Congratulations!

Congratulations Barack Hussein Obama on your election! It will be an exciting eight years and I wish you every success. Thank you.

Vote!

Please vote! It is so important that everyone vote -- no matter who you decide to vote for -- PLEASE VOTE!

ALCAN Highway (Alaska-Canadian Highway)

Constructed during World War II the highway connects the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada, the pioneer road completed in 1942 was approximately 1,680 miles from Dawson Creek to Delta Junction. My father worked on this highway and talked about it often during his lifetime and I always enjoyed his stories. I have been going through many of his old photographs from his time in Alaska and I'm going to write a few entries and include some of the photographs. I think it is sad that they killed the bear but think it is interesting that anyone would be so foolhardy!

Colin Powell

It is entirely possible that Colin Powell is going to endorse Barack Obama; apparently he will make his decision after the final debate tonight. I sure hope he decides to do this. I have so much respect of Colin Powell even when he was a member of the Bush administration.

"$3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois"

My friends John McCain is an idiot! Please read the statement from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago:
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/pressroom/pr/2008_10_08_AdlerStatement_aboutdebate.pdf

OMG!

I just keep hoping that Palin is some bad joke -- I know that it isn't possible but why? The only thing that Palin shares with Hilary is a vagina so who in their right mind would think that Hilary supporters would migrate to the Republicans just because of a woman VP?

I know I'll be voting for the Democrats!

I am who I am!

Perhaps I am not meant to be anyone's wife. I can love truly, madly, deeply. I really can and do! Loving Roy taught me that above all else. Unfortunately I am so fiercely independent. I can actually be quite happy on my own.

In memory of a very nice man

I just learned of the death of Arthur (Art) F. Kussman, he was 97. I met Art when my father moved to an assisted living facility in Helena, MT -- Art had just moved to this facility with his wife. Art's wife needed more care than he was able to provide for her at home so they both moved to an assisted living facility.

Somehow during this "move-in" period my father and Art met and they became friends -- given that Helena, MT is a relatively small town I was surprised that they didn't already know each other but they didn't. This friendship was the best thing for my father. Art was very patient and seemed to realize instinctively that my father had some serious memory issues (everyone assured me not Alzheimer’s disease but definitely short term memory loss). These memory problems never bothered Art or maybe it just gave him the opportunity to continually retell stories and never bore my father.

It was also wonderful because my father loved being outdoors, something Art also enjoyed so they would take walks and drives around the Helena area (sometimes to the consternation of the nurses and staff especially when they would disappear for prolonged periods of time).

Art was a lifelong Republican and we just finally decided that there were discussion we couldn't have -- he wasn't going to change his mind and neither was I.

I'll miss Art, I only saw him a couple of times last summer and I didn't get back to MT in time to see him but I will remember him and think about him often.

Clinton/Obama -- Obama/Clinton

I'm tired! This campaign is wearing me out and the money that is being wasted! The Democrats need to get this over and focus on winning the election -- PLEASE!

Bobby is the best boy!

I really do enjoy my little dog -- he was suppose to be a toy Yorkshire Terrier, but that is not the case! On his last vet visit on April 1st he weighed 13.66866 pounds and that is all muscle. Considering his rough start he is doing very well and I love him a lot!

I love it!

Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actor!

Governor Brian Schweitzer and Coal

I am really not happy about Governor Schweitzer being such a proponent of Montana pursuing the development of the ultra-clean coal technology in the areas of our major coal deposits in central and eastern Montana. The technology to convert coal into synthetic petroleum products or natural gas has existed for almost a century, and modern versions of this technology offers great promise for reducing American dependence on foreign oil and developing Montana’s natural resources in a responsible manner.

The plant closest to Montana is in Beulah, North Dakota, at the Dakota Gasification Plant the largest gasifier in America. This plant produces synthetic natural gas from lignite coal. CO2 from this process is piped several hundred miles to oil fields at Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where it is sequestered in the process of enhanced oil recovery.

There have to be better ways to plan for our energy future -- the price tag for the new plant will be 4 (four) billion dollars, that is a lot of money!

I am a Rat!

