Rand pointed out to me that the default MT RSS template is annoying, for reasons explained here. I've updated the RSS 2.0 template as per his blog entry, and that's now linked off the front of the site.
It looks like it's working to me, but I don't use RSS for anything (yet), so I may well have missed something. Let me know if it's still broken.
After a short trip to Minnesota to visit my sister, I'm now home in Colorado. I've packed up all my stuff in Berkeley and moved out of my apartment there, leaving me, technically, homeless. At this point, it feels like it's only a technicality, though.
My last few days in Berkeley were simultaneously really nice and really difficult. I spent my last weekend there surrounded by friends, which was great. Mark and I had a party on Friday, both as a joint birthday celebration and as a going away party, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the weekend consisted of packing and cleaning (which l didn't quite finish; I owe Viv, Hoss, and Mark several drinks each, I think). The result was 14 boxes to store, and a pack and a duffel bag to take with me.
The weekend was tough emotionally. It's hard to leave. By the last day, I was tremendously excited to be going, but also scared and sad to be leaving Berkeley. As soon as I got to the airport and got checked in, though, I started to unwind a little. I'm on the way. My trip has started!
My visit with my sister was awesome. She's half a year from graduating from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnestoa, and after 3 years, I finally made it up here to visit her. The sign at the top of this entry pretty much says all there is to say about Northfield in a concise, elegant manner, so if you just want the abstract you can stop there.
Carleton is a school of around 1800 people. So was my high school. That's why I didn't go to a small school -- it felt like it would be too easy to get trapped with people you didn't like. Visiting Carleton this time changed my perspective tremendously.
I went to a couple classes with my sister, and they were both really good classes. They were small, and the professors involved the students, but kept them on track. I was impressed, and somewhat jealous. Socially, the school seemed to be a good place to be as well. My sister's friends and roommates were interesting and friendly, and I had a good time meeting all of them.
My visit coincided with the last day of classes, so we went out to the bar to celebrate (but not too much, as finals started pretty much right away). People complain about the homogenization of America, and rightly so, but underneath the veneer of chain stores different places really are different. Northfield is a mid-western town, and Berkeley is definitely not. This was probably most clearly reflected at the bar, where t-shirts and baseball caps were the standard attire, and Coors or Bud was the beer of choice. There's nothing really pronounced, but the place just feels different.
Friday I packed up my bags again, and flew down to Colorado. The weather had been beautiful and relatively warm in Minnesota while I was there, but I wasn't able to make it last. I woke up Saturday morning to a few inches of snow on the ground outside the house. It was beautiful -- I love winter.
We had some family friends over for dinner last night, and spent a while discussing traveling. The timing was perfect. I'm just about to leave, and Scotty, one of the people that was over, had just gotten back from a similar, but longer, trip himself. You can read about some of his adventures here.
I'm trying to remember all the different things he mentioned to me, but I can't. The thing that pops to mind right now is that he said his favorite part of Australia was the Outback, which I had been thinking I'd skip, but I'm now rethinking that. While he was there he worked for 2.5 weeks on a cattle station, and I think doing something like that would be a great way to see a part of the country and get a good feel for a fairly different lifestyle. There's an organization called Willing Workers on Organic Farms, or WWOOF, which puts together a book of places willing to take volunteers. Sounds like a good option to me.
Scotty also said that I was doing the right thing to buy tickets as I went, rather than buying them all up front. Rand said pretty much the same thing when I talked to him. And, it just makes sense to me. More flexibility, and it looks like it'll be the same price, if not cheaper, most of the time.
As I've been telling people about the trip, they've been sending me various different links and things to read. Two different people (Collin and Alex) sent me links to Alpinist magazine's website. I have been unable to find a print copy of Alpinist yet, but it looks like a nicely done magazine.
The have their first issue availiable for download here. It's all about mountaineering in Patagonia. It was a good read -- I suspect that I'm in for quite a challenge with my NOLS course. Collin also sent me a link to their page describing Aconcagua. I think that mountain will probably have to wait for a different trip, but we'll see...
...another entry.
I thought it made sense to start this when I left CNET, as that was, in many ways, the beginning of my trip. However, I haven't done a very good job of keeping it up to date since I left. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I'm unemployed and therefore don't have anything that I "should" be doing, to force me to work on the blog instead. Or perhaps its that the trip planning section of the trip isn't nearly as interesting as the trip taking portion. Or perhaps I'm just not cut out for blogging. Whatever it is, it's been a month since I've added anything here.
And, what's worse, Tyler, Jim, and Mark were all making fun of me for it the other day at Jupiter. Of course, they're right.
It's time for that to change. The trip is seeming more and more immediate with every day. And it should -- I leave Berkeley in less than two weeks. Most of the logistics of leaving have been worked out, and I have my first plane ticket. I'm incredibly excited!
There are a number of smaller entries that I've been meaning to make, and I'll be trying to get them in here over the next couple of days.