Tuesday, July 11th, 6:00 am: Grabbed my camera
bag and suitcases, including the Samsonite bought at the Subic Bay
(Philippines) Navy PX in 1963, and walked two blocks to the Route
#80 bus stop at Villard and Teutonia that would take me to the
airport - the bus not stopping in the middle of the terminal but at the
northern end -- meaning I had to walk another two blocks back to the
Northwest check-in area.
Took a picture of a very neat caldera that looked like it could erupt at any minute while flying over Colorado - that little cloud formation floating directly above what looks to be a lake in the center of the caldera. Our 4 vehicle caravan left the Marriott at about 8:36 am, stopping in Encino, Vaughan and Roswell on the way. Our first stop in Artesia was at Lee Caldwell's home - where pictures were taken of our group of 14 alumnae. After our video taped lunch at the La Fonda on main street in Artesia, including many and some shopping nearby, we went to the old and new Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) - the main gate reception area having a wall of plaques representing some of the 83 Federal Agencies training at the facility -- it going from 10 acres and 180 students on any given day to 2500 acres and 1800 mostly border guard trainees in the near future. (Here's some pictures of the taken off the DVD prepared by and available from .)
Before leaving Artesia we stopped by the on Yucca and the across the alley nearer the old campus. Jim Lyon and his wife were visiting former alumni and present occupants of one of Anthony Cali's 1968 ~ 1971 apartment building. I snapped snap some hazy pictures from their - one being of the campus and the others being those where I was present. (Jim lived in one corner unit and I the other of the Vaswood apartment building now bordered by a chain link fence - me not having seen him in the 36 years since 1970.)
On the drive back, I took one good picture of the clouds surrounding a typical New Mexico sunset viewed while driving through the desert. The Santa Ana Pueblo's Hyatt 5 Star Hotel & Golf Course is obviously an 'out-of-sight' getaway for those not wanting anyone to know they are in the area. This fantastic luxury resort is located off new Federal hwy 550 that now runs all the way to Farmington. Although there is a very large monument sign announcing the Hotel just beyond the Casino and its parking lots facing the highway, the complex can't be seen from the . Highway 528 intersecting I-25 at the Bernalillo/Jemez/Placitas turnoff is still there and flows into and becomes Fed 550 near the Santa Ana Casino.
OUTSTANDING panoramas of the Sandia Mountains can be seen from out there near Rio Rancho. Pictures taken of on my return flight show the considerable undeveloped cutouts that, when surrounded by new homes will double the size of Rio Rancho yet again. The new policy of building homes (Centex Corp.) adjacent to the new HWY 550 and then backwards to meet the homes long being built outward from the heart of an ever expanding Rio Rancho is evident in the other picture - that new policy should accelerate the rapid development of Rio Rancho and surrounding areas. [ Upon return to Milwaukee and further investigation, I discovered that many of those empty 'almost half-million dollar' town-houses built along the new HWY 550 (and in dozens of other much larger developments throughout the United States) were part of the sub-prime mess that threw our economy into the chaos evident to everyone by late 2008. They were being bought and sold by investors with no interest in ever occupying them - with balloon payment and/or jump-up interest rate financing that only made sense when a quick resale was going to happen - with guarantees by government and other agencies that treated them as though they were 'normal home owner purchases' in an 'always' expanding real estate market where, eventually, even well paid workers would never be able to look forward to affording their own homes. In other words, it didn't make sense in the real world!
