Monthly Archives: April 2006

Live from ShoBOX

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Friday was a fun day…Showtime was in town (well, New Town) to televise a North Dakota installment of their ShoBOX boxing series. You may have heard it promoted on the radio. I was on the TV crew as a ringside boom mic operator, so I took the day off from my regular job and headed north.

I wouldn’t choose any other line of work; video production is the greatest. LIVE video production is by far the most fun. I’ve been on crews for sports on NBC, CBS, FOX Sports Net, ESPN Sportscenter, Outdoor Life Network, and now Showtime. In the past I took photos of our jobs but didn’t have a blog to post them on! So we’ll start with this show. Here’s a little photo diary of the day.

These are the trucks we used to produce and uplink the show to Showtime. The big one is the rolling production studio, the little one is a separate satellite uplink truck.

This is the production area of the truck where the directors and producers sit, along with the graphics operator. For most of the shows I’ve worked in the past I’m at the graphics position, but I wouldn’t qualify for this show. Besides it’s neat to be in the arena during the telecast too! Note the bag of candy, open can of Dew, and bin of licorice whips. You can NOT do a show like this without a lot of sugar.

This is where all the tapes and replays are done. There are a ton of tape machines and an EVS (commonly called an “Elvis”) which is a hard-disk based replay system. There are multiple operators recording multiple cameras to make sure there are replays to show the viewers. There’s also another similar area to this one where all the cameras are controlled…not the focus and zoom and that kind of thing, but the balance of color balance, iris and other detail settings. That’s what makes a TV show look so good, even the pro cameras need constant tweaking for quality and consistency.

This is a separate area of the truck where the audio operator(s) work. There’s a lot of equipment above that wouldn’t fit into the shot. In addition, there were big mixers like this inside the arena and stuff too. The audio guys show up a day or two before the rest of us because they also take care of all our intercom headsets, hang microphones…it’s very complex.

A couple hundred grand worth of camera here. These cameras take two people to assemble; just the body and lens are a foot high and a foot tall, and a foot or two long. They’re enormous. But that’s how ya get the good pictures from a distance! There were two of these cameras on a platform south of the ring, as you can see.

That’s all I have for now; obviously I was there to work, so I could only take pictures over lunch. The truck is so full of people and so busy while we prepare for the show and during the show that there’s no room for pictures then.

Another cool perk (short for perquisite) is the “swag” as the kids call it. That being the t-shirts and hats and stuff. After all, we’re a Showtime crew. Gotta look like one. So these get added to my collection of shirts and hats with different station and network logos. Cool, huh?

One cool thing about a job like this is that everybody works hard. If you don’t, your phone doesn’t ring the next time the network is in town. It’s easy to get a reputation in any business, and you can’t screw around with a live TV show. The lighting guys take two days to set up, audio almost as long, and the crew that I was on started stringing cables, cameras and monitors nearly twelve hours before the show went on the air.

Everybody enjoys what they do, we’re very well fed with pizza, sandwiches, and enough free Mountain Dew to crystallize a kidney. Plus it’s fun to talk about other shows we’ve worked, swap business cards, talk about North Dakota with guys who’ve never been here before, and just have a good time. At least three times over the 14 hours a guy in charge would come by and say, “stop working, go eat” or “take a break” or “finish your pizza before you do that.” It’s all very professional and everything is well looked after.

Much of this event was staffed with video professionals from North Dakota, guys I’m proud to hang out with every time we do a show. Plus, it’s not every day that we can hang out with friends from Fargo and Grand Forks, so these give us an extra opportunity to visit. The local component of these crews is a great core of guys who I’ve learned valuable lessons from over the years. Having started in broadcasting as a kid in the late 80s, I’m the junior guy on the crew.

I taped the show and was told that I was on the air a few times (how can you not be, sitting ringside?) but I haven’t watched it yet. We didn’t get back to Bismarck until this morning, and I went straight to bed. It’s always fun to come back home and see what the show looks like, because on the crew, often we have no idea. And as long as we’re told “good show!” at the end of the day, that’s good enough for us.

I am “Big Oil” …and so are you

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No, I didn’t drive out to the coast for this. It’s a first – I used someone else’s image (aslo.org) for a variety of reasons. But the picture’s not the point.

I don’t know how many of you look at your 401(k) statements from work, or picked your own funds, or have personal retirement accounts of your own. Maybe you invest in mutual funds outside of retirement plans. I have some 401(k) and independent IRA plans that I manage through work and on my own, and they’re all doing quite well, thank you very much.

