hello blizzard

I have been messing around with the blogger 2 template, using my test blog to, um, test stuff. It's a good thing, too, because so far the only thing I've made is a mess.
Speaking of mess, it really is one out there. The boy drove me into work in his classic Mercedes, and then promptly, after dropping me off, apparently almost "died" getting home. (The boy sometimes exagerates, although the rest of the time he is rather under-stated, so who knows). Anyway, he's at my pad with the dogs (the youngest of which, this morning, did not seem to understand why we were on a walk without the tennis ball, and apparently doesn't know enough English to understand the sentence "If I threw the tennis ball right now you'd never find it."). My friend Samia is picking me up when we close (hopefully by 3 so that we don't all have to sleep here). Samia claims it is fun to drive in this kind of weather. Thank goodness for nutty friends with 4 wheel drive. My car wouldn't make it out of the driveway at this point. I really may have to bite the bullet one of these days and get a car that can deal with the weather.
I realize the blog has been lackluster for the holidays, but I've been mostly not here and when I have been here, I have been trying to get the next paper out despite the fact that there is almost no one we can get on the phone today (city, state, county, courts, all appear to be out today). Perhaps that's why the Journal ran a story on people who love eggnog and are sad when it's gone. Slow news day! It really is. The big story right now is the weather, but it will probably be melted by the time we publish again on Jan. 3, so we're kind of in stalker mode right now looking for folks to talk to. And then it's home, knitting, movies, boy, dogs and food. Well, whatever food is already there...the boy mentioned something about buying spaghetti at Alsups, but I went spontaneously deaf when he said it.

new year (almost)

well, here we are almost in 2007 and in the new version of blogger. My week off went by pretty much as expected: quickly! Now we're back for a quick three-day jaunt and then back to slam out the first issue of 2007. More later, I'm just testing out the new blogger to see what's new and exciting... so far, not much.

3,2,1

We are in our final stretch for our final issue of 2006. This is our end of the year double issue, on the streets until Jan. 2, and our office is closed for a week! I am reacting to this imminent vacation with mild hysteria, manifesting by constant, almost involuntarily, singing of Christmas carols. *
Many of my homies are leaving town in the next day or so; even the unemployed people I know are going on vacation (from what I'm not entirely clear). But I am staying in Santa Fe, because my idea of a vacation is not battling a huge snowstorm so that I can sit on an airplane and catch hantavirus or some other airborn disease *
Rather, I shall stay here and chill out, drink eggnog *, watch movies, knit stuff, kick it with the boy and the dogs and be, as much as possible, a complete slug.
I do plan to blog a bit, although there is a chance I will have nothing to say. *
Speaking of the blizzard (which I was a few sentence ago): Where is it at? The rest of the state is getting socked in and it's basically sunny here. I feel robbed! I want to wake up tomorrow to 2 feet of snow and NOT HAVE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE.
Oh, if you haven't already, check out Joe's behind the scenes dish on Lujan's retention of the speaker seat. Now that's a blog entry! Unlike yours truly's blathering.
So, I'm out of here soon. Gonna drop off the donations we collected for Esperanza on my way home and start my holiday right—with a well-deserved cocktail (I ain't driving Guv, I swear).
Until we meet again—!

* This is one of my quirks, a strange love of Christmas carols and a tendency to substitute the actual lyrics with ones of my own. "Jack Frost nipping at your knees" etc. etc.
* I realize hantavirus is not an airborne disease; I am sacrificing accuracy for hyperbole.
* or some other cocktail that isn't revolting.
* we can dream, right?

you heard it here third

Joe had it first. Nate just ran over to Lujan's office to confirm. The New Mex has a little more info, but not much. Those closed-door sessions are bullshit.

