“In the Direction of Albuquerque,” David Zaintz, acrylic. (Courtesy of Sumner & Dene Gallery)
Bobby Foster Road. I've never heard of it but an amazing number of scenes have been filmed there.I replied:
Oh, this is quite good! The fellow here is very proud of a “Better Call Saul” Season 5 scene he was in. I happened to be at Tractor Brewing Co. in ABQ when the scene aired, and the fellow was there too, so I was able to congratulate him in person.
The fellow also identifies several new films I haven’t heard of. I looked closely at ABQ films in 2018-19, but newer films have come out since then, and he names them.
Yes, Bobby Foster Road is just a short distance from Q Studios, and it’s not quite a public road either, with gates that can be closed to limit traffic anytime one desires, so it’s the filmmakers’ cheapest, go-to road for desert scenes. Dozens more films and TV shows have used that stretch of road. Probably TV commercials too. Every one has been there, at least virtually.
Bobby Foster was a reasonably well-known boxer, most-famous for getting his ass kicked by Joe Frazier back in the day. I don’t think Bobby Foster spent any time on Bobby Foster Road, however.
Victoria Apanasenko displayed the costume she'll be wearing to represent Ukraine at the Miss Universe contest.
According to designer Lesya Patoka, the outfit symbolizes "Ukraine's struggle with darkness" and at the same time "carries light".
I guess I'm a Bad Environmentalist. Like many earnest liberals, I donate to as many environmental organizations as my feeble budget will support. Among these donations is $15/month to The Nature Conservancy. I appreciate that sometimes it is insufficient to place land under federal supervision to actually preserve it. It is sometimes necessary to buy the land outright, working with nearby stakeholders and land owners, and that is the mission of The Nature Conservancy.
I joined The Nature Conservancy in 1987 as part of a membership drive in southern Arizona. At the time, a number of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) were under consideration for Wilderness status. We were encouraged to adopt a WSA and track its progress. I adopted the Dos Cabezas WSA, but in typical Bad Environmentalist fashion, I never spent any time there, but sometimes waved hello from my VW Bug as I passed distantly by on Interstate 10 on trips to Albuquerque.
But I kept donating to the organization. So, after 35 years, unbeknownst to me, I slowly bubbled into view of Conservancy leadership. I received a nice letter:
"I am writing to share my sincere gratitude for your 35 years of support.... [I]t would be my privilege to learn what inspires you to be a champion for nature. If I may, I shall call you in the next week, or so, to say hello... We are so fortunate to have you as part of the conservation community."
The phone call was SO nice! It was very flattering for a small donor like myself to get this kind of lavish attention. But little doubts arose in my head. Why were they being so nice? Eventually, they got to the point. As I approach the oblivion of death, I need a Legacy. Would I consider The Nature Conservancy in my final arrangements? They already have benefitted from magnificent legacies, such as a large ranch in Southern California. I could join them.
Well, I have my house, but I don't it will be worth so much as to preserve all that much land. Maybe enough land to get idle teenagers into trouble, but not enough to extricate themselves. And I still need the house to live in. I'm not dead yet. And what about other legacies to my family?
Still, I was getting distracted by my "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" books, so I put all this and much else out of my mind for several months. In that period, my credit card was replaced, which stopped the automatic $15/month donation to The Nature Conservancy. I wasn't paying attention, though. I'd get around to fixing the problem when I had time. And I stopped reading my correspondence.
So, I finally noticed I got a letter:
"I'm writing to confirm that your Conservation Champion status and $15 recurring gift have been canceled.... If there is anything we could have done to make your experience as a Conservation Champion better, or more rewarding, I hope you let us know."
Ow! I hurt their feelings! But I wasn't trying to throw shade, I just wasn't paying attention. I didn't read my correspondence, so I didn't even know I was a Conservation Champion. It sounds exalted, like a green superhero, but somehow I never noticed.
So, now I'm trying to restart my $15/month donation. I'm no longer a Conservation Champion, which I guess confirms that I'm a Bad Environmentalist. But I feel a weight has somehow lifted from my shoulders. I take it all as an omen that becoming a Bad Environmentalist means I won't die after all, so have no need for a Legacy. I'll just keep rolling down the freeway, waving at WSAs I'll never visit, and ignoring earnest letters.
On Dec. 21st, I took Jasper on a walk that also stopped at the local post office, where I had to buy some stamps and drop off some Christmas cards. At first, I tied Jasper up outside the post office on a bike rack, but he looked so forlorn and vulnerable out there on the urban sidewalk that I decided to bring him into the lobby instead, come what may.
The lobby was jumping with Christmas-shipping traffic. Jasper was nervous about being in close quarters with so many strange people, so he pulled me on his leash over to a ceiling-to-floor window, silently pleading with me to take him outside instead. I was determined to keep him there, though, so he settled into a uncomfortable sitting pose, as people buzzed all about him.
The fellow ahead of me in line was trying to ship an unusually large box. I understood from his conversation with the postal clerk that there was a tricycle in the box. The postal clerk quoted a $90 charge to ship the box. Crestfallen, the man asked "is that the cheapest possible rate?" Indeed, it was. His options were take the box elsewhere, to FedEx or UPS, where shipping rates would be higher, or not to ship the box at all, or to accept the charge. Explaining further, the man said shipping the box was his wife's idea (I bet the tricycle was hardly worth more than $90), but since there were so few days left before Christmas he had few options, so he surrendered and paid the rate.
When I reached the exhausted postal clerk, she looked at Jasper, and quoted the rule, "dogs are not allowed in the lobby," but uncomfortable Jasper had already been there for some time. Best to quickly finish my business. I smiled, bought some stamps, handed over cards for mailing, and left. I finally took Jasper out into the sunshine, where he ecstatically resumed his mission to sniff and mark every single bush in the neighborhood.
I got my asteroid yesterday. 28581-Dyerlytle is 1-2 km in diameter with an eccentricity of 0.120. My thanks to Lowell Observatory.