I invest in aggressive funds. I’m a young guy. I also made a ton of money on my previous mutual funds through KFYR and cashed them out to buy my house, a motorcycle, and my fancy graphics and video equipment for my home studio. So it’s time to get back to making money fast. Thankfully I pulled my money out right before the big Internet pucker of the late ’90s. Now I’m invested in aggressive funds again.

Where do you suppose those funds go? They all invest in “Big Oil” to some extent. If you’re young, and you follow the investment advice you’re given, they invest heavily in such stocks. Why? Because they stand to make you a lot of money. So when the government starts talking about breaking up the “monopolies” or taxing “unfair profits” you will see it in your bottom line.

That goes for anyone who comes out of college with a skull full of nice little liberal “anti-corporation” ideas. The fact of the matter is that, in this modern economy, everything is linked together. The prosperity of everyone is linked. If you want to be an “anti” and badmouth the corporations that keep this country going and fuel your mutual funds and 401k, you’d better just pull that money back out and live up to what your mouth is spouting.

Then again, if you have a nice union job, you can be like GM workers who basically get a paycheck for life. Then you won’t have to worry about retirement. That little perk means the rest of us pay an extra $1500 for every GM vehicle purchased in order to fund that nonsense. But I digress.

Maybe the fact that I’m used to paying $5-8 a gallon for race fuel for the motorcycle has desensitized me toward gas prices. It’s either that or the fact that I think the cell phone companies are gouging us far worse than the Wannenbergs are. Either way, just remember that oil companies are publicly traded stocks, owned by people like you, me, and Al Gore. So be careful before you slap a bullseye on your own back.

A little bit of Fargo in Bismarck

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Perhaps you’ve seen the Coen brothers’ movie Fargo, which had a really good time making fun of Minnesota accents. Much of the movie was shot in Brainerd and other parts of western Minnesota, and the plot takes place in those cities as well as Minneapolis. Part of it was shot up in Pembina County as well. But one of the final scenes in the movie, where a fleeing William H. Macy is apprehended at a small hotel, takes place in Bismarck:

Scene from “Fargo”

This is the Hi-Way Motel, located east of Bismarck, featured in the movie. If you follow Main Avenue past the intersection with the Bismarck Expressway, you’ll find it down the road a ways, near the intersection with 66th Street. I was told that the scene was actually shot here, although the picture in the movie doesn’t look quite right. Some of the roof lines and tree lines look different, although the movie was released ten years ago. It could have been renovated since then. Here’s how the motel looks now:

The last I heard, this place was purchased by my friend Mary, who I used to work with at KFYR-TV, and has been turned into studio apartments. I keep forgetting to ask her about that. I wonder if they have any visitors stopping in and asking about the movie?

While we’re on the subject of that movie, you may remember the sad story about a Japanese woman who came through this area after seeing the movie. She didn’t speak any English. The police (somehow) spoke to her at the Oasis truck stop, helped her get on a bus eastward, and she apparently got off in Fargo and headed towards Brainerd. Law enforcement found her dead of exposure by the road in western Minnesota somewhere. She’d apparently been looking for the briefcase with $920,000 in it that the bad guys buried in a snowbank next to the road! Apparently she was unaware that 1) it’s only a movie, 2) snow thaws up here, and 3) that scene was shot up in Pembina County. There wasn’t enough snow down here that year.

“Fargo” has been airing on the Bravo network lately, if you’re interested.

Growing pains revisited

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As I’ve mentioned before, I get FOX and ABC network service via satellite, so I get the NY and LA feeds. This is nice for when I miss an episode of 24 or Boston Legal because I can catch them again 3 hours later on the west coast feed. It’s also enlightening because I get to see local newscasts from these two affiliates.

Last night’s big news at 9 (FOX affiliates hit their news one hour earlier than the other networks) was of a 13 year old girl who had been abducted literally as she stepped off the school bus in front of her home. Three people dressed in baggy clothes stuffed her into a car trunk and abducted her.

An Amber Alert was issued for the car and someone did spot it parked somewhere. Authorities swooped in and rescued the girl, still in the trunk of the car. The three suspects fled on foot and were not apprehended. The Amber Alert was a success but the fact remains that this is a pretty shocking daylight abduction story. Authorities are checking the girl’s computer to see if they can turn up any leads.

We like to cling to the idea that we live in a safe and happy town. We do, for the most part…but let’s not forget that we have had TWO fifteen year old girls raped in the past month under rather public circumstances. As our town grows, so does the possibility for crime and violence.

