Where I go to clear my mind…
Sure, who doesn’t enjoy a three-day weekend? Just remember the point of this holiday: “Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.” Enjoy the long weekend, but take a moment to reflect on the meaning behind it.
As it is on most Missoula Memorial Day weekends, rain and grey clouds fill mountain skies. I’m okay with grey this weekend. It’s not a mood issue. Grey relaxes my mind right now.
In fact, my mood is chipper and positive at this moment. The horizon emits a bright and powerful sunrise today. If this verse seems a bit metaphorical, hang on. The fog on the mirror will dissipate soon enough.
I’m not feeling very random this morning. Let’s see what happens:
- What is happening with politics in the US of A? On the national scene, the difference between Obama and Romney on the surface seems pretty clear. Dig deeper. With President Obama, there have been promises made and promises broken. According to the PolitiFact Obameter, the President made approximately 500 promises during his 2008 campaign tour. Politifact analyzed those promises and found the following. Then, check out the GOP Pledge-O-Meter in contrast.
The Obameter Scorecard
- Promise Kept 182 (36%)
- Compromise 58 (11%)
- Promise Broken 69 (14%)
- Stalled 63 (12%)
- In the Works 134 (26%)
- Not yet rated 2 (0%)
GOP Pledge-O-Meter Scorecard
- Promise Kept 10 (18%)
- Compromise 1 (2%)
- Promise Broken 2 (4%)
- Stalled 5 (9%)
- In the Works 14 (25%)
- Not yet rated 25 (44%)
What are your thoughts? I’m curious to see how things turn out in November.
- I spend a year in Belfast, Northern Ireland when I young (6). Though it was a tough year emotionally, I carry some good memories from that year. My recollection is that the countryside was covered in lush green grass, grayness filled winter skies, the smell of burning coal choked the air, chips (of the fish and chips variety) with salt and vinegar served on newspaper tasted pretty darned good and generally, Irish people were pretty genuine, friendly folk. Today, Missoula reminds me of Ireland. Note: Add to bucket list; return to Ireland. Validate recollections…
- Do you ever check out college radio stations through iTunes? I usually click though several stations as I write blog entries. It’s pretty random and kind of fun. Right now, I’m listening to a parody version of John Denver’s “Thank God, I’m Country Boy”. The tag line is “Thank God, I’m an ocean buoy.” UC Davis. What’s next? Lots of blues as I click around today…
- Sometimes, I’m completely blown away by changes in culture and technology that have occurred during my lifetime. Last weekend, my wife, son and I watched a show called America, the Story of Us (History Channel). If you have a chance, check it out. The show provides a fascinating look at how America has changed over time. Have you ever gotten one of those emails about how different the world is now or seen Facebook posts of pictures where some writes, “Do you know what this is?” That’s when I realize I might feel young, but I’m really not!
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THEN: Long Hair THEN: The perfect high. THEN: Keg. THEN: Acid Rock. THEN: Moving to California because it’s cool. THEN: You’re growing pot. THEN: Watching John Glenn’s historic flight with your parents. THEN: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor. THEN: Seeds and stems. THEN: Popping pills, smoking joints. THEN: Our president’s struggle with Fidel. THEN: Killer weed. THEN: Hoping for a BMW. THEN: The Grateful Dead. THEN: Getting out to a new, hip joint. THEN: Rolling Stones. THEN: Being called into the principal’s office. THEN: Screw the system! THEN: Peace sign. THEN: Parents begging you to get your hair cut. THEN: Take acid. THEN: Passing the driver’s test. THEN: Swanson’s Mushy chicken in an aluminum platter. THEN: “Whatever” |
NOW: Longing for hair.It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt!
Have a good holiday weekend, but take a moment to remember the reason for the extra day off.
I’ve got a feeling there will be another post before Tuesday.
While driving home from work the other day, I saw an incredible storm blowing across the northern end of the valley. I drove up to a high point and captured the following pictures on my small Panasonic Lumix camera. Nature provides some incredible moments. Check it out.
Okay, so I was off by a week on my sneak preview. It’s been crazy days since returning from Vegas a few weeks ago. I can’t even tell you what I’ve been doing, but I know free time has been at a premium.
Today, I have very limited time. It’s final prep week for West Side Story at the Missoula Community Theater. Guess who is teching the show? It’s going to be a great three-week run! West Side Story is one of those shows that I won’t mind watching 17 times because the score is so powerful.
In the interest of time, let’s launch some random thoughts.
