Category: Local

New York Times Comes to Bend

I think this New York Times article perfectly describes what I miss about Bend:

According to the author William Kittredge, who grew up on a ranch in southeastern Oregon, “Out West we see a society in the midst of reinventing itself.” In Bend the transformation is complete. The last of the huge sawmills closed a decade ago. In its place are a Victoria’s Secret and an outdoor amphitheater. Hardware stores are hard to find; Pilates instructors are not. In short, in Bend it is out with the old and in with the New West.

I miss the old style of this town. I miss my old hardware stores (nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, can replace Masterson St. Claire). I miss being able to ski and golf here for less than $20 for each. I miss being able to walk through Drake Park at night and not fear for my life. I miss not having jackass neighbors. I miss my old diners. I miss my small town.

I do like some of the stuff they’re doing to Bend, some of the stores that are opening, but I can’t say that I can afford any of it. Maybe it’s just some of the elitist attitude around here that bothers me. Maybe I just need to quit my complaining and whining and go back to work. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

October 18, 2004

A Farewell to Homestyle Cafe Dining

A Central Oregon staple, Jake’s Diner is staying open for a little while longer, but the truck stop is going to close down (I can’t see the diner staying open much longer now that truck traffic won’t be stopping there). So first Pilot Butte closes down for dinner (I haven’t had a burger there since they did that), and now Jake’s will probably disappear. Lovely.

What is happening to Bend’s homestyle cafes and diners? I almost cried when the Snow Bunny shut down, as our family ate breakfast there nearly every Sunday for several years. Jake’s has great food and huge portions. And it will probably disappear. Is there any old style cafes left? I still go to the Juniper Cafe on occassion. The Westside Cafe is a bit too yuppie for my tastes (though their food is good). Palmer Cafe is good, but I never get a chance to go there (they don’t have much seating, so they’re usually pretty packed). I haven’t been to Sargents for quite a while. But is that all that’s here? Five or so good, homestyle cafes in a city this large is horrible. I love being able to go out to one of these places, sit up at the counter, order a heaping meal, chat it up with the wait staff, and have a good time (and have it not be a national chain like Denny’s, Shari’s, or IHOP). It’s hard to find a place to do that anymore.

Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe Bend has forgotten its log mill roots (when there were less people, but probably just as many cafes). We’ve gotten too big, too yuppie, and too specialized. We’ve got restaurant for every palate, but what about a place you can bring the kids, have a great meal at a good price, and enjoy pleasant service and conversation?

Sorry, I’m just a good ol’ boy, but that’s the way it was, and I liked it. I want my diners and cafes back.

October 15, 2004

Does Electricity Travel Through Toilet Paper?

When I was in high school, my house was TPed a couple of times, but never quite to this extent:

  

These pictures were sent to me by Barney. He received them from somebody who lives on Delaware Avenue here in Bend, saying they saw this on the 900 block.

My guess it’s been there for a day or two. Why? Because on Saturday it was homecoming for Summit High School, and the Deleware block is in Summit HS territory. If a TP job like that was going to happen, it was going to happen then, and it was probably done Saturday night. It’ll probably be like that until it snows, because I know there’s no way in hell I’d try to get that toilet paper off the power lines.

Which brings up another question: How conductive of power is toilet paper? A great deal of that toilet paper is running across those power lines. I know that’s something they don’t want to just hose off. Personally, I’d let nature take care of it, and just live with the new decorations for a while.

October 11, 2004

Local Bear Loves Pizza

Apparently the odor from the pizzas from Old Town Pizza on Greenwood in Bend will linger in your car for a while. So much that a local bear chewed on the bumper and tried to get into a car that had, just a few minutes before, been a pizza transport out to a party in Tumalo.

September 29, 2004

Arrest Made in Drake Park Slaying

And he’s one scary looking S.O.B. Previous story about the discovery of the body here.

September 22, 2004

Another Body Found in Drake Park

It’s only been five months since the last body was found and charges were filed, and another body was found early this morning and people are scared. Not that I blame them, as I don’t think I’d go down there after about 9:00PM anymore (despite routinely going for runs through the park late at night when I was younger).

September 21, 2004

Ballot Fraud Waiting To Happen

Due to Oregon’s mail-only elections, I can understand ballot counters needing a bit of extra time to count them, but a whole week? That’s how long clerks in Oregon get, prior to election day, to start opening up and taking care of those votes:

When Oregonians mail their ballots to their county clerks this fall, many might mistakenly believe that those inner, “secrecy envelopes” can?t be opened until Election Day. Actually, clerk?s offices around the state can begin to open and examine those ballots a full week before Nov. 2 — two days earlier than back in 2000.

The 2001 Legislature approved the two-day extension, requested by county clerks, giving them more time to process and sort the ballots, checking for any problems, said John Lindback, director of the Oregon Elections Division.

“Due to the heavy turnout in 2000, the clerks asked for the extra two days,” Lindback said. “All the processing is done by inspection boards and is open to the public, and the counties are, of course, required to keep the ballots secure. Everything can be done (ahead of time) except counting the votes.”

The state law, amended in 2001, also says, “The county clerk may take any other actions that are necessary to allow the counting of ballots delivered by mail to begin on Election Day.”

So they can’t officially begin counting them until Nov. 2, but they can open them and get them all ready for counting.

Is it me, or is this just asking for trouble?

Full Story at Bend.com.

September 20, 2004

Search Your Library Using Amazon

This is one of the coolest little hacks I’ve seen in a long time. When you’re search for books in Amazon, you can click on a bookmarklet (basically a little button) in your browser to have it search your local library’s system for that book. It works wonderfully!

If you’re looking for a bookmark for the Deschutes County Library, just drag the following link to your toolbar/bookmarks, and when you see a book on Amazon you like, click on it and watch it work:

Deschutes County Library

Amazon’s much faster for me than the county’s site, so this work’s great.

September 20, 2004

Bend Bulletin RSS Feed

As he promised a while back, Jon has hacked together an RSS Feed for The Bulletin. It’s obviously not perfect, and ideally The Bulletin would have one of their own, but this gets the job done for now.

September 16, 2004

WiFi Before I Die

I know where I want to die. I got an e-mail out of the blue from Paul who was visiting his parents at a retirement home here in Bend. He was expecting a “death resort,” but found that Whispering Winds was not only fairly nice, but had free WiFi access (he didn’t mention it in the blog post, but he did mention it to me).

I wonder how common this is in the retirement home industry, especially locally where the things are popping up all over the place (there is a huge one getting built on the corner of Studio and Butler Market which is probably one of the biggest building I’ve ever seen).

So what that also means is that their network connections are probably much faster than they are (thanks to Barney for that bad joke and the headline).

September 15, 2004