el coche de rich es demasiado para me

i think if one were to compare our cars, rich's car would appear less-than-manly next to mine. my car is, undoubtedly, mas macho. the 27" wheels have something to do with it, as does the utter lack of environmentally-friendly emissions coming from its tailpipe. those emissions, however, are largely responsible for my unwillingness to speed in the car--it just burns way too much gas to do so. conversely, rich's car is a hybrid so i feel considerably less bad driving with a lead foot (and lead-footed driving is something of a specialty of mine, as i took defensive driving eight times during my first twelve years of driving to get out of speeding tickets). as such, since i have found myself driving his car here and there for certain things--namely GETTING HIS FUCKING OIL CHANGED AND HIS SCHEDULED MAINTENANCES DONE--i seem to be having a speed problem. it wouldn't be a problem if albuquerque had not installed red light cameras all over the city that in addition to catching people running/jumping lights also catch speeders. well. very well.

the past two times i have taken rich's car in, BECAUSE HE IS TOO EFFIN' BUSY AND/OR IMPORTANT TO DO IT HIMSELF, i have received a gift from the motor vehicle division of the state of new mexico in the form of a lovely picture of me driving rich's less-than-manly (i would so say girly if i didn't think that was taking it too far) car very, very fast. and i can appreciate that that is wrong, but i have a problem with it being rich's car and the fact that there wasn't actually a cop there to pull me over. if it is so dangerous, then why not increase traffic cops? or at least put up giant flashing lights to go off when one is caught to slow us down? anyway, i've now spent $317, in addition to the FORTUNE SPENT MAINTAINING RICH'S CAR, in traffic fines. and, of course, rich is perfect and has never received a ticket in it, which by his logic means that he has never broken the law. not buying it. i must say hybrids are, among many things, spectacularly speedy.

the moneymoon (look it up) is so over for me with this car, and yet we're still paying on it...

a mother's day miracle!

my mother's day weekend was freakin' spectacular this year. the fam totally outdid themselves and oh my god--it was awesome. it started on saturday morning: sophie kindly woke me up by screaming as though she were on fire at 6 a.m. (and i was actually asleep before that, damnit!). apparently she knew i was leaving and wanted to make sure we spent as much time together as possible. anyway, after much sophie time i got gus to and from an early-ish birthday party, downloaded a bunch of new songs, and took off BY MYSELF for santa fe.

i had some work to do at photo-eye and center for contemporary art, then spent the rest of the day at ten thousand waves. i loooove ten thousand waves. it is perhaps the most relaxing place in the world--the whole place smells like hinoki wood and you hear waterfalls everywhere. that and you get to wear a really cool kimono (i bought one i loved it so much). i did this and this and this, and yes it cost a fortune but i don't think i have ever been so blissed out in my life. i spent like 6 hours there.

after that i left and checked in at the st. francis hotel and slept the sleep of the chill and relaxed. actually, i hit whole foods in santa fe just before that--did you know you can drink a beer in the dining area there?

this morning, i got up LATE and went to cafe pasqual's for breakfast. it was superb--a breakfast quesadilla with applewood smoked bacon, fresh guacamole and a ton of fresh pico de gallo. my pasqual levels are so set for the year after that. i very slowly ate, read the sunday new york times, and then headed back for albuquerque. and i was so pleased to see that the family survived! rich did, however, feed them two meals of take-out pizza in my absence. oh well. i spent the day pulling weeds in the front beds (by choice--i actually enjoy doing that) and watering some struggling trees.

altogether a mighty sweet mother's day, i must say.

taking it easy today

sweet sophie bunny

it has been a rough week in the triangle. i am a bit emotionally and physically drained so i am going to take it easy and post some eye candy--recent pictures of the bunny!

have a very happy weekend and remember to call your mom.

sophie's usual morning pose (since we have to step over her, she knows we'll pay attention to her)

sophie at one of gus' baseball game

sophie and daddy

sophie trying to escape (as usual)

cliff's sunday, 2008

a couple of weekends ago, gus' school had their annual spring fiesta at cliff's amusement park here in town. just gus and i went--rich had worked over 70 hours the week before and wanted to stay home with sophie (kinda hard to argue with that). gus had so much fun--he rode everything he rode last year except the big rollercoaster. i think he did the scrambler 7 or 8 times total--impressive! enjoy.

gus and george on the scrambler

scrambled boys--they rode this ride four times in a row before both of them decided they might get sick if they pushed for a fifth

whack-a-mole

randy, gus and tammie at the super-fast spinning thing

just prior to take off--i have the full 5-minute video of this ride, if anyone is interested (will send with airsickness bag)

gus takes it easy in a bumper car after the spinning thing (although he is driving very seriously)

creepy sad clown that gus tries to make happy...

