Crown on the rocks

In memory

2012-02-11T20:29:00.001-07:00

The Prodigy just called to me to tell me that Whitney Houston died. I loved Whitney. Her voice, her beauty. I remember the first time I heard "Saving All My Love" on VH1. I went out and bought her debut album. The love affair was born. I know I'm a Diane Lane guy, but Whitney was right there for years. My friend Sally Jane bought me a Whitney calendar for my birthday one year and I never took it down. When TP was living with me, he remarked that it was out of date and he commented on it again tonight.

When she married Bobby Brown I knew the downward spiral was about to begin. She never made anything worth listening to after that.

She was so beautiful and her voice was amazing.

I just posted about turning 49 and how it isn't old. Whitney was 48.

Here's a few of my favorites.

Saving All My Love

Didn't We Almost Have It All

I Will Always Love You

Random thoughts #25

2012-02-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Things that crossed my mind while thinking about my last year in the fourties. Hey, at least it's leap year so I get 366 until the half century mark.

1) At my 40th, I remember telling Ralph. "We've spent the first 40 thinking we are immortal. We need to figure out in the next 40 how to make that happen."

2) I'm sure we all remember when we thought 49 was old. Now that I'm there and staring at 50 I don't feel bad at all. I haven't been to the gym in a while but need to get back there (we haven't had any snow so there has been no point in getting into shape to ride sleds). And I have been really thinking about wanting to run a 5K. Then I stop and say to myself "why in the hell would you want to do that?" I'd probably tear an ACL or do something that wouldn't let me play golf for the rest of the year. To hell with that. I'm still going to get back in the gym, but not going to race anyone. Unless it's the Malta boys for who gets to 50 first. In that case, I win.

3) I do need to get back in shape. By blood pressure was up this year at my annual physical. First time ever. No history of it in my family. Though I'm high strung, I don't want to be one of those guys who has a heart attack at 54. I'm 5'8" and weigh 163. In decent shape but could be better. Just need to get rid of the HBP and I'll be fine.

4) I've been blessed with tremendous great health. I think I've mentioned this once before but in the last 20 years I've only missed one day of work because of illness. One. Back when I was a lad in my 30's, there were a lot of late nights in the summer. Never missed the bell once. Never called in sick because I was out too late the night before. As a matter of fact, I was never late. Not once. Lucky I suppose.

5) Here's a thought for a blog summit. I turn 50 next year. How about you all get your country asses to Bozeman the week of February 8th and we have a symposium or whatever? You can all rent a snow coach and go through Yellowstone. Seeing it's splendor in the winter is unmatched. I've rode through it twice on snowmobiles and been through it many times in the summer. There is no comparison which is better. And you cannot believe the snow that YNP gets. Feet and feet of it. It is totally awesome. I'll buy the hotel rooms for the night of my 50th celebration. Deal? Good. Glad we cleared that up. Boxer, Moi, Pam, Troll, Chickory, Karl and you BK. You have one year's notice. Get your collective shit together and make a plan.

6) Or we could go to Hawaii in March, which is what I'm going to do as well. Just sayin.

7) I had coffee with my "adopted" brother Leo this morning. He is brilliant beyond words. Growing up working for his family is the best thing that ever happened to me. We talked for two hours and only quit because he had a five hour drive to get back to the Center of The Universe. He is one of the few people I know that could have been anything he wanted to be. A doctor, an engineer etc. Just so smart. Well spoken and humble. He taught me so much growing up. And taught me a lot today. As usual.

8) Bought $20 worth of lottery tickets today. It's over $300 million dollars. Ralph is in for half. "Quick picked" 9 tickets and picked the other six numbers. My Dad's, brother Bill and my birth month and day. I did that playing roulette in Phoenix and won on Bill's number.
*rubs a rabbit's foot and sacrifices a chicken.

9) Making a plan to go to Cooperstown this summer. For those of you who may not know, Cooperstown NY, is the location of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hallowed ground to say the least. I've been there once with my sister LP. It was great but for reasons I won't get into here, our tour was cut short. Ralph is going with me this time. It will probably take us two days to go through it. I'm fine with that.

10) A story about that. Way back in the long ago, Jimmy and I said we would get tattoos of our baseball team's on our left ankle. We were going to do it together. Jimmy jumped the gun and got his without me. He showed up at the LBOH (Lonely Bachelors and Oppressed Husband's weekend) with his new ink. I was a little upset he had done it without me. "We had a pact!" "I had to do it Chipper. Kim (his wife) gave me the green light and I didn't want her to change her mind." Jimmy has five tattoos now. You can't see any of them if you are a student in his class. Five! He has enough to be a carney for God sakes! He could be running the tilt-o-whirl at the Mulesbreath County Fair in Arkansas.

11) Back to the story. So Jimmy (only two tattoos at the time, or maybe three. Honestly, I don't have my "Jimmy's tattoos" scoreboard handy) and I meet in Billings for Ralph's 38th birthday. Ralph says "My wife is out of town. We need to do something that I can say 'you weren't here so I couldn't ask permission'". Before I could stop myself I said "Let's get tattoos!" Ralph "That's a great idea." Now we still had to play golf, and go to an arena football game. Shoey had to do his laundry that night so he couldn't make the arena football game. I guess there weren't any laundromats open on Sunday in Billings, a town of over 100,000 people. Probably not Shoey. Anyway, it was a Saturday. I was hoping the novelty of the idea might have worn off by the next morning. It didn't. Jimmy, who was in support 100% of the idea, was up the next morning calling tattoo shops until he found one open on a Sunday. To end this long story (is it "to" or "too" I'm always confused on that) Ralph and I had our tattoos etched into our skin. I don't regret it. I'll like it when we line our ankles up to have our picture taken on the front steps of the BBHOF with our ink. Ralph cried like a little girl when he got his. No surprises there. Hey Ghoulies, if you don't like that last statement, start your own blog. You can call it "How Chip let me tie him in the alumni wrestling tournament." I like the sounds of that. Make sure I can be a contributor. Oh, and keep your fingers crossed for the lottery. Love ya!!

Pause. Sorry. I'm laughing so hard at those last few sentences I can hardly type.

12) Hoping my broker gets me on the list for the Facebook IPO. Wait. What do I care? I'm winning the lottery in a few hours.

13) Going to take a golf vacation in March. Thinking St. George, Utah. Can play some golf, go to Zion National Park. Zion is spectacular. And it's small enough that you can ride a bike through the entire thing. Of course, I'll need to get into shape before that. Don't want my last words to be "Really God? You're gonna let me die in Utah?! Whatta a gyp!"

14) I caught up with all of you tonight. Didn't post a comment on any but did read all of your splendid posts. So glad to be a part of this bunch. 49. Half way to death. I'll say the same thing next year. When I get to meet you all.

Safe journeys,

Chip

What did you do today?

2012-02-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

Just a question. I went to work. Lived life, that I love. I love my job and most of the people I work with do a great job. The others, meh, average. They could pick it up. I'm old school, a taskmaster. But a gentle one, I try to show them where they could do better. That my expectations are high, not only for them, but for myself. I was born 100 years to late. The good thing about that is that I would be dead by now and I'm not. Still muddling through.

No worries. The bills are paid. Money in the bank, a good job. And the best friends a man could have. More on that at another time I suppose. Maybe not. I'll probably forget.

So true

2012-02-04T21:59:00.002-07:00

Enjoy your Sunday kids.

I don't get it

2012-02-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

Don Cornelius, the host of Soul Train for a gazillion years, took his own life Tuesday. I don't understand suicide. Despite how bad it could ever be, why would anyone choose to end this gift? Life is so short. Maybe, and I mean maybe, if you are terminal I can possibly see it. If your wife leaves you, if you're bankrupt, if your best girl starts sleeping with someone else...none are good enough to end it all.

I shoot for a great pool team. They are awesome men. I used to shoot against them, they were always my favorite team to shoot against. I shoot for them because their team captain, a man I knew and considered a friend, took his own life. I still can't grasp as to why.

I work with a man whose brother killed himself a few years ago and he has never been the same. He doesn't laugh as much.

A couple of weeks ago, I sent a bunch of videos of The Spinners to Ralph and Delmer (I spared you, my beloved followers, you're welcome) a couple were from Soul Train.

I guess I could kill myself under extreme duress. Maybe a bunch of Islamo Fascists were going to take me hostage and cut off my own head. Something like that. Otherwise, not matter what happens, there is no way I would.

Here's a Don Cornelius tribute. "Peace and Soul." RIP

Here are The Spinners on Soul Train singing "I'll be around". Like Sister told me when Rod died, "it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

I have no labels for this. And I don't want any.

A good argument point.

2012-02-01T22:40:00.003-07:00

I don't particularly care for liberals. Not in the least. So here's the deal (side bar, and I've said this before, you can always tell when a salesman is lying when he says's "here's the deal" that point aside and being a salesman, just read) whenever a liberal says "that's a great idea" ask them how we are supposed to pay for it. Along with everything else we all are paying for. Just a thought.

As I stumble through what is life

2012-01-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

A great version of Queen.

enjoy.

Just on the YouTube

2012-01-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

Not going to post a bunch. But here are a couple I found in my love affair with youtube.

The Spinners with "Rubberband Man" live. A great performance. I flippin love them. Sent Ralph an Delmer an email with like four of their best songs.

So here are two more. From the Electric Light Orchestra. I LOVE ELO.

Here's my favorite. Evil Woman.

And Sweet Talkin Woman. Live and brilliant.

Just muddling through.

2012-01-27T21:43:00.001-07:00

Life is great. A few thoughts.

We are in for another term of Barry and it will put this great nation on a path from which we will never recover. So sad.

Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't get. More on that at another time.

Always tell the truth. Even it if hurts someone. Just one lie can ruin you. Not to say that I told a lie and am in trouble. I can't help but tell the truth. I might be more diplomatic at times than others, but an honest answer is what you will get. I might have told this story before (I'm almost sure I have) but I had a female salesperson in my office one day. A very bright woman, very forward and ten years older than me. She was really trying to push this radio package on me. I looked it over and said we would pass. She said to me "Chip, do I intimidate you?" I looked back at her and said "Kay, I'm only intimidated by women I'm sleeping with." She laughed, but it was an honest answer.

Buzz, is the lawyer a public defender or private practice? If the former, than yes, I make more money than him. If the latter, is he a partner in the firm? Then I can answer that question. Honestly.

Keep a hard eye on the environmental movement. Their number one enemy is the agriculture industry. They are constantly attacking grazing rights, how big farms are, etc. Where the fuck do they think their food comes from? Safeway? The IGA? I would like to go to some enviro meeting and pull out a flip recorder and have someone tell me I can't record them. I would say "it's a public meeting isn't it?" I want some tree hugging puke to try to take my recorder. Please God, make this happen.

I'm thinking about getting a dog again. This time it will be dogs. I won't have one to leave alone in the day. If I do it again. I'll get two so they aren't lonely when I'm away. Not there yet, but love dogs so much. And they would have it easy here. After all, they are people too.

I have ten guns. Five have never been shot. Someday they will be. I just like guns. Everyone should have one. They are fun. I don't hunt anymore. Well, very seldom anyway. Some pheasants with The Prodigy every now and again. It's just my right. "From my cold dead fingers."

I could post 24/7. Always have something to say. I could write a letter to the paper every day. If they would let me. Had one published today. I'm 12 of 13 on submissions. It's a good average. I suppose the one they didn't publish had something to do with me calling John Kerry "a former dope smoker who was awarded a medal for shooting a 12 year old in the back on a saipan" but really who knows?

377 days left in my fourties.

I don't like having to wear reading glasses. They help a little. I can still read the paper or a book but it's easier with them. I can't thread a fishing line through a hook or read washing labels. I suppose there are worse things.

Don't have much else to say. Just wanted to share some things. Going to youtube.

Safe journeys,

Chip

Forgot to link this last night

2012-01-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video about the wolf. Very well done. It's an hour long but incredibly awesome. Kind of like MRM. Go here.

I'm not quite back, but getting there.

The Great American Land Grab: Part II The Wolf

2012-01-25T20:03:00.003-07:00

According to Kayser Sose, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn't exist. The greatest trick the environmentalists have pulled in the last 20 years is the reintroduction of the grey wolf. It's bigger than global warming (at least so far) because it's actually been accomplished.

Ed Bangs, the alpha male of the wolf reintroduction movement, knew full well that the population was healthy and numbered over 50,000. The problem was that the wolves were in Canada, roaming the Great White North. They had plenty to eat, minimal contact with man and an abundant food source. The problem with the situation was that it's hard to make a legacy with those circumstances.

Let's make something perfectly clear. Bangs is not stupid. Deceitful? Yes. Dishonest? Absolutely. But not dumb. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is cleverly worded and despite the fact that the grey wolf was not remotely endangered didn't matter. What mattered was it virtually didn't exist in the United States. The wording allowed him to make this claim.

With minimal public support and Bubba in the Whitehouse, the first pack was placed in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The deal that Bangs and the environmentalist made was that once the population reached a certain number they would be de-listed from the ESA. Just like every deal the enviro-movement has made this one was indeed broken.

Lawsuit after lawsuit was filed to prevent the wolf from being de-listed. As the elk in YNP were virtually eaten into extinction the wolves expanded their range and began to attack livestock.

The promises of reimbursement were also broken. As dozens of sheep were killed in one night near Dillon, Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) demanded proof it was wolves. The rancher in question could only say there were tracks and that this had never happened before. That's circumstantial evidence for the government. When it could be proved, FWP did not pay the amount promised.

Wolves have been witnessed in the Missouri Breaks south of Malta on the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge (CMR). My guess is that if they stray from the CMR they will encounter an unnatural occurrence of lead poisoning.

Here's the biggest rub of the deal. The species of wolf that was planted in YNP is NOT the species that used to exist there. Although that species is abundant in Minnesota and Alaska, Bangs chose the Canadian grey wolf, not the lesser grey wolf. They weren't protected under the ESA because of their population. No, he chose a species that didn't exist in the states and that consumes 30% more food than it's much smaller cousin.

Lies were told and promises were made by the environmentalists that weren't kept. A long list in many. The wolf reintroduction was successful. In a manner of speaking. The problem is one of food. The enviros know that if the wolves start having an even bigger impact on livestock herds, public support will wane. Their solution, introduce a food source.An animal that is an icon to America. Enter the buffalo.

Part III is coming. For Part I click here.

I didn't know Baxter

2012-01-18T20:22:00.001-07:00

I don't go out much on Wednesday. No drink special at the Grantree (my haunt) it's mid week. Nothing really to do.

I started stopping at Boxer's Lounge ( not our Boxer I don't think but maybe? She can confirm.) this past summer. Went in there in July on a non-North Dakota trip for something different. Well it turns out that a lot of guys I know in Belgrade stop there on Wednesday so I would pop in on occasion and tip a few with them. My banker, a couple of guys I play golf league with, people I know. Anyway, its always a nice evening.

I didn't have the best of days today. Don't want to say anything about that right now but will at a later date. Anyway, the guys at Boxer's were knee deep in the hoopla when I arrived at 5:45. Usually its just the guys talking about life, their day etc. When I arrived tonight, everyone was already drunk. Baxter had had a heart attack and died this morning. I didn't know him. The few times I had gone to Boxer's I had not met him.

I made the comment to Ron that he was already in the bag. "You're drunk? It's not even six." Ron, "Didn't you hear? Baxter died this morning." Me "Sorry, didn't know him." Ron "No shit? Well by the time you usually got here, he was already playing poker" Here in Montana, we have poker machines that you can play for money. It's why I never met the man.

No one was weeping. There wasn't a lot of sorrow. Just guys saying "Here's to Baxter!"

Let me get on with this. As I've said, I go here on occasion. It's a quaint little joint and Wednesday is the day that everyone meets. Of all the Wednesday's that I have attended, the jukebox never played. Not once. Tonight it played constantly. Evidently, Old Baxter was a regular. A retired guy who went in about 2, drank till 7 and went home ( God Love you for that Baxter ). He had all these songs he always played so the guys were playing them all. When this particular song came on, the entire bar stopped and sang with all their might. I'm assuming it was his favorite.

As I was leaving I told the guys that they were giving him quite a tribute. Now let me say this, at Boxer's I drink Canadian Mist because it's a buck cheaper than Crown. I like all Canadian whiskey but a buck is a buck. I said to Ron " Well usually I drink Crown but here I drink Mist. When I go, I want everyone to drink Crown all night. The beer drinkers can nut up and just drink whiskey." Ron "You drink Crown? That's what Baxter drank. We all had three shots before you got here. Joe (my former banker) almost puked. Baxter would have love you."

I can hardly imagine the party after the funeral.

Baxter, I didn't know you. I know the men who are heartbroken at your loss. I promised Ron I would post about it and put your favorite song on my blog. Ralph, remember this at Stines?

Hit the deck a runnin Baxter. Godspeed.

A good story

2012-01-13T21:10:00.002-07:00

I first met Jason McEndoo several years ago. He is the offensive line coach for my beloved Bobcats. As the new guy on the staff, Jason was the liaison between MSU and ABC Rental. We donated equipment to the team for filming and whatnot. I immediately liked him. This was over ten years ago. He lived in my subdivision and I helped him build his fence.

If you follow sports, you know about Ryan Leaf. He is a Montana boy (from Great Falls). He played for Washington State and was runner up in the Heisman his senior year. At the NFL level, he wasn't good. He sucked and was a douche bag of a teammate. I met Ryan in Bozeman three or four years ago and was not impressed. He was busted for drugs, went through rehab and seems to be turning his life around.

In 2010 Montana State played Washington State, a game we should have won. Before the game, Leaf posted this great article about Jason. I know Jason well enough to call him a friend. His wife is a spectacular person. Two years ago, he gave the keynote speech at the Malta Athletic Club's annual banquet. Every one in Malta loves him. I had know idea about this tragedy.

Read this and it will warm your heart. Ryan Leaf did a remarkable job in writing this.

Oh, and for the record, Jason was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for the FCS, the football level we play in (formally Division I-AA, which I still call it. Saying "FCS" is Gary without the "r".)

If you're keeping score at home (and I know your are) this is three posts in 24 hours. Don't get your hopes up. And for the record, no videos. Seems like old times here in the Gallatin Valley.

I would have done worse

2012-01-12T20:49:00.001-07:00

What the hell? Two posts in one night? Who is this guy?

Here's my bitch. By now I'm sure you are all know that a video has surfaced with Marines pissing on the corpses of dead terrorists. Why is this a big deal? I absofuckinglutely guarantee that this has been happening since the first war in history. The Greeks didn't have YouTube. If the did, it would have been all over Greece and they would have celebrated.

The fact that this administration is upset is deploring. It shows how much they loathe the military. If this video had surfaced during GW's term, he would have said something like this "We can't judge those young men for this act. They are at war. We don't know the situation leading up to this but we can't put ourselves in their shoes."

