Spokane sidewalk a scene

You might not know this.

But apparently it is required that you talk on a cell phone if you are going to stand in front of the Hotel Lusso.

And there's a dress code.

* Visualizing a frightening future: "I'm wondering if all of the young girls thinking of piercing their belly buttons have considered that, when someday they become pregnant (and we all hope that's far in the future), their abdomen will stretch so much that their navel will just about disappear," wrote a reader named Rose. "Think about what that might do to the spot of the piercing. Won't it stretch, too? Will we describe people as having an `inny,' an `outy' or a `holey?' "

* Thought for the day from Slice reader Jama Grant: "When you start by brushing your teeth with cortisone cream, you can pretty much imagine how the rest of the day will go."

* Work slowdown: "Today I discovered that it takes twice as long to paint when the cat wants to help," wrote Robin Heflin of Coeur d'Alene. "I was trying to paint a door jamb with one hand, while holding back Sammy with the other. He sniffed the paint can, tried to rub against the newly painted door jamb, swatted at the brush and even climbed the ladder.

"Finally, he went away. After I finished painting, I went to pick up a sheet of newspaper (The Spokesman, of course) that had blown into the yard and discovered the cat hiding underneath. If only I'd known at the beginning that a sheet of newspaper would keep him occupied."

Maybe it was the Pets page.

* On second thought: "I wrote in the Valley Voice and elsewhere that Spokane drivers were the worst I'd seen anywhere -- worse even than British Columbians,"

e-mailed Eben Atwater, who recently moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "Well, I take it all back."

* Getting carded: Thanks for the entries in The Slice's Business Card Contest. Send yours. The deadline is next Friday.

* Herstory 101: A reader heard some neighbor children allude to the adventures of famed 13th-century explorer "Marsha Polo."

* Slice answer: Transplanted Californian Marcy Heldt responded to the question about things newcomers wished they had known before moving here. "Pick up any yard stuff which will be disgusting after being covered in snow for four months."

* Today's Slice question: If you suddenly became the military dictator of Spokane, what changes could we look forward to seeing?

Copyright 2001 Cowles Publishing Company
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