Remember The 10

January 27, 2011November 20, 2016 GOING NINETY MILESLeave a comment

Ten years ago on January 27, 2001 a plane crashed in the fields of Colorado killing ten members of the Oklahoma State basketball party. OSU is a tight family and Stillwater is a small town but this tragedy rocked the entire state, if not further.

College basketball is my favorite sport. Ever. Hands down. I love the excitement of the arena, being in such close quarters, screaming your head off for your team. Eddie Sutton was the coach during my college years, and he made ten phone calls that dreadful day. Calling to tell them their son, their husband, their father wasn’t coming home. Eddie Sutton was our John Wayne at that time. He held up the OSU community when he was hurting too. Thank you Eddie Sutton.

Please remember The Ten. Good sons, good fathers, good friends.

NATE FLEMING

BILL TEEGINS

DENVER MILLS

KENDALL DURFEY

BJORN FAHLSTROM

WILL HANCOCK

DANIEL LAWSON

BRIAN LUINSTRA

PAT NOYES

JARED WEIBERG

We Will Remember.

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lists · tragic

Thanks for the memories

January 4, 2011January 20, 2011 GOING NINETY MILES2 Comments

Thought I would do my end of year “Stars We Lost” list again. It was such a hit last year! Um, with all three of you. Thank you my fabulous three! Thank you for reading this girl’s blog. Still not stoppin, not letting the elevator break.me.down.

So while I felt this year was quite lame compared to the amount of shocking deaths in 2009, it was a year that the TV stars decided to croak. And it is amazing the amount of wives or husbands they had! And not in the polygamous way.

Here we go. In a complete order of randomness, which is my middle name. Oh, no wait, that is Veronica.

1. Dixie Carter (1939 – 2010) A southern woman after my own heart. To be honest, she was mainly Julia Sugarbaker to me from the TV hit Designing Women. Number of husbands: 3

2. Rue McClanahan (1934 – 2010) Another southern gal! Ahh, how we loved Blanche from The Golden Girls! The second hit TV show about four women, actually I would have loved to see Blanche and Julia go head to head. Rue was born in Oklahoma AND majored in German and Theatre. She was also on her sixth husband when she died. What an inspiration! Number of husbands: 6

3. Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010) He was British! He created gorgeous designs! What is not to love? His clients included Sarah Jessica Parker, Penelope Cruz, Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles. Sadly, on the morning of Feb. 11, he took his own life, found hanged in his wardrobe. Your beauty and inspiration to fashion will be missed Mr. McQueen. Number of husbands: 1

4. Dennis Hopper (1936 – 2010) Whenever I think of Dennis Hopper I think of cool. Right? I mean how could you not with him starring in Easy Rider (which he also directed). Add to the fact that he made his debut in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, you just know he’s gonna be a star. He dabbled in a little bit of everything; movies, TV (Bonanza, The Twilight Zone) but he was also a prolific painter, photographer and sculptor. With a camera bought for him from his first wife he created the cover art for the Ike & Tina Turner single River Deep – Mountain High. Ride on Mr. Hopper. Number of wives: 5

5. Gary Coleman ( 1968 – 2010) Four words – “What’choo talkin’ ’bout Willis.” RIP Gary Coleman. Number of wives: 1

6. Tony Curtis (1925 – 2010) When I think of Tony Curtis, I think of his marriage to Janet Leigh (actress from Psycho) and their famous daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. But the movie Some Like It Hot was a brilliant and hilarious performance with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. Have you seen it? You should. Number of wives: 5

7. Leslie Nielsen (1926 – 2010) Maybe it is the fact that his film debut was for Ransom! (NOT with Mel G.) in 1956 or it could be his deadpan comedy in Airplane, but I liked him. “Nice beaver”, “Thanks I just had it stuffed last week” – and “Surely, you can’t be serious”, “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley” are on my list of favorite movie quotes that if you are a close friend of mine, you must have heard me say. Number of wives: 4

8. Corey Haim (1971 – 2010) Ahhh, Corey Haim!! The Lost Boys! No wonder I am a freak for Edward… Hello, Twilight. Yes, keep up. I tore pics of him (we are back to Corey now) from Tiger Beat and pasted them inside my closet door. Oh, that was a GREAT door. LOVED the movie Lucas. He never married but did date many famous ladies; Alyssa Milano, Drew Barrymore, Nicole Eggert, even Victoria Beckham. Sadly, he accidentally overdosed on a concoction of Valium, Vicodin, Soma and Haloperidol. RIP Lost Boy. Number of wives: 0

