Granted, you might adhere to the seat in this cold…but at least there are equitable facilities for both genders! And it’s unlikely that you’ll encounter any waiting lines for the potty right now.

If I had a penny for every time I found myself out in the middle of a field and suddenly noticed a pyramid of old bowling balls…well, let’s just say my financial status would feel no significant impact. I was out east of Bismarck with my camera last weekend and picked up this shot. I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind this pile, but I don’t know it. Yet.

This week I performed some repair work on one of our HD video cameras after the various parts arrived. There were two Sony boxes that made me laugh when I first saw them. Notice in the picture above, the relative size of the little square replacement part to the mountain of packing material and large, square box!

But oh, it gets more amusing from there. This box is about a foot long and two inches or so square in height and length. It contained a bundled section of bubble wrap and –do you see them? — two very tiny little mounting screws!

The collective weight of these screws is certainly less than a gram, but they were in a foot-long box! Not only that, they were also double-bagged in two tiny zip-loc baggies!

I suppose there are some interesting reasons why such boxes are chosen for things, and Sony isn’t the only one that ships us stuff in abnormally large boxes. In this case, it prevented some very small, very important parts from being lost or misplaced due to a tiny box escaping notice or falling into a nook or cranny somewhere. The larger box actually shipped for free since it was a backordered part. It can also be cost prohibitive for a company to stock the right size box for absolutely every possible combination of parts. Still, when something shows up in a box 1,000 times its size, it’s fun to enjoy a good laugh.

I spotted this a while back and can’t help but wonder why a) water is being directed into a shelter (note the glass wall on the right) and b) it’s diverted to just above the security camera. Inquiring minds want to know 🙂

Kinda reminds me of thereIfixedit.com 🙂

I noticed this the other day at the Bismarck Airport and grabbed a quick photo with my cell phone. The ceiling in the airport was painted with a sky texture by Ric Sprynczynatyk when the new terminal was built, and seeing someone’s balloon stuck up against the ceiling reminded me of the movie The Truman Show. It’s way up there, too…so either it will be allowed to drift down on its own as it deflates over time, or someone has to get a BB gun! I’d volunteer for that last one, but the TSA would have a heart attack unless I got permission first.

To paraphrase my friend Rob’s caption for this photo, “How to spot a North Dakotan who’s had a DUI.”

I’ve been out with my camera during deer season before, although I’ve never been stupid enough to venture off the road. Even parked along an established road like 93rd Street southeast of town, the ringing of gunfire in all directions made me a little too nervous. I haven’t taken my camera out of the bag much lately because of the cold/flu/sinus thing ravaging our house, but if I do I think it’ll be well within city limits.