Moving Through It....

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. As you could tell from the previous post it was rainy and cold in Bozeman so I am glad that I ended up in Denver. The weather was beautiful and company was great. I can't say that we actually did a whole lot except hang out in the park and go check out a fair in Boulder. That was all we needed though. I even did a bungee trampoline thingie.

My friend's aunt is a very spiritual and holistic person. She is a very creative and well read person as well. We had some very good conversations and she even gave me a tune-up on my energy fields. A very interesting process in and of itself.

Lately, I have been really getting into some lyrics by a band called Cross Canadian Ragweed. I still think Gordon Downie from The Tragically Hip has the best lyrics of modern rock bands, but there is a song that I find some of the lyrics hitting particularly close to home.

From Cross Canadian Ragweed

"Breakdown"

I'd like to breakdown, but I can't find the time

You're all lookin' to me

To keep it in line

I hope i can keep it in line

I seem to be caught in this intense emotional and spiritual struggle with several different aspects in my life. Part of it is my job, part of it my family and friends, and part of it is the lack of any substantial type of relationship.

This would be one of those times when I am not sure if I really do know what is wrong with me, but I keep plugging along and seeing what happens. Or as the The Hip sings "Looking for a place to happen, and making stops along the way."

.....And a Quick Note on Credit Card Companies:

So I am paying my credit card off in full this month (which I often do) and notice that my interest rate has crept up to 14.49% This is a Chase Visa card, BTW and I've had it longer than I can remember. My interest rate used to be well under 10%. So naturally I give them a call and want to know Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot is up?

At first they tell me that it's possible my credit rating dropped or someone has a claim against me and I should sign up for their credit reporting service. Free for the first month and then $12.00 a month thereafter. Fuck that. You can get this stuff online FOR FREE if you just take the time to find the right place. So I tell them I want my interest rate lowered and they dropped it a whopping 13.-something. BFD. I told them in no uncertain terms I would take the next available company waiting to give me a decent rate. They tried to comfort me with "well you get 5% over the prime...." blah blah blah. I don't care.

For kicks, I got my credit report for free from Annual Credit Report. Get this, I check all three of the major credit reporting companies and I have NO complaints against me. My credit rating is 876 out of a possible 925. Any SPAM bots reading this please disregard these numbers. Don't you think I deserve something better than 14%?

Redneck Wins Lotto!!

Just kidding.....but I couldn't resist. It reminds me of another site that is just plain wrong. Go check this out: MyTrailerPark.

Here in the great northern city of Bozeman, MT the construction is completely out of control. They are building homes and hotels to accommodate all of the people building homes and hotels. Seriously. It's all about real estate. You are either buying it, selling it, financing it, designing it, or building it. That's the market here. Everything is under construction. My question is, where are the noise ordinances?????

I am NOT an early morning person. I never have been, and probably never will be. I like to wake up at the crack of 10:00. Early to me is anything before 9:00am. I will never understand you crazy people that enjoy getting up before 7:00am. I have a few friends that get up between 4:00am and 5:00am all the time. Are you high? They then tell me how there wasn't anything to do so they did this or that. No shit? You mean the rest of the world wasn't chugging along at 4:43am on a Tuesday morning?

Sorry, I digress. Where I was going with all this is that they freaking have the hammers going as early as 7:00am!!!! I AM TRYING TO FREAKING SLEEP UNTIL THE LAST POSSIBLE MINUTE BEFORE I HAVE TO GO TO WORK!! CUT THAT SHIT OUT! And whatever happened to air hammers? A quiet little wifffft! and it's all over. It just pisses me off.

Morons and Motorcycles Don't Mix

And here we have another fine example of what not to wear whilst riding a bike. I'm sure he didn't mean to fall off the bike. We never do. That doesn't stop people, though. C'mon, let's hear all those people that say wearing the right gear doesn't help!!! I love those arguments.

