Wel, it's officially spring. I killed the first mosquito yesterday. Yep. still 5' of snow on the ground, 44 degrees and the little buggers are already emerging in search of warm blood!

You know, it occurs to me I've never put my contact info on here. Sometimes I'm a total airhead and I forget that not everyone wants to make a comment that the whole world can see. If you'd like to send me a private email my (current) email addy is: dpwill99@gmail.com. I think I have a couple of million others somewhere, but I never check them anyway so there's no point in giving them out. You're also welcome to friend me on Facebook. I keep it completely wide open, I figure the more the merrier, so come on in! I've only ever blocked one person and that wasn't because I disagreed with their views (Okay- I DID disagree with the anti-fur things they insisted on putting up all the time, I'm a pretty pro-fur kinda guy) but more the fact that they posted between 40 and 50 pictures of animals that were in danger of euthinasation. (Sp, I know..don't even tell me, I just don't feel like looking it up.) EVERY DAY!  Now, I really DO feel bad about all these animals. It sucks that they have to be put down, but I really didn't want to have to keep scrolling through ALL of those pictures just so I could find out what my other friends are doing. Anyway..That's my contact info. If you REALLY need my phone # shoot me an email and I'll probably give it to you, but I'm not posting it to the world! Have a good one!

I haven't written in a while simply because I hate writing negative things and there's been enough going on lately that makes me absolutely furious that I decided to give it a couple of days to chill out a little. We're firmly in breakup now, snow is melting, it's been close to 50 outside- Absolutely AWESOME! For anyone who is wondering, Eddie the goat is doing fine. He and Jack (My cattle dog mix)had a few rough days while they shook out who was in charge, but after that all has been well. Okay- You're wondering whats got me so mad, right? Well, ok- Here goes. first is the proposed dam that they want to build up the Matanuska river. It is an absolutely beautiful area that some morons decided it would be a great idea to spend 4.3 billion (on the low side) to flood so we can get more electricity. It seems like there are people in this world that look at pristine natural beauty and start giggling like school girls when they think about all the money they can make by bulldozing it and covering it with concrete. I REALLY wish, no offense, that all of those people would leave this state and go back down to the lower 48. Leave Alaska like it is, People! If you don't like the fact that its sort of rugged and maybe not a technological mecca then MOVE! There is a bunch of 'urban development' everywhere else. Go there if you want to look over miles of concrete. 

 The other thing that has me pretty ticked off lately (Well, BESIDES politics, that's normal) is the incident down in Florida. A shooting in a gated community. A 17 year old kid that lost his life and a 24 year old kid that has to live with taking one. It was a horrible thing. one of the kind of things that never should have happened. Was it spawned by some deep racial hatred? I highly doubt it. More likely bad judgement in a stressful situation. Should the nation be using it as a key point to further tear itself apart? Absolutely not. I'm not going to use this as a forum to debate whether it was a justified shooting or not. All I have to say is that people shouldn't be using this sort of a tragedy to springboard their own political views. I mean, come on, people! Senators wearing hoodies to support..what, exactly? Justice? The Judicial system that they took an oath to support? Peace and equality in our country?  Does anyone really think they ACTUALLY give a rat's butt about this kid? It's a chance to draw attention to themselves and get voters. As the 'leaders' of this country shouldn't they be working to pull us all together as a nation instead of making cheap, grandstand stunts to drive bigger and bigger wedges? A 'million hoodie' march? To protest what? That the kid wore a jacket? That there was stereotyping based on the way he looked? Wow, really? You think? That's something that goes on every single day in every aspect of life. Don't believe me? How about you try an experiment. Any women out there brave enough to go out dressed as cheap and trashy as you possibly can to see if people treat you differently than normal? Guys- On casual Friday at the office throw on a ratty pair of cutoffs and a wife beater to see if people talk to you differently. Hmm..wife beater- a sleeveless white undershirt that has become synonymous with trailer park living, beer swilling trash that hits women. But we don't stereotype based on the clothes we wear, right? I have to wonder- If this kid had been white or latino, would it have even made the news any further than a local article? Would it have if the shooter had been the same race as the boy? What about part? At what percentage of the same race IS it not noteworthy to cover something like this? It's a pretty sad statement when you can picture the anti-gun coalition nearly giggling with glee because this gives them another excuse to attack gun rights as opposed to being saddened by an unfortunate tragedy. 