What does the chain smoker do? He condemns it. What an absolute loser. Hillary as well.

I'm telling right now to watch how the media will portray this. They will villefy these brave men.

Here's what you need to remember. We had dead soldiers dragged through streets, hung off bridges. The terrorists beheaded dead soldiers. They posted beheadings on the internet. I watched one. And our media said nothing. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!!!

The media is saying "Marines urinated on the bodies of dead Taliban soldiers." They aren't soldiers. They aren't freedom fighters. They aren't insurgents. They are terrorists. Plain and simple. They have pissed on our brave men. They have treated the bodies of our soldiers far worse and yet this administration said nothing. Even worse, our media said nothing. Every liberal who has claimed to "support our troops" needs to stand up and support them now.

As Jack Nicholson said in "A Few Good Men"..."Grab a gun and stand a post!"

Otherwise, just grab a big cup of "Shut the Fuck Up" and say thank you.

Random thoughts #?

2012-01-12T20:08:00.001-07:00

Things that crossed my mind back in August when I missed a connecting flight. Written while in flight on the plane. I was lucky enough to get one to come home.

1) Vodka and Crown aren't usually a good mix. However, when you miss one flight and get lucky to find another, sometimes you have to roll the dice with Finlander on the plane.

2) If you get a chance to go to Rhinelander WI, fly to Minneapolis and drive the rest of the way.

3) I met a guy in Rock Springs, WY who has a sister in Billings, MT and is single. She owns a resort in Belize. Ellis "I think I have a picture of her on my phone somewhere." Me "I don't need one. I've heard enough."

4) I'm out of shape. I ran through the Minneapolis airport from gate A4 to E10 just in time to see my plane backing away from the gate. I didn't puke but do think I pulled a hammy.

5) I don't mind flying but hate even a hint of turbulence. I need to get right with God.

6) Have a seat next to a really hot lady. Probably 25 or so. Where was this 20 years ago? I don't ask for much.

7) Met some nice guys in Rhinelander. The training facility that Case Construction has is beyond phenomenal. I've never been to any sales training before. Ever. Like Ferris Bueller said when he is playing the clarinet (horribly) "not one lesson."

8) I hate to admit it but my 40's have been awesome. I used to think that 28 was my favorite age but now I'd have to go with 44. A great year for me all around. And it's Hank Aaron's number so I have that going for me. Which is nice.

9) Had lunch with the National Accounts Manager Saturday (remember I wrote this in August) He's the guy I did my huge sale with after the acquisition. He stayed in Bozeman an extra day just so we could meet and have lunch. He gave me great advice (which I've used immensely since then) and I'm way energized now. I picked up lunch. He didn't even try to argue with me. I mean c'mon!! Your the National Accounts Manager. At least try.

10) Here's my deal with that. In the course of this sale, I was in the VP's office when he was talking to Gery (yes with an "e" not his fault) and the VP said if the sale took place outside of our territory, we get and additional % on the sale which was significant. I reminded Gery of this and asked him to verify. He had forgotten all about it. It made us both more money. I'm not saying he owes me, after all he had the buyer, just reach for the tab. Give it an effort.

11) None of you have a sister who is single? Really?

12) When I go to Hawaii in January, I'm flying first class. Edit: I'm not going to Hawaii. My Mom turned 80 in November and we had a big blowout in Phoenix over New Year's for her. All of her kids and grandkids were there. At the last minute I offered to fly her five sisters down for the party. Three of them took me up on it. Best money I've ever spent. And, I vaulted into "All Time Favorite Nephew" status. Hard to do when you have 34 first cousins. Ralph, this does not mean for one second we aren't going to Cooperstown this year so for God sake get your shit together. Just for once.

13) I'm glad I found this. Wrote it in a little notebook I seldom use. Came across it yesterday.

14) The Prodigy had to put down his beloved black lab Hogan yesterday. He was 13. A great gentle beast and one of my dog's best friends. He was 120 pounds and not a mean bone. When I would bring Sloan to Sheridan, Hogan always let her rule the roost. Sleep well Hogan. You have a friend at the Rainbow Bridge who is lonely. You both have someone to play with until TP and I get there. Be patient though doggers. It will be a while.

Safe journeys,

Chip

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

I want all of you followers to have the best Christmas. Life is changing for the better and I'll get you caught up on that. Well, let's be honest. I've become a shitty blogger and you won't get much of anything. The path to Hell being paved with good intentions and all that. Nonetheless. Thank you all for reading. For your wonderful comments. Your heartfelt wishes. It means the world to me. I've met none of you yet I think that if, and possibly when I do, it will be like old times.

I don't have a lot of skills. One I do have is that I can spot a bad person. I can sit in a room and know who you are. I have a great feel for that. It's a trait that will see me through life.

So here's the deal. Not one person who reads or posts on this worthless thing is bad. I'd be privileged to meet any of you. And thankful.

Merry Christmas my beloved band of malcontents. This is a great journey I am on. I'm glad to share it with all of you.

Here's the good part. NO VIDEOS!!!! (I'll post them later. Getting on the youtube now, so keep your seatbelts fastened)

Safe Journeys,

Chip

LIfe after football

2011-12-10T17:26:00.001-07:00

I started this crappy blog in 2008 I think. I post mostly drivel. I try to entertain. Every once in a while post something of substance. They are few and far between.

In the course of all of this you have been able to see who I am. A man who doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve. I keep my cards close to my vest. I'm pragmatic. Deliberate. Thoughtful. I'm not a bomb thrower. I examine situations and solve problems. It's who I am. Insightful. And more than that, humble.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THE CATS GOT THEIR ASSES HANDED TO THEM TODAY BY SAM HOUSTON STATE!!

I want heads to roll!! The Cats defensive coordinator just sucks. I'm sorry I can't be more articulate than that but his scheme is the drizzilins. We have as much talent (or way more) every week than everyone we play. Three weeks ago against the dark pink and glitter, we were outplayed by their chickenshit "option read" offense. Today we played the exact same offense and had our butts kicked. Really Jamie Marshall, you couldn't figure it out the second time? Marshall played for our head coach Rob Ash and loyalties run deep but they shouldn't run passed the point of incompetence. I like Rob Ash and what he has done for the program and I am 100% in his camp but changes need to be made and this is the first step. The Cats don't play the smash mouth defense like they did under Mike Kramer. They are vanilla. The thing that absolutely infuriates me is that they have so much talent. The kids play their hearts out and I will never criticize them. They are young men playing a game. I might yell "you have to make that play!" but at the end of the game, when the clock says 0:00, I'm screaming about how proud I am of them for representing my beloved school ( was going to say almamatter or almamater or whatever it is but the red squiggly lines kept coming up).

Anyway, the griz from the liberal arts school down the road go to Texas next week. I'll be cheering Sam Houston on with all my might. I wouldn't root for the griz if they were playing Iraq.

Now.......................
Here's some videos.

Michael, when he was black.

John Mellencamp "Lonely Ol Night". I knew him when he was Johnny Cougar. Good times.

And lastly Queen "Somebody to Love" which I'm starting to think is going to be my anthem.

Stay safe dear followers.

Safe Journeys,

Chip

What an oversight

2011-12-02T22:46:00.001-07:00

So I posted all of these Canadian bands and forgot the best of them all. I'm not going to look for the link. No way I can find it on the new format and with my limited skills. But if you remember, way back in the long ago, I had a post about if you were on an island for a year and could only take five CD's what would you take? That post was sadly met with limited response. It was heartbreaking because back then people actually read this shit. Anyway, one of my island CD's was April Wine "Nature of the Beast". For your viewing pleasure here is April Wine with "Roller". If I've post any of these videos previously, I don't give a shit. They are AWESOME!!! Watch them again. I do.

I guess some videos then

2011-12-02T21:32:00.001-07:00

I guess I need to learn the new format better.

I'm going Canadian tonight. Grew up listening on the AM radio and our station was CHAB out of Moosejaw Saskakchewan Canada. The 51st state. Here's Trooper. These vids are for all my homeys from Malta.

Here's Trooper "A Three Dressed Up as a Nine"

Here's one of my all time favorite Canadian bands. Toronto with "Even the Score."

And not to bore you anymore but here is Red Ryder with "Lunatic Fringe" simply awesome.

Canada, we protect your borders, we pretty much hate hockey. Your football is fun to watch. Sidebar: The BC Lions won the Grey Cup (Canada's version of the Superbowl. Yeah, Whatever.) However, the QB of the BC Lions is a man named Travis Lulay. When he was a true freshman at MONTANA STATE he stopped the string of 16 consecutive losses to the dark pink. In the pit of Mount Doom. He won 3 of 4 against the dark pink and glitter. He is a legend in Bozeman. Travis was the player of the year in the CFL and the MVP of the Grey Cup . In his last 11 games he threw 33 touchdowns against 5 picks.

So Stand Up and Cheer (and yes I know the words) these lyrics are wrong. Its the Blue and Gold. Not red and white.

I hate the new blogger

2011-12-02T21:24:00.001-07:00

Had a great post and was previewing it and couldn't get back to the original. It was awesome. I hate the new format. KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN.

Some Thanks to you all

2011-11-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

I'm up and feeling full of the emotion of the life I have. Not that these videos have any meaning for Thanksgiving, they are just good. I've posted some before but I do like them so enjoy.

The Babys "Isn't it time" I'll listen to this again before I'm done.

CSN "Wasted on the way" Ralph and Delmer. Thanks for the tremendous friendship. I'm not who I am without you.

That was Ambrosia with "How much I feel"

Poco "Crazy Love" Ghoulies, if I could sing one song besides "Lasso you the moon", this would be it.

A toast

2011-11-23T21:08:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving you malcontents. Eat well, enjoy your families. God bless you all.

Chip
The Milk River Madman

Gut me like a fish

2011-11-19T23:05:00.001-07:00

I hate the university of Montana. They produce nothing. Journalism, political science, protesting. If the um blew up ( i can't spell decinagrated) the earth would be fine.

The #1 ranked Cats lost. They lost. They were outplayed on both sides of the ball. I hate losing to these fuckers. They have dominated the conference for far to long. they are bad losers and even worse winners.

I hate it.

1984 just sayin

2011-11-18T23:18:00.001-07:00

It's a big deal

2011-11-18T22:30:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow my beloved Bobcats will take to the field to defeat the grizzlies of that other university in the state of Montana. This is a huge rivalry and like the 12th longest running one of all time. Or something like that. Wikipedia was no help.

The Montana State University Fighting Bobcats are ranked number one in the nation in the Football Championship Series (FCS formally know as division I-AA). The seventh ranked grizzlies come to Bozeman tomorrow to battle for the Big Sky Conference championship.

Tanaya, this is for you.

We will CRUSH them tomorrow. They are a good football team. But we are GREAT. The best quarterback in the Big Sky ( a sophomore ) the third best running back in the FCS. An ass-kicking defense. At home. In front of 19,000 rabid fans. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a lot but Montana only has a million people. 2% of the population of the state will be at the game. 95% will be watching. The other 5% went to the university of Montana and will be delivering pizzas or standing outside of your local Wal-mart. Hey, facts is facts.

My oldest sister is coming from New Jersey for her first Cat-griz game. She is (and I don't want to jinx the Cats here) undeafeted at Bobcat Stadium. 5-0. She is the Cats' lucky charm. I flew her in special for the game. The weather is shit here. 8 inches of snow last night and I have four more on my doorstep already.

Here's the breakdown for me.

#1 Christmas in Malta with my brother's kids.

#2 The LBOH

#3 The Steamboat Classic Golf tournament in Fort Benton with Skeets

#4 The Cat-griz game.

You all know me by now and I am way amped up. Temperature at kickoff will be 10 above zero and I'll be ready. TP is here. Brought some great beer. I think he is a 1996 alum.

Our tailgate will be rocking. Great food, plenty of other things. Maybe some divorcee will catch the cut of my jib. Who knows?

The keys to the game.

The Cats have had a turnover issue of late. seven in the last two games. Both of which they won by double digits, They can't turn it over against the griz. Not four times. If they dont put it on the ground or The Nine doesn't throw a pick, then they win in a walk. However, you can't dismiss a rivalry. And this is a big one. It's the first time in 15 years that the griz are underdogs. The Cats have never been ranked #1. Despite their three national championships. Never been the big dog. A lot on the line.

After watching 22 years of Bobcat football, I'll say this. These young men are very poised. They don't panic. They don't get down on themselves. If for some reason, they find themselves losing tomorrow, they will find a way to win.

So STAND UP AND CHEER (the other schools copied us and yes I know the words)

What's wrong with America

2011-11-17T23:48:00.001-07:00

"Project Accessories" Are F******G kidding me? I quit blogging for six months and we've come to this? What a bunch of horseshit!!

Big Cat/griz game post tomorrow as I wait for sister, LP, to fly in from New Jersey. Stay tuned. But then don
t get your hopes up. Afterall its just me.

My Bobcats are ranked #1 in the NATION for FCS. And we play the hated dark pink and glitter this week. The griz are (over)ranked 7th. It will be an epic battle. I think the Cats are Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better then the homos in dark pink but never rule out a rivalry. Shit happens.

just some thoughts

2011-11-06T00:17:00.001-06:00

Life is good. I wouldn't change where I am with anyone. I have a great family. I have the best friends. And I have you followers. I said a while ago, I drink to much and sleep to little. I'm not sad. I just remember when work was so slow I could post daily from my desk. Bwahahahha.

The bad part isn't that I don't post. The bad part is that I don't read all of your great posts.

I leave for Wisconsin tomorrow for some training and I'm really looking forward to it.
I was looking for the scene from "Stripes" for the Wisconsin comment but all I could find was this.

Ralph used the "lighten up Francis" line with me today. Only because he's in Nevada and knows I'd crush him like a bug. Yeah. That's right. You say I'm not blogging and now when you read this I'm throwing you under the bus you little hobbit. What's that? You don't like it? Start your own blog then. Love you Ghoulies. I'll still crush you none the same.

Life is good. And might get better. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading. I do miss this so.
Here's a little story from this summer you might like. Brother Pat has three kids. Nephew Spencer and his twin sisters Syndey and Sammi. I always buy then Bobcat clothes. Spencer has taken up golf so this year I wanted to by him a set of golf clubs. Long story short, or as short as I can tell it. I buy him his clubs and the girls "poop and pee babies" I posted about sending the kids their presents back in August but didn't tell you the rest. I mailed all the kids' presents seperately. The girls got theirs on Monday. Tuesday, nothing for Spence. Wednesday sister-in-law calls me and says still no present for Spencer. I tell her that my receipt is in Bozeman and I'm in ND and I'll check it out when I get home. Thursday I get ready to head back to Bozeman. My personal phone has a message. I dial in and I get this.

"Uncle Chip. I just want to tell you that you're the best uncle. I love my golf clubs, my golf bag and all the golf balls you gave me." Pause..... "this is Spencer"

Such a great message. right out of habit i deleted it. What a dipshit I am. How great would it be to be having a bad day and just listen to his little voice tell me that. He is a great boy.

I'll leave you all with that.

By the way. My Montana State Bobcats are ranked #2 in the nation in I-AA (now known as the FCS) they have the university of Montana in two weeks for the outright championship of the Big Sky Conference. The boys are undefeated in conference play. If we crush the dark pink, a national championship wont be far away.

It's late and I still have to watch some videos.

I miss this

2011-11-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

So, life has changed for me. Different job, different responsibilities. I travel a lot. The hotel in Williston is an absolute dive. Showering barely makes me feel clean after sleeping in the sheets. I'm afraid I'll get a rash that there won't be a cure for. I get home after driving 1500 miles in a week. I'm exhausted. The only thing I want to do is watch what I've DVR'd, drink some crown and go to bed. I miss posting. More than that, I miss reading all of your great posts. I'm in a horrible rut. I've become a selfish prick. Not caring if anyone reads this anymore, but still wondering why no one does.

I am have a great time with the new job. But the energy to post isn't there.

I think of all these great posts when I'm driving. About how much Obama is taking on us a path to self destruction and laughing his ass off all the way. How complacent America has become. How no one cares anymore. Yet when I get to my destination, I say nothing.

I don't read anything except the local paper. It infuriates me. Yet I don't post. I don't write letters to the editor. Probably because if you use the word "cocksucker" it won't be printed. But it looses it's context without it. Yes, I'm sure I can find a different word, but nothing would make the point as well.

I miss blogging. I miss all of you who I've never met but still read this crap.

I hate that the general public can't do math. Simple math.

100,000,000 people in America don't pay taxes. If they paid one dollar, that would me $100,000,000. If they paid $10 each it would be a billion dollars. If they paid $100 each it would be 10 billion dollars. Hey, I don't give a rats ass if you are making 35k a year. Thats $8.34 a month. If you can't afford that, then let me see how you are spending your money. I can save you that. Trust me.

Our current president can't add. He's a total empty suit, when he wears one. He has crippled this great nation.He upped the food stamp entilement program from $35k to $50k. I'm sorry. If you're a family of four and can't make it on 50k a year QUIT SMOKING.

I'm on a rant in case you can't tell.

Montana State is the second ranked football team in FCS. We have Weber State tomorrow. I won't be there, but the Cats will crush them and then humiliate the griz on November 19th. My sister Mary is flying out for her first Cat/griz game. It will be epic.

God bless you. You merry band of malcontents. Love you all.

Safe Journeys,

Chip

Brother Bill, Captain Mike and Me (lots of pictures)

2011-09-27T22:38:00.002-06:00

Let the stories be told from on high. Stories of men, battling the elements. Of obstacles most would think could not be accomplished by mere mortals. Stories of great deeds, heroic efforts and the kind of feats that you've only read about in story books. This is not one of them. Sorry. This is just a day on the river.

Back in May at the annual Citizens For Balanced Use fund raising banquet, I bought a guided fishing trip donated by my good friend Captain Mike. I happened to catch Captain Mike at The Mint Bar in the proper state of mind to donate a day on the river. "You donate the day Captain Mike and I will buy it." He agreed that night and again the next day when the Absolut had worn off.
The auction was itself a bit of a spectacle. Captain Mike charges $450.00 for two people to fish in his boat per day. As it was an auction he knew it would go for less. He was being generous to do this and I promised it would go for at least $350.00. The banquet was sold out. 320 people from all over Montana and neighboring states. The fishing trip was next on the block. BG was the chair of the banquet committee and she graciously volunteered me to serve on it. God love her. The trip comes up for bid and I say "Someone in here is going to try to run me up so you bid. I'll keep telling you yes until it gets to high."

