The Oklahoma Standard

In my last blog, I talk about our visit to Oklahoma City on the weekend of July 21, 2012.  We had such a great time!  On our drive back to Dallas, we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, which is a tribute to those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred Murrah Building. We got there and parked, and as we walked up towards the Memorial, we came upon a chain link fence that contains artifacts left by all of the people who visit in memory of that sad day back on April 19, 1995.

Here is one of the first things I saw on the fence:

In Memory of  Blake Kennedy, 1-1/2 Years Old

This fence was the first fence to be installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building.  Tens of thousands of people have left remembrances of the victims on this fence.  It was really sad to see this, but there was a whole lot more to come.  This one really bothered me too:

Another Innocent Victim

We ventured further into the Memorial to find the "Gates of Time".  These monumental gates frame the moment of destruction, which was 9:02 AM.  The East Gate represents 9:01 am on April 19, and the innocence of the city before the attack.  The West Gate represents 9:03 am, which is the moment right after the attack. There is a Reflecting Pool in between the gates which occupies what was once NW Fifth Street.  This is a shallow pool of gently flowing water which provides a peaceful setting for meditation.
 

The 9:01 Gate - Signifying the Moment before the Blast

The Reflecting Pool

The 9:03 Gate - Signifying the Moment

We then looked to the right to see the Field of Empty Chairs, which contains 168 chairs that represent the 168 lifes lost on that day, with smaller chairs representing the 19 children killed.  It is situated on what was the footprint of where the Alfred Murrah Building once stood. The chairs are arranged in nine rows, with each row representing the nine floors of the building and placed according to which floor on which each person died.  The name of each victim is etched onto each chair and the glass bases light up at night, kind of like their souls shining from within.  This is such a forlorn sight, especially the smaller chairs that represent the children!  Many people visiting there just stood and wept openly, including a few members of our party.  I just felt so empty inside looking at these chairs . . .

After gazing solemnly over the Field of Empty Chairs, we went back to the Survivor Wall, which is on the east end of the Memorial.  These are the only remaining walls from the Murrah Building.  There are 600 names of survivors inscribed here on pieces of granite that came from the Murrah Building Lobby.

The Survivor Wall

A Jagged Portion of the Survivor Wall

 

Plaques with Names of Survivors

After looking at the Survivor Wall, we headed into the Museum.  On the way into the Museum was the Children's Area.

Tiles in the Children's Area

This is a wall of hand painted tiles that were sent to Oklahoma City by children to express how much they cared. 

We entered the Museum and saw this inscription on the wall:

Marble Inscription at Museum Entrance

After entering the Museum, I saw this picture. It is of the America's Kids Day Care children and workers posing for this photo as part of their Easter egg hunt and party on April 14, 1995, five days before the bombing!  Most of these children in the picture died in the bombing!  I found this to be immensely disturbing!

The America's Kids Day Care Center

Here is another really disturbing picture of Tim McVeigh pulling up to the building at 8:56 am in the Ryder truck that contained the bomb that blew up the building.

Video of the Ryder Truck Driving Up to the Building

Another item in the Museum that made me sick was a shoe that was recovered from the Murrah Building that belonged to Ashley Eckles, a child that was killed in the bombing.

Ashley Eckles'  Shoe

This is a stuffed toy that was found in the Murrah Building rubble.  It is unidentified, but is presumed to have been in the Day Care Center.  It looks so sad and lonely!

Stuffed Toy Found in the Rubble

The last part of the Museum contains the Gallery of Honor which honors the lives of the 168 who were killed. In this beautiful room, the victims' families display personal photographs and artifacts of their loved ones.  Interactive computers provide their personal stories.  All of these pictures are really touching, but this picture of an adorable little black boy in a black cowboy hat just reached out and grabbed my heart!

Three Little Angels

After looking through the Gallery of Honor, we signed the guestbook and then headed outside.  I headed towards the Field of Empty Chairs to find the one that belongs to Baylee Almon.  Baylee is the child in the arms of a firefighter in what was one of the most famous pictures of that fateful day:

Oklahoma City Fire Capt. Chris Fields holding Baylee Almon

Here is a picture of Baylee's little chair in the Field of Empty Chairs:

Baylee Almon's Chair

After seeing Baylee's chair, we headed out towards the car.  Here is a picture that I took of a beautiful memorial at a Catholic church across the street:  

"Jesus Wept"

The statue of Jesus was inscribed with "Jesus Wept". 