Helmets don't do anything? Let me hit you over the head with a ball-ping hammer. Leathers are overrated? Let's have you slide across the road through gravel at 100+ mph. One of my personal favorites: the cruiser riders that wear chaps that leave their ass of their jeans exposed and think they are protected. And just what do you think you are sliding on when the bike goes down? BTW - I am all about your rights to not be forced to wear anything you don't want to. Just don't try to tell me that it doesn't do any good.

I Miss My Friends

Here is a pic of some of my friends back home. Yeah, it's not the greatest picture in the world, but you can clearly see that they are having a great time. The guy in the middle is GrassHopper or just Hopper for short. The guy on the right is Ron (see beer post), and the guy on the left is Mike, who is really a friend of Hopper's.

A little history. Ron and I have been traveling all over the place for years. I take him to the airport and pick him up, and he does the same for me if he's in town. Traditionaly, I am not allowed to go home after being picked up from the airport. It doesn't matter if I get in at 11:00pm or 2:30pm. I do not get to go home until the next day. The last time they picked me up it was a 13 hour binge across the metroplex. If I tell Ron to get me home early because I am tired he gets me in about 3:00am. Yeah, I guess that counts as early. And people wonder why I am wiped out.

Here is a pic of Hopper jamming at a bar. He is playing harmonica (harp). I really miss that. I play guitar, or rather I used to play guitar. I still pick from time to time, but not like I used to. We used to jam all the time. At least he is still out there doing his thing.

And yes....he's completely, totally, insane.

Memorial Day

Last but not least, I am heading to Denver this weekend for Memorial Day. I am heading down with a friend of mine that doesn't want to make the 10-hour drive alone. I can't blame her, and I've got nothing better to do around here. The weather here is supposed to be kind of crummy. Denver should be nice. I've got a couple of friends there, too.

Please, while you are stuffing your face with hot dogs and sucking down a cold one, take a moment to honor, respect, and think about all of the men and women that have sacrificed their lives so you can deep-fry your twinkies and have freedom of speech and religion.

What is it with Target and Pregnant Women?

Even though my family, friends, house and toys are all in Texas I have effectively been living in Montana for about a year and a half. Now, Montana is not exactly known for being a diverse state when it comes to race. If I remember correctly, the last census here pegged Caucasians (read that as whites, crackers, or white-bread folk) at 96+ % for the entire state!! And while we can argue all day long about why that is, the bottom line is that you just don't see a lot of people of other ethnicity around here.

Why the background? Because white people aren't procreating (i.e. read this as breeding) at the same rates as minorities are. Statistically speaking, our population increase in the U.S. is predominantly due to two things:
1 - illegal immigration into the U.S. (and it's not just Mexicans)
2 - mass breeding of minorities.

So that means that you have a very small percentage of crackers (i.e. white folk) out there having kids compared to other ethnicities. Now, take all that and figure I am in a state that has roughly 1 million people in it (and not even that at the time of the census). Then I am at Target buying an Aerobie and I am being checked out by another pregnant cashier. I then started to think of the last time I checked out at Target and the girl wasn't pregnant and I couldn't remember. So I start looking around. Three of the five girls that I can see at the front are pregnant. To me, that's an astounding number of pregnant women in one place, at one retail chain, in a low population area and they were all white.

Speculation? Best Guess? I just thought it was odd.....
and by the way, does anyone else not see the irony in this book?

So now it's time to sit back, relax after a day of work and enjoy a beverage. For those of you who don't know me, a beverage is something with alcohol in it....anything else is just a drink. If you are still confused, go watch The Big Lebowski and come back.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Yes, I know I just posted yesterday..... but I had my first bear encounter today. Well, OK...it wasn't really an encounter. I saw a bear today. A real live one. Not behind a cage, not over a concrete barrier.

I was doing some work up at Moonlight Basin Ski Area. We were in an alpine neighborhood up on an elevated ridge line when we were looking down at some of the other houses. Then, walking down the street like it was no big deal

was a black bear. Was it huge? To me, it was huge. It might not really have been that big as far as bears go but I would not have wanted to get up close and personal with it if you know what I mean.

