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Monday, July 06, 2009

and then it was july

It's been a very strange and turbulent summer. There's the weather: afternoon monsoons coupled with morning rains and chilly nights. It doesn't quite feel like Santa Fe.
And there's the added workload, some of which is not exactly voluntary but some is and, at any rate, it is what it is.
Right now, the sky is purple and black and lone fireworks are still being set off in the neighborhood. The yard, which the boy has been throwing himself into (he says it's good therapy after a night in the ER on shift, although he certainly doesn't use the word therapy) is very green and has an almost secret garden feeling. At least it does if you stand in one particular spot.
The last week has felt very charged. I returned home from the AAN convention filled with various thoughts on all the things one is supposed to be thinking about these days in journalism: twitter and aggregation and whatnot. I'm interested enough in all of it to have been pretty engaged, but en route learned of the car crash that killed four Santa Fe teens and left one of our employees' daughters in the hospital (slowly, slowly recovering) and was suddenly plunged into the most basic of journalistic tasks: obituary writing, albeit with heart, I hope.
I have this sense of Santa Fe imploding around me. It makes it hard to sleep or stop thinking. Although not in an entirely bad way, since I like to feel engaged whenever possible. Beats being bored, which I am not.
Am almost ready to revamp this blog and give it some real attention. Almost. As soon as I finish thinking.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

If you can't stand the heat

then don't go outside. That's pretty much my current mindset. I'm in Tucson, Arizona for the annual AAN conference and I'm pretty sure it's at least 100 degrees outside. I don't really care how hot it is digit wise, all I know is it's so hot that when I step outside I literally don't know what I'm supposed to do. Walk? Breathe? How?
The conference is being held in a big hotel with many pools. Normally, lying by a pool with a book is my idea of heaven, but I feel like once it reaches 110 degrees, what's the point of even getting in the water? Why isn't the water evaporating?
I'm very determined not to spend five days complaining incessantly about the weather, but so far I'm not off to a very good start, particularly if you factor in facebook and twitter, where I've been complaining relentlessly.
On the bright side, if I close my blinds in my room and turn down the temperature to about 60, it's quite comfortable.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

happy anniversary

The Reporter's 35th birthday is coming up, and I'm hoping to include lots of feedback on Santa Fe's past and future in the upcoming issue. To wit, I've created an extremely easy five-question survey. Fill it out, and your opinions, thoughts and creative ideas may be published on June 17. Here's the link:

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

My Sister's Marathon in San Diego

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Terminator 4 Needs Salvation



In 1984, a world rendered apocalyptic as the result of machines fighting back against the people who created them had enough metaphoric foresight to do what good science fiction can do—capture your imagination and make you think.

In 2009, it's really not enough to just throw a bunch of killing machines into the ether and rely on the inherently profound notion that machines can think, but they can't feel like we do (not that there's actual evidence of believable human emotion in the movie), to provoke much of anything—other than boredom and irritation.Read more »

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Send money, now

No, that's not an order. Don't you love it when people ignore their blogs and then the minute they post again, it's all, "send me money, send me money."
I don't really want you to send me money. But it would be cool if you'd send my sister some.
My sister, Abby, is running her first marathon in a week in San Diego, California. It's a marathon to raise money for leukemia. I'm still not entirely clear how or why fundraising for diseases and marathons have become inextricably linked, but, at any rate, obviously this is a good cause. And all the more remarkable if you knew my family, whose family crest (if we had one) would read: We Only Run When Chased.
I'm flying to San Diego next weekend to cheer on my sister at the finish line. And, if leukemia/blood diseases are an issue you care about, or you just want to support a good cause and a very sincere and good person (different gene pool), please consider sponsoring her.
Click here for the link.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Don't Quit Your Day Job