Hello world

This is little A.J. He’s the newest member of our little family. Aspen has only met him briefly. She wasn’t a fan at first. We’re taking our time getting them used to each other so he’s locked up in the office for now while Aspen gets the rest of the house. We’re trying to let them get used to having each other around.

We rescued this little fella from the humane society. He had a brother that looked almost exactly like him but that little guy was a total spaz. A.J. can be a bit more laid back though he’s definitely a kitten still. He’s just as cute as can be though.

We’ll try to get some better pictures of the little guy but he’s pretty antsy so far. He doesn’t sit still very long.

Half way to Christmas

Six more months until the second greatest holiday of the year. (The first being my birthday of course!) I can’t wait.

I spent some time listening to an XM Radio interview with the late George Carlin. I’ve kind of always been a fan of Carlin because a lot of his comedy centered around things dealing with Communication Theory type things. As a comm geek I found his observations both insightful and funny as hell. He was also in a few Kevin Smith movies which makes him pretty cool in my book. It’s sad that he’s gone. While he was getting on in age it’s still sad to see him pass away. RIP good sir.

I’m travelling up to Missoula in the morning for some web training for the paper. We’ll be learning how to keep the website running smoothly and changing things up as needed. Unfortunately I’ll be hitching a ride with a co-worker. Not unfortunately because I don’t like my co-worker, but because both cars are currently in the shop. The truck’s starter was getting too unpredictable to wait so it went in today. Jess’ car is still a week (at least) away from being fixed up from the deer. So we’re both riding bikes to work and around town. The really bad part about this is that it’s supposed to be in the mid 90s here this weekend. We’re going to be trapped in the heat!

That’s a sad thing because we’re looking forward to a couple movies coming out this weekend. We’ll try to find a way to the movie theater but with no car and insane heat, it might be a challenge. We’re hoping to see Wanted and Wall-E. Hopefully we’ll get to at least one of them.

Six years baby!

Six years ago Jess and I got hitched. We went and took a picture right where we said our vows at just about the time we would have done it back then. Jess has shorter hair and I’m looking a bit older, but we’re still very crazy about each other!

Six years ago I never would have expected to end up living minutes away from where we were saying our vows. Nor would I have expected to work across the street from where we had the rehearsal dinner. Oddly enough, that’s exactly what happened and honestly, I couldn’t be happier. Our life here is good and our marriage is thriving. It’s awesome.

It’s been a great six years. I know the ones still to come will be even better than the ones before them. That’s the way it’s been so far!

One more, then I’ll leave it for you to decide yourself

Despite my pop’s best efforts, he hasn’t really done much to disprove my points. He DID ignore some of them though. As my dad said about me, my old man is a good guy and I have no doubts that he sincerely believes the things he advocates. I fully support his right to be wrong.

That said, he’s accused me of not giving “facts.” I disagree completely. Heck, I could actually argue that his “facts” are not from true experts in the field. The first part of his original response was written by someone named “Fauna Gille,” a wanna-be film critic who blogs about random crap (like me!) and gives her opinion. She’s not really a subject matter “expert.”

The second section, (the whole “myths” section) was written by Alaskas former Senator Frank Murkowski. He’s at least close to an expert on the topic. The problem though is that his background is in oil and he’s had holdings in Chevron. He’s also pretty tight with the oil industry as members of his staff had an oil company pay for polls for Murkowski. Though he wasn’t indicted in the corruption probe, it’s pretty clear he’s in bed with the oil companies. They contributed to his election campaigns and his chief of staff was indicted for conspiracy to use an illegal campaign contribution for a poll. I don’t think we can use these “facts” due to the obvious bias the author would carry toward the oil industry. He’s simply not objective.

The global warming section is a hodgepodge of a few different “anti-global warming” advocates. Notably, a large section is taken from the writings of one Anthony Watts. You can google him if you want. He’s big on saying global warming readings are flawed and it doesn’t really exist. Ironically though, he’s a huge advocate of solar power.

