A bad picture of town.
After midwinter run. The guy keeled over next to me was the Mens over 35 yrs winner. He is obviously hurting more than myself.
The sun costume I ran in. That one was for you sun.
The begining of the race.
Winter town photo. Obviously taken a while ago. I was going to edit it and point people out but my computer crashed, so it will have to wait. Glad the bulldozer made the picture though, ha.
Midwinter science support photo.
BFC midwinter photo. Clearly, not our first photo shoot. From front to back: me, Meghan (supervisor), and Rebekah.Greetings everyone! I had to leave the blog world for a while, but alas I have returned. I have taken a few links off that used to be on here as a precautionary security measure, but if anyone would like the links to sites that were previously linked from my blog, just let me know and I’ll be happy to email them to you. A lot has happened since the last entry. Unfortunately, I have most likely forgotten the majority, but I’ll do my best to recap the last month or so.
Work is still going well. Since the last entry we finished RFI’ing (Ready For Issue) Scott tents, Mtn. tents, cots, propane stoves, propane torches, crampons, and some other random gear that is currently escaping my memory. The weeks are going by extremely fast. People are already starting to count down weeks until the first flight comes in.
We hosted a badminton tournament at our work center during the first weekend in June. I was pretty ready to win the whole thing and I am still a bit upset about the way things ended. My partner and I put out what was assumed to be the “favorites” in the first round of the tournament. We were feeling great going into the second round. Just before our game started the tournament officials, decided to make a change in the rules and format of the tournament. The games would no longer be best of 3 with rally scoring. Instead just one game would decide each match and you had to serve to score. We ended up losing our match to the eventual champions. There is little doubt in my mind that we would have taken the tourney if the rules would not have changed.
The next big celebration after the badminton tourney was midwinter weekend. There is a lot of hype around mid-winter. It is the only true Antarctic holiday, so we pay it the attention it deserves. The two day weekend (a real treat since we usually only get one day off) started with a BBQ/lawn games party at the Carpentry shop. The BBQ’ing was done outside, but the yard games were all set up inside. At some point in the night things got a bit out of control and a giant food fight erupted. No body knows who through the first hamburger bun, but someone did admit to chucking the first piece of cake. I’m still wondering who is responsible for the spinach soup that is still stuck to my shoes.
The next day, Saturday, was the big midwinter dinner celebration. The party started with appetizers and drinks at 5:30 with dinner at 6:30. If there is one thing every winter resident of McMurdo is good at, it is taking advantage of a free hour of booze. By 6:30 everyone was in rare form. It was not unlike company Christmas parties you always here about when somebody consumes a bit too much and does something they may regret doing in front of their boss and the rest of the company. One difference here, however, is everyone was that person that consumes a bit too much and makes a fool out of themselves. After dinner there was some dancing and then I hosted a candy desert in my room. I’m still boycotting the baker so to protest, I invited people to my house after dinner to enjoy fine deserts. Instead of the New York cheese cake, chocolate moose, and homemade truffles that were being served by the baker, I offered my guests fine delicacies such as frozen Snickers, peanut and plain M&M’s, assorted chocolate bars, fruit gummies, Three Musketeers bars, Reeses Peanut Butter cups, Starbursts, lemonheads, and even a sliced apple I had been holding on to for a couple of months. I even put out some Grape Nuts so the healthy eaters would have something to enjoy. After candy desert, everyone made their way to the bar where there was a DJ spinin some tunes.
On Sunday, June 21, our yoga group gathered at my work center to do Yoga Mala. It was our way of celebrating the solstice. We did 108 sun salutations, not an easy feat, especially after a big midwinter night. As far as I know nobody got sick and just about everyone made it through all 4 sets of 27. It seems that the sun has taken notice, because this week there has been some faint light around noon on the horizon. It is still far from light but just the hint of lighter sky has everyone excited. After we finished yoga, we all gorged ourselves on real eggs brought over from the kiwi base, a grapefruit somebody had saved for months, coffee, homemade biscotti, and mimosas. It was a pretty great way to celebrate the solstice.