Just like many 'quick money' pyramid-like schemes before it, this latest 'get rich quick in real estate' bubble depending entirely upon a GREATER FOOL coming along willing to pay an even higher price for something that was already overpriced in any 'reality-based' economy. Although many of these 'empty house' investors could afford to lose a lot of money when this market collapsed, the home owners who obtained equity financing on the abnormally increased value of their own homes during this abnormal real estate appreciation economy couldn't - especially when their own income earning capacity declined during the ensuing recession. ]
SandiaVisionClinic: This is just personal note providing an indication of the difference between Albuquerque and Milwaukee. My 30 year old metal framed, New Mexico bought, photogray eyeglasses having the prescription working best for me have needed a new saddle (nose piece) for several years. I couldn't find anyone who had 'any' saddles in Milwaukee - one Pearle Vision manager near Bayshore acted as though I was bothering them even asking. Well, on Thursday, July 13th, I inquired at the Pearle Vision office near the Marriott and discovered that my best bet would be a small, local company such as Sandia Vision Clinic. Sandia Vision not only had exactly what I needed, they customized it to my frames, installed it and provided me with a lens cleaning cloth - ALL AT NO CHARGE! (I would have donated $20 to their favorite charity but even that was not wanted.) After being asked to leave the dining room to make room for the next group, we proceeded to the where we were asked to leave after some people walking by in the hallway complained about the noise - we having quite a crowd of people in the room by that time. (The video camera stopped immediately after it started when moved atop the serving bar - the larger crowd of 'normally talking' people was not caught on 'sound' video for conversion to photo to display here.) Got up at 4:00 am (5 am Milwaukee time), did exercises and took pictures from my room of the Sandias & Winrock Shopping Center - turned out pretty good considering the dusty glass and all.
Santa Fe: Met Larry & Roz in the Marriott lobby and having nothing else planned, accompanied them to Santa Fe where they went shopping and I got on a computer at the public library to delete my daily spam - discovering, while online that the Mission Inn in Riverside had charged $175.00 on my credit card for the July 8th reservation I'd cancelled 3 months ago on April 22nd -- sent an immediate disputation email with a note that I'd follow-up with the 'cancellation confirmation number' issued by the Mission Inn when getting back to Milwaukee. The computer usage was free and no library card was needed - the computers were busy with the next user logging on the 'second' the prior logged off. After the library, I took a roundabout way to the Plaza, passing the notable New Mexican placed into the sidewalk in front of the ??? Art Museum - should have taken a picture of the exact title of the museum but am getting too old to think on my feet much any more. (I'm pretty sure Maria Martinez is the artist well known throughout the world for her 'Maria' pottery - usually of a darker or black finish.) Leaving Santa Fe, we drove down the Turquoise Trail (NM hwy 14) past Cerrillos to visit Madrid, the location of the old coal/gold mine museum and where a new Disney movie "Wild Hogs" (I have stock in DIS) was being shot - John Travolta, Peter Fonda, ?Dennis Quaid? and forgotten other actors were said to be in it. It's supposed to be a remake of some movie about bikers and yuppies (hippies?) confronting each other at the made up for the movie The movie had already finished shooting two days prior, but the camera booms and some crew members were still around. The producers were said to have . in town, including most likely, the . (A picture taken of the eastern hillside leaving town south toward Albuquerque taken after my Dad's funeral in May 1982 shows Madrid's condition around the time it was placed on the real estate market for ?$250k? I was involved with a group of people 'thinking' of buying it but moved back to Milwaukee before any legitimate plans were formulated - another group associated with 'Little Theater' operations subsequently bought the town.)
On the way back, we noticed a photogenic stray cow outside the fence. Later than night, during our 'The Way We Were' dinner, I took a picture of Mark, Anthony and Jo just to preserve Anthony's get-up for posterity. This day started out with the usual early morning rise and exercises and log-on to the Marriott's high speed computers (available to business and others guests - me getting access because the hotel couldn't get my laptop connected via their in-room high speed connection -- most likely because my laptop has some switch needing disabling that only the richest man in the world knows about.) Then, it was a short walk to the (web site) bus stop right in front of the hotel. One dollar got me a transfer good for the next 3 1/2 hours with the ability to get on and off that or any other regular City of Albuquerque Transit Department bus an often as desired before the transfer expired. So, taking advantage of this OUTSTANDING Rapid Ride transportation flexibility, I got off the bus first at Yale & just across from the former LOBO Pharmacy and the center of the campus. (At the end of this day's tour via bus, I reboarded at the Nob Hill Shopping Center after having lunch at the first of the nascently expanding Flying Star coffee shops.) Took a tour of the , past the various new sculptures, vastly beautified pond, Robert O. Anderson School of Management (where I matriculated both as an undergraduate and graduate student), Student Union (it's curved south end can be seen in the background of the Sabo sculpture photo) and Student Health Center - all in all noticing that almost every bare space that existing back in the 1970s has been filled with new construction - mostly of new classroom buildings for various departments. After touring the campus, I walked south up Harvard to take pictures of the half-dozen I'd lived in during and after matriculating at UNM - the picture of the other abode on Richmond just north of Indian School was taken on Sunday when Mark Radford gave me a tour of his neighborhood on the way to the airport. (A picture of my first abode, a $55/month basement room with private shower on ?girard? just south of Silver exists somewhere - it being where Rich Dennis surprised me one day to take me to my first Albuquerque Dukes baseball game before the Summer 1970 session began.)
