Best Winter Ever!

I've been holding off for a while and I hope I don't jinx this ... but this has been the best winter EVER for this region and I am now starting my 4th decade of winters here, so I've got a little personal data to base this declaration on...

First, we'll talk cold.  Usually, at least once a winter, typically in January and February, there will be a stretch of just brutal, brutal cold.  I'm talking the temperatures don't get above 0 degrees (Fahrenheit) at all for days at a time.  There was one winter where essentially the entire month of January the temperature was below zero...day and night.  And with the cold temps, it usually is accompanied by a steady, stiff breeze...really adding some bite to the cold temps.  Wind chills are sometimes 20, 30 below for an entire day.

So far this winter, there has been, I think, a total of 3 days where the temperature has been below zero...and 2 out of those 3 days the temp got above zero by mid afternoon.  In fact, right now, the temperature is in the low 30's (which is very nice for this time of year) and the forecast for the foreseeable future is roughly the same type of weather.  Oh, and it is sunny and calm.  And that's what it has been, essentially all winter this season...

Next, we'll talk snow fall.  Since I've moved into my house, which has been well over 10 years now, I know we have had a fairly significant snow fall.  I know most winters I would have to snowblow my walks and drive ways at least once a week, if not more.  Last year, we had tremendous blizzards over the Christmas and New Year's holiday...both of which dumped a lot of snow and shut the town down.

This year we haven't had anything that even resembles a blizzard and we've had a couple of days with some significant snowfall, but for the most part, we have been mostly snow free.  In fact, the snow that is on the ground right now was dropped about a month ago and with the mild temps of this week, we might be completely snow free before February is done.

February might be just a hair early to call this the best winter ever because there is still the chance that we could get some blizzards or even sink into a cold snap.  March and April are both months where the weather is a virtual grab bag.  But the truth is, no matter how bad winter gets from this point, we've likely passed what has typically been the more brutal parts of winter and it has been great!

State of North Dakota Fighting For Fighting Sioux Update

It what seems like it has become a yearly event, it has been almost a year but here we are again, at the verge of the State Of North Dakota taking the NCAA to court over the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname that the University of North Dakota uses.

So, in case you've missed it, here's what's happened since my last post...

The bill passed the ND legislature and was made law, then lawmakers met up with the NCAA to see if they could hash out some sort of deal...no deal was struck and the lawmakers came back and basically withdrew the law and took it off the books...but now, people from the state collected enough signatures to put the whole issue to a state wide vote which will happen in June.  If that measure passes, upholding the law that says the State of North Dakota will sue the NCAA if it tries to sanction or ban the university, then buckle up, because it's go time.

I think the NCAA would be foolish to go to court and have all its hypocrisy revealed.  And how much money does the NCAA want to waste on this endeavor in the first place?  I think they better take notice of the resolve the people of North Dakota have towards keeping the name and if they are willing to do all this to keep this nickname, the NCAA better have just as much of a desire to eliminate it, or else it will be no contest.

Of course this all comes down to a vote in June... I give the measure a 50/50 chance ... I know I will be voting to keep the nickname and I will be hoping for a court showdown...

May 1994-May 1995 Greatest Year ... Ever?

I'm getting old...too old.  A "game" I have played with myself for pretty much all of my life is I try to reflect back to what I may have been doing at this time 10, 20, 30 years ago ... sometimes bad/sad memories are recalled, other times they might be happier memories and other times it may just be recalling "my life" at the time.  As I've played this game for most of my life I also try to somewhat "rate" my time...were the times generally good or were they generally bad for whatever reasons.  And through that process, I have determined that I think I was the happiest, most enjoyable time to be alive was a period from 1994-1995 ... when I was 24 and then turned 25.

I often look back at my "times" in the early 90's ... this is a period of time where I graduated from college and didn't have a job in my field.  I was either working a crappy retail job or sold and delivered auto parts.  I look back and wonder how I was so much more happy and enjoyed life so much more when I had a crappy job I didn't care about, didn't make any money and had no money.  But it is like most things in life ... the more things suck the more a person can make it better. 

