Huckleberries Online

HBO @ 5 Wild Card — 2/16/09

Posted by DFO

Feb. 16, 2009 5:38 p.m. • 107 comments

We made it, boys & girls. Huckleberries Online turns 5 years old today. In dog years, that’s 35, I believe. In blog years, it’s an eternity. Later this morning, I’ll re-post my first post ever on this blog, which originally was called No Holds Barred before morphing into Hot Potatoes for awhile — and finally into Huckleberries Online — to line up with my print column. At first, this blog didn’t have a comments section. Which limited its appeal. After the comments section was added, I remember the infamous Any Mouse calling it the “candy” part of the blog — the section that dedicated commenters couldn’t resist. Any Mouse has come and gone, as have others. Some, like Cis & JohnA, have been with me from the beginning. And remain deeply appreciated. Now, the blogware for HBO has been upgraded and there’s some talk still of turning this blog into its own Web site. Five years ago, I warned you to buckle your seatbelt b/c it was going to be a wild ride. I hope you’re still buckled up. I never know what a day’s blogging is going to bring. Now, for you Wild Card …

107 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

MikeK on February 16 at 10:33 a.m.
HBO was born on February 16, 2004.

My daughter Quinn was born on February 16, 2005.

Our little cousin/niece Morgan Dickinson was born on February 16, 2006. (She, the daughter of the Moondollars owners JD and Tracy).

So today is a lovely day for birthdays, though I can tell you that Quinn and Morgan have been far less contentious and far more beautiful than the blog. No offense, DFO… :-)
Digger on February 16 at 10:35 a.m.
DFO - I would like to remind you that I have been a part of this blog since its launch. ;-)
JohnA on February 16 at 10:40 a.m.
Congratulations, DFO.

In the 22 years I’ve known you through local government, I think HBO is your best work.

Your blog remains the place to see and to be seen. I think your everyday bloggers would truly be amazed at who is out there blurking. I hear from them all the time as I travel north Idaho on business. I hope as HBO remains a civil place to visit we’ll hear from some of them from time to time.

Here’s to the first five, and many more to come. :)
DFO on February 16 at 10:40 a.m.
Digger; thanx for the reminder. The older I get the more I forget. Mebbe that’ll be my High Noon question: How long have you been reading Huckleberries Online.
JeanC on February 16 at 10:41 a.m.
Happy blogaversary Dave :)
DFO on February 16 at 10:54 a.m.
I have to admit the wear-and-tear of trying to keep things somewhat civil here has reduced my personal enjoyment of Huckleberries Online over the last 6 months. But I’m looking forward to blogfest to rekindle the fire that almost always has been there.
DFO on February 16 at 10:55 a.m.
BTW, has anyone heard the rumor that a local rental agency closed its doors without warning Friday? The workers showed up at the usual time and found locked doors. Anyone?
bondgirl on February 16 at 11:21 a.m.
Congrats DFO- keep up the good work!!!
nic on February 16 at 11:28 a.m.
“I have to admit the wear-and-tear of trying to keep things somewhat civil here has reduced my personal enjoyment of Huckleberries Online over the last 6 months.”

So are you saying that if you stopped trying to keepit civil, your enjoyment would return?
marmitetoasty on February 16 at 11:33 a.m.
Well Im glad I stumbled through the Dingleberry doors a few years ago via Bobs Blob….. made some truely good maties on here, even though I cant understand what you lot are saying most of the time LOL….

Im beginning though, to look upon the Dingleberries as I would me local newpaper….gawd help you all LOL……

Happy Anniversary Davieboy….

x
Bent on February 16 at 11:44 a.m.
MikeK, I can’t help thinking that you & Cabbage Boy would pretty much have any day of the year covered with a birthday story…

Happy Blogaversary, DFO.
Bob on February 16 at 11:44 a.m.
Well, as a long time blurker here who has never felt he had much to add to the comments with all these smart and passionate people here, I thought I’d uncloak long enough to say congratulations!
Cindy_H on February 16 at 11:53 a.m.
I’m pretty sure uncloaking in a public place is illegal.
Just saying.
Happy Blog BD, Dave.
MikeK on February 16 at 11:55 a.m.
Good point, Bent. January 10, January 30, February 16, February 17, May 1, October 5, October 18, December 8, December 24.

We’re missing a few summer days in there.

So, who’s this fine-looking new young man named “Bob” who’s posting on the blog above. Says he’s been a blurker and seems like a really nice guy without any controversy at all. Just what HBO needs!
JBelle on February 16 at 12:00 p.m.
Happy Anniversary, daveo! Congratulations and best wishes for a lifetime of happiness. ;)
MikeK on February 16 at 12:03 p.m.
Now JBelle is back, too - a very good thing! How’s life on the wrong side of the tracks, JBelle (i.e. Spokane)?
JBelle on February 16 at 12:05 p.m.
You know, Mike, we actually get the news here, well semi-regularly, and the word is…..

that tomorrow…..

is your birthday.

