State Of New Mexico – Page 6

July 12, 2006

Channel 4 News Chopper

The Channel 13 news is reporting on channel 4’s news helicopter crash. Yes, yes, they called it a “hard landing” but I saw the video, it’s a crash.

The news helicopter from KOB-TV was in the Taos area today covering the story of the missing University of New Mexico police officer when something went wrong. Late this afternoon the chopper was carrying a news photographer and pilot when it made what the station is calling a hard landing. That was serious enough to break the skids on the bottom of the chopper. Video aired later showed the chopper on its left side with its main rotor blades snapped off and most of the cockpit window glass missing. We’re told by KOB that neither the photographer nor pilot suffered serious injuries. Neither was identified.

April 30, 2006

This is what a poor quality roofing job gets you, shingles that literally blow off the roof. In this case it appears that the roofer may have put one nail in the shingles then stapled the rest of it. Yes, freaking staples!

I’ve blogged about it before, New Mexico gets very windy in the spring and fall. This spring we we had winds up to 50 MPH and the windy season seems, to me at least, have lasted longer than normal. The winds came from the west and this side of the roof faces west. Along with the poor attachment of the shingles leads the the perfect recipe for this problem. The previous owners must have had this problem because they had nailed many of the shingles on this side of the roof down. Yet they made the problem worse by nailing through the visible part of the shingle, which is bad because they essentially broke through the seal of the shingle, leaving a place for water to leak through. All those nail heads had to be covered with tar.

Repairing these missing shingles was pretty easy. I collected all the blown off shingles from around the property rather than buying new ones. I carefully slid the shingles under neath the tiles above it, where it was missing, and put it back in place where it matches the position of the other shingles. I then lifted the tile above it up enough so I could put some nails in, 4 nails per shingle. The nails are under the shingles where they belong and safe from the elements. Hopefully the tar on the shingles melts and holds the whole mess together, or at least thats how its suppose to work.

March 26, 2006

Ditch Digging

Spring appears to be here, with summer just around the corner. Time to get the backyard ready and get grass growing. Thankfully the previous owners had grass growing and working sprinklers. What I need is a modular and scalable sprinkler system, since I plan have more than one source of water and many more things to water. I will need to dig up the current system and redo the primary control system.

The problem with New Mexico soil is it’s a layer of sand on a layer of clay. When thats been covered up with rock and plastic for many years, with no water to soften it up, you end up trying to dig through cement. The best method for digging is to dig a small hole, fill it with water, let it soak, then dig a little more out. Plus the previous owners surrounded the control valves with cement, making it even harder to get in there.

Today I managed to dig about 30 inches where the control valves are. Why they hell they are that deep I have no idea. In New Mexico you only need about 18 inches deep for the valves. It’s just insane and I’m going to have to remove some of the concrete to get to to the valves. Something I was hoping to avoid.

I also forgot to mention the other valve. Once valve controls the sprinklers and the other controls… something else. I have no idea. It goes out to the yard but there’s no other obvious sprinkler heads. All I know is it’s busted and was making a nice little spring in the yard. I managed to dig that pipe up to find a huge crack. Once I replace it I should be able to tell where it ends up.

December 21, 2005

Stupid Law Tricks

This is really giving New Mexico a good name.

Late last week, a Santa Fe District Court judge signed a temporary restraining order against talk-show host David Letterman alleging he has tormented a city resident for more than 10 years by using code words on his television program .

Apparently David Letterman is using his eyes and other gestures to send secret signals to this woman. The judge apparently agreed!

December 13, 2005

New Mexico Space Port Moves Forward

Good news for New Mexico’s space port. Virgin Atlantic has agreed to set up shop there being known as Virgin Galactic.

The first customer has been secured for the planned $225 million spaceport in southern New Mexico and state officials plan to announce Wednesday that construction of the facility will now move forward.

