Thursday night blockhouses

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This post contains the return of the Thursday Night Sunset series, a morality tale, and a fitness report. What a treat, huh?

We’ve had some vivid, dramatic sunsets lately, but I haven’t been in much of a position to capture them due to working late and extracurricular activities. Tonight, now that the skies have cleared, I was determined to get a nice shot of the sunset. I headed to Mandan with hopes of one of the Fort Lincoln blockhouses as a foreground. It sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?

I was in a bit of a hurry to scurry to Mandan, but I needed cash for the five dollar gate fee at Fort Lincoln. As luck would have it, I just got my paycheck from the city (yeah, I seem to work EVERYWHERE). After a quick stop at the bank drive-up I bolted to Fort Lincoln. I grabbed my entry fee envelope with the intent to pay on my way out; the sun was setting quickly, so I needed every spare second.

I zoomed up to the road which leads to the forts, only to find the gates locked! There was a sign saying “These gates closed after dark” but it was hardly anywhere NEAR dark. No problem, right? All I have to do is sprint up the hill…remember, time’s a-wasting!

I bet I panted for ten minutes after I finally reached the top of the hill, due to my lack of exercise and Fort Lincoln’s lack of an established trail. I wasn’t disappointed by the sunset; a really dramatic sunset needs a few more clouds than we had, but this one certainly had no shortage of color.

I hung out for a little bit longer; I was dressed warmly, there were deer and geese hanging out in the area, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a long hike down the hill in the dark. I’ve made that hike before, and there are a LOT of noises in those trees! So I swung the camera around and took a few more shots, like this one:

The moon was nearly full, the geese were honking, my shutter was snapping. It was actually quite a nice night, even the dark walk back to the truck. That’s where the morality tale waited for me: as I put the gear in the truck and got ready to leave the park, that envelope for the park fee got my attention.

As a dissatisfied customer, I didn’t feel like sticking a fiver in that thing and putting it in the slot back at the unmanned fee station. Nobody would know, and I certainly did NOT feel like I got my five bucks’ worth. But was that really my call to make?

The Christian in me took over, fortunately. I’d pay it on my way out of the park as I’d originally planned. I turned my fuming into fun, jokingly assessing blame to Tracy Potter and thinking, “now there’s another good reason not to vote for him!” Besides, I did come down the hill with some pretty decent pictures.

After I put my five bucks in the slot at the fee station, I left the park with a clear conscience. It wouldn’t hurt for me to exercise more often…then I might even relish a hectic hike to beat the sunset. I’ve learned my lesson, though; I’ll hike in from the walking trail to the north, where it’s free.

Vote early, not often

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I have been eagerly awaiting Election Day for some time now, but I received the news that I’d be behind a camera for that entire day…so what do I do? Vote early, of course! Having been on the team for those election videos earlier this year, I remembered that I could get an absentee ballot and vote early.

A quick trip to the Burleigh County Auditor’s Office, located on the first floor of the City/County Office Building on 5th Street, provided me with the opportunity to vote my absentee ballot right away. They have a few poll booths set up along the wall for voters who want to vote right away, or you can take your absentee ballot with you and mail it in. I chose to vote right away.

I had to show my ID. I mention this because Kristin Hedger, the woefully misguided candidate for Secretary of State, made such a big stink about it. Without my ID it would not have been possible to know which precinct ballot I should get, for instance…because my ID has proof of my residential address on it. By the way, have you ever wondered why the Democrats don’t challenge the ID requirement here? Is it because we don’t have enough illegals here to make a difference in their favor?

Anyway, I had a happy and easy voting experience. As a Bismarck citizen I reside in District 35, so I made sure NOT to vote for Ryan Gustafson. He’s the one who claimed on the Flickertail Journal blog that Dakotans who oppose abortion are like the Taliban:

“Here’s an idea for a bill for South Dakota: women must wear long, feature-less robes and cover their faces, except for their eyes. They must be accompanied by a male relative at all times outside the house. This way, we can make sure women aren’t going around asking to be raped (because it’s obviously their own fault for getting pregnant – the man who did the deed was just being one of the boys, right?). “(link)

He runs the Flickertail Journal blog along with a guy named Brad Mills, who had this to say about his fellow North Dakotans:

“Plain and simple, the culture in North Dakota is racist, bigoted, repressive, backwards and ultraconservative to the point to where it makes most moderate and liberal people just want to get the hell out of here as soon as they possibly can.”(link)

Obviously I won’t be voting for Mr. Gustafson in this lifetime! I suggest two things: that you don’t vote for him either, and that you tell as many Bismarck voters about this nonsense as you can.

