Tulsa, Oklahoma

TULSA is quite the metropolitan destination and the airport fit right in. I arrived right on time (yay) and quickly met up with keli's parents. we had about 30 minutes to kill until keli landed, so we wandered around and quickly stumbled across this vending machine. i had to take a picture of course....have you EVER seen this? it delivers piping hot food right to you?! i didn't know whether to be grossed out or totally in love.

has anyone tried one of these before? i'm curious how they heat it all up and deliver it at the perfect temperature? i would have tried myself, but this one was out of order, and i didn't discover there was another one there until too late. sad. maybe next year i'll try it!

the week in oklahoma (at keli's family lakehouse) was great! lots of sun, reading, relaxing, beerade, and fun.

let's fast forward to the departure from tulsa....

so...we were flying out on monday afternoon (keli to DC, and me to Chicago). when we came in from the lake to shower and clean up, i notice i have like 3 missed calls and voicemails from united. bad sign. the first one says my flight is delayed, the 2nd one says my flight is actually cancelled, and the 3rd one is a nice friendly man at the tulsa airport telling me my options. he has rebooked me on a 2pm flight (my flight was at 5 originally), and says the 2pm is already so delayed that even if i arrive at 4...i'll get on it fine. so...ok. nothing to worry about? sounds like i'm all set! great!

we arrive at the airport, keli leaves right on time, and i realize my flight (the 2pm) is now delayed until 7-something. so i go have some food (not the tyson machine), and hang out and read. then i notice its delayed more. apparently (i had no idea) the worst storm in years was pummeling chicago (ie - when i was talking to my friend on the phone...the tornado sirens were all going off downtown, they evacuated wrigley field, trees blowing down all over town, etc....very bad). needless to say, total ground stop in effect.

i honestly have no idea how i killed time - i think i have purged this memory from my mind. all of a sudden, it's 9. we board the plane, back up, and start taxiing. ohhhhhhhhhhh wait...not so fast....captain comes on the horn says ground stop is back in effect, we're going back to the gate. at this point, i would have rather just sat on the plane, as tiny and squished as it was. but that wasn't an option. so back to the gate we go....back to the bar i go. i needed a beer. badly.

finally, we end up leaving at like 1130 or so. the flight was so scary...i have never seen lightning like that. it was just constant. not flashes, but like the lights were on up in the sky. spooky!

so...we land, the cab line is of course a total hell hole (and sorry...i know i'm trying to be fiscally responsible here, but....im not taking the el home at 2am...no way jose). so the cabbie turns onto my street, and it's like we're staring straight into hell. there are trees (big ones...whole entire trees, not little wimpy branches) all in my street...and not a light in sight. that's right folks, no power. (note - the power didn't come back on until WEDNESDAY...which for those of you who can add well....that's 3 days of no power). so i have to use my cell phone like a flashlight to go up my stairs (and most of you know that i'm like the biggest scaredy cat wussy in the WORLD about the dark). then i walk into my spooky pitch dark apartment and crash. the cabbie nicely offered to walk me up to my place....um, pass.

so tulsa....you were good to me during my delay. i think it's pretty weak that your only food-serving establishment closes at 630, but hey...i dont make the decisions. your bar stayed open later, which i appreciated. and your magazine store didn't dissapoint, even if the girl had no idea what she was doing and asked if 'details' was a book. and yes, i know details is for closeted gay men, but i wanted to read about james mcevoy. no dice.