Jun ~ Aug 1970 2.. ?Girard? SE. A $55/month basement room with separate rear door entry and private shower/toilet/sink room was where I lived during my first semester at UNM. My sole recreation pretty much consisted of laying in the rear yard on a thin tatami mat getting a suntan - back before we discovered getting a tan that way wasn't necessarily good for us, skin cancer-wise. (Returned to Milwaukee to work in the Miller Brewing Company beer tent at the 1970 Wisconsin State Fair during the break. I think I made arrangements for my Fall semester abode before leaving or came back early to do so before the rest of the students arrived - me staying with my father and step-mother up in the NE Heights when looking for close-to-campus housing.)
Sep 1970 ~ Mar 1971 NE corner Spruce & Coal. There have been a couple new buildings added and another expanded with an additional floor since I lived there. The $72/month room included electricity but not gas for the heater. I never ordered the gas turned on, figuring New Mexico Winters were nothing like those I'd been used to in Wisconsin - the 1970/71 Winter was the coldest on record in 30 or 40 years -- me having to buy an electric heater and keep it under a blanket made hood covering my head in order to breath & sleep at night --- spent the rest of the evenings in the Zimmerman library reading and keeping warm ---- read several dozen books that semester.
Mar ~ Jun 1971 2105 Silver Apt "C" just west of Yale. This was a $35/month basement room without cooking and with a shared shower that I really didn't stay in much. Instead, I stayed with a girlfriend and her mother a couple miles from campus and drove into campus each day with them in their car - that being the semester I treated school just like an 8 to 5 job, taking 33 hours with 27 for eventual credit -- that just before the University began charging tuition by the credit taken instead of the former flat fee per semester.
Jun ~ Aug 1971 & Jul 1973 ~ Aug 1974 318 Harvard SE. My moving into this abode is discussed at riot on another web page. This was a very nice two bedroom, wood frame house similar to that I'd been used to in Milwaukee. We kept the lawn watered and free of weeds and were probably the best tenants the young owners had - that being one of the reasons they were not displeased when I moved back into it by myself a after returning to Albuquerque from a couple fruitless job hunting years in Milwaukee. This is one of those 'student ghetto' houses that passed from renter to renter without the owners even having to advertise - we just informing them of our presence and inquiring as to the latest rent rate. The RV and other vehicles parked in the driveway intimate that the owners may have 'equitied' out of their bigger house in the Northeast Heights to move back into this one themselves for their retirement - that's exactly what I'd have done when no longer needing the larger home.
May ~ Jun 1973 423? Harvard SE. Although I'm unsure of the address and didn't think to get it when taking the picture (am getting too old to think ahead on my feet these days), this place looks like it was completely rebuilt from two side by side 2 bedroom motel-like units into one big two story fourplex. Larry Weiss let me move in with him into the 2nd bedroom when I moved back to Albuquerque in 1973. (I quite naturally let the latest occupant of 318 Harvard know that I'd be interested in renting it whenever he moved out - me remembering him as being a Mescalero or Jicarilla Apache matriculating at UNM who I'd met in Oki's at Central & University. He moved out after the Spring semester, and I moved in and informed the owners of my return and tenancy - they taking it in stride like almost all their other tenants in the past.)
Sep 1974 ~ Nov 1975 ?1715? Coal SE. This small one bedroom apartment was within a hundred feet of both of the other abodes on Harvard - a big 16+ unit apartment building separating it from 318 Harvard. Larry eventually moved into the twin apartment sharing the single building behind the owner's home at the NE corner of Coal and Harvard SE - after he'd spent a semester or so at SUNY in Binghamton, New York.
