My son is graduating high school today. All three high schools in the Moore Public Schools system are graduating with the ceremonies at the Cox Convention Center in downtown OKC. There was some speculation that they would cancel the ceremony what with all the recent unpleasantness, but it was decided that the event was going on because the venue was undamaged (being several miles from the damage path) and that the kids had worked for it, and everybody needed it. Several of the kids, including some of my son’s friends, are homeless right now.
Using this page from KFOR, the local NBC affiliate, you can slide a bar back and forth over before and after pictures of Moore and South OKC.
After the graduation event, we’re going over to a friend’s house to help him get as much stuff out of the house as we can. His house was pushed off the foundation about a foot, so the house is unlivable. Then we’re grilling tonight, and tomorrow we’re working on getting our own stuff moved in and put away, so you won’t see me around these parts for a while. I’ve given John a couple of alternate ways to get hold of me if something else happens, so I won’t leave you guys hanging again. Have a great weekend, and please, if you’re an American, take a moment to remember those who have fallen in the service. Thanks.
HinTN
Amen, brother. It’s all good.
BGinCHI
Best to your boy on his graduation day and good luck with the move.
Hoping you all have quiet weather for a good long time.
max
My son is graduating high school today.
Congrats to the young gentlemen.
His house was pushed off the foundation about a foot, so the house is unlivable.
That’s got to suck: the house is right there, intact, and yet totally unusable. Feh. (I rather gather the builders didn’t bolt it to the foundation. Bad framers, bad framers. {whap with a rolled up newspaper})
please, if you’re an American, take a moment to remember those who have fallen in the service.
I usually observe that sort of thing on 11/11.
max
[‘Have a good weekend dude.’]
Tom levenson
Congratulations to Sooner Minor!
Take your time; cherish your people. Most important, let your people cherish you.
BGinCHI
@Tom levenson: I just told Mrs. BG to get busy cherishing me but she just waved her empty coffee cup at me.
I think I’m doing it wrong.
satby
Congrats to the grad and his proud family!
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: She didn’t throw it at you so you could consider it to be a form of cherishing.
Another Halocene Human
Congratulations to your son. Sometimes it just feels like the foundations to your world moved when you graduate from public school, but in his case, it actually did!
Maude
Let us know when you are moved in and all the irritating details of the move.
It’s 48 here and windy. Chilly.
Omnes Omnibus
Congrats to Soonerkid.
dmsilev
@BGinCHI: I think that means “give me more coffee”.
Gin & Tonic
@BGinCHI: Refill it for her, that’s Step 1 in the program.
Gin & Tonic
@BGinCHI: Refill it for her, that’s Step 1 in the program.
mai naem
congrats to the graduate.
Rosalita
Congrats to your son and your family. I’m glad the graduation is going on as planned, as you said, a little bit of normalcy can only help in the wake of all the difficulty out there. Thinking of you.
Betty Cracker
Many congrats and best wishes to Sooner the Younger! You’re a good man to assist your friend with recovery on such an auspicious day.
Another Halocene Human
Okay, so I hope this isn’t too soon or anything because it does say open thread, but my loathing for Star Trek Into Darkness just grows every day since I’ve seen it. I feel like I got tricked into seeing a shit movie that doesn’t even merit Saturday afternoon on TV with multiple commercial breaks.
Seriously, I just saw an ad about how this movie was #1 off the weekend, which is a meaningless stat. Better to see how fast it drops off. My brother copped to seeing it twice but it was something about having prior agreed yadda yadda and even though he has less experience with bad movies he said it really fell apart on second viewing. #1 hit movie, more like #1 shit movie. It’s okay, though, I think Abrams on Star Wars will be an improvement. Bring it on. Maybe they will then let Joss Whedon write STAR TREK. Orci and Kurtzmann, the geeniuses behind TRANSFORMERS can go to hell. They’re better than STID but they just don’t care.
Look, people make fun of Jerry Bruckheimer, but the first PIRATES movie was fun, had a good STORY, character development … yeah, what was that? A STORY? Nobody said a movie had to have that, right?
