Free Access to Ancestry.com Records

If you’re sleuthing out your family tree, you can get free access to Ancestry.com immigration records this weekend, until Monday September 6, 2010.

Just go to Ancestry.com and plug in whatever information you know or can guess at about your relative (when and where they arrived or where they came from) and see what you find out!

This is the largest online collection of historic U.S. immigration records in the world, and the free access weekend is only till September 6.

Could be a great way to pass the time and share family history if you’ve got family visiting for the Labor Day weekend.  Then again, could be a great way to start a fight if everyone disagrees about exactly when Grandpa came over on the boat. Still, it’s one way to make new memories while exploring old memories, and it’s totally free.

If you’re wondering about the image, it’s the The World War I draft card of Tom Cruise’s great grandfather, Thomas Cruise Mapother, courtesy of Ancestry.com. Not that I’m crazy about Cruise Junior (he’s crazy enough about himself without my help) but that’s where he came from… a true war hero.

Sitting back waiting for the rotten tomatoes from Tom Cruise fans

Thanks to Jody at Charlotte on the Cheap for the heads-up on the free Ancestry.com access. Jody and I aren’t related, except by our mutual passion for freebies!

–Tania

Arts Market and Pet Fest Weekend

The free Tijeras Arts Market and Pet Fest on Saturday and Sunday September 4-5, 2010, looks like great family fun. Bring your pooch, parrot, or other pet to the Pet Fest , and hang out to enjoy the live music, arts market, and prizes. Kids will love it, and there’s discounted microchipping too – for the pets, not the kids!

The outdoor Tijeras Arts Market and Pet Fest takes place in the shady apple orchard with music pavilion by the Just Imagine Gallery & Coffee House. They’ve got quite a lot lined up for this Labor Day Weekend event:

• Pet contests with prizes for a wide range of pet categories which could include: dog with the most spots, most unusual pet, best-dressed pet, cutest pet, pet that looks most like its owner, and just about anything else they think up. Contests will be pretty free-flowing, happening whenever there are enough pets present to warrant an on-the-spot competition.
• Live music from Gene Corbin on Saturday; Los Radiators followed by Gary Reynolds & his Southwest Wind Band on Sunday.
• Discounted microchipping for pets (prices unconfirmed as yet, but we’re hearing somewhere around 50% off, although that’s not set in stone.)
• Rescue organization will be on site with dogs available for adoption

And of course, as it is an arts market, you can browse the booths to see work from local New Mexican artists. 

• When:  Saturday and Sunday September 4 – 5, 2010
• Time:  10 am – 5 pm (pet contests as and when there are enough pets around)
• Where:  Tijeras Arts Market, Just Imagine Gallery & Coffee House
• Price: Free!

The evening before the Arts Market and Pet Fest Just Imagine Gallery is holding an artist reception with Ming Franz, splash ink artist and watercolorist, with refreshments. That’s on Friday September 3 at 4:30 – 7:30 pm.

Check the map at the link for directions: The Tijeras Arts Market at Just Imagine Gallery & Coffee House is located in Tijeras, 7 miles east of Albuquerque.

–Tania

Arts in the Park & Cosmic Carnival: September 5, 2010

If you haven’t made it to the free Sunday Arts in the Park series this summer at City of Albuquerque parks (or even if you have, but you want to wrap up the season in style) bring out your picnic blankets this Sunday, for the last blast…

Arts in the Park and the Albuquerque Cosmic Carnival takes place on September 5, 2010, at the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. This will be an extra-special Labor Day weekend event to close the series, with live entertainment, the Cosmic Carnival, and of course you can browse the Artisan Market.

Arts in the Park is free, and runs from noon to 4 pm.

At the Cosmic Carnival science festival, The Albuquerque Astronomical Society will have  solar telescopes set up for viewing the sun, as well as a portable planetarium to see the New Mexico night sky. Other participants in the festival include Explora, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque Rocket Society, NRAO Very Large Array, Sandia National Labs, Rio Rancho Astronomical Society, and more.

