Geography of the United States – Page 2

June 4, 2011

Arizona's Wallow Fire In Albuquerque

The view of the Sandia Mountains from my front window the last few days has been obscured by smoke from the Wallow fire near the New Mexico border in Alpine, Arizona. This fire is affecting the Albuquerque area by creating a cloud of smoke which besides the smell has caused some ash to fall from the sky.

Normally I have a clear view of the Sandias except when we have a storm.

It’s bad enough that the last two nights I have had to turn off the cooler because it was filling the house with the smell of forest fire.

This is going to be a bad year for fires unless we get some rain, which the Albuquerque area hasn’t received a significant rain storm since early this year.

The Arizona Republic as a good FAQ on the Wallow Fire and An image from the NOAA shows the smoke plume (I don’t know if the NOAA has a direct source to this image).

Wallo Fire Smoke NOAA

Update 06/07/2011: The trend for the last few days is the smoke goes away during the day and settles back in during the evening. It feels like a nuclear winter. Here are a few pictures I took from the office building last night, note the red dot which is the sun.

While the smoke here in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque is bad, it’s not nearly as bad as for those who actually live where the fire is. The local paper The White Mountain Independent has information about all of the evacuations in the area.

Latest map from the NOAA.

May 30, 2011

Intel's D1X In The Oregonian

The Oregonian has an article titled “Intel goes big to get small — an early look at its new Hillsboro research factory, D1X” which looks at the construction and impact of Intel’s new factory in Oregon. Even in Oregon Intel is a big employer.

“If you’re talking even a thousand jobs on one project, that will have a substantial impact on overall construction employment in the Portland area,” said David Cooke, an economist with the Oregon Employment Department. “The construction jobs are very important to the overall economic picture over the short term.”

Those workers will haul away up to a million yards of dirt as Intel excavates for D1X’s foundation and brings the site level with D1D, the fab next door.

Of that, 150,000 cubic yards are headed just up the road, to SolarWorld’s Hillsboro property. That company is contemplating a second factory someday and needs to elevate its property to ensure proper drainage.

The castoffs will raise 4 1/2 acres of SolarWorld’s site by 21 feet.

April 8, 2011

Durango Silverton Train Ride & Backpack Trip

It’s not well know but the Durango Silverton train that runs from (surprise!) Durango, Colorado to Silverton, Colorado offers what they call wilderness access. Depending on the time of year the train will make stops along certain areas of the track where back backers can get off.

On 26 August 2010 I took a trip with three other friends to Durango, Colorado. We drove down US550 from Albuquerque to Durango and we spent the night in a cabin at the Lightner Creek Campground near Durango so that we could be on the Durango Silverton train at about 9am.

Just like in the days when the train was a main mode of transportation, the backpacks are loaded into the baggage car. The baggage car looked pretty rickety and at the very least needs a new paint job.

The train dropped us off just before a bridge over the Animas river at Cascade Canyon.

After hiking a short distance along the river we came across a newer cabin fully stocked with firewood where no one was apparently home.

Near the cabin was a rusted out old truck.

There was an interesting old train engine that had been converted to do some sort of milling work not far from the cabin.

My party and I ended up setting up camp near the Animus and maybe a 1/3 of a mile from the tracks in an established camping area. While some of my party thought it was pathetic that we didn’t really do much of a hike, I thought the area was great place to pitch a tent.

While exploring, we hiked up the river for and found what was left of a building.

While waiting for the train to pick us up, we hung out at a picnic area where the train apparently stops for large group activities.

We did what one does while camping: eating, drinking and enjoying nature without internet access. I took about 200 photos of our trip and they can be found on a set call “Durango Silverton Train & Backpack Trip” on Flickr.

December 8, 2010

Rio Rancho City Government Gives Up On Green2V While The Rest Of Us Did Months Ago

Green2V logo

Here we are in December of 2010, where is Green2V which hasn’t broke ground this summer as promised? I was skeptical of Green2V from the very beginning. A company no one had heard of with no website (and still doesn’t have a website) decided to build a new factory in my hometown of Rio Rancho, New Mexico with a very aggressive schedule.

An article from Rio Rancho Observer says that the city is giving up.

On Dec. 15, the Rio Rancho City Council will consider two measures repealing the city’s incentives in trying to lure the green energy start-up company. “We think that based on where we are right now, it’s been eight months since we first received those assurances (of funding), the documents are a bit stale,” said City Manager James Jimenez. City Councilors are being asked to repeal the Green2V industrial revenue bond inducement resolution the city passed in April, and the city’s economic development act it had with Green2V.

The article goes on to say that the city was promised 3 times that the money was coming and that the city of Rio Rancho trusted former Intel executive Bill Sheppard. There’s a quote from City Manager James Jimenez that I think is true as well.

“We pride ourselves as being competitive when it comes to economic development and aggressively pursuing (projects). Frankly, I’m well aware that we would have been criticized heavily if Green2V had been able to get its financing together and locate in Arizona if we knew we had a chance to bring them here and didn’t – for whatever reason – aggressively pursue them.”