a penguin cozy

I attempted to knit my first mitten this weekend. There is something slightly obscene about it. Gwyneth, our food writer and knitter extraordinaire described it as a penguin cozy. Gwyn, April, Sylvie, Trisha and I meet monthly for a little knitting group. It is weirdly fun. They are all quite good knitters. I, as you can see from this mitten, am more of a special needs knitter.
Speaking of special needs, I have a special need to learn the outcome of the Ben Lujan quest to retain the speaker of the house post. They were supposed to be done voting over an hour ago. What the heck are they doing in there?

oops

Poor Bill Richardson, dissed by Blitzer.
My "google alert" brimeth over with Richardson news:

US governor Richardson holds meeting with North Korean diplomats
International Herald Tribune - France

Universities' plan: More pay, less tuition
Las Cruces Sun-News - Las Cruces,NM,USA

Richardson asked to intervene in Sudan
Albuquerque Tribune - Albuquerque,NM,USA

New Mexico Abstinence Coalition Sues Governor for Allegedly Withholding Information on How it Spends Federal Sex Education Funds
Kaiser network.org - Washington,DC,USA

New Mexico Gov. Richardson to Showcase Diplomacy in Meeting North Korean Officials
FOX News - USA

the end is near

Man, this has been some week. A huge double issue paper, produced on top of some kind of illness that I have finally come to realize is the same sick I get every year this time of year. So, as a point of honor, I am not going to write some boring post about not feeling well. Ha!
Tonight, after work, I'm going to swing by a few gallery openings, cough on some artists and then go home. If you're looking for something to do, I would suggest the AD Collective Holiday Bazaar, where you can support young artists and, probably, pick up some art that is affordable now and will be worth a lot in the future. I'm just saying.
This weekend, I may, in fact, do little. I've got a week off coming at me next week and I do not intend to spend it being sick all over the place (I just initially wrote "all over the self" and then caught it).
As for our Wexford story, we've heard from a bunch of lawmakers and health care workers who recognize that all of this came about due to our reporting. I have not heard back from Trip (although several of the people we've heard from agree that the Journal's coverage of this was laughable). I do, however, find it quite amusing that there is a link to my blog about how lame the Journal's story is RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR STORY. Ah, automated technology. As for The New Mex, they are still pretending that the yanking of a huge multimillion dollars state contract isn't news. The AP also hasn't touched it, although I wrote them a note and included links to all our stories. I'm finding it all puzzling. This is clearly huge news, but papers of record are somehow deciding to ignore it because... what? Am I being paranoid to think they aren't bothering because they would have to cite us (even though the Journal did not?). Are they scrambling around trying to get something on it? Just deciding not to bother? I'm truly curious to see how it all plays out. For our part, there are certainly more Wexford/prison health stories on the way. We have quite a few letters coming in from people working in the prison thanking us for shedding light on the situation…unfortunately they don't want them printed with their names because they are afraid of being fired. We also have been receiving a lot of contributions for eavesdropper, which continues to grow in popularity (except for one person who wrote in to me and said it's not nice to eavesdrop, which is sort of true, except if people are speaking loud in public it's not really eavesdropping per se so much as just listening.
What else? Well, if you must know, I spent last night with my knitting group (we're not really a group per se, just a group of knitters) and I'm really looking forward to knitting this weekend. Particularly since knitting was supposed to take the place of holiday shopping.
And on that note, I guess I'll start shoving off. I'm coming in this weekend to work on backing up things off my harddrive onto the new external drive the paper just bought for me. Was forced to buy for me, I guess I should say. I used up my entire memory of my hardrive this week. Well, shit, that's what happens when you stay in one place for 9 years and never throw anything away.
Have a great weekend y'all.

my outgoing mail

To: Trip Jennings, Albuquerque Journal

Hi Trip,

I was a bit surprised by your story today on the state's decision to pull the Wexford contract, as it did not seem to acknowledge what has really prompted the move. If you have not already, I would recommend you read the latest, if not all, the stories in our five-month investigation of Wexford. We broke the news of the state's decision to rebid the contract on Dec. 13, and this decision was announced exclusively to us by the governor's office. We are to understand, as well, that the concern about Wexford was prompted by our series. You can find our exclusive report from Wednesday here and our entire Wexford series here.
I hope the Journal will see fit to follow up its report from today with a more inclusive and accurate article that acknowledges the real reason for the governor's decision regarding Wexford.


