Constitution Day

(This is part of a piece I wrote for my companies newsletter that I wanted to share with all my blogger friends)

On September 17th we will join together as a country to celebrate Constitution Day. Created to honor the timeless principles that govern our country, the purpose of this holiday is to remember the important values that contributed to America’s political foundation and to celebrate our individual freedoms.

As a young girl I traveled to our nation’s capitol and visited the National Archives to view our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. At the time I failed to appreciate the value of these historic documents but through the years I’ve grown to cherish the battle fought by our Founding Fathers to secure liberties for America and its future generations. Over two hundred years later, the words found within both our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence have found residence in the deepest and dearest parts of our being.

As Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute, noted in a recent column, “One of the urgent challenges facing America today is the need to pass on the essential core knowledge and principles necessary for the next generation to successfully lead our nation.” I believe in the values that shaped our country’s history and recognize the importance of ensuring that they remain in the forefront of all policy debates both at the national and state level.

My favorite time of the year.

I can't resist posting something about the beautiful weather this morning and the glorious occasion that will happen in just 5 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes. Yes folks it's football season. This morning as I stepped outside I could smell the fresh fall air fighting against the sticky humid summer air for it's chance to grace my presence. Unfortunately it lost that fight as we climb into the upper 80's but I know that soon I will be enjoying cool 70 degree weather. What's better is enjoying that while you sit outside Owen Field enjoying a hot dog and cold beverage. Sitting around talking football with your best friends wondering if this will be the year that Stoops leads us to a National Championship. Hoping for the chance to experience something special so we can sit with our grand kids one day and say, "We were there!"

I spent this weekend shopping for the perfect game day shirt. One that would show my Sooner Spirit but also keep me cool as I sit in the glorious North End Zone and cheer on my team. Yes folks I am that nerd. I plan my weeks, wardrobe, and social events around the OU game day schedule. I look forward to this time of year in the same way that a little child looks forward to Christmas morning. Sooner football is wrapped in tradition and fills the Oklahoma history books with many glorious stories. OU games attract dignataries, famous personalities, and occasionally are highlighted on network television shows. It's part of our culture here in Oklahoma and I will always feel honored to be a part of the show!

To be or not to be? That is the question.

When I get bored and I allow my mind to wonder it immediately fills up with questions.  Questions about life, people, animals, and mostly why things are the way they are.  I've always been like this ever since I was a little girl.  Some might call me nosey but I call it curious. I would spend hours during the summer taking things apart in my mother's house just because I wondered, "How does this thing work?"

So I began to think the other day about how powerful the question mark is.  Think about it. It's probably the most powerful punctuation mark there is. Think of the many marketing campaigns and historical events that have been surrounded around questions...

• Where's the beef?
  
• What Would Jesus Do? (if you think this wasn't a marketing ploy you are wrong)
• Mr. President did you have sex with that woman?
• What came first, the chicken or the egg?
• Does this make my butt look big?

And a few less famous questions I ask myself on a daily basis.

• What made me think this looked good on me?
• What's up with Amy McRee's face?
• How can I make money doing nothing? (besides being a politician)
• Does my dog really have to lick my face every other minute in the morning? Yes I hear the alarm!
• Why do people ALWAYS let their children run wild in Wal-Mart?

As children we are naturally inquisitive.  Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with a toddler knows that their conversations consist of mainly questions. Why is the sky blue? Who invented people? Where do pop tarts come from? Why can't I eat my buggers? Why don't girls have weenises? (that one is for my boy Bo)  There's even a game show where you can only answer with questions. (Jeopardy)

Think about how the world would be if people stopped asking questions?  I think this quote answers that..."There are no foolish questions and no one becomes a fool until they stop asking questions."

I will leave you with some of my personal favorite questions.  Most I can't take credit for. Please feel free to respond with your own favorite questions. Like, Why did I waste 2 minutes of my life reading this blog?

If laughter is the best medicine, who's the idiot who said they 'died laughing'? 
If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches? 
Why are the little styrofoam pieces called peanuts?
Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs.
Do siamese twins pay for one ticket or two tickets when they go to movies and concerts?
Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?
How fast do hotcakes sell?
When there's two men who "get married", do they both go to the same bachelor party?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
Who was Sadie Hawkins?
Why do we sing "Rock a bye baby" to lull a baby to sleep when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle on the ground?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?
If Mars had earthquakes would they be called marsquakes?
Why do people never say "it's only a game" when they're winning?
If an ambulance is on its way to save someone, and it runs someone over, does it stop to help them?
Why is it called a funny bone, when if you hit it, it's not funny at all?
Why do dogs like the smell of other dogs butts?
Do Chinese people get English sayings tattooed on their bodies?
Do glow-in-the-dark objects stop glowing when somebody turns the lights on?
If you died with braces on would they take them off?