The sadness of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum is overwhelming.  But the significance of it all is how evil was overcome by love.  In the chaos after the bomb went off, the people of Oklahoma dropped everything to help the victims in any way that they could.  This is what is known today as "The Oklahoma Standard".

The Oklahoma Adventure

We've been living in Dallas for almost 3 years now and had never taken the trek up over the state line to visit Oklahoma.  Since my stepdaughter Anne and her daughter Cassie were in town visiting, we decided to ride up to Oklahoma City this past weekend.

We left the house around 9:00 AM and stopped off at the local Sonic to get some breakfast to eat on the road.

Breakfast on the Road at Sonic

Once we left Sonic, we started on our 220 mile drive to Oklahoma City.  We saw a few casinos along the way:

A Casino Along the Way

We arrived at the Embassy Suites in Oklahoma City around 1:00 PM and had to wait until after 3:00 PM to get into one of our rooms.  Once we got into the 2nd room, we drove downtown to the Myriad Botanical Gardens.  We got there only an hour before they closed, but we got to look around pretty well.  I thought that this artwork inside was especially gorgeous:

"Myriad of Dreams" by Chris McGahan

The grounds were very pretty as well.  Here are Cassie, Adeline and Anne on the twirly stands outside.

Cassie, Adeline and Anne on the Twirly Stands

Here's a picture of Cassie reclining in a big letter "G" which was is the word Garden spelled out in the playground.

Gee Cassie, What are You Doing?

The playground was really cool because the ground was made of a soft rubber so that kids won't hurt themselves if they fall down.

Here are the girls up on a giant, soft rubber covered hill on the playground:

Up On the Hill

The grounds were very pretty there.  Here are some scarecrows that they had in the garden:

Scarecrows in the Garden

Here is a picture of a cool-looking building that we saw from the garden:

Cool View from the Garden

We stayed at the Myriad until it closed and then headed to Bricktown, which is Oklahoma City's hottest entertainment and dining district.

Once we got there and got the car parked, we headed straight for the Bricktown Water Taxis. The Water Taxis cruise along the mile-long Bricktown Canal, taking passengers throughout Bricktown while tour guides point out interesting spots along the way.  Here are some pictures I took during our cruise on the Water Taxi:

A Beautiful Monument Near the Water Taxis

I took this one from the bench we were sitting at waiting for the water taxi to pick us up;

Water Taxi Sign

Here is the Water Taxi coming to pick us up:

Here Comes the Water Taxi

Our Tour Guide drove the Water Taxi and pointed out some interesting things on the ride through the Bricktown Canal.  Part of a beautiful wall mosaic is right behind her in the picture. She is a Nursing Student getting ready to graduate next month and she has a great sense of humor!

Our Tour Guide and Driver

 Here is a shot of the Canal as we rode through it and under a bridge:

Here is a beautiful mural painted by some students onto the Canal walls:
 

Canal Mural Painted by  Students

There was a pretty waterfall in the Canal:
 

Waterfall in the Canal

After the Water Taxi ride we stopped at a Cajun restaurant and had some Oysters on the half shell with some beers:

Oysters on the Half Shell

Here are Anne and Cassie enjoying the Oysters:

Anne and Cassie at the Cajun Restaurant

Here are Anne, Adeline and Cassie sitting at a table on the Canal:

Anne, Adeline and Cassie on the Bricktown Canal

Next came some BBQ at Earls Rib Palace:

Earl's Rib Palace

I had brisket, beans, and corn on the cob, all accompanied by Coors Light.  It was delicious and I was so full!

Brisket,  Beans and Corn on the Cob

By the time we finished eating we started feeling somewhat tired, so we drove back to the hotel.  Here is a picture of a cool sculpture that we passed on the way home;

Roadside Sculpture

The sculpture was lit up with different colored lights.  Once we got  back to the hotel we relaxed for a while and then went to bed.

I really enjoyed our first time in Oklahoma and found the people there to be very nice and friendly.  I'd like to return to Oklahoma City some day in the near future to check out some of the museums. 

Rotonda West on Dwellable

Lunch with the Girls

I've made a few really nice friends on Facebook this year.  However, up until today I haven't had the chance to meet any of them in person.  Today I got to meet Beth Angela (her FB name) and Kim for lunch.  Kim drives an 18 wheeler for a living and since she was on a truck run from Canada to Houston, we met at the Denny's near the Truck Stop on Route 20 in Dallas.

Beth Angela and I have been friends and have talked on FB every day since March and I have really enjoyed her friendship.  She's a really kind and nice lady!  I just had the pleasure of meeting Kim last week on FB through Beth Angela.