...by feeding it some of his dippin' dots

cliffed-out boy!

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

major changes afoot for mr. gus. and ALL of it was instigated by him. witness the first image of my beautiful boy with the viking hair going on:
this is gus running out onto the field at the beginning of an isotopes game about two weeks ago

and running back

and this past sunday, gus playing with a hot wheels thing that i have four times previous stuck in the goodwill bag, just to have him find it yet again...

and then the unthinkable happened: he asked me to cut his hair.

i cut about three inches off and he wore it like that for a few hours, then he decided he wanted more taken off. so i did that, and he wanted even more...this is the end result:

my boy gus!

we have had such a struggle every morning to get his hair brushed and relatively ordered, which i know was driving him crazy, but he was the one who decided enough was enough. recently he has been having a lot more people mistake him for a girl--especially while playing baseball--and that just isn't sitting well with him anymore. he had always been good at having kind of a "screw you" attitude to that, but he said he was just sick of the whole thing and wanted to cut it all off. honestly, it made me a little sad--i loved his long hair! he looks beautiful with short hair as well as you can actually see his pretty face. (his pretty face is what i think threw some people off with the long hair and thinking he was a girl thing.)

if you see him, let him know what you think about his big change!

shame, the great motivator

this:

plus this

equals this:


shame, the great motivator. i called the city/county at least 10 times over the course of a week to get this cleaned up with no response. i got routed through the most labyrinthine channels imaginable in municipal bureaucratic hell, as no one wanted to deal with this not-so-big dumpsite next to gus' little league field. i posted my adventures on duke city fix and was contacted by a local TV reporter. so together we shamed the city into action. i almost wish i had picked a bigger target--if public humiliation is all it takes to make the city do something, then i should have asked for something more! regardless, the dumpsite is now gone.

and i look like a cow on that video as my goddamned baby weight just isn't going away on its own...is it still baby weight after two years? sadly, i think it's weight weight now. again, shame, the great motivator.

WTF?

i guess i'll have to stop editing myself:


Created by OnePlusYou

more argus gallery changes

i am still trying to redesign argusgallery.com--i think the following three exhibitions are finished:

gus' world


rome, 2003


bed pictures, 1995-1999


these three join:

venice, 1999.

pretty soon they should be linked to the actual site itself--right now if you go to argus gallery you still get the old versions.

if you get a chance, please take a look and let me know what you think--all types of comments (good, bad, ugly, etc.) help so speak up! you can post anonymously if you really think i'll unspool over your opinion...

thanks!

your day could be worse...

...you could be a male living in congo worrying about this.

too busy for words

we are too busy right now. between little league, end-of-the-year activities at gus' school, and just random everyday stuff we are completely stretched. and rich's job isn't helping things (i have to complain once a post--have you noticed?). he actually came home for lunch today for the first time since we moved here--he didn't really know what to do with himself since he had about 40 minutes of time in a row to call his own. he was between surgery at one place, discharging a patient at another and clinic at a third place so he just decided to come home on the way to clinic. it was nice, but awkward. and that in itself is weird.

anyway, back to busy: i have been so crazy busy that i missed my friend becky's birthday! happy belated 40th. her husband is recovering from his third kidney transplant right now so she was a little preoccupied herself. he is becoming a pro at it (not that he necessarily wanted to be one in that capacity).

and more busy: gus has a research project due on walruses in like a week. and we've done almost nothing for it! i learned my lesson at the science fair--he shall receive parental help whether he likes it or not. but not too much (i'm shooting for that second category).

further proof of busy: it took me three weeks to put away what was left of a pile of clean laundry in my room, although most of it has now been worn and is sitting in front of the washer. but i can see the floor now.

that's probably too much information.

craft-a-coping mechanism

¡el jefe de luchadores!

rich worked 18 hours yesterday. 18 hours. that is half a work week for the average person. and he's back at work today (saturday), and he's not even on call. have i mentioned how much i hate rich's job? let's hope for an alternative to come down the pipe soon. VERY soon.

in the meantime, i've been coping via embroidery--i've been a giant fan of jenny hart and sublime stitching for years, and i need her by me now. plus, as an added bonus, i'm not sure how much time you've spent with 8-year old boys but hygiene isn't exactly their thing...so gus' new fancy panties make it a bit easier to get him to at least change his underwear, even if he still refuses to bathe.

