Wide open spaces

I went to Gillette, Wyo., and Belle Fourche, S.D. on Monday and Tuesday. You know, Wyoming has some pretty cool scenery. Especially on I-25 between Gillette and Douglas. I took this picture from my rental car, so it's not too great. But I think you get the idea. The drive back was pretty rough because of all the snow. I made the mistake of thinking I could cut off some time by going through the Black Hills. Wow, big error. The road was extremely curvy. I was going up and down mountains. Mind you, this was all during blizzard-like conditions. The snow was literally blowing sideways. With 60 mph gusts. A couple times I had no visibility and thought I was going to be engulfed in a white cloud. It was pretty scary. I hit Lead, S.D., and got out to ask someone if the road was going to continue being curvy. She took one look at my rental car and said, "turn around." I guess the road ahead was even worse, so I turned around and headed back to Gillette. Good move. That drive was much better -- even if it took longer.

During the trip I interviewed these guys who just moved to Wyoming from Michigan because the economy stinks in Michigan (with all the auto layoffs and such...) I kind of felt bad for them, but most of them actually seemed to have wanted to move to Wyoming. They had different reasons -- always wanted to go west, wanted to get away from people (especially the Flint guys), etc. That's got to be a pretty tough transition though. They tried to act all tough, but I could tell the younger guys were homesick. Just like me. You live in one state your entire life and then you pack it all up and move someplace completely new. You know, this may sound conceited, but I'm really glad I went to school and have a college degree. Doing the type of work those guys do -- laying pipe, construction, working in the coal mines -- really does not sound like much fun. But they're making a good living and taking care of themselves. It's all about survival, one guy said. How true that is.

Over the weekend I went back to Springfield for Easter. It was a really short trip. I flew out of Denver on Saturday and was back Sunday. Springfield was so green. You really do start to miss trees out here. My uncle showed my brother and I all the tornado damage to his house. It was pretty bad, but did not even compare to some of the other houses. One looked completely normal from the front, but the entire back had been ripped off. It was sad because these were new, big, beautiful houses -- dream homes really -- that were just torn to shreds.

On a lighter note, Mike and I went camera shopping on Saturday and I got a new Canon SD600 elph. My old camera has been starting to die and since I was taking the trip to Gillette on Monday, I figured a new camera might be a good thing to have. The AP has no photographers for the entire state of Wyoming. So I need to take my own. A story usually does much better if it has some graphical/multimedia elements. I like the new camera. It's super quick and takes pretty good pictures for a point and click. I'm excited because I'm going to get to use it at Madinah's wedding this weekend. I can't wait. It's going to be a blast. It's really weird because I went on their first date. It was kind of double date, but things didn't work out between me and the guy I went with. But now Madinah and Dan are getting married. Amazing.

Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard, a guy I went to college with, is becoming a really well-known baseball player with the Philadelphia Phillies. I didn’t know him – I think I interviewed him once. But I definitely remember his name. This article, which was the lead story on ESPN.com the other day, totally took me by suprise. I wasn’t aware of it until reading this article, but he was named Rookie of the Year last year. Wow. Go fellow Bear!!!

I’m a little surprised nothing is going on with immigration in Wyoming. Hispanics are by far the largest minority in the state, but they’re still only at 6.4 percent. Of course, not all illegal immigrants are Hispanic or Latino, as Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez points out. I know there have been several protests in Colorado and I’m not surprised. I went down to Greeley this weekend and parts of it reminded me of Mexico. Lou Dobbs has been talking about immigration for at least the past two years. I remember writing a blog entry about him being completely OBSESSED with the topic. Well, he’s finally having his day now. He’s pretty much been on every CNN program during the past week—I’m getting a little sick of seeing him. It’s an important topic though. I think the only reason it’s coming up now however, sadly, is because of politics. It gives fuel to both the Republicans (keep them out, build a fence!!) and Democrats (come on now, that’s too extreme!!) This article about Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback interested me. It would be hard for him to come out too strongly against immigrants, given the many, many illegals work in rural Kansas. And the farmers and business owners want to keep them.