Jul 1977 ~ Aug 1978 ?1812? Richmond NE. This stone facade, three bedroom house was purchased by Larry Weiss with the understanding that I'd move in and operate my new business, Columbia Business Consultants, out of the 3rd bedroom - that 3rd bedroom really the garage space created by walling off a small section next to the overhead door that became a small tool storage space. I agreed to stay and rent from him for at least a year and eventually bought my own home 14 months later. Got back on the Rapid Ride at the ?Presbyterian? hospital stop just east of I-25 and took it down to the combined Aquarium and Zoo stop - having to walk a mile into the Tingley Beach station because there were no rental bikes or skates or train tickets to be had at the Aquarium train station -- a very pedestrian unfriendly setup. Aside from that, the asphalt trail just outside the chain link fence separating the train tracks from bicyclists and pedestrians was a very friendly experience --- albeit me being the only pedestrian on it. Met old UNM and several CoA alumnae on the train - me having to pass the Aquarium train station 4 times before being able to complete the entire circuit and get back to the Rapid Ride bus. This train ride, costing $2 or twice the cost of the OUTSTANDINGLY more efficient and friendly Rapid Ride bus, was another pedestrian unfriendly experience. The alumnae began gathering well before 5:15 pm and managed to get it all together to have our completed by 5:36 pm. A tweaked version of the professionally taken photo is #3 in the group linked above - the others are from the VHS-C video converted to DVD converted to .BMP converted to .JPG and upload to the web host server. (Click here to pop-up the tweaked version of the group photo.)
(The has been preserved here to aide our aging memories.) The 'FAREWELL BEFORE WE RETURN TO FROM WHENCE WE CAME' was notable for the wait staff standing around chatting rather than making sure each table's water and coffee pots were full - something that also happened during at least one dinner - we having to do so ourselves -- looking out for ourselves may have been part of the package we arranged with the hotel. (Our was also held at this same Marriott Hotel immediately adjacent to I-40.)
Got to the airport more than a couple hours before the flight and took advantage of the new - taking quite a few unremarkable pictures of various takeoffs and landings and one notable cloud photo on the way to Minneapolis.
Took a picture of a very neat caldera that looked like it could erupt at any minute while flying over Colorado - that little cloud formation floating directly above what looks to be a lake in the center of the caldera. Our 4 vehicle caravan left the Marriott at about 8:36 am, stopping in Encino, Vaughan and Roswell on the way. Our first stop in Artesia was at Lee Caldwell's home - where pictures were taken of our group of 14 alumnae. After our video taped lunch at the La Fonda on main street in Artesia, including many and some shopping nearby, we went to the old and new Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) - the main gate reception area having a wall of plaques representing some of the 83 Federal Agencies training at the facility -- it going from 10 acres and 180 students on any given day to 2500 acres and 1800 mostly border guard trainees in the near future. (Here's some pictures of the taken off the DVD prepared by and available from .)
Before leaving Artesia we stopped by the on Yucca and the across the alley nearer the old campus. Jim Lyon and his wife were visiting former alumni and present occupants of one of Anthony Cali's 1968 ~ 1971 apartment building. I snapped snap some hazy pictures from their - one being of the campus and the others being those where I was present. (Jim lived in one corner unit and I the other of the Vaswood apartment building now bordered by a chain link fence - me not having seen him in the 36 years since 1970.)
On the drive back, I took one good picture of the clouds surrounding a typical New Mexico sunset viewed while driving through the desert. The Santa Ana Pueblo's Hyatt 5 Star Hotel & Golf Course is obviously an 'out-of-sight' getaway for those not wanting anyone to know they are in the area. This fantastic luxury resort is located off new Federal hwy 550 that now runs all the way to Farmington. Although there is a very large monument sign announcing the Hotel just beyond the Casino and its parking lots facing the highway, the complex can't be seen from the . Highway 528 intersecting I-25 at the Bernalillo/Jemez/Placitas turnoff is still there and flows into and becomes Fed 550 near the Santa Ana Casino.
