Northview Lane in full swing


Yes, that’s right…the neighborhood on the hill that decorates all their trees the same is at it again. This street becomes quite busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas! There was a lot of traffic last night, which we joined as we made our way up and down the street. Of course, we also saw the HILL sign with LEA ghosted onto it and lots of other nice Christmas lights. This was an incidental visit; we haven’t yet taken our annual tour around town to view Christmas lights.

I must suggest, however, that you do NOT go out looking at Christmas lights until you have a copy of this CD in your vehicle. Listening to the Vince Guaraldi Trio play the songs from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” while taking in the lights of the city is the ultimate sentimental Christmas experience.

Put it in your iPod for the Parade of Lights tonight in downtown Bismarck, and keep the CD in your car. It’ll put you in the Christmas mood any time you hear it. Once the snow comes and stays, this is the minidisc I put into the player in my truck, and it doesn’t come out until the snow’s gone. Please go buy this CD: trust me, it’ll bring you Christmas joy on Northview Lane or any other Bismarck-Mandan street this winter.

Imams execute successful Jihad plan in US airport

Recent headlines focused on a group of six Muslim imams who boarded a US Airways flight, moved from their assigned seats to seats covering the exits of the plane, requested seat belt extensions they didn’t need and stowed them under their seats, and loudly chanted to Allah while criticizing America. When they were removed from the plane, they immediately began criticizing everyone in sight for racial profiling. Most stories left out the fact that the passengers on board cheered when these people were removed from the plane. In my opinion, the imams never intended for the plane to leave the terminal.

The warriors of Islam have discovered a far more effective weapon than a sword, an RPG, or a broadcast beheading. It’s the political correct movement of the West, which will prove to be our ultimate undoing. Grabbing our ankles in the name of tolerance and diversity has sealed our fate, which the Muslims understand entirely. This incident aboard the US Air flight was a battle front in a war on the West, and the mission was accomplished. It was a carefully planned operation which was executed perfectly, and is now achieving the desired result. Not every battle of Jihad includes a bomb or a sword.

The Islamofascists know that they need to keep pushing the issue of tolerance in order to get us to drop to our knees, so they simply need to come up with high-profile examples of perceived discrimination. In this case, they get six people to behave like terrorists (covering all plane exits, acting in a way they KNOW will upset the passengers and cause suspicion) and bait the airline into removing them from the plane. Then they march straight to CAIR and other such organizations, which loudly beat the drum of discrimination. They deny all appearance of impropriety and claim that it was racism, profiling, or other such injustice against the poor, victimized Muslim.

You see, we’ve become such a pusillanimous culture when it comes to the possibility of anyone being offended (except Christian white heterosexual males, of course…they’re the oppressors) that we can easily be swayed by the horrendous possibility of someone’s feelings being hurt. What better tool to exploit than our own self-imposed sensitivity? These people know which button to push, and it’s the Big Red Button of Embarassment. What could be more humiliating than being an intolerant, hateful, hostile, abusive, oppresive, bigoted American? Nothing, it seems…thanks to the politically correct movement.

While we’re talking about the “blind march” into our ultimate demise, allow me to redirect to the Pope’s visit to Turkey. Regardless of any political gains this may have for the Vatican, this visit was a mockery. According to news reports, Pope Benedict went to the Sultan Ahmet Mosque and “turned toward Mecca and prayed like Muslims.” Well, wait a minute! The Catholic Church claims “We define that the Holy Apostolic See–and the Roman Pontiff–has primacy over the whole world, and that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles and true Vicar of Christ, head of the whole Church, and father and teacher of all Christians, and that upon him, in blessed Peter, our Lord Jesus Christ conferred the full power of shepherding, ruling and governing the universal Church, as is also stated in the acts of the ecumenical councils and the sacred canons” (DS 1307).”

That’s how far this has come: a man who claims to the the substitute of Jesus Christ himself on Earth (although he’s clearly not) goes out of his way to legitimize a religion which basically places itself at odds with every single doctrinal element of Christianity! Do you think Jesus would have done such a thing? Of course not…he is God manifest in the flesh. So why would a man claiming to be the stand-in for Jesus do it? Because he’s lying, and caught up in the same worldwide blindness with which so many others seem to be afflicted.

