Wynell Charles Watson 1920-2008

Grandpa passed away last Thursday. I flew down to Texas to be with the family over the weekend and attend the memorial service on Monday. While it is sad and we miss him, we celebrated a long and full life and shared many good memories of the man from whom I got my middle name. In the photo, Grandpa, I, and my brother Chris have a good time one year ago at my cousin's wedding.

That's not an antelope!

We spent the day on Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, and while we did run across a few pronghorn, the highlight was a pair of these guys just a few yards off the road.

The Lady of the Lake emerging from a wade, stepping through the foam and brine flies.

Ensign Peak

Here's the Ladybug standing atop Ensign Peak last evening. Over her shoulder you can see the Utah state capitol building and, farther right, the Salt Lake Temple. The peak is a very accessible, quick hike and affords very nice views of the entire area.

In Utah, the Fourth of July comes twice a year

I've learned something great. Every 24h of July, the state of Utah celebrates the arrival of the first Mormon settlers to the Great Salt Lake Valley. There are parades, rodeos and it's a state holiday, so many Utahns get the day off. The result is very much like a second Independence Day, with barbecues, games and fireworks. We went to a get-together put on by some people from the Tribune. My friend Clay was in town again on his way home from some field work and he joined us for the world's largest pasta salad, some bouche ball, both public and private fireworks and a little lime Jell-O. Lindsay and I didn't do much on the Fourth, outside of watch the fireworks in the park, so it was pretty nice to have a second go and a real good time.

Bad Batman

Like many of our peers, Lindsay and I have been rather excited for the release of the newest installment of the Batman franchise. She was away for the weekend with her family in New York State while the throngs waited in line for the opening day showings, but we got out last night to catch it in a theater in south SLC. We went for an after dinner showing at 9:40 and decided to get some ice cream from the rather well-equipped snack bar. We were sharing, so we upgraded to a 'double' for 75¢ more, and were rather flabbergasted as we watched the young man load an impossible amount of chocolate fudge brownie into the paper cup. The lad at the register was a little slow ringing up the purchase so we were a few minutes late for start time. We ducked into the theater marked "The Dark Knight", me trying to balance the tower of ice cream while searching for a pair of seats. The house was quite full, but we saw two seats together in the first row behind the rail. The film was already rolling, so I felt pretty bad about pushing my way down the aisle, whispering 'excuse me' over and over, and the people I was slipping past seemed more annoyed than typical. I was a little surprised the previews had already passed because we were only five minutes late, but most of my attention was spent vainly trying to contain the drips flowing from Mount Dreyers in my left hand. I thought the beginning of the movie was rather strange, seemed rather serious and low-key for the first scene of an action blockbuster. It finally crystalized when Lindsay leaned over and said "I think we're in the wrong theater." I changed my 'excuse me' to an 'I'm so sorry' as we threaded our way back through an even more annoyed row of moviegoers. We crossed the hall to the theater in time to catch the previews in the theater we were supposed to be in all along. The movie was great and we had a good time. This was just a story of me feeling like an ass.

Peacock at the Tracy Aviary

Afternoon in the Park

Tuesday is Lindsay's Sunday as her work schedule goes, and the weather was very nice, so we decided to take the moto to nearby Park City for the afternoon. Although the only way in is Interstate highway, it is still a very beautiful ride through the mountains east of town. As we rolled in we stopped at the Olympic Park outside of town and toured the museum, which included examples of equipment, displays of medals and the spooky looking puppets from the 2002 opening ceremonies. The place was also full of activities for kids, pretty sweet ones, I must say. We didn't watch the asphalt bobsleds, but we did spend some time watching kids slide down warm-weather ski jumps and doing flips and tricks into a large swimming pool. Looked like a whole lot of fun. After a bit of that we rode on into historic Main Street and had lunch at a bistro followed by a scoop of homemade ice cream at the local parlor. Aside from a slight sunburn and a traffic jam on the way back, nothing to complain about.

New couch

Our new couch from RC Willy. Its name is Rebel Tomato. Why? Because the official color is Rebel Tomato.

Bells Canyon

Here's a shot of a mountain lake from a hike Lindsay and I went on yesterday at Bells Canyon. Really pretty area and a fun hike.

Sellers, Chalkers and Painters

I started this Saturday out with a trip to the opening day of the Salt Lake Farmer's Market at Pioneer Park downtown. There weren't many actual farmers because it's a little early for produce, but plenty of nice arts and crafts. I picked up some bread from a local bakery and a few other things then read in the shade for a while. When I was ready to move on, I walked over to the Gateway Center, where Lindsay works at the Tribune, and met her for lunch. Before I saw her I found myself in the middle of the annual Chalk Art Festival, with many talented artists creating their temporary masterpieces on the sidewalk.

Dave Allen and Mike Sutter put some final touches on the greatest of Muppets in a rare shady spot on the Gateway cement.

After lunch I got a call from my friend since first grade Clay Painter, who was in town from his home in Wyoming visiting family. We spent the afternoon hanging out at my house, playing chess (to a bad outcome, from my side of the board) and catching up. When dinner time came around, Clay's wife Holly and their adorable 15-month-old daughter Emilia got back to Salt Lake from Park City and Lindsay got off work, so we all met up and went to dinner at the Blue Iguana, a nice local Mexican place. We followed up dinner with a little gelato at a place in Sugarhouse Lindsay and I have visited before.

The Painter family, in front of a very Italian backdrop

Nice Saturday, nice weather, nice market, nice art and a nice time with old friends.

