ratio was good, and the gravy was also good. You also get some bread rolls served as an appetizer; the rolls had great texture and were tasty.

I ordered warm brownie and ice cream for dessert, but they were out of the brownes, so I just had a scoop of ice cream.

The tea was OK. My check was $19. High for beef stew, but when you figure in the dessert, not a bad amount. When we got there around 1700, the place was basically empty. When we left at 1830, there were maybe three tables occupied, and a couple couples at the bar. This is a good place to eat; although maybe just a bit expensive.

Jo’s Famous Pizza, Edmond, OK

This place was recommended to me by a work friend, as having the best pizza he had ever had.

This evening I took Raegan and the kids there for dinner. Even though the parking lot was pretty full, we were seated immediately.

The evening started out with the server plopping down round pieces of cardboard in front of us. These were to be our plates.

We ordered a couple sets of cheese-covered garlic bread with marinara and ranch dressing to dip them in. The bread was good, but was less than hot.

I ordered a salad. The salad has a lot of stuff on it, including finely chopped up Canadian Bacon, olives, and the like. I asked for all that stuff on the side, and Raegan ate a lot of it. The salad was a mix of spinach and two exotic lettuces, including a purple variety. The ranch dressing was excellent, and it made the salad excellent.

The girls each got a small pizza with various stuff on it. The boys ordered a large pizza with pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, and canadian bacon. The pizza got there in about 20 minutes, and IT was hot! Raegan reported that her pizza was OK, and Erin liked hers OK. The guys pizza, I thought, was really, really good.

There are some things that are absolute in terms of “good, better, best”, but for other things, there is a range of “perfect”. A pretty girl walking by, or pizza, come to mind in this category. I am a huge fan of Hideaway, but Jo’s was right there in the same league. After I thought about it, Jo’s pizza reminded me a lot of the Pizzaria Uno that we got in Chicago a couple years ago. I think that it could have used a bit more pizza sauce, but the crust was wonderful (thin crust) and the loads of meat were excellent.

The iced tea was good, even though it was served in a syrofoam cup. The cardboard “plates” were a little annoying, they made it hard to cut the pizza (yes, I usually cut my pizza to eat it instead of gnawing it, for several reasons).

It was a bit expensive, but mainly because we got no less than three pizzas, and the drinks, salad, two orders of garlic bread, and both kids got an ice cream sundae. The check was $54. The service was goAod.

I would go back here again. Jo’s in Edmond is supposedly an outpost of Jo’s in Purcell. I will make it a point to try the Purcell location also.

Recycling at OKC Airport

When I got in from my most recent trip, I noticed something new in the terminal area: recycling containers! They had some for newspaper, and cans, and plastic.

I say BRAVO!

I’ve seen recycling containers for paper at several other airports, including DFW and SAN. Some flight attendant crews for American will sort out cans and newspapers for recycling. Good for all of these. I’m glad that OKC has joined in what is a good thing.

BBQ House, San Diego, CA

On my last trip to San Diego, a couple of us arrived late in the morning. Naturally, we wanted lunch. I tried to take the guys to a semi-famous local BBQ restaurant (Phil’s – more on that place in the entry for “Gathering”), but Phil’s is closed on Mondays.

Brad pulled his Google Maps app for Palm, and lo and behold, BBQ House popped up. We found it easily enough; it was about a 10 min drive, and was about a block off the beach at 5025 Newport Ave. There was a parking place right across the street; a good sign.

We walked in. I saw a menu on the wall that had sandwiches, but completely missed the platter menu on the right wall. The brisket, chicken, and ribs on the cutting board looked really, really good.

Ron and Brad and I all got some variety of brisket sandwich (I should have got a two-meat platter!). The brisket was EXCELLENT. It was tender, fall-apart tender, without being hugely fatty or greasy. It was on a plain bun, I have no recollection of that. The brisket was spilling out of the sandwich. It was tasty. I had asked for medium sauce, but don’t think it was hot at all. The mild sauce that was out was good. The fries that came with the sandwich were pretty good also, but the star is the brisket.

We got there around 1145, and the place was about half full – it only has about 10 tables. When we left around 1230, it was about the same.

I’ve had BBQ at a number of places in California, including Phil’s, but this brisket blew the other places away. It was as good as the brisket at JT’s.

I’m going back to BBQ House the very next time I am in SD if at all possible, and checking out the ribs and chicken.

Lake Murray, Mission Trails Regional Park, San Diego, CA

On my last trip out to San Diego, I dragged a couple co-workers along for a walk.

I have been to Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) a number of times in the past, always in the western part of the park. It’s a huge park, a couple miles east of I-15 and north of I-8. The western part is dry and desert-like, and fairly hilly, and so is a good workout.

On this trip, we made our way to the southern part of the park, to Lake Murray. This part of MTRP is tenuously attached to the rest of the park. We found out way to the parking lot south of the lake. There are a number of signs that declare that the park is closed at 1730 and cars will be left in with no release!!!! Editorial comment: closing a park at 1730 is stupid. Locking cars in the park at 1730 is even more stupid.

The trail does not go all the way around the lake. It starts at the parking lot and heads counterclockwise to the NE. It’s a wide, paved trail:

The distance is marked in miles and kilometers. We started off at about 1500, and got back around 1715. We made it around to the 2.5mile point, so our round trip was 5 miles. We had also walked around the top of Point Loma for a while, and also walked around the park near the trailhead, so the total for the day was around 6 miles.

The area around the lake is really pretty. The lake was really down, I think. It looked about 10 feet down.

There were a lot of birds around. The lake was full of ducks and geese. There were some interesting birds perched on an electric line over the lake.

There was an especially neat tree on the west side. The bark was really smooth, and was very light colored.

If you walk this lake, watch out for the 1730 closure. It’s an easy hike, very little slope.

Lamar Alexandar is Turning Into A Disappointment

I really wanted Lamar Alexander to be the Republican nominee for President in 2000. I would have voted for him in a heartbeat. A moderate, a thinker, he would have made a good President (certainly better than the disaster that Bush II became). Since then, until recently, he has continued to be a moderate, thinking voice.

Unfortunately, he’s cropping up more and more in the past few months as a conservative shill.

I makes me wonder if he is afraid of losing his seat to a far-right conservative, and so is doing some kowtowing or posturing to keep his seat.

Point Loma, San Diego, CA

Today we had some free time, and I took a couple work friends up to Point Loma. Point Loma rises more than 400 ft above San Diego Bay, and provides excellent protection for the harbor. The view of San Diego is stunning. During whale migration season, there are often whales on the Pacific Ocean side.

A large two-masted schooner came into the Bay while we were up there:

Schooner Entering San Diego Bay

We also walked around the lighthouse that has been restored on top of the cliff there, and a building housing a large lighthouse lens. Very neat.

Papa Dios, The Village, OK

We used to frequent Papa Dios a few years ago, when it was just the two of us. The place is a little expensive, but it has always been very, very good.

We went there this evening, as my very cute but occasionally indecisive roommate had a desire for Chicken Parmesan. She and Ian got that, and it was really, really good. Ian scarfed his completely, and Raegan ate about half of hers (the rest is going to be my lunch tomorrow).

Erin got Fettuccine Alfredo. It was great.

I got Chicken Marsala. The Marsala is a thin sauce that has a really nice, subtle taste to it. It adds a tremendous flavor to the chicken. They cook it with a smattering of mushrooms and capers. I think that the capers could be eliminated in favor of more mushrooms. It’s an excellent meal regardless.

We shared some Balsamic Vinegar and Oil to dip the excellent, crusty bread in.

The salads were OK. The Italian dressing seemed to have less bite than in the past. I do not like a lot of extra stuff on my salad, and I took the olives, tomato, and peppers off mine (in the past, I have requested the salad plain, and it would come that way.

The iced tea had a faint aftertaste of coffee to it; a bit of sugar rectified that. Refills were good.

In the past, I usually got the #9-1/2, which is Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken; this is not for calorie counters, the Alfredo is extremely rich, and they do not skimp on the butter.

Papa Dios is in The Village, a suburb of OKC that has a reputation as a speed trap. I actually try to avoid doing business there as a result, but Dios is so good I don’t mind laying down cash there. Dios is still a bit expensive; our meal for four was $64. We got there at 1755, and were seated immediately. The place was only about 40% full. It was still that full when we left at 1900.

Kendall’s Restuarant, Noble, OK

I have had several recommendations for Kendall’s over the years. I ate at the Norman location probably five years ago, and was not terribly impressed. The Norman location closed at some point. I tried another location in Purcell a couple years ago when I was coming back from Dallas, but it was closed also. But a couple months ago, I was headed down to Dallas, and looking for restaurants when I was between Norman and Purcell, and Kendall’s was at the top of the list – in Noble. Turns out this was the original location.

Today I had the kids down at the National Weather Festival, and decided that Kendall’s would be a good thing to try, since it’s only about five minutes from the National Weather Service in Norman.

I got a Chicken Fried Steak – it was about a 8 out of 10. It was tender and had decent taste. It was clearly hand breaded. There were voids in the breading where there was no meat. The gravy was good, the green beans were really good. The mashed potatoes were OK, as was the corn. It thought it was good value at $8.95.

Ian got a cheeseburger. It was pretty darn good also. The fries were OK. Erin got dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and liked them.

The iced tea was really good.

Our check for the three of us about about $23.

One thing – Kendall’s is cash only, no credit cards.

The Vote in Maine on Same-Sex Marriage

I am very disappointed in my fellow citizens in Maine. The vote to overturn the Maine law allowing same-sex marriage is a spit on the US Constitution.

I saw a few of the ads run in opposition to same-sex marriage. There were a lot of out-and-out lies (the claim that the Maine law would “force the teaching of the homosexual agenda” in schools comes to mind). So assuming that the people running the ads are christians, I guess it’s OK with them to lie in support of advancing their agenda – a direct law (thou shalt not bear false witness) being overridden by fear of gays.

If supposed pro-marriage supporters want to protect marriage, why don’t they focus on the 50% of marriages that fail? Why don’t they make divorce illegal or really hard to get?

I guess it is easier to lie and promulgate anti-gay fear than it is to work to solve the big problems with marriages. Not to mention ignoring and spurning the Constitution.

InnoTech, Oklahoma City

A friend who works for Sprint got me a couple tickets to InnoTech 2009. I must confess, I had not heard of InnoTech before this. When I looked at the conference tracks on the website they looked interesting.

