Archive for Uncategorized
In Memoriam
by John Weckerle
Tonight, I and the folks here mourn the passing of our family member and long-time friend, Steve Wansky, who died today in Columbus, Ohio. Steve was 64.
Steve was a kind and giving man who served in the military before moving on to become a teacher and football coach, a career that held him until his retirement. We’ll miss his warmth, his good nature, his sense of humor, and his ever-present friendliness. Our hearts go out to our sister-in-law Rena, who has been with him for many years and has had a good man taken from her suddenly and before his time.
Steve served his country and its young people for many years. We miss him already, and the world has lost a good, good man.
Holiday Spirits And The Spirit Of Innovation
by John Weckerle
Today brought the denizens of New Mexico Central headquarters a visit from several close friends for a small gathering of after-the-holiday relaxation. Quite a number of calories gave their lives for the cause, and several of us put our heads together and invented the new holiday drink craze for the second decade of the twenty-first century, which starts next Sunday.1
Lemon Franjoma (serves about six)
3 shots vodka (we used the Kirkland brand from Costco. We have been told this is made in a former Grey Goose distillery.)
1 shot creme de cacao
2 shots Bailey’s Irish Cream
6 slices of lemon dipped in sugar
Mix the first three ingredients in a shaker or similar vessel and pour into shot glasses. Begin by sucking a lemon slice, and then consume the contents of the shot glass.
We also viewed a short Christmas video produced by our good friend Jevon Campisi (who was unfortunately unable to join us), which is worth a look.
1There are some who will insist that the second decade of the twenty-first century started on the first of January this year. There are also some who will assert that the “millenium” and the twenty-first century began on January 1, 2000. Both positions are demonstrably incorrect; the correct dates are January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2001, respectively. There are those who will hem and haw and state the there are two ways of looking at the concept. We acknowledge this, and also acknowledge that one of them is dead wrong.
Of course, there are other cultures using other calendars which share neither the same “New Year’s Day” nor the same number for the year, which makes the entire preceding argument seem moot and just a tad silly. We acknowledge this. We’re still right, though.
Another Holiday Greeting
by John Weckerle
We’d like to take a moment and wish all of our readers who are celebrating Kwanzaa this year a very happy, joyous, and peaceful holiday!
And So This Is Christmas
by John Weckerle
Senior Consumer Affairs Consultant Wilson digs deep to get the answers.
The denizens of New Mexico Central headquarters are, finally, settling into a quiet and comfortable Christmas Eve – so far, at least, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed – with dinner nearly ready and presents wrapped and under the tree. The last of the lighting we’ll do for this year got finished this afternoon. As situations would have it, we’ll likely be the only ones seeing it this year – but we’ll enjoy it, and we’ll see about posting a picture if we don’t doze off too early.
Senior Consumer Affairs Correspondent Wilson has launched a “barker” investigation: What really lies at the bottom of the frozen dairy industry?
The time leading up to the holidays has been a bit of a challenge here; there have been some aggressive viruses, trips to the emergency room and thence to the hospital in general, and an important present that got lost – but, for the most part, all of this has been sorted out.
The most difficult part, though, is that we have a close family member who is unexpectedly fighting for his life. There has been a great degree of pessimism, but I do not share it, and thus far I have been right at every critical turn. Nobody is right all the time, but I’ve called it correctly each time so far and I am not giving up now. Any kind thoughts and prayers would, of course, be appreciated.
All that having been said, we wish all our readers who observe the holiday a happy, joyous, and loving Christmas!
Happy Thanksgiving
by John Weckerle
Today is one of those days on which we look at the past year and weigh it against past years, with an eye toward those things for which we hope to give thanks. For my part, I’m thankful for Lucy, and her mom, Cora; for Senior Correspondent Wilson and his articles; my father, who turned 80 this year; my sisters and their families, and my cousins and theirs; Lucy’s son and daughter and their families; Lucy’s brothers and their families, and her sisters-in-laws and theirs; and all the good friends I have made not just in the past year but over the past whole bunch of years. Together, all these people make up a grand and wonderful extended family, no matter how far away they may be.
I’m thankful for all the work I’ve had this year, even if it’s made things a little crazy from time to time, and the good folks for whom I’ve done the work and hope to do more. I’m thankful for the opportunity to work on the wolf captures and with Wildlife West Nature Park in general. I’m thankful for the time I’ve spent learning new things and collaborating with people who know different things than I do. I’m grateful for all the great things I’ve seen, especially those worth photographing. And, of course, I’m thankful for all of you, without whom New Mexico Central would be little more than a diary. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
And now, it’s time to start cooking!