Live from the Beehive, the DNM rides again

Ok, so technically I'm in Las Cruces at the moment, but I've spent the last week getting settled in a beautiful apartment in the Sugarhouse district of Salt Lake City. I'll finish up my tenure here in the land of green chile and >4% beer and sometime around mid-May I'll once again be Displaced. I'm very excited about this new adventure, and so is Lindsay, who starts her new job at the Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday. As for me, I've got a couple of leads on jobs in SLC, both in the craft beverage industry, and I'll be sure to announce what comes of all that. Back soon.

Oh Sweet Child Of Mine

That's my buddy Luke, in from Farmington for the holiday, ripping out a killer rendition of the G 'n' R classic Tuesday at Señor Murphy's.

What is this? A post?!

Yes! I am actually writing on this thing again. You've all probably given up on it, so no one is reading it, but just in case one or two of you still look this thing up, here you go. Monday afternoon I got back from a fantastic week of traveling. It started Wednesday with a brief stop in White Rock to visit my parents. I hung out with my mom for the afternoon and had a nice dinner once my dad got home and watched a movie to cap off the night. In the morning I joined my mom and her friend Katie on their daily walk, which is a pretty good jaunt and I'm proud of them for doing it. We then picked up my dad at work for lunch at the snack bar of Bandalier National Monument. With a belly full of taco salad I parted ways with my folks and headed through my beloved Jemez Mountains on my way to Farmington. It was nice to be back in F-town, as much as I can complain about it. There is just such a special group of people there they can make the place nice. Thursday afternoon I played a bit of tennis with Lucas and Cory Frolik, well I guess I just hit the ball around and they played, and that night a group of us went to a midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a fun film but a beast of a thing to start at midnight. On Friday Linz, Steve and I drove out to the winery near Navajo Lake, which is just a lovely place to spend an afternoon. I was hoping to see some friends there, but it turns out they were in Las Cruces for the wine festival they held down here this weekend.

Linz and her wine

Eh Steve! and his

After tasting a few wines and purchasing some gifts for Andrea, who had a birthday coming, we picked a grape we liked and sat out on the porch, watched the animals mill about and relaxed. That evening I helped Linz and Steve complete the latest episode of their quest to build the perfect pizza, and we were soon joined by a whole crew of pizza makers and takers.

Andrea (did I mention she had a birthday coming up? Well, she did) double-fists the cooking while Lindsay and Lindsay help in their own special way.
On Saturday Lindsay W. and I went up to Durango to eat some lunch and hang out for the day. The Iron Horse bike race had already left for Silverton, led by a media car containing one Lindsay Pierce, but there was still plenty going on, like a car show with a DeLorean and an old Rolls Royce with headlamps I swear I could take a bath in. That night, after a rendezvous at Frolik's apartment, where the IPA I bought at Steamworks in Durango seemed to vanish, it became time for me to experience Farmington's newest hotspot, B's Lounge. Not my kind of joint, and everyone knew that. I think they were getting not-so-secret pleasure out of watching my reactions. It's okay, I've seen worse, and I was having a good time just hanging out with the crew.
Sunday afternoon we went to a nearby school and played a game of ultimate frisbee. After a short break we went back to the tennis courts for some more sport and sunburn. The grand finale was a barbecue at Sports Editor Louie's house, which a few gifts and a cake created by the Lindsays turned into a birthday party for Andrea (did I mention it was her birthday?).
As usual, the time was too short, I didn't see everyone I wanted to, nor do everything I wished. Monday morning after breakfast, I grudgingly made the long drive back to Las Cruces in time to go to work.

Damn that spam

If you've tried to comment on this site lately, you've probably been met with a 404 or something like it. Sadly, comments have been disabled for the time being because those horrible little rats called spammers were overloading the server. So if you see a spammer, give 'em a good kick in the pants.

This is What Rock 'n Roll Looks Like

Me and E proclaiming we are Hungry Like the Wolf. On the right is karaoke master-blaster and Los Alamosian Josh.

Last weekend we hosted an event at our home in honor of the birthdays of Jason Groves (Anno XXX!) and Eric Seo (a mere XXVI)and were lucky to have some special guests come down from Farmington. My old partner and dear friend Lindsay, old reporter comrade Andrea and a brand-new Lindsay (henceforth known as Knummbertü) braved forecasts of inclement weather to traverse the state to wish the boys a happy anniversary upon Planet Earth. The party was a good time, Jason even showed up for a while, and we capped it off with some karaoke duets, which, unfortunately for music lovers everywhere, was not recorded in audio format.
The next day I took the girls to my place of work to see just what it means to eat nachos at High Desert Brewing Company and for a short look at Old Mesilla before they had to be on their way.

From left: Lindsay Knummbertü, Linz and Andrea. I'd like to thank the girls not only for coming down and helping us have a great time, but for earning me some street cred, for I've been asked more than once just what business I had in the presence of such lovely ladies.

I realize I've not posted in a while, so I should probably at least recap what's been going on lately. After a bit of craziness due to the Holiday Blizzard of Denver, I made it up to Fort Collins to spent Christmas with my whole family and that of my brother-in-law. It was quite a feat to get everyone in the same place at the same time and it made for a very special Christmas. At work I'm still working as a server/bartender, but I've also started working as a brewer two days a week, so the next time you come in for a beer, I might have helped make it. I've also started teaching the Photojournalism I: Intro to Photography class at New Mexico State University, which I am excited about. The class has only met twice and we've only gone over the very basics, but soon we will get into the real stuff and actually expose some film. Aside from all that, life is good and interesting, but not so much that you'd want to read it.