Courtesy of Towanda! Valle, a High School Survey.
(p.s. If you went to high school with me AND you can pronounce "Valle" correctly, I'll give you a free enchilada.)
1. Who was your best friend?
The Hottub Gang (Shaun, Doug, Brad... they came and sat with me my second day of 6th grade when I was new in town. I will never forget that day.)
2. What sports did you play?
I was a 2-year alternate on the golf team.
3. What kind of car did you drive?:
'92 Ford Taurus (I love how the entire sax quartet had white cars... in Westborough, even the grass was white)
4. It's Friday night, where were you at?
Chaulkies, training myself in classic rock culture
5. Were you a party animal?:
absolutely not. Didn't have a drop of the sauce in high school and never went to parties. It's okay, college buddies. You can gasp.
6. Were you considered a flirt?:
Class Flirt
7. Ever skip school?
No, but I would drive to CVS during yearbook class to pick up one-hour. I was such a bad-ass.
8. Were you a nerd?
I don't know... maybe. I'll defer to my knowing audience. I don't care either way.
9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled?
not in high school... but I did get 41 detentions for being a wise-ass. I served them all setting up the chrous room in the morning.
10. Can you sing the Alma mater?
We didn't have one. And "California" was our fight song. Yes, I went to high school in Massachusetts. Please hold your questions til the end.
11. Who was your favorite teacher?
I can't pick one. Jost, P, Seaman, O'Brien, Reno, Leahy, Ventriglia (my spanish teacher, how'd you GUESS?)
And yes, we had two chorus teachers named P & Seaman, don't bother making a joke... we made them all, but these guys rocked the house. You either had them or wish you did.
12. Favorite class?
American History w/ O'Brien (v. Thompson) and Select Chorus
13. What was your school's full name?:
Uhh... Westborough High School?
14. School mascot?
The Rangers... and our main rival was the Algonquin Tomahawks... go figure.
15. Did you go to Prom?
twice
16. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Yeah, and I'd loosen up a bit... God, how did my friends tolerate me?
17. What do you remember most about graduation?
The fact that everyone got a good ovation... I went to 4 graduations, and that spoke volumes to me about how close our class really was, no bull.
18. Favorite memory of your Senior Year?
EUROPE '06! Performing the Haydn mass in St. Marx Cathedral, Soloing in a town hall outside Budapest, touring Vienna, and hearing things like "Jayme, look! LOOK AT ME! Look, I'm a condom... I'm a condom... GET IT?"
19. What were you voted in your yearbook?
Class Flirt
20. What was your quote under your senior picture?
"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right."
My mother's favorite saying.
21. Did you have a job your senior year?
Stop & Shop... I owe that job for giving me the same angry humor that Lewis Black got from rock music & the Nixon years.
22. Where did you go most often for lunch?:
Senior Year? The chorus room to rehearse my a cappella group because I was a sick, sick workaholic.
23. Have you gained weight since then?
30 lbs. And I couldn't be happier.
24. What did you do after graduation?
That summer was a quick blur. The next thing I remember is band camp at Syracuse.
25. Who was your crush?
Loaded Question of the Night. I crushed on about 200 girls in high school. If you think you're one of them... you're probably right. Sorry to freak you out. I've got two worth naming... but for the same reasons they're worthy... I won't.
26. When did you graduate?
May 2001.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Crashes & Burns
We begin with a crash:
It happened last Sunday near Mesilla Dam. Sheriff deputies say a modified Volkswagen off-roader hit a washout and went off the side of a levy, that the driver died after being thrown 50 feet from the vehicle; the passenger was hospitalized. Deputies say neither was wearing a seatbelt. They later determined the driver had been drinking.
Neighbors told me on Monday it was an accident begging to happen since groups of trespassers come onto this federally-owned private property often to drag race (as they say the driver was doing before he died). Neighbors say they've found used condoms, beer bottles, and bullet holes in their homes courtesy of these trespassers.
As soon as I reported all of this, the feedback gates were thrust open. I'll share with you one email which captures the general essence:
"Your report on the Mesilla Dam off-road accident was a real eye opener. Apparently the news you want to report is shocking and disconcerting news. It is obviously not intended to be correct or compassionate. Although I did not know [the driver] very well, I did know that he was a caring husband, loving father and successful business owner. Not the drunken, gun-toting maniac he was made out to be on your broadcast. I can only hope his two boys will not ever hear the nastiness that was the kvia coverage of their father's tragic death.
