OKC Kayak Word Soup

Alright, alright, I confess. I am a bad listener. Those who know me best will tell you that if I start to get that glazed over look on my face, you better ask me to repeat what you just told me as confirmation that I understood what was being said. More than a time or two, people have assured me that they informed me of something, and I, at the time, nodded in agreement, yet later the entire conversation seems completely foreign to me.

I could offer up many an excuse, such as a poor memory, Attention Deficit Disorder, or more. The scapegoat I will use instead is the fact that most of the time, I am running around like a chicken that is about ready to lose his head. Simply put, this time of year we lead a hectic, busy life. This said, sometimes I am guilty of rushing a conversation or being impatient simply because there is a call on hold, three customers in the kayak shop, and another caller beeping in on the other phone line. Sometimes, there simply is not enough hours in the day to take time out to hear about some off topic, random event.

Kids tend to be the worst about interjecting these unrelated tidbits from their personal life. The kindest way I have found to gently hint to folks that the comments are straying from where the conversation needs to be focused (such as the kayak lesson at hand, etc.) is to repeat a line from the movie Jerry Maguire. For those of you who have never seen this, or may have forgotten, one evening Jerry and this precocial, little kid of about 4 years old are bantering back and forth about various sports related records, facts and figures. Suddenly the kid exclaims, “My neighbor has bunny rabbits! Yes, completely random, I know. I regularly repeat this oddball line when I am being subjected to a litany of conversation that is either way off topic, or is of absolutely no interest to me whatsoever.

Here of late, many of my friends have been throwing this line back in my face. Point taken. I am the king of long winded, somewhat useless stories and random nature facts and figures. My favorite reply which was recently offered up to my, “…neighbor has bunny rabbits” phrase was, “So does my playboy!” For the first time in a long time, this kayak guide was at a loss for words (but grinning!)

Not that the conversations I may have yet to partake in with you would ever warrant this, but if I ever were to tell you, “My neighbor has bunny rabbits,” or, “The human head weighs eight pounds,” I am only teasing, but you will catch my drift!

Oh, and by the way, did you know that Cardinals use the bark of grapevine to line their nests?

Let’s face it folks, advertising ‘aint cheap! The reality is that it is a necessary evil though. We like to brag on the fact that most of our business comes from referrals our happy customers provide, but we occassionaly do spend some of our hard earned bucks on this stuff. So, when a friend of mine recently queried as to why OKC Kayak was not sponsoring him in the annual Redbud Run, I was open to listen to his proposal. He put what we considered to be an inexpensive advertising offer on the table, and we bit the hook. His generous offer was basically this, we pay his $25 entrance fee and he wears a lifejacket during the race with our business name on it. Being the fair individuals we are (and humble too!!!), we actually offered more than what he was asking for. I antied up $50 bucks to which my buddy eagerly replied, “For fifty, I will wear the lifejacket and a kayak helmet during the entire race.” YES SSIRRR!!!! Now we are talking. This event is huge, drawing tens of thousands of participants and spectators. If Jason was willing to draw a lot of attention to OKC Kayak by dressing ridiculously and embarrassing himself, we were game.

Now, the final negotiations of this transaction did not wrap up until eleven in the evening, but buddy, let me tell you, I was out the door and on my way to do some costume shopping even though the hour was late. Two hours later, I had an overflowing shopping cart full of all sorts of arts and crafts products. Giant foam letters, ropes of wire garland with flashy gold stars, iron on T-shirt designs, and much, much more, all made the cut. One hundred dollars later, I was on my way home to spray adhesive, tape, and tack these crafty nick nacks all over a lifejacket and kayak helmet. I had this garb decorated out with some serious bling bling by the time I was done.

At the stroke of noon the next day, I delivered the outfit to our little marathon man. It was all I could do to not laugh, as I envisioned him running down the road wearing what had turned into some sort of nerdy, not so superhero outfit. He was not pleased at all, apparently feeling taken advantage of by the fact that I may have gone a little overboard in my decorations. I almost expected him to back out of our little agreement, so I asked that he bring photographic proof that he wore it, before he would get paid.  He grumble, visibly  upset, but agreeing that he would keep his word.

The day of the race arrived, and sadly, I was tied up with another event and unable to watch it firsthand.  Jason, however did deliver his photographic documentation, and the bounty was paid.  Now, he did actually tone down my crafty additions to the jacket and helmet, but I guess this is a small price to pay for his continued friendship.  Even Amber, his wife, used the iron on transfers to make a cute T-shirt that she wore.

All this for fifty bucks?  Now who is believing we are not in a recession?

The Discover Oklahoma, OKC Kayak episode will air on CBS on Saturday, July 12th. This starts at 6:30 p.m. Autograph signing will begin Sunday at 8 a.m.  Ha!

Consider this a certified public service announcement from OKC KAYAK. Hey, why not??? Plenty of folks have been giving us a free plug lately. Plus, it kinda makes me feel like Bob Barker or something.

