Tag Archives: relocating to Dickinson North Dakota

Fear Of Marathon Oil Company Hat

July 21, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Marathon Oil Company in Dickinson North Dakota, Marathon Oil Company public relations, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Marathon Oil Company likename withheld

I was in downtown Dickinson recently with three of my co-workers, and we were each offered a Marathon Oil Company hat by a Marathon employee that we know. I accepted the tan hat, and I put it on. My three co-workers declined the other hat.

I was happy with my new hat, and I said to the Marathon employee that I have known for about three years, “I hope that I don’t get arrested for something and my arrest mugshot is in the news, wearing a Marathon Oil Company hat.” Then I said, “Or maybe I will get away, and the police will put out a description, saying the suspect was wearing a Marathon Oil Company hat.”

I was then required to promise that I would never tell anyone where I got my Marathon Oil Company hat. And I agreed, because by that time, I figured that, “I would be more attractive to women because they would think that I worked for Marathon, that I had a good job, and that I made a lot of money.” The person that gave me the hat said, “I don’t see that happening.” This hurt my feelings. I was happy, and then I was sad, owning this Marathon Oil Company hat.

About 1/2 hour later, one of the most beautiful young women that I know walked up. She is my height, has long reddish brown hair, beautiful bright green eyes, and she is very thin and in shape from bicycling, hiking, and rock climbing. I began talking to her, she just came into town from Montana. She met some people that are on a cross country bicycle trip, and she wanted to go with them, but she doesn’t have any of her stuff. I said that I had two extra mountain bikes in the back of my truck, she can have one of them if she wanted.

We walked about one block and around the corner to look at the bikes that were in the back of my truck. We were talking about different things, and where else she might get the rest of the things that she wanted. I had just seen this guy Andrew that she knows better than me, that would likely have saddle bags and backpacks.

When I got back to downtown, I said to the Marathon employee who had given me the Marathon Oil Company hat, “Did you see that beautiful young lady that I was talking to, she wanted to know if I could get her a job at Marathon.” The Marathon employee said, “You know that Marathon is a very ethical and moral company, can I please have my hat back?” And I gave the hat back.

My feelings were hurt. I am 48 years old, and I never had a hat taken back from me for not being ethical and moral enough. I was embarrassed, ashamed, and humiliated that my hat was taken away from me, in public, for not being up to Marathon Oil Company’s standards. How have I failed so horribly as a human being, what have I done with my life?

I bet that less than 5% of the Marathon employees in Dickinson have a Bachelor of Science in engineering like me, or have equal job experience to me, or have gone through as stringent government background checks as me. However, because of the Marathon Oil Company culture and corporate brain washing, even Marathon employees with no college education, are higher level and superior to most human beings, and most people are not qualified to even wear a Marathon Oil Company hat once they start to analyze it more closely.

Now I want a Marathon Oil Company hat, and also a shirt, for both myself, and the gentleman that the four Dickinson Police Officers had to wrestle and take to jail for attacking everyone, for when he is released from jail.

Incredible And Amazing Financial Mystery In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 20, 2017Uncategorizedcomplaint against company in Dickinson North Dakota for nonpayment of wages, employer making unauthorized deductions in Dickinson North Dakota, employer shorting wages in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil field service company in Dickinson North Dakota, real estate in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

Eventually, and I think fairly soon, one of the most incredible and amazing news stories will begin to unfold in Dickinson, North Dakota…..

Update 7/24/17:

I have removed this article for the time being. This article was about an oil field service company in Dickinson that is having some financial difficulties and problems.

The cause of me looking into, analyzing, and writing about the company’s financial situation, was that I had not been paid money that I believe I was owed. As of today, the company has agreed to pay me. I do not want to make things more difficult for the owners of this company at this time, so I removed this article.

Camajur Bus Service, Dickinson, North Dakota

July 19, 2017Uncategorizedbus service in Dickinson North Dakota, cab in Dickinson North Dakota, Camajur Bus Service, cheapest taxi service in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, shuttle service in Dickinson North Dakota, taxi in Dickinson North Dakota, taxi service in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

The Camajur Bus Service is owned and operated by Marvin and Cathy Dill, and their son Justin and his wife. The Camajur Bus Service is also referred to as the Sober Bus.

The reason why I am writing this blog post, is to let everyone know how inexpensive their bus and taxi service is. In other states, I have had very bad experiences with unexpectedly high cost taxi rides, and I have been told that the same thing happens in Dickinson, especially with taxi rides to and from the Dickinson airport. This doesn’t have to happen to you.

I was working in Watford City last summer, which is 90 miles northwest of Dickinson, and a very unpleasant drive to make, whether you take Hwy 22, or Hwy 85. The air-conditioning compressor on my Dodge truck seized up, causing the serpentine belt to break, which is the same belt that drives the alternator and the water pump. I realized from looking at the belt routing diagram, there is a different belt and a different routing when the truck is not equipped with an air-conditioning compressor.

I was not getting anywhere with the two auto parts stores in Watford City, explaining that I was bypassing the compressor, this is the size belt that I wanted. It came to the point that I decided to take a taxi 90 miles to Dickinson to get my other truck. I called Camajur Bus Service and spoke to Marvin Dill, told him where I was, and asked him how much money he wanted to come and get me. Marvin said something like $70 to $80, and I couldn’t believe that he could do it for that little money, it is about a 1-1/2 hour drive.

Marvin came to Watford City and got me about an hour and forty five minutes later. I was so happy to be going to get my other truck, and no longer being at the mercy of the auto parts stores in Watford City. I was happy to not be the one driving for once, I had to drive back and forth to Watford City every week. I gave Marvin $100, which is more than he wanted, but I don’t see how he could do it for less than $100.

This summer, I moved from north of Dickinson, to an apartment in downtown Dickinson. In order to get one of my extra trucks to storage, and one extra truck to my apartment, I called Camajur Bus Service twice. It was at least a ten mile drive from north of Dickinson to downtown, but each time Justin only wanted $10. Each time I gave Justin $20, because I don’t see how they could do it for less than $20.

If you are at a bar or restaurant in Dickinson, and you become too intoxicated to drive, most bars and restaurants in Dickinson will give their customers a voucher, and call Camajur Bus service to come and pick you up, at no charge to you. You give the voucher to the Camajur Bus driver, and at a later date he turns in that voucher at the bar or restaurant to get paid for that trip.

I hope that more people find out how inexpensive the Camajur Bus Service is, and use it, so that they will continue to operate, and we don’t all have to be victimized by some other taxi service.

Camajur Bus Service 701-590-3396

Dishonest And Disreputable Companies In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 17, 2017Uncategorizedcorruption in Dickinson North Dakota, corruption in North Dakota, employment in Dickinson North Dakota, failure of North Dakota government, failure of the North Dakota Department of Labor, injustice in North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, oil field service companies in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

In the beginning of June I started a new job in Dickinson, North Dakota. I thought that this was going to be a good job, with a good company. When I arrived to work at this oil field service company at 3:45 a.m. on a Monday morning, one thing after another went wrong. No supervisor showed up until 4:30 a.m., my supervisor was out for the week and he had left no instructions regarding me and my work. After phone calls were made, it was determined that I was supposed to drive a crane truck to a location two hours away, but the keys were missing, the crane truck was a mess and in no condition to drive, and the equipment on it that was needed that day was broken.

My instinct and my gut feeling was that I should say right then, “Hey, I don’t want to work here.” I could barely keep myself from telling the company that I had decided not to work there. It appeared to be so disorganized and unprofessional, with no planning or accountability. I needed the job, and the money, so I hung in there.

I got along with my co-worker/supervisor at the job site location two hours away. Within a couple of days, he was letting me do all the work on my own. His intention was that he would do the paperwork, and that I would do the physical work. This led to my co-worker/supervisor arriving at job locations a few hours late in the morning, and leaving a few hours early in the evening, because he was only doing paperwork, and I was doing the physical work which took all day.

It was hot, dirty, and tiring physical labor, and I would have liked some help, sometimes feeling like I was close to getting heat stroke. I was not supposed to be doing this work by myself according to the oil company safety rules. I did the work by myself, and I operated the crane truck on days when the wind was well over 30 mph, the cut off point to stop work. I broke these rules on many days in order to get work done.

I didn’t know that this oil field service company in Dickinson was not going to pay me. I had to wait for the two-week pay period to end, and then wait another ten days for a pay check to be made. On my second pay check, I was shorted 8-1/2 hours of overtime pay. I wrote a letter to the company payroll person, listing my hours, and explaining that I was shorted 8-1/2 hours of overtime pay.

My co-worker/supervisor telephoned the payroll person while I was sitting in his truck, and he went over the hours that I was shorted. Later that day, my co-worker/supervisor received a response from the payroll person, she said that the owner of the company had crossed out my hours, and wrote fewer hours, because he did not think that enough work was completed.

The owner of this company graduated from Dickinson State University with a degree in Business Administration, and he should know that it is illegal and unethical to not pay employees for hours worked. This says something about the owner of this company, Dickinson, Dickinson State University, and North Dakota. I have worked in Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Idaho, and I have never ever before had a company refuse to pay me for my work hours.

My co-worker/supervisor then had a fairly long telephone conversation with the owner of this company, and he believed that he had agreement from the company owner that everything would be taken care of, that I would be paid for the 8-1/2 hours of missing overtime pay. Because I was expecting to be paid this money, I continued working for this company.

This past weekend I received by e-mail, a work hours summary for my third pay check, and it was 12-1/2 hours short on overtime hours! I couldn’t believe it! Not only was I not being paid for the 8-1/2 overtime hours that I was already missing, they were taking away another 12-1/2 hours of overtime pay!

The company owner had left a week earlier to go on a two-week hunting trip in South America. This made me believe what my co-worker/supervisor and I had already suspected, that it was actually the company owner’s wife that was shaving work hours off my pay, claiming that I was not getting enough work done. The company owner is on a two-week hunting trip in South America that probably costs $15,000 to $20,000. The company owner’s wife is trying to steal $570 of my pay, because she thinks that I don’t deserve it. She and her husband are better than me, and I don’t deserve to be paid. The truth is that I have been doing all of the work by myself, and have been breaking the safety rules on many days to get the work done.

I looked the owner’s wife up on Facebook, and I saw that she attended the Catholic college in Bismarck, the University of Mary. Not only do the Catholics not learn right from wrong in the Catholic Church, they don’t even learn basic right and wrong, ethical and unethical, legal and illegal when the go to their University! It is illegal and unethical to not pay your employees for hours worked.

I looked on the North Dakota Department of Labor website on how to file a complaint against an employer for not paying wages. It wasn’t too much of a shock to me, that the North Dakota Department of Labor wants for employees to “ask for your wages”, and that they will later act as a “mediator”. The North Dakota Department of Labor should be a government regulatory agency that enforces law in North Dakota, not a mediator. Because the North Dakota Department of Labor is so easy going toward employers, there is a huge back log of cases. There is a recent Bismarck Tribune newspaper article that says people who filed a complaint against an employer in 2014, had to wait two years, Two Fucking Years!, for a case worker to even be assigned to their complaint.