Can you confirm or deny, Coucilman Kennedy?
thomg57 on February 16 at 12:09 p.m.
Mike Kennedy, version 4.0
JohnA on February 16 at 12:54 p.m.
Today HBO celebrates its fifth anniversary, unprecedented for an S/R blog.

I guess that makes this our very own Precedence Day, no?

:)
BethB on February 16 at 1:27 p.m.
Just a few weeks as a poster - though the fact that I am friends with both Thom George and Duane Rasmussen did earn me a “wild card of the day” nod back in July 2008.
Duffer on February 16 at 1:56 p.m.
I found my “Official” recognition (5/26/04):

“DFO: Bayview Herb isn’t gonna like it, but I’m adding “Duffer” to my stable of anonymous commenters. He’s right about my batting average. And I’m glad I missed on two of my calls. I picked correctly: Currie, Clark, Hart, Chadderdon, Gridley and Nonini. I missed: Brodie, Jorgenson and Henderson. I was big-time happy to see Jorgenson and Henderson win. And we can do a lot worse than Katie Brodie in the commish office. Thanx for keeping score, Duffer.”

Posted by DFO :: 02:34 PM May 26
hmoffsuite on February 16 at 2:40 p.m.
I have just one simple question that maybe Thom or Sis can answer. If the stimulus (not) plan were so terribly URGENT as the President suggested, then why is he waiting 4 days to sign the bill? And, as it turns out, if he didn’t (after it passed) feel the urgency, then why didn’t he post it (as promised) before the vote, so that we could actually read it before it did pass? Does anyone else feel it was crammed down our throats?
hmoffsuite on February 16 at 2:53 p.m.
After thinking about it a little more, maybe I can answer my own question. Maybe Obama wanted to rush the bill so nobody would know what was really in it. Does anyone think Obama really knew everything it contained? Maybe only Pelosi and Reid knew what it contained?
Cis on February 16 at 3:34 p.m.
I use to read Hot Potatoes in the paper on Monday’s, and at the end one day, there was a www address for it… saying there was a blog. Wasn’t sure what a blog was, so went there. Couple months ago I found the first email I sent to Dave 2-20-04 to say I was looking forward to reading the blog if it was as much fun as the column.
He wrote back to find out who I was, and where I was from.. thinking I was from Spokane, and me telling him I was from Kootenai, the town, not the county he lived in.
To my surprise a long time after, he used my thoughts of what a blog was. Which appeared in the left hand upper corner for years.
Over the years Commenter’s have come and gone, some drop by from time to time. Some were sad to see go. Some were from other states like Ok, and New York, Mass. There were times it was almost addictive. And times, where I would look in and leave. There have been times when Dave got into trouble with the county and a lot of bloggers came to his rescue. There was the time people sent money and bought milk for a Spokane child care center. Yes, there were good times and bad…
I have been to 1 blogfest in Bayview (there were two) I have been to two blogfest in Capone’s. There was a get together before blogfest in the SR building to get people interested in and show them how to start their own blogs. Herb I believe went to that one. I didn’t go to that one, but about a year later he talked me into starting a blog of my own..he and Marianne Love…As the old lady of the shoe, I see a turn over thru the years, and I sit on the side lines and watch.
Cis on February 16 at 3:36 p.m.
by the way, I forgot who it was here that told us about
ispell….but I want to thank you.. it is the greatest, and my spelling here has been better…lol
Bob on February 16 at 4:32 p.m.
I’ve been reading Dave since we were college dorm mates and I used to score him drugs. First thing I ever read was an IOU he wrote me in that inimitable style of his (we knew he’d amount to something back then)
“hey, hey LBJ!
How much grr-ass did you smoke today?

