Things That Suck About ABQ

It can't all be roses and wine, now, can it? Of course not. In fact, I foresee me discovering new things that bother me about my new city in the future, so I think I shall make this a regular topic. Without further ado, let's get down and dirty.

Aside from the previously mentioned frontage road system and slow drivers in ABQ, one other aspect of driving around town has come to bother me greatly. It is the selection of radio stations out here. It stinks. Bad. I can spend a half hour surfing through all the channels and not find one good song to listen to. I suppose if I was into Country or Christian Rock I would be good, since there are, oh, a dozen or so of EACH to pick from on the dial. Even the public radio is awful, with very little news or reporting and mostly soft jazz and muzak all day. It makes for a very frustrating time running kids to and from school.

Lumped in with my general automobile issues is the selection of license plates we have to choose from. I am in the process of registering the van and, having decided that I don't like the two standard options of plates, seen here, and here, I figured I would get a custom plate. Most of them are boring, ugly, or for things I am not involved in. I am leaning towards getting a Children's Trust Fund plate, because it is cute, for a good cause, and NOT yellow.

Next up is something that isn't specific to ABQ, but since I would not be dealing with this problem if it weren't for moving here I will include it on my list. It is Bank of the West. Never before have I dealt with a bank so full of incompetent individuals! We opened our new accounts with them before leaving California, and at that time they misspelled our last name. We went in and corrected it. Got the ATM card, and it was wrong again. Went in and corrected it yet again. Then today I get a box of checks from them (finally) and there is Nathan's last name spelled wrong. AGAIN. I called and supposedly got it fixed but I have my doubts.

And last but not least, the chiles are driving me crazy. I love Mexican food, but I do not love spicy Mexican food. What can I say- I'm a wimp. I like a touch of heat but not so much that I can no longer taste my food. Unfortunately, everything here is so darn spicy! I have started to shy away from anything southwestern simply because I know it will be too spicy. And avoiding food with chiles in it is virtually impossible in this state. Even things that are so-called mild in heat are way too spicy for me. Locals say that I need to build up my tolerance yet I can't bring myself to light my tongue, throat, and stomach on fire every time I sit down to a meal. I'm tough, but not that tough.

A Pattern Emerges

It is Sunday morning, and I have fallen into a routine. Get up early (today it was 5:30am), get ready for the day and head out to Starbucks. Count the hot air balloons as I drive down the empty streets (11 balloons this morning), and cruise into Starbucks for a chai and a Sunday ABQ Journal. Back home I leisurely flip through the paper and sip my chai, readying myself for the day.

This sounds so relaxing and wonderful, doesn't it? It is, as long as I engage my selective hearing. With 4 kids, two of which are very early risers, there isn't much quiet even in the early morning hours. M and G both want food and attention, the tv is blaring and not getting any attention, and the older ones are bossing around the younger ones. I sit at the kitchen table, an island of calm (I wish) in the center of a raging sea of childhood antics. Sip, turn the page, sip, read. Repeat. After about 30 minutes, my selective hearing quits and I fold up the paper, put down my empty cup, and go back to the craziness of life as a mother of four.

After a month of disordered living, it is nice to see some regularity come into my schedule, even if it is only Sunday morning. That's a start, right? Each day gets closer to a level of normality and repetition for our lives here, and with it comes an increased sense of being at home. Our new lives are taking shape inside our new house, and it is good.

Psycho Pedestrians

What is it about 'querquians that makes them so insane when it comes to crossing the street? They don't care about silly little things like crosswalks, or street lights, or even oncoming traffic. Who cares if the crossing signals say do not cross- go ahead, cross the street! Four lanes of traffic going 50mph in both directions? No problem! Just trot on out there and ignore the cars as they screech to a halt.

And before anyone thinks I am exaggerating, all the people at Nate's office (who have all come from CA), make comments about "going native" and crossing the street without any regard to safety. It's like New Mexicans are so hopped up on chiles that they think they are invincible. Driving here is an adventure, that's for sure. Californians may have the market cornered on speeding, but ABQ has the market on dangerous streetwalkers, and not of the paid-by-the-hour kind.

PC L.A.? I Don't Think So

California has a reputation for being very Politically Correct. A good portion of the rest of the country views CA as being filled with tree-hugging, organic-eating, liberal-minded individuals. And while this is true for some areas in CA, in my experience most of it was NOT like that.

Now Albuquerque, this is not a city that one thinks of when you say "Politically Correct." People are more likely to think of cowboy boots, green chiles, and rednecks when they are envisioning ABQ. Though Duke City does have it's fair share of these fine upstanding citizens, it definitely leans more PC than any of the areas I lived in in CA.

Take, for example, the Farmer's Market here. Oh, wait- that's not a PC term! It is actually called a Grower's Market. Anyhow, I went there on Saturday for the first time since moving here and was looked at oddly by every single Grower because I did not bring my own bags. Yes, each stand had plastic bags stacked behind the counter. But you had to ASK for them, and then get "The Look" while they bagged your organically grown, sustainably produced purchases. 98% of the people at the market brought their own bags, and not plastic either- there were Trader Joes cloth bags, Whole Foods cloth bags, Enviro Sacs, you name it. Even several of those super-cute baskets from the movie Kitchen Confidential. I lust after those baskets, but with the amount of produce I buy at the, ahem, GROWER'S Market, I'd need 5 or so. A wagon or stroller is needed to carry all of my purchases from stand to car.