We’re growing by leaps and bounds. That has to be both exciting and scary for a community. Any time you have a rapid influx of people from parts unknown, you have to assume that many of them will be bringing their problems with them. We’re about to see for ourselves how that will shake out. Bismarck’s always been the “biggest small town in America” in many respects… but how will that change with the introduction of a population explosion?

One thing that really irks me, especially in light of that New York case, is the way the young girls in this town dress. That’s one of the prime reasons I don’t go to the mall…I don’t want to have to (not) look at that sort of thing! I’ve gone shopping with my wife, so I know how difficult it is to find conservative clothing for girls these days. But it can be done. All it takes is a parent who’s willing to take a stand.

Some friends were accompanying us to the fabulous Peacock Alley brunch buffet one Sunday after church. Ahead of us was a family of five who had apparently also just left church, judging by their clothing. That is, except for the daughter of the family, a girl of perhaps 10 to 12 years old. She was still at that age where they’re all knees and elbows, starting to get taller but skinny like a stick figure. This girl was wearing a skirt so short we could see her panties stick out the bottom as she walked down the sidewalk. No tight, revealing shirt, no bare midriff, but what in the world was going on there? It was all I could do during brunch to NOT go over and ask her parents where their heads were when they let their little girl leave the house dressed in that way. Especially to church!

I don’t care if youre 13 or 43… a pretty girl dressed provocatively does something to a guy’s eyes. And that’s all the fashion these days. Kids have bare midriffs, something that was strictly forbidden in the Mandan Junior High School and High School student handbooks when I was in school, bras that accentuate their figures, and clothing that seems to paint itself on in the mornings. Add to that the fact that our culture is saturated with the sexification of kids these days, and it’s no wonder there are problems with teachers, strangers, and Internet sickos preying on our kids.

Heck, it’s a battle for anyone not to look. A guy has to be vigilant. That’s who we are, we’re lookers. And everything in print or on TV or the computer tells us that teenage girls are hot. Even if you do your best to ignore that indoctrination, we’re swimming in a culture and an atmosphere where sex permeates everything. It’s a struggle. And let’s not forget, the Bible says that if a man even LOOKS at a woman/girl to lust after her, he’s commited adultery (Matthew 5:28). It gets tiring having to shield your eyes constantly when all you want to do is go biking on the path or walk through Kirkwood Mall.

So…here we go, Bismarck-Mandan. We’re going to be bringing in all kinds of population to staff these fancy new businesses we’ve tried so hard to attract. Not all of them will be nice people; that’s a fact of life. So let’s be vigilant and not let crime get a foothold in our fair city. And let’s start dressing our little girls appropriately so they’re not tempting the wrong kind of people to do the wrong kind of thing to them. Do you have the conviction to stand up for this?

Holiday at the HoDo

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Last week I was able to treat my wife to a birthday vacation at the Hotel Donaldon in downtown Fargo. For those of you who are not aware of this place, it’s definitely a must-see!

The hotel was originally built in the late 1800s and served as the lodge for the International Order of Odd Fellows. It was purchased in 2000 by Karen Burgum and renovated with outstanding style. If the name Burgum is familiar to you, Karen was married to Doug Burgum, the Great Plains Software (and now Microsoft) guy.

The entire building is decorated with work from North Dakota artists. There’s a lounge and a fancy restaurant downstairs, and the hotel begins on the second floor. From the entry to the halls to each individual room are works of art ranging from sculpture to photography to paintings to pottery…well, you get the picture. When you check into your room there’s a metal picture frame that opens into a book describing all the artwork and artists featured in the building, their bios, and where their work may be found. There are CDs on the nightstand next to the bed and the Bose music system, and if you like any of the artists you hear, you may keep the CDs for a $15 charge. This could save some legwork, considering some of the artists aren’t exactly someone whose work you’ll find at Sam Goody.

This is the Oddfellows Reading Room, a commons area on the third floor, which has music piped in 24/7 and a small library of local-interest books featuring North Dakota and its people. It overlooks the street through the archway seen here. There’s a similar room on the second floor where the front desk is located and breakfast and wine/cheese are served.

Every room here is different. We chose room 17 because we had been told how cool it is…and we were not disappointed! This room consists of three levels. On the first level is the bar, the sofa, and the first flat screen TV. On the next level is the jacuzzi tub (more on that in a moment) and the bathroom with heated tile floor. On the third level is the king-size feather bed, closet, music system, and the second flat screen TV.