The bid opened at $100.00. Hands flew in the air. At $150.00 it was BG and a guy across the room. He would bid and I would tell her "yup" and she would bid. I was standing right behind her. At $250.00 he bailed. The auctioneer looked her way and I raised my hand from behind her. "$300.00 to you" I told her "yup" then raised my hand to $325.00. The auctioneer looked at her "$350.00?" I told her "yup". She bid $350.00 and it was sold. BG turns to me after it was over. "I saw that one guy get out, who was the other person bidding me up? Did you see?" I just started laughing. "It was me! I told Captain Mike it would fetch $350.00 and wanted to make sure it did." Hey, my money was going to an organization I believe in and support and I was glad to give it.

Flash forward to early August. I call my brother Bill and tell him I have a guided fishing trip and would like him to come. "Well, I am going to be in Bozeman for a conference." I told him he had a week to decide to skip the conference for a day and come with me. "It's your birthday present. If you don't come and fish, well, then you already have the rest of the present." He called the next day to say he was in and the count down began.

....................................................................

Flash forward to today. Brother Bill meets me at my house and we head to Ennis to meet Captain Mike. We rendezvous with him, load up and head south to the Middle Madison River. Captain Mike gets the gear ready and we put in the water.

I'm not a fly fisherman or much of a fisherman at all. I had talked to Captain Mike the night before and told him as much. "Just give me a spinning rod. My brother has fly fished. Just get him on some fish and I'll be happy." As you will see he obliged.

Captain Mike, setting up the gear.

A view of the sun coming over the Madison Mountains.

Brother Bill, ready to beat the water.

We hit the water and headed downstream. When you fish with Captain Mike (CM from here on out, sorry, its a lot less typing) you keep score on the football scale. CM is an MSU grad (which makes him even more awesome) and was going to be a teacher and football coach. He did graduate and did teach for a year but decided that being a guide was more fun. You don't have to put up with quite as much bullshit. After spending the day fishing with him, I have no doubt he would have been a great teacher. So here are the rules: anything trout under 15 inches is a field goal worth three points, 15-18 inches is a touchdown worth six points, 18 inches and longer is a touchdown and a two point conversion for eight points. The fish have to touch the net or break the plane of the boat to count. CM makes the call on length if he can't measure them. A whitefish (sucker fish) is a safety. It doesn't matter if they break the plane. If you have a white fish and get it close to the boat it's two points for the other guy.

I bet Bill $5 on the first fish caught. If it's a white fish, you lose. I catch the first fish and am down two points and $5.

As the day progresses I am giving Bill and good thrashing. Though I've caught two white fish, I've kicked a bunch of field goals. The lead is something like 26-9 when CM changes the rules. Really? What a cheesedick. Bill is fly-fishing and I'm using a spinner so CM gives him and extra ten points. I land a field goal in the "bonus run" a stretch of river where the fish are almost uncatchable (I caught one. I am an awesome fisherman) so a bonus of two points for that. It's 31-9 then Brother Bill goes on a tear. A couple of field goals then this.

A whopping 15 1/2 incher. The game was on. It's 32-26 when this happens.

Oh, so sorry. One of the three safeties he would give me. Nice job getting us on those white fish CM.

Brother Bill would make it close. His ten bonus points were doing him good. I was up seven, then ten, he'd kick a field goal. I would match it. And then came a bend in the river that would change everything.

CM kept telling me to look for deep water with my spinning rod. To fish off the back of the boat. We hit some fast moving water and the river took a hard bend to the left. I saw a dark hole on the opposite side and flipped my lure towards it (here's the part of the story where I should say I can cast a spinning rod on a dime, but I'll leave that out) I threw the lure to the far bank in a deep blue hole. There was a snag bush there that I didn't want to hit. The boat turned left so I picked up my retrieve pace on my lure just a bit. The drag on the reel went off with snnnnnnnzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I thought I had hit the snag. Then my line headed up river. Fast! I had a big on one.

I threw my tip in the air and started reeling. CM heard the drag and looked back. "Big fish! Start reeling Chip!" I started to reel and then.....SNAP!! The reel broke out of the rod! The monster was heading for a log bank. I grasped the reel in my hand and held it to the rod. Reeling hard and fighting the great beast. It was ebb and flow but I became victorious and put him in the boat. A 19 1/2 incher! Touchdown and two point conversion.

Captain Mike and MRM with a beauty.

Note the left end of the reel mount. It broke off in the rod. Yet with my uncanny natural fishing ability I was able to land that monster.

Now it's 40-26. Five minutes later, I put the game out of reach with a 15 incher. To Brother Bill's credit. He had many more hits on the fly but having not fly-fished for many years, couldn't get enough hooked or landed to the boat. CM told him at the end of the day "Bill, a couple of more days on the river with me and you would be a pro." High praise.

Quote of the day after I landed the big one on the broken reel comes from Brother Bill "God! This will be about three pages on your blog. (In a tone mocking me) 'Yeah. There are great fisherman. Captain Ahab. Jesus Christ. The Old Man. Oh wait! And Me'" I especially like the Hemingway reference myself.

We had a great time. If you want to come to Montana and want to fish, Captain Mike is the absolute guy to take you. I have his number. He doesn't have a website. Yet.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Just a shot of the Madison Range. Used my sunglasses for a filter.

Another shot with my sunglasses.

A nice picture of Spinx Mountain. Captain Mike says there is a trail right to the very tip.

Looking back up river.

The monster catching his breath after our epic battle. He did swim away fine.

Just a chance to mock Ralph.

A great day. Chickory and Boxer, if you still read this. I hope for God's sake this was enough pictures.

MRM

Don't bug me when I'm eating

2011-09-22T21:14:00.000-06:00

It’s a tough world. The challenges of the new job are formidable but I’m still liking it very much. Having worked for one man for 17 years and having free reign on almost everything I did, it’s a challenge to have, well, rules. I don’t mind the rules it’s just that there are a lot of them and no real manual. Still the cooperation I’m getting when I need it is good and helping me to succeed.

I drive to Williston, ND every other week. 475 miles one way and I only cross one state line. The crew here is in the same boat as I am. They are all new Titan employees as this location only opened in January. The entire staff is great and they give my all the help I ask for. There is also a former ABC employee here so that is a tremendous help as well. All in all, good things.

I’ve been to every Bobcat game so far. They are 2-1 and travel to Cheney, WA this Saturday to play defending I-AA champions (I refuse to use the term “FCS”) Eastern Washington University.

The season hasn’t been so friendly to the defending champs. They are 0-3. We have them in their home opener. They will be getting their championship rings this Saturday and will certainly be pissed off as a wet cat when kick off comes Saturday night.

The quest for me to go to every game may hit a snag. I haven’t purchased my airplane ticket for Portland and as the game is in two weeks it may be more than I want to pay. Also I can’t find anyone to go to Greely, CO with me and it’s about an 11 hour drive. I guess if I only miss two, my heart was in the right place. The path to being a band wagon fan is paved with good intentions or something like that.

I wrote a letter to the editor in June that was published. Some elitist douchebag who has a bi-weekly column chose to turn his effort towards Malta and the buffalo problem they are fighting. I’m sure you all know how that sat with me. In a word “not good”. Anyway the letter mocked him pretty good and included the phrase “silver spoon fed elitist academe”. Did I mention I’ve know the author for 15 years. I’ve always thought he was a bit of a smug phony but until you aren’t nice to me, I can let that slide. Saying in your article that “Malta peaked a hundred years ago” isn’t nice so I let him know it.

Two weeks ago I was having lunch in this little café a couple of miles from work. The subject of my letter was there as well. I walked by him as I entered the café. I was wearing a ballcap and sunglasses as I entered. He was talking to someone outside. As I passed he looked at me a bit quizzically and said “you look familiar” I responded “I’m sure I do.”

I placed my order and took a seat, John joined his table and I purposely sat with my back to him. The name of this joint is “The Coffee Pot”. It’s a nice place. The food is awesome, the help is friendly and the prices are way too cheap. They sell pottery there and the tables are very close together. Intimate would be a great word to describe it.

I took my chair and began to read the local paper going immediately to the opinion page. I guess my blood pressure was low. I had finished the paper and my food was served. I pushed my reading glasses on top of my head and was about to enjoy my lunch when John was standing at my table.

“Chip”

“John”

“I have to tell you Chip. I was very disappointed in the letter you wrote.”

“Well John I was disappointed in your article. That’s why I wrote the letter.”

Did I say that the seating was intimate?

He comes over to my table, in the middle of my lunch and his feathers are ruffled. His tone isn’t elevated but it’s not quite either. I reciprocated with my tone. I won’t bore you with the entire exchange but let’s put it like this. Don’t come over in the middle of my lunch, try to intimidate me because your skin is as thin as one ply toilet paper and expect to get a “would you care to join me?”

The exchange wasn’t very long but I can tell you that most of the people in the place heard it. I’m not kidding you. The shitty hotel room I’m in is bigger than eating area of this place. John was still wanting to talk when I pushed my glasses back down to my nose and picked up my paper. He stood there for a couple of seconds then rejoined his table.

Here’s the deal. Maybe I didn’t have to bristle back to him but then again he came over with his dander up so he got what was coming to him. If he had come over and said “Chip, when you’re done with eating can we have a talk outside?” and I would have graciously obliged. However, I think he thought he was going to scare me and that I would back down or be on my heels. He thought wrong.

As Colonel Call said “I don’t like rude behavior in a man. Won’t tolerate it.”

Despite all of this, I won’t make John the subject of anymore of my letters. His fodder is too easy to flush. That is unless he says something about Malta again.

So now you’re kind of caught up.

Safe journeys,

Chip aka Milk River Madman

Random thoughts #24

2011-09-02T20:26:00.000-06:00

Things that crossed my mind while wondering if Ralph will ever admit I let him tie me in the alumni wrestling tournament. ( I could have crushed him, just for the record ).

1) I went to Salt Lake City to watch my beloved Bobcats play the Utes in both teams opening game. The Cats gave up 17 quick points to the 28th ranked Utes and settled down to only lose 27-10. This is game one of my "perfect season" with the Bobcats. I have every intention of being at every game. As a season ticket holder the home games are a given. Every game is 6-7 hours driving distance from Bozeman with the exception of Portland State which I've take an extra day from work to drive to. If you're a sports fan, keep track of this team. Something tells me this season is going to be special. That's why I'm going to every game. I could be wrong and if I am, it will still be a great thing to do.

2) Sister-in-law called me today to say that she is bringing my nephew and the twins to the Cat game against Minot State on September 17th. It will be the first game for the kids who I've made Bobcat fans from the day they were born. She went to school here as did her brother so it wasn't a lot of work. I'm so excited for the kids and to be able to be at the game with them. Life just keeps dealing me great cards and I keep playing them.

3) Remember when gas was $4 a gallon in 2006 and it was front page news? When Barry was elected gas was $1.80. In 2006 the press was screaming that GWB was doing this to "make his oil buddies rich". There was a huge outcry and slowly, the market brought gas back below $2. Today, very little is said about the price of gas. Do the enviros think that the oil companies are making any less money than five years ago? Why isn't the press screaming now? This is just one example to prove the liberal bias in the press. Journalists are parasites. Only living of others. Whenever someone mentions "journalist ethics" be quick to tell them they don't exist.

4) The new job is a great challenge. There is much to harvest and I plan on making it happen. It's more fun than stepping on baby ducks.

5) I am convinced that if I practiced my golf game at all I would be a 12 handicap. So what. Doesn't pay any better than being a 19. Just sayin.

6) There is a rumor going in North Dakota that the Corps of Engineers knew about the flood situation in ND and said nothing until it was too late for anyone to get insurance. Whether or not you believe that, the funny thing to me is this. You can only buy flood insurance from the government and you have to do it 30 days before it happens. If you do it the day before the water crests, it doesn't count. Under Obamacare, you can break your leg, buy insurance after the fact and they have to pay for it. That doesn't seem quite right to me.

7) I saw a map of the universe that Carl Sagan had made. He has a big arrow right in the middle pointing to Malta. End of discussion.

8) We all know the saying "it's just like riding a bike". What did people say before that?

9) My mother turns 80 in November. We kids are renting a house in Phoenix and are going to have a little party for her over New Year's. If everyone shows up like they say, it will be the first time we will all be together in seven years. I'll be there as will LP, the rest say they will but time will tell. Keep your fingers crossed that they make it. It will make Mom happy.

10) I lost my annual golf match with Five Wood for only the second time in seven matches. We both started shitty but both settled down after the first five holes and were in a total cage fight. In the end, I was one up with one to play, got aggressive on the last hole, splashed it in the water. We finished tied but as he was the current holder of the trophy, he was the winner. Congratulations Five, you played great golf. Hat tip to you. Like TP said, it's not a rivalry if the same guy wins every year. Here's to next year and doing it again.

11) I was never a good blogger. More blather than substance. Like the path to Hell. I have good intentions. I need an assistant like Van Wilder. The pay is way cheap, but riding with me on my road trips would be a great book in itself. So any aspiring author out there wants an insight to my life to pen a great expose on my life, just email me and we will negotiate.

12) Ann Coulter still hasn't called me. Neither has Laura Ingraham. I'm starting to thing they might not be interested. Like they could do better. Again, just sayin.

13) Being on the road so much has kept my house in more disarray than I care for.

14) I miss all of you malcontents. You are never very far from my thoughts. I'd make a promise that I'd be here more often but it is a promise I cannot keep. I hope you are all well.

Thanks for reading.

Safe Journeys,

Chip

The End of the Argument

2011-08-06T18:23:00.001-06:00

Malta is the Center of the Universe. I say that now and always will. For more affirmation you can watch this.
It's pretty much magnificent (the video I mean). I'd say more but humility is getting in the way. Here's my story. i was sending my brother's kids their birthday presents. I went to the UPS Store with the girls' dolls (poop and pee babys "Uncle Chip. We want poop and pee babys.) Now, when you have twin nieces, you have to send every package separately.

The young man behind the counter had a name tag that read "Jake". "Where are these going?" He asked. I gave him the address and said Malta 59538. He starts to type into the computer and looks at me and asks "Are you from Malta?" "Yes I am" I replied, "Are you?" "No, but my family is from there." "Really, who are they?" I asked. He told me his grandparents and said their name. "I'm Maynard's oldest grandson." I looked at him and asked "Which of his kids are you from?" He answered "Renee". I just swelled up and said "I went to first Communion with your mom. I've known her my entire life. She is a doll." I had just got off the phone with Ralph. I told young Jake, "I was just talking to a guy whose dad was best friends with your grandfather." I called Ralph to tell him that the man handling my packages was Renee's son.

That's how it works. When you say you're from Malta you get those questions.

So here's the deal. When someone asks any of you where you're from, just tell them you're from Malta. When they throw out a name, just tell them you know Chip. Well, if they're over fourty you can say that. If they're younger than that, then to hell with em. GET OFF MY LAWN!!

OK a couple of videos

2011-07-30T00:28:00.005-06:00

I've been on the road. It's hard for me to wind down. Here's some videos. Enjoy. Maybe Heff still reads this. Probably not. Kind of southern flavor though.

Friday thoughts

2011-07-29T23:41:00.001-06:00

I really need a secretary to ride with me when I'm on the road. Kind of like Van Wilder. "Write that down." Honestly, my head is going 90 miles an hour when I'm driving. So here's some stuff.

1) Why did Obama want to be president? It's a "leadership" position. He never voted as a state senator or as a US Senator. He is incapable of making a stand. Where I come from the term is "gutless". I never thought I would wish for Hillary to be our leader.

2) If I saw Harry Reid in a bar or at a restaurant or on the steps of the Capitol Building, I'd challenge him to a boxing match. They keep talking about how he was a boxer so that makes him a "fighter". All I see is a spineless wimp who would hide behind his wife in a home invasion.

3) I hope the independents remember this moment. How the man they swarmed to is only a man biologically and not in any other sense of the word. When you make Jimmy Carter look like he had a backbone, you are doing something wrong.

4) My golf game is pretty good this summer and I haven't hit the driving range once. I guess I'm just now beginning to become the "natural athlete" I always thought I was. Just in the nick of time. Half way to death.

5) I find myself thinking about that matter more than I should. My mortality, and that of my friends, tends to make me sad. I try to be a "glass half full" guy and I have a great life. Still, the thought of this party ending at some time takes the flame off the candle. I guess its the main reason I go home to see my brother's kids. They are so full of life and just love "Uncle Chip". It's enough to know that the next 30 years (or 50 and still golfing) will be fun.

6) Doesn't anyone have a well off sister they can introduce me to? Or a cousin? I feel like I'm trying to start a fire with rocks and there is a perfectly good Zippo close by.

7) Ted Kennedy has come up with as many good ideas to solve the so called budget crisis as Obama. He has an excuse. And a pretty good one.

8) It's so way, way late but congratulations to Kym on her baby boy Caleb. I'm sure Pam is the proudest grandmother on the planet. I'm so out of touch. The next thing you know Barry will stop the shuttle program. Good thing that isn't happening.

9) Speaking of the shuttle. We stayed up the entire night of my senior prom to watch the first one take off. That was 30 years ago. For those of you who haven't been here in a while (and why would you be) go back a couple of posts and check out my speech to my beloved class at our 30th reunion. Your opinions mean volumes and I think you will get a little more incite to what makes me think how I do. Just sayin.

10) Life is good. My mother will turn 80 this November and is doing great. She is still just a "heavy load" to be around but then the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree I guess.

11) I turn 50 in February 2013. Mark it on your calendar and get your country asses out here for the party. You've had fair warning so no excuses.

12) Everyone reading this just said "50? No shit?! I thought he was 23. 25 tops." Don't let the immaturatity and bad language fool you. I'm not winning against Father Time. Unfortunately.

13) The best line from the LBOH was JS3. Skeets says "my daughter thinks that a towel can only be used once and then it has to be washed." JS3 responded "my wife thinks the dryer has to run for 70 minutes every time." Maybe you had to be there but it was funny stuff.

14) Ralph, I told the story about St. Thomas at the 30th. Everyone laughed. Everyone missed you. We are going to Cooperstown next June. No argument from you. You know the terms. To all of you loyal readers, I told Ralph I'm taking him to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's my treat. It's for his 50th birthday. Every comment on this post needs to be addressed to him about letting me do this. You've all read about him. There isn't a person on the planet who will say a bad word about him but he is letting pride in the way. He is hesitant to let me do this. However, he is (or was) Catholic, so that means he is full of guilt. Tell him to let me do this. That it is what friends do. They give. How do like that Ralph? It's you against the blogosphere!! Good luck with that. Don't ever go against the family Ralph.

Safe Journeys,

Chip

PS
We miss you Boxer.

