Category: What the…?

[UPDATE 13 JULY] According to PGE’s pole guy, it’s not their pole. It belongs to Qwest. So they’re passing the letter along…

In response to this letter, I got a very nice call saying they’d have an inspector look at it next week and thanking me for the photos.

Dear PGE:

I’m writing to report an unsafe situation with a power pole on the west side of [redacted] Avenue, just south of the intersection at SE Belmont St.

The attached photo printouts show the location and results of a brief incident that took place yesterday afternoon (7 July) as I was returning to my car after lunch. The pole is supported by guy wires that extend north into the grass border between the sidewalk and the parking strip. The pole has a street number, an ID and bar code of [redacted], and several medallions attached to the pole.

My car was in the first space of the parking strip, where the white truck appears in the first image. I was walking to my car, talking to my lunch partner, when I felt my leg brush against something. It was barely noticeable, but it was the loose ends of a guy wire attached to the pole.

There are two three-strand metal wires on the farthest offset guy for the pole. Both are loose, end well above ground level, and one of them, at least, is pretty sharp. I didn’t really feel like testing the other one. As I said, it was barely noticeable when I brushed against it, but by the time I’d walked a few more feet to the door of my car, blood was running freely down my calf from a gash four inches long.

The last picture is actually the earliest of the images, taken after I’d driven the few blocks back to my home, and after I’d wiped off the first wash of blood when I got in my car.

Now I know it’s not electricity, and my gash, though bloody and long, was pretty shallow, but if I’d brushed up against the same wire with more force, or if my skin at the age of nearly fifty wasn’t so thick — say, for instance that I’d been one of the children from the Montessori school across the street — something sharp enough to make a slice like that could do some serious tissue damage.

So I’d like to make sure you and the city know of this hazard. More importantly, I’d like you to make sure that some sort of protector is placed on those wires so that they are no longer a hazard. If it’s not technically your responsibility for some reason, I’m sure you know better than I who is responsible for its maintenance.

Sincerely,

Darrel Plant

Naturally, it was the same leg on which I’ve busted the knee and ankle.

To take your mind off the gore, cats!

I’m the kid that no one knows

I live a life I never chose

With these thoughts in my mind

On my own, my own

I’m face to face with the unknown

My scary movie will be shown

I got one evil mind

Of my own, of my own

We take from one another

And never stop to wonder

How it feels from the other side

When nothing lasts forever

When stupid turns to clever

Why are you surprised?

Little know it all (little know it all)

Ten bucks in my hand

Little know it all (little know it all)

Don’t cry, I understand

So!

I’m a target of the smart

They got ambition, I got heart

I’m analyzed and tagged

Before I start

So tell me, who can I respect?

I feel the leash around my neck

As I find out there’s shame

In the game (in the game)

We take from one another

And never stop to wonder

How it feels from the other side

When nothing lasts forever

When stupid turns to clever

Why are you surprised?

And I feel like I’m caught outside the box

And I feel like I’m sleeping when I’m not

Look it’s for a real thing, it’s for a real thing

You little know it all (little know it all)

Ten bucks in my hand

Little know it all (little know it all)

Don’t cry, I understand

You never know at all

Iggy Pop & Sum 41, “Little Know It All,” Skull Ring

Fujin goes on vacation for a month starting tomorrow; thankfully I got three fortunes in my cookie this afternoon.

You will be rewarded for being a good listener in the next week.

Can’t really imagine how, but let’s check #2 fortune for clarification.

Opportunity awaits you next Monday.

That’s July 6. Is that the day Bedeviled is approved for the App Store? Will I be ready to receive the message from Apple and get the marketing out to everyone on time in order to capitalize on the first days of release?

You will inherit an unexpected sum of money within the year.

That would be unexpected, because nobody in my family has much money. Unless, of course, it means unexpectedly small.

I can’t talk, I got to go

Don’t call me back, I won’t get the door

Got to focus on the job

‘Cause I got a new job climbing the walls

I was grinding my teeth, I was wasting my youth

And using up my teeth

Now I’m done chewing my nails

Hanging my head, chasing my tail

It got so bad I quit my job

Then I got a new job climbing the walls

Too much junk, too much junk

Can we please clear out this house?