I signed up online and marked the date in my Blackberry.

I was not interested in the two keynote addresses, so I decided to show up about 0900 for the first thing I was interested in (moving websites up in the search engine rankings) at 0915.

I got there in good time. There were four computers, two for pre-registered people, one dedicated to exhibitors and speakers, and one for un-registered people. Neither of the pre-register computers recognized me, which I find highly annoying. That meant I had to go to the end of a line of about 20 people who were either un-registered or were in the same boat I was in, having their pre-registrations LOST. I didn’t get through that line and get my badge until 0945; the track I was interested in was winding up as I got there. So that was a huge waste of time, so far.

I went to another on deployment of alternate desktops at the OU Health Sciences Center. That was interesting and I learned a couple things about mobile desktops and virtual machines.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the stuff I was interested in. I went to the exhibits area. There were a number of interesting things to look at there.

I saw a number of people that I had not seen in a couple years, including a number of people that used to work for either my Large Defense Contractor employer or one of the Slightly Smaller And Eaten Defense Contractors that had been bought by their larger competitor.

I think that InnoTech needs a couple more computers to check people in. It would be nice if they would not lose pre-registration information.

I like the fact that they have some software developer tracks in the conference. I hope that this kind of practical knowledge will be expanded on in future conferences.

Mackie McNear’s Steakhouse, Midwest City, OK

I know I am going to catch a ration of it from my very cute and fiscally conservative roommate, but…

Yesterday I left InnoTech and headed towards work. I was getting quite hungry. I located the Midwest City location of Chuck House CFS restaurant, drove to it, but it is drive-in only. I decided to hit Taco Bueno, but on the way there, I saw Mackie’s, and said the heck with it, I wanted STEAK.

The family and I ate at a Mackie’s a couple years ago, in Edmond. We all got the buffet. It was… OK. I thought it was kind of limited. But when the Mackie’s were Western Sizzlin, they had pretty good steaks, so I hoped that they remembered that the same way I did.

I ordered the (#6, I think) Ribeye. I ordered it medium rare since I knew the steaks were kind of thin. It got there very quickly, and it was medium rare, just like I asked. I like my steaks medium rare to medium, I like the hot pink center. This steak was a little less cooked than straight medium, but it was really good. The steak was swimming in juice (not a bad thing). It was a little bit salty. But the bottom line was that it was tasty, had great beef flavor, and was tender. There was not too much fat on it, either. It was good-sized, and filled me up nicely.

The fries that came with it were OK. My server brought me a wheat roll (really nice, to have wheat rolls and not just white rolls); I usually don’t get those, but I was so hungry it was nice to have. The iced tea was excellent. The service (Brandon, I think his name was), was excellent – prompt without being obnoxious.

So the steak was well worth it. I didn’t look at the buffet to see if it was any better.

A Couple Random Political Observations

Rush Limbaugh was “interviewed” by Fox News yesterday. He seems to think he knows a lot of President Obama’s mind, making statements that the President was actively trying to destroy free markets, and similar stuff. Mr. Limbaugh is full of crap. If he has evidence of any of this, he ought to point to it. Making assertions without backup is called, in polite circles, lying.

The withdrawl of the the Republican candidate for the US House seat in New York is indicative, I think, of the problems the Republicans have gotten into, thinking that the country is more conservative than it is. If the true right-wingers form a national Conservative Party, it will guarantee that Democrats will be in charge nationally and regionally for years to come. I don’t think that is bad; I fear conservatives trying to control our lives, more than liberals trying to expand rights.

I think that the United States should mainly just pull out of Afghanistan. I hope that the President makes this happen. There is NO, repeat NO, national interest that I can see we have there. We sprayed the (supposed) Al Queda and Bin Laden with a major can of Whoop-A, and they are in a supposedly allied country, Pakistan. Let’s let the 100-year-old civil war play out without our interference. Enough Americans and Allied military and civilians have died there. Enough taxpayer money has been spent there. Let’s pull out, and take that withdrawl dividend, and put it into health insurance reform or something useful.

Parkhurst Ranch Pumpkin Patch

Daughter Erin’s Girl Scoup troop and family members met at Parkhurst Ranch this afternoon. The girls and their various siblings had fun, no one got hurt, no one got upset, and no one got mad. This to me is a highly successful outing!

Parkhurst Ranch is a couple miles southeast of the town of Arcadia, OK. It took us about 15 min to drive there from our house in NE OKC.

The kids had a bunch of mainly undirected activity:

Walking through a corn maze. There were a couple places that were kind of muddy, but it was a nice walk.

Getting swung on a big tire swing. The kids had fun being swung, and the adults (Bill in particular) had fund swinging them.

Riding a hay wagon around a big loop, towed by a tractor. Lesson learned: don’t ride on the front unless you have an affinity for diesel exhaust.

A really good petting zoo! Bunnies, ducks, a turkey, a couple ponies, a burro, a calf, some goats, and some sheep.

Riding a pony.

They also had some carriages for the kids to ride in.

We booked as a group. The normal entrance is $8 each, but with a group of 10, you can get in for $10, get one of the picnic shelters complete with a fire pit, and Parkhurst will provide hot dogs to grill, drinks, and stuff for s’mores. That’s what we did.

All of the kids (heck, maybe everyone that gets in) get to pick a pumpkin to take home. We got there around 1445 on Sunday afternoon, and left just after 1700.

It’s a low-key way for a bunch of kids to have a lot of fun.

Open Source and System Rescue CD: Really Cool

I have written before about how cool it is to use Open Source software to Get Stuff Done. This is somewhat related to a couple other things I have written about, namely my quest to replace my computer-based DVR function.

I have a 250GB disk that came out of a Dish Network DVR that had been used for recording (but not paying for) movies. I wiped it and used it in the school server for file serving, but I was the only one who ever used it, and the roughly 10GB of space I had on the main server disk was only 20% full. So I pulled the 250GB device.

The computer I want to use for my DVR has an 80GB primary disk with Windows on it. I have a 20GB disk that came out of a failed laptop a couple years ago; it has a GRUB boot partition and a Linux partition on it. I had recently upgraded the Linux partition from Fedora 5 to Fedora 10; all my personal files I have on DVD from the backup that I did before the installation.

My idea was to put the 250GB disk into the computer, and image the 20GB over to it, then stretch the Linux partition out to 40GB just for some extra room (the 20GB Linux partition is only about 25% full, but you can never have too much disk space, right?). Then I would take all the extra space on the 250GB, make a partition, and format it for NTFS (the theory here being that Fedora talks to NTFS, and Windows talks to NTFS, but Windows can’t talk to a Linux ext partition). This way, both Windows and Fedora can share the big space.

So I put the 250GB drive in, pop in System Rescue CD 1.4, do an fdisk -l to make sure it sees all the disks, and then use dd (Disk Duplicator) to copy everything on /dev/sdc to /dev/sdb. dd runs in about 20 min, and for the first time since I started using it, I had some errors reported during the copy process. Hmmm, thought I.

I shut down, pulled the System Rescue CD from the drive, pulled the 20GB drive, and moved the 250GB drive to that slot on the IDE bus. Booted both Windows and Linux, so good there. No problems from the reported errors.

A short detour: When I upgraded my Linux partition to Fedora 10 from Fedora 5, all of a sudden I could not boot ANYTHING. I used System Rescue CD to boot the system, mount the Linux partition, and change the boot drive from the default of (0,0) to (1,0). This allowed GRUB to find the operating system commands. But for some reason, the OS selector menu wouldn’t show. If I hit the up arrow key a number of times, then enter, then Linux would boot. Down arrow (or let it just set throught the default timeout), and XP would boot. I looked online a bit, but this evening I figured it out: the “splashimage” command was pointing to disk (0,0) also. I changed it to (1,0) and we were off again. Whatever was setting GRUB up in the Fedora 10 installation was figuring out where the various OS’s were, but didn’t put them back into the right place in grub.conf.

So now I have a 250GB disk with a 20GB Fedora 10 Linux installation. I go back to System Rescue CD, and fire it up. I go into the Linux GUI and start Gnu Partition Editor (GPartEd). It sees the two disks, but it does not recognize the OS on the 250GB drive. Hmmm. I check the version number. I then reboot to the Fedora, and load the latest version of GPartEd using Yum, and run it. It reports that the parition type is Linux LVM, which is correct, but it also informs me that LVM isn’t supported yet.

So I create a new partition in all that free space, and format it as FAT32, so both Windows and Linux can read and write it safely. I was planning to do this as NTFS, I seemed to remember that FAT32 would not support more than something like 120GB, but when I identified the space for formatting, FAT32 was an option, and the process was successful.

I booted into both the Windows and Linux partitions, and they worked, and could read and write to the FAT32 partition, so overall success.

So my basic requirement is accomplished: I imaged my existing Fedora 10 and boot partitions from a 20GB to a 250GB disk. I have a HUGE amount of space to store DVR data. I was not able to stretch my Fedora partition, but I will go and see if there is a schedule for GPartEd or some other Open Source tool to support LVM.

Open Source wins again: Linux/Fedora, GPartEd, Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB).

A Microsoft Outlook Oddity

I run MS Outlook since my employer and my job require it. I actually think that some of the functions provided are pretty cool (the Calendar, for example).

I keep most of my email in an Outlook data file (a file with a .pst extension). So today, I tried to drag some stuff from the Inbox to my primary data file (named, remarkably enough, Bill_Hensley.pst). Outlook put up a dialog box complaining that the pst file was full. This caused me to vaguely remember that older versions of Outlook had a maximum data file size of 2GB. I looked at the file on the disk, and sure enough it was right at 2GB.

So I created a new pst file called Things_To_Take_Care_Of.pst. I was going to dump a couple folders of information there to “take the pressure off” the Bill_Hensley.pst file. OK, the new file was created, and I selected a folder in Bill_Hensley that had some largish items, and dragged it to the new pst. Outlook complained that the data could not be accessed because the file was full. WTH? I tried another folder. Same result. I tried to open up a couple mail items in the two folders, got the same message.

