Iceland is a beautiful country and I´m enjoying my work here! I´m staying in a nice guesthouse but the tourists are pissing me off.

ÆÐÞ!

I recently Netflixed The Island at the Top of the World. It’s set in the early 20th century and it’s about a rich guy who’s lost his son and has evidence that he’s up in the Arctic.

The story starts off like a bad D&D adventure where he collects some fellow adventurers and they head off in an airship. They end up finding an island where the Medieval Norse Greenlanders had colonized and his son is captive there. The movie gets their Norse timeline a little mixed up as their house form, clothing and religion reflect the Viking Age in Northern Europe rather than Medieval Greenland. The Greenlanders were devout Christians, had few ocean-going vessels and wore medieval style gowns.

Besides these problems it’s a pretty fun movie and stars Mako (of Conan fame!) as Oomiak and Inuit hunter.

In a previous post titled Unwanted catalogs I outlined an email I’ve been sending to companies who send me catalogs. The day I wrote that post I sent emails to Cabelas, REI, Casual Male and Brigade Quartermasters.

I sent the email six business days ago and as of today only BridageQM has gotten back to me. They actually wrote back the next day and said I would be taken off the catalog list. I received another Cabela’s catalog yesterday I’m going to send them another email.

Bowflex has a commercial that tells the story of Brian Alvarez. At one point Alvarez utters “I gave my fat clothes to my fat friends.” He says this with such revulsion that I’m surprised it made the final cut of the commercial.

The comment is at about 1:44 in the YouTube video linked below. http://youtube.com/watch?v=0pNMs2ANOHs

I wrote a, respectful, complaint email to the address below. We’ll see if it comes to any fruition.
customerservice@bowflex.com

I’m going to write more about the field work I’ll be doing in the summer but I wanted to talk a little bit about the gear I’ve been collecting the last six months or so. I’ll be camping for about five weeks in a remote area of the world so I’ve been trying to gather stuff that will last and is cheap. In a later post I’ll detail where I got this stuff from and when I get back I’m planning on writing more about how the gear did in the field.

Anyway, this post is going to be about the packs and footwear I’m choosing to bring with me.

|PACKS|
Kelty Eagle 7850

My main pack is a giant Kelty Eagle. I believe it’s meant as a tactical pack for military personal. In total it has about 7850 square inches of storage. That’s huge! It also has a top pack that can detach and become a hip pouch. It has an integral rain cover that stows in the bottom of the pack. The pack weighs about ten pounds empty but I’m hoping it will be enough room to fit all my gear.

Kelty Redwing 3100

This will most likely be my day pack. It’s a bit big for the purpose but it should be ok. This also happens to be my daily pack right now and I like it a lot.

Army Surplus Map Case

Military surplus map cases make pretty good site bags. In these I put my trowels, pens, notebook, etc so they’re handy when I’m on the site.

CamelBak Maximum Gear Themoback 100 oz.

This isn’t really a pack but I picked up a Camelbak Thermoback. It holds three liters of water and has some D-rings on the outside that I’ve strung elastic chord through. It will be nice on the little hikes I plan on taking.

|FOOTWEAR|
Bison Bean Boot

These are Bean Boots from L.L. Bean. The leather upper is made of bison leather. They’re a little old school but I really liked them the last time I was in the field.

New Balance 850

I should have probably picked up high top walking boots but these should do. I’m considering getting a pair of ankle-high gaiters to provide a little bit more waterproofing.

Old Navy Flip Flops

Basic shower shoes from Old Navy. $3.50!

I’m going to write more once I get more gear together. Up next: My first aid kit and tool kit.