Internet service is down at home, so I'm trying to write something at work. Haven't missed a day, yet.

Still, this will be short.

Bulletin had an article about all the 'big city' stores that locals wanted. And I just can't help but think these people are rapidly changing Bend into the kind of place they escaped.

I'm sure they think it was the outdoors and the mountains and all that brought them, but increased population can't help but impact on that environment even worse.

Had a fellow in the store yesterday, who had just moved to Bend from Malibu. He was marveling about how polite and friendly everyone was around here. I mentioned that it was changing, that people didn't always respond to greeting the way they used to, but he insisted that we had a very long way to go before we got as bad as Malibu. I mentioned that I didn't much like some of the attitudes of the new folk, or how the gated communities were meant to keep the riff-raff out. And I mentioned how I didn't like all the traffic tail-gaters.

He completely misunderstood my point, and said, yeah, it was the riff-raff that was tailgating and that eventually they'd be forced to move away.

I said, that I noticed an awful lot of the tailgaters were driving big SUV's. And that I prefered the riff-raff to some of the rich.

We were talking from two different angles. And it reminded me of a less than attractive element of the new migration; white flight. No one ever says it, except in the most coded of words, but it is obviously happening.

If we are twice as rude, and snobby, and frenetic as we used to be, but only half as bad as Malibu, than that would explain the disconnect. Anyway, just a quick example of the new attitudes I keep running into. I'm not sure our goal for quality of life should be.....that we aren't as bad as Malibu.