So what made that time so enjoyable?  Well let's look at some factors:

1. The Workplace: Even though my job, at the time in 1994-95, wasn't nearly as prominent as several I have had since and the pay was pretty low I was friends with all my coworkers.  It was common for all of us to go out for drinks after work, I remember chipping in to buy pay-per-view boxing fights and watching them at a coworkers house with all the other coworkers.  Our company picnics were simple affairs but always fun. 

Now, I have an office and can almost dictate my own work hours.  My pay is easily 100% more than what I once made.  My job is noteworthy and many people are impressed.  I haven't attended a Christmas party in 8 years and haven't had drinks or attended a work social event in about the same.  There are "cliques" where I work now, just like high school, and since I've been relegated to the "loser" clique because I like loud rock music, I'm not invited to any social events...not that I'm disappointed because it would be extremely awkward if I ever did show up.

2. The Home: In 1994-95 I was living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 of my friends and it was a blast.  Most every work day was the same routine: I would get up, usually hungover, and get to work by 8:00 AM, get off work at 5:30 PM.  I would usually eat something but it certainly wouldn't be any elaborate meal ... PB&J and soup was a common supper meal for me.  Depending on the time of the year, go for a mountain bike ride, fishing or whatever would/could take place after supper.  Then at about 10:30 our room mate that worked at a movie theater would get home from work and would coax at least me into going out drinking for most of the rest of the night...did I mention I would be hung over most every morning?

Now, I live in a house with a wife and two children.  My wife is currently going to school to become a nurse and because of that works nights and weekends...so I am the main parent in the house with my kids on most days.  So now, when I get home, I am usually greeted with the words "Dad, what's for supper?" before I can get my shoes off.  Then after picking up the house of the litter that the kids have generated from being home for 2 hours unattended, emptying the dishwasher and making a full meal for the family which I then get to clean up with no assistance from the kids all the time being hounded to "hurry up" so that I can drive one the children to their friends house 20 minutes away before I can come home and sit down for 5 minutes before I have to drive 20 minutes to pick my child up from their friends house.  I "go out" maybe once a month if I am lucky.  Money is still tight so eating out is a rarity at this time.

3. Friends/Friendships: In '94-95 I had numerous "pals".  On most any Friday or Saturday night there would be a good 5-10 of us just hanging out.  We loved to play cards, drink, go to concerts, drink, mountain bike, drink, etc... In 1994, me and 3 others drove a "white trash" van to the Sturgis Bike rally ... drank and had a blast.  We could walk into our "regular" bar and likely meet up with someone we knew and a festive time would be had by all.  Not to mention I lived with probably my 2 best friends at the time.  We all three got along pretty well so living together wasn't a problem at all.

Now, I would say that I have about 3 friends that I associate with.  This, like many of the other factors, is simply because of the family.  I don't get out as much and much of my time is simply tending to family needs.  A card game that was started has ended years ago and my friends (and me as well) work on many weekends so right now getting together with any of them is asking for stars to align ... and occasionally they do, typically for a show of some sort.  And don't get me wrong, I think I still have lots of "friends" its just that I don't get the chance to talk or do much with them anymore.

It is this process that reminds me of Kevin Spacey in the movie American Beauty.  I often do yearn to quit my job and return to a meager existence.  As I have mentioned a couple times in this piece, at almost every stage of my life I have always been essentially broke...so what's the difference of what profession I do have when my net gain is exactly the same...nothing. At least back then I seemed to be enjoying life, whereas today it seems more like a chore.

CableOne Sucks, How To Get ESPN3 In Fargo

There is a huge dilemma for many "locals" of Fargo, ND.  The NDSU Bison are in the FCS championships, which is great.  The problem is that, apparently, many people in Fargo, ND aren't too smart and continue to have CableOne and, thus, don't get to watch the game.  The game is on ESPN3.com, which a person can view FOR FREE over the internet as long as you don't have CableOne as your cable/internet provider

First, I must lecture all those that are coming here to figure out how to get the game in Fargo because you are foolish enough to have CableOne. Sure, there may be some of you that are renting some place that is forcing you to have CableOne and/or restricting you from getting DirecTV ...but you knew that when you moved in, so again, most of the blame goes to you.  For, you see, if you are a fan of sports...any sport...you can not have CableOne for your television or internet provider.  They are very anti-sport.  They don't carry all the Twins, Wolves or Wild games and people complain...but keep their service.  Anyone that remains with CableOne deserves what they get.  Horrible service and limited options.

