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- The WOA Show | Thanksgiving Episode
Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of The WOA Show! We hope you’re having a great day of food stuffing, football watching, hangin’ with friends and family.
Most of that sounds like…something…good. Alright, so let’s get right to it.
Arizona Trails
Last week, we debuted the first episode of Arizona Trails featuring the Queen Creek Wash Trail in Queen Creek. Next Friday, December 2nd, Arizona Trails will stay in the great town of Queen Creek and explore the Sonoqui Wash Trail, which is not far from the Queen Creek Wash Trail. In fact, I believe the plans are to one day connect these trails and create a massive multi-use trail system….which is freakin awesome! Here’s a preview of the next episode of Arizona Trails.
WOA Marketplace
We’re gonna take a quick look at some behind-the-scenes development from inside our marketplace platform.
So we’ve been in development for about a year now, and we’re getting closer to an official launch every week. Having said that, we want to be sure everything is operating correctly before launching to the public. We’ll do this by inviting beta-test vendors into the platform and helping them get their stores up and running. We will, of course, be looking for bugs to squash, but we’ll also be looking for feedback from the vendors. This is how we make things better for everyone.
There’s quite a lot of stuff going on to ensure a marketplace runs smoothly. In essence, each vendor has its own e-commerce shop that needs to function independently yet simultaneously work together with the platform and consumer. It’s kind of like a trade show. You know how you see all the different booths lined up, each with its own style and products. All those vendors are part of the same trade show but are also independent businesses that have their own ways of accepting payments, paying their own sale taxes, and having their own shipping methods. We’re like that, except we’re streamlining the payment process and providing a building we can all share. A place where customers feel welcome and can shop for a large selection of local product types.
Let's take a look at the sample storefront I started for our own shop called "World Of Arizona (Official)".
You’ll be able to find some World Of Arizona branded stuff along with various other products that show local support. For example, we have a custom city-branded rubberwood cutting board that we can take a look at.
So we’re getting close. We still need to clean up some back-end vendor admin stuff.
We are also still working on a feature that will allow our vendors to easily promote a product by boosting it to the top of searches for a set period of time. Another feature in the works is a space that is being created for the vendors to manage product reviews. This allows them to deal with stuff like spam or offensive language.
As you can see, there are a lot of elements that go into creating a marketplace. We’ll keep you updated as we continue the journey.
Arizona Foodie
To most people, food is a pretty big deal when it comes to Thanksgiving Day celebrations. Every year we like to make the traditional Turkey Day fare as well as try new recipes and experiment with not-so-traditional options. This year, we took on the challenge of making a delicious Thanksgiving meal with as little sodium as possible that actually tastes good. So this is what we came up with…a homemade Thanksgiving burrito, which was inspired by Ikes Love and Sandwiches. So we grabbed some cameras and put together some footage of the process. Play the tape, Cooper.
Sports
So, in the last episode, I was pretty hard on the Arizona Cardinals, and Amber took a more optimistic approach. Although she couldn’t remember his name, she seemed to know that “Conner was the guy that was gonna get it done.”
So James Conner scored a couple of touchdowns in the Card’s huge win over the Rams. So it might be time to take our talents to Vegas.
Don’t get too excited because the Cardinals made up for it in Mexico City last Monday night. They were embarrassed by the 49ers once again as Colt McCoys magic seemed to have run out. So we’ll have to wait and see if Kyler Murray comes back this week against the Chargers or if they wait until the Patriots game on December 12th, which is after the bye week.
The Phoenix Suns have been looking really strong in the past couple weeks. The bench has been and will continue to be challenged. This is a great challenge this early in the season and could prove to play an essential role in the postseason.
They’ve been competitive in most of their games so far. Of the six losses, only two were by double-digits. The other four losses came down to the last possession.
It turns out that Arizona has a professional hockey team! The Arizona Coyotes, previously known as the Phoenix Coyotes are in the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.
* The team plays at Mullett Arena in Tempe
* The Coyotes are currently in 7th place in their division
* Their record is 7-9-2
* They’re on a 14 game road trip right now and struggling a little bit.
* They were on a 4 game-losing streak the last few games against the Vegas Golden Knights and the Nashville Predators.
* But a glimmer of hope happened last night when they kicked the Carolina Hurricanes butts 4 to zero.
* The Coyotes are coming back home Friday, December 9th, against the Boston Bruins. F*ck Boston! I might have to attend that one. Or, at the very least, watch one of these games and get to know the players for our next episode.