Sorry, but I don't have a picture of the bear. My camera was not ready and I was a bit surprised to see it in the first place. The bear, oblivious to us (or maybe it just didn't care) sauntered off around the bend in the road where we could no longer see it.

About that time we all remember that one of our partners in crime is in the area below us taking readings for the project. What this means is that he has a fluke meter and is intently studying the device and not paying attention to his surroundings. Imagine walking while reading a book.

So he answers the phone and I say "I don't know where you are, but start making a lot of noise and head back towards the car." He responds, "Yeah! Thanks man, I just saw a bear!" And naturally I had forgotten that I drove the car off and left him down there. Oopsie!

He later told me that was taking his readings and finally looked up only to be looking right at the bear! From his indications he was only about 60 ~ 80 feet from where the bear was and it was looking right at him! Fortunately, they both turned in opposite directions and walked off.

I just thought that was very cool and had to write something about it.

Also, the rivers are running high right now due to all the snow run off. I'm not sure what the volume is, but here is a quick pick of a massive rock in the Gallatin River on the way up to big sky. I'm sorry I couldn't provide a very good perspective with a frame of reference, but this rock is easily bigger than any car or SUV that you or I could own. These pictures are of the same rock.

Tidbits from the edge.....

Man Drinks More Beer than Budda and Ron!!

Budda is my nextdoor neighbor back home in TX. He is a serious beer drinking, but he likes his whiskey, too. I don't even try to keep up, there is no way I can do that. Ron is one of my best friends. He's completely crazy and puts away more beer than most people I know. However, there may be a guy who beats them both!!!

In an article that was forwarded to me by Bling! (another friend of mine) a property manager discovered a real mess apparently upon receipt of a complaint. The man who had lived there (unnamed) put away an astonishing 70,000 cans of Coors Light. Figure that's 24 beers a day, 365 days a year for 8 years straight!!

Click on the pic below for the actual article....

And the Cheap Bastard Award Goes To:

....my friend Nils. I'm a pretty serious cheap bastard. Not that I don't spend money. But I try to be careful with how I spend it. If I can get away with spending less to acomplish the same thing, I genearaly will! So last month I am in town and there is a speed trap setup on I-20 near Nils' house. I give him a ring to let him know about it so he won't get a ticket on the way in. He tells me "I don't have to worry about it. I drive the speed limit because it costs less money." What? Are you serious? Yup. That's Nils. Cheap to the extreme.

Other Stuff

Well I submitted a contract proposal to my company to ensure my employment so that I can move to Montana. I haven't heard anything back as of yet, so I don't know where that is. They want me to move up here and I want a guarantee of employment to do so. Very expensive up here, mostly due to real estate which is about 2.5 times that of Texas.

Euro Trip Notes Pt 2.

I still haven't made it to Europe, yet. But I did get my information pack in the mail today. I was so excited that I am not even going to go hike or anything. I had to start checking it out immediately!!!

It's got a bunch of stuff in there including a booklet that explains each day / leg of the tour that is complete with route information (one for a casual route and a longer one for sport riders!), highlights of the towns, some common English-to-German translations, where we are staying and all that good stuff. It even includes space for a diary, but I will be making an effort to record that info here so that people can read it. I read day-1 and had to put it down for a bit due to be overwhelmed.

Also included in the pack is a map for each the various countries and regions, some custom luggage tags to help identify our gear that we will be traveling with, a list of other riders (22 in the group), and a placard of road signs and their meanings.

All in all it's a LOT of information. I need to keep digging through it to absorb it all. Part of me is very excited about it. A small part of me (the analytical / anal side) is thinking about all this information and how to process it. Then there is the adventurous side that is saying "Fuck it...you don't need to read all that!! Just go for it!" Yeah, that's the side that gets me in trouble all the time.

26 days and counting!!

A brief political rant....