A mixed tribute band

2011-07-22T23:13:00.000-06:00

So when I was home for the 30th Greg gave me a CD. Here is how cool Greg is. We haven't hardly talked to each other in years. He's on the reunion committee. Helps put the best of the three we've had together. Knows I'm going to be there and when I showed up at his coffee joint/photograph studio he gives me a CD and says "Chip, I know you will really like these guys. They put an 80's song with a 70's song and make it great." He is soooooooooooo right. Here for you followers is Rock Sugar. By the way, Rock Sugar will be at Rockin the Rivers along with PAT BENATAR!! MRM will be hanging with Greg and catching up with his life. This would be a GREAT place for a blog summit. Get your collective ~~shit~~ act together and come to Montana. I'm not gonna beg. It's not my style. Please oh please come out. Buzz, grab Mrs. Buzz and the Eagle Scout and get your country ass out here. You'll sell your house and build a nice leantoo. Sorry for calling you out but you're an eastcoaster. Come see the mountains. Here's Rock Sugar.

By the way, I think I'm getting the new format figured out. You all can be the judge

Kind of random thoughts and some blather

2011-07-22T22:22:00.002-06:00

Just some things that crossed my mind with all the windshield time I've been having.

1) For years conservatives have been saying how Social Security is bankrupt. Every time a conservative pundit or legislator has made that statement, the left has retorted that SS is fine. It's solvent. It's not bankrupt. It's not full of IOU's. If that is the case as they claim why are they saying that if the debt ceiling isn't raised, that SS checks will be late or not coming at all? If SS has it's own money, shouldn't that be least of their worries. But no. Now that the government doesn't have enough money, SS checks will be the first thing that doesn't show up. Who's fooling who here and why can't the general public figure this out?

2) The government spends more than they take in and they've been doing that for more than a while now. Barry complains that "the rich aren't paying their fair share". Here's my analogy to what he is saying. I have a job. I'm spending more than I make. My boss is giving me money but I spend more than he is giving me. Now I go to my boss and say "I need more money. You have it. I'm irresponsible but you have it so give it to me so I can continue to spend more than I have." It's the same thing. We don't need to "raise revenue". I'm sorry but I'm going to go off a little here. I hate the fucking double speak that these miserable pricks are using. It infuriates me that they use it. What infuriates me more is that, sorry to quote Bill Maher here but I have to, this country is to fucking stupid.

3) Medicare has a 1/2 trillion dollars in waste. Barry, Harry, and Nancy admitted so much. It's how they plan to fund Obamacare. If that's true, then how is anyone going to lose any of those benefits if the debt ceiling isn't raised. It's not a "projected waste". It exists. Couldn't that be cut right now with no loss of benefits?

4) The 1.4 trillion dollar elephant in the room that no one, republican or democrat, is talking about is Obamacare. If we are in such financial turmoil doesn't it make sense to put this on hold until we get our financial house in order? Honestly, I lose more respect for John Boehner every day.

5) Being the president is a tough job. The toughest job on the planet. Why ask, nay beg, people to vote for you if you don't want it? Like or dislike George W. Bush, he made decisions. Right or wrong he had a plan and tried to implement it. This waste of skin currently in the Whitehouse is so void of leadership I can't understand why anyone would vote for him again. If some democrat doesn't have the stones to run against this gutless wonder, I will never respect anyone who votes for him. Ever. That doesn't mean I will dislike anyone who does, they just won't have my respect.

6) On a lighter note. I'm getting a Crown at the reunion before my speech. I'm the only guy who is even remotely dressed up. Like I said earlier, they asked to speak, the least I could do was look my best. Greg S. was the emcee. I'm ordering my pre-speech Crown (which I didn't finish before I spoke. I finished a lot after. Anywho.) Greg says to me " Are those the clothes you spent $164.00 dollars on?" I replied "Except for the shirt. I put it on and it was the wrong size so this is Delmer's." I went and sat at my table and then it dawned on me. "How did he know how much I spent unless he reads my blog?" He does. I never thought that he might.

7) When Greg introduced me, he was so very gracious and complimentary. I really, really wish it would have been recorded. He talked about how they were looking for a speaker and one name kept coming up. He talked about my blog and how they all should read it. He gave me so many fabulous compliments. I sat in my chair and was so humbled. His introduction made me feel small. Not in a bad way but in a way that just warms you to your core. It was the best part of the night for me. Greg, I won't ever forget it and I'll always have coffee at your joint when I'm in town.

8) I'm not a big fate guy but I'm changing. Two months ago I jumped on Facebook, which is an OK device but I just don't get on it a lot. Anyway I get on FB, click to see who may be on line for a chat. This name pops up. It's Brent, the younger brother of JR who I graduated with and haven't seen since the 10 year. JR lives in Hawaii. I IM Brent and ask for JR's number. He gives it to me and then is offline. I call JR and after we exchange some bullshit say to him "Get your ass here for the 30th. Fly into Bozeman and I'll take you home with me." JR books a flight, goes to the reunion. We've been in contact constantly since. I'm heading to Maui in January for 10 days. My point about fate is this. Brent was online for five minutes. I just happened to be online at the same time. Long enough to get JR's number. If I'm late by five JR doesn't come home. I don't see this guy who I went to kindergarten with and we don't rekindle our great friendship.

9) About #8. THANK YOU GOD for the 21st century and the technology we have to be in touch without virtually any cost. Even over vast oceans. What a great time to be alive.

10) I am going to have a perfect season for my MSU Bobcats. Their schedule sets up for me to make it every away game. Of course I'll be at every home game. You are all invited to come to Bozeman and tailgate. You won't be disappointed in the atmosphere, the product on the field or the scenery. As far as the company goes, well, you just have to roll those dice yourselves. The only road game that is more than a six hour drive is against Portland State and I'll burn a vacation day for that. Your 2011 National Champions, the Montana State University Bobcats!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I'll be at every playoff game as well. Thank you Titan Machinery for the means and your great vacation package.

11) I really don't know if anyone reads this crap anymore and I don't blame you a bit. I've been less than an crummy blogger. I've been lazy and uncreative. Spending three nights a week on the road with lots to do. It's a poor excuse and I'll try to do better.

12) So I talked about my classmate Greg. Greg and I hung out a bit in school and we were friends. I've always like him but we were not overly tight. We had our circles and I guess we would drift out and hang together. He loves music as do I and he introduced me to a band that I'll post later. Anyway, I've been talking to my little sister for the last 30 minutes and we were talking about the Phillips County Fair and it reminded me of a story. The Fair came to town like it always does. The new ride this particular year was call "The Zipper". I won't even begin to describe it but it was terrorizing for the time. Somehow, Greg and I were walking the Midway. There stood The Zipper. "Chip, do you want to go on that?" "Fuck no!" I said. "I'll go on it if you will" The gauntlet was thrown. We got in line together. Greg didn't seem at all scared. I was doing my best to control myself from pissing on the spot. We entered the cage. The Zipper began to spin. We laughed at first. And then it began to occillate. That's right about the time we both began to scream. Not the fun scream of having a good time, but he scream you have when you realize your car has veered off course and is heading over Victoria Falls. We were scared beyond words and wanted off. The Zipper starts going clockwise, then it pauses and begins going counterclockwise. When it stopped we were both happy. "Oh God its over. Its over. Its over" Then slowly, the horror began again. This time, when you opened your eyes (which I did only once) instead of rushing feet first into the earth, you were going head first. We screamed with fear. When it was over I cursed him for talking me into going on The Zipper. In his fear from the ride, he apologized. It's really not that bad of a ride. I went on it a couple of times after that with a beer I think.

13) Pendleton was on sale tonight so I picked up a jug. It's way to sweet for my liking but a $9 difference between it and Crown is still $9. These are difficult times we live in.

14) I want a blog summit. I don't care where. I would like to know when. Just a heads up for planning. Some of you know each other personally (there is only one "n" in that. Thank you new blogger.) But I don't know any of you. We need a summit for the "Band of Malcontents". Someone get on it. I don't have the energy but if it's planned, I'll be there. If we need a speaker, I'll Kent Hjelmsted. He's not doing anything except pulling his shorts out of his butt crack.

Safe Journeys,

Chip

I'm not back, but I'm close. God Bless you all.

Some thoughts from my reunion

2011-07-21T21:26:00.003-06:00

Wow, am I out of touch or did blogger really change? It's taken me ten minutes to figure out how to make a new post. I guess that's what I get for being a crummy poster.

My reunion was awesome as I knew it would be. So many people showed up. Close 39 or 40 of the surviving 60 of 62. I was thrilled and honored to be able to share a few words with these people that mean so much to me.

I think my speech went alright. The introduction that Greg gave me was beyond phenomenal. He set the bar very high and I wish it had been recorded. Such kind words. I can hardly wait to se him again at Rocking the Rivers. I would link it but don't know how on this format. (Honestly, I don't have a tool bar or anything that looks remotely familiar. I guess I'll have to to some research. Anyway, here's my presentation to my lifelong friends. I hope you like it.

EDITL OK, maybe I just found the tool bar but the video must be to new because it still isn't showing up. Regardless, I hate the new format. "Hey you kids!! Get off my lawn" God how I hate being old and grumpy.

LBOH 22

2011-07-15T16:57:00.002-06:00

So I'm remote blogging from White Sulphur Springs. The 22nd annual LBOH is in full swing. Just finished 18 holes. Won 2 dollars. Chipped in for birdie. I'm sitting in the Stockman Bar having a glass of crown and loving the fact that I can make a post. I'll try for something good on Sunday. In the meantime, I hope you are all doing well. The reunion was awesome and I'll post about it later. I'm ready for another.

Safe journeys,

Chip

A quick word

2011-07-06T23:46:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow I head for home. JR is flying in from Hawaii and I pick him up at 3:30. I haven't seen him since our 10 year reunion. Called him two months ago and told him to get his ass home for the 30th and now he's on his way.

Practiced my presentation about five times tonight. I just hope it's not a mess. I like it on my laptop which I will use though it is a little "teleprompterish" for me. Went into Macy's to find a nice "Mustang Blue" colored tie and well, $164 dollars later, I'll be looking good on Saturday.

I'm ALL IN for a blog summit in Malta. It's me and Pam so far. Lets make it happen people.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=144887372207520&view=wall&notif_t=event_wall

Like sand through the hourglass

2011-06-29T22:54:00.000-06:00

What a great week. I don't have to go anywhere. For the first time in three weeks I get to spend every night in my own bed. The temperaturer finally broke 80. I got to wear shorts playing golf. I had a letter to the editor printed (making me 10 for 11 letters printed vs submitted). But here's the highlight. You all know how much Malta means to me and how great my friends are. Two weeks from now, I will be attending my high school 30th class reunion. I know that you are all shocked that, given the maturity of my posts, I've been out of school that long, but it's true. Last night, the reunion committee called. They were having trouble coming up with a keynote speaker and someone suggest having me get up and talk. I told them I would do it if they couldn't find anyone else and this morning my agent said I was booked.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm thrilled to be able to stand in front of all these great people and tell them my take on Malta, life and our great class. I will be working hard to put it together and keep it under two hours.

After the jump you can read the op-ed by ~~dipshit~~ John Baden that fired me up to write my letter to the ed. I hope you all enjoy it.

Here's the op-ed

The American Prairie Foundation (APF) may be America’s most ambitious conservation organization. I’ve long admired it from afar, provided modest support, and hope to visit the area again. Getting there, however, is quite the trek.

Here’s how the Spokesman Review described the reserve’s location: “To reach the refuge, tourists are going to have to travel down 50 miles or more of gravel roads that turn to impassible gumbo in wet weather.” A Washington Post reporter said: “The soil is bad, the weather worse and the landscape achingly dull. ... The population peaked a century ago and remaining ranchers cannot stop their children from running off to a less lonesome life.” Note the last sentence, it’s key to the saga.

The goal of APF is to preserve some three and a half million acres, more than half again as large as Yellowstone Park. APF’s president Sean Gerrity said that if their goals are met, over 90 percent of northeast Montana would remain in livestock production. However, “APF will continue to purchase strategic private lands that can be linked to existing public lands in order to provide the best possible habitat for wildlife.”

Ramona and I come from a long line of farmers and ranchers. We have a small ranch near the huge Flying D and celebrate its conservation success. The huge majority of the D is in an easement with the Nature Conservancy; this seems an ideal outcome. Most neighbors agree.

APF wants to replicate such sentiments: “As a private landowner, APF seeks to be a good neighbor to those who call the six-county region in which we are working home, and we desire to make a positive contribution to the local communities that we impact.” Alas, the situation around APF’s holdings is, for a while, quite different . The Ranchers Stewardship Alliance has organized families who don’t want to sell their holdings to the APF. Vicki Olson, owner of the Double O Ranch, was quoted saying: “I guess the point that I keep hammering at is that if they succeed, that means all of us third- and fourth-generation ranchers are gone.”

I’ve pondered such feelings for a long while and the answer came from our minister’s homily last Sunday. The question posed seemed simple, what gives satisfaction to living?

The pieces were no secret; I knew all the elements, but I found their arrangement revealing of a big truth. Together they help explain the angst plaguing the good ranchers of the Malta area. Essentially, a sense of well-being comes from overlapping hope, identity and community. The success of APF is a highly visible threat to these three values.

As with nearly every place, Northeast Montana was settled with high hopes. However, a conjunction of economic and cultural forces, local climate, and geographic realities augured against success. The area peaked a century ago.

As a result, the self-identity of their community as a thriving rural culture is unsustainable in today’s world. Shared values need a critical mass to be sustained. Young people, especially those with the greatest promise, are lured to places with greater opportunities for fulfillment.

All of this threatens the locals’ traditional set of hope, identity and community. This process would work its course independent of APF’s existence. APF, however, represents a readily identifiable alien force against which locals can mobilize.

I expect APF to ultimately foster wellbeing. The Malta area lacks many of our amenities. Its website notes that: “Visitors to American Prairie Reserve will stimulate local economic activity when they contract local guides and patronize local establishments.” Surely it brings tourist and hunters’ dollars and scientists. Consumer amenities, better shopping opportunities, and other advantages, including access to medical care, will likely follow.

Not all good things go together. Locals may feel disadvantaged by change. This is probably temporary. Given the quality of APF’s staff, and its Montana roots, there is hope for an emerging identity and community.

John Baden is the chairman of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment and Gallatin Writers, Inc., both based in Bozeman.

Here is my response. The sections in redare the parts the Chronicle left out.

I’m very disappointed in last Wednesday’s column by John Baden. It appears as though John is on the payroll for the National Prairie Foundation. How much did they pay you, John? Thirty pieces of silver?

The agriculture industry has no bigger enemy than the environmental movement. Gerrity says that northeast Montana will lose less than 10 percent of livestock production, but he won’t stop there. He’s lying. How do I know this? Simple, he’s an environmentalist. They’re incapable of honesty. Need proof? How about wolf delisting? The “genetically pure” bison herd? Global warming? DDT? I don’t have enough room to list the lies and broken deals, and the NPF is just getting started.

Another thing, a 10 percent reduction is a 10 percent loss in income. Let me ask you, John, when was the last time a silver spoon academe like you took a 10 percent paycut? Besides never.

While I’m disappointed in your view of the NPF, I’m disgusted with your smug elitism in telling the great residents of Malta how they should make a living. You should be ashamed. I highly doubt if you would like to have someone come to your “ranch” and tell you they want you to do something different with your life to provide an income. By the way, a ranch is where livestock are produced. Just for the record.

Another thing John. I've know Vicki Olson for almost my entire life. She has more integrity in the mud on her boots than Steve Gerrity will have in 100 lifetimes.

Speaking of integrity, John, when did you lose yours? I know when you lost my respect.

Some things for the record

2011-06-13T22:35:00.000-06:00

Honestly, I've been busy. I miss blogging every day. Not only am I not posting, even worse I'm not reading anyone else. This weekend marks the first weekend in four weeks that I will be in Bozeman. So there's one reason.

Another reason is that the shithole motel I stay at in Williston doesn't have wifi.

Another reason is that I haven't figured out the "vpn" thing so I can post and not get relieved from duty.

Another reason is that since April 7th, I've driven over NINE THOUSAND MILES FOR WORK!!!! NINE FUCKING THOUSAND MILES IN TWO MONTHS!! That's almost as much as I did all of last year. Well, that's between us kids. I told Uncle Sam it was a little more than that. But here's the deal with that. 9000 miles in 60 days is 150 miles a day. Hey, I can live with that. Here's my driving schedule. I leave Bozeman. Go to Powell, Wyoming (a really nice little town) meet a customer. Go to Cody, Wyoming (where I think I may retire) meet another customer, and then back to Bozeman. Total miles that day over 500 inone day. I love XM.

I'm busier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest. I'll be around this Friday with a glass of Canada's finest to get caught up with all of you.

God bless this merry band of malcontents.

Blah, blah, blah.

MRM

Please note: the Diane Lane references have been temporarily put on hold until further notice. This does not mean that MRM has even begun to quit burning candles in his window for her. It just means he couldn't think of a way to weave her into this post unitl now. Need to edit the "labels" thing to include her.

Some Friday videos

2011-05-27T21:47:00.000-06:00

So I'm just sitting here with the XM streaming through my home sound system. When I was buying my little townhouse I wired every room except one with speakers. I can sit here in the "office" and jam to great tunes. I'm just going to sit here and when I hear a good one, post the video. Enjoy.

Level 42 live with "Something About You" Kind of a studio version that I enjoyed.

"Dream On" by Aerosmith. I couldn't belive that there wasn't a version of this from the end of "Miracle". Quit hurting my youtube.

Howie Day with "She Says" I love the lyrics to this. I'm a big lyrics guy. I just enjoy how he is telling this guy that no matter what he thinks, she will always be thinking about him. It's grasping at straws but still he has to hold onto something. Been there once so I can relate. I also like how bad he looks. Just given up on everything. Get over it, but still a good song.

Tony Orlando and Dawn with one of my favorites.

For Dan and Ralph and the crush we all had and still have on ONJ. So hot. Good Kentucky whiskey on the counter. Yeah, like that exists. Why is it that when Brits and Aussies sing, they don't have an accent? Funny that.

Pat Benatar!!!!!!! Singing "Promises in the Dark". She will be in Bozeman this summer at Rockin' the Rivers this August and yes you can bet your country ass I'll be there.

Boz Scaggs with Lido Shuffle.

Steely Dan with "Reein' in the Years" from 1973 Midnight Special. Live and kicking ass. Everyone singing chorus. The ginger kindof front man. Man! I go through a lot of work to provide you the best versions on these great songs. And how about that great intro by Bill Cosby? With his cigar! Just awesome. Hot Tub Time Machine, take me to 1978. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Linda Ronsadt with a live version of "Blue Bayou" She was so smoking hot and then she met Jerry Brown and turned into a bag lady. Why Linda? Why did you follow Kirsty Alley into the oblivion of obesity? So sad. She can hold a note. I'll give her that.

That's probably plenty. I'm going to stay up for a bit and find some more songs from my youth. I hope you enjoyed these offerings. Have a great Memorial Weekend. Take a minute and walk through a cemetary to remember all of those who fell to enjoy what we have. They have given the ultimate and they deserve a moment from all of us. I know you all feel the same way.

