Well, I guess I was wrong.  I didn't do any better this year...

Just To Say I Did

Really?  I didn't post a single time in 2013...?  Well, I guess I can only do better next year!  Happy New Year!

-=Nolan=-

Blogging Drought

I'm not sure how this happened, but I have neglected to post a blog in nearly ten weeks.  September 30 was the last time I even posted, and that was a pretty weak as far as blog posting goes...  How time passed so quickly I'll never know, but I do know that sometime in mid-November I realized I didn't say 'boo' during October!  I figured I would get around to an update sometime in shortly thereafter, but as you can see, that didn't happen.  So, here it is the middle of December and I have plenty of time between postings.

I turned thirty last week.  Not that I really had much excitement about another birthday, in fact I can't think of the last time I was actually excited about a birthday.  It's just a nice time to gather with family and have a special meal and cake!  Nope, twenty one wasn't anything special - if you don't care for alcohol then it's just another day.  So I suppose eighteen was the last time I looked forward to a birthday and perhaps it will be my last....although, I suppose if I make it to an old age I might find some excitement in that.  Perhaps 80 will be nice, 90 wouldn't be bad at all, and 100 is well worth a party.

If I look back ten years ago when I turned twenty I can't say that I would have foreseen ALL of the things that happened in the last decade of life, but a few of them fell into place, even though now how I expected.  First, I did finish college in four years and I did get married (although I have to admit not to the gal I thought I would - and she would admit the same).  Perhaps that was one of the best unforeseen events in my twenties - a pure situation of events that brought us together.  The odds of us meeting are probably incredibly bad, yet we seem to have known each other our entire lives...

As far as moving to Montana for a few years, I really didn't foresee that - but that too was one of the best experiences in my twenties.  But wait, you say "Nolan, you complained the entire time you were there about how bad it was..."  Yeah, you're right, I did.  However, it wasn't so much the place or people as it was the situation and distance.  Let me put it this way.  Laura and I loved the hiking, geocaching, setting out on our own, traveling all over the Pacific Northwest, and generally just being together and making our lives work.  What we didn't enjoy was the distance from family, close friends, dreary and perceptually long winters, and virtually no income.  In looking back on that situation though, it was a great time for us.  We could come and go as we pleased (that is as long as Laura didn't need to be in the lab at school) and we really had a lot of free time on our hands.  We could hike almost every day if we wanted and we could do just about anything else we wanted - we had no kids!

Which brings me to my next event.  KIDS.  Laura and I were ready for kids and thought we had a plan in place for our first baby.  What we didn't expect was how easy it was for us to...uh, shall we say 'create' the first one, and the second, and SURPRISE the third.  Not that I want to complain about our kids, because we certainly have some well behaved and intelligent children, but sometimes you just can't plan for how they can work your nerves.  I won't say much about the kids though, I should just say that when you think you have life figured out (especially in your twenties) make sure you plan on anything with kids!

Finally, I guess I should mention work.  Am I where I thought I would be with work?  No, not exactly but that's kind of an unfair statement.  I really didn't know where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with my job.  I had wanted to work somewhere in the resources and conservation field but once things didn't pan-out after college I had actually written that plan off.  Again, another situation of events led me into submitting a resume and I found myself right where I wanted to be but didn't expect to arrive...

All in all, I wouldn't change anything in the past ten years.  If life went along as I planned I certainly wouldn't be where I am today.  Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe I would be filthy rich and doing what I please day in and day out.  Then again, most of everything that I've been through the past ten years has been priceless and you can't buy great memories.

Until again
-=Nolan=-

A Quick Snip in September

I promised myself I would get a blog done in September.  Well, I'm going to break that promise, but I am going to make a note that with my next blog I will discuss the 'green' culture that seems to think they are saving the planet.  I'm fed up with their antics and it's time to put them in their place...  But that will have to wait until I have more time.  Oh, do I look forward to it!

Until again

-=Nolan=-

July Heatwave

This sorry excuse of a blog is what I'm going to get posted for July.  The heat has been quite intense for the entire month of July and we've had less than an inch of rain.  Needless to say, the lawn is looking brown and there is a lot of water needed around here.  In fact, I can think of maybe one or two cloudy days for the entire month of July - it simply was hot and clear most days.

Right now the Olympics are in full swing and I have been watching those as much as possible.  I absolutely love watching the competitions, regardless if I know what's going on or not.  I find it sad that people think the Olympics is a waste of time and money - I guess they never have had much desire to work hard and accomplish goals, because it's quite inspiring to see people that have sacrificed and worked hard compete against the best athletes in the world.  Then again, I've always been a proponent of athletics and to me it's never 'just a game.'  Most of the time, those people tend to be the types that have no desire to work hard and push their limits to see what they can really do.  A few quotes from Theodore Roosevelt might be appropriate to further my point:

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.


Until again

-=Nolan=-