Society's 3 taboos

(this entry has not been sanctioned by my loving wife)


While straining to withhold my fury during this election season, I continuously ponder the amicable ways in which to express my political opinions. This burdens the soul. We have been reminded by our peers, throughout our lives, that there exist three topics that are to remain OFF LIMITS: religion, money, and politics. One of my fondest memories of this comes from sixth grade. Our class was visited by a professional soccer player, and when he began to field questions, I immediately raised my hand and asked, "What is your average annual income?". My teacher then proceeded to rush to my side, grab me by the arm and whisper in my ear, "There are three things you never ask a person, and that is one of them!". I had learned about the other two topics earlier in life while asking questions in Catholic school. You are not allowed to ask women in penguin suits questions. They give obligatory answers. Herein lies the problem: these three parameters shape our daily lives more than most others. Yet, we have been conditioned to talk about the latest sporting event, episode of Grey's Anatomy, or the end all be all of conversations - the weather. The problem arises that, when one of these black listed topics reveals itself, people rush for an exit. I, on the other hand, would rather bar the escape routes and force an answer from the sealed lips of the masses. Yet, because of this view, I am deemed confrontational and unworthy of an educated discussion. My aim is not to incite divisiveness; I can do that by talking about football. I just want to know why a person believes what they believe. That's all. Nothing more. So, here is what I believe.


I believe that Barack Obama should be the next President. He is an inspiring, educated, and spirited individual. He has earned all that he has gained through life, and I find that to be a very important attribute. That man has brought more energy into this country than we've had in a long time. He is not a terrorist or a muslim and if anyone believes that, then that is reflective of the poor state of our educational system. There's my politics.


Monetarily, I am not a rich man. I measure my wealth by the friends and family within my life. In that respect, my pot of gold is full to the brim. Like most of us, I just try to get by and help those I can along the way. But too many people are influenced by wealth and status. When I look at Obama, I see someone that started with little, gained a lot, and helped as many people as he could along the way. Why would we not want someone like that representing our country? There's my money and politics.


How do I drag religion in to this? Let's look at the term religiosity. According to the American Century Dictionary, it is defined as the "state of being religious or too religious." Well, I believe that too many people are too religious. And when a person becomes too religious, they tend to be unable to look at the world for the incredibly large melting pot of religions that it truly is. Obama, a known Christian, has not used his faith as a stepping stone for his political or social gain. Rather, he has used it as a moral compass throughout his life. In general, I think that this is a better use of religion, rather then letting religion make all of the decisions for you. There's my religion and politics.


So, don't be a schmuck. Go vote for Obama next Tuesday.

All About Weddings!

Just got back from a FUN couple of weeks back home. I will still refer fondly to KC as home - even though we officially do not own one there as of the 15th. This is exciting though - after waiting 3 months to close on the house. Saying goodbye to our first home brought back some great memories though. The buyer showed me things he had changed and updated me on the old 'hood. Sad to leave, but exciting to do new things. And exciting to finally get paid for that darned house after all that work!!!

While I was back, I got to attend two of my very best friends' weddings. The first wedding was Miss Sarah Wallace. Judging from this photo you may not know that many once thought we were twins! I would be so lucky to be referred to as her twin these days! It was lots of fun to see old friends like Marques - from freshman year in our dorm, the Wallace family - those nieces of Sarah's are too CUTE, Sarah's LA boyfriends, and also my dear friend Meg! It was wonderful to attend a wedding filled with so much love and devotion. Alex and Sarah were a gorgeous couple!

The next week was one of crazy fun. It began with Shannon O'Connor's bachelorette party. It was a great night where I got to catch up with so many fabulous people! I have included some nice photos of that night below. Is there anything more fun than finding a stage with poles to dance on at the end of the night when in the company of some rowdy bachelorette party attendees?!? I think not! Shannon was a good sport and did many of our Bridal Dares.

We started the night off right with some Green Shots (Theme of the bach party was saying goodbye to Shannon's Irish heritage)!