Well- There you have it. I got my rant on after all. Maybe if I completely stop watching the news I'll be able to write more enjoyable things. Hopefully all this snow melts soon so I can get outside a bit more and enjoy living in Alaska- Well, until they put up a strip mall in my back yard anyway-

People never fail to amaze me. As the elections get closer the political rhetoric is flying hot and heavy, especially on line. I find myself in the unique position of having good friends on both side of the political fence so I hear about how horrible the other side is all the time. The really funny thing is: In a lot of cases both sides are absolutely 100% correct. Radical views on anything have a tendency to be that way. It's really easy to lose your perspective on a subject when you are completely surrounded by it. In my opinion some of the fault lies with our country's inalienable rights. It's a great thought, everyone SHOULD have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The problem falls in the boundaries of that statement. Where does one person's right to happiness end and the other person's begin? Does EVERYONE really have a right to be happy all the time, and if so, what do you do about what makes one person happy angering the guy next to him? What exactly IS the definition of Liberty, anyway? I decided to look up the definition on line. Miriam Webster defines it like this:
a : the power to do as one pleasesb : freedom from physical restraintc : freedom from arbitrary or despotic controld : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privilegese : the power of choice

 Wow, based on THAT definition it looks like we blew that one a while ago and we're sliding further from that definition all the time. When it mentions life, does it mean QUALITY of life, or the simple act of breathing, eating, sleeping and existing? The parameters of our inalienable rights seem a little vague when viewed through the microscope of todays' society. I get really confused sometimes about the things that people get angry about. For example, I've listened to people rant for hours against gay marriage. Personally I'm all for it. When I look at it objectively it REALLY doesn't affect my life in the slightest one way or another. If it makes someone else happy they should have every right to be so. Of course, having been divorced I also see the other side of that coin. Why SHOULDN'T homosexual people have to deal with the incredible pain in the butt that having to go through a legal divorce can be?  I mentioned that to one of my friends who happens to be gay one day and that thought gave him pause. It didn't seem so completely fantastic when he viewed the downsides of the whole picture. In that particular instance I think they should have the right to pursue their happiness as well as the right to lose some (or all) of their personal belongings and property in a divorce when things don't work out the way they plan them to. In general I don't have a problem with people having the rights that they want, as long as they accept the downsides of them as well and don't get them at the expense of others. I guess I'm just odd that way. I decided that life is WAY to short and precious to get all twisted up about things that don't really affect me directly. I've been asked my opinion about abortion before and gotten a VERY angry response from a (Male) individual when I responded that I really didn't feel qualified to have an opinion on it since I didn't possess a uterus. Everyone has an opinion on subjects. It's human nature to believe one way or another about a subject. When people try to force their opinion on others the problem begins. I guess that falls into the pursuit of happiness thing, I'm not sure. I know, for instance, if some people in this country got their way all firearms would essentially be illegal, like they are in the UK. That would make me distinctly unhappy since I live with and use them on a regular basis. Does that mean I have some recourse against those people for violating my inalienable rights? It just seems like if people would talk to each other instead of screaming and throwing their rhetoric in the faces of all that oppose them, or trying to make laws that enforce what THEY think is the correct thing while removing the rights of other people who disagree that things would be a whole lot more pleasant all the way around. Oh well, I hope I haven't offended to many people with this post, but I probably have since it seems to be the nature of mankind, after all.. Go out and find what makes you happy, everyone- It's not just our right as Americans, but as humans. Just pause for a moment while you're doing it and make sure that what makes you happy isn't trampling on someone else's joy. Remember, we're all in this crazy world together so why not make an effort to make everyone's journey through life as pleasant as possible? Have a great day!

