Speaks for itself

Voter Caging in Montana, Missoula Red Tape, voter suppression Montana

Deadlines

Being a student teaches you all about deadlines and time management - most times in cruel and unusual ways. This post is not about the stress of being a college student. I'm slowly maturing into my 'professional life' and looking at the bigger picture. Right now, that 'bigger picture' is the impending election. 

Here is all of the information that you would ever need, regardless of which state you live in, about politics from a self-proclaimed non-biased source. 

Specifically, I was glad to see that Obama supported American Nurses Association initiatives 100% in 2005 and McCain supported ANA only 20% in 2005. 

Regardless of my obvious political bias, this is the reason why I'm writing. The deadline to register to vote in Montana by mail is today. However, if you're any bit of a procrastinator like I am, you can still register in person 'at your local election office'. 

Work of FICTION!

I touch your skin

it is electrifying - 

Oh how I've missed this.

~

I've missed touching you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I absorb your scent

memories flash before me,

of times you held me close.

~

I've missed your scent.

~~~~~~~~~~

You speak sweet words.

I've heard those words before,

but never with as much feeling.

~

I've missed your voice.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your lips gently press on mine -

you taste so sweet...

matches your personality.

~

Oh how I've longed to taste you.

~~~~~~~~~

Where are you?

For I cannot see you.

Oh please come back - 

I miss you.

***Disclaimer: For starters, I am not a genius at poetry metering and rhythm - sorry. Second - no part of this is true. *Not one lousy little part.* It is purely a work of fiction. 

Picture Letter

One of many Lost Lakes in Minnesota by Vermilion Lake.





Fires in Missoula.




Funky flower from the farmer's market.





Edinburgh Dahlia



Duckling looking to jump



...maybe just a little closer



... one webbed foot,



and the other!

Sexism - take II

It is funny how an educated woman, who actually has a personal values system, is ridiculed by the "elite" media as a a woman that reminds married men of their "nagging wives". I am so frustrated by the GOP's move to choose a WOMAN as VP, I can't find words to explain how I feel.



At least someone isn't afraid to call her what she is...



Tina Fey as Sarah Palin SNL spoof, Hillary Clinton & Sarah Palin SNL, Saturday Night Live
Sarah Palin and Stephen Colbert Report

Enjoy - click for better views

There she is. 14,110 ft tall.



I think this picture shows the course from the ski area to Glen Cove.



One part of the W's at Pikes Peak.



The practice runs were held very early in the morning. The sun didn't have a chance to burn through this cloud front before it went on the course. If you look closely, you can see that this driver, Mike Childress #229, had his 2003 Ford F150 on two wheels! Mike finished 2nd in the ProTruck Divsion with a time of 14:16.701.



Fast car, nothing looks too wrong with it, right? Kind of throwing up a lot of dirt, but no biggie, right?
I think this is Robert Lopez #21 in the Pikes Peak Open division.



This tire and two more identical ones may be the reason for the car throwing up so much dirt! Mr. Lopez finished 2nd in his class in his 2006 Subaru WRX STI with a final time of 13:13.143. As a side note and not to discredit Robert's finish, half of the cars in the Pikes Peak Open division did not finish. Here is Marty Roestenburg, who was also in the Pikes Peak Open Division. Very nice guy and an exceptional racer. He was almost a full minute ahead of the other cars in his division at the 16 mile checkpoint!



Garden of the Gods.



Kissing camels at the Garden of the Gods. Can you see them?



Here are the camels close up.




COG railway. I hope it never needs these last couple of... inches!



2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb pictures, 2008 PPIHC pictures, 2008 Race to the Clouds pictures

Issues

In such an important and close presidential race, why would you initiate tactics like this retard did? The people that are on the fence want to know how one candidate is going to better this messed up country, and where he stands on the things that matter - the issues. IF, IF, I was voting for McCain, I would hope that the genius behind this ad was fired. But, as far as I'm concerned, keep him (or her) on! He's single handedly ruining McCain's reputation. Good. But, doesn't McCain approve his ads before airing them? Hm... who should really be fired then?

John McCain, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears campaign ad parody

Leavened or Unleavened

If I were a bread, I would like to imagine that my life would equate to a fresh bread made at the local bakery (Le Petit Outre). Free of preservatives and artificial colorings and flavorings. A simple yet complex blend of few ingredients that form together and the outcome is literally dependent on the weather. Somedays I'm tough and hard to swallow, other times, most enjoyable in moderation with a little bit of butter, and in some cases the sole perfect accompaniment to a warm, hearty bowl of soup.

