Albuquerque New Mexico, or I got a new job

[Fraeg]

First off, all that shit they say about networking, it payed off in a big way for me.   Had the interview today and was offered the job following the interview.   I have been to New Mexico a few times but...

Anyone a NM native, has lived there, lived in Albuquerque, can recommend the areas not to live in etc?  My start date is June 1st so while I have a bit of time, it doesn't give me much time to putput along.

Any and all Albuquerque/NM input, feedback, scary stories, happy stories etc appreciated.

So anyways I am feeling  & to have landed a great job, that is a nice step up in this economy.

[Engels]

I lived in Santa Fe for 2 years. I can't comment on where to live in Albuquerque, but I can tell you that I found NM perhaps the most beautiful state in the union. You get good skiing relatively close by for a good portion of the year, mild summers with evening rains that clear by sundown to outrageous sunsets. The hiking is great year round, and there are so many national treasures about, from White Sands National Monument to Canyon Lands in Utah to the Anastazi ruins that you will never really run out of stuff to do outdoors.

Oh, and the food. Carne Adobada is all I have to say.

[Sheepherder]

Beware the wrath of god.

[Fraeg]

Engels, ya some of the things you mention are why I pounced on this job.

and yep I am definately looking forward to the food.

[Nija]

Prepare yourself for the green chili. It'll be on everything.

[Nebu]

The hiking is great year round, and there are so many national treasures about, from White Sands National Monument to Canyon Lands in Utah to the Anastazi ruins that you will never really run out of stuff to do outdoors.

Oh, and the food. Carne Adobada is all I have to say.

This. 

Yes... I'm jealous.  Congrats and enjoy!

[justdave]

Prepare yourself for the green chili. It'll be on everything.

Yes, but at it will be real Hatch green chile! Man, I miss that. And not chili, that's something totally different. Yes, there will be a quiz after you cross the border. ;) If you don't dislike Texans, you'll at least have to pretend or get deported. And while you're far enough away from the gulf for hail not to be as big a problem as it is in Texas, prepare for the textbook example of 'sudden, torrential downpour avec window-rattling thunder'.

EDIT: Oh, and Congrats! 

[schild]

I miss the hatch green chili so much. Texas just doesn't do it. Like, at all.

[justdave]

I feel that!
At least, the last place I was gainfully employed, there was a gal there that was from Alberquerque, so we would order ten-pound lots of frozen roasted green chiles from Hatch, and split them. I'm hoping that when i achieve gainful employ again, there's someone there who has taste, since I have a small freezer. :)

[Signe]

I worked two winters at Taos Ski Valley when I was 18 and I lived in Albuquerque and Santa Fe (back and forth) for a couple of years.  I wasn't crazy about Albuquerque but I loved Santa Fe.  I lived in an awesome house in the Manzano mountains for a year, too, that I still think about and miss.  Huge adobe with foot thick walls and a courtyard full of cactus.  The sky is beautiful in New Mexico, especially when you live up in the mountains and the nights are pitch black.  New Mexico turned me into a star gazer.  I think you can now grow magic mushrooms legally for personal use.  They have peyote too, which never actually worked because I can't keep it down long enough.  Bleh.   Anyway.  Santa Fe has got very touristy.  Especially around the Plaza.  It's still worth looking around there.  Canyon Road used to be very cool.  Lots of galleries and artsy fartsy shops.  I still have a lot of lovely jewelry that I never wear.  My mother once met Dustin Hoffman in the middle of the Plaza though he's probably wandered off by now. 

I didn't know how to break that up into paragraphs.  It's like every sentence should be it's own paragraph.  Sorry!  If it's any consolation, it's exactly as I would have said it out loud.

[justdave]

From my youth, I remember Alberquerque being the place that was on the news a couple nights a week (at least) as having a murder, and from my visit to Santa Fe, I recall it being too terminally...Not hip...Artsy? I'll forever think of it as 'The overpriced town where all the movie stars live.'  Though, admittedly,  it was up in those trees that surprised visitors, as they apparently had this mental image of New Mexico as the Sahara.
When I left you could only grow/partake of peyote if you're a dru - Er, Native American. Uhh...Legally. Wow, I need to look and see if that's changed!