gus' fancy panties

the guitar-wielding praying mantis is my favorite

my fancy dishtowels

i love this pixie--maybe i have body image issues?

one of the myriad reasons i love living in albuquerque

this is absolutely hilarious. the second paragraph, which reflects another reason i love albuquerque (lack of consistent spelling) just sums it all up: "The victim says it all started when he and his girlfriend were inside his southwest Albuquerque home watching a pornographic move [sic] at 10:30 Wednesday morning."

they were watching porn at 10:30 in the morning...

earth day 2008

it's earth day today--did you do anything environmentally sound? i tried to, but probably didn't do enough. it is also "skip the screen" week and i haven't done very well at that either (obviously). in addition to using a screen for this i also got a new high score on bejeweled 2. really, really, really not what skip the screen week is about. i did, however, get a very cool gift in the mail from my friend, cindy: two new books! and it was perfect timing as i just finished "freakonomics" and was trying to figure out what to turn to next. she sent me "under the banner of heaven" and "the last good kiss." nice dichotomy there. i think she intuited that i should be skipping the screen...

it's 4:00 a.m. and i'm awake, again

my familiar friend (frienemy?), insomnia, is back. it has been coming on for about a week and it is full out here now. this is something i have had most of my life--i had problems sleeping as a child because i was convinced someone was going to break into the house and kill me. then i had problems sleeping because i was certain someone was watching me through my windows. my parents thought i was crazy, so they granted themselves permission to ignore this. and how vindicated did i feel when we discovered i had had a peeping tom throughout most of my high school years! ick. needless to say, it didn't help the insomnia--actually, it made me hypervigilant, which sucks, too. i even staple gunned blankets over my windows but still couldn't sleep. and i have night terrors. i am such a blast to sleep with! poor rich.

when i went to study in rome, i was awake for the first week i was there. that was bad--i almost left italy because of it, and that would have been a great loss. after i had gus, i was awake almost without exception for three straight weeks. the few hours i did sleep were filled with the most violent, bloody, horrific dreams. i was absolutely insane by the time i got help for it--literally. that was bad, too. i probably didn't sleep well for about a year after that, even with medication. after i had sophie, everyone was looking for problems in me so i ended up getting overdosed on too much and too many meds and then had multiple other problems because of that. and i still couldn't sleep. so for this and the countless months on top of months i have spent awake when i would rather not be, i realize i am now on good terms with insomnia and the solitude it creates. also, i did realize that i had the equivalent of seven or eight cups of espresso yesterday, so that probably didn't help. anyway, it is here and i am up so i might as well do something productive. is this productive?

i live in a fairly rural area, right in the middle of a mid-sized city, so we have all kinds of wildlife that you normally wouldn't see in an urban setting. for example, right now i am listening to something that kinda sounds like an owl hooting, which is in turn making every dog in the neighborhood mighty vocal. okay that's not a great example of how rural we are but i'm guessing i have lots of company for my insomniac state. but a couple of days ago we had some visitors to our yard:

guinea hens!

guineas! i love guinea hens. they are so cute and so fat and not very smart, but did i mention they are cute? i have no idea where they came from but i was so hoping they would decide to nest in our yard. they didn't, but i might get some and see if i can encourage them to stay with food. they are darling. sophie was intent on hugging one, which i'm pretty sure scared them off. at least they didn't peck her eyes out or anything. do they do that?

my uncle bert lives in brenham, texas on what was my grandparent's farm (it's his now). he tried to raise guinea hens but he had this relatively feral dog on the property that thought guineas were pretty tasty so he kept picking them off one by one. my uncle actually caught the dog at one point and put a collar on him, but the dog didn't get the message and stayed wild. so uncle bert keeps moving the guineas around to different parts of the farm but the dog still keeps getting them and he's getting really frustrated because he's spending a fortune trying to raise these stupid birds (they are soooo cute!) and the dog keeps eating them. he doesn't want to get rid of the dog but he wants to raise the birds. so one day the dog goes missing for a day, and he is just nowhere to be found. by the second, third day my uncle is a little worried but not terribly so because after all he is feral-ish. the fourth, fifth day comes and he is concerned. about a week goes by and the dog finally straggles back to the farm, looking like absolute hell, with a dead and rotting guinea wrapped in his collar. it definitely put the dog off guineas. for a while.

