Okay, the headline is a bit sarcastic. But since the date for the closing of the Newport Avenue Bridge has been a moving target up until now, it’s hard to take it seriously when they finally commit to it. But there’s this item on KTVZ naming tomorrow (Saturday) the day, and I also heard the same thing on the radio this morning.

The first date I’d heard for the closing was April 1st. Then, a few days before the first, word was the date got pushed back to the 7th. Next it was the 10th. However, the orange construction sign at the bridge downtown still says April 7th. (I noticed this as I crossed the bridge yesterday, on the 13th.) And in the meantime there’s been a big pile driver sitting there, ready to get started on wanton deconstruction.

So, if the bridge is actually closed tomorrow, everybody has to remember to use the Portland Avenue or Galveston Avenue bridges to get to the west side. What a pain.

Oh, and does anyone really believe the bridge will only be closed for seven months? Knowing how road projects tend to work around here, I’m betting it’ll run long… Maybe we should start a pool.

If you’re familiar with web programming and AJAX and PHP, check out this item about Client-side PHP on The Daily WTF. Go ahead, take a look. I’ll wait.

Done? Good. Now, if you’re familiar with what’s happening in that code, I’ll wait while you convulse in horror.

Holy expletive, that code makes me angry and want to laugh at the same time. I’ll just reiterate Deane’s headline: Someone please fire the person who wrote that.

Yes, April has been a slow month on this site so far. I’m working on rectifying that. But it also occured to me that I hadn’t blogged about the High Desert Sun lately or even pointed to my articles that were published in it (and are online). So, they are here and here, and the third one should be up soon (I just picked up the April edition of the paper at the library). Enjoy!

This is pretty cool: Dummies Book Cover Generator (via eMusings). Now you can generate a fake "For Dummies" book for any occasion (which would have been handy when I originally created this and this). Imagine the mayhem…

At the very least, I can now mockup my For Tards ideas:

Just wanted to blog a short note about the Bond Street Barber Shop in Downtown Bend. I went there for a haircut for the first time Tuesday after work, it’s a nice place. The big draw, though, is the complimentary beer and wine you get while you’re waiting!

Yep, you read that right. They stock Cascade Lakes beer (and a few macros), but I didn’t see what variety of wine; I thought maybe there was a bottle of Yellow Tail red something, but I couldn’t be sure. And on Saturdays, they also have Bloody Marys.

As far as haircut experiences go, they were good. A bit of a wait, actually (I was waiting for almost a half hour, then another half hour to cut my hair), but they’re old school—straight razors for the fine hairs and everything. I was happy with what I walked out with.

So it’ll likely be my regular barbershop from now on; anytime you can combine scissors, straight razors and beer, you know you’re in for a good time!

You may have noticed the new banner in the sidebar, for Obsidian Stock. What’s Obsidian Stock? It’s Simone‘s newish stock photography venture, and she’s putting out a call for Central Oregon photographers.

Simone does good work, and I think she’s going to do really well with this venture. So click over and check things out.

Plus, now she owes me a beer.

By now most of the world has passed the once-in-a-century date and time sequence of "01:02:03 04/05/06". And you thought Daylight Savings Time was big news!

Yeah, right.

I think the anchor on NBC Nightly News tonight summed it up best: Perhaps it’s more notable that someone thought that up in the first place…

I can’t help but notice that this cartoon by Hugh MacLeod seems to be lifting from my "For Tards" book idea I blogged about back in 2004…

So. April 1st. Any April Fool’s Day stories to pass on? I have one. My wife calls this morning as they’re supposed to be leaving San Diego, and says they’re not leaving because my daughter has a 103 degree fever. I freak out a little bit.

April Fool’s!

That’s all I got, actually. I forgot it was the first of April.

In non-practical joke news, I helped Shannon and Brian move into their new apartment in downtown Bend. Well, I and five other people helped. Not a bad move at all, though; they already had everything packed up and ready to go, and they don’t own too many big pieces of furniture. And, really, they don’t own that much stuff—at least compared to the amount of crap I and my family have been hauling around for years now. So we were mostly done by one o’clock. And got pizza and beer out of the deal.

Their new place is pretty sweet. Overlooking downtown, mere blocks away from, well, everything, with a view of Pilot Butte from the balcony—yeah, we’re gonna be hanging out there a lot this summer, I think. Several of us have already discussed getting our own keys and setting up a mini-fridge full of beer on the balcony. .