Internet Time Waster 7,305

Thanks to Ave for this time-waster:

My blog is worth $27,097.92.
How much is your blog worth?

And here I've been thinking I needed to win the Lottery when all I really need to do is sell my blog. Any takers?

parting is such sweet...redundancy

The weekend was busy and full of leavetaking. Today marks Santa Fe departures for Peter and Samia to Phoenix and St. Louis, respectively. Saturday night, Gabe, Julie, the boy and myself drove north to Abiquiu for Samia's going away bash (that's where her parents live and where she grew up). The party was lively, with lots of great food and, sadly, way too many mosquitos. As I am a prime candidate for West Nile virus (mosquitos love love love me), we headed back to SF after a few hours, made a brief stop at the Cowgirl (which has purchased an air hockey table, kick ass!). Sunday morning, Peter and I took dogs Fiona and Nero, ages 14 and 12, respectively, to La Cinegiulla for a little hike. During which we encountered a dead fox, dead for no reason I could ascertain. Peter speculated it had died peacefully of old age, but I suspect this was just to make me feel better. Nero, who loves Peter, Fiona and all outings, ran wildly the whole time, came home and passed out panting and smiling for six hours. It was pretty hot out, so I did the same (minus the panting and smiling part, and only for about two hours). Sunday night, after the boy and I grilled some shrimp and watched this really really stupid movie I stopped by Samia's to say goodbye one more time. There's been a lot of leavetaking this year—too much. Peter, at least, plans to be back on a regular basis, so I stowed away any frantic farewells. Samia has been such a great friend, really redefining in some ways my standards for friends, that saying goodbye to her was rough. I felt a little Dorothyesque (Wizard of Oz)as I hugged her goodbye ("I'll miss you most of all!").

(Samia and I at SFR's block party; they won't have block parties like this in St. Louis!)
But such is life in a town in which most people leave if they want to: a. go to school b. have a career c. be able to afford to buy a house.
So to all my friends who have left (Donnan was in town this last week visiting) and to those will return. I say: Vaya Con Dios and Going Away Parties No Mas.

it's a wrap

OK then.
Our winners' party for Best of Santa Fe, at Fusion, went well and hopefully everyone had fun. We had all the winners tape acceptance speeches and hopefully they will be on the Web soon. As soon as I figure out how to deal with it. (They were taped by a real videographer, not by me with my camera, so youtube may not cut it).
I did tape the acceptance speech of Chocolate Helicopter, which won best experimental band and were featured on this year's cover. So you can watch that, though I warn you that the sound quality ain't all that great. (It may not be fully loaded yet either...but if I wait until it is to get this blog post done, it may not. Get. Done.



And here's a few photos:

SFR's PA writer Peter Breslin with Lensic GM Bob Martin (Best Non-Bar for Music) and SFR Publisher Andy Dudzik

Warehouse 21 won Best NonProfit for the first time.

SFR's music writer, Gabe Gomez, congratulates Best radio DJ Honey Harris.

I took a break from videotaping, schmoozing and drinking to visit with my guy. I call this photo "Shiny, Happy People."
I also want to thank those who voted for this blog as best local blog. I'm taking that as kind Reporter support. Steve's blog is better, but I appreciate the support. And, of course, our third place winner, The Santa Fe Library's blog also is awesome. So I am in good company and I appreciate it! (But next year I may have to rethink this category. As I told someone at the party, I consider this win akin to a mercy f***—a crude comment—I'd had a few drinks—that made the listener's eyes pop and mouth drop open. I really shouldn't be allowed to speak sometimes).
Anyway, Best of moves off the stands quickly, so grab a copy or read it online.
And now folks, I need to go see about NEXT week's paper (it just don't stop). So have a great weekend and see you soon. I'll try to make this blog a little better now that it's gotten all hyped and stuff. (Or collapse from the pressure of it all).

