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!

Time to try this again!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Quark Expeditions is sponsoring another contest to win an all expenses paid trip to Antarctica. 

The details:

Turn Your Love of Wildlife and the Environment into a $45,000 Trip of a Lifetime.

Share your passion for the environment in 300 words or less and you and a guest could Travel with Julie Scardina on a Snow Island Hill Safari to see Emperor Penguins in Antarctica!

Join Julie on one of the final sailings of the legendary icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov. As Animal Ambassador for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, she will share fascinating behind-the-scene stories of animal training and conservation.

Tell the world why you should Adventure with Julie and encourage people to vote for you. On August 31, 2010, if your entry has received the most votes, you could win! This October 2010 voyage is already sold out, so winning is the only way you can get onboard.

Turn your love of conservation into the trip of a lifetime!

So of course I entered! I got 258 votes last time. This time I plan to exceed that. The judges will choose the winner out of the top 5 vote getters. I've got 2 1/2 months to do this. 

My entry:

I'm passionate about Antarctica & want to share it with you

In high school I was convinced I would have a career working with animals. I attended an animal behavior summer school at the Minnesota Zoo, and earned a trip to the International Science Fair based on my study from that summer. I even attended college majoring in Zoology. But, life got in the way, as it tends to do. Because of various struggles in my life I ended up dropping out of college, never to realize my dream of working with animals. 

I’ve also wanted to travel the world since I was a child, with camera in hand documenting nature. I feel that one of the best ways to get people passionate about saving the environment is to show them what is out there, and the beauty of it all. Unfortunately, I have never yet left North America although I did just get myself my first passport and it needs some stamps in it. I don’t know how yet, but I WILL travel internationally sometime in the next ten years. Wouldn’t it be great if that first trip was to Antarctica? 

If you vote to send me to Antarctica, I’ll be sharing my adventure with you online. I’m a passionate amateur photographer, focusing mainly on nature, wildlife and zoo photography. I’ve had a journal on the internet since 2002, blogging about all aspects of my life. I have active accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Through these, you will be able to read about the trip as it happens.  I already have a blog for my Antarctic obsession, and I’d love to use it to show the world Antarctica’s wildlife and untamed beauty! 

http://frozensharon.blogspot.com/

To vote for me, click here:

http://www.adventurewithjulie.com/blogs/view/96

More black penguin pictures

Monday, March 15, 2010

Who's the black private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
SHAFT!
Ya damn right!

Who is the man that would risk his neck
For his brother man?
SHAFT!
Can you dig it?

Who's the cat that won't cop out
When there's danger all about?
SHAFT!
Right On!

They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!

He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
JOHN SHAFT! 



Black King penguin next to normal King penguin
Originally uploaded by BonaireYana These are from another photographer that was on the same expedition as Andrew Evans. Check out her Flickr page!

Photo ©2010 Krystyana Richter


Also, Andrew got a short video of the penguin walking around and you can see it on the National Geographic Traveler site HERE

Oh hey, I've got a blog over here!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

My poor neglected travel blog. I haven't posted anything here since the end of October. I shall blame the holidays. Yeah, that's it! (Can I blame the holiday season if it's been 4 months since posting?)


Well, I haven't traveled anywhere yet, and I haven't really entered any contests.
I'm still obsessed with Antarctica though! On Twitter, I have been following Andrew Evans. His Twitter ID is Bus2Antarctica and here is his bio: Andrew Evans is traveling 10,000 miles, from DC to Antarctica, by bus for National Geographic Traveler.


Awesome, huh? He's been Tweeting stuff from the trip, and uploading pictures from Twitter. This trip is his first time in Antarctica.


I've been loving following his adventure, but the pictures he put up today just blew me away. It's a BLACK penguin! The following picture is by Andrew Evans.

And you can read the National Geographic Traveler story about it HERE


*edit*
Andrew took the  pictures down from his ow.ly account. I hope they appear again some day!
*/edit*



Isn't that just the most amazing thing? And to see it your very first time to Antarctica. 





Also, the dude who won the Quark Expeditions contest is now on his trip and the blog posts are being uploaded. I'm gonna read them later today, and probably link to or cross post them for y'all to see too. Lucky SOB.

Hey, I won something from Quark Expeditions!

Friday, October 23, 2009

No, it wasn't a trip to Antarctica, but it will help fuel my addiction.

Quark Expeditions tweeted on Wednesday: "Retweet this post within the next 48 HOURS & be entered to win a SIGNED copy of Return to Antarctica by Adrian Raeside! http://tiny.cc/2jccL"
I retweeted it, and this morning got a DM asking for my address so they could send me the book I won!

As for the World Nomads trip, not so much winning there. :(

The winner & the short list were posted. I'm not on either.

I have some thoughts on the winner that I'll be posting in a separate post.

If at first you don't succeed...

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Well, I didn't win the Quark Expeditions Official Blogger contest. I ended up coming in at about 22nd place or so. Not too bad considering I started a month & a half after the contest first opened. Thank you all for going and voting for me! It meant a lot that so many of my friends & family were willing to help me out. The guy who was in the lead ended up getting over 11,000 votes, so I really wasn't too surprised that I never caught up to him. I guess having a radio show where you can pimp for votes daily helps a little...

