Two Wheel Oklahoma

Keetonville, Oklahoma is near my hometown of Catoosa, Oklahoma and I have had an interest–perhaps an obsession–with the beautiful yet mysterious Keetonville Hill ever since I heard about the legend of the Cry Baby Bridge when I was a teenager.

However, what has caught my attention about Keetonville recently is that there is a new show called, “Two Wheel Oklahoma,” which recorded a portion of a show in Keetonville.

Two Wheel Oklahoma states the following about their show:

Two Wheel Oklahoma is a television program featuring the unique destinations and backroads of Oklahoma. Brad Mathison and Rex Brown are your hosts for this scenic tour of life off the beaten path.

Co-hosts: Rex and Brad Oh… and they ride motorcycles to get there.

To date four episodes of T.W.O. have been produced. On October 3, 2009 these pilot episodes began airing on KMYT-41 in Tulsa.

Episode 2: OK 20 features the segment on Keetonville, Oklahoma. Nice to know that others out there have an interest in this great area of Keetonville even if the interests are slightly different.

I, however, am displeased with the film. I am actually sad about the direction the film has gone. Let me explain. I am a die hard Star Trek fan. I have enjoyed and loved all of Star Trek with the exception of the ST: Enterprise, the death of Kirk, and the destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek III. I am mostly forgiving of the Star Trek flaws over the years because I realize, that a franchise as large as Star Trek, is going to have continuity and consistency errors. The freaking franchise has over 715 hours of play time. That is massive.

Anyway, I viewed the new film with my son and his friend. They loved the film and my son asked me why I was so disappointed. My son does not know Star Trek history and neither does his friend. And I did love this film until near the end.

I was disturbed by (spoiler alert) the death of Spock’s mother and the destruction of the planet Vulcan. In a typical Star Trek story such tragedies are corrected by the end of the film. This film did not correct those tragedies.

I realized as the end credits rolled this film is NOT about the Kirk and Spock that I grew up with. It is NOT the Star Trek I grew up with. It is an alternate Star Trek. It is NOT my Star Trek.

J.J. Abrams has used this film to erase the Star Trek I know and love. This disturbs me. Being a Star Trek fan I am well aware of parallel universes, alternate time lines, and the general weirdness of Star Trek BUT this film completely destroys my Star Trek. It takes it all away. The Kirk and Spock, the Picard and Riker, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager and all that I watched are GONE.

There will no longer be a planet Vulcan for Picard and Riker to visit in ST-TNG because it is gone. Kirk will be spared the grief of finding his dead brother on an alien world because he is now an only child. Vulcan is destroyed, Spock’s mother is dead, Kirk’s father is dead, and my Spock is trapped in an alternate Trek universe. I am truly heart-broken by all of this.

I won’t cry and my sadness will not change the success of this film nor should it. But I will not buy the DVD and I will not accept this film as Star Trek canon. This Star Trek is not for me. It is not for the fans of my generation.

Having said all of that. This film was the best damn Star Trek action adventure film I have ever seen. The special effects and the fast paced story line is the best Trek has had to offer. I was in love with this movie until the end. But my Star Trek is dead. This is a new Star Trek.

It will be interesting to see how fans accept this film after the newness has worn off. Will fans still like this movie in six months?

I learned to develop websites while working at that company. I used my database and web development skills to get a good paying job at a large national company. A year later that large company went bankrupt. The blessing was the skills I obtained open doors that would not have been there before. I became a database and web development contractor.

I earned a living by offering my skills as a service for a variety of companies. This gave me more control over my schedule and my projects. I no longer had to take assignments that were not appealing. I was able to manage my own time and set my own priorities. I actually became more productive because I worked out of my home and there were no office politics to distract.

Those jobs and layoffs gave me the skills I needed to survive on my own.
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I do not know. I do plan to confirm this information. Rufus Keeton was born as Rufus Keaton on February 22, 1875 in Horse Cave, Kentucky. He either changed his name or someone misspelled his name because he is later known as Rufus Keeton. Rufus Keeton died on November 8, 1958 in Puyallup, Washington.

Rufus Keeton worked on the Union Pacific Railroad. He became a celebrity for winning a strongest man on the railroad competition. He started a small settlement which later became the town of Keetonville. Keetonville still exists but is not much of a town anymore. Parts of it have been absorbed by Catoosa, parts by Claremore, and parts by Owasso.

Hopefully I have stumbled across some accurate historical information about this small town of Keetonville, which I have taken an interest in after writing some short stories that take place there.

The worst updates are the ones that need to restart after install. I opened an application that I had not used in a month. It demanded that an update be done right then. Sometimes I can request for updates to be done later. Some updates just install whether I like it or not.

The irony is that the pen and paper method of working is considered outdated. I admit that I like computer technology and the way that technology has improved our lives but technology has also made our lives more difficult. So the pen and paper method starts looking more appetizing.

