Cabbies in Albuquerque are Crazy

Last week, I took a trip for work to Albuquerque, NM. I didn't rent a car this time because the conference was in the hotel I was staying at (Hyatt Regency Albuquerque).

First, though, a couple things about Albuquerque.

• The name is hard as hell to type.
• Downtown is the cleanest I've ever seen in a major city. Yes, I know "major city" is debatable. But, it supposedly has 500K+ population. It just doesn't seem that big.
• Sadie's Dining Room is awesome. I'm pretty used to hot salsa, but Sadie's has ridiculously hot salsa.
• It's windy.
• The mountains are beautiful. Especially flying right over them. The east side has so many trees that just bleed right into the desert underneath.
• ExpressJet flies direct to and from Austin. They serve $1 beers and $3 cocktails. No shit. And, they have free XM radio.

Back to taxis. I took four taxis in three days. This was the most interesting bunch I've ever run across. And, amazingly, not a single foreigner among them! That's pretty much the norm, but not in ABQ.

• Cabbie 1 - Airport to Hyatt. Guy from Oklahoma. We talked about Texas/Oklahoma football and the NBA Finals. He was a big Spurs fan. Didn't see any way that King James could keep up his game.

• Cabbie 2 - Hyatt to Sadie's. Local guy. We talked about the tram to Sandia Peak. We all agreed that it was too windy. He'd never been to Sadie's, but said that everyone that comes out of there seems to have "had a good time because of the margarita's". We made arrangements for him to pick us up. He did not.

• Cabbie 3 - Sadie's to Hyatt. This is where it gets really interesting. Young guy. 20's, maybe early 30's. Lived in Round Rock for awhile. Hated it, but loved Austin. Hit a random bar on his motorcycle off Mopac in the hill country on a Friday afternoon that was "packed with hot chicks". Did not have the name. His real story was his account of his trip to NYC a couple of weeks ago. So unbelievable that it might be true. The gist:
• Showed up. Met a girl. Went to the Village to party with her. She took him to a bar she owned in Queens.
• Somehow ended up going to a party in a Manhattan penthouse with said girl. Bigtime party. Drugs, liquor, bisexual host. Lost said girl but hooked up with other, hotter girl.
• Other, hotter girl was extremely interested in the fact that he was a cabbie in New Mexico. Went to other, hotter girl's (OHG) house in Brooklyn with his backpack. That's the only luggage he had
  
• Stayed a couple of days at OHG's house. Huge. Pool. Drugs. Went to OHG's other house in upstate to party further.
• In the meantime, said girl finally called him because she "lost him" at the party. Said screw it and continued to party with OHG.
  
• Had to finally leave. Got a ride to the airport. At the airport, hooked up with Freaky Cinnabon girl and friend. Decided to party a couple more days.

• Cabbie 4 - Hyatt to ABQ - Not that interesting, but, once he found out I was in the computer industry, continually sought my advice on what kind of laptop to buy.

ExpressJet. $1 beers. Going home.