White Sands Wonder.

In my travels thou out this great state I am easily captivated by it's beauty. One of the places I love to travel to is White Sands N.M. One of the things that has made me and countless many happy over the years is that the world has finally sat up and taken notice of N.M., especially White Sands National Monument. Although I believe Transformes might have been shot at White Sands Missile Range it's close enough to the national monument that one can easily see the same type of desert that appears in both the Transformers movies.
Even if your not a film buff White Sands N.M. still will provide the naked eye with plenty of appeal, especially around sunset. At any time of the day one can see children sledding down a dune or a photographer setting up that one great shot that he or she can show to their family and friends. The neighboring city of Alamagordo is also a must see for it's Natural Space History Museum and IMAX Planatarium. The town is friendly and while Richard Branson wants to build the International Space Port near Las Crusas N.M. one can easily see that's because Alamagordo doesn't need the extra publicity. That's because the film industries and the military base nearby Alamagordo is already a hot spot. If you ever catch yourself wanting to see one of the world's natural wonders or you just find yourself wanting to see what tomorrow's technology will hold just visit this part of N.M. Las Crusas is only a half hour drive from Alamagordo. If you have the time also rent a cabin in Cloudcroft and drive down the neighboring mountain into Alamagordo, the scenery is second to none.

Ghost or Time

There has been alot of buzz pertaining to the Birdcage here in New Mexico. Is it really haunted? The paranormal investigators known simply as TAPS seems to believe it is. Now I really respect and somewhat admire this organization. However when investigating the paranormal I believe one must be able to disprove the known science first before being able to call something paranormal. Whether it be a place or an entity.
In Science there are events known as time rifts. Imagine if you will that time is a straight line and for whatever reason time loses it's ability to be able to keep the line pulled tight, if only momentarily, what would be created is a temporary gap thus allowing the present to see the past. Further imagine if you will a woman sitting on her porch who suddenly upon looking in her backyard sees a group of little girls jumping rope and laughing. As she gets out of her chair to investigate the group of girls disappear. Did she really see the girls or did she see ghost? Perhaps neither. Perhaps she saw a moment of these girls past and as she went to investigate time pulled the line straight making the image disappear. While I do believe in the supernatural all possibilities must be considered. Another possibility is what's known as echoes. If the house or land has the ability of projecting memories then the actual spiritual entities ,those girls, are not a factor, the house or land just my be projecting images and even sound to relay the overall disposition of it's last owners or events. If the woman actually investigates all the previous owners she may come to find that one or more of the girls she saw are actually alive, thus disproving that what she witnessed was ghost. Investigation is vital. I guess all one can do is watch out for cold spots and take EMF readings. Also check the history of what your investigating. Above all consider all possibilities.

APD Friend or foe?

Recently I received an email from a friend who had an interesting story to tell me. Apparently one night he was on his way to his workplace located on Central Ave here in Albuquerque and decided on his way back home to cut down Central to Wyoming Blvd. to go to the Hastings on Wyoming and Montgomery. Frustrated with the music on the radio he decide to reach inside his glove box for a CD. He said his glove box was a mess and decide it would be safer to pull onto a side street and park to find the CD he was searching for. In under a minute an APD patrol vehicle pulled up behind him with it's lights flashing and spotlight on. When the officer approached him he asked him for his licence ad insurance, which is standard. After the officer was provided with this information he asked why my friend was in the area. My friend replied that he had pulled over to find a CD. The officer then replied that he had been on the force for several years and didn't believe him. The officer then went on to say that there are only two reasons why people come to this section of town and that was to score drugs or women. Feeling offended my friend said that he was doing neither, just looking for a CD. I stopped my friend almost mid sentence and told him that the area was crime ridden and the officer was probably just following through on his suspicions. Not my wisest move, especially since he followed up my statement by saying that the office then gave him a field sobriety test. I asked him if h had been drinking and he said no, he hadn't given the officer any reason to assume that he had been drinking. After passing the unnecessary sobriety test my friend said that the officer now was considering checking him for warrants. At this point my already frustrated friend told the officer to do what he wanted he's clean and reminded the officer that he a just looking for a CD. The officer didn't run his background, but instead told him to leave the area and never return. Which will be hard for my friend to do seeing as he works in the area.
Look I can understand that APD has a tough job to do, especially in that area of town, but they do not have the right to suggest that someone may be doing something illegal just because they pull over on a side street irregardless of the reason. I still can't figure out why my friend was given a sobriety test, who know maybe there was a reason, however to tell my friend he was no longer allowed to drive on that particular part of town was wrong. The taxpayers own those streets not APD. I usually support APD, but in this particular case APD was at fault. My opinion of course.

Halloween is finally back. Trick 'r Treat.

