First off, thank you to everyone for the calls, texts, emails, voicemails and general love and prayers! Alex and I are truly blessed to have such fantastic friends and family. I wanted to write up a post with some ways to donate in case you all are looking to help out. A lot of you suffered through Sandy last year and know that every donation, no matter how small, makes a difference to those who have lost everything.

1. The easiest way to donate is to text text REDCROSS to 90999. That will add $10 to your cell phone bill and go directly to the Red Cross. The Red Cross is currently coordinating a substantial amount of the relief efforts in Moore. *If your parents still pay your cell phone bill you might try option 2 or 3 instead.
2. The Humane Society has taken on the bulk of the displaced animals from the storm. They are working hard to reunite dogs and cats with their families and for those of you with a pet, you’ll understand how devastating this is. You can donate here, http://www.okhumane.org/donate, to help them buy food, collars, leashes, crates, etc. for the animals while we look for their owners.
3. Our CrossFit gym is participating in a fundraiser for the Red Cross this Saturday. All proceeds go directly to the relief efforts (so just like option 1 but paying with a credit card instead). You can donate online through this link – http://www.gofundme.com/301e3w .

And if any of you are thinking, there is no way I am ever coming to visit now, just take a look at this post. http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/best-things-about-living-in-oklahoma

 

Good things

Oklahoma and Kenya share a special connection. That connection is called Maisha (mai-ee-sha). Maisha, an organization based in Kenya, is special for a lot of reasons but my favorite is probably that it involves Oklahoma. Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to a benefit dinner for this OK-tastic organization. An incredible, grass roots effort, Maisha has changed and saved thousands of lives in Kenya. Through a series of fortunate events, Maisha’s founder Beatrice, originally from Kenya, ended up in Oklahoma. Her mother, a school teacher in Kenya was sick of seeing students unable to concentrate and pay attention in class due to hungry tummies. She brought one student home and offered him a meal. Soon she had kids lining up for meals but not enough money for food to feed them all. Beatrice began sending her $50 from her own paycheck in Oklahoma to purchase food for the kids. Thus Maisha was born.

The fundraiser last night was at the Western Heritage Museum and a friend was nice enough to invite me in return for this blog post (just kidding, obviously my love for Oklahoma can’t be bought).

The coolest part of the night was seeing how many Oklahomans had actually visited the organization in Kenya (Maisha has grown into more than just feeding hungry kids- you can learn more about all their services on their website). Maisha truly has the support of the Oklahoma community; several Oklahoma churches have sent missionary groups there, one church funded a medical center, the regional food bank of Oklahoma sent their agricultural specialist to help start a garden, numerous Oklahomans are sponsoring Kenyan children so they can attend school, etc. They are going to be releasing a series of videos that we watched last night over the course of the next few weeks and I’ll be sure to post them here- they are awesome!

Some lovely ladies at the gala.

Like half of these people have been to visit Maisha in Kenya. Kenya is really far from Oklahoma.

So hopefully by now I’ve convinced you to donate to Maisha. If I haven’t then you obviously need to go to their website and do some more reading and watch some more videos because I have not done the organization the justice it deserves.

In other news, I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to put the Christmas tree up today. I justified this act of holiday infringement by telling myself I wouldn’t decorate it until after thanksgiving. Too soon?

I-35, more junk than an episode of hoarders

Oh I-35, you crafty devil.

I’ve driven on my fair share of highways in the last ten years. I-95 and I-495- worst traffic in the country. New Jersey highways- trash everywhere. North Carolina highways- worst potholes. Route 1 in California- most beautiful. But I have never driven on a highway with more junk than I-35. It’s not trash necessarily in that people were intending at one point to use the items for something. Unlike New Jersey, there really aren’t many wrappers or empty soda cans or McDonald’s wrappers by the side of Oklahoma’s highways.

For a couple months now I’ve been observing the sides of the highway wondering where all of this junk comes from. I’ve finally come to the realization that Oklahomans have an unflinching belief that no matter what they put in the back of their truck/trailer, it will not fall out no matter how fast they drive. This makes I-35 somewhat of an obstacle course since frequently these things fall out mid-70 mph lane change. Other than the normal junk you see by the side of the highway – hub caps, tires, bumpers, tail pipes, paper, cardboard, broken down cars – I-35 has a special tendency to display some really weird stuff on any given day.