The Albuquerque Journal had an article in May titled “Betting on Solar … Again” about the poor track record of OCS capital who was supposed to originally finance Green2V.

OCS lists numerous clients and industrial revenue bond financed projects on its website that have never materialized, among them the $16.5 million Big Event Amusement facility and Beach Waterpark in Albuquerque; the $210 million Nuchick poultry processing plant in Artesia; and a $22 million project to build an aircraft manufacturing plant in Odgen, Utah. The website does not mention that none of these projects came to fruition. Although the OCS name appears on a letter included in the bond application Green2V submitted to the city, Housley said Green2V never paid OCS money and terminated its relationship because it found another company to work with.

Then Green2V switched from OCS capitol to GP3, Ltd. The New Mexico Watchdog couldn’t find that either OCS Capital or GP3, Ltd seem to exist.

New Mexico Watchdog has learned that no limited partnership called GP3 exists in California according to the records of the California Secretary of State. The only limited partnerships with the term “GP3″ in their titles have had their partnership status canceled. One was GP3 Asset Acquisition, LLC, which was formed in 2007. It traces back to an Ann Arbor, Michigan, address, but is no longer a recognized limited partnership in California. The other was entitled Walton 425 GP3 IV, and traces back to a Chicago address. But its status as a limited partnership in California has also been canceled.

I can’t blame the City of Rio Rancho going forward with this based on the recommendation of the governor but clearly all of those involved should have done more research on the company. It doesn’t appear that the city is out of a significant amount of money. Hopefully the City will do a better job in the future of bringing in high tech companies.

January 3, 2010

HGTV's New Mexico Dream Home Sweepstakes

I considered not writing about HGTV’s 2010 Dream Home giveaway because I don’t want it to get any attention. The home is located in San Pedro Overlook, New Mexico near Sandia Park. It’s on the other side of the Sandia Mountains from Albuquerque. I really want to win this house so I don’t want anyone knowing about it. I came to the realization that I’m unlikely to have any impact on it’s promotion.

The custom-designed 3,900-square-foot HGTV Dream Home 2010 will mix southwestern architecture with modern design. Created with the bold, innovative ideas, architecture, art and design that make HGTV Dream Homes so exciting and unique, it includes three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a home office, gourmet kitchen, home theater and a guest casita. The amazing home site is nestled in the gaze of the majestic San Pedro Mountains with breathtaking scenery and a plethora of outdoor activities. Nearby, the historic towns of Santa Fe and Albuquerque offer an international art scene, amazing cuisine and a rich, multicultural heritage.

I could totally dump nearly everything I own and move into the house as it is. I would be happy to commute to Albuquerque. The only thing I would need to do wire it for my home automation system. And figure out how to pay for the taxes.

Please do not enter the contest.

May 1, 2007

1000 People To Be Laid Off At Intel Rio Rancho Plant

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Intel Corp. said Tuesday that it expects to cut more than 1,000 jobs at its Rio Rancho plant as the company ends production of an older silicon wafer technology. Intel will stop making the 200-millimeter wafers at the plant by the end of August, and affected employees will be offered severance packages or can apply for other jobs within the company, spokesman Jami Grindatto said.

Anyone who works at the Intel Rio Rancho plant knew this was coming. I know a large number of people that have been waiting to for a chance to get out with a severance package. Still, this sucks. One fifth (20%) of the people that work at this plant will be gone wether they like it or not.

The AP article doesn’t mention when Intel expect to have everyone out but this KOB article say they start in August.

A article from the Albuquerque Tribune says:

Larry Waldman, a senior economist with the University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, projects the layoffs expected to come in August could cause the loss of another 1,000 jobs in places such as the retail and service sectors. “It’s not going to be just 1,000 jobs when you look at effects on other parts of the economy,” said Waldman, referring to retail and service jobs that might supplement Intel workers. While that may not be the rosiest picture, Waldman said the losses will have only a minor impact on the economies of both the state and Albuquerque metro

Update 5/7/07: From the Trib:

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici has asked Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to assign staff from her agency’s Dallas office to coordinate job placement programs for the 1,000-plus workers expected to lose their jobs at Intel Corp.’s Rio Rancho plant.

June 16, 2004

Rio Rancho & Lots Of WiFI

Rio Rancho, New Mexico is just butted up against Albuquerque to the north. Thanks to Intel (the largest employer in Rio Rancho and one of the largest in the state) they will have the worlds largest WiFi hot spot. It will cover 103 square miles including residential homes. Funny since you can barley get DSL and no internet via cable.

I lived in Rio Rancho (often called Rio Rathole) when I first moved here. At the time it was mostly a overgrown truck stop with no roads. The road have improved some and the whole city has grown up a lot, it’s good to see some high tech anything moving in.

[Update:] Check out the submission I made to slashdot. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember my password otherwise I would have tons of traffic coming to this site 🙂

May 14, 2004

Photos of Downtown Albuquerque

Here’s a few shots of Downtown Albuquerque I took last month. This is along Central Ave, aka Route 66.