Category Archives: Uncategorized

Logistically ridiculous

According to my internet research, a 747 can carry between 416 and 524 people.  We were on a really full 747 on our way to Hong Kong. They asked, begged really, for six people to get off that flight and take a flight the following day due to weight restrictions.

So let’s take the lower number of 416 and remove the 6 who got off to fly another day. That leaves us at least 410 people.

41o people were served the following snack:

The noodles came just as you see them, without boiling water. The flight attendants came by, after these were passed out, to add the water.

I passed on this particular snack. I tried to make it at home once with actual boiling water and it just didn’t make the noodles soft. I couldn’t imagine that the water, by the time it got back to row 37, would be remotely hot enough to soften the noodles in the cup. And then, can you imagine eating this while on a plane?

There were 4 hours between the time we were served the first meal until we were served this snack. It probably took the flight attendants that entire amount of time to heat all the required water. I will say that this snack came with a perfectly delectable lemon cookie which I happily ate.

To sum up my airline math equation,

Chinese noodles x 410 = logistical ridiculosity. 🙂

Boxes

Do you remember those Pledge commercials with the glass box full of black cats? I was reminded of it when we were in the Hong Kong airport. They have, what amounts to, smoking boxes where people can go and smoke cigarettes.

They are glass, or plexiglass. In any case, you can see through the walls and there are tons of people inside smoking.

Not a place I would want to visit. We got downwind of a guy who walked out of one of the boxes and it was like he was walking in a smoke cloud. I felt bad for the person who would have to sit next to him on a plane for any length of time.

We arrived in Singapore and checked into the Victoria Hotel. The hotel was pre-arranged for us by Telefocal. It’s in a nice location and, despite the lady of the evening that was sitting in the lobby when we arrived, was quite clean.

We went up to our room on the fourth floor. The hallway was air conditioned and smelled clean. And then, David opened the door to the smallest hotel room I have ever seen!

We weren’t quite sure what to do with our luggage and some of it ended up in front of the door to the room. This was great for security purposes if a burglar decided to get in but no so much in case of a fire.

The a/c worked great. In fact, because the room was so small and the a/c was so good it could have frozen an Eskimo. I slept fully clothed, hoodie over my head and tied tightly, extra blanket (doubled over), covers over my face and it was still cold.

David and I don’t dance much but sharing this hotel room was a lot like dancing slow. We moved really close to each other, making sure we didn’t step on each other’s toes.

I call this portion of our trip Two Large Rotts in a Small Singaporean Box. 🙂

Off to Malaysia tomorrow where I hope our room will be a little larger!

Muscogee Daughter – review

I read the book Muscogee Daughter on the plane to Singapore. It didn’t last the entire 15 hours!  What a terrific book. 🙂

As the director of the Mrs. Oklahoma International pageant, I hear stories of courage and self-healing all the time from my titleholders. This story was just like that.

Susan Supernaw was Miss Oklahoma 1971. She came from a background of abuse and poverty to succeed in life as a cheerleader, presidential scholar and Miss Oklahoma.  The story follows her journey through a rough childhood to the Miss America pageant. I particularly enjoyed reading about her Indian heritage and her spiritual awareness.

I first read a review of this book in the Oklahoman and knew I wanted to read it. It was as good as they said and I could not allow myself to sleep on the plane until it was finished.

If you like a story of personal achievement and strength of character, you will like this book and I highly recommend it!

Crack rock

Well, my attempt to make my own birthday cake did not end well. Because I’m a Libra and can’t make a decision, I conducted a survey.

Survey says:

Turtle Cake. Nom! But then, that’s what I thought of all of the final four choices.

So I began my birthday making the cake. I was having so much fun. In  between steps, I was responding to the many birthday wishes on facebook and twitter. I mixed up that cake to the hard driving sounds of White Zombie.

Then my cell phone rang and it was my friend, Denise. I turned the music down and talked to her while I was stirring, continuously, the beginnings of the caramel. I was at a point where I had to go forward. There was no stopping.

It was sort of hard to talk and stir with the cellphone being so small. It doesn’t tuck under the chin like the bigger house phone does. And when it came time to add the cream, I just dumped it all in so that I could keep stirring and talking.

This may be where I made my fatal mistake. I’ve never made caramel before and, in retrospect, I think it might need a little more attention and a little less Metallica than I was giving it.

I ended up with a big rock. Kinda like a crack rock.

Although I’ve never seen a crack rock but I did taste the caramel that was liquid. Oh. My. Goodness. It was AMAZING! I wanted to suck it through a straw it was so good.

So I drowned it. Yep, I ran water in it until it was just a creamy memory.

I didn’t get any cake for my birthday but it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure I’ll snag a piece of cake somewhere really soon. And I’ll be sure to put a candle in it. 🙂

I like Michael Strahan and I don’t like flan

Michael Strahan is awesome. He’s cute and funny. I loved watching him play football and I’m so excited he’s joined the Fox NFL Sunday crew so I can still watch him “play”. 😀

The only way that fivesome could be better is to take Curt Menefee out and replace him with me.

