blogski
Friday, May 18th, 2012
Paradise comes from happy hounds, good pizza and camping in Arizona — not necessarily all at once.
The hounds and the camping make a magnificent mix, but you’d be hard-pressed to get the crust of a DiGiorno frozen pizza to properly rise on a campsite grill. And to make sure the hounds-and-camping mix stays more like paradise than hell, make sure your planning consists of more than simply grabbing a tent and heading for the hills.
You should at least bring some water. Lots of water. It’s amazing how much water it takes to wash your hands, wash your face, brush your teeth, boil rice, hydrate two big dogs and have a sip or two left over for yourself.
Bring plenty of food. This includes dog food. For future reference, please note that the only dog food for sale anywhere near Roosevelt Lake consisted of three cans (count them) at the marina, or your choice of Old Roy or Purina several miles from the campsite.
Other amenities depend on how much or how little you feel like truly roughing it. Those who want the really rough can go as far as forgetting about luxury items, such as toilet paper. Those who like a bit of comfort in their lives will want to include fluffy sleeping bags, air mattresses and pillows—and dog treats to lure the dogs off the air mattresses and pillows.
Comfort items are especially important, so that you don’t end up being cranky, which can lead to becoming rude and obnoxious and starting fights with your significant other. Crankiness can also result in a devil-may-care attitude that makes you forget the rules of camping etiquette. There are several. (more…)
Tags: Arizona camping, camping Arizona, camping dogs arizona, camping in arizona, camping lake roosevelt arizona, camping tips arizona, camping with dogs, rattlesnakes arizona, rattlesnakes camping, roosevelt lake camping, ryn gargulinski
Posted in animals, pets, blogski, column, danger, environment, life, odd pueblo | Comments Off
Friday, May 4th, 2012
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
Dear Cox Communications Collections Department:
I am in receipt of your URGENT letter dated April 23, 2012, that threatens to disconnect my service unless I pay the amount of $140.98. The letter goes on to further threaten reactivation or reconnect installation fees if my service is interrupted.
Give me a break.
Not only are your threats offensive to a loyal customer who has paid her bills on time for the past five years, but your information is inaccurate.
When I received my bill for May services, I was appalled to see charges of $140.98 and immediately called your so-called customer service number to find out what was going on.
I spoke to a Cox representative on April 24, 2012, who told me her name was April. She explained the payment I made for the April monthly bill did not properly go through. Rather than send a check as I usually do, I decided to try your suggestion to “Go Paperless!” and pay my bill online. It obviously is not as fun and easy as it may seem. (more…)
Tags: cox arizona, cox communications, cox internet service, cox service, cox stinks, cox tucson, cox tucson arizona, crappy companies tucson, tucson cox
Posted in blogski, gross stuff, life, media, stupidity | Comments Off
Friday, April 20th, 2012
Poets are notoriously late for everything, so it makes sense that a column celebrating April as National Poetry Month would come in the latter half of the month. Cheers!
Being a poet in Tucson—or being a poet anywhere, for that matter—comes with distinct advantages. For starters, you can ignore that thing called being on time. Then you have that peachy perk called poetic license.
Poetic license lets you misspell and even invent your own words. You also get to make up your own grammar rules. Tis loads. Of fun. You should.
Try it sometime.
You can also take the license a notch further and come up with your own versions of the truth, a thing my mom calls “selective memory.” She still swears she has no recollection of blaming me for the dark caramel swirled into the living room’s white carpet that was actually caused by the grubby kid visiting from next door.
The major downside to being a poet, of course, is the pay. Although I have nabbed several paid performances and awards—like my tie for first place in a suicidal poetry contest—my overall poetry career has so far netted me less than $500. That’s not counting the free hatchet I once received for writing the creepiest Halloween poem.
National Poetry Month seems like the epitome of a Hallmark holiday invented to sell more cards. After all, a big chunk of cards are splattered with poetry, or at least attempts at it. “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m sending this card ’cause I love you.”
April’s poetic designation, however, actually came from the Academy of American Poets. The academy kicked off the celebration in 1996, choosing April based on the academy’s thought that April would garner the most participation.
Besides, March and February were already taken by celebrations of women’s history and black history, respectively. January is just too dismal to celebrate much of anything due to maxed-out credit cards from holiday shopping. Thus, April it was, and has been for 16 years.
So why don’t more people seem to care?
(more…)
Tags: april poetry month, gargulinski, national poetry month, national poetry month tucson, poetic license definition, tucson poetry events, tucson poetry month, ua poetry center, University of Arizona Poetry Center, when is national poetry month, when is poetry month, why like poetry
Posted in blogski, column, life, media | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
Grooving music with a hard-hitting beat that leaves you startled yet oozing with peace. Such is the summary of the “Together as One” video produced by Santa Fe Music Videos.
The startling parts of the video come from shocking facts, figures and images – although anyone living in America of late should not be too shocked by statistics the video reveals. One in 45 children is homeless in the U.S. An estimated 643,067 people are homeless across the nation on any given night. More than 50 percent of Americans live below the poverty line. The video adds to the shock with crisp images of begging children and hungry families. Protestors tout signs like, “Dear Wall Street, Learn to share. Thank you.”
Contrast that with a naked woman lounging in currency and you have a sickening juxtaposition. (more…)
Tags: angel diamond, eric heithaus, occupy movement video, occupy wall street music, occupy wall street video, santa fe music videos, songs about occupy movement, together as one
Posted in blogski, crime, danger, life, media, music, notable folks, heroes | Comments Off
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Arizona makes you do weird things — or at least things you probably would never do if you lived anywhere else in the world. Like wear flip-flops to work because of the heat. Or carry a gun because you can. Or learn to ride a motorcycle.
