Entry 16:
30 October 2002, 6:13am
Somebody in the
misc.transport.road
newsgroup suggested giving an interstate designation to the Creek
Turnpike, possibly I-644, given that we've already got an invisible
I-444 floating around (see comment 13). My response, essentially, was,
Why stop there? Here's my verbatim response:
I already had the idea of calling it I-644, but I
had it going even further.
Try to follow:
--I-644 encompassing the entire Creek Turnpike, mile markers
starting at the
Turner Turnpike end.
--Once the Creek ends, take 644 back along 44 & 244 into
town
--Once 244/644 reaches OK-11 (Gilcrease Expressway at the airport),
644 breaks
off and goes along the Gilcrease.
--Eventual plans for the Gilcrease are for it to continue west
between Archer &
36th St N, then turn and head south along 55th W Ave, crossing
the Keystone
Expressway & the Arkansas River along this line...
--...where it will hook up with a highway that is already partially
complete at
41st St & 55th W Ave called (natch) the Gilcrease Extension.
--This road hooks back into I-44 at the same point I-244 begins,
and would
signify the end of Interstate 644.
There you go, an almost complete beltway around Tulsa, once
the Gilcrease is
completed. Thoughts?
You think I'm a roadgeek now, wait'll you see my plans for
I-844. Coming soon to a website near you.
ntry 17: 31 October 2002, 5:42am
I hate arguments, fighting, and the like. I’m at my happiest
when everybody else is happy. So my last potential girlfriend wouldn’t
take my calls. If not having me around is what makes her happy, fine.
So I tell a friend in California how much my best friend likes her new
job, how good she is at it, and how much they like her work, only to find
out
days later that she had already been fired,
and never bothered to say a thing to me about it, making me look totally
stupid to my California friend (I know my friend wouldn’t agree, but that’s
how I feel about it). And so, a month later, she still hasn’t said two
words to me about it, or for that matter anything else. Fine, I can live
with that. I’ll be totally miserable and friendless, but if I have to I
can live with it.
Having said that, we’ve got elections coming around next week,
and I’m gonna stir up the pot a bit by recommending a few ways to vote
here in Northeast Oklahoma. And I’m like most people, I don’t delve too
deeply into a candidate’s views. But in most cases, one or two things
stick out that typically get me to vote for the other guy. And even though
I’m a registered Democrat, I’ve never been a straight-party voter. Case
in point:
US Senate – David Walters (D) is trying to
unseat incumbent Jim Inhofe (R). The same Walters who brought disgrace
to this state a decade ago by being the only governor in state history
to be indicted while in office, for campaign finance irregularities.
The fact that he took responsibility for it isn’t enough to sway me.
Besides, Inhofe is from the Tulsa area, Walters isn’t. Vote for
Inhofe.
1st District House – a replay of the special
election from earlier this year. I’ve liked Doug Dodd from back before
his political career, when he was a news anchor at Channel 6. I think
he did a good job on the Tulsa School Board, and the smear campaign
John Sullivan has been trying to attack him with is just shameful, as
well as too easy to prove wrong. Vote for
Dodd.
SQ 687 – to ban cockfighting in the state.
I’ll go along with the animal-rights groups on this one. Attaching knives
and razors to the roosters’ legs and have them fight to the death is
sooooo wrong. Although I would kinda be interested in seeing a fight between
roosters with little boxing gloves attached to their feet instead, as one
breeder does. Sounds cute. But since most of the time it doesn’t go that
way, and since I got my four cats I’m pretty much against animal cruelty
of any kind, I’m gonna vote
yes on this one.
SQ 693 – one of those bond votes. Allows
regional economic development, but only as specified by the Legislature.
Reminds me of the time we voted to legalize horse racing and its associated
betting. What we actually voted for was the right for each county to
decide whether or not to have a track. But once the question passed,
the Legislature changed the meaning after the fact to say pretty much
that they’ll say which counties get to have tracks. Only four or five
ever did. The way this is worded it sounds like the Legislature is looking
for another way to tax us & then spend the money the way
they want,
not the way we voted. Vote
no.
SQ 696 – exempts storm shelters from property
taxes. Provided, of course, that the shelter was built since January
1, 2002. Any built before that, too bad so sad. That there swings me towards
the
no side. Resubmit the question to voters
allowing for
all storm shelters, and I’ll be the first
one in favor of it. But not this way.
SQ 698 – would make it much harder to bring
state questions like Cockfighting 687 to a vote of the people. And I’m
sure it’s sheer coincidence that this has a more recent SQ number than
687.
No, no, no, no, no.
Governor – former Seattle Seahawk Steve Largent
against State Senate Judiciary Chairman Brad Henry and self-made millionaire
lawyer there’s-no-way-I-could-win-a-primary-in-either-party-so-I’m-gonna-run-as-an-Independent
Gary Richardson. I was all for Richardson since his first commercials
came out last year. Lottery, end the turnpikes, everything I wanted to
hear. Then he aired that commercial that questioned Largent’s patriotism,
especially about September 11th. Now I’ve never been crazy about Largent,
but that was the ultimate low of all possible low blows. At this point
if they had a State Question that would allow us to exile Richardson from
Oklahoma permanently, I’d vote for it in a heartbeat.