In the trunk, in the trunk

And then we’ll take it all to the dump

Then we won’t need the car

‘Cause we’ll stay where we are

And I’ll have all this room

I got tired of pacing the floor

Sick of it all, I’m done with the floor

Walked away ever since I got a new job climbing the walls

I was grinding my teeth, I was wasting my youth

And using up my teeth

Now I’m done chewing my nails

Hanging my head, chasing my tail

It got so bad I quit my job

Then I got a new job climbing the walls

The deep end, the deep end

People talk a lot, but they don’t know

They pretend, they pretend

They don’t really know how deep it goes

Now I misunderstood,

Thought the wall was just good

For staring blankly at

I got tired of pacing the floor

Sick of it all, I’m done with the floor

Walked away ever since I got a new job climbing the walls

Now I’m done chewing my nails

Hanging my head, chasing my tail

It got so bad I quit my job

Then I got a new job climbing the walls

Got a new job climbing the walls

Got a new job climbing the walls

They Might Be Giants, “Climbing the Walls,” The Else

Last of the specific job skills in a Craigslist ad for a web developer job at Columbia Sportswear:

Must have mental capability to troubleshoot and solve problems of a moderate complexity or difficulty

Kind of makes you wonder what happened to make them think something like that was needed, doesn’t it?

Apropos of The World, the gargantuan addition to the Portland waterfront for the past couple of days, an article in the Oregonian today mentions the economic impact the ship’s visit might have:

The ship’s 140 residents and crew of about 270 are touring the Portland area and seeing sights such as Multnomah Falls and Mount St. Helens.

They’re also leaving behind some cash. Travel experts predict the ship’s stop might inject some extra life into the local economy. While the exact economic impact of the Portland stop was unclear Wednesday, the industry standard for spending by cruise ship passengers is $125 a couple per day.

Bruce Connor, vice president of Sundial Travel & Cruise Center, which helped arrange the local itinerary, said the passengers could easily spend three times that.

Lessee, 70 couples times $125, times two (we’ll make it three) days, times the luxury multiplier of three…does everyone else get $78,750? Now, if you had a standard cruise ship of approximately the same tonnage (~45,000), like Carnival’s Holiday with a passenger capacity of over 1,400, that’s a daily yield of more than three times The World, even when they’re spending a third less per couple.

Not that I’m looking down my nose at any money coming into Portland myself or that cruise ships have been making the city a regular stop, but the desperation on the part of the O to make a $25K bump per day seem like a big deal in a city this size just makes us look kind of pathetic.

As if Barbara didn’t already find the handheld GPS I bought for the smart car annoying enough:

Now Homer Simpson is getting his turn. Starting today, TomTom, a GPS manufacturer with US headquarters in Concord, Mass., will allow users to add Homer’s voice to their navigation systems.

According to press materials provided by TomTom, “Homer’s hilarious, encouraging and sometimes unusual advice will ensure that drivers will not only reach their destination on time, but have a lot of fun along the way.” With voice work by Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer on the “The Simpsons,” the download reportedly spits out advice like, “Take the third right. We might find an ice cream truck! Mmm … ice cream.”

We’ve had the car for just over 14 months now; the odometer turned over to 12,000 as I pulled it into the driveway this morning.

click to enlarge

The World, a floating community for 140 residents and another couple hundred hangers-on (i.e. “staff”) floated into Portland on Tuesday. Basic suites on the low end (around 400 sq. ft.) start at $3 million. And according to insiders, the daily “$100 Bill Barbeque” is every afternoon at 3:30 sharp. The same source says they’d use bigger bills if they could get them but they’re all in use as bedding for guys on Wall Street who like to dress up in furry gerbil suits.

I am intrigued by the fact that they have their own submarine, though. And they do use a photo of Portland in the Lifestyle section of their web site.

Work’s been kind of slow since cartoons went to color….