Well, Dear readers, I'm wondering what the weather has in store for us this week.  I've had one of those headaches, lodged in the back of my head and pounding, for 2 days now. It's my own personal little barometer, a leftover gift from a girl on Interstate 88 in Illinois who didn't think it was a good idea to stop when the rest of the cars around her did for a toll booth. If you're reading this, Sweety- yes, it still hurts after all these years. Additionally Eddie, the aforementioned goat, has been trying to get into the house all morning, butting the door and looking in the window. He may just be cold, or he's learned a new trick, but I refuse to have a goat as a house guest. My porch is trashed enough. His house came yesterday, wobbling up the road on its one good wheel, the rim of the other one dragging in the snow like a wounded coyote. We got it part way into the driveway where it sank in tot he snow. It's going o have to work until breakup. That's the motto up here these days. Make it work until the snow melts and then make it right later. It's amazing how much 5' of snow makes everything more difficult. the other day I was walking in my back yard on the packed snow that we've made with the snow shoes. I though I saw a tree budding out and, like an idiot, I took a step over to look more closely at it. I really wish there would have been a video tape of me sinking to my waist in snow and then thrashing through it again to crawl back onto the packed stuff. I'm sure a video would have kept us laughing all the way to summer. Oh well, time to get started with the day, i guess. I have a ton of writing to do for school. I wasn't able to really concentrate and get anything done over the weekend. Not really depressed, per se, I just couldn't bring myself to be analytical or creative. I spent the weekend just sort of living. I spent time with the kids, slept in late, played video games, played with the goat and in general was a useless layabout. Sometimes you have to do that, just because. Like every other choice in life, though, there are consequences. Now I'm going to have to pay the piper and kick it into overdrive to try to write something noteworthy. Wish me luck everyone, and have a great day!

I can see that life with Eddie the goat isn't going to be boring! I thought my kids were bad about getting into things...Wow! All in all, though, he's a pretty cool goat. The kids have been looking online because they want to get him a girlfriend. I'm going to be a great northern goat baron soon if I'm not careful! Nick has been making plans, designing a cart for Eddie to pull. I guess with spring comes new adventures. The dogs are finally beginning to understand that he's okay so they haven't been barking at him quite as constantly as they were.  Between the meowing of cats, the barking of dogs, and now the bleating of a goat it gets rather loud around here sometimes. We'll eventually get things together though. This weird group of misfits is starting to take on some of the appearance of a family! Have a great day!

Today is St. Patrick's day. For most people it's nothing more than an excuse to drink green beer and Irish Whiskey, eat corned beef and cabbage and be Irish for a day. For me its something a little different. Today marks what would be my 14th anniversary of marriage to an amazing girl who changed my life in more ways than I can count. Neither of us was 'pure' Irish, bit we both had a significant amount of it in common so we seized on this day to have our wedding. We have matching tattoos, a very cool celtic knot design of a four leaf clover. She got hers on her ankle where everyone could see it, mine is on my chest, close to my heart where I will keep her always. We made it through a lot of life together in the almost 13 years we were married and we planned on having many more great adventures. We had talked about going to Ireland for this anniversary, begun saving for it. Well, Life has other plans sometimes. The savings got spent last year when the kids and I flew down to Illinois to bury her. It was a freak accident, something that shouldn't have happened, but it did. I've spent the last year in mourning. It wasn't until last week, the one year mark of the day that she died that I looked into the sky and saw the Northern Lights above me that I finally knew it was alright. I can't see my wife anymore, but I know she's still there, standing beside me, encouraging me to move forward with my life, to spend it living and striving to become something better than I already am, just like she always has. I love you, Glenda, and I miss you and always will. If I do manage to do great things it will be because of you. Happy Anniversary!