Here are a few of my favorite things I have seen on the highway (frequently in the middle of my lane) in the last year or so. Cardboard boxes (like the kind your refrigerator comes in, not the kind your mom sends you cookies in), plastic baby pools, lawn cutting supplies such as weed trimmers and garden shears, tarps, sleeping bags (that’s going to make for an unfortunate camping trip), blankets, mattresses (this is something I have seen multiple times), garbage bags (many times full of unknown items), and my personal favorite, speed boat cushions. I actually saw that last one come flying out of the guy’s boat that he was towing while he flew down the highway going 65 mph. Needless to say it made for some creative driving maneuvers.

So in summary, tie your crap down. Contrary to what you may think, driving fast with a bunch of junk in the back of your pickup truck just means that all that junk will end up on the highway.

Good luck and happy driving.

THE OLYMPICS ARE COMING

As most of you know there are few things that I like even close to as much as I like Christmas. Fortunately, the Olympics is one of those things and they START NEXT WEEK!!! Not only is this year a summer olympics year (clearly superior to the winter olympics) but Oklahoma is already pretty much dominating. 13 current or former Sooners will head to London to represent the US of A. A few to look out for – Jake Dalton on the men’s gymnastic team, Jared Frayer on the men’s wrestling team, Tia Brooks for women’s shot put and Brittany Borman for the javelin throw. Also the OKC Thunder are the first team in US history to send 3 players to the olympics. BAM. That’s how you help America be awesome in the olympics. Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russel Westbrook and some college kids who are good at throwing stuff and balancing on things.

PLUS, this year’s olympics combines several of my most favorite things.

1. LONDON

Thanks for the picture Alex!

Best city ever (after Oklahoma City of course).

Although I do question their choice of logo.

Seriously? Thousands of years of history and culture and this is the best you can come up with…

2. Thunder basketball.

Well, this is the whole team but you get the picture.

3. AMERICA.

4. Race walking.

Yep, this is actually an event. In case you need a refresher on WALKING, here are the race walking standards.

Also, here is the real description from the Olympics website (you can’t make this stuff up):

In Race Walk events, an athlete must (to the human eye) be in contact with the ground at all times, unlike in running events, where both feet are momentarily off the ground. The leading leg must be straight from the moment it is first in contact with the ground, and the technique looks very different to ordinary walking. Athletes must be incredibly disciplined to fight the urge to break into a run for extra speed.

Yes, it takes incredible discipline to remain in the realm of not-a-real-sport. Next thing you know, CrossFit is going to be in the Olympics. And not that I don’t love CrossFit as much as the next guy but the sport of fitness is still not a real sport.

Since we have now opened the flood gates for events designed for stay-at-home moms and couch potatoes, I’ve decided that the next olympics needs to include the following:

• Speedy Swiffering
• Toddler lifts
• Race dog walking (all four dog paws must remain in contact with the ground at all times)

In all seriousness though, I’m sure that this event is extremely difficult. It just happens to also be extremely funny, therefore, I will be watching and making fun of those participating while also admiring their athletic prowess.

Good luck America. GO SOONERS and THUNDER UP!

It’s Official, I’m an Oklahoman

This morning while driving to work I had my VERY FIRST state bird of Oklahoma siting. At first, I thought it may have been injured but on closer inspection realized that YES this was the elusive scissor-tailed flycatcher! Besides having a hilarious name, the bird apparently also has a hilarious appearance (who would have thought?).  I think that the fact that I recognized this bird and was able to name it and identify it as the state bird (and that I got so excited in my car I almost called Alex to tell him about it) makes me an honorary Oklahoman.

Fast forward to minute 1:35 to see one flying –  

Only the strong survive

After enduring months of derogatory comments from friends and family (yep, I’m talking to you Dad), I’ve finally decided to stand up to the cynics and write a blog about all the things I love about Oklahoma.  That’s right, I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it. From its slow moving drivers to its tornadoes and hail storms, I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time here. So for those of you doubters, I am vowing to change your minds about OK and MAYBE even convince you to come visit (ahem Alli Foley ahem). Plus, if we’re lucky, maybe Alex will write a guest post or two so the writing on this thing won’t be too terrible.

So without further ado, welcome to my new blog. I’m looking forward to sharing my life here with all of you.