mdt1960

Last week I started reading "Blind Your Ponies," a book by Stanley G. West. I was told the first part of the book would be slow, but if I made it past that, I would be rewarded. It's already a rewarding book. Set in Willow Creek, Montana (a real town), it's a beautiful read about the colourful characters of the town centered around their high school basketball team's plight to overcome their winless ways... five years and counting.

Reading gets better all the time compared to television.

Listen to Mary-Chapin Carpenter's "Jubilee." I could cry from the hope and happiness in this song.

Regarding positive and hopeful projects and events here on earth, consider the twin rovers on Mars as they approach their fourth anniversary of exploration on the red planet that was only suppose to last about three months. Talk about exceeding expectations. We could use a little "Spirit/Opportunity Karma" down here on earth.

My list of things to do keeps on growing, yet all I really want to do is sit down with a good friend over a cup of coffee and talk about life... and death and whatever else requires discussion. I know the latter doesn't have anything to do with productivity, but it has everything to do with quality.

When I logged into my computer this morning, Yahoo.com told me it was -27° Fahrenheit. I've my doubts about it being that cold, but it was one of the harder logins given how frozen my fingers were following the bike ride to work. Granted, it was just over a quarter mile, but it was a sufficient Arctic blast for me. Even the grease in the axles has thickened, making my easy-to-pedal bike, a real grunt over the crunchy, snow-covered streets.

I'm nearly finished with Sarah Vowell's "The Partly Cloudy Patriot." It should be required reading for anyone that wants to use their brain. It would serve as a good primer to one's thinking process

...Meanwhile in Mississippi, it snowed nearly three inches, but the ground is too warm there for snow to accumulate. I gaze out our frosty window considering Mississippi's dreadful snow scenario. That never happens here in Wyoming. Our best hope is that it comes down sideways fast enough that it eventually blows off to Nebraska or South Dakota, but the single-digit cold temperatures always linger.

Welcome to the dark ages and the world of Wyoming Senator John Barrasso. Our dear senator offers lip service to renewable energy's importance in the future, but only talks of incentives offered to those industries that deal with fossil (and thus limited) energy sources—because that's what Wyoming has most to offer—never mind the glut of wind and solar power at our fingertips.

As long as incentives are provided for these industries to maintain their current direction, what is their motivation to consider other (cleaner and renewable) energy sources? It's time to "squeeze" the various fuel industries a bit because we all know they're not in the business because they care about the public they serve.

In some distant future, I can see it now... While the rest of the world is totally powered by clean, renewable energy sources, the last puffs of fossil fuel exhaust will undoubtedly come from the most backward part of the planet—John Barrasso's Wyoming.