I'm not nearly as in to politics as some people. In fact, most of the times I'd prefer to stay out of a heated political discussion. But I also believe that complacency and apathy are far worse than getting involved and making a few wrong decisions or formulating some bad opinions. Ok, perhaps straight party voting is worse. I can't stand people that vote a party line and have NO CLUE what is going on.

I am definite an independent when it comes to politics. While I think some liberalism is a healthy thing I don't agree with the ideology when it ignores facts, is illogical, and is more harmful to society than the purported benefit. I also don't buy into conservatism when they are trying to shove their religious ideas down everyone's throat. Basically, I am too conservative for the liberals and too liberal for the conservatives. I hate politicians that play political lines as opposed to having some balls and taking an affirmative stand.

If you have forgotten about 9/11 then you should be ashamed. If you believe that "they" will leave us alone, you are a fool. And if you agree with the libs, democrats, media and terrorists that our country sucks you should leave.

Here we have some "peaceful" Muslim / Moslim (what's the problem? can't figure out how to spell it? same thing for the Quoran) protestors. I guess they are peaceful because they aren't killing someone.

How this is not considered a direct threat and act of war I have no idea. I guess I am too conservative.

Last, but not least, I'd like to say thanks to all those men and women out there fighting for us. Here is something you can do if you' like to say thanks as well!

How big is too big??

That was the question I had yesterday as we set out to play horse shoes at the park. I wasn't in a beer drinking mood, but a jack and coke sounded tasty. The only problem is that I didn't have any thermally insulated mugs - all mine are back home in TX. So my friend and I decided to hit the convenience store and buy a couple. When we got there, the "normal" sized mugs were about $5.00 ea. But these puppies were only $1.79 each, and included the first fill-up.

For those of you who enjoy these sized mugs for your morning coffee - thank you for supporting the other gross national product of Columbia, and it's not the monitor that is out of synch and shaking, it's you....ok?

So we filled 'em up with coke and ice before proceeding to pour about a 1/2-liter of JD into each one. We were all set to throw shoes. We played for about 4 hours and of course we had to play two other guys that were drunk and talking smack. They accused us of having the advantage since we "weren't drinking."

It was a beautiful and warm day yesterday as well as today. In fact, it is warmer here than back home in TX. That doesn't happen too often, but fortunately for us up here it will be a very rare thing to get near the century mark. I don't miss that about being back home at all.

When I was flying back from Seattle I was letting my thoughts drift on the plane. Or rather, I was on the plane and my thoughts were drifting. There is an amazing amount of diversity in our landscape here. It can be quite beautiful or quite dull depending on what you are looking at. I then thought of the Buddhist monks that climb the mountain peaks and dedicate their lives to finding peace. Maybe that really is the meaning of life, that your question is wrong and it's really finding inner peace that is what this is all about. At least until you hit an air pocket or see oil leaking from the engine cowling.

And finally, I actually had a decent day at work today. Yes I still had quite a few things on my plate and yes I still had to try to get it all done, but it just wasn't ripe with chaos and I was able to accomplish most of my goals that I set out to do this morning. Usually it's getting slammed with one request after another and I don't get to finish one thing before I am on to something else. I don't think I have ever been this stressed out and disorganized in my whole life. Having more time to work at a decent pace would certainly help.

Almost forgot the last thing - is it just Murphy's law? Why is it that the smoke detector always runs out of battery juice in the middle of the night? We moved into a new house here in Bozeman and it was my first or second night in it. Sure enough, 2:05am - chirp. WTF? chirp Rats!! chirp Maybe I can sleep through it.... chirp Do we even have any batteries? chirp Do we even have a ladder? chirp Maybe I'll just go sleep on the couch.... chirp

Happy Mother's Day!!

I am too tired to write much today but I wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all those mom's out there. Especially my own, who I was unable to see today because I am out of town.

Ever Have One Of Those Days?