So anyway, would anybody recommend Fast & Furious 6? Looks okay from the trailer, but the trailer is a little rushed which could mean it’s slapdash and boring. It got my attention with two chicks fighting, for real, not SNL style, I’m down with that. Is it a nice adrenaline rush?
I liked Skyfall, the Transporter, if that helps. I even liked Crash.
PS: When Shonda Rhimes makes a movie, I will be down.
BGinCHI
@Gin & Tonic: I did. I think she’s cherishing me now.
Seriously, all, counting my blessings to have a great marriage (5 years this past week) and a healthy kid.
JPL
Congrats to all of you! It’s nice to know that the community and the school system decided to go on with the graduation ceremony. When you are able to post again, we’ll welcome you with open arms.
Rosalita
@Maude:
Is this nuts or what? It’s 41 here (CT) and I just turned the heat back on.
mai naem
OT I’ve been watching elephants at Kruger National Park in SA in real time last night/this morning -http://www.africam.com/wildlife/tembe_webcam
Anyhow, there’s what i think is an adolescent male elephant who’s being aggressive, I think he’s – ahem – sexually unfulfilled – the other elephants seem to be in a clique and are kind of excluding him because of his behavior. I don’t know crap about elephant behavior except what I remember from watching PBS docs. but anyway this elephant reminded me of Ted Cruz so I’ve been calling referring to him as McCarthy.
SiubhanDuinne
Congratulations to the Gruntlet and all his classmates. If he’s anything like his dad, he’s already a mensch.
jeffreyw
Cookie setter [new phone]
big ole hound
Years ago I was involved in a smaller disaster. The graduation went on and helped everyone. All the cliques and animosities fell away and we all bonded to the point that reunions are very well attended.
Higgs Boson's Mate
How wonderfully human to go through with a graduation ceremony in the aftermath.Courage is courage.
In addition to the very estimable Sooner’s reminder to honor the fallen I would ask you to send some random good thoughts to those of us who were with those who fell.
Walker
@Another Halocene Human:
I saw it this week, and the problem with this movie is very clear: if you had never seen old Trek, would you have any clue about <redacted>’s motivation? Indeed, the extreme antagonism between Kirk and this character in the original series is because of an event that never even happened in the new timeline. If you had never seen the old series, you could easily convince yourself that this guy was just a desperate guy who had been wronged, and Kirk and Spock were just assholes.
JPL
@Rosalita: My goal has always been to have a month where I don’t run the heat or air conditioning in the spring. Even though I live outside Atlanta, it will be tough to accomplish that this year. This weekend weather has been beautiful though. It’s sixty now and only suppose to be in the high seventies.
gogol's wife
@Rosalita:
We’re having Reunion and Commencement weekend. I have no idea what to wear to receptions to which I usually wear some light cotton dress. I feel terrible for all the parents and grandparents who probably didn’t bring warm enough clothing (it was rather hot yesterday). Then it will go back to being beautiful Monday after everyone’s gone.
ETA: Congratulations, Soonergrunt!
gogol's wife
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Will do. My favorite commenters on this blog are the veterans, hands down.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: How many work days are left until your retirement? I’d love to hear about your plans when you have the opportunity.
hildebrand
Driving my mother-in-law back to the midwest this weekend (from Deep South Texas to Michigan). Hoping for an uneventful trip.
hildebrand
Ah, and congratulations to the Sooner issue on his graduation.
Chris
@Another Halocene Human:
I liked the Pirates series just because I found it refreshingly original in a decade dominated by sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes and adaptations.
(Yes, I know Pirates was based on a Disneyland ride. But the Disneyland ride didn’t contribute the established characters, the storylines, the MacGuffins, etc. Aside from “they’re pirates and they’re in the Caribbean,” they pretty much built the franchise from scratch).
Johannes
Many congrats, Soonergrunt and Soonerson!