Motorcycles have always been on the list of things that scare me, right beside demons and sharks, thanks to all the horror stories about brains smashed on guardrails and legs ripped off by speeding semis.
But then I was forced to move my beau’s bike from the side of the house to the driveway after the homeowners’ association complained. The moment I sat on the seat and gripped the handlebars, a kind of magic flowed through me. I knew I had to ride.
I also knew I had to have his bike, which he was kind enough to sell me at a massive discount after he found one he liked even better. So I had the bike, and I had the magic. Next up was the gear.
A kick-butt Department of Transportation-approved German helmet was first on the list, followed by a brand-new pair of properly heeled riding boots in a somewhat putrid peacock green. Safety glasses are another must. Since the cheap goggles that fit over my regular glasses made a total stranger in the motorcycle-gear store guffaw loudly and proclaim, “You look like a f-ing bumblebee!” I knew I had to go for something a bit more stylish. Non-bumblebee prescription safety glasses fit the bill.
Insurance, five-year registration and the ridiculously priced vanity plates rounded out the preparations, bringing the cost before I even changed a gear to some $800. And that’s only because I already own at least three leather motorcycle jackets.
(more…)
Tags: arizona motorcycle helmets, arizona motorcycles, cool motorcycle helmets, german motorcycle helmet, motorcycle safety arizona, motorcycle safety tucson, motorcycles in arizona, riding motorcycles arizona, tucson motorcycle helmets, tucson motorcycles
Posted in blogski, column, life | Comments Off
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Dogs have dozens of traits we love, although only a madman could love the sound of dog that won’t stop barking.
My dog Phoebe was not nearly in the incessant barking category, but she did have a flair for belting out a series of random barks at random moments, usually serene random moments during which a loud bark would make your head explode. In addition to shattering your skull, her random bark-fests have resulted in dropped dishes, ruined phone calls and nearly gave one of my friends a heart attack as a raucous ruff pierced through the cool morning air.
Using a bark correction collar had always been in the back of my mind, yet it stayed in the back. It’s not like neighbors were complaining or calling the police. Nor did Phoebe have a high-pitched, yippy bark that always sounds like a Yorkie being skinned. I just didn’t really have the $100 to shell out for the dinky electronic contraption that typically comes in the most hideous colors.
My guy agreed to pay half. I no longer had an excuse. We ambled on over to Pet Smart. (more…)
Tags: anti-bark collars for dogs, bark collar, bark control collars, barking dog correction, barking dogs tucson, dog shock collar, eletronic stimulation collar, tucson dogs
Posted in animals, pets, blogski, column, danger, environment, health, life | Comments Off
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
People often peg one of Tucson’s greatest charms as being a fairly sizable city that has not lost its small town feel. Well, that small town feel is going to get even smaller when the planned U.S. Postal Service closure of the Tucson mail processing center goes through.
No closure date is yet set, but the plan to shutter the Cherrybell Postal Processing and Distribution Center is well underway. Our mail processing will move just up the road a bit to a Phoenix facility. We can wave goodbye to next-day first class delivery, for sure. We can also probably end up driving or even walking a piece of mail across town quicker than the mail service would be able to do it.
And we can kiss the Tucson postmark au revoir and have all our mail instead stamped with Phoenix. This may be the saddest development of all, since those not familiar with Arizona often have trouble spelling Tucson. The postmark at least ensured the spelling was reinforced every time we sent someone a cheery postcard or other piece of mail.
But it shall be no more. (more…)
Tags: mail processing closures 2012, ryn gargulinski, Tucson mail center closure, Tucson post office closure
Posted in blogski, column, danger, life, odd pueblo, stupidity | Comments Off
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Surgery involves getting cut open, having something taken out, put in or tinkered with, and then being sewn back up. That happened to be the full extent of the details provided for a recent surgery at a Tucson hospital.
“What are they doing?”
“Fixing his neck.”
We were not exactly sure how this neck fix was supposed to happen to my beau, but we did know why. Major pain and reduced mobility. We also learned there are plenty of sneaky little secrets no one mentions prior to major surgery. Like how to get out of bed.
Never believe the cranky orderly’s instructions. Although she may have meant well, the procedure she outlined for getting out of bed after a major cervical procedure may have made even a healthy neck snap like a twig.
Two days later the physical therapy lady finally came around with an illustrated handout outlining the proper moves for sitting and standing. The orderly’s instructions were on the “don’t” list. We’re still wondering why his vertebrae did not pop out of the back of his neck.
(more…)
Tags: hospital annoyances, hospital crankiness, hospital secrets, neck surgery, spinal surgery, surgery, tucson hospitals, tucson medical, tucson surgery
Posted in blogski, column, danger, death, gross stuff, life | Comments Off
Friday, February 17th, 2012
A lifelong goal of many artists is to blanket the world with their creations. While many of us have gotten a leg up on this endeavor by painting rocks, designing art for our cars or even creating the occasional mural on the side of building (with owner permission, of course), most of us don’t have the cash to blanket larger things like Times Square billboards.
But who needs Times Square billboards when we got the Tucson Weekly Art Box Project.
Now in its second go-around, the Tucson Weekly Art Box Project consists of transforming the plain red, metal newspaper boxes into veritable works of art. Artists are allowed to use any medium they wish to create any design they wish, although we were duly warned that boxes that end up with nudity or profanity will get stuck in a “less desirable” location.
“Is that a Tucson Weekly newspaper box in those weeds behind the saguaro?”
(more…)
Tags: art newsrack project, community art projects, community artists, sacramento register & review, tucson artists, Tucson weekly art box project
Posted in blogski, column, environment, life, odd pueblo | Comments Off
