NBA City
July 03, 2008
Oklahoma City is now an NBA city… no name, colors, or mascot, but we have a team.
I like having a team, but I’m unhappy with the process and the PR that came with it. Having a team should help OKC leave behind its dust bowl/bombing image, but taking an existing franchise like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
For what it’s worth (maybe just to sooth my soul), Seattle was near the bottom in average attendance, at a bit over 14,000/game (28 of 30). OKC, when hosting the Hornets, was near the top at around 17,500/game. I’m not saying it’s a fair deal, but it seems as though OKC fans will be more supportive of a team.
JA Addande (of ESPN) wrote an anti-move column last night stating that us voters in OKC should be concerned that the Sonics owners claimed the move from Seattle would not have a negative impact on their economy, and yet we were sold on the fact that having a team would be a positive impact. What JA failed to note was that Seattle also has two other major league teams (Seahawks and Mariners), as well as an extremely successful soccer them, the Seattle Sounders, and they’ve been granted a Major League Soccer expansion team, Seattle Sounders FC. OKC has other minor league sports, but the NBA is now our only major one; therefore, the argument that it positively affects the OKC economy with minimal impact to Seattle seems sound to me (no pun intended).
To conclude… I’m not sure I finished my whole thought… other than to say, Yay!, we have a team, and Ugh!, why did we have to create negative publicity in getting one?
Posted by paul at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
We Care
June 28, 2008
I’ve never had a piece of mail arrive this damaged before. It’s like someone ran a knife across the whole envelope. To top it off, the postage stamp that Dave and Nicky paid for was removed completely. Crazy.
Posted by paul at 07:25 PM | Comments (0)
Saving Gas?
May 25, 2008
The United States is in a crisis. People are having to stop driving everywhere and decide whether to feed themselves or pay for gas! Or so I hear.
Much of what I read online and what I hear, in church, at work, or on the street, leads to the conclusion that people are extremely concerned about gas prices. However, I really feel that this is a case of words without action.
In my recent travels to Tulsa and Wichita Falls, as well as in driving around our rather large City, I haven’t noticed much of a change in the way most people are dealing with the “crisis”. We’ve reduced our travel speed by 5 mph or so, but, being passed as much as we were, I really don’t feel that other people are taking it seriously. Even more interesting is the amount of large pick-up trucks and SUVs that continue to blow by on the highway. Maybe Oklahomans and Texans, being insulated from the economic downturn and the highest gas prices, are more able to withstand the higher prices, or maybe they just don’t feel it’s really an issue to them yet.
Christa and I, however, have actually started to do things differently. I’m trying to ride my bike to work (saving 3 miles of car travel a day… small, but it helps). We’re driving slower on the highway, and we’re trying to drive the slightly more efficient Honda more often. The little things help. Now, if we have more frequent and more far-reaching mass transit or train travel, we’d be golden.
Posted by paul at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)
Whole Foods Rant
May 20, 2008
Whole Foods is in the process of opening a second store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ann Arbor has a population of 100,000 or so; 200,000 if you get generous and include the surrounding areas.
Oklahoma City has zero Whole Foods stores. OKC has a population of 550,000; 1,000,000 if you include the metro.
Whole Foods is based in Austin, Texas; 8 hours from OKC and about 20 hours from Ann Arbor.
Where’s the love? We like good, wholesome, organic, healthy food here too. Sucks that one state law is standing in the way, or so I’m led to believe.
Posted by paul at 11:14 PM | Comments (4)
Morning in Spearfish, SD
May 02, 2008
Our Toyota Highlander is the right-most car in this picture. Last night at 8:30 pm when we parked, we walked through about 4 inches of snow. This morning, Spearfish has about 24 inches… We’re also under a snow emergency; only emergency personnel are allowed on the roads. I-90 is closed from the Wyoming border to Wall, SD, approximately 100 miles!. The hotel restaurant cannot open because they don’t have enough employees. We were lucky to get a pastry for each of us at breakfast - we’ll see about lunch.
The snow is supposed to end by 6:00 pm tonight… maybe, if we’re lucky, we can go into downtown Spearfish to the Irish Pub for dinner. Looks like we’ll be doing a large sightseeing trip tomorrow. Maybe we’ll try to catch Mt. Rushmore tonight if the roads open up.
Posted by paul at 11:38 AM | Comments (1)
Real Estate Shifts
February 21, 2008
The article linked above is written by Christopher B. Leinberger, a current professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan. He wasn’t there when I was, but he seems to be a wonderful addition to the faculty.
Even here in Oklahoma City, where things tend to take a long time to catch on (we only have three cities in the whole state with curb-side recycling), the real estate switch seems to be taking place. Read the article if you can find time (it’s three pages).
Posted by paul at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
Flickr to Schmap!
February 16, 2008
The internet is cool. Oklahoma City is cool.
One more:
Posted by paul at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)