Ever try to give a Ferret a Perm??

Me either. I don't think it would work too well. But look at this? It's a site that makes clothes for ferrets. This has got to be akin to those people that like to dress up their dogs. But I have to ask these people..... Are you fookin' high? I mean, seriously, look at it --->

It looks like a deranged Easter bunny, or something you might see while tripping on some bad acid.

In other news, I was blamed for:
1 - ruining someone by introducing them to Jager-Bombs. This elixir is easily made by dropping a shot of Jagermeister into a 1/2 glass of Red Bull. It's quite tasty and does a good job of getting people hosed and amped up at the same time. Personally I can't sleep on the the things due to the Red Bull. But this person apparently got completely hosed on them and then suffered a hangover....all my fault, even though I wasn't there. Glad to know I have influenced someone's life. Thank god I didn't see the picture of the ferret while I was having my Jager bombs.

2 - the other thing I was blamed for was preventing the three ladies I was out with from having any guys hit on them. At least that was theory the next morning when they cornered me in a booth of a breakfast joint while we all nursed our heads from the night before. They sprung the theory on me like a bad trap. I was cornered like the above mentioned ferret and I didn't have a way out. However, I agreed with the theory for the most part. Because I was there, they probably didn't get hit on by other guys. I guess guys are the same way, but what do you....oh gentle reader...think? Do women or men approach a table of guys with one chick, or a table of chicks with one guy? Isn't there more to the dynamics then that or is that enough to scare someone off?

Harley Davidson Plays Catch-Up
or tries to anyway.... I'm not a big HD fan. I used to be when I was a kid. Before I realized that I, like millions of other people, were being brainwashed by the HD marketing juggernaut. But I figured it out by the time I started riding bikes.

So anyway, I used to love obligatory phrase "Go Big or Go Home" spewed from the mouth of God knows how many HD zombies. Only thing is, for a long time now HD has not made the largest V-Twin engine out there. Not even close. Well, they finally unveiled a 1800cc (that's a 110-inch motor for you non-metric folks out there) engine. And it STILL isn't the largest production engine.

Here is was really gets me..... this big-ass engine, in a bike that costs $25,000 puts out a whopping 89.4 horsepower, with 105.2 lb-ft. of torque.

comparatively, you can go buy just about any Japanese sport-bike (or non sport-bike) for under $11,000 and they are cranking out up to 170+ HP at the rear wheel with an equal amount of torque. All in an engine that is a little larger than 1/2 the size.

So what I want to know from HD is, how do you screw up an engine so bad that a competitor can put out one that is 1/2 the size with twice the performance for approximately 1/3 of the cost?

Where the hell am I?

After many people complaining that they couldn't keep up with my schedule and where I was (including myself!) I have added a little flash do-hickey (technical term) to show you roughly where I am.

I got the idea from all the porn banner ads that keep telling me there are millions of women that want me in Bozeman (or wherever I happen to be). I find this ironic as:
1 - there aren't even a million people in the state of Montana
2 - I can't seem to even find a handful of women that want me. ;-)

Now that it's on here, you can get an idea of where I am at. The only caveat is that it only shows where I am logged in, or at least the last place I logged on at.

happy hunting!
....now if I can just find some of these women.....

Snowobarding Anyone??

I have to start planning early for any trips or things that I want to do. If I am here in Bozeman long enough I will get a ski pass to Moonlight.

But, whether I am here or not I have three trips I'd like to take during the ski season.

1 - Red Lodge, MT. I hear the skiing is good early in the season and then it tapers off. I was just in the town and it was pretty neat. I figured a weekend trip would be just about right.

2 - Jackson Hole, WY. This place is supposed to have serious verticals. It's only about 4 hours away if the roads are clear. I hear it gets epic powder. Again, another weekend trip.

3 - Snowbowl, or Discovery, MT. Two fairly small places that don't get a lot of press that are supposed to be good.

So, I have two weeks left. I figure I'll burn one of them sometime during the ski season before the EOY. The other I'll burn around the holidays. I've started putting feelers out and getting the typical "yeah, that sounds like fun" stuff but nobody has said "let's do it" and started making plans.

So if you read this and this sounds like fun, then let's do it. You can either make it happen or sit around saying "we should...." until it's too late.

and if you see me doing anything remotely similar to the picture above, I am in SERIOUS trouble and you should find ski patrol immediately!

JP Update....

Well, I finally got an update from the lady that cleans the house here in Bozeman. Apparently, there is a number (which I am trying to get) to reach JP.

