DWTS recap

OK, this week’s Dancing with the Stars show were good. Aaron improved his performances, enough that he’s still around. I’m not crazy about the kid, but there’s no denying he’s improving. Can’t stand his partner, Karina, though. She seems arrogant and high-maintenance. Michael and Mark got the boot last night. No huge surprises there. That leaves, Aaron, Donny (my darkhorse), Mya, Joanna and Kelly. I think Kelly is next to go, although she’s got a huge fan base from her reality show. You have to think Aaron will leave soon also, because even though he was the highest scorer this week with the judges, he was still in the bottom three. Apparently, viewers don’t care much for Aaron. I almost feel sorry for Mya. Len doesn’t like all the “messin’ about” that she and Dmitri do just before they really get into their dances each week. She’s technially very sound, but she won’t win. I begrudgingly admire Joana and Derek. They’re VERY good as a dancing couple. But some of their dance moves have bordered on R-rated or even NC-17 rated. Really raunchy, especially for the 7 or 8 p.m. hour, when we can assume,  impressionable children are watching. Also, let’s not forget last night’s “performance” of the new single from Derek and Mark. It was very typical of a lot of pop music that’s come out in the last decade or so. Lots of good dancing, but almost completely lacking in any discernable, audible singing. They need to trash any future segments of those two “singing.” Loved Rod Stewart, though

Boo-humbug on Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone, and again, my wife Linda and I opted out of giving out candy to trick-or-treaters. It’s just not our thing. Maybe it’s because we don’t have kids. Don’t get me wrong — we like kids, but we just never seem to be in the Halloween spirit. In my past experiences as an adult handing out candy, I would get children coming to the door, and some of them don’t even bother to say, “Trick or treat.” They just hold out their bags and expect candy to be dropped in. And here’s a hint to anyone over, say, 13 or 14 years old — don’t trick or treat. It makes you seem juvenile. Trick or treating is a tradition for younger kids. 

So, what DID we do? We disabled the front doorbell so our dog, Cyrus, would not get scared by potential trick-or-treaters. We turned off the lights and went to Albuquerque. We looked at a few cats. Linda is going to retrieve our latest animal, Princess, a cut cat, today and bring her back to the Buck household. We also did a little shopping and went out for dinner. All in all, a successful escape from the trick-or-treating

Dancing with the Stars, Part deux

OK, by “popular” demand, I’ll write another blog posting on last night’s “Dancing with the Stars.” I still think Mya should win, based strictly on talent. But she needs to stop with the gimmicks. That thing she did with the dusting last night on the judge’s table was stupid and took too long. Len doesn’t like “all the messin’ around,” you know. I don’t really want to think that Derek and Joana Kruppa will win, only because Joana seems too perfect-looking. But she did look awfully good last night, particularly in the group mambo at the end of the show. Louie, Michael, Melissa should be the next to go — in that order. But of course, that won’t happen. I think Louie did his best dance last night, and that’s not saying much. But he did get it right when he said snowboarding (his speciality) is not a mainstream sport, so he appreciates the fans keeping him on the show. Oddly, one of the contestants said last night that it’s all about the judges’ scores. Well, obviously not, or surely Natalie Coughlin would not have been kicked off last week, and Louie, Michael or Melissa would be out by now. I told my wife last night that they should determine who is kicked off each week by counting the judges’ scores as 60 percent of the vote, and viewers’ votes as 40 percent. Kellie Osbourne is cute and can show a lot of talent in certain situations. But she HAS to get over her fears or her cuteness and fan popularity will wear off. The judges are already tired of telling her to get over her fear. I think Donny Osmond has an outside shot at winning this thing. He’s my darkhorse

Dancing with the Stars – my take

Dancing with the Stars is my guilty pleasure. My wife,  Linda, and I watch the show every Monday and Tuesday night. It’s a lot of fun. From the beautiful professional female dancers to the always flawless performances by all the professional dancers, it’s good viewing. Based strictly on dancing performance value, I think Derek Hough is the best on the show. Cheryl Burke is the best female professional dancer, although Edyta Slevinska (or something like that. I can’t spell her last name) is the best-looking and one of the top performers.

What happened last night left Linda crestfallen and me highly disappointed. Olympic gold medal swimmer Natalie Coughlin was booted from the show. That had to be based a lot on the vote of the viewers because she had received 24 out of 30 points Monday night. It was a travesty of justice. As judge Len Goodman said, it’s great for the public to vote for the underdogs, but sooner or later justice must be done. Coughlin left the show in tears and with her head hanging. Who could blame her? She’s good — not great, but far better than Louie the snowboarder and former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin. Who can Louie have in his fan base among the viewing audience? He’s in his eary 20’s, and he’s ugly with that silly mop top.

Ah well, Mya — apparently an R&B singer whom I had never heard of — will likely win, if this show has anything to do with performance — as it should. I think model Joanna Krupa will come in second. After that, it’s pretty much a crap shoot among the remaining contestants. But Louie and Michael, and maybe Aaron and Melissa Joan Hart — watch out, your days are numbered

Things that baffle me

Well, you can see by my headline that this blog post could produce enough material for a book. Ha-ha.

But I was just thinking today how many things baffle me. For instance, how did we get into this state budget quagmire in the first place? No one wants to deal with a $650 million budget shortfall. But that’s what legislators will do in a special session, starting Oct. 17.