North Dakota has got to be the most corrupt and backward state. Of course employers are not going to pay employees wages when they know that there is a two year wait before the complaint is even looked at. I telephoned the North Dakota Department of Labor, and there are four previous complaints for non payment of wages against the company that I work for. In other states, this might be grounds for revocation of business licenses, but in North Dakota, the company instead gets glowing and gushing newspaper articles about them from the Dickinson Press.

Dickinson could not be more proud of this husband and wife entrepreneur couple. The Dickinson Press newspaper has written several articles about them, how wonderful and successful they are. They believe that they are so wonderful and successful, that they don’t even have to pay me for the hours that I worked.

I went to the courthouse in Dickinson to find out about filing a small claims civil suit against the owner of this company for nonpayment of wages. I thought that I could win this case if the owner of this company had to personally appear in court. However, I was told at the courthouse that in North Dakota the defendant in a small claims case is allowed to be represented by an attorney, and not even appear.

I already know what this means, an expensive attorney that has practiced law for twenty years in Dickinson will be hired, a long time colleague of every judge in Dickinson, and I am just an out of state oil field worker, nobody. Just like my employer believes I am so insignificant that I don’t need to be paid my wages, the court judge will feel the same way in deciding between what his long time attorney colleague says, and what I say.

It has been my experience in Dickinson that the police are only successful in harassing people, not solving crime, the local courts do not work, the state courts do not work, Federal agencies like OSHA, the Department of Labor, Equal Opportunity Employment don’t even function in North Dakota. North Dakota has got to be the most corrupt and backward state.

I am very angry about not being paid, and there is not any legal way for me to do anything about this in North Dakota.

Review Of First On First July 13 Concert In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 14, 2017UncategorizedFirst On First concerts Dickinson North Dakota, First on First Dickinson Summer Nights, guide to Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

For the past four years I have been going to the downtown concerts in Dickinson, North Dakota on Thursday afternoons in the summer. The concerts used to be called “Alive At 5”, but last year they changed the name to “First On First”. The Odd Fellows Lodge organizes, runs, and comes up with the funding for the events.

Because I started a new job in the beginning of June, and I had to work out of town, this is the first downtown summer concert that I was able to go to this year, besides the July 3rd concert at the Paragon Bowling Alley.

At the First On First concerts, the streets are closed at 4:00 p.m. from the Rock Bar down to Bernie’s Esquire Club. A stage is set up, various food vendors set up, a kid’s bounce house is inflated, and several outdoor bars are set up. There is no charge for admission, it is open to all ages of people, pets are allowed, and neighborhood animals come.

I would like to first list the local celebrities that were in attendance. “Wild Bill” Palanuk, local radio show host, and radio, television, and video narrator. Kevin Holten, director of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall Of Fame and host of the television show “Cowboy Moments”. Brock White, DJ and Master of Ceremonies. Bernie Marsh, owner of Bernie’s Esquire Club and father of Marinna Marsh who is known world wide for her beauty. Tracy Tooz, owner of Tooz Construction and organizer/sponsor of First On First. Beni Paulson, Board of Directors High Plains Culture Center and member of Outlaw Sippin band. Emil “The Edge” Anheluk, North Dakota Ukrainian Dance Association president and lead accordion player with Outlaw Sippin band.

Kristi Schwartz, president of Downtown Dickinson Association and owner of Allstate Insurance. Kathy Fisher, owner of the Rock Bar. Marchell Kubas, “List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson”.

The second aspect of this past Thursday’s First On First concert that I want to point out, is that this is one of the very few times and places in Dickinson where you will see attractive women. Attractive women come to this event like birds to a bird bath or bird feeder.

There was quite a range of attractive women. There were dignified housewives and professional women that wore nice light weight summer dresses or business slacks. There were nice housewives and single women that wore jeans or walking shorts. There were women that were seeking attention that wore shorter dresses, shorter shorts, and tops that could be revealing if they “weren’t paying attention”, accidentally on purpose.

There were Skank women that came to this event, women of dis-repute, and young women that would soon be women of dis-repute. As far as I was concerned, there were three regionally infamous women of dis-repute at this event, which were entertaining to watch, from a distance. You have to be out of range of how far they could spill a drink, which is how far they could throw a drink. They wear revealing clothing, such as short shorts, small tank tops, and cut off sleeveless shirts. They have to be out in front where every one can see them, and be the center of attention, and they become a spectacle when they get drunk.

On Wednesday I had observed a tall thin woman about 30 years old walking across a parking lot. I was so attracted to her that I wanted to go right up to her and talk to her, but I was stuck talking to my former room mate who drove up and was telling me about his health problems. She walked about as fast as a Bigfoot, with very long, quick strides, and I knew that I would have a hard time catching up to her, as my former room mate babbled on.

I felt that no one could tell it but me, that this girl was about as attractive as a model. She was wearing eye glasses, had her hair tied back, was wearing baggy jeans, and a T-shirt, but I could tell that she was tall, thin, well proportioned, had a pretty face, nice complexion, pretty hair, that she was healthy, and I could tell what her personality was like, from having met women like her before. Out of nervousness and not thinking, she waved at me. But she got out of range, I didn’t want to head her off with my vehicle.

Serendipitously, I saw this tall, thin, model like girl at the First On First concert on Thursday. I didn’t want to run right up to her, and scare her, and embarrass myself. She bought a ticket to go in the VIP corral, and though I would be allowed in if I asked Brock White or Tracey Tooz, I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone in the VIP and scare her off. I waited for a better chance to talk to her.

Finally, I stopped her as she was coming out of the Rock Bar. I explained that I had seen her yesterday, and that I wanted to talk to her because I thought that she was attractive, but that I was stuck talking to my former room mate. She made me explain where this was, and why I thought that this was her, and I explained everything in detail enough that she was flattered that I had remembered her in such detail, and that I must have in fact wanted to meet her. She was from Washington State, and she had been here in Dickinson for two months. I talked to her for about ten minutes, and I let her go, saying that I hoped to see her again.

I interjected this personal story, to explain that the First On First concerts are a chance for people to meet and talk to people that they see or deal with in Dickinson during the day, but don’t have the opportunity to have a conversation with otherwise. Also, it is an opportunity to make an ass of yourself, like I have almost done. On more than one occasion, I had picked out a girl that I liked, and I wanted to approach, convinced in my mind that this was a good idea, and it turned out that everyone there knew that she was married but me, or that she was a drunk and everyone knew it but me, or that she was a low Skank, not even a fancy Skank, and everyone there knew it but me.

This First On First, I would characterize it as “very balanced” in every way. The music was not too loud, the people were spread out evenly across the whole downtown area, there were equal and moderate lines at every food vendor and alcohol bar. There were young and old people, a variety of dog breeds, professional people, blue collar people, retirees, disabled, hippies, high school kids, college students, out of state people, local people, yuppies, farmers, ranchers, and red necks. Since every one was spread out across the downtown event area, there were no conflicts or fights, even though a great deal of alcohol was sold.

Three bands performed from 5:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. I would estimate that the number of people at the Rock Bar, Bernie’s Esquire Club, The Odd Fellows VIP lounge and corral, and the event area between 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. stayed at approximately 700 people. Even though I do not like the Dickinson Police following me around when I am driving, they are very helpful at the concerts and events in Dickinson. At events like the Hairball concert, the Paragon Bowling Alley concert, and the First On First concerts, the events go so much smoother when the Dickinson Police are there, because the drunk people actually make the decision that they are not going to fight, grab a hold of people, damage property, and have a tirade, because they don’t want to be tasered, handcuffed, and taken to jail.

The Danger Of Snacks In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 9, 2017Uncategorizedhow oil field workers lost money, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Likename withheld

All together, I have lived for a total of five years in Dickinson, North Dakota. I first came to Dickinson in May of 2011, from Idaho, because I had heard about the oil boom. The economy had turned bad in Idaho in 2009, about two years later than most other places in the United States.

The area of Idaho that I lived in had experienced a housing boom that started in approximately year 2000. People in California that owned ordinary single family homes, discovered that they may have had $400,000 to $1,000,000 equity in their home, due to rapidly increasing real estate prices in California. California was congested, had terrible traffic jams, high taxes, and crime. California home owners began selling their homes in order to move to Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.

The California home owners could sell their home, buy a new home in AZ, UT, ID, and MT for $200,000, and have $200,000 to $800,000 left over to use as retirement money. Many young men in AZ, UT, ID, and MT worked in construction, concrete, dry wall, earth work, electrical, framing, plumbing, roofing, etc. When real estate prices dropped in 2007, due in part to wide spread mortgage fraud, “derivatives”, and a naturally occurring market reset, the construction jobs went away not long afterwards.

Myself, and many other people involved in construction began to have much less work, and make much less money. These construction workers were the majority of the out of state workers that came to work in western North Dakota. Reporters or local people may have wanted to describe the people who came as being from diverse backgrounds, but this was not the case, they were mostly construction workers.

When I arrived in Dickinson in 2011, within one week I had a job where I was earning about $1,100 per week, due to working overtime hours. Able bodied, semi-skilled construction workers were able to obtain employment making $15 to $20 per hour, with roughly twenty hours of overtime each week.

I thought that my financial problems were over, I was making much more money than I had been making. The majority of the out of state workers felt this way. But every winter, I would have not very much money saved up when I wanted or planned to go back to Idaho, and I wondered what had happened, and where the money had gone.

For all of the out of state construction/oil field workers, myself included, one of the biggest and worst “hidden” costs, was Snacks. Every morning, most workers would stop at a gas station convenience store and buy about three to four Gatorades, a sandwich, potato chips, brownies, etc., which would add up to $20 more or less. There would not be anywhere to stop later in the day possibly, or there possibly would not be time, so you had to try to get enough things to last all day.

Back in 2011, there were very long lines at the grocery stores, tremendously long lines at WalMart, and most workers did not have the time or the energy to stand in a long line at WalMart after working for twelve hours. The gas station convenience store shopping continued in the evening, due to the long lines at the grocery stores and WalMart.

How bad is this problem? Let me give you an astonishing example. My co-worker/supervisor told me that he made $135,000 in year 2015. He paid over $45,000 in income taxes that year. Though there should have been $90,000 left over, he has nothing to show for it, and he does not know where that money went. I told him that it was partly due to Snacks.

In the morning, every morning, he spends $20 or more at a convenience store on food, drinks, etc.. The same thing happens at lunch time, and the same thing happens at night on his way home. That is at least $60 per day, $420 per week, $1,800 per month, and $21,600 per year, on Snacks!

His Snack payment each month, is equal to what a mortgage payment would be on a $275,000 house. His Snack payment each month, would make the make the payments on two new four wheel drive trucks.