And ended it dancing!

The last part of the week was the wedding. I can't explain to you what a gorgeous bride Miss Shannon was! She seriously looked straight out of some bridal magazine! Tyson and I had so much fun seeing everyone and being a part of such a special occasion! From enjoying good conversation with old friends to riding on the trolley past our fellow Obama supporters on the way to the reception at the rally and ending with hearing Ben and Randy rap at the end of the reception that went until 1:30 AM! It was SO much fun! Shannon's reception hall decorating skills were also quite awesome. See some pics of the lovely couple and others below:

OK - I'm going on for too long, but it was so good to see our families & friends from all over! Tyson was especially excited to meet his new niece - Laila and see his adorable other nieces and nephews: David, Samantha, Haiden and Miss Sydney. I'm going to include photos of a couple of those cuties that he snapped. We wish we could have seen everyone, but we'll be back for weeks in December so no excuses! Love you all!

Frigging Winter is Here

Well, it snowed Friday, Saturday and Sunday and more is on the way. From talking with the locals, this is apparently a month early. An ominous sign for the winter to come. Moose doesn't seem to mind though. He's been sticking his snout in the drifts all weekend. I've been sticking my snout into my books all weekend. I need to put an addition on my brain in order to hold all of this information. Perhaps a lobotomy would be more apt for this situation. Enjoy the weather where ever you are. I'll be home Friday afternoon for the Cook/O'Connor wedding festivities. Have a good week!

The Wife is Gone!.......time to party, uh study more.

Unfortunately there is only time for studying and the occasional bike ride. My brain is not acting like the sponge it should be. It's more like a backboard with no rim. How are people expected to memorize all this stuff? It's hard enough remembering to feed the dog.

Anyway, Molly has returned to KC for a two week Bozeman hiatus, once again leaving her husband and dog to fend for themselves. We spent our Saturday south of town in the mountains helping to build a mountain bike trail. Twenty or so people from the city showed up to grade the trail and build some berms. It won't be completely done until next spring, but we got a lot of work done. Once the grooming is complete we can add the good stuff: jumps! Trade your ten-speed and lycra in for a knobby tired dream machine and head to Montana

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Geology of the Lewis and Clark Caverns

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to visit the Lewis and Clark Caverns for a geology fieldtrip, sponsored by the people we love to hate, BIG OIL COMPANIES. One of their main geophysicists graduated from MSU and did his thesis project on the caves. He actually mapped almost all of the known passages back in the 70's. We all got a free shirt with the map printed on the back. I plan on wearing it on my next visit so I don't get lost. Anyway, it was freaking cool! There were 7 of us from around the general area, and because we were being led around by the guy that mapped it, we were allowed into other parts of the cave that tourists don't usuallly see.






The cave trip took about 2.5 hours. The first part of the day was spent studying lithologies, fault movements, and conglomerate rock masses. I ate lunch on rocks older than your oldest relative. Your 1 billion year old relative. That's right creationists, a billion.

Enjoy your week everybody. Molly will be home the first weekend in October and I'll be making a brief stop for approximately 48 hours in mid October.

A Life - and a VERY Important Sandwich

I am happy to report that I have a small social life. In a matter of TWO days I attended THREE, count them, THREE social gatherings!!! Sunday, we went to an Obama volunteer meeting. There were some great people there and we also met a local politician - JP Pomnichowski. I signed up to volunteer so will be apart of my first political campaign and continued on my path of becoming a bonified tree-hugging hippie (says my repub friends). I'm really excited to learn more and actually be involved - Montana is 50/50 right now so how cool to work towards their efforts! After the meeting, we went over to admire our friends' new deck. Tyson provided a helpful hand during the month before wife and dog arrived on the building of said deck and it was really neat! Lander and John were lovely hosts and Moose got to play with his friend, Yacu.

