Category: Albuquerque & New Mexico

Driver’s Ed

I had to attend six hours of Driver Improvement School (DIS) in Albuquerque this week and wanted to share with the NewMexiKen readers a few facts I learned in case you don’t have the occasion to attend:

  • In Albuquerque it is illegal to make a U-turn at commercial intersections (defined as any intersection that has a commercial establishment on any of the four corners and/or has a green arrow left turn light).
  • The recently installed traffic light cameras and recently implemented van cameras result in fines between $100 and $400 but are not reported to the state. They are violations of a city ordinance and are producing an incredible amount of revenue to the city, but do not have the same consequences as state violations. (Seems to make you think that if you can afford the fines it is OK to speed and run lights.)
  • There is a spray that you can place on your license plate that prevents the cameras from reading the plate.
  • One way to stay awake while driving when you get tired is to “smoke a joint” (which the same participant that shared this with the class proceeded to do at the break in the parking lot).
  • I seemed to be in the minority of participants because I did not carry a gun in my vehicle.
  • Last and one of the more important items I learned was that if you don’t speed on airport ramps you don’t have to attend DIS.

I must admit, I did not learn all of the above items from the instructor and the class was certainly not boring. In all sincerity, the class was a reminder that we should all slow down, be courteous to other drivers and be more attentive while driving.

[Post by a NewMexiKen reader. Personally, I just pay the fine and stay ignorant.]

Tumacácori National Historical Park (Arizona)

A typical newmexiken.com blog includes a national park or monument. This URL is for the Tumacácori National Historical Park near Tucson, Az.

The New Mexico connection with this park is the “Mission 2000 Database” which contains historical and genealogical information on Juan Baptista de Anza, New Mexico’s Governor from 1776-1786. His wife, Anna Perez Serrano, is the great aunt to many current New Mexicans.

Tumacacori

[Post by a NewMexiKen reader. I added the photo. NMK]

The debate rages

Well, debate rages is overstating it, but the debate is certainly heated — how shall New Mexico apportion its second area code?

Yep, here we are, the fifth largest state, and we are all in the same telephone area code — 5-0-5. And we are running out of numbers (I guess 10 million combinations isn’t enough for 2 million people).

Should they just assign the new code to new numbers? Should they divide the state into two codes? Which part of the state has to change? What about all the businesses with 505 as part of their identity? Who will pay for all the new letterhead and business cards and advertising materials? However will we cope? Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

What’s scary I think is the second code — 5-7-5. 5-oh-5 and 5-seven-5. Doesn’t that seem likely to lend itself to confusion? A quick glance at the national map and I couldn’t find any other propinquity like that.

Maybe we should accept the reality of the second code and just ask for a more distinct number. How about 6-6-6?

So, I wasn’t alone

NewMexiKen wasn’t the only one who thought carding grandpas was stupid.

Some people who sell alcoholic beverages seem to be taking the state’s requirements for proof of age too seriously.

Since 2004, the state has received complaints about people older than 50 — including one 80-year-old man — being carded.

“We commend people for taking the legal age seriously,” state Regulation and Licensing Superintendent Ed Lopez said.

While it can be difficult to tell a 20-year-old from someone who is 21 or even 30, “when you get to be 50 or 80, it’s clear,” he said.

Recent complaints prompted Gary Tomada, head of the state Alcohol and Gaming Division, to send a memo to about a thousand alcohol license holders across the state last week.

Licensees should feel confident that if they serve alcohol to people over 50 years old who don’t have identification and who are not intoxicated, the Regulation and Licensing Department won’t enforce citations issued against them, Tomada said.

State law requires that places that serve alcohol shall refuse to sell or serve alcohol to anyone who cannot produce an identity card showing they are older than 21.

— AP via Albuquerque Journal

Perhaps those that sell alcohol fear Dorian Gray will put one over on them.

Ernie Pyle

… was born on this date in 1900. Until he was killed by enemy fire in April 1945, Pyle “blogged” World War II for millions of Americans.

From The New York Times obituary.

Ernie Pyle was haunted all his life by an obsession. He said over and over again, “I suffer agony in anticipation of meeting people for fear they won’t like me.”

No man could have been less justified in such a fear. Word of Pyle’s death started tears in the eyes of millions, from the White House to the poorest dwellings in the country.

President Truman and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt followed his writings as avidly as any farmer’s wife or city tenement mother with sons in service.

Mrs. Roosevelt once wrote in her column “I have read everything he has sent from overseas,” and recommended his writings to all Americans.

