Surfing The Web So You Don't Have To
Not quite in Bend yet, but out here at my office in Sunriver, there’s a dusting and it’s still coming.
I’ll probably melt off later this week, but check out the current Web cams in the area to see. But here’s a current Web cam image from Sunriver:
Update: Well that was fun. Couple hours later, it’s just rain now, snow has been washed away. But the mountains are getting snow.
After threatening legal action against a local woman for trying to hang up a clothesline in her yard, Brooks Resources has now decided that instead of taking advantage of the international coverage and being the good guys in all this and show that they’re a good green company, they’ve decided to just postpone dealing with the matter.
…whose site has now apparently been hacked after “Sally” went through some rough trouble in her life with her husband “Bob” after having an affair. Now “Sally’s” “druggist” has a blog.
All I know is that some people have far too much time on their hands to create this kind of satire — though it’s all still hilarious.
I’d hire this lady (quoted here when/if it disappears off Craigslist):
I am a former CPA (I have no license due to a simple misunderstanding and my now ex-husbands lies) but I have good CPA skills. I am not allowed to sell my services for five years, but it doesn’t say I can’t trade them out.
If you want good accounting services. For example taxes, financial statements, bookkeeping or consulting I am your person.
I could use a mechanic for my car (2001 Honda) some contractor help at my house (some repairs like a handyman) or a lawyer services to help get my license back.
They took it away for a total mistake, and now I have five years without license. But I paid back everyone so I don’t no why they won’t let me have it back. Dont worry I cant steal anything else or I’ll go to jail!!!!!!!!
So you can get back to me and let’s see what else we can put together.
Thanks Susie for this.
I have no idea who this woman is or if this blog is totally fake, but it sure it funny. Some quotes:
From here:
There are also stories about poor people, homeless people, etc. No one wants to read that. And please, there are no poor people in Bend! We keep our poor people in Redmond and LaPine. They have their own poor-people communities there and I’m sure they’re very happy. It’s a marvelous system we have in Central Oregon.
And from here:
Recently, Bend (indeed, my little Awbrey Butte neighborhood) made it onto the cover of the Wall Street Journal. It was very exciting. My neighbor Joan Grundeman was even quoted in it. She’s a wonderful woman with an impeccable house. Some part-time nurse had strung up clotheslines to dry her sheets. Can you imagine? Clotheslines on Awbrey Butte? That’s quite below us. We can all afford driers (and believe me–the best driers) on Awbrey Butte.
The blog’s only been up a few days, and I have no idea who Sally Heatherton is (she only appears on google from some local blogs, including my own as she posted a comment here), Can’t find anything on Google, about her and her real estate business, nor is there anything on the Dex white pages nor are there local property records with that last name (that could be her maiden name, however). She’s also not listed with the State as a real estate agent.
Whoever’s writing the blog is hilarious. It’s amazing how silly/stupid/satirical it reads. But it made me laugh. Any theories?
Update: One thing I forgot to check. She posted a comment here on the above clothesline article and she also e-mailed me to add her to bendblogs.com using the submission form on that site. Both submissions were filtered through an anonymous proxy. Well played, “Sally.”
Susan Taylor lives on Awbrey Butte here in Bend, and was trying to do something nice for the environment by drying clothes on a clothesline. The problem is, she lives in a sub-division where her elitist neighbors are worried about their property values dropping because of said clothesline. It’s to the point now where Brooks Resources, one of the nations largest private landholders and the folks who manage the homeowners group up there, is threatening legal action against her.
The full, entertaining story, with reactions from neighbors (who are probably from out of town originally) and Brooks Resources management (who I have very little respect for for a variety of reasons unrelated to this story), on the Wall Street Journal is available here.
Full disclosure: I know Ms. Taylor, have known her for many, many years (since I was a kid as she works with my mom), and built a computer for her a couple years ago. She just contacted me to ask for help sorting through all the email and crap she’s getting because of this story (apparently the BBC has contacted her). Just the same, she lived up in that area of Awbrey Butte LONG before many people did. Her and her husband built their house up there, and they had no neighbors at all for years, and when she called me this morning, I literally laughed out loud. I think this whole thing is hilarious and just epitomizes the kind of craphole Bend is slowly turning into.
