Category: Albuquerque & New Mexico

Call for help

This is addressed to any readers in the Albuquerque area. I need the name of a reliable tree service. Casa NewMexiKen has about a dozen piñons that appear to have black scale. The needles are dying quickly. I called a service and they came out and sprayed and talked a good story, but frankly I felt like I was doing business with somebody headquartered in a motel on Central on their way through town. That’s probably not fair, but I feel like I feel.

This is an emergency, but it gets expensive fast and I need reliability — and a strong comfort zone.

Anyone? You can comment or email.

Warning: Rant Alert!

Checking the ID of 60-year-old individuals before selling them beer seems to be back in vogue around Albuquerque. It’s happened to me twice in the past few days — at a restaurant and at Costco.

Here’s what I had to say about it two years ago:

NewMexiKen had to show ID last night at the Isotopes baseball game to purchase beer. Now I am 61 years old, have four children in their thirties and six granchildren. I was of legal age 40 f***ing years ago. There is no way, much as I might feel young on the inside, that I look like I could be under 21.

What kind of foolishness requires servers and vendors to check the age of every customer? Doesn’t that obvious overkill actually undermine the legitimacy of the liquor laws? (Sort of like “drug free zones” near schools — drugs are illegal but they’re really, really illegal around schools.)

When I was 17 or 19 I would have had no problem getting alcoholic beverages. I’m fairly certain today’s 17 or 19 year olds have little trouble if they really want it. What mis-guided moron thought up the policy of checking the IDs of grandparents?

And it’s just sad when the waitress or cashier says, “You don’t want me to get fired, do you?” Well, of course I don’t want them to get fired. I want them to quit and look for a job where they are enabled to use some common sense.

And you know what galls me the most? I was buying Michelob Ultra in both instances. (Don’t ask.) I mean that stuff is like making love in a canoe.

You know — f**king close to water.

Two misconceptions about Albuquerque

1. No, Albuquerque is not as hot as Phoenix, Las Vegas or Tucson. Last year the temperature got to 100º F just once. Not at all in some years. The temperature gets to 100º or more in Phoenix one hundred or more days a year.

2. Yes, Albuquerque is just as high above sea level as Denver. In fact, parts of Albuquerque are higher than any part of Denver. The altitude in Denver ranges from 5,130 to 5,470 feet above sea level. The altitude in Albuquerque ranges from 4,946 to 6,120 feet above sea level. Albuquerque has the highest altitude of any of the 50 largest cities.

He’s been drinking since he was 16 — it’s like water to us

“A 12-year-old girl on horseback hit by a drunken driver south of Santa Fe in 2006 ended up in the bed of the man’s pickup and had to throw beer cans at his back window in an effort to get him to stop, a prosecutor said Monday.”

Santa Fe New Mexican

The driver’s attorney “blamed the setting sun and a dirty windshield” even though his 41-year-old client tested at .15 breath-alcohol content.

Two horses died as a result of the accident.

Saturday Night Live

We thought we’d go see Asra Nomani when Saturday evening began. Ms. Nomani is an Indian-born, American-raised Muslim. She was a friend of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted and killed in Pakistan as portrayed in the film A Mighty Heart. (Angelina Jolie played Pearl’s wife Mariane. Archie Panjabi portrayed Ms. Nomani.)

Nomani is the author of Standing Alone is Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. She was scheduled to give a talk last evening on her life as a single, unmarried mother and a Muslim. Alas, she missed her flight to Albuquerque (luckily for her — a landing in Albuquerque is always an E-ticket ride; with yesterday’s winds it would have been more scary than thrilling.)

Plan B — Arlo Guthrie on his “Solo Reunion Tour” at the KiMo Theatre.

Fortunately there were about 15-20 tickets left when got to the box office less than an hour before show time. We ended up in row X, the back of the balcony, but there are no bad seats in the historic and beautiful KiMo (built 80 years ago in Pueblo Deco style as a movie and vaudeville theater; an attraction in itself).

Guthrie was wonderful. Not only did we get “Alice’s Restaurant,” but two hours of a wonderful selection from his repertoire of songs and stories. These included a couple of his dad’s songs, including “This Land Is Your Land” — just enough to give the evening a sense of wonderment and connection to the great folk music tradition of the mid-20th century.

Guthrie also quoted Marilyn Monroe — he said — for a philosophy of life: “When it comes to life’s decisions,” Marilyn supposedly said, “‘What the hell’ is usually the right answer.”

We thought Arlo Guthrie would be good. He was terrific. (And we were glad Ms. Nomani had missed her plane.)

Seriously, Everybody Is Somebody in New Mexico

This excerpted from a slightly longer item at Digital Daily:

According to data released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial, [Venture Capital] investment in New Mexico is up an astonishing 375% from a decade ago, the number of start-ups up 600%. Equally as impressive is Pittsburgh, where VC investment is up 513% and the number of start-ups is up 267%.

