I came to the Mars Society's desert research station not knowing exactly what my role was, wondering if I would have enough work to do and if the work I did would be scientifically useful. I was pleasantly surprised to see that as the time to fly to Utah grew closer, the amount of work I had to do increased (and grew, and grew.). Due to my curiosity, enthusiasm and grit, I wanted to help with whatever I could. I found out from Rocky what loose ends from Crew 14 needed tying up, as well as helping Brent with his dust studies by starting up a little arrangement with the USGS. I also was useful to Elia and Simone and their study on halophiles.

I was sort of wondering if I would be quarantined with SARS since I had just come from Toronto where the weekend before I had dim sum in a Chinatown restaurant that was the constant SARS backdrop for CNN. What I wasn't expecting was to be on so many EVA's, which was wonderful, especially considering the scenery and geology of Utah. Yup, I can't get away from geology (but that doesn't mean I need a career in it). And being here gave me a little more appreciation for my education and the role geology plays in science as a whole.

This crew had a lot of field work planned, but none of them had been in either a desert environment or this type of geology. The result was that they knew what samples they wanted to take, but didn't always know where to get it. Luckily (for me), my field experience with ATV's and my fancy book-learnin' in geology made me suitable help on lots of EVA's (10 out of 14 actually). This gave me the ideal opportunity to see the scenery and learn about the other experiments. But I have to admit, after a while, I really wasn't looking forward to sticking my hands in the stinky gloves (sorry by the way for everyone that had to wear gloves I had worn earlier).

Bad Things about EVA's:

• Stinky gloves at the end of the EVA.
• Putting on the same stinky gloves the next day at the beginning.
• The 1/2 hour prebreathe boredom (yes, I know it's necessary.).
• Waiting for other people to put on their suits while you already have yours on.
• Having the fan die and the helmet subsequently fog up while you drive the ATV.
• Having the fan die while you're climbing a big hill and you end up sweating like mad.
• Never having quite enough time to do everything. Everything takes 30-70% longer in sim.
• Having to sew up my suit when it ripped.
• Getting rained on by unexpected storms (esp. hail storms).
• Stinky boots. Yup, that was me too.
• Having the damn radio mess up your transmissions.
• Not having small, yet important details heard properly over the radio (like "Go 5 meters away from it!")
• Having people mess up their transmissions (you really, really HAVE to transmit for at least 2 seconds before the repeater starts recording) and only hearing ".over?".
• Having my tour of duty in the GreenHab count as an EVA.

Good Things:

• ATV's! they are dangerous vehicles, but VERY FUN.
• Actually feeling that you are on Mars.
• Awesome scenery, (with good lighting too).
• Some cool geology and geomorphology that I have never seen before.
• Seeing the flying mutant, and not having to mop up after.
• Getting to Factory Butte with Joan and Simone within one hour.
• Doing the captions for the EVA's with Joan.
• Seeing people's faces when they read the captions about them (yeah, that was my "butte"!).

All in all, a wonderful time. I would definitely do this again. The 7-year old in me is now satisfied that he has been an astronaut. Ok, the 5-year old. Whatever. And the 26-year old isn't too upset about it either. Thanks Crew, thanks Mars Society.