Even from an atheist’s point of view, the Pope’s actions don’t make any sense. He’s going into a place of worship for a false god by his own religion’s definition, then legitimizing it by praying alongside one of its leaders. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The muslims chant that there is no god but Allah, who never had a son. They don’t reconcile. It doesn’t make any sense from a logical point of view. If he truly believes in Christianity, which he claims to represent, then he most certainly cannot give credence to religions which are in diametric opposition to his own. Yet he blindly marches into the mosque. By the way, the Muslims still say that’s not enough.

If the West continues to willfully bend to the manipulation of the 21st century Muslim advancement, then we surely are bound for a worldwide muslim caliphate. Such things don’t happen overnight, but they do happen steadily. When you look at everything going on right now, it seems that all signs point to capitulation on the side of the West. It seems even the guy who, however inappropriately, claims to represent Christianity on this planet has fallen into the same dementia that will lead to the Western fate forecast this very minute in the Islamic world. If we continue to let ourselves be handcuffed by the political correctness being exploited by our enemies, the West may fall…eventually, slowly, yet steadily. At least we didn’t offend anybody on the way down.

In the comments, one person asked if I had a link referring to the specific suspicious behavior of the imams. The Washington Times reports: “The passengers and flight crew said the imams prayed loudly before boarding; switched seating assignments to a configuration used by terrorists in previous incidents; asked for seat-belt extensions, which could be used as weapons; and shouted hostile slogans about al Qaeda and the war in Iraq.
Flight attendants said three of the six men, who did not appear to be overweight, asked for the seat-belt extensions, which include heavy metal buckles, and then threw them to the floor under their seats.”

Local artists on display

The Bismarck Art & Galleries Association is holding a Member Artist’s Exhibit until December 22nd. They’ve lined up a building full of items from local artists on a variety of mediums. Yours truly has some photography on display as well. The best part? Everything’s for sale! That means there’s a chance for diaper money; our little boy is due any time.

There’s some really neat work on display down there. Jack Kline has some scratchboard paintings that are absolutely intricate. Tim Bumb has some watercolors that would complement any cowboy home. My friend Ken has some photographs on metallic paper that are absolutely spectacular. Please go check them all out!

I only took up photography a short time ago, and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s now starting to open my eyes to the Bismarck-Mandan art scene as well. I’d never known much, if anything, about BAGA in the past. There are also other shows in the area, and I look forward to exploring more of them! When I do, I’ll pass them along. There are a many such events going on around our fair cities that most people don’t hear about, and I’m going to help spread the word.

Where the sidewalk ends

I guess they needed the room to pour more footings below. This is the end of the road for foot traffic on the south side of the Memorial Bridge. Actually, the south sidewalk is closed on both ends, and there are construction supplies stacked thereon. But if a person was stumbling across that side of the bridge unawares, he’d end up having a really bad day at the end.

There’s actually a pretty good chunk of roadway missing here, too. Anyone who’s crossed the Missouri River here can attest to that. While a row of sturdy concrete barriers prevents anyone from driving off the side, there’s an open slab on the other side of them. Much of the roadway has been cut away, presumably to make room for the work being performed below.

I remember when this bridge had a grated deck. When I was younger, one of the highlights of coming back to North Dakota to visit family was the ride across the bridge deck, looking down to see the river and boaters below. Sadly, that deck was covered by concrete in the 1990s. It was a real trip taking a motorcycle across that grate, as the pattern of the gridwork would cause vehicle tires to “swim” back and forth slightly as they crossed. It was wild.

I also remember crossing this bridge on my BMX bike in the middle of the night, way back when. I was looking out over the river when I came across one of the metal access panels in the sidewalk. It made a nasty *clang* as I rode over it, and it scared me half to death! I seem to remember there being a patch in the sidewalk at one time that was grating as well, but I don’t remember much more specifically about it.

I also remember when there was no Expressway Bridge; in fact, I got my learner’s permit the week that it opened. Prior to that, Memorial Highway saw a lot more traffic from the Memorial Bridge. The Holiday Inn there flourished and was probably the biggest hotel in town at the time. I competed in the state spelling bee there in 1982-1983, and President Reagan even stayed there once. After people began to bypass the Memorial Bridge for the new Expressway, the Holiday Inn began its slow demise. It changed hands a few times before finally being condemned, then razed to make way for the new Bank of North Dakota building. It’ll be interesting to see what the new bank and new bridge do for the area’s development.

