With Thanks for Student Loans

PG and I were able to go out and do some much-needed school shopping today. He got a little netbook that he was surprised to be VERY happy with, considering it's just a cheap little e-machine. I tried to convince him to get a Macbook, but he made the very good point that he only needed it to keep notes on and if necessary, he can always borrow my notebook (I have a maxxed-out HP tablet). My new toy was a Leatherman Wave, which is going to be extremely handy in the field.

We also found out the dates for the SCUBA cert training, which will be in March. It's more affordable than we thought at $150 a person as opposed to the $250 we thought it would be, which will save us a good chunk. Hopefully on Wednesday after class we will be visiting the scuba shop that is offering the certification (Micks is located in Moorhead, MN, but he comes down to train in Watertown a few times a year).

In addition, we also got the dates for the NOAA weather spotter class for this year. I have tried to take it every year since my days on the radio, though I missed last year's class. This will be PG's first time through it. I really wish he had my interest in storm chasing/observation, but hey, we can't all be perfect, can we? *chuckle*

Other costs/purchases that we need to take care of with the student loans:

• Fix Galileo, one of the "research vehicles", who is still sitting in our garage after saving my life in an accident. We'll need her for hauling equipment.
• Get roof rack for Bubo, "research vehicle" No. 2, so we can carry the canoe.
• Get more warm gear for working outside. We are in severe need of long underwear.
• Get underwater camera, preferably one we can hook up to the laptop to record video directly to the HD. Or, if I don't want to ruin my computer, one that has its own storage capacity.
• Snorkels, fins, masks, etc.
• And soooo much other little stuff. But at least with the above we can get started. There's a lot of things like GPS systems and testing equipment that we can borrow from the school.

It's looking like next week we will be out of the deep freeze and getting a little bit of a thaw; it'll be nice to get above 0 for a few days. Maybe I can even get out and do some animal tracking around the pond. Without snowshoes, right now it would be near impossible because of the steep grades through the Crazy Hills.