November 29, 2004
It's cold here (by Arizona standards)
I made it down to Scottsdale and am having a good time with Basile and his friends. I passed through a pretty nasty snow storm around Gallup, NM, but here the skies are clear and a light jacket is enough. Too cold, say the residents here, but I'll accept it. More later.
November 28, 2004
Off to see the Frenchman (I hope)
For those of you who don't know, the first of my ever-growing string of French friends, Basile Dalberto, is back in Arizona for the winter, and, since I had to serve journalistic interests on the great big fat American holiday of Thanksgiving, I get an extra day off next week and I plan to use it to visit my old friend. I will be heading down in the morning. Weather permitting, of course; there is talk of fluffy white precipitation coming down from the North. If it turns out to be so, I'll curse the Norse gods and stay home. But as of now, I plan to set sail at daybreak.
November 22, 2004
Hoist that Rag!
The sun has gone down on the second day of my adjusted weekend (Sunday and Monday) here in Farmington and I’ve yet to go outside. I’ve intended to many times, I’m all dressed with my shoes on, I just managed to keep getting distracted, mostly by this darned interweb thing. I sure love it, especially being able to talk to my friends in Europe in real time, but that multi-hour time difference pretty much limits it to my days off because their late evening is my afternoon, and that means I’m not really going anywhere.
But it can be nice not to have to go anywhere. I was pretty busy this last week, especially Friday and Saturday, when I work alone and the assignments really piled up (over 32 of my 70 hours this week were in those 2 days). But I’d rather be busy than bored, and when I am constantly moving I feel like I’m really getting something done.
Some interesting assignments came my way, too. Friday marked the beginning of our sports coverage of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado with a women’s basketball game. It may not be a big school, but at least I get a nice break from high school sports to shoot some college-level stuff.
Saturday sent me back to high school football, but it was a daytime playoff game between nearby Aztec and my hometown school, the Los Alamos Hilltoppers. I saw my old teachers and coaches (looking a little grayer and softer than when I knew them) screaming and yelling just like the old days, only now at my friends’ younger brothers and kids I probably taught to swim. I was tempted to say hello and see if they recognized me, but the kind of pounding the Toppers were taking has a strongly negative effect on a coach’s approachability. The game was stopped by a storm and my camera was full, so I left before they resumed to work on more assignments and get ready go to Colorado for another basketball game. The sports editor ended up eighty-sixing the game due to weather, but I ended up driving up with him anyway to cover boxing at a casino in Ignacio. It was the first time I had done that, and it was interesting. The Main Event was between a kid from Bloomfield (near Farmington) and a guy from Mexico City, but I couldn’t stay that late and the weather was threatening, so I took off after a women’s bout in which a girl from Los Lunas beat one from Santa Fe after 10 rounds. I’m not a boxing fan, but it was cool, in a way, to be ringside with all the bow-tied boxing men with the hoards of fans behind me screaming for the particular champion on whom they placed their bet that particular night.
After it was all over I went home, played some ping-pong and slept late the next day. Sunday was slow as Sunday’s often are. I got some groceries and rewarded my hard work with the new Tom Waits album: Real Gone (I took the title of this post from a song by the same name on the album). I only stopped listening to it a few minutes ago. I find myself wondering why I’m not the only person in the world who actually likes that stuff, but I guess there is a whole demographic of people who want to hear something ugly somehow come out beautiful.
It’s 19:35 now but it feels a lot later. I can still do laundry, but I sure can’t do it sitting in front of this little box, so I better end this.
One last bit: The DNM now has a Finnish sister site. Check out Arid Detonator, out of Jyväskylä, Finland.
November 13, 2004
Happy Berfday, Ben!
I'm in Santa Fe now, at Ben and Laura's new house. I've known I would be coming here for weeks, but I couldn't devulge it because we are here as a surprise for Ben's birthday. It was really great to see his face when I walked in, even though I was the last here, he still didn't expect me. We're having fun and this is a nice place.
November 8, 2004
Falluja
Less than one week after the election, U.S. forces are beginning an assault on the insurgent-laden city of Falluja, an action which military commanders have warned could mean "the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war."
November 6, 2004
This is my roommate Eric
Eric is working on tomorrow's newspaper. When Eric works, he thinks very hard.
November 5, 2004
Bad Jokes
I have recently been called into question about some of the comments I made about Vice President Dick Cheney before and after his visit to Farmington. The things I said were macabre jokes which I admit were out of line and by no means to be considered my sincere wishes or threats on the Vice President's life or well-being. I do sincerely want to see him leave office, as I strongly disapprove of the damage that has been done by him and the administration of President Bush and the dangerous nationalistic climate they have nurtured in this country, but I do not want to see him leave office in a hearse. My dark humor was the product of four years of frustration and dread of what has turned out to be the case: four more. I apologize for any offense taken at my remarks.
Tourney
The soccer championships are going well; I've been shooting quite a bit of soccer and meeting some other people from papers around the state. There is one more game today that we will cover and if the Farmington boys don't win we will be done here. Jason and I met up with my little brother, Chris, who lives here in Albuquerque last night for pizza at a place near his apartment. If the boys win tonight, I'll be working tomorrow, if not we'll just go back to Farmington.
November 4, 2004
Off to the games
I'm about to head out to Bernalillo for the state soccer (football) tournament. I guess that's all I really have to say, so I'll catch you later.
November 1, 2004
Ben is back/Vote!
Ben came up today from Santa Fe to do an Election Day assignment on the Reservation. It's the first time I've seen him since he left for the City Different, so it's fun to have him back.
Speaking of Election Day, tomorrow is the big day. I've already cast my vote thanks to New Mexico's early voting. I hope all of you who are eligible have either already been there or will be there tomorrow. There is a lot riding on this one and it's going to be tight, so if you didn't know before I think you know now that EVERY VOTE COUNTS. I'm not going to tell you what to do with your vote, but I think you probably have an idea where I stand.
The American voting system has come under heavy scrutiny since the 2000 election. I have a suggestion for change, but I'll have to get to that later, because now the ping pong table calls.