Today was all about church - three wards straight, to be exact.  Half-hour break in between each ward meeting.  And snow - lots, to be not-so-exact.  Of course, no North Dakota adventure would be complete without the 8-inch overnight dumping.  Funny thing though, 8 inches of snow to people here doesn't even register as a squall...  It's only a "dusting" to them.  They have had quite a bit of snow here this year though - in fact, to give you a reference point, the motel I'm staying in tonight is across the street from Walmart.  You know how big Walmart parking lots are... And, in the middle of the WalMart parking lot, there's a pile of snow that looks like Perfect North without the chairlifts.

When I woke up at 6am to get ready, the wind was howling at my window like a pack of wolves.  I looked outside and I couldn't see the car, which was buried under the 8 inches of snow.  I quickly got ready and had breakfast, compressing time to plan for an extra 30 minutes of travel time because of the "dusting".  I excavated the car and set off for the church.  Having familiarized myself with the area the night before, I was confident I could get to the church without trouble.

Well, with the snow still falling sideways and blowing across the roads, I drove toward church.  Very slowly.  Unfortunately, due to the dusting, I missed the road to the church and went a couple miles out of my way.  Neighborhoods of houses quickly turned to wide-open spaces like Nebraska, and I realized that I was not where I expected to be.  With little room to turn around without possibly getting the car stuck.  I figured if I got stuck out here, they wouldn't find me until June.

I managed to get turned around and found my way back to the church.  Good thing I left that trail of breadcrumbs.

I made a lot of new acquaintances - the three wards here are very similar to our own, except about half the size.  Most of the people are transplants - in fact, I only met four people who were a ND natives.  A lot of folks were from Idaho, which I'm told is where the coolest people come from.  One of the men here is a B-52 pilot - flies 4 sorties a day.  He said to look for the bombers taking off in the morning.  I'm excited for that.  Another guy is an operator of a nuclear missile silo.  Talk about cool.  He apparently is the one who physically turns the key and presses the button.  Another guy has a brother who served his mission in Romania and knows Sam.  Small world.

Two goals on my plate today - find housing for me, and find a job for you (my family).  I had a couple contacts on the housing side.  One very strange ward member sought me out and said that his wife had walked out on him two weeks ago and was renting a room out.  He was dressed in a tee-shirt and jeans, and wearing some five-toed shoe-like apparel.  Let me remind you, it was 23 degrees this morning with 20-MPH winds and snow.  He said the cold doesn't bother him.  I figured that he just couldn't afford a coat.  He was eager to show me his apartment, so I drove him to his place, partly out of a sense of obligation and partly out of curiosity.  He lives in section-8 housing, and it wasn't pretty.  He was a talker and went into torrid detail about his failed marriage and the wrongs done him.  He shares custody of his three children with his first wife (it was the second who left him) and has them every other weekend.  When he asked me if I would mind sharing a room with his 9-year old son on his custody weeks, I screamed internally, "EJECT EJECT EJECT!!!"  Anyway, I knew this wasn't going to work.  I will be checking out a more suitable reference tomorrow.

On the jobs front, there seem to be plenty of entry level positions available.  I came here with the attitude of being willing to do anything, but I need something with more responsibility and pay.  So we'll see.  I have an interview pending with Halliburton that I'm excited about, and several other contacts to follow up with.  More on that later.