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It’s been something like five days since we got a measurable amount of snow here in Madison so, to make up for the unseemly pause, Mother Nature scheduled another five-seven inches for tonight after she coats everything with sleet and freezing rain this afternoon.We had a nice weekend with relatively pleasant temperatures in the low thirties, sunshine, and gentle breezes. We took advantage of the nice weather to get out and about both days.

Saturday, we took the dog and went in search of a geocache that had eluded us several times previously. This time we were not to be denied. We wore our snowshoes and by the time all was said and done we had used just about every technical aspect of them. We waded through deep snow up to our waists; we hiked up steep snowy and icy hillsides; we tramped across frozen streams; clawed a path through innumerable tightly woven patches of thorny raspberry canes; carefully crossed barb-wire fences; wove through forests; and slogged across frozen marshes. In the end, we found the cache in a pleasant and previously unknown (to us) area. Dalla was with us throughout, though she tired at the end and was forced to follow in my steps as I broke the trail through the deep snow. I’m glad we found that geocache as getting there and back was easily the most physically challenging trek we’ve encountered while caching.

Fortunately we had dinner reservations at Lombardinos a local Italian restaurant for that evening. We shared dinner with Amy and her current beau and all had a pleasant time. I was starving after our caching experience and ordered a pasta dish with a heavy cream sauce and sausage mixed in. It tasted great.

Sunday we out hiking again, but without the snow shoes this time. We were only out for about an hour but the dog enjoyed running and playing in the snow. We did our hiking on the Ice Age Trail segment that we steward. We started taking note of branches that we’ll need to cut in the near future and other items that could be changed. When we got home we spent some time breaking up all the ice on the sidewalk and shoveling the ice chunks on to the lawn. We try to keep the sidewalk passable for all the pedestrians who walk by our house while traveling to and from bus stops, schools, and the mall. There wasn’t much point to working on the driveway ice because we knew that sleet and freezing rain, along with more snow, were on the menu for today.

For those who are interested in seeing what our house looks like with all the snow, I put a few photos of our house and yard in the photo gallery.

Every time I come face to face with the useless airport security mechanisms employed in this country, and being adopted in others, I grind my teeth in frustration at how stupid the whole charade is. We’ve been told that we need to surrender privacy to increase security, but is that really true? As Bruce Schneier writes in his latest Crypto-Gram newsletter:

Security and privacy are not opposite ends of a seesaw; you don’t have to accept less of one to get more of the other. Think of a door lock, a burglar alarm and a tall fence. Think of guns, anti-counterfeiting measures on currency and that dumb liquid ban at airports. Security affects privacy only when it’s based on identity, and there are limitations to that sort of approach.

Since 9/11, approximately three things have potentially improved airline security: reinforcing the cockpit doors, passengers realizing they have to fight back, and — possibly — sky marshals. Everything else — all the security measures that affect privacy — is just security theater and a waste of effort.

By the same token, many of the anti-privacy “security” measures we’re seeing — national ID cards, warrantless eavesdropping, massive data mining, and so on — do little to improve, and in some cases harm, security. And government claims of their success are either wrong, or against fake threats.

The debate isn’t security versus privacy. It’s liberty versus control.

The sleet outside the window has changed a heavy snow. It seems like a good time to revisit our trip to sunny New Zealand and share some photos from the trip.

The weather today in Wisconsin is miserable. Freezing rain, sleet, and snow have conspired to coat everything , including the roads, in ice. The State Patrol is telling people to stay home and warning motorists that if they fail to heed that advice that stranded motorists will likely have a lengthy wait for assistance. Eventually, motorists will be transported to a safe location but there is no hope for their cars to be rescued for a day or two.

Sarah and I saw this mess coming in the forecast, so we made sure to take advantage of sunny weather in the 20′s yesterday and get outside. We went snowshoeing and geocaching on the Ice Age Trail near Belleville, WI. There are a few photos from our trek in the photo gallery.

