Introduction
Once upon a time, Shaenon, she who draws the Narbonic comic (narbonic.com), ran a gerbil-photographing contest. (http://www.narbonic.com/040404.html)
Alas, I am going nowhere remotely interesting, doing nothing exciting, and going nowhere exotic, unless you consider Montana exotic. But what the hell, taking a gerbil along and taking pictures of it gave me something to freaking DO on the Vacation-From-Hell.