The tub is the hook for this room. Not only is it large and deep, but it fills from the ceiling! That’s not all that make it special. It’s like having one big square tub sitting in another big square tub. Once the tub overflows, the outer one fills up, and that’s where the jacuzzi jets are fed from. So once you get this thing full and up & running, you’re sitting in an overflowing fountain for the duration of your bath. Talk about cool! And the pad it’s on is like a pool deck surface, perfect for your wife to put romantic candles on.

We didn’t take their pictures, but the staff of the Hotel Donaldson are the greatest. We toured this hotel when seeking a honeymoon destination last year, and they were very kind, accomodating, and professional. Now that we’ve stayed here as actual paying guests, we can attest that their professionalism is an everyday part of staying at the Hotel Donaldson. I’m sure it must be cool to work in such a place, because all the staff we met seemed very happy to be there and were very conversational.

Our room was so cool we didn’t even have a chance to go out and spend time in the hot tub on the roof, the workout room, or the dining downstairs. Maybe next time!

We had a great time at the Hotel Donaldson. I’d recommend it to anyone. The prices are what you’d expect for such a fancy place but not out of line; our room cost about $220 per night once you figure in the taxes and stuff. But my wife is worth it, and it’s her birthday! If you’re looking for something special to do for your sweetie, you may consider taking her to Fargo for a day or two. I’d suggest Suite #17!

You can find out more about the Hotel Donaldson on their website or by paying them a visit the next time you’re in Fargo

Appropriate metaphor – the DSU “Hawk Rock”

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Dickinson State University announced this week that they’re placing the “Hawk Rock,” a 5-ton boulder from the Medora area, near Klinefelter Hall in an effort to boost school spirit. Students are encouraged to write on the rock as long as nothing negative is written (what are the odds of that?) to promote unity and pride among Blue Hawks.
Hopefully this will help boost spirits after the college requested a 9.5% tuition hike. After all, what would make a better metaphor for burdensome student loan debt than a 5-ton rock? Perhaps we could place it squarely between the shoulder blades of a hunched-over concrete figure, and call the whole works “North Dakota University Student.” It’s the perfect mascot for the student borrower.

They’ve had this rock since 2003, which means that it’s unlikely the tuition increase will go to fund this nonsense. Although that’s likely the product of the last tuition increase, and there will be many more increases requested after this one.

DSU seems to be looking for a tradition according to the Dickinson Press article on this thing. One thing I didn’t know is that their original team name was the Savages. Okay, now that is a nickname worthy of change to avoid disrespect for the indigenous peoples of our area. But Fighting Sioux, on the other hand, is a name meant to give honor and prestige to those peoples. But I digress.

I haven’t been to Dickinson lately, although I have lots of family there, so I can’t provide a photo of the Hawk Rock. If I get the opportunity to take one, however, I’ll add my contribution to the messages written thereon: “9.5%.”

PS: NDSU, if you’re watching this, please use your 9.5% increase for English language lessons for your faculty. As a former NDSU student, I’d gladly have paid extra for that. Not that we should have to.

Pride and Pac-Man

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Spring Clean-Up Week is here, and you know what that means. Yes, Bismarck citizens will set their pride aside and go scavenging in droves! It’s like a city-wide rummage sale without the little masking-tape price tags, and for some reason hundreds of people find it impossible to resist. Running around town sorting through other people’s junk is apparently beneath nobody this week.

Normally I wouldn’t have anything to do with this sort of thing. It may or may not be snobbery to think it’s improper to go through other people’s trash, but it’s not something I’d like to be caught doing. I also have way too much junk of my own already. Besides, unless it’s something really cool like a motorcycle, remote control monster truck or box of Craftsman tools, I’m really not interested in it. That is, until a couple of years ago, when even I couldn’t resist:

Yes, that’s a Pac Man arcade game. The original. Serial number in the low four digits. I had just finished helping our pastor’s family move into a new house and took a residential street I rarely take when I saw this beauty on the boulevard.

Honestly, I passed on it at first. But I used to have a Tron machine in the “Garage Mahal” or “Workshop of Doom™” as my garage is called. When the video board went bad on it we gutted it for parts and made a few hundred dollars on eBay. That made me wonder if I could do the same with this machine, so I researched the going price on Pac Man parts online over dinner and figured what the heck.

I asked the owner of this machine before doing anything. She said the machine didn’t work and that it was being thrown away. I asked her permission to take it, which she gave. I brought it home and plugged it in to diagnose the problem before listing the parts online and…it worked!

