If I Lived in Wyoming

This is a post I wrote for "1000 Pounds of Meat" (http://1000poundsofmeat.blogspot.com/). I don't have any followers of that blog so I'm doing an echo post on this blog (where perhaps someone will actually read my words).

---------------------

I grew up in Wyoming. The state is clean and pure. The populace consists of really good people. Most are friendly. Nearly all are honorable. Many have a great deal of pride.

If I lived in Wyoming I wouldn't be as concerned about having my car break down on some long lonely highway (and trust me, there is PLENTY of long lonely stretches of highway in Wyoming). If you break down on the road in Wyoming someone will stop and help you. It's that simple. It's simple because stopping to help is the right thing to do.

I remember one time at the top of Togwottee Pass I got a bit careless (I say it that way trying not to expose the utter stupidity of my action) and buried our car in a snowbank. In mere minutes I met a man with a pick-up truck and shortly after that we were attaching a chain from his hitch to the frame of my car. As he pulled me out of the ditch he asked me about what happened and I told him the story. He looked at my shirt (which proudly announced me as "a Wyoming Native") for a moment and then his eyes met mine.

"Well buddy, I'm happy to help you out" he explained and then went on "but I'm a bit embarrassed to see you wearing that shirt".

People from Wyoming typically speak the simple, basic truth. My wife (who insisted I not do what ultimately put the car in the snow bank) and I often fondly remember that day and the unknown man from Wyoming.

If I lived in Wyoming I would want to be just like him.

If I lived in Wyoming I would have a great deal of pride about my state and the people who call it home. I would hold my head high knowing I lived in a state where we respect those around us.

If I lived in Wyoming I would be surrounded by people who work an honest day, aren't shy about standing up for what we believe in, and never stood so tall that we can't reach down to give a hand to those in need.

If I lived in Wyoming I would be pretty much convinced that I was surrounded by folks who could outperform just about ANY Texan.

If I lived in Wyoming and learned that the Texans were currently 82.5 pounds of meat ahead of the folks from my state in food pantry donations it would really bother me.

If I lived in Wyoming I expect I would be doing something about that. I sure would.

You Have To Wonder

Back in the day if something like the Toyota problems happened followed by a government investigation you wouldn't think much about it.

Today, with GM and Chrysler more or less owned by the US Government, a congressional probe into Toyota borders on inappropriate. If you are the major shareholder of the biggest competition shouldn't you disqualify yourself as having a conflict of interest?

Can a government that is grabbing controlling interest in our Banking, Auto and Health industries remain impartial when dealing with their business competition?

I'm not taking a stand here, just asking the question...

I think I'm Done Buying Lenses

The snow came on Thursday and more or less shut Dallas down. It was unfortunate becasue I had ordered a new Nikkor 18-200 mm lens that would have been quite useful for my pictures of the snow. The lens was stuck in Mesquite so my snow pictures were produced using what was left in the bag.

But 2 minutes ago the doorbell rang and my newest (and likely last for quite some time) lens finally arrived.

I think I've got the range covered now. I now have 4 Nikon lenses to make my D90 a happy camera. Here's what I ended up with:

• 10 - 24 mm Ultrawide (for landscapes and tight areas)
• 18 - 200 mm (for nearly everything else so I can carry 2 lenses and cover it all)
• 70 - 300 mm (for those far away shots when I need a really long lens)
• 35 mm (my f1.8 prime lens for low light shots).

The great thing about this collection is it will support "photo outings with my best friend Michelle". She has a D40 body and I've got a D90 (come to think about it, that's about right in real life too). The lenses fit on both camera bodies so we can both hit nearly every focal length at the same time with this collection.

Now all I need is a flash with better control than those built into the camera...

Well, between the snow storm and the NBA All Star game I've added over 5 gigabytes of pictures. Maybe I could use another hard drive too.

I Really Are Smarter Than This

A short time ago I upgraded my operating system to Windows 7.

