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Paycom Center Got an Upgrade

March 2, 2022 By Janie Leave a Comment

Paycom Center is Oklahoma City’s premier sports and entertainment venue located downtown at 100 W. Reno Ave. The facility is managed by ASM Global but owned by the City of Oklahoma City.

History of Paycom Center

MAPS, Oklahoma City’s visionary capital improvement program, funded the original construction of Paycom Center in 1999. However, the city’s residents voted to fund the renovation project, upgrading the facilities and encouraging Oklahoma City’s overall growth into new sports, entertainment, conventions and cultural events.

The facility opened on June 8, 2002, with an initial cost of $89.2 million. Opening celebrations included a dedication ceremony led by Mayor Kirk Humphreys. In addition, there was a unique open house ceremony for the surrounding community to take a sneak peek.

Since it opened its doors, Paycom Center has hosted more than 1,200 events and seen more than 10 million fans walk through the doors. Since the beginning of the 2008-09 NBA season, the arena has served as the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It has also been home to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz, as well as world-class concerts, top-tier entertainment, major conventions and other sporting events.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Paycom Center Copyright 2021 NBAE (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images).

Oklahoma City Thunder is an NBA franchise and participates in the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division. Oklahoma City Thunder [SN1] has won four conference championships and 11 division titles throughout its short history.

Paycom Center Quick Facts

Paycom

●      Seating: 15,341 permanent seats, 252 portable ADA seats, 1,568 portable floor seats

●      Initial venue cost: $89 million

●      Construction began in spring 1999.

●      Previous facility names before Paycom Center: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City Arena and Ford Center

●      NBA-specific amenities include NBA-only locker rooms and facilities, a practice court, media broadcast facilities, lighting and sound, an NBA press room, an on-site NBA and team store, and ticket/staff rooms

●      Chad Richison, CEO of Paycom, acquired the naming rights to what would become Paycom Center on July 27, 2021, for the next 15 years.

●      Paycom Center has hosted numerous sold-out concert events by various artists, including Bon Jovi, Britney Spears, Cher, Justin Bieber, Eric Clapton, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Lady Gaga, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Jason Aldean and Jay-Z.

Multiple Sets of Improvements and Renovations

New renovations and improvements have been completed, and a new entrance was added during the final phase of renovations. The other innovations and improvements at Paycom Center include:

●      new modern restaurants

●      a family fun zone

●      locker rooms and team offices

●      a modern 75’ wide and 21’ tall exterior video display on the center’s north face

This was not the first set of renovations that Paycom Center has seen in its history. In 2009, the facility was closed for five months to make room for another set of renovations. Additional innovations also were made the following year in 2010 and included:

●      new locker rooms

●      new terrace suites with lounges on the club level

●      major upgrades to the arena’s entire lighting deck

●      a new and improved scoreboard

The facility now features three giant scoreboards and modern video displays at every end of the arena. Fans were also able to enjoy wider, retractable, and more luxurious leather seats.

Paycom Center Protocol

Paycom Center

Standard procedures are in place to safeguard players, fans, staff, and guests. All event organizers have a right to change entry policies to protect their guests during events. For more information on Paycom Center, visit paycomcenter.com.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Travel Tagged With: lifestyle, Paycom, Paycom Center, travel

Gary Kaplans Family Vacays and Local Philanthrophy

August 19, 2021 By Janie Leave a Comment

Gary Kaplan is a businessman from Brooklyn, NY, who relocated to Costa Rica in the 1990s. This move was in pursuit of his love for travel, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship. He has always had a passion for children, and this is one of the things that motivated him to start the HG Kaplan Foundation

One of the first charitable projects that he participated in was assisting families from Costa Rica who got displaced by catastrophic mudslides. He helped in rebuilding their homes and providing funds to cater to basic needs. Through the HG Kaplan Foundation, Gary provides mentorship and monetary resources to assist children from underserved and underprivileged communities.

Gary Kaplan’s Love for Travel Inspires His Philanthropy

In his early adulthood years, Gary loved to travel all over the world in hopes of knowing life beyond New York. During his travels to places such as Zambia, Africa, he would notice how women and children would travel miles from their homes to get basic needs such as water. This was a shock to him and, at the same time, heart-breaking to imagine that there were still people out there struggling to get basic needs at this time and age.

As a businessman, Gary is used to identifying problems and finding solutions. So, to him, these challenges in the communities were simply problems that needed fixing. His mind would automatically devise plans in hopes of fixing the issues. This is what led him to start the charitable foundation. Though he could not help everyone, he at least gave hope to some.

Primary Focus of the HG Kaplan Foundation

Gary uses a solution-focused approach to lead the HG Kaplan Organization, among many other foundations. The main programs of the foundation include:

  • Health education program
  • Bed and basic food
  • Clinic projects
  • Daycare center

Health Education Program

The health education program provides lessons in hygiene, safety, health, and nutrition. This protects children from illnesses and gives them a chance to grow into healthy adults. In addition, through this program, children at risk get emotional support, instilling a sense of trust and love in them.