I sometimes just grab a notepad and pen and start writing the old fashioned way. The notepad never needs an update although when I run out of paper I have to grab another notepad.

The pen never needs an update although it does need ink replaced on occasion. The pencil does not need an update although it can run out of lead. I can deal with these minor details by having several notepads, pens, and pencils.

In this age of going paperless I sometimes prefer paper. It is easier to grab a pen and paper and start writing my notes. While on a computer even if I do not have to start up I still have to log in, find the application I want to use, and then start typing. Then there are the updates that want to begin their process and I have to wait (sometimes) until the update is done.

During two updates today I had time to wonder. What if nature did updates on our bodies? There would be advantages and disadvantages.

I am at an age where I need to start wearing bifocals. It was bad enough that I had to start wearing glasses at a young age. Perhaps an update could restore my vision to twenty-twenty.

My hair also needs an update. The gray is showing. My belly fat needs a downgrade. My breathing could use an update. My wife claims I snore louder now.

The disadvantage of a body update would be the need to restart after install. I am sure if my heart had an update, I would need to be revived afterwords. Same thing is probably true regarding my lungs and other vital organs.

A brain update would be beneficial if new information was inserted and old unnecessary information was deleted. And teeth! I think we should have baby teeth, young adult teeth, middle-aged adult teeth, and older-adult teeth.

Why do we only get two sets of teeth? A new set of teeth every ten years would be great. No more implants. No more dentures. No crowns, bridges, or cavity repairs. And best of all no more dentist visits!

Science can probably provide us with updates in the future. And now that I think about it that is probably why we need to go to the doctor for a checkup each year. Since nature does not provide us with an update, the doctor does.

Currently, I am being prescribed a blood pressure update, an allergy update, and an acid reflux update. I only hope I will not need any other updates after my checkup this year.

Well back to the computer. Updates are done but I completely forgot what I was going to write about. I need a memory update.

The unwelcomed advice I received was to pursue a college degree that would get me a job. I was advised to think about my future and the potential to make a living. As a young adult in the 1980s I was receiving advice from middle-aged adults who had already travelled their path of young adulthood in the 1960s.

Now that I am a middle-aged adult, my peers who have travelled their path of young adulthood in the 1980s are giving advise to the young adults who are now beginning their journey.

The reality is simple.

The path for young adults in the 1980s was different than the path of the 1960s which is different than the path of the 1940s. And so on. The young adults today live in the age of different technology, different challenges and different opportunities.

While some things may remain the same, many things are different. We middle-aged folks think we know what is best for you young adults. We have travelled the path of young adulthood. We have made mistakes. Some of us are cynical and some of us have remained positive.

Pain happens.

All of us have pain. There is no way to get around pain. It happens. Some of us have it more than others. The pain is the emotional hurt, the emotional scar, and the emotional wound of having made bad life decisions.

Therefore, we try to advise the young in order to minimize the pain they will experience. Our intentions are good. Our advise is debatable and questionable. We see the world through the filter of a 1980s glass pane window. Those before us view the world through a filter of a 1960s glass pane window. And those before them see the world through a 1940s view. And so on.

Advice that discourages is bad.

Some of our advice is good. Some of their advice is good. Some is bad. Here is how you can tell a difference. Advice that discourages is bad. Advice that encourages is good. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference. Advice that helps you define and think about your chosen goals is good advice.

Good advice helps you research what you can do with your passion. Bad advice persuades you to abandon your passion. The most important advice is “Turn your passion into your career.” Any advice that persuades you to abandon your passion is bad advice.

Test your passion.

I once thought about acting as a career. I took an acting class in college. I sucked at it. Sometimes we find out that what we think may be a passion turns out not to be. But you have to make that determination for yourself. No one has the right to tell you not to pursue your passion.

For some people turning passion into a career is a no brainer. For others it is a more difficult road because they are bombarded with discouraging words. Being young is something I am glad I do not have to do again. I am not envious of the pressure from middle-aged adults, friends, and family that young adults go through.

It easier for me to make decisions now, then it was when I was a young adult. That is because there is too much pressure on young people to make life decisions and to be able to define in great detail why they have decided on the path they have chosen.

The value of unqualified encouragement.

Carl Sagan, is a person that I admire, and I read his book The Demon-Haunted World. In the book Carl Sagan acknowledges that as a young adult he decided he wanted to be an astronomer. At the time he really did not know what an astronomer did but his parents, not knowing much about astronomy either, provided unqualified encouragement.

Carl Sagan later become one of the most popular Scientists in the world. It would be nice if we all received unqualified encouragement but many of us do not. We have to be strong for ourselves and learn to filter out the discouragement and listen to the encouragement.

It is a simple process. It does not require rocket science. There is no mathematical equation to solve. There are no further details to provide. Us middle-aged folks will ask for some detailed explanations which is ironic because we did not have detailed explanations to provide when we were young adults. Therefore, you will never hear advice superior to the advice of turn your passion into a career.