Greg In The Desert

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Here’s some video I shot of President Obama’s drive to Rio Rancho High School on Thursday. It was recorded and uploaded in HD to YouTube.

The first part of the video is the drive down Loma Colorado. I couldn’t drive and film at the same time so set the camera on the dashboard. You can see the camera crews and protesters on the left. The New Mexico Independent says there were about 100 protestors.

The second part of the video shows the presidents cadillac one and the following motorcade driving up Northern Blvd. The Lowes parking lot gave a great vantage point. In retrospect I should have walked down and filmed from the corner of Northern Blvd and Loma Colorado.

For some reason strangers always come up and talk to me and a several people asked me why we were all watching. Many were pissed that they couldn’t drive down Northern Blvd.

baltolover272 has posted a video of Presidnet Obama leaving the high school.

KRQE has Obama’s address on YouTube as well.

I think President Obama is stalking me. First he speaks at my former High School, Dobson High in Mesa, Arizona. Now he will be speaking at the high school a few miles from my house, Rio Rancho High School.

The Albuquerque Journal says the event is from 10AM to 11:15AM Thursday, May 14th and Obama will talk about Credit Card debt.

I will try to get some video of the chaos around town with my new HD camera.

• Slaying fuels debate over speed cameras in Arizona – Doug Georgianni, 51, was killed on April 19, as he operated a speed-enforcement van on a Phoenix freeway. Thomas Patrick Destories, a 68-year-old Phoenix man, is being held in Maricopa County jail on a first-degree murder charge in the death. He has declined to comment.

  Authorities haven't said what they believe the motive might be, but said the two men had never met. Many simply assume the killing was the latest and most extreme backlash against Arizona's photo-enforcement program.

• Chandler Motorola site has new buyer – The prime 153-acre Motorola site on Price Road once again has a buyer.

  A contract has been signed by an out-of-town investor, said Christine Mackay, Chandler's director of economic development.

• Demand for Intel Atom processors slowing – Demand for Intel's Atom netbook processors has begun to slow down as the netbook market faces price-cut competition from low-end notebooks as well as the launch of CULV-based notebooks, according to market sources.
• Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (Eng. /ˈmɒntəˌskju:/; 18 January 1689 in Bordeaux – 10 February 1755), was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Era of the Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He was largely responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire.
• Southwest adds jobs as most airlines cut – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) was one of the few major carriers to add employees in the latest period. Southwest grew its work force by 1,473 workers in the year-to-year February period and has more than 35,543 workers total.
• English Russia » Russian Pilot Making Photos 9/11 Flying Above NYC – Here is a shocking story of Russian pilot, now living in the USA who was on the air 9th September 2001 and have made photos right from the air when planes crashed the WTC.
• Geosmin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Geosmin, which literally translates to "earth smell", is an organic compound with a distinct earthy flavour and aroma, and is responsible for the earthy taste of beets and a contributor to the strong scent that occurs in the air when rain falls after a dry spell of weather (petrichor). The human nose is extremely sensitive to geosmin and is able to detect it at concentrations as low as 5 parts per trillion.
• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Weeknight Recipe: Easy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese – This is the mac n' cheese that we grew up on – creamy sauce, chewy pasta, and don't spare the cheese! This was way before "fat" was a dirty word, but we still can't think of anything else we'd rather have at the end of a long day. Just call it an occasional indulgence and grab yourself a bowl!
• ReelzChannel premiers ABQ headquarters – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Maltin just taped the first episode of his show, “Secret’s Out,” in New Mexico, and there will be many more to follow. The network that created his show, ReelzChannel, opened its new headquarters Thursday at Albuquerque Studios. Maltin’s first show will feature an interview with Gov. Bill Richardson about the film industry and will discuss a film made in New Mexico in 2003, “Off the Map.”
• EDITORIAL: MADD about regulation – Washington Times – President Obama's pick to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration raises a few red flags. If confirmed by the Senate, Chuck Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, will drive motorists over the cliff with regulation.

Check out this picture of the President’s land line phone from the White House’s blog entry “A Call With Senator Specter“. That’s a lot of buttons. I can barely operate the land line phone I have at work, I wonder if this is any easier.

President Obama has introduced a logo to go with the $787 US stimulus plan. the Franklin D. Roosevelt Works Progress Administration (aka The New Deal), which is often compared to the current stimulus program, also had a logo.

Best Obama “change” parody picture ever. Available at nakatomiinc.com.

Optimums Prime with “Change Into A Truck” caption.