For three years these writings had entered some 14,000,000 homes almost as personal letters from the front. Soldiers’ kin prayed for Ernie Pyle as they prayed for their own sons.

NewMexiKen has before posted this quote from Pyle, but why not do so again on his birthday, and because there’s no place like home.

Yes, there are lots of nice places in the world. I could live with considerable pleasure in the Pacific Northwest, or in New England, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, or in Key West or California or Honolulu. But there is only one of me, and I can’t live in all those places. So if we can have only one house — and that’s all we want — then it has to be in New Mexico, and preferably right at the edge of Albuquerque where it is now. Ernie Pyle, January 1942

Pyle’s home on Girard SE is now a branch of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System.

Random thoughts while driving around

A beautiful evening in Albuquerque, about 80º at sunset. The sun shining through the clouds just before it went down reminded me of the depiction of heaven and God in my childhood parochial school religion books.

Saw an Albuquerque Fire Department truck imprinted with big letters “HEAVY RESCUE.” I didn’t even want to think about what heavy rescue could be. It was a big truck, solid — looked like a big red toolbox.

Which reminds me, I’m glad I live in a city with red firetrucks like God intended.

It’s remarkable how a few inches of rain turns the desert green in such a short time. Oh I know, it isn’t green like Ireland or New Zealand, it’s perhaps only green to us, but it sure is nice. Very nice.

We have irrigated green in Albuquerque (trees and grass and such). I’m talking about the mountains or the empty fields, such as the Sandia Pueblo land just north of Casa NewMexiKen; the prettiest drive in town — Tramway from the turn to the casino, the bison an added bonus.

Read today that United Airlines turned a profit for the first time in a long time this quarter. Good for them, though in my opinion they could have gotten there a lot sooner if they didn’t send me a credit card solicitation in the mail every other day. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the credit card companies just assumed we had all the credit cards we wanted — lord knows we have all we need — and put a moratorium on mailings?

My mail arrived yesterday at 6:42 PM. Today it was more normal, just after 5 I think. Isn’t this ridiculous? And where’s my New Yorker?

New Mexico’s worst intersections

New Mexico’s ten worst intersections ranked by number of collisions. The first nine of these are in Albuquerque, the last is in Española.

Intersection Total 2004 2003 2002
Coors & Paseo del Norte 430 187 123 120
Montgomery & Wyoming 342 92 130 120
Montgomery & San Mateo 339 99 118 122
Jefferson & Paseo del Norte 321 129 105 87
Coors & Irving 294 104 93 97
Coors Bypass & Ellison 288 95 101 92
Coors Bypass & Seven-Bar Loop 262 82 80 100
Coors & Quail 254 103 80 71
Montgomery & Eubank 227 83 71 73
NM 584 & Riverside Dr. 224 74 71 79

Update: Here are Albuquerque’s 25 busiest intersections, ranked by daily volume in 2004. Those listed above are indicated with #.

  1. #MONTGOMERY/WYOMING 85,264
  2. #MONTGOMERY/SAN MATEO 84,999
  3. MENAUL/SAN MATEO 84,111
  4. #JEFFERSON/PASEO DEL NORTE 83,830
  5. COORS/OURAY 79,420
  6. PAN AMERICAN WEST/PASEO DEL NORTE 77,957
  7. MENAUL/WYOMING 77,856
  8. LOMAS/SAN MATEO 77,321
  9. #COORS/IRVING 77,170
  10. #COORS/QUAIL 74,201
  11. LOUISIANA/MENAUL 73,406
  12. COORS/MONTANO 72,195
  13. ACADEMY/WYOMING 71,609
  14. EUBANK/LOMAS 71,095
  15. #EUBANK/MONTGOMERY 70,443
  16. CENTRAL/SAN MATEO 69,124
  17. #COORS BYPASS/ELLISON 68,586
  18. COORS/COORS BYPASS 66,181
  19. EUBANK/MENAUL 65,679
  20. LOMAS/WYOMING 65,345
  21. PAN AMERICAN EAST/PASEO DEL NORTE 64,031
  22. JUAN TABO/LOMAS 63,574
  23. CANDELARIA/SAN MATEO 63,514
  24. MONTGOMERY/PAN AMERICAN EAST 63,222
  25. CARLISLE/MENAUL 62,935

Source: MRCOG

Paseo del Norte and Coors is not among the busiest, though it has had the most collisions. Beware! (And there is a traffic camera there to nab light runners.)

