Welcome to Albuquerque

Hey, neat. Albuquerque gets to be on the news and it doesn't involve the bubonic plague, suing McDonald's, or losing nuclear secrets.

About one hundred evacuees (I gotta agree, refugees is too creepy,) from New Orleans have been set up in the Convention Center.

ALBUQUERUQUE, N.M. -- More than 90 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina are being greeted with teddy bears, flowers and applause at the Albuquerque Convention Center Sunday night.

Within hours after the announcement that Katrina victims would come, about 150 people had called a city information line to offer space in their homes.

Dozens of New Mexican volunteers clasped the stuffed bears to give to younger victims.

The volunteers cheered and clapped as the first exhausted-looking evacuees filed into the room.

To help them out, donate to the Roadrunner Food Bank, who by the way is in need of volunteers to help sort the donations.

I must admit that I feel a spark of pride at Albuquerque for stepping up to help. Although, I kind of want to warn those people they shouldn't go to UNM, then drop out and get a job at a call center, or else they'll find out why it's called the 'Land of Entrapment.'