Adventures in Billings

What can I tell you? Billings was cool. I rather enjoyed myself. I got to visit the MSUB campus which I thought the tour was something else. I think I will go there next year. Even though I loved Bozeman, I think Billings would be the one place to go to. Then after spending a couple of days on campus, I moved into the Billings Hotel. It was a very classy place with a waterslide pool and everything. I usually end up in a very cheap motel, but this one was better.
I originally went there to look at properties, but I had very little luck finding one that will allow pets. So I took advantage of the car rental and drove to Pompeys Pillar. The famous Lewis and Clark Expedition carved their names on this rock. It was cool. The whole time I was in Billings, it was stormy...thunder and lightning and everything. And as I was coming home from Pompeys Pillar, storm clouds were rolling in and I got some really good video shots of the lightning. Its not everyday we get to see things like that.
It was sad leaving Billings because I had fun, but I had to go home. And when I did I caught a bad cold. Damn it!!!

pics and movies

I cannot wait to go on my trip to Billings. I plan to get plenty of pics and movies on this trip. With my luck, there will be plenty to talk about. But I want to post the pics on Facebook so everybody can see them. If I post them on youtube, the only ones who will see them are my family and trolls. I cannot stand youtube trolls, they have the habit of picking on people and I dont want to have anything to do with them. I want all my friends to see my trip.
The movies, well, I am posting them on vimeo.com. I find its a lot better than youtube, at least thats what Timmyfan said. So my trip videos will be found there.

notice to spammers

I am getting sick of people coming on my blog with these chinese writing. I think this is some kind of spam and I want it to stop. I cant read it so I dont know who is really sending them to me. I cant figure it out. Whoever keeps sending me these messages with the chinese writing, better fuck off and stay away from my blog. I hate spam mail.

Great Falls MT sucks? Maybe or maybe not

There certainly was a lot of action today on the Montana page on Facebook. It all started when I was reading about a dinosaur display at the Montana State fair in Great Falls (I thought is was in Billings) and I was responding to someone who stated that Great Falls suck. I was agreeing with him and posted a comment about racist groups being formed there. Now I have no real proof other than a movie I saw years ago and I stated that. Anyway almost immediately after the comment got posted I deleted the message because I thought it was offensive especially to the people who live there and I didnt want to take it to the extreme. But at exactly the same time, another person saw what I had said and posted a response to it and then it turned into a heated battle between me and 3 other people. At the time I did not expect anyone to answer right away. It just seemed impossible. Everybody was also thinking I was "running away like a little girl" which I take offense to that. I may not like what I talk about sometimes, but I am not a coward. I am not gonna be responsible for someone else's actions. It wasnt my fault that this person responded right away just as I was deleting the message. It was a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then there was in issue with Facebook. For a long time, FB would not post my comments and I kept trying to post a response to this person. I was told there was an issue with the phone and the internet went crazy. Next thing I know, there were about 20 posts on that board and I deleted all of them. But because my computer is slow on Facebook, I couldnt get rid of them in enough time to keep other dumbasses to post crap against me. One dumbass literally said that I should "leave Montana alone and go back to where I came from." Come on!! I dont care what people say. I can go anywhere I want to. Its a free country. The day that they wont let people into Montana without a passport is when I will stay away.

I personally have nothing against Great Falls itself. I never been there so I cant say much. I just think it sucks because there is not much to do there. But then this is just my opinion. If somebody doubts my opinion, well, thats their problem.

the graduate story

It has finally come to this. After 23 years of being in and out of school since high school, I am FINALLY graduating from collage. I was waiting for this day to happen for a long time, but everytime I came close to finishing up my courses for a collage degree, we had to move, or something happened to me and I couldnt finish up. It just doesnt seem like it was that long ago that I started collage in the first place. I still remember when I started right out of high school. This was in the days before internet was invented. We had to either write out or type our assignments on a typewriter. We did have computers, but they did very little. To save anything, you had to use these huge floppy disks which was easy to get damaged, and computer classes were few and far between.

That was 23 years ago. Now everything is done online and we have more sources than we ever did before.

