D-USA

Since 9:00 pm yesterday I have been listening to my Fire Department pager and hoping that there are no grass fires before Friday. Is it because I am such a humanitarian? Nope, It is because I spend 2 hours last night cleaning up our brush-pumber.

You see, tomorrow is the 4th of July parade in Edmond, and we are taking an Engine and a Brushtruck to show off. So we spend all of yesterday evening washing trucks. We put 3 coats of super-paint cleaner and wax on the truck to make it shine real nice. And now I have to cross my fingers and hope that we don't get any fires between now and the parade. It's not that bad for the guys who cleaned the Engine, if we get a structure fire they stay on paved roads and keep the truck away from the fire. But the brushtruck drives through the mud and the fire, breaks through brush and over cedars, it gets nice and dirty. So I am really really hoping that nothing will happen to my nice clean truck. I woke up Mrs. D-USA at 3:00 am this morning by screaming "Nooooo, don't call us for help!!!!" when the Fire Department next to us had a grass fire, and thankfuly they were able to take care of things.

So if all goes well you guys can come to the LibertyFest parade in Edmond tomorrow and watch us wave to our adoring public in our nice clean trucks...

After much thinking, I believe I have the perfect solution for Oklahoma City's public transportation problem. Oklahoma City is a big big place to live, and currently we are relying on our own vehicles, and a very thinned out network of small buses that only drive very few routes. A lot of groups are pushing for OKC to make use of our old rail lines that are running all over the city and use a light-rail system to supplement the buses.

I believe that I have a better solution to this problem: The Oklahoma City Subway!

But Mr. D-USA, why a subway?

Well dear reader, I am glad that you asked. I believe the subway is superior to a light rail system for the following reasons:

1) We can put some people to work. Jobs are declining and inflation is running wild. But with the construction needs for a subway we can put all the jobless people to work. This is a project that will remind people of the "New Deal" jobs for all, and money to spend. This will give the economy a much needed booster-shot in the arm. We can also line up the prisoners in Oklahoma's Jail, look them in the tunnel while they work, and use that time to renovate our jails. Heck, we can even lease out our now empty jails to other states and get paid to house their prisoners, while ours work underground. Its a win-win situation!

2) We will cut down on road rage. Most of the existing rail lines in Oklahoma City run through streets, meaning that every 15-30 minutes all the cars will have to stop and wait at the railroad crossing. If you have ever driven in Oklahoma City you know that every minute an Oklahoma spends idling, is a minute where his blood pressure is rising. With the subway there will be no need for rail road crossings.

3) More places to go. By relying on the existing rail infrastructure we can only go where there are already rails. But with a subway we can pick and choose where we want to go. Wand to go to Bricktown, just put a Subway stop there, want to go to the Capitol, boom, subway stop. We would have to level parts of NE 23rd street to run traditional rail lines over to the Capitol for a light rail system to reach it. (Now I know that leveling parts of NE 23rd street does sound good to some people, but that is not my point here).

4) Instant Tornado Shelters! What are you gonna do when you are driving your light rail system through Oklahoma City and the F2 tornado hits. You better hold on to your seat while your light rail cart is being thrown around like a toy. But in your subway car, you can drive around all day while the F5 above you goes buck-wild. Plus with a Subway stop just around the corner, the public can just pack up and head to the tunnels when the severe weather comes. We can have little screens in all stations and cars tuned to Gary England, he will let us know when we can come out from the tunnel. If the London Underground can withstand the Nazis and the V1's & V2's, then the Oklahoma City Subway will laugh at severe weather.

5) Tourism. People will pay to ride our state of the art subway. More tourists = better economy. We can also sell sponsorship rights to the subway. We have "The Oklahoman" spirit trolley, so why not the "Subway" subway. More money in our pockets.

So here it is, my proposal for a new subway system in the Greater Oklahoma City Metroplex, who is with me?

PS: We could probably build this thing without looking up prisoners in the tunnels, so lets scrap that part of my plan .

Well guys, that was it then.

It's been a fun ride, and 2nd place is not bad for a team that played the way the Germans did.

Germany really put a lot of heat on Spain during the first 20some minutes, but then we pretty much burned out. I don't know if they just exhausted themselves in 20 minutes, or if the Goal by Spain was just that demoralizing, but after that Goal, the game was pretty much over. We had a few moments of a partial second wind, but nothing was ever materialized.

Spain played hard and dirty, and Germany liked to pass the ball to Spain instead of their teammates. The ref was a piece of work, and he should have his honorary Spanish Citizenship papers in the mail.

Well, now starts the training for World Cup South Africa 2010.

Deutschland vor, noch ein Tor!

Thats the 1995 Ford Probe Kesler Industry Two Thousand for those not familiar with Knight Rider.

If you ever want to feel like the Hoff, and drive around in your very own KITT you can always go out and build yourself a replica of the original car. Or you can just get this.

Just call me Keslerhoff...

What a game, crazy back and forth between Germany and Turkey. Both teams played very well, and also very badly at the same time. I'm not quite sure that we would have beaten them if they had their original starting lineup.

I found the beginning of the game pretty interesting, a lot of focus was paid to the whole "Say No To Racism" campaign that FIFA and UEFA are running. I do believe that this was the first game where both captains gave a little "It's just a game so be nice to each other" speech. I think it might have been an attempt to keep the Turks and Germans in Berlin from going to the street and start a riot, but I could be wrong.