Almost Over, But Not ‘Till It’s Over
by John Weckerle
We are pressed for time this morning, as we are heading out to help with a wolf capture, but thought we’d draw some attention to the latest in the “lies and counterclaims” department. In this installment, a recent ad by Congressional hopeful John Barela slams incumbent Martin Heinrich for getting a million dollars for a bar in which he has held fundraisers. It turns out to be nonsense: O’Neill’s applied for, and got, an SBA loan, a process that took two years. Check out the full story at MSNBC.
If You Can’t Stand The Heat…
by John Weckerle
…Eat your food raw.
There are of us, though, who do eat our food cooked from time to time. Your editor, who does not eat terrestrial meat and occasionally does eat seafood, is one of them – and he does also occasionally cook it in person. An important part of cooking is having an appropriate appliance in which to heat the food, especially if one is baking or broiling. We picked up such an appliance – the Cuisinart Convection/Broiler Toaster Oven currently on sale at Costco for $99.99 – this weekend, and gave it a run for its money. Not that much money, given the nature of the appliance, but it ran well on its first test – Pine Nut Crusted Halibut (yeah, right…like we’re giving you that recipe).
The Right Wing Nuts
Editor’s note/update: One of our readers, Dick Pledger of Edgewood, e-mailed us to let us know that we missed a detail here with respect to the size drill we used to make the holes for the bolts. It was a 5/16-inch bit, just a bit bigger than the 1/4-inch bolt; this makes it easy to get the bolt through but doesn’t allow any play that might throw off the level. We’ve added the detail to the body of the article. Thanks, Dick!
by John Weckerle
That does it; we think it’s high time to expose these wing nuts for what they really are…
Tijeras Arts Market End-Of-Season
by John Weckerle
This weekend brings the season’s closing to the Tijeras Arts Market, located at 488 East Highway 333 (Route 66), just west of the intersection with NM 337. The Market will be presenting an All Hallows Festival with arts, crafts, and live music from Breaking Blue, Big Sky, Lee Tyler Post, Dan McDermott, and Fonn Sona. Anand Naren (Oma) will be on hand with his trained goose. For more information, visit the Tijeras Arts Market web page.
Moving New Mexico Forward
(Editor’s Note: We found this timely given the letter by Vicki Farrar in this week’s edition of The Independent. We also refer our readers to our previous article on the subject.)
by U.S. Senator Tom Udall
As September comes to a close and autumn settles in, I’ve been looking back at the amazing things I’ve seen New Mexicans achieve this summer.
Over the last two months, I traveled around our state to see how people across New Mexico are using Recovery grants and other federal funding opportunities to create new jobs, boost our economy, strengthen our infrastructure and nurture innovation.
We’ve been hit hard by this recession, but our state’s resilience is showing in our small businesses and our entrepreneurs.
From Las Cruces to Taos, from Acoma to Santa Fe, I saw New Mexicans laying the groundwork for a prosperous future through projects big and small. Stops along my trip included:
Blurred Distinctions
by John Weckerle
As the silly season progresses, and the attack ads grow more desperate, we find that perhaps not everybody is as the campaign ads suggest. For example, Congressman Martin Heinrich is portrayed as a tax-and-spend Pelosi devotee in recent ads for challenger John Barela. Yet according to this press release from Mr. Heinrich’s office, he has proposed to make the Bush tax cuts for the middle class permanent and let the cut for the top 2% (by income) expire, with the revenue to be used for deficit reduction. According to the same press release, “Rep. Heinrich cosponsored legislation that reestablished the statutory “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) requirements that helped turn deficits into surpluses during the 1990s under the Clinton Administration. He also cosponsored the SAFE Commission Act, which would help balance long-term spending and revenue for the nation, and the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act, which would eliminate wasteful and unnecessary government spending.” This article in the New Mexico Independent indicates that at the same time that Mr. Barela has been touting his opposition to stimulus-type programs, he has been benefiting financially from exactly that sort of program. Now, we don’t fault Mr. Barela for taking advantage of these programs, but we do think it just a little disingenuous for him to attack his opponent as a “tax-and-spender” while both collecting from and promoting programs involving such spending at the State level. We also think he should answer the New Mexico Independent’s questions.
We’ve made it pretty clear that we don’t have much use for campaign ads as sources of information, and the examples above perhaps underscore that point. We acknowledge, with both resignation and disappointment, that most voters are probably going to be picking up a lot of their information from such ads and from sound bites presented by the media. For those looking for more information, there are other sources to consider.
Got Detail?
by John Weckerle
Just a few days ago, we posted an article on Jon Stewart’s upcoming Rally to Restore Sanity, to be held on October 30 in Washington, D.C. We found the CNN opinion article on this quite enjoyable, and thought we’d pass on the link.