Here is the deal, I am from a LAAAAAARGE dysfunctional Catholic family. ….so big, we actually grew up in a giant shoe. I have five sisters and 2 brothers, each of us as individual and unique as can be. (but, of course, I am the smartest and best looking out of all of us. That is why I run a kayak shop. Ha!) Anyway, I am forwarding an email from number 3 (it is easier than trying to remember all my siblings names).

Nancy, my second oldest sister, has her heart in the right place (sadly, it is her brain that is a little mispositioned — Kidding Nance!). She is sharp as a tac (a tic tac), and over the years, has been fortunate enough to have tricked many a big business into paying her an obscenely large salary ($6.15 an hour at the quickie mart).

Recently during a round of downsizing in the telecommunications world she traded in the big bucks as well as the rollover minutes and took a job doing something that really fit her mission in life. Kudos to her for not only following her heart, but doing something nice for the world in the process. She went to work for a nonprofit spay and neuter clinic that allows low cost pet surgeries for low income families. (I told you that fake resume would eventually catch up with you, Nancy!) So, if your housecat needs a teet reduction on the cheap…. Nah, not those kind of surgeries!

Anyway, I myself don’t particularly care for cats, (hence the reason I am passing along the email about getting them fixed… Again, I am kidding Nancy!) but am so impressed by what she does that I am passing this along. She did not ask me to do so (otherwise I surely would have refused!!!) The real reason I am forwarding this is to prove that I am actually normal compared to the rest of my sibling, not to mention to build some good karma for that day I need her to post my homeless kayak guide will work for food announcement.

Here it is: (and don’t tell number 3 we were talking nice about her. Being nice to each other is strictly forbidden in our family!)

SPAY IT FORWARD!!!

Here’s how it works:

You purchase a Spay It Forward card (hereby referred to as SIF) for $35. You can choose to either personally give the card to someone you know who qualifies for the SPOT Clinic services (total family income less than $35K), or you donate the card to the clinic to use for a client as needed. The SIF card entitles the qualifying recipient to a dog or cat spay or neuter, vaccinations, Frontline, and dewormer at the SPOT Clinic.

The regular SPOT prices of $25 and $35 can really be a hardship for some of our clients, but they love their pets as much as you and I do. When the choice is to either put gas in the car to get to work that week, or have Fluffy neutered, Fluffy doesn’t stand a chance. We hear stories everyday that make us grateful for our fortunes in life – though they may not be much. At least once a day, a client tells us that they can’t keep the pet inside the air-conditioned house, because they don’t have any AC. Can you imagine?!? Some live in a bus, others in a tent, and the more fortunate ones have one room that they rent. Not one bedroom, but one room. Shared with a family and the family pets.

Why do these people have pets? Most of them have taken in a stray. Maybe they could relate to the living creature that wanted nothing more than a little food and love. When they can’t afford to have their stray spayed or neutered, then they end up with lots more mouths to feed.

We can help. You can help. For about the cost of your coffee addiction for a week, you can Spay It Forward for someone’s beloved pet. Your SIF may be the one and only time this pet gets any medical attention – and what could be more important than spaying and neutering?

For additional information about the SPOT Clinic or to make an online donation, visit our website at www.vawokc.org. Donations can also be mailed to: Volunteers for Animal Welfare P.O. Box 20061 Oklahoma City , OK 73156

Please specify that the donations are to Spay It Forward (and tell them OKC Kayak sent you), and whether you would like the card donated to the clinic or to hand out personally.

From the bottom of my heart and for everything you do, thank you!

- nancy

neuter recruiter

Yeah, Yeah, Dave has been slacking. Most of you have probably noticed that the website tattle-tales on me when I have not been regularly updating my blog. I guess this is a small price to pay for turning the website design and upkeep to a friend. Needless to say, we have been a might bit busy lately. Here is a quick update on the new shop:

The refurbishing of the building is taking shape nicely despite kayak camps, lessons, trips and all the other craziness we have going on this time of the year. Nearly sixty hours of pressure washing was needed to remove the peeling stucco from the front of the building. Two nights of sign painting until 4:30 in the a.m. got the outside looking a bit better, too. (We had to project the lettering on the building at night with our digital projector.)

A lot of our nice friends have been kind enough to donate time, equipment and materials to the shop. A special thanks to West Marine for donating many store fixtures. Dave and Barb Brinker spent part of their vacation trip hauling boats across the country for us (We appreciate this!). Delilah Smith helped dumpster dive (watch for the blog about this coming soon!) And, thank you to Tom and Doris Stone for lots more fixtures, desks, a computer server, and a printer which Tom even came out and installed. I guess I will have to start being nicer to them. On that note, we are trying to do as much with recycled materials as possible. (Hint…. if you have building materials, store fixtures, an old microwave, etc., let’s talk.)

For the most part we have the store staffed from 10-6 Tuesday through Saturday and after hours by appointment. Expect to meet our new coworkers on the website real soon. In the meantime, again thank you to all those that continue to bless my life with your continued friendship and support. Regards, Dave Lindo