If you’re at all a fan of comic books or Saturday morning cartoons, Austin Grossman’s novel Soon I Will Be Invincible should be high on your reading list.Grossman’s approach to a subject that has been explored countless times is different and engaging. He chooses to focus much of his attention on two different individuals: the supervillain Dr. Impossible and the cyborg hero, Fatale.

In my mind, Dr. Impossible is the star of the book. His bottomless desire to take over the world is true to form, but the trials and travails that he follows on his most recent attempt are interesting. More fascinating are his views on the world of villains and heroes as seen from the villain’s perspective. Grossman even manages to get across the idea that perhaps superhero groups and supervillains are simply yet another example of the cool kids from high school picking (superheroes) picking on the nerdy kids (supervillains).

Fatale is also interesting for her perspectives on superheroes from one who has only recently reached that plateau. Particularly revealing are scenes away from the public eye like the one of the New Champions meeting in their clubhouse kitchen late at night.

Through these characters Grossman really plumbs the depths of the genre in new and refreshing ways. When Dr. Impossible is forced to change out of his costume behind an Applebees dumpter so that he can catch the bus we get a totally different perspective on what supervillains might go through before they get back on their feet after being out of circulation (i.e., in jail) for a while. Fatale’s hero worship (even though she is now a hero herself) is an interesting rumination on what it might be like to suddenly find yourself in the daily company of those who you once idolized and perhaps still do.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a great book and you will do yourself a disservice to skip it if you’re at all familiar with superheroes and supervillains.

I appreciate a snowy landscape as much as the next guy, but this is getting ridiculous. This winter is officially the snowiest ever recorded in Madison and it is still far from over.We’ve had over 79 inches of snow so far with more forecast for tomorrow and Sunday. When we shovel out the end of our driveway (after the plows helpfully fill it with snow from the street) we have to carry the snow fifteen-twenty feet from where we pick it up because the snow mounds on either side of the driveway are already five feet tall. There are numerous spots around town where visibility is nonexistent due to large snow mounds. When I was at the curling club last night someone described the experience of driving around town as something similar to navigating a large white maze.

According to National Weather Service statistics, we’ve gotten measurable snowfall just about every other day this winter. Then, on the weekends we’ve gotten those arctic blasts of air that drop temperatures below zero. All of this conspires to keep outdoor ice skating rinks unusable (the snow insulates the ground and keeps the flood water from freezing) and the snow piles from shrinking (due to the extreme cold).

Many cities and counties are running out of salt for the roads due to the fact that they weren’t exactly planning for a historically snowy winter. Snow plow drivers are working sixteen hours days seven days a week and have been since December.

On a personal level, all this snow means that I haven’t ridden my bike at all this winter. In a normal year, we’d get snow and I’d take a day off from riding to give the City time to clear the roads. Then I’d likely be able to ride for a week or so before we got more snow. This year, we get snow one day so I don’t ride that day. The next day I take off to let the City clear the roads and the very next day it snows again! Argh!

I enjoy winter at some level and fully expect that we’ll get some cold and snowy weather but this is winter taken to an extreme. When you’re in Antarctica you expect some cold and maybe even some snow so you aren’t disappointed that cold and snow are all you get. When you live in Madison, expectations are a bit different and un-ending snow and cold are greeted less amiably.

There are certain items that are worth their weight in gold if you are traveling internationally and many of them are likely not the first ones that come to mind.When you’re getting on a plane to cross an international border, the first thing you should put in your pocket is a ballpoint pen. Almost invariably, unless you’re traveling within the EU, immigration and customs paperwork will demand your attention during the flight. To fill out said paperwork, that ballpoint pen in your pocket will come in handy. Note that I write that the pen should be in your pocket, and not your carry-on luggage. If your pen is not in your pocket, it’s likely that your carry-on luggage will be stowed, you’ll be seated in a middle or window seat, and the aircraft will be pitching up and down due to turbulence, all of which will prevent you from getting at your pen until well after you’ve landed. If you’re planning on filling out your paperwork after you reach the airport terminal, I hope you enjoy long waits in line because you’ll be at the back of a four-hundred eleven person queue as the 747 empties out and all the other passengers proceed directly to immigration.