Hey man, be groovy and let me owe you $10 for that outtasight lid.”
inlandempiregirl on February 16 at 5:02 p.m.
Congratulations Dave. I have loved visiting this site since Raymond Pert led me here when he started his blog. I had no idea when I began my own blog that it was a day after the HBO anniversary. This will now always remind me when my own blog anniversary is. I hope someday to come and meet everyone at the Blogfest, but I have another commitment again this year.
GaryIngram on February 16 at 5:54 p.m.
“uncloak”? We know which Bob, You are:)
hhuseland on February 16 at 6:13 p.m.
Cis asked about when the first Blogfest occurred, which I organized. I do remember after, I think the second one in Bayview, coining the name, “Blogfest.” Cis asked me when the first one was, and I can’t find a clue. We had one that I titled in my blog as, “Blogfest IV, but that has to be inaccurate, since we held the first two here in Bayview. That one was 09-18-06. Later we had another, this time attended by the blogmeister, himself. I think that might have been a year later. Tumblewords attended that first one, along with spencer, Cis, Mari, Bill and Lisa McCrory. There probably were more, but I’m ancient and that’s as far as my memory goes.
hhuseland on February 16 at 6:21 p.m.
Wrong again. I said the first blogfest that I remember was 09-18-06. That was the date of the blog post that described it. The actual date was 09-16-06.
Stickman on February 16 at 6:25 p.m.
Happy Anniversary Dave, it’s been a good ride for me for the past three years. I am always here, though lately I haven’t the urge to comment. I will be at blogfest of course, this will be my third one and I look forward to seeing a lot of the old timers and some of the new. I have grown up with Bob, though he has been hammered of late, and many more, like Jen and Bent and ThomG and JBelle of course, though we have never met. Truly is always on my my mind, as is Don Sausser, a true gentleman of this town. Keith, I am sorry that I made you fall in a sense, I hadn’t a clue. If you have some time this coming 28th, you better make an attempt to come, even for a few minutes. It might be your only chance to meet the family, so to speak, one of a kind and very special to me. Life is too short not to meet the family that you spend time with. See you all there.
hhuseland on February 16 at 6:40 p.m.
I’ve been trying to collate the events with dates. I am horrible at that. I remember that I wrote comments that DFO published in his print column before the blog started. One that I remember, was when he published a cry for help from the Coeur d’Alene fire Dept. It seems that snow was obscuring the fire hydrants around town and the Chief wanted help clearing them so that his troops could access them. I came back, smartass that I am and pointed out that the neighborhood dogs would probably appreciate it too. (He printed it)

Then there was the infamous road trip that I took from Bayview, through Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, down the Missouri River, turned east and hit Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, south Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,(twice) Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. This was done in 6 weeks and DFO printed most of my travels on his blog, as I was able to find a computer. The road trip started in late October of 2004 and ended in early December of 2004. I guess that makes me a “I was there first” kind of guy. Prior to that, I contacted DFO when ever news was breaking in Bayview. Like the time I forced Farragut State Park to open the road block that had held for years. Cynthia Taggart wrote that one. It got a lot of laughs when it was discovered that the new greeters shed along side of the road, was once an outhouse, back in the day. Yes, I guess I’ve been around a while. The park thing was in 1995.
Cis on February 16 at 6:57 p.m.
You mixed your Bayview blogfest, Herb… I was at the first one, with my husband, Stebbijo and Bob was there as Bill McCrory and his wife was there. Mari and Caroline of the Golly Girls was there, And Dan was there with Dave.

The second one, Spenser, Dogwalking, Stebbijo and Bob were there and I don’t know who else, as i was not there.

You also went to the workshop that was at night, at the SR building before any blogfest… where Dave was helping those who wanted to blog to learn how to… I did not make that one either.
keithincda on February 16 at 7:34 p.m.
Stickman, I willfully lifted that Stella glass of Bent’s brew to my lips. You had no influence on my voluntary to fall off the wagon…like I said there are 10 more months from which to find 30 dry days…
Dawn_Q_Otee on February 16 at 9:18 p.m.
A blast from the past on the fifth anniversary of HBO. I was here from the first days of NHB (no holds barred) and have been here all along. :o)
Escapee on February 16 at 9:22 p.m.
Every time I see the word “potatoes”, that makes me think of Dan Quayle…when he said Idaho’s main claim to fame was spelt “P-O-T-A-T-O-E”, he MUST have been thinking of the ‘plural’ version, rrrright?;-) Anyway…

Happy anniversary, DFO, Huckleberries and here’s hopes that the S-R survives another 5 years…even though by then the newspaper will probably be the size of a “while you were out” form…
Joker on February 16 at 9:42 p.m.
Hey DFO,

The boys are sniffling that you’re deletng faster than Dick Cheney aides in the White House. How many posts are you rejecting. I think it might be helpful if you post a tally. Bob is claiming he can’t get a shot in and that you’re hobbling him.

How many posts have you nuked in the last two weeks from these guys?
Bob on February 16 at 9:50 p.m.
Who is dancing in whose head now?

tap tap taptaptap tap tap

:-)
Joker on February 16 at 9:57 p.m.
It’s fun to watch all these stages of anger, denial, bargaining, resentment, jealously. When do you go on Dr. Phil?
Bob on February 16 at 9:58 p.m.
Impress me Joker, what are those stages of?

I’ll give you a moment to wikepedia it.
Bob on February 16 at 9:59 p.m.
And Dr. Phil insults. Ouch. Somebody call the medivac. I’ve been so wounded.
Bob on February 16 at 10:04 p.m.
“Joker on February 16 at 9:57 p.m.

It’s fun to watch all these stages of anger, denial, bargaining, resentment, jealously.”

