Bozeman's Beautiful!

That's a little jingle from local radio station. It's very catchy. It's also true...most of the time. See for yourself. Isn't it purty?

Actually it wasn't this weekend. My parents came to visit for the weekend. It rained...and rained...and rained some more. It sort of pissed me off. And of course on the day they leave...it clears right up. Figures. Stupid Mother Nature. Is she on her period?

On a completely unrelated and random note...do people really care about Brad and Angelina's (oh wait...Brangelina's) baby? How is it possible that a picture of this little kid could fetch $5 million. It's a freakin' baby. Don't they all look the same anyway? I just don't get it. I do however like the idea of combining the first names of celebrity couples. It saves us all time and it's kind of a novelty. Has anyone started referring to Jennifer and Vince as Jennivaughn? If not we should start now.

TV

I find it ironic that I watch less TV than ever since I started working in the TV business.
No more Lost. No more American Idol. No more CSI.
I will catch the ABC Sunday night line-up. (With the exception of the god-awful Extreme Home Makeover). That's about it.
So as everyone I know freaks out about the American Idol finale, I sit back and wonder, "Who the hell is Taylor?"

Turmoil

Today is Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!

Onto the subject at hand.

It is so easy to be angry. Why do people fight with each other? Because it's easier than sitting down and actually communicating. It's easier than telling someone some painful truths about them. It's easier than learning painful truths about yourself. Why sit down and tediously work through the issue when you can be pissed at each other? Because being pissed off is easier.

But as with all things in life, the easy path usually isn't the best one to follow. Avoiding the easy path may just help you grow as a person and help other people grow.

I'm trying to remember this as I deal with a difficult person in my life right now. Given a choice I'd say forget it and simply avoid their poisonous attitude. Unfortunately, that's not a possibility. Circumstances are such that I must interact with this person every day.

I'll let you know how it all turns out. I am vowing to be mature and reasonable. For now, I take comfort in the fact that I, and everyone else around me, know this other person is the irrational one. And if nothing changes, I know that they'll lose in the end.

Stupid President Bush

Oh sure I think he's stupid for many reasons. Tonight, however, I'm pissed at him for addressing the nation and thus causing a very embarassing moment for me.

Mr. Bush spoke at 6 pm local time. Our newscast usually starts then so we were pushed back by 25 minutes...or so we thought.

The president finished early...which meant were were starting our show earlier than expected. We didn't know that though. I was sitting at the anchor desk getting ready for the show. There is a TV in our newsroom that usually has NBC on at all times. I happened to glance at that TV and was puzzled at first to see myself.

"Hmm," I thought. "That's not right. Melissa was sitting next to me, putting her microphone on and getting ready as well. Then I realized....I'm on TV...right now! It was not good. We had no freaking idea what to do. Our production crew in the back wasn't ready. We all got caught with our pants down. Eventually the screen went black, we started our show and pretended nothing had happened.

But man oh man it was embarassing. You gotta love small market television news.

I blame the President.

Eden

This is a picture of Mt. Wilbur. It was taken from the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park. For the past 4 summers this was the view I was treated to every day. I've written of Glacier several times in this blog. I know, I'm obsessed. I'll spare you the "Glacier is Great" testimonial this time. I'm only mentioning it because now is the time for all my Glacier buddies to be heading back up to the park. Several have stopped through Bozeman so far and more are on the way. Six months into new career (at least I hope will turn into one) as a news anchor, I'm still conflicted about not going back to the Many Glacier Hotel. Don't get me wrong. I love my job and I'm lucky to have it. But it is....a job. There's no escaping that fact. In a perfect world I'd be independently wealthy and do whatever the hell I wanted. But I digress. I'm simply hoping this picture, in some small way, explains why Glacier is a place hard to let go of. Unless you hate everything outdoorsy. In that case we'd probably never get along. Unless you're Kathryn.

On a side note, I am 5 hours away from Glacier. As I'm traveling up there nearly every weekend will I be enriching myself with the spirit of the park...or, like a bad breakup, prolonging the inevitable?

Will my job get me out of this?

As soon as I saw the police car flip around I knew it was coming for me. I resigned myself to being pulled over, turned a corner, and parked on the side of the road. Sure enough, the cop pulled up behind me...and I waited.

But the wheels were turning in my head. I wasn't wondering how to get out of this ticket. I was simply curious as to whether my job would do it for me...or even make things worse. Bozeman is a small town. My face is on television here twice a night, 5 days a week. I deal with the police all time in my job. I even recognized her. She had to know who I was. The only question is whether she'd give a shit. The answer: No.

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't expecting to get out of a ticket because I'm on TV. I was just wondering whether she'd be lenient with me because of it. If that were the case, I'd drive away and think, "ahh, the perks of my job."

But, alas, it didn't happen. In fact, she gave no indication she recognized me at all. She asked me where I lived, where I worked, and how long I'd been in Montana. I got a ticket for going 43 in a 25. I then got a stern warning for not having a Montana driver license and Montana plates. Then I got sent on my merry way.

So now I have to pay the ticket, get a new license and shell out a lot of money to have my car registered here. All for having a lead foot.

So no...my job didn't get me out of it. I'm still a nobody.