If you have CenturyLink (formely Quest), I have had zero problems watching the previous NDSU games on ESPN3.com.  I will try and verify other non-CableOne internet providers in the area that a person can get ESPN3.com on.  When I streamed the game, I even used my wife's laptop with HDMI out and hooked it into my HD television and sound to my stereo reciever and the picture/sound was excellent.  No lag, and the picture was in nice HD quality...streaming wirelessly.

Another option that I have used, is to use my smartphone through Verizon, to navigate to ESPN3.com.  If you have Verizon and a decent smartphone, you can either a) tether your phone to a laptop and get the game streamed directly to the laptop or b) if your phone has video outputs (mine has hdmi out) you can hook your phone directly into your HD television and watch the game from your phone.  In both this cases, you will likely want to make sure your phone is charging or hooked up to a charger.  Also, if you are not on an unlimited or big data plan, you will want to monitor your usage as to not go over your data.

But the lesson everyone should take from this is that CableOne sucks.

Coming Soon To A Court Near You: State Of North Dakota vs NCAA

It happened...the North Dakota Senate passed a resolution that now will become law that the University of North Dakota has to use the nickname "Fighting Sioux" and it is illegal to change it and if the NCAA has a problem with it, then the state will sue the NCAA.

Unfrickinbeliavable is all I got to say.

The debate over this nickname will never end...at least not in my lifetime...

North Dakota Class B Boys Basketball - Ain't That Special

For most of my adult life I have been in a profession that usually has had some relationship with news, weather and/or sports in the upper Midwest.  Add to that fact that I have lived in the barren wasteland for my entire life (40+ years).  There has always been one annual occurrence in this state that was once hyped as the greatest sporting event in the state, rivaling the once annual UND-NDSU football game (which is no more).  It was the North Dakota State High School Class B Boy's Basketball tournament.

Yes, at one time the Class B Boy's bb tourney was a fun little tournament ... and not because you would get to see some up and coming basketball stars, but because it was full of dreams, Cinderella stories and an entire town's pride.  You see, prior to the mid-1980's the class b tourney was made up of small towns that dotted North Dakota.  Braddock, Linton, Beach, Belcourt, Rugby, Wilton, etc. and these schools would have a basketball team that often times wouldn't be more then 6 or 7 boys.  These small schools, especially during tournament time, all seemed to be equal and every game was a thriller, coming down to the last second.  The tournament site would be packed for every game, from 5th place to first place and why?  Because the entire town that these schools were from would come to watch their school play and when I say I mean the entire town, I mean the entire town would close, pack up and go to the tournament site.  It was once a boon for whatever city would host the Class B tournament ... not so much so anymore.  When living in Bismarck, a popular Class B site, in the early '80's the city would be crawling with people from these small towns and with the basketball site within a block of the largest shopping center in the town, the Class B folks were in heaven and the stores were loving it as well.

But it was about the late 80's, as I was going through high school, that the "luster" of the Class B that was incessantly preached to me was beginning to wear on me.  I began to tire of local sports fans that would, with great bravado, declare that the ND Class B Boys tournament is WAAAAAAYYYYY better than the Class A Boys or any other ND high school tournament in general.  It was far superior to any other high school event in this state.  I began to make note of their declarations and am ready to say that the Class B Boys tournament is no better and no worse than the Class A tournament or any other tournament for that matter.  Yes, at one time the ND Class B was probably the premiere high school event in the state but that is so far from the truth today.

First, I began to notice that the Class B boys bb games were pretty boring and very sloppy...certainly not these exciting nail-biters that once happened on a regular occurrence in the past.  It was also during this time that schools begin to combine to save money.  No longer is there just one small community school but a multi-community school, some schools made up of 5 or more smaller towns.  This essentially striped each school of its own identity.  So now none of the residents go to the tournament unless they have a friend or family member on the team.

