Just enough knowledge to be dangerous...

...is what a friend told me and I have now proved him right. Couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to turn off what I thought were extensions for a Palm Pilot, as they are not needed. Bottom line is that I have totally crippled/incapacitated my Mac which now has a system error and I can't get it to start up to try to rectify that problem I created. I am now in Mac hell and will have to call a Mac nerd/geek to help my out of the hole I dug for myself. The thought of going home to no internet is horrifying and it is the first time I have cratered my baby.

I am drooling over the G5 with the dual processor, now, and would love to get one (and go into major debt for it). Don't know when I will be back up at home, but maybe I can get the OS X actually operating, too, after having installed it a year and a half ago. Tonight I will be calling Mac specialists to see what can be done for me. Very depressing. Guess I will have to do housework tonight!

Damn computers! I was so proud of myself for keeping it up and running as long as I have on my own...maybe a little too much hubris on my part.

Philtower Lobby East

Philtower Lobby East, originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

The awesome Gothic lobby of the Philtower building, built in 1927 by Waite Phillips. They are turning several of the upper floors into lofts, that look like they will be very nice (and expensive). As the building is on the National Historic Register, it is safe from destruction or radical change.

The stone used in the lobby is travertine and was imported from Italy. The Phillips were big fans of Italy and since it was built during the depression it was a steal. The Phillips never suffered from want of money as demand for oil did not go down to zero.

I love this building.

Holland Tunnel NJ entrance

Holland Tunnel, originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

Monday night, April 12, 2004, around 8 pm. The beginning of a 3 hour 'tour' of New York. My first visit there since 1965, and long a dream of mine to return. An added touch that it was raining and dreary. Got to see the Statue of Liberty through the truck window through the rain at night.

It was still a thrill to set foot there for any length of time. Having lived in Rio I have developed an appreciation for the big city and NY is the greatest to me. A place where one can walk and public transportation is abundant is so foreign to Oklahoma. I know that I love downtown Tulsa because of the ease of travel by foot.

Perhaps someday soon I will make it back to the big city and will be able to spend many more hours.

Clint seems to really love it in the city and he is just a small town boy from Joplin, MO. His 33rd birthday is next week and I wonder if he has yet come to terms with his sexual identity? Religion had such a strong hold over him, plus the fact he did not want to disappoint his parents--that was his morbid fear. Would they have rejected their only son? We had so much fun together at the ballet, and we could be so silly. We enjoyed each other and the relief through clowning around from too much work. He is still so dear to me. New York next year....

BOK reflection in Williams Tower 1

BOK reflection in Williams Tower 1, originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

A reflection of BOK Tower and the Crown Plaza Hotel off the side of the Williams Tower 1. This is the sister building of the Williams Tower II, which i2E will be moving to at the end of June.

MidContinent Lobby Penguin

MidContinent Penguin, originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

One of the penguins produced for Tulsa Zoo Friends fundraising effort to pay for the black-footed penguin exhibit at the zoo.

There are dozens of penguins around Tulsa, both indoors and outdoors. Some have been kidnapped and later recovered, sometimes damaged beyond repair.

1991 Honda CRX HF

1991 Honda CRX HF
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

My car of 13 years has now become my second car, which I do not need. Gets outstanding gas mileage, averaging about 45 mpg. Insurance is high, but with the price of gas the trade-off might not be too bad. Time to sell it as the insurance is due and so is the tag. Has new tires and new brake system. Timing belt was changed before 100,000 miles and the car has around 145,000, now. Does $2700 seem too much to ask since I have recently put $1500 into it? Great little car--like a four-wheeled motorcycle with a body.

1980 Braniff Concorde Flight Certificate

1980 Braniff Concorde Flight Certificate
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

The flight of my lifetime. Way cool. At least I broke the sound barrier one time!

Giza 1965

Giza 1965
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

I love the look on the camel's face. Dad as an Arab is interesting...

Dad and George

Dad and George
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

Dad met George at Donald W. Reynold's 80th birthday party in Las Vegas somewhere back in the 80s. Who was Donald W. Reynolds? The king of billboards, where he amassed a fortune. Why did he know dad? Gum disease. Old Don may be gone, but his Foundation goes on. Dad is still kicking at almost 83 (March 30), even with Parkinson's.

