Technology

The above panel (sized 30 by 30, and almost too big for my easel and lighting arrangement) is of the chapel in Vallecitos, a little village about 20 miles north of Ojo Caliente, NM. The town, Vallecitos, might or might not be on your map of New Mexico. The place exists--but if you are looking at a 1990 road atlas from Wal Mart, the town is probably missing.

I mean, after all, Angel Fire is listed as Cimarron, NM when you google map directions. It is something I don't quite understand. I mean my TomTom has our house, even. And then google map doesn't even acknowledge Highway 434--the main drag that goes through Angel Fire. I understand that they don't call it Mountain View Road--its new nickname, given to it by the village of Angel Fire a few years ago. I mean it is not that anyone calls it that--434 is much simpler. It is as though New Mexico is not really part of the United States and not worthy of up-dating.

In a way, that is encouraging. I don't really want it updated. I like it how it is. It is a place that has been left behind in certain ways and it is because of this (along with great weather, fantastic scenery, really cool old buildings), that New Mexico is my land of enchantment. ( I didn't coin that phrase--it is the official state motto.) Sometimes you really don't know what decade (or century, even) you are in.

Now I like my modern accoutrements like any reasonable person. Rees and I can't decide if it is indoor plumbing or electricity that is most exciting. Since I get really annoyed when our electricity goes out, I'm thinking electricity may be the winner by a slight margin.

But once you get past that sort of stuff, you can live without a cell phone and high speed internet. WHAT? You are joking, Jen, right? No, I am not. But I do have those things. Now. But I didn't for a long time. When all the metropolitan dwellers were getting all the free gazillion minutes a month on their cell phones we were paying $0.30 a minute to roam--both outgoing and incoming. Just think how much more annoying unsolicited sales calls were then. The advantage was that our phone was analog and worked in areas where digital didn't (near bluffs and mountains, etc). We've since upgraded our service and get a certain number of minutes a month--more than we can possibly use. But I won't go into details or our provider might cancel us. Suffice it to say we can't use it much while we are at home. Mostly on the road--in bigger cities, like Amarillo, Texas or Des Moines, IA. Oh, and Rees & I still share a phone. Since we can't use it much at home and we are together on the road it doesn't make much sense to pay for two. (I admit that for a while last year I thought that another would be a good idea but now I'm making mild attempts at economizing and no longer feel the need.)

And, as for high speed internet, we are coming up on our 2 year anniversary for having the service available. Now, that, I can't imagine living without, at least for very long. We also delved into the world of hdtv, where sports look fantastic and actors look fat and pimply, and we have tivo--probably the best tv related invention EVER! It makes interruptions of any sort totally
harmless. I mean, just remember when you watched one hour and 50 minutes of a 2 hour mystery and you got a phone call from someone you really did want to talk to. How annoying not to be able to fully pay attention to the resolution. So, I guess these things are all important. But hot showers and refridgerated food probably still wins out!