State officials, including Gov. Bill Richardson, also will announce tomorrow that London-based Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of Britain’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., will be the facility’s first lease holder and plans to pay $1 million a year for the first five years of its 20-year lease.

I’m getting excited about this. I’ve always wanted to be a astronaut but I never had the “right stuff” (namely not being a Air Force pilot). This may provide me an opportunity to participate in the space race.

October 19, 2005

Buying A House The Not-So-Easy Way

On September 29th I finally closed on my house, on September 30th I took possession. Since then I have been spewing cash from my savings getting the place ready to move in. My apartment lease is up at the end of the month, so there’s not much time left. For those considering a foreclosed house, I have some advice for you.

Closing on a foreclosed house is nothing like closing on a normally private owned home. Keep in mind that a corporation owns it. If you work for a big company, think about what it would be like if they were selling a house. There’s a bureaucracy involved. They have their legal requirements to ensure all the “i”s are dotted and “t”s are crossed. Not to mention that the individuals at the company have no personal interest to ensure that the process is speedy.

Next you add on items such as liens and other legal matters that have to be cleared up before the owning bank can sell it. In my case, there were liens that took longer than they probably should have to clear up. The State of New Mexico had s legal interest in the property so official clearance from the state had to be issued saying they weren’t going to take possession of the property after the liens were paid. In this case, the state would only offer those documents via the US postal service, no fedex, no couriers.

The closing officer said my closing went pretty well compared to most. Sometimes liens can be near impossible to clear up, such as those from the federal government. Can you imagine what it takes to get a lien removed from the DEA? The closing officer also said my paperwork wasn’t so bad, he had a guy in the day before with a literal foot high of paperwork to sign.

Take this advice if your looking for a foreclosed house.

Be prepared to wait, wait and wait some more.
Be prepared to be disappointed. I looked at several houses, a few that were foreclosed on before this one. In one case the previous deal had fallen through and the house was back on the market. We didn’t understand the problem at first but now I can see how these things can not work out. Most of the hold ups on my house were on the owning banks side. Yet they had the nerve to say that if it wasn’t funded by September 30th they were going to call the whole thing off. I had the approved loan, I was ready the bank needed to get their act together.
Get a real estate agent. There’s a ton of issues with this sort of house and the un-savvy can get very overwhelmed quickly. It’s not going to cost you anything.
Find a agent that will work with you. Some agents wont take the time and effort to deal with all the various issues especially considering how long it can take to close. I have to give mad props (as the kids say) to Paul Taylor. He was awesome though all this and took care of everything for me. I didn’t have to deal with the idiocy of the sellers at all.

September 25, 2005

X Prize Cup Preview

Sunday 9 October 2005 the X Prize foundation will be showing off the the ships for the next X Cup. Tickets are $6 for adults and $2 for kids. I will be there, will you?

Come meet the astronauts who will fly them and imagine yourself inside them, watching the earth turn below you. The future is closer than you think. We’re not talking about models. We’re talking about the real thing.

Last year the X PRIZE Foundation gave away $10 million for the first private spaceflight a history-making achievement that blanketed the front pages of newspapers across the globe. This year we’re unveiling a new generation of private spaceships at the X PRIZE CUP in New Mexico.

Bring your friends and family to the Las Cruces Airport on Sunday Oct 9th See six different spaceships currently in testing. Watch them fly. Meet the pioneers, pilots and astronauts who conceived them.

September 23, 2005

Rita Evacuees Camp Free At NM State Parks

This is a great idea. All the states should do this.

Evacuees of Hurricane Rita will not be charged a fee to stay at any of New Mexico’s 32 state parks. New Mexico State Parks Director Dave Simon says the usual 14-day limit on stays, electrical fees and charges for campgrounds will be waived for as long as neccesary.

May 25, 2005

Housing Bubble Or Not?

The Montly Fool has a article about the housing bubble that I found interesting.