There are several things that caused all of the out of state workers to spend a tremendous amount of money in a way that was wasteful. Most of the out of state workers did not have wives and girlfriends with them, due to adverse conditions, especially the cost of housing. Wives and girlfriends could have done shopping during the day, and obtained food and drinks at 20% to 30% of the cost of a convenience store. Wives and girlfriends, if they had any sense and wanted to have anything for themselves, would have grasped the enormous amount of money that the oil field workers were wasting every day.

Besides the out of state workers not having wives or girlfriends with them, most out of state workers did not want to come back to their local housing at night. Housing was very, very expensive, which meant having a bunch of room mates in order to live in a house or nice apartment, living in a small camper, living in a man camp dormitory, or living in a small old decrepit apartment. Out of state workers went to eat at restaurants every night and out to bars every night for several hours in order to not have to be around their room mates or face the depressing fact that they were living in a small camper.

The End Of A Work Week In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 7, 2017Uncategorizedemployment in Dickinson North Dakota, guide to Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

If you have been reading my blog posts for the past couple of weeks, you will have read some descriptions and details about how things have been going at my new job that I started five weeks ago. I was very let down and disappointed that what I thought was going to be a good job at a good company, turned out to be the exact opposite.

Besides complaining about the company that I started to work for, I very nearly could not work because my eyes swelled up to where I could not see due to allergies. I made it through that, but just barely. My co-worker/supervisor for a number of reasons, did not want to help me do the work, and began to come to work less and less, to the point that he did not come to work at all yesterday. The company that I work for, is unaware of this, but the oil company that we are doing the work for, is aware that I have been working mostly by myself, though I am not supposed to be.

I have been working out of town, two hours away from Dickinson. There is an even greater shortage of women, restaurants, stores, and things to do where I am working, than in Dickinson. On the drive home to Dickinson this Friday, there is nothing that I was looking forward to in Dickinson. There are no friends or prospective girl friends that I was looking forward to seeing, no where that I was looking forward to eating, nothing that I wanted to buy, and nothing that I wanted to do.

When I got home in Dickinson, I checked my e-mail. There was nothing too important or alarming. I had an e-mail that my on-line pay check record could be viewed. I looked at my net pay check, and it was disappointingly low. Looking at it some more, I saw that my company had shorted me 8.5 hours of overtime pay.

I wrote a letter to the company pay roll person, writing down the hours that I worked each day, and my total hours. I planned on dropping this letter off on Saturday or Monday. Also, there was withholding for “New Hire”, which I did not understand.

As I thought about it some more, I realized that the company was going to try to not pay me for drive time, which began to make me angry. I have to wake up at 2:00 a.m. on Monday, to leave at 3:00 a.m., to drive two hours until 5:00 a.m., which is 6:00 a.m. in that time zone, and then work until 5:00 p.m. in that time zone, which is 6:00 p.m. in Dickinson. In other words, I start driving at 3:00 a.m., and I don’t get done with work until 15 hours later, that’s right 15 hours later. On my time sheet, my supervisor writes down 12 hours for Monday, but the accounting women and the owner’s wife, just assume that because it is a two hour drive, they will just go ahead and take two hours off that 12 hours.

I could inconvenience the company owner and his wife by filing a small claims suit or a complaint with the Department of Labor, for the money that I am not being paid, but I would probably lose, because this is North Dakota. The company owner and his wife have a lot of news stories about them because they are so amazingly successful, benevolent, charitable, and run everything so well. I am seeing and experiencing the exact opposite.

I have to weigh out what I want to do. Saying or writing what I would really like to do, would only cause me unnecessary problems and not get me anywhere. The only smart and rational thing for me to do, would be to find another job.

I looked at North Dakota Job Service, Indeed, and LinkedIn, to try to find another job. There are very few jobs in Dickinson now, very, very few jobs.

I write about things like this in blog posts, because I am frustrated, but also to write what is actually happening. If anyone came to Dickinson, they would experience the same thing, and perhaps even worse. Most people would go to the liquor store or to the bar on a Friday evening like this. This is why most out of state workers get a DUI in Dickinson. It sucks here so bad, but you can’t drink, or the police will get you.

When A Blue Collar Worker Becomes A Supervisor In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 6, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

The title of this blog post also could have been “When A Red Neck Becomes A Supervisor In Dickinson, North Dakota. ” There are other words besides “Blue Collar Worker” or “Red Neck”, that could have been used.

I started a new job in Dickinson five weeks ago, and I would not have lasted a day, had it not been for the fact that my co-worker/supervisor was my age, and he was from the South like me. He has many years of work experience in the oil field, and he has worked with several oil companies in this area.

My co-worker/supervisor wanted and intended that I would drive and operate the crane truck,that I would do the physical work, and that he would do the paperwork. There is a lot of oil company paper work. He wanted to sit in the air-conditioning in his crew truck doing paperwork, while I would do the physical work. This is not normally how a two-man oil field crew would operate, especially if the paperwork does not take all day.

The paper work does not take all day, so my supervisor/co-worker would leave the job site location to go and do other things. Basically, he would head for home at 2:30 p.m. Hey, that’s what supervisors do, isn’t it? Even though my co-worker/supervisor was supposed to be helping me do the actual work, in his mind, since he was in charge, he was a manager, and managers can go home when they want, can’t they?

Because the paperwork does not take all day, and my co-worker/supervisor had assigned himself the paperwork only, my co-worker/supervisor began texting me on most mornings, “Got to take care of some things, go ahead and start without me.” He wouldn’t arrive on location until about 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m., he would sit in the truck and do paperwork for three to four hours, and then he would leave to go home at 2:30 p.m.

The oil company that we are doing the work for, has all kinds of supervisory oversight on what is going on at their locations, safety supervisors, security & operations supervisors, maintenance supervisors, automation/controls supervisors, production supervisors, and so on. For the past four weeks, all of the oil company personnel have seen just one person doing the work, and there are supposed to be two of us doing the work.

There are supposed to be two of us, because the oil company is paying for a two-man crew, and it takes two people to do the work, especially for safety reasons. There is not supposed to be just one person on these remote locations, doing this type of work.

I didn’t complain because I wanted to keep my job, I wanted to get paid, no one was bothering me, and I was being left alone all day to do the work. I didn’t think it was right for my co-worker/supervisor to show up at 10:00 a.m., stay in his truck the whole time with the air-conditioning on, listening to the radio, snacking and drinking, while doing the paperwork, and then leaving to go home at 2:30 p.m. On many days at 2:30 p.m., I was just about to the point of heat stroke.

I am sure that all of the different personnel at this oil company have mentioned and discussed that I am there by myself doing the work, that this is not supposed to be like this, not what they paid for, and not safe. It has been mentioned to my co-worker/supervisor by the oil company manager a couple of times recently that he is supposed to be there with me.

This morning I waited for my co-worker/supervisor to show up at the oil company yard at 7:00 a.m. I received a garbled text message from my co-worker/supervisor that he had some business to attend to this morning, without giving me any work instructions. I texted him back that I would go to the truck stop to get fuel in the crane truck. He knows that I would have to use my own money, he has the company fuel card. I wanted to act like we were starting work, I didn’t want the oil company to know that my co-worker/supervisor was no where around, and that I didn’t have any work instructions.

I waited at the truck stop after fueling the crane truck, to hear back from my co-worker/supervisor, but I didn’t hear back, and he didn’t answer his phone, it was now 8:00 a.m. I drove for one hour to the area that I thought we were supposed to be working in, and I sent a text message to my co-worker/supervisor telling him where I was, and asking for the site location name, it was now 9:00 a.m.

At 10:00 a.m., I was trying to decide whether or not to call the oil company to ask them what site I was supposed to be working on. This would lead to them asking me where my supervisor/co-worker was, which I didn’t want to explain, and they wouldn’t like it.

Shortly after 10:00 a.m., my co-worker/supervisor called, and he was very angry about all of the missed calls he had, blaming me, but I only called him twice. He was acting like everybody was causing him problems and bothering him. He told me what site location to meet him at. It took me about twenty minutes to get to that site location, and I started work.

The oil company manager called me to ask me what was going on. In order to call me, I believe that the oil company manager probably had to call the company that I work for to get it, which probably involved him explaining why he had to call me, he could not reach my co-worker/supervisor. The oil company manager told me to have my co-worker/supervisor call him when he arrived at the site location where I was working.

At about 12 noon, my co-worker/supervisor called and asked me if I had found the site location. I told him that I had found it, and that I had completed the work. He told me that he would meet me at the next location. I went to the next site location and I completed that work. My co-worker/supervisor called me and he wanted me to go back to my previous location to get some information which would allow him to complete the inspection paperwork.

I informed my co-worker/supervisor to not turn in the completed inspection paperwork without having been on that site location, because the oil company manager knows that he has not been on that location. At this point, my co-worker/supervisor said that he was not going to drive to work, it was too late in the day now.

My co-worker/supervisor was supposed to be working right along with me, all day, every day. He began to believe that since he was in charge of he work, that makes him a manager, he was the manager of me. He began to believe that since he was a manager, he could arrive at the work location at 10:00 a.m., and leave to go home at 2:30 p.m., a 4-1/2 hour work day, not leaving the air-conditioning of his truck. Today, he planned on turning in a time sheet for 12 hours, just like every day, and not even come to work at all.

It would have been easier for me, if my co-worker/supervisor would have sent one text message to me this morning, stating that he would not be coming to work today, and letting me know what work site locations I had to go to. However, because he knows that he is not really a manager, that he is an hourly oil field worker, that is supposed to be there working with me at each location, that he would have to try to act like he was going to meet me at each location throughout the day, act like he was right there the whole time, to turn in a time sheet for twelve hours today.

Today, it may have come to the point that the oil company that we are performing work for, has had enough. This will be especially true if my co-worker/supervisor tries to turn in inspection check sheets, when the oil company knows that he was never on those site locations today. With my co-worker/supervisor having gotten into the habit of 4-1/2 hour work days, the oil company would reasonably believe that they are not getting what they paid for, that they are being short-changed. This work for the oil company will likely come to a halt soon, over dissatisfaction with work performance, and I will probably be looking for another job.

Real Estate Prices In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 4, 2017Uncategorizedhome prices in Dickinson North Dakota, housing in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, real estate prices in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

Today I looked through the free “Real Estate Preview”, published by the Dickinson Press & The Advertiser. There are a tremendous number of homes for sale in Dickinson and western North Dakota.

The house prices range from overpriced to ridiculously overpriced. In general the houses are priced about 50% above where they should be if they were to have any chance of selling. For instance, a house that might actually sell within several months at $200,000, is instead listed for $300,000. This is the case for listing after listing, page after page.

People in Dickinson are trying to sell their homes now for three main reasons. One, they recognize that the oil boom is over and that real estate prices are going to fall, so now would be a better time to sell rather than later. Two, they can not see being able to afford the home they are in now, now that the oil boom is over, because they have greatly reduced income. Three, they can not afford the home they bought in Dickinson, now that the oil boom is over, and they must leave Dickinson, or they have already left Dickinson.

