gregjsmith

March 27, 2014

Trade Adjustment Assistance Available For Laid Off New Mexico Intel Workers

TAA was approved for laid off Intel Rio Rancho, New Mexico employees on March 7th. Details can be viewed from the TAA website (use the Search for Trade Adjustment Assistance Cases webisite, type “Intel Corp” in the Search For Company Name box and look for TAW number 85006).

According to Wikipedia Trade Adjustment Assistance is:

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a federal program of the United States government to act as a way to reduce the damaging impact of imports felt by certain sectors of the U.S. economy. The current structure features four components of Trade Adjustment Assistance: for Workers, Firms, Farmers, and Communities. Each Cabinet level Department was tasked with a different sector of the overall Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The program for workers is the largest, and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. The program for Farmers is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Firms and Communities programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

TAA was designed to help workers who lost their job due to foreign competition find jobs in new industry with job training. In my case that is exactly what I’m doing, learning new skills in a new industry. I’m hopeful that TAA will help assist me. However some of the better benefits of TAA including lost wage assistance and help paying for heath insurance expired at the end of 2013. I’m not sure exactly what benefits will be available but it appears it will be limited to paying for school.

Also according the the Wikipedia article it does not look like TAA has been very effective and won’t be renewed in 2015. Hopefully it will be replaced with a more effective program.

I contacted the TAA representative in the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions and was informed that the state is working out the details with the federal government. I should be receiving a letter in the mail sometime in the future which will explain what I need to do next. I was not given any indication of when that letter will arrive.

February 4, 2014

Chicken McNuggets Is Still Not Pink Goo

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Back in 2010 the internet freaked out about a picture of pink goo that was claimed to be mechanically separated chicken. I wrote “Fake Picture Of Mechanically Separated Chicken” where I try to explain how it’s not possible.

McDonalds Canada has released a video “Pink goop in Chicken McNuggets? McDonald’s Canada answers (Super Bowl XLVIII)” (apparently it was a Canadian Superbowl ad) that shows how mechanically separated chicken is used to make Chicken McNuggets.

The offical ingredients list of Chicken McNuggets from the McDonald’s website

Ingredients: White Boneless Chicken, Water, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Seasoning (Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Salt, Wheat Starch, Natural Flavoring [Botanical Source], Safflower Oil, Dextrose, Citric Acid), Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavor (Botanical Source). Battered and Breaded with: Water, Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Yellow Corn Flour, Bleached Wheat Flour, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Lactate), Spices, Wheat Starch, Dextrose, Corn Starch.

What surprises me is the source of the original pink goo picture still has not been identified.

January 16, 2014July 5, 2016

I Was Laid Off From Intel

On 11/12/13 I reported to a conference room on the 3rd floor of the RR5 building at the Intel Rio Rancho, New Mexico site. All technicians were to report at their designated time to find out their employment status. My manager stated he had to read from the script and the only part I remember from that script was that “my skills were found to be less than my peers”, or something to that effect. I was notified by my manager that I was “redeployed”, Intel’s term for people that are being laid off. I was told that I would still be employed until 1/15/2014 but that I did not need to come in unless I wanted to.

Intel had announced a few months before that this layoff was going to happen. While I had been mentally preparing myself for it and thinking about what would happen if I did get laid off I wasn’t really expecting to be let go. I had talked to my manger the day before and he didn’t indicate that he was expecting me to be let go. Of course he wouldn’t have any way to know for sure. He wasn’t involved in the decision making process other than to fill out a “skills matrix” of some kind on me. I don’t have any reason to believe that he wrote something like “this guy has no skillz!”. In fact my performance review for the previous year was quite good and my manager was discussing a promotion for me in the next year or two. He was also encouraging me to go to school to finish my degree. Things seemed pretty positive from my point of view.

If I was missing some sort of skills or I was supposed to know something, at least as far as my manger and I was concerned, I think I would have known. This layoff wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with performance anyway. It was supposed to be all skills based. It’s mystery to my exactly what caused me to be on HR’s shit list, but I’m not believing that this layoff was completely skills based.

Intel did a number of things to make this process go easy on the employees. I effectively got a 2 month paid vacation, they waited until the beginning of the year before I was terminated allowing me to get bonuses and other benefits and I get a severance. They could have given no notice and just terminated my employment immediately.

I have moved on and accepted what has happen. It wasn’t easy especially with 18 years at Intel, it hurt. Feelings of rejection and “why me” had a much bigger impact on me than I expected and its hard not to hold a little resentment over how it all went down. But I was better prepared for this layoff financially than the last one in 2006. I am already taking classes to start a career in another industry. Hopefully New Mexico provides jobs in that industry or I may be moving out of state.

December 1, 2013

Report From The River Of Lights At The Albuquerque Botanical Gardens

I went to the “River of Lights” at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens for this first time this year on opening day, Nov 30th 2013. My Mom was in town otherwise I would not have gone.

I still get confused between the Botanical Gardens/Aquarium and the Zoo. I drove to the Zoo (aka BioPark) thinking thats where the event was held and instead found the park and ride to the Botanical Gardens. I then drove to the Botanical Gardens, saw the crazy traffic getting into the park and drove back to the park and ride at the zoo. We then rode a school bus from the zoo to the event.

Body fluid clean up kit by Greg Smith, on Flickr

We arrived at the Botanical Garends near opening and there was a long line to get in but it moved fast.

Long but fast moving line to get into the River of Lights by Greg Smith, on Flickr

Even with all the displays being (I assume) LED rope lights, I have to wonder how much power the displays consume.