And now we fast forward to the 21st century.  North Dakota high schools have gone through a myriad of reclassifying schools and changes still continue to be talked about so change is likely to continue...but what has happened is many of the "smaller schools" in the largest cites that are classified as a Class B school now dominate the scene.  Schools that once were Class A schools in larger cities as well as private schools in the larger cities are now all dominate in the basketball tournament... teams from Fargo, Minot, Bismarck, Dickinson and so on, make up much of the bracket these days.

You factor in both those elements, the multicommunity school and the large city schools that have had a strong presence in Class B basketball and you will be able to see why the Class B Boys BB Tournament is no longer the jewel of ND High School Sports, but what frustrates me the most is that many people and media outlets still try and present the Class B Boys tourney as if it were and the Class B hasn't been relevant in probably 20+ years and those that continue to trumpet its awesomeness are nothing more than morons that don't know any better.

It Costs To Golf

I'm in the worst shape of my life.  I admit it and am fully aware of it.  I am almost embarrassed at how out of shape I am these days.  When I was younger I was a very active person... I would regularly play basketball, football, tennis and go mountain biking.  Now, for the past 5-10 years, essentially since I had children, I have been nothing but a slug.  I may go biking once or twice a summer and living in Fargo, it is usually a leisurely ride because it is so flat.  A few years ago a friend of mine and I made an effort to play tennis once a week and we did for an entire summer...hot or cold.  But the following summer we played a couple of times and then gave it up ... he moved to the other end of town and trying to find a place and a time we could meet up to play was becoming difficult.

And here's the deal...I would love to get back into shape but I have never been a guy that likes to just exercise...sure, I did run cross-country and track, but now-a-days running just doesn't appeal to me anymore.  And I really don't want to get into shape, per se, but I just want to get off my ass and do something.  I am a fairly tightly wound person and any activity at all would be good.  So that's where the first hurdle that presented itself in my quest to do "something".  I wanted to find an activity I could do that I would enjoy, give me some exercise and that winning and losing really didn't matter...just getting out and having some fun would be the priority. 

After some thought, I came up with the notion to start playing golf...again.  I use to play golf when I was young and the last "official" round of golf I had, I played even par on the local 9-hole course...that was in 1988.  So I wasn't too bad, but I played that course every day of every summer for a decade.  After that summer the course was being upgraded to a 18 hole course, the greens fees more than tripled and my parents no longer could afford for us to golf there and thus ended my golfing career...at that time.  So I thought to myself, why not get back into golf?  It is a leisurely sport and I have several friends that play...none of which claim to be an ace at.  So I have started to begin my quest to get back into golfing...and am finding out how much money I am going to have to spend just to play again and was a bit shocked at the fees...

There are plenty of golf courses in the region, so I am sure I will hit up the 'low-rent" courses, but I was stunned to see the green fees for some of these courses... $30+ to play a round of golf?  Holy cow!  Even $15+ to play on the nine-hole courses, to me, seem fairly expensive.  So I still want to start golfing, but my major concern is how much money is this going to cost me?  I've already determined to spend about $200-300 on clubs - which certainly won't be a set of clubs with any speciality...and figure about another $100 on other needed accessories to start out with...balls, tees, etc.  If I am going to spend all that money on equipment, I certainly don't want to see that stuff collecting dust...hell, living in the barren wasteland that I do, I will be lucky to golf 5 months out of the year the way it is and half of the days in those 5 months will suck...be too windy, too hot, too cold, rainy, etc...

I'm also leary as to whether or not I will enjoy the game like I once did.  When I previously golfed on a regular basis I was a teenager with minimal responsibilities.  I would golf twice a day in the summer just because I would have nothing better to do.  Also, back then  it was a simpler time...people weren't dicks like they are today.  I can already foresee myself getting into some disagreement with someone because I wouldn't be playing "properly" for them.  But I am hoping that if I play the "poor" courses the people there are more forgiving.

So there's my objective...I am a procrastinator and have gotten into mode of laziness...I know just buying the equipment won't be enough to start playing but I hope to take that first step soon...