Why in the world would a normally sane girl be comparing herself to a loaf of bread? Well, because I'm incredibly worried that my life is going to turn stale if I don't do something about it. I have been living in the freezer, known as Montana, for a while and haven't realized that life outside of the freezer is new and challenging, but what challenges do I want to take? Which ones do I want to avoid? Am I just making a huge mess of nothing? I want to go out and discover new places and breads, but at what cost? Will I be leavened and rise to the occasion and search out new experiences, or will I be unleavened, humble, and enjoy what I have for the fact that I'm familiar with my situation... does that breed contempt, or contentment?

Any and all suggestions are welcomed with open ears.

Very 'Cuil'

A new search engine that accesses more web pages. You can read all about it from Yahoo here. I tried it out by searching my own name, and I was surprised by how many more listings were found. One possible problem is that it seems to log a ton of spam pages. Maybe these were just kinks in my highly technical search. I'll definitely try using cuil more in the future.

Fun way to inform ppl

Don't have a garage, but this is a smart idea presented in a very clever manner. Engineers can be interesting and fun!

PPIHC 2008 Highlight Video

I thought this video did a good job at combining a lot of the better racers - there were a lot of quads and motorcycles *yawn*. (Still braver than me to do it tho!) The monkeys in the side cars were absolutely crazy! It doesn't seem that bad if you're driving and have control over your vehicle, but essentially holding on and inspecting the road, very closely, at high speeds is absolutely insane! These guys (and gal) look like they enjoy it tho! (I wish the pictures were a little slower, tho - as you may know, I like to look at the bigger picture! ;)




Pikes Peak 2008 video, Race to the Clouds 2008 video, PPIHC 2008 video,

contentment vs. disappointment vs. frustration

I've been debating the differences between these words lately and how they each relate to my life. Am I just content? Is it disappointment? Maybe I'm just frustrated by the unknown.... more to come later...

Reset

My Clustrmap was reset while I was in Las Vegas. I was growing proud of my little red dots, and suddenly, they disappeared! :( Oh well, now I have new little red dots to look after and take care of by feeding them with new and entertaining posts. I hope they grow up to be big and strong! (I knew it was going to be reset, but it was a little shocking. I'm just glad I have access to the old map.) I did have another IP address tracker on here, but I thought it was a little too violating of people's rights albeit, very interesting that it could get that close. It might reappear from scratch, or maybe not. I'll probably debate it for a long time only to come to a decision that is completely out of the blue.

In the musical dark

My iPod was acting up, so I showed it who was boss and reformatted the darn thing. (While losing music I did not have on my computer :( .) When I was playing around and trying to see if there was any way that I could save some of my songs, I stumbled on to the artwork buttons and realized it was much easier to add artwork than I had thought. I originally thought one had to buy the artwork (you probably do, and I'm doing this illegally, but that's really enough said).

Anyways, when I was going through all of my music (all 2 GB of music alone, not including podcasts) I realized a couple of things. The first thing that I realized is how out of touch I am with the current music scene. Not only with new bands, but with bands I have grown to love, but over time have just forgotten about. Take my love, Mason Jennings, for instance -- the last album I bought of his was Century Spring back in 2002 or 2003. Since then, he has released 3 more albums that I know nothing about - except sadly for their existence. :'( I don't even want to talk about the many shows I've missed of since I began living in the middle of a musically challenged black hole ** please note disclaimer**. (Tool cancelled their show here in December, and a couple of years ago, Ani DiFranco also cancelled in Bozeman, but is thankfully coming back this year to both Missoula and Bozeman.)

Aside from learning that many bands I love have new albums out, a couple of bands announced a hiatus beginning this year! WTF! (I guess it does give me some time to catch up on the albums I don't know.) Both Incubus and RHCP announced this spring that they were taking at least a year each to catch up on their lives. ...Come on! Don't they know how to multi-task? I am selfishly joking. Taking breaks from each other is a great thing- as long as they get back together down the line when I'm ready and can actually afford to take day trips to BFE to see their shows.

Since it is one o'clock in the morning, I suppose I'll get back to my "tasks". I leave on Thursday morning for Vegas.



** There are many musically gifted people already here in Missoula, and for that I am thankful for, I just miss *my* bands.

keeping me up to date

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and cookie monster