Go USA!

US swimmer Michael Phelps won the gold last night and set a new world record! Go USA! We're off to an exciting, yet tragic, Olympiad....

The Village Council Filibuster

Last night, we wasted 4 hours of our lives listening to an elected village official ramble on and on about useless nothings to try and obstruct a decision about a proposed zone change in support of a commercial development in our rural-residential paradise.

The development is an assisted living facility (part of a national franchise called Beehive Homes), and while Jon and I aren't opposed to having such a facility in our neighborhood, the Bosque Farms planning and zoning commission approved the application without seeing nary an architectural plan or schematic! Nary a traffic analysis! Nary a water use projection! Not to mention, nearly the entire community is opposed to the location of this facility (on 4.3 acres of dirt and pasture, formerly an alpaca farm), particularly when there is commercially zoned property available just 1/2 mile up the road near the main boulevard.

What we learned from last night's council meeting and hearsay about the planning and zoning meeting on Monday is that the land sale involves many close-knit cronies--good ol' boys (and gals) who are trying to turn a buck from the sale without regard to the future and sustainability of this wonderful community.

The good ol' gal on the council filibustered for nearly 2 hours to postpone public testimony. It was outrageous and disgusting. All we ask is that the council require the development company (who is applying for the zone change from rural/residential to "special use", which could mean lots of things) to present detailed visual and statistical plans to the public (hmmm...sounds like a case for Building Information Modeling!), to the planning and zoning commission (for pete's sake!!), and to the council before making their best informed decision. But because their loyalties seem to lie with the landowner over the constituents who voted for them, it looks like they will once again opt for unstrategic, aesthetically monstrous, poorly planned development. So typical of New Mexico politics....

The Story of Stuff

Concerned about rising gas and food prices? Worried about your drinking water? Wondering how you'll be able to afford commuting to and from work when gas is $10 a gallon?

The video that spawned this web site is a bit lengthy (about 15 minutes?), but very much worth watching. It's the story of "stuff", how the Western world (especially America) got to be such a consumeristic society over the past 60-odd years, how it has changed the world for the worse, and what we can do now to hopefully right the ship.

The web site has great resources and ideas for how each of us can change the trend of materialism that has actually consumed us over the past decades. Upgrading our lightbulbs and using recycling bins simply isn't enough. We all have to make some uncomfortable and permanent lifestyle changes if we want future generations--even our own generation!--to be able to sustain themselves. Besides, many of these changes would be GREAT for us mentally, morally, physically, socially, and spirtually. Definitely a worthy video and web site to peruse, particularly if you're concerned at all about what lies ahead for today's kids, or even for those of us who will already have to deal with this big mess as time goes by.

Smug Alert!

We attended another Earth Day festival, this time in Albuquerque's charming Nob Hill business district. Since Jon is now working for Edible Santa Fe Magazine, it was a great opportunity to hand out some free issues and talk to vendors at the festival about advertising.

However, once again, we were "smugged"! This time, by a girl working the carbon offset booth. As Val was walking by, the smugger asked if Val would like to donate money to offset her carbon footprint. As Val politely said "not today, thanks!" the smugger proceeded to follow her through the crowd, insisting that just a $1 donation could offset 200 driving miles in a 4-cylinder vehicle. Val retorted that she rarely drives (as we live in the country, work from home, and share a car!), and the smugger continued pursuing her almost angrily, shouting "well, you still release carbon in other ways!"

It reminded us of an episode of South Park we ironically watched the evening before we moved to New Mexico, about a "smug cloud" emanating from San Francisco as the result of a self-righteous George Clooney environmental speech, and which was dangerously heading toward a similar cloud over South Park, Colorado. If the two clouds collided, it would cause a "smug storm" the likes of which we've never seen! The South Park cloud resulted from citizens switching over to hybrid cars and feeling very self-satisfied for doing so, thank you very much. In the episode, Stan makes it his mission to stop the clouds from colliding--or at least to get his friend Kyle out of San Francisco, where his parents moved him so they could inhale their own farts to offset their carbon footprints....

Here's a terrible but quick cut of the episode we found on YouTube:



It's so true. If we're not careful about self-righteousness and badgering others with our ideas of environmental responsibility, there will be a backlash. Why can't we all just be reasonable?!?

Earth Day: Why Bother?

Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and more recently "In Defense of Food", has written this brilliant article on how in just a couple generations we've managed to forget how to use our minds, bodies, and the resources available to us, and instead we point fingers at government and big business for skyrocketing oil prices, climate change, and other major flaws in our world (have we all forgotten our high school economics classes? A free market is dictated by consumer demand).

But rather than just jammering on about our flaws, Pollan challenges us with some real solutions--some real ways to change the way we think and live every day. Are you up to the challenge?

