Real social media stalker, or shameless self promotion in disguise?

So one of my co-workers alerted me to this Twitter account, run by a kid who claims to be OKC Thunder star Kevin Durant's neighbor. His name is Mathias Murphy and his Twitter handle is kd35sneighbor. This kid (if it really is the kid in the profile pic) uses Twitter and You Tube to spy on Kevin Durant from across the street and through his windows. There's video of him shooting hoops, taking out the trash, and even eating Fruit Loops in his kitchen! If this is real, uh.... CREEPY!!!!

But part of me wonders if this is just Kevin Durant (and/or his publicist) using fake accounts to self-promote? The Twitter account "kd35sneighbor" was opened on October 20th, just a few days before the NBA season opened. Apparently Durant even posted his phone number on his Twitter account recently. Sounds like a guy who really likes to get his name and info out if you ask me... not that there's anything wrong with that. :-)

But just today, KD himself tweeted: "Yo @kd35sneighbor quit snoopin around my house with ur camera!!! If you wanna chill, just come over...I’m around bruh bruh" Of course, @ replying to the alleged "neighbor" is just going to give the kid more followers. As of this writing, kd35sneighbor has 526 followers. Let's see how many he has after all of Durant's followers pick up on it.

Maybe I'm just cynical... But if you want to do your own detective work and come to your own conclusions, here are all the links to get you started:

http://twitter.com/kd35sneighbor
http://www.youtube.com/user/kd35sneighbor
http://twitter.com/KDthunderup

Okies once again...

We're all pretty familiar with the stories of how Okies went by the thousands along Route 66 to California during the Dust Bowl, and even up until the 1940s and 50s, to find work and a better way of life for their families. My dad's family was one of them, and my dad, the fourth of 11 children, was even born in Bakersfield, Calif. From what I can remember from family stories, my grandpa was a migrant worker, and the family lived in Bakersfield for just a couple of years. Here's a picture of my dad's family when he was a kid. Not sure if this was in Cali or Oklahoma, but it definitely paints a picture of the times.

For the last few years, there has been a lot of talk about a "reverse migration" though... A migration of Californians coming back to Oklahoma. Cost and quality of living are part of it, but some also cite a desire to get back to their roots. Heck, I even gained a next door neighbor from the trend! Here's the latest story from USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-10-12-oklahoma12_CV_N.htm

Now I must admit... I do have reservations about this alleged trend. My grandpa on my mother's side always told me that when all the Okies moved to California, it raised the IQ of both states. Yeah, so maybe that was a Will Rogers quote, but so what. :-) Still sounds like solid info.

Voto si o no?

On November 2nd, Oklahomans head to the polls to vote on lots of local, state and national offices. We Okies also get to decide 11 state questions which may amend our state constitution. Yeah... ELEVEN possible amendments to our state constitution! That's more than the entire bill of rights this country started out with!

So what's so important that we could possibly amend our constitution 11 times? The highlights include:

• Whether to make English the official language of Oklahoma
• Whether Oklahoma should opt out of federal health care legislation
• Whether voters should have to present a government issued ID to vote
• And my personal favorite, whether Oklahoma should be prohibited from considering Sharia law when deciding court cases (HUH???)


And least we not forget, state question 744 asks whether Oklahoma should be required by law to fund education at the average levels of the states surrounding us; while state question 754 bans using neighboring states' averages to determine our own funding levels. (Double HUH???) Yes, you read that correctly. Passing both would nullify 744.

(If you want to feel dumber in only a matter of minutes, you can preview questions here: http://www.ok.gov/elections/documents/sq_gen10.pdf)

Not only is the state question ballot lengthy this year, but it's always wordy, difficult to understad, and some may say, the result of lawmakers' ineffectiveness or inability to pass laws that might be controversial, or a sneaky way to pass laws that would certainly get vetoed or challenged in court. (The latter option is still possible, FYI)

Should the public be deciding SO many state questions? Particularly those that may be extremely complex and have far reaching legal consequences? And are the actual questions at hand even necessary? Because if Sharia law allows for the speed on the BA Expressway to be raised to 65 from 55, you can bet that I'll be voting NO on SQ 755!

Democrats (not) for Boren?

Happy Monday! We're in the homestretch of the midterm elections, which are now just four weeks away! Of course, that means political ads ranging from the negative to the nonsensical are beginning to dominate your TV's. Luckily, in House District 1 Republican John Sullivan went uncontested by Democrats, so in this media market we're being subjected to one less political campaign than usual.

In District 2, however, Dan Boren is in a race against... well... I'm not sure who he's in a race against, because I haven't seen any of his opponent's ads. But what I did find interesting is that none of Congressman Boren's ads mention the fact that he is a Democrat. Now keep in mind that district 2 covers the eastern portion of Oklahoma, which has historically voted Democrat. In fact, Tom Coburn's election to the House in 1994 made him the first Republican to serve eastern Oklahoma since 1921, and no Republican has served that district since.

We all know that Oklahoma is the reddest of red states, but is our political climate really so polarizing that Congresssman Boren can't state the fact that he's a Democrat? As a communications person, of course I find this fascinating.

I'll let you check out his ads for yourselves!

http://www.borenforcongress.com/