All Posts Tagged With: "Edmond"

My oldest daughter attends one of Edmond’s three high schools. In general, we like her school, most of her teachers and her academic success there. Yet, there are some things that don’t always set well with me (as would be the case in just about any circumstance, I suppose).

Over the weekend, she was telling us about a substitute teacher she had in a couple of her classes on Friday. The curriculum for the day was apparently Mauri Povich during one class period and Divorce Court in another class period. For the students, this was entertaining, especially when the substitute talked back to the TV during Divorce Court. But, as you might imagine, to parents like us, such information raised eyebrows — or in my case, an exclamation of “WHAT?!?”

I’m glad that my daughter wasn’t in that substitute’s class during the Jerry Springer Show! While I will admit that these trash TV shows can be entertaining and that I’ve indulged in viewing a few times, they certainly don’t seem like the type of educational programming one would expect from a higher-caliber high school. It begs the question, is this a common practice? Are the substitute teachers not given guidance and/or plans for the classes their substituting for?

At one time or another, my father, my mother and my brother have all substituted in the middle and high school levels. I know the challenges that they face and I know that I wouldn’t want to do it. But that doesn’t excuse the schools’ responsibility to know what’s going on in their classrooms.

Don’t the schools owe the students a better education than Mauri Povich, Divorce Court or Jerry Springer — even if it is a substitute teacher? As a parent and as a taxpayer, I would most certainly expect more.

3:44pm, Fast Lane, Edmond
My van rolls through the drive through car wash at the Fast Lane on Broadway in Edmond, getting a long overdue cleaning after getting a long overdue oil change — all made possible by an early end to my work day.

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* Taken with my iPhone

I was pleased to come across this article this morning on NewsOK.com:

EDMOND — Two national studies released in the past month gave high marks for Edmond Electric’s wind energy program and for the utility’s overall quality of service.

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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory rankings, released in late April, lists Edmond Electric’s Pure & Simple wind power program at No.1 in “green power sales as a percentage of total utility retail electricity sales” and as having “the lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources.”

The laboratory’s report says Edmond Electric is one of 800 utilities across the country offering customers an option to buy renewable energy from sources such as solar and wind.

When Edmond Electric launched this renewable energy program a few years ago, our family was among the first to sign up. Customers can choose a fixed number of Pure & Simple blocks (100 kWh each) or choose the 100% Pure & Simple option. (We signed up for the 100% option) It only costs an additional 9¢ per 100 kilowatt hour, a very small price to pay to utilize a renewable, pure and non-polluting energy resource — wind, which is something we have a lot of here in Oklahoma. We actually have received tax credits that offset part or most of the increased cost. And, with our installation of a programmable thermostat more than a year ago, our electricity costs have actually gone down!

Something else I learned from this article is that our family is in good company. Edmond Electric’s largest wind power subscriber is the University of Central Oklahoma, which buys 100 percent of its electricity from the Pure & Simple program — impressive!

I’m grateful and proud of our utility company for being on the forefront of offering renewable energy options to its customers. “Going green” is not only good for the environment; it’s also good for the soul!

I had great plans to take pictures of Karla and I’s trip to the Edmond Farmers’ Market today, but I was just too lazy this morning to do it. It’s been a very tiring week, so I’ve been moving pretty slow so far today. But there’s really no need for me to rush or over exert myself today — it’s Saturday!

The girls went to the zoo with their uncle and toddler cousin this morning, so Karla and I were on our own, which has been fun. We went food shopping at the Farmers’ Market and then finished up at Wal-Mart — yes, I’m shopping at Wal-Mart again after a 3-year boycott (but that’s for another post, should I decide to share more). We also stopped by a specialty store to pick up a couple of adult beverage items for this evening’s family cookout.

We’re about to head out again to grab some lunch, get our hair done (both of us!) and pick up a couple more items for this evening. Then we’ll come back home and start working on our outdoor-indoor, family cookout party with home-made tropical drinks, masterfully made by yours truly, and pretend we’re on the beach of our favorite island — Cozumel — having “Cheeseburgers in Paradise”!

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The first part of this blog’s name/title is about “who.” The second part is about “what” the “who” is doing. And the final part is about “where” the “who” is doing the “what” and the “where” is…

“…in Oklahoma”

That’s where I live. It’s a state that I’ve fallen in love with. It’s a place that I am (generally) proud to call home (except for those times when the most ignorant side of our state gets national exposure).

I’m a transplant to Oklahoma. My family moved to Altus in 1986 right at the start of my senior year in high school. We didn’t know what to expect at the time. When we heard we were moving to Oklahoma, we were deflated. “What’s in Oklahoma? Where is Oklahoma?” We had very low expectations about the state we were being assigned to. An Air Force officer at the base my dad was being stationed told us before we moved to appreciate and remember the trees where we were living at the time because there weren’t any in Oklahoma. Well, it was an exaggeration obviously, but he wasn’t too far off in Altus (located in the far southwestern part of the state).

Two things we noticed right off when we traveled through Oklahoma (literally from the northeastern corner, driving down I-44 through Miami (Mi-a-muh, as I’ve been repeatedly reminded by native Oklahomans), Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lawton and then straight west to Altus.

1. Red dirt — and I mean RED dirt. That was the first time we had ever seen red dirt. Dirt is supposed to be brown or black, right? That’s all we’d ever seen… before coming to the red earth state.
2. Big sky. The sky seems so much bigger in Oklahoma than just about anywhere else* we lived previously, especially the farther west you go in the state. On a clear day in Altus, the sky was/is an awesome shade of blue that stretches from horizon to horizon and it seems so incredibly big. I can’t emphasize that enough. I know that other western states have similar views, but this was the first time I had noticed it and it was amazing. (*The exception would be when we lived in far western Kansas, but it still didn’t seem as big, but maybe I just wasn’t noticing and appreciating it at the time.)
   

I’ve lived here for more than two decades since and I have truly grown to love this state. There is an unquantifiable je ne sais quoi that makes it difficult to describe to outsiders what makes this state so endearing to those who call this place home.

There’s a natural beauty to the state (that some people don’t or choose not to see); Oklahoma promotes itself as having the most diverse ecological landscapes within its borders than any other state. Certainly, if you travel from northeastern Oklahoma to southwestern Oklahoma, you’ll notice a distinct difference; and if you travel between southeastern Oklahoma to northwestern Oklahoma, you’ll find an even more stark contrast.

More than any other state that I’ve lived in, this state has a spirit — the “Oklahoma Spirit” that locals like to brag about — that binds it together, that rallies its citizenry together in times of tragedy and need, and that rises above the distinct (and sometimes quite partisan) differences among its people.

I’ve lived in several other states: Florida, Texas (far southern part along the coast), Virginia, South Carolina, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. They each have qualities I like about them, especially Florida. But none of them is like Oklahoma. And this is where I want to live. And this is the place I am proud to call home.

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So, now you know “what’s in a name” when it comes to this blog. It boils down to this: This blog is about who I am, about what I’m doing and about where I’m doing it. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.