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the dot connection in new mexico - connecting the - all too often - disparate dots in our lives http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q= this is a place to integrate the "dots" of our lives, which represent the things that matter to us most (or at least at the moment) and often feel disconnected from anyone or anything else.discussion centers around activism, organizing, spirituality, politics, technology, policy, philosophy, social justice, community, identity, or networking. sometimes it is possible to connect the dots. other times it's hard as hell. i offer this site to make the dot connection easier. connect the dots with your next door neighbors, those across the state or with those across the world whether you identify as lgbtqii, straight, a geek, a paper pusher, working class, a given gender, spiritual (or not), a person of color, an environmentalist or an activist of any kind. create your own blog account today... --kelli burkinshaw en hooked on flickr http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/50 <p>so i'm completely hooked on flickr these days. i've known about flickr for a few years now but in the past month i've started trying to take a picture a day. and now i'm hooked on making collages...yikes. oh well. i could have worse addictions.<br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68381162@N00/350066859/" title="Photo Sharing"></a></p> 2007-01-08T06:06:42Z community internet networking resources and tools New Mexico Filmmaker’s Showcase http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/46 <p>Start:<br /> Fri, 2006-05-19 00:00</p> <p>The NM Film Office is again presenting the New Mexico Filmmakers Showcase this weekend at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque's Nob Hill. The four days of films from New Mexico Filmmakers will be shown free of charge (isn't that pretty amazing?) and is preceded by an opening reception at Cafe Cubano at 3413 Central, NE from 5-7:00 PM this Friday.<br /> For more info on films and more, call the Guild at: 505.255.1848. www.guildcinema.com<br /> Guild Cinema<br /> 3405 Central Ave. NE<br /> Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106</p> 2006-05-17T09:41:10Z 2006-05-19T00:00 community networking Albuquerque Pride http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/45 <p>Start:<br /> Thu, 2006-06-08 00:00</p> 2006-04-13T04:55:42Z 2006-06-08T00:00 bi-sexual community gay gender identity lgbtqii lesbian Sights around Australia http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/43 <p>January was a great month. I have had a 10 day intensive <a href="http://summerfilmschool.com"target="new">summer film course</a> in <a href="http://www.thedotc.com/MelbourneSite/MelbourneSite.html"target="new">Melbourne</a> where roughly 120 of us are learning what happens in the process of making a film, from writing scripts all the way through to seeing the final project on screen. It's a fantastic course and well worth doing. Not only are the lectures given by professionals in the field, they are full of heaps of spot-on content. However, the participants are really what make the course unbeatable. There are folks here from all over Australia, from China, India, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, the USA and the UK. Ages range from 14 years to 60. It's wonderful the cultural and generational richness.<br /> After the 10 day course i've had 12 days to travel the country. I took the Indian-Pacific train cross-continent from <a href="http://www.thedotc.com/sydney/Sydney.html"target="new">Sydney</a> to <a href="http://www.thedotc.com/perth/Perth.html"target="new">Perth</a>. Even though it was a long four days (mostly sitting on my ass), it was amazing to see this vast country this way. Along the way there are stops to get out and walk around for an hour or two. After re-entering the train at each of the four stops our noses are met with stronger and stronger smells of sweaty feet and moldy towels. But, you soon get used to it again and nod off to a peaceful sleep or read for hours on end (my $7 blow up pillow was my second best purchase i've made so far). Finally, Perth does come. After spending a few days in Fremantle (a trendy and raw suburb of Perth), camping in the outback and bathing on the lush beaches of Rottnest Island, I flew to the red center.<br /> In the center of the continent (which otherwise is amazingly flat and very hot) tower <a href="http://www.thedotc.com/Ularu/Ularu.html"target="new">Ularu and Kata-Tjuta</a>. That they stick up out of the ground thousands of feet above the rest of the red, flat, sparse desert floor make them spectacular. And, hot is much to short of a word to accurately describe the immensity of the scorching temperatures here in January (the middle of Summer)! A sensible person would not be here at this time. Oh yeah, did i mention the flies? They stick to you like a rash, go straight for the eyes, and wait until you are just about to press the shutter button on the camera before drilling straight up the nose or right through your ears. It's -- unbelievable -- they are the most ornery and tenacious beings I've experienced in my life. They call it the Australian wave when everyone's walking around rhythmically waving their hands across their faces in unison--to no avail. (My $6 fly net was the first best purchase). Even so, I think it is one of the most beautiful places on this earth.