http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/09/24/staying-ethical-in-salem-oregon/ Searching out the sublime, the silly and the surreal in Oregon's capital city. Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:10:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/09/24/staying-ethical-in-salem-oregon/#comment-1012 Traveling the Globe in Salem « Desperately Seeking Salem Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:34:15 +0000 http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/?p=1475#comment-1012 [...] Czech Village: the Kafkaesque corridors of the City Police [...] [...] Czech Village: the Kafkaesque corridors of the City Police [...]

]]> http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/09/24/staying-ethical-in-salem-oregon/#comment-1011 Mike C. Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:25:33 +0000 http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/?p=1475#comment-1011 One time, while living in Iowa, I walked out onto the deck of our townhouse and discovered a license plate behind our air conditioning unit. It was an Iowa license plate, but it wasn't mine. I don't know how it got there. In Florida, every now and again we'd find something -- a baby sea turtle, half of a snake -- dropped on our porch by the seagulls, but this (so I figured) wasn't the case in Iowa. So I let it sit there, hoping it would disappear. Every now and then I'd peek out the sliding glass door thinking it might be gone, but there it stayed. A license plate. Not mine. I asked my wife, who said it wasn't hers. But neither one of us wanted to touch it for fear it would get us embroiled in some sort of red-tape nightmare, to say nothing of how we might become suspects ourselves by virtue of not turning it in on time. So we just let it sit there. Every now and again, we'd peek out the sliding glass door thinking it might be gone, but there it stayed. At least I had a partner in my crime, who made me pancakes and biscuits that I ate in the dining room just on the other side of the wall from that license plate. Yum-yum, I'd think to myself, my are these pancakes good, but what should I do with that license plate? It was the best winter when the snow came and covered it up, but a bad spring when the snow melted and revealed it still there, expired, still behind the air conditioner. So I did the only thing I could think of doing: move to Oregon. One time, while living in Iowa, I walked out onto the deck of our townhouse and discovered a license plate behind our air conditioning unit. It was an Iowa license plate, but it wasn’t mine. I don’t know how it got there. In Florida, every now and again we’d find something — a baby sea turtle, half of a snake — dropped on our porch by the seagulls, but this (so I figured) wasn’t the case in Iowa. So I let it sit there, hoping it would disappear. Every now and then I’d peek out the sliding glass door thinking it might be gone, but there it stayed. A license plate. Not mine. I asked my wife, who said it wasn’t hers. But neither one of us wanted to touch it for fear it would get us embroiled in some sort of red-tape nightmare, to say nothing of how we might become suspects ourselves by virtue of not turning it in on time. So we just let it sit there. Every now and again, we’d peek out the sliding glass door thinking it might be gone, but there it stayed. At least I had a partner in my crime, who made me pancakes and biscuits that I ate in the dining room just on the other side of the wall from that license plate. Yum-yum, I’d think to myself, my are these pancakes good, but what should I do with that license plate? It was the best winter when the snow came and covered it up, but a bad spring when the snow melted and revealed it still there, expired, still behind the air conditioner. So I did the only thing I could think of doing: move to Oregon.

]]> http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/09/24/staying-ethical-in-salem-oregon/#comment-1010 Emily Grosvenor Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:13:20 +0000 http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/?p=1475#comment-1010 Alas, I weild no such power. Just another Salem story I guess, and a run-of-the-mill one at that. Thanks for seeing that pink slip, though Matt, you made my day. Alas, I weild no such power. Just another Salem story I guess, and a run-of-the-mill one at that. Thanks for seeing that pink slip, though Matt, you made my day.

]]> http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/2009/09/24/staying-ethical-in-salem-oregon/#comment-1009 Matt Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:10:02 +0000 http://desperatelyseekingsalem.com/?p=1475#comment-1009 They could have, at the very least, given you a few of the pink forms. They sound like a great way to address a variety of social situations. They could have, at the very least, given you a few of the pink forms. They sound like a great way to address a variety of social situations.

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