My friend Luke called me this weekend to make sure I was “doing OK.” He had been reading my blog and I guess might have been afraid I was suicidal or something. Things have been really negative on here lately, and I apologize. It seems the only way I can make myself feel better is to write about it. I was kind of surprised. I didn’t really think anyone was reading this, because no one comments. Blogs are really so narcissistic. I mean, really who cares about how many “saki bombs” my day was? I’m going to try to keep my Wyoming-hatin’ comments away from this blog now. It could be a lot worse—at least I’m a legal U.S. citizen. I have a lot to be thankful for.

MySpace.

I discovered that a coffee shop downtown has wireless. And it’s good wireless. It doesn’t come and go like my hotel’s wireless (which is soooo slow.) So I proceeded to sit there for, like, three hours and finally figured out MySpace. I signed up a while ago, but never had time to write more stuff on there, find friends or change my background. Of course, now I’m obsessed. I stayed up late working on my profile and finding old friends. It’s kind of cool you can catch up with people you haven’t seen for years through these Internet sites. Seriously, how did people survive pre-Internet? I don’t think I could do my job very well without it. You know how journalists used to keep treasured rolodexes with the names and numbers of all their sources? Yeah, my Rolodex is Google.

Anywho, despite my new obsession with MySpace I think I’m going to keep blogging here. I like Jbyrdie’s Nest and I feel like we’ve got some good history together.

So I saw a car today that I decided I should write about. It was just a regular gold Honda accord – nice car, I must say J – but it had all these bumper stickers all over it. A red, white and blue ribbon with “Freedom isn’t free.” A “Keep Christ in Christmas” sticker. A “Pro-Life” sticker. A “W: The President” sticker. And so on … you get the drift. While these stickers no longer surprise me – I am aware of the fact that I’m no longer in liberal Lawrence but in reddest of all red Wyoming – I was just kind of taken aback by this vehicle. I mean, why so many stickers? Plus, pretty much everyone in this town agrees with his point of view. I guess he felt he had to make a statement. Of course, I’m assuming the driver was a “he.” When I drove by and tried to look in, the windows were tinted so much you couldn’t see a driver. Perhaps he doesn’t want to be known as the guy with all the conservative bumper stickers? It was just weird.

Click my heels...

I went back to Kansas this weekend for my friend Madinah's bachelorette party. We had a blast!!! I miss those girls. It was hard to leave. It's always so great to see friends. Life is hard, friends get you through it.

The party didn't get too crazy ... no strippers unfortunately. :-( Come on, what's a bachelorette party without strippers? Madinah did get up on a table and danced, which was hilarious. The college boys started giving her dollar bills. Kinnard and I were so pissed we didn't have a camera to document it. I'm so happy for Dan and Madinah--it's great to see people happy together.

I got back to Wyoming not too long ago and have to go back to reality tomorrow. Ugh. Why can't life just be a constant party? That's what I want to know...

More pictures here!!!

Jenny Byrd: Eat. Drink. Be Lazy.

Went to Boulder today with Staci and Bryan. It was a blast, but the drive back to Cheyenne was kind of rough. Will it ever stop snowing? Loved Lazy Dogs bar. I think I picked up a new life motto.

More photos here.

Dick. Cheney.

A pic of Air Force 2. In other news, it's -16 degrees here right now. No kidding. It was a very, very, very frigid day. My fingers felt like ice cubes ready to break off. It was so cold, Dick Cheney's shot gun must have froze!!! Haha. OK, enough with the gun jokes...

I saw him get off and get back on the plane. That was about it. There weren't many people at the airport to great him because it was so darn cold. But it was an exciting day.

Hooker boots.

I saw four women wearing hooker boots at the Capitol today. They're really not that bad. A lot of women wear them (you know, the black leather boots that come up to your knees). Maybe I should stop referring to them as "hooker boots." I don't have a pair. But I've heard they're warm. They're probably a good idea for out here since it's so freakin' cold!