Again, I’m pretty confident on my ground here and if you’re so inclined I invite anyone that reads my blog to really do the research on the number of climate scientists that believe global warming is a big deal vs. the ones that say it’s not. I’m telling you, flat out, my side is FAR larger.The bottom line is the science backs up the notion that the global climate is changing and the average global temperature is rising. The assertion made that 2007 was cooler than 6 years before it is in fact a lie. According to Goddard Institute of Space Studies (a division of NASA), 2007 was the second hottest year in recorded history. Check it out HERE.

If one “fact” is a lie, can you really trust the others? I’m not going to research them all, but I’m pretty sure most of them are based off flawed assumptions.

Now, to respond to my dad’s latest comments!

Here are the facts that I’ve listed.

1) Oil is a dirty burning fuel. The buring of oil releases CO2, dangerous to humans. It also releases particulate matter that creates smog. These are not assertions, it’s pretty easy to see. Those are facts.

2) God left us as “stewards” of his creation. We are supposed to take care of it. Polluting it with particulate matter and excessive CO2 is not taking care of the planet we were given.

3) There is currently NO infrastructure in ANWR for oil production. No roads, no wells, no processing facilities and no pipeline. That’s fact. That means that nothing we decide about ANWR is going to have any impact on gas prices any time soon. That’s a fact. Unless of course you can prove otherwise. Most analysts agree with me though.

4) Alternative fuel sources like Hydrogen, wind and solar power are clean burning. Wind and solar, obviously, don’t burn. Therefore no particulate matter polluting our air. Hydrogen, when burned, creates water as a byproduct. Weird but true. Moving to these SUSTAINABLE fuel sources would clean our air and remove our dependence on foreign oil far more than drilling ANYWHERE in the US.

5) Oil is a finite resource. It’s going to run out at some point. That’s a fact. Why put off the inevitable? Make the change now and be the leaders in oil-free tech.

In terms of his argument that the air in Denver is cleaner than it used to be… Well of course it is, they enacted air-quality laws because of how bad the air was! It’s not hard to see the cloud of smog that hangs over Denver when flying into the area though. And to argue that the air in California is pristine is kind of crazy. (I love you dad but you shot an IFR approach into LA on a clear day… that ain’t pristine air!)

There’s no way around it… oil burns dirty. Suck on a tail pipe for a minute and you’ll understand completely. (Don’t actually do it!) I believe we should make more of an effort to move to alternative, clean fuels rather than continue to burn oil. Approving drilling in places like ANWR will only delay the inevitable. It won’t help us tomorrow and it will put us behind in the global move toward things like wind, solar and hydrogen power. The better long-term solution is to start moving away from oil, not toward it.

Dad likes oil companies… I don’t.

Warning, this is pretty long…

So if you read the comments from the last post, it’s obvious dad has bought into the oil companies’ views on drilling for oil and entrenching ourselves in an old and dirty fuel source. So rather than just let him think he made his points and walked away victorious, let me show why his comments (which were obviously copied from a pro-oil website) don’t respond to my comments.

1) I pointed out that God left us to be stewards of His creation. We should do our best to take care of it as followers of the Lord. It doesn’t take a genius to see that oil and fossil fuel burning is terribly polluting. Living outside of Denver, dad should know this firsthand. The brown cloud produced by fossil fuels is disgusting and bad for people’s health. I don’t think polluting the air of our planet qualifies as being good stewards of God’s creation. No amount of oil propaganda is going to convince me otherwise. I can see it with my own two eyes.

2) The comments talk a lot about thriving caribou and whatever but if you read back over my post, I didn’t talk about the potential harm to caribou or any other animal. I talked about the eyesores oil production facilities are. I talked about how dirty everything related to fossil fuels are. I commented on how oil is a finite resource and not the long-term answer. Trying to draw focus away from the argument is a classic tactic when there’s no response to the argument. If you can’t beat it, hey look over there!

3) Opening up drilling in ANWR or off our coasts will do nothing for the current economy. It will take years before any oil from those areas are put into the system. There’s simply no infrasstructure established right now to make that possible. Roads would have to be built, rigs moved or built, pipelines built and in the case of offshore drilling, oil platforms built and moved into place. None of that is going to happen overnight. We’re stuck with this situation for a while no matter what we do on ANWR. Plus, even with more oil, no new refineries means we’re still not going to have any impact on supply.