C'est finis

argh

Best of Santa Fe...almost done almost done almost done.
Geek alert: I spent basically the entire weekend reading this.
A little expository for my general taste, but highly satisfying.

one more thing

my favorite story of the day.

world's longest week

I woke up this morning with no idea what day it was. It took a full three minutes for my brain to catch up with my ravaged psyche and realize: It's Friday. It's really Friday. I know why this week has felt so long: Best of Santa Fe, an issue nearly four times as large as our usual run, but I swear Monday feels like it was a month ago. I have also, unwisely, overscheduled my morning with meetings and interviews so, um, this may in fact be it for me...sorry for the super unthrilling posting. I look forward to the day when I have something to say and some time to say it.

oh my god another one

I finished my last post and thought, well, all my friends are gone, but at least I have my online community to keep me company. I bop over to Live from Silver City to see what's up there and learn Ave also is taking/has taken off. Good luck Avelino! We'll miss you.

staying put

Back in the day, I used to feel defensive about having only lived in Santa Fe for a year, two years, three years, whatever. And I used to think, 'someday I'll be able to say I've lived here for 20 years and I know what's what.' Well, that day has come. Twenty years in Santa Fe. I don't know if I know what's what, but I do, as a general rule, usually know who to call to find out what's what. "Sticking around," as I've come to think of it, has the unfortunate effect of having to attend a lot of going away parties. I don't know if this is a demographic issue I'm having, but a large number of my friends have left over the years and this year has been a doozy. As of the end of July, the body count will be at five close friends and a few others who I least appreciate having around, either for work or occasional hanging out. Peter leaves tomorrow. He, at least, has left before, and returned, and will, in fact, be back by the weekend for 10 days and, he says, monthly, so that one isn't quite so bad. Samia is leaving at the end of the month, but her family lives here. Donnan is visiting next week. So, yes, they come back. But friends who visit versus friends who are just here are two different things. The latter means impromptu fun. The former requires plans, not to mention requires making new friends! Again! At my age! For a while, back in the '90s, a few other people who, like me, had decided to stick around, decided we should boycott all these going away parties and form a secret society for those of who remained. I'm happy to say all the originating members of that society (which performed absolutely no function, we had a brief argument about who was president, vice president and secretary and then never discussed it again) are, like me, still here.
I don't know. Maybe the time will come when I, too, will require a going away party. At the moment, it's unclear if anyone would be left to attend it.

singing a different tune

While I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play (sort of) my dad's piano and be reminded of the many, many, many years of piano lessons I once had. I couldn't stop thinking about it, in fact, and, upon returning home, threw financial caution to the wind and went and bought a piano. It was delivered on Saturday. The bad news is, my once spartan and semi-spacious living room now has a very crowded feeling. The bright side, I got to play the piano most of the weekend and discovered that, with just a few hours, much came back to me and, I imagine, with many more hours of practice, I may even be able to learn new things. For now, my goal is to relearn the above Chopin waltz I played so well as a teenager. So that was fun. The weekend was, overall, fun and relaxing. Friday night, the boy and I met Gabe, Julie, Darius, Emily and Samia at St. Francis for a cocktail and some chat (the living wage, always a great topic, particularly now that it may end up applying to all businesses. Saturday, Samia, Sererna and I had pedicures and read girly magazines, which is, I have to say, one of the great bonuses of being, um, girly.
And now it's Monday again, again! and between the regular old paper (ROP) and Best Of, I'm heading toward major ADD head, but at least, when I get home, I have a nice diversion that doesn't require reading (except music) and or TV (which I've decided is semi-evil) or cleaning (which I actually do, although one might not be able to tell).
And it's lightening and thundering out, so I guess I better save and sign off.

oh, look, we can title again

The vagaries of the Internet, of late, seem to be, um, even more vagarious than one could hope for. What did we do before the big 'ol WWW was there to incite our passions and ruin our lives, waste our time and suck our verbage? I do not know, fair readers, I know few things, but those things that I do know I shall share with you in this list:

