Oklahoma City, OK

With the cost of gas hovering around $3.00/gallon all over the metro, sometimes driving a little farther out of your way to snag a deal is worth your while. Before you head out, check Oklahoma City Gas Prices, which will show you both the lowest and highest prices in town, updated constantly.

I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, in a house about four blocks away from a SEPTA train that went directly into the city. Then I moved to New York, where, these days, for $2.00 you can ride the MTA buses and subways, and get to pretty much anyplace you need to go. My commute from 156th Street in Washington Heights down to Water Street in the Financial District–further south than the World Trade Center–took just 40 minutes each way.

Sure, you have to deal with the occasional weirdo–like this guy, who was sleeping off a hangover on the Q train one night, or jerks during rush hour who push and shove and sometimes try to cop a feel. But by and large, these things are secondary to what really matters–accessible, affordable public transportation that works.

And then I moved to Oklahoma City, a town that could really benefit from efficient public transportation. Oklahoma City is huge; if you factor in the surrounding towns like Edmond, Moore, Norman, El Reno, and so forth, it’s one of the largest–in terms of land area–metropolitan areas in the world. It’s not uncommon for people to drive 40 or 50 miles each way to and from work. People live in their cars here (and, like Candy in Tulsa pointed out yesterday, they don’t even see any need for sidewalks in most places) and sometimes it seems as though there are more cars than people. We have a lot of traffic accidents, bad roads, and growing pollution; we run through gasoline like it’s water. There would be a lot of benefits to folks having the option of leaving their cars in the driveway and taking a bus or a train to work.

I’m lucky–I don’t drive, and I have a bus stop near my job and one near my house. If I leave work exactly on time at 5:00 every day, I have about a 50/50 chance of catching the bus that’s supposed to arrive at 5:05–but instead, arrives anywhere from 4:50 to 5:25. It boggles my mind that Metro Transit bothers with these detailed schedules, when the bus drivers, on the whole, are surly and unhelpful, and come and go as they please.

On Monday, it was about 95 degrees outside when I got out of work. I left right on time; I was at the bus stop at 5:02. The “bus stop” is nothing more than a bench sitting right out in the sun; within minutes I was sweating and uncomfortable. The bus arrived at 5:25.

I made eye contact with the bus driver. He was in the left lane, going about 45 mph. He looked at me; I know he saw me. He didn’t slow down, didn’t pull over, didn’t stop–he kept driving without picking me up, and since I was stranded without money or any other way to get home? I had to wait outside, in the sun, 95 degrees, for over an hour until the next bus arrived.

I spend a lot of time talking with other commuters, as well as Joe, who drives the 5:30 #10 bus that’s the second leg of my trip home, provided the jerk driving the #9 actually stops for me. There are a lot of problems with Metro Transit, we all know. Joe is frustrated that he seems to be the only driver who cares about whether his passengers get home or not. Joe is frustrated that he often has to drive a broken-down bus, running low on gas, without air conditioning. Sometimes he has to drive a trolley because they don’t have a running bus for him at all. Sometimes he has to drive a van.

Commuters like me are frustrated that sometimes they’ll sit at a stop and wait for hours for a bus that never arrives, that buses will drive right past them without stopping, that drivers will ignore their requests for stops and drive them half a mile past their destination. We’re frustrated that the schedules seem to be “suggested” arrival times only, and bear little to no relevance to the time the bus will actually appear. We’re frustrated that when we need them–when we’re trying to get home from work at 5:00 or 5:30, Metro Transit is closed and there is no one available to answer our questions or tell us what’s going on. And we’re frustrated that if we make the time the next morning, after we waited hours for a bus, only to have to walk home or find a friend to pick us up, to call to find out what happened, Transit personnel are outrageously rude and claim they don’t have any idea what happened, and it doesn’t matter whether they find out or not.

I don’t have a choice right now–I don’t have a car, and in theory, I have an easy commute home. It’s not a short walk, when the bus doesn’t show up–something to the effect of 6 miles. The soonest anyone can pick me up if I’m stranded is 8:00 P.M. But like I said, I don’t have a choice right now–it’s the best and only option I have.

But they need to step up their game a little bit. An hour and a half sitting in the sun because a bus driver couldn’t be bothered doing his job and stopping for me? Ridiculous.

Take a lesson from New York, OKC: get this transit situation together, and watch people flock to it. Public transit is a huge benefit and a great convenience… it will work for the city, if the city keeps it working.

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OK, first of all: I’m a procrastinator. Second of all: my financial situation, more or less for the past ten years, has been tenuous at best. We both work, but we also own a genuine money pit of a house, and we seem to have a hard time getting ahead.

