53 in Chicago, 39 in Tucson

Um....?

This was Monday:


This is Tuesday:

What will Wednesday bring???

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Two Words: Roller Derby

Saturday was opening night for the Tucson Roller Derby. I know, right? How do you *not* go?

The place was packed, which made me happy. So great to see local events do well, especially in tough economic times. None of us had been to roller derby before, so we had no idea what was happening. I was expecting to see hair pulling, tripping, lots of elbowing, but I was sadly disappointed. As Skip said, "huh, this is more like an actual sport." And it was. Rules, several refs, scoring. I've kind of figured out the rules, sort of, although I'm not entirely sure. But, we had fun anyway.


Now I want a bad-ass roller derby name. Any suggestions?

Happy Groundhog Day!

It has been quite a while since I've lasted posted here. No real reason, other than a powerful combination of busyness and laziness.

The last few months have been great. A quick recap:

For Thanksgiving Skip, Sam and I rented a house in Prescott, AZ. We had the full on turkey dinner, watched a lot of dvds, and basically spent a long weekend in our pj's eating and lounging. The house we stayed in was very warm and cozy, but what really kicked it up a notch:

Kids, those are 8-track tapes. And they worked, to varying degrees. Fan. Tastic.

December brought my usual extended winter break. I had three weeks off and did very little. It was great. Skip took me to Florida for my birthday, aaaaw. My brother spent a few days with us, it was very nice to see him. While in Jacksonville, we saw Marc Broussard again. I'm telling you, people, go see him.

Liz came to visit in mid-December. While she was here, it was cold and rainy. There was even snow in the mountains. One day it was warmer in Chicago than it was in Tucson. I felt so badly since she came here fleeing winter. There were several cold and gray days in December which I guess is typical winter in Tucson. It was nice to wear sweaters for a while.

For Christmas we stayed in Tucson. We had a lot of travel planned for early 2009 so we spent some lovely quiet time at home. It was really nice. Sam once again donned the festive head gear:

Doesn't he look thrilled about it?

We kicked the year off with a hike with Jeff and Jill on a gorgeous New Year's Day. I much prefer starting the year like that than I have the last 36+ New Years in sub-freezing temps. Skip's doing at lot of hiking as he prepares for his big climb in March. I didn't join him on this particular hike, but oh, the poor dog:

Not bad for a rain-coat made out of a garbage bag on the fly. That dog is a good sport.

In mid-January we headed to New Orleans for a trade show - FenceTech2009! It was my first time in New Orleans, and we had an amazing time. We stayed in this ridiculous house in Uptown, so pretty.

We spent most of the days at the Convention Center, but did get to see some of the city, had some beignets, and many, many, many drinks.

This weekend we went to San Diego to celebrate Jill's birthday. We rented a house on Mission Beach. Gorgeous.

We pretty much spent the weekend at the house (um, did you see that hot tub?) with a few walks and brief excursions to mix things up. There were lovely dinners, many many many cocktails, and even a french pirate.

Sign of the times - just a few condos for sale in this building in downtown San Diego:

We also had a SuperBowl party, as so many of us are Arizonans. There were Cardinals t-shirts, lots of temporary tattoos, and a good deal of heartbreak when they lost. Oh well.

Aside from celebrating Jill's birthday, Skip and I got to spend time with my cousin Terri and her husband David. We had a very nice visit, having lunch, sightseeing from Point Loma, and a lovely sunset view at the cliffs. Just fantastic.

It was awfully hard to leave San Diego this morning.

We're home for a few weeks, then we're off to London in late February. After London is North Carolina, then Chicago, then possibly Detroit. Like I mentioned, lots of travel this year. It's exhausting, but wonderful.

