Bubbles Pop - Thats just what they do.

Some of you quite feasibly, have been living in a cave for the last couple of years. This blog is definitely for you.

So the Bend, Oregon housing bubble has burst. Kaput. Popski. Bloop! Bendite local yokels can no longer say things like “The market is on a slight downturn”, or “We’re at the tail end of a 4 year cycle”, or any number of other idiotic pet names for what could end up being a long stretch o’ bad. As Duncan McGeary and others have been saying for quite some time now, the indicators were there. If it LOOKS like a Hurricane, SOUNDS like a Hurricane, and the forecast is CALLING for Hurricanes, then chances are, you’re going to have a Hurricane in your near future.

From what I’ve gathered, this one may hang around a while. Bend does have a history of real-estate ups and downs, most noticeably ending with a HUGE boom the year I got here. (Oct 2005) As a builder, this town was my playground. Minus a few weather delays, my crew had a huge run of residential and commercial projects that ran at a breakneck speed right until July of this year. Things immediately hit the wall, as they tend to do; though I think this time it surprised a lot of folk how quickly the situation turned south. Even now people are STILL vehemently denying the fact that we are in a housing slump, as more and more homes go unsold. Though the Company I worked for went belly up, I wasn’t alone. Roughly 35% of the small construction outfits have closed doors, and another sizable chunk have moved down south for more favorable markets.

Though other areas have had similar market foibles, Bend is unique in that real-estate aside; there isn’t a ton to keep this city afloat. Sure there’s tourism and retail, but when have those two EVER been able to sustain an economy alone? (Save perhaps a few tropical islands) Industry here is a joke. Posey Windows and Miller Lumber being the two biggest industries here are, you guessed it, construction related. Lotta good that does you when construction is flat eh? And now, the wicked cycle of loan backlash, and last ditch planning schemes is upon us. It was reported in the Source, that revenues from the planning division are DOWN $2.7 million for the current fiscal year, and are running 60% shy of what was projected back in July. Though it doesn’t take a genius to point out that when the housing market is based off speculation, and home prices are so far out of line with their actual value, things are going to take a turn for the worse. It seems like Bend somehow ignored every sign on the horizon, thinking that somehow, they were special, and wouldn’t fall victim to the inevitable.

Ironically, an unusually light December is upon us, prime building conditions when compared to my last 2 years here. Only problem? Nothing to build. No Permits to bid on, and no side-work to keep the tradesmen afloat till a major project arrives on the books. My current company has put all planned projects on hiatus; whether it’s permanent or not, only time will tell. Though it's an inconvenience to me, this year it’s a minor one. I set up several other alternative plans of action, and so far all of them have paid off. (Need a Paver Stone walk or drive? I’m your Man. A pump house perhaps? Likewise.) If however, I owned or had a fair stake in a medium to large scale construction company, I’d be singing a different tune.

December Updates

Pay no attention to the fact that it seems like I'm dropping several posts a week in December, as I am merely posting things I drafted and never got around to publishing. If that weren't the case I'm quite sure nobody would care anyway as my total blog readership is like 1 or 2. Anyway, you have been warned.

NEW CONTENT UNLOCKED!

As a bonus I will jump on two bandwagons at once! I will not only be bothering you with a 'Now Listening To..' but a random food item review as well!

Good Game, Peace Out

Anyone who can attest any knowledge of me will inadvertently mention the phenomena known as Street Fighter 2 at some point. As they should. This series of games occupied a huge portion of not only my, but everyone my age’s formative years. Street Fighter was breakfast, lunch, dinner, religion, love, friendship, and occasionally a roller coaster ride. On paper, it is merely a videogame comprised of a variety of characters participating in a series of best-2-outta-3 fights, that conclude when the player reaches and defeats the game’s final character or ‘End Boss’. Millions of copycats and competitors spawned hundreds of titles that follow this format to this very day. but let it be known that Street Fighter was the best and first. No other title has come close.

I believe the main draw of this genre of games is the ability to pit your skills against other people, your favorite characters versus theirs. Granted, you could play the computer, but playing against a human is the main reason the Street Fighter series (and its countless spin-offs) have retained their playability value, roughly 15 years after the fact.. Thus I get to the point of this post. Online Playability. With next-gen consoles promising this but often falling shot, it amazes me that independent developers not only tackle this obstacle, but succeed. NO, I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT KAILLERA!

