Category: Local

Chicken Gizzard Blizzard

Had another local blogger meet up tonight. Jon was there, as was Dane (who brought eggs that expired three months ago and a street sign, just like he said he would — note to self: Don’t think Dane is joking when he says things), and Jesse. Barney showed up a bit later after posting some very disturbing news on Bend.com. Simone didn’t make it, despite making the suggestion of going to Timbers in the first place.

You’re probably wondering why this post is titled as such. Timbers is a bit of a white-trash/cowboy bar. It’s located in a strip mall, across from a factory outlet mall, next to a Goodwill thrift store, a Dairy Queen and a fabric store. In other words, not the typical place for a dark, smokey, bar. Regardless, we were looking at the menu, and noticed they had chicken gizzards as an appetizer on their menu. We got to joking about how the Dairy Queen next door should make a Gizzard-flavored Blizzard. Then we thought about it, they could just get the nasty chicken from the KFC about a block away — just take it from their dumpster to save costs.

I’m still waiting for Jon to Photoshop the whole thing up.

I learned a few other things while there:

  • Jesse has no taste in music — the Eurythmics? Come on, man 😉
  • Dane’s still a spaz.
  • I suck a pool, as I haven’t played it for a long time. I actually came from behind on a game against Jon, drained the 8-ball on my final shot — and sent the cue ball in the pocket on the same shot. Dangit. Jon beat me up the next game, too.
  • Meatloaf’s “I will do anything for love” is great bar music in a place like that. Really.

August 12, 2004

Bend Blogger Meetup

Slow blogging today, if any, because of pressing deadlines at the office. But just a reminder to local bloggers that we’re meeting up at the south Timbers Tavern in Bend tonight (August 11) at 6:00 PM.

Timbers South is located at 61131 S. Highway 97, across from the Prime Outlet Mall, next to Dairy Queen.

See ya there!

August 11, 2004

Welcome Bulletin Readers!

A piece ran in today’s Bulletin about bloggers in Central Oregon, featuring the lovely mugs of Jon, Chris, and I on the front page of the Community Life section in the paper.

I haven’t completely read through the story yet, but if you’re coming here from the print edition, welcome! What I find funny (ironic?) is that a story about blogging — an very popular online activity — is nowhere to be found on the Bulletin’s Web site. Anyway, if you’re here because of the story, feel free to post a comment here!

August 10, 2004

Hooter Name Gets Changed

I mentioned yesterday that Hooter Road in LaPine was going to get its name changed to Snowberry Lane. The name change has happened, but residents on the street have put up their own sign to make sure they get their FedEx packages and such:

Apparently the street has been named that way for over 30 years, and in that time the sign was stolen a pile of times, and that was the primary reason the County cited for renamed it. The sign was stolen more than it was there, getting swiped four times last year, and two so far this year.

Thanks to Simone at Emerald Bay Photo for the picture.

August 9, 2004

This Will Bring The Tourists In

Oregon ranks in the top 10 in the U.S. in illicit drug use.

August 8, 2004

Deschutes County Renaming “Offensive” Streets

Last month, Deschutes County required the SROA to change the name of Squaw Mountain Lane here in Sunriver to Diamond Peak Lane because the word Squaw is considered offensive. Because of this, we have to change a pile of internal paperwork and have to change our Web site because we rent two homes on that street (and I’m sure we’re not the only ones out here in this boat).

Really, the word isn’t as offensive as people would like to think (though it can be used offensively, but so could a lot of words), but thanks to a very vocal minority, it’s been deemed offensive. I’ve yet to see Squaw Valley, Big Squaw Mountain, or Squaw Creek change their names. Heck, the Squaw Creek up by Sisters, Oregon, is in the County’s jurisdiction, is it not (Update on 8/9: It maybe National Forest territory, I’m still looking into it)? Are they going to change the name of that Road, Creek, Cemetary, and other things, too? That area is full of history. I’m sure the County is full of stuff like this.

But really, it’s just going to be a mess if we keep this up. Just looking at the names of some of the lanes here in Sunriver, are they going to rename “Indian” lane? Are they going to rename “Foursome” lane because it could have sexual connotations? Are they going to rename “Killdeer” because it promotes violence to animals? “Salishan” was named after Native American tribes, too. I’m sure “Stag” could be taken a bunch of ways. What if I’m a Mets fan, can I be offended by “Yankee Mt.”? I know we’re stretching it a bit here, but you see my point: Anything can be offensive if viewed in the right light.