Whoa.

As Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA, notes, New Mexico and Pittsburgh are clearly becoming hotbeds of innovation. “For regions that don’t have a large, indigenous venture investor base, it is important to give outside VCs a reason to visit,” he said in a statement. “These unexpected regions are making venture capitalists stand up and take notice.”

They sure are. New Mexico had three start-ups a decade ago. Now it has 21. 21!

Of course, once upon a time one of the startups in New Mexico was Microsoft.

On the road again

Seemed like a good time to get out of town, so here you see what I saw as I came down I-25 into Colorado from Raton Pass. (Click image for larger version.)

Snow on I-25

Again, I’m no Ansel Adams. On the other hand Adams didn’t take too many photos that I know of while driving on an interstate. (And to think they consider cell phones a distraction!)

Las Vegas, New Mexico Las Vegas, New Mexico

Earlier, on a cool but clear late winter’s morning I drove through Las Vegas, New Mexico. From I-25 Las Vegas appears to be just another dusty little town, but it has some historical treasures. Here’s the Palace Hotel on the plaza and the Plaza itself. I stopped and got out of the car for these. Click images for larger versions.

Heaven

March 1st, temp in the upper 60s, humidity in the teens, not even a wisp of a cloud in the blue, blue sky.

The Land of Enchantment, happy to call it home.

Of course, in March even heaven has an occasional front pass through. The forecast:

SUNDAY: PARTLY CLOUDY. WINDY. ISOLATED RAIN SHOWERS IN THE MORNING…THEN ISOLATED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE 50S TO LOWER 60S. WEST WINDS 10 TO 20 MPH INCREASING TO NORTHWEST 20 TO 30 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT: WINDY. BLOWING SNOW IN THE EVENING. PARTLY CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH POSSIBLE…MAINLY IN THE FOOTHILLS. COLDER. LOWS IN THE 20S.

Best line of the day, so far

“I’m a part of that dwindling demographic: a newspaper reader. I grew up with a morning paper, an afternoon paper and a local paper every day. . . . Hell, I even enjoy reading the Albuquerque Journal every day, which is like someone claiming to be a connoisseur of wine while nursing a bottle of Ripple.”

mjh’s blog

Mjh has a great illustration of the problem.

The lifeblood of politics

In my zip code, $17,251 has been donated to Republican and $235,042 to Democratic presidential candidates since 2004.

All calculations are based on public records filed with the FEC of contributions by all individuals totaling more than $200 (and some totaling less than $200) to a single Republican or Democratic presidential campaign or national committee for the 2004 and 2008 election cycles.

Try your area at Fundrace 2008 Campaign Donations.

Santa Fe is $74,402 to Republicans and $1,711,320 to Democrats (23:1).

Thanks to Duke City Fix for the pointer.

Enchanted, I’m sure

According to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican, four Oscar-nominated movies were filmed in New Mexico, including the best picture, No Country for Old Men. The others were 3:10 to Yuma, In the Valley of Elah and Transformers.

Did you notice by the way that 98-year-old Robert Boyle won an honorary Oscar and was escorted to the podium by two beautiful movie stars. Who says this is no country for old men?

Oh, and by the way my readers at The Albuquerque Journal, now that you’re the only newspaper in town, how about convincing your bosses to do something. Why can’t the Journal web site be as pretty as The New Mexican’s?

Mama Giraffe

This was first posted here four years ago, February 23, 2004.

NewMexiKen visited the Rio Grande Zoo Monday, a cool but not uncomfortable day (the rain and snow came in toward evening). With me were my daughter Emily and her daughter, my 16-month-old granddaughter, Kiley. The Zoo was quiet and nearly empty, seemingly as many caretakers as visitors.

We had already enjoyed the giraffes for a few minutes when a female came from the far side of the enclosure toward us. I commented to Emily that the giraffe was coming to see us.

Sure enough the giraffe came as close as she could, her head no more than five or six feet from our viewpoint. She seemed attracted to the baby, who was hungry about then and crying.

Kiley stopped crying when she saw the giraffe. We took some photos. The giraffe lost interest and wandered off.

Kiley also lost interest and resumed crying. Slowly, ambling as they do, but without hesitation, the giraffe, which by then had gone around a corner out of sight about 20 yards away, came back, if anything closer.

There was absolutely no doubt in our minds that the female giraffe was interested in the crying baby. I found myself talking to the giraffe, as one would to an intelligent house pet, reassuring her that the baby was fine. It was a conversation with considerable eye-to-eye contact.

The whole incident was extraordinary.