He's still in the hospital, but he's alive. I hear he is in good spirits. Unfortunately, he is paralyzed from the waist down. It is unknown if that is permanent or not.

When i get the number and get in touch, I'll post more....

Balance, Grasshopper.....

Many people have different ideas about their life goals, or mantras. Mine isn't so much about peace and harmony, religion, health, riches, etc. as it is about balance. I believe that if you make an effort to balance your life then you will achieve peace and harmony, have enough money, or be content with your religion.

So that's what I've been trying to focus on for about the last....oh....I don't know....10+ years. Balance. I drink, but I try not to drink too much...or let it affect other aspects of my life. I seek thrills with my activities, but hopefully not at the price of being a moron and killing myself. I am a cheap bastard, but I'll also give you the shirt off my back.

The problem, is that I am not balanced anymore. Not even close. It's difficult for me because I almost feel like I am so unbalanced that it will be difficult to find (or get close) to be balanced again. Mostly, it's my fault. And most of it, is due to work. I guess I have a slight tendency to be a work-a-holic. I get ahold of something and I have trouble letting it go. And then work keeps asking me to work and although I keep saying "no" it seems that I am still working far more than I should. For those of you that have your basic 9~5 job, you wouldn't understand. But try working 60+ hours on a holiday week sometime and then imagine it's always like that.

I am in MT for work. I don't see my friends back home very much due to work. I don't ride my bike or drive my truck due to work. I barely see my house. Even here, in MT, I can't get into a regular workout routine so I feel out of shape. Why? FUCKING WORK!

Relationships are just a dream that i once had.... work again. Are you seeing a pattern? I sure I am....but I am not 100% sure how to deal with it. I tend to think that Skyline and I will have to re-evaluate the nature of our relationship at some point.

But I need to get the balance back....somehow....and I just don't see it happening here.

So that's me. I'm out of balance....

Hey Daddy! Look at the Kittens!

Thanks to another friend for that one. I was up at Moonlight Basin yesterday working away. It was dumping snow on me the whole time. Winter is on it's way. I understand it got a little cooler in Texas - 88F. My friend, Bling, would hate it.

Just a Funny Pic...

This one caught me off guard and was sent to me by a friend. Thanks for the laugh.

Bling's Rant....

As you can tell from his commentary, I clearly did not do enough to satisfy him. Unfortunately, I don't have a cush job where I get to sit around and wait on my software to deliver all day long....surfing the web....watching TV....and keeping up with the mundane trivial crap that makes up the entertainment industry.

So here is some real material for 'em.

It is not a well known fact that we know that Saddam was harboring WMDs and planning on more in the near future. Why is this? Well, it's because it isn't true and you can go on believing the mantra "Bush lied, people died." OR, you can wake up and get with the program. The media is NOT reporting both sides of the story. They seem to be perfectly content to let one of the largest lies and deceits in my lifetime continue.

Here is an article by Ronald Kessler (Washington Wire) that was forwarded to me. This isn't something new to me, but I did feel it was worth posting. For those of you that don't like to read the gist of the article is this:

One of the key witnesses responsible for the current lie that we didn't find anything and that our govt. was simply using what intelligence they wanted to go to war was LYING. That's right! the guy is a freaking fraud. Here is the article where he is exposed. Don't forget to check into what the official investigations revealed.

So you might forgive bad journalism. You can forgive making a mistake. But this, to me, is clearly a case of people so caught up in hating Bush that it's OK to lie about what happened, and furthermore it's ok to continue to perpetuate that lie so that we all think Bush is the anti-Christ.

Let me ask you, what is more frightening, people that do their best to try to protect the U.S. even though they may not always make the best decisions, or people that would try to hide the truth and deceive the public to achieve their own political agenda?

Here is the article:

Bush's CIA Critic Claim Exposed as Untrue
By Ronald Kessler WASHINGTON

— In a "60 Minutes" interview on April 23, Tyler Drumheller, a former chief of the CIA's Europe division, made a sensational charge. He claimed that President Bush and his White House ignored intelligence before the invasion of Iraq indicating that Saddam Hussein had no had weapons of mass destruction.

On the CBS-TV show, and in subsequent media interviews that appeared throughout the world, Drumheller said that the White House was excited about the fact that the CIA was getting information straight from Naji Sabri, the then Iraqi foreign minister. But when the White House found out this source was reliably saying that Saddam had no WMD, Bush and his White House weren't interested.

"He [Sabri] told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program," Drumheller told correspondent Ed Bradley in a segment called "A Spy Speaks Out."