After playing around with Outlook at bit, I figured out that any mail item that caused the expression ((pst_size+item_to_open_or_move_size) > 2GB) to become true was rejected by Outlook. Since the Bill_Hensley file was a couple MB less than 2GB, I could grab and move a couple MB worth of files to the new file. As I moved stuff to the new PST file, I could move more and more stuff. Eventually I got it done, but with a couple detours to repair the Bill_Hensley.pst file (Outlook complained that the file was damaged).

So I do not understand why moving a mail item OUT of a PST, or opening the mail item up, would cause the PST file to grow to larger than the 2GB limit. But MS does some things in a super paranoid way (see the post on Word 2007). This paranoia cost me an hour of otherwise productive time today.

And one other thing. When I started this, my PST file was 1,950,368,768 bytes in size. After I moved a folder of pretty big mail items out to the new PST, the new PST file was 300MB in size. After the move, my PST file was 1,948,337,152 bytes, a difference of 2,031,616 Bytes. The removal of 300MB of mail items reduced the size of the PST file by… 2MB. So moving stuff out of a PST does not really move it out. Next, I will find a compression or packing utility somewhere.

It never ends.

25 November 2009 update:

I found via a simple Google search that Outlook has a pst compression function built-in.

I backed up my big pst file (you better also, the location is on the same Advanced window, just find it, exit Outlook, go to that folder, and copy the file to anything else), and ran the tool (right-click on the folder representing the pst file, then Advanced, then Compact Now).

It runs a bit (mine ran an hour for the 2GB file, on a beefy laptop),. I ended up with the file size going from 1,905,153KB to 1,206,289KB, a difference about 700MB. I checked to make sure I could access stuff from the newly compressed file, and then deleted the backup file. So I’m in good shape with my pst files.

A Very Minor Website Funny

My Very Large Defense Contractor employer uses a website from American Express for booking travel. They call it The Edge. The site overall does an OK job of getting travel booked. It has some very strange behaviors (for example, a predeliction for only wanting to display flights that depart at 0600 or after 1800). It also has a hard time finding hotels, and an even harder time finding open rooms at hotels, and an even harder time getting the Government per diem room rate. It also will rarely get a better price than the prices on the airline web sites (I know these last two, since I will fire up the aa.com or hilton.com sites and browse them at the same time).

But that’s not what this is about. This evening I needed to book travel, so I brought up the site. The front page has a bunch of travel advisory stuff and the usual screen clutter you might expect, and it has the user ID and password text boxes.

So as soon as the site comes up, my daughter informs me that she needs to bake a cake for the class party tomorrow, and we are out of eggs and milk. Grrr, says Dad, and off to Braums I go. I got back around a half hour later.

I sat back down at the computer, entered my login information on the website, and clicked the Log In button. The site immediately returned a page stating that my session had expired. Huh? I followed the link back to the main page, logged in, and then booked my trip. After all this was done, I logged off and navigated back to the home page, and then I went off to Facebook or something, and came back after about 15 minutes. I tried to log in again, and got the session expired page.

So for some reason, AX bases the session on the load time of the home page, not the load time of the itenerary build page that you get after you log in. Some developer made a dumb choice here. I sent a Feedback in, but I suspect that it will meet the fate of the other Feedback I have sent to The Edge (which is to say, relegation to Oblivion).

OETA Oklahoma News Report

In the past couple years, I have really come to appreciate the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) and it’s nightly Oklahoma News Report (ONR).

I discovered ONR a couple years ago after we bought a then-new HDTV. At the time, OETA was re-broadcasting ONR a couple times a night on Channel 13.2. Eventually, the rebroadcast time was changed to 2330. I try to watch the 1830 broadcast on 13.1, but I don’t get in from work that early a lot of times.

ONR is great for a couple reasons. They rarely waste time on BS stories, like who had their house catch fire, or when a 7-11 gets robbed. They don’t cover sports (which I consider to be a total waste of airtime unless you are ESPN). They never send out reporters to stand in front of an empty courthouse to report that there had been a trial there that concluded four hours ago. Most importantly, when a story needs additional time, it gets it. There is more state capitol coverage (especially during the Legislative sessions) each night on ONR than on CBS, NBC, and ABC in an entire week.

The anchors are businesslike and direct. There is little of the obnoxious banter that characterizes most local news.

I do wish that the nightly rebroadcast was a bit earlier than 2330 (like maybe at 2230 or even 2300), but I usually catch it each night.

So, OETA, keep up the good work with ONR!

I’m Kind Of Unhappy Today

I intend this blog to be a way for me to comment on issues of the day that interest me, and to be able to share some of the places I go with friends. I really do not want it to become a Twitter-like listing of my moods of the day (which in general is fairly sunny).

But today something happened that has not happened before. I got demoted. My boss describes it as a way for me to put all my energy into engineering and testing. But the fact is I got demoted. I have not screwed anything up. This is personality and politics.

I work for a large contractor, who is in this case a subcontractor to a small business. The prime has a lead program guy, and I was the technical lead for the team, and the supervisor of the employees of the sub. I note for the record that said program lead guy does not work any aircraft modification program. He “monitors” them. The rest of the team, both the prime and us subs, we all work multiple programs with our Air Force customers. The AF guys like all of us subs just fine. The prime guys and the sub guys work well together (those prime guys that have real (not “monitor”) jobs, that is).

But the lead program guy, the one who does not have a real job, wants to know everything the rest of us do (those who can, do, the rest, monitor). He does not understand it. He gets mad when he is “surprised”, it does not matter if he was included from the start and just forgot, or if something cropped up in the past day. He gripes straight to my boss directly (in almost two years, he has NEVER once come to me with an issue).

So prime lead guy (who does not have a real job) apparently griped enough directly to my boss that my boss decided to demote me. I asked for reconsideration and got none. No support at all. This is the part I really don’t like. The prime lead guy – well, sometimes people just act like that; they don’t produce anything useful, but get all bent out of shape when they are not treated like the King Of All Things. But I’ve known my boss for more than 25 years and I expected better.

Some might argue that I got what I deserved. If I had emailed the prime lead guy everything that I got then he would not have been able to gripe (maybe that’s true, but he also griped about plenty that he was kept up about). I should have gone by his desk every day or so and given him a personal briefing (maybe, but I don’t expect people I work with to spoon feed me, that’s not being professional).

Besides, the really important thing is that the ultimate customers – the Air Force guys we work directly with, the guys who fly the airplane, the other support organizations, THEY are all quite pleased. So it really comes down to one guy, who doesn’t run any programs, griping about me, a guy who routinely works most of the programs in the office and with most of the people in the office (why not ALL of the people in the office? Some work on stuff I have nothing to do with, like engines and spare parts).

So now, to my great surprise, I am going to start looking for another job. I had really hoped to be able to finish my career out with this tremendous Air Force asset, but I frankly just do not feel any support for doing this. It won’t happen in the next month, because someone has to remain professional in all this, and it will be me, and I will not walk out on things I started. But I am afraid my days in this most wonderful of jobs are numbered.

Wild Horse Creek Cafe, Marlow, OK

This morning daughter Erin and I drove down to Girl Scout Camp Ekowah near Marlow. My very cute and somewhat camp-overtrained roommate had completed a weekend of camp training, and we wanted to bring her back home.

Erin and I had a really nice walk around the camp. She had been there for summer camp and wanted to show the place to me, so we literally walked to all four corners of the camp, checked out the platform cabins, petted some of the horses (it’s a horse camp), went out on the dock, did the low ropes course, and generally had a good couple hours. We walked about five miles.

By this time, we were quite hungry, and we stopped by Wild Horse Creek Cafe, as Marlow is the first town you come to from Ekowah.

The server told me that their chili had beans in it, but she was wrong! It was 100% meat, and was outstanding. Taste and consistency was perfect. I loved that chili, great stuff.

I got a chicken fried steak, with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was kind of a strange meal.

There were a couple different kinds of green beans. They had some bacon and onion, and tasted OK, but there were what I would refer to as “good” green beans (like you would get out of a Del Monte can), and “not so good”, like you might get in a cheap cafeteria (these beans can be identified by being bright green like they are dyed, and they are tough, relative to “good” beans).

The mashed potatoes were good. The gravy was OK.

The CFS was another mystery. I am pretty sure it was not hand breaded there, and had been frozen, but it tasted pretty good. The taste was the taste of a pre-fab CFS. I’ve had some terrible pre-fab CFS, but this one is was better than most – call it a 5 out of 10.

Erin got a baked potato, and it was loaded and fairly standard. She thought it needed to be baked a little longer, and needed a lot more cheese on it. Erin got a pair of warm brownies ala mode for dessert.

Raegan got a fish sandwich, and at least part of the fish tasted bad (as in, spoiled) to her. She was not terribly hungry since they were well fed at camp, so we didn’t pursue it. She got a slice of pecan pie to get the taste out of her mouth, and it was good.

So the experience with the Wild Horse Cafe was a mixed bag. The chili was outstanding – I can’t believe that it was pre-fab. The next time we have a chance to eat here, I will try a steak and see what they do with it.

The place had people at four tables when we got there around 1400 on Sunday afternoon, and had about three when we left around 1450. Our check for three was $29.86.

There is a technology aspect to this – it’s something I have Never Seen Before. The servers use handheld HP iPAQs to take the orders. The handheld runs an app that has the complete menu for the restaurant. The server uses a stylus to click each time, including notes or variations (for example, if you order fried mushrooms and you want ranch dressing to dip them in, the server can either click a standard option, or use an on-screen keyboard with the stylus to add the note). The order is submitted over a dedicated wifi link to a (computer) server, where it is displayed in the kitchen for the cooks to start working up.

The restaurant had a couple of wifi links that I scanned with my Blackberry. One had an SSID of something like “serverlink”, and was WEP protected. I presume this was the destination for the iPAQs. There was another wifi link as well (don’t remember the SSID) that was about the same signal level, and was WEP protected as well. One of the servers said that they really liked using the iPAQs. Pretty cool stuff.

Chicken Express, Chickasha, OK

We had a road trip and dinner adventure this evening. My very cute and Girl Scout trainable roommate is spending the weekend at a training session for taking Girl Scout troops camping. Never mind that she has been camping since she was a GS, and has camped with me, with her high school science club, and as a GS leader back in the late 80s. So since she is not a fan of driving, I drove her down to the camp, roughly 95 miles south of OKC. It gave us some time alone, since I’ve been on travel for a couple weeks, and there is only a low risk that the kids will burn the house down in the meantime.