Best,
Julia Goldberg
Editor
The Santa Fe Reporter
132 East Marcy Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
The Santa Fe Reporter Web site
The Reporter on My Space
My Blog

"The days are short/the nights are long/the fight goes on/the pencils and the pipes are drawn."
—The Roots

meow

With about five minute to spare, I got everything done in preparation for my speaking engagement, this evening at CSF. I had intended to use the students as guinea pigs for a presentation I'm giving in DC in February, but that was, apparently, slightly overambitious. Anyway, I'm ready... except I forgot to change clothes when I went home at lunch to take care of the dogs, which means I am still wearing my "Hello Kitty Rocks" T-shirt. In my defense, Sonya gave me this shirt on her recent visit; she had bought it for her 18-year-old niece but forgot to give it to her. And, yes, it's my second Hello Kitty T-shirt but, again, I didn't buy either of them. They were given to me. Because I'm, like, so mature. Anyway, it's the last class of the semester, I sincerely doubt anyone cares what I'm wearing. Or what I'm going to say, for that matter.

wexford falls

Dan Frosch's five-month investigation into Wexford Health Sources reaches a high point today, with our exclusive report that the governor is pulling Wexford's contract. As of yet, the rest of the media has yet to even talk about Wexford, even when our reporting led the legislature to approve an audit of Wexford and the Department of Corrections. We'll see what they do now. Joe kindly credited us, but I'm sure if the new mex and the journal can find a way to report the governor is pulling the contract without mentioning us (even though the governor told us our series was the reason), they will do so. And then I will declare a jihad!
Also, still no word from the AG about our complaint against Corrections for violations of the Open Records Act. As my faithful readers may recall, the AG has basically blown off this complaint because I guess violations of the law aren't as important as, um, well, other stuff. Even though it's now quite clear that "shit ain't right" (I'm quoting myself) in the land of Corrections. I wonder why the AG isn't more concerned? Hey! Maybe we'll look into that next. Whadaya think?

what a cold and unrainy day

10 things about a Monday

1. Am officially sick, a coughing "you look tired" kind of sick.
2. My friend Samia is officially the kind of friend you thank the heavens for. She just dropped off a care package of honey, tea, cough drops et. al, just as I was thinking to myself, "If only I had some honey, tea and cough drops."
3. Public Enemey was really great, and it was so freaking fun to see a band like that in a local club, packed to the gills, folks waiting online in the parking lot trying to get a ticket, watching Chuck D with an uninpeded view. Too bad there will be fewer and fewer chances for such shows as yet another club bites the dust.
4. But, still, PE was there and played lots of old stuff, and Flava Flave was as surreal as I thought he would be and Chuck D gave a shoutout to my friend Rocque Ranaldi and hugged him on stage and it was all pretty awesome.
5. My best friend, a native New Mexican now living in Alaska, is here for one night and one night only and I don't care if I am sick we are going to have fun!
6. sick julia X impatient julia (monday morning + busy issue) = hell on earth
7. This recent history of conflicts at the Railyard is pretty unfortunate. The entire history of conflicts over the future of the Railyard is quite amazing. It must be hitting 20 years already.
8. Finally tooled around, over the weekend, the San Isidro development area. Heard a rumor a PF Changs might go in there. It's kind of amazing how much growth is happening in SF right now, especially on the southside, but downtown as well. In a few years, this city is going to be a very different place. In some places, it's going to look like everywhere else.
9. How long until Santa Fe bans trans fats?"
10. 10 is a really random number. Um, yeah, gotta go read morning papers while it's still morning.

sleeping with dirty dishes

It's amazing how 11 hours of sleep can make a girl feel like...um, crap.
Possible theories for exhaustion:

1. am getting sick
2. am allergic to something (isn't everything dead?)
3. am slowly, incrementally, lapsing into a coma.