Amazingly, I’m sure there are other developments in Bend that have similar rules, and sadly, Sunriver has even worse stupid rules.
Update: Jon has a great idea for a headline if this makes the newspaper: “Brooks Resources hates the environment.” Good call, Jon.
Update on 9/22: Ms. Taylor has a new e-mail address just for this purpose if people want to email her about this, and she said I could post it here: hangingoutinbend {at} gmail {dot} com. She said that she thanks everybody who has supported her, and is glad to have mine (and other blogger’s) support.
Update on 9/23: Just got an update from Ms. Taylor:
This whole thing is beyond me. I cannot believe all the support. Check out the Oregonian tomorrow, The Bulletin this week, ABC news local filmed me, a German TV station next month…wow. I have so much more hope, I had hit the wall prior to the Wall Street Journal covering this. The BBC did a live interview Sept. 18 and NPR aired Thurs.on Here and Now with Robin. Unreal.
We’ll just have to see now if Brooks Resources caves (doubtful).
Update on 9/23 @ 4:10PM: According to The Source, Ms. Taylor took down her line. Haven’t confirmed with her yet.
Update on 9/25: KTVZ has a story.
Update on 9/26: The Source gave Brooks Resources the boot.
Update on 9/29: Bulletin’s story.
I had a power supply literally blow a gasket (actually, a capacitor) here at the office because the fan died in it. Since I’m in Sunriver, I had to drive to Bend to get a replacement, so I called my wife to see if she wanted to have lunch while I was in town. We went down to Pilot Butte Drive-In (where I don’t go much any more since they close so damn early) for a burger, and as we were sitting there, this family of four walked in, dressed as pirates. The mom, the dad, and their two little boys (probably six and eight years old or so). They were even talking like pirates. I wonder why the kids weren’t in school (assuming they aren’t homeschooled), but I digress…
It wasn’t until I was leaving that I realized today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Flickr is awash with pirates (including some booty), and the whole Web is enjoying this “holiday” that Dave Barry helped popularize.
But am I the only one that thinks the whole thing is just stupid and sees this as yet another excuse for people to do stupid and silly things (like St. Patty’s day)? When I told folks at the office here what today was, they were basically saying the same thing: Does anybody really give a rip?
I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I primarily listen to the radio when I’m in the car. I rarely listen to CDs, I don’t have an MP3 player or XM/Sirius. I just enjoy terrestrial radio. Over the years I’m tweaked those six favorite station buttons on my stereo, and after thinking about it, I probably have one of the bigger variety of stations in my six saved on my stereo than most.
So here are my six, in no particular order (some local stations, but some local translators from valley stations as well):
So what’s on your radio speed-dial?
And this time, he’s from Bend.
(VIRGINIA CITY, Nev.) – A Bend man is in custody for leaving his two-year old girl alone in an automobile at a Nevada brothel for more than two hours. Deputies investigating the case at the Mustang Ranch say the outside temperature was 95 degrees.
So now we’re nationally infamous for deadbeat dads, obscene real estate prices, being a top place to go to die, and having a ton of people in huge amounts of debt, among other things.
I was in the drive-up window picking up my order at the north Burger King here in Bend when several police officers came flying into the parking lot and two stepped out on foot with guns drawn behind my van, looking behind the dumpster area at the fast food joint. I immediately locked my doors and rolled up my windows. I cracked them back down and I asked the Burger King lady what was going on, and they say they had just been robbed at gunpoint, and asked me if I’d seen anything. I hadn’t. Which is too bad because the guy got away on foot, according to this story and it would’ve helped had I seen something.
If I was inside getting my order (which I would’ve done had there been a car or two in the drive-up), I would’ve been in there at the same time as the guy. A scary thought, indeed.
I was kind of shaken by the whole thing and drove off without my drink. Oh well.
But from now on, I’m doing drive-up when I go to a fast food place after dark, no questions asked.