Just a quick post as I need to get ready for work.

On Saturday we ventured up to Rocky Mountain National Park and checked off a few hikes! We did an Alberta Falls hike that was awesome and then hiked around Bear Lake.

I think every year for the past 3 years I’ve been trying to grow grass.  This year I’ve got some new grass, but not nearly enough of it.  I’ve got a whole front yard that needs some serious help.  Hopefully by the end of the summer, I’ll have something that looks like a front yard, but honestly I’m not counting on it!

Speaking of grass…Weeds started up a few weeks ago.  If you have not seen this show check it out. So far season 4 has been a bit slow going, but it’s picking up speed.

Well time to get ready for work and to make some money!

not by me but people that I used to work with.

I was reading through some trade publications today at work and I noticed an article about my former employer (the actual employer owns a majority of the company that I actually worked for).  The former employer has gone out and partnered with another company to do something that I damn well know could have been put together in house.  Now I don’t work for them anymore so this doesn’t really bother me, but it got me to thinking about this company.

From the time I started working there to the time that I left the parent company had invested millions of dollars in other companies.  Millions.  Most of the stuff that they bought elsewhere could have been produced by the child company (that I worked for).  But no.  They went and bought outside stuff.  Granted some of the stuff that they bought would have taken awhile to develop, but I know it could have been done and done for less cost.  In the end some of those products they bought for millions of dollars failed miserably and the company I ended up working for took it over (so wasted millions of dollars…I won’t get onto their pay practices!).

As I read the article I thought about this companies recent stock price (yes they are a publicly traded company) and how it has tanked the last 9 to 12 months. Would having their projects moved in house have helped the stock price?  Probably not, but I’d like to think that taking some of those millions and putting them into a company that you already own…well it’s like your not losing the money.

Any how just some random thoughts.

I seem to get a few posts in here and there and that I disappear.  Nothing major going on, but just don’t take the time to post.  So a few thoughts from the past week.

I’m glad we aren’t in Iowa right now.  Not that the floods would have got to our house (if it did reach our house we would be in some serious trouble).  Luckily all of our friends that we know are also on the hillside and are safe.  I do wonder if my former boss had his house flood.  He was on the river and I suspect that he was battling it this time.  We were told awhile ago that there was a pretty big flood here in 1985 and it took out people’s houses not to far away from where we currently live.  That kind of surprised me, but the drainage around here is not all that good.

I talked to my brother awhile back and he asked me if the move here was good.  In certain aspects it was and in certain aspects it wasn’t.  Here are 3 things of why to move to Cheyenne.

• Give yourself a raise.  No state income tax means more money in your pocket.  We took a cut in pay, more expensive health insurance and were still taking home more per paycheck due to no state income tax. I think there are 2 other states that don’t have a state income tax (Montana and Oregon…I think!)
• Cool summers and no humidity.  We’ve heard people complaining about the nice weather here and my wife and I just scoff at them. They have no clue!!  We keep our windows open all of the time and the house stays a moderate 70 to 74 degrees. In the evening it does get a bit warmer, but it’s pretty nice.
• You’ll be a permanent member of the mile high club!!  My wife was looking at something down in Denver and she said we could be part of the mile high club.  I told her that we are already a member because it 6,000 feet here.  So mile plus club!

In a couple of weeks we are babysitting a basset hound named Bogey.  It should be pretty interesting with the boys and this dog.  Luckily he stays outside during the day, so we don’t have to worry about the boys beating the tar out of him.

Well I think that’s about it.

Okay so guitar lesson’s weren’t that bad, but I sure felt like an idiot on some of the topics the teacher was covering. But I’ve sat down and looked at some of it and I’m getting it…I think!  I still look at tab sheets and glaze over.  One of these days I’ll get it down and actually be able to play a song…other than twinkle twinkle little star (that’s how good I am right now!)

This weekend was pretty low key for us.  Yesterday I had some work stuff to do for a couple of hours.  By doing that I got half a day off of work for me.  I think I might take it one of these Friday’s and go out and play a round of golf.  Or perhaps in the morning. After the work stuff was done I got some new shoes…first pair in about a year I think!  After that…new phones.  We have now sort of entered the 21st century. We have text messaging.  We thought about getting internet/e-mail with what I do for work, but decided against it.  Just not worth the cost right now.

Right now we are watching the Lakers and Celtics game.  Celtics should win the series, but the Lakers will probably win this game.

Well I think that’s about it.  Hope everyone has a good week.

One of the things that we didn’t have to deal with in the midwest was cold…in the middle of June!  Yesterday and still this morning it was cold.  I almost turned on the heat, but I didn’t.  My parents who live in northwestern Montana got snow the last couple of days which is about usual.  I remember one time in Montana waking up to snow in the middle of August.  It was gone by noon, but it still snowed in the middle of August.

Work is going well.  To well in fact.  We are having a hard time keeping up with stuff, but hopefully things will calm down shortly.  And lets just say it’s rather interesting working with your former place of employment!

Okay I’m not that old, but I kind of feel that way from time to time.  Earlier this year I mentioned that I had bought Guitar Hero and was going to do that.  I did it…not completely, but I got decent at it.

And now I’ve upgraded.  I’m getting guitar lessons.  It’s just through the city so it’s a group, but in the one week that I’ve attended I’ve learned more than I did from a $25 book.  I’m not anywhere near as good as I want to be, but over time…I’m going to get there.   My wife wants to also get guitar lesson’s but doesn’t want to take them with me. So perhaps once she gets her lesson’s we can hit the road as a 2 man guitar band!

I suppose this will do nothing to deter the myth that in Wyoming and Montana people still ride in carriages and ride horses to work, but I’m posting it anyways!! Throughout the summer Cheyenne has a gunslingers event that is put on for the locals and non-locals. This picture was from last Saturday and was the 25th anniversary of the event. Most of the “slingers” are not from Cheyenne. They travel from various parts of the US to put this on I believe.  If you get a chance to see one of these events, I recommend ear plugs!

Well all is done and we are back to being a 1 house family.  The papers were signed yesterday for our house in Iowa, so we only have to worry about what we have here in Wyoming.  Since we had to pay money out of pocket, we won’t feel the financial aspect for at least a few months, but it will still be nice to not have to worry about bills getting to Iowa because the post office is so horrible around here (I want to say that they still use horses, but they don’t.  At least not that I’m aware of!)

Over Memorial Day weekend we ventured up to the Denver Zoo.  Other than getting lost on the way there, it was awesome.  First time I’ve seen live silverback gorillas.  Incredible.

Last weekend I attempted to go golfing again.  I say attempted because I looked like I’d never played golf before. Lost at least 2 sleeves of balls and just stunk it up.  I’ll be back out golfing again however!

Any I’m going to try and update at least once a week…famous last words I know!

Here’s another reason for living in Wyoming. When it rains here it gets cooler…not muggier like in the midwest. It rained last night. It was a thunderstorm, but nothing like what we had in Iowa. Doesn’t compare at all!

Having said these 2 things about moving to Wyoming, there are still parts of Iowa that I still miss. Friends specifically and the restaurants.

Also I’ve been pondering the idea of putting Linux on my machine once the new laptop arrives (tomorrow…hopefully!). As a matter of fact right now I am writing this from Linux (Kubuntu). The thing that’s holding me back is the 3 or so applications that I can’t run under Linux. There are a few work arounds that I can try.

That’s about it.