Why I did NOT shop on Black Friday

What??? A man trampled to death because of shoppers wanting to get a head start on buy cheap Walmart crap. UGH!
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AR4QU20081128

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man working for Wal-Mart was killed on Friday when a throng of shoppers surged into a Long Island, New York, store and physically broke down the doors, a police spokesman said.

The 34-year-old man was at the entrance of the Valley Stream Walmart store just after it opened at 5 a.m. local time and was knocked to the ground, the police report said.

I really don't know what more to say, than how disgusted I am.

Photos from the Colorado and some Wyoming Trip 2008

Made a big loop around a lot of Colorado.

I twittered (see sidebar to the right) a few of the big activities as they happened, but I will summarize them below:
* Photos of hike with Blaze Orange into the woods above my parents place outside of Walden.
* Moose on Cameron Pass
* Sunset at Mom and Dads
* Anheuser-Busch brewery tour
* Pikes Peak
* Sunset and ripples on Blue Mesa Res.

Note: Mary Dawn took a lot of these shots.


Click here to open up the set in Flickr, otherwise you can use the embeded viewer below. Click on the image to advance to the next image. If you want more info, hover over the notes link.

For me the Confessor is ME. There's no place you can hide...

If you look at your reflection in the bottom of a well,
What you see is only on the surface.
When you try to see the meaning, hidden underneath,
The measure of the depth can be deceiving.
The bottom has a rocky reputation
You can feel it in the distance the deeper down you stare.
From up above it's hard to see but you knowwhen you're there.
On the bottom words are shallow.
On the surface talk is cheap.
You can only judge the distance by the company you keep
In the eyes of the CONFESSOR.

In the eyes of the Confessor,
There's no place you can hide.
You can't hide from the eyes (of the Confessor)
Don't you even try.
In the eyes of the Confessor
You can't tell a lie,
You cannot tell a lie (to the Confessor)
Strip you down to size,
Naked as the day that you were born,
Naked as the day that you were born.
(Tremendous guitar work)
Take all the trauma, drama, comments,
The guilt and doubt and shame
The what if's and if only's
The shackles and the chains
The violence and aggresion,
The pettiness and scorn,
The jealousy and hatred,
The tempest and discord,
AND GIVE IT UP!

Joe Walsh's "Confessor" -- 1985

Gas Prices

I am planning a trip to Front Range for the Thanksgiving holidays. At least the gas prices have been falling.
As of November 10, 2008, Unleaded is $2.23 in Montrose.

Colorado Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com

Here is a temperature map. Use the mouse to drag around the map.

Colorado Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com

Click here to add this map to your website.

Ice Crystals on the Beaver Pond

Mary Dawn, Smokie, and I went on the Extended loop hike this morning. Here we captured the ice crystals on the beaver pond


ps.
Those crystals are about the size of my thumb nail.

ODE to Schlappi

As promised, here is Mary Dawn's "ODE to Schlappi". Click on the image to view the whole document.


What a lovely, touching tribute.

sigh....

Our Dear Schlappi....

Hello,
Thanks for all that gave well wishes to our Schlappi. Tonight he has moved on, to other beautiful grass to roll around in. You know, that is one of his favorite things to do. I won't say much more because Mary Dawn as composed a beautiful piece of prose that with her permission, I will post here.

As sad as this is, Schlappi time has come. His spirit was strong, but his body just gave out on him.

I will never know Schlappi like Mary Dawn did, but the his very old wise soul taught me a lesson or two, or three, or four, ....

I miss him, as all the souls he touched as well. Thank you Schlappi for being a part of my life.

I Love You Schlappi...

First Big Snow of 2008

Ok, our Indian Summer has come to a end.

Snow!!!!


Hopefully my knee will hold up. hmmmm

Election 2008 Center At The HomeStead

Just a "quiet" night at the homestead. Put laptop on the projector, and streamed CNN live, with projection maps from different sites.



Snow is falling, eating pizza, with a fire to keep us warm, we look forward to the results of the election. So far the President Campaign looks promising. The Colorado Amendments projections have not been shown yet. We will see.

Will have to wait until tommorows press of Telluride Daily Planet to find out how the many, many local "things" that I voted for.

Historical election, glad to be a part of it.

Hope to that CHANGE will happen.

Cheers!

EverNote. WOW! Great application.

EverNote is one of the COOLEST application, I have seen in a long time. WOW. Check out my full review on TellurideTech.

Below is a widget of one of my public notebooks.