Chowtime

So traveling to an EMS Conference with children in tow does not make for lots of late nights and options for kids eat free is a plus....especially when you have five children in tow.  (To be honest, only four of them were eating at the restaurant so what's the big deal right?)

In any case, that meant our first stop would be Caz's Chowhouse in the Brady Arts District near downtown Tulsa.  The restaurant is a bit of a throwback that says comfort food and means it and a huge plus is the attentive staff.

Starters were the normal chips and salsa for the kids who either thought it was too (spicy) hot or was eaten with a spoon by my nineteen month old.  I skipped the chips and salsa for fried green tomatoes.  You guessed it...I will eat them anywhere they are offered since not enough places offer them.

Caz's went crazy with them.  The tomatoes were deep fried in some sort of average breading and served with ranch.  Really?  No Montrachet cheese, no red bell pepper sauce?  What were they thinking?  They weren't even stacked pretty, however, what was lacking in presentation was made up for in delicious goodness that was perfect after five hours of driving.

Dinner for me consisted of meatloaf which wasn't great, but wasn't terrible.  The meat loaf was just a tiny bit dry and clearly wasn't too fresh given their plentiful gravy wasn't able to help the situation.

Perhaps most importantly, the staff was happy to hold onto my license as I finished my dinner with a Moscow Mule.  I guess I need someone to explain why you would want anything this sharp, but the bartender found all of the ginger she could to make this thing sharp like scissors you should not run with.  I do not know if this was due to the copper cup I drank it from; I had been directed by the drink menu to ask my server about this so I dutifully complied - or if it was the drink itself, but again, after driving five hours with five kids to a work event...a little vodka mixed with anything seemed like a good idea.

All in all the meal was about what I expected and the service was a little better than average.  A little better meaning better, but not enough to jump from three stars to four.  You slightly exceeded expectations and most importantly I would come again, but you didn't impress.

When you find yourself in Tulsa, Caz's is located at:

18 E Brady Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma  74103

Enjoy your meals!

When Your Lovers Don't Love You

Politicians tend to know they are in trouble when even their friends are telling them they stink.  That is the case for President Obama who this week finds himself with his former friend, Barney Frank, calling him a liar and his polls showing only 40% of his citizens approve of his administration.  Worse, the polls come courtesy of none other than NBC News.  Wowzers!

It will be interesting to see how these numbers change with the President about to take another exorbitant vacation to Martha's Vineyard while the rest of us worry about our children, jobs, and our last hopes of retirement.

Our "cool" President seems to have lost the tune on the dance floor.  He was the cool geek...the know it all who was also cool when he was elected and then re-elected, but from Obamacare to foreign policy to the perfect mix of domestic and foreign policy, his immigration debacle, President Obama has shown he was the right guy to talk about policy.  From afar.  His ability to get things done ranks up there with the guy in his mom's basement cooking up the perfect PC.

Congratulations America.  You chose, but you chose poorly.  You believed a guy who told you everything you wanted to hear.  You get to keep, you will have, and it will cost you nothing.  Well, wants always have costs and the question was will you ask others to pay for it or do you still want something for nothing.  Unfortunately, you now have nothing for something.

Belief

Sometimes you have to believe in yourself.  I have watched closely as someone is taking a series of professional exams.

What I have seen in someone who has some worry about the test themselves, but has consistently done the homework before the test so be successful.  You know...study before the test.  It seems a novel concept, doesn't it?

Again and again, I remember assigning pages to read to students in EMS programs only to see them arrive under prepared for a pop quiz, but what is EMS, but a series of pop quizzes.  There are very few times when people tell you ahead of time they are calling for a stroke, or motor vehicle accident, or whatnot.

If you find yourself not ready because you didn't do the prep work, whose fault is it?

In any case, it is nice to see this person successful on exam two of three, but not surprising.  She does her prep work and should not be surprised when she gets her passing grade.  While others around her predicted failure, I was not one of them because I know the work she puts in.  I also know that other people do a great job talking about putting in the hours, but spend their gym time running their mouth and not their muscles.