We had a really nice lunch at Denny's and sat there and talked for a good while after we finished eating.  Kim told us a lot about her life and when she was in the Army.  She is such a sweetheart!  After a while, we walked back to her truck and climbed up into it to talk for a while.  Her truck's name is "Cleo" and she's pretty cool looking!  Cleo is green and even has "teeth" in the front like some of the fighter jets in the military!

Since Kim is on the road all of the time, she pretty much lives in Cleo.  She showed us pictures of her family on her computer and a few pairs of really cool high heels that she has with her.  But what I found to be so special about the whole time there was how much she shared with us about some truly personal aspects of her life.

Kim is transgender and transitioned last year.  She showed us pictures of herself before she transitioned.  She also showed us her dilators.  For those who don't know what dilators are, after Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), the patient needs to stretch her neo-vagina to prevent it from contracting.  This is done by doing daily exercises using rubber vaginal inserts, know as vaginal dilators, for about six months.  After that, dilation is done several times a week for the rest of her life.  This is what dilators look like:

Dilators

She showed us pictures of her using dilators after her SRS procedure and let us feel one of her breasts to see how natural the implants look and feel.  Just for the record for whoever might be reading this, there was nothing dirty or perverse about the way that she did this.  She was just sharing her experiences with us. She also said that if we ever had any questions to feel free to ask her.  I really appreciate how open she is about the whole thing and I definitely learned something from it!  What's even better is how happy she is with her life as a result of her transition!  This is wonderful to see as I've encountered a good number of trans women who are very unhappy and depressed.  I hope that one day they all can be as happy with their lives as Kim is with hers!

I haven't really had any close friends since I retired from the Air Force Reserve in 2004.  I'm glad to be making friends again, and I'm really glad that Beth Angela and Kim are amongst them!  I have the feeling that they both will end up in my inner circle of friends, and there aren't too many people who have ever made it there.

My Personal Training Success Story

Back in my 1/4/2012 blog called "On the Right Track",  I talked about how excited I was to be starting on the Personal Training Program at 24 Hour Fitness, which is where I work out 4-5 days a week.  Before starting on this program, I had worked out at least four days a week and subscribed to a low fat diet for a long time . However, even being this active wasn't getting me the lean definition that I was seeking.

So fast forward to now, I've been steadily working out with my Trainer, Brad Siegel and I've had great success in gaining more lean definition and strength and losing 15 pounds!  Most of those clothes that were just hanging in my closet because they were too small are now too big!  What's even better is that my blood pressure is staying down now without medicine and I can run up steps without my knees hurting.  I actually enjoy working out now!

My trainer is very happy with my progress and submitted my story and pictures to the 24 Hour Fitness Corporate Office in Addison, TX so that they could format them for their 24 Hour Fitness Personal Training "Wall of Fame" at the gym where I work out.  This made me feel really good that somebody noticed all of the hard work that I've done and how it is paying off!

Here is my "Personal Training Success Story" that they have on the "Wall of Fame" at my gym:

My Personal Training Success Story

Here is a picture of me in a beautiful blue suit that I had hanging in my closet for over a year because I couldn't get into it:

Mae in "The Blue Suit"

Although all of this feels great, I know that I can't sit back and rest on my laurels.  I have to keep up the pace so that I can continue to maintain and advance my physical fitness goals!

Love Hurts

Although I'm extremely glad that it's Friday, I have to admit that I'm singing the blues again, and it's the same old song that I've been singing for the past few years.  In my own defense, I haven't been singing it as often these days, but there was an event this week that has caused me to sing it again.  I've done all kinds of things to get my mind off of it, to include getting a Facebook account and starting a blog, but it just won't go away!  I've got to let go!  There's simply nothing there to hang onto, there never was and there never will be!

So now I'm going to let Dan McCafferty finish singing the blues for me tonight, as he does it so well:

Love Hurts . . .what a fitting song to match my blues.

Hungry Like the Wolf

It has been 5 days since my Endometrial Ablation and although I'm doing fine, I'm noticing some side effects. I have been experiencing some bleeding and have been feeling quasi depressed.  Not too bad, but just sort of like "down on the dumps" and not very excited about anything.  It feels like I'm in a hormonal state.  I've also noticed for the past day or so that I've been hungry as hell!  It was really bad today.  I've been wanting to crunch on something all day long!  I ended up eating a big bowl of Kix as finger food today at work, which satisfied the need to crunch for a while, but didn't completely vanquish it.  This hunger state needs to stop!  It reminds me of a song by Duran Duran from back in the 80s:

Yes, "Hungry Like the Wolf" has been my theme song today!  However, the song will need to change tomorrow as I don't plan on gaining any weight!

