meeciteewurkor

Bill Roland, president of the union that represents many city employees recently requested information from the City of Tulsa in the form of a Freedom of Information request.  The request inquired whether certain city employees received bonuses, and if so – when and why this happened.  The information request apparently was made because of the reduced budget situation that is facing the city of Tulsa.

Mr. Roland received his request in the form of a written memo dated Oct. 20, 2009 signed by the director of Human Resources, Jeff Wilkie.  This memo (see below) states that 8 employees received “stipends” in December of 2008 for “improvements found” and “acknowledgement of completion” of a certain city training program. Read more…

meeciteewurkor Tulsa, politics

I was at Walmart this morning getting some groceries.  I’ll usually grab a few frozen dinners for those nights I don’t feel like cooking.  While wandering down the aisle I noticed that Hungry Man was on sale for $2 each.  They’re usually more like $3 or more.  Shrugging my shoulders, I started looking at them seeing which flavor of fake meat I’d like to consume.

A young, male Walmart employee working on the same aisle noticed me looking at the dinners and started laughing with this annoying nose-snorting thing.  Quizzically, I check my fly to be sure it isn’t wide open.  When I see that it isn’t, I inquire, “Why are you laughing?”

With about three teeth in his head and spit escaping from his mouth while he talked/laughed, he blurts, “Those sat on the back dock all night and thawed out.”

“Are you serious?” I inquire.

“Yeah, I found them this morning and since they were still cold, they told me to put them back in the freezer.”

“Oh”.

Go Walmart Go.

meeciteewurkor random walmart

Bill Roland, president of AFSCME Local 1180, the union that represents many City of Tulsa employees, has filed a freedom of information act request to release city records in an attempt to find out when and why approximately 12 members of the city’s human resources department each received a $2,500 bonus.  This comes at a time when the city is crunching numbers in an attempt to counter severe general fund budget shortfalls. Read more…

meeciteewurkor Tulsa

Aaahhhh  yes…  but WHERE are those cuts going to happen?  That’s the 3 million dollar question!

The city is going to have to cut approximately $3 million more out of this year’s fiscal budget.  This is in addition to cuts already made, including furlough days, reduced wages, and hiring freezes.

Emory Bryan, in his report today on KOTV, made a good point that a lot of Tulsans do not know about (video).  It pertains to which departments should be getting cut this go-around (emphasis mine):

The cutbacks will impact basic city services like police, but not utility service because that’s self supporting.
The cuts will come in the city’s general fund. That pays for police, fire, streets and parks.

If you’ve ever wondered about your water or sewer service facing diminished service levels…  don’t worry, they’re completely safe.  These services are what’s called “Enterprise” fund departments.  What this means is this:  When you pay your utility bill, guess where that money goes?  Goes into a fund that is COMPLETELY SEPARATE from the city’s general fund which is funded by local sales tax. Public works is a utility, and you pay them with your monthly utility bill.  That’s how they maintain their service levels despite the fact that sales tax revenue is down.  It is really not much different than ONG or PSO.  You get billed by them and that is what they operate from.

Technically, the departments that might need to worry are police, fire, and parks.

Now, that said, I believe that we citeewurkors should all pull together to get through this tough time. I’m willing to take a few furlough days as a public works employee, even if it means the mayor will take money out of the Enterprise fund and somehow get it into the general fund.  (I’ve never understood how that is done legally, but I digress….)

However, there is one thing the mayor and I do agree on.  When she  gathered us all up to talk about the furlough plan, she mentioned one thing:  funding certain core city services through local sales tax is a bad idea.  She never offered alternatives, but I agreed nonetheless.  Perhaps diversifying funding for the general fund would be in order.  Ah heck.. what do I know….  I’ll just leave that to the creative accountants budget folks.

So… the next time you hear someone complaining about public works having whatever million dollars worth of overtime..  just remember where that money comes from.  Your utility bill.  Not your taxes.

Thank you, drive through.

meeciteewurkor Tulsa

It is not often I get to eat out.  (can you say ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?)

I did eat out this evening, though….   Man was it worth it.  Went to Olive Garden at Utica Square.

I’m a big meat and potatoes kind of guy so I ended up with this dish called Steak Toscano. Read more…

meeciteewurkor Tulsa cheese cake, food, olive garden

According to a report in the daily paper,  Roberto Salvador Alvelais-Torres hit and killed bicyclist Beverly Duffield: (emphasis mine)

Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers later arrested Roberto Salvador Alvelais-Torres — a man they described as an illegal immigrant. An affidavit for a warrant to search Alvelais-Torres’ Chevrolet Suburban states that he admitted to a state trooper that he was the driver who hit Duffield.

The affidavit, signed by Trooper Randall Clark, indicates that Trooper Joel Franks located the Suburban — which had a damaged front-end — in a Sinclair Refinery parking lot near 31st Street and Southwest Boulevard. Franks then found Alvelais-Torres at work at the refinery, the document says.

I was hoping that the Tulsa World would follow up and hold Sinclair to the fire as to why a purported illegal alien – now alleged murderer – was working for them.  Surely they know that Oklahoma recently passed HB 1804 which strictly tightens down on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

This is really sad for the Duffield family and my heart goes out to them.

Were this my relative, I would definitely be inquiring of Sinclair why this man was working for them.  Had Sinclair not enabled this person to work here, Mrs. Duffield would still be here with us today.

Contact Sinclair and ask them what the deal is.  I’ve used their contact form, but have not yet received a response.  When I do, I will post here for you to read.

meeciteewurkor Tulsa Beverly Duffield, illegal immigration, Roberto Salvador Alvelais-Torres, sinclair oil, Tulsa

So I’m enjoying a nice hot shower this morning.

I get the strange feeling that somebody is watching me.  I look over and see this:

It’s a fuzzy picture, but yes that is an Oklahoma gray tree frog.

So…  instead of screaming like a little girl and running through the house with shampoo in my hair, I very calmly and politely ask, “Could you pass the soap, please?”  I finish my shower with this frog just sitting there being still hoping I don’t see him.

Kermit now lives in my front yard somewhere.

meeciteewurkor random gray tree frog

If anybody is REALLY bored…

http://meeciteewurkor.wordpress.com/

Comments will not be accepted on the old archives site.
I got some good laughs reading through some of that old stuff…. wow.

meeciteewurkor Uncategorized

If your marriage is on the rocks, you need to watch this movie.

I can’t remember where I heard about this movie, Fireproof.  I watched it last night.  Wow.

Here’s a trailer: Read more…

meeciteewurkor video books, fireproof, movies, the love dare

The post on this site that has received the most hits is my homemade laundry soap how-to.  For those of you that have tried this, I’ve come up with another way to make this even easier.

Be sure and read the recipe first, or the following won’t make much sense to you. Read more…

meeciteewurkor thrift fels naphta, homemade laundry soap, thrift