Monthly Archives: March 2006

SOLD! Probably because of the video

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If you watch Speed Channel and happened to catch the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction (they covered it for three days), you may have seen one of our local boys selling a car there. Dave Ressler, of Ressler Chevrolet, has bought and sold a number of cars at this show. This year his pride ‘n’ joy is this 1954 Corvette. It sold for $99,000!

The announcers had a good time with this deal because Dave always brings a sportcoat matching the paint color of the car and includes it in the deal. The high bidder gets the coat draped over his shoulders until he’s outbid. In this case the coat only changed hands (shoulders) a couple of times before the auction was completed. But the bidding went higher and higher for three or four minutes!

I was especially interested in this sale, which I caught on TV by accident, because I edited a promotional video for this car late last year. The video was produced to run on a flat panel display next to the car while potential bidders inspected the cars prior to auction. It detailed Dave’s history, his passion for Corvettes, hiscollection, and the work put into this particular car. I don’t know if it had any impact on the auction, but it sure helped show that Dave’s not just some schmuck with a car to sell…he’s a true Corvette enthusiast.

Another amazing hybrid vehicle

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I saw this guy driving his big honkin’ Mercedes SL this morning on my way to work. Amazing. I don’t know if this is the same guy who has the 4×4 Pontiac Firebird, but he’s definitely cut from the same cloth.

Now if I can just get a pic of that mid-80s Cadillac Fleetwood with the 4×4 conversion performed, I’ll have the trifecta!

(I wonder how many hits I’ll get on this Mercedes Hybrid?)

One of many reasons why they’re angry

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Remember the lawsuit between Capital Electric and MDU over who gets that juicy new neighborhood going up on 43rd Avenue? There are a lot of reasons why this area is so hotly contested…and they’re dollars.

This isn’t exactly a new battle. When businesses such as Space Aliens were first built north of Century Avenue, this fight was already started. As I recall, MDU won. After all, they claim, they are supposed to be the ones serving the city. As the city grows, well, that’s where the problems start. Capital Electric doesn’t want to retreat as the city limits advance and claims it should serve this area. Judging by the news reports, they’re ready to fight for it.

This substation north of 1804 might have something to do with it. These things don’t go up cheaply, and it would be nice if Capital Electric could recoup some of those costs by serving a lot of homes in the immediate area.

They already had a substation in this area, but I guess the old one would be too small if it were asked to handle such a load. But we’ll never know, will we? So far MDU has come up the winner when contesting service areas in North Bismarck.

There’s more than one former Bismarck resident at the Iditarod in Anchorage

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The 2007 Iditarod kicked off this weekend with a ceremonial start in Anchorage, Alaska…and a former Bismarck resident is competing. Heather Siirtola is number 59 this year and local media are following the story. My friends Tony and Kris, whose blog is linked on the right panel of your screen (if you’re not reading the syndicated version) moved from Bismarck to Anchorage a while back and are no strangers to the race. Tony told me that local reporting is misleading in that the start from Anchorage is more of a ceremonial one; they restart at Wasilla later on for the full-bore race. But you can’t trust local media to be thorough, can you?

I’m guessing this is pretty darn big news up there in Anchorage. It sure would be a blast to be able to jet up there and follow along, but I’ll leave it to Tony and Kristie to do that for me. You can view their website by clicking on this link or the blog link under “North Dakota Blogs” on the right panel of my blog. By the way…if you’re reading this on a syndicated site, you’re missing out. The pictures are larger on my site, there are no ads, and the end of the text doesn’t get chopped off!

One more thing: Heather Siirtola has a website at Hardcore Huskies dot com, and you can view her Iditarod profile by clicking here.

At risk of seeming redundant…

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I know…how many pictures of the bridge and/or the sunset can a guy post? Well, here’s the deal. I was in the area when I saw this amazing sunset, and knew I didn’t have more than a couple of minutes before it set completely. So, I found the best foreground object I could. Too bad the sun itself had already ducked behind the horizon; it was a magnificent red tonight.