In our neck of the woods, things look pretty unhealthy. I recently came across an OK-looking three-bedroom, maybe 1,000 square feet. 1950s vintage. Needs a new roof and windows and updating throughout. Price: $500,000. If you’re screaming, you don’t live in the D.C. area. The showing agent expected prospective buyers to make an offer within two days, and, as is now usual here, to waive all reasonable protections like inspection clauses. To me, that screams, “Bubble!”

Thankfully I don’t have to deal with housing prices like that here in New Mexico, but we are dealing with the same sort of house buying frenzy that the rest of the country is. The 30 years house I looked at for $113,000 is a good example, cheap but still a lot for such a old house (that needed work!).

January 13, 2005

Urgent Appeal – New Mexico and Nuclear Testing

At first I thought this was spam. It’s not however, and it looks like it could be a good thing. egeltje.org has some more information and contact info such.

From: mr2302@columbia.edu
Subject: Urgent Appeal – New Mexico and Nuclear Testing
Date: January 12, 2005 3:28:04 PM MST
Hi,

My name is Michael Roston. I found your blog because I was looking for bloggers from New Mexico, and I wanted to write and ask for your assistance.

I produce an email newsletter, also posted at my blog, called Nuclear Test Watch. Over the last four years, Americans of conscience may not have prevented President Bush from pursuing his ill-conceived war in Iraq. But we have prevented him from starting a nuclear war.

Even in the aftermath of the election, a bipartisan collection of members of Congress successfully blocked White House-sponsored efforts to build new nuclear weapons and accelerate the ability of the United States to test nuclear weapons. In the current international climate, Congress recognized that taking such a step would be reckless and endanger more than it would protect America.

The next four years are here, and President Bush has nominated a new Energy Secretary whose position on issues of nuclear weapons is uncertain. Worryingly, here are indications in the press that an intellectual case is now being built to resume nuclear testing.

So what does this have to do with New Mexico?

More than you think. On Wednesday, January 19, one week from now, your Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman will lead a hearing of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. This hearing will be to confirm the nomination of Samuel Bodman to be the next Energy Secretary. The Senators will have the opportunity to say to Bodman Do you see any need to test nuclear weapons in the next four years, even if it imperils international security? Such a line of questioning will have a powerful effect as it will force Bodman to publicly stake out a position that can be debated and discussed.

The agenda for the hearing will be crowded, and the Senators may concentrate on other issues. But if they believe their constituents are concerned with the dangers of a return to nuclear testing, they are likely to bring this issue to the fore. Therefore, a telephone lobbying effort, with New Mexicans contacting the DC offices of Mr.s Domenici and Bingaman can help ensure that these issues are on the agenda.

I am certain that bloggers have the power to bring about political change. So what I am asking you to do is post a message on your blog relating to this issue. I encourage one of these two steps:

1. Link to this posting at my blog, with a brief introductory message of your own: http://nucleartestwatch.blogspot.com/2005/01/action-alert-for-citizens-of-new.html
2. Or, post your own message, using mine as a template from which you can draw facts and contact information for the Senators offices.

Just to provide you with a little background about me, as I am writing from out of the blue I am a graduate student in international affairs at Columbia University in New York. Prior to moving up here for school, I worked in Washington, DC, as an analyst for a small non-profit organization on US-Russia nuclear nonproliferation cooperation. Nuclear Test Watch is voluntary, spare-time activism on my part to make sure someone in the world is directly concentrated on whether or not the disastrous decision might be made to resume nuclear testing. I receive no pay for the work I do.

In the week to come, I may have an op-ed published on this subject in the Albuquerque Tribune fingers-crossed. I will also be contacting newspapers throughout New Mexico and asking them to concentrate some reporting on this issue. But I think starting with bloggers like you is most important as you have so much power to get New Mexicans thinking about this important issue.

Please feel free to write back here or call me at 212-XXX-XXXX if you have any questions.

Tag: State Of New Mexico