Bios!

Well, we've finally created biographies for everyone on the trip (the day before we leave of course)! Everyone helped out with these, so don't give me any of the credit (or blame for that matter)... see you soon!

James “Christopher Columbus” Shaffer
James led a failed expedition to the Celtic Cross on St. Patrick’s Day. Having left the Hotel Cabin with five other adventuresome souls James managed to lead the party deep into the heart of Reykjavik in search of thee elusive St. Patrick’s Day hats. Regrettably James’ sense of direction has been adversely affected by a shift in the earth’s magnetic field caused by the separation of the North American and Eurasian plates and the Hotel Cabin’s salad bar which resulted in the expedition missing the intended destination in addition to the loss of one member of the his expedition.

Will “Red Bull” Besser
Will is an engineering student and the entrepreneur of the trip. After visiting the geothermal power plant Will is now convinced that he can completely eliminate the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil for space heating by combining the steam coming from the St. Thomas physical plant and a couple of cases of Red Bull. Driven on by Professor George’s desire to violate the second law of Thermodynamics, Will hopes to enlist the aid of Aaron in patenting his idea as the first perpetual motion machine. Will himself is far from being perpetually in motion however as his hopes of obtaining his Icelandic drivers license were dashed as he was the only member of the team to get an ATV stuck. Will was also one of the most adventuresome members of the team having successfully completed both Celtic Cross expeditions in addition to the infamous coning incident. There is great concern that the coning may lead to an international incident as the countries of Hungary, Iceland, Serbia, Bulgaria and Ireland have all sent teams of diplomats to the Hotel Cabin in response.

Professor Kevin “Glacier” Theissen
Kevin is a geology professor and the fearless leader of all geological field expeditions including locations where no sane people (non-Icelanders) have gone before. Although he has provided leadership as solid as basalt on most of our excursions, Kevin’s impenetrable crust buckled on the second expedition to the Celtic Cross when he was faced with the decision. Judging by the expression on his face it not an easy decision but as always Kevin took the appropriate action then promptly acknowledged the surrounding expedition members by giving them an appropriate salute. Kevin’s only regret for having come on the trip is his realization that global warming is a farce as confirmed on Friday by our Icelandic ATV guide.

Madeline “The Madtown Misfit” George
Madeline infiltrated the group as a student from the University of Wisconsin (and Professor George’s daughter). Crazy doesn’t even begin to describe her. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Madeline paid tribute to the Celtic Cross by raising the Irish Flag in celebration of the start of the extended Easter holiday weekend. When confronted by the same decision as Kevin, Madeline never even blinked an eye and commented that it reminded her of the sea.

Jake “The Flatlander” Friederichs
In celebration of his 21st birthday Jake shot a deadly Flatlander on the second Celtic Cross expedition. Jake was so enthralled with the intensity of the shot that he was left absolutely speechless for a brief period of time. Once able to speak Jake thanked those members of the team in attendance for the opportunity to partake in the traditional Icelandic ritual. Jake was also a member of the original coning project development team. When asked why he decided to get involved Jake said it really wasn’t much of a decision for him. He always wanted to donate his body to scientific research.

Mike “Leif Erikson” Rasmussen
Mike, aided by Jake, led the disappointing Pizza 67 expedition in the Westmann Islands. Undeterred by the goat cheese pizza debacle, and apparently unaffected by the geothermal activity and Hotel Cabin salad bar, led the first successful expeditions to the Celtic Cross to obtain the coveted St. Patrick’s Day hat. Unlike the failed Christopher Columbus expedition, no members of the team were lost; a real tribute to his ability to lead men on excursions of extended duration. Mike also led the second expedition to the Celtic Cross and the first successful expedition to the Pylsur (hot dog) stand enabling the other members of the team to obtain much needed sustenance. Mike also took on the role of comedian whose humor (or lack there of) has been likened to the eruption of an Icelandic geyser, occurring on a constantly reoccurring basis, with widely varying degrees of response.

Professor Camille “Wild Woman” George
Professor George is the master mind who conceived of the joint venture between the Engineering and Geology departments. With the aid of her side kick Kevin, she managed to put together 10 days of fun and excitement ranging from smoking Puffin’s on the Vestmann Islands to riding ATVs on the mainland it was usually her idea. Regrettably her wild side got the best of her on Wednesday as she sprained her knee leaping from the elevated urban assault vehicle the engineers were riding in. To her credit Camille saw an opportunity in adversity and leveraged her injury to “persuade” the driver to make an additional (unscheduled) tour stop. The previously reluctant driver was more than willing to oblige her request after discovering that if Camille ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

Kathy “Basalty” McNulty
With a keen eye for the obvious Kathy is always up for fellowship and a good conversation. As one of the most knowledgeable individuals on the trip Kathy was a wealth of superfluous information. With her zeal for geology, there was always a hand in the air and a follow-up question to every new idea presented to her. On the ATV tour, Kathy was awarded the “Safe Driver Discount” from Icy Roads Insurance Agency. Though we were proud, those following her would have preferred a faster pace down the mountain. We were all thankful for her inquisitive and keen mind which prevented the occurrences of any potential awkward silences.