As for the title of this post: Where the Sidewalk Ends is a book of funny kids’ poems by Shel Silverstein. When I was younger and lived out in the mountains, my cousin Carolyn would read that book to me every time we’d visit her house. During our last visit with her and her husband before we moved back to North Dakota, she gave me a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends with a nice little note written in the front. I read that book a LOT when we first arrived here in Bismarck. Last summer I dusted it off and read it again, and was able to reminisce with Carolyn about that when we went west on our honeymoon last year. To me it will always be a part of my North Dakota experience; Shel and his poems were there to comfort me when I was a little kid, transplanted (back) to North Dakota and missing my mountain home.

Don’t think North Dakota hasn’t got ’em

We North Dakotans like to think we’re pretty level-headed folks, and for the most part we’re right. Then you get the occasional goofballs like the woefully ignorant ND Peace Coalition, with their affiliations to rabid Communist Party members; Ryan Gustafson and his ilk calling us “the Taliban” because most of us oppose abortion; and this fella, who would probably vanish completely from history if not for some North Dakota bloggers picking up on his story.

This fella, Malachi Ritscher, lit himself on fire on a freeway ramp in Chicago this month in protest of the war in Iraq. Hardly a brilliant political statement, especially because nobody had any idea who he was or what he was doing. If it wasn’t for an online suicide note, it’s doubtful anyone would still have the slightest clue what was going on in this poor guy’s deluded mind.

The scariest thing is that he could very well have been a world-famous assassin, if his self-written obituary was true:

“I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way – at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past.”

North Dakotans have plenty of really scary characters in our midst. Take Cheryl Bergian, for instance. She was the Democrat candidate for Public Service Commissioner, running against Tony Clark. She’s a big-time gay rights activist, most notably known for fighting to have the Ten Commandments removed from public view in Fargo. Did that ever come out during the campaign? No.

Ms. Bergian is one of two employees of the ND Human Rights Coalition, which basically is an atheist homosexual rights group. They also link to groups which oppose the war in Iraq, but once that war is over they can get back to championing sodomy and other sexual immorality while trying to remove God from public view. And this activist almost won a seat on the Public Service Commission! Can you imagine what kind of mayhem she could wreak on those evil utility companies from there?

Whether it’s a hapless would-be assassin or a cleverly disguised activist politician, we’ve got all kinds of folks right here in North Dakota. We just need to be a little more self-aware, lest people like this actually stumble into power and start trying to implement the insanity they fight for when they’re not running for office.


It looks like the Wizards are off to a decent start – the Civic Center was hopping pretty good Saturday night with good attendance. They didn’t look to be in the best of form, but they were able to perform a buzzer-beater win over the Skyforce. With the talent pool they’ve got and Coach Joerger at the helm, I’m sure they’re going to gel quickly.

One secret to the Wizards’s success as a franchise is the way they get local businesses and fans involved in the games. There are plenty of little promos they run during time-outs and quarter breaks to keep the fans entertained. In an area the size of ours, with fans as fickle as ours, that sort of thing is necessary. The Wizards have done very well at it. I’ve got a short memory, but I’d credit Jane Link and Kim Mueller with developing really fun game-day attractions for the fans. The new crew looks to be continuing in the same fashion, so fans shouldn’t be disappointed.

It’s interesting to see how the minor league sports are received here in Bismarck-Mandan. Does anyone remember the Dakota Rattlers? Or the Bismarck Blaze / Roughriders? For some reason they never quite took off. Travel 200 miles east and baseball flourishes, while the basketball flops. But it’s obvious that indoor football doesn’t, and never has, belonged up here in a state where people would much rather enjoy the shorter summers outside.

People really seemed to be enjoying themselves as always at last night’s game, and the numbers usually hang right in there if the team’s season is going well. I spent a lot of time showing cute kids and that kind of thing on the big screen. We don’t have a Kissing Cam promotion this year, so you’re safe! I had made a 30-second animated whizbang to kick off the season, but we actually didn’t have time to run it. That was kind of frustrating since I spent a while animating and remixing music for it, so I’m going to see if we can’t get it going before the starting lineups at the next game. Otherwise I got to be part of the most fun in the place, as our video crew is a group of professionals from around the area that get together and do the Civic Center gigs as a way to hang out and have fun doing what we love.