As to ST:ID, I enjoyed the movie, but hey, tastes differ. But I do think it made sense. The antagonism between [redacted] and Kirk was based here on the deaths of those killed in the movie by desperate but barbaric Benedict Cumberbatch, including someone very close to Kirk, his mentor. Note that getting Kirk isn’t that big a deal to Benedict Cumberbatch (ok, his character, but it’s less amusing to write redacted); it’s a casual act of brutality against a fleet that has abused him, and more to the point, BC assumes that Kirk meant it when he said that Kirk would, upon completion of their mutual aim, go after BC. So, yeah, kill him, BC thinks, cause this guy isn’t your average Prime Directive Starfleet peacenik. Now killing Spock and lots of others becomes critical, but only when BC thinks he’s lost everything due to that pesky Vulcan.
Johannes
Many congrats, Soonergrunt and Soonerson!
As to ST:ID, I enjoyed the movie, but hey, tastes differ. But I do think it made sense. The antagonism between [redacted] and Kirk was based here on the deaths of those killed in the movie by desperate but barbaric Benedict Cumberbatch, including someone very close to Kirk, his mentor. Note that getting Kirk isn’t that big a deal to Benedict Cumberbatch (ok, his character, but it’s less amusing to write redacted); it’s a casual act of brutality against a fleet that has abused him, and more to the point, BC assumes that Kirk meant it when he said that Kirk would, upon completion of their mutual aim, go after BC. So, yeah, kill him, BC thinks, cause this guy isn’t your average Prime Directive Starfleet peacenik. Now killing Spock and lots of others becomes critical, but only when BC thinks he’s lost everything due to that pesky Vulcan.
Johannes
Many congrats, Soonergrunt and Soonerson!
As to ST:ID, I enjoyed the movie, but hey, tastes differ. But I do think it made sense. The antagonism between [redacted] and Kirk was based here on the deaths of those killed in the movie by desperate but barbaric Benedict Cumberbatch, including someone very close to Kirk, his mentor. Note that getting Kirk isn’t that big a deal to Benedict Cumberbatch (ok, his character, but it’s less amusing to write redacted); it’s a casual act of brutality against a fleet that has abused him, and more to the point, BC assumes that Kirk meant it when he said that Kirk would, upon completion of their mutual aim, go after BC. So, yeah, kill him, BC thinks, cause this guy isn’t your average Prime Directive Starfleet peacenik. Now killing Spock and lots of others becomes critical, but only when BC thinks he’s lost everything due to that pesky Vulcan.
Chris
@Walker:
I was pretty disappointed that they chose to remake him when there are so many other villains-of-the-week in TOS and certainly some of them were worth bringing to the big screen. Kodos the Executioner and Garth of Izar are two that I wouldn’t mind seeing developed.
Svensker
Congratulations and blessings to all. And kind, gentle weather!
Rosalita
@JPL:
I lived in Dunwoody, and then Duluth for a total of four years before returning to yankee country… prettiest spring ever in Atlanta!
geg6
Congrats to Sooner Son and here’s hoping some normalcy helps your community’s morale.
Cold as hell here this morning and I hope the garden survived. My sister is having an anniversary party on Sunday and I’m hoping some old friends who are now scattered across the country have made it into town to come to the party. This is sister’s fourth marriage, so I am cynical about the anniversary part (though I hope it works this time), but seeing our far flung friends will be awesome. If they all made it, we’ll have people from CA, LA, TX, FL and HI, none of whom have been together all at once in almost 30 years. Looking forward to that a lot!
catclub
Is there a way to adjust the width of the columns in the BJ pages. With all the discussion of the new site, I hope that is possible. I want the center column wider.
The answer “Get a wider monitor” is being considered, but is not my first choice.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@catclub: actually, the columns were wider in the initial redesign. As someone who reads on a 13″ laptop, I appreciate the accommodation to those of us with smaller monitors.
Congrats on the graduation, SG.
Also, Heywood J mentioned a couple of e-books in the last open thread, but I can’t get either of the titles on his blog to click to go download the books. If he’s around, please advise on how to download. kthxbai
Elizabelle
Congrats to SoonerGrad and his classmates.
What are those left homeless doing? Living w relatives? Hotels?
