Category: What the…?

After two-and-a-half months of seeing only one other smart on the road (except for the ones from the dealership), I thought we’d broken the string yesterday when we were driving back from the coast and pulled off of Highway 26 at the Sylvan exit behind an all-black hardtop. We were headed the same way, up to Barnes Road and down into town on West Burnside. When we pulled up next to it, it turned out the driver was Massimo Orsini from smart Center Portland, who’d sold us the car. So that didn’t count.

Finally, today, as I picked up Barbara from work, we ran across two. Both black hardtops. The first was crossing our path at SW Third and Madison on our way to the Hawthorne Bridge; the other was waiting to make a left turn across SE Hawthorne going the other way around 35th.

Greetings to our smart Portland comrades.

Dinged By A G-String?

Woman, 52, sues Victoria’s Secret, claims injury from defective thong

JUNE 17–As she was attempting to put on a Victoria’s Secret thong, a Los Angeles woman claims that a decorative metallic piece flew off the garment and struck her in the eye, causing injuries and a new product liability lawsuit against the underwear giant.

I wish I could claim credit for this comment from Fark.com:

Yep, thongs are all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.

The smart hit the two thousand mile mark today, after roughly ten-and-a-half weeks.

The New York Times Wheels blog notes the Canadian take on the standard SUV ad:

An email from Amazon.com that I have a hard time believing (despite Robert Greenwald having directed both films):

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated “Outfoxed – Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” or other films in the ( G ) > Greenwald, Robert category have also purchased “Xanadu – Magical Musical Edition (With Complete Soundtrack CD)” on DVD.

What about Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers?

A word from my cousin Roxana about our grandmother:

I have spent many years in a volunteer capacity working against domestic violence, so I was shocked when my grandmother was shot and killed June 11 in the White Salmon area. My grandmother was bedridden, blind, and has suffered many strokes over the years. I did not expect her to die in this manner.

She died because her caregiver, Toni Stencil, was the target of an angry man.

There is not room to write all the details Toni has given me, and Toni has her own story to tell. I am not a legal expert, or an expert in domestic violence. I am simply a granddaughter asking questions and looking for answers on why my grandmother had to die so violently.

Through my questions, I have found out that the state of Washington has a Mandatory Arrest Law, as does Wisconsin, where I now live. This law does vary from state to state, and I’m not clear on the stipulations in your law. What I have been told by Toni is that she called 9-1-1 on the Thursday evening prior to the (Monday) shooting because this man had bound her and held her against her will for over three hours. She talked her way out of this dangerous situation and did call 9-1-1.

I wonder why he was not arrested on that evening. Certainly this will be determined, and police in White Salmon have declined to answer my questions concerning this issue at present.

Why should you care about this law? Remember that my grandmother was an innocent victim of a dispute between two people that she had absolutely nothing to do with. This was a dangerous man. Are the laws you have in place working for you? If not, why?

These are the questions running through my head that keep me up at night. There is another state law that interests me as well that I’m checking into concerning self-help information that is to be given to victims of domestic 9-1-1 calls. Three days passed between Toni’s initial call for help and the shooting; she needed professional help. I have found out that you have the Programs For Peaceful Living. This program could have offered Toni some very needed support in a number of ways.

I pose these questions and tell this story because it is my way of helping and healing. On my own, I cannot look into your laws and check into the rapport between your police force and your programs in place to help people. You need to be concerned because you care about the health of your community. I believe domestic violence issues are so important, because the health of a whole community starts in the home.

Please support your local law enforcement and program such as Programs For Peaceful Living in working together against domestic violence.

It’s been two months to the day since we picked up the smart. Hit 1,700 miles yesterday. Had the top down (again) despite threatening skies. Tiger Lily loves to sit on the convertible roof, and I need to get out there with a good brush, because it doesn’t blow off even at 70mph.

It’s spring, and that means a nation’s thoughts turn to ice cream.

Just last week, Jerome Robbins, one of the founders of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain died at 90.

This week, as the temperatures rise, the New York Times reports on a skirmish between Mr. Softee and Good Humor truck drivers on the Upper West Side, mentioning some previous incidents.

There have been harsh words, hurt feelings and even bloodshed between competitors. In 2004, a couple in their 60s who owned and operated two ice cream trucks were ambushed in the Bronx and beaten with an oversized wrench. The motive, the police said, was the couple’s ice cream route. A rival ice cream salesman was charged with assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

It’s the wrong season for it, but there’s never a bad time to watch Bill Forsyth’s Comfort and Joy.

No, nothing’s wrong, I just haven’t gotten around to posting anything for a week-and-a-half, which I admit is unusual. Thanks, Judy and Jon, for checking in to make sure everything was OK.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to say anything, just that I’ve spent time commenting elsewhere, and that the topics I have wanted to write about would have just sucked up more time than I felt I could additionally spare. I did go to the zoo and watch the elephants part of one afternoon, I spent a morning canvassing for Steve Novick’s senate campaign (as well as attend his fundraiser in Portland last week), and some other things. Went to see Iron Man.

In smart car related news, we passed the 1,000 mile mark yesterday, driving out to the Hood River orchard of my cousin Jason, to see his sister Carrie, my aunt Juliana and uncle Keith, and Carrie’s new baby. Oh, and my exuberant first cousin, once-removed Gregory, seen here just before we went zooming over the byways around the orchard.