This last weekend I participated in the midwinter run. It is pretty short for obvious reasons (cold). I think the course was only a mile and a half or so. It was a good time though. I came in 4th place overall, third in my age division. I wore a home sewn sun costume and dedicated my run to the sun. Coming down the last straight away, I was neck and neck with the guy who ended up wining the older age division, we started to sprint but he edged my out and finished just ahead of me. Afterwards, he told me he was really hurting but, “I’d be damned if I’m going to get passed by a guy wearing a sun costume.” My final time was something like 9 mins 35 secs.
This coming weekend is the 4th of July. The vehicle maintenance shop is hosting a 4th of July carnival complete with a dunk tank, chili cook-off, and other random booths. The building it is being held in is kind of a depressing place and smells like oil and grease.
In Other News:
- We had a VTC (Video Tele-Conference) with the Denver office last week. I don’t know whose idea it was to have a live video chat with a room full of 150 crusty winterovers and the CEO of the company, but I doubt it will happen again anytime soon. All I could focus on during the meeting was the little slit of sunshine showing through the blinds in the background of the Denver feed.
- People are really starting to get grumpy and “toasty.” The majority of conversations involve either complaining about things or talking about forgetting things, or complaining about things, forgetting we just complained about them, and then having the conversation all over again.
- The lady who was taking my weights at exercise class is no longer taking using my weights but I think she is messing with me in other ways. She sometimes sets everyone’s gear up before anyone gets to class, and the other day she said she didn’t get out my weights because she wasn’t exactly sure which weights I used. I’m not buying it.
-The Doc put up a really crazy poster (big surprise) on one of the main bulletin boards. In it, he wrote about finding the white rabbit if you are having trouble sleeping, and peeking through the looking class at the bar to get some rest. Nobody is sure what the whole thing meant. It was really long and bizarre with a lot of references to Alice and Wonderland. Some think he may be holding serious drugs, while others just think he is just insane. Regardless, an apology poster was posted in its place in a couple of days.
- I’m trying to watch fewer movies this month. I realized I was watching too many movies when I sat through Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I haven’t even seen the first one, and after seeing the sequel, I hope I never do.
- There are 7 weeks until the first flight is scheduled to arrive. YIKES! Some worry the swine flu will arrive with our fresh fruit. Most would probably agree that this is a small price to pay for freshies.
Work is still going well. Since the last entry we finished RFI’ing (Ready For Issue) Scott tents, Mtn. tents, cots, propane stoves, propane torches, crampons, and some other random gear that is currently escaping my memory. The weeks are going by extremely fast. People are already starting to count down weeks until the first flight comes in.
We hosted a badminton tournament at our work center during the first weekend in June. I was pretty ready to win the whole thing and I am still a bit upset about the way things ended. My partner and I put out what was assumed to be the “favorites” in the first round of the tournament. We were feeling great going into the second round. Just before our game started the tournament officials, decided to make a change in the rules and format of the tournament. The games would no longer be best of 3 with rally scoring. Instead just one game would decide each match and you had to serve to score. We ended up losing our match to the eventual champions. There is little doubt in my mind that we would have taken the tourney if the rules would not have changed.
The next big celebration after the badminton tourney was midwinter weekend. There is a lot of hype around mid-winter. It is the only true Antarctic holiday, so we pay it the attention it deserves. The two day weekend (a real treat since we usually only get one day off) started with a BBQ/lawn games party at the Carpentry shop. The BBQ’ing was done outside, but the yard games were all set up inside. At some point in the night things got a bit out of control and a giant food fight erupted. No body knows who through the first hamburger bun, but someone did admit to chucking the first piece of cake. I’m still wondering who is responsible for the spinach soup that is still stuck to my shoes.
