Jen Russum

RANT: Things I Hate about Arizona

RANT: Things I Hate about Arizona

As promised, I would like to share a couple of things I dislike about living in Arizona. And a "couple" is not an understatement. After nine months of living in the desert, there are only TWO thing that significantly bother me here. And, no, it's not the fact that it is going to be over 100 degrees for the next five months. I think I'm okay with that. Hot summer days = a good tan. Also, hot summer days = warm summer nights. And warm summer nights = wearing a dress in the evening without needing a jacket or sweater. Also, warm summer nights = that amazing feeling when you are sitting in an air-conditioned building (restaurant, movie theater, etc) and you feel cold until you walk outside and feel that warm, 80 degree night air hit your chilly skin. MMMmmm.. Hot summer days = GOOD. Okay, but let's move on, because this is my chance for a short rant. The two things that bother me about Arizona: 1) The smokers. Did someone forget to send the memo to Arizona that smoking is going out of style? It's not cool anymore. The original Marlboro man went on an anti-smoking campaign before he died of lung cancer in his 50s. It's not "green" to smoke. It's not trendy to smoke (unless you are Phoenix hipster). It's not economically savvy to smoke. Even Europe is cutting back. And if the Europeans are quitting smoking WHY aren't the people of Phoenix?! Now granted I hail from Seattle where smoking is one of the biggest faux pas around. The health conscious people of Seattle do not smoke. It's not even really legal anywhere in the city, because as of 2005, you can't smoke in any public building OR within 25 feet of any public doors, windows or vents. And in a city it's pretty hard to find yourself 25 feet away from any doors or windows... It's a glorious law. But Phoenix is behind the times as far as the anti-smoking movement is concerned. Everywhere I go, there is smoke. Smoke in my face. All over ASU's campus. When I walk down city streets. Coming in through the vent in our apartment's laundry closet. I've had enough. Smoking is illegal in most public buildings in the city, but there are very few restrictions on where you can smoke outside. In fact, many places, including the ASU Library, provide ashtrays in outside seating areas for smoking convenience. Gross. I'm fine with the 100 degree weather, but I'm not okay with the cancerous smoke floating through this desert valley of ours.  Here ASU student... why don't you light up while you study???  ASU students can sit and smoke...  They can walk and smoke... They can even ride a bike and smoke... What talent we draw to our school... 2) Speed bumps. Now I don't know if there are any kind of regulations on the lawful height of speed bumps, but if there are, they must be on a state by state or city by city basis... and Phoenix, Arizona must rank #1 for highest speed bumps in the country. You think you are in a valley until your car gets hoisted up by one of these cement monsters and suddenly you are looking over the mountains and peering into New Mexico. They are ridiculous. Since when does Arizona have the right to ruin my car? I haven't gotten out a tape measure to measure these horrible humps, but I think many of them might between close to twelve inches above the surface of the road and they are EVERYWHERE. Arizona has a speed bump obsession. They are in parking lots, the driveway into our apartment complex, on residential streets. There is no escaping them. My car is crying out in pain. I am crying out in pain. Honestly, sometimes my back jars a bit as I cross over the highest ones. And it's not only that they are too high, but that some of them are so abrupt. They aren't the kind that are wide, which can be rolled over gently. And it doesn't matter how sloooooowly you go over them. They might as well put a pile of 4x4 lumber out in the road. My car might appreciate a small collision more than the drive out of our apartment complex each day (okay, I don't really want to get in an accident, but you have to exaggerate in a rant, right?). My students are currently writing practical proposals to fix lcoal problems around the city. I should have begged some students to write about regulating speed bump height in the city and then sent their papers to local officials. Maybe this will be a topic choice for next year. Here are some pictures of these beasts... Here I tried to capture the sheer height of the bumps in our apartment complex... This picture is taken on the flat ground next to the hump. Notice you can only see the roofs of the car ports, because the dang speed bump is so freakin' tall.  This picture could be of ANY parking lot in the greater Phoenix area.... ... Read more

RAVE: Why I Love Arizona!

RAVE: Why I Love Arizona!