Hot? Not here

The warmest it has been during the past five days in Albuquerque is just 84º (it’s only 68º at Casa NewMexiKen late Tuesday morning, though the humidity is 98%). The high temperature so far this summer is 98º (twice in June, once in July).

The inch-plus of rain (officially) yesterday took the July total to 3.55 inches. Droughts are long-term and depend more on snow-pack than anything, so a few inches of rain doesn’t change much, but it sure is nice.

[Update: It was the wettest July here in 75 years of official record-keeping.]

Places to go, people to see

Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the internet travel agent Orbitz “predicts five outstanding locations that should be on everyone’s must see list in the five years to come!”

Shanghai, China …

Albuquerque, New Mexico

With its hot climate and a variety of world class resorts rising in the area, Albuquerque continues to grow in popularity and charm. Ever dream of seeing hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky at the same time? Visit Albuquerque during its International Balloon Fiesta. Held from October 6 through 15, the Balloon Fiesta is the largest event of its kind in the world welcoming around 750 balloons each year. Balloon rides are available for travelers that not only want to watch, but participate. Albuquerque also has many year round activities, making it a blossoming tourist destination. Visitors can explore the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and “Old Town.” The Cultural Center provides an introduction to New Mexico’s Native American heritage while Old Town is the core of the old Spanish colonial settlement. Old Town features the historic San Felipe de Neri Church along with many craftsman, artists and restaurants with authentic New Mexican cuisine.

Reykjavik, Iceland …

New Orleans, Louisiana …

Cape Town, South Africa …

Albuquerque update

A year ago today NewMexiKen wrote three things I would change about Albuquerque.

The first was change the name of the local community college. That’s been done, it’s now Central New Mexico Community College.

Third was restore the original spelling of the name of the city — until the Anglos came it was Alburquerque, with the first and now absent “r”. As I said last year, why not be authentic? Most people that don’t live here can’t spell Albuquerque anyway, so what’s another letter. But I was just being glib.

Second on my list last July 26, was the only item I truly cared about. Let me quote myself:

America’s third longest river passes through the entire length of the city from north to south. And yet, at no place along the river can one stroll at the river’s edge. Yes, there are paths parallel to the river through the bosque (groove) that borders the river, and one can occasionally push aside the bushes and bugs and find the river’s edge. But nowhere can one stroll, or paddle, or stop and drink some wine or enjoy some New Mexican cuisine and watch the river roll by. With lesser rivers, San Antonio and even Oklahoma City have made attractive river walks. Why not here?

So far as I know, nothing has been done during the year to allow even a tiny bit of development along the Rio Grande (and a tiny bit is all I would advocate). In another forum in fact, I was struck by how impossible this is deemed — as if the Politburo in Santa Fe has forbidden even its discussion.

Our single biggest attraction remains not just under-utilized, but impossible to utilize. I find that sad.

Light show

A pleasant rain falling now late Wednesday at Casa NewMexiKen after the rather spectacular light and sound show earlier. Flash, boom in all directions from here near the Sandia Mountains.

The warnings have been on television during the week — during a lightning storm avoid “the telephone, taking a shower [or bath], washing your hands, doing dishes, or any contact with conductive surfaces with exposure to the outside such as metal door or window frames, electrical wiring, telephone wiring, cable TV wiring, plumbing, etc.” (NOAA)

Cell phones are, of course, OK if you are inside, but some are now saying don’t use them outside during an electrical storm.

And we think we’re so special with all our modern gadgets. Along comes a storm, and we’re helpless.

The power of incumbency

Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Bingaman has nearly $1.8 million stockpiled for his re-election campaign, providing him with a large fundraising advantage over his Republican challenger, Allen McCulloch.

McCulloch, a Farmington physician, had a cash balance of $2,487 in his campaign account at the end of June, according to the latest federal campaign finance reports.

AP via The Albuquerque Journal.

Thanks to ‘Burque Babble, who has a good post on the power of incumbency and some “interesting” suggestions for what the Senator could due with the money.

Asinine (and counter productive)

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?

Soccer championship

And you thought the World Cup was it for high-level soccer. No, indeed not. The Albuquerque Asylum FC (I have no idea why they thought Asylum* was a good name) will play the Sacramento Knights this Saturday evening in Albuquerque for the Western Division championship of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). The winner advances to the national championship.

The NPSL is an 18 team league — eight franchises are in California (from Chico to San Diego), but other locations include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneota, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Princeton and, obviously, Albuquerque. The rosters include current and former college players, some I’m told as old as, gasp, 30.