2nd grade science fair realizations

gus participated in his first-ever science fair last week! his project was called "auris" and was an anatomical overview of the human ear. it was perfectly appropriate for a 2nd grade project. he worked on it with his friend, randy--gus did the illustrations and randy did the writing (because, sadly, gus inherited his father's aptitude for such...and anyone who has actually had the misfortune of trying to decipher rich's scrawl knows what an uphill struggle this boy will have). i'm guessing a career in calligraphy isn't in gus' future. but otolaryngology might be.

anyway, gus and randy did the whole project on their own without almost no help from me or tammie (randy's mom). and, granted, it was a little rough but this was our first science fair and we figured that all the projects would be like that since they were all done by 7- and 8-year olds. how wrong we were...they were not rough at all. in fact, they were almost all, without exception, suspiciously professional-looking.

without being too catty, let me just say that for next year i am seriously considering petitioning the school to categorize the entries into ones that were clearly done by the students alone with minimal parent involvement, ones that were clearly done with some help by the parents but still largely kid-driven, and ones that were just flat-out done by the parents. i actually saw one poor child looking dejected next to his perfectly-presented project because his father brought it in, set it up, tweaked the components and wouldn't let him touch a thing on it--in fact, he kept telling his son to stop touching it. i felt bad for the kid but worse for the father because you know he worried all day at work that his son had screwed something vital up and people would think ill of the family or some such crap. maybe next year he'll take the day off and guard the exhibition until the judging. gus and randy got very cool participant ribbons--they were ecstatic.

granted gus' school is a tad competitive--we were so thrilled when he got in that it actually made a huge difference in our decision to come back to albuquerque (that and we can't escape the triangle). we even had to fly out from iowa so he could spend the day at school and see how he fit--it was a more intensive application process than for a college. so i should have expected something like this. however, i think next year i'll shoot for the second of my new science fair categories over the first. any thoughts?

my springtime project

newspaper pots!

a very clever woman in portland blogged about these and i am trying it. it is just newspaper wrapped around a bottle or can, carefully slipped off to retain its form, then filled with dirt and seed. i had this wonderful light from iowa that i had to use to keep my african violets alive over the winter (kinda don't need it here) so i am now forcing some gaillardia to grow. i love this idea--i am guessing her soil is quite a bit wetter than mine, so we'll see if it works once in the ground here. go make some!

guess who's going to hell?

i am. and, most likely, so are you if the reports from a british newspaper are correct. there are seven new deadly sins--updated and modernized for your salvation--to complement classic mode (sloth, avarice, greed, lust, gluttony, envy and pride). and all of classic mode have a polar opposite in the seven virtues (chastity, temperance, forgiveness, diligence, charity, humility and kindness). alas, no such lenience for the new sins.

a couple of years of punitive catholic schooling left me quite bitter about religion in general, which is ironic considering the first place i would ever run away to would be rome...go figure. and all this may be a complete misreading of an archbishop's interview with an italian newspaper, so this may be a complete falsehood that i am perpetuating. you decide (translated text of interview here). regardless, meet the new venial sins for the 21st century:
1. doing/selling drugs
2. causing poverty
3. being too rich (yet not too thin...and isn't this just a rewording of avarice?)
4. genetic modifications
5. human experimentation
6. social injustice
7. polluting the environment

i hit four, maybe five of the seven; the other two/three aren't as appealing but i'm open to suggestion. what is the obsession with seven? can't there be six or nine deadly sins? six is quite an evil number. and i've never liked 15, but that might be too taxing to try and remember them all. if your intent is to update and modernize, then why follow the archaic model? it kinda reminds me of the seven wonders of the world:
1. pyramids at giza
2. babylon hanging gardens
3. lighthouse at alexandria
4. temple of artemis
5. zeus on olympia
6. mausoleum at halicarnassus
7. colossus of rhodes

and the seven medieval wonders:
1. hagia sophia (been there!)
2. colosseum (been there, too!)
3. leaning tower of pisa (and there!)
4. stonehenge (and there as well!)
5. great wall of china (i did see the berlin wall...)
6. catacombs of kom al shoqafa (and catacombs in rome...)
7. porcelain tower of nanjing (?)

and the seven new wonders, as revealed last year:
1. colosseum (is it fair to be listed twice?)
2. chichen itza
3. machu picchu
4. petra
5. great wall of china (again?)
6. taj mahal
7. christ the redeemer statue in saõ paolo

and even the seven habits of highly effective people:
1. be proactive (a word i despise)
2. begin with an end in mind
3. first things first
4. think win/win
5. first understand, then be understood
6. synergize (another word i despise)
7. regain production capability (is this sloth in disguise?)

