Oklahoma City

[false_aesthetic]

Discuss.

Potential Job teaching gig there.

Is it really as flat as I think it is?
Is it really as caucasian as I think it is?
Arts?
Entertainment (for an artsy ex-punk)?
Cycling?

[Joel Benjamin L]

Go to google maps, type in Oklahoma City, then change view to terrain. I was considering a job in Kansas and then did this. Changed my mind quickly about applying.

[fmbp]

I've not spent an enormous amount of time in OKC, but I did interview for internship there. It seemed like a big, flat, sprawling city. The city's square miles are huge, bigger than LA! List of United States cities by area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Can't comment on too many of your other questions.

[dashDustin]

...you're pretty close to Tulsa....that's a plus.

[false_aesthetic]

...you're pretty close to Tulsa....that's a plus.

a forumite and good friend referred to Tulsa as a city orbiting the asshole of the united states

all i know about Tulsa is Larry Clark's book, "Tulsa"

[treadonme]

Flaming lips FLAMING LIPS

[false_aesthetic]

Flaming lips FLAMING LIPS

It takes something awful to spawn something awesome.

Also, apologies to Edoz... I believe he's from near Tulsa. The above commentary on Tulsa is/was intended as a joke and not an attack.

[edoz]

a forumite and good friend referred to Tulsa as a city orbiting the asshole of the united states

That is pretty close to correct. OKC is not somewhere I'd want to live, it seems like it has all the sprawl of Dallas without anything useful.
I moved here for school and due to the amount of oil/gas and aerospace jobs coupled with my then wife informing me I wasn't welcome to come back to MO I stayed here. I've made the best of it and met some really good people but it was never my first choice and I'm looking at other places. (I'm not gonna have a whole bunch of those Handcrafted in Oklahoma stickers made ;)

It's not totally flat, but it's just small rolling hills mainly.
I'll say it's pretty Caucasian, even though we have a healthy population of our neighbors from the south. I don't mind, I love Mexican food and it really doesn't bother me to press 1 for English.
There is some art/music there, but OKC is no Tulsa and Tulsa is no Austin.
Entertainment for an artsy ex-punk type? Well, Def Leppard played at the Zoo Amphitheater a while back and some asshole still books Nickleback shows. Hope you like Rascal Flats and Toby Keith.
Cycling? It's better than Houston, I'm told.



OKC is barely ok, I know some good people down there but the riding is pretty lame. If you're looking at taking a job there that is a career launcher you could make it work for a little while, but if you're looking for a nice place to settle down I would cross it off the list.

[Dallas Tex]

Most of the cons are obvious, let me speak to some of the pros:

Low cost of living, ability to bang some bucks into savings.

Friendly folks, even if just superficially.

if you have a better half, lots of opportunity for good work. The energy industry is booming and lots of Energy Company headquartered in OKC

If you're from the urban northeast, it'd be a chance to experience an utterly different way of life, both different values and perspectives.

Healthy, cornfed, beautiful, Midwestern, young ladies. Don't underestimate that if you're unattached.

Sometimes it's just good to, literally, get outside your comfort zone. Doesn't have to be forever, you'll get life experience and a couple interesting stories to tell of your adventure.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[Chance Legstrong]

I would pick Tulsa over OKC any day.

[false_aesthetic]

I would pick Tulsa over OKC any day.

i read OKC and thought ok cupid.

le sigh

[fmbp]

Cycling? It's better than Houston, I'm told.

I can speak to this point. The cycling in Houston is indeed lame.

[Bud_E]

I had to travel there for work some time ago in the dead of winter. I almost died walking from the hotel to my rental car. It was the coldest wind chill by far I've ever experienced ( nothing to block the friggin wind ). Buckle of the Bible Belt ( or close to it ).

[Chance Legstrong]

oh...AND and this is a deal breaker

NO COLD BEER SALES (in the state, EDoz correct me if im wrong)

[Eddie]

oh...AND and this is a deal breaker

NO COLD BEER SALES (in the state, EDoz correct me if im wrong)

Is that an attempt to curb impulse purchasing, similar to PA requiring (for the most part) that you buy a case at a time?

Man, that's ridiculous.

[nahtnoj]

Is that an attempt to curb impulse purchasing, similar to PA requiring (for the most part) that you buy a case at a time?

Man, that's ridiculous.

I'm making a call to CA later today to have a case of wine shipped to my buddy in NY, cause the good stuff basically doesn't exist here.

But I could walk over to the distributor, and they have half an isle of cases of beer from CA.

Oh, and Wegmans is breaking the grocery store/beer juggernaut, by having small seating areas in their newer stores. Collegeville, Malvern, and KoP all sell beer.

[Dallas Tex]

oh...AND and this is a deal breaker

NO COLD BEER SALES (in the state, EDoz correct me if im wrong)

Back in college, in Texas, the term 'Okie beer' or '3-2' was used for low-alcohol beer, made specifically for the Oklahoma market to circumvent the room temp beer rules.

I had thought those laws have long been repealed, but maybe not. Given that, I re-call my earlier well-balanced post in this thread, and replace it with a effff-that-shit!

[jmgorman]

OKC is pretty white, no doubt.

As far as the riding, Southeast OK (from Ada on, east of Atoka) has really great riding. It's really like nothing you'd think you'd ever see in OK. The Rapha continental guys went there their second year. I did a fair amount of research down that way and never had any trouble when I brought my bike (pickup trucks, etc.). Lots of great gravel roads, for sure.

[edoz]

Back in college, in Texas, the term 'Okie beer' or '3-2' was used for low-alcohol beer, made specifically for the Oklahoma market to circumvent the room temp beer rules.

I had thought those laws have long been repealed, but maybe not. Given that, I re-call my earlier well-balanced post in this thread, and replace it with a effff-that-shit!

I don't drink, so I don't know the laws as well as someone else but I do know you can buy cold 3.2% beer except from 00:00-06:00. The liquor stores all close at 9pm, closed every holiday they can think of and there's nothing better than 3.2 in grocery stores. The whole "order my wine from California" deal is a no go. There are beers that you can't get in OK, like Fat Tire and all the other flavors that company makes. I can't remember why, but it's some deal where the brewery thinks OK laws are stupid and they aren't going to make special arrangements for one state with it's head up it's ass.
You can open carry though, and I guess that keeps the 'necks happy.

The Great Oracle at Google reveals the truth:

" First off, not everyone in Oklahoma has the chance to drink New Belgium beers, since the beer is not shipped here. My understanding is that the beers must remain cold, and since full-strength beer in Oklahoma liquor stores cannot be cold, thus the lack of New Belgium in this state. Is that a correct understanding of the situation?

Bryan Simpson: That … is accurate. It’s also not a traditional three-tier system but I can’t comment too much on OK laws for fear of not being 100 percent accurate. Regardless, it would be a tricky negotiation and we have no current plans for that."