The next items to slip into your pocket are earplugs. Until you’ve used earplugs on a flight you probably don’t realize just how loud an airliner is. The engines certainly make plenty of noise, but so does the air conditioning system and the air rushing by the fuselage. In addition, earplugs are reasonably effective at drowning out the noise of crying babies and small children. And don’t worry about missing out on any of those supposedly important announcements from the cockpit or the stewards. The PA system on an airliner is turned up quite loud so that it can be heard over all the rushing air and engine noises; you won’t have trouble hearing it with earplugs in. Finally, if you’re flying on a military transport, earplugs are standard issue as those planes have no sound insulation. I recommend Howard Leight LaserLite earplugs, though others work nearly as well. Again, earplugs go in your pocket, not your carry-on luggage.

A Sharpie marker should also accompany you on your travel. This can travel in your carry-on. I don’t recommend the ultra-fine point; the fine point is probably what you want. At worst, it can serve as a backup for your ballpoint pen in note-taking situations. At best, you’ll find it invaluable for writing on packages you send back home through the mail or for writing your name on food that goes in a communal fridge if you stay at a hostel or backpackers.

By now, everyone knows about the useless but inflexible security rule that all liquids larger than three ounces are banned from carry-on luggage. This presents a problem if you want to bring home some olive oil or a small bottle of spirits from the country you are visiting. Hence, I like to carry a gallon-sized Ziploc or Glad plastic bag in my luggage. That way you can seal the bottle of liquid in the bag and place it in your checked luggage for the trip home. The gallon bags also come in handy if you find yourself with some leftovers you want to save from a meal you cooked in a hostel or backpackers.

Sleeping on an airliner is difficult at best due to the fact that you’re forced to sleep in an upright position. Airlines used to routinely provide pillows and blankets to ease the discomfort somewhat, but now they don’t bother (generally due to cost cutting). So, you’re best off bringing your own pillow. I recommend an inflatable neck pillow (Eagle Creek makes a couple, as do others). The neck pillow fits around your neck and supports your head and neck no matter which way your head flops during flight. The advantage to an inflatable model over buckwheat or another pillow filling is that it can also be deflated make storage and transportation easier. I’ll often see people with other travel pillows lugging them around the airport and it never looks fun. Meanwhile, an inflatable pillow is conveniently stored in my backpack and then transferred to the seatback pocket when I board the plane until I need it.

If you’re easily bothered by ambient light while sleeping, a sleeping mask will make your life easier. Again, Eagle Creek and others make and sell these. You can use the mask both on the flight and while sleeping in foreign lands while trying to overcome jet lag. Some airlines will provide these on long overseas flights but the one you bring will be more comfortable and durable.

A small notebook often comes in handy for jotting down random bits of information that you don’t want to lose. I prefer the 3″x5″ spiral bound size but whatever is small enough to easily carry works well.

If you’re purchasing a digital camera for travel, I suggest buying one that runs on AA batteries. You can use rechargeables to save money and the environment most of the time, but if they run out at an inopportune moment, you can always get a set of AAs from a corner store and get up and running again.

If you want to be easily identified at 100 yards as an American tourist, bring a baseball cap, preferably one that is well used. If you want to keep sunburn to a minimum and travel a bit more low-key at the same time, I suggest a hat with a brim that runs around the entire hat. This will keep your ears and, hopefully, your neck from suffering from the sun’s rays.

These are all small items that will make your life a bit easier as you travel. You may not use every item every trip but if you need one and you already have it in your hands you’ll likely never travel without it again.

Now that I’m back in the States, I’ll recount the details of my last weekend on the ice.Saturday, 12 Jan 08, was the official dedication of the new South Pole Station (a.k.a. the Elevated Station, the South Pole Station Modernization, the habitrail, etc.). In a series of daylong ceremonies, the torch was symbolically passed from the Dome to the new Station. Early in the morning, a group photo was taken in front of the Dome for all interested Polies. I’d guess that maybe 75-100 of us showed up for the photo.