I guess I'm a Friday poster now

2011-05-27T19:43:00.001-06:00

Hello followers of the drivel (yes Karl, the drivel. Thank you for thinking its more than that by the way).

Let me try to get you all caught up on things here in the Gallatin Valley. Last Sunday I left for Williston, ND. Spent the night in Miles City. Every creek (we prounounce that word "crick" for the record) was out of it's banks. Every little stream that flowed water was swelled. Bismark, ND is flooding as we speak. So is the town of Roundup, MT. My heart breaks for those people. I've driven through Roundup more times than I can count. The Musselshell is a soft slow moving river, much like the Milk River. To see this small town get hit this hard, is honestly breaking my heart. Joplin, MO has me down as well. I've often wondered why tornadoes have never hit towns of any sigficant size and when they have, have been so brief in reality compared to what Joplin suffered. Still over 1200 people missing. So sad. Montana has never in my lifetime had the flooding we are enduring now. It brings things into perspective. We here in Montana have watched many, many times as other places have been hit with this disaster but have been fortunate to not have to feel the pain. We do now.

Montana is a vast state. The fourth biggest in the union. Yet we are very unpopulated. A guy told me a long time ago "Montana is just a big city with really long streets." Anytime you meet someone new, you always ask them where they are from because chances are you have a mutual friend. When you are from Malta, that increases ten fold. That's not bragging. It's reality. Just tonight I met a man from Dillon. I know a couple of people from there and dropped their names. He knew neither. He then asked me if I knew Frank Wiederick, who is from Malta. The only guy he knows from Malta. I do know Frank. That point aside, we Montanans always ask and friendships are born. I grew up in such a great town. So lucky. It's why I call it the Center of the Universe. COTU for short.

When things are happening to towns like Roundup and Forsyth and Lewistown, you feel the pain because chances are you know someone from one of those towns and their relatives are bearing the brunt.

In other news and on a happier note. The new job is still great. My boss was in town last week. He asked me how I was doing. I replied "Patrick, I'm having a fucking blast. This is more fun than stepping on baby ducks." (Take it easy, it's just a saying and kind of funny). He obvioulsy hadn't heard it before because he just shook his head and walked away.

Honestly though kids, I am having a blast. I like being busy. I love the chase of the sale and the challenge that goes with it. I have an office mate who has only been doing this since last July and have been tutoring him and he hangs on my every word. That's not to say I know everything (I really do but for the sake of this post lets pretend otherwise). My point is that it is so refreshing to have someone who doesn't know a lot about this business appreciate my help and not think what I have to say doesn't have value. This kid is a true diamond in the rough. I've listened to his sales pitch and for no more experience than he has, it is incredible. He studies his product and doesn't shine anyone on to get the deal. Pure honesty. It is just how I try to be so getting him to get the deal for more money (because you're only shorting yourself) has been easy and he's making more now.

I have my 30th class reunion this summer. Yes, that means I'm 48. I'm sure plenty of you are surprised I'm that old from the amount of immature posts that appear but it is the truth. I'm looking very forward to it. I made up my mind at our 10 year that whatever happened in high school happened and I don't give a shit anymore. If you slighted me back then so what. Very few did and one of those is now one of my best friends. Total stuck up in HS, I ran into her at a bar in Malta a few years after graduation. We started talking and she admitting to being a bitch. I told her that was then and this is now (thank you SE Hinton). We haven't lost touch since.

I loved my dad and miss him every day. Those of us who have lost parents know the feeling. There is one thing I do hold against him. When I graduated from Malta High School in 1981, I remember my dad telling me that the first eighteen years of life took a long time, the rest of your life will fly by. The reason I'm mad is because he wasn't totally honest. It doesn't "fly by". It goes by faster than we can all imagine. I remember walking out of our last test with my buddy Jim Craig like it was YESTERDAY. I can still tell you the path we took. Way, way faster than "flying by". I suppose dad did try to do it justice and knew that whatever he said, I wasn't going to listen to him anyway. Hard to believe that in November he will have been gone 17 years. What even makes me madder is that he won the last game of cribbage we ever played. Pure and utter bullshit. He pulled it out at the end and two months later he died.

I suppose it was God's will but you have to understand that when dad and I played crib, it was no holds barred. An absolute card bloodfest. I loved crushing him and he did the same. I always say, "I'm the greatest crib player alive, but that's because my dad is dead." Keep the board warm dad. I'm ready to play you again, just not tomorrow.

Heading to Bililngs tomorrow for some R&R.

Miss you all and hope life is giving all of you the blessings you all deserve.

Chip

PS Diane Lane is still hot. I just said that so I can put her in the label. If anyone knows a DL look alike who isn't psycotic, have her email me. Wait. That's pretty weird. Never mind. I did hit happy hour. Crown Black, which is so good you could pour it cereal. I didn't proof read so all typos are on me.

For Karl

2011-05-20T22:07:00.000-06:00

Karl is a great follower of the drivel. I'm sure he'll like this. (Yes, its Friday what did you expect? The head of Alfredo Garcia on a platter?) So many trombones, and saxophones. I might have to find more old great music that Alvina, my mother, made us kids listen to. Enjoy my merry band of malcontents. Life is so much fun that I can't describe it. C'mon life, last just a little bit longer. I want to play cards with my Dad again, just not tomorrow.

The Recipe

2011-05-20T19:56:00.000-06:00

Delmyspuds

Take 2 to 3 baking potatoes. Cut them potato chip thin. Cut 3-4 1/4" thick slices of the big block Velveeta, slice up a 1/4 of a medium sized onion. Lay out a double of aluminum foil (was just singing the lyric to that "always double the aluminum foil") large enough to lay the potatoes on. You don't have to lay them out individually. They can lay on the foil like they were in a can of Pringles. Forgot a step. If you have some spray on oil like Pam ( Ralph's ex-girlfriend, but that's a story for another day ) spray the foil, but then cover it with butter, margarine, Old Spice it's really your choice. Put the potatoes on the foil. The Velveeta on the outside of the spuds, onions on top, then lots of butter (or margarine, Old Spice etc). Take another double sheet of foil the same size and put it on top. Roll the four edges until they are tight and throw them on the fire or BBQ. About fifteen minutes a side. Don't flip them with a flipper as you may poke a hole in the foil. Remove from the fire open and enjoy. It's why you gotta where gloves when you cook Delmyspuds.

You can throw whatever seasoning you likein before sealing but they usually cook off so I prefer to season them afterwards. If you like them crispy, cook em longer.

Time for a parody

2011-05-16T19:00:00.001-06:00

Here's a little tune I wrote on my way to Sheridan. It's for the LBOHers. It's to the tune of "Galveston" with sincere apologies to Glen Campbell

DELMYSPUDS

Delmyspuds oh Delmyspuds
You only take ten pounds of potatahs
Butter and onions and sweet Velveeta
And you gotta where gloves
When you cook Delmyspuds

Delmyspuds oh Delmyspuds
I don't think you're good for my cholesteral
Always double the aluminum foil
Skeets will eat the crisp ones
Cause he loves Delmyspuds

I can smell you cooking by the fire
As Skeets says Jeter's overrated
Just shut up and get my food plated
Another time he's not right, but it's not the first one

Delmyspuds oh Delmyspuds
Slice them thin cause they cook so much better
Always remember you can't use to much butter
But they give Jim the runs
So he can't eat Delmyspuds

MRM 5/13/11

Far be it from me to criticize

2011-05-11T21:25:00.000-06:00

Where the hell is everyone? What, I get a new job and everyone quits posting? No one is keeping up with MCW? What the hell?

I find it hard to believe that this absolute blather was the cornerstone of our blogging community. Wait. It wasn't.

In other news, the job is great. Not only do I like the new company but the people at the other locations have been spectacular. They have all been recently acquired so we are all going through the same growning pains and everyone in Montana wants to work together. North Dakota, well, we'll just have to bring them around to our way of thinking. Lots of good guys there as well, they just think ~~wrong~~ differently.

I've played 90 holes of golf since the second week of April. Most of them good but some have been very forgetable or however it's spelled.

Not a lot else. Going to see The Prodigy this weekend. Have something special for him that he will absolutely flip for. Can't say what it is as he does sometimes reads. Hardly ever posts for whatever weak reasons he gives to me, but I'm telling you he'll go nuts and if he doesn't post after this weekend, he's banished. He will ride out of the blogosphere backwords on a horse with his hands tied behind his back and a bucket on his head. Do you hear me Frodo?

MCW "Teen Vixens"

2011-05-06T21:56:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm late. So what? You have a problem with that? I'm a busy man. So this week's theme is "Favorite Teen Vixen" I had to do some searching and make this a none ~~Mrs MRM~~ Diane Lane theme and chose the delightfully spectacular and always makes my loins ache Lea Thompson. Enjoy this clip to the stylings of Donny Iris singing "Ah Leah" I'm not quite back but getting closer. Wait, you asked to have this meme back again for why? Just kidding. Love ya Boxer.

I've lost my readership

2011-05-06T20:05:00.000-06:00

I've been busy. Working harder than a one-legged man at an ass kicking contest on ice. Still I thought there'd be more love, more foregiveness. Followers are asking for information. "Whats the new job like?" "How is it going?" "POST PICTURES! WE WANT PICTURES!" I post great pics and an awesome video and what do I get. One comment for the Big Sky Fly Guy who seldom if ever says anything. Though his comment was great, what the hell? Did I lose you Boxer? Moi? Chickory (who by the way has been the most adament of you for pics)? Buzz?

Holy shit people, did I forsake you?

Enough. I thought I put up great photos and expected more by now. I know you are all busy as well. Who am I to throw stones. Haven't posted a comment on anyone's blog for a week.

Hang on a tic. It's Friday. I'm home. Have a glass of Canada's finest. Maybe I'll make some rounds. Throw some stuff out there. Yeah. That's what I'll do.

PICTURES!! Finally.

2011-05-04T20:50:00.001-06:00

So here are some pictures from my last road trip. Drove from Bozeman to Missoula and then Great Falls on Monday. Then from Great Falls to Helena, Butte and Bozeman. Here are some photos and a video from that trip. Don't get your hopes up. I took most of these while driving but did stop and take a few where I could kind of frame a shot.

The view from my front window Sunday morning.

The Pintler Mountains west of Anaconda, Montana.

This one is out of place. This is at Three Forks, Montana about 22 miles west of my house but before the last one. Three Forks is named for the confluence of the Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson Rivers and is where the Missouri begins. More after the jump.

Just a shot out of the window the opposite direction from the Pintlers.

The Clarks Fork River named for William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.

More of the Clarks Fork.

The Blackfoot River, a main tributary to the Clarks Fork. This and the next two are taken from the same vantage point.

Blackfoot.

The ravages of winter.

Just in front of the last one.

This video, as you will hear, was taken from the same place as the three Blackfoot pictures from earlier.

I have more pictures and will post them tomorrow or Friday. Enjoy. I'm having a ball with the new job. This company still looks great but I'll give a better opinion when I've been with them six months. It's kind of like dating a hot chick. She seems really cool early on but we will have to see how it goes.

I know what you're thinking when you read the "tags" or "labels". "How did he work Diane Lane in here?" It's what I do. After all I am The Duke.

Gotta do it while I can

2011-04-29T20:14:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be busier than a one-arm paper hanger for the next few weeks. I'm glad for that but I have to post while I can. It's Friday 7:35 MDT I'm home at The House of Sloan and am just going to put up some music videos for y'all.

Playing in a pool tournament tomorrow with Little Sister. Was going to play golf but the ground is FUCKING WHITE! Are you shitting me? It's April twenyf***ingninth. Bring those global warming pricks here and let's see what they have to say.

Just breath Chip.

Here's my first selection. The Staple Singers with "I'll Take You There". Good beat. Hard vocals. Just good times people.

Here's the Bellamy Brothers singing "Let Your Love Flow" this is live in Hamburg in 1976 and it's awesome. Did I tell you that my new Dodge came with a free year of Sirius? Pardon me for that omission (is there two "m"'s in that? Anyway, I digress) Even XM plays the same songs more than you would think. Heard this twice on my 1400 mile trek this week. Hold on a tic. That video was playing as I was typing and it's not live. It's a total American Bandstand like lipsync. What a gyp.

I jumped over to the 90's on 9 ocassionally and caught the Cranberries who I really like. The Prodigy hates them. He's tone deaf. Here's "Dreams"

TP really likes .38 special so I'm throwing this up for him. TP writes "Dear Casey" Pizza Hut buffet circa 1996. We laughed liked hyenas. Don't say I never done nothin for ya kid.

Last, I'll leave you with Rick Springfield and "Jessie's Girl". How Kim Carnes won best song of the year with "Betty Davis Eyes" over this is beyond me. The Grammys can bite me. Slap her on the ass Timmer! Slap her hard. Who was that guy who took the fall for you at the Catspaw that night when you did that? Good times.

I guess I could have slept in my truck.

2011-04-28T20:50:00.000-06:00

It's not Heather's fault. She did what she could on short notice. After the buyout (it's easier to spell than acquisition) my boss told me to have Heather get me a room in Williston. Williston is in the heart of the Bakken Formation and it's where things are really happening. When you're in Williston you're "Rockin the Bakken" and yes they rhyme. Heather booked me in a hotel called The Vegas. It was new and fancy before any of us were born, except for maybe Buzz or certainly Karl. Hey, it was a place to stay.

Meeting the crew in Williston was great. Heather decided to call me "Munk". As in "Chip"munk. She should really be calling me "Monk" as that is the life I've been living if you know what I mean.

It's hard to describe The Vegas. I've stayed in a lot of motels/hotels in my life and I've had a hard time finding one that was worse than this place. I was in a "non-smoking" room. There weren't any ashtrays but plenty of cigarette burns in the floor. The sheets felt like sleeping in the bottom floor of someone from "Hoarders". Most places, at least the sheets are crisp. Not here. Not by a looooong ways. A rowdy place where there was much revelling late into the evening. Kind of like the apartment that Michael J. Fox had in "The Secret of My Success" only not as clean.

After the second night, the fleas began to accept me as one of their own and quit biting. There's a cure for the plague right? RIGHT! THERE'S A CURE!? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEONE TELL ME THERE'S A CURE!!

The blotches are starting to fade so I don't think it's full blown plague. Maybe just malaria or rickets. Or maybe my superior immune system just fought it off. My immune system is intense. I've only missed one day of work in 19 years. ONE! Now I have personal days. How sweet is that? Pretty sweet!

I'm home safe and sound. It will be the seventh time I've slept in my bed in 21 days. Half the time I've been away has been for fun and half for work, but still a long time. I told Eric tonight I can't remember the last time in the past five years I've driven over 400 miles in a day and I'ved done it four times in the last three weeks. Yet I'm enjoying the challenge and the people. Titan bought me a brand new 2011 Dodge Ram with a 5.7 litre Hemi and it drives like a dream. When I'm on a two lane and want to pass a car, baby, I pass it like I'm shot out of a gun.

Having fun kids. Missing all of you. It will take an adjustment to get back in the swing, but I will make it.

Sorry Chickory, no pictures but I'm bringing my camera from here on out. Lots from the road as I'm driving so don't get your hopes up but there will be some.

I'm going to be putting some miles on this year so pray for good travel as I know you will.

Safe journeys to all of you in the meantime.

Chip

PS Just happened to stay in Billings last night and whatshername from Sheridan was in town for a conference so we had dinner. An unexpected second date. God loves me.

In the COTU

2011-04-23T23:09:00.000-06:00

Just sitting at Delmer's having a glass of Mist and watching the tube. Played 27 today with Delm. Was late for dinner at Mom's because she forgot to tell me so she was not upset. Had a great visit with my mom. We sat and talked for almost two hours and the conversation was excellent (no politics, she's a democrat so I'm kind of a disappointment in that regard). She is doing fine and looks good for going on 80 this November.

I had two of my brother's kids with me for 18 holes and they were a treat. Told them you can't talk when Delm and I are standing over our golf balls and they followed that to the letter. They were a little upset that I wasn't staying at their house tonight (staying with Delmer) but told them I'll be there tomorrow. I've already convinced them they are Bobcat fans. It wasn't that hard as their mother and her brother both are, but tomorrow they become Cincinnati Reds fans as well. Have to get them while they are young.

I love Malta. It's the greatest place on Earth and last night Delmer and I visited the town and had a great time. It's funny how I only come home four or five times a year, but every bartender knows what I drink. Imagine that.

Spending tomorrow with mom and then teaching the kids about baseball. It will be great day. I'll get my camera out for the trip to Williston on Monday. To appease the masses.

Where ya been? Whatcha doin?

2011-04-20T21:39:00.000-06:00

"Hectic" would be an understatement. "Swamped" not quite, but close. The transition for me so far has been quite easy. Still selling construction equipment and having a blast turning a lot of old gear loose. As far as the rest of the old ABC crew goes they are adjusting pretty well. Still some humps but then it's only been 20 days. Between work, getting ready for travelling and trying to keep my house in some semblance of order, my waking hours are completely filled.

I still don't have a real job description but plenty of tasks to complete and loving the challenge. Titan bought me a new Dodge Ram and it's mine to drive five days a week. A completely different expense account, which is great and some big goals to try to hit. With their resources I'm not at all worried. I have the entire state of Montana and western North Dakota as my territory so driving many miles is a big part. For those of you in the eastern part of the U.S. let me tell you how big the states are out here, just to put it in perspective. Bozeman to Fargo (or as I like to call it "Corporate Headquarters" it sounds so much more glamorous than "Fargo") is 750 miles. I cross ONE state line. One. It's big country. Montana is the fourth largest state in the union and we only have a million people.

There will be many miles of driving but the cool thing is this, I have family and friends in every big town in the state and many friends at virtually every town of significant size otherwise. This job will give me the opportunity to see them as well a great chance to prosper beyond what I was doing. This isn't to say I wasn't doing well with my former employer. Everything I have is because of him. No, this just gives me a chance to improve on what I've learned and use my experience to go forward.

I do need to get back in the gym. I'm to wound up at the end of the day and need to have something to take that off. Did have dinner with a woman in Sheridan when I saw The Prodigy. It went well I think. She was prettier in real life than her photos, which were really good, so I might have been a little nervous.

It reminds me of a conversation I had years ago. I was in charge of advertising and a sales lady from one of the local radio stations was calling on me. She pitched her package and I told her I would look it over and get back to her. She was a lady about ten years older than me and very attractive. We get done talking and she said to me "Chip, are you intimidated by me?" I looked her right in the eye and said "Kay, I'm only intimidated by women I'm sleeping with." Good times.

Hope all is well.

Safe journeys and Happy Easter.

Chip

Back for a bit.

