In Michigan as an idiot.

I made my first idiot travel move for the trip. I'm in Michigan now but without a camera battery charger. Dammit. I got my shiny new K20D but it uses a "proprietary" battery, not the nice AA's I'm used to. I forgot the special charger cable for the special charger pack for the special battery. Another $100 to Pentax to be able to take pictures on this trip. Junk.

At least I had my merry-solstice-present to myself to keep me happy. I copied Jesse (and Brian?) and got a 50mm f/1.4 for my Pentax. Damn they *are* cool.... But I think mine has a pretty sweet bonus - it's got manual control of both focus AND aperture. I can mount the lens on my cheapo-macro ring and still get enough light to both focus and take beautiful, better-than-1:1 zoom in shots with full flash. This thing has a ton of potential. At least, as soon as I can get a battery for my camera.

On a positive note, the lakes are fully frozen and there's 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I hate the transition weather but having snow on the ground makes winter totally bearable and even entertaining. Can't wait to go skating sleeding and snowboarding while drinking copious amounts of whiskey in the Sauna up north.