September 24, 2017 Like most of the U.S. (of a certain age anyway), I’m slogging my way through Ken Burns’ Vietnam on PBS. Since I was a youngster back then, it’s been educational to fill in the blanks of my memory on the War that Won’t Go Away. I’ve been relearning the terms “Viet Minh,” …
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September 21, 2017 It’s nothing new to report that the state of Oklahoma is 48th in education outcomes. As our legislature continues to dither and waffle about whether they want to out-Brownback Kansas by being the new example of a failed state economy, Oklahoma educators vote with their feet — teachers move just across the…
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When I was a Business Administration student (and Organizational Behavior in particular), we were taught about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Some of which might actually be appropriate…I’ll not bore you with the whole thing, but the essence is that people have to have their basic needs (food) met before they can move up to safety…
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Tomorrow is the Tulsa Area United Way’s 26th Day of Caring: a chance for more than 5,000 volunteers to fan out across the Tulsa area to work on approx. 350 community service projects. It’s kind of a big deal — Tulsa has one of the oldest and largest Days of Caring in the country, which…
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August 25, 2017 Okay: you can say I told you so. Since July 5th this year I’ve been “on call” with the US District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma. Every Friday after 5:00 pm (all Summer) my ritual has been to log on to their eJuror site to see if I had to report the…
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July 31, 2017 There are things, like drinking to excess, that one does and, while you’re in the throes of worshipping at the shrine of the Porcelain God, your brain goes: “Right! NOW I REMEMBER why I haven’t done this in a decade…” I had the same experience over the weekend trying to move my…
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I love my Dyson vacuum. It’s a DC14 Animal, and I regularly take it apart and put it in the dishwasher by itself to clean every cyclonic chamber and HEPA filter. I always say: “I like things that just WORK.” With proper maintenance and care, this thing does. It’s 11 years old now and still…
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Last week, my daughter participated in the Tulsa STEM Alliance’s “Code of their Own” camp, at the Tulsa City-County Library downtown. Sidebar: if you’ve not ventured down to the new remodeled library yet, you owe it to yourself to visit. I used to spend a lot of time there doing research on the 3rd floor,…
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OR: “What’s a Community-minded techie to do?” Yesterday I had the opportunity to go meet with a roomful of new IT folk (developers mostly) at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma about the many ways they can contribute to the life of the community through tech service. BCBSOK has been a great partner to us…
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We all have competing demands for our time and resources. After the basics of food, shelter and education for our families we’re involved in things to better our world — volunteering and giving to nonprofits and/or to our church. In this way we can all “do good” in our community in ways big and small.…