FRIDAY, JUNE 03, 2005 [first published] SLICK OUT "Here they come. You ever notice how kids and bovines travel in herds?" These were the last words I heard him say. Twenty minutes later the state of Missouri executed Richard Adrian Marsh. At 12:01 a.m. on December 1, 1997 he was pronounced dead. I met Richard Marsh when I was writing an article on the state's legal system for a Kansas City magazine. It had taken six months for him to agree to see me. What finally persuaded him was an article I'd written several years before while living in Florida. He was born in ...continued...

Our only source of water yesterday was saturated with salt crystals so we had to drink salty water all day. Had four dog team leaders fired today by Maher. Sadly he is running out of qualified candidates, unless of course me and mike qualify. Mike and I tried the good cop bad cop method with the dogs. I would treat Ersus with kindness and respect ( one of the fired leaders) Mike would speak sternly at him. After 2 seconds of Mikes technique Ersus cowered away and peed on the spot. My favorite of the dogs is Stephy. A huge dog with a good temperament. Stephy traveled with me on the helico ...continued...

GHOSTBUSTERS …If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? If there’s something weird and it don’t look good, who you gonna call?…Ghostbusters. In the middle of the night my wife, Karen, heard a loud bump. She awoke to see a ghostly figure of a man standing next to the staircase. He was wearing a biker’s outfit with a yellow bandanna wrapped around his head. “Tom,” she shouted, waking me up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “There is a man standing next to the stairs,” she gasped. ...continued...

For my cultural event I went to an event called Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, Illionois. I attended this event on Tuesday April 11th. Feed My Starving Children was a cultural event that felt like a great fit. I volunteered and had a chance to learn about different cultures and what their struggle was like in terms of children lacking food sources. We first walked into the building where we were greeted and told to sign in, grab a hair net and gloves, and to take a seat. Once everyone was seated there was a speaker who greeted us. There was a large amount of volunteeers th ...continued...

Today we woke up to more of the same. A howling wind and violently flapping tent walls. We discovered that the wind, which is from the north, is rapidly pushing us back to our start location from yesterday. We call it a hamster wheel when the ice beneath our feet moves as quickly south as we move north. Since we are tent bound I have felt a survival mode kick in with both of us. I found myself hoarding the last of my Pop-Tarts as I secretly tried to eat them inside my sleeping bag, denying their very existence when questioned by Mike over the noisy wrappers giving me up. From the crunching ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

THE VICKER’S YESTERDAYS His collar was turned up against the wind because it WAS a dark and stormy night. The gale pushed against his body and tore at his cape pulling at the only clasp till it gave way. Father Roy grabbed at the cover between his now chilled body and the fierce storm. “Why couldn’t the church find its way clear to pay the contractor to add another button or two on these things.” he muttered. Father Roy had been in his study enjoying his third toddy when Sister Olivia called. She n ...continued...

Sitting here in Oslo Norway the past few days waiting for our flight back to the States we had the opportunity to rest, recharge and go to the Polar Museum in town as Norway has one of the most storied reputations for Arctic and Antarctic exploration in the world. Adventurers such as Amundsen, the first to reach the south pole and cross the Northwest Passage, and Nansen, famous for his expedition to the north polar icecap in the ship named Fram which was frozen into the ice intent on floating with the drifting icecap both hail from here. After experiencing the unrel ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

Throughout the history of the world, philosophers and religions have disagreed on many things. But they have all agreed on one thing …only one! You become what you think about. Read that sentence again. Most people hear it, but don’t truly understand it. You become that which you think about most of the time. We place value on material, replaceable things and very little value to the most irreplaceable thing of all. Our freedom of thought. Thoughts establish Habits, Attitudes, and Emotions&hellip ...continued...

Question: “To what extent do my beliefs, prejudices or biases influence my thinking in terms of providing service in my profession or work?” I would say that my beliefs, prejudices, or biases have no influence in providing services in my work. I work in a hospital as a imaging assistant so, i see a lot of diversity and different beliefs. No matter what i will always give good quality care to patients, just like anyone deserves. Some examples from the quiz are: Question 10: if a family member speaks English as well as the patient&rsq ...continued...

Epic day, epic adventure, epic team. Pole reached at 2:45 am central time. Updates coming... ...continued...

Updates have been a tad delayed recently due to some crazy schedules experienced once we reached the pole. To be honest, the pole was literally just another point in the snow just like all the millions of other points we passed by the last few weeks. Due to the drifting ice and natural wobble of the earth, the point is very fleeting on any GPS, you have to chase the drift and wobble to remain on it. But for a moment, we were able to walk around the planet and experience every time zone. In a matter of moments I was in the past, present and future, the quickest pe ...continued...

My Great Escape 4/20/15-email from agent after reading my whole The Color Eater manuscript. I’m super excited because I know an email like this means I’m getting close. There’s merit in my writing. Includes the phrase “I really liked a lot about it; the writing was excellent, the action was well-executed, and the different powers people had were super cool.” Followed by lengthy suggestions where the story could be fleshed out in addition to an invitation to resubmit once re-writes are done. 4/22/15-Panic attack at the ide ...continued...

We generally spend 10 hours (give or take a few hours) on the move each day. This means we spend the rest of the day in camp. Now when I say this I don't mean that we are sitting around a warm fire having drinks and kicking our feet up. We are generally unpacking the sled, taking the dogs off the lead, setting up tents, setting up the stove, or making water while huddled around a tiny blue flame that makes a shred of warmth that ekes around the edges of the tea kettle full of melting snow. We do have some downtime, such as now, where the tent is reasonably warm, meaning we can take our ...continued...