This morning started out early by my standards. I hate getting up early. I loathe it, in fact. And I especially hate my alarm clock going off. Even if I am already up, I'll hit the snooze about 20-million times because something in my brain says I have to be rebellious and that I am showing "the establishment" who is boss by not getting out of bed. And so I reach across my night stand to hit the snooze and spill a perfectly full glass of water all over the place.
Bad Day = 1, me = 0

But....I make it to the airport and manage to get on the plane without too much trouble. Now, look, I don't care what country you are from but most people shower in the morning here in the good 'ol U.S. of A. Not so on the cramped fuselage of the aircraft. I was lucky enough to have some really stinky eastern-looking guy in front of me. I wasn't the only one who noticed, either. This guy was rank. ick.
Bad Day = 2, me = 0

Fortunately the flight went OK and I was able to get my car. Now, I couldn't actually check into my hotel because the guy wasn't there. What? What do you mean "the guy?" Lobby? Front Desk? HELLO? Nope, nada.... come back at 3:00pm. Ok, Fine.
So I go to downtown Seattle and hang out on the pier for a bit. Have a great lunch at Ivar's. Then hit the Seattle Aquarium. It is a most awesome aquarium and has a lot of good exhibits and education on Puget Sound. I highly recommend going if you have an opportunity.
Bad Day = 2, me =1

Then I can't find the stinking parking garage and end up walking all over the place to find the car. I finally make it back over towards the hotel and find a parking space. Did I forget to mention that the hotel has NO parking? Not a lot, not a garage, nothing. You get to park on the public street and pay the meter. And of course, it's right on the college campus. Good luck.
So I start calling "the guy" to get let in so that I can check in. He's late. I'm really beginning to wonder about this place.

I finally get inside and get my key to my room and the front door. Then I check out the room on the 3rd floor. No radio. No TV. No AC / Heater. NO FREAKING BATHROOM!! That's right folks, it's a European 3rd world style hotel with a shared bathroom for the whole floor. That was it. I lost it. I called Orbitz and told them no way Jose. Give me my money back and find me a different place. Fortunately, they were very accommodating.
Bad Day = 3, me = 1

So now I drive to the new hotel. It's substantially farther away due to being cheap. I'm just trying to save the company a buck. In any case I get there and there is no record of my reservation. An hour or so later we finally get Orbitz on the phone and they straighten the whole thing out. Great. I finally get a room and get to put my bags down at about 5:30pm. Considering my flight left at 8:05am I'd say that kind of bites the big one.
Bad Day = 4, me = 1

To top the whole day off, the client that I am out here to train calls me last minute and makes the third or fourth change to the schedule and what they want done. Now I have to teach Thursday 1/2-day and all day on Friday. So now, not only do I not have enough material developed, I don't even have the right kind of material developed. Oh well, not my fault but I'll try to make it work out. I can't say I am looking forward to it, though.
Bad Day = 5, me =1

I'm going to bed.....going to get some rest. Tomorrow will be a new day, and you never know....it may turn out better than expected.

A Quick Word about the Word on Immigrants and Illegal Aliens

For all those people who keep sending me the emails about how many illegal aliens are over here, or how terrible / good they have it, and how bad it is in Mexico, and how it's a double standard, and on...and on...and on....

PLEASE!! Keep them coming. I like to know what is going on. Forward them to everyone on your email list so that they keep circulating around the internet. Make sure your dog's previous owner's best friends sister gets a copy of it. But whatever you do, do NOT take the time to actually write your representatives and let them know how you feel.

...From the Land of Ice and Snow

Would you believe it? I was in Texas yesterday at home, and the temps were fairly warm. I just saw it is currently 94 there today. I went over to my friend Margot's last night to start working on my contract and watch a movie (thanks Margot, if you are reading this). She tells me that the temperature was going to drop into the 20's here in Bozeman. Well, when I got up this morning it was only 32 and snowing.

So what is it with people that wear shorts and a big fluffy jacket? I'm not talking about someone on a jog or a hike that is wearing something to break the wind a little bit. I'm talking about someone that is dressed like that for the day. Look man, if you are cold then get rid of the flip-flops and shorts and go put on some freaking pants. You don't look cool, you look like a moron that doesn't know how to dress themselves. Yeah, yeah....I know....I am sure I will offend someone with this, but as most of my friends know I am prone to having strong opinions.

