I've been using a waterproof Olympus 850 camera for all my pictures. My mother a few days ago said how amazing it's been that the camera has lasted after my travels to and from Costa Rica, New Zealand, Antarctica, Australia, Alaska, Ohio, and Belize since May 2008. It has been dropped down flights of steps, beaten up in my backpack, fallen in various lakes and streams, slammed against rocky coastlines in Costa Rica, frozen at -40 degrees in Antarctica , scorched at 120 degres in Australia, and now subject to salt corrosion in the Atlantic. That camera has been through exactly what I've gone through in my travels and it has the scars to show it. You should see my cookbook it's even more beaten up. Well I best not be beating around da bush. As soon as my Mah mentioned the tribulations of de camera I knew something was in da air. While I was taking the footage for the video below errors kept popping up. Oh geeze. I got back to the station and was very lucky to be able to download all my files on the camera to my laptop. Always backup your data! I took the battery out of the camera and plugged it in to the charger. It charged for about 2 minutes then stop charging. I tried it a few more times with different outlets and nothing. The battery has died. This be good news because the camera is still okay, I think.
It is slighty possible that Alex's dad has a spare battery for his Olympus camera, but too be honest I could use a vacation from this blog. I began this blog, aka real-time book, the day I hit Denver, Colorado in late October 2008 and was headed to Antarctica. I calculated that I've done 1.1 posts per a day over the course of 355 days. Some posts take me several hours at night when I'm done cooking. There's lots involved... downloading from camera, cropping, organization, labeling, shrinking, uploading to website, researching and then producing the text. Let's say on average it's one hour per post... 1.1 posts a day for 355 days = 390 hours this year of blogging = 16.25 days worth of blogging for this year. Holy geeze. When I do the math I scratch my head and wonder what else I could have done with all that time. Guitar, exercise, cook experimentation, educate, learn, swim, dance, sing, sleep, etc.
Don't get me wrong though I enjoy this blog and I do it for education, very much like how National Geographic Magazine was created to show the United States community other cultures and environments around the world in the late 1800s. I'm a contemporary explorer by spirit that uses cooking as a means to travel the world and delve into the pursuit of geographical knowledge. The blog captures just bits and pieces of what I've been through. I try to captivate natures beauty as to inspire people and organizations to protect the wild. For instance, the video below shows the Glovers Atoll marine wildlife. It's beautiful, it's priceless, and I am currenlty working for researchers who have spent their lives trying to protect it. The only way I can provide this moving underwater imagery is because these reefs are still vibrant and intact; the reefs are protected. I thank all those environmental conservation groups out there in the world. Lots of thanks must also be given to my mother who bought this camera as a 'sporadic gift' before I headed out in the rain forest. Without it I'd probably be selfishly enjoying the grandeur of the wild without any means of sharing it to the global community.
I dreamt a few days ago that my blog was actually a book. I woke up from my REM and said sure why not? If only I had an editor and publisher I could 'rip' all my photos and text from the website and put it on recycled paper. I'll keep working on this, but first I'd like to get deep in Antarctica's conservation effots and create a Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition Chapter at McMurdo Station. I contemplated it last year and spoke with the administration of ASOC. They liked it and I promised I would do it next season when I return to the ice. My goal when I return is to create the ASOC chapter and network that with the 'Off-grid and Sustainable Living Workshop'. Thankfully I have been given the chance to go back to Antarctica sometime in early Novemeber to be a cook.
In conclusion, my blog will be most likely not be updated with my own photos/text for 2-3 weeks until I get back to civilization where I can get a new battery. I will ask the research team if they have any photos of sharks and wildlife they would like to share. Other than that possibility, I'm now on a culinary and divers paradise vacation. The camera is out of commision and now I have more time to embrace this place and be active.