They’re promising it’s an interactive festival, which makes me a little nervous about exactly what the Albuquerque Rocket Society will be up to…

The live entertainment schedule starts at noon:

• Noon: Jono Manson
• 1 pm:  Interplay School of Music
• 1:30 pm: Justin Ray Jackson
• 2:30 pm: Ballet Repertory Theater of New Mexico
• 3 pm:  Nosotros

Arts in the Park and the Albuquerque Cosmic Carnival takes place indoors and outdoors at the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, 9201 Balloon Museum Drive NE,  just south of Balloon Fiesta Park, North of Alameda.

–Tania

Reader Special: 2 for 1 Tickets to Live Comedy September 4

Mention ABQ on the Cheap to get two tickets for the price of one to the live comedy Hypno-A-Go-Go Party on Saturday September 4, 2010. Door admission is $15 per person, so that makes double the chuckles when you get TWO tickets for 15 smackeroonies.

The live comedy Hypno-A-Go-Go Party stars nationally touring hypnotic-comic Rusty ‘Z’, featured on A&E and Comedy Central. (See a video clip at the website link.)

If you buy tickets at the door, they’re $15 each. Buy in advance and they’re $10.
But **DEAL ALERT** mention Albuquerque on the Cheap, and you’ll get TWO tickets for $15.

The show is for over-21′s only, and you need to buy two drinks (any drinks) at the venue: The Lotus Nightclub & VIP Ultralounge. They’ll have drinks specials on the night including $1.50 Bud and Bud Light.

Here are the live comedy Hypno-A-Go-Go Party deal details:

• When:  Saturday September 4, 2010 
• Time:  8 – 10 pm
• Where:  Lotus Nightclub & VIP Ultralounge, 211 Gold Avenue SW
• Age: 21+
• Price:  2 Tickets for $15 when you mention this deal at Albuquerque on the Cheap

The show is presented by Stephen HaHa Hunt, who’s also presenting the fundraiser event 
Albuquerque’s Most Loved Stand Up Comic…With a Day Job on September 11, 2010.  This comedy contest with cash prizes is open to any funny person who works a day job, or has worked a job besides comedy in the last 12 months.

No special ticket deal for the fundraiser, but it’s by donation, with a suggested donation of $10 per person, with proceeds to benefit Kristi Nawman’s medical bills and kidney transplant.

–Tania

Massage $25: Back to School Special to September 15

A back to school special on a massage with trained student therapists till September 15, 2010. Even if your bank account’s hurting, there’s no reason for your body to suffer too…

Crystal Mountain Massage Therapy Clinic is offering a back to school massage special at $25 for a one hour massage. That’s $5 off the usual rate for a massage with a trained and supervised student therapist. Crystal Mountain Massage School has run this Albuquerque massage clinic for 30 years and you won’t find the deal on their website, they’ve just given us The Word.

Schedule a massage with Crystal Mountain Massage Therapy Clinic and mention the back to school deal. (D’you think that by calling it a back to school deal, they’re making a pun? My back could sure use some schooling right now.)

Student massages usually cost $30, with discounts for 3, 5, or 10 massage punch cards. For details on their ongoing massage deals, see our earlier Crystal Mountain Low Cost massage post.

Other Albuquerque massage deals we’ve mentioned recently that are still valid include:

• Half Price $25 Massage for New Clients
• $15 off One Hour or 90 Minute Massage to September 30, 2010

–Tania

Flying Star Cafe Freebie for CNM Students & Staff

If you work or study at Central New Mexico Community College, bring your ID to these Flying Star locations until September 3, 2010, for a couple of extra treats…

Flying Star Cafe is giving Central New Mexico Community College students and staff a back to school treat of a free drink and free cookie (CNM themed cookie, no less) with the purchase of an entree at Flying Star Cafe in the Nob Hill and Bernalillo locations. The deal is only good this week, till Friday September 3.

CNM students and staff get a cookie for each entree you buy, plus either a soda, iced tea or coffee. So, you know, eat there all week. You’ll be cookied out.