But I figure now is about time to graduate from collage and to move on. I am not getting any younger and I need to start getting on with my life. I will soon be attending school at Bozeman, but not when I really wanted to start though. For a graduation present, I got an all expense paid trip to Billings and I really want to go. I am going there to visit the MSU-Billings campus because I just might transfer there and to look at properties. I am noticing the job market is a little better than it is here, and they are always hiring in Yellowstone Park which is only a few hours away from Billings.

I am not so sure what I will do for the future. That has drawn a blank. I have a lot of possibilities and I just have to decide what is best for me and my family. But I can assure you that by the time I graduate, Timmyfan would be back here on the coast. If it was up to me, she would stay here. I really dont want to take her to Billings with me, but I dont have a choice. Its either that or she lives on the street, and I cant do that not even to my worst enemy. If I could give her a tiny home on the ocean or a lot somewhere in the area, I would leave her here. If there was a way I could leave her here, I do it right away. But I ran out of ideas and I cant stay where there are no jobs.

This area relies very much on tourism as their main industry. And because of the bad economy, no one does much traveling anymore. The hotels dont get enough business and jobs become scarce. I think IMO, if I were to come back to this state, I think I would go back to Mount St. Helens. Most of the nearby communities are bigger towns (well, bigger than Ocean Shores anyway) and may have a better job market. And there is Mount St. Helens itself. I think the park offers employment and there may be something in it for me. But I think first of all, I would like to give Montana a try and maybe get a permanent job at Yellowstone. If it turns out to be no better than Ocean Shores, well....Mount St. Helens, here I come. Or even to Anacortes, now there is another place I dont mind moving to. But I am not sure of the job market there. Population wise, its only about the size of Aberdeen, and I have never really been there outside of the ferry docks. But it sounds like a cute little town and I have got to check it out. But right now, its an uncertain future, but its nice to dream about it. We will just have to wait and see what REALLY happens.

I'm back

I am sorry for the long delay on my blog posts. I have been in school all this time and my homework keeps me very busy.
I am taking this microbiology course, which is a lot of fun. But the problem is that I am so far behind everyone else because I cant seem to locate a second bacterial species and it looks like I might not be able to. And also to make matters worse, my stupid car breaks down, I cant go to the lab early in the morning before classes start and work on my lab projects. I have to catch the bus by a certain time, and that forces me to do so few tests on my bacteria guys. This just cannot be happening. My biggest fear: I will flunk micro lab if I dont do these tests soon. Everybody else has.
But I am so disorganized. I cant seem to get the tests done right, nothing is going the way I want it to go, in other words, I'm a screw up. Even my class journal is very disorganized. Is this what I have to look forward to when I get to Bozeman? Well, at Bozeman it will be a lot worse than this. The classes will be a lot harder and a lot more demanding. I hope I am ready for it.
I think the problem is also the instructor. I mean dont get me wrong, everybody says that she is the best teacher in the school. But I myself think that she gives very vague details about how she wants things done. I try to follow her instructions, but somewhere along the line, I lost it. I dont think she even realizes that I have a bit of a learning problem where things have to be described to me more clearer than other people. What I need is a lab partner, somebody who will work beside me and help me every step of the way. And at Bozeman, thats what I should do and I think I should request that. I need to find out if that is possible because my learning problem can get in the way and make it more difficult to succeed.

What a day!!

I finally got my deposit sent to Bozeman, now I can finally get my dorm room. I cannot wait to get to Bozeman. I wish I was going now, but I have to wait. My financial aid hasnt gotten through to the school yet, and I have to finish up here. I am supposed to hear from them at the end of the month.

I am also looking forward to going to Billings too. I had yellvet from the Y-net forum tell me all the hot spots there. Look promising, but I am looking forward to having a great time. I have the feeling I will be going there a lot now. I know for a fact that I can go to Livingston on a free bus ride, although you dont want to go there in the dead of winter unless you have the ultimate protection against blizzard like weather.

I still need to get more winter stuff, and somehow I need to get that.

