A blog from a science nut, computer geek, sometimes philosopher, and a human. Based out of Denver, with a love of Antarctica, I seem to wander the world so who knows where I'll be in 6 months.

The most remarkable joy of my return to the Ice 7 years later is the amount of joy and laughing I’ve be apart of during these last two seasons.  This last summer I started by everything being last minute and so was delivered into the Network Operations Center (NOC) without knowing any of my direct co-workers.  It was lucky then that the season was so touched by such enjoyable people.  

Although I definitely got work done, I always felt like the work was an interlude between laughing fits. Jeri especially was the touchstone of the NOC.  If she laughed, we would laugh.  Anthony, sitting right behind her, often turned around an emitted something as if he was a time traveler from the future who’d only studied the wrong era of language.  Ryan threw in some great practical jokes.  Arien, well… the humble ego (which apparently is possible) with his snap shirts and pushups goading was always, always, getting Jeri to laugh.  

The I.T. table was one that people seeked out, rather than avoided for being the nerd table.  Many times we were looked at from a full galley due to the entire table laughing hysterically.  I came to look forward to the lunch hour as our laughing hour.  I’m sure we didn’t laugh every day, but I’ll likely remember that we tried.  

The strange part is that I don’t remember much of the inside jokes, nor the stand up comedy, or of Anthony’s odd euphemism.  What I do remember is the smiles, people turning red from belly laughs, the need to breath, and wonderful emotional releases everyone had throughout the Summer season. 

So too it has continued during the Winter.  There are many days I look forward to during the week.  Particularly Volleyball on Tuesday, and the every other week Trivia Wednesday nights.  Volleyball, funny?  What? Really?  Yep, the very definition of ROFL.  We have developed a rapport that allows for the amazing, the breath taking, the simply strange, and the wonderful to take place in a 40 year old falling apart gym.  What’s more is how much our volleyball has actually improved in addition to the silliness that ensues.  Beyond the silly jousts, spikes, and rejections, that we all acclaim, we now also get amazing saves with energetic foot work and not a touch of antics.  By far the most hysterical thing I’ve heard of so far is a jammed finger that transmuted into playing with mittens, and by all rights playing well.  It’s a bit of jungle ball, but it’s fun and we blow off steam.  Very enjoyable, yet slightly competitive. 

Trivia night is a similar night for letting loose.  Somehow, although it’s generally very loud, we always manage to end up with very happy people.  Hartman and Sarah both the best and worst moderators for trivia.  Best for the antics and worst for speed. Sniping, side bets, peanut gallery corrections, and distractions of all types.  They set the bar high for the visiting trivia judges, and so far they’ve delivered. 

Finally, and most beloved by me right now, is our “Family Table” in the Galley.  As opposed to the single 5-8 spot round table I.T. that was normally used, the Winter has a very unique table.  Right now it’s 4 rectangular tables, strung together to seat about 10-20% of the station, or  as many as 30 people at it’s height. No one has specific spots, we randomly sit at the table when we aren’t visiting.  Conversations happen in all corners and in if you don’t catch the joke at one end, one will soon happen on your end.  I won’t say it’s all lovey dovey, but people seem to get along really well.  The longer we’ve been around each other, the more the inside jokes have heighten.  Someone mentioned that ground troops get this way, so familiar that one jokes just roll on into the next prank, which delivers them into the next old story, etc.  

I can’t sit at it every meal or every day of the week, but when I can I love to hang around and mingle.  It may not be a joke, or a story, but a conversation that I’ve found very satisfying.  It’s the people that really make this station run, sometimes we get lost in the politics on station, the whining and bitching we all do, the inanities of a “Groundhog Day” life, but this–my first winter–has been wonderful one. 

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A few days ago I went out to Pegasus preparing for flight ops to work on a troublesome weather computer exhibiting strange networking problems. Driving back from Pegasus I got caught in a Herbie and it went from Condition 2 to Condition 1 in all of 10 seconds.   During the ensuing seven hours waiting, aligning with the convoy, and finally getting back to station, I was inspired by a comparison.  

Every year, Denver get’s beautiful snow storms.  They are likely increasing with frequency, but are more erratic than even in my childhood.  Yet those days that Denver get’s dumped on by 2 feet of snow in a few hours (even in May), brings the city to a crawl.  I have many memories of getting stuck in snow, in snow traffic, or being hindered by snow in Denver.  Mostly overridden by the bright sunshine that happens less than a day later, but I do remember those times where I got stuck in a snow bank and waiting for rescue. 

Of course in Denver, if we get stuck we call a 4 wheel drive vehicle–a truck or a SUV–to come pull us out.  Increased traction and better torque, whalla, you are sweaty and covered in snow, but your front wheel drive car is now back on the road.  