How come lemon washing up liquid contains real lemons, but lemon juice contains artificial flavorings.

Ten Reasons Why Your Company Needs to 'Tweet'

A great article about why Twitter is important. (FYI I'm addicted) I stole this from jenx67's blog because I'm not creative enough to come up with my own stuff.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/8/prweb1199294.htm

All Gore's Hypocrisy Caught by AFP

Before you listen to another word from Al Gore watch this video. Before he starts preaching to me he better start making come changes of his own.

Teachers cry, "More, more, more!" AGAIN!!!

The Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) announced a plan yesterday demanding $850 million additional dollars for education. Their goal is to raise Oklahoma's per pupil spending to the national average. While I'm ok with that I would also suggest that we LOWER the per pupil spending for administration costs. Oklahoma may be in the bottom as far as the amount of dollars that go straight to the classroom but we are one of the top ten in how much we spend per pupil on administration costs. These include, among many other things, the comfy salaries that we pay our MANY superintendents.

Read the Oklahoman article here.

The rest of the story...

Here are the remainder of my New York photos (minus the All-Star game).

What is a trip to New York without a few celebrity sightings. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of two of them so I had to improvise.

The first one we saw was Kevin Connolly from Entourage. We were walking down Broadway late at night and I saw this guy who caught my attention because he was talking really loud and walking like a typical new yorker. Then I started staring at him and thinking "I know him from somewhere." And I noticed that my friend Katie had that same look on her face. Then as he passed he gave us the head nod and we immediately looked at each other and said...that's the guy from Entourage!

One night after the girl's had gone to bed the boys stayed out on the hotel porch and drank. Suddenly someone walks by and Myles says, "Hey that's Jackie Mason". Of course TJ's response was, "Who's Jackie Mason?"

While dining at a very good Italian restaurant we overheard that a famous baseball player was going to be there. Of course being the fans we were we decided to stick around and see who it was, and it was David Wright with the Mets.

No trip to the Big Apple is complete without visiting the Hello Deli to see Rupert. If you watch David Letterman then you know what this is. Oddly enough he had an OU shirt on so I couldn't resist getting my picture taken with him doing the upside down hook em horns. Even though Rupert had some problems with it.

Some celebrating after the boys got back from the All-Star game. This was one of the best nights. We stayed at a local bar until about 5:30am then went to get something to eat. By the time we made it back to our hotel the sun was coming up!!!

My candle.

Astros Mascot during the Mascot parade.

Trucks that carried the players during the parade.

Josh Hamilton's truck!

Both pictures above are of Katie and I when we went to Wicked. The boys got tickets to the All-Star game and we got tickets to Wicked. It was MUCH better than any baseball game.

Again, I still haven't posted the pics from the All-Star game. I will do that as soon as I get them in digital format.

What's a vacation if you don't have any fun?! (NYC Part 3)

OK, if drunken idiots, smoking, rude gestures, or just plain silliness offend you then maybe you shouldn't look at this post. And I must comment on the bar TJ chose. Yes, it was a great place to hang out and watch the Home run Derby, yes the people were great and the beer was cold. But out of all the bars in New York TJ picks the one covered in Longhorns crap!!

Katie trying to teach Billy from Brooklyn how to two step.

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We're just one big happy family.

I don't know what to say about this one.

I think I was doing an Irish jig for the guy from Ireland.

Myles making friends.

He's just a big dumb animal folks.

Part 2 of the Big Apple

Part 2 of our New York trip. I'm saving all of the baseball pics for one post.

The Rock! Or Rockefeller Center to the rest of us. This is where NBC studios are, and yes that means Saturday Night Live is filmed here. We actually got to view the studio but weren't allowed to take pictures. It's a LOT smaller than you think.

View of the flatiron building from the top of the Empire State Building.

Chrysler building from the top of the Empire State Building.

Where they film the Daily Show with John Stewart. At first I didn't believe it because it was in the middle of the ghetto, but some locals told us this is where it's done.

Old Glory in Grand Central Station. This was one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen

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The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Both pictures above are of a tomb that was excavated and put inside the MET. It was really neat to see.

A bunch of naked and headless statues from Rome. There was also a Super Heroes Exhibit but they wouldn't let us take pictures. It had Cat Women's costume, the original Superman outfit worn by Christopher Reeve, the Batman costume from Dark Knight, and some others that I can't remember.

Rockefeller Center where they usually ice skate, but in the summer they set up tents where you can eat.

That's all I have time for now. I will try and do more tonight.

I can not wait to see this movie!

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die