Cactus Juice

I sort of had a chip on my shoulder when I moved here in 2004. I was not about stay! Screw that. Phoenix sucks, it has no character, or decent restaurants. It is hot, lots of traffic...waah waah waah! Well I have finally relaxed and learned to appreciate the blessings in my life, many of which have occurred -- you guessed it -- since I ...

An open letter to Arizona Senator Jake Flake (R, Snowflake) Dear Senator Flake (jflake@azleg.gov), This week Governor Janet Napolitano, in conjunction with two of your Republican colleagues, offered a plan to help bring our Valley's air pollution under control. Fortunately, their proposal came under immediate opposition from you! ...

Scraped this off Yahoo's home page today. Evidently ''Yahoos'' enjoy dirty air and property crime. Me, I'm partial to Phoenix's ubiquity of handguns and endlesss supply of crystal meth. Phoenix #5, are you kidding me? Come on, we have the best smog. Have you tried Phoenix haze lately? A slightly aged C02 -- dare I say mature smog, with ...

Photo enforcement cameras affected drivers' speeds. The speeders slowed down. According to an article on azcentral.com, ''Scottsdale's Loop 101 speed-enforcement cameras met city officials' expectations in slowing drivers and reducing the severity of freeway collisions during the technology's 2006 debut. ... A final report by ASU traffic ...

I read an AZ Central article back in October that talked about how eight lion statues were set to be removed from a park at Westgate City Center because they are ''anatomically correct''. Oh the horror! Evidently some uptight Phoenician (or maybe ''Glendalian''...is that a word?) found them offensive. Well you know me, I immediately wanted to go ...

So I'm driving to ASU yesterday morning, I exit the 202 south onto Rural and look to my right (because I like to see Tempe Town Lake and the ASU Rowing club is often already out training. That's dedication!). Anyhoo, yesterday I look over and -- holycow! The Devil House± was gone. It was there when I left work last week. Sometime over the ...

So this is what former president Bill Clinton looks like, when you don't show up early to the party. See him? Don't feel bad. I didn't see much more. BTW, if you don't live in Tempe, I have to tell you it was a beautiful day! Anyhoo it was really great to get out and hear him speak yesterday. Lots of people in attendance. Last time I saw ...

The official Monopoly Here & Now board has been revealed and--what Camelback Mountain is a National hot spot?! Who'd a thunk it? Let me tell you, us Phoenicians are flattered. Uncertain about the judging process, but flattered nonetheless. My previous post must have created a lot of interest.   Camelback Mountain is a red ...

‡ Had a quick second footnote from my post yesterday but it was way OT (off topic). True story though. Once upon a time I saw a heavy metal show at the historic Orpheum Theatre. I put my words in bold because the show was flippin louD, craZy and X-rated -- like any good 80's metal show was. Duh. However, there was something note-worthy ...

My buddy OT and I did a walk-through of the new Arizona Cardinals stadium this past weekend. The tour was free but required a ticket, so it was not too busy IMO. It was kewl, nice to tour it when things weren't so busy. The only bummer was that we could not go down onto the floor. Some Men's Toy Expo thingy was going on. Driving up from the ...