Month: April 2007

The Answer

I posed the question “What’s a girl gotta do to get a good margarita in this town?” on April 4th.

I found the answer.

An airplane.

Did you know that Gardunos has a location at The Palms casino in Las Vegas? Yes of course you knew that and so did I, The Palms being owned by those good New Mexico boys the Maloof Brothers.

On Thursday, I entered the establishment with much trepidation. Would it be the same as my beloved Winrock Mall location? Would the margs taste right? Would the menu be the same?

I exhaled a sigh of relief to see the *exact* same menu. I ordered a marg. Aaaah, there it is.

I had an obscene amount of green chile, what they call their “Chile Gourmet”, a green chile bowl con machaca. The fruit of Hatch was hot that night, so hot I was “whoo’ing” and sweating like an amateur. Such delicious pain.

Such a happy New Mexico girl.

I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m going again tonight! Yipee! And taking some “newbies”. Hope they love it! Aw really who cares, *I* love it (and so does that wonderful man who will hold my hand and give me water when I weep “it’s too hot” tears) and everything is gonna be all right in my world.

Enjoy the weekend!

Update to the Imus story

Well, I loved to bash the guy here on this blog. He got two scathing posts out of me but I’m sorry to report that Don Imus was fired from CBS radio.

Not that I liked the guy, not that he’s any less of a maroon. He’s still not a New Mexican in my book. It’s just that even though I don’t like the guy or support his opinions or even listen to his show I believe there is room for all sorts of dissenting opinions. There isn’t room for blatant racism, no, but he offered a crusty outdated old guy view of things. Not that he’ll be missed. He’s of a dying breed of radio guy. I didn’t wish him fired and don’t feel any gladness at the news. The two week suspension seemed to be enough in my book, but not in the minds of many others and I respect that. I think this is another example of the media grabbing ahold of something like a rabid dog and shaking for all its might. In the middle of all that something is lost, in my opinion. But I can’t change the media, I can only change what I choose to read/watch/listen to.

Thus ends quite a long, complicated and controversial career.

When your livelihood depends upon the whims of Mother Nature

It can be a rough go.

Coming up in New Mexico and especially during my college years I had a lot of friends who made a living working the same land that their own parents had worked. They went to college to learn the ag business with the intent of returning home and taking over the operation. From them I learned to watch the sky because it could make the difference between a good day and a very, very bad day.

I dated a boy in college who had to exit early on one of our early dates because it was a nice dew laden evening and he had to go home and bale hay. (No he wasn’t lying and yes he called me again.) Another boy I saw for a bit stopped coming to town to go dancing for a while because his family had just planted cotton. Then a huge New Mexico frog stranglin’ rain came along and washed all the topsoil (and the seeds) away down the arroyos and out to the Rio Grande.

At a considerable loss to the operation, they had to replant. They never did quite recover from that. To this day he still lives on the land with his wife, raising their kids and I almost hate to ask after him these days because the news is rarely good. I think they declared bankruptcy once and are still struggling to make ends meet.

I remember back then he told me he’d never leave the farming life. It was in his blood. He made good on that promise.

The ABQJournal article “Cold Snap Doesn’t Worry Southern N.M. Farmers” got me thinking about him again.

A recent cold spell with temps down into freezing got folks worried, but it looks like it wasn’t severe enough to damage most Spring plantings. The Doña Ana extension agent they interviewed says some cabbage and pecans were damaged, but nothing too severe.

An old relief washed over me when I heard that. Being a farmer and/or rancher hasn’t gotten any easier over the years and those that can still make it work (and aren’t part of some monolith of an overburdened and questionable morality ag company) get my respect every day of the year and twice on Sundays.

There’s an interesting bit at the end of the article talking about the fact that demand for corn has gone up due to the ever-growing industry producing ethanol. Corn is getting $4 a bushel meaning a lot of farmers are taking land that once grew chile and cotton and converting it to corn. It might just be a boon for these folks. I sure hope so.

