Ask Rachel

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
Dear Rachel,
It’s that time of life once again: time to buy a new computer. This feels ridiculous to me every single time. I just plopped several hundred dollars on my last computer a few years ago, and without me doing anything more taxing than sending emails and listening to music, it’s stopped functioning altogether. I open a program, and then I go eat dinner, and then I come back and it’s still opening. Why do computers crap out all the time and require me to go relearn what RAM is anyway?
– Intel Outsider
Dear Reboot,
I learned everything I need to know about journalism without going to journalism school, and here’s that everything: Follow the Money. You want to know the motives behind any senseless act? Scope out who’s profiting. And the answer here is obvious. There’s only one group profiting and benefitting from your computer crapping out every few years and requiring you to go buy another one. It’s the paper industry. Because one of these times, you’ll just give up on electronics altogether. Sounds good to me, anyway.
– CTRL ALT DEL, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I’ve never been a coffee drinker because I had a middle school teacher who smelled like coffee and cigarettes, which was disgusting, and quite honestly I didn’t want to be one of those people who can’t function without coffee and who live for the next cup but now I’ve started having some high-grade coffee in the mornings and oh my god this stuff is heaven I just want to know what you recommend for a coffee newbie like me?
– Full-Bodied Flavor
Dear Coffee Beaned,
I used to think the worst thing about coffee people was all the really lame coffee humor. Empty jokes about empty mugs, “I can’t do that until I’ve had my coffee ha ha ha,” and so on. But now, I think the worst thing about coffee is how it destroys lives, wrecks families and obliterates punctuation. I might recommend you start going half-caf. Or stick with water.
– Top me off, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I was perusing records at a local antique market the other day, and no fewer than three people browsing near me stopped to say, “Vinyl’s making a comeback, huh?” And this really annoyed me. The problem is, I’m not sure why it annoyed me. Can you shed some light into my psyche to tell me why I feel the way I do?
– Broken Record
Dear Playback,
Maybe it annoyed you because you’re not jumping on vinyl as the latest hipster revival. Maybe it annoyed you because you wanted to browse records in peace without having to talk to strangers. Maybe it annoyed you because these people were right and you didn’t want to admit that to yourself. But whatever the reason it annoyed you, at least you can rest easy knowing your turntable will last longer than that other guy’s new computer.
– Spin the black circle, Rachel
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- Indie rock'n'roller, uptown jazz and math rock
- By Chris Aaland
- 02/21/2019
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When did you first discover Martha Scanlan? For me, it was around 2001, when her old-time bluegrass outfit, Reeltime Travelers, began appearing on the festival circuit, playing the old Silverton Jubilee, the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass.
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- Heart strings, infamous strings & belly laughs
- By Chris Aaland
- 02/14/2019
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Life sure keeps you busy. My boy, Otto – fresh off being named to the honor roll! – turned 12, requiring a night out with the family Tuesday.
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- Boring Bowl, The Dude sells out & Hillbilly Poetry
- By Chris Aaland
- 02/07/2019
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Now that was boring. Not only was Sunday’s Super Bowl the lowest scoring ever, but it was my first completely sober Super Bowl since 1986 ... and I was 17 then.
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- Snowdown's greatest hits
- By Chris Aaland
- 01/31/2019
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Unless you live in a cave, you’ve probably noticed a number of people flying about downtown dressed in masks and capes. It’s Snowdown week! This year’s theme is “Get Your Comic On,” which brings a bit of Comic-Con to our quaint mountain borough.
- Earth tones
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- By Stephen Eginoire
- 02/21/2019
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Tired of looking at harsh, reflective white? Then feast your eyes on the gentler, subtler hues of winter. For most, winter brown is an acquired taste.
- Rollin' a fattie
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- By Stephen Eginoire
- 02/14/2019
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The 5th annual Silverton Whiteout kicked off last Saturday as fat bikers from ’round the hood and beyond rode lap after lap on a well-groomed 9.2-mile loop for 10 straight hours.
- A bunch of comics: A look at the Snowdown that was
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- 02/07/2019
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Well, there you have it folks. Durango’s 41st Snowdown celebration is in the bag.
- Taking off the Chill
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- By Stephen Eginoire
- 01/31/2019
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With the shortest days of year in the rearview mirror, the sun a little higher and the days a little longer, our orientation toward the sun favors less chilly walks in the great outdoors, and certainly less GoreTex (on a nice day, of course.)