What I refer to is known online as GGPO. (short for “Good Game, Peace Out”) A surprisingly smooth way to play Street Fighter Alpha 2 with people web-wide. Based primarily on a combination of FinalBuild arcade emulation, and from what I assume is some form of necromancy, GGPO is the least buggy way to play SF online. Period. Despite the occasional laggy day after a new build has been implemented, I can say with some certainty that 92% of the time it plays in (almost) perfect real-time. I can’t rave enough about the ease of use the interface displays. You can directly challenge and play any of the people online, OR you can watch any match already in progress! As if that wasn’t enough, ALL the matches are recorded on the GGPO homepage, to reinforce bragging rights after the match. In summary, if you are both a fan of Street Fighter, and have a halfway decent computer, download this client NOW.

I’m ‘Nezumiiro’ on GGPO, and if you beat me, I’ll give you a cookie. Or something.

Again, Legendary Men!

Hello again, ‘bout time for another blog I’d say. But don’t expect any enlightenment, or insight. On this day, I’m pretty much going to bitch and moan. Today I have come to the conclusion that Concrete Finishing (my current career) is the hardest job on the entire planet. Hold your responses for the time being, I’m quite sure that all you doctors, and baby animal rescue teams will have your own take on that statement. But in my experiences, it has taken the cake on the difficulty scale. In addition, Mike Rowe of the Discovery channel show ‘Dirty Jobs’ agrees with me. Concrete work, as a career, is the single most horrible thing a human being can subject themselves to.

Picture this if you will. You and your fellow finishers (as they’re called in the trade) have been dragging Olympian loads of Lumber, Steel, Form Panels, Stakes, and Hardware up the same hill for the last week. Yes, a week (or more) of slave labor just to build a foundation form. You think I jest? Go dig up a one-foot section of the foundation of your home, and tell me how big it is. Now multiply that by your home’s perimeter and voilla! You have roughly the amount of work I do in a week. Back on subject… So there you are, with a humungous wooden box, anchored to the Earth, and filled with a cornucopia of steel rebar and hardware. Now the fun part. You and your mates fill the forms with liquid concrete by way of boom pump. (If you’re lucky) Frenzy sets in as the crew lovingly cuts and polishes the concrete until it all sits flat at the specified grade. I’m sure from any aerial distance, a finish crew looks like ants scurrying around, all willy nilly. Though it appears to be complete chaos, to a finisher, each and every job is like a child; constantly minded and nurtured until there is no doubt that it can thrive and flourish on its own.

Now comes the part that drives the work from being merely difficult, into the realms of ‘insane human torture’. After the concrete has set, you un-build everything you have built! Yes folks! Every week I must tear down each and every one of my lovingly crafted creations. Every board and panel must be stripped, scraped, oiled, and stacked in a never-ending dance of construction futility. Granted some of the larger commercial crews have temps and laborers to do all the hard stuff, but seldom do we lowly custom residential finishers get that benefit. Throw in the necessary stacking and un-stacking of trailers, lot clean up, and any load/unload times spent in the company yard, and there you have it. The hardest job on the planet. Not hard enough for you eh? Ok, do it for $14.50 an hour. Gotcha there, didn’t I? Here in Bend, OR, that wage is actually considered good for 1^st and 2^nd year finishers.

So there you have it. Why do I do it you say? Because I love it, plain and simple. Being outdoors all the time. The pride in my compatriots and myself in a job well-done. Or just the complete knowledge of how to completely fuck your house over if you do me wrong. All of these are contributing factors as to why I wake up every morning to do it.

Speaking of which, I gotta shower up, and grab some dinner before it gets too late. Tomorrow I have to go to the hardest job ever…

All hands on deck!

Hello all, those familiar, and those not-so-familiar. I could begin this with one of those trite “This is my first post…” comments, but as those make me want to kill myself, I won’t. Like many of you I have long desired to put my thoughts into this wonderful format, the blog being one of the most powerful forces/sources of info in today’s crazy world.

My friends and acquaintances have asked why I didn’t go with the far more popular MySpace, for which I have 2 responses: A) MySpace is soooo ridiculously media intensive, I hate wading through page after page of imbedded videos and songs, all contributing to the massive e-coronary I nearly have every time I visit that site. And B) MySpace is for teenie-bopper Fanboys/fangirls, ages 12 - 15. Duh.

That said, thanks for your ear, (eye?) and on with the show!