Strokes Moustache…

Grand Coulee Dam is the largest dam in the United States and in the top 5 largest dams of the world. It is the largest electric power-producing facility in the United States. The short list of things to do around it include…

• laser light show projected onto the mile-long screen of the dam’s spillway.
• tour of the dam
• swimming, jet skies, inter-tubing, water skiing, etc. on Lake Roosevelt
• hiking Steamboat Rock
• waterfall hunting and viewing near Banks Lake

I lived in Grand Coulee for 9 brief months and then 30 minutes away in Wilbur for 4 years. All of the towns in the area were used to and took good care of the thousands of tourists these sights drew. My family eagerly absorbed every piece of information we could and took in every sight we could. We were just so excited to get to live near such a famous place! As we shared our giddy delight we were surprised to learn that some natives had never done what we were doing. They had every opportunity to experience something amazing, but because it was near them and they were used to it they didn’t consider it amazing.

I have to confess that I have committed the same sin against my new home, Northeast Oklahoma. I have never had lunch at the Pink House. 2011, my 10th year in Oklahoma, was the first year I went to the Gilcrease Art Museum. This is unacceptable. Therefore, I’m setting the goal of being a tourist in my neck of the woods. I’m going to Google things. I’m going to ask all the obvious, stupid questions I can think of. I’m going to ask for directions and recommendations. I’m going to photograph all the sights I’ve driven past without a thought before. Mostly, I’m going to stroke my moustache and scheme.

Schemer specifically and social media generally is what is motivating this great resolution. I’ve mentioned this local phenomenon before.

It’s interesting how social media has made my life both more global and more local. I communicate with people all over the world based on common interests, but then I’m inspired to actually live out those interests locally. Someday, dire warnings about replacing social life with social media will sound as outrageous people who claimed homeschoolers wouldn’t know how to function in society.

My excitement about Schemer is growing. I like being on the bleeding edge of things (gives a false sense of importance—gotta feed the ego) and Schemer is definitely new. Like most newly-launched Google products it’s invite only. Let me know if you want one. I haven’t found any Claremore schemes besides my own. There are few in Tulsa and Oklahoma City but not many. I get to be the trendsetter for Oklahoma Schemes!

Schemer still needs a lot of work. Schemes need to be linked to search results in Google Places. Sharing to Google+ is a basic sorely missing, but I would like to see integration to other social networks. Conspirators will need to ‘synchronize watches’ which means integration with Google Calendar. Once a scheme is completed there needs to be a way to add photos of the fun time had by all. These should have a special album on Google+ just like mobile uploads and photos from posts do. I have more ideas but I think I will save them for a Google+ post. Look for it there!