Bed and Basic Food

The foundation strives to provide basic needs to underprivileged families and children. For example, they build beds for children, improving their quality of life and health. In addition, they have partnerships with grocery chains to provide water and food to these families.

Clinic Projects

Through the HG Kaplan Foundation, Gary rolled out a clinic project in Costa Rica, just near his family home. The foundation later converted the clinic project into a library and recreation center for the community. This was only after they realized that the community no longer needed the clinic.

Daycare Center

One of the issues leading to poverty is that some parents cannot work since they have small children to care for and cannot afford daycare services. The foundation provides daycare services, allowing parents with young children to find work and thus elevating poverty to some extent.

Gary Kaplan’s Will To Help Transforms Communities!

Gary Kaplan’s will to help has helped communities access the essential resources needed to improve their quality of life and live happily. Most of these philanthropic services can get attributed to his excellent entrepreneurship skills and the ability to organize and prioritize tasks.

Innovation, solidarity, integrity, and honesty are some of the solid pillars, which have kept Gary and the HG Kaplan Foundation successful all these years. Every penny is essential in making a positive difference in the community.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Travel

Gary Kaplan Attempting to Solve the African Water Crisis

April 22, 2021 By Janie Leave a Comment

Gary-Kaplan

The availability of water is a minimum essential for sustaining human life. Unfortunately, many people in disadvantaged parts of the world do not enjoy the luxury of having cheap and clean water available in their homes. Some people have to travel for hours every day just to pick up clean water. In other cases, water can be delivered, but delivery services are prohibitively expensive for the world’s poorest people.

Problems Associated With Poor Water Availability

The problem with limited water availability is that people fall behind when they have to spend hours every day retrieving water from nearby wells or streams. The time spent fetching water could have been spent taking online courses to learn a specialized trade or working for a salary to enjoy more economic opportunity. Retrieving water can also be a significant burden on elderly and sick individuals. In many cases, people who become sick end up dying quickly because they are unable to make the trip to retrieve water.

Water 4 Africa’s Promise

Water 4 Africa was launched in an effort to resolve the water crisis in some of the world’s poorest communities. The organization’s concept was that if people could be given easy access to clean water, they would quickly be able to improve their communities and increase their standard of living. In this way, Water 4 Africa seeks to offer hope to disadvantaged people who are struggling to survive.

Water 4 Africa Can Make a Difference

Water 4 Africa recognizes that rare diseases are common in poor nations because of water quality issues. Children are especially vulnerable to diseases caused by unclean water because their developing bodies lack the strength to break down harmful water additives, such as bacteria, pathogens, and dangerous chemicals. When people of any age drink water that is unclean, they risk the possibility of catching a rare disease that could permanently weaken their bodies or even become fatal.

Unfortunately, sanitation issues are especially problematic in disadvantaged communities that generally lack sufficient educational resources. People in uneducated communities tend to look up to local elders for guidance, and these community leaders often lack an understanding of how to detect harmful pathogens in drinking water. As a result, a broad range of social, economic, and educational issues emerge in disadvantaged nations as a result of bad planning and decision-making. A downward spiral then begins as wages and educational opportunities are lost.

After conducting extensive research, Water 4 Africa concluded that a lack of clean water is one of the main reasons why hunger remains an issue in Africa. Water is necessary for sustaining life, preparing food, and staying healthy. As a result, Water 4 Africa decided to commit to resolving physical water scarcity issues.

To realize the greatest social good possible, Water 4 Africa is careful to balance major global issues, such as climate change and geopolitics, with its overall vision. Ultimately, Water 4 Africa believes that education is the most effective way to resolve sanitation issues.

However, water is also necessary for enabling students to attend school, so the organization also has to strike a balance between immediate needs and outcomes for future generations.

Water 4 Africa has divided its action plans into four key areas that have been identified as the most significant opportunities to make a difference. The major areas that Water 4 Africa focuses on include:

1. Well Repairs

Many villages have their own wells, but the wells are broken for a wide variety of reasons. When it is feasible to fix a well in a struggling community, Water 4 Africa provides the resources to complete the repair.

2. Drilling New Wells

New wells are the most common need in remote villages that rely on distant sources of clean water.

3. Recycling Wastewater

Many African countries have plenty of water, but they are unable to make use of it because of infrastructural issues. Water 4 Africa provides the resources to enable villages to recycle their own wastewater to become self-sufficient.

4. Desalination Plants

Small desalination plants that are powered by solar energy could make an enormous difference in remote communities. Therefore, leveraging innovation in the desalination industry is a key focus of Water 4 Africa.