Timmyfan is starting her bird cages, and from what I have seen, its not so bad. Some of the wood boards had been cut funny, but thats not her fault. But everything needs to be straight in order for the cage to come out right. Wouldnt it be cool if we could put a light on top?

I think so!!!!

Happy B-day Yellowstone

Today is the day that Yellowstone Park became the the first national park in the world in 1872. I just want to wish the park a happy birthday.

PETA Sucks!!!!

We heard the story of the trainer at Seaworld that got killed by the killer whale, which is sad. Now PETA wants to do the most idiotic thing by closing down Seaworld and letting the whale go out into the wild. Thats stupid!! Thats not gonna solve anything. First of all, you cant let an animal that was raised in captivity out in the wild, they could die out there. They wouldnt know how to survive. I mean you wouldnt put your pet dog or cat out there where there are bears and mountain lions roaming around, they could get killed. Its just as bad.

PETA is an organization that is made up of idiots. What I want to do is find the dumbass who started PETA in the first place and punch him or her in the face and strangle them. If they ever put their hands on my dogs to set them free, I will break both their arms and I will too. I dont give a fuckin' shit about what they think, they are the dumbasses, not me. I would be fighting to save the life of my dogs.

If PETA starts to take over this and lets that poor whale out in the wild, thats it. I will start a new club of my own that will go against PETA's rules. No one will be a Veggie either.

genkijapan.net

I love this cool site. I have always wanted to learn to speak Japanese ever since I was a child. But in those days, we didnt have things like youtube or the internet to learn a new language. We had to learn from either taking a class or by learning from someone in another country, which was really hard. I would like to learn something other than Spanish, that I already know a little bit.

This site is really cool, I cant get enough of hearing those songs and playing them over again and again. I would like to get a copy of them if I can from youtube. Its a cool way to learn. I have learned quite a bit, can even sing "Mary had a little lamb" in Japanese. This is actually the best website on languages that I have ever visited. For the past few days I have been spending a lot of time on here and its really fun.

Learning a new language is exciting!

the mystery of wolfmtnlady

Wolfmtnlady has come back, only this time, she signed in as Love Wolves & Nature. It was courer de bois that figured out that secret. I can tell you, he is very observant of who gets on the Y-net forum by the way they comment about wildlife in other states, and yet she doesnt bash her own. And she still gets on here acting so high and mighty like she knows everything. I think it was only a matter of time before ANYONE would find out.

Congratulations Stacy!!

It is finally here. My friend on Facebook that had been pregnant for some time, finally had her baby this morning. All her friends and relatives are celebrating the baby's new arrival. We are hoping for more pics of the baby soon. She had a baby girl they named Loretta Rose, or Retta Rose is what she calls it. I am so happy for her. Congrats Stacy LaSalle!!

I am hoping for the best for her and Retta. She is going to be handfull when she gets older. Maybe someday, I would actually meet my friends in person while I'm in Bozeman. They go to the Y-net reunion every year at the park. One day I will attend. Cool!!

computer viruses

I hate computer viruses with a passion. Since last Friday or Saturday some dumb virus kept dominating my computer and blocking out everything I tried to open. Its still dominating my computer, but I have to open it up several times just to get it to go away. Its a program called Personal Security believed to be an antivirus popup that is now taking over all the computer systems now. Other people have been plagued by this same virus too, all at the same time, so there must be a chain going on. Anyway, it will block all your files, programs, and the internet unless you buy this product, which is stupid. Its most likely if you buy it, the hackers steal your personal information, including your credit card numbers. For days, I have not been on the internet and it has been boring without it.

I am going to backup this computer and hope it goes away. I never want to see this crap happening again. Getting rid of viruses is a pain in the butt.

nursing or not

Oh boy! the challenges I am going through. I thought I wanted to major in nursing. It just seems so cool to become a nurse and I had big plans for my family. But lastnite I really got to thinking, "is nursing REALLY for me?" Can I actually become a nurse and get a job? How well will I do in clinicals?

