Cabela’s Performance Fleece Jacket

I used to really hate fleece clothing. In my (admittedly limited) experience with it I disliked the static electricity issues and the fit. I’ve never been much of a layerer (city-boy) but I figured if I’m heading to Greenland this summer I had better be prepared for some extreme weather with no geothermically heated house to go back to (like I had with my previous digging experience in Iceland).

This was one of the cheaper fleece jackets Cabela’s offered and I’m hoping it will make a nice liner for my nylon shell. It turns out that the fleece is pretty nice. I haven’t been experience the static electricity problem and it fits well. I feel like most fleeces I’ve tried before have been really short in the sleeves and in the trunk. In this one the sleeves are a bit short but it fits well otherwise. I have no neck, though, so I have trouble zipping it up all the way. The chest pocket is peculiarly shaped but it might come in handy and would fit a cell phone nicely. The hand warmer pockets have zippers so that’s handy and there are two inside pockets which are rather large and would fit a large GPS unit nicely. There are elastic drawstrings on the bottom hem which I’ll never use but it’s nice to know they’re there.

We’ll see if it lasts an sub-arctic summer!

Since starting to document my daily weight on November 26th I’ve lost a total of 46lbs, 5″ off of my waist and 6″ off of my chest. My skull still remains huge. 46lbs is over 13% of my original starting weight.

For a few weeks I did stop recording my weight. The first red box is when I was away in Boulder, CO and didn’t have a scale. You’ll notice I had lost a lot of weight by the time I got home but I think it was fluke (maybe the effects of being at altitude for the week?). The next red box is where I got a bit lazy and stopped recording. But I recommitted and have been working on it since. My goal is to be under 300lbs by June 13th.

Bills seek punishment for use, display of fake weapons

This debate is asinine but two items from this article struck me as indicative of the gun control movement as whole. They don’t know jack shit about firearms.

“One of the imitation weapons I got at a convenience store looked very much like the assault weapons that the secret service and other FBI agents carry under their suits” - [State Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis]

“Assault rifles” (which is a terrible misnomer in itself) are not carried under suits. I don’t know what DeBerry is thinking of. It demonstrates the irrational hoplophobia of gun control advocates as they’re not even willing to learn anything about the firearms they oppose. I think everyone would agree that people who are phobic of cars shouldn’t be allowed to legislate regarding cars. So why firearms?

The photo in the article also demonstrates something I’ve noticed from anti-gun politicians. They LOVE photo-ops where they can hold a firearm. There’s a great photo of Diane Feinstein holding one of those semi-auto AK-47 copies at a press conference and her finger’s on the trigger. Anther phone shoes Chuck Schumer actually shooting one of those Tech-9s. He has a huge smile on his face and looks like he’s having fun. What a hypocrite.

http://www.solio.com

So I’m going to get a chance to try out the two models of Solio solar chargers while I’m in the field this summer. I haven’t heard great stuff about them but I’m thinking that the summer time in Iceland and Greenland would be perfect for these as it’s sunny most (if not all) of the day. It takes 18-48 hours to get a full charge on these batteries which is too long of a time to be usable my most but again, I’ll be camping in Greenland for a little more than a month so anything that can extend my iPod’s power will be welcome.

I’m also going to pick up a few Moixa USBcells. These are AA batteries that can be plugged into a USB port for charging. The Solio chargers come with a female USB port so I’ll be able to cut down on the batteries I’ll need to keep my camera and old-ass GPS powered.

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Have I written about my field work this summer? I’ll be digging at two sites in Iceland. One in the west fjords and the other towards to the middle of the country then I’ll be flying over to Greenland to work on an excavation of a Norse farm there. It’s going to be a busy summer and I’ll be away from home for too long but I’m pretty excited! I’m going to write more about it soon (once I’m done with my classes this semester) and I’m hoping to write a lot while I’m there.

Just to give you an idea of how bright it in the later hours in the north, here’s a photo of the last time I was in Iceland. It’s midnight when this was taken!

I just ordered some bucket hats (I’m trying out Living XL because I have a huge head). They don’t look good on me and my girlfriend hates them but they’re really useful. They have a wiki entry. How can they be bad?

I made a list of why I like them.

• You can roll them up into a small bundle
• They’re light
• The all around brim is nice in rain and sun
• You can use them as a seat
• You can use them to protect your genitals when climbing barbed-wire fences (archaeologists have to do this a lot)
• They’re a good bucket for carrying berries, throwing up in or carrying water over short distances.