I targeted a well-known Oklahoma restaurant for dinner: Ken’s in Amber. Alas, they do NOT take credit cards! We do not typically carry much cash. We headed south to Chickasha for our alternates. The first one was GONE, apparently the building has been taken over by a law firm (I hope there were survivors from the restaurant). The second one was a BBQ place, and Raegan didn’t want to put her stomach at risk in the wilderness.

We settled for Chicken Express, as we drove by. Every once in a while Raegan wants some fried chicken, darn it.

The place was not crowded. It was a nice building. She got a two-piece with a biscuit and potatoes and gravy. I got a three-piece.

I ripped into the first piece, and it was wonderful. The crust was perfect, the chicken flavorful, tender, and juciy. I dug in a bit, and the fork came back…pinkish, not the expected white or ecru or whatever. I got a second fork and did the spreader routine, and the damn stuff was pretty much raw. Grrr… I tossed those utensils in the trash (they were plastic) and got another pair, and opened up the other two pieces. They were cooked all the way through.

Meanwhile, Reagan had some pink juice on her plate, but the meat looked liked it was cooked more or less all the way through. She ate, making a comment to the effect of “That which does not kill us…”.

I ate the second and third pieces very carefully. The chicken was really good, not too salty, not mushy. The first piece I boxed up, planning on cooking it in the oven a bit tomorrow, for lunch.

The biscuits were really pretty good, but the mashed potatoes and gravy were just OK, really bland. I suspect the potatoes of being from rehydrated flakes.

The tea I got had a slight coffee aftertaste. I cut the unsweetened tea with some of the sweet tea they had, and the sugar masked the aftertaste. After the first big glass, I switched to Coke, which was pretty good.

When I mentioned the undercooked chicken to the counter person, she offered to replace the piece, which I thought was nice.

People were eating outside when we got there (it was in the mid-50s), and there is apparently quite the pick-up business. Our check for two was $17.31. The meals we got were the chicken, a biscuit, and a side; a LARGE drink is included.

I would go back there (not often, as Chickasha is about 55 miles south of the house) and give them a second chance, because the chicken that wasn’t raw was really good. I would not get mashed potatoes.

Grandmothers, Ralston/Omaha, NE

I was really looking for some comfort food this evening. The hotel had some less-than-appetizing lasagna, so I decided to find someplace else to eat. I fired up Google Maps, centered it on Omaha, and started looking…

I chose Grandmothers. It’s in Ralston, a small town adjacent to Omaha, just east of 84th on L. I got there and was immediately seated.

The place was really, really good. My server said she liked the chicken fried steak best, so I got it. I was not terribly hungry, so the size of the CFS was a pleasant surprise. It was probably about 7″x3″. It was absolutely fork tender, and tasty. The gravy was clearly not out of a carton, you could taste the flour. It had a good consistency.

The meal came wth mashed potatoes and corn. The potatoes were covered in the same gravy, and were clearly mashed right there on site, since they had a couple lumps in them (this is not a bad thing!). The corn had been soaked in just a bit of melted butter, and were great!

I usually don’t get dessert, but I did this time. A warm brownie, with a scoop of ice cream, with some whipped cream and a drizzle of hot fudge. It was really good.

The iced tea was perfect. The service was also just what I wanted. I was left alone to work my USA Today puzzle section. My check was $15.16. A big part of that was the dessert, which probably could be eaten by two or three normal people (that’s people with a normal appetite, not MINE).

The place had large windows to the north side, which would have had a very nice view of part of Omaha if it hadn’t been dark and pouring rain.

I liked this place. It’s kind of out of the way from the parts of the Omaha metro area I usually hang out in, but it’s worth a drive.

A Random Gripe About MS Word 2007

One thing about Microsoft Word has always bugged me, and just now, I sat almost five minutes waiting for Word to just get started.

Down in the lower left, in a status bar, Word will display the message “Waiting to connect to a printer”. When I am remote from my office network, this happens. It’s infuriating. Word should JUST OPEN. If it wants to connect to a printer, it should start doing that when I ask it to print! Not before.

It does display an “ESC to continue”, and this works sometimes.

One related thing, when I use Internet Connection Sharing, Windows won’t let me turn on ICS unless there is something connected to the port I will be using. This is frustrating because I am usually getting ICS set up while the computer I am sharing for is still booting up. I know this is to help users know that the distant end isn’t there, but let me do the thinking, please.

Senators Coburn and Inhoff Should Explain This Vote

It was reported today that an amendment to a bill in the United States Senate added language that would allow any person who was raped while an employee of a contractor to sue in court for damages.

This amendment was introduced since an employee of contractor Halliburton was raped by other employees after she was sent to Iraq. An employment contract forced binding arbitration, and prohibited the woman from seeking relief and damages in court.

This is an example to me of the power of corporations in this world, and the United States in particular. I feel that the states and the Congress have provided the advantage to companies over ordinary citizens (one of my “favorites” – the law explicitly permits a lender to borrow money at simple interest, and lend it charging compound interest, and calculating the interest using the Rule of 78s, which allows even greater interest charges since it extends the payback of the note).

Regardless, 30 Republican Senators voted against this amendment. This included Oklahoma Senators Coburn and Inhoff. Are these two misogynists? How can they possibly be against women (who are by and large the largest number of rape victims), and for a company like Halliburton?

I am not opposed to employment contracts and agreements – I am subject to several. And the primary employment agreement I have with my company includes binding arbitration.

BUT, no employment contract should override the criminal laws, even if the offense occurs overseas.

If Halliburton’s managers and officers had any compassion or any honor, they would cooperate with getting the offenders into jail.

Quaker Steak and Lube, Council Bluffs, IA

These places are scattered over the eastern half of the United States. I have been to the location in Clearwater, FL a couple times, and I’ve seen the Council Bluffs location in the distance from I-29.

When I got to Omaha this evening, was was not terribly hungry, and didn’t want a huge meal. The Homewood Suites I was at had cajun-drenched chicken that I could smell all the way to the lobby. I’m not a huge cajun fan. I like BBQ chicken wings every once in a while, and so I thought about the Quaker Steak in the Bluffs.

So I drove all the way to Iowa for dinner. It was a grueling 2.8 miles from my hotel on the north side of downtown Omaha.

The Quaker Steak was playing the Classic Vinyl channel from Sirus/XM; it was loud but not overwhelming.

I ordered a bowl of chili (no cup sizes available) and ten BBQ wings. They use some numeric rating for the spiciness of the wings; my BBQ wings were a 30, with 3000 being the top heat “Atomic” level (they say on the menu that you have to sign a waiver for this level).

The chili arrived and I was prepared to be unhappy. There were a LOT of green peppers in the bowl. I think that chili (as in Texas chili) should be meat, onion, tomato sauce, and spice, mainly red chili power. The green stuff in there made me leery. There were also huge chunks of tomatoes (not so bad). In a happy suprise, the chili was pretty good. The green peppers were not overwhelming (which is the usual problem); I could barely taste them. The huge chunks of tomatoes were a little annoying but not bad. I ate most of the bowl.

The wings were decent. They were large and meaty, and most importantly, even though they were grilled, they were not burned! The BBQ sauce was a little sparse, but was good.

The iced tea was good, and the service was pretty good. The place was about half full when I got there around 1840, and just a little more full when I left at 1920. My check was $15.50.

I’ve had a chicken fried steak (rated about a 7/10) and a ribeye (about an 5/10) at the Quaker Steak in Florida as well.

[Fred's] Downtown Philly, Richardson, TX

Today I was visiting CSI, and a couple of us decided to head to Dickey’s on Plano Road near Collins for some BBQ for lunch. We got there around 1205, and the line was out the door about 20 ft, the longest line I’ve seen at that Dickey’s. I drove through the parking lot, and there in the strip shopping part was Fred’s.

I like cheesesteaks, so we decided to give it a try. At first glance, it’s a dump. There’s a lot of Philly sports team stuff on the walls, and the tables and chairs are a mixed lot.

The cheesesteak was wonderful. I have flown to Philidelphia several times, and each time have had cheesesteaks for lunch. Geno’s and Pat’s, both rate 10 of 10. Jim’s, maybe a 7 of 10. On that scale, Fred’s is a 9 of 10.

I got a 10″ extra steak and cheese (you would order this as “wit wiz big” if you were at Geno’s, maybe). The meat had a tremendous flavor, and was super tender without being mushy. There were just enough onions, and they were cooked perfectly. There could have been a bit more Cheez Whiz, and it should have been drizzled over the top (I think it was put on the bread). The bread was warm and had a perfect texture.

The fries were OK, not very crispy. The place had a soda fountain, but no iced tea (boo!).

The steak and drink were right at $10. When we got there we had about a 10-min wait; the place was about 3/4 full. There is a second section that got opened up as we were ordering, and by the time we left, the whole two-section restaurant was about 3/4 full. We got out right at 1305.

I did a little research just now, and there is apparently a second location in Plano. I will try that location the next time I am in that area.

Salt Lick BBQ – Will Rogers World Airport

The food choices at OKC have not been terribly good ever, but improved a bit when the terminal was rebuilt a couple years ago. They got better again over the past month, when a mediocre pizza place got replaced by a BBQ place.

The Salt Lick is decent. I have heard of the original down near Austin, but haven’t made it there. The OKC location is not bad at all.

The menu included brisket, hot links, chicken, and some other stuff. I got a brisket platter, which included slaw, fries, and beans.

The slaw was… odd. It was not made of cabbage (although I think it had some cabbage); it was made of very small bits of chopped up raw broccoli. Now, I like broccoli, but I like it cooked (preferably steamed). There was some other stuff in there also. The dressing was, I think, very good. I didn’t eat much of it since I did not like the slaw.

The fries were good; they were home fries that weren’t too greasy. The beans were pretty standard pinto beans.

The brisket was another thing altogether. There was a lot of it, for one thing. The carving chunk was clearly smoked somewhere – no boiling or grilling here. The meat was tender and moist. There was not a lot of beef taste to the meat, but there was enough. The sauce was a thin mustard-based sauce (this is only the second mustard-based that I have tasted; the other one is at a place in O’Fallon, IL). The meat was medium-rare.

Salt Lick had a fountain, but didn’t even have fake iced tea. I went next door to Schlotskys, which had not only iced tea, but a machine out to get free refills of Dr. Pepper.