The spirit of great Halloween movies has finally returned, and I'm not talking about the lame remake of Halloween II. When critics say that Trick 'r Treat is the best Halloween movie to have come along in 30 years their not lying. I was a little concerned about the film only having an 82 minute run time, but it turns out that that's all the time they needed. This film was smart and fun from beginning to end. Shot in a style reminiscent of Creepshow this film has four intertwining story lines each delivering the type of campy scary fun that I know I've come to love in my horror films. This film is a must see for horror fans. Trick 'r Treat was produced by Bryan Singer ( director of X-Men and Superman Returns) and writer-director Michael Dougherty (co-script writer of X2 and Superman Returns). The film won the Audience Choice Award at Screamfest. Trick 'r Treat is now available on DVD by Warner Brothers.

Homebound

Recently I took a trip to Durango Colorado and found myself captivated by the majestry of it's mountains. A few years back I had been stationed at Fort Carson Colorado and I was immediatly drawn to the beauty of Pikes Peak. I always swore to myself I would return to Colorado and I fulfilled that promise to myself. Although on the way home I was barreling down I 550 towards the town of Bernallio in New Mexico and as I looked to my right I saw the most incredible sight. It was sunset and the sky was filled with the colorfull remnents of the drowning sun and the nightsky had begun to engulf those remnents casting stars unto the herizon, however it was the land that would fill my eyes with awe and my heart with joy. For from this land arose formations that seemed to be as if they had come from the deepest recesses of a wonderful dream. It is for this reason that I will always regard NM as home. Colorado has it's majestic mountains, but they can never beat our enchanted landscapes.

Big 5 Sporting Good, giant ripoff

Like many of you I aspire to stay in shape, and like many of you I prefer to work out at home. While I can appreciate the gym environment I seldom have the time to dedicate myself to going there on a regular basis. My answer is to work out at home. I had lent a friend one of my 35 lb cast iron dumbbells I had bought from Walmart for about $25.00 and forgot to get it back from him before he left for vacation, so I just decided to buy another one and let him keep it. On the way home from work I saw a Big 5 Sporting Good Store and decided to get it there. The salesman escorted me to the weight section of the store and when I asked him how much one would cost he said $52.99. I couldn't believe my ears. I said thanks, but I can get it cheaper at Walmart. Just to make sure we were talking about just the one dumbbell I asked him again as I was leaving "$52.99 for just one not the set? " He confirmed it by saying it would be $52.99 for just the one. I sighed, shook my head, and let him know it was not nearly worth as much as Big 5 was retailing it for. I left and vowed to myself to never return. Beware of Big 5!!!!!!!

The Jemez, too strict?

As seen on my blog I show pictures of the Jemez Mountains. While I do enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds and captivates me I have heard a few negative reports about the Jemez, more directly about the Jemez police department. While I can understand their need to enforce the law I've heard of them fining people for things that most police officers would just give you a verbal warning for. I heard of a situation on 94 Rock's morning show where a caller said he was fined for having taped his rear turn signal on because the plastic where he would normally screw the reflector on had just recently broken. I've also heard of several instances where the fines for speeding tickets were almost twice what they would be in Albuquerque. Like many people I can see where additional money needs to be made to preserve the Jemez, especially during the recession, however that additional money should be made in other ways. While I still recommend that visitors see the Jemez Mountains, especially the hot springs, I would just be very careful of the police department and the rangers.

Fate

There are those who can figure out their carrer path early on and actually see if come to pass, then there's the rest of us. I like so many fall into the latter of that statement. How does one truly prepare to become what they were always meant to be. Is it knowing early on or does it require us to actually have lived our lives to a certain point? This is a question that daunts most of us. I believe we're all just waiting for that cosmic click to go off in our head telling us what god, the universe, or whatever one prescribes to, has destined for us. What do you believe?

New Beginnings

Often life reminds me of how great a new beginning can feel. Sometimes it comes in the form of a new lease on life, and sometimes it comes in different forms such as a new job, relationship, or perhaps even a spiritual awakening that becomes such a vital part of your being that you can't imagine how you ever lived a single day without it.
Unfortunately not everyone waits for a new beginning because such a notion is lost to them. The light of hope has diminished in their lives. I refer to these people as the walking dead. They fill our streets and at times empty our humanity. Before the recession we would just ask the easy question, why can't these lazy bums just find jobs? It has been easy to dismiss there attempts to survive by panhandling by saying well their probably just going to use the money for drugs or alcohol and unfortunately in many, to many cases you would be right.
However we need to remember this one important thing and that is no matter how jaded and cynical we become there are those out there who do genuinely need our help, because they haven't given up hope yet. If this recession has taught us anything it's that poverty and homelessness can happen to anyone. Just because you get hustled by one, or hell even more than one poverty ridden soul who doesn't genuinely want money for food, but rather for substances that further serve to kill them, doesn't mean you should give up on hope as well. Don't allow yourself to give up on your hope that people can be saved. Don't become one of the walking dead.