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Published: April 18th 2004
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Hi Everyone,
I just got back on Saturday from a 12 day stay in Ardmore, OK doing a Staples remodel. Let me tell you, this one was very different from the Bartlesville remodel.
First I'll tell you about Ardmore. Ardmore is a town of 32,000 people about a half hour from the Texas border. It is a very nice friendly town. Between the hours of 8am and 10PM traffic is as bad as Wichita, KS. People are always on the go. It has a movie theatre, several restaurants of varying caliber, a Wal-Mart, a mall, a Hastings Book Store, and a very quaint looking downtown and several other stores and things to do. I was surprised that most stores closed at 8PM. I enjoyed the town more than I did Bartlesville.
Our store situation was very different though. This store was a lot more challenging than Bartlesville, but we did our job the best we could and got done on time.
The first 3 days went as planned except that one of our Prism team members quit on Saturday afternoon and went home.
Sunday, our only day off, nobody else wanted to do anything and I didn't want to sit around all day and do nothing, so I got up and went the outlet mall in Gainesville, Texas. I bought a new pair of shoes for work and some Christian books. Then I knew that I would regret it if I didn't go to Dallas since it was only 80 miles from there. I had gotten some attraction fliers in the hotel and one of them was for the Dallas World Aquarium. So that was my mission and I chose to accept it. The Aquarium was very easy to get to. I could stay on I-35 until I got the downtown exit right by it and then it was only a mile away.
The aquarium was not as large as I expected it to be. The main attraction is a rain forest with several tropical animals. Downstairs there are several large aquarium tanks each with aquatic animals from a different part of the world and a very small walk-through aquarium. In that one a woman was feeding the giant turtle from a very large head of lettuce. That was kind of neat. But over all I was disappointed because I thought since this was Dallas and it called itself an "aquarium" only, it would be better than the Omaha Zoo & Aquarium (which is awesome and I want to go back there and sit and spend hours in the long aquarium tunnel and watch the fish swim peacefully all over above and around me.)
While driving to the aquarium I passed a Medieval Times Restaurant and thought about going there for dinner since I'd never been to one. We passed the one in Shaumberg, IL everyday going to and from work when we worked in Chicago, but didn't eat there. So I said I was going to go while I had the chance. I drove to the parking lot and made reservations for the 5PM show. (It was 4:30.) I thought I would be lucky if they had any openings because the NASCAR race was in Fort Worth that day, but they did and I went in. Inside there is a large room where you can look around and buy souvenirs until the dinner and show start. At 5 o'clock they opened the doors and showed you where to sit. I had a front row seat in the section that cheered for the blue knight. The "wenches" took our drink orders and show began promptly. The story was about a king and his warriors who had just come back from being victorious in battle. The king's brother had been killed and the king needed someone to take his brother's position in the kingdom and only the best warrior could fill it. There would be a competition 1 year from that day. Everyone agreed and then departed. There was smoke and lasers to show the passing of time. Everyone arrives back in the arena on horseback, the knights are introduced, and the competition begins. In the middle of the competition it is found out that there is a traitor, it is thought, among the knights. In the end, the traitor turns out to be the guy in charge of the knights and he was led away to be killed. The black and white knight won the competition and took his position in the kingdom. It was a very exciting show. The food was excellent too. While the show is going on, you are served hot soup, garlic bread, half a chicken, half a baked potato, one barbeque rib, and an apple pastry. All of which is eaten with your fingers only like they did in that time. I'm glad I did this it was a lot of fun. When the show was over I drove back to Ardmore.
The 2nd week of work was very long. Another person drove in to work for our team and he was a little better the first one and he stuck out the week. Monday I worked 13 hours and Tuesday 11 hours. The rest of the week was 10 hours a day or less. I got 53 hours last week not including the drive home.
On my way home I stopped in Mustang, OK and visited Helen (Carla's mom) and her family. She invited me to eat lunch with them. She had made a wonderful turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and peas, corn on the cob, and biscuits. After we ate we retired to the livingroom and visited for awhile. Then I had to leave because I wanted to go to Iain's 1st birthday party in Wichita and then to mom and dad’s house in Salina for Easter.
Hope you had a Happy Easter 2004!
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