My total bill was $16.66 and some change. This was from $14.41 for the dinner, and then $1.99 and tax for the drink next door.

One note: Apparently Pepsi raided Will Rogers and got the soft drink contract. I’m not against Pepsi, but I do not like it as well as I did back in college. They do have Dr. Pepper in the machines. The Sonic next door still has Coke.

I noticed this at DFW a couple years ago. Pepsi is everywhere, except McDonalds. I don’t drink nearly as much Coke/whatever as I used to, but I still notice.

A Cool Linux Thing, Actually, A Couple of Things

I got an AVI file from a camera today, it was 235MB in size. I tried VideoLAN, it would transcode from a file to a file, but it would not transcode both the video and audio (audio only). I couldn’t find a tool on Windows to convert the file to MPEG format, but there were a couple posts on a Linux board referring to a tool in Linux called Media Encoder, or mencoder. The posts both said that if you had Linux Media Player you had Encoder also.

I switched to my Fedora 10 instatllation, and found it did not have Media Player installed. A quick “yum install mplayer” fixed that. But the command line mencoder didn’t work. I did a locate on the disk, not there. So I went back to the command prompt and “yum install mencoder” and then I was converting the 236MB AVI to a 35MB MPEG that looked and sounded just as good.

Since Linux mounted my other XP partition just fine, i copied the file to that environment. At first, I wanted to send the converted file to my very cute and XP using roommate, but I realized that I really wanted to upload it to the HTTP server I run on the school computer.

While I was playing around with the Windows Network list on the “Connect to Server” function (off the Gnome “Places” menu item), I noticed it had options for connecting to an FTP server, in both anonymous and authenticated modes. “What the heck”, thought I, and specified the information for my server at St. John’s.

Now, FTP is pretty common, but in this case, instead of a command window, or a dedicated drag-and-drop GUI, a mount point appeared on my Gnome Desktop that was labelled “68.15.100.56″ (the St. John’s IP address). I double-clicked it, and it opened up a file window, just like I could see for my local filesystem! Cool, thought I.

I drilled down to the root of the webserver document directory, and there were the files I expected. I grabbed the converted MPEG file from the Gnome Desktop and dragged it to the opened webserver directory, and a couple minutes later, the file was on the St. John’s webserver!

The FTP icon had an Unmount item when it was right-clicked, and when I selected it the FTP session was logged off just fine. That was about the slickest FTP I’ve ever done.

So, between mencoder to convert the media file, and mplayer to verify the file was converted correctly, and finally the very cool FTP function, Linux rules!

JP Bardwell Down In Louisiana

So-called “Justice of the Peace” Keith Bardwell is an embarrassment to the State of Louisiana and the United States.

This throwback refuses to perform marriage ceremonies for interracial couples. Since he is too much of a coward to be interviewed, and the only indication of why he won’t perform the marriages is a vague “concern for the children” of such unions. This is laughable. The guy is clearly a racist.

He ought to be fired from being a JP. There is no place in this country for such racism, especially from a person who is sworn to uphold the law of the land.

One question I have. His office is apparently in his house, or at least on his property. A CNN crew tried to interview him, and his wife refused them entry to the property, and he refused to take questions. Why is an official county (well, parish) office, which is supposed to be a place of public business, on private property? Something does not seem right there.

Sweetwater Tavern, Falls Church, VA

I like keeping in touch with friends from high school and college, and people who I no longer work with. I ran across one such friend that I had not been in contact with since around 1986, and it turned out she and her family live in Falls Church. During my last trip to DC, we made arrangements for all of us to get together, and she suggested the Sweetwater Tavern.

It was 6 miles away from where I was staying in Tysons Corner, VA. We were to meet at 1800, so I drove out of my hotel at 1740. I arrived at 1820 (that’s 40 minutes to drive six miles, about 9 miles an hour). You would end up sitting for five minutes, and then drive for a minute.

So I guess after not seeing her for 20+ years, being 20 minutes late isn’t earth-shattering, but it really annoyed me.

The restaurant was really nice. It was a little bit too loud. The service was OK. There were a couple times where we did not see a server for a bit, but the iced tea was kept full, at least.

I got a roast half chicken (apparently popular, it was labeled “until it runs out”). It was excellent. The chicken was tender and moist, and had a great flavor. The chicken came with mashed potatoes (very good) and some corn (not very much, maybe they were running out). All very tasty.

We shared a dessert of chocolate waffle and ice cream – yummy.

The meal was really good, but the best part was the conversation with my friend and her husband, who I had not met before. We had quite a number of mutual interests. They had a pair of cute and bouncy little girls also. They were kind enough to pick up the check, so I owe for the next time, but my chicken was about $10 IIRC. It thought the prices were pretty reasonable, and the portions were not huge, but just about right.

The restaurant was crowded when I got there at 1920, and there were about six people waiting for a table. It was just as full when we left around 2100.

Something I’ve Not Seen Before – American Airlines

This afternoon I glanced on to the flight deck of the American Airlines Super 80 I was boarding, and I saw something I’ve not seen before on a commercial bird.

The First Officer was following a pre-flight checklist, using what looked like a PDF file being displayed on a laptop. That’s the first time I’ve seen any commercial flight data being handled electronically like that.

We’ve had efforts going on in the Air Force for a number of years to make technical data, including flight and maintenance manuals, electronic. I think it’s a great idea, especially if you can put the data into a handheld computer (say, the size of a large calculator).

I will keep an eye out over the next couple months for more examples of this.

Phillips Seafood, Washington, DC

OK, I have to be up front. There is very little that swims or lives in water that I like to eat. Every once in a while, we’ll get Long John Silvers, or my very cute and fish-loving roommate will crisp up some breaded fillets, or I will have some clam chowder, but that’s about it. I like bird and mammal much better. I eat the stuff mentioned above without complaining, but with little relish.

But, one of my work buddies loves seafood, and Phillips in particular, so when we come to DC we always go here.

Phillips is like a triple-sized Golden Corral of stuff that swims. They have a menu, but it’s quite limited. The real reason to go here is the seafood buffet – huge amounts of shellfish, finned fish. Steamed, broiled, boiled, etc. Everyone I have been here with says it is all excellent. I’ll take their word for it. It’s all you can eat/stuff yourself silly with.

They have non-seafood. There is a pasta saute, and they usually have roast beef. Tonight they had a big pork roast, and broiled chicken. And roast turkey in gravy (I had two helpings of this). There is a decent variety of veggies (some excellent skin-on red mashed potatoes tonight). There is also a pretty good salad bar. There are a number of odd things (there was jambalaya, and two different kinds of curry this evening). I had some risotto that was very good, if not less creamy than I would expect.

They have about six flavors of ice cream for dessert, along with a number of cakes, pies, cobblers, and other stuff.

Service is usually very good, they have outstanding iced tea. The place occasionally has quite the wait (tonight not a bit, even though we got there at 1930). My check for buffet and iced tea was $30.

There is also a Phillips we have eaten at in the Inner Harbor at Baltimore. It’s a bit smaller in offerings than the “Flagship” in DC.

You can walk along the waterfront and look at the boats when you are done.

O’Malley’s Pub, Tysons Corner, VA

I did my usual thing for dinner tonight, I fired up Google Maps, and asked for “restaurants near Tysons Corner, VA”. One of the entries was for O’Malley’s. I drove over there (it was about 10 blocks from my hotel, and I didn’t feel like walking this time). It took a couple passes, and I couldn’t find the place. I finally called, and the call was answered as “Crowne Plaza, where may I direct your call?”. The place was in the hotel. Note to O’Malley’s webmaster: this would be a nice tidbit for your website.

I walked the place finally, and knew that I had been in there before. I gave it some thought, and finally remembered that I had eaten breakfast there, when I had stayed in the hotel, which was then a Holiday Inn, about 10 years ago.

I ordered a cup of beef vegetable soup and a Shepards Pie, along with iced tea.

The tea came. It was instant tea, or concentrate. Probably concentrate. It wasn’t totally horrible. But it wasn’t very good, either.

The vegetable beef soup was pretty good. It had more chunks of meat and stuff.

The Shepards Pie was really, really good. It had almost a chili consistency for the filling, and it was more red than most Shepards Pies I have had. It had peas and carrots mixed in. A traditional SP has a spreading of mashed potatoes over the entire top, but this one had scoops of mashed potatoes embedded in the filling. No matter, it was really, really good. I really like cassaroles and the like, and Shepards Pie is at heart a cassarole. The key is the filling, and in this case, the filling was excellent. It wasn’t huge, either, and that was good since I wasn’t terribly hungry.

I got there around 1845, the place was not even 15% full. When I left at 1927, it was about half full. My check was $14.44.

O’Malley’s has a website: http://www.omalleyssportspub.com/

The place had a lot of TVs with mostly sports on; a couple of them also had news on. It wasn’t too loud, but it was louder than most restaurants on. It was also well-lit, which was good since I took my USA Today in to read, and work the puzzles.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

I have heard about Five Guys burgers for a couple years now, and I have been trying to make it to one of their locations. On Tuesday I had a meeting in DC, and conveniently enough there was a Five Guys about 300 yards away from my meeting location.

I expected, I guess, a well-appointed place. Instead, the place was pretty basic. Not a dump, but certainly not a, say, Fuddruckers. The cheeseburger, however, was first class. The burger was cooked to order right in front of me.

The beef was really tasty, it had a lot of flavor. It was juicy, but the juice didn’t run all over the place. I got the burger with mayo and pickles. The burger was a 1/4 lb, I think, and thick. Not a scrap was left.

You can order fries. They come in two sizes, standard and large. If there are three of you, get one standard order of fries. There are a LOT of them. The large size looks like more than twice as many. I almost never leave food behind, but I left fries behind in this case. They were good fries, also.

They did not have iced tea. They had tea concentrate out of the soda machine, vile and horrible. I had Coke.

It was really good, and it was fast. My check was $10.76.

15 October 2009 update:

A work friend and I ate at the Five Guys location at 800 N H in DC. It was just as good. I got a bacon cheeseburger this time. One bonus: this location had real iced tea! Yea!

A Minor Linux Fail

I usually sing the praises of open source in general and Linux in particular.

My main gripe against Windows over the years is that it’s just an operating system. It’s been hard to install, and then you have to fool with drivers. Once it is installed, you have to get or buy more stuff – Word or OpenOffice if you want to do office stuff, something else for image editing, something else to read PDFs (or any of dozens of other files), etc.

