Sunday, August 31, 2008

Iced Coffee and Barley Soup

I sit in a small coffee joint on Mill Ave. (not the “cool” labeled end, but the segment across from the art museum, where one can walk through to various degrees, but is governed by the elemental nature of the edifice). The bitter brew revives. As the ice melts, the flavors diminish and subtler note can be heard forming a contrapuntal line to the melody of the bold body. New strains add interest and accent the harmony, while repeating the melodic theme in paraphrase. The barley soup has the body and spice to announce that this meal will be served with verve and my taste buds rejoice. Accompanying will be a peanut butter and fruit sandwich made for the gods. Crunchy, thick whole grain bread topped with smooth peanut butter, layers of impossibly thinly sliced apples and bananas drizzled with pure honey and sprinkled with walnuts: textures juxtaposed within a dynamic matrix of taste and flavor.
The barista, attractively filling her apron, happily served my food and beverage. She seems inexperienced; we discovered the menu together when I walked up. She knows how to make guests happy, though. I face the counter as I write. My current soundtrack is Apocalyptica’s When Worlds Collide, a great example of the range and flexibility of the cello as an anchor instrument in a rock band situation. The dorms were eerily quiet today, so after some translation from a topo to a project for my architecture studio, I headed out. Yesterday was the game, and the campus was filled with roaming golden clad groups of fans, cheering and celebrating.
Notes:
I sit and I drink. I have good music, and I just got another iced coffee on the house. Last night I had a completely odd dream sequence. I’ve already posted it as “Edward abbey, where art thou?” Tempe is hot, but I almost think I might be starting to get used to it. Tuesday I’ll be getting a bike, that’ll make getting around campus so much quicker, Excepting studio and sinfonietta, of course. The damage from the storm is being cleaned up. All streets are usable now, but there are still downed trees and sideways palo verde dot the cityscape.
I’ll go wander around now.

Edward Abbey, where art thou?

Hiking in N AZ

See Oil and Natural Gas drilling rigs

See dead animals in area

See small pond near rig with dead animals around

Start taking pics of dead critters

 GluttonGreesy Co. pick-up drives up

Two men get out

I start talking

One pulls out small machine gun

He shoots me

I don’t die

They drive off

I walk back to Tempe

Tempe Hospital won’t let me in because I don’t have all three forms of photo ID that guarantee citizenship and proofs of insurance

Different GluttonGreesy trucks in hospital parking lot

I call office of Congressman Udall

The guys who shot me also serve in the AZ government

Somehow I get dumped at the NM state line

A Navajo there gives me a horse and a loaded burro, with lots of food and stuff

I get to Albuquerque

New Mexico has health care

I somehow keep about 20 bullets in my body the whole time, without much pain, bleeding, or damage

I set off metal detectors in Senate office buildings in DC

I testify before congress

I have a lawsuit against the State of AZ for not treating people w/o proof of citizenship

It goes to Supreme Court

Amy Poehler is my lawyer

Hiking again in Northern AZ

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Damn

Crazy storm went through the valley. Got hit by powerful wet. Wind came.

Howled. Screamed. Visibility 5. 1.5 in meters. Streets too flooded for fire engines.
Palo Verde on the ground. Uprooted and thrown against the landscape. Palm tree blocking University. Chainsaws. Trucks of branches. Windows burst. Water forced into the building through cracks: miniature fountains. Non-stop lightening to the tempe towers. World's longest lightening strike duration? More than forty seconds of contact on one bolt. Crazy damage.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Der Gila Monster


Well, I have to admit that I like this place. It's quiet and the view is great. I have great memories in this place with great people. Big juicy burgers made fresh over a juniper fire and friendships that still last. Friends I will always remember and nights I can't forget. And of course the vehicle that got me there.

At frontier

Friday, August 15, 2008 12:48 AM
Frontier Restaurant

I’m sitting at my table at the Frontier now. It’s pretty early, but I’ve been watching the Olympic sailing on Chinese TV. NBC doesn’t think that sailing is even worth their time to put onto their website.

My neighbors here are interesting: a bunch of friends gathered from around the area. The closest one is from Acoma, but the others are all from further afield. None of them have been to the Frontier before, and the Native regalia on the walls of this back room fascinate all. There are rugs form mostly modern times, and paintings on the wall depict scenes that are rarely seen in Fresno, California. I should mention that about half of this group is wearing regalia.  They are talking it  up, and it seems that there is nothing  like this  anywhere else.

This is New Mexico.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Thinking outside the Box

Thinking outside the Box

Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Santa Fe Bypass

I’ve had an interesting weekend. We started out in Abq, met with NJ, shoved a cat into an ever-smaller box, and took off. After we left the city, we let the cat out of the box. We attached a rope to her harness, so she wasn’t roaming about completely freely. She liked being able to roam, and she was ecstatic at the chance.

Have you ever seen a cat stick it’s head out the window of a car like a dog does? Let me tell you, it gets attention.

We first went to the lake upon arrival in the upper Chama Valley. NJ checked out a campsite at the top of the hill near the marina (insert google maps link here). We then proceeded, still with the cat, down to the marina.