Last night was the last event - I attended a training session for Eagle Mount Therapeutic Horseback Riding Center. Gina, the director, was awesome and I am really looking forward to volunteering there. I'm going to be involved in a hippotherapy class with little kidos who are very physically challenged. I am looking forward to meeting my new friend next Friday. I also will be on their "sub" list in case people can't make it or call in sick - which will be fun to meet the variety of people!

The last part of my posting will be devoted to one of Tyson's best friends in the whole wide world: Travis. If you know this fellow, you will know that he has VERY specific taste in foods. Some examples of this I have picked up throughout the years include:

~eating each item in a distinct order - you will NEVER catch Travis eating his burger and fries intermixed - it must be one before the other! Not even on Thanksgiving will you find Travis mixing his foods...

~strong distaste for mustard. His distaste for it goes so far as to eat around a mustard thumbprint found on his burger at Winsteads

~hatred for pickles - don't even put it on the plate NEAR his food. If pickle juice is soaking into fries, chips or bread - you can bet there might be something left on his typically clean plate!

Despite these oddities, Travis had a sandwich named after him at a local restaurant today. I am VERY proud to include photos of Travis with the sandwich description AND a photo of the actual sandwich. I don't think I've found a time Tyson has been more sad to miss out on something in KC, as going for The Travis Sandwich day today in KC. His work towards his sandwich brings me to ask myself and all of you - if there were a sandwich named after you, what would it consist of? Please post a comment including your response, as I am truly interested!!!

Travis - We think you have a winner in that sandwich and hope that it made the permanent menu!

Credibility Check

To help ensure my co-workers see that I truly work from home, as opposed to sitting outside all day watching the mountains I can see from my back deck, riding down the river on a raft, or sitting out on a ski lift somewhere - I thought I would provide my photo evidence. We get several requests for photos of our place, but thus far, this is the only one that exists. We're working on it. Some important things to note about my home "office":

• My desk is in the L shape I prefer. To enable this structure, we used our old coffee table top and situated it above Moose's kennel, which turned out to be the perfect height.
• If you look carefully at the dark shadows, you will see Moose sleeping inside his kennel, which is where he can typically be found when I'm working. We have worked very hard with Moose to leave his toys outside of the room, as the random squeaking is very confusing when on conference calls.
• My desk is still as much a mess as it was in KC - I think this helps the legitimacy. (the fellow BAs can attest)
• For those in my department reading - I was quite jealous of Blaine's desk, so incorporated a stylish lamp, some artwork by my artist friend Shannon, my trusty desk horse (thanks Andy and Nick), and photos of some of my favorite new babies (preston, syd and laila!) I appreciate those sending photos, as I need more baby pics added. The only other photos are of adam, parents and grandparents.
• Yes - I'm wearing shorts, a tank top and my hair in pigtails. My "dressing" for work is dressing to work OUT. This motivates me to actually go through with it. So far - I'm doing well at daily runs. moose whines at me around 5:30 every day which helps me walk away from my desk. My outfit is the most commonly asked question from people I talk to during the day so thought I would make sure and add that bullet.

What I do after work and my run is my next photo. That sums up my days and nights here - at least weekdays/nights!

On a last note about my posting subject: I typically try not to upset people by adding my political views, unlike my lovely husband. I respect what he has to say though - and typically agree wholeheartedly. I just tend to avoid topics that might push issues between my friends and have always tried to keep an open mind about all candidates despite my liberal upbringing. At first, I was excited that McCain was the selected R candidate (not excited enough to vote for him, mind you) - he isn't as religious right as I expected and I like some of what he has to say and always had respect for him. I do want to say that this slander campaign of spinning and lies has led me to feel a little differently about the opposing candidates. I know this is suposedly what AMERICAN politics is all about, but it doesn't make me any more sick about it. All I can say, is refer to http://www.factcheck.org/, as they are an UNbiased website that can tell you about the truth (they will also talk about any lies the demos push out there). I am getting quite sick with this election already and we still have two months left! I'm ready for it to be over. Well, it's about that time to go enjoy my end of the night position in photo 2 listed. ~mols