So, who the heck am I and why should you vote for me?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

As the blog title says, my name is Sharon, and I want to go to Antarctica!

I’m not one of those people who’s wanted to go there since they were a kid. My obsession started about 5 or 6 years ago. That is when I started following the journal of a guy working there who goes by the name McPenguin online. He was working over the winter at McMurdo Base. Through his writing about the place and photos he posted online (both his, and ones from the shared drive down there) I discovered that there was more than I thought to Antarctica.

I’d always pictured it as being just cold and dark (winter) or cold and white (summer). But no, I was wrong. The dark? It’s not just black. With no light contamination you can see more stars than you thought possible, and the Aurora Australis? Puts every Northern Light show I’ve ever seen to shame. In the summer, the ice down there can be so beautiful. Shades of blue & turquoise that I thought was reserved for the tropical waters of the Caribbean. And it’s not lifeless. There are whales & seals & birds. And yes, penguins.

My thirst for knowledge about Antarctica and the people who live there grew. I started reading blogs of people stationed at Amundson-Scott (aka the South Pole). I read books, and news articles. And I knew, I wanted to go there!

By chance I happened upon Quark Expedition’s last contest, “Blog Your Way To Antarctica.” Alas, the winner was determined solely by vote count and had little to do with actual blogging ability. Still, I tried. Out of almost 600 entrants I managed to climb to 22nd place.

The contest running now, Adventure With Julie To Antarctica, is pretty much the same thing except that they will take the top five vote recipients and choose from them. I’m still sitting at about 25th place, slowly gaining votes, but not getting any closer to the top five. If you’re reading this because you took the time to click on my blog link, but haven’t voted yet, PLEASE vote for me, and tell your friends.

I don’t have a cool picture of me with a dolphin or orca or other marine mammal, because I’ve never been close enough to one. I don’t have a picture of my kid and a story about “I’m not entering for myself” because I don’t have kids yet and I am entering for myself. I don’t have a cool picture of me with with an exotic cat because the only time I’ve ever gotten to pet one I was only 2 years old so that picture doesn’t even look like me (and I don’t even remember it!). I don’t have a picture of myself on top of a mountain because I’ve never climbed a mountain. Heck, we don’t even have mountains here in Minnesota!

Yes, all those people probably have more travel cred, or experience, and they will love the trip. But me? Winning this trip would quite literally be the trip of my lifetime. There is no possibility of me getting to Antarctica any other way. If I make it there I will look at it through the lens of my camera, and share it with my blog readers every step of the way.

Do you want to see Antarctica? Vote for me and if I’m selected to go I will produce a PDF for download that chronicles my journey, as inspired by the great Kyle Cassidy:
Arizona iPhonetography, In the Desert Without Fancy Equipment (Or A Signal)
Never Been Lost, A Wyoming Travel Diary
California Velocity, Five Days on the Right Coast 

Gratuitous picture of me with an exotic cat:

I'm on the left, dad in the middle, my sister on the right, 

and the lion cub belonged to our neighbor.

Ugh. I hate begging.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

As much as I really really really want to win this trip to Antarctica, it's pretty easy to get frustrated.

Because getting into the top 5 is based just on votes, I feel like I have to keep posting about it to get my Twitter, Facebook & LJ friends to vote. But I hate feeling like I'm a pest. There are only so many of them that are willing to go through the registration process to vote even though I assure them that Quark Expeditions doesn't share their email and doesn't spam them. You get maybe one email a month, and it's easy to unsubscribe.

I think the only way I will get more votes is if I can get some celebrities to tweet about it. Or maybe even some local media. The problem is that whole I hate feeling like a pest thing. I don't want to send bulk emails asking, and doing individual ones takes time. Also, if it's someone I just connect with on Twitter, I have to convince them with only 140 characters.

I just need to find a way to get more people to spread the word! I did make an easy to remember custom short url for voting: http://bit.ly/FrozenMoose so it will be easier to give out the link. I know, /FrozenSharon would make more sense, but I used that one last time, and it was actually the inspiration for the blog name!

D'oh! It just occurred to me as I typed that last paragraph that since the bit.ly links are case sensitive that I can make the link http://bit.ly/frozensharon and also http://bit.ly/frozenSharon. So I just did.

