See
http://www.skynewsmagazine.com/pages/mars.html#Anchor-Mar-64199
For information on the upcoming Mars Opposition and a nice piece of freeware called "Mars Previewer" which generates a representation of what Mars features are in view for any given time in a variety of telescopes. You'll need winzip or something like that to unzip it.
"Mars Previewer II is a freeware program developed by Argentina amateur Leandro Rios made for users of Windows 95 and higher.This handy observing program will allow you to see which major surface features will be visible during any given time period.
Set the date (day/month/year) and the default time zone under "configuration" relative to UT (positive numbers for North America). After the time zone is selected, click on "default TZ" to have it set to your own. Users can then choose to view the image as to how your telescope presents it by using the other options available. Scrolling over the created image with your cursor will show names of the larger surface features."