I was also impressed by the way your news team and [one neighbor I interviewed] were able to quickly determine that any off-road enthusiast could easily be catagorized with gangbangers and drunken teenagers. We should warn everyone in the Borderland with a four-wheel drive, motorcycle or ATV 'don't have a tragic accient on a Sunday afternoon when the news is slow or we will drag you through the dirt like you wouldn't believe, we don't care if you are an experienced, championship-winning off-road racer, father and business owner. We have got to make this story gritty.'
But I understand, it's just local news. It doesn't have to be concise, just shocking. Twist the words around, make it sound good. That is what's important, really.
ABC-7, where news comes first, and the truth is a distant second."
My dad asked me what I took away from that email.
I replied, "Only a strong reminder of how quickly a journalist's credibility can be stripped away IF (s)he generalizes or distorts facts and/or fails to attribute them."
I can honestly say if the deceased driver had been my relative, I still would not have changed a word. I wish I had time to try for a comment from the family. But time allowed only for facts, and I didn't want to spare the public what this man allegedly did. Several emailers asked me to think about the driver's family. I wish the driver had. I think of myself as a compassionate journalist... but I am not an obit writer. Sometimes the truth hurts. But denial and suppression only delay the process, in my humble opinion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Burns. As in the burns on my arms, upper chest and face. I got them playing frisbee. I have not played frisbee in decades. I'm so glad I have active friends. (Mom, I swear I put on SPF 15 though I admit, I failed to reapply.) (Kids, reapply your sunscreen. The sun is not fucking around anymore. If you don't reapply, don't bother applying)
Frisbee was the end of a phenomenal weekend complete with an El Paso Diablos baseball game in the company skybox, an awesome karaoke bar (no, I didn't sing... but I'm going back and that machine better have plenty of Billy Joel), and a serene outdoor cafe breakfast (conversation is never lacking at a table of 6 journalists). I should also point out that 3 stations were represented at this breakfast table. I can only hope that competitors get along as well in my future cities as we do here in El Paso. I don't take it for granted.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It's now midnight. 4 days til I'm out of here.
I've taken ONE day off since January 18th. And I spent that day-off signing 783 legal papers, building furniture, moving in the rest of my shit and cleaning my ex-apartment.
This vacation is not going to be "cool" or "nice." It's essential to my survival. Plus, I've been itching to test my newest theory that the cure for Type I Diabetes lies inside of a Fenway Frank. Sure... enough of them could CAUSE Type II, but I'm not really that hungry.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll end with a familiar plea... send me blog topics or questions about... anything. I'd love this blog to be more interactive. So start deciding what random crap I ramble about.
Until next time, I'm
JaRube?
-30-
It happened last Sunday near Mesilla Dam. Sheriff deputies say a modified Volkswagen off-roader hit a washout and went off the side of a levy, that the driver died after being thrown 50 feet from the vehicle; the passenger was hospitalized. Deputies say neither was wearing a seatbelt. They later determined the driver had been drinking.
Neighbors told me on Monday it was an accident begging to happen since groups of trespassers come onto this federally-owned private property often to drag race (as they say the driver was doing before he died). Neighbors say they've found used condoms, beer bottles, and bullet holes in their homes courtesy of these trespassers.
As soon as I reported all of this, the feedback gates were thrust open. I'll share with you one email which captures the general essence:
"Your report on the Mesilla Dam off-road accident was a real eye opener. Apparently the news you want to report is shocking and disconcerting news. It is obviously not intended to be correct or compassionate. Although I did not know [the driver] very well, I did know that he was a caring husband, loving father and successful business owner. Not the drunken, gun-toting maniac he was made out to be on your broadcast. I can only hope his two boys will not ever hear the nastiness that was the kvia coverage of their father's tragic death.
I was also impressed by the way your news team and [one neighbor I interviewed] were able to quickly determine that any off-road enthusiast could easily be catagorized with gangbangers and drunken teenagers. We should warn everyone in the Borderland with a four-wheel drive, motorcycle or ATV 'don't have a tragic accient on a Sunday afternoon when the news is slow or we will drag you through the dirt like you wouldn't believe, we don't care if you are an experienced, championship-winning off-road racer, father and business owner. We have got to make this story gritty.'