You need to take your ID to get the deal, and although you’re never far from a Flying Star   the offer is only valid at these two locations:

Flying Star Cafe Nob Hill (the original!) : 3416 Central Avenue SE

Flying Star Cafe Bernalillo: 200 South Camino del Pueblo, Bernalillo

–Tania

Free Sandia Guided Hikes & Open Day: Sept 4

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is usually closed to the public, but this Saturday September 4, 2010, you can explore, enjoy the scenery, and join free guided hikes.

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center in Cedar Crest is open to all this Saturday September 4, 2010, from 9 am to 3 pm, as part of their summer First Saturdays Series – this is the last in the 2010 series.

Usually the 128 acre piñon-juniper forest with over 5 miles of walking trails is only open to school groups, but this Saturday anybody can turn up to hike or spot wildlife from the observation deck, or join guided group hikes.

Free guided nature hikes start at 10 am (till noon) led by SMNHC staff, interpreting the flora and fauna of the Sandia Mountains. The hikes range from an easy child–friendly walk to a moderate 2–mile hike. You need to register for the guided group nature hikes.

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center will be open to explore from 9 am to 3 pm. If you’re not joining the guided hikes, there’s no need to register, just turn up.

• When: Saturday September 4, 2010
• Time: 9 am – 3 pm. No registration required to visit.
  Guided hikes 10 am – noon: Registration required.
• Where: Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, Cedar Crest
• Price: Free!

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is located at 60 Columbine Lane, Cedar Crest, about 10 minutes from the I-40 / Tramway intersection.

Directions: From I-40 east, take the Cedar Crest exit 175 to Highway 14, the Turquoise Trail. Go through Cedar Crest and about 3 miles from 1-40 look for the Conoco Station on the right and the coffee shop on your left – turn left straight after the coffee shop onto Columbine Lane – it’s a dirt road. The center is about 1 mile ahead – at the end of Columbine.

–Tania

Albuquerque Hopfest 2010: 10% off Tickets to September 15

Albuquerque Hopfest returns for its third year on Saturday October 16 – tickets are $30 in advance, but we’ve got the code to get 10% off if you buy tickets online until September 15.

More than 100 speciality and microbrew beers will quench the thirst of visitors to the Albuquerque Hopfest on Saturday August 16.  The $5 off tickets deal we posted about before has now expired, but you can still get 10% off advance tickets until September 15. That’s a saving of $3 to $4.50 per ticket.

The whole big beery bash takes place at O’Niell’s Pub, and includes six hours of live music from local bands The Noms, The Real Matt Jones Band, The 2bers, Le Chat Lunatique and Crazyfool. Plus, if you want to learn how to brew your own beer, a Dukes of Ale Tent will show you how to do just that. They’re expecting 2,000 people to attend this year, so I hope they have plenty of brew on tap!

Tickets in advance are $30 for regular admission, including a souvenir tasting glass and up to 24 different beer samples, or $45 for VIP admission, which also includes the tasting glass and beer samples, plus exclusive pours, food provided by O’Niell’s Pub, and a VIP tented area.

If you wait to buy tickets on the day they’ll cost $10 more.  But why would you do that, when if you buy online by September 15, 2010, you’ll get 10% off the advance ticket rates with this code?

• Buy tickets online to Albuquerque Hopfest to September 15, 2010
• Use the Promo Code (all in capital letters) : BREWS
• Note that a ticket fee applies, which varies according to the tickets you buy.
• Anyone buying tickets can also save on a discounted subscription to festival partners All About Beer magazine – $6 for a half year subscription. (Usually $20.99.)

Albuquerque Hopfest is on Saturday, October 16, 2010, from 2 – 8 p.m at O’Niell’s Pub. Some proceeds benefit Make-A-Wish New Mexico.

–Tania

Albuquerque on the Cheap This Weekend Aug 28-29, 2010

Looking for something to do on the cheap this weekend? Here’s a round-up of recently posted deals and events and a couple more weekend freebie suggestions to give you some ideas:

Free Place Names of New Mexico Talk this afternoon (Saturday) at Petroglyph National Monument Visitor Center – starts at 2 pm.