So, I've got this shiny new blog, and nowhere to go. What now?

I'm going to keep trying!

Plan B:

Getting votes didn't work, so now I'm trying with my mad foto skillz!

WorldNomads.com had partnered with the National Geographic Channel & Gap Adventures to award one exceptional individual the chance to go on assignment with renowned wildlife photographer Jason Edwards to Antarctica! (http://journals.worldnomads.com/scholarships/post/32554.aspx)

To apply you needed to do the following:

1. Shoot a series of photos (maximum of 5) that tell a story about a place you have visited. The judges will be looking for:

* originality
* ability to convey a story through photos
* excellent technique

2. Upload your photos (maximum of 5) from this theme to Flickr and;

a. Use the image captions to tell us about the place you photographed.
b. Numerically number your photos in the title if you wish them to be considered in a particular order.
c. Please do not use any Flickr tools that highlight certain parts of your photos as this only hampers the judging process.
d. Add the images to the World Nomads Scholarship Group. Only photographs in this group will be considered.

3. Complete an entry form which includes a 300 word (max) essay on why you should be chosen and copy and paste the links to your photo series. Your written response will have significant weighting in the judging process, so think carefully about why you should be chosen. Remember this is a learning opportunity, not a junket for professional photographers.

So I applied. And now I wait. With fingers & toes crossed.

My photos were a lot better than many that entered. Unfortunately, there were also some I felt were better than mine. We'll see. It's up to the judges. The entry deadline was last Sunday, and if I win I'll know within the next 2 weeks.

The pictures I entered were from the Fort Snelling Upper Post. I went to photograph it twice; once right at sundown with some gorgeous light, but only from the outer edges, and once in early afternoon so the light wasn't great, but it was with a tour so I got to go behind the fence to get different views. Such cool buildings. It'll be a real shame if they don't get restored before crumbling completely away.

The five pictures I submitted were these (Just click on any of them to see a bigger version):

Looking for votes in creative ways

Sunday, September 13, 2009

This contest isn't about getting people you know to vote to send you to Antarctica. It is about getting people you know to vote, and then get people they know to vote, and then get those people to get people they know to vote, etc. It is not just a popularity contest, it is a marketing contest.

As time gets shorter and I need more votes I'm starting to get more creative in who & how I ask. Most of you who know me in real life already know that I am Jonathan Coulton's Merchandise Minion when he plays in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I have already gotten Mr. Coulton to tweet the link to vote for me. Unfortunately his zombie hoards did not come out in the numbers I was hoping for. Zombies must not have email.

I have been avoiding form letters when reaching out for votes. I don't want to annoy people with form letters, and I want to convince them with the personal touch.

On that note, I just send one of my strangest ones so far! Here is the email I sent to John Hodgman, Daily Show Correspondent and the PC in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials. With over 80,000 followers on Twitter, lets hope he goes to bat for me!

Mr. Hodgman,

As someone who knows everything, can you help me learn SOME INFORMATION THAT I REQUIRE? I would like to know if Antarctica is real. Because the interwebs are full of lies & crazy talk I can not believe them when they say that it is. This is something I must find out for myself.

I am trying to use the interwebs to get to this mythical land to see if it is there. I have entered a contest at http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/blogs/view/548 and the winner of this contest will be decided by who receives the most votes. I would like to ask you a favor. Would you tweet and/or blog the link to my voting page and ask your minions to vote for me? I have made a conveniently short url for the TwitterLand: http://bit.ly/FrozenSharon or if that is too long, http://bit.ly/frzn will also work, although it is not as catchy & easy to remember.

I have offered to bring back a penguin for everyone who votes for me. I could send you your penguin through the U. S. Pony Express upon my return, or if you would prefer, I could wait and give it to Mr. Jonathan Coulton, Mountain Man Extraordinaire, at his first Minneapolis performance after my trip. Although, given his lack of care for your cats, that is probably not a wise option.

Because I am not an Internet Superstar, or Daily Show Correspondent, or anyone of consequence really, I have been reduced to asking those sorts of people to pimp me out for votes. Mr. Coulton and his two manservants Paul & Storm have already asked the TwitterLand to vote for me. I'm not in the lead yet though, so they are obviously not powerful enough. You sir, would be powerful enough.

If you are thinking to yourself right now that this is intriguing, but you have an aversion to helping complete strangers, we are not strangers. We have met once before in the strange land of St. Paul, Minnesota. I forged a bond with your strange mountain man companion that night by bribing him with homemade cookies. I am his official Minneapolis Merchandise Minion now. On that fateful day in St. Paul, I also had a Moose. Here is evidence of the Moose:

If I can get the votes to go to Antarctica, you won't be sending just me. A vote for me is a vote for Moose. This Moose has traveled to 5 continents and met Celebrities. He will be going with me to Antarctica, if it does indeed exist. Will you help us? Don't do it for me. Do it for the Moose.

If your schedule of Important Business does not allow you the time to write a Tweet, I can do it for you. Perhaps something simple like: "Does Antarctica really exist? @HellZiggy & Moose want to find out. Vote for them at http://bit.ly/FrozenSharon & then RT this."