One other aspect of ABQ I am enjoying is the diversity of our neighborhood. Across the street is a family of Indian descent, next to them is a middle-eastern family (I confess to ignorance on their specific country of origin because I have not yet asked, but they served me these fantastic authentic pine-nut pies that were to die for), and next to them a Chinese family is moving in. On the street behind us is a household with two moms and two kids, and several other families of various ethnicity's that we have yet to meet. I felt like our old neighborhood in CA was a bit boring, only Caucasians and Latinos, but here our community is a delicious melting pot. I am more than happy to stir the pot and take lots of tastes!

Pictures!

Here are a couple of pics of my girls on their first day of school. Notice that E has to wear a uniform, haha! Both older kids have uniforms for school, which I am glad about and they are not.

Busy-ness

E is famous! E's Girl Scout Troop in CA participated in San Diego Zoo's Cans for Critters earlier this year, and now there is a picture of their troop up on the website.

This reminds me that I need to look into Girl Scouts out here for her, as well as LLL for me, and also get our vehicles registered, get new driver's licenses, find Dr's for all of us, transfer all of our prescriptions... And a thousand other little things that I have not done yet for all of the fun I have been having decorating our house. I guess the fun is over and now it is time to get to work!

Speaking of work, Nate goes back on Monday, the first day on the job here and his first day of work in 4 weeks. It has been very nice having him home, and I will miss all of his help with the kids. At the same time, though, I am looking forward to taking the next step in our lives here by settling into a routine during the days. Lately it has been rather haphazard, and that equals stress. I am in desperate need of a vacation!

Since a vacation is not in the cards, instead Nate and I will be going on a date on Saturday. Our Sales Rep has two daughters that both babysit, and we are having one of them over while we catch a movie. This is a new experience for us, having never had to use a babysitter for our children before since we lived so close to family. If we want to have a date in Duke City, then this is the way it is going to be!

First Days of School

Yesterday was M's first day of school at her new preschool. She was so excited to go and could not wait to get back into a classroom. When I dropped her off, she said goodbye and ran right in the door, no nervousness or trepidation at all. Upon picking her up, the teacher said she did just fine and also commented that M really, really likes to talk. Really likes it. No surprise there!

Today is E's first day of school. She, being 8, is much more nervous about it than the 3yo was. You've got to love little kids- they can feel at home anywhere. E, on the other hand, is nervous to the point of almost being scared. I feel so bad for her, and also understand perfectly. I vividly remember starting 8th grade in CA after moving from Ohio, and I was petrified. It all worked out, but it was rough going for a few weeks. I hope E can make the adjustment faster than I did.

In other news, things are going swimmingly here. I am painting (still) and working on getting the house livable. We finally got Direct TV last night, and can finally watch something other than Barbie movies. The dogs got loose while the installer was here, and the people that caught them were able to track us down on the Internet using only one of the dogs' first name and our old phone number. Kinda freaky how easy people can find you, even if they have no idea who you are. They were incredibly nice people, and fell in love with my goofball dogs.

Over the weekend I bought a new bike so I can join in bike rides with the kids around the neighborhood. I have not been on a bike with any regularity since I was a young teenager, and it felt rather strange to climb on one now. E and I went out for a ride last evening, and after ten minutes I was DONE. We live at the top of a hill of sorts, so riding away from the house is easy. Riding back is where the hard work comes in, and when you add in the fact that I am not only out of shape but also overweight AND riding at high altitude (we are around 5500ft high here), and it was sort of pathetic, in a funny way. Needless to say, I will be going on more rides and trying to get back in shape so I can enjoy the area more.

Family Dinner

One of the huge perks of our new living accommodations is that we can finally all sit down at the table together and eat dinner. A simple thing, really, the gathering of the family at the table to enjoy a meal and each other's company at the end of the day. In our old house, this was not possible due to the small size of our kitchen. Here we have nothing but space and can easily fit at our table, which has been enjoyable and often humorous.

Take, for example, tonight's entertainment- upon setting the food out on the table, we all sit down and say Grace. It varies from day to day who says it, and what is said, but it always starts with "Dear Heavenly Father." At least it always USED to start with that, until tonight when M said she wanted to say Grace. We all held hands, bowed our heads, and then she began.

"Dear Harry Potter," said M.

Nate and I had the hardest time not laughing hysterically at this. She is but three, and tries very hard to speak like an adult. As you can see, things that are plainly understandable to us can often get parsed out incorrectly in her mind.

In other news, the common areas of the house are all painted and beautiful! Unfortunately, though, my custom ordered blinds arrived and are the wrong shade for our paint. And since they are custom ordered, I can not return them. And they were oh so stinking expensive. Looks like we'll be using Lowe's cut-to-fit blinds next, hah!

