Sunday, February 22, 2004

Spokane

No view of Palouse from Windows

Paul Turner - Staff writer

That screen-filling photo of a green, rolling hill that greets users of Windows XP sure looks familiar.

"Palouse?" a reader asked in an e-mail to The Slice.

Nope. Not quite.

"The `Bliss' image was actually taken outside Napa, Calif.," said Microsoft's Brian Peterson. "It was chosen because it illustrates the experiences Microsoft strives to provide customers (freedom, possibility, calmness, warmth, etc.)."

Hmmmm. Yours truly is scheduled for Windows XP computer training first thing Monday morning.

Let the calmness and warmth begin.

  • Three questions for Alvin Snow, senior guard on the Big Sky Conference champion EWU basketball team: Snow acknowledged that the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament still has to be won at the league playoffs in Cheney next month. And he said all the right things about taking it one game at a time, et cetera. Then we got real.

    Q: With Gonzaga having kicked off the Cinderella slipper and become an established power, America will look for a lovable new underdog come March Madness time. What will your team have to do to play that role?

    A: "We've just got to stay focused. People always say when you get to the tournament anything can happen, and that's just kind of the attitude we've got to take."

    Q: Have you fantasized about that?

    A: "My entire life. That's what you play basketball for. That's what this is all about. Of course, I have. I'd be lying to tell you I haven't."

    Q: There are still chapters to be written. But what could this season do for EWU basketball?

    A: "It's a respect deal. You can't ask for respect. You've got to earn it. That's what we're trying to do."

  • Slice answers: Jan Jesberger said people around here believe it's OK to be snobs about coffee and laptops. Another reader mentioned the Spokane Club.

    Coeur d'Alene grade-school cook Marje Peterson said one downside to having a nonstandard work shift (she starts at 4:30 a.m.) is people telling her it must be nice to get off so early. "They forget that I have to get up at O-dark-thirty," she said.

    Sue Retan said she thinks Mike Johnson is the area resident who might one day wind up being president. "He ran for the state house when he was only 21," she said.

    He lost. But remember, several presidents were not successful in their initial bids for public office.

    And any list of unusual requests from tenants should include a local man's appeal for a loan of 50 bucks, so he could go to the casino and win enough to pay his overdue rent.

  • Today's Slice question: You know how Leavenworth, Wash., has that Bavarian village theme. Well, what's Spokane's theme?

    __________

  • The Slice appears Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098; e-mail pault@spokesman.com. Happy Washington's birthday.