the seven blunders of the world, as related by mahatma gandhi, are perhaps my favorite:
1. wealth without work
2. pleasure without conscience
3. knowledge without character
4. politics without principle
5. worship without sacrifice
6. science without humanity
7. commerce without morality

i'm guessing that archbishop gianfranco girotti--the architect of what may or may not be the new seven deadly sins--was a fan of gandhi as well. there are many similarities, if nothing else. of course archbishop girotti makes excellent suggestions that we should all try and avoid these things if at all possible (do you really NEED to shop at target?), but do we have to go to hell for driving a less-than-optimal-fuel-efficiency vehicle? i worked briefly at a halfway house in houston for recovering crack addicts trying to reconnect with their families after rehab and i would not have considered a single one of them eternally damned for their addiction (it was far too sad to see them struggle to consider the morality involved in their doing an "illegal" drug).

basically if you live in the west in any capacity other than as a hermit, you're damned. if you have ever driven a car, ran your air conditioner in the summer, shopped at a big box store, experimented with any type of drug, eaten at any type of fast-food restaurant, made an income beyond subsistence level, or bought anything made in china/mexico/india or any of the hundreds of countries with pay scales that are less than ours then you're screwed. vatican city isn't exactly hurting for revenue--it is a very nice neighborhood and i'm quite sure they don't power their expensive real estate on reclaimed vegetable oil. to my mind, there is more than a little hypocrisy involved in this new list (if it is a list).

i have to believe that the vast majority of us are able to live morally and ethically without a list.

catching up

several things: first, ashley's birthday was sunday--happy belated birthday! i hope you had a wonderful day.

second, lindsay and jake are still in new zealand, still loving life. i just found out that in the middle of their wedding ceremony a giant blue heron flew along the river, fishing, and apparently everyone saw it except me and rich (we were focused on sophie). the river was only about 50 feet at best from where the dais was, so it must have looked spectacular. very nice.

third, my aunt stella died. she actually died seven months ago and i just found out yesterday. she wasn't my aunt by blood, rather she was one of my godmothers (i have three). her life was very sad--she had many, many demons--and it is best that she is at peace now. i would have liked to have seen her more recently than i have (almost 15 years) but i know she is in a better place. my mom is very sad about it, which makes me sad in return. bye aunt stella.

fourth, gus' hitting streak continues! he is kicking much ass in little league--either 4 or 5 RBIs last game! good for him.

fifth, if you haven't done so already, it's time to dump your nalgenes. i recommend sigg (until someone proves them dangerous as well).

adventures of the man eating cow

gus' latest video production is below. it still needs a little tweaking, but i think it's okay to post it here. he has been invited to exhibit this in a few weeks for a macs-in-schools exhibition sponsored by apple! sweet. comment and let him know what you think!

further proof that gus is the biggest stud ever

my boy's on first after his first at bat!

i am ridiculously proud of my son. i really am. he is just the greatest person i have ever known and i feel lucky to have him in my life. and to quote the date of one of my sister's friends at her (lindsay's) wedding, "[gus] is the shit." period. it would have been better if he hadn't said that directly to gus, though. anyway, gus is the shit and forgiveness please but a-braggin' i will go...

gus played in his first little league game ever last thursday--he never even played t-ball before--and he got a hit at every at bat. and no outs. and a ton of RBIs. thinking that maybe this was beginner's luck, rich and i held our breath until his second game on saturday...and he not only got a hit at every at bat he absolutely knocked the bejesus out of the ball! he had one hit way out into the outfield that resulted in three runs; he had no outs, again.

granted, gus is considerably larger than most of the kids playing in the rookie league (and yes i provided a birth certificate, damnit) but he also has really good hand-eye coordination (from all that hockey, perhaps?). that and the use of a pitching machine is totally making him look like the biggest stud ever. EVER! whatever it is, baseball definitely agrees with him. and he looks absolutely beautiful out on the field--he's got this viking-esque thing going on with his long blonde hair and size--he is easy to spot. and he scares the hell out of the kids on the opposing team who try to block the bases when he is running--gus outweighs them by a good 20 to 30 pounds, so it is going to hurt when he eventually collides with someone. we need to work on fielding a bit, but at least his hitting is pretty solid.

my boy gus! i'm so freakin' proud! see below for a single (gus' second ever at bat!)...