The gentleman quoted at the end of the article also just happens to be a friend of mine. Tip of the cap to that family and may their planting decisions be fruitful….

And THAT is how you work your opinions

Props to Jeffery Gardner and his opinion section “Wrong Forums” in the April 6, 2007 Albuquerque Tribune. The piece was titled “Neither a restaurant nor a funeral is proper place to vent”.

Reading any opinion piece makes me skeptical, and the ABQjournal’s own Polly Summar has really soured me on opinion writers of late.

Imagine my surprise when I got to the bottom of Mr. Gardner’s piece and thought, “hey, I can agree with that”.

Mr. Gardner takes on the gloating folks in Taos who cheerily report how they publicly insulted former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a recent visit. Now, I’m not a supporter of the man but I cringed when I read this article where Taos residents boasted of their rudeness.

I will brook no rudeness in this world, especially the self-satisfied kind.

Mr. Gardner seems to agree. Regarding Rumsfeld, Mr. Gardner says, quite rightly, “… any figure who has stepped out of the public square and isn’t acting in a public fashion that opens the door for criticism, has as much a right to live his life in peace quiet as you or I do.”

Well said, Mr. Gardner. This is something that the vast majority of the world does not get. They think it’s their right to harass any public figure whenever and wherever they please.

It’s why paparazzi still have jobs.

Mr. Gardner also takes on a group of folks from a Kansas church who use the funerals of fallen soldiers who served in Iraq to launch antigay protests.

Things are well beyond rude in that instance…..

Best to let Mr. Gardner’s words speak: “Though cloaked as righteous acts of protests, these displays are actually petty, disgusting acts of egoists who think they’re privy to some special insight you and I just don’t have. They are simply despicable.”

While I agree with Mr. Gardner’s views so far, that is not what has endeared him to me enough to cause me to write an entire blog post singing his praises.

THIS is what inspired me enough to take to my Mac and get to typing….

“… it’s really none of my business what anyone thinks of me or anyone else.”

I almost let out an evangelical “halleluhjah!” when I read that quote. It’s a position I wish more people would take. It. Is. None. Of. My. Business. Let people live their lives. Stop getting up into their business and telling them how to run their lives. Stop being so self-centered you expect the world to bend to YOUR will. Maybe a little self-awareness and a lot of tolerance goes a long way.

I’m just sayin’…..

Cell Tower Obfuscation

Look at me using a quarter word outta my nickel brain!

Just read an article in the Albuquerque Tribune about Albuquerque adopting those “hidden” cell phone towers.

City Councilor Councilor Don Harris plans to introduce a bill this month requiring the city’s cell towers to be of this new variety.

While I like the idea, and I do think it looks better on the landscape, I can’t quite get to the mental place of local recording studio owner John Wagner who said, “You just forget about it after a while,” in reference to a nearby tree cell tower.

We’ve been using these towers here in the Bay Area for quite some time and I have to say, they are not that natural. In fact, they tend to draw my eye MORE than the regular tower because my brain says, “something’s outta whack over there” and you look…and look longer.

One of the “pine” versions is installed way up on a hill as you go through the Grapevine on I5 approaching LA. I tried to see if there was a photo of that one online somewhere because, you know, you can find everything online. I struck out. This thing is perched way up on a hill, all alone, no other trees in sight. Every time I drive through there (which has been far too frequently lately), my eyes are magnetically drawn to that damn odd looking tree slash cell tower standing alone on top of a hill. I actually look at it MORE than I would if it was just a stupid silver metal tower.

I find them odd and no less an eyesore and I always think to myself “they aren’t fooling ANYONE with these things”.

That being said, I guess as one gazes out on the horizon, even though EVERYONE knows it is a fake tree it still looks a lot better than metal towers poking up everywhere. I don’t know.

A couple samples photos I found online are here. See what you think…..