Gary Kaplan founded Water 4 Africa after realizing an extreme need for water after a trip to Zambia. Kaplan saw long lines of people queuing up to receive water, and he realized how this problem was leading to an enormous loss of productive labor hours. Consequently, Kaplan founded Water 4 Africa to make an enormous difference in the lives of people struggling to gain easy access to clean water.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Travel

For Gary Kaplan of the HG Kaplan Foundation, Vacations Take a Different Path

January 7, 2020 By Jennifer Liana 1 Comment

gary kaplan

Vacation time is typically synonymous with taking a break, taking time out for fun. That could be anything from seeing the sights to just kicking back. It can also mean taking a different path and seeing what locals do or finding what life is really like even further off the beaten track, such as learning about slums and areas of poverty in cities like Mumbai.

Gary Kaplan of the HG Kaplan Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children around the world achieve dreams, finds more vacation value in seeing life firsthand. And having a positive impact through interaction.

He donates his time. He delivers food and clothes and necessary supplies and gives money and services wherever he sees a need.

Gary Kaplan is an international businessman and founder of three charitable organizations, each operating on different continents, helping distressed populations around the world. While on family trips to India, he not only attends to his business engagements but also spends the off hours on unplanned visits with his family to slum-area communities, distributing meals as a group to the men, women and children living there.

Wherever Gary Kaplan finds himself, he will spend days at a time out of vacation visits on chance encounters and assisting local communities. When on his first day in Mumbai on an excursion through the streets, he met a tour guide named Torab. As it was Kaplan’s first visit to India, he accepted an offer for a tour through Dharavi, a location appearing in the Academy Award-Winning Bollywood film, Slumdog Millionaire.

Dharavi is one of Mumbai’s largest slums – about two-thirds the size of Central Park – and the site of approximately 60,000 predominately shanty shelters and one million Mumbaikars carrying out their lives and businesses.

At the 13th Compound, for example, a recycling industry of some 15,000 single-room workshops recycled 80 percent of the plastic waste created in Mumbai.

According to the tour guide, many of the structures in Dharavi were unauthorized but rented per-room nevertheless by local landlords. The majority of the structures comprised a garment industry where workers in small spaces produced and packaged brand-name apparel later sold at a high markup in developed parts of the world.

Kaplan discovered that Dharavi was a center of skilled industry where small factories produced goods ranging from crafted leather and aluminum bricks to wax prints and pottery. He realized that Dharavi diverged from his original concept of a slum. It was an area with a high poverty-rate but, at the same time, an area of hardworking people meeting basic needs.

Kaplan asked the tour guide if there were other parts of the city where he could provide help or deliver food. After disappearing into the neighborhood, the tour guide came back, reporting that he had learned of places selling prepared meals intended as handouts to people who needed them. Kaplan agreed to the idea, and both of them continued their day.

Their first stop was an orphanage for girls where they provided lunch for some 60 girls or more. They next visited a mosque, where they brought more than 40 meals to a group of resident boys. Kaplan and the guide concluded the day by handing out an additional 50 meals or more to passersby and other people in the area, whether they were young or old.

The experience was worthwhile for Kaplan, and he asked to make arrangements the next day. Also knowing his daughter would be arriving for a short visit, he and the tour guide found a work area where Kaplan and his daughter could prepare bags containing basic needs for particularly-impoverished areas.

After his daughter arrived, the two of them, along with the tour guide, visited a Mumbai wholesale area, or black market, where they bought enough bags and towels and necessary items like toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap to make 100 care packages.

Having gathered the items, they passed a school where loud children’s voices caught their attention. Gary Kaplan inquired and, after meeting with the headmaster and receiving a tour, they took note of areas where he would be able to help at the school as well.

They carried out the morning assembling gift bags and went with Torab to some of the slum’s most desolate areas where whole families lived on roadsides or in small, 4×4 tin shacks stacked on one another. With the help of another local, they went to every living area and asked one representative from each to create a line and pick up one or more care packages.

It was during this time they validated the reason Gary Kaplan and his family take time from their vacations for giving: the excitement in the children’s faces as they handed out care packages and some lollipops.

For this reason, Gary Kaplan’s one request sending for donations to the school was that the headmasters send back a photo – once the donations and some candy arrived – with all the kids in it, each with a lollipop and a smile he was certain would be there.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Travel

Ways To Improve Your Travel Literacy

October 11, 2018 By Carole Erickson Leave a Comment

Ways To Improve Your Travel Literacy

Ways To Improve Your Travel LiteracyTravelers strive to go “where no man has gone before” or they travel to origins of their personal family beginnings.

Today’s travelers are far more diverse in the choice of travel sites. These choices are often based on ideas or inspirations they’ve gotten from several sources. These include:
. Books on travel
. Travel documentaries by travel experts
. Experienced travel agents
. Recommendations of family, other relatives and friends

Travel Literacy – Learning Curves Par Excellence

Travel isn’t just about planning a travel itinerary, working out travel arrangements with travel agents or jaunts to domestic or international travel sites.