And now it’s only going to get worse. On Monday’s Deschutes County work session agenda is the proposal to change Hooter Road to Snowberry Lane. Last I checked, the “Hooter” referred to the owl, not the woman’s breasts. Heck, even at the Hooter’s Restaurant, their mascot is an owl, not a big boob (granted, it’s their girls that sell the food, not the owl, but that’s another story entirely, and here’s the company’s word on that debate). I’m all for removing horribly racist, sexist and bigotist names, but it’s all gone overboard. Unfortunately all it takes is one very vocal person to make a difference — and anger everybody else in the process.

I’m aware of the negative connotation of the “S” word, and believe it should be changed, too, but I think the mass name changing around the area (and nation) has brought more attention to the word that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Most folks I’ve talked to thought it meant just a native American woman, not a reference to her genitals. The name changes have probably brought more publicity (and possibly more use by ill-mannered folks) of the word, now that they know what it means.

Thanks Barney for the tip.

Update on 8/9: Looks like they changed Hooter, but for a decent reason.

August 8, 2004

And You Thought Your Day Sucked?

A Bend man has his car stolen, and then the crook abandons the car on some railroad tracks. I’m sure you know the rest of the story. Too bad there aren’t pictures of the wreckage…Barney? Barney got some pictures posted with the story. That truck is seriously messed up.

August 4, 2004

“Whoa. That Sucks, Dude.”

Two local pot-heads nearly burned their house to the ground thanks to their weed-growing habit.

August 2, 2004

The County Sheriff Treats His Taxpayers Like Idiots

I mentioned last week about how the Deschutes County Sheriff is introducing quotas sorry, performance standards for its officers. The Sheriff, Les Stiles, is still denying the minimum quotas charge, and is accusing Bend.com of writing an inaccurate and slanted story, saying that the Bulletin’s story was more accurate. Needless to say, Barney’s replied to that accusation. It’s a big ol’ mess (even though some local politicians, in an attempt to get some more publicity and win an elected office, have supported Stiles).

Why are you so afraid of the word “Quota”, Les? Having them is one thing, denying that they’re quotas (which they obviously are) just makes you look bad. I’m sure every other police organization has a quota. I talked to a state trooper that said they have a 1 person/day ticket quota, but said if he didn’t get more than that, he wasn’t doing his job. Quotas exist, which we all probably already know, but not calling them quotas and hiding behind the business-term “Performance Standards” is crap. If you’re going to use business terms, maybe you guys should run yourselves like a business, keeping better tabs on your money, your assets, and your employees — and not raising our frickin’ taxes (raising the price to your “clients”) when you can’t.

And like Barney said, I’m sure the Bulletin article is no more accurate than Barney’s, and hiding behind the “taken out of context” line is cowardly.

Just call them what they are, Les. They’re quotas, plain and simple. Quit treating the taxpayers that pay your paychecks like they’re children.

(Update: Glad to hear that Simone feels the same way, and we’ll both get pulled over on our way around the county now.)

August 2, 2004

More Central Oregon Bloggers on Blogroll

About a week ago I mentioned that Kasey had linked to another local blogger. I made a note to myself to check the Blogger.com’s profile area to see if there were any more local blogger’s using their service that I could add to the list.

After a bit of digging, and removing the folks who had not posted in the last 30 days, I’ve added several more sites to my blogroll (on the right column of the site — the layout’s slightly screwed up, but I have an e-mail into blogrolling.com about it). I have several more from Bend on there, and even a couple from Prineville, Madras, and Redmond on there (the Madras one thanks to Roger).

On that note, once I get a few bucks (read: later rather than sooner — anybody have a few bucks to donate?), I’m going to setup a Central Oregon Blogger’s page that will link to our mailing list, and possible an automated news feed sort of like ORBlogs (Jon/Jesse, you guys want something to do?). I’m going to, at some point, dig up e-mail addresses for some of these folks, and see if I can get them onto our meager list in the meanwhile.

And since ORBlogs is listing them, I’m also going to be going through some of the Live Journal sites I linked to a while back to see any of them are still active (and aren’t absolute crap), see if I can dig up any more, and get them on the blogroll as well.

August 1, 2004