Giving Thanks

With all that's happening with our economy and world politics, it's easy to lose sight of how fortunate we truly are. Times aren't great, for sure. But, compared to many others we are favored beyond measure. Something I read today reminded me of that, which prompts me to write about http://www.kiva.org/

Kiva.org is a non-profit that provides micro-loans to people throughout the world. The loans go to entrepreneurs who work hard under tough circumstances to provide for their families and their communities. $500 may not seem like a lot of money for a 'business loan', but it can literally change people's lives.

The loans are funded in small amounts ($25) by many people, so no one bears any unreasonable risk if the loans default. Once the loan is repaid, you can re-lend the money to another entrepreneur. I've been lending to Kiva for 18+ months and have never had anyone default, so I've been able to lend the same funds several times. If you wish, you can make a donation in someone's name, or give them a gift card so they can choose who receives the loans. Makes a great holiday gift.

I've added the Kiva.org feed to the right side of the page, which shows three current loan requests. To learn more about those entrepreneurs, or thousands of others, click away. I know there are many ways to be charitable, I hope you consider http://www.kiva.org/ when looking to give.

Rattlesnakes and Scorpions and Brown Recluse Spiders, Oh My!

Ah, the desert. So pretty. So poisonous.

A few weeks ago I pulled into the driveway to find Skip with the dog, motioning me to stop. I thought he was being funny, but then I noticed he was pointing at a very colorful stick. Holy poop. He brought the dog into the house while I kept an eye on the rattlesnake to see where it went. I did this from the car, with windows up and doors locked (safety first!). Skip came back with a long pole, picked up the snake, and flung it back down the hill. As it was silhouetted against the sky while if flew through the air, I noticed it had a giant lump in the middle of it. Must have had a rat for lunch. Yeesh.

Last week I was walking barefoot down a hallway on my way to a pool when I spotted a scorpion on the floor. Thankfully, it was dead; someone had already crushed it. It wasn't so scary, since it was flat. I'm pretty sure I'll still freak out if I see a live one. I'm just grateful I didn't step on it with bare feet.

Yesterday I was unpacking groceries. When I started to fold the bag, a large black angry looking spider appeared. ACK. Black widow spiders are a big problem here. They won't kill you, you'll just wish you were dead because of all the pain. I trapped it under a Ziplock plastic container (those things are versatile!), and then asked Sam to go get Skip, who apparently didn't hear my earlier screams. Skip took a look and said, "oh, that's not a black widow. That's a brown recluse, far worse." Fantastic. He calmly walked it out of the house and set it free. Hope the snake enjoys it.

Anyone using Palmolive Eco Dishwasher Detergent?

Skip and I both randomly bought this detergent a few weeks ago. It might be earth friendly, but it's leaving white streaks on both our dishes, pots, and glasses. The streaks are hard to get off. It hardly seems eco-friendly when I have to wash the dishes by hand after running them through the dishwasher. That's a lot of wasted water, especially in the desert.

Anyone else having this issue, or is it just us?

Sportsapalooza

It's been a very big week, sports-wise.

Thursday night, I went to my first U of A basketball game. This is a big deal. Skip is a yooooge fan of basketball in general, but of the Cats in particular. If you're a college basketball fan, you may have heard something about the coaching drama that's unfolded over the past few weeks. It was an exhibition game, but the first test of the team's new interim leadership. I didn't go so well at first; at the end of the half, they were up only one point over University of Incarnate Word. University of Who? U of A is a great team, UIW is a division three team, and they were quite a challenge. But, the second half went much better and the Cats pulled it out. Whew.

Last night we went to see the Ice Cats, the U of A hockey team. Not an NCAA team, hockey here is a club sport. But, a club sport that sells tickets to games and has a loyal non-student following. They played Chicago's DuPaul University. Both teams were...not good. I guess it's club hockey in the desert, you can't expect much. It was great to be at a game, and we had fun. The Ice Cats lost, not looking like they're going to have a great season.

Yesterday afternoon - I played kickball. Yup, kickball. It was a lot of fun. Kickball smack talk is high-larious. No one took things seriously, so it didn't matter that most of us were terrible. I scored a run and pitched a no-hitter one inning, but I was frequently the third out. D'oh! Oh well. Sadly, I'm quite sore today from all the activity. How sad.