OTOH, you can put a LiveCD of most any Linux version into your computer, fire it up, and you can do pretty much anything that you want to do for day-to-day work. If you get one of the full distros and load it, you can do anything you want to do day-to-day, and you can write software, or run a version control system, or stream video, or run a server. And to top it off, Linux is perfectly happy to co-exist with Windows; the opposite has never been so.

So today I had a disappointment. I was doing some work on our new school server (which is going to be implemented with Linux Fedora 10 on one of our donated Air Force Gateway computers). I was working on my laptop, which is dual booted between XP and Linux (Fedora 10 also). The Linux server needed a network connection, and it did not recognize the USB-based WiFi device I tried to use (it was an older Trendnet device) (it should be noted, that wifi in Linux is better than it was, but it is still not perfect, and there are lots of wifi devices for which the manufacturers do not provide Linux drivers).

My laptop was on the house network, and I remembered that internet connection sharing (ICS) was built into the last couple Fedora releases without the need to do an iptables configuration. I ran a crossover cable between the computers, and found the “Share This Connection” tab easily enough, but I could not get it to work. The wired port on the laptop was some odd address in the 10. Class C range, so I know something was happening. I messed around a bit and decided I didn’t have time to mess with it, so I rebooted the laptop and brought up Windows XP.

XP already had the ICS function configured, and the server picked up an IP address immediately, and it was off. I started the update task on the server, and now it is ready (in fact, it asked me if I wanted to take it from Fedora 10 to Fedora 11!).

So in this case, Windows did better than Linux. I probably will investigate in the next couple weeks to see if I can get it working. You can never have too much connectivity.

OKC Philharmonic Discovery Concert

This afternoon we took the kids to a Discovery Concert. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic puts on a couple of these each year to introduce kids to symphonic music. It’s a good idea – the tickets are inexpensive ($9 each), and the seating of open. The pieces that are player are usually shorter movements, and are themed; in this case, the theme was loosely Halloween.

Most of the orchestra members had some form of costume, and a lot of the audience did to. They played five pieces, and did a great job. The only thing missing, we thought they had advertised music from Phantom of the Opera, but nothing from that show was on the final bill.

The Philharmonic had a quartet of singers as well, they sang three numbers, including a pretty funny “The Twelve Days of Halloween”, set to “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. The singers had good voices, and seemed to be having a good time.

The concerts are pretty short; this one lasted about an hour and a half, and there are lots of worse ways to spend $36 on a Sunday afternoon.

Zero Tolerance At Schools Is Stupid

This article was posted to an email list I subscribe to:

http://www.wten.com/global/story.asp?s=11283345&ClientType=Printable?

The article is about a student who gets good grades, isn’t any trouble, is an Eagle Scout, and has completed Army Basic Training, so he is a soldier. He keeps a survival kit in his car to include a sleeping bag, food, and… a pocket knife. Lansingburgh is in upstate New York, I imagine they get a lot of snow there.

Somebody at his school ratted him out (I cannot describe this any other way) to the “administration”, and so the knife was found, and the young man was suspended from school for several weeks under a zero tolerance for “weapons” policy.

I just have to say, everyone up the chain in this episode is an idiot. They should have handled this in a measured manner. First of all, a perfectly legal item, in a locked car, should stay in the car. There was no reason for the pocket knife to be confiscated. Then, having a suspension hearing without having the victim (in this case, the student who had the knife in his car is the victim of the school system) present is unfair at best and illegal at worst. It’s cowardly, and easy to be abusive, when you don’t have to look the victim in the eyes.

Zero tolerance laws and regulations are stupid, one-size-fits-all, my-way-or-the-highway kinds of force that are too often used as an excuse for not using reasoned thought, and as a way to hide behind the zero tolerance policy to show that something IS BEING DONE.

School administrators are hired to use their brains to make decisions. Zero tolerance policies remove the capability to make the decision based on the situation. They remove the ability to differentiate between a pocket knife, a baseball bat with a nail in it, and an Uzi. They take away the judgment of intent. They remove the evaluation of past history.

The Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George J. Goodwin, in not working to eliminate the zero tolerance policy, and in not defending the student, in favor of the stupid policy, is not working to the good of the students in his District. In mouthing platitudes (“Our policies are clear that weapons are not permitted on school premises and subject to disciplinary consequences.”), he is retreating into the mindless role of “just following policy” without thought for the wrongness of the policy.

Bandwidth Is Our Friend

Today, as a result of a little bit of Facebook stalking, I ran across a site called nsis.net. It’s an ISP based here in Oklahoma City. NSIS has a bandwidth (speed) test on its homepage, so naturally I clicked it.

I got a measured speed of 5.8Mbps. I tried several other times and got speeds up to 8Mbps. That’s not bad. That is a measured time from my computer, through a 54Mbps wifi link, through a wifi router, through a 100Mbps wire to a cable modem, through the Cox network, to the Internet, and then to NSIS, and back.

I decided to see if my Blackberry would get a report. I fired up the browser, went to NSIS, and got a report back of… 85Mbps (not eight point five, eighty five). My first impression was, I think I’ll download an HD-quality movie to my handheld!

But the reality is, my Blackberry is actually pointed at a proxy server at Research In Motion (RIM), and so the actual test is between the RIM proxy server and the test server at NSIS. The typical link between ISPs is at least an OC-12 (600Mbps) and I’m sure that RIM uses an OC-48 (2Gbps), so 85Mbps for such a test is not unreasonable at all.

I’ve measured the download speed of my Blackberry, and usually get around 150Kbps when I’m on the EDGE network over the cell tower (which is about the same bandwidth as three dial-up modems), but it seems to work pretty fast, since on most web pages, the RIM proxy server reformats the pages for the small Blackberry screen, including resizing the images, which are the real bandwidth hogs. It’s a lot faster when the Blackberry is connected to a wifi access point.

So 85Mbps to a Blackberry is a dream, but it’s a good one.

President Obama and the Nobel Prize

When my Blackberry alarm went off at 0600, it downloaded the messages that had come in since I went to bed. There were three breaking news messages. The first one I opened was “President Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize”. My sleep-befuddled brain said… “What? Got to be a misprint”. Then the other two breaking news messages were the same. I told my very cute but very groggy roommate about the messages, and remarked that I thought that the right wing must be having a collective head explosion.

To me it’s simple: the Nobel Committee is responsible for giving out their prize, and so they did. So why heap abuse on the recipient?

This is a situation where the Presidents opponents should have done one of two things: either send or say a congratulations, or shut up. Instead, a lot of the right has gone nuts with critisism. It’s a symptom of the problem with the right wing – it’s an all-or-nothing proposition with them, and even worse, they can’t just disagree, they have to attack.

So I hope that the President can live up to the confidence of the Nobel Committee.

Checkerboard Cafe and Bakery, Midwest City, OK

This place has the potential to be one of my favorite restaurants. I found it via an indirect route – a guy who was at a meeting I was at heard me make a comment about Chicken Fried Steak, and he said that the CFS at Checkerboard was the best in OKC.

Such claims must be verified!

A couple work friends (let’s call them Dlorah and Kram). Checkerboards is in a shopping center on the NE corner of Reno and Air Depot, next to an Office Depot (I think). The place looks like crap from the outside, but when you walk in, you get a pleasant surprise. The restaurant is really well decorated on the inside, really nice. It’s quiet and open. It smells good!

The menu had one thing on it I’ve not seen before. It talks about how Checkerboards has free wifi, except from 1130 – 1300 (that time range might not be 100% accurate – I just know that it implies that wifi is turned off during lunch.

I had every intention of having a CFS here. But up on the chalkboard was the daily special – roast beef, and it smelled really good!

Two of us got CFS. I got the dinner size. It was really, really good. It was not fork tender, but the meat was easy to chew and had a lot of flavor. The breading was light and not terribly sweet like some places – it was good! I got whipped red potatoes and gravy (both very good) and some green beans – tasty but a bit mushy. I also got a cup of decent potato soup. It had a bit too much cheese (I’m sure Erin would disagree), but that was about the only thing I could find wrong.

The other guy (Kram) got Chicken Marsala. It looked really good also. It was on a bed of pasta (angel hair, I think).

I got iced tea, it was good and strong.

The dessert menu had a lot of potential, but all of us were pretty much stuffed and so did not partake. I’m thinking that Checkerboard might be a good place to take a work break…

That was a really good CFS. The Marsala looked excellent, and the other meals I saw looked good also.

This place has real potential, and that potential must be explored! We got there about 1145, and there were a total of four occupied tables, and a small group. When we left about 1245, it was about the same. I hope that it is a bit busier at other times. My check, for the dinner-sized CFS, soup, and iced tea, was $18.62.

Flu Shot – a Health Care Anecdote

I am listening to Keith Olbermann this evening, with an hour-long Special Comment on health insurance reform (I note that it’s not a comment on health care reform – it’s about how to pay for it). Olbermann has been intermingling anecdotes about health insurance issues with pure commentary.

I have an anecdote also. For the past couple weeks, I have noted numerous examples of easy-to-get flu shots (not H1N1, just the “seasonal flu”). The local news shows have shown people driving through parking lots, sticking their arms out the windows, and getting flu shots. There are pharmacies like Wal Mart that give out flu shots to people that walk in. My own company brought in nurses to give free flu shots to all employees. The Government provided free or cheap flu shots to all comers at Tinker AFB. Basically, just about anybody is able to get a flu shot.

So my very cute and health-conscious roommate decided to run to our doctors office to get a flu shot. She teaches, so she secured a sub for an hour and headed to the doctor. When she got there, she was handed a form to fill out, and was informed that she would be able to get the flu shot as soon as the doctor examined her. A discussion ensued about wait times and such, and basically, it was clear to Reagan that she was looking at an hour or two just to get a flu shot. She ended up returning to school, sans shot.

Why is this? The front desk at the doctors office had no answer. It can’t be that the flu shot is dangerous, or there would be no drive-through shot lines. We speculated, and we came to the conclusion that the doctor (or the doctor’s corporation?) was requiring the doctor visit, in order to run up the charges for the shot. Would insurance pay for the visit? I’m sure it would. But is that the right way to run health care? I do not think so.