But I understand, it's just local news. It doesn't have to be concise, just shocking. Twist the words around, make it sound good. That is what's important, really.
ABC-7, where news comes first, and the truth is a distant second."
My dad asked me what I took away from that email.
I replied, "Only a strong reminder of how quickly a journalist's credibility can be stripped away IF (s)he generalizes or distorts facts and/or fails to attribute them."
I can honestly say if the deceased driver had been my relative, I still would not have changed a word. I wish I had time to try for a comment from the family. But time allowed only for facts, and I didn't want to spare the public what this man allegedly did. Several emailers asked me to think about the driver's family. I wish the driver had. I think of myself as a compassionate journalist... but I am not an obit writer. Sometimes the truth hurts. But denial and suppression only delay the process, in my humble opinion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Burns. As in the burns on my arms, upper chest and face. I got them playing frisbee. I have not played frisbee in decades. I'm so glad I have active friends. (Mom, I swear I put on SPF 15 though I admit, I failed to reapply.) (Kids, reapply your sunscreen. The sun is not fucking around anymore. If you don't reapply, don't bother applying)
Frisbee was the end of a phenomenal weekend complete with an El Paso Diablos baseball game in the company skybox, an awesome karaoke bar (no, I didn't sing... but I'm going back and that machine better have plenty of Billy Joel), and a serene outdoor cafe breakfast (conversation is never lacking at a table of 6 journalists). I should also point out that 3 stations were represented at this breakfast table. I can only hope that competitors get along as well in my future cities as we do here in El Paso. I don't take it for granted.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It's now midnight. 4 days til I'm out of here.
I've taken ONE day off since January 18th. And I spent that day-off signing 783 legal papers, building furniture, moving in the rest of my shit and cleaning my ex-apartment.
This vacation is not going to be "cool" or "nice." It's essential to my survival. Plus, I've been itching to test my newest theory that the cure for Type I Diabetes lies inside of a Fenway Frank. Sure... enough of them could CAUSE Type II, but I'm not really that hungry.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll end with a familiar plea... send me blog topics or questions about... anything. I'd love this blog to be more interactive. So start deciding what random crap I ramble about.
Until next time, I'm
JaRube?
-30-
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
My Brush with Death, and Other Assorted Items
So there I was... at Mesilla Dam, walking feet from our live truck calling in script when I froze.
Sitting 2 feet in front of me was a 3 1/2 foot rattlesnake. Luckily I did a story two weeks on what to do when you see a rattlesnake. I hung up the phone, and started backing away slowly. Of course the second I did that, it started rattling and well... so did I!
So I turned my back to it and walked briskly towards the truck, which only made the snake feel like uncoiling upwards and doing his little snakey "My best defense is to look like I could kill you" thingy. Thankfully, it was scared (which I knew, but wasn't thinking much of), did its little dance right where it was and then left the roadway, back to its hole... I could hear it rattling for another 4 minutes... maybe it was loud. Maybe I was paranoid.
Then it was time for my liveshot... next to the goddamn riverbank. I was not in the right frame of mind.
Me: Whoa shit, what is that?
Tom: Jayme, that's a beetle.
Me: Oh... well what is THAT?
Tom: Jayme, that's a fireant.
Me: TOM! There's a 6-foot tall black thingy staring right at me.
Tom: Jayme, that's the camera.
I would take 200 feet of snow over 3 1/2 feet of snake any day of the week.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I went to a Southwestern carnival last weekend (8/12).
(TWO POINTS FOR SOLID TRANSITION)
No seriously, I've been meaning to write about last weekend ever since I came home Monday morning.
FRIDAY: VISITORS FROM CUSE! Lil Bro 2.0, DA & Jenn Pontier chilled out for an incredibly zen evening... southwest italian @ Carino's followed by 6 hours of cribbage & poker, coltrane and davis in the background and Crown Royal on the rocks. Unbelievable. Especially since Derrick was so apathetic, he'd go all in with 3-5 off-suit and boat the river. Derrick, in some states, it's legal to shoot you in the face for that. And we were only 40 miles from one of them.
SATURDAY: IHOP with the visitors. Some of the most insanely random conversation I've had in some time. It reminded me how badly I truly need old friends around me. You 3 should know that your company last weekend recharged me in a way only Orangemen can these days. Thanks.
