Locked In

The toilet cover at a deep field camp outhouse

The remains of a pig roast. Word has it this is not this years pig but the pig from last year!

Group of crazy folks all dressed up to attend melting man (the Antarctic burning man)

Scariest costume at the Halloween party. Later this guy wore the costume to take a picture at pole and got frostbite on his feet because he didn't want to ruin the costume by wearing shoes.

Picture from the dry valleys

What my pictures may look like from now on due to a broken camera...I know, it looks real!

The last flight on or off of the continent for the next 5-6 months has come and gone. This means that there will be no more mail, people, supplies, and most importantly freshies until late August or early September. All the winter-overs gathered on Sunday to watch and champagne toast to the last flight as it performed a fly over before heading north to Christchurch. I was expecting it to be a pretty big event, but what ended up happening was everyone watched the plane fly over, people cheered and screamed (mostly happy screams but some terrified), we drank a glass of champagne, and then the crowd dispersed. It was pretty anticlimactic. So, now the station is pretty much deserted. This summer the place was crazy with over 1000 people on station at times, now there are less than 150 people here. The days that followed the last flight were spent moving into new winter rooms, starting new winter jobs, and in learning how to be completely ornery and complain about anything and everything. So far, as far as I can tell, the main reason keep coming back winter after winter is to moan and groan about things. One word I would never use to describe the winter veterans is flexible. They are pretty set in their ways and any minor change spurs hours/days of complaints, possibly even station wide emails or meetings. Regardless, everyone except the few people who the plane forgot and now consequently have to wash dishes for the next 7 months in the dark….just a joke. Everyone seems pretty happy that the winter season has finally started.

Last week I was introduced to some returning winter folks. I should note that these people hadn’t even been back on ice for more than two days. My conversation with them was basically me listening to them complain about how all the good cheese was going to be gone before mid-winter because the cooks were using too much of it for regular meals. To clarify, we have access to sandwich sliced provolone and processed cheddar cheese everyday. The processed cheddar is pretty gross but the provolone is just as good as the provolone you get from the grocery deli. On Sundays (our only day off) we have brunch which usually is a nicer meal than other days. There is usually a variety of fresh fruit and fresh baked cinnamon rolls/sticky buns/bagels, egg substitute, waffles, and other assorted breakfast foods. In addition there is always a selection of “real” cheese. Usually there is whiskey smoked cheddar, Gouda, and other nice cheeses. This is the good cheese these people were referring to. To suggest that we may run out of cheese just because the cooks made a brie soup for lunch one day though is completely ludicrous. As a GA, one of my weekly tasks was to help with the food pull. During the food pull, we would basically unload the groceries for the kitchen. All the food that the kitchen would need to feed 1000 people for a week was collected from three different warehouses on station and then we unloaded it all into the kitchen freezers, fridges, and storage spaces. I once moved over 400 pounds of meatballs!! A side note, for anyone who may be coming here and decides they are eating too much and would like cut down on their intake, I would suggest helping out with the food pull. Slinging box after box of pork shoulder and blazing redfish really gives you a new perspective when you are filling your plate in the galley hot food line. Back to the cheese, I helped with the food pull nearly every week this summer. Every week we moved multiple boxes of “good cheese” into the kitchen. We never ran out and I’m pretty certain that we never will. Perhaps, these seasoned winterers know something I don’t. Maybe it’s just me being an ignorant Fingee, (the term people to refer to first year people – Fucking New Guy) but I don’t think it is possible for us to run out of cheese before July especially not because of one lunch when brie soup was served. Regardless, it is something to complain about and I’m starting to think that that is just as important to some here as food may be. Usually, the main complaints have to do with the way things are being run, the NSF and Raytheon management, not being able to jello wrestle,http://www.westword.com/2009-02-12/news/jell-o-wrestling-is-a-firing-offense-at-the-south-pole/, http://%22http//www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4840019a24035.html%22but complaints can also be created about as insignificant things as new bed sheet colors or the depth of new soup bowls. So, I guess this means that if/when I leave this place I will be a vampire who does nothing but complain about mundane things. I can’t wait!