</p> 2006-02-04T08:19:38Z leaving... http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/41 <p>Yesterday I left <a href="http://www.vandyke.com"target="new">VanDyke Software</a> for the last time as an employee on the payroll. Jobs tend to be a large part of how we identify ourselves. In our culture, it is a common thing to be introduced to someone for the first time and have the first thing out of their mouth be something along the lines of..."nice to meet you, what do you do?" and without much thought we politely respond..."i'm a product director at a software company" (or a any such and such title at any such company). which does not at all answer the question what you do. sometimes people respond with a knowing..."oh, i see, how interesting". others respond with a disguised EWE! that sounds like..."owe...(big pause)"...</p> 2005-12-15T06:39:59Z biking Albuquerque http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/39 <p>The most wonderful side effect of my "summer project" is that I'm actually starting to feel more fit and get "hooked' on exercise. Exercise for exercise's sake has never been able to hook me. But since I've started using my bike daily for basic transportation, I'm beginning to feel the exercise "high" that others report from running or working out at the gym.<br /> It's getting easier and easier: to ride up hills, to go faster and further. It's also getting easier to ride on city streets. I'm quite comfortable now on streets that at first seemed treacherous. And I'm learning that there are ways to be safer and more effective riding on city streets.</p> 2005-07-27T04:44:31Z community networking The Great Taming Lead-Coal Gathering http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/38 <p>The <a href="http://leadcoal.org/?q=TLCGathering"target="new">Great Taming of Lead Coal Gathering</a> last Friday, July 15, was the first action I participated in around pedestrian issues. Around 60 folks gathered at a corner of Lead Ave in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill neighborhood, bringing their bikes, their kids, their lawn chairs, and signs to remind the drivers speeding past at highway speeds that people live here, people who want to walk, bike and play safely in their own neighborhood.<br /> The overall feel was that of a neighborhood gathering, which indeed it was. The majority of the participants came from the Nob Hill neighborhood, many living right on Lead and Coal where they daily experience the hazards of life along a major traffic arterial.</p> 2005-07-20T12:01:07Z community networking policy politics Fun with Errands http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/37 <p>I finally bit the bullet and headed out on my bike into dreaded NE Heights territory. I had several errands out that way and have wanted to get past the sense that I "must" drive when I simply must go into the Heights. I've seen some of those streets marked "Bike Route," and it doesn't much look like some of those cars want to share the road.<br /> I chose Griegos/Comanche as my best route out, and it wasn't half bad. It goes back and forth between bike lane and bike route (a bike route is where there is no separate lane but cars are reminded by signs to share the road.) Most of it felt fairly comfortable.</p> 2005-07-14T12:10:32Z phylosophy policy resources and tools Access Issues http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/36 <p>The city of Albuquerque has a tough job when it comes to providing public transportation due to the low-density, sprawling suburban subdivision nature of most of its neighborhoods.<br /> For this reason, Albuquerque's transit department <a href="http://www.cabq.gov/transit/trmivi.html"target="new">mission statement</a> encourages intermodal transportation as a way to increase use of public transportation and decrease single-occupancy-vehicle use. The <a href="http://www.cabq.gov/transit/bikenow.html#Bike"target="new">Bike and Ride</a> program offers bicycle racks on the front of all city buses to make it easier for transit users to ride their bikes to and from sometimes distant bus stops.</p> 2005-07-12T03:12:56Z networking policy resources and tools Frustration and Its Uses http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/35 <p>I'm starting to get pissed about how difficult it is to really switch from car-driving to more environmentally-friendly modes of transportation here in this lovely but highly unsustainably planned city of Albuquerque.