Thank you for your valuable time, Mr. Hodgman, and I look forward to your reply.

Sharon Snyder, Future Antarctic Explorer

More than 300 words

Friday, September 11, 2009

300 words for a blog entry just doesn't seem like enough to convince someone who doesn't know me to vote for me. Unfortunately this contest is mostly a contest to see who can get the most votes, not who is the best choice to send to Antarctica.

So why am I the best choice? Simple. I really really really really want to go! Honestly, that's why we all entered, isn't it? A better question would be, if I did get selected to go, what would I have to offer?

Well, I'm not a professional writer, but I do know what I am doing. There won't be any of the grammar mistakes that make intelligent people want to stab their eyes out. (Notice the correct use of there/their in that sentence?) I know the difference between its & it's, between there, their, & they're, and between your & you're. I've been keeping a journal online since 2002, and have a very conversational writing style.

In addition to my journal at LiveJournal, I keep up with the latest social media trends. Twitter's popularity may have exploded when celebrities such as Oprah & Ashton Kutcher joined, but by that point I'd already been using it for almost two years. I also have active accounts at Facebook and Flickr.

If I am selected to be the Quark Expeditions Official Blogger, my blog entries won't be just writing. I'm an amateur photographer who has been taking photos since my first photography class 20 years ago. I joined the digital revolution in 2003 with what was then Canon's top of the line prosumer camera, the G3. Since then I've upgraded to a digital SLR, the 40D, which I will be bringing with me to record all the beauty & detail of Antarctica.

My favorite things to photograph are nature, both animals and plants, landscapes, and architecture. Here are some samples of my work. These were taken in a 3 hour time frame on July 18, 2009 when I participated in the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk in Minneapolis.

I also love taking pictures of birds. I can hardly wait to take pictures of penguins in the wild!

Now that you know a little about what I have to offer, how about learning more about me?

I'm 39 years old. I live in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN with my husband of 15 years, Rick, and our two cats. I just received my A.A.S. in Graphic Design and Visual Communication. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Before settling on Graphic Design, I had studied Zoology and Photojournalism. Currently, I'm employed at a camera store where I work in the photo minilab printing other people's vacation pictures.

Rick & I love to travel, but can rarely afford to. The first time we saw an ocean I was 31 years old and Rick was 32. We never left the country until I was 34 & he was 35, and that was just a day trip to Canada. When I win this trip to Antarctica we will have another milestone. At 39 & 40 years old we will be leaving North America for the first time.

It won't be just Rick & I on the trip. We will be bringing my little buddy, Moose, with us. Moose is a Beanie Baby moose that I've had for over 10 years. He goes with us on our vacations, as well as traveling with friends when they go cool places. I may have never left North America, but Moose has been to 5 continents already. Besides his travels here in North America with us, he's gone to England, Italy, and France with friends. He also just recently went to Ethiopia, and has been to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The 5th continent he's been to is Antarctica. Yes, he's already been there even though I haven't! I met a guy working at McMurdo Base through his blog, and he graciously agreed to host Moose for a visit. I also take pictures of Moose with different celebrities I meet. He's met folks such as Alton Brown, Adam Savage, Penn & Teller, James Marsters, Kevin Sorbo and even a Blue Man from the Blue Man Group! If you are on Facebook you can follow Moose's adventures on his page here.

Well, that's all for now. I plan to keep updating this page with info about me, about how I'm doing on the contest, with special thanks to people who help put out the call for votes, and with samples of my photography. Even if I don't win this contest, I intend to get to Antarctica some day and this blog will chronicle how I get there.

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for updates!

Sharon, the Quark Expeditions Official Blogger (hopefully!)

Penguin!

I took this penguin picture in California. That's silly. I should be taking penguin pictures in Antarctica!

I'm ready to go!

Hi everyone! I have entered the Quark Expeditions Blog Your Way to Antarctica competition. Here is my entry:

You may not know it yet, but I am the person you need to send to Antarctica. In fact, I am so confident that you will choose me that I have already submitted my passport application and am knitting myself a scarf!

I am quite simply the best, most fun choice to be the Official Quark Expeditions Blogger. Through my blog I will show you the excitement and joy of someone who has never left North America when she gets her first look at a new world. You will see Antarctica through the eyes of someone whose previous international travels consisted of only 4 days in Canada.

Like many people, I’ve wanted to travel the world since I was a child but have never had the means. I have, however, travelled vicariously through my job (printing other people’s vacation pictures), through my postcard collection (no friend ever went on vacation without me asking for a postcard), and through my travel companion, Moose (when my friends go to cool places they take Moose). Moose even has a Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/MooseSnyder - which shows all the exciting places he has travelled to. I can’t wait to add pictures of myself with him on his return trip to the bottom of the Earth. (He went without me last time!) Now it’s my turn!

I’ve journalled on the internet since 2002, blogging about all aspects of my life. I have active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. As an established amateur photographer, I use these sites to share my experiences, as well as to keep up with my international friends.

For me, this truly will be the trip of a lifetime, and through the internet I will share it with you all and the world.