Grammy's. Stories.

I'm disappointed Kanye didn't win best record. Come on, Boulevard of Broken Dreams has been out forever, right? Wasn't that song in last year's list? I guess not, but whatever.

Oh yeah, I've had some more stories published. None of them got the play my first story did (I think I was just luckly on that one,) but if you want to read them, here are some links:
UW license plates
State Rodeo
Governor
Legislator who blogs

Rock Chalk!!!

KU beat Oklahoma today! It was an awesome game. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

Pics.

I promised some pics! I couldn't quite get them up on this blog (my connection is too slow). I did make a "Wyoming" album here.

Creepy People.

This hotel is full of some pretty creepy people. Around the corner is a room full of Indian guys who always have their door open when I walk by. Usually there’s one of them smoking outside, putting his ashes into a plastic cup. It’s kind of weird.

The other night someone started blasting Metallica at 2 a.m. I thought about getting up but decided to just fall back asleep. I haven't had this much fun since the dorms. My room's kind of ghetto. The thermostat doesn’t work so I have to manually turn the heat on and off. The shower curtain WILL NOT stay in the right place when I take a shower. Oh, it’s annoying.

OK, enough ranting. Things are really not too bad. And when I get really pissed, I just think “it’s only three months, it’s only three months…”

In other news, Smallville was really good tonight. I had to call my Smallville-buddy (you know who you are!) and discuss. I was really sad Jonathan Kent died, but it was kind of predicatable. We knew he was having heart problems. There were all kinds of foreshadowing hints lately. I wasn’t really surprised Lana died at the beginning, considering Clark told here everything about him. But I didn’t think she’d stay dead long…she’s too big of a character. OK, I’m a dork who has parasocial relationships. But I’m in Wyoming people!!! TV is all I have!!!!

Military.

I’m guessing on this, but I think nearly half of all the people in Cheyenne are somehow connected to the military. I see Department of Defense stickers everywhere. Camouflage, uniforms and “support the troops” signs are everywhere. There is a large Air Force base, which explains this presence. But I don’t think I’ve lived anywhere with such a large military presence before. If the base left, this town would come close to dying, I think.

The girl at the bank who helped me set up a checking account—her husband is in the military. The girl who helped me at Wal-Mart (more on that later)—her husband is in Iraq. The girl at the gym—yep, husband is military. Most of these women are younger than me. Meeting these people really makes the Iraq war seem more real. I’ve been in a bubble most of my life with very little contact with people in the military. They’re all nice and I almost feel sorry for them. Many of them are far away from home and would not be here if it weren’t for the military.

Oh yes, Wal-Mart. It’s weird living in a town with a SuperCenter again. It’s basically the only place to shop. After living in Lawrence for 2 1/2 years I became accustomed to SuperTarget and shopping at many non-chain stores. SuperCenters are in a class by themselves. They’re just simply HUGE! And there’s stuff everywhere. The new thing (compared to when I used to go them in Springfield) is that you can order McDonald’s at the checkout line. Hello, obesity! There are some pluses to SuperCenters. The main one is that you can get everything you possibly could ever want for a cheap price. But the amount of stuff also makes them severely annoying. I walked up and down a million aisles this evening trying to find forks. And the people with “the May I help you” on the back of their jackets really aren’t that helpful. Maybe it’s because they’re not getting their healthcare paid, being sexually harassed and being forced to stay after their shifts are over. I guess that’s the “liberal” coming out in me.