Missouri River Natural Area path – enjoyment for every season

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It didn’t always have this nice fancy sign or benches or interpretive signage, but this trail has been around for a long time. In many ways it’s more scenic than the paved trails that wind around the Bismarck-Mandan area. It’s one of Mandan’s more entertaining features, since it’s got use all year long. Cross country skiers always got the most use out of this trail, until mountain biking took off. Runners use it too; I’ve had many of them pass me while I’m out taking wildlife photos here.

This trail splits into wandering forks in a couple of places, but all lead to the trail head just north of Interstate 94 by the refinery. To get there you need to take I-94 into east Mandan, then hook a quick right by the Bonanza restaurant. Follow the road back and around until you drive under I-94, and hook the first right. There’s the trail head.

The trail has various little offshoots that take you to the banks of the Missouri. There are interpretive signs and lots of wildlife. This particular day I had a beautiful Mallard drift by, but of course I had a short lens on the camera. That old adage about having multiple lenses (that you always have the wrong one on the camera) has held true for me on many occasions.

The other end of the trail is just to the north of the closed-for-now Memorial Bridge. The way to get there is exit the I-94 / Expressway loop by the Raging Rivers park (or Moritz Sport & Marine) and head north along the river. The trail starts on private land, but is signed and people are welcome to use the trail. It ventures over to and under the railroad bridge, the Grant Marsh bridge, and along to river over to the other trail head.

This trail also gets you close to the backwaters along the Missouri, where I’ve recently spotted bald eagles, great blue herons, and lots of other various wildlife species too.

So while there may be snow for the cross country skiers right now, soon this will turn into a nice spot for a spring walk. All summer it’ll be a great mountain biking route, or just a nice place for a jog. If you walk the trail, make sure to bring a camera.

Okay, it’s Thursday night. You know what that means

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I haven’t officially declared Thursday as a weekly “Clint posts a sunset picture night” but it just worked out that way. I was on my way to one of my notorious “will work on your computer or motorcycle for dinner at Applebee’s” runs when I saw this gorgeous sky. So I flew up to the warming hut hill at O’Leary Golf Course and snapped a quick shot on the way.

This sign creeps me out, man.

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I’m sure the girl on this sign, located at 26th and Rosser, is a very nice girl. She’s obviously very pretty. But those lovely blue eyes seem to FOLLOW a guy while driving by! I’m not the only one…in fact, I’ve had a couple of different friends ask if I’ve seen “that spooky sign on 26th.”

Sure, it’s an optical illusion and all that, but it’s still quite freaky. Get on Rosser Avenue on or before 26th Street and head east…you’ll see what I’m talking about.

UPDATE: This sign has been rotated out now. It’s been replaced by a Metro Collision Center ad. The spookiest thing they ever did was forget to replace the emblems after they painted my car.

Those red bows around town…the real story you won’t see on TV

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You may have noticed these red bows along your route as you drive through downtown Bismarck. They’re not left over from the holidays…they’re a gesture by a local girl named Jessica to her fiance, Barry. He gets to see them on his drive to work every morning and know she’s thinking of him. She put them up this year in certain parts of town where she knew he would be driving.

If you watch KFYR-TV news, you may have seen a news story where they interview someone from St. Alexius Medical Center, who says the bows are up because of some sort of heart-related awareness campaign. If that’s the case, then why do they continue down Rosser and go around Medcenter One on 7th Street? Is this some unprecedented gesture of cooperation between competing hospitals? I don’t think so.

I can understand if a local TV reporter gets it wrong…it really happens all the time, especially since the stations rotate so many fresh journalism graduates from out of state. But then for St. A’s to go ahead and say, “sure, that was us” is just plain dishonest. Jessica said she called KFYR-TV to set the record straight, but was brushed off. I guess they already got their story.