"So in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam's inner circle that he didn't have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?" Bradley asked.

"Yes," Drumheller said, proclaiming himself outraged.

According to Drumheller, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice brushed aside the CIA report on what Sabri had to say because "the policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."

Drumheller saw "how the Bush administration time and time again welcomed intelligence that fit the president's determination to go to war and turned a blind eye to intelligence that did not," Ed Bradley said in the introduction to the "60 Minutes" piece.

Now it appears Drumheller's claim was untrue, according to the findings of a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigation. Rather than undercutting the Bush administration's rationale for invading Iraq, Sabri's account shows how well-founded the intelligence on Saddam's weapons program appeared to be.

Ironically, just as Drumheller claimed that Bush ignored the truth about Iraq, the media have ignored the documentation in the Senate report demolishing Drumheller's claim.

An addenda to the Senate report on postwar findings about Iraq's WMD program says all the operational documents relating to Sabri indicate he told the CIA just the opposite of what Drumheller claimed. The Senate report refers to Sabri as a source with direct access to Saddam Hussein and his inner circle but does not name him.

"Both the operations cable and the intelligence report prepared for high-level policy-makers [based on interrogation of the source] said that while Saddam Hussein did not have a nuclear weapon, ‘he was aggressively and covertly developing such a weapon,'" the Senate report said.

The documents said "Iraq was producing and stockpiling chemical weapons," according to the addendum, signed by Sens. Pat Roberts, R–Kan., Orrin G. Hatch, R–Utah, and Saxby Chambliss, R–Ga. Iraq's weapon of last resort was mobile launched chemical weapons, which would be fired at enemy forces and Israel, the CIA documents said.

Moreover, there is "not a single document relating to this case which indicates that the source said Iraq had no WMD programs," the addenda said. "On the contrary, all of the information about this case so far indicates that the information from this source was that Iraq did have WMD programs."

What the source said was consistent with the CIA's October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, the report said. The report added: "The committee is still exploring why the former chief/EUR's public remarks differ so markedly from the documentation."

At least 134 stories and TV shows have referred to Drumheller's claims and his criticism of the CIA and Bush administration in general. One of the stories ran as the second lead of the June 25, 2006 Washington Post.

"Warnings on WMD ‘Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says," the headline over the Post story said. According to the story, Drumheller was dumbfounded when he saw a classified version of the speech Secretary of State Colin Powell was about to give to the United Nations citing Iraq's biological weapons factories on wheels.

Drumheller claimed he had warned George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence, in a phone call, and John McLaughlin, the deputy director, in a personal meeting that the source for that claim, code-named "Curveball," was a fabricator.

Not until the 32nd paragraph of the Post story did the reader learn that both Tenet and McLaughlin said they had no recollection of warnings Drumheller allegedly gave them. Both men said they would have taken immediate action if he had.

While two former CIA officials said they recalled Drumheller telling them at the time about warnings he allegedly gave McLaughlin, no meeting with Drumheller appeared on McLaughlin's official calendar, according to the report of the Commission on Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, known as the Silverman-Robb commission.

Carroll & Graf is publishing Drumheller's book, "On the Brink: How the White House Has Compromised American Intelligence," written with Elaine Monaghan, on Sept. 28, according to the Amazon listing. The publisher's Web site lists the publication date as this winter.

Neither Drumheller nor a Carroll & Graf spokesperson responded to messages seeking comment.

So far, no media outlet has run the Senate committee's addendum demolishing Drumheller's claim that Bush and his White House did not want to hear the truth about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

The Day The Blog Died...

Apparently the blog was toast for a day or two. You could hit it, but it was blank. Fortunately all of the stuff was still there. I just had to go back in and re-publish everything. I am not sure why that happened. I've been way too busy, out of town, etc. to notice so thanks to one of my friends for letting me know about it.

Now, speaking of death.... it is one of the things I have the hardest time dealing with. Not death in general, of course, but thinking of my own death is particularly difficult. I literally cannot comprehend there being nothing. No consciousness, etc.

Some psychologist (atheists?) think that religion is a mechanism by which we cope with this. That being that we do have something to look forward to after death. I don't follow conventional religious beliefs, but I do believe that there is something after death. I guess maybe it's more of a hope than a belief. This would be more of an Agnostic viewpoint.

That being said, I may have to look into the whole Kiss Kasket up top there. They did a real nice job on it, and it doubles as a cooler. So you can stock it with beer and beverages to throw parties in. When you are done partying, they just stick you in it and it into the ground.

