Two wheeled adventure

The transitional time continues for the Northern Plains, Saturday was beautiful and near 70, Sunday was beautiful and only 40, and today is beautiful and back to 60. At least there is no snow or rain forecasted for the next week, just blue skies and warm weather...for now! Saturday I took the motorcycle out for probably the last time this year. I went for a ride down south to St. Xavier, over to Pryor, up to Billings and back to town. I wanted to see the beet harvest and just get out and enjoy the warm weather and blue skies! The wind was TERRIBLE though and I fought a head wind all the way to Billings; although the ride home was easier due to the strong tailwind! I was really a neat ride and I had a good time...looking forward to more riding next spring when I hope to take the bike to Canada and finally do the Icefields Parkway near Banff, AB!!!

Vindication

I just read an article about oil prices. The report cited oil trading today at one point below $70.00/barrel; less than half what it was trading at merely three months ago. The report cited a downturn in demand and an increase in supply as the reasoning behind falling oil prices...didn't I say several months ago that if we demanded less oil that the prices would drop? I believe that I did! Now, I am being proven right and I will go on to say that if demand for oil creeps upward again and people don't permanately adopt the changes in driving habits that they have begun during extremely high pricing that oil will again go up and prices at the pump will follow. Again, the only way to see lower energy prices is to demand less energy. It really is that simple.

Debate Revisited

Now that the last presidential debate is over...how does that affect your vote? Me, personally, I think that while McCain clearly wanted to "duke it out" with Obama tonight, Obama stayed the course and took the "high road"...amazing! I really do not like either candidate, but as I am watching the debate and listening to two men bash the policies of Washington DC I could not suppress the feeling that these two men ARE PART OF THE WASHINGTON DC CROWD!!! They are bashing the same system that both of them are a part of. How can either be entrusted to change a culture that they themselves helped create? When it comes right down to it...and I can't believe that I am saying this, Obama's message rang truer with me tonight. His economic policy makes more sense (not that I think that it is a good plan, just better than McCain's). Obama's line that for every dollar in spending increases there has to be a corresponding dollar of spending cuts makes perfect sense; his message that Americans have been living above their means and that has to change makes perfect sense; however, his plans for universal health care and universal college education do not make sense. On the flip side McCain wanting to buy up "bad" mortgages and help "people stay in their homes" is a load of bunk; that is strictly a political ploy and another indication that maybe John McCain has been in Washington too long...maybe it's time to buy that membership at a nice golf club in Phoenix John...you know, RETIRE!!! This is starting to sound like I am an Obama supporter (frankly the idea of those words escaping my mouth scare the hell out of me) but tonight anyway Obama made more sense. 19 more days of deliberating before it's time to pull the lever and pick your poison America!

Catchin' Up

After a longer than expected absence...here is what's going on in the "Last Best Place". We had a major winter storm this past weekend with 8 inches here in town and 12-22 inches over in Billings. Red Lodge got nearly 4ft and the ski slopes may open early this year because of it. Now it is Wednesday evening and all of the snow is gone here in town and the temperature is supposed to be in the 50s and 60s for the remainder of the week...weird huh?

I have made the determination that universities make absolutely no sense when it comes to policy. My graduate career is progressing nicely except that I cannot transfer credit from Virginia Tech toward my MSU degree because I already (according to MSU) have the maximum of 9 transfer credits. Now, the interesting part of this is that the 9 transfer credits that I have...guess where those credits were earned...that's right, Montana State Univerity-Bozeman! Now would somebody like to explain to me how someone can transfer credits earned at a university into the SAME university!!! It is complete lunacy!!! The reasoning given to me by the department head was that those 9 credits were earned at MSU prior to my official acceptance into the department. Now, the reason I wasn't given formal entrance to the department was that the graduate committee wanted to see some more progress of my academics prior to offering me admission and suggested that I take some classes in the department where I would be studying...now those credits are TRANSFER credits!!! I am now completely convinced that graduate school is not about learning but rather a rigorous set of challenges designed to test your ability in jumping through hoops and navigating the inner workings of stupidity...anyone want to argue that point??? While I am on my soapbox about stupid university things; I got a bill from MSU for $4.00 today. The bill is for a beef ribeye card (which I do need and would love to have), but I never got the card. The best part of this...the bill was marked "Late, past due". I never got an initial notice, nor did I recieve the product that I am being billed for. I don't know who hired the accountants in Bozeman, but I think that maybe they should pay a little closer attention to detail down there.

October 2

It's October...doesn't seem like it should be but it is. Montana is beautiful right now, our leaves are changing colors (or color; everything turns yellow here). The two trees in my front yard have already given up for the year and all of the leaves are off. Beet harvest will start in the next week or so and I hope to get out and help out (or at least watch). Cattle are being shipped south to Colorado and Nebraska to feedlots. All in all, it's a busy time.

Yesterday when I went home for lunch the dogs were barking like crazy (nothing unusual there) but something made me go out back and see what was going on. It took a while to see what the issue was, but Maggie had a HUGE squirrel treed. It was one of the biggest squirrels I have ever seen! Maggie really does have a nice tree bark, but I am sure that the neighbors get tired of the hound baying. Speaking of which, I saw this past weekend in USA Today and article that was discussing a growing storm with hunting in Virginia; it seems that a few tree hugger types are trying to ban hunting with hounds. I know that there are a few bad apples in the coon and bear hunting community that don't respect landowner rights (in Virginia, that is EXTREMELY limited due to the "right to retrieve" laws) and these bad apples are going to ruin the sport for everyone else. It's the same thing in Montana (only without hounds), a few bad sports cause loss of access for everyone. It really sucks for those of us who do follow the regulations and try to be a good ambassador for the sport of hunting. I guess that I am on my soapbox about hunting right now because the countdown has started for pheasant season (9 days to go)!!! I can't wait to get out and watch the dogs (I've been talking to Kevin about taking Jet and Hatchet out again this year) and maybe we'll be lucky enough to find and flush some big roosters!!!