Tag: People

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I Was Laid Off From Intel

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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.

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Lost Dutchman Mine Searcher Remains Found In Superstitions Mountains

Superstitions

People die looking for the Lost Dutchman gold mine in the Superstitions Mountains, including Jesse Capen from Denver. He apparently fell to his death on his first day of searching. From the Denver Post “Denver man’s search for Lost Dutchman mine likely ended in fall“:

At the end of November 2012, a day pack containing Jesse’s GPS equipment, his mother’s camera and his identification was found at the bottom of a 180-foot cliff on the same mountain. Searchers spotted a boot in steeper terrain above the day pack.

“All of a sudden — out of the blue — they found him,” David Capen said.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department sent a helicopter to the side of the cliff, and deputies rapelled down to a skeleton, which was retrieved in a wire basket.

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Horses Being Abandoned Due To The High Costs Of The Drought

From the NYTimes article “Horses Fall Victim to Hard Times and Dry Times on the Range“

AZTEC, N.M. — The land is parched, the fields are withering and thousands of the nation’s horses are being left to fend for themselves on the dried range, abandoned by people who can no longer afford to feed them.

They have been dropping dead in the Navajo reservation in the Southwest, where neighbors are battling neighbors and livestock for water, an inherently scant resource on tribal land. They have been found stumbling through state parks in Missouri, in backyards and along country roads in Illinois, and among ranch herds in Texas where they do not belong.

Some are taken to rescue farms or foster homes — lifelines that are also buckling under the pressure of the nation’s worst drought in half a century, which has pushed the price of grain and hay needed to feed the animals beyond the reach of many families already struggling in the tight economy

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People In Arizona Offended By Middle Eastern Dust Storm Words?

2011 - 07 - 18 - dust storm

According to the NYTimes, some people in Arizona are offended by the term “Haboob” when referring to dust storms. I don’t know if the short NYTimes article is being sensationalist or if there are more than a few people cited in the article that are actually offended.

Not everyone was put out by the use of the term. David Wilson of Goodyear, Ariz., said those who wanted to avoid Arabic terms should steer clear of algebra, zero, pajamas and khaki, as well. “Let’s not become so ‘xenophobic’ that we forget to remember that we are citizens of the world, nor fail to recognize the contributions of all cultures to the richness of our language,” he wrote.

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Raton Track Fire Caused By An ATV

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/de21nEfXvmc?version=3&hl=en_US

The Raton Track Fire has burned more than 27,000 acres and caused 500 people to be evacuated, was caused by ATV spewing exhaust.

New Mexico State Forestry says exhaust particles from an ATV in the area is what most likely caused the dry brush to catch fire.

According to findings from investigators, the ATV driver or drivers trespassed onto private property then headed onto land owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

The Track Fire is 98% contained.

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Dumbshits Who Live In Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Every city has people who are not very intelligent. Rio Rancho, New Mexico has the appropriately named James Dickie.

Dickie allegedly burnt the dog, burnt his scrotum, burnt his testicles, in order to save himself the expense of possibly having the dog neutered by a licensed veterinarian,” said John Francis of the Rio Rancho police. Police said two days before the incident, Dickie was seen violently beating Charlie in the yard. According to the police report, Dickie drop-kicked his dog several times and threw the animal into a yucca plant.

Mr. Dick-ie was arrested and faces a 4th degree felony. The dog had $700 in hospital bills payed by a neighbor. A follow up indicates that Mr. Dick-ie has more dogs and the Rio Rancho Police can’t do anything about it. He will probably have them taken away when he is hopefully sentenced.

At least one neighbor is clueless.

One neighbor told Action 7 News that the accusations against Dickie do not paint a fair picture of him, and that he takes good care of his animals.

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How To Fix The Sony “for use with compatible battery only” Error

Find Sony Camera Parts

I bought 4 extra batteries for my Sony DSC-HX5. After a while when I would power on the camera with of the batteries the camera would give me an error “for use with compatible battery only” and then the camera would shut down. I didn’t think this was a problem with the camera since 4 of the 5 batteries (including the one that came with the battery) would work without error.

I did a google search for the error “for use with compatible battery only” and found lots of people with the problem but not very many solutions. It took some searching through the pages and I found that if the center pin is shorted by the other two pins it would reset the battery.

for use with compatible battery only

First I fully charged the battery. Then pressed a piece of aluminum foil over all three contacts at the same time to short the center contact. It took a few tries but I knew the reset took when I put the battery into the camera and it wouldn’t start up. I put the battery back into the charger. The camera charged for about 5 minutes, I then put the battery back into the camera and it started up without error.

Find Sony Camera Parts

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Electromagnetic Sensitivity In Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital city of New Mexico but it’s not nearly as populated as Albuquerque and is known for being artsy and for electromagentic sensitive people.

A Santa Fe man who says he suffers from electromagnetic sensitivity is suing his next-door neighbor for refusing to turn off her cell phone and other electronic devices.

Arthur Firstenberg, who has actively opposed the proliferation of wireless systems in public buildings, claims he has been made homeless by Raphaela Monribot’s rejection of his requests.

New Mexico is the right place to live to get away from all electromagntic signals. The Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico is in a signal free zone. One does not have to go far into the desert to get away signals but living anywhere near or in a city is a bad idea.

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Serious Eats Likes Sopaipillas, Watch Out For Fake Honey

Serious Eats, one of my regular food blogs, has been in New Mexico. Recently they describe Sopaipillas.

Deep-fried, the dough pieces puff up dramatically, crisping on the surface while remaining soft and tender inside. The perfect sopaipilla? The outermost layer, fried in the oil, should be paper-thin and crisp on the corners. When properly fried, the interior will separate into two layers: the chewy yet soft layer of dough directly underneath the browned shell, followed by the innermost layer—soft, a little stretchy, and just cooked through.
While each New Mexico restaurant has their own rendition, all tables are stocked with a bottle of honey, the traditional condiment for slathering.

Sopaipillas are something that most people out of state complain to me about once they have had them in New Mexico. Rarely can they be found out of state.

One thing to watch out for in New Mexico are restaurants which use artificial honey. It’s some sort of concoction of sugary syrup that looks like honey but usually contains high fructose corn syrup. It’s more common that most people know and most restaurants won’t admit to it.

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Bizarre TSA Freeze Command

Boing Boing had this today

I walked from the arrival gate towards baggage claim, and when I was about halfway there, all of a sudden about a dozen or more TSA personnel and private security staff appeared, shouting STOP WHERE YOU ARE. FREEZE. DO NOT MOVE. Not just at me, but all of the travelers who happened to be wandering through the hallway at that moment.

I made a comment on that post that the exact same thing happened to me.

This happened to me when i was in PDX a few weeks ago. I was leaving the secured area after getting off a plane, i was near the screeners but not yet through. The TSA people started yelling and did the same thing you described and had everyone freeze.

It only lasted a few minutes for me.

My tax dollars at work. Whatever.