July 27, 2003
Back from the Westin Hotel retreat. We stayed there for three nights although I drove out to True West several times on Friday. The BBB suite rents for $900 a night (in season) and $300 a night (summer rate).

Read the Alexander Graham Bell biography I picked up in San Antonio (New Mexico). Quite a tale. I thought I knew it, but of course it’s much more complicated than the Cliff Notes version we all know.

Kathy made me go to a Yoga class on Saturday morning ($20 each) and if I never do another “Downward Facing Dog” for the rest of my life, I’ll be a happy man (it is actually like what I remember about going to church; it’s a pain while you’re there, but you feel so much better afterward). Also swam laps in the hotel’s huge olympian pool. All the couples there were quite amorous in the pool. I was trying to swim in the lap lane, but a woman parked herself against the south end with her ankles up on her mate’s shoulders. Both were drinking and giggling about what was going on under the water. I finally had to swim underwater and make the guy take his hands off her.

Not really.

I also made a lap or two in their simulated Salt River tube run (an artificial river that loops around fake waterfalls and rocks). Pretty amazing. Kathy and I had dinner in the Nellie Cashman restaurant on Friday night. Had the salmon taco. She had a chicken salad. Got out pretty cheap ($22 cash). All the bars and meeting rooms are named for Arizona historical characters. Our own Marshall Trimble was the historical consultant and he’s the main reason I have a suite named after me.

Had over a few friends to the BBB suite on Saturday night. The Brinks, the Robertsons, the Glenns and Mike Melrose dropped in for drinks and a party platter from AJ’s ($123 cash). Fun. Talked about the biz, movies and our upcoming website meeting tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Jason, our webmaster, has some strong ideas and I’m anxious for him and Trish to take our site to the next level. I read in the paper that Southwest Airlines now does 53% of their business online (up from 46% just six months ago). This is where it’s all going. Parallels to the 1890s and 1900s when the telephone was struggling to survive are everywhere. William Orton, the CEO of Western Union, dismissed the telephone as “a toy” and passed on the offer to buy the whole shooting match for $100,000. Otis, who was the Bill Gates of his time, is today known as the man who refused to buy the most profitable invention in recorded history. Ouch!

Before I forget, Lew Jones told me a funny story about living in Catron County, New Mexico. His neighbor Sid was at a swap meet near Reserve and the guy running it started complaining about the fires and the evil BLM, the even eviler Forest Service and outside agitators in general. Finally, he barked out to anyone within hearing, "This whole place is going to Hell and now we got Bob Boze Bell over here rewriting the history of Catron County."

I assume he is referring to my Classic Gunfight on the Elfego Baca story, but for whatever reason it’s nice to be taken as a threat by Big Thinkers anywhere.

"Have no fear of perfection—you'll never reach it."
-Salvador Dali