But, reading dooce's post about her hatemail made me feel better about my own ongoing nasty phone calls that usually end with someone snorting or cursing in derision before hanging up (I really need to refer these calls to other people. I have the singular ability to make angry people even more angry)
Also, just ran into a waiter friend in the middle of a hectic shift who sidled up to me and asked if it would be wrong to tell an old and mean customer that he (the customer) was going to die soon.
So, news flash, no matter where you work, you will encounter assholes. Unless, of course, you work in Canada.
I am off, I believe, in a few to the PE sound check, courtesy of our music writer, who is bringing me along as his camera(wo)man. Then tonight's our SFR staff holiday party, complete with Secret Santa gift exchange (which I organize every year in order to complete my quota of Ironic Gestures for the year.
But I'll be working this weekend so perhaps I'll check back in. Not that you'll notice, you, you, you, people who only read my blog during the workweek.
I get it. And, actually, for the 30 or so of you who stick it out on the weekends, I apologize for my lack of posting. I could lie and say it's cuz I'm out having a life but, well, we all know that ain't true.

One of my coworker's child is basically the greatest child ever. She's 5 and wicked smart and she likes to hang out on my office floor writing on pieces of paper and stapling cut-up newspapers to them. But she told me to stop taking pictures of her because "it's making me embarassing."
Kids are so awesome.
Adults…not so much.

blechgo

Am having one of those weeks where time seems to have simulataneously sped up and slowed down. So, for example, it's already 2:15 and I'm behind on everything I have to do, while at the same time it's ridiculous that it's only Thursday because I swear to God I've worked 80 hours already. Plus, my head hurts.
whine whine whine
I'm visiting a college class next week and now am reading college student journalism articles. And, tomorrow night is SFR's staff holiday party AND the public enemy show. Yes!
OK, I admit it, I've been blogging less because I've been futzing with our our my space page. Seriously, if the Internet is our future then the future is basically going to be all about WASTING TIME.
I did have a nasty phone call this morning from a man who objected to our use of the phrases "resident genius" and "peacenik" in our listings section. When I told him I didn't understand why he was upset, he called me "hopeless" and hung up on me. Isn't that charming? It's interesting to me how many people are walking around who think it's OK to be constantly pissed off, demanding that things only be the way they want it, and hanging up on people, making anonymous calls etc., and yet convinced that they are in the right. Is that a good way to live?
I will say, he sounded pretty old. All the angry ones sound old.
Which is why I say, stay immature. It keeps you cheerful. Relatively, anyway.

paint it white

I don't feel like writing so much, so instead I am futzing. Have received comments saying the turquoiseish background on the blog was hard to read, so I've just gone white. Whadaya think? Too plain? Better? I can't quite tell.
As long as you're giving me commentary, I'd also like feedback on what you think would be good for the future of SFR's web site. You know, in an ideal world.
What else?
Um, it's freaking cold out, in case you're not here, or noticing. On Nov. 12, I started a new morning regime of 200 situps, 100 jumping jacks and running for half an hour with the dogs. This has been quite unpleasant in the single digit temperaturess, but I persevere!
Tonight, after work, I'm going to the gov's holiday media cocktail reception thingie. I wonder if this is all an elaborate sting operation. Get us liquored up and then have state cops posted at the exit of the mansion to breathalyze us. Anyway, I don't plan on drinking. Much. Perhaps I will just break into song.
Speaking of which, thanks to my blog readers for all the birthday wishes. I had a very birthday, which culminated with Dan Frosch and I doing a duet of Foreigner's Urgent


I know you're sorry you missed that.
Finally, I have finally set up a my space page for The Reporter, but it's quite nascent and we only have 11 friends. So if you're on myspace, let me know so we can be friends!