The surgery has been on my mind a lot, so I looked up more about it on the internet and found that it was featured on the show "The Doctors".  Here is a video of a woman getting the procedure:

I'm still annoyed and disappointed with my doctor for not having somebody call me the next day and for the overall "cattle call" way that they did things.  I looked on Aetna Navigator today and was not surprised to see that her office was very efficient in getting the surgery billed, to the tune of $3,545.00!  I'm just betting that this doesn't include the anesthesiologist's fee either, which will likely arrive promptly in the mail before week's end.  Aetna is paying her their rate of $1,958.16, which is better but still exorbitantly expensive!

The medical field is becoming a racket.  This makes me sad as this is what I have to look forward to as I age.  I pray that I can keep my health intact for a long time so that I won't have to deal too much with a growing community of uncaring blood suckers!

Cattle Call

I underwent a Novasure Endometrial Ablation this past Thursday to mitigate some female problems that I've been plagued with every month for the last six months. This procedure destroys the uterine lining by "burning" it out with radio frequency energy.  I was supposed to have the procedure at 10:00 am, but my gynecologist is also an obstetrician and had to do an emergency delivery, so I got booted to the last appointment for the day.  This sucked because I had to fast from after midnight the previous evening up until the procedure!

The procedure was done in outpatient status at my doctor's office, where an operating room team comes to the office and transforms several examining rooms into makeshift operating rooms.  My doctor made it sound like it would be just an in-and-out deal, but it was far from that!  I asked her how many people would have to be in the room and she told me that it would be her, a nurse and an anesthesiologist.  It ended up that there were 5 people in the room:  the doctor, two operating room techs, a nurse, and the anesthesiologist.  I know that these folks look at women's bare crotches every day, but this made me very uncomfortable!  What made it worse was that the anesthesiologist was a man, and I specifically pick female doctors for my gynecological needs as I'm not comfortable with men being in the room when I'm in this unclothed state!

The anesthesiologist put me under with Propofol, which is the drug that Michael Jackson used to go to sleep and which eventually killed him.  To be honest, the Propofol was the worst part of the procedure!  It didn't hurt when the anesthesiologist administered it through the IV as he put Lidocaine through the IV before the Propofol.  I was out within a few seconds after he put it into the IV.   The worst part was waking up from the Propofol.  It felt like I was looking through a pair of broken goggles and I just felt so drugged out and weird!  It took several hours for me to feel normal again.

After going through this procedure, I will have to say in my honest opinion that it should have been done in a hospital. Even though the Propofol was administered by an anesthesiologist, it's a heavy duty drug and a lot can go wrong with it.  I don't even know if those people had a crash cart available for emergencies.  I certainly didn't see one.

Another thing that really bothered me was the "cattle call" feel to the whole thing.  I ended up having to wait about 45 minutes in a examining room right next to one of the makeshift operating rooms and I heard them waking up the poor woman that had the procedure right before me.  The woman was having a really hard time waking up, which I can fully understand after being put under with Propofol and they ended up getting kind of mean to her when she couldn't open her eyes.  Before they wake you (the patient) up, they put your underwear and pants on up to your knees so that they can just yank your pants up and get you out the door.  There was no recovery room with a nurse or anything like that. Once you wake up, they yank up your pants,  plop you into a wheel chair and take you out to your car.

They didn't provide any kind of written post-op instructions and the doctor didn't even bother to speak with my husband, who was waiting to take me home.  I couldn't believe this as I was pretty out of it from the Propofol and couldn't remember much of what anybody said to me right before we left.  However, the absolute worst of all it was the fact that the doctor's office didn't even bother to call me the next day to find out how I was doing!  I have had dentists call me the next day after a dental surgery to see how I was doing and they didn't even put me under with anesthesia!

Frankly, I just found the whole experience to have been rather cold and uncaring.  My doctor is very competent, but not the greatest in the "bedside" manner department.  It's okay to have a doctor like this for just a yearly exam, but not for when you have problems and have to see them more often.  Hopefully, my female problems have been vanquished by this procedure that I had on Thursday.  If not, I will need to find another doctor, preferably one who is just a gynecologist so that they won't be getting called off at the last minute to deliver babies.  Overall, I would prefer somebody a bit warmer that this doctor.