OUTSTANDING panoramas of the Sandia Mountains can be seen from out there near Rio Rancho. Pictures taken of on my return flight show the considerable undeveloped cutouts that, when surrounded by new homes will double the size of Rio Rancho yet again. The new policy of building homes (Centex Corp.) adjacent to the new HWY 550 and then backwards to meet the homes long being built outward from the heart of an ever expanding Rio Rancho is evident in the other picture - that new policy should accelerate the rapid development of Rio Rancho and surrounding areas. [ Upon return to Milwaukee and further investigation, I discovered that many of those empty 'almost half-million dollar' town-houses built along the new HWY 550 (and in dozens of other much larger developments throughout the United States) were part of the sub-prime mess that threw our economy into the chaos evident to everyone by late 2008. They were being bought and sold by investors with no interest in ever occupying them - with balloon payment and/or jump-up interest rate financing that only made sense when a quick resale was going to happen - with guarantees by government and other agencies that treated them as though they were 'normal home owner purchases' in an 'always' expanding real estate market where, eventually, even well paid workers would never be able to look forward to affording their own homes. In other words, it didn't make sense in the real world!
Just like many 'quick money' pyramid-like schemes before it, this latest 'get rich quick in real estate' bubble depending entirely upon a GREATER FOOL coming along willing to pay an even higher price for something that was already overpriced in any 'reality-based' economy. Although many of these 'empty house' investors could afford to lose a lot of money when this market collapsed, the home owners who obtained equity financing on the abnormally increased value of their own homes during this abnormal real estate appreciation economy couldn't - especially when their own income earning capacity declined during the ensuing recession. ]
SandiaVisionClinic: This is just personal note providing an indication of the difference between Albuquerque and Milwaukee. My 30 year old metal framed, New Mexico bought, photogray eyeglasses having the prescription working best for me have needed a new saddle (nose piece) for several years. I couldn't find anyone who had 'any' saddles in Milwaukee - one Pearle Vision manager near Bayshore acted as though I was bothering them even asking. Well, on Thursday, July 13th, I inquired at the Pearle Vision office near the Marriott and discovered that my best bet would be a small, local company such as Sandia Vision Clinic. Sandia Vision not only had exactly what I needed, they customized it to my frames, installed it and provided me with a lens cleaning cloth - ALL AT NO CHARGE! (I would have donated $20 to their favorite charity but even that was not wanted.) After being asked to leave the dining room to make room for the next group, we proceeded to the where we were asked to leave after some people walking by in the hallway complained about the noise - we having quite a crowd of people in the room by that time. (The video camera stopped immediately after it started when moved atop the serving bar - the larger crowd of 'normally talking' people was not caught on 'sound' video for conversion to photo to display here.) Got up at 4:00 am (5 am Milwaukee time), did exercises and took pictures from my room of the Sandias & Winrock Shopping Center - turned out pretty good considering the dusty glass and all.
Santa Fe: Met Larry & Roz in the Marriott lobby and having nothing else planned, accompanied them to Santa Fe where they went shopping and I got on a computer at the public library to delete my daily spam - discovering, while online that the Mission Inn in Riverside had charged $175.00 on my credit card for the July 8th reservation I'd cancelled 3 months ago on April 22nd -- sent an immediate disputation email with a note that I'd follow-up with the 'cancellation confirmation number' issued by the Mission Inn when getting back to Milwaukee. The computer usage was free and no library card was needed - the computers were busy with the next user logging on the 'second' the prior logged off. After the library, I took a roundabout way to the Plaza, passing the notable New Mexican placed into the sidewalk in front of the ??? Art Museum - should have taken a picture of the exact title of the museum but am getting too old to think on my feet much any more. (I'm pretty sure Maria Martinez is the artist well known throughout the world for her 'Maria' pottery - usually of a darker or black finish.) Leaving Santa Fe, we drove down the Turquoise Trail (NM hwy 14) past Cerrillos to visit Madrid, the location of the old coal/gold mine museum and where a new Disney movie "Wild Hogs" (I have stock in DIS) was being shot - John Travolta, Peter Fonda, ?Dennis Quaid? and forgotten other actors were said to be in it. It's supposed to be a remake of some movie about bikers and yuppies (hippies?) confronting each other at the made up for the movie The movie had already finished shooting two days prior, but the camera booms and some crew members were still around. The producers were said to have . in town, including most likely, the . (A picture taken of the eastern hillside leaving town south toward Albuquerque taken after my Dad's funeral in May 1982 shows Madrid's condition around the time it was placed on the real estate market for ?$250k? I was involved with a group of people 'thinking' of buying it but moved back to Milwaukee before any legitimate plans were formulated - another group associated with 'Little Theater' operations subsequently bought the town.)
