On being an Okie

When I first got the offer to come to Oklahoma for my job, I had to really think about it. After all, this was OKLAHOMA. Growing up in Texas, we are sort of biased against Oklahoma. I took the job and had to work up the courage for three days before I actually called my parents and admitted to them that I was moving to Oklahoma.

That was a few years ago. It didn't take me long however to fall in love with Oklahoma City and the state. What's not to love? It's a great place. You have the amenities of a big city and few of the headaches. Unlike the east coast, the commute to most places is fairly smooth and fast. I used to drive for an hour on the Interstate to get to my job 10 miles from my home in Virginia. Most of the time traffic was so slow that I could actually read my morning paper on the way to work.

Cost of living? Just try buying a house for $90,000 to $150,000 in any other big city in this country and see the small house in a not-so-great part of town you will land in.

People? Oklahomans are just plain friendly. Truthfully, I sort of excuse east coast residents for being rude -- they're not rude, just in a hurry -- but I recently traveled to one of our western states. That was the first thing I noticed. People were just rude. Waiters, waitresses, clerks, everyone in general. No smiles, no hellos, just rude. Count your blessings in Oklahoma -- they are usually your neighbors.

Which brings me to my point. Today, a native Oklahoman asked me why I moved to Oklahoma. I say why not? I really really really hate to quote our governor, but Oklahomans do seem to be their own worst enemy. Oklahoma is a great state. There's much more here than football. And Oklahomans need to quit putting this state down.

By the way, I'm not a Sooners fan. I'm not a Cowboys fan. I don't root for Texas (well not too much) I do cheer for all those teams (Big XII) when they are playing against another conference though.