- Las Vegas, Nevada; what a wonderfully crazy town. In small doses, there’s no place better for just letting the world go and stepping into a dream. Las Vegas, the city where almost anything goes. We spent six days wandering the streets and taking in the madness that is Vegas. From attending Cirque Du Soleil’s gigantic production of Ka to walking through Pawn Star’s Gold and Silver storefront on Las Vegas Boulevard, we covered some major ground. If you’re looking to lose some weight and get into walking shape in a hurry, head to Vegas. Your heard will thank you and your feet will curse you! For all of its faults, Vegas is a fun place. I love the lights, the street scene, the crazy people, the shows and the gaudy falseness of it all. If you’re looking for a place to get lost, and have a few extra bucks, head to Las Vegas. Just keep an open mind and try to keep your wallet tucked deep in your pocket. There are plenty of people trying to clean it out in crazy town!
- The Red Sox have major pitching issues. If Ben Cherington doesn’t make some quick moves, it’s going to be a LONG beantown baseball season. Yesterday’s meltdown against the Yankees was hard to swallow. I wouldn’t want to be a Boston pitcher walking through Kenmore Square today. The epic meltdown from last Fall continues into this Spring. I’m glad my annual baseball season bet with my Yankee fan coworker is fairly harmless this year. I will merely have to hang a Yankee bumper sticker in my work cubie for a while. That’s better than last season, when I had to film a short video pledging my allegiance to the Yankees – or the season before, when I had to drive around town all Winter with a Yankee license plate frame on my car. I don’t think Red Sox players have any notion of the serious ramifications caused by their shoddy playmanship. I’m here to tell you that it’s not all fun and games for the rest of Red Sox Nation. Thank God tonight’s game was postponed due to rain!
- Lawn season officially opened yesterday. I cut the lawn for the first time in 2012. I love the look of a fresh-cut lawn as well as the smell of notched grass. Spring brings lushness to Montana. Green season only lasts for about two months, but it’s beautiful during that window. The lawn stays verdant with minimal effort. If you want to see Montana in all of her beauty, come between April and June. The peaks still hold snow and the valleys light green. See for yourself.
Sorry, I’ve got to run. It’s show time! Have a good one. I apologize for the brevity, but my life is full right now. More as time permits.
Photo opportunities abounded! Sneak preview for tomorrow… Guess the location.
Hello – Welcome back to me! I’m pretty sure not too many other folks read This Montana Dream, but that’s okay. This blog primarily serves as a writing exercise for yours truly. Blogging forces the mind to open and the hands to translate thoughts to, well, not paper, but a magical assortment of ones and zeroes know as computer code (more on that later).
Spring has arrived in western Montana. I could feel it when I opened the door to let the cat out this morning. A splash of warmth touched my face while a dash of Montana mountain air filled my mind. Not a day goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for taking the Greyhound from Boston to Missoula. Montana fulfills every dream I’ve ever dreamed, every thought of heaven that could have ever imagined.
Magic exudes from the ground at 3200 feet above sea level. And above the ground, Rocky Mountains rise to touch the sky 5000 feet higher up. I live here.
This is my back yard. I have no complaints. Right here, right now, I vow to return to the Trail this summer for at least once a week hikes under the auspices of seeking extraordinary photographic opportunities. If I happen to gain strength in my legs and lungs, so be it!
It’s time to randomize thoughts:
- Back to the music theme… What person or band defined your life? It’s James Taylor for me. In fact, JT sings in the background as I write today’s blog entry. James brings a calm to my thoughts and has throughout my life (unlike the sound of the vacuum cleaner rumbling across the ceramic tiles outside the office door). As mentioned in previous columns, I checked off one bucket list item by seeing JT in concert not once, but twice (in Montana, no less). He played in Bozeman, MT in 2001, about a month or two after the 09/11 attack. The timing couldn’t have been better. JT’s music made some of the world’s madness disappear for a few hours. Who has guided you along your road?
- Politics… Does it really matter who is president? Well, if I’m being honest, the answer is “yes”. The U.S. system is so stymied and stalemated right now that it’s difficult to feel any semblance of hope. Civility walked out the back door some years ago (I place the blame squarely on Newt Gingrich and the gang during the Clinton years) and the situation has clearly worsened in recent years. Money plays too big a part in the process and the current bunch of DC politicos have no interest in reforming the system since they have the most to lose. If you subscribe to the chaos theory (which I do), it will take a cataclysmic event to bring order back to the disordered system that now exists. In the mean time, we must all hold our collective nose and partake in the grand extremist political experiment occurring before our eyes. Yes, it takes extremist views to end up in the middle, but the critical missing element these days is compromise. One must be willing to listen to the other side’s view in order for compromise to occur. Let’s hope that common sense will enter into the discussion at some point in the near future. Be sure to get involved in the process. Investigate each candidate and vote as your heart dictates.