NewMexiKen knows a few of the players and has attended three or four matches including last Saturday’s semi-final 1-0 win over San Diego Fusion. It was a hard-played, aggressive, exciting contest before 4,000 equally aggressive fans.

This week’s championship took on a new cast during the week when the Sacramento team asked that the match be rescheduled to Sacramento, as they were, they said, the better team and they didn’t want to play at Albuquerque’s altitude. Fortunately, the league stood by its schedule. Come on up Sacramento. Bring oxygen.

Saturday, 7:30 at Menaul School, tickets $5. Come early, it was packed last week.

* Asylum = A place offering protection and safety; a shelter.

Take me out to the ballgame

NewMexiKen watched the Albuquerque Isotopes hold on to beat the New Orleans Zephyrs 3-2 last night in the second game of a doubleheader (New Orleans won the first game—a make-up of Tuesday’s rainout—7-6).

It was a beautiful evening at the ballpark, if a touch warm with the temperature in the high 80s and the humidity up. Other than a few stand out plays (the ‘Topes had two triples and an unassisted double play), the highlight for the crowd of 8,400 was singing “Y-M-C-A” after “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the fifth inning stretch (they play 7-inning games in the PCL when they play two). For the many, many little people, the highlight seemed to be singing the “Sponge Bob Square Pants” theme when, for some reason, it was played.

And, as the Isotopes were named by Homer Simpson, we also have: Da-da-ta-da, ta-da, Marge!

NewMexiKen has been to many major league games in 14 big league parks, and there is nothing quite like it. But for pure recreational value, I’ll take the ‘Topes. Parking was free, for $11 each at the ticket window we got seats in the tenth row behind the first base dugout, food and drinks were good if just a little pricey, and we got to see the taco beat the red chile and the green chile in the race around the infield.

Why me?

For the third time in the life of NewMexiKen’s five-year-old Lexus it had to pass an emissions test to renew the registration. Each time, with me $25 or $30 poorer, it’s passed — of course it does, I’ve read that 95% of newer vehicles do.

So yesterday, I went to a local iffy lube type place where they weren’t busy, were very friendly and got me out in less than 10 minutes. I came home and detached the coupon from the test results, made out the check for $51 for one year’s registration, and mailed the envelope off. With tax, that’s nearly $80 for everything, but that’s a lot less than many states I know, so I was glad to have one more thing off my list.

Then this morning I get ready to put the rest of the emissions paperwork in with the registration and insurance forms in the glove compartment. I glance at it. There’s a typo in the license plate number.

Three letters, three numbers, how hard can it be to get it right? And why didn’t I have sense enough to check it over?

How much would you like to wager this will result in a trip to the dreaded MVD before it’s over?

More on Red Light Cameras

Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano addresses the red light cameras again, linking to an interesting, if long-winded, post by a retired Albuquerque law enforcement officer that Albuquerque car owners (and voters) should read, and to studies suggesting that intersections with the cameras tend to have an increase in accidents.

The Albuquerque cameras are at Montgomery and San Mateo, Montgomery and Wyoming, Montgomery and Eubank, Eubank and Lomas, and Paseo Del Norte and Coors.

Think I’ll stay off Montgomery.

Literary Guide to New Mexico: One Opinion

Philip Connors, the editor of the “New West Reader,” and a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico, recommends some reading. He begins:

New Mexico is a world of almost blinding clarity and color. The vistas are vast. The hot peppers are eye-watering when fresh and bright blood-red if left to dry. Summer sunsets nearly make you want to weep. A person could write a good guide to New Mexico merely by compiling a list of Hatch green chile recipes and cataloging the state’s fire lookouts — one of which I’m lucky enough to occupy, and where on a clear day I can see a dozen mountain ranges, some in Mexico and Arizona. Yet it’s the spooky human history pulsing just beneath the surface that makes New Mexico such a fascinating place; any real reckoning with the literature of the state has to involve a reckoning with genocide and apocalypse. It would also, ideally, be undertaken by a bilingual reader. Long before English dominated the written stories of the region, Spanish reigned supreme. Indeed, the original masterpiece of American writing appeared before America even existed. It was composed as a report for the king of Spain by a remarkable explorer with a wonderful name, Cabeza de Vaca, or “head of a cow.”

Connors choices:

The Narrative of Cabeza De Vaca by Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Last Cheater’s Waltz by Ellen Meloy
Songs of the Fluteplayer by Sherman Apt Russell

Any suggestions from NewMexiKen’s readers?