Everybody in western North Dakota knows that the oil boom is over now. Everyone knows that real estate prices are going to drop. Everyone knows and can see that people are desperate to sell their homes now, for the three reasons that I just explained in the previous paragraph.

I don’t understand, and then again yes I do understand, how the several hundred home sellers and the one hundred real estate agents expect to sell homes for 50% more than what they could sell for now. Just for fun, to check the sanity and stupidity of the home sellers and the real estate agents, here are some questions that I would like to ask them:

How is it that everyone knows that the oil boom is over, that now is the time to sell because real estate prices are going to drop, and you don’t know, that everyone knows?
Real estate agents and home sellers, how is it that the oil boom is over, that there are several hundred homes for sale because the oil boom is over, people have lost their jobs, people have reduced income, people have had to move away, and you are pricing homes like there is an oil boom going on?
Real estate agents and home sellers, can you describe the imaginary buyer that you have pictured in your mind, that is going to buy an old, not very attractive home on a city lot in Dickinson for $227,000, when most blue collar workers, trades people, and oil field workers have lost their jobs, are fearful of losing their jobs, or are working reduced hours?

The only sane recommendation that I could make to a home seller now would be, that if you want to sell your home within the next several months, you had better drop the price to the point that it is clearly a very good deal in comparison to the other several hundred houses that are for sale in western North Dakota.

The advice that I would give to a home buyer would be to wait. The home prices are going to drop, whether the home owners and real estate agents like it or not. My estimation is, that a home that is currently advertised at $300,000 now in the Dickinson area, should actually be priced at $200,000 in order for it to sell within several months. One year from now, this same home would have to be priced at $175,000 for it to sell within several months. Two years from now, $150,000. I base this on what happened in Dickinson after the oil boom of the late 1970s. It is not that the home is actually worth so much less, it is that people will be leaving Dickinson, so many houses will be for sale at the same time, and there will be not many people wanting to buy a house in Dickinson.

I want to point out and remind the people in Dickinson, especially the real estate agents and property owners, that if you had not tried to take advantage of the out of state workers so bad during the oil boom, they all would not have planned on leaving Dickinson. If the local people would not have been so hateful and hostile, Dickinson would have had permanent growth and a larger economy. Dickinson will possibly or likely see a decline in population that continues for the next twenty years. Other towns and cities that are welcoming and hospitable will grow and experience new development.

Review Of Paragon Bowling Alley Outdoor Concert With The Band “32 Below” In Dickinson, North Dakota

July 4, 2017UncategorizedJohn Mueller Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, Paragon Bowling Alley Concert, relocating to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

On July 3, the Paragon Bowling Alley in downtown Dickinson held an outdoor concert with the band “32 Below’. Overall the concert was a successful and enjoyable event. The band “32 Below” is well liked in North Dakota, the event area was plenty big enough, all the people in attendance had a good time, and there were very few problems.

John Mueller, whose family has owned the Paragon Bowling Alley since approximately the 1960s, had planned to have this concert on July 3, since this winter. One of the biggest events in Dickinson is the Demolition Derby, which this year was held at the new Fair Grounds on July 3. No one else in Dickinson was planning an event for people to go to after the Demolition Derby, which is why John Mueller wanted to have this concert.

At about 5:30 p.m., while it was still day light, the local band “The Mollies” with the Landis sisters, began playing on a different stage, than the one where “32 Below” would play. This was a good idea, because there was not very much lag time between one band taking down their equipment and the next band setting up their equipment.

I stopped by early, and I found out that the Paragon was not going to charge an admission fee, which I didn’t know, and I bet that a lot of people didn’t know. I estimate that a band like “32 Below” costs about $10,000-$15,000 for an event, which is a lot of money to pay, and not charge admission.

The Paragon parking lot was fenced in with temporary fencing, mostly for people’s safety, because there was no admission fee, and there was no age requirement. There were some elderly attendees, toddler attendees, children attendees, and dogs and cats. Yes, dogs and cats from the neighborhood came to the event.

The beer garden bar tender girls were pleasant and attractive. The Paragon security people were laid back, not pushy, and not aggressive. The Dickinson Police Officers that were on duty at the event didn’t bother anyone at all or give anyone a hard time. There were enough rented bathrooms for there not to be problems.

Between 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the crowd outside the Paragon only got up to about 250 people. At about 8:00 p.m. the Camajur Bus service had been bringing people from the Demolition Derby and the crowd began to increase rapidly. Between 9:00 p.m. to 12 midnight, “32 Below” played almost non-stop, and the crowd outside the Paragon stayed at what I would estimate was between 500 to 600 people, as follows:

200 people directly in front of the stage.
100 people in the VIP corral and beer garden.
100 people outside of the VIP corral and beer garden.
200 people at the back of the event area around the mechanical bull.

I saw that the Paragon diner was full for most of the night. I was told that the bar was full too, but I didn’t go into the bar inside. Even though most of the attendees had been drinking alcohol all day, I did not see one fight, or one person pass out. Most of the attendees at the event were North Dakotans from this area, with a few DSU students and workers from out of state.

Allergies Almost Causing Me To Lose My Job In Dickinson, North Dakota

June 28, 2017Uncategorizedallergies in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I never had allergies before in my life, until the last four years in Dickinson, North Dakota. In my first two years in Dickinson, I didn’t have allergies either.

I wouldn’t care very much if I just had a runny nose, and red, itchy, watery eyes. But, one or both of my eyes swell nearly completely shut, my eyes become blinded by sunlight, and I can barely see. This happens about three to four times each year, for the past four years.

No one is going to like this, what I am going to write next. In order to not lose my job, and go to work, I have had to wear two pairs of sunglasses, one over top of the other, and open my eyes for 1/2 second, and close them for 1 second, while I am driving. On some days, even wearing two pairs of sunglasses, I can’t hold my eyes open for more than one second.

Why don’t I go to the doctor? Because this is Dickinson, and North Dakota, that’s why. I have lived with a life-long Dickinson resident for over three years. I have seen him try to make appointments with the St. Alexius Hospital and Sanford Health, many times. When he needs medical attention fairly urgently, describing his intense agonizing pain, the staff reads to him the appointment dates they have available, five to six weeks out.

Then, what I have seen them do to my room mate, is to schedule him for test after test after test, running up a bill of $7,000 for tests, and offer no treatment! So fuck the corrupt and incompetent medical professionals in Dickinson! They would probably try to put you on the medical helicopter to Bismarck for a bad case of hemorrhoids.

I am getting off my topic here, but what the medical facilities here in Dickinson are trying to do is bill, bill, bill, in order to pay for their personnel and facilities. In treating someone, even if they could quickly diagnose someone and treat them, they aren’t going to, because there is no money in that. And, they probably perceive there being some legal liability in trying to quickly diagnose someone and offer a simple treatment, foregoing extensive testing.

Back to my allergies. It happens three to four times a year in Dickinson, where my eyes swell up, become sensitive to light, and I can’t see. I have tried just about every over the counter allergy medication, like Benadryl, Claritin, Allegra, and Flonase. Benadryl seems to make my eyes more sensitive to light, Flonase Sensimist nasal spray seems to help the most. But nothing helps very much. Visine and Opticon allergy eye drops do not help very much.

If you have read my recent previous blog posts, you will know that I started a new job four weeks ago at an oil field company. I have to drive and operate a crane truck. If I don’t come to work, the work can not be done, my co-worker/supervisor can not get paid, and my company can not get paid. My co-worker/supervisor gets paid about $300 per day, his truck gets billed at about $200 per day at least, and my crane truck gets billed at about $500 per day at least, and the company loses about $3,000 per day in billing. If I tried to not come to work for even one day, they would try to replace me as soon as possible, permanently. Especially, if my co-worker/supervisor and the company thought that this was something that could happen again.

I could not say, “I have a bad allergy attack about three to four times a year, I am having a bad allergy attack this morning, it would not be safe for me to drive or work today.” I may as well say, “I quit.” The company would not understand. The part that they would understand, is that I needed to be replaced. Once my position has been filled, what do they need me for, so that I can call in sick again in the future?

I had to drive two hours to work on Monday in my personal truck with a bad allergy attack, and very much difficulty with my eyes. I then had to drive 1/2 hour in the crane truck to some place that I had never been. When I got to where my co-worker/supervisor was, I explained to him about my allergy problem that I was currently having, but that I wanted to try to work.

I know, and my co-worker/supervisor knows, that if I don’t work, neither of us get paid. This was my co-worker/supervisor’s main concern. I don’t think that most people will understand how dangerous it was for me and for others, for me to work and drive all day with having only about 30% of my eyesight. At the end of the day, I did not think that I could drive the crane truck back for thirty minutes in traffic. I tried to discuss this with my co-worker/supervisor, but he did not want to drive thirty minutes in the opposite direction from his home.

I made it to where I was going at the end of the day Monday, barely. My eyesight was slightly better on Tuesday and Wednesday. I managed to keep my job. This job pays me in one week, what I would earn in one month in Idaho. Jobs in the oil field are very scarce and hard to get now. It would have been the end of me working in the oil field if I would have lost this job after one month, especially for having allergies.

How My New Job Is Going In Dickinson, North Dakota

June 25, 2017Uncategorizedemployment in Dickinson North Dakota, jobs in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about starting a new job in Dickinson, North Dakota. I thought that it was going to be one of the best jobs that I ever had, because the company was enthusiastic about my previous work experience in several different areas that they happened to be looking for.

Because I am in my late forties, have had many jobs, and have worked for about seven companies in Dickinson, I knew that there could be complications and obstacles at work. I was mentally and emotionally prepared for things to not go well at work. I was especially expecting to experience hostility and lack of cooperation from the local North Dakotan co-workers, like always.

I had offered to drive my own personal truck to get to the work location two hours away. I was doing this so that the company would not have to find a truck for me, but also so that I would not be entirely at the mercy of others, at a work location two hours from Dickinson. When I arrived at work at 3:45 a.m. on a Monday morning, after waiting 45 minutes for my work manager to arrive, and he did not arrive, I was informed that he would not be in all this week.

The crane truck that was supposed to be at the work location, was here in Dickinson, and I would have to drive it. I was told the keys were in it, I was already late, to get in it and go. I got my personal work equipment bag and my hotel bag for the week out of my own truck and carried them to the crane truck.

The crane truck had spoiled food in a take-out box on the dashboard, all kinds of other garbage on the dashboard, all kinds of garbage on the seat, and on the floor boards. It was dark outside, but looking out the back window of the truck cab, I could see a metal gas can unsecured on top of the right side tool box. I got out of the crane truck and walked to the rear of the truck, on the back bumper, below the level of the rear deck, were two 35 lb buckets of grease, that would have fallen off on the highway. I was very angry about all of this.

I felt like I was being set up to get fired, by my piece of shit North Dakota co-workers, but I realized that it was more likely stupidity that caused the crane truck to be an accident waiting to happen for the next person who drove this truck. I was angry that any company would start a new employee out like this, I sure wouldn’t.

