I thought it was time to return to the news...

Lately I've been blogging about myself. I'm sure everyone's pretty much sick and tired of hearing about me and my not-so-exciting escapades, so I'd like to make sure I insert this important piece of information into my blog.

Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assasinated yesterday at a rally in the country. Bhutto was widely hailed as the voice of democracy for Pakistan, and she returned to the country in October after about 8 years of self-imposed exile. An assasination attempt on the day of her return failed, and she was placed under house arrest for her own safety for awhile. Yesterday the assasination attempt was successful.

Bhutto was the first female leader of a Muslim country, and the first female leader to have a baby while in office. Her father was hanged many years ago for his politics, and she saw her political career as her destiny. Both her stints as Prime Minister were cut short by allegations of corruption.

Bhutto was at a rally in preparation for the upcoming Pakistani elections in January. She was the best shot for a power sharing arrangement with Musharraf and for democracy in the country. So here's the question - what happens now?

Pakistan has had nuclear capabilities for many years now, developed in response to India's own nuclear development. The United States has long allowed this to happen, with Pakistan and Musharraf most recently an ally in the "War on Terrah." Now with the best chance for democracy in Pakistan lying six feet underground, what will happen? Will Musharraf continue to wield complete control? Will he unleash the nuclear weapons? A volatile situation has been made much worse with possible consequences for the entire world. And in most media, this was not even the top news story.

And here's another question. How can the United States not have had a female leader yet, when there have been at least 55 in the world in modern years in countries from Argentina to Yugoslavia? Seriously. The US should stop taking itself so seriously and begin to consider that maybe we aren't as advanced as other nations.

And while we're on the subject of politics, let's all start getting informed about the presidential election. The primaries are mostly all coming up in January and February. Now I would prefer you vote for a certain side, but whatever side you are on, just go out there and vote.

Merry Christmas everyone!

A photo journal of what we've been up to:


Unfortunately there is no before picture of this, but this was a horrid centerpiece with sparkly blue and silver leaves that my mom got from her office party. I salvaged it into a basket of pinecones and greens.



Making gingerbread houses and cookies! (Don't all gingerbread houses have men and trees on their roofs?). Also holding a baby, but again, I refuse to post children on the internet. Or pictures of them for that matter.


Conquering a mountain. Here we are in the Basin, with 1000 feet under us and 1800 feet to go.



Made it! Check out the turtle fur headband I got from Matt for Christmas.


It sure was beautuiful...


Except for the rock that grabbed Natalie's butt. (You can see the rest of the hiking pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/Bailliams)

I hope everyone else's Christmases, Hanukkahs, Kwanzaas, and pagan celebrations have been lovely!

More Winter Merriment

1. River of Lights at the BioPark
I took my little sister here tonight, and it was pretty fun. I only took one picture though, and it is of my sister, so I'm not posting it. I know enough about the internet to know not to put children's pictures up. So sad...

Anyway, first they had this nature crafts thing that was free. They had all kinds of stuff to make. My little made two Christmas ornaments, a bamboo picture frame, and a bird-feeding pinecone. They also had a quiz you could take based on the nature info, and they were giving out prizes for all 7 correct answers. I was expecting something pretty crappy, but it turned out to be a fairly decent sized stuffed animal. Very nice!

Then we finally went into the actual River of Lights. The garden itself was really neat, and the lights were pretty. We had hot cocoa and churros for dinner. (I am such a good influence.) The last place we went though, an old lady face first on the sidewalk and was bleeding quite a bit. Luckily other people rushed over to help, because I didn't know what to do with a 10 year old kid who would probably be freaked out by it. I feel a little guilty, but what can you do? You can only rescue one person per week. (Unless of course that is your job and then you are AWESOME.)

2. Office treats.
All of our vendors keep sending us cookies and candy and cheeses and all sorts of good stuff. Luckily my officemate and I started taking walks at lunch; otherwise I probably would have gained a ton of weight. Sometimes I eat so much junk food I forget to eat lunch.

3. Matt is out at his field site doing field work with snowshoes on. Snowshoes!

4. And just so we know it is winter in Arizona, we are scheduling a hike up Siphon's Draw that might require a hat.
So from skiing to hiking, anything that will get me in shape for those 3000 vertical feet in Ecuador. Can I hire anyone to be my Sherpa? At least I have the altitude advantage. I can now hike at over 10,000 feet without dying. I even did it without my inhaler the other day.

