It's that time of the year again to make extra freezer space for the green chile that we all smell being roasted at nearly every grocery store in town. Peeling and packing chile is one of the chores to which most people in northern New Mexico look forward - including me! The best part is that it we get to enjoy it all year long.

Make it a great September!

The free, public lectures will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the following locations:

• September 5, Albuquerque, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
• September 6, Santa Fe, at the James A. Little Theatre at the New Mexico School for the Deaf
• September 12 , Espanola at the Nick Salazar Center for the Arts, Northern New Mexico College
• September 13 , Los Alamos, at the Duane Smith Auditorium

This year, the Community Programs Office, Lowe's Home Improvement Center, Espanola Transit Mix, Habitat for Humanity, and the Espanola Housing Authority worked together to help expand freezer and pantry space at the soup kitchen. Lowe's donated approximately $2,500 worth of building materials, and Espanola Transit Mix provided $600 worth of cement to finish the project. Volunteers helped pour cement and framed walls. CPO's own Tim Martinez and his father, Martin Martinez, donated their time to help pour and finish the necessary cement work. The second phase is being planned.

The Laboratory will continue to provide turkeys and hams to people in need in our communities during upcoming holiday season.

The forum will provide a venue for practical conversations about how to respond to the potential water shortages that may already be underway. Participants will learn what the research indicates for New Mexico, including potential impacts on the business community, farmers and ranchers, and animal species. Participants will have the opportunity to talk about how these issues might affect your part of the state and to suggest possible action steps for addressing them.

For further information, visit the New Mexico First website.

Following a presentation on the Laboratory's RaveGrid image vectorization software (software that efficiently converts a raster image to a scalable vector image), the students were split into three teams, each with a TT MBA intern mentor. The purpose was to work on strategies for commercializing the technology. After brainstorming for 30 minutes, each team had five minutes to present its marketing plan to a panel of technology commercialization experts who critiqued their strategies.

Team two enthusiastically pitched RaveGrid as the next paradigm in image software to enhance already-developed searchware like Flickr, Google and Yahoo and took home the prizes donated by the Technology Ventures Corporation.

For more information, contact Mark Martin at (505) 562- 2856 or mark.a.martin@enmu.edu.

"It's Not Magic, It's Science" and "Bones" are two of the new demos. "It's Not Magic, It's Science" uses tricks to engage students in the scientific process of our mysterious, magical world. Magic tricks provide students the opportunity to practice scientific thinking while uncovering the science behind the tricks.

"Bones," on the other hand, uses skeletons, skulls, and x-rays to solve mysteries. Students identify the form and function of skull structures and use this information to identify the potential owner of each skull. Building a skeleton bone by bone allows students to learn how the skeletal system functions together. This program is hands-on, bones-on!

These and other programs are offered as part of the Community Programs Office education outreach through the Laboratory. All of the programs are tied to state science standards and are FREE! For more information visit the Museum website or send email to bsm-edu@lanl.gov.

Through a four-stage cluster development initiative, SFEDI will identify all the outdoor recreation businesses to be included in this cluster, hold meetings with member businesses, and then analyze and study this cluster's presence in the community. This cluster process will focus on the types of jobs offered by these businesses, the salary ranges available, and the potential growth opportunities for these local companies.

As the final step in the cluster process, SFEDI will write a full report on the cluster. Once completed, the report will be available to the public on the SFEDI website.

Businesses dealing with outdoor recreation are welcome to participate. Contact SFEDI for more information at sfedi@sfedi.org or 505-984-2842.

There are twenty Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) in New Mexico that provide existing and potential small businesses with direct counseling, links to financing, and entrepreneurial education.

Business Kudos

• Kudos to Simon Brackley, Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce president, who recently graduated from the Institute for Organization Management.
• Kudos also to Douglas R. Craft, of Crystal Clear Maintenance Inc. of Ranchos de Taos, the first New Mexico company to receive a Patriot Express Loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Community Kudos

• Kudos to the New Mexico History Museum, receipient of a $1 million gift from the Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation..

Education Kudos

• Kudos to the Kim Thomas of LANL STB, who was recently appointed to the NM Math and Science Advisory Council.
• Kudos also to NMSU President, Michael Martin who recently won the 2007 Justin Smith Morrill Memorial Award.