This post has been a long time coming. Ever since we moved to Arizona and I started this blog, I've been thinking about how I just want to write a rave post about why I love living in the southwest! It's so great! However, the reason I am finally getting around to writing this post NOW is because I've begun taking pictures for my rant post highlighting the few things I HATE about Arizona. My complaints are not many, but I feel they need to be addressed. But I figured that it would not be fair to rant before I rave, because the positives about this desert life far outweigh the negatives. So here we go... WHY I LOVE LIVING IN THE SOUTHWEST: 1) The southwest really is just that - a mix of the south and the west. Now for someone who grew up on the west coast, but spent a lovely six years living in Texas, living in the southwest means that my favorite things about both my worlds collide in one place. Here are some examples: I get all my favorite establishments from both places. From the west, we have Red Robin, In-n-Out Burger, Safeway, etc. From the south, we have Hobby Lobby, Quik Trip, and Chic-Fil-A among others. I could not be happier. Yes, my happiness is based, in part, on cheeseburger consumption. 2) Secondly, Arizona is more politically conservative than Washington (but then again, what state isn't?) and I just like being around conservatives instead of crazy liberals (Seattle's "self-righteous recyclers" as our friend Mike Finley calls them... sorry, Seattle friends, but you know it's kinda true...). Not that I am against recycling by any means. I think it's a very practical, simple way to be good stewards of what God has given us. And that leads me to one thing I hate about Arizona, which is the lack of recycling, but I'm not allowed to rant here, so I'll save it for another post... 3) However, even my love of conservatives has a breaking point. For example, I think people should be allowed to carry guns, but if everyone around me was packing heat, I would honestly feel a bit nervous. Thankfully, in the SOUTHWEST we get a healthy balance of conservatives and liberals. For every tried and true gun-in-his-holster Republican down here, there is a mowhawked, long-boarding transplant from California. We keep it balanced, and I like it. 4) Who can really complain about 310 days of sun a year? I know there are people out there who say  "But I love the rain..." (liars!), but we all know you just tell yourself that because you live in Seattle or some other equally horrible climate and it's the only way to console yourself ten months out of the year. Can you really wake up in October, November, December, January, February, and March and see the sun smiling down on you and feel the sixty degree breeze on your face as you walk under brilliant blue skies and say, "I hate this." Please... And for those of you, my sweet friends, who live in sunny climes such as Texas, and claim you love Seattle-like weather and hate the Texas summer, I double-dog dare you to live in Seattle for a full year. Then get back to me on your feelings about the rain. But then again, who can afford to live in Seattle??? 5) Which leads me to my next rave. The economy, all things considered, is pretty great down here compared to many other places in the country. Our gas prices were reasonable (until the insanity of the past month worldwide), and our rent is CHEEEEAP. If you remember one of my recent posts, I actually can't disclose our rent on this blog so my Seattle readers don't get depressed. Let's just say we are going to be house-hunting soon, and we won't rule out properties below $100,000. The only thing, as far as I can tell, that is significantly overpriced in Arizona is cereal. I don't know why it consistently costs $5-6 a box here (unless you go to Target), but I'm not allowed to talk about my irks right now... This doesn't even cover all the reasons I love Arizona. There are others, such as being halfway between WA and TX (flights are shorter and more reasonably priced). We are six hours from LA and San Diego (aka the ocean) by car. And we will be traveling there very soon. All major sporting events take place here... hello BCS championship, spring training, PGA golf tours and MLB All-Star game, as well as regular Pac-10, NBA, MLB, and NFL games. And mostly, I cannot wait for the return of warm summer nights, where you can walk around in a dress or shorts without having to put a jacket on after 7pm. In Washington, I used to wear a North Face in June. Blech! I will leave you with this. One Saturday in February I was sitting on my couch reading, and this is what it looked like outside my window. True love. Did I mention I fold my laundry out on the patio while wearing my bikini? Yes, I do.   ... Read more

Micah’s New Job (Subtitle: Sharing a Bedroom)

There is big news around Phoenix... Micah got a promotion! Okay, so maybe it's a big deal at our apartment, but still. We've been here for only eight months and Micah has rocked it at his job, and I am so proud of him for earning his new position. He has stepped out of retail banking and is now a relationship manager. Woo hoo!!! The crazy thing about his job is that he works from Arizona, but his region is Washington state, so he will actually be working with bankers (and perhaps even businesses) with whom he is already familiar. There is one small, teensy, tiny downfall to this promotion though. We have now become a pre-7am-wake-up couple. I know, I know. I should get over it. Most adults have to wake up before 7am, but I just don't like doing it. We had gotten into this lovely routine as a married couple of going to bed at 11ish and waking up around 7:15 in the morning. Yes, count it. EIGHT hours of sleep every night!!! It's been the most amazing eight months of my life. I even made up a slogan for it... "Sleeping 11 to 7 since 7/11..." (That's our anniversary in case you were confused). Now why would I make up such a stupid slogan you may ask? Well I'll tell you. Because I've been sleep deprived since 9th grade and sleeping for eight hours a night is certainly a reason for slogan-making. Seriously. I'm a night owl like my dad and have lived off an average six hours of sleep a night since the beginning of high school. This summer marks our ten year reunion. I've gone a long time on little sleep. All through college. All through my years teaching high school. Until now. But things are a-changin'... Micah will now be waking up between 6 and 6:30am and my days of the blissful 7:15am wake up are long gone. Here's the thing. When I have to wake up earlier than Micah, I shut off my alarm as quickly as possible. Tip toe to the bathroom. Get dressed with the lights out. Shut doors quietly. I go to all measures not to wake him up, and I'd say I'm sucsessful at least 75% of the time. Now when Micah has to get up before me, it's a different story. He snoozes about five times and I have to ask him to turn his loud, static-y radio off repeatedly. When he finally gets up, he walks out of our room, leaving the door open, so I can hear him getting his cereal prepared in the kitchen. He usually comes back in about ten minutes later, leaving both bathroom doors open (yes, we have two doors for increased sound wave flow) as he shaves and showers. If he hasn't tried to have a direct conversation with me by this point, despite the fact that I am still trying to sleep, he cannot avoid the temptation of post-shower dialogue. Either he will tackle me (literally) when he finally emerges from the bathroom, which is his version of a morning hug I guess, or he will ask me to help him pick out a tie. I don't even know why I bother to still be in bed at this point. I should have learned my lesson months ago. I share this with you only to explain that Micah's new wake-up time of 6am will also be my new wake-up time. I'm not going to try to fight it. Not having to wake up before dawn was one of the perks of being a college teacher instead of a high school teacher (that and the enormous stipend they give me...), but I can kiss that perk goodbye. Oh the joys of sharing a bedroom with a boy!!! *In all honesty though, I am so proud of Micah and will gladly wake up with him at a much too early hour. I am already thinking of new ways I can use my extra time in the morning before I have to go to school. I might even go back to morning workouts. Whoa now. ... Read more