- Last night, I spent some time watching flash mob videos on Youtube. Another light bulb lit in my mind: Just as music unites people, dance unites people as well. Check out some flash mob videos and focus on audience reaction. Regardless of where the flash mob erupts, you will see smiling faces in the crowd. Dance is a powerful media. Dance evokes a positive emotional reaction in people. Dance serves as a common language and unites people in the same way that music does. Dance is beauty in motion. If you don’t believe me, try doing the happy dance and see if you smile and feel better.
- Speaking of happy, if you want to read a happy story, check this one out from today’s Missoulian: Invite to Prom for Frenchtown Sophomore with Autism Leads to Prince Coronation. I’ve known the Pace family for many years. The journey has not been easy, so reading Jacob’s story today brought a welcomed smile to my face. When I first met Jacob, I probably had the same reaction as most others that meet him, wow! Jacob is a mountain of a man and has been for many years. I didn’t believe his mom when she told me his age. The article describes him this way, “You couldn’t miss him if you tried. At 6 feet 4 inches, he towers above his classmates, a big, roomy kid.” Although he is intimidating to stand by, Jacob has a kind soul. He works in the school lunch room, where the lunch folks describe him as follows, “He’s a very gentle giant. He’s very easy to work with. You couldn’t ask for a nicer young man than him.” Read the story. There is hope in the world. Once in a while, you find glimmers of it in the local paper.
- As I look at today’s young people, I see a generation of hope. Maybe it’s just the crew that my kids hang with, or the attitude that Montana drops on kids, but I see the 18 and under crowd very concerned about the future, caring about people around them and hopeful that they can make a positive change in the world. They are using the power of the internet as a tool for positive change, whether it be peaceful resistance to oppressive governments or uniting the world through dance, music or other forms of digital joy. Whereas the 20-30 year old seems self-absorbed, the up and comers really do seem to care about the “we” factor. They are growing up in tough times, but really seem to get it; none of us will survive without considering the whole instead of the parts. I’m excited about their future because they seek solutions through innovative change. As difficult as it is to admit, I recently realized that my time to change the planet has passed. The world has changed with technology leading the way. Kids today, embrace the change. That gives me happiness and hope.
- In my opening comments, I briefly mentioned the zeroes and ones of computer programming. Yes, those zeroes and ones popped freshly out of my mind because I decided several months ago to pursue one of my passions, learning what makes computers work. As part of my quest to find my passion, I have enrolled in the first of three online PC security classes. My first class started last week. Although I might be burned out at work, this new path had ignited me. In this first class, the instructor releases two new lessons a week. I really look forward to each new lesson. I’m excited to return to a learning path! Where the path leads, I don’t know but I really appreciate moving in a positive direction. Coincidentally, I’ve recently seen some articles and TV segments on people from my generation doing exactly what am in trying to find their passion. Yesterday, I saw a CNN segment on Jane Pauley, who now features people on the AARP website that are reinventing themselves. I guess I’m not the only person my age seeking to get out of the grind. It’s time to reinvent myself and find a new calling in line with my passions. How about you?
Have a fantasmagorical week! Make the most of each day. Peace.
The time change and a sinus issue put a hurt on me today. I’ll post later this week. In the mean time, check out the Gratitude video below. It’s well worth a watch.
Thanks.
“You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.
Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for our pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather and even of the weather we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day right now is unique weather, maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same that is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that.
Look at the faces of people whom you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face, a story that you could never fully fathom. Not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far. And in this present moment on this day all the people you meet, all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world flows together and meets you here like a life-giving water if you only open your heart and drink.
Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water. And drinkable water! It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.
So these are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which we can open your heart. So I wish you that you would open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you, that everyone whom you will meet on this day will be blessed by you, just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch. Just by your presence. Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. Then it will really be a good day.”
Spring has sprung in Missoula today. Currently, the thermometer outside the office window shows 51 degrees. The local paper projected a high today of 51. Since it’s only 10:30 am, I’m guessing that the ambient outdoor temperature will well exceed expectations!
Winter, this year played itself out as a major disappointment. As mentioned last week, the skies only managed one significant snow event over the past four months. That’s just not right. Montana is snow country! We live for snow out here!
As seems to be the case every Sunday morning lately, I have limited writing time this morning. Most of my day will be spent studying for an insurance CE class test that I have to take tomorrow. Can you think of anything more exciting than reading about commercial insurance all day? Please, Lord, help me pass this exam tomorrow so I can move forward! Unfortunately, I am ill-prepared and will probably fail miserably. Passing the exam, however, has no bearing on my life, It’s more a matter of pride. Commercial insurance is complex! Yow!
Shall we randomly jump into Sunday morning?