Actually Joker, as you thrum your wet with drool lower lip with your index finger making the bluhbluhbluhbluh sound trying to figure out what psychobabble you are desperately trying to make up, I’ll save you time and share that they are stages of nothing. Nothing.

You’re making crap up as I knock you around. It’s sad, really.
Bob on February 16 at 10:08 p.m.
Hurry up Joker. I don’t have all night for you to copy and paste Wikis. Hustle.
Bob on February 16 at 10:09 p.m.
Winner by knockout. See you all tomorrow.
Arch_Druid on February 16 at 11:54 p.m.
Got called into work (again) the 28th. So, won’t be making it to any party. However, joined the Twitter community in the last few weeks and was spending some time commenting there this morning. As well as sending a few to CNN’s Rick Sanchez. CNN then showcased some of my Tweets during Sanchez’ hour of the Newsroom. Anyone watching CNN at 12:00 pm would have seen in the reader bar some comments from JEHarman. I commented on Jack Cafferty being better than Wolf Blitzer any day, also saw where a comment of mine about a mysterious fireball in Texas was on as well. How about that. Bob is no longer the only one from the Inland Northwest to have been featured on CNN.
hmoffsuite on February 17 at 6:11 a.m.
Joker. I have found that if I make a statement regarding politics that doesn’t reflect well on the dems, the response that I get is that I should stop regurgitating Rush and Hannity. But,if I ask a question relative to the same, it simply goes unanswered. That is Sis and Thom, mostly. Bob never contributes anything of substance, just attacks the poster.
Bob on February 17 at 6:38 a.m.
Ever ask yourself why your questions go unanswered? Because you post like a conservatroll. Dropping your wingnut radio turd bombs into the kitchen sink and acting surprised and yes, even a little hurt (victim troll), when nobody wants to stick their hands into soapy kitchen sink crapwater.

So, whine away. You know you get to take unfettered shots at others while any return fire gets instantly deleted by DFO, so as to keep you pedaling down the road on your little pink bicycle with training wheels and a plastic flower festooned basket on the handlebars.

We’re learning not to feed certain trolls here. It’s a great thing if you ask me.
Bob on February 17 at 6:43 a.m.
As to my contributions, since your apparent Cone of Silence regarding me does not preclude you from talking *about* me like a fussy 3rd grader (“tell Jenny I hate her new Barbies!”) it seems your uptakeOmeter is barely flicking to one (1).

I am a process commenter not a content commenter. It is a more evolved, demanding, and complex approach and methodology I choose. It’s light years beyond you, I am certain.

My motto:

The process is the outcome.
Bob on February 17 at 7:00 a.m.
There are two kinds of people in this world -

1. Those who think Danny Gatton was the world’s greatest unknown guitarist
2. Those who think Roy Buchanan was the world’s greatest unknown guitarist

And the opinions are strongly held and can lead to an outbreak of fisticuffs and barroom brawling when debated in certain alcohol-positive social environments.

I’ve decided to devote some blog posts to resolving not that issue, as it’s pretty much unsolvable, but to determine who was better in other contests and to crown one king later this week or month or whenever.

So far they’ve competed in Haiku (Danny Gatton) and Impersonating a College Liberal Arts Professor (Roy Buchanan)

Money shot:

“Roy Buchanan hung himself with his own shirt in a drunk tank in some crappy jail after being busted for public intoxication. Danny Gatton stormed out to his garage after a domestic dispute and ate a bullet. They died right outta the music of the blues and the honkytonks they were so immersed in. Hangin and shootin. Drunk and angry.

Well, I’m not going to reopen the whole who is the better guitarist argument here, I’m more intrigued by imagining and evaluating contests between Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan in areas not typically associated with them. I’ll do this as a reoccurring series, probably quite a few until all but one or two of my readers have fled out of boredom or disgust with my tangential trajectories.”

http://unbearablebobness.typepad.com/my_weblog/
hmoffsuite on February 17 at 7:23 a.m.
Those of you who wanted Obama to get elected so badly must be thrilled that his stimulus package got passed. Problem is that businesses and the financial markets aren’t quite as happy. The financials are down today in a big way and are, in fact, at the lows they reached when Obama won the election. Conclusion: Obama’s words and deeds don’t coincide. Its gunna get real ugly out there, folks.
Bob on February 17 at 7:30 a.m.
Don’t.feed.the.rhymes with mole.
Cabbage Boy on February 17 at 9:41 a.m.
Thats funny, I have always heard there are 10 types of people in this world.

Those that understand binary, and those who don’t.
Arch_Druid on February 17 at 10:29 p.m.
Problem for Hmoffsuite is that international markets tanked over night long before those on Wall Street opened for the day. CBS News had a different take on what happened that likely had nothing to do with the Stimulus package. And Obama signing the Stimulus package long after the international markets tanked had nothing to do with one another. It does pay to listen to the news. Not just Twitter and Facebook commentaries based slowly on partisan views.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.