When you respect yourself, you show you believe you can do it, if you put in the work.  The self doubt needs to go away and whether you pass or have a temporary setback you can know you walked in prepared.

Predictions

Okay, so I am not usually one to make game day predictions much less attempt to astrologize what will happens months off in the making, but my friends, I will tell you now your Cowboys are not making the playoffs AND I would take the under when it comes to Tony Romo and him making it through 14 games - which is what Bovada currently has his number at.

Before I continue, let me note that as a Green Bay stockholder, I do not and will not wager on any NFL game as it is a violation of league rules and would void my ownership rights.  That being said, Romo sounds done to me and I will be interested to see how long he can continue to play.

Since his back surgery seven months ago we have had the typical he said/she said from Jerry Jones and the rest of the Cowboys organization about whether or not Romo is 100%.  Romo himself in a recent interview said he was working to getting up to where he wanted to be - for me a clear indication he was not 100%.  Even the Dallas Morning News is noticing him stating in a recent scrimmage his play was uneven.  More telling though is the fact that the Cowboys are holding Mr. Romo out of the one or two series he might have played in Thursday's opening preseason game against the Chargers.

I could be wrong, but something tells me Mr. Romo is much worse than expected and something tells me the entire organization is in fear that the line breaks down in such a way that Tony is re-introduced to Jason Hatcher or other members of the Redskins D line in a compelling way.  I don't think I have anything against Tony Romo personally.  I have never been a Dallas fan and don't anticipate becoming one.  He seems like a good guy, though I don't think he is the one I would want leading my team - too much gunslinger who shows up game day, but does not put in the mental effort of a Peyton Manning or Derek Jeter.

In any case, the season clearly rests on his surgically repaired back which for me means a record 5-11.  No questions about making or not making the playoffs this year Mr. Jones.

Harming The Truth

I am amazed by the anti-Semitic behavior I see being displayed on television.  Nearly everyone seems mad at the Jews.  How dare they unleash their weapons upon the people of Gaza?  While I agree there is a crisis in Gaza, it is not because of Israeli aggression, but rather their own ineptitude.

Who leads Gaza.  Hamas.  Who are they?  They are a terrorist organization who have an express goal of eliminating Israel. Hardly a conversation starter for neighboring countries.  Can you imagine Canada being led by a political party that says we want to destroy the United States?

People will claim that this is because of Israel's blockade of Gaza, but here too we need a quick history lesson.  In 2005 when the Israelis left Gaza, they did so leaving 3000 greenhouses from which the new occupants might have grown food and spices for export to the rest of the world.  Instead they chose to loot and destroy the gift left behind from those who offered an olive branch of peace.

When did the blockade begin of Gaza?  Not until Gaza showed that they would rather import concrete to build tunnels into Israel, rather than housing and hospitals for their people.   While the world complains about Israel targeting Alawda Biscuit and Ice Cream Factory, the El Majd Industrial and Trading Corporation, and other private sector companies I heard gross silence from both the world and the US President when it came to the kidnapping, torture, and murder of three Jewish teenagers which started the current conflict.

It is interesting to question economic development in Gaza because while most families subsist on dollars a day, the leadership is living large.  Prior to his death, Forbes Magazine, suggested Yasser Arafat might be worth $300 M himself though Israeli intelligence suspected more than a billion.  Which number is really less important than the idea that these "freedom fighters" are in dire straights because their leadership hoards money for themselves while hiding in reinforced bunkers.  At the same time they send out the children of those making roughly $3000 US per annum and ask them to stay at the sites where they launch rockets from knowing a response will be coming shortly.

The Gaza military strategy is the same and is summed up by Prime Minister Netanyahu when he said "We are using missile defense to protect out civilians, and they're using civilian to protect their missiles."