Cain's Ballroom

Cain's Ballroom
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

Salon home of Nostradamus

Nostradamus
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

The house where Nostradamus wrote The Centuries, now a museum. Shot in May 1980. The museum was closed until the end of May. At least there was a mail slot to look through.

Fishing on Chesapeake Bay at sunset

Fishing on Chesapeake Bay at sunset
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

This is one of my favorite shots from my trip to the east coast during April 2004. The massive numbers of contrails over the bay had converged into one mass, with one still visible in the upper left hand corner. The location is the southern tip of Tilghman Island on the eastern shore of Maryland, with the sun setting over Washington, DC. What a beautiful moment in time...

Sunset on the Chesapeake

Sunset on the Chesapeake
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

Even though they are beautiful, swans are the bane of the bay.

hummer

hummer
Originally uploaded by liberalmind1012.

hmmmmmm, wonder why demand for gas isn't going down?

Things few people want to know...let alone think about

• in the past 20 years approximately 1 million species have disappeared from the world's tropical forests.
• from 1960-1985 over 40% of the central american rainforests were destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.
• the united states imports over 100,000 tons of beef from central america each year.
• it takes 23 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes.
• it takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef.
• one acre of land can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes.
• one acre of land can produce 165 pounds of beef.
• the u.s. cattle industry produces 158 million tons of waste per year.
• livestock production is the #1 cause of water pollution in the u.s.
• 22 million acres of land have become unusable due to desertification.
• 85% of the topsoil loss in the u.s. is the result of livestock production.
• in the u.s. 33% of all raw material consumption is used solely in the production or meat, egg, and dairy products.
• it takes 1 pound of grain to make 1 pound of bread.
• it takes 20 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of beef.
• 75% of the grain sent to 3rd world nations goes to livestock production.
• the countries with the diets highest in animal products are also the countries with the highest rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc.
• 80% of u.s.d.a. chicken inspectors no longer eat chicken.
• 50 percent of men who eat meat regularly die of heart disease.
• 4 percent of men who eat no animal products die of heart disease.
• if the average commuter passenger load in the u.s. were increased by just 1 person per day we would save 3 million gallons of gas each day.
• americans spend over 1 billion hours stuck in traffic each year.
• 30% of u.s. greenhouse gas emissions come from cars.
• air is sold in mexico city for $1.15 a minute by sidewalk vendors.
• what greenpeace spends in a year general motors spends in 4 hours.
• 3.5 million children under the age of 6 suffer from lead poisoning.
• in europe 50% of the cars still use leaded gas.
• 2 million gallons of motor oil are dumped in american waterways each year.
• over 8 million tons of oil are spilled into the world's oceans every year.
• 5 billion gallons of water are flushed each day in the united states.
• sewage treatment facilities in the u.s. discharge 5.9 trillion gallons of sewage wastewater into coastal waters every year.
• u.s. tuna fishermen are permitted to kill over 20,000 dolphins every year.
• 2 million sharks die in driftnets in the north pacific every year.
• only 1 in 10 baby chimpanzees survive the trip from the jungle to the zoo.
• 1 billion animals are killed each year in experiments.
• 17 million animals are trapped In the u.s. each year for fur.
• many traps are so painful that animals chew through their own limbs to escape.
• for every fur animal trapped, two other animals (dogs, cats, deer, etc) are trapped and killed.
• in 1987 450,000 minks died on fur farms from heat exhaustion.
• 1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, and enough energy to heat the average home for 6 months.
• enough wood and paper is thrown away each year in america to heat 1 billion houses for a year.
• six times more jobs are created by recycling as by landfill operations.
• the amount of money spent on trash disposal in american schools is equal to that spent on new textbooks.
• out of every $10 that americans spend on food, $1 pays for packaging.
• 65% of garbage in the u.s. is packaging.
• 50% of all trash thrown away could be recycled into new products.
• 500 new dumps are built each year in the united states.
• over 1 billion trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.
• americans throw away 20 billion disposable diapers each year.
• americans dump the equivalent of 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfilIs every year.
• 2.5 billion batteries are thrown away each year by americans.
• over 700,000 tons of hazardous waste is produced in the u.s. every day.
• americans throw away 10 million cigarette lighters every week.
• 500,000 people die of cigarette related diseases in the u.s. each year.
• pesticides that are banned in the u.s. (such as ddt) are regularly sold to 3rd world countries.
• 90% of all food borne pesticides are found in meat and dairy products.
• 10% of nursing mothers who were vegetarians had ddt in their breast milk.
• 90% of nursing mothers who were meat eaters had ddt in their breast milk.
• in 1945, before widespread pesticide use, u.s. corn growers lost 3% of their crop to insects, last year they lost over 12%.
• 74 different kinds of pesticides have been found in drinking water.
• over 100 chemical contaminants have been found in the breast milk of nursing mothers in the u.s.
• of the 34 chemicals most widely used on lawns, 25% are widely believed to cause birth defects, genetic mutation, and cancer.
• americans spend 6 billion dollars on their lawns each year.
• 25% of u.s. nuclear reactors would not be able to contain a core breach meltdown.
• a 1985 study predicted a 5% chance of core breach meltdown in the u.s. before 2005.
• in 1992 430,000 people in the world died from cancers resulting from nuclear testing radiation.
• more money is spent in the u.s. on nuclear weaponry in one year than was spent on housing from 1980-1992.
• to date, cleaning up storage facilities for nuclear debris has cost taxpayers 200 billion dollars.
• in 1989 the u.s. military used 200 billion barrels of oil, enough to keep all american public transit systems running for 22 years.
• 1 ton of toxic waste is produced by the u.s. military every minute.