I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to flying around and having bizarre temperature swings. At least the traveling went well....if not a little boring. But that's how I've gotten to like it. My friend, Ron, and I both travel quite a bit. We always call each other with horror stories of a bad flight and give each other a hard time about it. Now, if it's boring, I'm quite content with that. Bouncing through the clouds and plummeting 500 feet on a jet liner while traveling at 400+ mph is not exactly my idea of fun, but it gets you there even if there isn't a good story to tell afterwards.

So my dad is an aerospace engineer. One of my best friends is a mechanical engineer and his fiancee' is an aerospace engineer (they both work on the new Boeing 7e7). Needless to say, I know far more about airplanes than I ever wanted to know. I could calculate the surface area needed on a wing to give it lift when I was about 8 years old (thanks dad!). So my friend's are always telling me their horror stories on airliner design and engineering. We call these "tin file" stories. I get them back, though. I send them "worm file" stories. Let's just say that you better have a strong constitution if you read them. All those noises you hear on an airplane? You don't want to know what they are.....

So onward to Seattle for a few days..... Hopefully I get some good chow while I am out there. I love seafood and there are plenty of clams, mussels and oysters to scarf down.

Stay warm, stay dry....and try not to crash into anything while being contained in an aluminum tube.

Euro Trip Notes Pt. 1

OK, I am not actually IN Europe as of yet but since I am getting ready to go I thought it would be as good of a time as any to catch up on my blog and start posting about the trip.

As any of you reading this can tell, I am not the best at keeping up with my blog site. Mainly because I just don't have time and am so completely drained at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is make any effort to activate more cerebral thought processes.

All of that aside, I am taking a trip to Europe next month on a bike (motorcycle). I'm going by myself, but will be hooking up with a tour group when I get over there. It's disappointing that none of my friends can go with me, but if I keep waiting I'll be 50 and still saying "Yeah, I plan on going to Europe on the bike." No time like the present! Besides, I really need a vacation....

The tour company is called Edelweiss Bike Travel. I have never done this before but some of the bike rags I read have commented on their tours on several occasions. If I like it, I'll try to do one every other year. Here is the link for the company and the tour I am taking: http://www.edelweissbike.com/tours/E/CONTINENTS/EUROPE/Best-of-Europe

It will cover Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France!!! I picked out a BMW R 1200 ST, which I figured is about as close to my bike I could get with a BMW. For another $500 I could have rode the new BMW 'Busa Hunter (K 1200 S), but my trip expenditures are adding up rapidly and I needed to cut costs.

Which made this week particularly rough and expensive! First off, I had to come home from Montana and try to juggle work and prepping for Europe. That was a bit of a nightmare and very stressful due to work B.S. I bought a new RS Taichi leather riding / track-day suit. Think of the Power Rangers. It's an all-leather, perforated, two-piece suit that is full of armor. It's made for riding on the track and doesn't have any pockets. But, because it's a two-piece, I can wear just the pants with one of my other jackets that has pockets. By the time I got that, plus an inner wind-stopper liner (perforated, remember?), and some do-dads for my helmet I was in for another $1000 stroke. Ick.

Then, of course, I had to get a new digital camera. Fortunately, my folks are helping me out on that one for my B-Day, which was a while back. I ended up going with a Canon SD600. The thing that really impressed me about this camera was how fast it is to focus and take a picture. It's also very light and compact. Of course, that meant buying more stuff - like an ultra-fast 1gig memory card and an extra battery.

Let's also not forget that to power all this stuff I had to buy a new power converter for all my stuff (laptop, camera, etc.). But now, I think I just about have everything. A little extra medical insurance for my trip is the last thing on my list and then I am ready to go.

I will try to post updates daily while I am in Europe, but that will depend on:
a) how tired I am at the end of a daily bike flog
b) if I can get online
and
c) how good the women and beer are over there

More to Come!