Sleep?

Pictures from top down:

1.Sign out at the penguin ranch-one of the science camps on the sea ice

2.The view from underneath the ice- seen from an underwater observation tube

3.An Adelie penguin that was wondering around

4. Picture of my freshies that I had for brunch a couple of weeks ago. That is a real strawberry!

5. Emperor penguins at the penguin ranch (much much bigger than the Adelies)

6. Going down into the observation tube to see under the water.

7. Picture of the last sunset.

*I tried to upload more photos but the internet got too slow and wouldn't let me do it. Sorry.

I can't belive we are already a week into November. I spent half of Thursday trying to figure out what day of the week it was. I tried to do it without asking anybody what day it was and without looking at a calendar or anything. It was a real long and draining process. I eventually figured it out but did end up checking with someone to make sure I was right. The sun stays up all day and night now so it is hard to recognize when one day ends and another begins. It is pretty hard to get a good nights rest too. I'm getting about 5 hours of sleep everynight and after speaking with everyone else that seems to be about par for the course.

The much anticipated Halloween party happened. It was a pretty crazy time. The big gym was decorated with "creepy" things and a DJ played music while everyone danced around in their costumes. It was really bizzarre to see so many people dressed up in costumes in Antarctica. My favorite costume was a jellyfish. My costume was supposed to be a matadore but ended up being thrown together last second and just ended up being a guy wearing tights, a cape, a wig, a matadore vest, and waving flags around. I was never able to come up with an actual label for the costume.

I have had some pretty cool days as far as work is concerned, some pretty bad ones too, but the good ones seem to make up for not so good days. I have now seen penguins, seals, and skuas. A couple of the GA's had to go out and fuel the "Penguin Ranch," a field camp where they capture emperor penguins and study them when they dive. They have a tube that goes down into the ice with an observation deck under the water. I got to go down into the observation tube and watch a Weddell seal play around in the water. It was pretty awesome!

In other news, I am heading out to a field camp next week called WAIS (Western Antarctic Ice Sheet). If you google WAIS more info can be found if interested. I'm going out with a crew of carpenters to help build a giant arch that is used to hold a drill so they can get ice cores. I am leaving at the end of next week and will be gone for about 2-3 weeks. This means I will be living in a tent for 2-3weeks. Basically it will be like camping in Shirley Basin in the winter time during a storm for three weeks. YAY. After my happy camper experience I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the experience. I will be there for Thanksgiving. We have our own cook at the camp and he is supposed to be a really good chef so Thanksgiving dinner should be good. Apparently the area is known for some pretty epic storms so there is a pretty good chance our stay may get extended if we cant get a flight out.

Other news:

-I got the "crud" and had to call in sick last week.

-The Yellow snow radio show is broadcasted live every sunday evening and is a lot of fun. I serve up jams so crunchy people often mistake them for freshies.

-Last weekend for brunch we had a pretty good freshie selection (pictured above) We also had lox.

-I've become a Trekie. An episode of Star Trek the Next Generation is shown everyday right after work. I have started to zone out at work wondering what the nights episode will be about.

The best McMurdo historical story I heard last week was a story about a guy who stayed here all winter sometime in the '80s. I think it's a true story too because a lot of old timers tell it, even one of the head station manager folks backed it up. Apparently, this guy wanted to go home on the first flight he could after the winter was over. The first flight came and his supervisor wouldn't let him go. He asked to be put on the second flight and his supervisor said no. Finally, the third flight of winfly came and he still wasn't put on the flight to go home. So, the guy went into the housing office here and asked to borrow a big mallet. The housing people gave it to him. He took it into the galley where his supervisor was sitting, walked up behind him and him in the back of the head with a full swing. He didn't kill the supervisor but he had to get a medevac off the continent. The employee was taken away by a federal marshall and flown off the continent. He finally got to leave. Apparently, the charges started as attempted murder then were lessend to something else. The guy was convicted and did some time, but was able to successfully sue the company because of some law that says if an employee wishes to leave and the means to do it are available, the company has to honor his wishes. Pretty nutty story. After seeing the winterovers this year I beleive it could happen.