27 November 2006
Rule, Britania
Even now my sis, Laura and her ginger hubby, Sam are on their way to England for a two month sabbaticle. Wanting to spend some time with the British side of the fam, they'll be there for the holidays and return conveniently on the same day as the Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State basketball game in January. Methinks this not a coincidence...
And sadly, with this across-the-pond migration, I'm without roommates for these next two months. So if anyone wants to make dinner plans and/or cook something at my place in the ensuing weeks, I am ALL for it. 
They're taking one of these to make the 5,000 mile hop from Dallas to London. The venerable 777. 
They'll ride on these.
While in Nottingham they'll be here on good ol' Baulk Lane.
They'll stay here at the hospitable Negus headquarters. 
Perhaps they'll venture into Nottingham's city centre. 
And a stop at Robin Hood's memorial is a must. 
And if in the mood, they'll eat this — tasty fried cod fish.
And some of these — the delectable chips (with extra salt). 
Much of this will be consumed. Samuel, of course, will take his strong and without cream, thank you. 
And of course PINTS of this will be downed. Careful, children, you've been subsisting on 3-point malty water for the past months and your tolerance is but a frail garter...
And if The Chubby Giant has anything to do with things, some of these will definitely be eaten. 
Sam will watch his storied Derby County Rams dominate here at Pride Park on perhaps more than one occasion. We can only hope for victory. 
Perhaps a daytrip like this one — a day in Castleton to visit a Norman castle — will get thrown in the mix, just to keep things interesting. Mhhmmm...green grass in winter...
Or maybe a scenic walk up in Derbyshire for a touch of fresh air and sheepish delights is in store.
Yiiiibble...
But a trip to see Manchester's most eligible bachelor is definitely lined up.
Mr. Chris "I am the law!" Gawn, folks. 
And of course an excursion to Parliament to find this stunning young professional is of utmost importance.
Mr. Martin "the future M.P." Davy, ladies and gentlemen. 
Unfortunately, these characters will not be coming to visit the Old Country along with Laura and Sam this time. *sigh*
And neither will these folks...
It's my blog, so I get to be in both pictures...
But thankfully, with Sam and Laura's venture across the Drink, all these folks can be in the same room for at least a time (though not for such an epic occasion as depicted).
The Negus families and the not-so-distantly-founded Sanlon family.
So a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Oklahoma to all ya'll way over there.
And to my roommates, I'll be here when you get back. And perhaps a little bit thinner...
24 November 2006
Thanksgiving @ the Stuart crib
The immediate family, minus little nephew Josh. He was napping. Mhmmm...napping...
My bro, The Fat Man, putting away some of mom's legendary cole slaw. 
The Tiny Pet and the Chubby Giant. 
Walking the dogs. 
Cousin Chris out of the shotgun and going deep. Chris lives in Wyoming and drove down to Norman with the fam for the festivities. Go WYO! 
Storm and Dr. Alex.
Storm fetching the bumper. Yellow labs are enjoyably easier to photograph than their black counterparts, I've discovered.
Big dog, little dog. 
Sam "holding" London. She is real. She is a tea cup Chihuahua and weighs 14 ounces.
Cousins Tanis and Marshall. They live in Wyoming too. 
Mmaow.
My sis-in-law, Laura Jean, Pa and Ma. The awkward family photo. Glorious.
Nephew Carson and cousin Myles. "Mom, Myles is my new best friend." ~Carson
Carson and Myles on the powerwheels. 
Dinah and cousin Marshall.
Chubby Laura, London (in the sweater) and Mama Stu. 
Thanksgiving sunset.
Family Project — phase II
My dad started working on the pergola in our backyard two years ago. On Wednesday my brother lobbied for the completion of the project, so the Stuart-family men (with a Negus thrown in) helped out to get 'er done. Overall it looks good. Just don't look too closely at the curvy jig-saw cuts. Some of the ones I did are kind of shady. 
This is what the pergola has looked like for the last two years. Very — basic. 