Roger Maris Billboards

2 of these billboards are up in Fargo, ND ... Anyone that wants to come to this town and defend the steroid users is going to have a tough crowd ...

We's don't like cheaters around these parts....

16 Degrees Is Warm!

Here in the barren wasteland we were hit by a Christmas blizzard that dumped close to 20 inches of snow and almost immediately after it stopped snowing it got cold ... temperatures were at or below zero for much of the week prior but the cold has snapped... it is currently 16 degrees above zero and because it is January, that is like summertime for us! In October and November if we hear of a high temperature of 16 we shudder from the thought of that cold temperature but in January and February, now hardened and use to sub-zero temps, 16 degrees means a light jacket might be all one needs to keep warm on such a mild day....

Young, Inexperienced and Pampered

A trend that has been going on in this town, as well as for most of the "cities" in the barren wasteland, is that the news coverage is no longer being carried out be people that have had, virtually, a lifetime of experience doing so. Instead the 'news' of the region is brought to you buy people that are fresh out of school, and I say school because a college degree is no longer relevant in journalism today. And no offense to those folks that are trying their best but one thing that I have noticed of late is that the stories that are being reported on are often lacking much substance, factually incomplete and more times than not, bias to some degree. There is no longer any care towards fairness and accuracy it is all about just filling space now...quality is totally inconsequential.

Which then had me tie in another thought that I had...as I put my coat, boots and gloves on to go outside and snowblow the most recent 7 inches of snow we got, I commented to my daughter that if she wanted to be nice she could go out and shovel the front walk and steps ... it wouldn't take her more than 10 minutes, but both her and I knew that she wasn't going to do that... in fact, my daughter (as well as my son) have never had to do much of anything in terms of 'work around the house.' But they are not alone, I see that is the case for many of the kids these days and I imagine it likely has been this way for a little while. So what's my point? After I was done, I merely commented to my daughter that she doesn't have much more time before she will have to move out and be on her own and who is going to shovel her walk then? Who is going to do her laundry? Who is going to cook for her? Who is going to clean for her? And almost like a bell went off in her head, I could see a terror stricken look on her face that she may have just realized something...and to tell you the truth it was probably the realization that she is never leaving home because the service she gets there is fantastic...what a silly notion for me to ask who would be doing these chores...but it was probably the realization that she will have to stay and live at home because she has literally not done anything in her entire life...which is the case of many of these kids these days...

They grow up in a sheltered environment, coddled and pandered too their entire life and then they are set free in the real world...what would you expect? They lack common sense and ambition. Anything cold, cruel or mean is covered up and ignored. Basic social skills aren't even understood because their socialization has been via instant and text messaging where mean and callous words are thrown around routinely at and about others.

And I can just see that my daughter's "lifestyle" is just an evolution of those that are beginning to take positions in the media world today. Last month I posted about the top albums of the decade essentially picking only albums from one style of music - lazy writing and reporting...that writer likely didn't even have to leave his house to obtain and listen to music and, yet, they were still too lazy to even listen to any other kind of music then what they already enjoy. The kids today are even more uninformed than ever and don't mind it one bit. They would rather be lazy and wrong then have to do anything to find out what is right...

I'm not sure how many jobs there are going to be in the future where you just sit on Facebook and YouTube all day long, but that seems to be the most touted skill from kids these days...

Winter Has Arrived

We held out as long as we could but it was inevitable...winter has come to the region...

Temps are still mild, above 10 degrees, but it is windy and cold. There have been light flurries to light snow since last night and continue today...so by all appearances, winter is here...

Oh well ... hopefully it doesn't suck too bad....

All Is Mild

The weather here in the barren wasteland is very rarely 'pleasant' and after a weekend of cold temperatures and even a couple of inches of snow in early October I, for one, was thinking that this winter was going to be a long, cold, hard winter...but that cold spell didn't linger long around here...instead, much of October was a mild, rainy month (better than snow!) and for the past 2, 3 weeks, the temperatures have been very ...dare I say it... pleasant around here... highs reaching into the 50's, no wind and usually a very sunny sky.

