Sasquatch roundup

OK, a good four days after returning from Sasquatch here are some pictures:






As far as the music. There was so much good stuff I can't even delve into it all. So here's the highlights.
Most pleased to see: Okkervil River because it reminded me of good times with the Evergreeners.
Best surprise: Rodrigo y Gabriella. Two acoustic guitarists from Mexico that sound like a full band. Best musicians I saw all weekend, by far.
Strangest: Flaming Lips. The lead showed up in a light fixture shaped like a UFO and crowd surfed in a bubble. There were about 20-30 dancing telly-tubbies (cq?) on either side of the stage and one song featured dancing naked women in the background ... He ended the show playing Taps on the bugle.

Best quote of the weekend from Beirut: "Anyone from New Mexico in the audience? ... We're all over the place. We're like the new Irish."

hello summer

A few random things:

• It's been in the 90s for the last four days. It seems to have gone from winter to summer overnight, with virtually no springtime. Other than temperature shock, and my plants looking sad I'm loving it.
• I went running with a friend in the foothills this morning. It was really beautiful -- dry sagebrush-covered hills. I plan to go walking out there sometime soon and take some pictures.
• My federal tax refund arrived in the mail today, which means my stimulus check is only days away! Just in time for Sasquatch this weekend. Plus I'm going to buy a cruiser bike.
• I start four-day work weeks tomorrow. The paper has moved to a 37.5 full time work week for all it's employees to avoid further layoffs. I have mixed feeling about this situation. But I will have three-day weekends all the time (Sunday-Tuesday).
• To make up some of the 6.25% pay of the difference from the fewer hours, I got a part-time job at a clothing store in the mall. I start next week.
• After almost a year of living here, I finally got my Idaho driver's liscense. It's surprisingly not horrible. And in case you were wondering, range animals have the right-of-way here.

Someone in my neighborhood ...

... has a rooster.

I live in the middle of a city. I'm sure this isn't zoning-board approved. It's definately not Annette's-sleep-schedule approved.

mothers

I went home for Mother's Day. My parents were out gardening when I arrived after four and a half hours (I made extraordinary time) in the car. We cooked, shopped, watched movies and visited. My mom even took the day off work Monday to spend with me.
I gave her these paintings for Christmas. They are my third completed piece of art since I began painting again last summer. I hadn't picked up a paintbrush for a couple years until mid-July when I went on a impuse to a craft store and bough an eisle, some new brushes and a bunch of canvases.

While I was home we bought the frames and I painted those too. They hang on the wall in the "guest room." (My former bedroom.) My Mom cleaned out, painted and redecorated last fall. Everything is lavender and white.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:This is Gabrielle in the Statesman meeting room. She cleans the newsroom about the same hours the copy desk works. Us night editors threw her a surprise baby shower Tuesday. She was surprised and pleased. Her son Alvin is due early June.

walking for kate

I walked 5k for Kate Brussé on Saturday. I had never met her before, but she's a reporter at my newspaper.

When I started work she was out on doctor-ordered bedrest, pregnant with triplets hoping her babies would be born healthy. During her pregnancy she found out she had breast cancer about 24 weeks into her pregnancy. She and her children survived and she has a pretty incredible story, which the Statesman wrote about.

Saturday was Race for the Cure. The Statesman formed a team and we ran/walked the 5k for her.
Above, Kate Brussé (in pink shirt) holds a coffee cup standing in front of double-stroller with two of her kids at the Statesman team's gathering point before Race for the Cure on Saturday. Left is Mia Parrish, Statesman publisher, and managing editor Bill Manny (in navy) looks at the babies. In the foreground Kate's husband Chad Brussé holds the third baby, kneeling to the others. Executive editor Vicki Gowler and reporter Katie Kreller try to fit a baby bag under the stroller.

Evergreeners take Idaho

Back in January the head designer at the Statesman asked all the other designers to pick out some of their best stuff from 2007 to enter into the Idaho Press Club contest. They said they'd pick the best and enter them.

About a month ago a list with names of winners circulated the office. It just listed who won awards, but no specifics. "That's how they get you to show up," our editor said. My name was on the list. Maybe I got an honerable mention ...

Last night was the Idaho Press Club's annual banquet. When it came to announce the page design winners they announced in reverse order:

• 3rd Krysten Bullock - Idaho Press-Tribune - "Dreams do come true; Idaho highway crisis; Cold case"
• 2nd Joilene Topete - Idaho Statesman - "Will eco-city be enough; Men's room arrest reopens questions about Craig; Public Transportation" (Joi is the other page one designer.)

At this point I thought, "well maybe I won something in another category." Then they announced:

1st Annette Ticknor - Idaho Statesman - "Meth: a women's drug; I am proud of my record; Should campaign donations pay for his defense?"

I was very surprised. I am so honored.

These are two of the three pages I won for:
I don't have digital copy of the other.Also, noteworthy:

• One of the old reporters, Jon Meyer, from the Evergreen won 2nd for Rookie journalist of the year for his work at the Idaho Press Tribune in Nampa.
  
• Dan Thompson, another former Evergreener who now works at the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello won 1st place in sports feature stories.
• The Idaho Statesman won newspaper of the year and also took home the most awards from the banquet.
  

the wailers

This is my friend Diana and her dog Riley. We went to see the Wailers yesterday at Julia Davis Park. The show was free and part of Boise State's version of Springfest.

Then, waiting in line to look at the T-shirts, I think the girl with big sunglasses behind the table looks a lot like my friend Amy who worked the main office at Student Publications.

"Annette?" she asked. It was her. She works for the touring company now.

Oh so modern.

Thursday is my "day" shift. I went to see Modern Art at the Modern Hotel. It's this old '60s style hotel, which has recently be revamped into a hotspot with flatscreen TVs and iPod docks in every brightly-painted, paper-lamp lit room. The bar is also kind of a hipstery hang out.

For Thursday only local artists converted every room into a different art exhibit. I went expecting a very niche crowd. It turns out everyone in Boise and their editor went. Including mine. I ran into about six other co-workers and a former co-worker who was laid off earlier this year. Small world.

Some highlights:

• The Boise State University metal arts club covered everything in one room with aluminium foil. Even the phone.
• A photographer was asking everyone to lay or sit on the bed in his room and prentend to talk on the phone for a portrait. They promised to e-mail your pic to you. They also reassured everyone the photos won't end up on the Internet. My hotmail still hasn't seen a picture yet ...
• A woman showing her statue of the Liberty doing a roundhouse kick was offering everyone who visited "Libertinies."
• A painter was showing exqusite scenic paintings with random cars, traffic cones and other urban life juxtaposed.
• Performance artists in one room acted as if no one else was there and went about making food, frosting a giant cake bright pink, etc.