[Bunk]

I'll admit, when you say New Mexico, I picture a big flat desert with big flat rock formations, a la Road Runner cartoons.

[Signe]

I think peyote is sort of legal but only for American Indian religious thingys.  I don't know what you were going to say by "dru-".  Druid, maybe?  Though I never heard about druids and peyote.  But kudos to Indians, druids and George Braque for being able to keep the nasty stuff down!  I would have loved to been able to do that - really just for the sake of experience.      But I think magic mushrooms are actually okay to grow for your own use. 

Santa Fe is over priced because it's touristy and quaint.  There's a lot to see in the town centre, too.  I lived for about half a year literally steps from the Plaza.  I have driven around it the wrong way several times!  I like Santa Fe, but it really is too crowded and over priced these days.  When I was young, it wasn't nearly as bad. 

I wasn't in New Mexico long and I did move around a lot, but it's a lovely place and fun to spend time in.  The places you might not want to live in will be pretty evident.  Lots of suburbs in the NE of Albuquerque are considered the nicer areas, especially if you have kids.  There are plenty of smaller towns and developments that are outside of Albuquerque, too.  Personally, I'd rather go rustic and find a place in the mountains or go for some of the areas that are more interesting but might not be as sterilised as NE Albuquerque.  I used to make the 60 mile drive from Santa Fe twice a day because I just wasn't nuts about Albuquerque in comparison to other places. 

[slog]

First off, all that shit they say about networking, it payed off in a big way for me.   Had the interview today and was offered the job following the interview.   I have been to New Mexico a few times but...

Anyone a NM native, has lived there, lived in Albuquerque, can recommend the areas not to live in etc?  My start date is June 1st so while I have a bit of time, it doesn't give me much time to putput along.

Any and all Albuquerque/NM input, feedback, scary stories, happy stories etc appreciated.

So anyways I am feeling  & to have landed a great job, that is a nice step up in this economy.

What's the job?

[stray]

Great state to live in. Grats. Definitely not the desert Bunk envisions. It's pretty diverse.

That's all I can say. ;) I know nothing about the housing.

[Fraeg]

Thanks for the congratulations advice and input.

Peyote uhmm interesting to know... but when I get crazy these days I have a coors light 


It is a job as a Geographer/GIS

[Signe]

No, it's not a barren desert but, to be fair, only one side of the state has water.  The other side is a barren desert with bits of scraggy scruff.

[stray]

Good food too btw. As far as I'm concerned, they make the best Mexican food variety (that's coming from a Tex-Mex pov). Arizona sort of qualifies. It's a lot spicier, with more green chile.. While everything here is tomato-y and meaty.

[justdave]

Good food too btw. As far as I'm concerned, they make the best Mexican food variety (that's coming from a Tex-Mex pov). Arizona sort of qualifies. It's a lot spicier, with more green chile.. While everything here is tomato-y and meaty.

I'll never forget the first time I went to a mexican restaurant after I moved to California...I ordered a chile relleno, and got this hamburger-stuffed poblano pepper, covered in tomato sauce. The gringo arguing with the mexican waiter about the fact that that was NOT a relleno must have been a pretty entertaining scene.

[stray]

Oh shit, I'm a jackass and didn't read the whole thread. You were already mentioning the chiles. Yeah you know what's up. 

[justdave]

I think peyote is sort of legal but only for American Indian religious thingys.  I don't know what you were going to say by "dru-".  Druid, maybe?  ...

That was a 'drunk' joke, which is mean, but to be fair (given my Spanish/Irish/German/Polish heritage) I have a set of Alcoholic Joke gift cards. Still, I'm a big meanie.

No, it's not a barren desert but, to be fair, only one side of the state has water.  The other side is a barren desert with bits of scraggy scruff.

Actually, the  creepiest part is the far eastern edge by Roswell where it starts to turn into Oklahoma! :P That part used to always give me agoraphobia, since I grew up in the middle of the state and was used to mountains on the horizon and, y'know, actually variations in elevation.

If I recall correctly, the only two climate zones that NM doesn't have are tropical and True Desert (just high desert, a.k.a semi-arid). I think that's why I like Oregon so much, it's like New Mexico moved north and fell on it's side. Probably drunkenly. Or under the influence of 'shrooms!

[Yegolev]

Left turn when you get there.