Actually, the night could have been a real bummer for me: I left the dome lights on in my truck! Fortunately, Lee Timmerman spotted it when he got to the Civic Center. He came and told me and, since I was busy running camera, went out and shut ’em off for me. For some reason my truck’s dome lights (there are many) drain my battery in almost no time.

Don’t forget to check out the Wizards games this year – they’re quite fun. The next home game is Tuesday, December 5th. You can check out their schedule and stats at DakotaWizards.com, which will redirect to their NBA Development League site.

Friday night sunset

With the holiday comes the ability to move around a bit, and of course the trusty camera equipment came with as my wife and I did some geocaching. I was about to take her for a scenic loop around Burnt Creek Loop when I spotted this photo through the tree row. Hunting for photos like this is as fun as hunting for geocaches, and there are no instructions to follow!

For a while there I was doing the Thursday Night Sunset and got a lot of pleasant comments about it when talking to folks. Nowadays there have been so many cool sunsets, I’ve had a hard time confining them to just one day. Then came a really busy stretch with six major videos to be done on a timetable, so I haven’t had much time for photography. I’ve got a bit of a breather here for a few days before my next big deadline, so…here you go!

Been missin’ the mountains lately

During a discussion with some other video graphic professionals, the subject of burnout recently came up. More specifically, how do we deal with burnout? My answers were simple: photography, my new hobby; writing again, which culminated in this blog; and triple-digit speeds while dragging knees on my motorcycles. This is a picture of the third; I fabricated an aluminum mount and bolted a video camera to one of my Kawasaki 750s to go blazing through the Smoky Mountains. Digging up this picture got me thinking how much I miss living in the mountains lately.

I’m a North Dakota native, but as a little kid I grew up deep in the Rocky Mountains. It’s a whole different experience: the schools have ski teams, kids learn forest fire prevention in the classroom, field trips involve hiking and visiting ranger stations. I lived near a proving grounds for Smoke Jumpers, firefighters who literally parachute into the site of forest fires to begin combat. Once you’ve lived in the mountains, they’re part of you for good.

One interesting point of view I got from moving back and forth from the Rockies to the North Dakota plains is that we have some beautiful, wide expanses here. When I lived in Big Sky, for example, I had the face of a mountain about 25 feet from my window. Moving back, I was thrilled to look out over the plains while cruising down I-94. But every time I make my way back west, I get the same thrill as those “purple mountain majesties” poke up above the fruited plain. We’ve got it pretty darn good in both places.

By the way, the video above was taken at Deals Gap, North Carolina. It’s in the Smokies along the TN/NC border and is the most fabulous motorcycle road in the country. It’s 11 miles long and boasts 318 corners! It’s quite a workout. One does not want to fly off the road, either…it’s an unfathomably long way down. Our internet motorcycle racers’ club has annual gatherings there, which I haven’t been able to attend in a while. That’s okay, now I spend my time blazing around North Dakota with my camera gear strapped to my back. It’s pretty inspiring to find all the neat places and scenery here in my own back yard, and report them to you here. That allows me to combine all three of my aforementioned “anti-burnout” activities into one great big one. I hope you enjoy the results.

Guess the statue III

I’ve been working somewhat around the clock lately, so I have had to resort to finding fun photos that cross my path instead of hunting for them. That’s okay, because this one was actually a request of sorts.

I’ve had a couple of posts of statues in the past and have had email requests for other ones around Bismarck. Okay, here you go. Guess where this statue is located? Obviously it’s indoors, but it’s in an area where a person is likely to have passed it at one time or another.

If you’re really good, you’ll know the name of the artist and the title of the statue. You’ll actually be better than me because I think I forgot them. Maybe it’ll come back to me, but it doesn’t matter – it’s your job to guess.

Bridge night

The reason I haven’t been posting a lot of photos lately is simple: I’m too busy working to get out and take any! Nearly every waking moment has been spent editing or animating something, either at work or at home. I see a light at the end of the tunnel simply because the due dates on these projects are looming.

During a taco run for dinner I was able to snap this photo before returning to the office. It’s the bridge used by the trolley to Fort Lincoln. While I’m sure it still sees use by the trolley, I have yet to actually witness this. It’s one of the things my wife and I always say we’re going to do, but never quite get around to it. Hopefully it’ll be running in the spring, because we’d love to take a ride. At that time we’ll need a babysitter!