Any advice on moving to NM?

[jc76]

Originally Posted by ABQConvict

I actually prefer that type of interaction. I'm doing business. I don't know the cashier and I'm not there on a social call. It is especially grating when I'm trying to get out of the store and to a real social call with my family and friends and everyone on line in front of me feels the need to make chit-chat with the cashier especially after the transaction has been completed. Like I need to stand on line all day!

Saying 'thanks' after the money changes hands is one thing, but what's with the pointless conversations?

Sorry, this is obviously a pet peeve of mine.

ABQConvict

No no no, don't get me wrong, I think I left out the main part. They usually roll their eyes or look really annoyed that they have to ring you up. If they are just quick with me I don't mind, it's when they act like it's the end of the world because they have to do their job. I'm not a small talk with the cashier guy either. I wanna get in and out, but to make one feel like they are a burden simply by being a customer is when I get a bit frustrated. Happens everywhere but waaaay more in my home state than anywhere else I have been. Just wanted to clear that up.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by nmnita

You will love the combination of high desert and mountains. Or we loved it anyway. Don't let the people who paint negative pics scare you. Sure there is crime and yes, there are many drunk drivers (watch out for them or you may not live to see 2010) but there are lots of wonderful things about NM> As long as you keep a positive attitude you will be just as happy in ABQ as back in L.A. and maybe happier.

Good luck,

Nita

Thanks Nita, great advice as always

Kinda confused about the drunk driving though, must be pretty bad there huh? Is it not enforced?
I don't drive drunk, ever, but I do agree most laws are a bit over the top. One or 2 beers is not (only in my opinion) grounds for towing a guys car, locking him up, and then making him pay for year and go to classes. That happend to my father in law after 2 beers in Indiana. Here it's just a money game.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by jc76

Kinda confused about the drunk driving though, must be pretty bad there huh? Is it not enforced?

Its the same as the Upper Midwest. A problem, yes. Something that can be solved by a magical wave of the governmental hand? No. Honestly, people hate to hear this, but the only "fix" to drunk driving is to somehow change the mindset of people culturally (by their own understanding) to a mindset of personal responsibility...realizing just how destructive and harmful and selfish drunk driving is.

If you'd feel safe driving in Wisconsin (drunk driving-wise), then you'll feel fine driving in Albuquerque.

But it is a problem, just like it is in WI, IN, and many, many other states in the US.

I was driving one very late winter night in 05 or 06 back to Albuquerque from Colorado Springs down I-25 (coming back home from a Notre Dame v. Air Force college football game) in dark, mountain-laden winding roads (north of Santa Fe) and was diverted off the freeway...passing a destroyed minivan that had been driving in my same direction probably only an hour or two earlier...carrying a family of six...absolutely nailed by a wrong-way freeway drunk who was driving smashed from the ABQ Sunport north on the wrong side of 25. All but one in that family van were killed that night. I drove 10 feet away that night on the frontage road after being diverted off and saw all of the trooper spotlights on the wreckage; grotesque, depressing carnage. Horrific.

I think often how, an hour later, that easily could've been me. Driving at 70 miles per hour across ultra dark, windy mountain roads...the reaction time for a drunk driver coming at you out of nowhere at that speed would be virtually nil.

The real part though, is that you'll get stories like this from nearly all states. NM has its problems for sure, but there is no easy, quick fix...especially not from the government. If people are so callous to human life, there is a sad problem...in NM, but across many a state.