4) The arguments the comments make about alternative energy are flawed. The numbers about our future oil needs all assume that our use of alternative fuels and energy sources will remain static and not increase in the coming years. I would assume that as long as we don’t elect another Bush to the White House, that will begin to change, soon. Therefore our “need” for oil will decrease over time. Studies show we’ve got enough wind in the middle sections of the country to power the entire country, at projected growth rates, for the next 50 years. And that’s just wind. Solar has the same potential in the So. Cal/Arizona/Nevada deserts. Area no one uses anyway could be put to use powering our nation. The big hold up here is our electricity grid is seriously old and not capable of transporting electricity over long distances.

My solution to that is to stop spending billions a day in Iraq and start rebuilding our electric grid. It needs to happen.

5) Though alternative fuels like wind and solar are currently on the expensive side, mass production and use would undoubtedly lower prices. This is classic supply/demand economics that Republicans flaunt all the time. The reason these are expensive is because they are used so infrequently. Increase usage and prices will drop. As I stated in my post, not only will this help our environment, lower our dependence on oil and provide jobs, Scandanavian countries show that it will drastically improve our economy. Jobs will be created and money will stay within our economy rather than lining Middle Eastern princes’ pockets.

6) The arguments and numbers about oil/fossil fuels being cost effective is based on oil being at $20-$30/barrel, not the current $130/barrel. Again, flawed argumentation to try to distract you. Remember, my original arguments had nothing to do with cost-effectiveness… it had to do with oil being a bad choice and now with higher prices we finally have the incentive to move to better choices. I even said I was fine with paying higher prices for now if it meant we moved away from oil.

7) The whole global warming debate. They take some shots at the Nobel prize winning group and say they’re not qualified. Fortunately for me I know this is a big crock and an outright lie. See, two of the scientists on the intergovernmental panel that won the award with Al Gore live right here in the Bitterroot Valley. Even better, my newspaper interviewed one of them. We also got his credentials. He’s a highly respected, well published and thoroughly vetted scientist.

I don’t know why people are still arguing global warming exists and poses a pretty big threat to the planet. Heck, even the thick skulled George W. Bush has said it’s a problem we need to address. (Though he’s done way more to contribute to it than help solve it.) If anyone REALLY wants to get into the whole climate change debate, I’ll be happy to do it, but honestly, do some research and I think you’ll find that the majority of legitimate scientists involved in the climate change field will be on my side.

But NONE of that addresses ANY of the reasons I said we shouldn’t drill. Oil is and always will be a DIRTY fuel. There are cleaner, far more sustainable sources of fuel. The technology is relatively new and so it’s not super cheap. If we make the commitment to the change though, economics of scale will lower the price and ultimately we’ll be far better off. Cleaner air and being energy self-sufficient forever is worth the initial investment.

Whether we drill in ANWR or off our coasts, one thing is clear… we’re going to run out of oil at some point. Like I’ve said over and over, it’s a finite resource. Oil consumption is going up around the world and no amount of drilling is going to stop us from running out. Our efforts and money would be better spent developing clean, sustainable energy sources. Drilling will only temporarily distract us from the inevitable. Why not lead the charge instead of letting other countries lead the way? If we don’t do it, the eventual change will only be more expensive for our nation.

Don’t be distracted by oil propaganda. We have to think long-term here and do what will be best for the future of our nation. There’s no avoiding high gas prices for the near future. Let’s start the transition away from oil now. We’ve already waited too long. Let’s not wait any longer.

Oil in ANWR so not the answer

I don’t blog about politics too much. Jess doesn’t like it when I do. I’m pretty big on protecting the environment though and this whole “Let’s start drilling more” bit bugs me. I know gas prices are high, believe me, I’m suffering too. The thought of our gas bill once ski season hits has me concerned already. I just don’t think that oil is the best way out of this mess.

God gave us the command to take care of His creation. So far we’ve done a pretty poor job of that. Fossil fuels are dirty. There’s no way around that. The create smog, they smell bad and the process of getting them out of the ground creates plenty of eyesores as well. That’s not even getting into the whole global warming aspect of them. We need to start using clean burning, sustainable energy sources.