1. If I keep working on my writeups for Best of Santa Fe, I will finish them. If I take little blogging breaks, I will not. Why does one need a break from writing a paragraph? I do not know.
2. This morning it was cool and rainy and I was happy. Now it is hot and stuffy and I am not. I think I may have been an orchid in my past life.
3. This morning when I showed up at the kbac offices for my thursday morning show with Honey, the front doors WERE LOCKED. And I thought, "well, isn't that a fine how do ya do." (I really did think that). Turned out, Honey was by herself in the studio so she had locked the door. I immediately believed I'd been abandoned, yet again, by a world so cruel it can not even speak its own name!
4. I have been reading a lot of Agatha Christie, having been turned on to her cleverness by Mike during my Atlanta visit, and it's having an odd effect on my vocabulary, not to mention syntax. I do so like Christie's odd and anachronistic turns of phrase. For example, when Poirot ejaculates? He's just talking.
5. My boss, Andy, is a good guy. An employee here trapped a stray cat in her hood and Andy paid for its vet bill and is now adopting it. This is a good turn. I am ignoring the fact that he keeps mentioning that the cat matches his dog. Given the lunatic conversations I have with and about my dog Nero, I am in no position to judge.
6. One of the boy's coworkers gave him a toy to give Nero and, when I dropped by work over the weekend, asked after Nero. Apparently the boy talks about Nero a lot and has taken to referring to Nero as his "stepdog." I think the boy has been assimilated and is officially a Santa Fean now.
7. I need to get back to work.
8. Gabe wants us to go see White Lion this weekend. I get a little snippy around men who have more hair than I do, but it could be a trip.
9. There is also a plan for some barhopping this weekend with the aforementioned Gabe, his wife, the boy and I and possibly Honey and her girl. It's not entirely clear where this hopping would take place, but it sounds like a reasonable midsummer endeavor.
10. I need to buy my plane ticket to Chicago for next month for the Medill Writers workshop, which I will both attend and work at, but I keep procrastinating. Why? Because it was like 100 degrees there. (See #2)
11. This list is way lame. I know nothing, like Socrates, but with significantly fewer young greek men to impress.
12. Must work.

In other news, just received this press release from Project Evergreen.

Dear Colleague,

Last week I sent you some information regarding Project EverGreen's second Annual Because Green Matters Calendar Photography contest. Project EverGreen is seeking pictures of all types of well-maintained green spaces, such as parks, lawns, gardens and golf courses for publication in its 2008 calendar.

There is no cost to enter, and winners will receive a $100 gift certificate to a big box store. The deadline to enter is August 1, 2007. Contest rules and entry forms can be found at http://www.projectevergreen.com/newsroom/2008calendar.html. If you would like more information about the contest or if you want to speak with Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen, please let me know. Thank you for your consideration.


Is it just me, or is it slightly weird that the prize for well maintained green spaces is a gift certificate to a big box store? Stop the presses. The word green is being misappropriated for politically incorrect uses. Speaking of which, Jack Schafer's column in Slate, Green is the new yellow is pretty good.

If I could use my title space (still not working), I would call this entry "Bag This." Why? Funny you should ask.
I received my city water bill along with a bright yellow flyer announcing I could pick up a box of free garbage bags, starting today, at DeVargas Middle School, but I would be required to bring my water bill.
For some reason (free stuff!) I decided to go today, the first day the bags were available, and avail myself of this exciting opportunity (free stuff!).
I felt a little silly rushing to get free garbage bags, but I needn't have, since lots of other people were there (lots of really old people, but whatever). The main difference between those other people that showed up on the first day of FREE GARBAGE BAG DAY and myself is they actually got garbage bags. I, on the other hand, was denied after my bill was scanned. You see, I live in the county and therefore do not receive trash pickup and am therefore not eligible for trash bags. Even though I got the notice telling me to come pick them up and to bring my bill. I didn't notice anything that said, unless you live in the county, but I'll admit I got a little overexcited ("Free garbage bags! It's like Christmas. Christmas with garbage bags!"). I suppose, had I been thinking, I would have realized there's no good reason for the city to give customers who don't live in the city garbage bags. But had I thought that, I also would have thought no way the city was organized enough to actually scan people's water bills in exchange for the garbage bags. I just thought I'd show up, wave a piece of paper, sign my name and get what I came for. Like voting.
So, no free garbage bags for county residents, even if you're on city water. Don't believe the yellow flyer folks. And you know what, even though I was denied, I still don't want to be annexed. I can buy my own freaking garbage bags.