No big deal really but when I did my POP3 mail client went away (Vista has one, Windows 7 does not). As a result I've been struggling (as much as one can struggle with such things) with the task of getting my personal mail. Ultimately I ended up doing it online in a web window.

Today, as I was using Outlook to read my work email on my personal machine it hit me. It's my copy of Outlook (yes, I purchased it with real money out of my personal bank account) and it's perfectly capable of getting messages from both Exchange servers AND POP3 servers.

I added my two personal mail addresses to my profile and what do you know - I have access to my mail.

Sheesh. I'm actually a bit embarrassed that it took me this long to figure it out.

Third Third

For a while now I've believed our lives are divided into thirds. The first third is typically self centered. We're children growing up. We consume and expect others to provide for us.

The second third has a family focus. We get married, we have children and our focus is all about providing for the family.

What we decide to focus on during that last third often defines us and might just answer the real question about who we are.

For some, the third third puts them back into the first third. Hopefully they would have outgrown the part that expects others to provide for them but many people jump back into self service after the kids are grown and out the door.

Personally, I believe the third third should be about service to others.

By the time you reach 50 you have some amazing things going on in your life. You are likely quite skilled in something, probably skilled in more than one thing, after all - you've had half a century to learn things.

There is a good chance that your financial burden got lighter as the kids left the nest and started to pursue their second third so you have a nicer cash flow situation than you ever had before. I can still recall the wonderful pressure release as the burden of responsibility was lifted from us. In this crazy world where jobs are going away faster than elected officials lose their common sense, I was more than a little concerned about the impact of job loss on my ability to provide.

After the wedding of my youngest I sat back, took stock of my life and realized that if necessary we could go back to the simple life Michelle and I lived at age 22 (and trust me, that one was MUCH cheaper). Better than that, I knew that choosing less rat-race, less pay, and less productivity wouldn't hurt anybody.

You also suddenly find yourself with extra time. By the time you start the third third you've likely forgotten that there even IS such a thing as extra time. Twenty five years of basketball practice, meal preparation, "do your homework", "take a bath, it's almost bed time", and other such time consumers leaves scant time for your spouse, much less your self or volunteer efforts.

So here I am in the third third. My wife and I are using the resources God trusted us with to help others in a volume unprecidented in my lifetime. I have time to serve non-profit organizations in capacities where I can donate that skill set I've spent the last half decade building.

I have the time and motivation to start efforts like 1000 pounds of meat, all the while pondering what I can do to make the world better 10 years from now when I retire.

I may be a bit too fat and I don't remember things if I don't write them down but that said, it's looking like the third third is going to be a hoot!

I Really Need To Sell Some Pennies!

"So, if it wasn't on sale, how much would those honey glazed spiral sliced hams cost?" I asked.

"Typically we charge between $3.59 and $3.99 a pound" the meat guy responded.

"It's on. It's SO on" I thought to myself...



Michelle was making chicken. If I need to apologize for insulting your mom, consider this an apology. I'm sure your mom made good fried chicken, but it isn't as good as when Michelle makes it. Nobody else does it as well. It doesn't mean yours is bad - it just means mine is better.

Anyway she was making chicken so I went to the store to get some potatoes (otherwise, what do you put under the gravy?). While I was there I noticed a little sign by a cooler of spiral sliced hams that said 79 cents a pound.


Upon further examination I noticed there was none of that "One per customer with $20 additional purchase" stuff on there.

"Could this be right?" I thought to myself? "Nope. It can't be right" I decided, and I went to talk to the meat man.


Well, as it turned out there were no limits and there were 10 butt portion hams (about 10 or 11 pounds each) in the display. I grabbed a cart and I put 10 of the hams in my cart, bought them, took them home, froze them, and delivered them to the food bank the next day.




So now I'm thinking I snagged $359 worth of ham for a bit over $80 and they probably refilled that meat counter. My next thought was "I've sold one of those pennies so I have $30.. "

It was then it occurred to me. I really need to sell some more pennies!