Bling's Request...

I was talking to Bling on the phone and he was asking when I was going to post some more stuff on the blog. He indicated that he needed ammunition so that he'd have something to dog me about.

Well, to be honest I just haven't felt much like writing lately. I had a long work week (even though it was a holiday week). I spent a lot of time in an airplane, in an airport, in a classroom, and getting stuff done for work. Many times that leaves me not wanting to do anything on the computer, much less take the time to write on the blog.

But a few notes:

when you have gas on an airplane, please go use the restroom and take care of it. I had to sit next to, or near someone, that had a terrible problem. They were the silent deadly ones. Every few minutes I almost gagged from the stench. I wanted to stand up and issue a general request to go do something about it.

The anniversary of 9/11..... I thought about it multiple times throughout the day. I just hope everyone else thought about it, too. I have a previous post that is a good reminder of what happened, just in case you have forgotten.

As for going home? I pretty much give up on guessing at a time-frame. I have some new information that leads me to believe that there is no good estimate of when I will able to go home. I just know I am going to be upset if they send me home right before ski season and I don't get any runs in.

So there you go, Bling. Have fun....

Chillin’ at 33,000 Feet

I’m flying….once again, as you could well imagine. I fly a lot. Often times, when I fly, I get the urge to write something but rarely pull out my laptop to do so. It’s huge. It’s got a 17” screen and pretty much dwarfs the seat tray and forces me into contortions in order to get anything done. It’s not pretty. I had to polish off my Jack and Coke so I could make room for “the beast.”

In any case, my mind drifts and I have a ton of thoughts, so here are some of those thoughts:

Chillin’ at 33,000 Feet - Working or Not Working

Any of you who have been following my blog realize that I spend quite a bit of time away from home. One of my friends recently pissed me off during an IM chat. I had to work late Thursday evening. Then I had to work late last night (Friday). I didn’t get home until 3:00am. I am now flying, to get back home. I also had an emergency teaching session come up so rather than get to chill at home and write a presentation that I have to give the following week, I am now flying on Wed., to PA to teach for a few days before flying back to Bozeman. Basically, the week is shot….I don’t get to spend it at home and I will only have about one or two days to work on my presentation as opposed to the entire week like I was supposed to have. Admittedly, I wasn’t in the best of moods. The last thing I wanted was for someone to tell me that it wasn’t “work” to be flying back home.

So I got to thinking….maybe it IS me. Maybe I am deranged (quite possible) and am one of the few people that believe that if you have to travel away from home to do stuff for work, I consider the travel to be work. I don’t fly for my health, or for fun. So what I thought I would do is two-fold:
1 – post the actual chat
2 – ask an opinion of my fellow readers.

So here is the chat:

*friend*: hi
fullstate: hey
*friend*: TGIF
*friend*: LOL
fullstate: yeah, well I still have to work tonight and tomorrow. so screw friday
*friend*: I thought you were flying out tomorrow AM?
*friend*: I know I am on percocet, but I can read your blog and that is what your schedule at one time said
fullstate: so you are another one of those that thinks that I am flying for fun and that it's not work?
*friend*: no
*friend*: did I say that?
*friend*: never said that
fullstate: X-(
fullstate: the implication of your statement is that I am flying and not working because I am flying.
fullstate: ???
fullstate: LOL
*friend*: not sure how you do both at the same time.
*friend*: but, whatever
*friend*: it is the weekend
fullstate: eh?
fullstate: come again?
*friend*: on company time still, yes
*friend*: but dont call it work when you are sitting on your ass on a plane drinking a bloody mary
fullstate: it's fucking work if I have to fly my ass off all over the place and burn personal time.
*friend*: I am not arguing with you
*friend*: I am not skyline
fullstate: yeah, but like I said, you obviously don't think that flying on personal time for work is work. I get you.
*friend*: I dont think it is the act of work. I think it is wrong and bites into your personal time, but I dont think it is physically demanding
*friend*: is that clear
*friend*: until you do it over and over and over and over and over
fullstate: and I don't do it over and over again?
*friend*: you have
fullstate: but it's not work.
fullstate: I get you.
fullstate: I gotta go.
Session Close (*friend*): Fri Sep 01 14:06:49 2006


Session Start (fullstate:*friend*): Fri Sep 01 14:07:33 2006
*friend*: knock it off
*friend*: brad, stop baiting me and being a jerk and putting words in my mouth. I have not disagreed with you about this. as typed above I support you in this.
*friend*: I understand your position on it
Session Close (*friend*): Fri Sep 01 14:09:02 2006


Session Start (fullstate:*friend*): Fri Sep 01 14:09:05 2006
*friend*: it is work for you
Session Close (*friend*): Fri Sep 01 14:09:10 2006

And there you have it. So was I completely off base or did it just seam like they were talking out of two sides of their mouth at the same time?

