Geoff Duncan
Genius Zune Marketing Stunt?
For the last eleven days (and counting!) a brown Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagon has sat on the curb outside the house, seemingly abandoned:
Abandoned car…or genius marketing move? Check out the flat tire!
To my knowledge, I'd never seen this vehicle in the neighborhood before it arrived. The back of the wagon, the back seat, and the passenger seat are filled with…well, there's no polite way to put it: they're filled with junk. Cardboard boxes, auto parts, boxes of motor oil, a beat up DVD player, plastic bags filled with remains of fast food meals, all jumbled and piled haphazardly…it's not a pretty sight. And although a big rain storm last night cleaned some of the grunk off it, the wagon arrived here completely festooned with bird droppings; the local avians have since started making their own contributions. The hood ornament is missing, the hole where it sat stuffed with the remains of a scraggly bird feather. The bumper is partially held on with duct tape. The rear driver's side tire is almost completely flat. Parking around here is scarce, and, I'm sure to the annoyance of neighbors, the wagon is parked so it takes up what would normally be two spaces in front of the house.
Seattle city ordinances require cars parked on the street be moved every 72 hours. So far, calls to Seattle's parking enforcement haven't produced any action. I'll be the first to admit Seattle police probably have better things to do than ticket and (eventually) tow abandoned cars; however, when a non-abandoned pickup truck spent four days parked in front of the apartments across the street, I noticed parking enforcement had no trouble showing up, chalking the tires, and putting a big orange nastygram sticker on the driver's side window. The owner of the truck (who was staying up the street and checked on the truck several times a day) moved the truck within two hours. I guess when you're the manager of an apartment building, parking enforcement shows up.
So I'm lamenting the status of the derelict brown station wagon, when Adam Engst suggests it might not be abandoned: "maybe it's a hot new Zune marketing stunt! I think you should photograph and post it as such."
And, hey, you know, there is a certain resemblance to the brown Zune...
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