Okie(s) in Florida

• Preaching for Profit

“Preaching mostly to a low-income following, the Hallandale Beach-based evangelist has raised millions of dollars through services and crusades in South Florida and across the country.

Former followers say the only one who seemed to attain wealth was the preacher.”

• Mike Koehler and John Helsley discuss OU & OSU baseball.

Yes, OU still sucks.

• Squirrel love

“Since the story appeared, I’ve been getting, unsolicited, a regular newsletter from, of all things, squirrel lovers. “In a Nutshell” is usually eight pages long, complete with photos and headlines such as: “Baldy and His Gang — Part 5″ ( a 1,200-word essay by a squirrel-feeding window washer charmed by a hoard of squirrels peering into his bucket). In the May/June issue the same author has a piece on his 1997 invitation to appear on the Rosie O’Donnell show to defend the honor of all squirrels, whom Rosie likened to “rats with too much hair” (a phrase she no doubt later employed in her feud with Donald Trump).”

After a very rough week, I’m so glad it’s Friday!

And we just might go snorkeling this weekend to boot. Doesn’t get any better than that, eh?

—kathryn

• “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against hippies really, it’s just their dancing. It’s worst than the skankiest of sorostitute grinding.”
• ” You can tell a lot about Oklahomans’ entertainment purchases from the trash cans…”
• “So, the city of North Lauderdale wants South Florida to split from the rest of the state.”
• “Mildred Jeter Loving, 68, a black woman whose refusal to accept Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1967 that struck down similar laws across the country, died of pneumonia Friday at her home in Milford, Va.”

My good friend Steve Lackmeyer brings up an interesting topic on his blog over at the NewsOK, the Web site of my former employer, The Oklahoman. The Lackman covers downtown Oklahoma City there, and I can’t think of another person who knows that town better than him.

Don’t believe me? Check out a book he co-wrote (he was supposed to hook me up with an autographed copy, but I’m still holding my breath) about the history of downtown Oklahoma City.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand.

Mass transit.

How can a metropolitan area of some 6 million people — Disclaimer: I don’t know the exact population of Palm, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and I’m too lazy to look it up tonight — have such awful mass transit?

We have Tri-Rail, which is a great service as long as you’re going somewhere along its strict north-south route.

Now if you are going somewhere in Miami, you can catch the dumpy, falling apart Metrorail from Tri-Rail. Metrorail’s dilapidated state reminds me of something you’d see in North Korea, where I think they use old cars built in East Germany decades ago and pass it off as “North Korean technology.”

Bonus: You can take these little mini-cars they call Metromover if you’re going somewhere downtown.

So what the hell is up with mass transit down here? Why am I required to take the bus if I want to go anywhere Tri-Rail doesn’t serve?

Note: Ft. Lauderdale apparently has this in the works. But not everyone is a fan.

“But a $150 million, 2.7-mile project such as this should be the last piece in our sprawling region’s mass transit puzzle, not one of the first.”

Mayo makes some other interesting points.

“Here’s what Broward residents need sooner: Rail transit routes going east-west along the Interstate 595 corridor and north-south on the Florida East Coast railway tracks along Dixie Highway.”

Now I’m not transportation planner, but my question is why a connection between the Tri-Rail station and downtown isn’t top on the list for any project. That’s the No. 1 deterrent that keeps me from riding Tri-Rail.

If you haven’t checked out the Sun-Sentinel’s worst album covers of all time feature, you should do it now. Right now.

“Called up the homies and I’m askin’ ya’ll

which court, are ya’ll playin’ basketball?

Get me on the court and I’m trouble

last week fucked around and got a triple-double

Freaking brothas everyway like M.J.

I can’t believe, today was a good day.” — Ice Cube

So I’ve spent the better of two weeks trying to learn a new skill for work. For most of the time, it seems like I’ve been stuck on the same concept, unable to get past what now turns out to be something I should’ve noticed right away. It went right by me, even as someone pointed me towards the Captain Obvious mistake.