No one should kid themselves.  This conflict is about Hamas' desire to elimenate Israel.  They know they can not do it militarily so are choosing to put their citizens - the ones they victimize - into harm's way.  A nation who does this must have some reason and the only strateguc reason must be to garner international support and stoke anti-Semitic feelings around the world.

What is sad is that despite previous offers of friendship and help, it was Hamas who said no to the Egyptian cease fire proposal.  Israel was in.  While Hamas has had previous offers of economic assistance it chose to focus on how to smuggle rather than how to succeed.  Instead of building infrastructure, it chose to build tunnels into Israel for the purposes of kidnapping and murder.  It endangers citizens rather than protect them.

When we do not admit these things or force the world to recognize the truth, we harm it ourselves.

When Laws Apply

Once upon a time, the Central Intelligence Agency could not spy on Americans (Executive Order 12333).  It seems like a quaint idea now that your own government would not spy on you.  That was the stuff of the old Soviet Union.

Now, we have a CIA Director who freely admits his employees spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee, the elder house of Congress whose committee's responsibility includes overseeing the CIA.  What?

Something has gone very wrong when the employees of the government can spy on those titulary in charge of the government.  What might be more concerning is the 2008 amendments to Executive Order 12333 indicated that senior authorization had to occur for spying on Americans to occur.  The question that no one seems to be asking is who authorized the spying on the United States Senate, or like the IRS, was this simply "rogue employees."

Finally, how big a leap is it to ask, if the CIA is brazen enough to spy on the United States Senate, why would it worry about a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on a regular individual?  If you were wondering about your rights eroding, look no farther than your leaders.  If they have their rights being dismantled systematically, you and I have no chance at all.

America...land of the almost free, home of the sheep.

Facebook Plans

They tell me as you get older you have to grow up and make decisions and such.  Well for me the time has come to say goodbye to ye old Facebook.  I know, I know...you can't do that you say, but I believe you actually can permanently delete an account.  Here's why I am jumping ship on a site that claims to be all about social networking.

1. Facebook has become stupid. I can barely get into Facebook without being inundated by ads for companies, organizations, and other products I have ZERO interest in.

2. There is no privacy on Facebook and while I lead a semi-public life I get requests all the time from "friends" I do not know or who I only know in passing.  It is hard for me to consider this a social networking site when it keeps me from...being social.

3. Along these lines, we know that Facebook released a study recently revealing that they were undergoing a new type of data collection.  In the new program we find out they were tracking when people typed content out and then removed it without publishing. Their mission is to understand why users "self-censor" themselves in updates.  Really?  I wonder how many people they caught starting to type a thought, catching a phone call or running to the bathroom only to complete the thought more than ten minutes later.  Either way...tale a hike.

4. I admit it.  I spend way too much time here looking and it distracts me from the work at hand.  The Facetube is just distracting.  It doesn't help me be productive.  It doesn't help me relax and nine times out of ten has more useless information in it than a trivial pursuit game directed at shows running on TVLand.

5. I have no idea what the current terms of service are for Facebook.  What I do know is my wife who believes in breastfeeding can not post a picture doing so because feeding a child is considered pornography to the Facebook goose steppers.

A note on this one...while my wife is pretty modest and I doubt she would ever do a breastfeeding picture, much less put on on Facebook, they are against breast feeding, but had no problem allowing people to post death threats to Mitt Romney in 2012.  They allow pro-terrorist messages, but have a problem when I complain about American Airlines.

Finally, I can not stand getting any more game requests for Bejeweled, Bedazzled, Farmer's Freak Friends, etc.  Really?  Do I need to say any more?

If you really have need of finding me, it will be easy.  I am still on LinkedIn which is a professional networking site without many of the same harassing issues.  If you really still want to know my views on politics, policy, pop culture, sports, or the things most important my church and my family, hop on here and read my blog.  You can still comment, you can still harangue me, you just can't suggest we become farm friends.  You have until August 15, 2014 at which time I have to say goodbye to Facebook.