The Fine Albuquerque Police Department

Nate got pulled over the other day for speeding. He was on his way to the new house from the hotel, and was late meeting the movers. So naturally he was going a wee bit faster than he should have to try and get here faster. One of ABQ's finest pulled him over on I40, and gave him a severe tongue lashing.

(According to Nate, he had an accent like Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard, so hear that voice in your head while you read this to get the full effect.)

Cop: "What do you think you are doing driving like that?!"

Nate: "Sorry, I know I was going too fast. I am late to meet the movers at my new house."

Cop: "That's no excuse for speeding. I caught you going over 80 in a 65!! That is RIDICULOUS!!!!! YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE!!!!!"

Nate: "I know, I'm sorry, it was wrong."

Cop: "I know you people in California drive all crazy, but in Albuquerque we follow the laws! And now that you live here you better follow the laws too!!! I've got my eye on you, son. Now git!"

Yes, Nate got away with no ticket, only a lecture. He was lucky, LOL, and now he drives a bit slower.

I'm not entirely sure that the cop had an accent like that, but it sure does make the story more interesting.

On a side note, Albuquerque Magazine just had a feature about how much people get paid in and around ABQ. A police officer for the APD is listed as making 20K a year. Kind of low for a person that is responsible for protecting the safety of thousands of people, don't you think? And how do we explain that the head football coach for UNM makes over 900K a year, plus expenses? Priorities, people!

Sherwin-Williams Loves Me

My new favorite store is Sherwin-Williams. It is so much my favorite store that the people there call me by my first name and I by theirs. It's sort of like Cheers- I walk in the door and everyone hollers "Nicole!" It's nice to have them be so happy to see me and so helpful. Of course, considering that I dropped a grand there today alone, and have been in there almost every single day since last weekend buying supplies, they have good reason to treat me well. And yes, I even have a cash account with them that gets me a discount on each purchase.

As for what I am painting, so far the only finished room is the boys' bathroom. I painted it a light steel gray, and they have red and pewter towels, red rugs, and stainless steel accessories in there. Now I need to find a couple pieces of art for the wall and it will be finished. The girls' bathroom is posing a bigger challenge for me- it is a jack-and-jill bath, with three separate rooms. The color is a soft lavender, and their rugs and towels are celery green and storm blue. The shower curtain has soft stripes of blue, green, and purple on it, hence the colors for everything else. Their accessories are cool multi-colored affairs in blue-green-purple. I have painted only one part of the three rooms so far, sadly.

We decided to hire a painter to do our ground floor living area and also the upstairs common areas as well. At the rate I get a room painted, it would take me a couple of months to get these areas done! With cellular shades coming in two weeks, we need to have these areas painted now. Carlos starts tomorrow, and in a week we should have chocolate gray walls downstairs and sage green walls upstairs. During the time he is painting, I plan on painting as well, finishing the girls' bath, then doing G's room, and then M's. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

Bits and Pieces

We have spent a lot of time driving around town the past week, buying supplies for our new house. During this time I have made several observations about New Mexico that I want to share. First off is the drivers. They have this annoying habit of driving close to the speed limit! What's up with that? We all know in CA that, more important than following the speed limit, the golden rule of driving is to keep up with the flow of traffic. Which sort of gives Californians a license to drive as fast as they want. In New Mexico, on the other hand, when the speed limit says 65 it is rare to find anyone going over 70. And as soon as the speed limit changes, everyone slows down. My California lead foot is having trouble adjusting.

This leads nicely into the ABQ freeway system, although I think people refer to it properly by the name "Interstate" around here. There are two main interstates going through town, the East-West I40 and the North-South I25. On either side of both of these freeways are frontage streets that funnel traffic onto and off of the freeways. At first glance, this seems like a smart idea- keep traffic moving, make it easy for people to get on and off the freeways, etc. The reality is far different. When the frontage streets are 5 or 6 lanes across and there is 50 yards to get from the right lane of merging traffic onto the frontage street to the left lane for merging traffic to the freeway, things get hairy. And often slow. There is a lot of confusion, and not just on my part- I've seen some interesting lane changes and driving tricks on the part of natives as well. Hah!

With no transition whatsoever, we will move on to food. Yes, this is the southwest. Yes, there is a lot of southwest and spicy food around here. And when you see something on a menu that includes chile of any kind, know that it is going to be hot, even if the server says it is mild. Evidently these people cut their baby teeth on raw hatch chiles, because they love their spicy food! And you can get your chile sauce two ways- red or green, or both, which they call Xmas style. Oh, and every restaurant has chopped green chiles you can add to your food. And I mean every single restaurant- Carl's Jr? Yup. McDonald's? Yup. Denny's and IHOP? Yes and yes. And even Papa John's, where in addition to jalapenos you can get chopped green chiles and banana peppers on your pizza. With more on the side. This is a spicy town!

A spicy sign I saw at the Lube Express the other day- "If Lubin' You is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right." At least people have a sense of humor here too.