Good, Bad & Ugly!

We all see the good, bad and ugly almost everyday — but usually not all three in the same day!

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The Good, Bad, & Ugly!


First the good. Kirtland Federal Credit Union sent us a letter about our loan on a new car. They did something unheard of – they lowered our monthly payment because we had a good credit score. Who does that? Kirtland gets good pr marks from us!

Another Good


I saw one of the Budweiser TV ads for the Super Bowl on the Today Show. It is about Bud changing from canning beer in a second, to canning water for Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and California. A really good ad and good pr marks for Bud.

Bad & Ugly? Bad PR Marks!


A woman called the Main Albuquerque Library to see if they had our two new books on the North Valley of Albuquerque. She had called the North Valley Branch after reading about the books in the
Los Ranchos Village Vision Magazine. The North Valley Branch was kinda clueless.

So, the woman got a guy who answered the phone and he said the book was from a “vanity” press and they don’t buy those kind of books and we had never sold books to the Albuquerque Library.

The woman talked to me and I told her the books were at Bookworks and Treasure House. Not in the Albuquerque Library that is for sure! I told her the guy was a liar because we have sold to the Library for about 20 years and were not a vanity press. A vanity press charges authors to publish their books and they really don’t care what they are about. We care and we don’t charge.

So, I sent the Director of the Library an email basically saying, WHAT THE HELL? and told him about the incident. He said he was sorry for the mix-up. I said it wasn’t a mix-up – he had a bad employee and the employee needed to email me by the end of the day. The employee was telling people the wrong information – he was either doing it because he was stupid or he was malicious. Either way he was a liar. Imagine how many other authors and publishers he is maligning?

The employee never emailed me by the end of the day – SURPRISE!!! So, I sent a letter to the Mayor with a copy to the Library Director. Is this the kind of City employee he wants? Bad pr for the Albuquerque Public Library and I guess that woman won’t come to another library again. Can I recommend the Free Little Libraries in Los Ranchos? No phones! No obnoxious guys! No unresponsive library directors!


Barbe Awalt



UPCOMING CALENDAR:

FRANCELLE ALEXANDER ("Albuquerque's North Valley")
Feb 15: Bookworks, Rio Grande Blvd, 6pm
Feb 17: Los Ranchos Village Hall, 11am to 1pm
Feb 18: Treasure House Books, Old Town Plaza, 1pm

LORETTA HALL
Feb 10: "Space Pioneers," 10:30am at Special Collection Library, Albuquerque

RICHARD MELZER
Feb 3: Capt Maxilliano Luna at Hispanic Genealogy Research Center, 10:30am at National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque
Feb 17: Capt Maxilliano Luna at Los Lunas Museum, 2pm, Los Lunas, NM

GAIL RUBIN
Feb 6: Film clip-illustrated talk, Hollywood’s Visions Trips and Crowded Rooms, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, UNM Continuing Education, South Building, 1634 University Blvd NE 1-3pm
Feb 17: “Green Burial Options in New Mexico,” Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, 2901 Candelaria Road NW, Albuquerque 2pm
Mar 9-11: The Newly-Dead Game® and the documentary “Grandpa’s in the TUFF Shed,”

Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado

ROSS VAN DUSEN ("What Makes the Lightning?", "How the Crocka Dog Came to Be"; and "Lyle Got Stuck in a Tree")
Jan 24: Special Author Event for What Makes a Snowflake?, Edna Ferguson Public Library, 3700 San Mateo Blvd NE, Albuquerque, 4-5pm
Feb 22: Special Assembly on
How the Crocka Dog Came to Be at Piñon Elementary School White Rock, NM
Apr 28: Battle of the Books at Los Lunas Schools, 8am-1pm
Jun 2: Book signing at Treasure House Books, 2012 South Plaza, Albuquerque Old Town,