Shortstop
@mai naem: @catclub: Can’t get the cam to work on my phone just now for some reason, but sounds like that’s a breeding herd (all adult females plus youngsters both male and female). Males leave the herd when they get old enough and go out on their own, sometimes hanging with other males, and visiting the breeding herds only for boo-tay. Sounds like this dude (males have longer tusks than females, if you can see them) is either visiting for some lovin’ or, if he’s just reaching breeding age, is getting ready to leave his family herd and go out into the world.
Fun fact: We were really, truly charged by a breeding herd in January. We were far away from them and being perfectly respectful, but the matriarch was skittish that evening. Felt like that T-Rex scene in Jurassic Park where you’re praying the vehicle doesn’t stall.
Todd
@Johannes:
My thought is that old Spock is just being a flip-flopping asshole about info sharing from his somewhat different timeline in the multiverse. He is in a dramatically altered new timeline and there is nothing to lose.
IIRC, he has loads of info – the existence of the Borg, the giant amoeba, VGer, that cornucopia thing, the genesis of the Klingon civil war, the big explosion on that Klingon moon, the stellar instability of Romulus, knowledge of the Dominion and the Bajoran wormhole. There’s lots of goodies that could be traded for peace in the Alpha Quadrant.
And he’s going to sit on all of it, like an asshole.
Todd
@Chris:
How about a crossover with the carrot guy from Lost in Space?
Shortstop
@Shortstop: sorry, catclub,
didn’t mean to respond to you in there. Man, I miss mobile editing here.
JCT
Best wises to you and your young man, Sooner. Many new beginnings for everyone. At times like this it is best to keep eyes forward and go.
I am flying back to NYC this weekend to hood one of my graduate students, one of my favorite things in the world. This is #7 !
Shortstop
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Thank you for mentioning this. What my father saw in Korea has had a permanent, tangible effect on the rest of his life, and soldiers weren’t treated for PTSD then, just sent home and told to deal. The waste of war in all its forms is much on my mind lately.
Thanks and best wishes to all who served and all who survived war and weather.
Mary G
Congratulations to your son, thank you for your service, and God forbid you are in another tornado or other disaster, but thanks for giving John your contact info. I was absurdly worried about someone I have never met and was sure your house would be flattened just as you were ready to move in. Also glad you are getting a shelter.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Thanks for asking! My official retirement date is June 30, but I have such a lot of leave accumulated that I’m taking almost three weeks in June to drive to Ohio (memorial service for a friend who died in February but wanted to have her life celebrated “on a summer day in a garden”) and Michigan (see a number of friends from when I lived there and visit another friend who’s fighting brain cancer), and then head over to Ontario to spend time with my cousins. They live in Owen Sound, on the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. Lovely area. Then I will drive back in time for the last week of June to deal with final paperwork and enjoy the staff party in my honour :-)
Post-retirement plans are fluid, but will involve plenty of traveling, reading, volunteering, and probably doing more cooking than I’ve had the energy or interest to do lately. Let’s find a time to get together and catch up. I’d love to see you!
StringOnAStick
HEYWOOD J! Dude, would love to download your guitar books, but the link doesn’t work and I don’t know your name as an author. Lots of us here are ready and willing to up your download stats, we just need an assist.
schrodinger's cat
Congratulations Sooner Jr. Going Star Trek, dinner at an Indian restaurant, that I have heard lots of good things about then getting together with some folks who work in the husband kitteh’s lab for drinks.
Another Halocene Human
@Todd: Garth of Izar would have fit their comic book villain theme. Hehe Marta hehe.
Another Halocene Human
@Todd: Seriously, he could have fed info to some carefully picked Starfleet admirals (after all, he already knows which ones have personality disorders and which ones can be trusted, and which ones ought to have freak accidents occur to them which can never, ever be traced, lol) and totally changed the direction of Federation policy but chose not to. Given that Vulcan was blown up in 10 billion divided by 3000 equals 3 million 9/11’s, I think the citizens of the Federation would probably be handing their government and military a pretty fucking blank check at this point.
But that would, like, make sense. Instead it’s some sort of mark-missing attempt at ? fan service? Quinto and Nimoy like each other. I get it. So do some tv appearances or something. That scene was stupid.
YellowJournalism
Congrats to Soonergraduate!