Great Southwest Home Remodeling Design Show: Half Price admission with the coupon, Saturday and Sunday August 28 and 29.  

Free Wolf Meet and Greet at Open Space Visitor Center, Sunday August 29.

Shop Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic for 30% off with the coupon. In the Give and Get weekend 5% of your purchase goes to a charity of your choice.

Idalia Road Marketplace: Rio Rancho weekend market with vendors and entertainment.

Enter our Rizzoli and Ives Giveaway – win a T-shirt and a book!

Of course we’d love it if you’d vote for us in Albuquerque the Magazine’s “Best of the City 2010” contest! If you think we’re worthy, please write in “ABQ on the Cheap” in the “People” category under “Best Local Blogger“. Vote for any of your other ABQ faves too on the online form, and then just hit submit! Voting ends September 1.

Albuquerque Museums Free Admission on Sundays:

Albuquerque Museum of Art and History: Free admission on Sunday mornings from 9 am to 1 pm. General admission is free, special exhibitions still require fees.

Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum: Free admission on Sunday mornings from 9 am to 1 pm.

National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum: Free admission on Sundays.

And one of my faves: the free Old Town Wild West gunfight show by New Mexico Gunfighters Association. The melodrama is great fun with all the bangs, and funny too. Shows are most Sundays at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 pm. The action takes place around Old Town Plaza (usually outside the Rattlesnake Museum on San Felipe when I see it) but they circle the Plaza and give a shout out before the show begins.

–Tania

Rizzoli & Isles Giveaway

We know some readers are fans of the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, based on the book series by Tess Gerritsen. 

If you’re a fan of the Monday night show (or even if you’ve not seen it yet) enter our freebie giveway!

One ABQ on the Cheap reader will receive a free book The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen and a T-shirt.

If you haven’t seen Rizzoli & Isles, here’s a description from the show’s press kit:

“Boston detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander), are complete opposites and good friends who solve crimes and bust some of Boston’s most notorious criminals.  Jane, the only female detective in Boston’s homicide division, is a tough and gutsy cop who doesn’t let her guard down (except with Maura), dodges her overprotective mother and is better at basketball than her brother. Maura is usually more comfortable among the dead than the living. She is always impeccably dressed in designer duds with a steady, sometimes icy temperament. And she’s working on curbing her tendency to diagnose the people she meets – including her first dates. Jane and Maura often find themselves working together as both use their brilliant minds and expertise to figure out the “who done it” as well as the “how done it” of Boston’s most complex cases. Despite their many differences, Jane and Maura are best friends, with a quirky and supportive relationship.”

I used to work with my best friend, and it wasn’t half as dramatic as this. Then again, it was on a fashion magazine, and we didn’t deal with many killers.  Although come to think of it, some of those Paris fashion designers could be a little temperamental and some of the more outlandish outfits on the catwalk could be described as a crime…

Find out more about Rizzoli & Isles including video clips. The show airs on TNT Mondays at 10 pm Eastern / 8 pm Mountain Time.

Win a Book and T-Shirt
One ABQ on the Cheap reader will receive a free book The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen and a T-shirt.  

Enter the giveaway by noon on Tuesday August 31, 2010.

To enter: Leave a comment below this post. Any comment – about the Rizzoli and Isles show, about ABQ on the Cheap, about what free/cheap thing you’re doing this weekend… anything to get your name in the hat. Just please keep it decent… we are a family site

• Submit your comment by noon, Tuesday August 31, 2010
• Comments need to be approved before they’re published, so if yours doesn’t show up at once, don’t worry, as long as it’s submitted by noon on Tuesday, you’re cool.
• One winner will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries – ie submitted as a comment, not by email.
• One entry per person please, only from U.S. residents. Multiple entries by the same person (yes, we can tell!) will be disqualified.
• All times are local Mountain Time

The prize is supplied courtesy of the Rizzoli & Isles team at TNT.

–Tania

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