- WMWM. Salem State University radio. It provides background music for Random Thoughts. DJ Doug usually provides a nice assortment of medleys which drives my Sunday ranDomNess. Thanks to the internet, we now have an almost endless assortment of musical choice. How the world has changed. And of the all the choices, I have selected WMWM for my Sunday mornings. I think it’s the variety of song and the DJ’s good old Boston dialect that attract me to WMWM. I don’t miss big city life, but I have to admit that I miss listening to that Beantown cockiness that emanates through dialect. Speak up, you badass Boston orators!
- On the home front, Montana and North Dakota are now the black gold hot spots for the lower 48. If you’re not familiar with the Bakkan oil field, you don’t live out west. Welcome to the new Eastern Montana and North Dakota. Plenty of people are making money on the Bakkan oil fields, but there is a dark side to prosperity. Just ask folks in Sidney, Montana. Black gold brings greed and crime along with cash.Business Insider website posted an article yesterday entitled. “The Oil Boom is Destroying Small Towns Across America.” Mind you, this article comes not from some liberal, tree-hugging organization. This is the opinion of a writer from the mainstream business community. Several months ago, a couple of drifters arrived in Sidney, Montana seeking easy money. According to law enforcement reports, the two men, high on meth, decided to kill someone for fun. Their target ended up being Sherry Arnold, a 43-year-old Sidney teacher. Lester Waters Jr. and Michael Spell allegedly snatched Arnold while she jogged on a Sidney side road. Investigators call it a thrill kill. There have been other crimes in Sidney as well. Local folks may have enjoyed the money that came along with the boom, but now aren’t so sure it’s worth the price of success. I’ve talked to some folks that live in the boom area. They say the locals are being driven out by increased costs of rent, groceries, gas, etc. What they knew as small town Montana, is now oil town America and not necessarily the place that these folks have called home for several generations. Yes, the money is nice, but is the loss of a sense of place worth the cost of admission?
- Okay, I know I said that I wouldn’t write about sports as much this time around, but hey, it’s almost baseball season! I can’t dismiss the most important distraction in my life. The Red Sox kicked off the 2012 season with a 25-0 drubbing of the Northeastern University squad yesterday. The wife of my childhood best friend left a message on my cell phone yesterday to let me know that the Sox were playing on NESN. Oh, how I wish DISH Network carried Major League Baseball or NESN, but woe is me, no such luck. I have lived and died with the Sox since 1967, when I watched the dramatic finish to the season in the school cafeteria. I was hooked for life. Normally, I devote a whole entry to seasonal Sox predictions and will probably do so again in the near future. For now, I will simply state that, after the epic 2011 collapse, this year’s Red Sox incarnation will feel less pressure and will exceed expectations. The team has some glaring weaknesses, particularly in the shortstop, starting pitching and right field positions, but those concerns will be addressed during spring training. The lineup is otherwise intact. If Papi, Youk, Ellsbury, Pedroia, et al. perform up to standards, all should be well in Beantown baseball this year. GO SOX!!
- Can you believe that Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are the best that the republican party has to offer? Wow! Romney, despite having all the money in the world, can’t buy conservative support and Santorum is unelectable.The smart money is on a brokered republican convention with the repubs pulling a rabbit from the crowd. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush’s names have surfaced as possible last-minute candidates. Another Bush in the White House? We’ve seen that option too many times already. I’m reading a very interesting Atlantic Monthly article called “Obama Explained“, by James Fallows. Fallows reviews Obama’s strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of several Washington insiders. The article points out good, bad and ugly of Obama’s first term. I think it’s fair to say, after reading the article, that President Obama made many mistakes due to his inexperience with not knowing how the Beltway game is played, but he’s learned some key moves recently. Check the article out. It’s worth the read.
- Thor has been acting up again lately and I’m not very happy about it. Four years ago in April, Thor became my sworn enemy. Although I have learned how to control him, I have not learned how to completely eliminate him from my life. Many people deal with much more difficult health issues, but chronic pain is no fun under any circumstances. There are days that I just want to pack it in, but I know that’s not an option. I hope some day to actually pinpoint the cause of my pain, but, in the mean time, will continue to fight the good fight. Two closely connected people are dealing with much more serious issues, cancer and leukemia. I consider my concerns minor compared with those of my connections. Another friend is going to have a chest lump checked out by a doc this week. I pray that the doc finds some benign condition that can easily be remedied. We all have to check out at some point, but it’s never as easy as we might convince ourselves.
Onward to test prep. There are few things that excite me as much as studying for an insurance exam on the first sunny Sunday in many months. Current temperature, Missoula, MT, March 4, 2012 – 56 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not quite warm enough to sit outside and study, but I might go into cat mode and find a sunny spot inside the house to use as my study destination.
Have an awesome week! If you happen to reside in a NESN zone, soak up some Sox vibes from Florida and consider yourself a fortunate one. Take care.
