Pretty much have made up for lost time eating out this week. I rarely go out, but since I was in Bismarck at the class, I had no real option.
Five Guys and Cracker Barrel. Oh, man, I was in heaven. I
realize it’s basic, but let’s face it, I’m basic and I’m OK with that.
So I went to each of those places twice during my Bismarck trip. Oh, such
good food. Cow. I don’t get to eat much cow.
I suppose Five Guys is just a burger, but man, it’s a good
burger. And breakfast at CB, even if it’s for dinner, is just awesome.
Didn’t see one of Zippy’s monkey sock hats, though. The rest
of the critter caps were 40 percent off, but they were for kids and my noggin
is a bit bigger than that.
The Bismarck
class was OK. I am having a hard time adjusting to “the Dark Side,” as news
side calls the PR crew. There’s a big difference in relaying the news and
trying to relay a message.
One of the workshop things we did at this Public Information
Officer class was to write a news release based on an incident. The incident
was a plane crash. So my release is essentially a news story leading with five
known fatalities.
Apparently that’s wrong. The feedback was to tell people
what to do. I’m like, ”What?” That is
not something I am used to doing in writing. I tell people what other people
said. I do not relate it firsthand.
The seminar leaders said well, in this situation (the plane
crash), what would you do in your current job? Uh … not applicable. The class
was put on by FEMA, so it was geared toward emergency and I’m more disaster
recovery.
I had no idea it would be in my power to say “stay away”
from the scene. What I can do is say, “Emergency officials advise staying clear
of the scene of the accident.” Big difference.
So it was interesting. I’d like to go to the higher class,
but I don’t know if that opportunity will present itself. It’s in Maryland.
For this one, I had signed up to go under the assumption
that I’d be paying the bill and just looking forward to getting out of Minot
for a few days. As it turned out, the state of North Dakota will reimburse me for the hotel
and a per diem for meals. Cool deal.
Fortunately, the weather wasn’t miserable as far as road
conditions went. And gas was .30 cheaper a gallon. (I’ve now topped off my tank
twice, breaking the stretch beginning 11/28.)
Now, though, the weather is back to miserable. It was as
high as 37 in Bismarck, but today’s high in Minot is 3, loads better
than it’s supposed to be tomorrow. Today’s wind chill is -35. I haven’t checked
that for tomorrow yet. As I plan to walk to work, I hope it’s not too bad.
Today, I drove a couple of places (but not to see “Zero Dark
Thirty” as planned) and on the way back, within sight of my house, I did one of
those all-over skid/slide things that scares the hell out of me. I absolutely
do not know what to do with the car. Fortunately, all three times it’s happened
so far this year, I’ve been going really slowly. This time, I almost jumped the
curb into my neighbor’s neighbor’s yard. And fortunately, no one was parked on
the road. I just don’t know what to do. It doesn’t seem to matter whether I
steer with the skid or away from it.
But because of the crappy weather, I got to experience
something this morning I’ve never even heard of: a sun dog.
According to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog),
it’s “an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky,
often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.”
Here’s what it is: pretty damn cool.
I came out of church and caught a glimpse of what I assumed
was a rainbow, even though it hadn’t rained. It’s too cold to rain. But it was
so cool.
As I drove home, I realized the angle was way too sharp for
a rainbow, and the sun was in the middle. Except it seemed like there were a
couple of suns. Essentially, it looked like almost a circle of prism with the
sun in the middle and two half-suns coming out of the sides.
I’d never seen this before and as soon as I got home, I took
a couple of pictures. I didn’t get the whole thing in one shot, but you can get
the feel or it (or check out the wiki page; wiki contributors/thieves have
better cameras).
So far, it might be the coolest thing I’ve seen while here.
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