Category: where I come from

Aggies, oh Aggies!

The hills send back the cry
we’re here to do or die
Aggies, oh Aggies!
we’ll when this game or know the reason why

And when we win this game, we’ll buy a keg of booze
And we’ll drink it to the Aggies ’til we wobble in our shoes!

This is the actual fight song of my alma mater. I always rather enjoyed that our fight song mentioned getting drunk. It was always rather…appropriate, in my humble opinion.

When I was in school (lo these many years ago) we enjoyed being the losingest football team in the NCAA, having lost 27 in a row. The streak was broken in a 1990 win in which we tore down the goal posts. I remember. I was at that game.

We even make an ESPN list of worst college football teams of all time (scroll down, we’re number 9).

Today the Las Cruces Sun News is reporting that the 2007 NMSU football season has kicked off with a win over Southeastern Louisiana. The boys in crimson won it 35-14, including a 68 yard interception for a touchdown by a 273 pound defensive….who was gassed after making the run.

It’s an auspicious start for a generally crappy football team.

Gives me something to smile and whistle about leading into a long Labor Day Weekend.

Now to see about buying that keg of booze and commencing the wobbling…..

Same planet, different worlds

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for ten years. You’d think in ten years I’d be used to the peculiarities of this great place where I live. But still, it makes me laugh.

Was browsing headlines today on SFGate (the online presence for the SF Chronicle, discussed yesterday) and found this headline on the front page….(I am not making this up)

A Possibility of Thunder

Seems there is a storm brewing and it’s headed our way. Seems there might be a chance of thunder and lightning.

And this is news, why? Top headline news?

When we actually do have thunder and lightning, it’s covered on the television news. In detail. With “on the scene” reporters.

Oh my. Well, to use an over used phrase….where I come from….if someone said there was a chance of thunder this afternoon, all good New Mexicans would be like….”yeah….and???”

The ongoing saga of a New Mexico girl in California continues…..

A few photos

I was strangely photographically uncreative and uninspired while on my trip to New Mexico. I think I was so sick I could only concentrate on blowing my nose. I’d expected to take a ton of photos, but only took a few.

The views in New Mexico are as breathtaking as always, but I had trouble capturing them on film. This is usually not an issue for me. New Mexico is really one big photo op.

Below are a few of the better ones, but not my best work, but they make me happy enough. It was such a great trip. I’m ready to go back.

This was on the way to Capitan

This is just outside of Fort Stanton

Taken at the Merchant Marine cemetery right across from Fort Stanton

This was on the way back to Alto from Fort Stanton. You just don’t get views like this anywhere else…..

Gotta love it

It was just a brief story in the ABQjournal. Hardly a story, really. But it hit home with me.

In my “grown up life” I am a contracts professional. I negotiate contracts on behalf of my company with a variety of suppliers. I’ve been at this for the better part of fifteen years. These days I’m all embroiled up in the middle of a hairy deal. I have a great in-house lawyer that I work with, and one of her mantras is “we have to take care of this now, despite the fact that we hope we never have to turn to the contract”.

And truly, getting the contract language right really only matters when something goes terribly wrong. But having been on the receiving end of “terribly wrong”, I was always glad I took the time to get the words right. I’ve had to give a deposition to an Albuquerque Court based on one of my contracts. That’s how important the contract becomes.

So, of course, this was what I immediately thought of when I ready the article titled Land Grant Heirs: Treaty Promises Free Wood.

In the article basically, they are saying in order to resolve a dispute, they are going to have to turn to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, circa 1946. Man, when you have to turn to a contract that is some sixty years old, you know someone is gonna come out of this unhappy.

Ah well, better them (and their lawyers) than me.

Happy Friday to everyone! Here’s to a great, restful and safe weekend! I hope to finally shake this damn sinus infection. Sleep is my prescription for a happy weekend.

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Update: Well, right after I posted I toodled over to the ABQjournal and found this article. Seems St. Pete has decided to get involved, asking for fees to be halted while everyone scans the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo for their interpretation of the language. Forest Service says “no”. Things are progressing predictably…..

Is it really getting on time again??

The other day, my partner said, “I can’t believe it’s August, soon it will be Fall”. I shot him a whiny look. I *love* the summer. I’m at my best in the summer with the warm and the light and all that comes with summer. “But I like Fall,” he claimed. Yeah, I do too, but it’s always sad for me…it means winter darkness is just around the corner.

I loathe days when it’s dark at 5:00pm. I’m at work, working away and it’s pitch black outside. Wah!

I saw a harbinger of the impending fall in Wednesday’s ABQjournal. Evidently the debate is on whether to televise the burning of Zozobra this year. It’s scheduled for September 6. Wow. Already?

I’ve watched Zozobra burn both on TV and in person. I have to say, the impact is FAR greater in person. When you chant “burn, burn, burn” along with thousands of your closest, drunkest friends, you feel a certain tribal kinship that’s hard to find in other places. It’s joyful and sad and creepy and a passage of time all at once. And then you go to the Fiesta de Santa Fe and drink and eat to forget. But Old Man Gloom stays in your soul.

Info can be found here. In one of those “the more things change…” moments, I realize they are charging admission to the event. I remember when it used to be free. You just rushed the field, beer in hand, and staked your spot. Oh well…….

Jeez, already a few weeks away from Zozobra. The kids go back to school next week. Soon the State Fair will be here. Time, she moves too fast for me….