1 for 3 in the Fall Concert Series

We were super excited to see Chris Cornell, he of Soundgarden and Audioslave, at the Fox Theatre in late October. Even got the pricey tickets. Three hours before the concert was to start, we got an email telling us he was cancelling due to 'throat issues', otherwise known as 'crappy ticket sales'. Lame move, Cornell. Lame. Move.

Last week we made a mini road trip to Phoenix to see Matt Nathanson. We'd were unbelievably excited to see him as we had such a great time at his July concert. When we found the venue, the line was literally around the block an hour before doors opened. Not good. Rather than stand in line we went to dinner. After waiting for our food for an hour, we told them we were leaving. Our food magically appeared, they were very apologetic and took it off the bill. When we got our bill, they'd taken most of the drinks off too, so dinner for 4 with several cocktails = $6.00. Score.

We returned to the theatre to see the line even longer, and the inside already packed. Figuring we'd never get in, Skip told the manager at the door we wanted a refund because clearly they'd oversold the show. Instead, for no explainable reason, the dude just lifted the velvet rope and let us in. Score.

The place was jam packed but we managed to find seats on the patio with a partial view of the stage and good bar proximity. Super score.

Then the concert started.

And they closed the door that was giving us the view of the stage. Even if we'd wanted to, we couldn't have crammed ourselves into the main area to see the concert. We sat for a little while, but it basically was like listening to his CD, which we could do at home with cheaper drinks. So, Skip found the dude who let us in and said it was ridiculous, and kind of unsafe, so we were leaving and we'd like a refund. "Okay, no problem." What? I don't know why that guy was so accommodating to us, but he refunded our money. When we got outside, we realized you could see the stage pretty well from the sidewalk, so we stood outside and watched the show for 30 minutes before calling it a night. Far from our hoped for experience, but, hey, for $6 and a tank of gas, we had a pretty good time.

The one concert that went very well this fall was Shawn Mullins and Dar Williams. I've loved Dar for a long time, was super excited to see her in concert again. She didn't disappoint, she was great. Shawn Mullins was great too, first time I'd really heard most of his stuff. Another great music night in Tucson. Who knew this town had such a great music scene?

The only good thing about the early Christmas commercialism

Gingerbread lattes are back at Starbucks!

Although, this year they're "Ginger Snap" lattes. The barrista said it's the same thing, they just changed the name. And some of the ingredients. Um, so, not so much the same.

Anyone had one yet?

A Helpful Tip

Take the BlackBerry out of your pocket before jumping into a pool.

What the?

Gas in Tucson is down to $2.89. Guess that's the silver lining to this recession cloud.

Flagstaff and the Great Outdoors

A few months ago, Skip and I took up hiking. Exercise, nature, quiet moments of contemplation. Bug bites. Cactus needles. Being lost in the woods. Getting pulled downhill by the dog. It's been a little up and down, but we've finally worked out the kinks and have had a few hikes without getting lost or being injured. We enjoy it quite a bit. Especially since we acquired a first aid kit. And a compass.

This weekend we headed to Flagstaff and the highest peak in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey. A towering mountain I first saw in April. Mt. Humphrey is the highest of the San Francisco Peaks. Snow capped no more, things look a little different in the fall:



Well, still a little snow up there. But, it was still very fall like at lower elevations:

At 12,000 feet, it's no easy hike. We hiked up to 10.3k, that was all I could take. I'm not so good with the altitude; breathing gets a bit tricky. The dog and I headed back, but Skip continued to the top. Sometimes crawling on hands and knees as the wind was gusting up to 80 mph, but he made it. Sniff. So proud.

The next day we headed to the Grand Canyon, only 90 minutes from Flagstaff. If you don't miss a crucial turn. But, hey, it was a fortuitous detour as we saw some gorgeous parts of the Painted Desert. We forgot to take pictures of that.