One other thing that is bullshit, these crazy hummingbird moths. I don't know if this is actually what the ones around here look like...they buzz around too quickly to really get a good look, but they completely freak me out.
Then I saw this frog, or a frog that looked a lot like this one, at about 6 am. I am easily freaked out by nature. But I am not going to call a frog bullshit. Unless it was a snake, which it almost seemed like it was.

Like most things, blogger isn't really working either. For example, I can't seem to write in the title space. So I can't title this post. But if I could? I would name it something like Things I Think Are Bullshit.

1. Who does Pete Domenici think he's fooling by denouncing war in Iraq?". It's amazing what plunging approval ratings can do to a political stance. Why don't politicians have moral centers like the rest of us?

2. Had Tom Udall in the office last week for a chat with me and my staff. He has and continues to refuse to comment on Domenici and Wilson's role in the Us Attorney scandal, which I find ridiculous. I have usually thought of Udall as a fairly straight shooter, but refusing to comment on this seems cowardly to me. Yes, you don't want to make waves with your colleagues, but if they do something you know is wrong, why would you not speak out?

And, there's a whole list of OTHER things I think are bullshit, but someone is calling me and I have to go. Never fear, I am sure I will have more griping upon my return.

look who's not talking

I can't believe it's already July 3. I haven't been blogging. I haven't even really been thinking about blogging. Actually, I took a mini Internet vaca while I was in Atlanta and didn't look at email for, like, three days. It was lovely. I had barely looked at it for the three days prior to that because our email/Internet situation at SFR was such a f-ing mess, but it seems to be fixed now. I returned to, literally, 963 pieces of spam. I will say, for what it's worth, I'm glad my job isn't sending out emails like this:

The Men's Health Personal Trainer can help you get into the best shape of your life. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, these customized workouts fit into any schedule with interactive online instruction and 24/7 access. You can not only look and feel better, but you'll have the amazing abs to prove it!

or

We bet you wouldn't mind to become a super hot bedstar for your non-satisfied girlfriend!

All you need to do is to order our stammering effective super pill via our website: http://www.tonglingtoy.com/ for the half price!
It will make your penis really huge giving you the unique chance to shoot a porn movie and not to be embarrassed!

and, of course, the old standby:
Greetings,

Good morning. I am sending you this email with the spirit of happiness and
with great amount of trust. Am 25years old, my name is Melvin Clark, from
Liberia. I am the eldest son of the late Captain Gordon Clark, the former
Director of Ministry of Mining and Solid Mineral, Liberia. I am now in
Ghana as a refugee in the Ghana refugee camp.


Ah, what a long way we've come since Jefferson penned ye old Declaration of Independence. I wonder what the founding fathers would make of what the US has become. I suppose they'd be fairly alarmed that women were allowed to vote, let alone blog, eh?

OK, well, we're almost off deadline and all I'll have left to do is decide if I do wanna see English Beat again for the second time or if I'd rather just bbq with the boy, who tells me he's made a new bbq sauce so good it "makes you wanna slap your momma." ("The Boy's Slap Your Momma Barbecue Sauce"—doesn't that sound like something someone would buy? Or is it just offensive? I really can't tell anymore).
Before I go, big ups to Jon & Mike for the Greatest First Trip to Atlanta ever. Highlights included:

a. a baby panda
b. a scary puppet closet
c. bomb Thai food

OK, seriously, going. Will try to blog better after patriotic, though semi-meaningless, holiday. And perhaps with greater substance and, ya know, about the news and stuff.