But then I don’t know who would keep order.

Flan is just icky. I can’t get past the texture.

Sayonara

So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu
To you and you and foursquare.

I loved it, I did. The badges, the points. Ahhhh.

If you want to know why I removed it, ask me.

All I’ll say here is foursquare stalking.

Sigh.

The BIG “0”

In two weeks it will be my birthday. This is a big birthday. A milestone birthday. An “0” birthday. Yep, it’s a big one and I need to make a big cake.

My problem is this: I am a Libra.

Right. That’s me. Born under the sign of the scales and I can’t make a decision.

Here’s where I need your help. I love to bake and I want to have a fantabulous birthday cake for my Big “0” birthday but I can’t decide.  I’ve narrowed it down to four choices. Please vote and which ever cake receives the most votes I will make myself for my birthday.

BONUS: If you live close to me, you might have to help me eat this cake as it’s possible that David will be out of the country for my birthday. (Yes, again. This will be the 5th year.)

Okay, here we go.

Cake #1 – Irish Cream Cake

This is a yellow cake with butterscotch frosting. The cake itself is flavored with Irish Cream. I adore pecans, which you can see adorn the outside of the finished cake.

Cake #2 – Turtle Cake

Om nom nom. This cake probably really needs no description. Look at the caramel dripping down the top.  I love Turtles – The Candy and a cakelike version of it has got to be good.

Cake #3 – Delta Mocha Chiffon Cake

Chocolate and coffee. Coffee and chocolate. Yum! What a terrific combination and I love them both with all of my heart.

Cake #4 – Nanny’s Famous Coconut Pineapple Cake

Pineapple and coconut tropical creamy goodness. On the upside for those who live close to me, David detests both coconut and pineapple so there would be more of this cake to share. I rarely get to eat coconut but it is MY birthday after all. 🙂

So there you have it. Please help me decide by voting below. I will so appreciate not having to eat four cakes for my birthday!

Wal-Mart Cashiers – The Game

I have a game I play when we shop at Wal-Mart. I wait for the cashier to greet me when I get to the check-out register. If they do, I will say hi and engage in general chit-chat.

If they don’t, I wait and see if we can get through the whole transaction before I hear them say a word. I say nothing.  On most visits, as it was today, the only words we hear are “Your total is $63.24.”

No hello, no thank you, no kiss my foot. Nothing. That’s all.

Play Wal-Mart Cashiers – The Game at your Wal-Mart and let me know how it goes for you. 😉

Oklahoma coolness

TNRAXBEW4FRY
I was driving to Tulsa the other day for a meeting. The radio was on but I was only loosely listening to it while my mind was wandering over my busy schedule. I remember hearing something, and I can’t at this moment even remember what, that was really cool and it was happening in Oklahoma.

I remember thinking, “Wow! I can’t believe I live in Oklahoma” and “Who knew there were going to be such cool things here?”

I was invited to go on (what I call) a field trip to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) on Thursday. It was a staff visit for the AHA staff members and I was happy they included me because I was so excited to go.

I am not scientifically smart. Oh, I think I have a lot of street smarts and I’m definitely not dumb but scientists are another whole realm. I think that if I could have understood math and science, I definitely would have had a career in science.

Ahhh but I digress.

In the entry way, there was a beautiful replica of a cell in the marble.

And several more large “cells” suspended from the ceiling.

They were amazing and looked like art.

First we saw a video presentation about the new facility that they are in the process of building. It will cost $125 million and it will be the most energy efficient building when it’s done.

Here’s what it will look like then.

See the wind turbines at the top? Each turbine is made to look like a DNA helix.  This is how it looks now.

They have a way to go but already you can see how magnificent the building will be when it’s finished.

We then went to visit Dr. Rheal Towner who told us about the MRI research they are doing with extremely powerful MRI devices.

Next was Dr. Dean Dawson who works with chromosomes. He was funny and passionate about his work. He said they use yeast to do a lot of experiments with because, other than the fact that there is no brain, a yeast cell is fairly close to a human cell. He showed us an example of how they forced a yeast chromosome to split the way a chromosome for Downs Syndrome would split. Next, they will attempt to make it do the same thing with mice.

Our final visit was to Dr. Charles Esmon.

Dr. Esmon is the one person we met who has actually benefitted from funds raised by the American Heart Association. His story of coming up with Protein C to save people with extreme poisoning of the blood was mind bogglingly cool. He also told us that without fundraising organizations like the AHA, much of this research could not be done.

I am really so happy that I was asked to go along on this visit. While a good portion of what they told us probably sailed right over my head, it was clear that these intelligent and dedicated scientists are changing the world as we know it.

And guess what? They are right here in Oklahoma. How cool. 🙂

TNRAXBEW4FRY