It’s been a hard week in Oklahoma for the weather. We’ve had 15 inches of rain in two days, with more on the way. It’s nice break from the drought that much of the state has been in, but obviously not enough to change things in that respect long term.
Supposed to have very severe weather this afternoon and tonight. Wife and daughter are in Tulsa with daughter’s friend at a concert by somebody or other and will stay the night and drive back tomorrow afternoon. Son is hanging with friends, seeing Avengers 2 today. I’ll catch that later at some point. The movie theater is a storm shelter–took a near miss from the May 20, 2013 F-5 and was back in operation 3 days later. His friend’s house has a shelter, so he’s good there.
I’m in the house, and getting some things done and taking a break from everybody and everything. The shelter is cleaned and restocked, the batteries are charged, the beer is cold, and the dog and I are curled up on the couch. My weight is down to 261. I had one cigarette yesterday.
Open thread.
EDIT–first weather radio alert of the day just issued at 12:00PM–Major Thunderstorm Watch until 9:00 PM
Tornado Watch until 9:00PM. Cancelled for OKC area. Also Flash Flood Warning till 12:00AM.
Diana
So is the the thread to discuss Avengers 2?
Fair Economist
Good to see you back!
15 inches in two days, wow, that’s a lot. Big rains after or during a drought don’t help too much with ground moisture because they mostly run off but they do help with reservoirs, so there’s that.
MomSense
Thanks for checking in, sooner. I hope you know we are all thinking of you and wishing you the best.
Enjoy your puppy cuddles. I want to murder mine since she ate my knitting needles and the in-progress sweater that was in them. 9 inches of lacework destroyed.
Ok enough complaining on my part.
NotMax
Posted on tail end of thread below, so moving it up here.
Anyone watching Schitt’s Creek?
Haven’t done so yet, because while like Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, loathe Chris Elliot.
Joy in FL
I’m so glad you’re having some good things going on.
Good to see a post from you.
I hope you and everyone you care about is safe.
ruemara
Good to hear from you and happy you and the dog are doing well, plus the cigarettes are getting the boot..
I have a question for those who travel. Is it better to get your plane tickets in advance or would I get a better deal if I do one of those online last minute ticket thingies? I’m both nervous and confused about air travel to SD in July. Yes, I am a terrible shopper if it’s not tech.
Ruckus
Good to hear from you. Sounds like progress. One foot and all of that.
scav
@ruemara: Major questions to think about are your flexibility of schedule in SD and your comfort level in dealing with uncertainty. It’s all a trade-off of time, hassle, money, uncertainty and there is no one right answer.
ETA. The continued best wishes for OK and Sooner assumed as given, but maybe best to be explicit here too.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
If you have time check prices regularly. Also if you can be flexible as to the exact day of departure or return you may find that move one or the other a day can make a difference. Check both the travel websites like orbitz and the specific airline site. Sometimes they differ by a lot. Going to a small market like SD gives you less choices and less opportunities to save, sorry about that.
Yes this is a pain but it can save you real money. Be aware of all the extra charges that airlines are throwing on now, like charges for checked baggage, food, beverages.
WereBear
Sometimes that is incredibly healing medicine. Good sleep and good health to you!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Hi Soonergrunt! It’s good to hear from you. I hope your weather stays rain and not worse. Remember you have lots of folks here thinking good thoughts for you.
@MomSense: I understand how that could be, er, annoying. I she okay from the adventure?
TaMara (BHF)
Glad to hear from you. Hope the weather stays rumbly and wet and doesn’t turn to horrible. We are on our 6th day of rain, snow expected tomorrow. Then snow melt. Rivers are running high, as are anxieties about flash flooding.
I’m totally impressed – quitting smoking and losing weight while everything else around you is swirling – that says much about your character and ability to get through all of this and to the other side. Still sending good thoughts your way.
Amir Khalid
@MomSense:
Your puppy ate knitting needles? I hope she’s okay.
MomSense
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
She is being super sweet to me right now. She is actually in her dog bed and not even trying to jump up on the furniture.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Just the ends of the needles which are made of wood and all the lace on them. Lace is really intricate and time consuming to make. The yarn was merino and silk so at least she has good taste in fiber.
Goblue72
@Diana: It has many things explode. And suffered from too many characters, so none of the non-exploding scenes spent much time with any of them on character development.
scav
@Amir Khalid: Come to that, I was rather assuming the needles were the little bamboo ones (so splinter damage possible, but reasonable), as I’ve seen a kitten get a few solid destructive nips in on a wooden needle while in use. Now you’ve got me envisioning the metal ones, the circular ones with screw-on pins. Maximum damage rather than toothpicks.
Amir Khalid
@MomSense:
I guess she’s aware that Mommy’s not happy with her.
WereBear
@MomSense: Aw geez! They do seem to target valuables.
Kay (not the front-pager)
Congratulations on the weight loss Sooner! Also quitting cigarettes. I quit smoking 30 years ago but right now I need to lose at least 50 lbs., so weight loss is more impressive to me at the moment.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like things are going better for you, but that you still have a way to go on your journey to OK. I hope you have gone from 2-steps-forward-to-1-step-back to 5- or 6-steps-forward-and-1-step-back. Just know that there are many, many people you have never met and will never meet who care about you and are pulling for you.