I went back in to the office to inform them that the keys were not in the crane truck. After about twenty minutes, they were able to find an employee who had the keys. As this employee was removing all of the keys that were needed from his key ring, he was saying that a major piece of equipment on the crane truck was not working, that would be needed. Some things were said by a manager along the lines of, it’s not my problem.

I had had about as much as I could take. Everything in my mind was telling me to say to this company, “Hey, that’s O.K., I don’t want to work here.” I now believed that I had made a mistake, and the best thing for me to do now, was to not spend another minute at this company. If I would have gotten in that crane truck and gone, I could have caused an accident on the highway and gotten someone hurt with all the things that were ready to fall off the truck. I didn’t know what else was wrong with this truck, was the boom locked down, was the other rigging locked down, what was my clearance height?

I had not been given any drive maps, work site location, work orders, work contacts, hotel information, fuel credit card for the crane truck, hydrogen sulfide H2S monitor, or been asked if I had all of my mandatory personal safety equipment. They just wanted me to go. I was getting a very bad impression of the company, and I believed that this is what the company was like, no thought, planning, preparation, care, concern, or accountability.

If anything went wrong, they would just blame me, and I thought that they were setting me up to fail. I wanted so bad to quit right then, to spare myself from the blame of everything going wrong, which everything would likely go wrong. If I would have known that I would have had to drive this crane truck, there was plenty of time on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday for me to inspect and check this crane truck, and the equipment on this truck, when there was day light.

If the crane truck would have been low on fuel, this might have been the last straw. I considered whether I was willing to spend my own money to fuel this truck, rather than deal with the people in the office, who weren’t prepared to provide me with anything.

I left the company yard being more angry, than nervous about driving a very large truck, which I hadn’t driven anything this large for six years. At about 6:00 a.m., I telephoned my co-worker that I was supposed to meet at the work location. I could tell from his voice that he was from the South like me. I was relieved that I would not be working with a North Dakotan.

When I got to the work location at about 7:30a.m., I talked to the man who I would be working with. He was my age. He had worked in the oil field for most of his life, so had his father, and his grandfather. He was very knowledgeable about most areas of oil field work and operations. He looked at the piece of equipment on the crane truck that was broken, and he said that there was very little we could do without this piece of equipment working. He said we would take his truck back to Dickinson.

During the two hour drive back to Dickinson, I had the chance to talk to my co-worker from the South. He explained to me why the company was, the way that it was. He explained that he tries to handle everything, and take care of everything on his own. To not rely on the office in Dickinson, to handle everything himself, as much as possible. As long as work gets done, and the work makes money, he is allowed to operate on his own, without much interference. This is the only way he wants to work.

After getting parts in Dickinson, I was able to drive my own personal truck back to the work location. In the next two days, I worked in the oil field with my co-worker, who was in charge of the work because of his four or five year work relationship with the customer, and because of his many more years work experience in the oil field. On about the third day, my co-worker began leaving me on my own, to go do other things. By the end of the first week, I was working on my own for most of the day.

I was a little angry, that I was having to do all of the work by myself, I didn’t think that I was supposed to be doing everything by myself all the time. On the other hand, I was being left alone, left in charge of the work, and I was not being bothered. After a few days of working with my co-worker, I had told him that I had been a foreman, a superintendent, a project manager, an inspector, and had operated my own construction business. Because of my age, my work experience, and working with me, my co-worker believed that I did not need any supervision or help, and that he could be elsewhere, doing other things.

What my co-worker wanted, and I suppose what I want too, is to be left alone to do your work. To not get phone calls where people are quizzing you about work progress and work details. To not have people pushing you to get more work done. To not have other people trying to tell you how to do the work, what you are doing wrong, and trying to direct everything you do, like you are not capable of directing yourself.

In order to get work done, I have chosen to work on many bad weather days, rainy days, and high wind days. There is a prohibition against performing certain operations when the wind is over thirty miles per hour, but I have done it anyway, because about 30% of the time there have been high winds. This is possibly another reason why my co-worker has decided to be elsewhere doing other things. If I get caught performing certain operations when the wind is over thirty miles per hour, it is better for my co-worker and my company to deny any knowledge of this, that no one knew that I was doing this, to let me take the blame, and for me to get fired. I understand that if the work does not get completed, my company can not get paid, and my co-worker and I can not get paid unless we work every day completing the work.

There are a lot of dangerous things that I have to do many times each day, that are just part of this work. Every location that I go to has multiple surveillance cameras which are monitored at an operations center. If the customer wanted to, they could watch every step that I performed, all day long. Every location has SCADA systems, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, which monitor and send oil and gas flow rates, oil and gas pressures, oil and gas temperatures, valve positions, electric motor speeds, electric motor loading, and probably perimeter breach. Every location that I go to and begin work, causes the operations center to receive alarms for drop in flow rates, drop in pressure, stop in motor load, and stop in motor speed. The multiple alarms result in the operations center looking at the surveillance cameras for that location to determine what is going on at that location. Because each location cost many millions of dollars, I get watched at each location by the people at the operations center. Many people do not know this or think about this, but they should.

I have about two or three more weeks of out of town work, then, as far as I know, I will be working out of the Dickinson office. I don’t know how this will go, or if I can handle this or not. I don’t know if I can take the lack of cooperation, unfriendliness, and unhelpfulness that I always get from North Dakota co-workers. The past three weeks my co-worker from the South has been cordial and has let me work on my own. The customer oil company personnel have been very civil and decent so far. I don’t know if I can take what is going to happen when I go back to Dickinson.

There Aren’t Even Any Skank Girls In Western North Dakota

June 18, 2017Uncategorizedguide to Dickinson North Dakota, guide to western North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, skank girls, skank women, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, what is western North Dakota like, women in Dickinson North Dakota, women in Western North Dakotaname withheld

I have lived in Western North Dakota for almost five years now. I have written many blog posts about the shortage of women and the scarcity of attractive women in Western North Dakota. About one year ago I wrote a blog post titled, “List Of Attractive Women In Dickinson, North Dakota”. On that list, I have included three women from Watford City, one woman from Belfield, one woman from South Heart, two women from Amidon, and about ten women from Dickinson. I have only been able to come up with about twenty attractive women in Western North Dakota, and I have been here for five years.

I thought about attractive women that I could add to my List Of Attractive Women, being careful to not include any skank women, and then I realized that there aren’t even any skank women in Western North Dakota. About one month ago I wrote a blog post titled, “Skank Women From The South”. In that blog post I had intended to point out and explain that there aren’t any skank women in Western North Dakota, but I only managed to describe skank women.

Skank women start out in life being underprivileged. They are often pale and skinny as children and adolescents because they don’t have access to very much food, and they don’t get to go outside and play in the sun. Also, they sometimes have scars from a car accident, animal attack, or other mishap. When they become teenagers, they sometimes blossom into attractive young ladies, but they are poor, and not from respectable families, so they are not destined to be a cheerleader, homecoming queen, or go to college and be in a sorority. Sometimes, they have a stigma attached to them because their mother was so wild, or their father was a criminal.

As all good respectable women know, their husband, boyfriend, brother, or son can become involved with a skank woman. Skank women did not have a lot growing up, they did not have high expectations in life, they only expected to have small pleasures in life, such as going out, getting drunk, and having the affection and company of men.

Skank women are not necessarily trashy. If I wanted to talk about white trash women, I would say that I was talking about white trash women. White trash women are the next level below skank women. Now that I think about it, there aren’t even hardly any white trash women in Western North Dakota.

In Western North Dakota, besides the twenty attractive women on my list, it skips straight down past the skank women level, straight past the white trash women level, and stops at one of two lower levels, the battle axe women, and the drug addict women.

Just like there is a scarcity of attractive women, there is a scarcity of plain average women, and you mainly see women that are the battle axe women, the women with big ankles, ham fists, and scowling faces, that look like somebody hits them in the face with the flat side of a 1”x4” board every morning. The other women that you mainly see are the drug addict, problem women, that came from Los Angeles, Los Vegas, Spokane, or Coeur d’Alene.

The South is full of skank women. They work at banks, book keeping, retail stores, offices, and in health care. They are easy to meet and talk to. You meet them at the places where they work, at any store you go to, any place you go: convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, Wal-Mart, laundromats, dry cleaners, the beach. They don’t go to the gym, or go to church.

Skank women like getting asked out. If they got asked out nicely three times in one day, they would probably agree to go out on three different dates. They look forward to getting slightly dressed up, to meet someone for dinner at a restaurant, or drinks at a bar. They like meeting people, going places, and doing things. They see going out with people as an opportunity to do all kinds of things that they like: eating good food, having good drinks, getting drunk, dancing, making friends, going new places, seeing other people’s nice clothes, jewelry, cars, motorcycles, boats, animals, and homes. They like to have fun, they look forward to having fun.

The battle axe women in Western North Dakota want to make everyone miserable, most of the time, they are like ogres or trolls. The problem drug addict women that came to Western North Dakota from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Spokane, and Coeur D’Alene to work at the bars, restaurants, and hotels just want to get high on meth, crack, or heroin.

I Need To Warn Everyone About Dickinson And Western North Dakota

June 17, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, living in Western North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, moving to Western North Dakota, police in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, what is western North Dakota likename withheld

I started this blog about three years ago to tell everyone from out of state what Dickinson, North Dakota is like. I wanted people to have truthful information about Dickinson so that they would be prepared and know what to expect if they came to Dickinson to work, or perhaps they would choose not to come if they knew the truth. Now more than ever, I need to warn people about Dickinson and Western North Dakota.

First, the Oil Boom is over in North Dakota. The number of operating oil drill rigs went from 200 a few years ago, to less than 40 currently. There are fracturing operations going on, and work over rig operations going on, but these operations will be winding down in about a year. There are many, many experienced applicants already living in Western North Dakota for every job opening that is advertised.

Second, Dickinson and Western North Dakota are going to experience a great Economic Bust in approximately 1-1/2 years. There are a combination of more than four economic factors that guarantee an Economic Bust is coming. At least 70% of the oil field jobs went away after 2015. Many oil field workers moved out of state, but some remained. There are now many, many experienced and able-bodied applicants for every job that is advertised. The wage rates are decreasing, workers are making less money. 70% of the oil field jobs went away. Every business is making less money. Businesses need fewer employees now. More people will be forced to move away from Western North Dakota due to a reduction in wage rates, and a reduction in jobs. As more and more people move away, businesses will close, there will be fewer jobs, and more people will have to move away.

Three, the people in Western North Dakota have hated outsiders for many generations. They have hated and mistreated the out of state workers in every way possible throughout this Oil Boom in North Dakota that began in 2007. Now that the Oil Boom is over, the people in Dickinson are targeting out of state workers with hatred and hostility like never before. The local human resources personnel with the City of Dickinson, Stark County, the State of North Dakota, and private employers, hide job openings and only disclose them to friends and family members, so that their friends and family members can get hired. The Western North Dakota Highway Patrol and police are targeting out of state workers to try to make them leave North Dakota.