Once the photo was taken, the US flag that had been flying over the Dome was lowered and passed hand-to-hand from the Dome to the new Station. Everyone got a chance to hand the flag along, and since there was more ground to cover than people, many people got to hand it along twice. The official flag raising was scheduled for the afternoon, so the flag was securely stowed in Comms, and then the ceremonial Pole and its bevy of attendant flags were moved. This involved a whole parade of folks from different nations and ethnicities. For instance, a Kiwi moved the New Zealand flag, a Japanese-American moved the Japanese flag, and a Norwegian-American moved the Norwegian flag. Once the ceremonial Pole was moved so that it was centered on the new Station, we once again assembled and another photo was taken with the ceremonial Pole in the front and the station serving as a background.

You might imagine that all this pomp and circumstance would take some time given that there were a hundred or more people involved. In reality, we had the whole thing done in less than ninety minutes. The weather that morning was a bit on the chilly side and even when you’re dressed for it, cold can be a great motivating factor.

A couple of hours later, the DVs started flying in for their part in the ceremonies. For the most part, this involved speechifying to each other in the gym and being driven around on a tour of the Station and its outlying science projects. In the afternoon they all trotted outdoors in their ECW to watch the flag raising at the new Station. Shortly thereafter, they all went back into the Station for a dinner of lobster tails, filet mignon, fancy hors d’oeuvres, and table service before starting their journey back to NZ. Us working schlubs were, of course, working during all that and there definitely wasn’t any table service at our dinner. Regardless, we got the same food and I shared a bottle of wine with some co-workers during dinner that improved the food a bit.

On Monday I finished packing up my room and caught an LC-130 flight back to McMurdo. It wasn’t a terribly crowded flight, maybe nine people total. Then I got to spend a night in McMurdo, which only reinforced my perception that things are generally better at the Pole. Tuesday, around noon, I rode in a shuttle out to Pegasus, the ice runway where we would catch the C-17 inbound from Christchurch for our flight back to the so-called real world. While we were waiting for the cargo in the plane to be unloaded, four Adelie penguins went running and belly-sliding under the C-17 and off towards open water. This was fun to see, and let me assure, penguins can move fast when they want. Of course, these were completely unperturbed by the massive airplane, all the people, the refueling operation, and the machinery to remove cargo from the hold. Eventually, the plane was emptied and refilled with cargo headed back to NZ and we were allowed onboard. Once we got onboard, the plane taxied back onto the ice runway, and proceeded to sit there. After five minutes of just sitting there with all the engines running, the pilot came over the PA system to announce that the plane couldn’t take off because a penguin was on the runway. Another five minutes elapsed, and the penguin finally cleared the runway so we could take off.

Five hours later we landed in New Zealand. As usual, the humidity and smells of New Zealand were overwhelming. When you’ve spent over a month in a place with 0-3% humidity, the humidity in the air of a city on an ocean is delightful.

Even more delightful (most of the time), is the acute sense of smell you develop on the ice. When you spend all your time in the so-called real world, you are constantly assaulted with smells and they all blend together in a miasma that is difficult to parse for individual scents unless one is particularly overpowering. On the ice, there simply aren’t many sources of smell. The galley is one; the smell of people not bathing regularly is another. The handful of cleaners and solvents used on the ice have smells as do fuels. BO doesn’t really register with your nose unless you’re around someone who just skied in and hasn’t seen a shower for a month. Other than that, there aren’t many smells to occupy the nose and it gets fairly sensitive. When you get off the plane in New Zealand there is suddenly a world of scents competing for your attention and you’d be surprised at when you can smell. Sarah and I would be walking down a street in Christchurch and a man or woman would pass us in the other direction. I would recoil from the almost crushing scent of their cologne or perfume and Sarah wouldn’t smell a thing. We’d walk by entire beds of flowers at twenty feet or so and I’d comment how nice they smelled and she’d say that she couldn’t smell a thing. In about a week or so, your nose returns to a semblance of normality, about the time that your skin starts to recover from the extreme dryness at the Pole.