• Spring like skiing in Durango. http://twitpic.com/1iv7c #
• Wifi at Purgys is pay. Ha ha! I have super case edge by at&t! #
• I’m going to miss Durango. http://twitpic.com/1j0bk #
• Thanks to @weeklyalibi for linking to me in their blog #
• It looks like I got about 4 episodes of BSG to catch up to #
• @jeremyjojola @bsailer it’s Stone Design by the way, they make Mac apps too. http://www.stone.com/ in reply to jeremyjojola #
• What I hate about Twitterrific: displays messages with full names but replies with short names. I can’t keep track of who is who. #
• @dylanhecht TwitterFon is for iPhone. Twitterrific is for Mac. in reply to dylanhecht #
• Almost through the latest episode of BSG. Wow. Didn’t quite follow it all though. #
• @dylanhecht I didn’t realize there was an iPhone version of Twitterrific. in reply to dylanhecht #
• @marcelius exactly. in reply to marcelius #
• No Country For Old Men review: Meh. #
• Blog: Obama Speaks At My High School Tomorrow In Mesa, Arizona http://tinyurl.com/al2cjc #
• Time to get off my ass, out of my pajamas and get some remodeling done. #
• Hulu is disabling Boxee. http://tinyurl.com/cyuzsj #
• There’s a sentence I never thought I would write. #
• @fbihop That’s a tempting device to get. in reply to fbihop #
• @NoraReed link please, i must examine this for myself. in reply to NoraReed #
• @NoraReed I’m seeing no problems with any of them. in reply to NoraReed #
• Interesting to know that “That Obama is the “Black Beast” of the apocalypse?” #
• Myspace salute is a digital image of you holding a sign with MySpace.com and your Friend ID http://tinyurl.com/brqsuz #
• @adin so how is it other than the crappy haircut. What does it cost for just a cut? in reply to adin #
• So, where do people set up vacations to Vegas? #
• @claystorm Not a in-n-out burger, but I will take it. Do you know where? in reply to claystorm #
• 55 degrees in Rio Rancho, according to my weather station. Feels a lot warmer than that. #
• Now 65 degrees in Rio Rancho, according to my weather station. #
• Had to clean out the NatureMill. It’s the most foul smelling odor, i cannot even begin to describe. #
• Blog: 5 Pictures From The Rio Rancho Flickr Pool http://tinyurl.com/ac5458 #
• Watching last weeks SNL. Is it me or did the Jonas Brothers sound terrible. #

• Trying to Live on 500K in New York City – NYTimes.com
  Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.  

  “As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable,” said Holly Peterson, the author of an Upper East Side novel of manners, “The Manny,” and the daughter of Peter G. Peterson, a founder of the equity firm the Blackstone Group. “Five hundred thousand dollars means taking their kids out of private school and selling their home in a fire sale.”

• Corvette is fastest of them all — baltimoresun.com
  “It’s like driving a UFO on the highway,” says Saboury, 58, whose 1963-model Corvette is widely regarded as the fastest street-legal car on the planet. The car so impressed the editors at Super Chevy magazine that the 35-year-old publication named Saboury’s Corvette as its inaugural Car of the Year in its February issue.
• Sony shoots down Intel GPU in PS4 rumour | News | TechRadar UK
  Sony Computer Entertainment has moved quickly to deny the latest rumours that Intel will be producing the graphics processing unit (GPU) for the PlayStation 4.
• CHbLog – Inside Edge » Blog Archive » More Than a Feeling
  Average attendance at a Scorpions game is approximately a third of what it was before the team moved from Albuquerque to middle-of-nowhere, Rio Rancho. A Rio Rancho resident recently described it to me this way: that it doesn’t help that the arena is situated in a pit of sorts, making it impossible to see from surrounding areas. No bright lights beckoning Albuquerque – or even Rio Rancho residents – to check out the excitement.
• A Postmodern Crime at TED2009 – James Duncan Davidson
  As I walked under the trees by the civic center, I was grabbed from behind. Both of my arms were pulled back alongside my backpack effectively pinning my upper body. A man’s voice said, “I need your badge right fucking now!”
• 6DollarShirts.com
  (tags: shopping clothes cheap clothing shop)
• Washington Times – Pot backers hit Kellogg’s over Phelps
  There’s a “Phelps backlash” out there. Fans and sympathizers have issued a cheeky call to boycott Kellogg’s, the cereal and snack megamanufacturer that dropped the Olympic swimmer’s lucrative endorsement contract after his experience with marijuana became public a week ago.

• What You Need to Know About Gold – WSJ.com
  But for investors who want to hedge against potential economic turmoil, "buying gold is a very good idea for 2009," says Chuck Butler, president of EverBank World Markets in St. Louis.
  (tags: money gold reference)
• Cash4Gold Will Offer One-Third of the Actual Value for your Gold
  Cash4Gold is completely ready and willing to screw you. They are far away (unless you live in Pompano Beach, Florida), casting a big infomercial net across late-night television, trying to snag gold as cheaply as they can from anyone. They don't care if you are insulted by the first offer, because they have a larger offer in their front pocket. A MUCH larger offer, ready to hand over as soon as you turn to exit.
  (tags: gold cash4gold consumer cash scams)
• Busted! What Should I Do Now? – Feature/Features/Classic Cars/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver – Car And Driver
  We talked to seven state troopers from across the country—Florida, New Jersey, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Oregon, and New Mexico—and asked, “What are the five best things a motorist can do when pulled over, and what are the five worst?” We wanted to know which procedures would render a traffic stop as painless as possible for both parties. There wasn’t a perfect consensus, but the answers went pretty much like this:
  (tags: advice cars law legal car)
• Italy bans kebabs and foreign food from cities – Times Online
  It is, though, the “foreign” kebab that is being kicked out of Italian cities as it becomes the target of a campaign against ethnic food, backed by the centre-right Government of Silvio Berlusconi.

  The drive to make Italians eat Italian, which was described by the Left and leading chefs as gastronomic racism, began in the town of Lucca this week, where the council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening within the ancient city walls.

• Bloomberg.com: Obama and Congress Seek to Limit Pay at Bailed-Out Companies
  President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are moving to cap Wall Street bonuses and pay.

  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it’s “very safe” to assume that new rules guiding the administration’s financial rescue will address bonuses and executive pay.

• It’s Theirs and They’re Not Apologizing – NYTimes.com
  “People come here because they want to work hard and get paid a lot for working hard,” one investment banker said Friday as he wended his way, lunch bag in hand, through the World Financial Center. “I think there’s a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”