Prior to working in Western North Dakota, I worked in Tampa for seven years, Arizona for five years, Idaho for five years, and Texas for one year. In Tampa, Arizona, Idaho, and Texas, I never once got stopped by the police in those eighteen years of working. In the past year in Western North Dakota, I have been stopped and questioned by the police three times. None of these times was I speeding.

The Police Are Trying To Encourage People To Leave North Dakota

June 11, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, police harassment in Dickinson North Dakota, police in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, working in Dickinson North Dakota, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I first came to North Dakota to work in the oil field in May of 2011. For the first two years, I primarily worked around Dickinson, North Dakota. I realized very soon after arriving in Dickinson, that the police were very eager to stop people for DUI.

There is very little to do in Dickinson, North Dakota. Especially if you are not from Dickinson, don’t have friends, don’t have family, and don’t own a home here. There is very little to do here, except go to bars and restaurants. The police drive around and around the downtown areas, waiting to try to get a chance to stop someone.

The police have already driven past the Paragon, the Spur, the Rock, Bernie’s Esquire Club, the Eagles Lodge, and Applebees several times, and noticed what vehicles were parked outside. When a customer has to drive home on Villard, State, or Main, the police already know where the person just left.

I don’t call this policing, or law enforcement. Policing and law enforcement would be to deter and detect crime. This is more like harassment and corruption, starting out with the intention of making an arrest, pulling over as many motorists as possible, and trying to come up with something illegal that you can accuse them of.

Over the past three years, I have written several blog posts about getting stopped by the police in Dickinson, North Dakota, and Watford City, North Dakota. I try to not ever drink alcohol at bars and restaurants in North Dakota, because I know that the police are very aggressive in stopping people for DUI. When I have not been drinking alcohol, and have not been speeding, I have gotten stopped by the police more than several times in North Dakota. The police are hopeful that once they get you pulled over, they will find something that you can be arrested for.

Beginning this spring, the police and Highway Patrol in North Dakota have become much, much more aggressive in trying to stop motorists for anything they can possibly come up with. I would say, that this behavior of the police and Highway Patrol in Dickinson now amounts to violating people’s Civil Rights, and constitutional rights.

I have been a licensed driver for 30 years. In my first 15 years of driving, I got two moving violation tickets, and had one accident. In my second 15 years of driving, I have gotten no moving violation tickets, and had no accidents. I got stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol in March of this year, and I was given a “failure to wear seat belt” citation. I got stopped by the North Dakota Highway Patrol last weekend, and I was given a “failure to wear seat belt” citation. In both of these stops by the Highway Patrol, I was going under the speed limit, and I was towing a trailer.

Let me repeat, and point out again, that prior to being stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol in March of 2017, and by the North Dakota Highway Patrol in June of 2017, I had not had any moving violations or vehicle accidents in the past 15 years. During the past 15 years, I have driven to Florida, through Utah many times, and I lived in Arizona, Texas, Idaho, and North Dakota.

I am writing this blog post because I have had enough of the police in Dickinson and the Highway Patrol in Dickinson trying to stop me for something.

In the beginning of June, I rented an apartment in downtown Dickinson. In mid-June I got stopped by the Highway Patrol when I was towing a trailer from the north side of Dickinson across town to where my new apartment is. The following weekend, I was continuing to make trips to move things to my new apartment.

I was driving west on Villard, driving the speed limit, 25 mph. My police radar detector started beeping just as I was passing through the stoplight at 3rd Avenue. I saw the front end of a Dickinson Police vehicle sticking out beside the wall of the Sax Motor Company building. He was hiding. There were very few vehicles on Villard, it was approximately 9:00 a.m. As I passed the police vehicle that was parked, the police vehicle did not pull out onto Villard.

After I had driven three blocks further, I looked in my rear view mirror, to see if the police vehicle had pulled out onto Villard, and it had not. I did not want to get stopped by the Dickinson Police. I did not want them following me.

Just before I reached the west end of Villard, just before the very last stop light beside the gas station, I needed to change into the left lane, because the road narrows from two lanes to one lane. I didn’t plan on using my turn signal to change lanes, I just looked in my rear view mirror and my side mirror to make sure that there were no vehicles beside me. Whoa!, there’s that Dickinson Police vehicle, he got behind me and he stayed back three blocks behind me, for about a mile, with his radar turned off so that I didn’t know he was there.

Attention Dickinson Police, this is beyond ridiculous, this is going too far. First, you are hiding behind the wall of the Sax Motor Company building with speed detector radar on, and then you are pulling out behind passing motorists on Villard, and then following them for one mile, hoping to be able to stop them for speeding, changing lanes without signaling, turning without signaling, failure to come to a complete stop, not maintaining lane, expired registration, brake light not working, etcetera.

This is not policing and law enforcement, this is harassment, and interfering with people’s Civil Rights, and constitutional rights to travel freely, and not be required to explain and prove that you are not engaged in any illegal activity. I don’t know if the Chief of Police in Dickinson has instructed the police officers to stop, question, and ticket every vehicle with an out of state license plate, or if the police officers in Dickinson have decided to do this all on their own.

Whenever I have to drive in Dickinson now, I have to try to find a way to not get stopped by the police. I have to watch out for where the police are hiding, and watch out for them trying to sneak up behind me. Figuring out ahead of time, that there is a temporary construction zone ahead, where you have to change lanes and reduce speed, and that this is why the police are trying to follow behind me right here, without me noticing them.

To answer a question, why do I have an Idaho license plate on my truck? I have two trucks with North Dakota license plates, and two trucks with Idaho license plates. I own a home in Idaho, which is my primary residence. I have the full amount of income tax withheld from my pay checks by the State of North Dakota, and, I have to pay Idaho income tax too. I pay motor vehicle registration, and income tax, equally to both North Dakota, and Idaho.

I purchased two trucks, thousands of dollars in construction equipment, thousands of dollars in personal property, paid thousands of dollars in truck repairs, and paid $25,000 in rent, all in North Dakota. I wish that the police would leave me the fuck alone, instead of trying to harass me and try to get me to leave North Dakota.

I think that the police are trying to force people from out of state, to leave North Dakota, so that the less able and less qualified North Dakotans will be able to gain employment. Also, I think that this is part of a strategy to get the people in North Dakota back under control.

My New Job In Dickinson, North Dakota Almost Turned Out To Be The Worst Job I Ever Had

June 7, 2017Uncategorizedgetting a job in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, working in Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

This winter I was working very few hours for a company in Dickinson where I had been employed for the past three years. I looked at all of the internet job posting websites several times each week for job openings in Dickinson all winter.

I wrote several blog posts about very few job openings being advertised for Dickinson, North Dakota. I began looking for job openings in Williston and Watford City. There were very few job openings in Williston and Watford City.

I applied for about six jobs, for work that I had done in the past. I received no response. For one job that I applied for, I had the highest level of State of North Dakota certification that you can get, and a very good work record in that field. I contacted the human resources department of the company, and they couldn’t explain why they would not hire me.

Finally, I applied for a job, for work that I had done before, and both the first interviewer and the second interviewer were very complimentary and enthusiastic about my resume, my work experience, and what I could do at their company. I was very happy to get some acknowledgement. I was hired last week at this company.

I had to buy about $310 of fire resistant clothing, because it was required, and I only had four FR shirts, and no FR pants. I had to go to an all day oil field safety training class, and later that night do some on-line orientation and tests. I was told to show up at 5:00 a.m. Friday for my first day of work.

When I showed up for work at 5: 00 a.m. Friday, I was asked by a manager if I was willing to go work in New Town, two hours drive to the north. I could stay at the Four Bears Casino resort. I said that I could do this. The manager said that the crew truck was already up there, but they would try to find me a truck to drive up there.

In order to not cause the company any trouble, and to have a way to get away if I needed to, I offered to drive my own truck. This was fine with the manager, and it was fine with me. I was told to arrive at the office at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning.

When I arrived at the office at 3:45 a.m. on Monday, there was no one around. Shortly after 4:00 a.m., there were a few work crews loading their trucks, but none of them were going to New Town.

At about 4:30 a.m., a manager arrived, and this manager told me, that the manager that I had talked to on Friday would not be in all this week. I didn’t like this, it looked like things were turning bad. The manager that was present, telephoned the manager that was absent, to ask what was going on. The new instructions were, that I was to drive a very large crane truck from the company yard, up to New Town. They were mad that I was already late. I was mad because I was there at 3:45 a.m.

If I had known that I would have to drive a very large crane truck, I would have gone through this truck on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It is very dangerous to get in and drive a large crane truck, without checking everything. You need to check the tires, the engine oil, if the boom is locked down, are the outriggers up, what is your height clearance, check the side mirrors, clean the windshield, make sure all the tool compartment doors are closed, make sure all the rigging and equipment is secured. You could get someone killed if everything on the truck is not locked down. The managers just wanted me to get in it and go.

When I got in the crane truck, there was week old spoiled food in a take out box on the dashboard. There were about five other pieces of garbage on the dashboard along with ten other things that should not have been there. The seat was so full of garbage and debris, that I could hardly sit down. There was garbage on the floor boards. Looking out the rear window, I could see an unsecured metal gas can on the top of a side tool box. When I climbed up on to the rear bed, I found two five gallon buckets of grease, on the very back ledge, that would have fallen off on the highway.

I was very, very angry. No company should allow employees to leave a company vehicle like this. I had thought that I was going to work for a good company, but it was obvious that this was a terrible company. They wanted me to just get in this truck and go. There were no keys in the ignition, and I could not find keys anywhere in this truck.

I went back inside the office, and I said that the keys were not inside the truck. The manager had to think a while who might have the keys, and who he could call. I wanted so much to say, “Hey, I don’t want to work here, this place is a mess.”

I had never worked for a company as bad as this. I did not have a company credit card to pay for fuel for this truck. I did not have any drive directions, contact information on who I was meeting and where, and I did not have a hydrogen sulfide H2S monitor which is absolutely mandatory in the oil field.

When I was asking the manager these things, he was kind of irritated. When a young man was found who had the keys, this young man had included the six keys for this truck and its tool boxes, with his personal keys. As this young man was fishing through all the keys that he had, and trying to separate the ones for this truck, he was informing us that a major piece of equipment on this truck that would be required for work in New Town, was not working.

I had to sign an agreement that I would be liable for the multi gas meter that was issued to me, that cost $750. I had already signed an agreement that if I quit prior to six months, I would be liable for the cost of my all day oil field safety class, and the cost of my pre-employment drug test. I had already spent $310 on FR clothing. I never felt so bad about going to work for a company, so disgusted, disappointed, angry, and tricked.