SATURDAY NIGHT: VAMANOS A LA FIESTA! Max, BoomBoom, Luke, Martin & I went to Clint, TX for the San Lorenzo Festival (I later googled San Lorenzo and found out he was canonized in 1987, a Filipino martyr wrongly accused of murder... maybe I'm missing something). Now I've never done acid. But I think I started understanding the sensation when I was standing just outside a church listening to people chant and praying to a statue of Jesus Christ w/ San Lorenzo bowing behind, with chile sauce on my tongue, a beer in my hand, Spanish-country line dancing music behind me and the sound of glass breaking from a carnival game off to my left where you throw rocks at bottles to win more beer. I challenged myself to make sense of it all without passing out. I couldn't. So I ignored the people praying and everything else smoothly fell into place. I guess I couldn't get over the fact that people were praying to God when they could be throwing rocks and winning beer. I swear, it's the greatest game ever. I'm not sure if 12-year-olds should be allowed to play, but I watched at least 2 pre-teens win. My buddy, Max was so sick at it... some guy actually paid for him to play. Max was contracted to win this guy free beer. That's what I call community-building. Finally, I bought a shirt that said "I'm with stupid" and the arrow pointing up, only because when I made a joke about how I'd buy a shirt like that, the vendor, a 75-year-old Mexican version of one of the "BRILLIANT" Guinness brothers, said "We can do that!" in a way that made us all crack up. He called my bluff. I was pot-committed. And it was $8. We took some fun pictures with it.
I did not have the shirt by night's end. I did not lose it. I gave it away. I will not tell you where, to whom, or how, because secrets are fun... and sometimes necessary.
So that was HALF of my Saturday night. After the carnival, Max & I went to the 915, my favorite place on earth to play billiards that's still open (and someday I will burn Dunkin Donuts to the ground and rebuild Chaulkie's... oh God, then my hometown will only have 4387 Dunkies' left). I knew it'd be a fun night of pool because there'd been musical-silence since we walked in. But the very SECOND Max lifted the rack and I cocked my cue, a bell sounded. A Hell's Bell, if you will. Pure magic.
On our 14th game, we get a call from a coworker telling us to come over to her man's new club. Sounds great. But picture this. This club is full of pinstripes & silk. Silver, blue, white, black. Max and I are dressed for the San Lorenzo Festival in Clint, TX. We look like a couple 7th-year seniors crashed a JCPenny back-to-school shoot. Now I'm still not cool, so Max had to explain to me that if we go to this club looking like we do, people will know we're the shit because you have to know SOMEONE to get in to the OC (Blu) looking like Boy Meets World (Me). We went and had an incredible time. I plan to go back more than once. But I'll wear a real shirt. Once was fun. But sometimes, you have to be a big boy.
SUNDAY: Woke up at noon. Called Ezra. We got the tickets. If you're going to the Rolling Stones & DMB on October 20th, I'll see you there. I'll need binoculars. Or maybe I'll just bump into you in the parking lot after. But I'll see you. Now why are the Stones and DMB performing in the same concert? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that someone stole my journal, read it and thought "damn, that'd be pretty sweet." Two bands I've never seen. One night. Now, I'm holding my breath on the Stones since McJagger just had to sit out a Euro-show last week due to strained vocal cords (who saw THAT coming?). But here's to hoping. The rest of the day was food shopping, dinner at Fuddruckers which turned into a 3-hour talk about politics, education and religion (it's nice to have friends as intense as me) and more pool at Lloyd's, my friends' unofficial Sunday night watering hole.
To top off the whole thing, an incredible letter from BBLS. Can't wait to see you.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wow, I wrote a lot. I'm still setting up Word on my new Mac, and can't write in my journal right now... so I guess you blog-stalkers (or blockers) can benefit from my pent up energy.
Update on current events:
8/21 - Drop off suit pants for hem before coz's wedding & Don't get bit by rattlesnake.
9/1 - BACK TO MASSACHUSETTS!!!!
9/3 - Joyzee for coz's wedding
9/6 - BACK TO FENWAY!!!!
workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork
10/6 - JAYME IN THE CUSE, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!