Cheddar’s, Midwest City, OK

I was first introduced to Cheddar’s a number of years ago in Plano, TX. Since then I have eaten at several Cheddar’s: Richardson and Dallas, TX; Joplin, Missouri; and Clearwater, FL. I don’t know that I’ve ever had any bad food at a Cheddar’s. I’ve always liked their Chicken Fried Steaks, cheeseburgers, salad, steak, soup, etc.

I’ve referenced Cheddar’s as one of the restaurants that open in smaller markets before they open in Oklahoma in general, and Oklahoma City in particular. Cheddar’s opened a restaurant in Tulsa last year, and I just noticed that they opened one in Norman. Just in the past month, Cheddar’s opened in Midwest City.

Today a couple work friends and I checked it out. We got there around 1150, and had about a five minute wait to be seated. The restaurant is really nicely appointed on the inside. It reminded me of an Elephant Bar.

I got a Chicken Fried Steak. It was tender, and had good taste. There were a couple pockets in the breading that were meat-free. The gravy was good, and not too peppery. I got mashed potatoes (tasty) and green beans (very good). The server brought more gravy quickly. The iced tea was good and strong.

As an appetizer, I ordered chips and salsa and queso. This was not a good value. The chips were good, but the salsa was about eight tablespoons total. I didn’t try to ask for more. It was chunky and not spicy at all. The queso was not good. It was OK for the taste, but it was really thick, like concrete that was setting up. I would not get it again.

So overall, it was a good meal, except for the queso.

My check was $14.52, of which $3.99 was the chips and queso and salsa. We got out around 1300.

“Americans” for “Prosperity”?

I just saw a video of a meeting of a group that calls itself “Americans For Prosperity”. The group was being videoed when the announcement was made that the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics had been rejected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

When the announcement was made, the crowd broke out in applause and high-fives. They were celebrating the LOSS. The speaker’s voice was quite jubilant in announcing that the Chicago bid was rejected on the first vote.

Now, it amazes me that these so-called “Americans” would celebrate the loss of prestige for one of the largest cities in… America.

It also amazes me that these people who are supposedly for “prosperity” would celebrate the loss of jobs, sales, construction, tourism, and the like, which would hurt America.

Why do some people apparently hate President Obama so much that they celebrate a loss for America?

Lupe’s Mexican Restaurant, Midwest City, OK

I’ve eaten at Lupe’s a couple times over the years. It’s on Douglas, between Reno and 15th.

I went there for lunch last Thursday with a couple work fiends.

I had a pair of enchiladas, one chicken and one ground beef, with rice and beans. They were pretty good enchiladas, along with the sides. The iced tea was good.

The service was attentive and the iced tea was kept full. The food got there fairly quickly also. The meal was served with queso (very good) and a medium-hot salsa (decent).

My check was $8.50. Not a bad lunch.

Margaritas Mexican Restaurant, OKC

Seems I have had a lot of Tex-Mex recently. Something like four places in the past couple days. One of these was Margaritas. This place was suggested to me by high school classmate and all around good egg Leslie a couple months ago. It was a good recommendation.

We eat at Ted’s a lot, and this particular evening Ted’s looked like they had a line halfway down the block, so I remembered Leslie’s recommendation, and Margaritas was just up the road at Wilshire and May, so off we went.

The place (as I was told) looks like a dump/dive on the outside, it’s in an old hamburger drive in (if it’s raining hard and you want Tex-Mex, this is a good feature since you can park and walk under the awning). The people inside were super, super friendly.

We got the usual setup before dinner. The queso was a little thin and didn’t have a lot of cheese taste, but it was OK. The salsa had a HUGE fresh tomato taste; I really liked it even though I am not a fan of raw tomatoes, it was that fresh tasting. We got flour tortillas to keep the kids occupied while my very cute and restaurant-loving roommate and I talked.

My standard first-time Tex-Mex meal is either fajitas (mixed) or a pair of enchiladas, one beef (ground beef preferred) and one pollo. I got the fajitas this time. They were pretty much perfect. A lot of places tend to burn the onions, but not here. The meat was tender and not charred, and it all tasted really good. I piled up a bunch with salsa, beans, and rice, and went to town.

Raegan got a chicken chimichanga, and liked it. Ian got chicken quesadillas and wolfed them down. Erin got a cheese enchilada and liked it.

The iced tea was great. Our server was very attentive without being annoying. We finished the meal off with sopaipillas and honey (all except the obstinate Ian).

The place only had three tables occupied (out of about 12) when we arrived at 1820, and was only about half full when we left at 1920.

It was good stuff, and I’d happily go back. I need to try the enchiladas anyway.

Qboda Mexican Grill

I walked into the Qboda in Midwest City yesterday for lunch, thinking that it was a Chipotle location. For once, I was just not terribly focused. I walked in and ordered a Burrito Bol, getting a funny look from the guy behind the counter, and a snicker from the two flight suits behind me.

They did not have a Burrito Bol, but they did have a Taco Salad that was pretty close. I got it with grilled chicken and the hot variety of salsa. It was OK, not spectacular. The “hot” sauce was, to my taste, just barely spicy (and I do not like really spicy hot stuff); the salsa did not even raise a bead of sweat on my forehead. The iced tea was good.

Next time I go back (hopefully on purpose), I will get it with the steak instead of the chicken.

Chuck House restaurant, Edmond, OK

OK, we ended up here in a most pathetic way. After school, we were all hungry and wanted to eat NOW. Since three of us were in NW OKC, and Ian was at home in NE OKC, it was either pick something up and take it home or drive home and get Ian and head to an eatery. We had no agreement except that Dad’s three suggestions were all shot down by the female wing of the family, so we pointed the car towards home and picked up Ian. We headed towards Edmond and drove down 2nd street, while nothing appealed to us (which is to say, Dad made suggestions and the rest of the family shot them down; notice a trend here?). We turned down Broadway and eventually drove past Chuck House, which I’ve noticed several times in the past. So I said, how about that place, and out of general apathy we turned into the parking lot.

Now, I must say that any place with the slogan “Best Chicken Fried Steak In The Universe” has some proving to do. Chuck House is in a former KFC location, but the parking lot was pretty full, even at 1745.

A side note, the menu said that the Edmond location is the second Chuck House location. I checked Google Maps, and the original location is at 10th and Meridian. I remembered seeing that location over the years, as I used to do a lot of driving around that part of Oklahoma City, but not so much recently.

Anyway, we ordered. I got (what else?) a Chicken Fried Steak dinner. I also got a bowl of chili. That chili was really good, no beans, and decent flavor, not too spicy. The CFS came with mashed potatoes and gravy. The mashed potatoes were, well, bland. I really like potatoes, the taste and texture can be wonderful. These were just bland. The gravy was good, a bit thick, but had a good flavor and wasn’t peppered out. The chicken fried steak was pretty darn good. It was tender and had a good beef flavor. It didn’t have too much breading. The real test was that I could cut it with a fork without any effort.

Raegan got a steak sandwich. I nipped off a bite of the CFS and it was just as good as my dinner. She ate most of the sandwich and took the rest home for lunch tomorrow.

Ian got chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, and corn. He ate about half the chicken and the corn, and none of the mashed potatoes. His appetite has not come back since his encounter with H1N1, and we are not really encouraging him to go into power-eating mode.

Erin got a grilled cheese and ate all of it.

We also got a chocolate cake dessert that was very good.

I got iced tea, and it was OK, but there was a bit of aftertaste. Just a bit. A touch of the sweet tea added to the glass erased that aftertaste.

So is it the best CFS in the universe? No. I still find the CFS at Ozona in Dallas to be better, along with the CFS at Cheddar’s, and at The Embers in Nebraska City, and a couple other places. But it was pretty darned good! I’ve had plenty of CFS that was way, way worse than the Chuck House CFS. I now have a personal action item to hit the Chuck House original location soon.

Chuck House was also pretty reasonable price-wise. Our check for four was $35, and that included my bowl of chili and the dessert.

Using My Computer As A DVR

OK, very few people might be interested, but I am going to document my computer-as-Digital Video Recorder (DVR) saga from Saturday.

We don’t have a working VCR, but I have no less than two video capture cards in my main development computer. There was show on the “Ovation” TV channel that I wanted to record. So I thought that using a piece of DVR software would work.

Now, I’ve got a lot of computer and digital video experience. I have a two-channel video stream that I run quite often; I use it to send video over the house network to my laptop so I can watch Dish or over-the-air TV wherever I happen to be working.

First I fired up the WinTV2000 application. It has a VCR function. I ran it for two minutes; it only saves in AVI format, and the two minutes consumed 180MB of space. For the two-hour program I was wanting to record, it would require about 200GB of disk, and I just didn’t have that kind of space available.

I started working the upgrade process around 1300 Saturday. I had stuff I was doing around the house and outside, so I was sharing my time between the computer DVR project and the house.

So I knew about an application called MythTV. First I downloaded a live CD called MythDora, which is MythTV based on the Linux Fedora distribution. Since my development machine is a dual-boot XP/Fedora 5, I thought this would be a good test. I got the CD booted and MythTV started. After going through configuration, it started running. MythTV seemed to be running, but when I got to looking at the logs, it was not able to open either of my video devices. I played with it a while without success.

I booted back into my Fedora 5 installation and downloaded a KDE-based TV app. It started showing me the output of the TV tuners right away. So those were working OK under Linux, there was a problem with MythDora.

I decided to upgrade my Fedora 5 installation to Fedora 10. I downloaded the DVD, burned it, and started the install. That went well. It did take an hour and some change, but at the end of it I had a new Fedora 10. I immediately downloaded two TV apps and ran them, got TV! I downloaded MythTV in source form, since I could not get it via Yum or in an RPM. I started the compile. It crashed after 10 minutes complaining about a missing library.

Next, I thought about using VLC, which is a good player and can stream. I tried to get it via Yum, but it was missing some library, and I couldn’t find the library.

So I rebooted back into Windows XP, which has a copy of VLC for windows already installed. For some reason, it couldn’t find either TV card. I played with the inputs but the darn thing wouldn’t start streaming.

Finally, I hit upon a solution. I would use Microsoft Media Encoder to stream the TV to another computer, which would capture and store the video stream. When I started the WME wizard, there was an option I hadn’t noticed to encode to DISK. In MPEG formats! I tried it on a short segment, and it saved the stream just fine. Then it opened up with Windows Media Player.