The next day, Saturday, was the big midwinter dinner celebration. The party started with appetizers and drinks at 5:30 with dinner at 6:30. If there is one thing every winter resident of McMurdo is good at, it is taking advantage of a free hour of booze. By 6:30 everyone was in rare form. It was not unlike company Christmas parties you always here about when somebody consumes a bit too much and does something they may regret doing in front of their boss and the rest of the company. One difference here, however, is everyone was that person that consumes a bit too much and makes a fool out of themselves. After dinner there was some dancing and then I hosted a candy desert in my room. I’m still boycotting the baker so to protest, I invited people to my house after dinner to enjoy fine deserts. Instead of the New York cheese cake, chocolate moose, and homemade truffles that were being served by the baker, I offered my guests fine delicacies such as frozen Snickers, peanut and plain M&M’s, assorted chocolate bars, fruit gummies, Three Musketeers bars, Reeses Peanut Butter cups, Starbursts, lemonheads, and even a sliced apple I had been holding on to for a couple of months. I even put out some Grape Nuts so the healthy eaters would have something to enjoy. After candy desert, everyone made their way to the bar where there was a DJ spinin some tunes.
On Sunday, June 21, our yoga group gathered at my work center to do Yoga Mala. It was our way of celebrating the solstice. We did 108 sun salutations, not an easy feat, especially after a big midwinter night. As far as I know nobody got sick and just about everyone made it through all 4 sets of 27. It seems that the sun has taken notice, because this week there has been some faint light around noon on the horizon. It is still far from light but just the hint of lighter sky has everyone excited. After we finished yoga, we all gorged ourselves on real eggs brought over from the kiwi base, a grapefruit somebody had saved for months, coffee, homemade biscotti, and mimosas. It was a pretty great way to celebrate the solstice.
This last weekend I participated in the midwinter run. It is pretty short for obvious reasons (cold). I think the course was only a mile and a half or so. It was a good time though. I came in 4th place overall, third in my age division. I wore a home sewn sun costume and dedicated my run to the sun. Coming down the last straight away, I was neck and neck with the guy who ended up wining the older age division, we started to sprint but he edged my out and finished just ahead of me. Afterwards, he told me he was really hurting but, “I’d be damned if I’m going to get passed by a guy wearing a sun costume.” My final time was something like 9 mins 35 secs.
This coming weekend is the 4th of July. The vehicle maintenance shop is hosting a 4th of July carnival complete with a dunk tank, chili cook-off, and other random booths. The building it is being held in is kind of a depressing place and smells like oil and grease.
In Other News:
- We had a VTC (Video Tele-Conference) with the Denver office last week. I don’t know whose idea it was to have a live video chat with a room full of 150 crusty winterovers and the CEO of the company, but I doubt it will happen again anytime soon. All I could focus on during the meeting was the little slit of sunshine showing through the blinds in the background of the Denver feed.
- People are really starting to get grumpy and “toasty.” The majority of conversations involve either complaining about things or talking about forgetting things, or complaining about things, forgetting we just complained about them, and then having the conversation all over again.
- The lady who was taking my weights at exercise class is no longer taking using my weights but I think she is messing with me in other ways. She sometimes sets everyone’s gear up before anyone gets to class, and the other day she said she didn’t get out my weights because she wasn’t exactly sure which weights I used. I’m not buying it.
-The Doc put up a really crazy poster (big surprise) on one of the main bulletin boards. In it, he wrote about finding the white rabbit if you are having trouble sleeping, and peeking through the looking class at the bar to get some rest. Nobody is sure what the whole thing meant. It was really long and bizarre with a lot of references to Alice and Wonderland. Some think he may be holding serious drugs, while others just think he is just insane. Regardless, an apology poster was posted in its place in a couple of days.
- I’m trying to watch fewer movies this month. I realized I was watching too many movies when I sat through Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I haven’t even seen the first one, and after seeing the sequel, I hope I never do.
- There are 7 weeks until the first flight is scheduled to arrive. YIKES! Some worry the swine flu will arrive with our fresh fruit. Most would probably agree that this is a small price to pay for freshies.
- A couple of weeks ago the temperature was down to -76 F with the wind chill. It has warmed up since, but that was pretty cold.
- I saw the aurora today. Still amazing.
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
I’m out.
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
I’m out.
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