<br /> Today I'd intended to take the bus to TJs camera to bring in my print order. Looking at the bus schedule, had to concede that a four hour bus ride to perform a two minute errand 8 miles away is a way too inefficient use of my time. If I could combine errands it would be different, but even to do the two errands I need to do out in the NE Heights would probably turn it into an 8 hour, 8 bus ride prospect.</p> 2005-06-27T08:50:36Z phylosophy policy resources and tools Quest for Bike Racks http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/34 <p>So I went in to my local Walgreen's yesterday to find out who to talk to about the possibility of getting a bike rack installed. I didn't have to ask the clerk, as there were three supervisory-looking types standing conspicuously together talking.<br /> They looked pretty open to approach, so I approached them directly. Turned out two of them were this store's managers. The other was apparently a higher-up over all the local Walgreen's.<br /> I asked about the possibility of bike racks, expressing not only that I bike there and that there is no good place to lock up my bike, but that I know this shopping center is slated for redevelopment, with plans to make it more pedestrian friendly, and that this would be a good start.</p> 2005-06-22T07:41:00Z policy resources and tools A Paradigm of Standing and Walking http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/32 <p>I came across <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-07-office-fit_x.htm?csp=34"target="new">this article about the Mayo Clinic</a> developing and promoting workstations where people walk on a treadmill or stand rather than sit--a pretty cool idea and one that makes a lot of sense.<br /> Since I work in the public schools, this got me to thinking about the obesity problem in children in the US. How come, in spite of the link of obesity to sedentary lifestyles, schools are still promoting a paradigm of sitting to work?<br /> I mean, kids are being asked to sit still a lot younger and a lot longer than they used to. At the preschool level, some classes now spend the majority of their time sitting to do "pre-academic" work.</p> 2005-06-28T02:45:29Z phylosophy policy resources and tools Making Time for Public Transportation http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/31 <p>I've been doing pretty good with getting around my neighborhood by bike. It's been harder, when I'm neeing to trek out a little further, to make the time to ride the Albuquerque bus. It's so hard to choose what might be an 1 1/2 trip all told when you know it's only 20 minutes by car!<br /> Today I wanted to go to the Patriot Act Town Meeting (www.reformthepatriotact.com) at the Peace and Justice Center (A two bus ride for me), and had plenty of time before and after, so I decided it was a good day to go for it.<br /> It took just under an hour to get to the University area, which gave me time for a pleasant pit stop at El Patio before the meeting. I enjoy riding the bus. It's nice to not be driving and not be hurrying--to have the time and space to just space out. Good people-watching also. It reminded me of what I like so much about riding the subway when I visit my sibs in NYC.</p> 2005-06-21T03:30:17Z phylosophy politics resources and tools no-tech solar http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/30 <p>This is a pretty simple one--the solar your mother used to use. I'm really into promoting solar energy on the larger level, but have I been using it to dry my clothes? No! What a waste of all that New Mexico sun!<br /> I understand that clothes dryers consume a lot of energy. Finally, I get around to making the change. I walk to Hacienda Home Center. Walk home with a clotheline and a bag of clothespins. That's all I need for my solar project. When I do my laundry now, I just tie the line between a pole on my back porch and a tree.</p> 2005-06-20T03:53:32Z Public Hearing on Central/Highland/Upper Nob Hill -- Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan http://www.thedotconnection-nm.com/?q=node/29 <p>Start:<br /> Wed, 2005-06-15 15:00</p> <p>From:<br /> Subject: ACTION ALERT: Public Hearing on Central/Highland/Upper Nob Hill -- Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan<br /> Dear Friends of the Central-Highland-Upper Nob Hill Area:<br /> I am writing you to announce that the Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan for the Central-Highland-Upper Nob Hill Area will be presented to the Albuquerque Development Commission (ADC) on Wednesday, June 15th, 2005. The meeting will start at 3:00 PM and will be held at the Plaza del Sol Hearing Room (basement level), 600 Second Street NW. Public comments on the Plan are both welcome and encouraged at this meeting!<br /> * * * * * *</p> 2005-06-15T03:53:29Z 2005-06-15T15:00 community networking phylosophy policy