And what a header in the end of the first half. We had a mix of "Oleeeee" and "Nooooooo" when the trainer from Turkey came running up with the stabler to pin his players head together, at least the German trainer used a big old needle and some suture to fix our guy.

Also interesting is the fact that at the beginning of the tournament there were about 6 of us sitting in Old Germany to watch the game, but once we make the semi-finals the place is packed, fair-weather fans.....it will be packed on Sunday for the final I am sure . We came close to rioting ourselves when the feed from the game kept getting cut and we were staring at a blank screen for 10 minutes for 3 times. We had several guys on live-telephone feeds with the motherland to relay the score to us, so that made it okay, but we still missed 2 goals.

Well, hopefully we will have a better team again on Sunday or Russia or Spain will hand it to us.

Semifinal time today, and its Germany against Turkey. Will the disciplined Mannschaft with their solid tactics be able to beat the almost innocent, childlike excitement that the Turkey players get when they see the ball? Sure, more than 1/2 of the Turkey guys are either banned or injured, but Croatia taught us what can happen when the German Team lets their guard down.

This match is also pretty interesting if you happen to live in Germany. Germany has a very large Turkish population, and until now they could cheer for both teams. "Go Germany our Host Nation!!! Go Turkey our Heritage!!!" I would equate it with me cheering both for the USA and Germany during the World Cup. I am a US citizen, I live in the USA and this country has been great to me. But I am also a German citizen, and for me Germany is my cultural heritage and will always be my first love. It also helps to know that the USA sucks at soccer and I will never have to worry about who to cheer for in a Germany : USA World Cup Final . From news reports that I have read it seems that Berlin became New Turkey after the Turks won their Quarterfinal Match.

I'm sure that some Germans will have a problem with Turks running through Germany with Turkey's flag and celebrating their win. There are a fair amount of people who have given me crap in Oklahoma because I have my German Flag with me if I happen to be at work during a Germany game during the EURO or World Cup. Even though the people who get mad at me for having the audacity to carry my German flag around are usually the first that would walk around any foreign country in an "USA kicking the Worlds Butt" T-shirt.

But thankfully there are many many more people who are having a good time with the German vs. Turkey match. This picture came from Gardner's Blog who is living in Germany. A local bar/restaurant is running a clever add for the game. Currywurst for the Germans, and Doeners for the Turks, and who knows, maybe some Curry Powder will fall on a Doener and a new unity will result.

As for me, I am having my own mixed emotions about this match. Who am I really rooting for? The Currywurst, or the Doeners?

On my way to work I heard a commercial on the radio that made me shake my head. It was for the Oklahoma School of Bartenders, aired on KJ 103 if I am not mistaken, and it seemed just a bit.....wrong.

The commercial is just a guy talking about why you should become a bartender and why you should choose the Oklahoma School of Bartenders, and it went a little like this:

"Do you want to work in a fun job that has good job security? You know the economy is bad, and when the economy is bad people loose their jobs. When people loose their jobs they get depressed, and when people get depressed they like to drink. So get a job with great job security, become a bartender!"

Now am I the only one who thinks that commercial is just a little bit morbit?

Now that was a game of soccer!

Great game by Germany in my opinion. 3 great goals scored, and only allowed 2 goals against a pretty strong offense put on by Portugal. Germany had some flaky defense at times, but in the end they were able to keep it together and will advance to the semi-finals. We will see tomorrow who we will be up against.

As luck would have it one of my patients was watching the game, so I had some companionship and did not have to watch the game completely alone.

So maybe we need to keep Loew away from the game next Wednesday, but at the very least we need to keep Gomez off the field and on the bench. The team that played today did very well, good tempo, good passes, good shots.

Lets keep it up guys!!!

.....make a German miss soccer!

In an incredible lack of scheduling sense, I managed to put myself to work today. So instead of hanging out at Old Germany and drinking German beer and doing shots of Jaegermeister, I am looking after my patients today. I am also scheduled to work for the Semi-Finals, but if Germany manages to somehow get their act together and advance I will have to find a way to get out of working next Wednesday.

But for today I will have to hang out in one of our empty rooms, turn the TV to ESPN, and hope that my patients won't need to much attention. I'm sure that most of my co-workers will think that I am crazy when I am running up and down the hall with my German flag screaming "Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor", "Oooleeee, Ole Ole Oleeeee, Deutschland, Oleeee", or when I break down crying and wiping my tears off with my flag. But at least my hispanic co-workers will understand what I am going through.

The Americans just don't realize that more countries belong to FIFA than to the United Nations.....

Edit:

Being at work my e-mail does not work either, so Mike if you read this you know I won't be there .

Well, Germany managed to advance into the Quarter Finals of the European Championship.

The German team played better, but there is still lots of room for improvement. It will be interesting to see how well they will do on Thursday against Portugal. If they beat Portugal on Thursday, I think they have it in them to win title this year.

The main thing that I am waiting for is to see how much the German Coach will be penalized for his "behavior" yesterday. I am also trying to see if I can get out of working this Thursday. I scheduled myself to work about a month ago and did not realize that the Quarterfinals would be this Thursday and Friday. But even if I am not at Old Germany drinking shots, at least I will be at the hospital giving people shots.........