As for the other two, for me it really comes down to one issue:
a state lottery. I want one, the state’s educational system
needs
one, Henry is strongly in favor of one and Largent is
adamantly against one. The fact that Largent is trying to backpedal
now and say that he would nevertheless be willing to put it to a vote
of the people comes too little too late for my tastes. Besides, I’m not
convinced he’d still agree to do that after he became governor. I’m voting
for
Henry.
As far as other races, I haven’t totally decided yet, but I
usually get my answer by election day: I look at whoever has campaign
signs on my across-the-street-from-a-polling-place front yard without
my permission, and vote for the other guy.
And that's my 6½ cents on the matter. To those of you
who disagree with my views I say: lighten up!
And to those who still disagree and won't lighten up I say:
get your own damn web site.
Entry 18: 1 November 2002, 4:04am
One of the road-related websites that I frequent,
OKroads, has a section where the author
puts forth his idea for a
major beltway completely
encircling Oklahoma City, which he called I-635. I thought I'd try the
same thing for Tulsa.
If we consider the I-44/244 combo the Inner Loop (which would
make the Inner-Dispersal Loop around downtown more of a "Loopette", and
make the Creek Turnpike and (once it's completed) Gilcrease Expressway
a weird-looking Central Loop (my suggestion for I-644; see Entry 16),
this road would most definitely be The Outer Loop. Or as I refer to it
in the newly-posted
Sidetrip
#2, The Big Outer Beltway. Have a look.
Chandler's still in Tulsa on
Friends,
and they actually showed the Golden Driller for the
scene's opening shot. Makes sense: in retrospect I think it's the biggest
thing we've got that's easily capturable in one camera shot that has
"Tulsa" easily visible on it (belt-buckle). Those buildings out the boardroom
window, however--not Tulsa. And as anyone downtown can tell you, our
smoking policies are not that lax.
Followup 17A: my best friend called
me tonight, inviting me to come over and see their Halloween decorations.
She said she didn't want to bum me out by talking to me. So instead
she bums me out by
not talking to me. But at least we're talking
again, and soon everything will probably be back to normal. She told
me that she and some friends of ours were at dinner the other night and
Doug Dodd came over and talked to them for about twenty minutes. Apparently
won them all over. And if these guys can be swayed, he's gotta be the
right choice.
Independent gubernatorial candidate Gary Richardson actually
had the gall to say that polls aren't accurate at all when there's
a third candidate, and that he's still gonna surprise everyone and win
the race.
Hey, Gary: after that Largent stunt you pulled everyone's gonna
be surprised if you come in
second!
Entry 19: 5 November 2002, 6:06am
Well, I wasn't disappointed. Got home from work and, lo and behold,
over a dozen political signs in my yard, every one of them posted without
my permission. And not surprisingly (as this has usually been the
case in the past), every one for a democratic candidate. And I don't care
if I'm a registered Democrat or not (I only picked that party because I
had been a registered Independent but was tired of being left out of the
primaries, and as a protest for how the Florida republicans stole the 2000
presidential election), you don't go puttin' signs on my yard without my
permission!
And by the way, I don't buy that "The signs are on the city easement
so they're fair game" argument. All that means is I'm not allowed to
build anything on it. If the city makes ME responsible for mowing it,
then dammit, it's MY property! (Also, I've talked to television reporters
in the past, who have time and time again informed me the posters have
to have permission of the property owner.)
The Democratic party is not going to make people believe that I
in any way endorse all those candidates. The signs have been removed,
except for the Dodd & Henry signs: since I had already decided to
vote for them, I retroactively give my permission for those signs to be
there. But not the others. Moreso, except for Dodd & Henry, I will be
voting for all the Republican candidates. That's what you get for not asking
permission.
Entry 20: 8 November 2002, 5:31am
I gotta admit, when the election returns had come in Tuesday night
and Brad Henry had just barely beaten Steve Largent, and Largent refused
to concede, I said to myself "Here we go again: welcome to the Florida
of 2002." But then next day, when Largent finally did concede and Henry
admitted that if the situation had been reversed he would have been hesitant
as well, I had to admit I was very impressed. Largent was just waiting to
make sure the count was right, and I guess I can't blame him.
I also have to say it was very refreshing to have two political competitors
who seem to actually like & respect each other. If you take Gary
Richardson's dirty tactics out of the mix (and believe me, I am SO trying)
I don't recall a single negative word said by one side about the other.
Henry has even said he would like to offer Largent a position in his administration.
I hope Largent takes him up on this. Non-partisan bickering is such a nice
change of pace.
Then again, the TU football team could use a new coach...
It's interesting that the whole reason Henry was able to pull off
the win in the first place was the high number of rural voters attempting
to keep cockfighting. They might not have succeeded there, but they sure
helped getting Henry in office.p,hjv
Sorry, just saw a story on the news: somebody doused a small dog
with gasoline, set him on fire then threw him out the window of a moving
car. Another person saw it happen, got to the dog, put out the fire &
took him to the vet, but they say the dog has serious burns and may die.
As someone who owns four cats and love them more than I could possible
express, I get very emotional whenever I hear stories like this. It's
the main reason I voted to ban cockfighting. Anybody willing to harm such
a beautiful animal so maliciously is just one step away from doing the
same to another human being.
