Goodbye To The Maverick
In 1991 I was in high school and a neighbor brought home a 1972 Ford Maverick Sprint and parked it in front of his house. I fell in love with it and eventually bought it.
I could go on about what it meant to to me but the short story is it sat in my garage for almost the whole 20 years I've been in New Mexico. It's pretty clear that I will never have the money to finish working on it and it's just clutter at this point.
I sold it. It was hard but it's better at this point.
GE Chooses Boston Over Rio Rancho
In August of 2015 Albuquerque Business First reported "GE turns down Rio Rancho relocation proposal". Now we know that GE had chosen Boston as the location of it's new headquarters "G.E. Is Moving Headquarters to Boston and Itself Into the Digital Era" according to the New York Times.
Now, in its latest step to remake itself — and its public image — as an industrial company for the digital era, G.E. said it was moving its headquarters from its longtime sprawling suburban home in Fairfield, Conn., to the high-tech environs of Boston.
I would have very much liked to have General Electric headquartered in Rio Rancho. But if I'm thinking of a high tech company, Boston seems like a better location than Rio Rancho.
Goodbye And Fuck You 2015
While a change in the calendar year has no real meaning to the universe, it's not hard to track one's life milestones by the change in the year.
2014 was bad after being laid off from Intel. 2015 continued being shitty with poor job prospects and the death of my sister among many of my problems.
I have become a cliche at the age of 40 with major life changing events and being in the situation where I don't know what to do with myself. I hope next year brings some improvements but honestly I am not very hopeful.
Amazon TV Show "Edge" Filmed In New Mexico – Available Now
If you have a Amazon Prime account go watch "Edge". It was filmed in New Mexico.
Missouri, 1865. Josiah Hedges aka "Edge" returns home from the Civil War to discover his closest comrades-in-arms have betrayed him, sparking a bloody reign of vengeance. A mysterious beauty crosses Edge's path, and together they will uncover a dark conspiracy that extends to the highest ranks of American power. From Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3).
"Detention" short film
After being laid off from Intel in 2014 I have started a new career in the New Mexico film industry. This year I worked on my first 48 hour film project. In "Detention" I worked as DIT and assistant editor. The trailer can be seen on YouTube.
A dysfunctional group of High School staff have a difficult time proving to their boss, Kelly Cartier, that they are no longer 'minimally effective'.
Closing The Intel Rio Rancho Site Looks More Likely Ever Day
In the March 25th issue of the Albuquerque Free Press (It's a PDF download, not a online article) they suggest Intel will leave NM after 2015.
The poor relationship between intel management and state government doesn't help things. I found this part particularly interesting.
Daymon Ely, a former Sandoval County Commis- sion chairman, said that Intel officials gave him the impression that they never really liked New Mexico.
"For whatever reason, their employees did not like coming to New Mexico. It was not a desirable place because it didn't have a lot of the big-city stuff like Phoenix had, or places in California," Ely said.
That was made clear, Ely said, when Intel officials flatly told him they weren't interested in exploring other sites in Rio Rancho to quell the criticisms com- ing from Corrales. The Chandler plant, which opened the same year as the Rio Rancho facility, has faced nothing like the criticism Intel endured here, several economic-development officials told ABQ Free Press.
And then there are simply the intangibles, the signs of dysfunction that builds as a relationship goes sour.
Tommy Hughes, a former Sandoval County bond attorney who negotiated industrial revenue bond deals between the county and Intel, just doesn't like Intel executives.
"When somebody from Intel's mouth is moving, they are usually lying," Hughes said. He cited negotiations in 1995 when Intel said it would provide Rio Rancho with a high school.
Overal Intel as a company is not doing well (the Oregonian Intel trims manufacturing group with buyouts amid technological and business transformation). While I didn't initially think Intel would actually close the Rio Rancho site, I now think it's only a matter of time.
I haven't worked there in over a year now. I don't miss it. I have many friends still working there and they say that the working conditions are bad and moral is at a all time low.
Fab11x is still producing product, just older product on older equipment. With the layoffs and voluntary separation packages the size of the workforce continues to shrink and everyone is having to do more work with less.