One other thing: Measure #1. What is it, you ask? I don’t know! Yes, I’m ashamed to say it: this one snuck up on me. I was well aware of the Shared Parenting initiative and the Property Rights measures on the ballot, but Measure #1 blindsided me. It apparently deals with trust funds, their distributions, and their administration. Because it proposes an amendment to the state constitution, I had to vote no. I can’t approve a constitutional amendment without knowing the facts. I dropped the ball as an informed voter on that one. You can see the whole text of Measure #1 here (PDF).

If you need to vote early, contact your county auditor’s office. In Burleigh County, it was quick and easy…I’m sure it’ll be the same elsewhere. The only downer is that I did NOT get one of those little “I Voted” stickers – the image above is from the June Primary. But I’m happy to report that county officials are at work to make sure that you can vote if you find yourself unable to make it on election day.

Someone got another big grant

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If you spend any time on River Road, you have no doubt seen the new “Reflections” sculpture constructed near Keelboat Park. It appears to be near completion now, except for signage, and prompted me to wonder, “how much did we pay for that?”

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with the sculpture. It’s not like it’s a monstrosity or anything, like the Thunderbirds debacle up by the riverboat dock. It’s actually quite neat; in fact, it allowed me to get this interesting sunset picture:

Some days, however, I question the expenditure. I’ve heard rumours of $50,000 grants for each of these (there are three that I know of so far) and figure that there must be some better way for us as a city to spend that money. I found lots of press releases online, but nobody would mention what those statues cost. I’d like to know. Perhaps when it’s dedicated on November 3rd at 1:30 pm, someone will ask that question. If you do, post it here.

Campione del Mondo – the Kentucky Kid

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Yes, I’m starting off the week with one of those post-race motorcycle entries instead of something local. Actually, since I’ve talked to the guy on numerous occasions over at our home track in Brainerd, it feels local. This weekend was the deciding race in the MotoGP World Grand Prix Championship. If you watch SPEED Channel, and you really ought to, they’ll be talking about this all day Monday.

Nicky Hayden, one of three roadracing and dirt tracking brothers from Owensboro Kentucky, has been racing in the most advanced series in all of motorcycle racing for a few years now, and his hard work has finally come to fruition with a world title. This has been an up and down year for him, with tbe biggest downer last week: while in the points lead for the championship, he was t-boned by his own teammate and didn’t score any points at all. He basically had to win or crash this weekend, and had to beat his championship rival by a certain number of positions to wrap up the title. And he did. Misfortune plays no favorites at this level, and his rival, Valentino Rossi, crashed early in the race. While he was able to get back on the bike and continue, he was unable to catch up and earn a points position that would preserve his lead. Nicky had a disaster last weekend, the tables turned this weekend.

Michael Jordan was in attendance, of course. You see, MJ is a huge motorcycle fan and sponsors his own team. While he was playing professional sports, his contracts prevented him from riding motorcycles. Nowadays, however, he not only rides, he sponsors a team of his own. So it’s a given that when we’re at the races, he’ll likely be there. A lot of times he’ll be joined by some of his NBA friends, too. There’s not a lot of overlap between NBA and Superbike, so he doesn’t get mobbed too badly…rather, he’s just been accepted as “one of us.”

This is MJ’s black Ducati that he’s got all tricked out – I’m not sure if he has a new one since then, but this wasn’t the newest model when we took this picture. Having a good motorcycle isn’t about having the latest & greatest – it’s about having one you like, customized to your tastes. In this picture I was doing some video/photos for the Ducati factory from Italy, and they were about to give MJ and some other Ducati riders a couple of laps around the track during intermission. Later on I met with the Italians about a possible Ducati dealership here in Bismarck, but never moved ahead with that. If you wanna help me finance it, send me an email.