First of all, I am disabled, and it is known that most people frown on that. I have heard stories where some nurses had to hide their disability from their employers just to get a nursing position. The problem with that is that in some people its more evident and their employers find out eventually. By law it is illegal to let employees go on the basis of their race, disability, or background. But I think in nursing, a nurse with disabilities may not be able to perform certain aspects of the job and they often get fired. I do believe it is unfair, but thats society and the way it thinks. Plus employers are usually not trained to provide accommodations for those who do have disabilities and many of them do not want to go through all the trouble of getting accommodations. Its sad.

IMO, clinicals may be very hard for me. You have to be able to make decisions very quickly. That is the biggest weakness of all. I can make decisions, but not in that short of time. I have to be able to think, but in a matter of life and death, thats not good and I dont want anybody to die because of me. That will make me drop out of the nursing trade once and for all.

Second of all, you have to be a people person. You have to know how to talk to them. And even if you are trying to be nice to the patient, they may take that offensively. I am not sure how to handle that. It is just best that if you are not a people person, nursing is not the best profession for you.

So I have been kicking around a bit and I decided to major in microbiology and become a lab technician at a hospital. I have always been fascinated with germs and how they cause diseases. It would be so cool. I'm still going to Bozeman. The 4-year schools in this state are always located in high crime communities much like they are in California. I feel safer in Montana, much like it is here, but without the ocean.

So thats my plan. I love nursing, but it may not be for me, plus I hate the site of red stuff and people throwing up makes me sick. I have a weak belly. Microbiology is the way to go. Maybe one day, I will come up with a more affective way to cure cancer, who knows.

Activity at Yellowstone

I have been seeing and reading many posts on Facebook and on the Y-net forum about the many earthquake swarms that have been happening at Yellowstone these past few weeks. Many of them are small in magnitude, but they are happening more frequently than ever before, more than 900 earthquakes in one day. Is this a sign that Yellowstone will blow? Well, we will get to that.

This is the same thing that happened at Mount St. Helens before it went off, but Mount St. Helens is a whole different story than Yellowstone.

Everybody knew that Mount St. Helens was going to blow and the chances were great. Yellowstone on the other hand, the chances of that volcano going off in the near future is about 1 in 10 million.

But then volcanoes are very unpredictable. Many have gone off even without warning that an eruption was going to happen. So Yellowstone will blow. Will it happen in our lifetime? No one can answer that, but to be honest, the chances are not that great.

Happy new year-2010

We have reached yet again another decade, hopefully a better one but I cant look that far into the future. Something always happens that we dont want to happen but does anyway. Its just life. I just hope I live to see the next one.

Well, I just applied for financial aid to attend Bozeman in the fall. I hope I get a full grant for everything, including nonresident fees and dorm room costs. If I want something bad enough, I will work hard for it. I already am by getting my shots updated. I will do everything I can to get as much aid to pay my way through Bozeman. There are scholarships, work study, and even other grants (though I think there more for Montana residents), but whatever I can get, I want to go even if I have to get an after school job. With this much on my mind, I could write a book about how I payed my way through collage. Just pray for me.

If I get it, Great!! If not, well, I havent decided much on what to do if it doesnt happen. Dad wants me to wait until the economy gets better, but with Obama in the office, it may never happen and I'm screwed. It may take years and by then I may be too old to read a book. I am not gonna wait until I am in my 60s to graduate from collage. I will find a way. When there's a will, there's a way. There's gotta be something I havent tried yet.

The only thing that I could do, and I am not longing for this at this time, is to physically move to Bozeman and establish residency. But this is an absolute last resort if all other options I have tried failed. But Timmyfan....what am I going to do about Timmyfan???? She cant move to Bozeman. She had a hard time adjusting to the altitude and dry air. And to be honest, I would much rather apply for a student loan than to let Timmyfan move to Bozeman with me. Thats about as low as I can go. But right now, I want my dorm room. It would be much more fun to live in a dorm anyway. There is usually a lot of activity going on in dorm buildings than there would be like in our own apartment.

But I am trying to change our lives by becoming a nurse, and thats what I am hoping for most of all. Its more important for me to get that collage degree, and whatever move I take, I will do it. This is for us.