On the way back, we noticed a photogenic stray cow outside the fence. Later than night, during our 'The Way We Were' dinner, I took a picture of Mark, Anthony and Jo just to preserve Anthony's get-up for posterity. This day started out with the usual early morning rise and exercises and log-on to the Marriott's high speed computers (available to business and others guests - me getting access because the hotel couldn't get my laptop connected via their in-room high speed connection -- most likely because my laptop has some switch needing disabling that only the richest man in the world knows about.) Then, it was a short walk to the (web site) bus stop right in front of the hotel. One dollar got me a transfer good for the next 3 1/2 hours with the ability to get on and off that or any other regular City of Albuquerque Transit Department bus an often as desired before the transfer expired. So, taking advantage of this OUTSTANDING Rapid Ride transportation flexibility, I got off the bus first at Yale & just across from the former LOBO Pharmacy and the center of the campus. (At the end of this day's tour via bus, I reboarded at the Nob Hill Shopping Center after having lunch at the first of the nascently expanding Flying Star coffee shops.) Took a tour of the , past the various new sculptures, vastly beautified pond, Robert O. Anderson School of Management (where I matriculated both as an undergraduate and graduate student), Student Union (it's curved south end can be seen in the background of the Sabo sculpture photo) and Student Health Center - all in all noticing that almost every bare space that existing back in the 1970s has been filled with new construction - mostly of new classroom buildings for various departments. After touring the campus, I walked south up Harvard to take pictures of the half-dozen I'd lived in during and after matriculating at UNM - the picture of the other abode on Richmond just north of Indian School was taken on Sunday when Mark Radford gave me a tour of his neighborhood on the way to the airport. (A picture of my first abode, a $55/month basement room with private shower on ?girard? just south of Silver exists somewhere - it being where Rich Dennis surprised me one day to take me to my first Albuquerque Dukes baseball game before the Summer 1970 session began.)
Jun ~ Aug 1970 2.. ?Girard? SE. A $55/month basement room with separate rear door entry and private shower/toilet/sink room was where I lived during my first semester at UNM. My sole recreation pretty much consisted of laying in the rear yard on a thin tatami mat getting a suntan - back before we discovered getting a tan that way wasn't necessarily good for us, skin cancer-wise. (Returned to Milwaukee to work in the Miller Brewing Company beer tent at the 1970 Wisconsin State Fair during the break. I think I made arrangements for my Fall semester abode before leaving or came back early to do so before the rest of the students arrived - me staying with my father and step-mother up in the NE Heights when looking for close-to-campus housing.)
Sep 1970 ~ Mar 1971 NE corner Spruce & Coal. There have been a couple new buildings added and another expanded with an additional floor since I lived there. The $72/month room included electricity but not gas for the heater. I never ordered the gas turned on, figuring New Mexico Winters were nothing like those I'd been used to in Wisconsin - the 1970/71 Winter was the coldest on record in 30 or 40 years -- me having to buy an electric heater and keep it under a blanket made hood covering my head in order to breath & sleep at night --- spent the rest of the evenings in the Zimmerman library reading and keeping warm ---- read several dozen books that semester.
Mar ~ Jun 1971 2105 Silver Apt "C" just west of Yale. This was a $35/month basement room without cooking and with a shared shower that I really didn't stay in much. Instead, I stayed with a girlfriend and her mother a couple miles from campus and drove into campus each day with them in their car - that being the semester I treated school just like an 8 to 5 job, taking 33 hours with 27 for eventual credit -- that just before the University began charging tuition by the credit taken instead of the former flat fee per semester.
