The first time I picked up a basketball in the gym and shot it, I made the basket. I was in 7th grade and it was the beginning of basketball season. I don’t remember how everyone knew that, but I was picked pretty early as teams were being formed.

Well shooting a ball and making a basket is way different than playing the game, and in my early years of trying to play basketball, I was embarrassingly bad. By 9th grade, I was always one of the last boys picked to be on a team. 

I make no secret that I love the tropics.

My first taste of the tropics wasn’t Hawaii, but the Florida Keys.

I know Miami is considered tropical, but the Florida Keys feel like the real deal, that Florida north just seems to lack.

Also the Keys feel exotic when you start driving over the Seven Mile Bridge. It almost feels like you are going into a different country. But you are not.

When I was at the Governor Conference for Tourism a few weeks ago, I was walking outside to meet my fellow board members for a reception and dinner at Little America in Cheyenne. I like the facility and although it was still sunny from the daytime, it was cold and ice was starting to form at various walkways.

The sidewalks were mostly dry around the lodges but I found an icy patch.

Boy did I.

The first time I went to Hawaii, I was in my mid-twenties and trying to figure out what to do with my life. 

My furry little beast that I found about 10 years ago at a friend’s house in her large flower garden might disagree with the title. 

She is a gray longhair cat.

Not that she has ever really come into contact with a dog, really.

Scooter was about five weeks old when I found her, and truthfully, I had no intention of keeping her.

A friend that I was a business partner with sent me a video of his son playing guitar on stage and singing.

His son is 14.

Wow.

It seems like a very short time ago my friend was living here in Hanna, while we were trying to get our company up and running and finishing up a bartending book.

We got the  book done and published, but on a trip to Las Vegas for business, we met his future wife on a plane.

Many residents I have talked to in Carbon County, have said we have had a mild winter. Compared to two years ago, they are not wrong. I was still working as the Hanna Recreation Director and I remember we got snow right on Halloween.

The other day I got into a conversation with a student from Duke University about her travels overseas.

Sarah M was visiting family in Medicine Bow and it came up that she had recently been to Singapore and Malaysia.

As far as Malaysia goes, we had seen different parts of the country although I did know the area she visited.

I am learning as each year goes by, there are events and times that shape a person from the past that are almost forgotten.

Now that I have a decent amount of years under my belt, I can break my life down a bit. I do it mostly by where I was living and the jobs that were held. My marriage and who I was dating also come into play.

My time in Taiwan is broken into two stages, mostly because I lived there at two different times. I did the same thing with Australia.

The Carbon County Traveler

Mike Armstrong

One of the great things about this job during Christmas time is covering events that involve kids who are talking to Santa Claus. It is still early in the season, and I imagine I am going to see children with big eyes filled with wonder asking Santa for their gifts in the days to come.

This weekend, after the Thanksgiving holiday, was a slow night at the Virginian. I was not surprised since the weather was cold and I knew a lot of regular customers had left town. The night was winding down when a couple came in to check into the hotel and got a room.

Once they were done with getting their accommodations for the evening, they came into the bar, where I was tending bar.

Saturday evening is my regular shift.

I have a decent memory, but I am hard pressed to remember my first Thanksgiving. I remember Christmas the I was five. For some events,I can remember back to three. 

Thanksgiving, try as I might, I don’t remember the holiday being celebrated until I was about 10 or 11.

That goes for both my families.

The Carbon County Traveler

Mike Armstrong

In the days of computers taking over duties of typewriters and connecting to modern printing presses, there is no doubt the process has made printing a newspaper light years easier than the days when Dick Perue (an editor, journalist and owner of a Carbon County newspaper) was first in the industry.

By Dana Davis

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

Living in Wyoming often feels like being part of an extended small-town family, where neighbors look out for one another, friendships span generations, and there’s a shared pride in calling this state home. Saratoga is no exception. But even in communities as close-knit as ours, challenges arise—challenges that test not only our resilience but also our commitment to standing together.