5. And just so everyone knows, my awesome friend KGS was named Employee of the Year at the state water agency.
Yeah it's really got nothing to do with winter except it's the end of the year. I'm hoping she has enough pull to pull some strings for me. Hehe. Today my boss tried to tell me my job is like being a reporter. As if. Also did anyone know they now sell things like Chat Divas Barbie? What does that even mean? I was about to complain about the new GAME of LIFE being all about rock stars and prima donnas until I remembered that the old GAME of LIFE was about getting married and having babies. Probably not the best message for tweens either. That has nothing to do with winter or with number 5.

6. And finally, holiday cards.
I have only gotten through about 12 on my list of over 40, so sorry if you haven't gotten yours yet. And if you don't get it before Christmas. It will come eventually. And it might still be during the holidays.

7. Go out and enjoy the fun winter stuff in your town!

Yay for snow!

This weekend was a take-advantage-of-the-snow-in-New-Mexico-while-it's-still-here kind of weekend.

Saturday we drove up to Pajarito to do some cross-country skiing in the forest near the Valles Caldera. It was gorgeous with snow-covered trees and an occasional view.



(The hills were a bit steeper and curvier than in my previous experience in Michigan and Arizona. In other words, I fell a lot.) I also managed to drop my camera in a snow bank - hence we look like we were in a blizzard.



But it was actually a gorgeous, sunny, bright blue sky day. When we were leaving the parking lot looking down on the valley of Los Alamos with mountains behind, the sky was pink and blue. It really was like both kinds of cotton candy right next to each other. We didn't actually see the sun set, but the effects were outstanding.

Today KGS and PS drove down from Santa Fe and met us on the back side of the Sandias. First stop - Capulin Snow Play Area. This place was crazy - two separate fenced off areas with stairs of sorts to get to the top. One was a bunny hill for the kiddies, and one was a rather big hill (not as big as Waters) for the big or brave kiddies. And we weren't the oldest ones there. (Although the other ones might have had kids.) However, the snow coverage was not that great and some people (not naming names) couldn't take it. After 4 runs we called it quits.

Stop two - Sandia Crest. We strapped on our snow shoes and headed out to the trails. The mountain and the views were so gorgeous with snow everywhere. I liked it better than I did before. (Hopefully KGS will send me some pictures for illustration.) We tramped over to the Crest House and on the way back played some sort of snowshoe ultimate frisbee golf gambling game. Right as we were about to go for our last target, we saw a guy running off the trail below us yelling, "Help! Talk!"

I immediately sent Matt to the car to get a cell phone in case we needed to call 911, but we discovered that the girl was really cold and possibly borderline hypothermic. She was not terribly responsive, which was why the guy was yelling, "Talk!". We helped get her up to the Crest House where she could go inside and have something warm to drink, and PS got her to talk by asking her questions along the way. This is how we learned she was from Panama.

We had previously passed this group while we were coming back from the Crest House and they were going out to it. We were wearing snow shoes and running all over the place. They were wearing tennis shoes and probably getting their feet pretty wet. (Well first I thought she had cozy boots on, but I think it was just normal shoes with some furry leg warmers.) After we got her to the Crest House and she took her shoes and socks off and drank some tea, she was doing much better. No medical help needed and we took off. Another guy had helped as well, and he left with us.

So her group consisted of the one white boy, presumably her boyfriend or husband, and we think her parents and possibly some siblings. On the way down the mountain we pieced together their entire lives. He looked military and had a Navy jacket, so we suspect that perhaps he met her in Panama. Then her family came up to Albuquerque to visit and he decided to take them on the tourist trip to the Crest. Between altitude, dehydration, and the temperature, it is not too hard to see how a girl from Panama without proper attire could get so cold. Her lips were so blue. On the way back down we heard it was below freezing in Albuquerque, so it must have been quite cold on the Crest.

Nothing like a little excitement in the day. Right now I'm sitting in my house and my fingers are so cold that I can barely type anymore. So I'm going to sign off.

Remember, if you go play in the snow, be prepared. There might not always be people around to rescue you. Be prepared if you go play outside at all actually. Now I sound like a Boy Scout. Or a Girl Scout. Whatever. You know what I mean.

Well what do you think it is?

