So Team Covenant turns out to be a nice store run by really nice people. I came in 11th of 48 at the Regional here.

But since leaving there at 7:30pm I have had two of the worst customer experiences of my life in the last two hours (in one of them I quite literally waited for 21 minutes at a McDonald's drive-through), and now I get to stay here an extra night. Because as a result of trying to dodge one set of giant potholes at 65 miles per hour on the freeway, I hit another giant pothole and blew out my front driver's side tire.

The tire's trashed and the rim is badly bent, so I'm hoping Firestone isn't going to soak me too badly tomorrow morning for new tires and wheels (of course you can't replace them one at a time). Oh, and I'm missing spending Mother's Day with my wife and 16-month-old son to get my car worked on. Oh, and it's also the one-year anniversary of my mother-in-law's death, but hey--my wife's tough. She can handle it... alone. Because I'm stuck in Tulsa, where even the roads hate me and want me to be miserable.

Rrrrgh.

Ouch. Sorry, bro.

Didn't know you were there. What list were you flying?

Oklahoma roads hate everybody. It's all about keeping taxes low and blowouts maximized.

... Which is why y'all come down to Texas and ruin our nice roads! ;-)

Also, Vorpal, that delay [might] have been a good thing - depending on which way you'd be driving, you may have run into the tornadoes going around (pun fully intended).

I woke up my wife and our three-month-old daughter 30 minutes ago so we could go take shelter [since] the tornado sirens [were going] off. Happy first Mother's Day to her, and happy Birthday to me! [Typing this from the garage, not our 3rd-floor apartment...]

"It could be worse."

Didn't know you were there. What list were you flying?

Oklahoma roads hate everybody. It's all about keeping taxes low and blowouts maximized.

I was flying Kath/Mercenary/Binayre Pirate.

(/me wanders away, muttering about red states, taxes, and basic infrastructure)

Oh wow lol. I was flying Corran and 2 Y's. Sorry about that.

Oh wow lol. I was flying Corran and 2 Y's. Sorry about that.

So it's all your fault! That game was where my luck turned south.

Always good to put faces to forum handles. (c:

It's not my fault. Microwave your red dice!

Oh, mama, can this really be the end?

To be stuck inside of Tulsa /

with the Kansas blues again.

If you're still there, hit up Twin Peaks. Foods quite decent, the beer is cold, and the waitresses sociable. Not quite sure the lumberjack motif quite fits in the Great Plains though.

The road quality is mostly due to the bipolar nature of Oklahoma weather. During early Spring, we go through bouts of repeated freezing and thawing. So just imagine water getting into a small crack, freezing, expanding, cracking the road a bit, then thawing. Repeat that over a week over hundreds of areas around any town, and you wind up with hundreds of potholes around the city. Repair teams rely mostly on hotlines to respond to damage and there's only so much manpower to disperse in the area.

OKC at least is bigger by area than NYC, Chicago, Dallas, or LA. That's a lot of roads to cover. Oklahomans just learn to accept that along with the hail, odd tornado, and Native American attacks whenever we take a ride in our covered wagons (you'd be surprised how many East and West coasters can be fooled into thinking that happens here!)

If you're still there, hit up Twin Peaks. Foods quite decent, the beer is cold, and the waitresses sociable. Not quite sure the lumberjack motif quite fits in the Great Plains though.

The road quality is mostly due to the bipolar nature of Oklahoma weather. During early Spring, we go through bouts of repeated freezing and thawing. So just imagine water getting into a small crack, freezing, expanding, cracking the road a bit, then thawing. Repeat that over a week over hundreds of areas around any town, and you wind up with hundreds of potholes around the city. Repair teams rely mostly on hotlines to respond to damage and there's only so much manpower to disperse in the area.

OKC at least is bigger by area than NYC, Chicago, Dallas, or LA. That's a lot of roads to cover. Oklahomans just learn to accept that along with the hail, odd tornado, and Native American attacks whenever we take a ride in our covered wagons (you'd be surprised how many East and West coasters can be fooled into thinking that happens here!)

I hear the coffee there is **** fine:

Actually their sandwiches are quite nice as well.

Not Twin Peaks to be sure, but about as hand in hand as Star Wars and Starchaser: The Legend of Orin.

If you're still there, hit up Twin Peaks. Foods quite decent, the beer is cold, and the waitresses sociable. Not quite sure the lumberjack motif quite fits in the Great Plains though.

The road quality is mostly due to the bipolar nature of Oklahoma weather. During early Spring, we go through bouts of repeated freezing and thawing. So just imagine water getting into a small crack, freezing, expanding, cracking the road a bit, then thawing. Repeat that over a week over hundreds of areas around any town, and you wind up with hundreds of potholes around the city. Repair teams rely mostly on hotlines to respond to damage and there's only so much manpower to disperse in the area.

OKC at least is bigger by area than NYC, Chicago, Dallas, or LA. That's a lot of roads to cover. Oklahomans just learn to accept that along with the hail, odd tornado, and Native American attacks whenever we take a ride in our covered wagons (you'd be surprised how many East and West coasters can be fooled into thinking that happens here!)

I made it home safe a few minutes ago, if anyone's still keeping track of my saga.

And I'm familiar with the effects of frost cycles on roadways... But that whole stretch of I-244 was awful. And the crater that finally got me was so big that after I pulled off the freeway, I started reflexively looking around for dinosaurs going extinct.

Could of been worse we could of lost you to a sink hole, **** molemen undermining our infrastructure!

I once hit a spare tire on the highway going 70..... in a mini cooper. Took a month to repair my car. Then I promptly sold it

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the highway roadside assistance truck was literally right behind me on their way to remove the tire.

Drove to work early one day and noticed spots of hay on the road. They started to get numerous until they became bales of hay. A little further on I saw a pickup, stacked past the walls with bales of hay, and while I looked at it, a new bale fell off onto the 401.

Took down the license plate and called it into the OPP to let them know that bales of hay were turning the 401 into a minefield and what truck was missing its payload.

Glad it was just the rim you lost Vorpal. It could have been much worse. Are you going to be reimbursed by your insurance?

Drove to work early one day and noticed spots of hay on the road. They started to get numerous until they became bales of hay. A little further on I saw a pickup, stacked past the walls with bales of hay, and while I looked at it, a new bale fell off onto the 401.

Took down the license plate and called it into the OPP to let them know that bales of hay were turning the 401 into a minefield and what truck was missing its payload.

Glad it was just the rim you lost Vorpal. It could have been much worse. Are you going to be reimbursed by your insurance?

The total cost of repair was under my deductible, so no. Luckily my family's rainy-day account hasn't been raided very often since our last move, so it'll be fine.

Stuck in Tulsa. You're doomed.

Stuck in Tulsa. You're doomed.

No, he's OK.

I've lived in Oklahoma all my life and I avoid Tulsa as much as I can. My best friend and I once tried to go on a day trip to a convention there. After three hours driving to Tulsa and four trying to find the convention center we gave up.

Just to clarify: I have nothing against Tulsa. I've just watched to much Conan The Barbarian, thats all...

Tulsa. doomed. Thulsa Doom? No? ah never mind!

...I have nothing against Tulsa.

I didn't either, until I visited there.

To reiterate: the Team Covenant retail store/play space is really nice, and they ran one of the smoothest, most enjoyable tournaments I've been to. But virtually everyone I met outside the store was sullen and irritable--which could have been the torrential rain that weekend, or could have been a chronic condition brought on by urban sprawl laid over terrible infrastructure.

This proves it: gaming makes you happy!