Work

What a LONG day!  One of the reasons I was able to sneak off from Houston a little early was that one of my colleagues (bosses, to be more accurate) from London had scheduled appointments at Vintage in Tulsa and Phillips in Bartlesville for today that might benefit from my presence.  Plus, I was able to drive.  In total, I logged about 210 miles from my home in Pawhuska to the hotel in Tulsa to pick up Susan, to Vintage, to Bartlesville and Phillips, back to Tulsa to the hotel, and then to Pawhuska.  The meetings went quite well, however, and I had quite nice conversation with Susan.  It was nice to share some of "my" home with someone from another continent.  And despite it turning quite chilly, it was really quite pleasant driving.  A real winner overall.  Unfortunately, I did not have time to show Susan the sculpture at Oral Roberts University.  Next time.

In the evening, I took Callie to experience something that is a little different for most big city people, I would wager.  Despite the near-freezing temps (and wind gusts) we went out for Friday night football in Pawhuska, my hometown of maybe 2000 people these days.  I had told Callie to expect a packed house, because football in small-town Oklahoma (and Texas) is a tremendous social force, the one thing that draws out the rich and the poor, the laborers and the skilled, people of all colors and all ages with a common cause:  to root for the local team.  I had heard what a good job the relatively new coach in Pawhuska had been doing, and I was impressed with the effort and with the turnout on a cold night.  The eighth (?) ranked Pawhuska Huskies rolled their opponent, leading by several touchdowns at halftime when we decided to get out of the cold and go home.  Their fundamentals were amazingly sound for a high school team -- good technique blocking and tackling, and excellent team tackling on defense.  Coaching does make a difference, whether it's high school or college (John Blake versus Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, anyone?).  

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