This weekend I got my haircut. I've been going to those mall, walk-in hair cut places -- Super Cuts, etc -- but this weekend I was frequenting (supporting) local small businesses and having my shoes re-heeled at the local shoe shop. And there, two door over, I found a barber shop.

The owner is the third barber there. The two before him clipped hair for years and eventually retired. The shop has the bench to sit on, the piles of men's magazines and the collection of pictures and memorabilia on the walls that is expected of an old fashioned barbarshop. And this was the real thing -- none of that obviously chosen and arranged antique stuff you find in theme shops and restaruants.

There was even the red and white barber poll out front. And, Izzik Moreno of "The Gentleman's Edge" gave me a pretty good hair cut.

Support your local shops -- the national chains have enough customers.

As the proud owner of an Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 (a European company who has been making disk based music players for longer than most of the American companies), I have to recommend the Rockbox project. This is an open source replacement for the OS that runs on the Jukebox. It replaces the OS running there and provides everything from longer battery life for verbal menu selections. It is the existance proof of the benefits of an open source project -- benefits to both the company (more features, better support) and the customers. I use Rockbox and I send them my donations -- it's worth it.

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Our cat discovered that laptops are warm places to rest.

I haven't entered these in a while, but the Police Blotter writer at our local community newspaper has been getting creative (but then I'm not the only one who's noticed ) :

• 1/10 8:00am Kids threw a snowball on Country Club Road. This was a remarkable feat since it hadn't yet snowed this year. In fact it hadn't snowed since Januaary 2004. The culprits probably froze the snowball for a year to tepid to try throwing it before reaching puberty. Sources close to the duo described them as "late bloomers". They reportedly capped the day with a few laughs and a milkshake.
• 1/10 12:41pm A disgruntled employee who harassed his boss at home was contacted by police and told not to call the man's house again. Next time, they said, call his business line.
• 1/10 6:47pm A suspicious solicitor gave himself away by swearing like a gutter punk when asked for ID.
• 1/13 10:16am Teenagers living in a house were reported to police, apparently be being teenagers. Lots of then were in and out of the place at all hours of the day and night, probably up to no good.
• 1/13 11:34am A woman was yelling at cars and pedestrians on A Avenue. She was advised to "keep her thoughts to herself".
• 1/11 7:55pm Demonstrations in the 5800 block were reported to police. Free speech is generally OK but you really have to keep your voice down.
• 1/14 11:29am A tree in Pilkington Park was vandalized, it's branches stripped. Anonymous sources said the vandal thought better of carving "I am an incredible loser" in the tree's trunk, presuming the artwork spoke for itself.
• 1/15 8:50am to 1/16 2:01am Exactly 40 weather-related mishaps were reported during this period. Six involved marooned Tri-Met buses. The rest involved local people trying to drive on the ice. Highlights include sereral off-road adventures; two call reporting car parts (not cars, just parts) in the road; and one front-lawn beef over a damaged fence.

To reiterate, this is exactly as it appeared in the paper.

This morning, my family was watching old Bewitched reruns. In this episode, Endora (Samantha's mother) is introduced to a lady who runs a men's cologne company. Endora asks, "Why does a woman run a company that makes men's cologne?". The lady answers "To make money."

I smile at this -- a very 90's answer.

But then it becomes clear that the rerun is not set in the 90's. This selfish, blunt answer tells Endora that this person is not a nice person. So, the rest of the episode has Endora doing her magical tricks to bring this person down a notch or two.

So, my observation for the day is -- what passes these days for savy business sense, was considered crude, crass and inhuman just a few decades ago.