I'm Scared

I went to the MVD Express today to finish getting my new registration on our van. Sadly, I had to go with the dorky hot air balloon license plate, since the MVD Express is a licensed outside contractor that provides motor vehicle services for the real department of motor vehicles, along with a convenience fee for people like me that go there. (I must admit, it is a brilliant idea- no long lines, no waiting weeks for appts, no rude people, it's awesome and worth every penny of additional cost!) I am now an official resident of the state, complete with driver's license and vehicle registration.

That, however, is not what I am scared of. Here's what got me going today- while getting my papers processed, a woman next to me was getting her driver's license renewed. Part of the procedure is a general eye exam to make sure you can read road signs and not kill the crazy people crossing the street in front of oncoming traffic. So this lady is taking the eye exam, and she keeps getting a lot of the letters wrong. The clerk asks her if she wears glasses, and the woman says yes but only for reading, otherwise her vision is fine. The clerk asks her to try again with a new batch of letters, and again, and again, until finally she says, "Close enough, I think you'll be fine."

WTH?

And THEN, as if this weren't enough, she gives the lady the option of a 4 year license or an 8 year, and the lady takes the 8 year! I wonder how bad her vision will be by the time those 8 years are halfway over? And to think she is out there sharing the road with thousands, and trying to navigate the psycho frontage road system and dodge insane pedestrians. My heart has palpitations just thinking about it.

Come on, people, it should be mandatory to Think and Drive!!!!

The Weather

Lately I have gotten several questions on what our weather has been like, so I figured I would take a moment to cover it here on the blog. First off, yes we live in the desert. Yes it does get hot. But it is high desert (we are over 5000ft in altitude here) so it's not like the Sahara or even Palm Springs. The Summer months of June-July-August are warm to hot, with the average high in the low 90's. Some days are hotter, some days are cooler. Nights are in the upper 60's to low 70's, which is nice after a hot day.

Now that we are moving towards Fall, the temperatures are going down. Highs are now in the 80's, with a day of low 70's and rain every so often. Nights are getting cooler too- last night our low was 50F. Today it will warm up to 88, and by next week we'll be back down in the 70's.

As for Winter, we have already been warned to buy a snow shovel before we need it. HOORAY! I do love me some snow, which I think means I will be the lucky one who gets to do the shoveling. ABQ does not get a lot of snow, and it usually only hangs around for a day at most. Every so often, though, they get a nice storm that can close schools for the day and require driveway clearing before we can leave the house. I can't wait!

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.