10/20 - Stones & DMB
It's nice to have things to look forward to. That's one aspect of my life I've kind of left charging in the closet since Mom came to visit in June. See y'all soon.
praying for sun,
JaRube
Sitting 2 feet in front of me was a 3 1/2 foot rattlesnake. Luckily I did a story two weeks on what to do when you see a rattlesnake. I hung up the phone, and started backing away slowly. Of course the second I did that, it started rattling and well... so did I!
So I turned my back to it and walked briskly towards the truck, which only made the snake feel like uncoiling upwards and doing his little snakey "My best defense is to look like I could kill you" thingy. Thankfully, it was scared (which I knew, but wasn't thinking much of), did its little dance right where it was and then left the roadway, back to its hole... I could hear it rattling for another 4 minutes... maybe it was loud. Maybe I was paranoid.
Then it was time for my liveshot... next to the goddamn riverbank. I was not in the right frame of mind.
Me: Whoa shit, what is that?
Tom: Jayme, that's a beetle.
Me: Oh... well what is THAT?
Tom: Jayme, that's a fireant.
Me: TOM! There's a 6-foot tall black thingy staring right at me.
Tom: Jayme, that's the camera.
I would take 200 feet of snow over 3 1/2 feet of snake any day of the week.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I went to a Southwestern carnival last weekend (8/12).
(TWO POINTS FOR SOLID TRANSITION)
No seriously, I've been meaning to write about last weekend ever since I came home Monday morning.
FRIDAY: VISITORS FROM CUSE! Lil Bro 2.0, DA & Jenn Pontier chilled out for an incredibly zen evening... southwest italian @ Carino's followed by 6 hours of cribbage & poker, coltrane and davis in the background and Crown Royal on the rocks. Unbelievable. Especially since Derrick was so apathetic, he'd go all in with 3-5 off-suit and boat the river. Derrick, in some states, it's legal to shoot you in the face for that. And we were only 40 miles from one of them.
SATURDAY: IHOP with the visitors. Some of the most insanely random conversation I've had in some time. It reminded me how badly I truly need old friends around me. You 3 should know that your company last weekend recharged me in a way only Orangemen can these days. Thanks.
SATURDAY NIGHT: VAMANOS A LA FIESTA! Max, BoomBoom, Luke, Martin & I went to Clint, TX for the San Lorenzo Festival (I later googled San Lorenzo and found out he was canonized in 1987, a Filipino martyr wrongly accused of murder... maybe I'm missing something). Now I've never done acid. But I think I started understanding the sensation when I was standing just outside a church listening to people chant and praying to a statue of Jesus Christ w/ San Lorenzo bowing behind, with chile sauce on my tongue, a beer in my hand, Spanish-country line dancing music behind me and the sound of glass breaking from a carnival game off to my left where you throw rocks at bottles to win more beer. I challenged myself to make sense of it all without passing out. I couldn't. So I ignored the people praying and everything else smoothly fell into place. I guess I couldn't get over the fact that people were praying to God when they could be throwing rocks and winning beer. I swear, it's the greatest game ever. I'm not sure if 12-year-olds should be allowed to play, but I watched at least 2 pre-teens win. My buddy, Max was so sick at it... some guy actually paid for him to play. Max was contracted to win this guy free beer. That's what I call community-building. Finally, I bought a shirt that said "I'm with stupid" and the arrow pointing up, only because when I made a joke about how I'd buy a shirt like that, the vendor, a 75-year-old Mexican version of one of the "BRILLIANT" Guinness brothers, said "We can do that!" in a way that made us all crack up. He called my bluff. I was pot-committed. And it was $8. We took some fun pictures with it.
I did not have the shirt by night's end. I did not lose it. I gave it away. I will not tell you where, to whom, or how, because secrets are fun... and sometimes necessary.
So that was HALF of my Saturday night. After the carnival, Max & I went to the 915, my favorite place on earth to play billiards that's still open (and someday I will burn Dunkin Donuts to the ground and rebuild Chaulkie's... oh God, then my hometown will only have 4387 Dunkies' left). I knew it'd be a fun night of pool because there'd been musical-silence since we walked in. But the very SECOND Max lifted the rack and I cocked my cue, a bell sounded. A Hell's Bell, if you will. Pure magic.