We did remember to take pictures at the Canyon:

Hard to believe that 'tiny' river carved the canyon. Astounding.

It was freeeezing there, literally 60 degrees colder than Mexico the weekend before. Thank goodness we stopped to buy scarves and hats. Brrrr. Made it hard to be outside for long periods of time, so we didn't walk around too much. We'll have to go back when it's warmer, but before it gets too crowded. That's probably a very narrow window...maybe four hours on the second Tuesday in May?

Mexico, Ole!

The first weekend in October we loaded the car with food and drink and headed down to Punto Penasco, Mexico. It's a popular get-away for southern Arizonans as it's just a 4 hour drive. We didn't know what to expect, but, hey, weekend at the beach. Can't be that bad.

Um, yeah. Not bad at all.

When we walked into the condo, I think all our jaws dropped at the same time.

I mean, we could quite literally roll to the beach from our room. At the very least, we could roll right to Mexico's premiere cash-only swim-up bar. "We'll take wet cash!" Yeah, not helpful.

It was a good thing we were so close to the water, it was 100+ when we were there. Yikes. It hurt to walk on the sand.

The resort had a very strict "No Tolerance Policy" for rule breaking. Odd to see so many rules and regulations and seriously uptight security guards at a beach resort. I get that they want to crack down on huge parties and spring breakers (all for that), but it was a little like vacationing in the "No Fun Zone". We had a great time, but those who crossed the securidad came to regret it.

We got a big kick out of the signs posted throughout the No Fun Zone. The exact literal translations were a crack up:

I think this might be the least enforceable rule ever:

What are they going to do? Put a time stamp on your hands and check? And as Jeff pointed out, they serve food at the swim up bar - they are giving you food while you're already in the pool. Good one.

Note, the pool closes at 8:45, and the guards are standing by to lock it down. They weren't messing around. My favorite pool rule:

Behave morally. Good reminder. Although I'd think "use bathing suits" would be covered by 'behave morally', no?

There may have been a few cocktails consumed during the trip.

Before:

After:

In addition to the fun we made for ourselves, we also witnessed the most poorly organized Triathlon ever. I guess you can't expect much when the race is run at a beach town in Mexico, but, man, glad I wasn't competing. Later, we witnessed a lovely wedding on the beach. Only a few people yelled "don't do it!" Touching. Perhaps they shouldn't have set the wedding up right next to the beach-access stairs.

Looking forward to the next trip to the No Fun Zone.

Urgent: Watch Jay Leno Tonight!!

It pains me greatly to say that, as I'd rather stab myself with a sharp stick than watch Jay Leno. But, you really need to watch to see the astoundingly talented Marc Broussard.

We saw him last night at Club Congress, and, WOW.

Hard to describe his sound. Best I can say it's a bluesy-rock with influences from New Orleans, Stevie Wonder, Amos Lee, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. He's the most soulful white guy I think I've ever seen. You might know his song "Home" (it's on his Myspace page).

And his band was excellent. Usually I don't notice the band. To me, there's no difference between Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs. But these guys, WHOA. Each was a huge talent. And man, did they blow the doors of the joint. I was exhausted just listening to them, don't know how they play so hard every night.

Tonight they're on Jay Leno. Then they're back on tour, really just starting their tour. Many dates near you, go see them and prepare to be amazed.

Earth From Above

While I have many fascinating things to share with everyone, I haven't had a minute to get them out of my head and onto the blog. BUT, I had to quickly share this...

"Earth From Above" is a series of stunning photos taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. I saw his work in Chicago a few years ago and was just blown away. His exhibit is going to NYC in 2009, and I encourage everyone in the area to see the exhibit. His website shares nearly 2,000 images for free. You can easily spend hours looking at them.

The Boston Globe's fantastic The Big Picture - News Stories in Photographs (see link on side bar) is featuring some of his work this week. Check it out. Then book your trip to NYC.