Still, we’re going to Las Vegas next month! We’ll meet up with some friends, see the new Harry Potter movie, and, okay, probably do a little gambling. We started checking prices a few weeks ago, and they were discouraging at best; it looked like we’d have to take extra time off work so we could take the less expensive flights, and we had no idea where we’d stay.

Then I found Worry-Free Vacations, and suddenly we could plan our $1200 trip for just about $600. You put together a complete package–airfare, hotel, rental car, even show tickets–just like other major travel sites. The only difference is in the dollars you’ll spend.

And Worry-Free Vacations doesn’t just go to Vegas, either–you can plan a trip from OKC to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta through them, too. Ahhh…. maybe next year.

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The Wizard of Oz may have taken place in Kansas, but every Oklahoman is as familiar with tornadoes as Dorothy was. And I’m no wimp; I’m a pretty adventurous girl, really. But tornado chasers amaze me.

My first tornado was not in Oklahoma, actually: in 2000, driving from New York to Chicago, we were caught directly in one right at the border of Ohio and Indiana. It remains one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever lived through–there was no place to go for safety and no way to avoid getting hit. Only some kind of miracle kept us from being killed (especially since we were hunkered under an overpass… which I now know is the worst place to seek shelter). So it amazes me that people set out into the midst of these storms by their own accord, that they choose to put their lives at risk.

But you have to give them credit–all that death-defying has given them a treasure trove of information to share with all of us non-crazy types. If you’re a big science nerd like I am, How does a tornado form? makes some really cool reading. Their tornado safety tips page is packed with information, like what to include in your disaster kit and how to explain it to your kids. And, of course, they have all kinds of cool photos and true stories.

Keep yourself, your family, and your home safe this tornado season: brush up on your safety tips and restock your disaster kit. Then check out some of the photos, videos, or stories. Or go rent Twister. ‘Cause the thing is, they really do look pretty cool.

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Since its opening a few years back, the Harkins Bricktown Cinema has been the place to see movies here in town. But with ticket prices at $9.00, it can be hard for a lot of folks and families to catch all the summer blockbusters.

Instead of fighting the crowds in Bricktown, head over to Cinemark Tinseltown at 6001 MLK Boulevard. With adult tickets at just $5.50 for evening shows and $3.50 matinee pricing for shows before 6:00 p.m. every day (even weekends!), you can bring the whole family… and still have enough cash for popcorn.

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Who Doesn’t Love Italian Food?

Saturday from 10 to 6, join the Italians of Central Oklahoma for the third annual Italian Festival! The festival promises to be a gluttonous delight–pasta, sausage and peppers, and wine!–along with activities and fun for the whole family, even live music (musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and kick up the party). The festival will be held at the Elks Lodge at 4711 N. Tulsa, and admission is free. I know where I’ll be Saturday afternoon… I wonder if they’ll have any cannoli? Take a peek at their website for more information… and I’ll see you there.

Celebrating Native American Health & Heritage

Join the OKC Indian Clinic and the Tinker Intertribal Council on Saturday for a health fair and one-mile fun walk. The walk starts at 8:00 A.M., and a day of contests, gourd dances, and dining follows. No need to pre-register. The event will be held at Joe B. Barnes Regional Park in Midwest City. Call (405) 760-2768 or (405) 733-3587 for more information.

We Have a Film Festival? Who Knew?

The deadCENTER Film Festival is underway through Sunday. As a film school drop-out, I can’t believe this festival has been running right in my backyard for years and this is the first time I’ve heard of it. From the website:

The 7th annual deadCENTER Film Festival opens Wednesday, June 6 screening 100 local, national and international films through Sunday, June 10. Once again the festival is in the deadCENTER of downtown Oklahoma City with screenings at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery, Kerr Park, the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, the Harkins Bricktown Theater, the Skirvin Hotel, and the lawn at 3rd and EK Gaylord.

[. . .]

All-access passes are $100 and include entry into all festival screenings, parties, and panels, and a goodie bag. A basic pass is also available for $50 and includes entry into all screenings. Tickets for most individual screenings are $8 and are available at each venue.

Must-sees include the Horror Shorts/Midnight Shorts tonight at IAO, and the premiere of the Flaming Lips (Oklahoma’s own!) flick, U.F.O.’s at the Zoo - The Legendary Concert Saturday night.

And Now For Something Completely Different….

Stop into Full Circle Books at 50 Penn Place tonight at 7:00 as local musicians gather for a “Celtic Jam Session.” Now that’s not something you see every day.

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Welcome to Oklahoma City, OK! I’ll be your host as we explore local news, events, and points of interest all over town. I’m a big-city kind of girl, myself, and the past four years in OKC have been a bit of culture shock as I’ve tried to figure out where to go, what to do, and how to get there, but I’m glad to be able to start sharing every local gem I’ve discovered.

Oklahoma City

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below: