My Mind: Lifesized

Today I got the first inkling of things to come with my niece Tara. It's her 11th birthday today and I decided to try and call her as soon as she got home from school to sing to her and wish her a happy birthday. My Mom told me that Tara got off the bus at 3:15 PM Indiana time (2:15 PM Montana time)and she was planning on taking some balloons up to her so I thought that would be a good time to give her a buzz. "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you....", I had barely finished the song when she announced that her friend Jordan was there with her. "Great", I said , "did you have a fun day at school? Are you excited for your birthday? Have you gotten any treats yet? Do you feel older?" "Well, my teacher totally embarrassed me", she said, "and everyone sang happy birthday to me...it was totally embarrassing". "Ah, c'mon, that's pretty cool", was my response, "they must really like you". "N...

I have quite a bit to catch up on, like my trip to Jackson this past weekend, my romantic state of limbo and the passing of a dear family friend, but right now all I can think about is how really pissed off I am at these so-called insurgent groups in Iraq. CNN reported today that a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, is threatening to kill two French journalists it captured on August 21st. Now terror has been used in the world for a very long time, dating back as far as recorded history, but most modern historians feel the use of terror was resurrected in the modern era during the 1970's with hijackings, bombings and assassinations. The Japanese Red Army, various Palestinian groups, South America's Shining Path rebels and the SLA in America were most notorious. Most people in the world today think of terror as something committed against westerners or western style countries (not discounting the Spaniards struggles with the Basque movement or the Columbian rebels t...

Tonight I vowed to myself that I would get the Hollasaugadougatuck 2004 vacation expenses figured out. Admittedly, I'm only hurting myself by not getting this task done, well me and a few other of the 43 participants who fronted the cash for the event. I thought I emailed the spreadsheet to myself so I could work on it at home, but it turns out I emailed the wrong document which leads me to the topic of my post. I just turned on the television and the Olympic gold medal match of Women's Field Hockey is on the Bravo network. I've never seen field hockey played and frankly I'm a bit dumbfounded by the sport. Now I know that I play another crazy sport (Ultimate)but this field hockey thing looks like a back breaker. The women play with sticks a length that forces them to constantly move about in a perma slouch...that's gotta take its toll on their backs. It's brutal too, they all had blood coming from somewhere on their bodies. But what really surprised me wa...

My two readers both pointed out to me the frequency of my postings has dropped dramatically in the past month and upon short reflection I agree. But don't be fooled, my mind still fills with all sorts of ideas, my days are still full of notable events (at least to me) and I still have plenty to say. I could try to blame the Olympics for cutting into my time (they have been pretty awesome after all) or I could say that I've been too "busy" to write, but the fact is I just haven't been able to motivate myself. Thanks, Mr. JCP, for shaking the cobwebs from my brain. Tonight was an amazing evening here in Missoula; the cold, fall-like day gave way to a remarkable night. The clouds all parted and almost vanished, letting the sun brighten the evening sky and make the mountains shine. I got to play some Ultimate, which was a nice way to end a pretty busy day. Things aren't going so well for Annie and me, which has alot to do with the lack of posting. We...

About three months ago I visited my local Barnes & Noble (shhhh, I should have supported the independent Facts & Fiction)looking for something to read on a plane...I'd been immersed in a series of political history books about the Middle East and so I decided to try and find something a little lighter. I came across a book called Local wonders, Seasons in the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser and picked it up. I'd be telling a fib if I said who I knew who the author was at the time; it was the cover that attracted me. The cover has an old red truck with bright green grass growing up through it. The quote on the cover, by Jim Harrison says, "The quietest magnificent book I've ever read." and so I decided to bite. Local Wonders is by Ted Kooser and is a marvelous piece of work about Kooser's homeland, Nebraska. It is the kind of book you want to tell your friends about and the kind of book you want to read aloud. In my own case, I do that sort of th...

Dave and Bruce posted some great election information on The Holland Pages and Bruce's link is worth sharing. As Bruce said: This guy (the Blogging Caesar) combines all available polls into a weekly national and state-by-state statistical composite, a running tally of the electoral college votes, offering many illuminating views into this fascinating data. Naturally, he has a strong personal opinion of who will win and why. But unlike some in say, the entertainment field, he keeps that out of his work, the calculations, bravely giving you a clear look into the data even when it hurts: Election Projection Blog

Tonight I ventured over the the Missoula County Fairgrounds for "free admission" night of the Western Montana Fair...it also just happened to be Charlie Pride night, so the joint was jumpin'. I met Andy Puckett and the two Puckett youngsters, Jack & Daniel in the food area, a sort of lane with a long thin barn divided into food booths operated by various organizations. There was the Tater Pig booth, the twisted tater booth (operated by the Camp Fire Girls USA), the Lifesaver Shaved Ice booth, Pizza booth, hot dog stand and so on. This is not health food, it is full on fair food. By the time I arrived, the boys had already polished off a couple of pieces of pizza, some breadsticks, a corn dog and a couple of slushies. Jack's tongue was blue and Daniel had a good portion of his food all over his face and clothes: they were all jacked up on sugar and super stoked to hit the Midway. Now going to the fair anywhere in the USA is prime people watching territory and ...

This film was done by Erroll Morris...it is quite simply a masterpiece. My friends dave & Claire were the first to tell me about the movie early this year and I meant to see it before it left Missoula but never got a chance..I bought the movie last month and feel it is an extremely improtant work that should be required viewing for all politicians around the world. tonight I watched an 11/11/03 interview Robert McNamara and Erroll Morris did with Charlie Rose on the Charlie Rose Show , perhaps my favorite show on television. As his website states, the show is a place where you can listen to good conversation. The Fog of War is a documentary retrospective of McNamara and his role in the history of the time, especially the US portion of the Vietnam War (Is that what the French called it for the 20 years they were involved?), the Cuban Missile Crisis and other decisions he made during his time as Secretary of Defense for both the Kennedy and Johnson adminstrations. For anyone...

This has been a quiet weekend for me...lots of time alone and that has been nice. This morning I decided to check out the website of Al Jazeera, the Arab CNN (sort of anyway). The last time I looked at the site they still hadn't put up an English version, so I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find the site up in English, complete with advertisements. So I plugged through to a story about Sudan's foreign Minister claiming Israel was behind the conflict in Darfur (I couldn't help it) and to my delight I found the Al Jazeera provides a forum for comment: No registration required, no email address, just a box for comments. And the comments are incredible. People from Iran, Spain, the UK, Belgium...all over the place. Check it out to see what people REALLY, REALLY think

I work with some very interesting people; I suppose I could say that about every job I've ever had (except for the times when I worked alone, then I just pretend to be interesting to myself). Diana, one of my current co-workers, is no exception. Diana is a registered medical assistant in our office, working with our doctors and patients. She's fairly young, both in life and in her working career, but I've been impressed with her "no fear" attitude and the way she handles herself. I've been slowly getting to know her over the past 4 months but the story she told me today was a real head wagger (like how the 3 stooges used to do the yadidy, yadidy, yadidy, yadidy double take). Diana is a Montana girl through and through. She drives an old pickup, hikes frequently ans she's been hunting since she was a little girl. She rarely eats any other kind of meat than game (deer, elk, moose, bear, etc.). She's been really excited recently because her name f...

Last night was my last night in Indiana. I've been milking a vacation to Michigan by adding on a week before and two days after so that I could spend some time with friends and family back in the Hoosier state. My folks know how much I love summer produce from home so last night we had a pure Hoosier feast: While Dad worked the grill preparing some chicken, Mom sliced up some big juicy tomatoes from her garden and we shucked up a dozen ears of Indiana sweet corn. We had chicken, sweet corn, fresh tomatoes, Indiana green beans, red potatoes and a big salad with fresh greens... all (except for the chicken of course) had been picked from the fields that morning. It was so yummy. I ate 4 ears of corn (look here to see my buttery face ), two helpings of beans and way too much salt & butter. It was a lot of fun and I got to spend some time with my super sweet niece Brooke , my sister Leslie and her husband Andy and Mom & Dad. It was a super cool night.

I'm sitting in the cozy confines of my folks house in Indianapolis, having arrived back this afternoon from my week-long vacation on the western shores of Michigan. I had a great week as usual and have many stories to tell and memories to relive as the present fades into the past. This was my first year to organize the trip and so the first couple of days were fairly stressful...it was Monday before I could really begin to think about relaxing. I'm very satisfied as every person who attended told me how much fun they had and what a great job I did. I wanted people to rekindle that excitement we all felt when Curt Churchman first started organizing this trip and the group had about 15 people, so I reached into the past and revived some of his cool gags. I had goodie bags waiting for everyone upon their arrival (an old Global Churchman standard): Kids got wall walkers, crazy balloons, bubbles, lunch bags, glow in the dark bracelets (Troy Michael quickly informed me his w...

I've just got a few minutes left on my guest pass at the Douglas/Saugatuck Public library so I'll make this entry quick... I'm enjoying the second week of a two week vacation that brought me back to Indiana for a week and then up to western Michigan to participate in the 13th annual vacation with my friends from the "Holland" group, which seems to be growing like the Borg. Days on the beach making sand castles, reading books and enjoying good conversation are hard to beat. It's pretty awesome. There were 39 people for dinner on Saturday night! I'll write more later.

I was hoping to just plug my digital camera into my Mom's desktop and run with it, seeing as how both my Mom and I have Canon digitals. Unfortunately I can't get her software to recognize my camera so I can't post any photos of all the fun stuff I've done so far. Here is a quick re-cap: I arrived in Indy Saturday afternoon and spent the evening with my folks. On Sunday they had a very nice family cookout for me and my Dad's brother and his wife, along with two of their daughters (Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary Ellen & cousins Michelle & Jennifer)and one of their daughters husband (Jim)joined us for the fun. Monday we tried the Bloomington adventure and Monday night I visited my Ultimate buddies for a cookout. Yesterday my sister Leslie (superwoman in my eyes), her two girls (Tara & Brooke) and me headed over to Holiday Park for a picnic and an afternoon of fun. We played in the playground and went for a nice little hike along the White River. We also wal...

...Or what I did to kill two hours in Spokane, Washington.  I'm back in Indiana for the first week of my second two week vacation in a month and a half.  I think it is safe to say I'm pushing the limit with my employers (not that I meant to, it's jsut the way the vacations fell this year. Two weeks in France last month and now a week in Indiana and a week in Michigan....yes, you ARE right, I cannot complain).  Anyhow, with all the last minute planning for the trip to France, I forgot to actually purchase my plane ticket back to Indiana.  I tried to wrangle a frequent flyer trip out of Northwest Airlines and using my Merrill Lynch miles but in the end I didn't have enough miles bacause my departure date was too close. I was left with the only other viable option, purchasing my ticket through Priceline . And the best deal was to leave from Spokane, which is a little over three hours due west of Missoula.   My original intent was to leave Missoula early and get a...

Somehow an earlier post about the Arlee powwow was lost. I'm trying it again. Over the July 4th weekend I ventured up to Arlee, Montana for the 116th annual Arlee powwow. It was an amazing event attended by Native Americans from the USA and Canada and plenty of non-natives alike. The powwow is a celebration made even more important by the coincidence with the holiday weekend. Originally, during this time of year, tribes from the area would send their boys out to become men. They would hunt and also battle other boys from other tribes. The ones who returned would gather in the river valley to dance and celebrate and also to mourn for the ones who didn't return. This ritual was replaced with the Powwow. Now they celebrate with dance and honor those who've passed on. Their dance also honors native Veteran's and I was honored to meet an Vietnam Veteran wearing the Navy Cross, a Purple heart,a Vietnam campaign medal and many others I did not recognize. I was luck...

Oh man am I stoked. This morning I went to one of my favorite music websites, allmusic.com to do a search for the artists of a particular song and to my complete surprise the site was completely different. it has been tottally re-vamped and amped up with all kinds of advanced features making a guy like me practically explode with excitement. Allmusic.com has been my #1 source for information about songs, artists and albuns for some time and I've always wished you could have some specific advanced search features, like being able to do a sub-search or narrow down a general search or drill down in the genre section. Well now you can! The site already had some great features, but now it's even better. They've added a ton of classical music content, added expanded artists & album information (credits, songs, charts & awards) and generally made my day. You can now register with the site too and subscribe to specific newsletters and other email offerings. The...

Last weekend I headed about three hours north and west of Missoula to one of the greatest little towns I've been to in a long time: Sandpoint, Idaho. Sandpoint has a population of about 6,500 people and sits on the shores of Lake Pend Orielle (French for "Ear Pendent"), a 43 mile long and 1,000 foot beauty of a lake if there ever was one. Here's a picture of the lake: I was in Sandpoint for the first annual Mountain2Lake Ultimate Classic, an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I'm an Ultimate junkie, although my days of trying to be a serious Ultimate athlete on a competitive club team are quickly giving way to playing more of a supportive role and having more fun. I played on a Missoula team of players, most of whom play the sport on a recreational level and not on the competitive level. Overall Missoula sent 21 folks on 3 different teams to the tourney. There were nine teams from as far away as Bozeman, Montana and Calgary, British Columbia. The tourney was...

My Mom just forwarded a new picture of my two favorite girls...ny niece's Tara & Brooke. It is so cute I just have to share Tara & Brooke 2004 . I can't believe how old they are getting and I guess that means I can't believe how old I am getting!

That's what I was told anyway. I never did find the trailhead, but I did find some beautiful Montana wildflowers including Indian paintbrushes, bitterroot, lupine and like these red paintbrushes and this beargrass