Any time you get nice days in November thru February you take them! What has always made winter time so suckish around here is that there is little doubt that January and February will be cold months ... so if any other 'winter' months (ie: November, December, March) happen to be cold, snowy or just unpleasant, that is what has always made winters here suck just because it is adding more time to the misery ... I've trick or treated with snow on the ground and shoveled sidewalks before Easter.

Word is our lucky weather streak is about to come to an end and in typical fashion... a nice blast of frigid air to send our temps down ... it appears as if we have likely seen the last of weather above 50 degrees for the year... now we begin to yearn for them again...

The Great Flood Of '09

As most anyone that has been paying attention to the national scene is aware, the Red River of the north has been flooding for the past week hitting a record crest of almost 41 feet in Fargo.  As a result, many of the communities along the river have been at high alert with emergency and first responders at maximum preparedness.  Schools have been closed since last week Wednesday and remain closed through this week.  Hospitals, senior citizen homes and special needs people have all been evacuated.

The river has crested in Fargo, so as long as the dikes and levees hold, most citizens should make it through with little or no problems...which will be good...

So, sorry for infrequent attention here but hopefully things will return to normal some time this time...

In the mean time, here is a live 'Flood Cam' that is on the Moorhead, MN side of the Red River pointing towards Fargo ... you can see how high the water really is...

This Winter Has Sucked

So far this winter has sucked hard ... oh sure, most people that don't live in the barren wasteland think that all of our winters here are as crappy as this year's ... but no, not usually this bad...

We have had over 50 inches of snow so far, which I do believe is on pace to record or near record snowfall ... and actually the snow, although it does get old shoveling and snowblowing every other day, it really doesn't make the winters any worse (or better) ... but what is really making this winter especially sucky is that it has been cold here FOREVER and the word is that it is suppose to get even colder tonight and tomorrow!  How cold you ask?  The high temperature today is likely to be around -5 degrees, the low temperature tomorrow is suppose to be -30 or colder with a high temperature of -10 or colder with, of course, a nice stiff breeze ... windchills are expected to be -50 or colder starting tonight ... and what has made this even more crappy is the fact that it really hasn't been 'warm' at all since November.  And when I say 'warm' I will take any temperature above 10 degrees at this point ... but I don't think we have seen a temperature of double-digits in this area for many weeks and if we did, it was likely accompanied with 20+ mph winds.

When it is this cold and crappy, all I wanted to do this morning was stay in bed...it seems like once you go outside you never, ever can get warm again...

If/when it ever gets to 20 degrees around here, people will think it is the middle of summer ... we will be wearing shorts and no coats ... at that point 'outsiders' who see us natives in the streets will begin to think we have officially snapped, but all we are doing is just enjoying the nice weather!

Winter Has Arrived

The weather forecast for my region is one that will plunge us ful throttle into winter.  Up to now we the region has slowly been cooling off but there has been no drastic drop in the temperature, just a slow easing of it and for the most par the temperature has been 'seasonal' ... low's in the 10's high's in the 20's ... still brisk.  Add that there has been very little snow and it hasn't been windy, the beginning of winter hasn't bee too rough at all...

The forecast has that all changing... in fact, today is likely the last day the area is above 20 degrees for who knows how long and that will give everyone the 'wake-up' call that winter is really here.

November and December are the months that really make a winter season really bad or not... there have been times when the temperatures and weather plunged full force into winter mode at Halloween and never let up until March, making it a long and hard winter... other years I have seen it be mild and pleasant to Christmas time... a few years ago we didn't have any snow until a few days before Christmas... I do not think I have ever witnessed a 'Brown Christmas'.  So any day(s) we can get through November and December that are mild, not so cold or windy are good winter days.

Once January hits the temperatures can remain below zero for weeks and not let up until March.  I don't recall a Super Bowl Sunday that hasn't been freezing cold here...the upside to this is after living almost 2 full months in temperatures that single-digit or lower, as soon as the sun comes out and it gets to 20 degrees, the temperature it is about right now, it means we get rid of the winter jackets and break out the spring appareal... right now, I am already cold and am not looking forward to the winter blast that I know will be showing up soon...