PurpleGirl
Good to hear from you Sooner and with a good post. Sounds like you and the family have the weekend planned well and will be able to handle whatever the weather turns out to be. Are you and dog watching any sports, by the way, while being couch potatoes? Take care and hope the storms aren’t too bad out your way.
PurpleGirl
@MomSense: Puppy ate the knitting needles? The yarn I can understand — condolences on losing so much lace — but the needles, too? Were they plastic, I hope? Or metal and nylon line? Either way… Ouch (for you).
(When those friends still lived in Peekskill, their cat never showed any interest in my yarn and crochet hooks. Rowdy left them alone and I could leave projects up there.)
rikyrah
Glad to see you check in.
Prayers to you.
PurpleGirl
@ruemara: Get the tickets as early as you can. I always found the better prices that way. The one time I left tickets for the last minute, the way I had to go to get a reasonable price was to travel on Christmas Day. The days immediately before Christmas were way more expensive.
jeffreyw
Glad to see you back, Sooner. I found out how to increase the volume on the Ford Sync text message readout, just got that turned up. Looking at making some coconut shrimp like I had at a buffet the other day, in a creamy sauce – not deep fried with coconut in the batter. It was pretty tasty but I’m not sure the recipe I’m looking at is all that close.
satby
You and yours stay safe Sooner, and congrats on both the weight loss and the reduction of cigarettes. I loved my family, but when they all lived in the same house with me I really enjoyed those days when they all were off doing other things and giving me quiet time. Though all I usually did with it was veg, but that was what I needed most. Enjoy your time!
Tokyokie
Glad to hear you’re making progress, Soonergrunt. And the Moore Warren is the best modern movie theater I’ve had the pleasure to visit. (I can remember when Moore’s only theater was a crappy mall twin showing subruns.)
Tree With Water
Is this the lacrosse post? No? Good. Used to be California had the earthquakes, and Oklahoma had the tornados. Nowadays you folks have both. “If you can’t get to the beach, bring the beach to you”. The ecological rape of your state aside, I admire your collective resourcefulness.
djchefron
That’s why I am glad I live in Muskogee. Being in a valley its very hard for tornadoes to form. That being said the rain has knocked out my satellite a few times. I know its trivial with what some of the state has went through.
BubbaDave
Yeah, severe thunderstorm craziness down here in the Dallas burbs as well. Massive peals of thunder– one of my cats still hasn’t come out from under the bed. (And TBH, another one like that and I might have joined her.)
Keep on keeping on, Soonergrunt.
Denali
Good to hear from you, Sooner Great to hear about the weight loss – a tremendous achievement! And cigarettes at the same time- wow! Hope the weather improves in Oklahoma.
trollhattan
We’ll take the rain, send the twisters to Pam Geller.
Thanks,
California
p.s. Welcome back
sacrablue
@efgoldman: I believe that the CEO of Ryanair in the UK floated that idea, but I don’t think he ever went through with it.
Amir Khalid
@sacrablue:
He didn’t? I’m surprised. Ryanair prides itself on treating passengers like shit.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Not sure if that’s better or worse than treating shit like passengers.
Isn’t that what putting in pay toilets would be?
Abo gato
Been thinking about you and yours the past few days. Oklahoma weather has sounded horrible. Really glad to hear from you. Keep letting us know.
SiubhanDuinne
Very good to see you posting, Soonergrunt! Along with many others here, I’ve been thinking about you. Congratulations on the weight loss and getting the cigarettes down to almost nothing (as a former smoker, I know how tough that can be). Stay safe and well, and drop on by whenever you want.
Tommy
@efgoldman: How about it. Before 9/11 I used to fly once a week for work. Flew, even after 9/11 at least 7-10 times a year for personal stuff.
I got my shit down, I am like George Clooney in that move where his job is to fly around the country firing people. I mean I had the whole experience down to an almost exact science.
When they first started to charge for bags, that were over a certain weight, I just used my corporate Federal Express account and sent them via ground to my hotel with a note to hold for hotel guest [insert my name] arriving on this date. Actually saved money and even better, having to lug the bags to the airport. Worked very well.
But when they started to nickel and dime me for everything else I had had enough. I figured I had a nice four door German sedan that got about 32 MPH on the highway. I had Google and GPS on my phone, fuck it I’ll go back to my poor college and grad school days and just drive.
Roadtrip! Make the drive as much of an “adventure” as where I was going.
In me the airlines lost a pretty darn loyal and good customer. I’ll never look back and if I have to travel across country, I might just take a train. Only if I have to fly over an ocean will I ever consider booking another flight!
opiejeanne
@Tommy: we like Jet Blue for when we absolutely have to fly within the US, but they don’t go everywhere. After that, it’s who we hate less and is it worth the extra $30 to avoid a really bad company. It always is, and sometimes flying most of the way and renting a car to reach the destination was cheaper than flying all the way with a stop to change planes to a “lesser destination”, like Madison, WI. We flew from Seattle to Minneapolis and drove the rest of the way. Probably not as cost-efficient now since the cost if car rentals has gone up so much.
schrodinger's cat
@ruemara: Have you tried Kayak.com. They make comparison shopping easy for airfares.