So now for the poll:

Am I smoking crack, and travelling for work is not really work?
	Yes - You are smoking crack. I don't consider travelling for work to be work.
	No - If you travel for work it should be considered work.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Chillin’ at 33,000 Feet - Politically Incorrect

Let’s face it….I am a white, middle-class, male in my 30’s. I am not rich, but I am not poor. My father’s side of the family is somewhat on the poor side. My mother’s side is somewhat on the middle-class side. Both my mother and my father went to college and worked hard to get where they are. Growing up, I had the benefit of loving parents that taught me the value of working for what I want, but also making sure that I had ample opportunity to excel.

I know a few rich folks (and I mean rich). I also know some quite poor folks. I know a lot of middle-class folk. I have some black friends, and some Hispanic friends. I had some other ethnically diverse friends growing up, but they have all gone away.

Most, and I mean all but maybe one or two, would be considered conservative and borderline right-wing.

I read about the bills that are potentially being passed that support giving licenses to illegal aliens, giving illegal aliens the right to vote, and socialized medicine. I see the press reporting about ½ of the news, and only that which supports the leftist majority stance that our government is beyond reproach and that Bush is the anti-Christ. The press has long sense abandoned any sense of neutrality.

But here is what I don’t understand. Most of the people I know have stopped listening to the major press. They don’t support socialist reform. They believe that we are doing the right thing by fighting the war on terrorism. They are fearful of what is happening inside of our own country. They would like to see a return to some semblance of sovereignty. In other words, they support fairly conservative points of view. That being that the United States should be a country with a unified people, an official language of English, a sense of morality, pride in our heritage and history, and a belief that if you are willing to work for it that you can achieve success.

So WHO is supporting the largely democratic leftist? I mean, if almost everyone I know doesn’t support it (and I am generalizing all the friends, relatives, clients and everyone else I have met across the country), there has to be someone support it or I would think that it wouldn’t continue to exist.

BTW – I do have to note, that I do know people who are not republicans, and do not support Bush. They are not what I would call the socialist left, either.

I hypothesize that because our country is so enamored with “reality” (i.e. read as non-reality) tv shows, entertainment and apathy that it has allowed the leftist, socialist agenda to take root. Ironically it is the entertainment industry that has the capitol, and the lunatics to support the machine.

I don’t know. I am truly stumped when I see these types of things and I can’t find anyone that supports them. Where does this come from?

Chillin’ at 33,000 Feet - Language Problems and Illegal Aliens

Just a quick note…. Like most of you, I have gotten tons of chain emails regarding illegal aliens taking over, socialist agendas providing them with rights (how does a non-citizen have rights in the first place?) and monies, fear of people being displaced due to not speaking Spanish, Chinese, or whatever. Let’s not forget that there are other illegal aliens besides Mexicans.

Some of the things that are sent are valid. Some are not. But people….WAKE UP. It’s great you take the time to stick your name on the list and forward it to me. I love it. I love to know what is going on. And yes, I want our country back.

But if you don’t actively get involved…If you don’t write your representatives….If you don’t support groups that support your ideas and beliefs….If you don’t VOTE…..then you are not going to make a difference by forwarding me another pro-American email.

And one last thing about all the emails I have been getting regarding something to do with having to speak Spanish. I respect and appreciate that you don’t think its right, or fair, or whatever. BUT, let’s get to the real issue and not the symptom: The U.S.A. does NOT have an official language. It doesn’t exist. It’s not in the constitution, nor any of our laws. Some states or local governments have instituted this, but it does not exist at the federal level. On the one hand I can understand where this has come from. On the other, I think it’s time that we made English the official language of the United States.

Even in Europe most of the countries have gotten together and agreed that English will be the universal language that you should know if you wish to communicate. Why, then, do we allow our own country to be divided by language which threatens our sovereignty?

Might it be that the left-winged juggernaut is desperately trying so hard to force diversity down our throats that they aren’t thinking about the long term consequences?

I agree with countries like England and Australia. You don’t like the way we do things here? You don’t like our culture and our language? You don’t like the system? Then perhaps you would be better off somewhere else. Either that or become a citizen and go through the due process to make things better for everyone.