Stimulating
Mt. Bachelor is doing its part to help cushion the blow of our floundering economy with an awesome shredonomic funulus package.
Recession Refugees: COCC scrambles as laid-off workers turn to the classroom
Archie Hamilton, a 45-year-old student at Central Oregon Community College, describes himself as a dislocated worker. He’s spent most of his adult life in the wood industry, primarily as a mill worker, but his last job was with Bend’s Host Industries building motor homes and campers. Last summer, when gas prices peaked out and the…
Selling Sushi in a Meat-and-Potatoes Town
The Brand Insight Blog, published by BN Branding, a Bend marketing consulting firm, offers some unconventional wisdom about why Jody Denton's once-red-hot Bend restaurants, Merenda and Deep, cooled off and went under.
Bend is Killing it.
So someone at Fuel TV is really liking Bend. In the recent installment of "Snowboard Diaries," a documentary style show that follows some of the best riders in the world through a winter season, they tail Hampus Mosesson, and Jacob Wilhelmson as they film for their new production company Actionhorse Films.
Steep and Cheap: Skiing Hoodoo under the lights
Adam Sather shreds it up under the lights.Nightlife in the winter can sometimes seem one-dimensional. The music scene grows a bit stagnant; the bar crawl can bring on fits of déj vu. Most of winter's allure derives from the prospect of hitting the slopes, and it's an activity that many of us partake in regularly.But…
Hey Ma, Are We Bankrupt Yet?
If The Bulletin plays the story on its front page, it must be official: Bend is broke.
Weekend Forcast
Finally we are going to be graced with a little snow in the hills. Although I was having fun ripping down groomers and spraying people who stand on the downslope of hills.
Unemployment: Cutting Through the BLS BS
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculations, the unemployment rate in Bend is 9.9%. But what is it really?
Barbarians in the Badlands
Assuming they're able to read, some of the morons who get their jollies from trashing the natural landscape might have read that the Badlands wilderness bill is about to get passed and decided to get out there and do more damage while they could.
David Eddleston, organizer of the group Friends of the Badlands, sent…
Calls to Action: For Meissner, the Metolius and mutts
CONTRIBUTE TO THE MEISSNER GROOMING EFFORT
Have you skied at Meissner Sno-Park this year? Have you parked in the new lot, checked out some of the new trails or warmed up in the new shelter? If you have, you are the beneficiary of the tremendous efforts of the Tumalo Langlauf Club (TLC). Unfortunately, the grooming…
Inaugural Musings: Wheelchairs, seizures and a math check
The 44th
So I'm watching the Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as our 44th President, trying to calculate the number of coal-fired electricity plants and oil-burning cars, buses and planes utilized to make this day so special, guesstimating that the Earth will heat at least 1½ degrees before D.C. is done celebrating itself. It was…
Take Another Look at Safety Law
This week's letter of the week comes from local entrepreneur Katie Stewart who asks readers to rally behind her and other small business owners caught up in a new product safety crackdown. Thanks for the letter Katie. We can't change an act of Congress but we will give you a shiny new pint glass and…
Barriers Not Always The Best
As an emergency services provider I'd like to offer a response to H. Bruce Miller's opinion piece in the January 15 issue about installing a Jersey Barrier on Hwy 97. I believe in Jersey Barriers; they save lives. But there are many concerns that communities must weigh before committing to those barriers. I am no…
The Tower’s Great Experiment: The theater’s new chief wants to get your butt in a seat
The Tower's new number one, Ray Solley.After scouring the nation, just as they said they would, the Tower's board of directors have settled on an executive director to replace Eli Ashley in the form of Ray Solley, who comes to Bend from the Los Angeles-area city of Torrance. Solley has been at the helm of…
The Solution
Jim Owen's In My View was published for a second time within a week in Bend's daily paper. The second printing (Jan. 14) is titled "Recent oil crisis demonstrates the need for nuclear energy." An odd title in that Owen doesn't really make a case for nuclear. But I thank him for bringing up "Peak…
The Best of the Bunch: Defiance proves the lead in this season’s pack of WWII films
James Bond goes back in time.If we agree we go to movies in large part to be entertained, Defiance is a success. If further we can agree we also go to be moved or educated, Defiance does that as well. Lastly, if we care about movie pedigrees (director, actors, cinematographer) Defiance scores again as a…
The Long and Dusty Road
Is it just me, or does the different gravel they're using on streets around Bend actually cause more dust in the air? I was lookin' South down Wall St. the other day, kinda lookin' toward the sun, and I thought I was in a temporal warp.
Working in a Coal Mine: Finally, a 3-D movie transports us back to the ’80s Slasher Flick
I'm your biggest fan. 3-D is the perfect way to remake an 80's slasher flick. In a word, My Bloody Valentine 3-D rules. With newer, higher-tech 3-D glasses, as soon as your eyes adjust everything starts looking more realistic. It's a mess-with-your-mind effect. The initial scenes cause a voyeuristic wax museum feel then soon become…
Quick Bites: The Mating Ritual
Animal Planet doesn’t run nature shows on human mating rituals because they don’t want to be confused with Girls Gone Wild. As all bartenders know, courtship and mating rituals are among the most varied and fascinating of all human behaviors. The sequence and variety differ by age, but a few essentials are usually in place…
Quick Bites: The Mating Ritual
Animal Planet doesn't run nature shows on human mating rituals because they don't want to be confused with Girls Gone Wild. As all bartenders know, courtship and mating rituals are among the most varied and fascinating of all human behaviors. The sequence and variety differ by age, but a few essentials are usually in place…
Any Way You Slice It: Pisano’s makes a nice addition to the pizza scene
chet dzienis pulls a slice from the oven at Pisanos. There is a new entry on the block in Bend’s pizza-by-the-slice wars, primarily a dogfight between Mondo’s and Cibelli’s until relative newcomer Pisano’s Pizza came on the scene last fall at Northwest Crossing right next door to Riley’s Market.
Pisano’s is owned and operated by…
Any Way You Slice It: Pisano’s makes a nice addition to the pizza scene
chet dzienis pulls a slice from the oven at Pisanos. There is a new entry on the block in Bend's pizza-by-the-slice wars, primarily a dogfight between Mondo's and Cibelli's until relative newcomer Pisano's Pizza came on the scene last fall at Northwest Crossing right next door to Riley's Market.
Pisano's is owned and operated by…
Back on the Home Road
Two Bros, two beers.There was a time when A.
View from the Top: Moon Mountain Ramblers humbly look back at going from garbage cans to the Tower
"We walked into Parrilla tonight to get something to eat and it was a flashback for me of the goals we used to have," says Moon Mountain Ramblers guitarist and singer Matthew Hyman. He's referring to the band's early target of securing a gig at Parrilla Grill, which they did - playing in the corner…
Our Picks for the Week of 1/22-1/29
Illegal People? Globalization, Migration and the Criminalization of Immigrants
thursday & friday 22-23 Renowned writer and photojournalist David Bacon lectures on his new book Illegal People? Globalization, Migration and the Criminalization of Immigrants. Bacon discusses how U.S. trade policy and immigration are linked, creating a comfortable investment platform and setting migration into motion. Bacon brings…
A New Year?
A few months ago I was falsely accused of something that in a million nightmares I would never suspect I would have to deal with. You see I walk differently. My crime was walking. The perception I believe was fear based, fear that a person who looks differently might have been involved and targeted in…