This is back when Nicky raced in the AMA series, so we could talk to him here in the garages. When things allow, he’s here to watch his two brothers race…although that doesn’t always work out, with his races being all over the world. All three of the Hayden brothers – heck, their whole family, really – are really nice people that you want to know. I remember seeing them all in the chapel service in the racers’ lounge every Sunday before the racing started, and that leads me to my next point:

I want to quote an excerpt from Nicky in the post race press conference. Rather than talk about himself, he’s really all about the people who surrounded and supported him. Racing is a team effort, and it’s not just the rider, the mechanics, the designers…it’s the synergy of all those people, plus the family who’s stuck by him from the start. Nick was uprooted from the AMA series and placed in an environment where he faced language and cultural barriers, a microcosm where Americans aren’t always looked at favorably, and the most intense pressure to perform that a rider could ever face. Thanks to his character and that of those surrounding him, he has performed and matured admirably. In the post-race press conference, he was eager to give credit where he feels it’s due: …my friends, my family, everybody back home in Kentucky, to the Lord, too…man, I’m so blessed, and so fortunate that I’m just really humbled by this, and it’s a great day for me.” As a Christian, I’m pleased to see that he’s still sure of where all good things come from. While a vocal Christian is hard to find in Nick’s environment, the character of the Hayden family is known worldwide. They have a great testimony, and I’m grinning ear to ear as I report his success this weekend.

Northern Lights tease

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I was about ready for bed last night when I got an exciting call from a friend: the Northern Lights are bright tonight! So I grabbed my wife and a couple of good friends, hopped in the truck, and blazed up north. The auroras were visible, the night relatively calm but cool. And while the sky the was lit to the north, it pretty much sat there and teased us for a while before settling down.

Don’t get me wrong…any Northern Lights are a treat. This one I’d hoped would be a little extra special because one of our friends who came along is from “the South” and I was hoping for a spectacular show for her. While we saw a lot of shooting stars, likely stragglers from the Orionid shower last week, the auroras didn’t really live up to any of my stories of past experiences. Bummer.

I take stargazing pretty seriously. I tend to measure and schedule things in 15 minute increments, and within one of those periods I can have the truck rolling with my standard stargazing setup:

– Camera equipment
– Folding camping chairs
– Jackets and gloves
– Cooler of water, Dew, or Red Bull from the fridge in the garage
– Speaker system for the iPod
– Inverter & extension cord to power ’em
– Maglite
– Sunflower seeds, jerky, etc.
– Can of spare fuel from the garage pump (in case we go crazy)
– GPS receiver, now that I finally have one

I have a standard set of stargazing music ready to go on the iPod, too. We stood outside the truck with the music going for a while last night, just looking at the amazingly clear view of the stars and exclaiming when a meteor would zip past. All was not lost. But I really hope for an opportunity to show Jenny and my other Southern friends what the Northern Lights can really be like here in North Dakota.

Friday night bridge

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So, after spending all day hiking around a coal mine and filming from a 10 million pound crane (cool!), I decided that the cure for standing out in the cold and hiking all over was…yes, that’s right: standing out in the cold and hiking all over! Bismarck, however, was ever so slightly warmer than the mine where I’d worked all day. The wind had toned down a little, too.

I had this grand idea about how the sun, since it now travels so low in the sky, would be perfectly framed if I stood at one end of the historic railroad bridge and it appeared at the other end. A combination of fatigue, sky conditions, and a reluctance to be a tresspasser changed my mind. But I did find a couple of really nice sunset photos from the bike path up on the hill.

Fiesta Moon

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Obviously this picture wasn’t taken this week; the phase of the moon and the leaves on the trees betray that. But it’s one of those photos I’ve got “in the holster” for when I need them, and it came to mind tonight as I read an article by Tessa Sandstrom in the new issue of the Dakota Beacon.

In her article, Ms. Sandstrom talks about the history of this building and its importance during Bismarck’s railroad days. She’s got some neat historic photos to accompany her research and a few neat odd facts to boot.

If you haven’t picked up an issue of the Dakota Beacon yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. There are complementary copies available at many Bismarck locations, including an honor-system box in front of the Post Office on Rosser. I highly recommend that you read and subscribe to this magazine – I do! You won’t be disappointed.

