al-b-quirky

Last week Chip and I returned from a trip to Albuquerque, NM. Chip was out there for a computer seminar for work, so I decided to fly out there at the end of his training to see the sights.

ABQ is quite different from the humid, flat terrain of Florida. It was nice to see something different. My sinuses, and skin, didn't quite adjust so well. I had nosebleeds and very dry skin. Oh well!

While in ABQ we went to the Biological Park, home to the zoo, botanical garden and aquarium. I loved the zoo! It was well set up so you could see all of the animals closely, plus they were active since it was a glorious, non-humid 65 degrees. We also went on the Sandia Tram. It was fun to ride in a glass box dangling from a cable thousands of feet above the craggy rocks below. It is the world's longest tramway as well. From tower 2 to 3 is over a mile! You can barely see tower 3 in the distance when you pass tower 2! The view from the top was great, you could see for miles.

The highlight of the trip was going on a hot air balloon ride. Albuquerque is famous for their international balloon fiesta every October. It was fun to glide through the air in a big, colorful balloon. Our captain, Randy, was very nice and has been flying hot air balloons for 28 years. Can you imagine doing that as a job? Man, my job is boring!

Here is a slide show of some of the highlights:



In addition to all of the activities and sight seeing we did, we ate a lot too. Chip and I try to stick to a "no chain restaurants" rule while on vacation. We pretty much stuck to it the whole time we were there.

Of course, ABQ is full of new Mexican/southwestern food. So our first night there we ate at El Pinto. It was pretty good. All dinners were served with sopapillas - fried bread. You pour honey on it and eat it to fan the flames of the chilis - that are in everything! If you aren't a spice fan like me, go for the green chilis since they tend to be mild.

Another restaurant I enjoyed was called La Provence. We had a friendly french man named Jean Francois as our server. He was very attentive and very nice. Chip and I had croque monsieur's - a ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich with bechamel (white sauce) and baked in the oven. Delicious!

We also ate at the Frontier Restaurant which was right down the street from La Provence. This place should totally be on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." It was a fun place that is crazy busy! It has been there for 38+ years and apparently is popular. The food was pretty good, too. Most of the places we went to eat were around the University of New Mexico. There just seemed to be a lot of fun places to eat there with a wide array of food types.

We drove by a place called the Dog House on our first day in ABQ. I loved the sign because it reminded me of my dog Frank! It is an old place that serves, you guessed it, hotdogs. I'm not a big hot dog fan, but we ate their one night after eating a big lunch. The food was actually pretty good.

Before we left for ABQ I looked online for places that sell cupcakes. Ever since going to the Magnolia Bakery in NYC and I have renewed love for these tasty treats. I did a google search and found 2 places to go. Both had the most amazing array of flavors I've ever seen. I knew I had to eat a cupcake everyday I was there - and I did. I had a chocolate chip cookie dough, s'mores, grandma betty, and red velvet cupcake. All were tasty! We got them from Cupcakeology. Check out the website and drool!

In the mean time, enjoy these pictures of our tasty travels!



Well, that's the highlights of our trip. It was a lot of fun. This week I am headed out to Austin, TX to see Bethany. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share from that trip. We always have fun and crazy times when we get together. I'm so excited to see her!

doing my civic duty/the bachelor sucks (yes, i watch it)

A few weeks ago I got the dreaded summons for jury duty in the mail. I had to call Sunday afternoon to see if they needed me to come in or not - most of the cases plea out before they go to trial so they don't need the jury. They did release the jurors - numbers 220-500...my number was 123. So I would be heading down to the courthouse the following day.

I have only been summoned one other time, while I was in college. Since I wasn't in the county I was excused. This time I wasn't so lucky.

I got down to the courthouse at a little after 8 am and went through security and was taken to the Juror Waiting Room. There were about 200 chairs in there. Eventually the room filled and the Clerk of Courts came in and swore us all in. He said that there were 4 cases on the docket that day and that a computer would randomly select the names of the potential jury pool. If selected, you went on to be questioned by the attorneys who would decide if they wanted you or not. Then we watched a 15 minute video about what you do as a juror and the different types of cases you would hear.

After the video they called the first group - my name wasn't called. About an hour later they called 2 more groups and again my name wasn't called. Another hour passed, and they called the final group...again my name wasn't selected. They held the remaining 30+ of us who hadn't been called for other cases to wait until the first group came back. If the attorneys had rejected them all they would need us. Of course, they didn't and I was eventually sent on my way.

I was a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping I'd get picked. I've never been on a jury before or in court and thought it might be a neat experience. Instead I got to miss 3.5 hours of work and sit in a room watching Fox News. Oh well, at least it made the rest of my day go by fast!

Changing subjects, I watched the finale of The Bachelor last night. Yes, I watch that show. Every time it comes on I say I'm not going to watch it and then due to a lack of other interesting programming being on I get sucked in. This season was much like other seasons. A previous bachelor reject gets the tables turned and now gets to be the one doing the picking and since they know what it's like being dumped on national TV, they won't be anything like that. WRONG. Jason, the bachelor, is just like every other moron who goes on that show hoping for true love...in a completely unrealistic, highly-staged-for-ratings ploy by ABC. Needless to say, this bachelor sank to a new low by proposing to one girl, dumping her on the After the Final Rose show following the finale, and then proceeding to hook-up with the girl he didn't propose to some 30 minutes later. It was awful. Judging by the backlash I've read about online today, most others agree.

While I type this entry, I just saw on the news that yet another person Obama has picked for his cabinet has "accidentally" forgotten to pay a portion of their taxes. Seriously?! Several of his appointees have had this same "unfortunate lapse of memory". What is wrong with people!? Can anyone be honest anymore? Everyday I watch the news and see billions more of money we don't have being spent on some ailing bank or company and then I hear about the president's budget that apparently contains "earmarks" that he swore once he got into office that he'd eliminate. Like the high speed railway from CA to Las Vegas and something about tatoo parlors. Give me a break! Can someone with some integrity, a backbone, and some decent ideas please step forward and run our country! So much for change! We need it. We're not getting it.

Anyways, off my soapbox I step. I didn't intend to rant, but I couldn't help my self. I'm sure some people may disagree with me. That's ok. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine.

Well, off I go to make dinner. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing interesting to talk about. Hah!