How'd You Like to Be This Guy?

Stuck in an elevator for 41 hours...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators

A Visit to Denver

Last weekend we drove about 7 hours, 460+ miles, to visit family and friends in Denver. It was a great road trip, full of laughter, adventure and good music (we listened to some of our old CD collection--Radiohead, U2, the soundtrack for 'O Brother Where Art Thou', Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli, among others).

The most bizarre thing about the trip (besides stopping for a beer in Trinidad, Colorado, on the way back--more later...), was that it was April 17th and it SNOWED during half our drive, mostly in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. It was kind of a treat, but we were counting on nice weather.

We stayed with Val's brother, Jean-Noel, and sister-in-law, Linda, and couldn't have had better accommodations. They run a veritable bed-and-breakfast! We especially dug their coffeemaker and catching up on Bill Maher (courtesty of DVR, we got to see a recap of the Pope fiasco and Maher's...apology).

Over the weekend we visited with friends Mark & Tara and Jeff, Jen and their little girl Madi. Both couples moved to Denver from the Bay Area, ironically. Jeff and Jen hosted us for a BBQ Saturday in their gorgeous home, and we enjoyed a few games on their Wii console. Boxing anyone?

We also met a lot of dogs on this trip. Introducing...Jean & Linda's little angel (with a surprising demonic side), Lilly:

And Jeff & Jen's new dog, Cooper, a French bulldog with lots of class (except for the lewd things he was doing to that rubber chicken in a bikini...):


On our way to Denver, Val had a hankering for a good milkshake, so we stumbled on the historic Conway's Red Top diner in Pueblo, CO, and slurped down old-fashioned shakes in tins. They were deeeee-licious, but our stomachs regretted it for a couple days.

On our way home, we pondered what craving we'd satisfy at our halfway point. We agreed that a beer would hit the spot, and thought: what better halfway point between Denver and Albuquerque than Trinidad, CO? I looked up breweries in Trinidad on my Blackberry and found Trinidad Brewing Co. Perfect....

EXCEPT for the greenwashed neophyte hippies that accosted us to pay $10 per person at the door for their Earth Day celebration. Now, we of all people are on the green bandwagon--uprooting from city life to start a self-sustaining organic farm is no small commitment. But we had just about enough of Earth Day elitism in Denver (it's getting just as bad--or worse than--oft-criticized fundamentalist religious zealots!). No one wants someone else's beliefs shoved down their throats. Jon calls these people "greeligious". It's ridiculous--after all, shouldn't everyday be Earth Day?

We slowly worked our way past the greeligious freaks and managed to shimmy our way, cover-free, into the brewery for our long-awaited beer. It was 'aight, but we couldn't drink it fast enough to turn tail and get outta there! And we thought Trinidad was slightly askew for its reputation as the sex change capital of the world....

It was a fantastic trip, one that we continue to savor and that keeps getting better with each memory we rehash like a fine, fine wine. Thanks everyone for your Denver hospitality!
xoxo

New Mexico Wildfire

Contrary to frequent questions and concerns from friends and family, we're out of harm's way from the Manzano mountain wildfire. Thanks for your concern!

Fortunately, there is a mountain range and about 40 miles between us and the fire. Unfortunately, our goat cheese friends live and have their operations in Estancia, just 15 miles from the town of Torreon, where the fire just passed through and no one evacuated! Crazy New Mexicans....

Are we living in a police state?

On the plane back from Oakland to Albuquerque, I read the article about Carol Anne Gotbaum, the depressed, alcoholic mother who threw a fit in the Phoenix airport due to being displaced from two flights on her way to rehab in Tuscon. She was eventually restrained, handcuffed behind her back and shackled to a bench in a holding cell where, within minutes, she strangled herself and was found dead.

I can't get over this story as I fly quite frequently, and see (and experience) lots of situations where someone--even I--could *snap* and be treated in the same manner. It worries me that our freedom seems to be getting smaller and smaller in this country. It makes me feel as if our terrorist enemies have certainly won at a virtual war that we don't even see taking place, a little bit of freedom lost day by day.

However, some argue that Carol Anne was a "drunk", she acted irrationally and dangerously. That she shouldn't have been traveling alone. I agree that she should have been supervised--friends were scheduled to escort her to her connection in Phoenix but they were delayed--but I'm more aghast at the actions of the police.

What do you think? Was she treated fairly? Should she have been detained in such a manner? Should the police have ordered medical attention for her, or left an armed guard in the room with her to prevent this tragedy? I'm curious if I'm alone in my thinking on this one.

Time for me to board the plane--off to San Francisco again for an Autodesk marketing summit. God forbid the airlines leave us on the runway for 12 hours, or deny someone a seat that they purchased, or TSA drags us randomly away in handcuffs against their best judgment....