|
Sherlocking In Odessa Texas is a big place. I am working in Odessa, Texas. Odessa is about half way between Texas and El Paso or roughly three-hundred miles. This week will be the fourth week in a row I have been there. The Permian Basin is one of the oil-rich area of Texas with Midland and Odessa sitting right in the middle. Both cities have populations of around one-hundred thousand and both have economies based in the oil industry. The wind is always blowing in west Texas and on some mornings, the oil industry's unique aroma hits you when you walk outside in the morning. My first trip to Odessa was a day long affair. I flew out in the morning and home the same evening. The next trip was out on Thursday and home on Friday afternoon. Then it was a full week on site and this week will also be a week long assignment. In all of my observations, there is nothing I can find even vaguely Sherlockian. The closest I can get is that The Great Whimsical Sherlockian Tour of Oklahoma and Texas rolled through Odessa on U.S. 385. The tour drove down from Lubbock and Odessa was where they picked up I-20 West. This was the Saturday of the tour. Last week I had to do a bit of my own Sherlocking in Odessa. The National Hockey League is in the midst of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and my personal favorite team, the Dallas Stars, are in the second round. They are playing the San Jose Sharks. Many of the games are being televised exclusively on Versus. The cable company in Odessa does not carry Versus in any of their packages. Last Sunday was game two of the series, it came on at 8 PM and I arrived in town at 5 PM. which means I spent the next 3 hours in a frantic search of all of the Sports Bars in the Midland/Odessa area. I was not successful, as a matter of fact, most of the "Sports Bars" had never even heard of Versus! It was as if Moriarty was working to keep me from my beloved hockey teams at every turn. I made it a point to get a rental car with satellite radio, the theory being if I could not watch it at least I could listen to the stinking game. Well, my rental car had satellite radio indeed, however it was Sirius Radio, which does not carry N.H.L. games like XM Radio does. At least this week my rental car has XM Radio but that did not help me last week. I did get to listen to the game using my laptop to stream the local Dallas radio station that broadcasts the Stars Games. I completely missed the game on Tuesday because I worked late. Rumors have it that there is a second cable company that operates in the Midland/Odessa area and they carry Versus but I have not been able to track down anyone who can verify this for me. I will have to deploy the Midland/Odessa Irregulars to go everywhere and see everything. Maybe they will find out for me and the game will be afoot! Happy Collecting!!
|