Tonight, with me laying in bed with my laptop as Kathryn snoozes away, I finally came across an article that made it obvious to me what I was doing wrong. I think.

Assuming this is it — one of my tests seemed to work — it makes me feel like my time wasn’t wasted.

Today was a good day.

One thing I never thought about when I moved to Florida was the amount of time it seems to take to get anything delivered.

When I was in Oklahoma, we were basically in the middle part of the country for any company shipping anything. No matter which coast it was shipped from, east or west, goods found their way to my door in a couple days by ground.

But here that’s not the case. South Florida seems to be a long ways from everything.

I’ve ordered a few things online lately and it seems like everything is in California. So the goods have to travel all the way across the country.

For example, I have stuff coming from California that was shipped by ground on April 28.  It made it to Ft. Worth on Wednesday and I haven’t seen an update since from FedEx.

Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But enough of a deal to be an annoyance.

So this is the second installment of Okies with Hats. Today I give you Jerry Prather from Rogers Co.

So Kathryn and I have reserved seats for the Dave Matthews Band concert in West Palm Beach at the Cruzan come July 11. We’re also considering grabbing lawn tickets with some friends for the Saturday night concert.

Yes, I’m obsessed. But, for the record, not as much as my friend Allison, who has been known to travel to New York City to watch a DMB free concert.

So anyways, Kathryn said, “You’re going to know all the songs and I’m not going to know very many.” She’s trying. So I decided to put together an essential DMB listening guide for her. It includes the following (in no real order):

1) Pig — Before These Crowded Streets

2) Everyday (featuring Vusi Mahlasela) — live version from The Best of What’s Around, Vol. 1. 

3) Louisiana Bayou (with Robert Randolph) — live from The Best of What’s Around, Vol. 1.

4) Grey Street — Busted Stuff

5) Where Are You Going — Busted Stuff

6) You Never Know — Busted Stuff

7) Grace is Gone — Busted Stuff

Bartender — Busted Stuff

9) Don’t Drink the Water — Central Park Concert CD…Note: This is the only version of DDTW that I actually like. The studio version is kind of boring. But this one is awesome.

10) Crush — Central Park Concert CD.

11) Dancing Nancies — Central Park Concert CD.

12) Warehouse — Central Park Concert Cd.

13) The Idea of You — DMB Live Trax, from Fenway….Notes: I just picked up this CD not too long ago and am exploring it. However, I’ve heard this one several times and dig the shit out of it.

14) American Baby intro — DMB Live Trax, from Fenway…Notes: I think I like this more than the actual song!

15) The Space Between — Everyday

16) Work it out — DMB and Jurassic 5…

17) JTR — Lillywhite Sessions

18) #36 — Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95

19) Satellite — Remember Two Things

20) Steady as We Go — Stand Up

21) Dreamgirl — Stand Up

22) American Baby — Stand Up

23) Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd — Weekend on the Rocks

This list is subject to additions and subtractions as the author sees fit.

1) “He was driving on a runway at Miami International Airport.”

Dave Barry on bad drivers in south Florida.

2) Obama is apparently grandstanding “in front of white people,” according to the Rev. Al Sharpton.

“During what a source described as a “heated” phone call yesterday, Sharpton told Obama he was disappointed with the Illinois senator’s words on Friday, when Obama said “resorting to violence to express displeasure” was “completely unacceptable and counterproductive.”‘

3) “Swimmers were again cleared from a New Smyrna Beach Monday after a third swimmer in three days was bitten by a shark and treated at a hospital.”

Sharks around Florida are apparently hungry this year.

4) “He has left on-the-ground conservatives – the local right-winger, the town intellectual reading Burke and Kirk, the old Reagan committeewoman – feeling undefended, unrepresented and alone.”

Peggy Noonan weighs in on Republicans and Democrats.