Paul “Pretzel” Rosczniak
Although he attempted to keep a low profile on the trip Paul showed his love of adventure as he lead a small exploratory team to the seventh floor of the Hotel Cabin. Unseen by most guests of the hotel, not to mention most of the hotel staff, the team discovered a glove, asbestos and themselves. Fortunately for the rest of us they chose to recover only the glove leaving the asbestos (and themselves) for future expeditions. Paul’s nickname seems a bit strange for our trip since pretzels have been conspicuously absent since leaving the United States.

Jeff “The Polar Bear” Johnson
Though he did not say much, Jeff’s bright smile said enough as he recovered himself from the Arctic Plunge that he participated in at the glacier. He is proud to say that he is the ONLY explorer of the Icelandic mountains to claim that he did, in fact, go swimming in a glacial stream. When asked what he was thinking while he was attempting this feat, he simply stated, “Wow, that was kind of chilly.” Though he was not present on the first Celtic Cross expedition, he was very excited to be a part of the second, and had lots to say, always with a smile.

Beth “Sleeping Beauty” Domier
When faced with new foods on her plate, Beth was reluctant to try the Icelandic cuisine, such as lamb, Icelandic shrimp (crayfish), white asparagus soup, and the Hotel Cabin salad bar. After braving a bite, she admitted that it’s really good, as long as she didn’t think about what she was eating! Actually, her exact words were, “It’s not ba-a-a-a-a-d.”
She was the only woman to reach the leading edge of the glacier with the geologists on Wednesday. She also was the only one who remained decently dry, and did not step in any streams (or swim in any). While attending lectures at Reykjavik University, Beth prepared for her glacial excursion the next day.

Kylie “Celtic Cross” Bennett
What Kylie lacks in stature, she more than makes up for in spirit and motivation. As our spiritual advisor Kylie has made sure that enough prayers were said to keep the seas calm and the weather nice. Thanks also to her ROTC training we were able to persevere through any adversity. Unfortunately for her, Kylie holds the honor of being the only person on the trip to have experienced the taste of “true” Icelandic water with its distinctive “rotten egg” smell and taste that can be attributed to its high sulfur content.

Bre “Puffin” Gaetze
Bre is the swinger on the trip. Literally. On the Vestmann Islands she took part in the Icelandic tradition of repelling off the side of a shear cliff. (An activity required to be learned by Icelandic school children to aide them in the recovery of Puffin eggs.) When asked why she chose to try such a death defying feat she responded that she was the only one crazy enough to attempt it. As one of the three female members of the original Celtic Cross expedition Bre was the doubting Thomas of the group constantly questioning if Leif had a clue where he was going. Bre was also to be one of the members of the coning project team but regrettably jet lag had taken its toll and when she was asked for assistance her response was unintelligible. After being told about the project later she proudly proclaimed that she would have gladly provided the flag for the cone if she had only understood what was required of her.

Katie “Money Bags” McCaffrey
When she wasn’t busy being a geology geek, Katie was calculating how much the rest of us were spending in U.S. dollars. Converting Kroner to U.S. dollars became a passion for her as the rest of us relied on her math skills to keep from going bankrupt. Unfortunately for the rest of us the sticker shock quickly wore off and we all ended up spending way too much money. Although Leif was able to get them to the Cross, it was Katie’s navigational skills that led the team back to the Hotel Cabin after being dropped off at an undisclosed location on the first day in Reykjavik. What has become extremely disconcerting to the rest of the group is the fact that Will has started dreaming about Katie picking up Icelandic men. Katie shared that Will wasn’t far off claiming that a short Icelandic man was hitting on her but he just didn’t measure up to her tall standards.

Aaron “Der Snow Way” Brooks
Aaron is the tallest member on the trip and the Icelandic beds have posed a bit of a challenge for him. As his roommate, I was reminded of the following passage from the Dr. Seuss book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish:
“This is not good! This is not right! My feet stick out of bed all night! And when I pull them in, oh Dear! My head sticks out of bed up here!” Aaron is currently working with Will and Professor George to obtain a patent for the first perpetual motion machine. Unfortunately the project seems doomed to failure as Aaron refuses to accept Camille’s argument that the Second Law of Thermodynamics is a farce. Known for his propensity to over think things it was decided that he should learn to adopt the K.I.S.S. principal more often.

Tony “Cone-head” Lee- (the criminal mastermind of this collection, with some help, of course)
As the self proclaimed “old fat guy,” he was the mischief mastermind, and made us all seriously believe that he was a 12 year old trapped in a 46 year old body. He did, however, live up to his age by making it back to the Hotel Cabin alive after being deserted by the first Celtic Cross expedition. Tony also led the Café Maria expedition on the night following the disappointing Pizza 67 incident. It was at the Café Maria that the greatest geology joke ever was told. Tony headed the “coning” project leading to a number of coning incidents; each one more impressive than the last. Although there were many victims, retaliation against him from the Flatlander left Tony quite impressed. Tony likes to enter the scene of any battle riding his fearless floating foal that he met at the geothermal pool. And when out and about exploring, he was often seen with his sidekick, the world traveler BP. BP became well known by the expedition, and everyone else on the trip helped to further his adventures.