Name that statue

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Apparently a few people thought my Name that Fountain post was kinda fun, so I’ll throw this one at you. Perhaps I should use the word “identify” instead of “name” for this, as I’m sure they already have names. In any case, let’s see how much time you spend ambling around Bismarck. It shouldn’t be too hard for you to pick out this little item. Any takers?

Stickin’ it to the Man

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One of the things one does when he’s forced to convert his office to a nursery (at least half of it, for the time being) is to condense things as much as possible. That means a lot of little trinkets I want to keep for sentimentality’s sake are getting stuffed into my big ol’ footlocker for safekeeping. Of course, you can’t crack the lid on a chest like that without dipping in and sighing at old memories. This is one of those.

Patrick Kellar is a friend of mine from back in the 80s, although we haven’t spoken a whole lot lately. He’s a newspaper publisher in New Castle, Indiana now, having run newspapers in Valley City and Connersville, Indiana. But in 1987-88, he was my best friend. We worked at the Dan’s in Arrowhead Plaza that summer, he had a cool little Opel GT. He’s one guy who showed me that even a 17 year old kid can put his mind to something, see how it works, and just do it. He was good at auto-mech and bodywork, savvy in politics, well-read… my kinda guy, and probably my youngest role model.

Whoops! See what looking into a box full of memories does to a guy? Back to the story. Pat had been cited for going 45 in a 35 zone on River Road, right at the point of the sign where the speed limits change. As you can imagine, he was quite put out by this. So, we set our minds to seeing how we could get out of it. We found ourselves at the law library in the legal wing of the State Capitol, looking every which way at the ND State Century Code as it pertains to traffic law. We were certain we could find some little snippet to exonerate Pat, or at least allow him to wriggle free of this citation. Nothing doing.

Then the Clerk of County Court handed Pat a Get Out of Jail Free card in the form of his summons. As you can read in the image above, Mr. Patrick Kellar had been summoned to court at 4:30 AM instead of PM! If there’s anything he remembered from the time spent up at the capitol, it’s that there is in fact that elusive snippet of Century Code waiting to be wielded in his favor. As it turns out, he found an entry that allows for a traffic case to be dismissed if the prosecution does not show up. Obviously the City Attorney wasn’t present at 4:30 in the morning; heck, he had to ring the doorbell of the courthouse repeatedly until a jailer came down! But once he did find someone, he had all the ammunition he needed. He got the name of the jailers he talked to and went home to go to bed.

Patrick could best tell the rest of the story in detail, but I do remember the Clerk of Court trying to get him to appear when he called them to request a dismissal. He politely declined, quoted the law and cited his meeting with the representatives of the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department. The case was, in fact, dropped, and once the article you see above hit the wires, he was even getting calls from radio talk shows. He had to decline an on-air interview in some big city because it was time for him to put on his apron and bow tie and get up to Dan’s, bagging groceries. Ah, what a situation.

I don’t know if the law’s been changed; perhaps one of my curious readers will look into it. Of course, it’s only valid for traffic offenses, not criminal ones. If you’re considering trying such an escape from a ticket, just remember: you need a summons with a typo first. Somehow I doubt the Burleigh County Clerk of Court staff will let another one slip through.

I made those arrows

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My friend Lance says that some things are funny simply because they’re repeated often enough. That’s certainly the case in our house with the phrase “I made those arrows.”

I got the idea for this impromptu post because I heard *ahem* from my wife in the living room a couple of times during Kevin’s weather. Being a video guy, I’ve naturally got my editing/graphics machine hooked to my entertainment center in the other room…so I grabbed an example.

The story behind these arrows is that…well, I made them. Whoopee, right? There are actually a few things still airing on KFYR that I made before I left there three years ago. It’s just that I annoy my wife with these. Accuweather had just shown up to install their brand new top-of-the line weather system, the Galileo. KFYR has two of them now, by the way. Anyway, the Accuweather guy was dismayed to find out that wind arrows were missing from among all the graphics in the machine. Kevin and I had already made sure that all the “First Warn” stuff had been made, so I dashed into my office and belted out some quick & simple arrows. The rest is history.

Now that I think of it, the Accuweather guy took the CD with those arrows on it, probably to use for future Galileo installs. Funny, I never saw a royalty check…