Jun ~ Aug 1971 & Jul 1973 ~ Aug 1974 318 Harvard SE. My moving into this abode is discussed at riot on another web page. This was a very nice two bedroom, wood frame house similar to that I'd been used to in Milwaukee. We kept the lawn watered and free of weeds and were probably the best tenants the young owners had - that being one of the reasons they were not displeased when I moved back into it by myself a after returning to Albuquerque from a couple fruitless job hunting years in Milwaukee. This is one of those 'student ghetto' houses that passed from renter to renter without the owners even having to advertise - we just informing them of our presence and inquiring as to the latest rent rate. The RV and other vehicles parked in the driveway intimate that the owners may have 'equitied' out of their bigger house in the Northeast Heights to move back into this one themselves for their retirement - that's exactly what I'd have done when no longer needing the larger home.
May ~ Jun 1973 423? Harvard SE. Although I'm unsure of the address and didn't think to get it when taking the picture (am getting too old to think ahead on my feet these days), this place looks like it was completely rebuilt from two side by side 2 bedroom motel-like units into one big two story fourplex. Larry Weiss let me move in with him into the 2nd bedroom when I moved back to Albuquerque in 1973. (I quite naturally let the latest occupant of 318 Harvard know that I'd be interested in renting it whenever he moved out - me remembering him as being a Mescalero or Jicarilla Apache matriculating at UNM who I'd met in Oki's at Central & University. He moved out after the Spring semester, and I moved in and informed the owners of my return and tenancy - they taking it in stride like almost all their other tenants in the past.)
Sep 1974 ~ Nov 1975 ?1715? Coal SE. This small one bedroom apartment was within a hundred feet of both of the other abodes on Harvard - a big 16+ unit apartment building separating it from 318 Harvard. Larry eventually moved into the twin apartment sharing the single building behind the owner's home at the NE corner of Coal and Harvard SE - after he'd spent a semester or so at SUNY in Binghamton, New York.
Jul 1977 ~ Aug 1978 ?1812? Richmond NE. This stone facade, three bedroom house was purchased by Larry Weiss with the understanding that I'd move in and operate my new business, Columbia Business Consultants, out of the 3rd bedroom - that 3rd bedroom really the garage space created by walling off a small section next to the overhead door that became a small tool storage space. I agreed to stay and rent from him for at least a year and eventually bought my own home 14 months later. Got back on the Rapid Ride at the ?Presbyterian? hospital stop just east of I-25 and took it down to the combined Aquarium and Zoo stop - having to walk a mile into the Tingley Beach station because there were no rental bikes or skates or train tickets to be had at the Aquarium train station -- a very pedestrian unfriendly setup. Aside from that, the asphalt trail just outside the chain link fence separating the train tracks from bicyclists and pedestrians was a very friendly experience --- albeit me being the only pedestrian on it. Met old UNM and several CoA alumnae on the train - me having to pass the Aquarium train station 4 times before being able to complete the entire circuit and get back to the Rapid Ride bus. This train ride, costing $2 or twice the cost of the OUTSTANDINGLY more efficient and friendly Rapid Ride bus, was another pedestrian unfriendly experience. The alumnae began gathering well before 5:15 pm and managed to get it all together to have our completed by 5:36 pm. A tweaked version of the professionally taken photo is #3 in the group linked above - the others are from the VHS-C video converted to DVD converted to .BMP converted to .JPG and upload to the web host server. (Click here to pop-up the tweaked version of the group photo.)
(The has been preserved here to aide our aging memories.) The 'FAREWELL BEFORE WE RETURN TO FROM WHENCE WE CAME' was notable for the wait staff standing around chatting rather than making sure each table's water and coffee pots were full - something that also happened during at least one dinner - we having to do so ourselves -- looking out for ourselves may have been part of the package we arranged with the hotel. (Our was also held at this same Marriott Hotel immediately adjacent to I-40.)
Got to the airport more than a couple hours before the flight and took advantage of the new - taking quite a few unremarkable pictures of various takeoffs and landings and one notable cloud photo on the way to Minneapolis.