This is the year of the Rat and I am a Rat! Went to Chinatown to celebrate, ate wonderful Dim Sum -- my favorite. Watched the parades, jumped out of the way a madly flung fireworks. So much enthusiasm!

Merry Christmas!

I love it!

A site for the collection and hopeful reunion of Pittsburgh's dropped gloves: One cold hand? onecoldhand.com is a project that connects the Pittsburgh community through one unfortunate event - the loss of a glove. The website creates a method for dealing with the conundrum of finding these lost articles. Do you leave it and hope the owner comes back to find it? Do you pick it up? Throw it away? With onecoldhand.com, the abandoned object now becomes a symbol of benevolence and hope.

Just when you thought it was safe!

There are new plans for the use of COAL

Don't be deceived:

Big Coal's Dirty Plans for Our Energy Future
Big coal is hoping for government subsidies to replace oil. But its "clean coal" plan is an ecological nightmare for everyone.

Remember to get this coal involves strip mining a devastating ecological process, just amazing what strip mining does to the landscape.

Using this resource also involves burning the coal, something that needs to stop. What should be done cannot easily be defined as picking one fossil fuel over the other. We need to find clean renewable energy such as solar or wind or the combination of both if we want to save the planet. The new efficiencies should be applied to current coal power plants, but we should not keep investing more and more money into non-renewable resources. The individual has to become self-reliant. We need to find a source of power that does not require us to burn something!

Another reason not to use coal -- Over the past few decades, however, a series of studies has called these stereotypes into question. Among the surprising conclusions: the waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, fly ash—a by-product from burning coal for power—contains up to 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste.

Top 11 Warmest Years On Record Have All Been In Last 13 Years

Al Gore for President

AL GORE could change my entire opinion about the 2008 Presidential election -- if he decided to run for president I would definitely work for his campaign and I would vote for him. Check out this site and possibly make a difference for the United States and the world! AlGore.org : the 2008 grassroots draft campaign

Please run for President in 2008!

Talk about a crock of shit, Michael Vick!

He LOVES animals, I really doubt he loves anything or anybody but himself! It makes me sick that he expects leniency. Just love his hand-written letters to the judge -- CNN

Art class

I really do enjoy my art class. I enrolled in a Basic Drawing class at The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, the class I'm taking is one of the special adult workshops and I have to pay tuition but so far it is worth every penny. The instructor is great. I think my drawing skills are improving but I have so far to go. This is one of my drawings.

2008 Presidential election

I am already SO sick of hearing about the 2008 Presidential Election and the election isn't until November 4, 2008. It is just so much never ending rhetoric. In the past I've always considered myself a Democrat and for the most part I vote for Democratic candidates but in the upcoming election I have serious doubts that I could vote for the Democratic Presidential Candidate since it appears it will be either Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton -- in good conscience I could not vote for either of these people. And voting for them will keep the United States on exactly the same predictable course we are currently following. So I've made a choice and I am going to actually try to help this candidate get elected and my choice is RON PAUL. If you are interested in him and his opinions please check out Ron Paul 2008, Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.

A Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against the Iraq war.
He voted against regulating the Internet.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Thank You!

I have so much to be thankful for and I seldom give thanks in any consistent, affirmative way. Every morning when I wake up I'm going to try to remember to think of at least five things that I am thankful for and I'm going to try to do this everyday.

Another thing to consider -- simplicity. Yes less is more but it seems we aren't satisfied with what we have and there is the compulsion to acquire more and more. The 6 Paths to Simplicity:
1. Simple is Enough
2. Simple is Thrifty
3. Simple is Flexible
4. Simple is Timeless
5. Simple is Sustainable
6. Simple is Refined

Something to consider: I don't support the war in Iraq, but I do support the soldiers fighting there and those who return to the United States with severe injuries. The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is to raise public awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members to aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs.

And last but not least -- SOLAR WINTER: We are now in the quarter of the year that is considered solar winter by meteorologists. This period begins in early November and lasts until early February and is characterized by having the least amount of solar radiation reaching the surface and the least amount of sunshine. What this all boils down to is dark and cool days ahead with our darkest days coming in late December around the winter solstice and our coolest days lagging behind that in January and February.