From the Moby album EVERYTHING IS WRONG 1995

Work related PR time

i2E, Inc.

Since I can only access the editing features at work, I will take this opportunity to tout my place of business. The site is a black hole with too much information and more being added all the time. One of my tasks is to post articles on the site from newspapers (after proper authorization, I will add).

i2E, Inc. is a very different place to work and I think pretty much takes me full circle in the arena of not-for-profit entities. I started in education (University of Tulsa and, later, the University Center at Tulsa) in the field of development, on to finance (Tulsa Teachers Credit Union), then the arts (Tulsa Ballet), next on to enclosed wildlife (Tulsa Zoo Friends), followed by health (American Diabetes Association). Now I am in the strange world of not-for-profit business that seeks to create wealth for the state of Oklahoma through the growth of entrepreneuralism. Once you get into the n-f-p ring, you just start circulating around in it.

And now for something completely different....Cain's Ballroom. The home of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, as well as my favorite musical venue in Tulsa. It was through Cain's website that I wound up finding this blog site, and only through a roundabout way. Blame it on Steve Earle. I wanted to post a comment to his website, but I had to do it through blogger and, voila, here I am. Thank you Steve and I look forward to seeing you at the Cain's on April 4th.

It is my hope that I will finally find the time to start writing "1965: The World as I Saw It." OK, sounds like I am full of myself in that my take on the world might be more unique than someone else's, but it truly is pretty unique. How many 11 year olds get a trip around the world as a 6th grade graduation present? Big year for me, big year for the world at large. Can't think of a better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my landmark event. Whether or not I can do a good job of it is another question altogether. Only thing left to do is jump in and start sketching.

I also need to take a stab at the memorial poem for Judy I have been procrastinating about for 20 years, and maybe have it done by the anniversary of her death in April. Even though she was a month older than I, she froze herself in time at the too young age of 18. I wish she had thought about it a bit more and to this day I am so sorry that I didn't come when she called. Would seeing me possibly have been the important difference that changed her route, or was it fated? Hindsight is so painfully clear...I still miss her and mourn my loss.

Leaping Leprechauns

Time to get ready for work and hit the rush to town. Guess I should wear a splash of green to celebrate my Irish ancestry, but I don't think I would get pinched if I decide against it.

Just two more days in the mine before I can call the day all mine. Sounds somewhat contradictory, but makes sense to me!

Happy Monday

Monday, Monday, can't stand that day. There ought to be a law against it.