It is also about details that can make travel complex and/or not as enjoyable as it should be. The best way to become travel literate is to prepare in advance to learn as much about the intended travel destinations as possible.

The travel literate individual is endowed with knowledge of the travel world so they are well prepared before they set off from parts unknown.

The Cost of Travel Education

Surprisingly, students of travel who wish to expand their knowledge of travel find that advanced learning about travel is not costly and well worth the time and small investments involved.

Take note there are similarities in nearly all forms of travel. These include, language, currency, time zones and inherent cultural norms in each region traveled. For example in the U.S., it is important to know there are six time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii. Also, not all states observe Daylight Saving Time. For example, Arizona does not, but even in this state the exception is the Native American Navajo regions that do.

Travel plans to U.S. territories like the U.S. Virgin Island, Guam, Hawaii, Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

To be more literate about international time zones, rely on numerous books, a wristwatch or alarm clock that provides multiple time zones.

All travelers need to be basically literate in each travel region’s currency. World travelers should study ahead of travel plans the currency within each of the countries, if they plan to purchase souvenirs or other goods.

Don’t forget to study the goods countries consider duty free. Learn more about passports, and visas, travelers cheques and accepted credit cards for international travel.

To adapt to languages, there are numerous software applications and devices that are available for language translations

Cultural Norms And Travel Literacy

To avoid appearing to be a novice traveler, take the time to study each travel destination’s cultural norms. Some of these are related to the country’s religion, such as in Middle Eastern nations and others are related to a country’s traditions. These affect dining and sleeping accommodations, as well as the type of travel wardrobe considered appropriate.

Travel Insurance

Finally, travel insurance is another issue to study to improve your travel literacy. Travel insurance may cover lost luggage, trip and accommodation cancellations, accidents due to auto, rail or airline negligence and miscellaneous losses. Be certain all terms of travel insurance are clearly understood.

Upstyler Inc is a blog for all your latest beauty, fashion, health, lifestyle, and travel news and advice!

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: travel, Travel Literacy, Traveling, Upstyler Inc, Ways To Improve Your Travel Literacy

Tips For Traveling With A Pet

October 2, 2018 By Jennifer Liana Leave a Comment

Tips For Traveling With A Pet

Tips For Traveling With A Pet

Are you considering taking a trip to an exotic location with your friend or family member? Are you a dog owner who is a little uncertain about what to expect while traveling? If so, maybe these few tips will get you started. And lead you on the right path on when to take your pet with you and how to make your hotel stay successful.

Your pet is unique and special to you, it is important to plan accordingly so that your canine friend is comfortable during your unforgettable getaway.

Double Check Hidden Pet Fee’s

Some hotels will have restrictions on the age and size of an animal. For example, puppies are not accepted in most cases because they are not fully developed and can disrupt their surroundings because of their lack of training. Fees can transform, it is best to understand if a fee is a daily or a one-time flat fee.

Hotels with non-refundable deposits need to be clear and concise on their terms and conditions. Look for an itemized list of directions or have the front desk representative explain the charges.

Look For Surrounding Locations Suitable For Your Dog

Try choosing a hotel that can offer your canine friend a walking area. You will want to be away from busy paths and roads. Chain motels should be your last choice since they are located near busy highways. This is not every chain motel, however, it is best to ask in advance so you are familiar with the surrounding before booking a room.

Request A Ground-Floor Room Or A Spacious Room

Ask for a ground floor room, this will be convenient during your stay because you will eliminate the long walks for late-night potty visits. Plus, some hotels do not have elevators, imagine walking up and down the stairs during the night because your special friend has to use the bathroom.

If you can, request a suite or spacious room for your pet. This will give your pet the room he/she needs to feel relaxed. Don’t underestimate the quality of a suite, having a kitchen, bathroom and a special room for your dog can give you and the pet a little space during your stay.

Bonus Tip: Use A Crate Or Carrier

If you decide to leave your pet in a room while you visit local shops or casual dining. Make sure that employees know you have a pet in the room. This will be helpful in case a worker has to enter the room when you are not in it. To minimize any misunderstandings, place your pet in a crate or a carrier while you are away from the room. You can also hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door if that makes you comfortable.

Remember, it is not a good idea to leave your dog unattended for long periods of time. If you think you will be out of the room for an extensive time frame, hire a doggy daycare assistant or dog walking service. In some areas, hotels would be more than happy to assist you with finding a well-reviewed sitter to fit your needs.

Upstyler Inc is a blog for all your latest beauty, fashion, health, lifestyle, and travel news and advice!

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Pets, travel, Traveling, Traveling With A Pet, Upstyler Inc

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