Things to do in Albuquerque when you're ...

... I don't really know what comes after that (alive? ailing? alliterative?), but it seemed like a good idea at the time. In the big AQ this weekend, I learned:

• that New Mexico is the second poorest state in the nation;
• that an open bar at every event doesn't make up for bad, recycled food;
• that an open bar at every event makes for most amusing people-watching, although it can also exacerbate carefully controlled tendencies to be bitchy;
• that most people can't pull off turquoise jewelry unless they're indigenous or from Dallas;
• that the tragedy of five days of meetings is when you meet your favourite people of the event on the last night; and,
• that one should pack a humidifier when one spends time in the Southwest, where the air is dry even when it's raining.

That said, I found a fabulous restaurant and at least one decent home and jewelry store, with a darling turbo-urban man to gush over non-turquoise jewelry with. And I worked, bien sur.