Within about one hour of driving this truck, I had to go through the mountain switchbacks north of Killdeer called “the breaks”. With this type of truck with air brakes, the air brakes alone are not enough to slow you down on steep down hills. Before you start going down hill, you have to shift into a lower gear. If you don’t get the shifter into a lower gear while you are still going slow, and you start to speed up, you never will be able to get into a lower gear, it is too late. It is a good thing that I knew this, because I found that the brakes were not enough to slow this truck down on the steep down hills.

When I made it to New Town, the experienced oil field worker that I would be working with, said that there was no work assignment that we could complete with the piece of equipment on the truck being broken. Phone calls were made to try to get some parts. The client who was expecting work to be completed that day, had to be informed why work could not be completed today. We had to drive a different truck back to Dickinson, to try to get parts.

The experienced oil field worker that I would be working with, he was from the South, like me. He was very knowledgeable and easy to get along with, so I thought that I would try to stick it out a while longer, at least long enough to pay for my oil field safety class and my pre-employment drug test.

Me And More Problems With The Highway Patrol

June 3, 2017Uncategorizedgetting stopped by the Highway Patrol, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

About two months ago I wrote a blog post about getting stopped by the Highway Patrol in Montana, titled “Almost Getting Caught By The Montana Highway Patrol With 20 Pounds Of Methamphetamine”.

How that all began, was my room mate in Dickinson, the owner of the house where I live, was acting so mentally ill and offensive, that I felt that I needed to move out of his house. I quickly and unexpectedly had to begin moving my property back to Idaho. I put a 4,500 lb Toyota truck on a 2,000 lb trailer, and I began towing this 6,500 lb load behind a two wheel drive 4,000 lb truck back to Idaho. There was a sudden unexpected snow storm, and I got stuck on the interstate in Montana, right behind a tractor truck that was also stuck in the snow.

The 25 mile tow to the nearest town cost me $365. The roads were snowy and icy all the way back to Idaho. It was a horrible drive, towing the trailer. I had to drive under the speed limit all the way back to Idaho. And I drove under the speed limit all the way back to North Dakota. It was unbelievable to me when I got stopped by the Highway Patrol in Montana. I am not going to repeat the whole story again here.

My room mate changed his ways when I got back from Idaho. He had believed that I was unable to move, but now he realized that I could move. He needed the money that he got from me for rent, because he did not have a job. Back in Idaho, I found that there were still very few jobs, so I was thinking that I would be better off staying in Dickinson, where I had been living.

Gradually over the past two months, my room mate began acting worse and worse, again. During the hours from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., is when his behavior is the most troubling. He begins talking to himself, with periods of shouting, shrieking, and yelling out, things like, “I wan’t to commit suicide!”, “I tried!, I tried!, I tried!”, “I’m sorry!, I’m sorry!, I’m sorry!” There are also periods when his talking to himself seems to deal with threats and anger towards me.

I had worked with adults with dementia, “sun downers” delirium, alzheimers, brain injuries, schizophrenia, and many other mental disorders, for three years. My opinion was that my room mate was mentally ill, but mentally ill for the fact that he was deliberately acting crazy in order to get attention and be an asshole.

I talked to my room mate’s brother about this in private, and I asked him if my room mate had had mental health problems and treatment in the past. His response was, “No, but our father did the same thing.”

I was having a harder and harder time living in this house. I was not making very much money at my job in Dickinson. I wondered if I should move back to Idaho. I thought that it would be a mistake for me to move into an apartment with a one year lease in Dickinson, because I was making so little money, and there were so few jobs currently advertised in Dickinson. A property manager might not even allow me to lease an apartment if I could not demonstrate a high enough income.

I was having one of the worst periods of my life in April and May. I kept looking for jobs and applying for jobs in Dickinson. Even jobs that I was very, very qualified for, and had done in the past, I was not even getting called for an interview. I wrote some blog posts about this, that the local human resources personnel in Dickinson were hiding job advertisements, in order to do everything they could to hire their relatives, friends, and neighbors.

At the same time that I could not get a job in Dickinson, my room mate, who was unemployed and always home, was deliberately acting grotesque, obnoxious, offensive, and mentally ill. Though this period of reduced work at my job could have been a time where I did things that I enjoyed, like watching movies, cooking out, exercising, going kayaking, and riding my bike, my room mate’s constant presence and his mental illness was getting me down. Which I think, is what he was trying to achieve, to make me unhappy and miserable, because he was unhappy and miserable.

Miraculously, I went to interview with a company in Dickinson where the managers had a very high opinion of my resume and my work experience. They even offered to pay me more than what I had asked. The job that I was hired for, and the company that I was hired to work at, is potentially one of the best jobs that I have ever had.

I was happy that I got hired, but I was somewhat stressed because I realized that I could not afford to mess this job up. The way things were going in Dickinson, I was very lucky to get this job, and there probably would not be another chance like this for me in Dickinson.

When I got home the day of my job interview, my room mate was trying to be obnoxious and offensive, so I just went to my bed room and stayed there, like I had been doing for many days recently. The next day, when I had to interview with a second person, and I got hired, when I got home, I nearly got into a fight with my room mate. On the third day, when I got home after my company orientation and training, I then told my room mate that I had gotten hired, and I told him what company. I explained to my room mate that I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. the following morning in order to go to work. In a short while, my room mate began acting very hostile and shitty, and I just about could not handle it at that time.

I was both happy and stressed about my new job. My room mate’s behavior took away any happiness and optimism that I had, and he added to the stress that I was feeling. I think that he was angry that I got a good job, and he felt that he needed to cause me problems and make me miserable. With my new job and everything that I had to do, I was in no position to move out of his house, he thought. He looked at this as an opportunity to start acting hostile, nasty, and shitty. It almost came to a fight. I knew that if I hit my room mate, that this assault would be the end of my new job. Of course, my room mate knew that too.

I couldn’t take the problems that my room mate was causing me. His always being home and getting on my nerves, trying to be offensive and grotesque, and causing a fight. I could not get into a fight, and be charged with assault. This would cause me to lose my job. Even though I was tired, needed to prepare for work the following day, and needed to be able to wake up at 3:30 a.m., I instead had to now spend several hours on the internet looking for some place that I could move within a few days.

When I woke up at 3:30 a.m. the following morning, I could hear my room mate in the living room talking to himself, making threats towards me. I went to work, and I was unexpectedly done by about 6:00 a.m. I was asked to go work out of town for the next several weeks, starting Monday. I was very happy that I would have the entire rest of the day to look for someplace else to live.

At about 7:00 a.m., I went to the addresses of the apartments that I was interested in, to see what they were like. By about 8:30 a.m., I was able to talk to a man who owned an industrial property, and after discussing things, he tentatively agreed to let me park my two equipment trailers and one pick up truck on his property for $150 per month. By about 9:30 a.m., I was at a property management office filling out a rental application. The property manager agreed to meet me at the apartment that I was interested in at 12:30 p.m.

I went to the bank and I withdrew some money to pay my current room mate rent for the month of June. Even though I did not have a lease, it is customary and kind of legally required to give 30 days notice prior to moving out, and pay rent through those 30 days. I drove home and I gave the rent money to my current room mate, and I told him that I would have all of my belongings, vehicles, and trailers off of his property by the end of the month.

I drove to several more industrial and commercial properties to find out what they would charge me to my park my two equipment trailers and a pick up truck. I eventually found a slightly better deal, than I had found earlier this morning. I paid a commercial property owner rent for the month of June to park my trailers and a truck.

When I met the apartment property manager at 12:30 p.m., he said that my background check and credit report was very good. He showed me the apartment that I wanted to see, but he offered to rent me a much nicer apartment for less than what was advertised. I couldn’t believe how nice the other apartment was, and how large it was. This was about the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me in Dickinson. I paid rent for the month of June, and was scheduled to move in next week.

I drove back to where I lived, and I started putting my belongings into my two equipment trailers. I asked a neighbor kid if I could pay him to help me carry a bed up the stairs where I was moving next Saturday, and he agreed. By about 2:00 p.m., my first equipment trailer was loaded. I hooked a truck up to the first equipment trailer, drove it to the commercial property, unhooked it, and returned home to load the second equipment trailer.

It was a very hot and sunny day. It was about 97 degrees in the sun according to my vehicle thermometers. I was trying to hurry up and load kayaks, bicycles, and other things into my trailers. I wanted to get as much done as possible, so that I could get out of this house, and get away from my room mate. I was also trying to get one of my trucks ready to drive out of town for work the following week.

I hooked up the second equipment trailer to my truck at about 3:30 p.m., and I began driving it to the commercial property. There was a vibration in the truck. I could not tell if it was transmission shudder, or if it was another coil over spark plug module that was going bad. The number eight cylinder coil over spark plug went bad about one year ago, and it cost $250 to replace it. I was hoping that I didn’t have this problem again right now on a different cylinder, I needed this truck to not break down.

As I was making a left turn onto the intestate on-ramp, a lady driving an approaching car in the right exit lane to make a right turn onto the interstate ramp, changed lanes just before she got to me, and went straight instead of taking the on-ramp. I was able to stop just in time to avoid a collision, but I was mad about it. I needed this truck for work at my new job next week, and I didn’t need to be in an accident. The shudder in the truck, the near miss collision at the on-ramp, all the events of the past few days, and what I had to do in the coming week were all going through my mind as I drove on the interstate.

When I exited from the interstate onto the off ramp, I did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign. As I made a right turn, I could then see the blue police lights in my truck side mirror. Fuck! He got me. I pulled off the road into a parking lot, and I could see that the Highway Patrol had got me. I thought that the failure to come to a complete stop at the stop sign was a traffic violation of about 3 points, which I was willing to accept.

The Highway Patrol officer was more concerned than I was expecting him to be. He didn’t like that I was not wearing my seat belt. He informed me that both my trailer and my truck had crossed over the “fog line” several times. He asked me if I had been drinking. He believed that I had been drinking. He did not like that my truck had an Idaho license plate, instead of a North Dakota license plate. He explained the law to me. He did not like that I had an Idaho driver’s license instead of a North Dakota driver’s license. He explained the law to me. I told him that my registration sticker was expired, but I had my registration renewal payment receipt. He was not happy about this.

It looked to me that I was going to get enough points for traffic violations from this traffic stop, to lose my new job. I knew from the job application, the interview, and the company orientation, that if I had 6 points on my driving record, I would lose my job.

I couldn’t believe it. I had been looking for jobs and applying for jobs, for months. Miraculously, when circumstances were very grim, I got a job that might be one of the best jobs that I ever had. I couldn’t let anything go wrong. I couldn’t risk getting into a fight with my room mate, so I paid him rent for the month of June, found an apartment and paid rent for the month of June, and I paid rent for a commercial property to park my equipment trailers and truck. Now, it looked like I was going to be instantly out of a job because the Highway Patrol officer believed everything I was doing was wrong.