As for how I'm doing so far in the contest? Well, I started campaigning for votes seriously on Aug 9th and at that point I was down in 36th place. Right now I am tied in 24th. Unfortunately I need 419 votes to hit 5th place. On the bright side, of the 23 people above me, only 8 of them have received more votes than me in the 10 days since Aug 9th.

I've got 11 more days. I need to average 40 votes per day if I'm going to hit the top 5. Probably more like 50/day since I'm sure other people will still be getting votes too. I've got to figure out a way. If any of y'all have ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them.

What animal do you think of when you think about Antarctica?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Yep, that’s right. Moose!
What? That’s not what you were thinking about? Penguins?
Yeah, penguins are pretty darn cool and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. But when I think of travel to anywhere, my first thought is of Moose. If you are confused, you haven’t met my little buddy yet!

This is Moose Snyder.


He has a Facebook account. I feel I can safely say that he *IS* the world’s most traveled Moose.

We already know that I’ve never left North America, despite my desire to see the entire world. There are two ways I travel vicariously through others – I collect postcards, and I send Moose. In his short lifespan (I got him in 1996) this little guy has traveled to six of the seven continents. He’s sat on the equator, and he’s sat on the South Pole. He’s been to the Galapagos Islands, Paris, England, Italy, Croatia, Ecuador, Australia, and Ethiopia, just to name a few of the places he’s been. When friends or family are going someplace fun I ask if they’ll take him along.



He also loves meeting new people. He is a bit of a celebrity stalker. He’s met tv chefs (Alton Brown), authors (Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fford, LA Banks), graphic designers (Chip Kidd), magicians (Penn & Teller), astronomers (Phil Plait), skeptics (The Amazing Randi), comedians (Chris Hardwick, Maria Bamford), comic artists (Jon Kovalic, Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson), musicians (Jonathan Coulton, Sunspot) and many actors (James Marsters, John Schneider, Adam Baldwin, Aaron Douglas, Wil Wheaton). And that’s not even the whole list!



As I said, he’s already been all the way to the South Pole, but he still wants to go back to Antarctica. Besides, I want to go!


So remember, a vote for me is a vote for Moose!

Here are some photos of his adventures, and a map of where he’s already been!






View My Adventures in a larger map

PLEASE VOTE FOR US!

OK everyone, let's make this blog title accurate. Get me to Antarctica!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Despite all my traveling earlier this spring, I really don't get to travel much. I have NEVER left North America. Until June 2004 I had never left the United States! My total international travel is one day trip to Vancouver, BC, Canada and about 48 hours in Toronto, ON, Canada.

As a kid looking at travel posters & wallpapering my room with them I always assumed that when I was a grown-up I'd be able to go to all the fantastic places. Unfortunately I've never been able to afford to.

Way back in 2005 or 2006 I discovered the LiveJournal of a guy, McPenguin, who was working over the winter at McMurdo Base in Antarctica. Just reading about it awakened a fascination with Antarctica in me. I'm now also following two other Antarcticans on LJ, one currently at the South Pole and one currently at McMurdo. I've picked up books about Antarctica. It became an obsession - an awesome place, but one that I would most certainly never in my life experience.

Then, in August of 2009, I discovered that Quark Expeditions was giving away an all expenses trip for two on one of their cruises to Antarctica. It was called "Blog Your Way To Antarctica" and the winner was determined solely by the number of votes. I posted on LJ & Facebook & Twitter lobbying for votes. And I did ok. I ended up placing about 22nd out of several hundred competitors. I even started this Frozen Sharon blog as a place to expand upon the 300 character limit.

I was so hopeful that I would win that contest that I even finally got a passport! Yes, at 39 years old I got my first passport. I have 10 years to use it! So when I did not win that first Quark Expeditions contest this blog also became a rarely updated log of my attempts to win other trips, and also updates of the little bit of traveling I've done here in the US.

Now, Quark has another contest going. It's pretty much the same where you have 300 words to convince people to vote for you. This time though, they will look at the top FIVE entrants and choose from there. So, I only have to make it to the top five this time! Of course they'll pick me, right? I'm currently in 39th place and less than 400 votes will get me to the top 5.

Please vote for me! http://www.adventurewithjulie.com/blogs/view/96

Please tell your friends, family, and everyone else to vote for me! http://www.adventurewithjulie.com/blogs/view/96

Please put it on your Twitter! Shorter custom link: http://bit.ly/FStoSoPole

Please join my Facebook group and invite all your friends! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120863593910

Thank you!