I’ve been listening to Fox News. I don’t really know why. I guess it's because I think it’s important to listen to what everyone has to say. Oh, yeah, also because I'm in a REALLY red state and it's on a bunch of the radio stations and always on TV when I'm going around and about. Bill O’Reilly was talking about journalism schools this morning. He basically called them places for liberal indoctrination. His main argument was that when you ask a journalism student what they want to do, they answer, “I want to change the world.” Well, that’s not your job, Mr. O’Reilly says. I don’t think journalists can necessarily change the world, but you definitely have to have some kind of drive. It’s not an easy profession. You’re going to get yelled at from a variety of different angles. You’ve got to have tough skin. Oh, and you don’t get paid very much. So something’s go to motivate you. I think at first it is that desire to really be involved in what’s going on in the world. Is that really such a bad thing? Should journalists just be completely apathetic? If Mr. O’Reilly considers himself a journalist, isn’t what he’s doing is “trying to change the world”? He would never admit to that. Just say that he’s being “fair and balanced” and telling the truth. But anyone with half a brain can tell O’Reilly is also trying to change the world.

In other news, I think I may have pink eye. It’s that or my allergies are severely acting up. My left eye feels like it has glass in it. I keep picking at it, which is just making it more red and puffy. I went and got some eye drops tonight (found those relatively easy at Wally World), so hopefully they’ll help.

10 minutes or less

The nicest thing about Cheyenne is that you can get pretty much everywhere in 10 minutes or less. The roads are good and I haven't been stuck in a traffic jam once! This least-populated state in the country thing definitely has some advantages.

Trucks

This town is full of trucks. A lot of big, loud trucks. I thought there were a lot of trucks in Springfield, but it doesn't really compare. It's especially annoying when they drive up and down the street outside my hotel. Jeez...shut up people!!!

Made it!!!

After a nice snowstorm and eight hours of driving (at least) I finally made it to Wyoming. I took off from Topeka at 7:45 a.m. and arrived around 5 p.m. (CST). As soon as I made it to Colorado the weather cleared, which made the drive much easier. As I approached the Rockies, the scenery was beautiful. There was a light dusting of snow and I kind of felt like I was in one of those Coors beer commercials. I just kept imagining Pete Coors sitting in a rocking chair on the side of the road.

The toll road around Denver was weird. I had to stop three times to pay $2 (definitely higher tolls than Kansas). Couldn't they just ask for $6 at the end? Oh well. Above is a picture of the semi-seedy hotel I'm staying at. Really, it's not too bad. The wireless Internet, cable and heat work--so I'm happy. Plus, the bed is comfy. I haven't taken a shower yet though...

Everyone has been (in the words of Sam Alito) "super-duper" nice so far. I'm excited to look around some more tomorrow and Sunday before starting work Monday. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Happy 2006!!!

2005 hasn't been a great year. It started with a devastating tsunami, several people died in the London bombings, hurricanes killed hundreds and shamed the entire nation. Problems in Iraq worsened. On a personal level, I left Washington D.C.--a place I love--at the end of 2004 and have spent 2005 mainly in Kansas. I ran into several problems trying to finish up grad school and had a couple mental break downs. But I'm confident 2006 is going to be better. As I sit surrounded by boxes in my apartment, all I can think of are all the great people I've met in the past 2 1/2 years. I'm going to miss my friends in Kansas (I'm getting ready to move to Wyoming.) And I've come to this grand life conclusion: No matter where you are or what you're doing, it's the people who matter. I'm so grateful for everyone in my life. No matter how bad or good things get, we (as human beings) have to remember to always look out for each other. Kindness is what matters.

I love puppies

Aren't these little guys cute? They're from a NYTimes story about dog products.

Kansas is not crazy...

...But these people are.

They'll be voted out soon and then we'll go back to the old standards. It's just this stupid back-and-forth that makes the state look moronic.

People in Lawrence don't seem to be like the rest of Kansas. At least the educated crowd are pissed off by this. That's good.

I love when this happens.

Thesis in!

I turned the final draft of my thesis in on Friday! I still have to go through the defense and I'm sure I'll have to make some changes, but it's still a great feeling. I think it turned out OK. I've lost a lot of the excitement I first had for the project, but hopefully I did well enough to get the heck out of here!!

Yeah!!!!