I’ve had a couple of conversations recently with some winter veterans that have kind of scared me. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a guy named Sal. Sal had the job I have this winter last winter. He was here for a full year summer/winter, left for 21 days after the winter and came back for this last summer. As I said, during the winter he worked at the BFC, but during the summer seasons he was the camp manager out at Siple Dome. Siple Dome is a deep field camp that is staffed by only three people. Perhaps needless to say, Sal is crazy. Even if he wanted to stay for this winter he wouldn’t be allowed to because of company rules. You have to have so much off ice time in between contracts. I was talking to Sal and I asked him if he was planning on coming back next summer. His facial expression was vacant and got real serious at the same time, his glazed over eyes gazed off into the space over my left shoulder and he said “Solomon I’ve spent too much time here. I’ve lost parts of my personality and soul that I liked and I think I need. I have to get out of here so I can try and find out if I’ve lost them for good or if it is going to be possible for me to find and recover them. The winter especially was just too much.” Not really knowing how to respond, my eyes wide open with a shocked/weirded-out expression, I just kind of smiled and nodded. I then slowly turned the nod into one of those head shakes that says I hear you man, for sure, although really what I was thinking was, “Holy Shit! This is what I’m going to be like in seven more months. What have I done?” Then I snapped back and remembered that Sal is nuts and I figure he must have been pretty crazy even before he came to the ice. Still it is a bit worrisome to hear that I may lose my personality or even soul over the winter, whatever that means it can’t be good.

Last week Meghan, the girl who is technically my on ice supervisor at the BFC returned after being gone for about 4 months. The lady who is in charge of the BFC just left and is now in Denver where she works at the office during the winter season. After I got offered my winter contract I would tell people where I was working and they would ask who else was going to be in the BFC this winter. When I told them that Meghan was one of the people who would be there, I got numerous responses that included something like oh did you see her at the end of the winter last year, she was toast, do you think you handle working with her? I should note that I met Meghan before she left after the winter in October. I got along fine with her but I learned later that not all of her interactions were as pleasant as the ones I had with her. I did notice that she was pretty irritable, but I got along fine with her. My boss even wrote an email to Sal before she hired me asking him if he thought I could handle Meghan. Luckily, as I already mentioned, Sal is crazy so his response was mostly just crazy ramblings that didn’t make much sense. Somewhere within his email though, he did give his blessing for me to be his successor as the token male in the BFC. Anyways, the day Meghan arrived back on station, I drove her around and helped her pick up all her baggage (including the 7 piece fake stick-on mustache set she brought along) and move into her room. While we were driving around doing errands I asked her if she was planning on staying for next summer after the winter was over. Her facial expression became very serious, like Sals did, and she said “I’m hoping to stay for the summer. I have to. I have to get off of winters. I’m still stupid from last winter. They say it takes a year to recover from a winter here and I only had 4 months. I’m still dumb and I can tell. People have noticed too. Sometimes I’ll be talking to someone and just forget mid sentence what I was talking about.” Wow well this is awesome news, I think. Thanks for helping me get excited about the winter Meghan. I should note that there is a consensus among most of last years winter crew that she did have one of the worst cases of T3, a thyroid thing that winter people experience where you get super spaced out and forgetful among other things. Regardless, these two conversations I had with two of the people who had the same job last winter that I have this winter have left me a bit worried. Nah it’ll be fine, who needs a soul anyway right.

My first couples of weeks at work have gone really well. I’m really enjoying my new job. My job title is field coordinator but I’m more commonly referred to by people here as the token male at the BFC. Most people call the BFC the Building Full of Chicks because it is typically staffed by females. This summer the BFC employees consisted of seven women. I have been learning how to sew and have been told recently that I can expect my menstrual cycle to sync up with the two ladies I work with any day now.

Other News

- My brother Jesse recently informed me that not only Denny’s but also Ihop recently gave away free breakfast to anyone who entered the door. Denny's gave away entire Grand Slam Breakfasts!!http://www.dennys.com/en/ Because they know we love a real breakfast as much as they do. IHOP gave away free pancakes!!http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/index.html I was completely shocked by these two pieces of news. It took me a couple of days after hearing this news before I was able to speak again. Is there anything better than free budget breakfast? It’s good to know that even during these uncertain economic times that a helping hand can be found just down the block at the local fine dining establishment. That is what America is all about, Yeah! In addition, my brother sent me a link to a website where you can get free Quiznos subs http://www.millionsubs.com/Reg.php. If anyone knows Jesse, the next time you see him be sure to scold him for not participating in the glorious breakfast event. Tell him not to forget WWBD.

-I’m participating in a NASA study on Vitamin D. Basically, I have to take a huge dosage of vitamin D every day for the duration of the winter and have my blood drawn 3 or 4 times throughout the season. The purpose of the study is to figure out what the optimal dosage should be for Vitamin D supplements for astronauts and others who work in an environment with no sunlight. The lady doing running the study gave a presentation on how space travel and wintering in Antarctica are similar. Space travel would be much cooler in case anyone is wondering. Although, I’m not totally convinced that aliens would be any more interesting/weird than some of the people down here.

- I hiked up Ob Hill last Saturday to watch and take pictures of the first sunset. I set my camera up on a tripod and while I was waiting for the automatic time to count down for a pic my tripod was blown over by the wind and the camera was destroyed. This means that from now on I will have to just get pictures from other people. I may have to post only Windows Paintbrush art on this instead of photos. (see art above)