the_matt79

So it's been almost a month since I wrote my last blog, didn't think it had been that long, but I guess this will remedy that.

I have gotten used to working the day shift again, it sucks that the one guy I work with 3 days a week is lazy as shit and gets away with it as well, makes it so I have twice the work to do, but I chose to work with him rather than go back to the night shift. Also I am glad that I still have a job, I went from havng 13 people below me on the seniority roster for my craft, to having 5, so if we have another layoff here I might not survive it, but I will get 6 months of un-employment if I want towait out the economy and see if I get called back. If that happens I will be pretty damned glad that I live with my parents as it will allow me to pursue some things and still get by, but I definitely hope that we don't have another layoff here in Glendive, for my sake and my co-workers.

I am starting to get a little stir crazy at the moment, and really look forward to getting out of town this weekend. After work Friday I will jump in a car and drive 400 some miles to be with my friends for 5 days. One of my best friends' sister is getting hitched on Saturday, she is a pretty good friend too, and has become a kind f littel sister to me along the way. The group of friends that they are a big part of will more than likely all be there as well, which means I am going to have me one damned good time. I was told that of 500 invites sent out 300 came back positive, so there will be quite the crowd there. On top of that there will be 8 kegs and about 10 cases of booze, so the open bar portion may kick my ass, but we have kinda decided we will be up untl sunrise or so, so no worries eh?

I have been simply loving the day shift as it allows me to watch Countdown with Keith Olberman and The Rachel Maddow Show every night. I like the stance they take on subjects and really have learned quite a bit about the goings on of my country, something that I feel I should have paid more attention to in my youth, but also realize that maybe you don't take things all that seriously until you hit 30. I know the wheels really got into motion with last years election, a time when I actually got excited to be in the USA again, something that had been on hold for 8 years, something that was really glad to pop back up and have me pay attention to it. Keith and Rachel do a damned good job of entertaining as they inform, and that is what keeps me coming back for more.

Recently a dinosaur "museum" opened up in my hometown, one that had been in various stages of construction for the last three years or so. I put museum in quotations because it is a dinosaur museum with a creationist way of thinking, something that simply makes no sense to me what-so-ever. I cannot buy into the concept of a "young earth" a they put it, I believe beyond on a shadow of a doubt that the planet we live on took millions of years to become like it is. yet he man who built this museum has formed a goup called FACT which I believe stands for Furthering a Creationist Truth. I think that is a conceited way of putting your point across, but they is what they is. One of my co-workers told me that apparently they even follow you through your tour of the museum and basically preach to you the whole way.

I have been dreading the opening of that museum since I first learned that it would be built. You see I am an Anthropologist,I focused on the cultural side of things in my undergraduate work, and then at grad school I focused more on Museology as we say. As someone who grew up loving museums and everything they contain (the stories, the history, the stuff, and the thought that goes into how it will be presented to the public) I hate that there are museums that take an unwavering stance on the world they exist in. I feel that a museum should present information and allow the visitor to take from it what they will, that is what is so exciting abot museums, everyone will walk away with a different experience. Those experiences may be similar, but they will all be shaped by the individuals own origin and what has shaped that, whether it be education, religion, or life experience. That is what I love about museums, and by putting a certain religious ideology and limited point of view, you take all that goodnes out of a museum. This is why I will never step foot in that building, why I will never pay to further their "message", that and the man behind it believes that there were dinosaurs on Noah's Ark.

I have been riding my bike daily, or at least mostly daily, I had to take some time off for weather the other day, but mostly get on that thing and pedal my ass off for around an hour a day. I have found that I actually like kicking my ass on the hills that are on my own made up course through my hometown. I am not sure exactly the distance involved but it is a number of miles. My legs are tightening up and I am able to go in the higher gears up and down the hills, so I feel pretty good about all of that. I even received a few compliments today so I guess it is paying off like I wanted it to. I didn't know that I would be able to keep it up like I have been as I have never really been in any kind of excercise program for any extended period of time,but I really like getting out there on my bike and getting it done. Maybe it's the ipod distracting me, but whatever it is I most definitely wish to keep it going.

That should brig things up to date with me, I should have tons of pictures from this weekend (got a new digital camera the other day) and more stories to tell, so look forward to that, that is if you find me interesting, which I hope you do.