2011-04-18T21:01:00.000-06:00

Fargo was awesome. Great training, like the company. Things look positive. Just have enough time to say hello to you all. I am happy and the future looks very bright. I'll have more to say when I have more time but just be rest assured that I am alive and doing well. I hope to come around and check everyone out this week before I leave for NoDak again next week. I am more busy than I have been for quite a while and am thankful for that. Don't expect a lot from me for the next couple of weeks. Lots of travel but I will try to get something up here a little more consistent. I know you all have been wondering how I've landed but it has been solid so no worries there. And the rest of the crew is good as well.

Still swamped

2011-04-06T22:25:00.000-06:00

Lot's going on with the new gig. Too much to even say but it's fun, challenging and good. It will be a week or two before I'm back in full force. Until then I'll try to make a brief comment on the world's events, throw up a video or link to keep your appetites dripping. Until then, I hope to at least read the great things you post and hopefully can comment. Leave for a week on Friday for Sheridan with TP then to Fargo for training. I'm sure there will be more drinking than posting but will do what I can.

Quick one

2011-04-05T23:41:00.000-06:00

Things are good so far. I'm liking the challenge. I'm am so frickin busy and I love it. I love the challenge so far, we'll see if it pays off. Regardless of that, I've met some great people and I do like to be busy. I'm a shitty employee when it is as slow as it has been. Unfortunately, it makes me a shitty blogger as well. It's a trade off deal. I hope to make the rounds the next couple of nights to see what's going on with you all. I head to Sheridan WY to see The Prodigy's new joint and then to Fargo from there for some training.

Hope it's better than this. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarmy training sir!

What is sleep?

2011-04-02T03:22:00.000-06:00

It's late. Too late for me to tell you how late it is. I can't remember a longer week in many, many years. We shot pool at 10PM in our city league tournament. More on that later.

The Titan Machinery transition team has been in Bozeman all week and on Friday we switched colors. It seems to be a great company and the people who were out here this week were more than exceptional. I was confident that I would remain employed but was worried in what facet. I was also worried about some overlapping positions and whether anyone would be let go from ABC Rental. Everyone was hired and that made me extremely happy.

I have a new position and what appears to be a huge opportunity. I have a title "Strategic Accounts Manager" but no real job description. We will see where it goes but I am happy.

The guys at work seem happy. I'm sure over time some will go. Not happy with the change and all of that. I really don't think things will change for the guys on the rental end. Their jobs will just flow into what Titan does. My job is the change. It will be totally different from what I've done the last 12 years. The thing is this, I've been wanting a change in my life. I haven't wanted to drift from being in the equipment business, just wanting something new and different. This sale brings that.

I am a little sad though. To be wearing different team colors. I started with ABC in 1992. Everything I have is because of the opportunities it gave me. The relationship I had with my now former boss was more than I could hope for. A generous man. I've spent many Thanksgivings at his house and if he even caught wind of any employee who was going to be alone at Thanksgiving or Christmas, he had them at his house for dinner. He would rather miss a house payment or a banknote before he would miss a payroll. And in lean times would take a mortgage out to make sure his business stayed alive before he would ever, EVER let an employee go. He knew how much the people who worked for him relied on him and would never let them down.

With all that has transpired, I know you that have all figured out why I've been such a pisspoor blogger the last few months. I'm not saying that I'm going to be a better one for a few weeks. I haven't even looked at this week's MCW posts and probably won't.

As I said. I am welcoming the change and the challenge. I'll see what I can do with it.

On a side note. My pool league team won it's division and tonight in the city tournament we won our first match. I didn't lose a game and was the guy who closed our match out. And yes, I am absolutely bragging. I shot great pool tonight. Willie Masconi? Meet MRM.

Safe journeys,

Chip

Forget Ralph

2011-03-26T23:48:00.000-06:00

Ralph and I talked tonight. He questioned my drinking ability. Really? We are in our late 40's and you're still throwing this out? Why? Because you had two beers with Marlo and now you think you can party? How dare you condescend to me! How many nights of me kisssing you on the forehead will it take for you to know that you can't keep up with me (again we're straight, despite what my drunken typing may imply. Yes, I've kissed Ralph on the forehead on numerous accasions, he can't hold his sauce). Talk is cheap you little dwarf. Delmer just moved into "best friend" position. We talked for two hours and it was kind and gracious. Much unlike the our talk before that. OK, maybe that is just the Crown. No offense Delmer. You'res still way up there Delmy. I'm still thinking about that rock fight we had with the Webbs back in the day. You were on the wrong side of the fence that day and forgiveness isn't really an option. ya feelin me? Ralph wins. Thems just the rules Holmes. Catholics and all.

Ralph, you are the best.

2011-03-25T22:31:00.000-06:00

Ralph sent me this CSN song, You fucking ass. Why? Why would you send this to me? At our stage in life, this song rings volumes. To hell with your incitfuelness. Be damned with your appreciation of lyrics. I hate you with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns for reminiding me of our impending mortality. Damn you Ralph. I never want this to end and yet you keep reminding me that it will.

I don't hate you, you miserable Notre Dame/Red Sox loving fuck (was going to say "homo" or "faggot" but we live in a politically correct world, so calling him a "fuck" is as good as I can do. We grew up at Catholic school so those terms were completely acceptable at the time. I still use them. No offense intended.)

Very few of you can relate to how much love I have for him, or maybe you can, that would be great. I'm 48. He's been my best friend for 44 of those years. Every post I write about Malta, I write for Ralph. He has been there for all of them. Now he sends me this video. Fuck off Ralph. Quit making me cry. This is a song about three buddies. God, how you make me mad. None of this is to imply we have a "different" relationship. Just for the record. We both love women. Despite what you may have read into the "waterbed" statement. We are very much straight.

Here's the deal for all of you bloggers. Ralph is the complete salt of the earth. He is a man that if you met him would say to yourself "what a great guy". The fact that I've had this great friendship for 44 years just gives me the right to call him out and say "fuck off" for this video. See you in July Ghoulies. Words cannot even begin to describe how much I miss you. And Skeets, and Delmer, and Adrian, and Ernie, much less brother Bill.

Here's a cool thing. Tomorrow night, Ralph (in Carson City, NV) and Delmer (in Malta you lucky fucker) and MRM will be all on the Skype. Drinking beer and bullshitting like old times. God I love the 21st century.

Am I back? Maybe. No alliteration though. For all of you keeping track.

Songs on my way home

2011-03-25T21:21:00.001-06:00

My letter to Adam Ant.

Adam Ant ( why would call yourself that?) Here's a video that sucks. Why are you doing this Adam? Oh wait, I know, it's because everything else you've done sucks. Here is the oringinal which is good. Enjoy. Another version here. Here's what pisses me off /has another glass of crown and tries to gather his thoughts. Don't pretend to want women when you really don't. You just fuck it up for all the straight guys. Be gay. I'm fine with it. Just don't prance and pretend you want women when you don't. You mess it up for the rest of us Adam. It's hard enough out here without you fucking it up. Just sayin. And yes for the record, I've had a Crown or three.

Adam Ant, I'd beat your eyes shut. Just for a little life lesson. Oh, that seems harsh. I'd better go to bed.

Songs on my way to work

2011-03-25T11:19:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about starting a daily feature where I put up a video of the best song that I heard on my casual 15 minute commute to work every day. Then I thought "what the hell are you thinking about? You can't do a daily meme/theme whatever deal. You barely participate in Haiku Monday, it took every ounce of creativity you had to host Movie Clip Wednesday and now you want to have a DAILY post? Pull your head out of your ass!" Ah, the voice of reason. So seldom does it make an appearance that I barely recognize it.

More after the jump

Nevertheless, I did hear three songs today and am still going to post about them. The first was Lunatic Fringe by the Canadian band Red Rider. I love the music in this song. I seldom like it when the music overwhelms the lyrics but in this case I have no problem as the lyrics are a slam against America. I grew up 50 miles from Canada. My brother snuck across the border, planted an American flag and claimed Canada for the United States. Canada is just France without the berets and attitude. They barely have an army and they are the reason the Seattle bomber guy from Y2K even got in America. Sidebar and if I've told you this already I apologize in advance: my former roommate and all around badass, we'll just call him Fatty, was a member of a counter-terrorist team back at that time. He and his team tracked this very guy all around the globe for something like six weeks. These scumbags travel all over hopping plane after plane to try to lose whoever may be following them. When they got to Canada, they had to turn over their watch to the RCMP's or whatever. Before Fatty's team was airborne back for their spy headquarters, the RCMP's had lost track of him. I'm not bullshitting you a lick. This is a true story. BEFORE THEY WERE IN THE AIR!! So, bands like Red Rider can write anti-American music all they want. They sleep under the protection that America provides. So let's all grab hands and say in unison "FUCK YOU CANADA!"

The next song I heard was Best of my Love by the Eagles. I'm not a big Eagles fan. Waaaaaaaaaay overrated. I do like Glen Frey, Don Henley not so much. The lyrics in this are great though and I won't say otherwise. There is another group who sang a song entitled Best of my Love. Totally different but still pretty awesome. The Emotions had a different take on what the best of love is. The link takes you to a Midnight Special performance. Remember that show? How great was that? I will say this to you youtube, most of the time, you're pretty awesome.

The last song I heard was pure happenstance. As I cruised through my six presets on XM, I came to the "Love" channel (everyone can just stop right there. I mean it. If you're gonna give me shit about having that as a preset, clear your chair, roll up your sleeves and lets throwdown......... Alright, sorry about that, I'm a little testy these days. I admit it, I like Barry Manilow. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW RALPH?! NOW THE WORLD KNOWS! I TOLD YOU THAT IN CONFIDENCE. JUDAS! I TEAR MY CLOTHES TO YOU! Remember that weekend in West Yellowstone Ralph? That was the same year we went to St. Thomas. I think there is a story from that trip, the St. Thomas one I mean, waiting to be told. It will be better than telling the one about the trip to West. I think I'd lose a lot of readers after the first couple lines: "Ralph, Skeets and I headed to West Yellowstone to see our friend John. We gassed up Skeets' mom's Dodge Aspen station wagon, grabbed a case of beer and Skeets' orange crate full of Penthouse and headed south. I dug deep into the crate and began to read aloud a submission to Forum when both of them yelled with excitement Oh! HER! You're gonna like this one." The trip was downhill from there. What was wrong with the both of you back then? That Penthouse was like five years old and you both knew THAT letter as soon as I started reading it. The freaky part is, when you read this blogpost, you will still know exactly who I'm talking about. Total memory burn. Just email me for confirmation. The trip to West may be worth writing about someday as well. If I'm not mistaken, that was the first time we slept together in a waterbed. Whoops. That really shouldn't be public knowledge. Remember how many french fries were in my sisters yard the next day? Good times).

Back to the song. I tune to XM Love. Music is softly playing but no words yet. I hit the button for the artist and it's Diana Krall. Sweet. Hit the button for the song and it's "Walk on by". Even better. I like Dionne Warwick and all. I mean, I doubt she could read my mind or anything like she claims but she's not a bad singer. And in this video she's more than pretty and has a great body. Reminds me of a comment I saw on a Laura Brannigan video for "Gloria". Commenter stated that Laura's body was real. Not altered by man. Good statement.

Still the Diana Krall version is a little better, at least initially. I may change my mind after I hear it 600 times. She really brings the melancholy tone that I think this song is begging for. In the video below, she appears to have a nice set of stems as well. Made me remember the "knee pit" episode from the series ~~Stick Woman~~ Ally McBeil. Though I couldn't find the clip I was looking for from that show, this gem from the unisex bathroom is dynamite. College sis Monika and I wouldn't miss this show when we were living together.

Back to my latest crush. Wow. Does she have it going on or what?! From the comment section of the video "I would never cheat on my girl. Unless, of course, if Diana Krall asked me out for a cup of tea." True dat.

I love her soft raspy voice. I'm sure it's from a life long love affair of chardonay and Virginia Slims (nice alliteration in that sentence MRM. Thank you. Your welcome). I may have to go buy her CD at lunch. I
don't think I've bought a CD since the Clinton administration. Diana Krall, you just "crawled" into my top ten (see what I did there?)

Have a great weekend. I'll try to make some rounds and see how you all are doing.

Oh, and if that little clip from Ally McBeal has you wanting to hear the full verison of Barry White I've taken the liberty of linking it here for you or a nice live version. Ally McBeal had great music. Just sayin. But honestly, what is Harrison Ford thinking? You're a superstar Harrison. You're Indianafucking Jones! Act like it. Even Michael Douglas is doing better than you and he has arms like a twelve-year-old girl. How the mighty have fallen.

Take care my merry band of malcontents.

Again with the alliteration? Give it a break.

A bit distracted

2011-03-24T20:48:00.001-06:00

As you all know by know, my job situation is changing. With everything going on I'm a little out of sorts. Be that as it may, I wanted to tell all of you faithful followers that whatever happens, happens. I haven't been much of a blogger for a while and this week I haven't even been a follower of all of your great posts. I don't have the want or the energy until I know were I will land, much less the great people who I work with ( or is it with whom I work? God how I hate the English language. It's supposed to be easy and I have a minor in it for crying out loud) and the people who will come on board with the merger.

Anyways, a hiatus is what is going to happen for the next few days. Bear or bare (don't think it's the latter but too lazy to grab my dictionary) with me and I will let all of you know what transpires after next week. Might throw a link or video just so I don't lose anyone in the mean time.

On a side note. We all get a song in our heads. This morning as I showering Prince's great song "When Doves Cry" jumped into my head for whatever reason. I was singing it to myself all day. As I drove home tonight, it came on the XM. How freaky is that. I found this version it is incredible. Prince, as whacked as he is, is a very talented man and the lyrics are incredible. I'll be back in a few days.

Thanks to all of you who don't know me from Adam for your great support. It warms my heart and is greatly appreciated. To all of my homeboys who read and never comment, I thank all of you as well. One way or another I'll be fine. No sense in worrying about me. None at all. Thanks again though, you weary band of malcontents. It's nice to know there are so many friends I haven't met yet. Who knows where I will land, but knowing that you are just friends I haven't met is comforting. God speed to you all. Meanwhile enjoy this great acoustic version. Peace out. Did I really just say that?

Change is a good thing, I guess.

2011-03-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

The company I've been working for since 1992 has been sold. Bought out by a huge publicly traded company Titan Machinery. Titan currently has a location with 8 employees in Belgrade. Those employees are going to move to our location as we have a beautiful 3 million dollar facility that is only three years old. There will be some changes but in a positive way. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Friday!!

2011-03-18T08:17:00.000-06:00

It's been a long week. Actually, it's been a long year. More stress than I am accustomed to but that corner is about to be turned. More on that this Monday so stay tuned. Meanwhile, as it is Friday and I'm in a great mood, well, because it's Friday, I'll treat you all to a video. It's what was playing on the XM when I rolled into work after having breakfast with my good friend KB. Happy Friday everyone.

Movie Clip Wednesday "Best drunk scene"

2011-03-15T19:00:00.002-06:00

It's that time of the week when I search youtube to find the perfect clip for this week's theme for Movie Clip Wednesday. It's also the same time of the week where I can never find the clip I want. I wanted to use a scene from Porky's. It's when Meat learns he didn't get the football scholarship, get's drunk and passes out in his chili. It's nothing we all haven't done at least once. What's that you say? You've never passed out in your chili? Or a plate of food at all. I haven't either. It doesn't look like much fun. One time back home my brother was at the all night cafe waiting for a table when a fight broke out. One of the patrons heard it was his buddy and ran outside to see what was happening. Just as he turned to leave, the waitress served his breakfast. Brother Bill sat down, ate it and then called out "Thanks for breakfast Barry". Barry didn't figure it out for a little bit, when he got the bill I suppose. He laughed hard. Barry and I were talking about it at Christmas. Good times.

Then there are a couple of great drunk scenes from "Blind Date" with Bruce Willis and Kim Bassinger. One was on youtube but the quality was so crummy I didn't use it. Of course there's Arthur but you're just asking for a blog jinx.

So in the end I went with a scene from Porky's. There's no drinking but its funny. Its the scene where the old bag gym teacher wants to have a tallywhacker lineup. I'd forgotten how funny it is. I just love how all of the men are giggling and the old principal has to hold it together. He almost makes it.

Head over to Boxer's for more real good stuff.

Attempting a comeback

2011-03-14T10:59:00.000-06:00

Between a major personal life change a couple of weeks ago and company the last 10 days, I haven't been much of a blogger. I do have some things in the works (no, it's not poems Shoey) and hope to get back in the swing this week. Thanks for hanging in there. Hopefully the batteries are recharged and I can put some crap up that's actually worth reading and do a better job of keeping up with the rest of the merry band. Fortunately my breakfast of coffee and Girl Scouts thin mints has my energy level up and maybe it can carry over this week.

Lots of potential business out there. Boss had the reins pulled for a bit but is turning me loose again. More travel in the greater Bozeman area and maybe a trip or two to Williston *fist pumps while choking back puke.

Supposed to be in the 40's and 50's this week and maybe some golf but I'd like to ride one more time before that season starts. We sit in first place in pool league with three weeks to go and play the second place team tomorrow night on their home felt. Should be a great match. Good shooters and good guys. Looking forward to it. Last week we played the #3 team last week and they are still in intensive care from the beating we gave them. Oh, that sounded boastful. My apologies. I hope we can keep it going.

Have a good week all. See you on MCW if not before.

MRM

Haiku Monday "Pulchritude"

2011-03-14T10:40:00.000-06:00

A dictionary
So I could write this haiku
Of course, Diane Lane

I may have issues.

One room school

2011-03-09T11:27:00.001-07:00

30 miles south of Livingston.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Movie Clip Wednesday "Favorite Movie set in the British Isles.

2011-03-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

Boxer picked favorite movie set in England, Scotland or Ireland. I'm in a time crunch but my first thought was one of my all time favorites "An American Werewolf in London". This clip is graphic but it's the dream scene. I like it for the very end. Ralph, I couldn't find our favorite exchange.

Jack "Debbie Cline was there"
David "Debbie Cline?"
Jack "Then she went to bed with Mike McMann. Life mocks me. Even in death" bwhahahahahaha

Anyway, hope things can get back to normal so I can get back on the blog horse. I'll be around later to visit everyone. Happy MCW.

Haiku Monday "Signs"

2011-03-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

Going home

The Robinson Bridge
Then Alkali creek, soon mean
Entering Malta

Pretty little philly.