Aaron laying a chalk line. 
Dad knotching the posts. As a safety note, it's probably not a good idea to hold a running skill saw over one's head whilst rigging the blade guard to not cover the blade. But my dad is old school. He can't be held back by such modern safety conventions. 
Molly giving nephew Joshy some love. 
Kids like popsicles.
Quarterback.
Sam and his jig saw. 
Putting up the first side post. 
Nephew Carson helping his dad with some cuts. 
The screw gun master.
The girls pleading for Sam's food. I can't imagine why they think he would feed them... 
The end result minus a few top posts.
The X cross braces. My brother's idea. 
All done. Looks good, team. Now my mom can start planning the foliage to grow on it.
22 November 2006
Mama's Quilt
My mom started working on this quilt in September 2005. After putting it away for about 10 months she pulled it out of the closet in October and continued working on it until yesterday when she finished. And here it is.
"A good thing..."
Looks great, Ma. 
The inside pattern.
21 November 2006
Blustery Britain
From left: Julia (Sam's sis), Dinah (my sis) and I on top of St. Paul's Cathedral in London in March. I'm from Oklahoma and I've never felt wind that strong.
20 November 2006
Tulsa Marathon Relay
Me and some amigos competed in the first ever Tulsa Route 66 Marathon this weekend.
About 3,000 people ran in the race. I, along with the others, ran the four-person relay.
Fortunately, I ran the last and shortest leg of the race. I got the 7.2k (4.5 miles) homestretch and ran it right at 30 minutes. The weather was perfect and the course scenic and hilly. Overall a really nice run.
Our team time for the 26.2 miles was 3:32:14 — 8th place overall among the relays.
Go team. 
Forming up at the start. 
Byplane flyover to signal the start.
The race started at 8 a.m. and since I was the last leg I didn't start running till about 11 a.m. I got kinda bored at the checkpoint... 
And did they ever work! I declare. 
The team, post-race. Sally, me, Colleen and Adam.
November Sky
18 November 2006
Soccer Pro
My nephew, Carson plays on a little league team down in Keller, TX. Here you can see him (green jersey) moving in on the ball for a power play during one of his games a few weeks ago.
photo by Jana Stuart.
Riding a Mechanical Bull
Some good memories from a night at the Arbuckle Ballroom in Davis, Okla.
Surprisingly, I didn't make it to the end of the mechanical bull-riding cycle and was shucked off in the end. But my form is pretty much legendary down there in Davis.
Anybody wanna go again?
17 November 2006
Glory days in the Pride — 2003 football season
Some archive shots of times past. Sadly, in looking through all my pics from the 2003 season, I have ZERO photos of myself. But such is the life of the photog...
Notice the Bama vs. OU pics in there. Good times beating The Tide on the road. 
One of the best drills I had the opportunity to march. This was for our movie music show. We also played and marched to the Beetle Juice theme. It was awesome. 
13 November 2006
OU vs. Texas Tech
OU inhaled briskly for three quarters before finally taking the lead against Tech's poor offensive showing. I still worry about our tackling and our inability to hold the ball like a starving rat does a cheeto. But we're still winning games. Somehow. Go team. Beat the Bears and for the sake of Mr. Stoops' yearly bonus — beat the friggin' Pokes! 
Some Texas Tech Ruf kids came with Della. Good times on that front. You'll notice the various hand gestures indicating certain individuals' loyalties. If you look in the back, you'll notice a certain ginger Brit indicating a Horned Frogs hand sign, which of course is completely unreasonable considering the context of the photo. But then again this particular Briton is somewhat unreasonable in his sports team allegiances, so it's not surprising. Mmaow...
Our defense finally appplying some kind of pressure on No. 6.
FOUND: one mullet for the record books. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. And there were other witnesses too if you're skeptical. Good gravy.
Hoping for a touchdown run through the pile. 
Oh yeah! Finally some points on the board for our somewhat shady offense. 
Stoops lending an encouraging hand to Mr. Brown after his touchdown run. Is anyone else alarmed that we're playing our FOURTH-string running back? 