Another Halocene Human
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): Why can’t the width adjust to the size of your browser screen? Meh.
Johannes
@Todd: I have to admit, I find that persuasive. Spock: At the end, so at the beginning–contorting himself to comply with an impracticable over-determined logical position. At least he has the grace to bend here . “All the same,…”
Ah, well.
Another Halocene Human
@Chris: Yes, Pirates was original, which was really nice. But it also had a good story, which seems to be lacking from blockbusters today. Almost like an 80s movie, Pirates had characters that I started to root for by the end of the movie and I was satisfied with their accomplishments by the rather predictable happy ending.
STAR WARS (1977) was like that too. Less predictable, actually. Ha, just remembered that because after watching it so many times I sort of forgot that there’s kind of a big twist in that movie … not an insane twist … but you don’t see it coming.
lojasmo
Congratulations to SoonerSon.
Lunch with the wife, the STITD. LojasBoy is out summer skiing. I don’t get it, but…bhgaveter.
Another Halocene Human
If you had never seen the old series, you could easily convince yourself that this guy was just a desperate guy who had been wronged, and Kirk and Spock were just assholes.
@Walker: They’re not?
He who apparently Shall Not Be Named is bad because he killed a bunch of people but the people are faceless bureaucrats so it’s okay, he can be rehabilitated. IDK, the movie is so deeply confused that you can’t even talk about what happens in a coherent way.
I don’t know why we aren’t saying the character’s name since everybody, their brother, and presumably Racebending has been talking trash about it since casting was announced.
Also, not Cumberbatch’s best performance.
I really liked him in Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. I wanted to like Sherlock but the producers pissed me off with that Sinophobia stuff and I haven’t seen past season 1 as a result.
Another Halocene Human
@Johannes: Wow, if Kirk told Spock his life philosophy was over-determined, would his head explode in the biological analogue to all those androids Kirk smoked with his old “Everything I say is a lie” trick?
ETA: just remembered that Spock, I think it was STVI, could have been on TNG, states that’s there’s more to life than logic, possible admission that he’s given up since he got kicked out of Vulcan monk school in the 1970s and is just making it up as he goes along?
Ha ha I love Memory Alpha.
Suzanne
Congratulations to Sooner the Younger. I’m holding your community in my heart and my thoughts, for whatever that’s worth.
Yatsuno
WOOT to the SoonerSon!
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@Another Halocene Human: It *can*, but apparently it is beyond mistermix’s capabilities, especially with the three-column format, which is a bitch.
Mnemosyne
@max:
You’ve got it backwards: Memorial Day is for those who died in the war, Veterans Day is for those who survived the war.
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
See if your browser has a “Zoom Text Only” option — that allowed me to make the center column wider and more legible.
Johannes
@Another Halocene Human: “Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris.” Yeah, somebody needs to remind himself…
Steeplejack
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
Adblock Plus blocks the Amazon links because they are ads.
Links for Heywood J.’s books:
Practice Power: Secrets to Practicing and Playing Amazing Guitar.
Climbing the K2: Kreutzer Etude No. 2.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Y
Right you are. Unless you’re in a Commonwealth county (FTR, I have no idea where Max lives) in which case 11/11 or nearest Sunday is Remembrance Day (i.e., war dead).
LevelB
Congratulations! My son graduated today as well. Great feeling.
Ruckus
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
One of the guys at work told me to have a good weekend and that memorial day was my day. Had to remind him that I get veterans day and that memorial day was for the people that died in the military. But then I wasn’t being shot at and watching my friends die so maybe you might have something here.
Debbie(aussie)
Congrats to your son. Best wishes to your friends. For your family; moving= fun;). Take care.
Soonergrunt
@Elizabelle: Some of them are in hotels, some have already been moved into apartments or rental houses by either FEMA or their insurance company, some are crashing with friends.
JC Penney’s was at the convention center with racks of nice clothes–any graduate who showed up was guaranteed nice clothes to wear and keep free of charge. Same for their families.
The company that made the gowns and mortarboards was there with a truckload of the different ensembles for each school–the whole shooting match–tassels, honor cords, everything. If a grad needed it, she got it, free of charge.