I couldn’t believe it. Between 2002 and 2017, fifteen years, I had driven to Florida, to Texas several times, to Arizona about ten times, and back to Idaho about twelve times, and I had never gotten any kind of ticket in the past fifteen years! I had not been in a car accident for the past twenty years. Why, why, have I been stopped by the Highway Patrol twice in the past two months? Again, I had not gotten any tickets in the past fifteen years, why am I getting stopped now?

I believe that the Highway Patrol is being aggressive in stopping people with out of state license plates because of suspicion of drug trafficking. I kind of understand this, but I don’t like it when I get stopped. I was asked to explain myself and what I was doing. I cooperated because I was not doing anything illegal.

I was grateful that I was only given a ticket for failure to wear a seatbelt, and given warnings for the other things.

Why do I have an Idaho driver’s license? Because my home is in Idaho, and I expected to go back to Idaho many times. I believed that I was going back for good in March. I believed that I was going to have to go back for good at the end of June if I didn’t get a job.

Why does my truck have an Idaho license plate? My Toyota truck sitting in my driveway in Idaho, has a North Dakota license plate. Two of my trucks that I drive frequently have Idaho license plates, and two of my trucks that I drive frequently have North Dakota license plates.

Why did my trailer tires and my truck tires cross over the white “fog line”? My trailer width from outside of tire to outside of tire is a little more than 8-1/2 feet. My truck width from outside of tire to outside of tire is about 7 feet. I could hear and feel that my trailer tires were sometimes running on the milled strip. This is O.K. with me, because I know where my trailer tires are, they are on the milled strip, and the trailer is not near vehicles in the left lane. The trailer tires stick out wider than the truck, and it would be a problem if I drove more to the left, and the trailer tires went into the left lane. But it is not hurting anything for the trailer tires to run a short while on the milled strip, which is what happens when you drive more towards the right side of the right lane.

The whole time I tow a trailer to Arizona or to Idaho, from time to time the trailer tires run on the milled strip, and you just ease back away from it. It is safer for passing vehicles in the left lane, if my trailer, which is wider than my truck, never crosses into the left lane, so I try to stay to the right side of the right lane.

When I got to the commercial property to park my trailer, I didn’t feel well at all. It had been a lot of work to make arrangements to get moved, and it was very hot when I was loading my trailers, and I had gotten too hot. I felt week, faint, and dehydrated. I was upset about getting stopped by the Highway Patrol.

This is why people do not like the police. When life is going O.K., you have a good steady job, a good place to live, a new trouble free vehicle, and live in a town with family, relatives, and friends, it doesn’t make much difference if you get stopped by the police. However, if you don’t have a good steady job, a good place to live, a new trouble free vehicle, and family, relatives, and friends to help you, getting stopped by the police sometimes starts to look like the police are going to get you where you have so many points on your license either this time, or when they stop you tomorrow, or the next day, you won’t be able to drive, won’t be able to keep your job or get hired anywhere, and won’t be able to pay your rent and other bills.

I am starting to feel like the police are people that cause other people to lose everything. This is how poor white trash and poor blacks feel, that the police are always going to try to get you for something, to cause you to lose what you have, and get you into jail. When the police officers go on duty, I think that they are intending to perform law enforcement. I don’t know if they realize that many people look at them as trying to victimize others.

Dire Warning About Living And Working In Dickinson, North Dakota

May 28, 2017Uncategorizedlay offs in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, outlook for Dickinson North Dakota, preparing to leave Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, work slow down in Dickinson North Dakota, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I have been looking at the job posting websites North Dakota Job Services, Indeed, Careerbuilder, Monster, Rigzone, and LinkedIn almost every day in April and May. There are very few jobs listed for Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston. April and May are the busiest hiring months in Western North Dakota.

There are usually several job listings for registered nurses, CDL drivers with at least two years experience, and mechanic field service technicians. About every other week there is a listing for a journeyman electrician, or a heavy equipment operator.

I would estimate that there are 30% to 40% fewer job listings for Dickinson in April and May of 2017, than there were in April and May of 2016.

I would estimate that there are 60% fewer job listings for Dickinson in April and May of 2017, than there were in April and May of 2015.

I want to warn everyone in Dickinson what I think is going to happen. The construction workers, electricians, equipment operators, mechanics, oil field service workers, plumbers, truck drivers, and welders that are currently employed in Dickinson, will keep their jobs through December of 2017. Then there will be a winter work slow down like there always is, with reduced work hours and lay offs. However, I believe that at least 20% of these workers will not have a job to return to in Dickinson in the spring of 2018. There will not be enough work in Dickinson.

Any of the workers in these trades can go look at every job posting website that they can find, and they will see that there are very few job listings for these trades in Dickinson, Watford City, and Williston. They have got to realize that there is not a high demand right now, in the busiest hiring months, and that there has been a steady decline in demand for these trades in Dickinson since 2014.

Everyone in Dickinson needs to know what is happening now, so that they can figure out what they are going to do. Retail workers, restaurant workers, sales people, service workers, and professional workers need to realize that there will be a decline in demand for workers in their professions in Dickinson.

I recommend that everyone in Dickinson try to save money now and conserve money now through the remainder of 2017, with the expectation that at least 1 out of 5 people will lose their job in Dickinson in 2018.

I recommend that even if you have a job now in Dickinson, that you begin thinking about, and doing research about where else you might try to live. Talk to friends and relatives who live elsewhere about what things are like where they live. Get information from people you know, but don’t just take their word for it, look on the internet at what jobs are available in different areas.

In doing research about different areas and what jobs are available, I caution readers that though it may look like Dallas has more job openings than Williston, you must realize that Dallas has a population of 1 million people, and Williston has a population of about 20,000 people. There might be several hundred applicants for a job in Dallas, whereas there might be forty applicants for a job in Williston.

I wrote a couple of blog posts on this website about “How To Go To Work Out Of State” about eight months ago. In those blog posts, I suggested that if your family has a home, friends, and relatives here, it may be a better idea for the primary income earner to go to work out of state, and let the family stay behind.

It is easier and safer for the father to go to work out of state by himself, and let the family stay behind. It is much easier for one adult to get very cheap housing, housing that would not be safe or appropriate for a family. When going to work out of state, you don’t know what your employer, co-workers, and work conditions will be like, and you may not be able to stay in your new job. You may have to re-locate again unexpectedly, and it is much easier to do this if you are by yourself.

Dickinson North Dakota Compared To Other Places I Have Lived

May 25, 2017UncategorizedLiving in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what are people like in Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Like, would you move to Dickinson North Dakotaname withheld

I was thinking last night. I was reviewing what I had done in my life, and where the time had gone.

I was shocked when I realized that I had lived 4-1/2 years in Arizona, 4-1/2 years in Idaho, and almost 5 years in Dickinson. Dickinson has been one of the worst places that I have lived. How could it be that I have been here for almost 5 years?

In Arizona, I counted how many people that I knew, that I could think of as friends and acquaintances. I counted 40 people. Of those 40 people, how many could I count on to be helpful and dependable, I counted 20, 50% of them.

In Idaho, I counted how many people that I knew, that I could think of as friends and acquaintances. I counted 40 people. Of those 40 people, how many could I count on to be helpful and dependable, I counted 10, 25% of them.

In Dickinson, I counted how many people that I knew, that I could think of as friends and acquaintances. I counted 70 people. Of those 70 people, how many could I count on to be helpful and dependable, I counted 15, 21% of them. And as I thought about it, I was aware that most of these 15 people would not help very much.

When I did the counting of people that I had met who I considered to be friends or acquaintances, it seemed to be very consistent with the length of time and the amount of involvement that I had in the towns where I had lived. It made sense to me and it was not surprising.

It was surprising to me that when I counted the friends and acquaintances that I could count on to be helpful and dependable, it was only 25% in Idaho and 21% in Dickinson.

In Idaho where I own a home, there is not much going on, there is not a lot of traffic or congestion, it is not overdeveloped, it is not crowded, and there is not a lot of crime. I like the peacefulness and the dullness of it, but I have never been very comfortable there or at ease there. When I thought about it, and quantified it, only knowing 10 people that I could count on to be helpful and dependable, that kind of explains why I have never felt very comfortable living there.

Likewise, in Dickinson, there is not a lot of traffic or congestion, it is not overdeveloped, it is not crowded, and there is not a lot of crime. I like the open undeveloped land in North Dakota. However, I have never felt very comfortable or at ease living here in Dickinson. I have always felt that my situation here in Dickinson is precarious. Of the 70 people in Dickinson that I consider to be friends or acquaintances, I can only count on about 15 of them to be helpful and dependable, and I know that most of them would not go very far out of their way in being helpful.

Restaurant Slow Down In Dickinson, North Dakota

May 25, 2017Uncategorizedfast food restaurants in Dickinson North Dakota, Living in Dickinson, North Dakota, Moving to Dickinson, North Dakota, people worried about money in Dickinson North Dakota, relocating to Dickinson North Dakota, what is Dickinson North Dakota Likename withheld

On Wednesday night, I felt like eating Chinese food, so I drove to the King Buffet restaurant in the T-Rex Mall. As I turned into the parking lot, I saw about one vehicle parked in front of the King Buffet restaurant. I believe that the restaurant had one customer. It was 8:35 p.m.

I did not want to eat at the King Buffet restaurant if I was going to be the last customer of the night, and the only person sitting there. I would have liked to have taken my time eating, had two different things cooked on the hibachi, and tried many different things on the buffet. I wouldn’t do this if I was aware that I was preventing the staff from putting all the food away and going home. I asked the cashier what time they were planning on closing the restaurant, and the cashier said that they would close at 9:15 p.m.

Because the King Buffet was closing so early, I went back to my vehicle to try to decide where else I would like to eat. I thought that this was pretty pathetic that the King Buffet had one customer at 8:35 p.m., and that they were planning on closing at 9:15 p.m. I can’t believe that this is what is happening in Dickinson, no customers at the Chinese buffet at 8:35 p.m. I vaguely remember that the King Buffet restaurant expanded its leased area at least twice since 2011 in order to handle the amount of customers at lunch and dinner. This restaurant now has seating for about 150 people.

Not being able to decide what I else I would like to eat, I thought that I would just go to the drive thru at McDonalds. When I got to McDonalds, there was a line of about ten vehicles in the drive thru. I turned around to drive elsewhere.

In the past month, this is about the fourth time that I have turned around in the McDonalds parking lot because there were so many vehicles in the drive thru. This McDonalds drive thru being so busy, means something.

In the past month, I have been to Subway, Jimmy Johns, Arbys, Dominos, and Taco Johns, when there was only one other customer in these fast food restaurants. The food at these fast food restaurants is better than McDonalds, but it costs about 40% more. McDonalds is two or three dollars cheaper per meal, than these fast food restaurants.

In Dickinson, Burger King, Wendys, Arbys, Taco Bell, Taco Johns, Subway, Jimmy Johns, and Dominos are all less busy than McDonalds. Though their food is better than McDonalds, it costs a few dollars more. It is obvious to me, that it has come to the point in Dickinson, where many people are so worried about money, that they will only go to eat at McDonalds.