We’ve been decrying the combativeness of this year’s political silly season, and are calling for candidates to drop some of the rhetoric and give us specifics on their proposals. In short, we’d like to hear about their proposals, and we’d like to hear specifics. We don’t mean vague statements about jobs, corruption, and so on, but the actual approach candidates intend to implement. These are important jobs, and many voters would like to know not just where candidates stand on issues, but how they intend to be effective in performing the duties to which they are elected.
White Wings Across America Event To Be Held On September 11 At Wildlife West
Tom Smylie of The Peregrine Fund releases doves at last year's event.
Public service announcement from Wildlife West Nature Park:
The second annual White Wings across America event will be held at Wildlife West Nature Park on September 11, 2010 in honor and memory of the police and fire rescue personnel that sacrificed their lives and/or service to our nation in time of great disaster. White doves will be released simultaneously all over America. Please join us for this event.
Thanks,
Roger Alink
Founder and Executive Director
AGENDA- Saturday September 11, 2010
- 9-11 ceremony at Wildlife West Nature Park- Free admission all day
- Ceremony at the Falcon Theater
- 9AM to 9:50 AM -Patriotic Music and police and fire units set up at falcon field –
- 10AM -Simultaneous Nationwide Dove release
- 10:05 AM –Comments by Mark Chavez- Fireman on Site at 911 aftermath
- 10:15 AM –Comments by Edgewood Police Chief James T. Daniels
- 10:25 AM- Prayer by Police Chaplain
- Snacks, social time and free park visitation all day
Mesalands Announces Graduates of Moriarty Pilot Project
Press release from Mesalands Community College: Mesalands Community College is pleased to announce that eight students from the Estancia Valley have recently completed a short course of customized training in wind energy technology. This pilot project was developed by Mesalands Community College, the Estancia Valley Economic Development Association, the New Mexico Workforce Connection of Central New Mexico, and the City of Moriarty, to provide qualified wind energy technicians for this growing industry.
“This was a fast pace and intense program!” John Hail, Jr., Director and Instructor of the Wind Energy Technology Program at Mesalands said. “I believe this course will open up many doors for these students that were unemployed and seeking employment opportunities in an exciting new field.”
The classes took place in Moriarty and in Tucumcari, NM. The last week of classes entailed training at the North American Wind Research and Training Center (NAWRTC), where students had the opportunity to climb the College’s 1.5 megawatt wind turbine located on campus.
Students involved in this short course learned the basics of electricity, mechanics, hydraulics, and turbine safety in addition to safety climbing and working on an industrial wind turbine. The classes were comprised of the first year’s technical courses and included two climbs of the wind turbine.
The graduates of this course: David “Brooks” Dempsey, Paul Garcia, Jacky Harris, Eric Padilla, Tom Padilla, Sheila Pettingill, Brian Phillips and Joe Torres, all obtained an Occupational Certificate in Basic Wind Energy Technology.
Additional information about Mesalands and NAWRTC can be obtained at 911 South Tenth Street in Tucumcari, or at (575) 461-4413, or on the Web at www.mesalands.edu/wind.
Crank It, Baby!
by John Weckerle
Just a little over a month ago we published an article written by Margarita Mercure Hibbs on the subject of cancer and the upcoming Estancia Valley Relay for Life. This is a cause that your editor and his business have supported in the past, and will continue to support in the future.
Rather surprisingly, we got a nasty response from somebody who signed on as “Abe” and made some particularly inflammatory statements. Our response was to inform Ms. Hibbs immediately – and to essentially accuse Abe of not being who he said he was and challenge him to back his allegations up. We thought our response was, frankly, more snide than any response that has ever come out of this operation. Even with a guarantee of anonymity, Abe was unAble (or unwilling) to respond. Armed with what information we had on Abe, we we did a little digging, but did not obtain anything that would be worth publishing. Ms. Hibbs did a very good job in putting the intrepid Abester in his place, and we agreed with everything Ms. Hibbs said. Now, we want to be clear: having essentially come to the conclusion on the basis of our perfunctory investigation and Abe’s writing style that Abe was nothing more than a crank – and having essentially called him a liar and issued a clear taunt on the opportunity to elaborate anonymously – we considered the matter closed. We have had some communication to the effect that there are those who do not consider it so, and that we should have taken the matter further. With nothing to follow up on, and with Abe’s nonsense definitively refuted, there seemed – and still seems – that there was little left to do.
We can see how people would be angry about what Abe had to say. Toning down our own response frankly took a heck of a lot of doing. We try, but do not always entirely succeed, to avoid too much angry expression here. We try to be at least a little courteous to those with whom we disagree – and we do tend to write off those who just rant without any logical argument. We have done that in Abe’s case, and would like to suggest that we all stop giving him the attention he was seeking.