2011-03-01T11:48:00.001-07:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

just a couple poems

2011-02-26T18:21:00.003-07:00

Untitled

sometimes I think about her
and then start to yearn
there's just something out there
that says it's not my turn

its just so hard to give
when others hold things back
i just want to live
does it have to be white and black

life shouldn't be this hard
we try to do what's right
do we have to play a card
it jusn't seem that right

and so we all just linger
to think what comes this way
we try to put a finger
to make us feel better today

so take all this thinking
and do what you will
cause i've been drinking
but i want it still

CG 12/10/09

Untitled

A different man
She needs me to be
I don't know if I can
Will have to wait and see

She's not asking for the moon
What she wants, I'll give
I want to see her soon
It will be a better place to live

My life hasn't been as good
Since she said goodbye
I would do anything I could
If she'll only let me try

God how I hope this doesn't end
It's so heavy on my heart
I want to hold her again
And never ever be apart

I hope she finds the time
And gives me another chance
I want to make her mine
And forever with her dance

CG 5/1/10

I wish I had a poem
Something to be happy
Of which to write

Nothing comes to mind
My brains awash
I try with all my might

I drink to much
One then another
I guess I feel better

Maybe try something else
Try to write more
Maybe a nice letter

I'm just kind of rambling
This I do know
I'll have another Crown

Sorry to waste your time
It is precious
God, I miss my town

CG 8/13/08

No Gary Morris, but it was worth it.

2011-02-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

So I posted yesterday that I was going to see Gary Morris tonight but I went to Emigrant to meet a couple of guys who work for money men. The first guy works for the owner of Cummins Diesel huge property with a lot of things to come. The second was for a golf course that Arthur Blank is building. Blank is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons. My good friend Tommy G is in with both of the decision makers and these guys love Tom. Both meetings went better than I imagined and the amount of equipment I think I will rent will make my check signer very happy ( though I'm on the account and can sign my own paychecks, it still isn't my money). Got back to late to see Gary but business and work comes first in these times. That's just how it goes. I'm not unhappy about it at all. Would have been nice to do both but the feeling I left both meetings with is that I am in and they liked me. Mostly because they like Tom a lot. One of those, if Tom likes this guy he must be good. So, hooray!

LBOH 22 the clock is ticking

2011-02-24T22:25:00.001-07:00

So 21 years ago my lifelongs and me decided to have a weekend where (or is it wear or ware, Moi help me out I have an English minor for shits sake) anywhoo we have this weekend where we all get together. No wifes ( or is it wives, again Moi a little help) now this is getting confusing. So, we have this weekend. It's called the LBOH (Lonely Bachelors Oppressed Husbands) weekend.

Every Saturday night, the last nigt of reveling, Skeets, Ghoulies and me ( or is it I, God how I'm glad I'm not teaching) sing this song. Tomorrow Gary Morris will be in Bozeman singing at the eloquent Ellen Theatre. If he doesn't sing THIS song, I'm storming the stage, taking my Old Timer pocket knife out and puting it to his throat and making him sing. Three years in Deer Lodge be damned!

Ralph, I'm sorry you can't be there with me and hope I don't get misty. It will probaly be the dust if I do.

Great song especially given where I am at this state.

MCW "Most overrated Oscar"

2011-02-22T19:30:00.002-07:00

In case you don't remember how this works or are new here to planet Earth, here's what happens. Each week, our magnificent host and creator of this meme The one, the only, BOXER!! picks a theme, you find a clip of around three minutes and put it up. You go to Boxer's place, let her know that everything is a go and we come over and visit.

This week's theme is Most Overrated Oscar. I'm kind of like Troll. I assumed for best picture. Best performance well, Russell Crowe winning for Gladiator was beyond stupid. Fighting CGI tigers isn't really Oscar worthy is it? The movie itself was nominated for twelve Oscars and won five. NOMINATED FOR 12? Where the hell I am I? Bizzaro world. Amazon Women On the Moon (short clip here) was twice the movie and it has nothing to do with the title. A young Arsenio Hall here in AWOTM. It's a great movie.

Of course Titanic won as well. I kind of covered this a while back in this post. Where I mentioned Gladiator and the movie in this blogpost. I'm consistent if nothing else.

One movie does stick out for me though. Maybe it's because I looked forward to it sooooo much. The trailer's were awesome. The story looked great. Adopted college sister Monika and I were both giddy when it was released. We went to it the first night it opened. I can't remeber her exact reaction but I do remember mine and it was that this movie sucked and I wanted my money back. It was nominated for nine and won four including best picture. I found it slow moving, borderline boring and the ending scene was so ridiculous I almost stood up in the theater and shouted "are you fucking kidding me?" You ready? This is gonna get me in trouble with at least one of the malcontents but I'm sorry. I can't help it.

Here it comes!!

And the answer is Unforgiven! What a complete waste of my time. This final scene is such bullshit. William Munny would have been cut to pieces. Those guys weren't afraid of dudes like him. They wanted him dead and he surely would have been. He rides off into the sunset like somekind of twisted version of Robin Hood. Booo. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You can skip most of this as it's nine minutes of mostly crap. It was the shortest clip I could find of the ending. Lots of clips of a Metallica song named Unforgiven so I'm assuming that was a hit for them.

Not only do I think this is the most overrated Oscar ever (remember, Clint had not won and Oscar for anything yet so it was only given out of pity. There is no other explanation) it's one of the crummiest westerns of the last 30 years. Not on the same page as this classic.

The wrath of Buzz and I'm sure several others surely awaits me. I will stand my ground. Happy MCW.

The Teachers' Lament

2011-02-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

I saw the article listed below on FB yesterday. I chose not to comment on it as I didn't want to ruffle any more feathers than I usually do. I did make put the following comment on my FB page "Does anyone out there think that people home-schooling their kids should be at least paid the average rate of teachers in the district they are teaching their kids? Afterall, they are doing the same job AND their is one less child for these poor overworked teachers to have to worry about. They should get something. Afterall, its never about "the children".' This comment was enough to get me unfriended by at least on thin skinned liberal.

Any way, here's the blogpost that caused all the uproar. My comments are in blue.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers? Absolutely!! who isn't?! Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! Well, I never said they babysit. They teach, but if you want to make this twisted argument to prove your point, then have at, it's your blog.

We can get that for less than minimum wage. Less than the minimum wage? I'm all ears.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. Hmmmm. I have an issue with these statements. Teachers are given prep time as part of their contract. It's how they choose to use that time that makes it silly. Or not. Having actually spent 10 weeks doing this and knowing many, many teachers, taking advantage of your prep time determines how much time you have to do outside of your actual contract. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Well, most contracts call for teachers to remain on school grounds until at least 4 PM, but I'll let this slide. You're on thin ice though.

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. Now see, here's where you are getting shaky. If it were being run as an actual business, there would probably be some kind of volume discount. But I'll roll with it. Looks more like a day care situation to me. We'll touch on that later.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. Well, you don't really now. The contract is for a year, so technically, they are getting paid for the summer off as part of that. That's kind of hair splitting don't ya think.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries). Hold on there Tex. If you are a babysitter then it's YOUR job to make sure the kids are fed, at least for lunch. Let's say that's $5.50 per kid for a complete lunch. So now it's your respsonsibility to pay for that out of the $105,300.00. Now we're down to $75,600.00. And a daycare/babysitting service of this size probably has a big liability policy. Probably at least another $20,000.00 there. Now we're down to $55,600.00. You don't have a guaranteed retirement plan so you'd better be putting at least $10k away now we're at $45,600.00. Before taxes. Let's say you live in a tax friendly state and your nominal rate is only 30%. That make's your take home $30,000.00. You have to pay for your own health insurance out of that. I'm assuming that all teachers are single. If you're 30 and healthy you can probably get a decent policy for $400.00/month. OK, now we're getting somewhere. You're take home pay is $25,200.00. Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries too).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Well, let's be fair and round it off to $5.00. You would have a tough time justifying "special needs" teachers or teachers with Master degrees getting almost three times the money. Now just go back and use the same numbers in the previous paragraph.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is! Yes there is and I'm about to tell everything that's wrong here. Or at least a lot.

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!! I don't know what source your using but I'll go with it. According to this site, the median household income in the US is $46,326.00. When you remember that the average wage earner has to pay for part of their retirement (if it's even available) and part of their health insurance, then their take home pay is quite less. The $50,000.00 you mention for teachers is all inclusive. Health and retirement almost always 100% financed by the taxpayer and teachers retirement funds are 100% GUARANTEED!! That means if the union, or whoever is in charge makes a bad choice and loses all the money, the taxpayers just pick up the cost. When you add health, retirement and everything else its closer to $80,000.00 a year. Let's also not forget that the person making $46,326.00 is working 60 to 100 more days a year to get to that amount. There is something wrong with that. Oh, and here's the kicker, after three years of teaching, you generally have a job FOR LIFE. It's called tenure and it doesn't exist in the non-union private sector. About the only way you can get fired these days is to have sex with a student and trust me, the unions are working on making that a non-firable offense.

No one made ayone go into teaching and it is a relatively easy job. There is a lot that could be done to improve it and there are some tremendously poor districts that need help. What is being asked in Wisconsin isn't anything that any private sector non-union worker has not had to do (is that a double negative? Anyone a teacher reading this?). My company has had a wage freeze for almost three years. We pay little if any overtime and have cut a couple of positions to part-time. We have shut down one location. We don't have a matching 401k and every dime in my account was put in there by me. (It's a pretty fair amount. Also have some nice cash in the bank and everything I have is paid for 100% except my house. I mention this only in case some single women stumble across this blogpost). Throughout all of this, we have only had to lay off two people and everyone here is damn glad to be working. They also all made adjustments in their lives to offset the lost overtime. What's the matter in Wisconsin? Some lazy ass teachers can't do the same.

One of my lifelong friends is a teacher. Hell, he convinced me to get my degree in education. He's been at it almost 30 years and will be among the first to tell you with a big smile on his face, "I can't believe how much they pay me to do this!" His wife is a teacher as well, third generation I believe. She's a little more liberal but still is happy with the life education has given them. Jimmy will tell you one other thing about teaching and it's his motto "Just TEACH YOUR KIDS. IT'S WHAT YOU GET PAID TO DO!!" He's a firm believer in that.

Here's a good article that mentions the current wages in Wisconsin. Let me close this rather long post with this thought. As little as 20 years ago, you had a choice. You could go into the private sector. The risk was higher but the rewards were as well. You could make more money. It meant much longer hours, being away from home more, all the things that come with taking a high paying job in the private sector. If you wanted to be in the public sector, the pay was less, but your job was more secure and the benefits were tremendous. Everything guaranteed and funded by the taxpayer. My question is this: when did it become the status quo in the public sector to have the security and benefits AND the same money as the private sector? It's one of the many things that is wrong with our government. At every level.

One more story, this summer a teacher came knocking at my door.

Teacher "We need help passing the mill levy. Last year it failed and we don't want that to happen again."

MRM "Take a pay cut."

Teacher "This isn't for teacher's salaries it's for the students."

MRM "If they are as important as you claim. Take a pay cut."

Teacher "Really, it's not for salaries"

MRM "Understood. My neighbor across the way doesn't have a job. I'm making less money than I did a year ago. He's is doing without and so am I. Either the students learn to do without or you do. I've already mailed in my ballot and voted "no". By the way, I have a teaching degree. Good luck, but I hope it fails."

It did.

Evan Sayet

2011-02-21T08:38:00.001-07:00

Here's a guy named Evan Sayet. He was a liberal before 9/11. He's giving a speech on liberals, his conversion and a couple of other things. It's almost an hour and I may have linked this before. Now that I'm read worldwide I thought it might be worth putting up again. His insight in to how modern liberals think is definately worth watching.

Another show you should be watching.

2011-02-16T16:34:00.001-07:00

Episodes is a new sitcom on Showtime. It's about a couple of British writers who come to America with at the behest of some Hollywood schmuck to have their hit series on American television. The Hollywood guy of course bastardizes the entire series. It's really a very satirical look at Hollywood and how completely phony it is.

It stars Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig. LeBlanc plays himself and Mangan and Greig play the husband/wife team of British writers. If you follow the link above, you can watch the first three episodes for free.

I'm gonna come right out and say it. Tamsin Greig does something for me. She is simply beautiful and that accent drives me nuts. Something about British women and the way the talk. Russians and Aussies do it for me a little but not like the British. Irish chicks are up there too. Anyway. Give it a watch.

Now, I'm off to get a lock of Tamsin's hair. I heard the Chinese are close to human cloning,

Tamsin Greig, making the short list.

MCW Best Broadway Musical to the big screen.

2011-02-15T20:00:00.002-07:00

Welcome to Movie Clip Wednesday. This is hosted by Boxer. To get the rules and to find out what everyone else has going on go to Anonymoust Boxer and check it out.

This week's theme is best broadway musical made into a movie. I could have went with Oklahoma, or Music Man, or any other number of moives my mom made us watch when we only had two channels but not for this. I went with a movie I totally love and that is Grease. There is no question that I still have the hots for Olivia. Why wouldn't I? Aussie chicks are smoking hot. I'm a man who is about to rejoin the dating world and I think she may be on the market. Finally, things are going my way. It's my big chance and I don't want to use some corny line when I first meet her. So what better way to break the ice than tell her I wrote about her in a blogpost. It's not like it's stalking or anything.

MRM "Olivia, it's a pleasure to meet you. I wrote a blogpost about you for a movie clip Wednesday theme."

ONJ "What, because Diane Lane wasn't in a musical."

MRM (coughing uncomfortably but yet remaining suprisingly cool) "Well, techinically she was in Streets of Fire but the theme was best Broadway musical so that didn't qualify. And that's really not her singing."

ONJ "Soooo, I was your first choice."

MRM (God, she's actually buying this crap) "Yes. And I've always like the name Olivia aaaaaaaand Please Mr Please is one of my all time favorites. I've never played B17 on any jukebox out of respect for that song."

ONJ "Laying it on pretty thick. Don't you think?"

MRM "No, I really mean that...........I have no shot do I?"

ONJ " None whatsoever. The Diane Lane love kind of ruined it."

MRM "Well, thanks for reading my blog."

ONJ "You didn't think Princess was the only one in Australia reading now did you?"

Here's to you Olivia. *sigh

BTW, in keeping with my sometimes mini-theme of where I watched this movie for the first time, it was at the drive-in theater in Kalispell, MT when I was on vacation with my best friend's familiy. Fishing in the mountains in the middle of bear country with not a care or worry in the world about what I would do if I met one. Being young and dumb. Those were the days.

I also included a clip here of Carl Anderson singing Jesus Christ Superstar. Just because I like the song and his voice is pretty good. Happy MCW. Welcome back Boxer.

Back in civilization.

2011-02-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a few photos from my snowmobile trip to Alpine, Wyoming. The lodge was at 6600 feet. Most of your riding for the weekend was 8600-9000 feet. The snow could have been better but it was still awesome. Our cabins were strictly propane. No electricity. It wasn't bad. Three meals a day. Hot water when you're done riding. A great place.

The sign at the trail head.

Just a view from a place on the trail where we stopped on the way in. It was a 28 mile trail ride just to get to the lodge. Took almost an hour.

Stopping for look around on the ride in. Had to have a snort of brandy. It was tough duty but I stepped up. Team player.

This is the parking lot. The sleds are fired up and ready to roll.

A view of one of the cabins.

I'll have some more to post later. I didn't take a lot of pictures as I left my camera at the cabin one day, but did get a couple more. Waiting for some to be posted on FB from some of the other travelers so I can get them from there. Back safe and sound. Hey Buzz, what's the them for MCW? hahahahahahaha

From the road. Literally.

2011-02-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

writing down the road using the speak now function on my phone to make a blog post. how cool is that ?

Indiana, being uptight since 1816

2011-02-09T13:36:00.001-07:00

Indiana officially became a state on December 11, 1816. Hoosiers have been uptight ever since and now this from the Huffington Post. Really Indiana?

Don't forget that tonight is the season premier of Justified. I'm not saying I have a man-crush on Timothy Oliphant but dammit he's so cool. If you get a chance check it out. Maybe set your DVR to Archer as well. It's animated but I watched my first two episodes last week and it's pretty funny as well. It also has sex, violence and strong language so it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

I caught the premier of The Chicago Code on Monday. ITS AWESOME!! I love DVR. It's a good thing too because I have a Jeopardy qualifier at 7, then a committee meeting for the Citizens for Balanced Use, then have to pack for a four day snowmobile trip to Alpine, Wyoming staying at the Box Y Lodge. It's a 30 mile trail ride just to get there and I can hardly wait. I think there are 12 of us going. Accomadations include three meals a day but it's a BYOB place. I can handle that.

When you get to be my age, you have to enjoy these moments all you can. HEY YOU KIDS!! GET OFF MY LAWN!!

MCW Favorite movie from the 1930's

2011-02-08T20:00:00.002-07:00

Well, well, well it's time for another edition of Movie Clip Wednesday. About this time a year ago, one of the malcontents known as anonymous boxer began a meme wherein a theme is chosen and we followers of said meme find a clip of about three minutes, post it on our blogs and then go to Boxer's place and let it be known that we are up and participating.

At some point, I "temporarily" took the reigns as Boxer had matters to attend and have been in charge ever since.

For most of my charge, MCW has often resembled the following video.

Other times, this was the reaction on the Eastern seaboard, when themes where posted on Monday.

The biggest mistake I think I made is not having enough themes for Diane Lane movies. There is no one to blame but myself. I say all of this because until my services are needed again, Boxer has resumed duties. I've had a blast these past few months. I know that every shot taken at me was A) well deserved and B) in the best of fun. I'd like to thanks Boxer for trusting me with the charge of her meme for this long. If I ever get to the PNW, it will be fresh fish and the alcohol of your choice on me. I'd also like to thank all of you for continuing to participate while waiting ever so patiently for Boxer's return. It was very fun.

This week's meme was an attempt to continue on with the decades theme we started. Favorite movies of the 1930's. I'm very disappointed that I've seen so few. It did make the choice easy. Though I've had a post of this movie before (I think), I still put it in my top five of greatest movies ever made. This scene from All Quiet on the Western Front Paul returns to his old classroom to describe what the war is like, and to tell the young men to stay home. This movie is spectacular in so many ways. The ravages of World War I were portrayed very well especially given that this movie was made in 1930, only three years after the first movie with sound was released ("talkies" my sister calls them. She is still upset that vaudeville is dead and hates Victrola players.) Put it in your Netflix que.

It also has one of the best endings ever.

Oh and Boxer if you ever need me again, you know what to do.

The Grizwagon "Dash Cam"

2011-02-08T11:16:00.001-07:00

Well here's a little slice of life from southwest Montana. We had a pretty nice storm blow in yesterday afternoon so I took four videos with my old Kodak. Two of a couple of legs of my journey home last night and then two of my trip in this morning. I just set the camera on the dash and let it do the work. I even have some commentary along the way. Proof positive that I have a voice for blogging. This first video is right after I turned onto Love Lane. It really looks like I'm going fast than I am. Travel speed on the first two videos is 30-35 mph.

This is after I turned onto Alaska Road. This is a detour route for some road construction on Valley Center. Usually I would take Love to Baxter Lane then to Jackrabbit Lane. Today I took Love to Alaska. Jackrabbit can be quite congested this time of night and people drive pretty stupid. Everyone is in a big ass hurry

This is on the way to work this morning. Jackrabbit to Baxter to Love Lane. This one is a little bit long because I turned up the radio so this video has its own little soundtrack.