Extension cords to power the lighting displays. by Greg Smith, on Flickr

In the center of the park there were some carolers singing in a covered area surrounded a large open area. It was dark and leaves covering the ground everywhere. There was some sort of short metal garden barrier near the carolers that my Mom and I tripped over. I informed an “official” with the park that someone is going to trip and break their leg on it.

Carolers singing in the center of the park by Greg Smith, on Flickr

Overall there were lots of people, there were lots of we made light display, it was cold. There were expensive alcoholic beverages to be had. My mom compared it favorably to the Phoenix Zoo ZooLights although she thought Albuquerque’s attempt was smaller and more expensive.

Lights all over the River of Lights by Greg Smith, on Flickr

November 9, 2013

More New Mexico Anal Probing In The News

This time it took place in El Paso, which technically no longer is part of New Mexico. It is the same situation as before. Law enforcement will stop at nothing to find those drugs. From KOB “NM woman comes forward with illegal probing claims“.

It may be hard to believe that this could happen to yet another New Mexican. KOB’s 4 On Your Side team found a woman who claims she was violated by federal agents and doctors.
Laura Schaur Ives, Legal Director for the New Mexico Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, is representing the woman.
Schaur Ives said the woman doesn’t wish to be identified because she considers herself to be a victim of sexual assault. Schaur Ives said the woman crossed the border at a Port of Entry from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso.
A dog alerted to the woman, and Schaur Ives said federal agents stripped searched her at the facility, asked her to undress, to spread her genitalia and to cough. Female agents also allegedly pressed their fingers into her vagina looking for drugs.
The woman claims they didn’t discover anything during the on-site strip search, so they took her to University Medical Center of El Paso.
“First, medical staff observed her making a bowl movement and no drugs were found at that point,” Schaur Ives said. “They then took an X-ray, but it did not reveal any contraband. They then did a cavity search and they probed her vagina and her anus, they described in the medical records as bi-manual–two handed. Finally, they did a cat scan. Again, they found nothing.”

November 5, 2013

New Mexico Police Anal Probe In The News

Deming police are showing how important it is to find those drugs. From KOB “4 On Your Side investigates traffic stop nightmare“

While there, Eckert was subjected to repeated and humiliating forced medical procedures. A review of Eckert’s medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:
1. Eckert’s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.
2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.
3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.
4. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
5. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a second time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
6. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a third time. Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers. Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool. No narcotics were found.
7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.
8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert’s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.
Throughout this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures.
“If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they’re standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that’s why the public needs to know about this,” Kennedy said.

October 30, 2013

The Wright Amendment

Former Mayor of Albuquerque Jim Baca on his blog Only In New Mexico posts “Somebody Do Something“.

Mayor Berry and Governor Martinez. There is a new giant economic time bomb ticking for the Duke City and it will go off in one year. Next October a federal law known as the Wright amendment will sunset. This is the law that required Southwest Airlines to land their aircraft in bordering states before continuing on to any other destination. This amendment was a deal worked out decades ago to make sure that the new Dallas-Fort Worth Airport would be able to pay off their bonds by trying to force airlines to use its facilities. The amendment said any airline that flew out of the old Dallas Love field had to land in a neighboring state. Southwest stayed at Love Field. So Albuquerque became a major stop for all Southwest flights. Ever wonder why there were so many flights from here to Las Vegas? Because all flights out of Dallas Love had to stop here first.

More on the Wright Amendment from Wikipedia.

The Wright Amendment of 1979 is a federal law governing traffic at Dallas Love Field, an airport in Dallas, Texas, USA, with some provisions also applying to other airfields in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex including Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, Fort Worth Alliance Airport and Addison Airport. It originally limited most non-stop flights to destinations within Texas and neighboring states. Additional states were added to the permissible area in 1997 and 2005. In 2006, the amendment was repealed but left some restrictions intact until October 16, 2014 but with an added restriction on the number of gates allowed.

October 21, 2013

The Albuquerque McDonalds Hot Coffee Lawsuit Revisited

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The New York Times Video “Scalded by Coffee, Then News Media” looks at how the facts were misrepresented in the 1994 “Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants” lawsuit.

In 1992, Stella Liebeck spilled scalding McDonald’s coffee in her lap and later sued the company, attracting a flood of negative attention. It turns out there was more to the story.

The McDonalds restaurant is still at 5001 Gibson Boulevard S.E, Albuquerque, NM.

September 29, 2013

Anthony Bourdain In New Mexico

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Anthony Bourdain will be airing an episode of Part’s Unknown in New Mexico on Sunday September 29th at 7pm Mountian Time.

“Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown” takes a close look at the mash-up of cultures that comprise this uniquely American state. Tony and crew sample New Mexico’s food — a combination of Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican, Pueblo and even chuck-wagon influences. New Mexico is also a land of drugs, guns, monster vehicles, and possibly extraterrestrials. It may also be the perfect place to investigate the underside of the Western cowboy ideal.

September 22, 2013

Relive the Levi Chavez Murder Case On NBC's Dateline

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IF you want to relive the Levi Chavez murder trial or, like me ignored it when it was going on you can watch NBC’s Dateline program ‘The Officer’s Wife‘.

A police officer’s wife is found shot to death in bed. Authorities wonder if the 26-year-old took her own life or if someone else is to blame. Josh Mankiewicz reports.

What did I learn from this show? Tera Chavez’s family didn’t believe Tera could commit suicide. Levi’s family didn’t believe Levi could commit murder. You can’t believe people emotionally tied to the situation.

Also Levi Chavez is a dirtbag. I’m not convinced either way that he murdered his wife.