How about this: why is there only (seemingly) one way in and out of Rio Rancho for folks who must commute via I-25 — which is most us. There’s another exit, but does anyone use it?

What is the University of New Mexico thinking with the way it is handling the investigation of football coach Mike Locksley? I could go on and on about this one, but the coach “allegedly” hit an assistant coach in a “confrontation.” VP for athletics Paul Krebs initially verbally reprimanded Locksley and put a written reprimand in his file. But then he changed his mind, got UNM’s human resources department involved to “investigate,” and nearly three weeks after the incident, Krebs suspended Locksley for 10 days. Locksley loses $29,000 pay. Why was he not fired or at least suspended without pay in the first place? Are you really allowed to hit a fellow employee or student at UNM and not be terminated? And will we ever see the HR investigative report?

Why does my dog, “Cyrus,” get more excited to see me than ever before? I’m flattered. I just don’t get it.

Why do we have more recyclables than “regular” trash each week. What does that say about our consumption habits?

Why does a haircut cost me $13 plus tip? They only spend five to 10 minutes on my hair…

Will Richard Berry’s win as Albuquerque mayor signal a shift to Republican power in New Mexico? Let’s hope so. I’ve only been here nine months, and I’ve already had enough of the Democrats’ shenanigans.

Why isn’t Richards Avenue linked from Rodeo Road to Cerillos? I know, my editor-publisher Lee James did a story on this. But it still dumfounds me why that link isn’t there.

Will we ever see the Rail Runner stop at the Zia Road “station.” Not ’til the cows come home, I guess.

Why is that all the good TV shows are on on Monday night? Dancing with the Stars, Monday Night Football, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, CSI: Miami and Castle. Thank goodness for our DVR

E-mail suggestions

I’ve written about e-mail etiquette on this blog and in my column on www.nmfreepress.com, but it bears revisiting. I say this because I received an e-mail reply from a friend yesterday, and I couldn’t decifer whether the person was serious or sarcastic in the relpy. “You must not know me very well,” it began. Then it said some other stuff that’s immaterial. The point is to really, REALLY be careful, not only in what you say, but how you say it in an e-mail. Also use great care with your punctuation. You cannot hear a person’s voice in an e-mail, and voice gives away emotion and inflection. E-mail is silent. I’d say to be very careful with anything that can be perceived as sarcasm, unless the person you’re writing to knows you VERY well and knows that you’re just kidding. I sometimes go so far as to write too much in an effort to ensure the receiver knows precisely what I’m trying to convey. Short e-mails often miss the point. I know, you’re all too busy to write longer e-mails because you walk into the offie and have 50 to 100 of them waiting to be answered each morning. But it really pays to spend an extra minute (that’s all it takes) to make yourself – and how mad or happy you are — clear in an e-mail. I’ll never forget the time I told a boss that this very subject might make for a good story. He agreed and said e-mails don’t convey emotion. It was odd hearing this from him — a man correctly accused of managing by e-mail. And I used to receive e-mails back and forth from another boss, until I would just pick up the phone to call him to straighten things out. That call usually ended my anxiety on the spot. Tell me your thoughts on e-mail etiquette at bbuck@nmfreepress.com.

Courtesy of starting on time

It’s 11 a.m. Do you know where your Santa Fe County Commissioner is? Commissioners started their meeting today at 11:30, a full 30 minutes later than the advertised starting time. This isa fairly normal practice for the county commission, from what I’ve discerned in the past eight-plus months since I arrived in town. I don’t attend all county commission meetings, so maybe sometimes these folks start on time, but not the 10 or so times I’ve attended. AND, no one even apologizes for being late or gives an explanation for their tardiness. Members of the public who show up for such meetings deserve for meetings that start promptly. Citizens have busy schedules, too. I don’t cover city council, so I don’t know if that group starts its meetings on time. I know the Board of Education does. Should we hold these folks to promptness?

I will give Commission Chairman Mike Anaya a little “ha-ha” for a joke he made during the presentation on the county’s tourism advertising program. The ads say, “Santa Fe, it’s no place like home.” But unless you listen closely or see the words, you might think like Anaya (and I) did — that the spots were saying, “Santa Fe County, there’s no place like home.” Anaya said he could picture two cowboy boots tapping together, like Dorothy toward the end of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Would you like a bag with that?

I just came back from a local convenience store, and I bought four or five items. Did the cashier offer me a bag to help me carry everything to my car? No. It’s typical of the lack of customer service and basic human decency I find in New Mexico. Just yesterday, I was approaching a pedestrian crosswalk near my home. I waited politely and patiently for a woman and her child to cross the road to the park across the street. She and the kid crossed. But not once did she acknowledge me or wave a hand. Ingrate. Then there are the people who work drive-thrus (excluding banks). When I’m done giving them my hard-earned money and they give me food, I expect to hear “thank you, have a nice day.” Instead it’s usually “look out ‘cuz here comes the bag of food and a drink.” Sometimes I say “You’re welcome” just to mock them

“Mad Men”

Any “Mad Men” fans out there? I’ve come addicted to the show and was glad it won the Emmy this year for best drama. If you tune in, you have to give it a chance…watch it three or four times before you decide whether you like it because the show is more about characters than plot. There is plot, but it’s more about the “mad”-ness if being an ad man in 1960s New York. There’s endless drinking, smoking and philandering. But it’s real human drama and the costumes and set designs are incredible. The show airs locally on AMC at 8 p.m. Sundays. Watch it

In the 40s in September?