Victory blast. 
Sorry Mr. Winn, not this time. It's a long ride home to West Texas. 
The No. 1 Sooner Ally. And just as an observation, from one Big 12 fan to others, if a certain university based in Austin, Texas should happen to lose a certain upcoming game, then we here in Soonerland could find ourselves in a Big 12 Title situation. But that's just an idle observation. (note: this picture appeared by complete accident)
12 November 2006
Veteran's Day Army Band activities
I had drill this weekend. On Saturday the army band drove up to Ponca City to play and march in a four-block parade. It was fun but anti-climactic. Four hours on a bus for four blocks of parade. Hmmm...
But after the parade, the local Ponca City American Legion hall hosted a tasty lunch for all veterans. The army band, myself included (yes people, I AM a veteran), took advantage of the free lunch.
We met some storied WWII vets, chommed sandwiches and homemade desserts, and talked about the general lack of tuning capabilities of the bag pipes as an instrument. Especially those played in parades for some reason. But that's just bandee banter...
On to the photos:
Some of the band enjoying lunch. 
Bryant, me and Chase. Not sure what the intended goal was here, but I like the awkward undertones...
Me and Steve, a fellow trombone player. Steve is a band teacher in Yukon and his last name is Sharp. A fitting name, considering his line of work. 
Freedom Brownie. 
"Intimidation"
After drill I went to my friend Patrick's house. He's a trumpet player in the band and he just bought a new remote controlled truck. I used to be somewhat of a remote controlled car enthuz in my youth, so it was invigorating to take the controls again.
Patrick's truck is gas powered and goes 45 mph. At one point he suggested I get back into the sport again, but it doesn't hold the same meaning as it once did. And I've already got enough expensive hobbies methinks. 
Back in the saddle. Such poise and masterful technique. 
We drove it under the 4Runner without incident.
Stay tuned for some pics of the Texas Tech game-day festivities...
10 November 2006
Happy Late Birthday, Doug
A few shots from Satuday night's get together commemorating Doug's 36th year. 
Opening the package. What could it be???
Yes. Yes. Yes. It's the Martin Luther Here I Stand board game. Average playing time? 360 minutes. But who said the Reformation was easy?
A personal favorite from the evening.
08 November 2006
Friday Night Lights
We went and saw Norman High vs. West Moore for the distict championship last Friday.
Norman High used to be my enemy (Go Norman North T-wolves!), but anymore I have great difficulty summoning any amount of secondary education school spirit in general.
But some good times at the game nonetheless. We ate candy, sniggered at the adolescent tomfoolry and made jokes about the outlandish and annoying West Moore fan who sat behind us. He also happened to be wearing a burnt orange cap with some kind of cow logo on it. Very low-class...
The final result?
West Moore 28, Norman High 14
Oh great. Who gave Jonathan the spirit whappers? 
Wha' happened?
The highlight of the evening, though their music was disappointing.
It was cold. 
The annoying super fan with the burnt orange cap. I managed a discreet photo of him while he happened to not be moving about spouting things like "C'mon coaches!" "What are you doing?!" and "Go Baby Go!" 
The classic high school scene. Check out the girl in the middle giving that guy the googley eyes. He probably just asked her to the semi-formal, or to smoke out with him behind the stands after the game...whichever "those kids" are doing these days...
07 November 2006
Defending the Homestead
"...We will fight them on the beaches, on the landing places, on the farms and in the cities. We will never surrender..."
04 November 2006
'True Love Knows No Bounds'
Water Dogs
Molly.
Abby.
03 November 2006
Some people
Doug.
Anna.
Julie.
Brittany.
Lisa.
John.
Wade.
Josh.
Whit.
Daddy Stu.
Jack.
Halloween Haberdashery
The Metro Soldier. 
The Blonde Witch. 
Grand Admiral Leard.
Boone Pickens.
Typical New Englander.
Proper military bearing.
Choice Russian spirits.