On our 14th game, we get a call from a coworker telling us to come over to her man's new club. Sounds great. But picture this. This club is full of pinstripes & silk. Silver, blue, white, black. Max and I are dressed for the San Lorenzo Festival in Clint, TX. We look like a couple 7th-year seniors crashed a JCPenny back-to-school shoot. Now I'm still not cool, so Max had to explain to me that if we go to this club looking like we do, people will know we're the shit because you have to know SOMEONE to get in to the OC (Blu) looking like Boy Meets World (Me). We went and had an incredible time. I plan to go back more than once. But I'll wear a real shirt. Once was fun. But sometimes, you have to be a big boy.
SUNDAY: Woke up at noon. Called Ezra. We got the tickets. If you're going to the Rolling Stones & DMB on October 20th, I'll see you there. I'll need binoculars. Or maybe I'll just bump into you in the parking lot after. But I'll see you. Now why are the Stones and DMB performing in the same concert? The only explanation that makes sense to me is that someone stole my journal, read it and thought "damn, that'd be pretty sweet." Two bands I've never seen. One night. Now, I'm holding my breath on the Stones since McJagger just had to sit out a Euro-show last week due to strained vocal cords (who saw THAT coming?). But here's to hoping. The rest of the day was food shopping, dinner at Fuddruckers which turned into a 3-hour talk about politics, education and religion (it's nice to have friends as intense as me) and more pool at Lloyd's, my friends' unofficial Sunday night watering hole.
To top off the whole thing, an incredible letter from BBLS. Can't wait to see you.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wow, I wrote a lot. I'm still setting up Word on my new Mac, and can't write in my journal right now... so I guess you blog-stalkers (or blockers) can benefit from my pent up energy.
Update on current events:
8/21 - Drop off suit pants for hem before coz's wedding & Don't get bit by rattlesnake.
9/1 - BACK TO MASSACHUSETTS!!!!
9/3 - Joyzee for coz's wedding
9/6 - BACK TO FENWAY!!!!
workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork
10/6 - JAYME IN THE CUSE, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!
10/20 - Stones & DMB
It's nice to have things to look forward to. That's one aspect of my life I've kind of left charging in the closet since Mom came to visit in June. See y'all soon.
praying for sun,
JaRube
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Storm 2006
My fellow Northeasterners,
I shouldn't have to tell you about "Storm 2006." But since all cable news resources are tied up in the Middle East... you have no idea what I'm referring to, so let me catch you up.
"Storm 2006" brought up to 15 inches of rain to Dona Ana & El Paso counties yesterday. If 15 inches sounds like nothing to you, remember northeast soil can absorb water. Our land cannot. It's like pouring tons of water on a kitchen floor. It literally hits the ground running. Running over arroyos (traditional earthen paths for rain run-off) and right into homes & businesses.
Images you "can see behind me" yesterday include people brooming water out of their businesses (it made no difference), sections of highway frontage roads washed away, a firetruck stuck in a sinkhole, residents being rescued via bulldozer from otherwise cutoff neighborhoods, factory-sized dumpsters floating through downtown intersections and 2 telephone poles about to fall into a newly created ravine.
My photojournalist, Tom and I visited 4 colonias (population centers that lack sufficient infrastructure), cranking out 15 live shots between 11 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. If you're a fellow ABC7er... you guys rocked yesterday from what I saw. Putting on 14 hours of near-scriptless breaking news WITHOUT A COMMERCIAL BREAK is no simple task. A special thanks to anyone who took the time to answer my 1,528 phone calls.
Thankfully, no one died yesterday. Not one. That banks on "miraculous" considering this area has not seen a storm like this in more than 50 years. Plus, police say 100s of people refused to leave their homes even though their streets were becoming increasingly impassable or... in the case of one village I visited, two gas lines opened up on both ends of the street.
Storm 2006 would have rushed right onto the national front pages... if the Rio Grande spilled over. The banks were at maximum capacity for roughly 50 miles. But they fortunately held and even slightly receeded by 5pm before those waters could have their way with any old shop or home within flowing distance.
-----------
My adopting hometown, Las Cruces NM was unaffected. We received an average 4" of badly-needed rainfall. Plus, my condo is on the 2nd floor, so if you ever hear of insane precipatation in Cruces, my place is safe.
Hope all is well back east. Wear sunscreen. Drink water. And if someone offers you a Crunchwrap Supreme, tell them it's spicy and grilled so you're good to go.... to Las Cruces so I can feed you some real damn Mexican food.
I'm Jarube. Back to y'all...
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