Tommy
@efgoldman: If you fly into DC much, as a former long-time DC resident, I can tell you the best rent a car deals you can get are in Union Station. All the major players are there and their deals, well I always pushed clients to rent from there when they were in town, and they said the prices were always 15+% lower than if not more they found online.
Tommy
@opiejeanne: I’ve never done JetBlue. In my personal life, I used Southwest. I know most people might be recoiling with me saying (1) I used to fly a lot and (2) he just said Southwest.
As a kid I flew a lot with my grandparents in the 70s and 80s. They were “world travelers.” Even flying in the US we always got to the airport at least two hours early. That became a habit.
So pre/post 9/11 I just did that, what I kind of always did, and was always on the first boarding group. Just habit of how I was conditioned to fly.
Plus, I often flew home to see my parents in St. Louis, and SW has a hub there out of Lambert.
Finally, I have a solid ability to turn off/tone out bullshit and stupid stuff. SW does some really stupid shit, but only once couldn’t I turn it off and I got mad. That was coming home one X-Mas eve and they tried to get the entire plane to sing Christmas songs.
I was like WTF are you doing, bring me drinks, drinks, drinks if this is going to continue for another split second. It did. The one time I got off a plane thinking of getting on another one with a bomb.
opiejeanne
@efgoldman: That worked for us on the trip I just mentioned. We stayed in Minneapolis for a couple of days, took in a ball game, rode the streetcar back and forth, then picked up a rental car in town. It was a little bit of a hike from the nearest station but only because we hadn’t been there before. When we dropped it off after the trip to Madison and back, the guy was nice enough to drop us at the airport. I think he was a little bored.
Svensker
Happy to see you posting here, Sooner. Hope things are going in the right direction for you — your weight sounds great! And cigs, too! Cigs are really hard to quit when you’re undergoing depression/anxiety issues, such good self-medication they are.
Continued good wishes for you.
J R in WV
Sooner,
Glad to see a post from you that sounds like things are beginning to be more normal for you. Hope the weather hold out for your family, and that you keep up the good work on weight and smoking.
So glad I never got hooked on tobacco, would have been horrible. My Mom was unable to quit until a doctor told her she wouldn’t make it through the winter if she didn’t quit. It he lped her make it for 8 or 10 more years, so that was good.
Hang in there, man. You can do it, just hang on!
JR
opiejeanne
@Tommy: Um, don’t mention “bomb” and airplane in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Ever.
We used to fly Southwest in the 90s a lot because we lived in the SF east bay area and all of our family lived in SoCal. Back then it was about $90-$100 per ticket and they were still doing the “buddy” fares, two for the price of one. It was like getting on a bus, and I think it was referred to by more than one wit as “cattle car” flights.
Nowadays their prices don’t seem so swell, and to tell you the truth, Jet Blue never tacks on baggage fees (unless they’ve just started doing that within the last three months). The other thing is that they have individual tv screens for every seat on the plane and they will sell you a set of earphones for $2 if you need them, but half the time they just give them away if there is any delay at takeoff. We watched a playoff game between the Yankees and the Angels on a flight home from DC on Jet Blue and it was hilarious because there were a handful of Yankees fans including one of the flight attendants (but she couldn’t name three players on her favorite team, so pfft) and the rest were Angels fans flying home to Long Beach, CA. That was enormous fun. It was a noisy flight, and it ended just as we were landing.
opiejeanne
Sooner, so glad to see your post. Stay dry and safe, and all the best wishes from us to you.
Brachiator
Good to see your post, Sooner, even if the weather is crappy.
Tommy
@opiejeanne: I diagree you on the first part, words can be in a sentence. Bomb and plane.
aj
Sooner I’m really glad to hear your update. Seems like you’re doing ok, and I love that. You’ve been in my thoughts. Based on your past posts it seems like we’ve been in some similar (mental, emotional) terrain, and I was hoping you had some good days. Sending all my good wishes for more good ones, one day at a time.
Karen in GA
Good to see you back here, Sooner. Stay safe.
Glidwrith
@ruemara: I’ve always been told to get tickets three months out because they go up in price from that point. The airlines will also put cookies on your computer when you run price comparisons and when you return to buy your ticket the bastards will tack on another $50 or so.
That being said, if you own a car it might be a lot less expensive to just drive down. San Diego does not have a public transit system to speak of unless you want to spend 3+ hours getting from here to there.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Glad to see you well, sooner. I’d suggest leaving the beer in the fridge. Just me, though.
Felonius Monk
Was out most of the day and didn’t see this post until a few minutes ago. Good to hear from you, Sooner. Stay safe and dry. Best wishes.
The Gray Adder
Down to 261? I don’t know from what, but that’s great. I’m kind of stuck at 261. Last weekend’s bowling outing certainly didn’t help. You know, get a bunch of Legionnaires together out of town with no spousal supervision, and, well, beers were drunk, country fried steak was eaten, etc. And we threw a few lines of mediocre bowling.