Clockwise, from top-left:Flower in the garden. Trouble, our family kitty. My photogenic pre-blogging snack. The new kicks I'll be discussing more in a minute.


Now that I'm back in civilization for a bit, it's time to get geared up for the next two stages in Ian's Grand Adventure 2005-06 (Antarctica, then New Zealand.) Since I've been at my mom's place in Berea, Kentucky my credit card has felt the pain of buying pretty much everything I'll need for The Ice that I didn't already have, and some of the NZ stuff. All that's left on my list is a leather saddle and pair of panniers for my bike, some warm climbing pants (essentially technical cut sweatpants,) and I'll probably break down and get some spandex bike shorts for the bike touring part of this whole thing. So, what's the new stuff?

• Western Mountaineering Meltdown Jacket - for non-work related stuff in Antarctica, and whatever cold weather adventures follow in NZ and back in Colorado. Price: wholesale-$150 or so :)


• Olympus C-755 digital camera. The link refers to the 750, which is the same thing except it comes with a remote control. Nice little 4MP, 10X optical zoom, lots of manual control digicam that can take AA batteries! The pics above are the result of me goofing around with it over the last couple days. Cat pic is a little blurry as I was hand holding it at high zoom, looks much sharper with a tripod at that kind of zoom. Price: $200 with rebates, about $80 in memory cards and case.


• Boots - See bottom left picture. Wolverine Big Horn II insulated work boots. Gore Tex liner + 800g thinsulate ultra insulation + what appears to be good quality cow butt + thick cordura where it's not cow butt = heaviest boot I've ever owned. Price: $0, after I get reimbursed!


• Muvo Micro 1Gb MP3 player. Cool little flash based MP3 player/FM tuner/voice recorder thingy from Creative Labs. Having some sort of music around is highly recommended on long plane flights, long bike rides, or pretty much long anything that doesn't involve conversation, and this is a compact and effective way to get it. Sound quality is great, except for a little high pitched hum when the EL backlight is on, but that's not too bad since it's only on when you're pushing buttons and a couple seconds later. Runs on a single AAA and works as a standard USB mass storage device, so it's pretty versatile. Price: $134 - hope I don't loose this thing somewhere!

So, I've basically been running around trying on boots, taking pictures, taking care of little remodeling stuff for my mom, and finding new music lately. Have also been nagging my guy at Raytheon trying to get my friend Molly a job on The Ice, but I think it's a tad late for that this season unfortunately. Can't hurt to try right? If anyone from RPSC happens to be reading this, let me know if you need a smart, tough, mechanically inclined, attractive, and really motivated girl for any sort of work at McMurdo this austral summer! That's all for now, will be updating this as soon as there's any new information!