We played lots of Pac Man for the next few years, but the video monitor on this machine finally gave up the ghost (pun intended) and I have since parted it out. As per my original plan, I have the boardset all wrapped up in anti-static wrap and am preparing to sell the boardset, the controller, the glass bezels and power supply online. But since my wife and I like to play Pac Man so much, preferably Ms. Pac Man, all proceeds from this sale will go toward the purchase of an arcade Ms. Pac Man machine sometime in the near future.

Let that be a lesson: no matter how hard you resist, you’re likely to stumble upon something during Spring Clean-Up Week that tries to hook you in. It *can* happen to you!

In that resurrection morning

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If you live in Bismarck-Mandan, you are very statistically likely to attend church at least semi-regularly. Even if your attendance is spotty at best, today’s likely one of the days you do attend. But how many people, churchgoing and otherwise, realize the importance of this day?

Just like anything you possess, your soul has an owner’s manual: the Bible. If you haven’t read the owner’s manual, you don’t know how to fulfill God’s plan in you. And that plan was made ready on Easter:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Romans 15:4-5)

In the Old Testament, the Jews were commanded to sacrifice a lamb “without spot” to cover their sins. By shedding that blood they were able to repair their broken fellowship with God. In that same way, Jesus, the only man without sin, sacrificed himself for our sakes for the remission of our sins.

I grew up Catholic. We were taught that we had to jump through all kinds of hoops, performing sacraments and that sort of thing, and could not know how to get to Heaven. Yet the theme of the entire Bible is that God gives us a way to return to him, repenting of our sins and confessing our belief in the sacrifice he made for us. That’s not just a few verses plucked out here and there to suit the message Christians want to hear. It is everywhere, in the Old and New Testaments.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, ye rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (I Timothy 2:5-6)

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:45-47)

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Corinthians 15: 1-5,21-22)

People everywhere are trying to earn their way to heaven and work their way there. We are unable to do this. The Bible says that there are “none righteous, no, not one.” We’re all sinners. And there is one way to true life: repentance and faith in Jesus.

What did Paul, the apostle to the non-Jews, write to the church in Rome?

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:8-13)

That’s it. That’s how you are redeemed and have a new heart, a new life, and eternal life that no one can take from you. If you’re going to church and don’t believe the above, you might as well not go at all. Because if you pick and choose the parts of Christianity you want to believe, then you might as well throw the whole thing out. That’s not for you to choose.

So if you want the truth, pick up the King James Bible and read it. All of it. You’ll be surprised at the continuity of it and the things that you never knew were in there (and the things that are NOT in there!). If you don’t put your faith in the Bible, you have no reason to be part of a church that claims to profess Jesus, regardless of its denomination.

The Bible is very clear: to be a Christian means to believe by faith that you are a sinner and that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and that he died on the cross for your sins, and he rose again to fulfill the prophecies of the Bible. You must repent (turn away from and seek forgiveness for) your sinful nature, no matter how minor any sins may be. And ask God to apply that price that Jesus paid on your behalf. That’s it! The Bible is about faith and personal trust in God from the beginning all the way to the end.

Do the research. Find out for yourself what God’s word really means, don’t just take it for granted by hearsay or tradition. And trust in Christ this Easter day, and it truly will be a resurrection morning!

Tuesday night sunset

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My wife and I sat on the tailgate of the truck last night waiting for a really spectacular sunset. It didn’t really look like one would appear so we off-roaded our way back to civilization and proceeded to head down River Road. Once we got near the Grant Marsh Bridge, though, we changed our minds.

This is the view from the riverboat’s dock platform last night. There were other people stopping in with their cameras as well. This is one particular spot that allows a person to get a really nice sunset picture without having it dominated by the refinery. Judging by the people coming in and out of Merriwether’s last night, we’re not the only ones privy to this secret!

Thursday night auroras

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I was about to post about the fabulous time my wife and I had at the HoDo this week, but then my phone rang with the news that our upper atmosphere was flaring up. I grabbed the camera and bolted north of town, and that’s where I snapped this shot, among many others.

The auroras were dancing like crazy, albeit briefly. They were so active that the full moon lighting the sky didn’t even matter! Normally with a full moon I wouldn’t even bother to go hunting for Northern Lights, but tonight the moon had competition. I got plenty of photos but so far this one is my favorite. It’s way too late (early?) to sort through them all.

So if you want to watch for the Northern Lights, you might want to do so in the next few nights. For some aurora watching resources, click on the Northern Lights link on the right hand panel. Enjoy!