My vote for the best fuel for autos is hydrogen. Fortunately Honda is releasing a hydrogen car to a small group of testers this year. Finally some progress! It burns totally clean and is readily available, all you gotta do is split up water molecules and you’ve got hydrogen. Easy peesy.

If we continue to drill for more and more oil, we will continue to burn dirty fuels, continue to contribute to global warming and at some point we will still have to find something else as fossil fuels are a finite commodity. Let’s stop putting off the inevitable and put our focus on finding a better way. The European countries that have done this have seen their economies grow rapidly.

I think this is one of the primary challenges for our next President. We’ve got to solve the energy problem. We’ve got to solve it long term. Finding a band-aid to temporarily lower prices isn’t going to be in the best interest of the country. I’d rather pay a bit more for the next 5 years and never have to worry about it again than pay slightly lower prices for the next 4 years and spend the following 10 years paying astronomically higher prices. Let’s just do it right already.

No more drilling. There are better options that we really should be pursuing. Oil and coal are old technologies. Let’s move on.

Frustration

I had a feeling the Lakers would end up losing this game and thus, the series. They’re just too young this year. The role players are all young and couldn’t handle “the moment.” Being in the finals this year though should help them out tremendously though. Next year could be a great year with both Gasol and Bynum in the mix. Maybe an off-season in the system will get Gasol to play strong more consistently. He played like he was afraid of getting hurt tonight. Seven shots? Unacceptable.

I wrote the editorial that appeared in today’s paper. It’s HERE if you’d like to read it. Not many people will probably see the significance but I’m a believer in community owned skateparks and it’s sad that our area doesn’t have one. I’d also like to point out HERE where you can read about the awards our newspaper received this year from the Montana Newspaper Association. Yes, I got a second place award for best front page design. I’d be more excited but it’s just second…

So I haven’t talked about the “disaster” at work while I was gone. Apparently there were all kinds of problems getting the paper put together and sent to the press. The first night I was gone the paper very nearly didn’t come out. I’m not real sure what exactly went wrong because I haven’t seen the files but it was a mess apparently. The two days after that went a little smoother but apparently not too much smoother. So we had a big meeting today to try to figure out what to do the next time I go out of town. (In a month) Not much was decided other than the idea that the people that do my job when I’m gone (all 4 of them) need to do it a bit more often so they’re used to doing it. I could have told you that without the meeting…

So now I’m back in the grind at work and there are no more sports until late August. This is the WORST part of the year for me. It’s hot and miserable, nothing good on TV, no skiing… I don’t know why people like summer so much. Summer sucks.

Best dad in the world!

Happy Fathers Day to my pop! I called him earlier and had a nice chat with him but he deserves a post on the blog as well.

When we moved up here, the hardest thing I had to give up was my relationship with my dad. Not that we’re not still good friends and stuff, but we had a great situation in Colorado. Starting when I got engaged and moved back to Colorado, dad and I would have lunch once a week together. Just the two of us. At first it was to give me some good fatherly advice on maintaining a strong, successful marriage. As time went on it turned into a chance for each of us to talk with each other and for me to get advice on things that were bothering me.

I really enjoyed those lunches and I learned a lot from those. Given that Jess and I are approaching six years of marriage and still going strong, dad’s advice must have been pretty good. (Don’t worry, it was GREAT advice and has helped me out a lot.) Now that we’re in Montana I don’t get to have those lunches with my dad. It’s been a real adjustment. I try to keep touch over email but I know I’m not as good as I should be with that. Fortunately he reads the blog so he at least knows what’s going on with me.

So Happy Fathers Day dad! You’re the greatest!

Worst… vacation… ever…

Well, maybe not the worst… but not anywhere near the best. The first days of vacation I’ve already discussed. But here’s now it has proceeded since then.

The weather FINALLY cleared up. So I went hiking. I went up near where we went last weekend but took a different trail. It was a more difficult trail with trees and bushes all over the trail. The trees had literally fallen across the trail and you had to climb over or around them. It was ok though, just difficult. I crossed from the Bitterroot National Forest to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness along the way.