Featured Article | Silly Mountain Park
In this section, we take a closer look at an article, and it’s author posted on WorldofArizona.com. This week’s featured article is Silly Mountain Park, written by our very own Amber.
Cooper: Tell us Amber, what is this Silly Mountain Park you wrote about?
Amber: Silly Mountain Park is a lovely park in southeast Apache Junction right off of Highway 60. When we think of Apache Junction most of the time we think of the amazing Superstitions, so it was fun to learn more about another mountain park in AJ that in fact gives pretty wonderful views of Superstition.
The article talks more about the origins of it’s namesake, history and creation, the 10 different multi-use trails, general park information and guidelines.
Cooper: Where is the trail head? Is it hard to reach? Is there parking? Will I be shot by the locals?
Amber: The trailhead is off of, wouldn’t you know it, Silly Mountain Road. There is a map of the trails in the park and one online on Apace Junction’s Dept of Rec page. It’s not hard to reach; just GPS it. You will travel a little bit in the more rural area of AJ. There’s parking at the trailhead. Hopefully, you will not be shot by the locals at the park. If you go on someone’s private land, that’s a different story, so don’t do that.
* It was quite interesting learning the history and progression of the park.
* Before 2008, the area wasn’t a park and was pretty much unchecked as far as preservation; it was more of an area for off-road vehicles.
* The town of AJ and Superstition Area Land Trust stepped in and worked together to recreate the area into a recreational destination for hikers, mountain bikes, and horses.
* I’ve lived in Arizona for over 13 years now and just recently discovered this park as a viable hiking option, which I think is a true testament to the work that was put into developing it over the last 14 years.
Events
Tis the season for eating, shopping, laughing, music, magic, and merriment. Here are a few events to check out this weekend in the Phoenix valley.
Phoenix Flea
Cooper: Celebrate small and support local this Saturday in Downtown Phoenix at Heritage Square and Science Center. The Phoenix Flea is not your ordinary junk-filled flea market. It’s a modern market for handcrafted, curated vintage, fine art, fashion, design, artisan food, and more. $5 admission, hours are from 10 am to 5 pm. There are going to be over 130 small businesses and food trucks!
Amber: I highly encourage people to check out this event. Whether you’re looking for gifts for others or yourself, you will definitely find something here. They have the Phoenix Flea twice a year in the fall and spring. The autumn market is nice, of course, all decorated for the holidays, and it’s a beautiful area…it will get you in the spirit.
Native American All-Star Comedy Night at Wild Horse Pass Chandler, AZ
So after you’ve gotten your shopping on at Phoenix Flea, head on over to Wild Horse Pass in Chandler Saturday night for some laughs at the Native American All-Star Comedy Night. Celebrate Native American Heritage month with an all-star lineup of Native American comedians featuring Tatanka Means, Adrianne Chalepah, Pax Harvey, James Junes, Ernest D. Tsosie III, and a special guest! The show starts at 8 PM, and tickets start at 20 bucks.
Mannheim Steamroller at Mesa Arts Center
Christmas is coming, and so is Mannheim Steamroller! Specifically to Mesa Arts Center on Sunday, November 27th performing two shows at 3 pm and 7:30 pm. Tickets are from 35 to 80 dollars. Grammy Award winner Chip Davis has created a show that features Mannheim Steamroller Christmas classics in the distinctive Mannheim sound. The program celebrates the group’s recent anniversary of 35 years since the first Christmas album and includes dazzling multimedia effects performed in an intimate setting.
The List | 10 Greatest Thanksgiving Quotes Of All Time
- “Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.” — Kevin James
- “An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.” — Irv Kupcinet
- “If you start drinking now, Thanksgiving could be a lot of fun.” — Conan O’Brien
- “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” — George Burns
- “The meal is not over when I’m full. The meal is over when I hate myself.” — Louis C.K.
- “New pick-up line to try today: “Hey, are you a turkey? Because I want to gobble you up and then fall asleep.” — Rebel Wilson
- “I approximated the Black Friday experience at home by hurling myself into a wall a number of times and then ordering online.” —Kumail Nanjiani
- “Thanksgiving is a magical time of year when families across the country join together to raise America’s obesity statistics.” —Stephen Colbert
- “Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings, one by one, as each relative goes home.” —Melanie White
- “Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?” -Clark Griswold
