Friday, June 14, 2013

OKC

Yadda yadda, will blog more, yadda yadda.

Now that I've got that out of the way, allow me to talk to you a little bit about a recent trip to Sooner Country.  The great capital of Oklahoma.  Yes friends, I'm talking about Oklahoma City.  Like many of  my trip reports, this will really just be a bulleted list.  Mostly because I'm too lazy for anything else.  Second, because bullets should convey that this isn't a real comprehensive list.  More like brain farts around a specific theme.  So, in no particular order, here's my take on OKC:


  • The city looks like a jigsaw piece.  No really.  Look.  

  • Given the recent tornadoes, the TV was full of car dealers offering "hail-damaged" vehicles for thousands of dollars below resale.  Could be just a ploy.  But then while discussing these cars at breakfast with my colleague, a local fellow explained that they were really good deals, but you can't get them covered by warranty or insurance or something.  It all made more sense at breakfast, I promise.  
  • It was hot.  Seems obvious, but it's a different kind of heat than my Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic roots.  Not humid, more like a sauna. If you want to know how hot it was, we passed up $1 beer night at the ballpark because I was pretty sure I'd get heat stroke.  Reminded me of this scene from an old movie.  

  • The skyline is odd.  All of the buildings are around the same height.  30 stories or so.  Then Devon Energy built their world headquarters and it looks like a giant F-U to the other companies.  Or perhaps that the CEO is compensating.  

  • There's a touristy area of the city called Bricktown.  So called because it has a lot of brick buildings.  It was essentially an old warehouse district that was rundown and a local developer decided to spruce up.  The built this fake canal that meanders through it, and they have boat tours.  This seemed odd to me.  "If you turn to your left, you'll see Hooters which opened here 4 years ago, and off to the right is Toby Keith's 'I Love This Bar' which has been a hit since 2008."  
  • Don't see The Purge.  It was terrible.  There are so many times you find yourself yelling at the screen.  This has nothing to do with OKC, but I saw it there and it was God awful.  



  • See this thing?  This is an oil derrick.  And they're everywhere in OKC.  On the airport grounds, in random spots in the city, at the FAA Academy.  I'm sure this is like seeing pigeons in NYC, but the idea that there are natural resources right under the city being pulled out of the ground is kind of interesting.