9. Tom Bosley (1927 – 2010) The loveable dad of Richie and Joanie. Please tell me you know I am talking about Howard Cunningham from Happy Days. My parents liked him on Murder, She Wrote as Sheriff Amos Tupper. Number of wives: 2

10. J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010) I know I mentioned in no certain order but I guess I saved the best for last. J.D. Salinger touched so many lives with his writing. The Catcher in the Rye is a fantastically superb novel featuring Holden Caulfield which Salinger later admitted “the novel was sort of autobiographical”. I have also read Nine Stories which is a collection of short stories, sometimes I don’t get short stories, I mean, they are so short. Number of wives: 3

The final count of husbands and wives from the Top 10 list of celebs that died in 2010: 30

And to bid adieu, with the perfect quote from The Catcher in the Rye:

Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddamn cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody. ~ Holden Caulfield

tragic · weird

Di Another Day

December 2, 2010 GOING NINETY MILESLeave a comment

I found it! The picture I was telling you two posts ago – Legacy of a Prince. I took this picture when Princess Diana died and the news was showing her pictures on the television screen.

Mine that I took turned out all red, the only picture in my roll of film that did. Oooooohhhh spooky!!

2010 · new york city · tragic · usa

Here We Are Again

September 11, 2010November 20, 2016 GOING NINETY MILES2 Comments

Here we are, September 11. Nine years, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

I actually arrived to work early at my office in Wilton, CT. Since it was a marketing/promotions agency we were lucky and had several televisions around the large space. A report caught someone’s eye and we began to gather around. When the news became more than a small prop plane hitting the North Tower, it was a 767, full of passengers, there were gasps and tears that filled the room. And then the second tower was hit. This was no accident, this was terrorism. And our world would never be the same.

New York City, only 45 minutes away on the train, and somewhere I had just been the past week. As the first tower began to crumble and gush towards the ground I held my breath. I prayed people had escaped, had freed themselves from the horror of the unthinkable. What seemed only seconds later, the second tower went. I was numb. I couldn’t stop staring at the screen. Where did they go? Who could do this to thousands of people?

The agency told everyone to go home. And I called my family back to tell them I was okay. I traveled a lot and had just taken that same flight from Boston to LA (American Airlines 11) a few weeks before. That thought still terrifies me to this day. In shock, my friend Jeannette and I went to the liquor store, I have no idea what we bought but we brought it back to my cottage in the Connecticut woods and sat in front of the television, glued to every word, every shocking scene replayed over and over again.

As the days slipped by I went through many stages. At first I couldn’t stop crying, the destruction of our great city, the loss of so many lives in New York, the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania. Then I was angry, how DARE they do this to my country? Who the hell do they think they are? When I went into the city to see firsthand what Ground Zero looked like I couldn’t stop shaking my head while wiping away tears. So many posters of the missing. Have you seen my father, daughter, uncle, brother, mother, husband…….

The reason I had been to NYC a few days before 9/11 was to look for my perfect apartment. It had been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to live in the BIG city. Manhattan. And now? Now, I felt that I HAD TO. A few people were concerned, why move in now? After what just happened? And my answer was always yes. Yes, because of what happened.

And fifteen days later I moved into my tiny studio apartment on the Upper East side of 74th and 1st. Those were some of the best years of my life.

God Bless New York City.

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mexico joe'S · oooooooklahoma where the wind.... · tragic · usa

April 19, 1995

April 19, 2010November 20, 2016 GOING NINETY MILES1 Comment

The day started out like any other.

I woke up around 9 a.m. and thought I felt the ground shake for an instant. I didn’t think too much of it and threw on a Joe’s shirt, a pair of cut- off jean shorts, grabbed my waitbag and headed out the door. I was shift leader at Mexico Joe’s in Stillwater, OK and needed to get the restaurant ready to open at 10 for the lunch shift.

When the breaking news came on the television I stood with other employees as we watched in horror the scenes of half of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building blown apart from a bomb. The ambulances, medical professionals, children and adults bleeding, crying, not understanding what had happened.

220px-Firefighterbabyocb — Charles Porter, a high school classmate of mine took this picture that won a Pulitzer Prize.

How could any of us understand this scene of confusion and death on our home soil, the United States of America. But not only that, it was my home state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest act of terror against the U.S. on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. I knew many people affected from this tragedy; police officers, medical staff, families of the children and adults whose lives were lost so suddenly. It is a day no Oklahoman will ever forget, at least not in my lifetime.

The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6. Hate killed 168 innocent people.

I tried to upload the video “The Change” by Garth Brooks, for which he made a powerfully moving video honoring the heroes and victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. But I was unable to get it to post. If you would like to watch go here. I cannot watch it and not cry. Too many memories.

Let us come together in peace. Absolve us from hate.

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