Dis ‘n dat

From time-to-time NewMexiKen has linked to mental_floss quizzes, the most recent just yesterday. Some of these quizzes are pretty difficult. I have a subscription to their magazine (thank you again Nora and Jason) and browsing through the letters to the editor I learned just how difficult. Last December they had a quiz about discontinued Ben & Jerry’s flavors. According to a letter, Jerry got just 8 of 10 correct.

More than a thousand page views yesterday (not counting feed readers) but just 12 votes for the day’s Oscar poll.

You will remember that Albuquerque’s Mayor Marty ordered the red light cameras off last week when the legislature passed a bill removing all profit from the city. He was, I guess, trying to bluff the governor in hopes of getting him to veto the bill. Yesterday the mayor ordered the program back on again citing the increase in infractions — and probably because the city council was threatening to overturn him. According to a local political reporter when the mayor “was asked about settling his differences with the Guv,” the mayor “said, ‘He’s got my cell number.'” He’s got your number all right.

Some snow overnight here at Casa NewMexiKen. Covered the bushes and trees, but not the pavement. The temp is above freezing. I haven’t seen any awesome photos of last night’s eclipse yet. If you see any, let me know.

I briefly posted an item yesterday about Lindsay Lohan’s photo shoot to see if I could generate a bunch of Google traffic, but after a few minutes I thought better of it. Just rely on the old standbys I thought — you know, Omarosa.

Some blogger swiped a photo of one of The Sweeties® to illustrate a post about a child spilling ice cream onto the court during an NBA game. I guess this guy was never a kid himself. Anyway, he gave the photo no credit and is using my bandwidth to post it. But, after consulting with the mom, I figured c’est la vie. I wonder if he even knows I know.

Duke City Perks

The movie, “Love Ranch” directed by Taylor Hackford, starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci, is hosting a free boxing event on Monday February 25 at Tingley Coliseum on the Expo New Mexico grounds. Doors open at 7 am. Come early as seating may be limited. Step back into the 70s, catch Hollywood’s eye and be part of the filming. Come looking your 70s best. Special prizes will be awarded for best 70s hair, best 70s wardrobe and best 70s car. The boxing event will consist of three bouts over a 12-hour period starting at 8 am. Willy Villanueva will headline against Lorenzo Estrada, Archie Ray Marquez against Ceasar Valenzuela and a final bout with Joe Cruz against Jose Garcia. “Love Ranch” will be filming a staged boxing match at the same time, with stars Sergio Peris-Mencheta and Bo Brown as they face off in a climatic scene with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren. Those in attendance will be part of the filming.

Albuquerque City News

“‘Love Ranch’ is a fictional story that draws on many truths about Nevada’s extremely successful Brothel Industry. Charlie & Grace Bontempo (Joe Pesci & Helen Mirren) are a husband/wife team who own and run one of Nevada’s first legalized brothel ranches.”

Ignorance of the law

A year ago today Albuquerque imposed a ban on hand-held cell phones. One year. While there has been some reduction in the use of hand-held phones, seeing a driver with a phone held to their ear is still commonplace.

Albuquerque’s mayor has picked a fight with the governor this week by halting the red-light camera program in mid-flash because the legislature approved a bill taking all the proceeds of the program. The mayor believes, I guess, that by suspending the cameras, he can strong-arm the governor into vetoing the bill. Of course, the argument that the red-light cameras have improved safety and reduced accidents takes a back seat to the politics. Either the program improves safety and halting it for political infighting is grossly irresponsible or the mayor has been lying about the safety all along.

My suggestion is, if you want revenue, get rid of the horrible cameras and all their technological and administrative problems and enforce the hand-held cell phone prohibition instead.

Running From Despair

An interesting article in The New York Times on American Indian runners. It begins:

SANTA FE, N.M. — On a cold Saturday morning last month, 16-year-old Chantel Hunt ran across a highway onto a gravel road where the snow under her shoes packed into washboard ripples. She ran around a towering red rock butte, past two old mattresses dumped on the roadside, and into the shadow of a mesa she sometimes runs on top of.

Chantel Hunt, 16, training for the national cross-country championships near her home on the Navajo reservation.
Hunt, a high school junior and a resident of the Navajo Nation, was on a short training run for the national cross-country championships being held Saturday in San Diego. Her team, Wings of America, has risen to prominence with an unlikely collection of athletes. It is a group of American Indians from reservations around the country, and a Wings team has won a boys or a girls national title 20 times since first attending a championship meet in 1988.

“You say Wings of America to anyone in the running community — it’s synonymous with the best Native American runners,” said Eric Heins, the cross-country and distance coach at Northern Arizona University, a program that has benefited from having Wings runners in recent years.

American Indians have especially high rates of youth suicide, Type 2 diabetes and deaths attributed to alcoholism, and extreme poverty is pervasive on many reservations. Wings of America, a 20-year-old nonprofit organization based here, has embraced the challenge.