 

UND-NDSU - From The Bunker

The scene from the movie "From The Bunker" is one that shows Adolf Hitler going on an angry tirade, yelling at his top officers while others overhear the anger in the hallway. It has been 'dubbed' many times in a comical way to portray Hitler as a fan of a particular team/school that might have hit some bad times recently. Someone from this region put one together where Hitler is seen as a UND Fighting Sioux booster/alum and is unhappy about the decisions being made at UND that seem to put UND's long-time inner-state rival, NDSU, as the top athletic school in the state...

I think it is pretty funny for the situation...other videos that I have seen have the words better match Hitler's German pronunciation, but all-in-all not too bad. Because this area is ultra-conservative the video made front page news in the paper, was taken down from most places on the internet and some see it as a correlation with North Dakota universities and Nazism...they must not have a sense of humor because I think it is more funny then an attempt to align North Dakotans with Hitler...

The video has since reappeared...to be safe, I downloaded the video myself and am posting it here...enjoy.

Black Gold In The Barren Wasteland

Prediction: The Barren Wasteland that I reside in is on the verge of becoming the wealthiest state in the union. Unless oil prices descend to pre-21st century levels North Dakota is going to be an unbelievable place to reside in for the near future...

With oil prices going through the roof, it causes everything to become more expensive...yes. But is the one commodity that everyone will purchase no matter what? Food. That's right, people need to eat and no matter the state of the economy people will continue to buy food and that is what North Dakota is all about...making food. Wheat prices are at all-time highs and a few folks I know in the 'biz' are really raking it in...for a change.

Oh sure, food prices may eventually plane out or even rescind...but they just found 2.1 billion barrels of oil in North Dakota...well, they didn't just find it, but because there was never a need to survey the Bakken formation (the name of the oil reserve) because oil was so cheap, they finally decided to see about how much oil was down there and low and behold we hit the jackpot. I am going to keep my eye on who has drilling rights out west and invest in any of those oil companies because they will be pumping oil in this state for quite some time...

North Dakota should leave the United States to form it's own country because WE'RE RICH BIATCH!!!

This state is a very conservative state...we have a budget surplus and we are nice folk....it will be interesting to see how we start throwing all this oil money around that is surely going to come our way... also, where this oil is at is in some of our poorest, least populated counties...the mid-70's had a small oil boon that injected life into those communities but that has long dried up...the boon we will likely see this time around should be more impressive and sustained...

Winter Won't Quit

2 weeks ago all the snow from the winter had about all melted away and then the next day it snowed... a lot. Well, after 2 weeks of some nice weather the snow had all but melted away again. On Saturday, the kids and I were outside, riding bike, playing and enjoying a nice spring day. Yesterday, you could have swore we were in the middle of January in the midst of a snow-storm. The area looks like it did in the middle of December, with piles of snow everywhere and the streets covered in ice. The temperature for the area will be mild so it isn't likely that this snow will be around for very long...but come on...let's close the book on this winter season...it can rain but no more snow!

J.F.C. - It Is F'n Cold!

My thermometer at home had a temperature of -25 (F) when I woke up this morning...the radio had a temp of -30 and to the left is the "Accu-Weather" readings...if there was any wind at all, the windchill would easily be -100 below...it is FUCKING COLD! Why does anyone live here? Oh yeah, the weather may suck here but the people are nice...right now I'd be willing to trade a few nice folks in for about 20 degrees....

Note the high temperature for the day... -4 ...at least that is 25 degrees warmer than it is now, but how sad is it when you "warm up" 25 degrees and you still aren't even above zero?

What Global Warming?

It wasn't even 10 days ago when I was loving the global warming because temps in the barren wasteland were almost springlike. Well that was short lived and temperatures have now returned back to what makes this part of the country the barren wasteland...

You wake up in the morning and hear the temperature is 10 degrees and that will be the high for the day as temps drop throughout the day and then it stays frigid for multiple days with high temps not even above 0. I took a snapshot of the upcoming forecast for this area and you'll note at the time of this post it was 3 degrees and it will unlikely get to that temp again until next week... at least it rids this area of the 'riff-raff'... it is even too cold for criminals and scumbags to engage in their nefarious activities, if you are looking for any bright spot to being it frickin' cold.