This is the last leg of the journey. Just a good view of how bad the roads were. It was what I expected.

The pre-Superbowl interview

2011-02-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

During the interview with Barry and Bill O'Reilly yesterday, O'Reilly asked the president something to the effect of "what don't you like about being president?" To which Obama responded that he didn't like how he was always under the microscope. He couldn't just go out and and go to dinner, you know that sort of thing.

Really B. Hussein? You really don't like alll of the attention? I've been following the presidency since Jimmy Carter and I've never seen a president more in love with himself than you. You go to burger joints and shut down complete areas of downtown. You go to NYC to take your wife to a play and shut down airspace for over eight hours. These are but two that come to immediately to mind. When you always want to be in the limelight, when you spend every waking moment seeking it or figuring out how you can get in it, don't complain. Even for you it's unbecoming. No wait, it's exactly what I expect.

If you didn't want to be on television, then decline the interview. If you're going to be on television put on a tie. Oh, and don't think for a minute I don't know you're coloring your hair. Its way less gray than it was after the November elections. Does Carly Simon know you're living her song?

The Force is strong in this one.

2011-02-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe VW isn't going to give me a kickback after dozens of people watch this.

MCW Favorite British Comedy

2011-02-01T20:00:00.006-07:00

I often think that Dudley Moore doesn't get the credit he is due for being one of the finest comic actors of his time. I founnd him to be brilliant not to mention his musical ability as well.

Here's one more. My favorite part is the 2:03 mark. I watched it five times. Happy MCW.

A little smorgassbord.

2011-01-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some links you may find enjoyable.

First, from Kissing Suzy Kolber here is a nice bit of sarcasm from one of the guys pretending to be Jason Whitlock. The jurty is still out for me with Whitlock. I used to watch him on ESPN's Sports Reporters back in the day and liked him on that. He always put ~~Frodo~~ Mike Lupica in his place. His articles can be edgy but like all journalists he can fall in love with the sound of his own voice or keyboard as it were. I'm so glad I'm not like that. Humility, it's my middle name. You can read an actual Whitlock here. The guys at KSK are very funny but they're writing is rated "R". You've been warned.

This article from Politco discusses the chances of Jon Huntsman running for the GOP nomination for President in 2012. If you're like me, you've never really heard of this dude before. He's a two-time governnor of Utah, a Mormon and an Obama appointee to China as our ambassador. He's very much a moderate and supported John McCain in the last election. There is so much wrong with this guy to me intitially that I'm definately cautious in him running. Didn't we just have a politically weak-spined moderate running in the last election? I don't know if there are any names be touted right now that I will support but this guy has nothing really appealing to me intitially. I do have one question though. Why is it then when Repbulicans run for office, their religion matters but when Democrats run it doesn't? This guy is a Mormon. I don't have a problem with it and neither should anyone else. If Obama's faith (or lack thereof) can't be questioned, and really wasn't, then what difference does it make if a LDS guy runs? I can promise you this, if a Muslim ran for President, the press would CELBRATE like there was no tomorrow, credentials be damned. They would tell America it was time to elect a Muslim President, and say it would be a great way for us to show our "diversity" and that we are moving forward as a country. Hmmm. Seems to me I heard a similar story a couple of years ago.

Here's a piece from NPR letting us know what Jimmy Carter thinks about the situation in Egypt (which is very frightening to say the least, the situation over there, oh, I guess Carter as well). You may remember that Carter is widely regarded as the worst president in history. He gave us miles gas lines, double-digit unemployment, huge inflation and the highest interest rates of the last 50 years. One thing that most people forget is that Carter is the main reason that the Ayatollah rose to power in Iran. We all know how that turned out. Now a very similar situation is happening in Egypt and the current president is handling the situation as poorly as the man to whom he is most often compared. Looks like the title of "worst President in US history" is something that Barry covets.

The Huffington Post (YES, that Huffington Post) has this cool compilation of Hollywood spit takes. It's for the ligther side. Rated R for language and strong sexual references.

Lastly, this article from the American Spectator is a great expose on the impractibility of electric cars. Here's something that liberals need to remember about electric cars. They run on electricity. What liberals don't realize is that electricity comes from great big things called generators and almost half of those generators are fired by a product called coal. It takes a lot of wind turbines to produce what coal does. Just let them know that and then see what they say. It's a party waiting to happen.

Marc Faber, telling it like it is.

2011-01-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is Swiss economist Marc Faber. This clip is 11 minutes long but very much worth your time. It frightens me for our economic future.

The Great American Land Grab. Part One - The Wilderness

2011-01-25T23:19:00.001-07:00

And so it begins.

On December 23, 2010 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans "to reverse a Bush era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres of land once again eligible for federal wilderness protection." ( Bozeman Daily Chronicle 12/24/10). Secretary Salazar and Interior Department Management will review some 220 million acres to possibly designate as wilderness. This is an area larger than the entire state of Texas . However this only the beginning.

Secretary Salazar has clearly stated he will designate certain areas as "Wild Lands". The term "Wild Lands" has not been officially defined by the Interior Department or Congress. Because “Wild Lands” is not defined, it allows Secretary Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey to use their discretion to define areas within the 220 million acres as off-limits to any activities they disagree with. These activities will include on and off-road mechanized travel, livestock grazing, and placing any gas and oil exploration completely off-limits. The current administration's relationship with the environmental lobby certainly supports the restrictions of these types of activities.

The question isn't how much land will be declared "Wild Lands" but rather why will the land be declared as such? Are we wearing out the existing wilderness? According to Citizens for Balanced Use there is over 107 million acres of designated wilderness in the U.S. That's an area larger than the state of California . Does anyone really believe that this wilderness is being overrun from hikers and wildlife enthusiasts? Quite the opposite. Past surveys suggest that only 3% of the outdoor recreating public utilize wilderness for their recreation. Remember that wilderness areas cannot be travelled by mechanized vehicles which include mountain bikes.

All the facts aren't in yet. If the past is any indication much of the proposed "Wild Lands" will consist of Federal property rich in natural resources. Placing these lands off-limits makes the U.S. even more dependent on foreign imports while denying Americans access to their own resources and stymieing good paying jobs.

Remember ANWR? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Originally established in 1960 as the Arctic National Wildlife Range , it was expanded by President Carter and the Democrat-controlled Congress in 1980 and its designation was changed from "Range" to "Wilderness" thus placing it off limits to natural resource exploration. This area has one of the largest known oil reserves in North America . The area of development for oil extraction is estimated to be around 2,000 acres. The total size of ANWR is 19 million acres. That's .01 percent of land usage. Even if the total amount of developmental area is ten times that number, it’s foolish not to develop it. This isn't even bringing into play the amount of ANWR that is considered by many objective observers to be nothing more than barren tundra. (For more on the development of ANWR click here).

While declaring ANWR a wilderness area wasn't a death blow to an already struggling U.S. economy in 1980, it did nothing to help the U.S. ease its dependence on foreign oil. It was, however, a huge victory for the environmental movement. This would be one of the few victories for the movement that would actually pass through the halls of Congress. The court system and fiat would prove to be much more lucrative venues for them. The environmental movement is well funded, well organized and gaining momentum through a sympathetic press and an ignorant public. With the ANWR victory, they were just warming up.

One of the keys to a “land grab” is to deny access of lands to off road recreationalists. The theory is that once access is denied, for whatever reason, the ease at which the land can be made a wilderness is magnified many times.

Access to public lands is being shut down where ever it is easy to do so and with 100% cooperation of which ever federal agency is involved. In the Gallatin Forest, snowmobilers were told certain areas would be closed unless proof that these areas had been used for snowmobiling before 1975. After the proof was given in sworn affidavits and testimony, and U.S. Forest Service signs of the era promoting snowmobiling, an activist Federal judge closed the areas anyway.

Areas in the Beaverhead National Forest were closed because they were "potential" breeding grounds for wolverines. No scientific evidence has been offered as to why wolverines are “potentially” breeding in five feet of snow at 7500 feet with no food supply. This is just wildlife management theory but in this case, it was good enough. These are but a couple of examples of multiple-use closures in my area. These closures occurred with less than adequate and less than accurate evidence and reasoning.

The biggest question to all of this is "why can't there be any compromise or middle ground?” The answer is simple. The environmental movement has proven time and again they want it all. From wanting snowmobiles totally removed from Yellowstone National Park , to the national monument designation on the Upper Missouri River , to welshing on delisting the wolf from the Endangered Species list after the population reached 300 (it's currently 1700). Environmentalists cannot be trusted. Their credibility with stock growers and multiple-users is non-existent. While their credibility with the general public may be in question, their strength and influence with the press is growing as well as with virtually any elected representative with a “D” after their name.

This movement must be fought Maybe you believe that this virtual takeover of OUR land is so the current administration can use it as collateral for borrowing more money. Maybe you believe that this is a backdoor attempt to get the U.S. to comply with Agenda 21, the United Nation's attempt to negate our sovereignty. Regardless, the environmental movement and its supporters including those within our own government, will strive to control every acre of land they can and our nation will suffer for it.

We all need to get informed and be involved. Stay alert and aware of the areas in your state that are being designated "Wild Lands". Write your State and Federal Congressionals and call them frequently. Most importantly, challenge the environmentalists where ever you can. Their arguments are easily defeated as the facts are against them. But unless they are challenged, the rest of the sheep in the flock will follow their inaccurate, sometime fraudulent, and often emotional rhetoric.

Thanks to my friend Ben E for his great additions to this post. MRM

Movie Clip Wednesday - Favorite movie from the 1940's

2011-01-25T18:00:00.001-07:00

Welcome back to Movie Clip Wednesday. The Boxer inspired meme where you come here to see what the theme is, find a clip of about three minutes, come back here to say "you're up" and then we'll come and visit and give you our two bits. This week's theme is "Favorite movie from the 1940's".

I was going to go a totally different direction with this. I have lot's of movies from the 40's I love. Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life just to name a few. I was really leaning towards Casablanca and knew that from the beginning when I picked the decade. It would be an easy week for me.

I haven't been on the computer much the past few days. Snowmobiling all day Saturday, then football on Sunday. Work, the gym and then the start of my first essay on the land grab yesterday. Was up early today and decided to make the rounds and see how the rest of the malcontents were doing. It was pretty tame. I missed Haiku Monday yet again, which is beginning to annoy me as I love to haiku even though my skills barely match the 5-7-5 format, and continued down my list. I came to Boxer's latest post where I learned of Chickory's journey back to Florida to care for her ailing mother. Chickory's own comments made my heart break for her, having seen it too many times in my life. Chickory has a nice post with lovely pictures of the part of Florida where she grew up. From the post "The roads are sand-based mixes with oak leaves. I love interior Florida. Too many people only see the beaches or DisneyWorld and don't know about it. It is a landscape they speed through, indifferent to its charms and abundant wildlife. This is a birders paradise, thought I, as the familiar whir of duck wings filled the space above me."

I don't have the memory I once had. Maybe it's the age, probably the life I shouldn't have led, but I once in a while something does surface. I remembered a movie that I thought was set in Florida. I knew it was the south but was pretty sure it was in Florida. I quick search of the internet confirmed my suspicions. A sad tale but one that was told brilliantly by Marjorie Rawlings. It's about growing up with nothing but family and knowing that while we are children, at some point, it will be us who are the caregivers. You can read all about The Yearling here. I barely remember even watching this over 30 years ago.

This scene is 8 minutes but there weren't many clips of this movie. Besides, it's message is one that we all need to remember. Our prayers and thoughts are with you Chickory. God bless you and your mother.

Quantitative Easing

2011-01-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

OK. So this is the way to blog. Find something on youtube that someone else has put a lot of time and effort into, put it up on your blog and WALA! An awesome post. Hey, it's what all the kids are doing. Way less work this way too. Why didn't I think of this before. Wait a tic. Stealing someone else's work and trying to take credit for it is what liberals do. The horror!!

How win a global warming argument

2011-01-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

MCW Favorite movie from the 1950's

2011-01-18T20:00:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome to the however many edition of Movie Clip Wednesday this is. This week's theme is favorite movie from the 1950's. MCW founder and regular participant Boxer came up with this week's theme. Here was the reaction from the throngs of bloggers.

I didn't know how many movies from the Fifties I had seen but turns out there have been more than a couple. High Noon was one. On the Waterfront, Shane, and Rio Bravo were some others. All great movies. All way at the top of my favorites list but when I found the movie in this week's clip I knew it was a done deal. The Bridge on the River Kwai isn't so much a war movie as it is a study in the contrast of cultures. The difference in not just how to lead men, but in what the cultures choose to be valuble. William Holden is the big star in this along with Alec Guinness, who won the Oscar for Best Actor but to me the man who has always been the star of this movie, gave it the strength to be one of the best ever and had the most complex character as far as dealing with the cultural issues is Colonel Saito playe by the great Japanese born actor Sessue Hayakawa.

Hayakawa came to Hollywood in the 1910's and was one of the top paid actors of the decade, pulling in $200,000.00 in 1919. That's twice what Will Ferrell should ever be paid. To me, Saito was dominating in every scene, and when he was in any scene with Guinness it was pure cinema gold.

I've picked two clips. If you only have time for one, then pick one. The first clip shows the aforementioned contrast while the second is just Hayakawa showing the dominance of Saito. Enjoy and happy MCW.

Fun at 7500 feet

2011-01-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

L to R, your humble host, friend Scott and his nephew Casey.

Just some pictures BG took this past Saturday. It was the first time we've all been out riding. There were places where the wind was blowing 40 MPH but mostly the weather was great. The snow was like riding in pure sugar. Very soft and lots of work. I was a little sore for a couple of days afterwards but no where near as sore if I hadn't been going to the gym. That really saved me.

Fortunately BG never took any pictures of the couple of times I got stuck. One was epic! Climbing a little hill with about 5 feet of powder and got kicked out of the trail, fought it back and was ready to give myself a high five and fist bump when my foot slipped off the rail while switching sides and I dumped it big time. You kind of had to be there.

Pictures didn't turn out to bad considering BG took them with her HTC Incredible. Then she posted them to her FB page from where these were taken. The 21st century is so awesome.

L to R, Casey stuck as he went to help Aunt Mary who was stuck.

This actually put both of them tied with me for being the stuck the most. That was before the hill incident. And *ahem, another time right after that. The last one really made me angry. Pure stupidity and not listening to Scott. "When in doubt, THROTTLE OUT!" It's good advice. I ended up getting stuck the most. It's not a title I relish and one I've claimed more than my fair share since I started riding. I think I need new skis on the front. Yeah, that's it. New skis will solve my problems. Sure enough.

MRM taking a break and getting ready for a snack.

Happy hour will start a little earlier today.

2011-01-14T13:29:00.002-07:00

I spent the last two days in Helena at the state contractors convention. Ate a lot of food and had a Crown or too. Listened to some speaker for three hours yesterday about how to "Lead without yelling" and then yelled at one of my guys today who didn't listen to a word I said yesterday when I checked in. I shouldn't have yelled but my frustration level is way up with not being listened to especially when it costs the company money. It's over now and I'll try to learn from it.

I get to go back to Helena on Monday to testify at the legislature about the proposed national monument that I mentioned here back in December.

I'm trying to catch up on what everyone has been doing the last couple of days. I haven't made all of my MCW rounds yet and will finish them up tonight. I did read a couple of great posts so far today. The first was Fishy's market dilema , another was Chickory's adventure I also had to see how the lovely Roses foray into internet dating was going.

Three wonderful thought out posts that make me just love the ol' blogosphere.

So I came here to post something and this is what I came up with: I will SHOOT down all liberal arguments whenenever possible. I will TARGET their causes and ARM myself with knowledge in an effort to DESTROY said causes. I will BLOW UP their reasoning with facts and common sense.

What a steaming pile of dung! I mean honestly! How much more lazy can I be? I swear to God that coming to this site is like being Charlie Brown at Halloween. It doesn't matter how many times you pop in, all you're ever gonna get is a rock!

MCW "Favorite Fantasy Movie"

2011-01-11T20:00:00.003-07:00

Welcome to another edition of Movie Clip Wednesday. This is where you read the theme posted under the banner, find a clip of about three minutes long that somewhat resembles said theme and then post it on your blog. Come here and tell all of us you are up and rolling and we'll come and give it a look. PNW native and resident sparring expert Boxer came up with this and now we just roll with it. This week's theme is favorite fantasy movie.

I guess I think of fantasy movies as movies set in some past time before guns and electricity. In the land of dragons, wild beasts and dare I say it, trolls. I could have taken some easy choice here like The Princess Bride, which I love, but I wanted to think outside the box a little

I decided to go old school here with a couple of early 80's classic. Lets see what Buzz remembers about these. I'm going to have a tough time myself as I haven't watched either of them in almost 30 years. First up is Krull. I wasn't a big fan of the main actor in this. Can't remember his name and didn't look it up. I do remember that the story wasn't bad, love the cyclops and the firemares. The ending was kind of odd but if you have the chance and like cheesy B fantasy movies then I highly recommend it.

Next up is one of the all time classic B movies from the 1980's. The timeless masterpiece The Sword and the Sorcerer starring ~~Matt Houston~~ Lee Horsley. Horsley was kind of a sex symbol in the early 80's. I wonder why? 6'3", Texan kind of a poor man's Tom Selleck. Anyway, he was awesome in TSATS. He also starred in a TV series called Matt Houston where he was a private detective. Like I said, poor man's Tom Selleck. Anyway, was watching TSATS at my friend Jim's house because he had satellite TV back then. Remember those big satellite dishes that you had to set up with a crane and eight guys, well he had one. So we're watching TSATS and Jim says "Holy shit!! It's Matt Houston." The sunny slopes of long ago. Horsley was born in Muleshoe, Texas. Honest to God. You can't make that stuff up. The bad guy in this movie is Richard Moll better know as Bull from the show Night Court. Bull is the evil villain. HAHAHAHHAHAHA. Yeah right. Hot chick in this is some woman named Kathleen Beller. I think I had a thing for her back in the day what with that dark hair, olive skin and she was on Dynasty which I never missed. Happy MCW. Wait! Forget about reading the Dynasty thing. That was typo. Thanks.

P.S. I have pool league tonight so will be around for a couple of comments after that. I am leaving Wednesday morning for some meetings and won't be back until Thursday night so I'll finish my rounds then.

Is this commerical offensive?

2011-01-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

.........or just funny?

Where's my abacus?

2011-01-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

Let me see if I have this straight. Adding a trillion dollar entitlement program to the national coifers will lower the national debt while repealing it will add to the national debt. Repealing health care will make Medicare costs increase even though part of the money to fund health care was supposed to come from Medicare waste. So how will it go into debt if there is all of this waste? How can not funding a government entitlement program that isn't in existence yet add to the debt? Why is this the only bill in the last 50 years for which we were going to be taxed for two years before it goes into effect?

Strange times indeed.