Well I didn't take a very good picture, but this is Matt's leg. (I know, it's really hairy.) A few days ago he said he got bit by something and showed me his leg. It looked like a couple mosquito bites. Then last night at the laundromat, for some reason he brought it up again. And I made him show me his wounds. And this is what they look like.



They are bright red and blistery and scabby. And about 3/4 inches in diameter.

And yet.

Matt says they look way better than they used to.

I shrieked, "Why in the world didn't you tell me about these before? That is so horrible. You really need to do something about that! Oh my god! Let me see those again!"

His response - "I didn't show them to you because I knew you'd freak out."

Well wouldn't you freak out if your husband's leg looked like this? I don't want that thing anywhere near me! Maybe it's smallpox. Or measles. Or some other god-awful disease.

What do you think it is from?

Stupid Computers (and Pretty Mountains)

I think I started about 30 minutes ago to attempt to write a new post. Lately my internet has decided to be super slow though. My mail functions properly, but almost all other sites, including Blogger, are dreadfully slow. I thought maybe the 8 updates I just installed would fix it, but no. Either Vista is still sucking it up or the internet company is punishing us for having a "network." Maybe we are sharing the available bandwidth.

Anyway, there really was a point to this.

I need to learn to carry my camera with me at all times. I have discovered that winter is an absolutely gorgeous time in Albuquerque. First there was the tree lighting and shop & stroll in Old Town (I have never seen this many people in one place in the Burque before).

Then there was the snow.

All this week I have been walking to the bus stop from my house past frozen puddles of the previous day's rain. And then I get on the bus and read a book for 50 minutes, and when I get off I step into snow. Not much - just a bit. Just enough to get my soles wet. And then I look up at the mountains and I pause in my tracks. The Sandias have been covered with snow from top to bottom. A thin layer, allowing the dark rocks to peek out. Allowing the cliffs and canyons to show up prominently. The trees at the top, also graced with fluffiness. Even the radio towers are beautiful - maybe it's snow, maybe it's ice - tall towers of white.

And then there was sunset. Walk out the back of my office building just before 5pm, and the sun is setting over the Rio Grande Valley. Walk out the front, and the sun is casting rosy colors on the mountains. I am used to mountains turning purple and looking like cardboard cutouts in the twilight, but there is something special about the pink hues topping the snow-covered peaks. The sky looked like candy, and clouds still eclipsed some of the peaks. The contrast of white and brown and pink was sumptuous and breath-taking.

And from my co-workers window, the scene was split down the middle by a giant flagpole with an even more giant American flag at the top. Nearly picture-perfect. Nearly.

I stood at the bus stop for about 5 minutes, just staring at the mountains. Mountains are pretty, I know, but mountains dusted with snow are superb.

Winter Wonderland

Ah, Santa Fe Peak. Isn't it beautiful without skiers all over it? Although I do appreciate the owners of Ski Santa Fe for letting people play on the slopes before ski season begins.

We took our brand new snowshoes (Thanks Mom and Dad!) out for a whirl partway up the mountain, and then we sledded down. The snowshoes made the snow walking super easy. (Except for me being out of shape.) And I'm pretty sure I've never sledded so fast in my life. We weren't on a black diamond or anything, but it was still pretty crazy. Crazier than when we used to snowmobile up the Michawye ski slopes and sled down and I would do somersaults and land back on my sled. Nope, this time even when I tried to bail, I was going so fast that I couldn't. Great fun.

And it was beautiful! The aspens were coated with snow all day, and the sun couldn't have been brighter. Although I couldn't feel my toes, it was a blast!

It's Windy Out There...

...and that's why I'm in here being a bum. Winter was finally here but today it's 60. Last night it poured so hard the rain came in through the swamp cooler vent. (I was up at 4 in the morning rescuing my Care Bears.) And tomorrow we're going skiing. Last week my little sister came over and helped us decorate for Christmas and bake cookies. So I guess it really is December.

3 weeks until Christmas vacation! Unless I get fired before then. In which case "vacation" will come a lot sooner. I'm not very good at keeping my mouth shut. And my old boss wants me back for half a year. See this is why I haven't written in so long. I have nothing coherent to say.

My journal article was finally accepted, 2 years after I wrote the first draft. I may also have some other published items in the works, but I won't blog about them until they come out.

Enjoy the storm!