It was a pretty hike and really peaceful. I was the only one hiking along so it was nice to have the area to myself. Plenty of time to try to get myself centered. Here’s some pics of things I saw along the way.

And another one…

I finally got pretty tired and given the time I knew it was time to turn back. I’d been trying to find a waterfall that is somewhere up the trail but after nearly 3 hours of hiking I hadn’t come across it. Plus I was hiking through snow and streams and mud and it wasn’t near as much fun as it had been when it started. So I turned around and hiked back down the trail a ways to have a quick lunch before hiking down.

Here’s where I had lunch. I sat on that log and ate a samich and some carrots.

This was all fine and dandy but I went farther than I should have. By the time I got back to the car I was hurting. Bad. I picked up Jess from work then went home where I sat on the couch the rest of the night and watched the Lakers blow the series. (Most likely)

Yesterday Jess got off work early and we went on a little drive. We headed up to Painted Rocks Reservoir which is about 45 minutes away from where we live. It was a pretty drive and the lake was cool. Since I was in pain from my long hike I couldn’t move too well. We drove around the lake and checked it out. We also took a picture from the campground dock.

We were having a great time. On the way back we stopped in Darby (tiny town south of us) and had a nice burrito dinner.

Then, on the drive home from Darby… the day went bad. We were driving along a mile or two out of Hamilton. Jess and I were having a good chat and I was looking at her when all of a sudden she slammed on the breaks. I looked to see what was ahead of us. Nothing. Then out of the corner of my eye I see the problem. A deer came running straight into the car. I was the passenger and I’m not kidding when I say I though the deer was going to be in my lap. It hit right in front of the door and bounced down the car, breaking the window in the process. Jess and I were showered with glass. Fortunately neither of us was really hurt. (Jess got a couple tiny cuts from the glass but nothing major) The car however is a different story.

So Jess’ car is now out of commission. We have insurance and they’ll cover the damage so we’re just out the $500 deductible but it sucks since my truck has been having problems lately. It also means my truck will probably have to wait a month or two before we can get it in the shop. We’ll just have to be careful about how/when we drive it so we don’t get stranded somewhere with it not starting. Since we live in town it shouldn’t be too big a deal, we can walk most places.

So yeah… this vacation has been kind of rough. Now I’m a day away from having to go back to work and I’m still not that relaxed. Work isn’t going to be too much fun when I get back either because they’ve had some serious problems trying to do my job since I’ve been gone. The weekend paper was a mess. Fortunately there’s only a month left before we head out for Flathead Lake with the in-laws. I guess I REALLY need that vacation now…

Vacation… sort of…

I’m on vacation. Kind of. The new term for it I guess is a “staycation” cause I didn’t really go anywhere. That’s turned into kind of a curse though. In the past 24 hours, work has called 3 times. I haven’t answered yet. I went in last night and checked with the people having the “emergency” but they’d handled it by the time I got there. Apparently I’m the only person that can figure stuff out at work. The stuff they called about today wasn’t an emergency and they’re capable of getting it solved without my help so they need to respect the fact that I’m on vacation, even if I’m still in town.

Yes, it’s been a bit frustrating being bugged by work when I’m supposed to be on vacation. They’ve known for more than a month this vacation was coming so they had plenty of time to get ready for it.

There are other issues with my staycation… It’s been raining pretty constantly since the whole thing started so I’ve been stuck in the house. I’d planned on hiking and biking all week but that’s been shut down since I can’t get out in the rain. The other problem is that my truck has decided the starter doesn’t need to work too much. So I can’t really take it anywhere cause what if it decides to stop working at a trailhead? Then I’d be stuck. So I’m kind of getting hosed on my plans.

So far the staycation hasn’t totally achieved the goal of getting me recharged for work. It’s made me annoyed with work but that’s more to do with work calling me constantly. This one just has to get me through the next month until we head up to Flathead Lake in July. That should get me through a month before I take off for Arkansas and Colorado. That’s a long vacation so it should get me to ski season. Then I’ll be set for a while.