Montana Jones

Top events of 2005

Best of lists are all the rage at this time of the year. In keeping with the spirit of reflection and best of lists here are the top events in the life of Jones for 2005.

• New Car -- October 01, 2005

  The old ride was, well, an old ride. It was a sweet car for sure. A sporty Honda Prelude that got a phat 32 MPG. I had it a lot of years, and more importantly it was paid off for a lot of years. Unfortunately it sucked on snow and needed more and more age related maintenance. The new ride is a practical Subaru. Not quite as good on the mileage, but better than most cars out there. Every now and then I get a weird shiver when I realize that I have gone from driving a sports car to driving a station wagon. <shudder> I hope I get over it.

  My biggest gripe so far about the new car is that it has not yet earned a name for itself. Gotta name your car before it is truly yours. It would be sweet if it would earn something cool sounding like "Squirrel Killer", but if nothing else comes up soon I am just going to have to call it "The Love Wagon". Yeah, that's it, chicks would dig riding in "The Love Wagon".

• Major M_ comes home from Iraq. -- March 17, 2005

  An uncle of mine who had gone to Vietnam as a soldier once told me that going to war and coming home was hardest for the men who cared. Major M_ cares. He cares for the men under his command, he cares about his mission, he cares about doing the right thing. War plays absolute hell on people that care. His homecoming was a high point for my family this year.

• I started a blog. -- February 11, 2005

  And I never again had a day free from the constant neurosis of conjuring the next blog post out of thin air. Damn, what could I possibly blog about next? I just wrote on the blog and I already gotta do it again?

• A sweet one night stand. -- March 15, 2005

  Perhaps it is a little sad when a one night stand ranks on your most significant events of the year list. But hey, us single bachelor types need sex too. As they say, sex is like air, only important when you're not getting any.

  My year was not completely void of sex. But the problem with being single is that you never know where or when it is coming from next and lengthy droughts can hurt the self esteem. So this event stands as testament to the importance of getting some good freaky lovin'. I believe that the world would be a better place if everyone could get laid a little more often and everyone had more orgasms.

• A stab at romance. -- September - October, 2005

  As fulfilling as sex can be to a well rounded life, there is a flip side to that coin. Romance. Sometimes you just need someone to hold. Someone to care about. Someone that you know will be there at the end of the day. We can all relate. The quest for love is older than history. A very nice lady crossed my path and piqued my interest this year. Still not quite sure what went wrong. All I know is that when the girl tells you the romance is off that pretty much means the romance is off. Period. No matter what. No matter how many flowers you buy or what romantic move you lay down. Time to move on.

• First successful summer season. -- June - September 2005

  This was huge. The whole point of my moving to Montana was the work. It feels almost anti-climatic to whittle all the hours days and months I worked this year down to a single bullet point.

  A lot happened, I had employees to worry/care about. I had to bust ass to keep everyone in groceries. Money stress, supply stress, safety stress, regulations stress. I had to fire an employee and everyone else had to work harder to cover the gap. I got precious little sleep and no days off for almost four months. A lot of decisions were made. In the end the business venture was a success, profit was made and I get to do it again next year.

• I moved to Montana. -- January, 2005

  The number one biggest event in the life of Jones in the past year. It was a year ago right now that I was making plans for this move. I settled into my new address in mid January. Ever since I have been learning about what it means to be a Montanan. Relocating can be very difficult emotionally. To abandon all that is familiar and comfortable. To leave behind all your friends and people you know. I used to say it takes a year to adjust after a move. I think I may have been wrong. Perhaps it takes two or three years.

Posted by: Montana Jones / 4:56 PM