What it's not about

Before I get to my post proper, I just remembered something interesting that I thought about the other night. For me at least, I can make myself think of things that I have not thought about for a long time, such as a dart gun that I used to have before I was even in kindergarten, or in middle school being let out of class to look at a solar eclipse. All I do is to tell myself to think of things I have not thought about and memories start to pop up in my mind that I haven't thought about in so long. How can a brain do this? Is there some sort of "last time accessed" region that knows when I last thought about something? It is strange.

Well the reason I start to post was to talk about what it means to grow up, however my brain is sidetracked by figuring out how I can make myself think about things I haven't thought about for awhile. So I will just quickly write my thoughts about growing up.

In summary, it seems one good way to measure how much someone has "grown up" is to measure how much that person thinks, and acts, that the whole world revolves about themselves. For example a baby can be viewed as being so much about itself, that it doesn't even care to figure out what is wrong with itself, it just wants others to fix it for them. A toddler knows how to do things for others, a school aged kid can do deeds for the parents without asking, a college aged person can commit their life to someone else, and an "adult" can give their life to raise a herd of other people.

It is a bit simplistic, but I think a part of overall maturity would include a measurement of how much a person is not self centered. And in this regard there can be selfless kids that are more mature than some material craving adults.

On a different note, our hockey game got cut short this weekend because of a brawl between a ref and a player, after said fight the player returned to the rink and hit the ref with a hockey stick. The ref lost some blood and an ambulance was called. I think getting in a heated fight in a rec league about anything would mean you would test low on a maturity scale.

BOk Center On Ice

One of the big things that Tulsa was pushing for with its Vision 2025 was to build a new arena downtown to revitalize the area. The BOk Center was completed a couple of months ago, and Nicole and I got tickets to see the Tulsa Oilers (CHL) play their first game in the new arena.


The first thing that most people comment on when talking about the new arena is that the architecture looks cool. I have seen the outside of the arena many times but this was the first time that I was inside it. I was glad to see that they made the inside reflect the same kind of sweeping lines that the outside has. Inside each entrance the space is open to the top of the arena which looks pretty spiffy.

The arena consists of three levels, two for us mortals, and one level that is completely full of corporate boxes. I am glad to see that they put the effort into getting local companies to buy into the arena to help support it. I noticed that the big wig level had nice tv's, couches, and all the fixins that they like. I think that one of the keys to get teams to stay in a place is to have the backing of the local big businesses, if the money is always flowing in the team can withstand the ups and downs of the community support.

The part of the arena that the rest of us gets to enjoy was also nice. There is a fair variety of concessions -all at normal to low cost for arena food, depending on what you get. My favorite choice is In The Raw which is the local hot place for sushi. While I think that they charge way too much for sushi at their normal stores they kept the prices basically the same for the arena which means that sushi at a hockey game is one of the best options. That alone will get me to go to some games since having a solid food choice at the game will mean I have more options to go without having to think about the implications for my dinner.

For this game Nicole and I got close tickets just so we could be near the ice on the first night. They spared no expense where the action takes place because the ice looked good, the drop down scoreboard was impressive and there was plenty of (filled) seats. Nicole and I both thought that the arena was very similar to the St. Louis Blues arena, and we both liked Tulsa's better.

It is good to see something get planned out and pulled off so well. From the murmurs I heard in the crowd people were impressed with the arena and once construction gets done parking shouldn't be too much of a problem. Now if only the Oilers could play a little bit better. (They lost 5-1)

A feast fit for a team

On Friday night the hockey team got a gig to valet park for a Beach Art Museum function. We had a good time parking nice cars, and even got to scavenge from some very tasty food. Plus we got to make some money for the hockey team.

That there is a win-win-win situation.

Pile of Skates

The rink that we have practice at for inline hockey is currently being remodeled. While poking around I found where they are keeping all the skates. It is a very impressive amount of skates.

Bosco Takes A Swing

Yesterday was K-State's activity fair. The fair is a time for all the organizations on the campus to get together and try to recruit some new members. Our club had the normal table in the ballroom, but Zac and others got a car to smash in Bosco plaza (the area outside of the Student Union).

We used to car smash for a fundraiser, which was sucessful, but we also gained some exposure because the Collegian covered it as well. And even Bosco stopped on by to take a few swings. Awesome!

One more year of hockey

This weekend was the final weekend for the 2006-07 season of the inline hockey league that we play in. We played alright, we tied a game and lost another. I guess it turned out fine since we have improved so much over last year, and since most of our key players will be back for next year we should only get better. Shane got the most improved award (very deservingly so, although I should say that Kaylen improved greatly throughout the year), and I got the MVP award, which is awesome. I and really did not expect to get the award. We have alot of good players on our team and they do most of the hard work, I just score the goals in the end. So really the award should go to all of the team. But I'll keep the plaque on my wall just since it is already made out with my name on it.

Now I get a little more free time on the weekends. Rock on.
(p.s. That is our coach on the left, me in the center, and Shane on the right.)