I started the capture of the program. Thie program ran from 0030 to 0230 Sunday. I got to stay up and listen to the program (“Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask”) with one ear while I did some Internet searching that I had put off doing, so it wasn’t like I was sleeping or anything like that. The two hours of MPEG-1 recording ended up taking up 2.3GB.

In the end, I got the program recorded, but I did it manually. I was not able to set a DVR-type timer to start and stop the recording. I also wasted a bit of time trying to get various software working, downloading and burning stuff to CD and DVD, doing installs, and the like. I got a Fedora 10 update (which I needed to do anyway, since my new school Linux server is also Fedora 10) on my development and test machine. But this was the first Linux-based Charlie-Fox that I have had. It’s kind of ironic that a freebie from Microsoft (Windows Media Encoder) got the job sort of done in place of Linux, when a lot of Microsoft stuff is barely functional.

I’ll work on it some more later this week.

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy? Not So Much

First off, I do not think that a right-wing conspiracy exists, in spite of what President Clinton said yesterday, and Secretary Clinton said 10 or so years ago.

I say this mainly because the definitions of conspiracy that I looked up in various online dictionaries correlated “conspiracy” with “illegal”. I do not think that the activities of the conservative right are illegal. Unethical, sure. But what they say is allowed by the 1st Amendment as free speech. Just as a free society suffers the ills of criminals and terrorists, so free speech suffers the ills of lies and misrepresentation.

To compare, Will Rogers said it best: “I belong to no organized political party. I am a Democrat”. Yes, I may not have the exact quote, but it’s probably pretty close.

I do not know how the conservative right does it, but they clearly are able to close ranks and put out a consistent message. On a given day, you can listen to Limbaugh, the Republican Congressional Committee, local radio, Fox, etc, and you will hear a core set of accusations and rhetoric. This trickles down to the public in at least some capacity. I’ve wondered how they do this. Is there a daily conference call where the issue of the day is involved? Or do the heaviest hitters send email suggestions to each other. Or do the right-wing leaders have a weekly staff meeting (hmmm, maybe instead of church Sunday morning…)?

Regardless (and back to serious), I’ve written before about the problem I have with the vast right-wing machine. It’s not that they speak out with (more or less) a single voice, the problem is that “they” have no compunction about lying, prevarication, smearing, and BSing. I still believe that the right wing does not have any ideas (call it “intellectual bankruptcy”) other than keep-it-the-way-it-is, and so have to fight progressive ideas with innuendo and BS.

H1N1 Comes To Visit

Overall, our family is pretty healthy. All four of us have some allergies, but that’s really about it.

So when Ian came home from school on Friday complaining of a headache, and with a 101F fever, we were a bit worried. We gave him ibuprofen, he crashed, and slept for about 12 hours. The next morning he woke up with a 103F fever, so we gave him more ibuprofen and took him to the doctor.

The doctor checked Ian over, and had a throat swab done to check for strep throat and a nose swab done to check for flu. The office took about 20 minutes to come back and say positively that Ian had managed to acquire H1N1. The doctor asked if anyone in the house had asthma or another other chronic health problems, because if they did he would prescribe Tamiflu for them (none of us do). He then told us what to do: essentially nothing. We had to keep Ian out of school for five days from the onset of the symptoms on Friday. The worst of it would be the first 24-36 hours or so. He then presented Ian with a mask and told him to wear it on the way out so that Ian would not infect any kids in the waiting room; the mask could be removed in the elevator. He also said don’t take him anywhere that he could be in close contact with large groups of people. I had him wear the mask until we were outside in the parking lot.

Ian felt pretty crappy Saturday. We kept him on ibuprofen. When he woke up Sunday he felt much better, and by Sunday evening he wasn’t feeling any effects at all, except that he was not hungry (most unusual for Ian). He stayed home from school through the next Wednesday. Late on Tuesday he still had a “wet” cough and we thought he might be contagious so we waited the cough out, and it was gone late the next morning.

As we watched TV over the next couple days we heard a number of reports about kids that were in the hospital due to H1N1, some in critical condition. We are very grateful that Ian never got that sick from the bug, and also that none of the rest of us came down with H1N1 (which I think is kind of surprising). We gave Ian a slightly hard time about getting sick (we called him “Flu Ian” a couple times; he grimaced), and also about getting sick just to take it easy around the house a couple days.

I am impressed that the test for H1N1 was so quick and definitive. The description I found online about how the test worked talked in multisyllable words about residual nucleotides and such. I’m glad that we didn’t have him spreading it around school, also.

Someplace Else, Oklahoma City

A work friend and I ate at this restaurant a couple years ago for lunch. It was pretty good.

Yesterday a couple work friends and I went to Someplace Else again. It was pretty good again.

I got a meatball sandwich on wheat bread with Sun Chips. It was messy and had a lot of meatballs, and a lot of marinara. They didn’t have any Parmesan cheese, unfortunately. The meatballs were mostly meat with some bread, instead of the other way around. The marinara was really good. Someplace Else is also a bakery. I got five (small) peanut butter cookies and a snicker-doodle. The snicker-doodle was good, but the PB cookies were crumbly and not all that tasty. I think they lacked the PB part. They have iced tea and it’s good also. My check was $7.50. The cookies were $1.50.

The last time I went to Someplace Else I got a brisket sandwich. It was pretty good also, and so I had wanted to come back and try other stuff.

Someplace Else is on Western just about 100ft south of 23rd Street. We got there about 1130 and the place was already filling up. It’s not large.

Free Museum Day – Oklahoma

September 26th this year is Free Museum Day. It’s coordinated by The Smithsonian. A large number of museums grant free admission all day. You have to print out a card, at this URL:

http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/admission.html

Here is the list of participating museums in Oklahoma:

You Searched for: Oklahoma

Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, Duncan

Confederate Memorial Museum & Cemetery, Atoka

Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City

Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa

Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee

Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City

Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa

Sam Noble Museum, Norman

Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Tulsa Historical Society & History Museum, Tulsa

Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch, Oologah

Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-search/?state=Oklahoma#ixzz0Rn4fnpFW

Encyclomedia 2009

Encyclomedia is essentially a conference of teachers that is oriented to library staff. It’s run by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. It’s fairly oriented towards use of new technology in libraries and classrooms. Since I am the IT department for St. John’s, and I’m always looking for ways to make better use of our school technology infrastructure (especially if they are free or cheap), I like to go to Encyclomedia looking for cool stuff.

This year was pretty interesting. I went to sections talking about some free research databases that are available to Oklahoma schools (EBSCO and another one). I also went to a section that talked about how to use Smart Boards in classrooms. That was pretty cool

I talked to a couple of the reps at the trade show. The two most interesting were the OPUBCO booth, where I found out that St. John’s was already on the authorized list for using the archives of The Daily Oklahoman, which was a full-text search going back to 1913, and a Smart Board booth.

I got about 30 minutes of quality time with a Smart Board, and learned how the Smart Boards are set up and used. We might be able to get one or two Smart Boards via a grant, so that’s good info.

A lot of Encyclomedia is geared towards classroom teachers, who have a skill set I do not have, so I didn’t attend those sections. I ran into a college friend, which was really nice, but I didn’t see anyone else I knew.

My only real complaint is that the rooms were limited in attendance (due to fire code, we were told), so I rearranged my schedule to hit one of the sections I could not get into due to the limits. It seems kind of silly to only let a room be half full.

The last Encyclomedia I went to was a couple years ago. I missed the notification about the 2007 event, and the 2008 event was held while I was on a business trip so I missed it. I hope I’ll be back next year.

Oklahoma City Philharmonic Concert

I took the family to see the first Classics concert of the year last night. The Oklahoma City Philharmonic put on a fantastic concert.

The evening started out with the Philharmonic playing “The Star Spangled Banner” with the crowd singing along. It was great to be able to do that.

The first half was a suite from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird”. I have heard only a part of this piece that I can remember, but the performance by the Philharmonic was flawless to these ears. A lot of symphony is fairly subtle and slow, but this piece seemed to be mostly uptempo, and was fun to listen to.

After intermission, a cellist by the name of Steven Isserlis came out. The Philharmonic played a Dvorak piece called Concerto for Cello in B minor. It had plenty of places where the rest of the orchestra receded into the background so Mr. Isserlis could have his solo parts stand out. He was darn good on that instrument. As fast as he was sawing away, I was amazed that the “presumably” horsehair bow didn’t erode away completely. I’m not a fan of solo cello, but the performance was very, very good.

The audience gave them a standing ovation, but they did not return for an encore, which I thought was rather rude.

When I bought our tickets for this event, we only had three of us going, and the only place that there were three seats together was in Box 5 on the “Grand Tier”. I LIKE box seats! It was a real chair, not a stadium seat, and there was legroom.

A couple days ago, we realized we would have Ian joining us, so I went down and bought another ticket for him. I got a fourth ticket in Box 3. The box office folks were adamant that the single seat in Box 3 was the only one available.

When we got there, of the six seats in Box 5, we were the only three occupants. Of the six seats in Box 3, there were three open seats. So, either the open seats were no-shows (maybe season ticket holders?), or the box office people were clueless. I hope that the open seats were no-shows. There were a LOT of open seats down on the Orchestra level also. I counted one group of seven open seats, another of six, several of five, and any number of twos and threes. The balconies seemed pretty full.

So I guess what I am thinking is that it would make sense for the Philharmonic to try to fill those higher-dollar seats by letting people upgrade their tickets by letting them trade in for the no-show seats. This would be a win-win, I think. The Philharmonic would not lose money by letting a $40 ticket be upgraded to a $60 ticket, since there are probably more people willing to buy a $40 ticket to back-fill the upgraded seat. On top of that, the no-show ticket holder might get some money back.

At this point, I will make my standard statement about “convenience fees”. Any group that charges them are thieves. I make it a point to buy my tickets for the Civic Center Music Hall at the box office, since the Ticketmaster fees are out and out extortion (the last time I bought that way, the “fee”/extortion was $6 for a $7 ticket). Even the Philharmonic charges $1.25 for the “convenience” of driving downtown, paying for parking, and then walking to the box office and paying for a ticket. If anyone from the City or the Philharmonic reads this, I tell you now that I like your shows, but you are screwing your customers, especially the ones going to the Discovery Concerts, who are hopefully the next generation of your customers.

Ticketmaster and the like are just remoras or lampreys. They suck off money and return no useful service in return.