Here in McMurdo we have a similar arrangement, but it’s at a different level.  We start in a 4 wheel vehicle and not just an all wheel drive thing with snow tires.  That’d be a vehicle Fleet Operations (Fleetops) would tell the Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF) not to check out.  No, we start in a lifted van with double wide tires that is generally driven in 4wd High.  It has 4wd Low, the fluids are low temperature rated including the fuel, they are check for Preventive Maintenance (PM’ed in the vernacular) very regularly, and are the staple of our transport fleet.  

What we call for a tow is a CAT Challenger or a Case Quad Track.  Think tracked farm vehicle… as that’s actually what they are.  Of course they are somewhat modified but mostly it’s just different low temp fluids and heaters for the oil and battery.  Again, increased traction, torque, and in the case of Winter, much better lighting, plus often a GPS.

Of course there’s a reason for the different level. What Denver mostly drives on is pavement.  Even on the worst day, you can generally get a grip on it if you move enough snow.  Unless of course there’s ice on it.  Which of course generally what we drive on to Pegasus, or rather a combination of compacted snow with patches of varying types of ice. They don’t call Pegasus the Blue Ice runway for no reason. Which incidentally they do actually land wheeled planes on the ice, of course they have thrust reversers or prop feathering in addition to brakes. The Ross Ice Shelf, which is the majority of what we are on driving to Pegasus, is a glacier that’s between 50 and 200 feet thick.  New accumulation yearly and what is blown here from other parts of the continent is what we generally drive on, make snow caves out of (for happy camper), and what Pegasus is covered by (which is compacted or removed). 

To give you reference, Condition 3 (think green for go) is Winds less than 48 knots, and Visibility greater than or equal to ¼ mile, and Wind chill temperature warmer than -75°F. Condition 2 (think yellow for yield) is Winds 48 to 55 knots sustained for one minute, or Visibility less than ¼ mile, but greater than or equal to 100 feet sustained for one minute, or Wind chill -75°F to -100°F sustained for one minute. Condition 1 (think red for STOP!) is Winds greater than 55 knots sustained for one minute, or Visibility less than 100 feet sustained for one minute, or Wind chill greater than -100°F sustained for one minute.

Now perhaps you can see that when it goes from Condition 2 (visibility) to Condition 1 (visibility & wind) in 10 seconds that it’s not just about being able to grip the road, but it’s also about dealing with a white out. I’ve dealt with a whiteout in Colorado a few times.  You slow down, look for the reflective markers on the side of the road or the stripe on the road, and either move along slowly (hoping you don’t get hit from behind) or pull off (hope you don’t get stuck and hope you don’t get sideswiped by a jerk in a 4wd). Similar here, but all we have are flags every 25 yards with a bit of reflectivity on them and there is no way to differentiate the road.  It’s white… and white.  You can feel the difference if you are on top of it, as fleetops drags the road to compact it and keep it more clear of snow.  However in low visibility if you see a flag you can get disoriented and wonder aloud “is that flag the inside or outside of the lane?” Add to this that you don’t really want to stop if you are at all close to getting stuck.  4 wheeler aficionados may know this, but momentum is your friend.  Run across a drift caused by a herbie on an area that was just dragged can still be dicey, better to stay moving and get through it slowly but consistently.  Just don’t burn the tranny out.

All of this is why next time you drive from DIA back home and get stuck in a snowstorm you can think about getting stuck in a herbie in Antarctica on your way home. It might be 25 miles to get back Downtown and take you 2-3 hours, but remember if you get stuck at Pegasus at mile marker 12 it can take 7 hours to get home.  Even if you have a Magic Carpet…

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This is my 3rd season in McMurdo, two Summers, and now a Winter.  In many ways I’m still a neophyte as compared to some of the 15+ year veterans and some things are still new to me.  For most of my readers, you’ve never been to the Ice, so I want to elucidate on some of the very different things that happen when you contract to work in Antarctica.  Obviously my perspective is entirely McMurdo based, I am however to understand many thing are universal when you work for the US stations.

Food, water, shelter, these are the very basics for what people need.  Human are extremely adaptable, but we are also emotional beings and change in these tends to charge some emotions.  The hostile environment makes these necessities require more redundancy as well as tends to restrict life.  In this respect we are fundamentally more attuned to what options we have.  

Now there’s lots of irony in this.  Working on the Ice we are given, food, water, and shelter.  It’s not something we have to pay for, indeed it’s assumed in addition to our contracted wages.  So on the one hand, we don’t have to pay for it.  On the other hand we don’t have anything like the normal control over our food, water, and shelter that we would have when we are at home.  In that way we’ve bargain that control, for our wage, the chance to visit this place, the companion of similar people, etc. 

I’m not sure how this conveys to most of you living back in the US or in a mostly free and open society.  This topic is one of the conversations that any group of ice people will have, which would likely baffle non-ice people.  When I’ve tried to explain how ice people can get aggravated over things like dorm inspections to non-ice people, it seems like we are a bunch of whiners.  We are being given room and board for free, and the government wants the right to inspect it for fire safety, utility issues, and any gross violations.  It seems like it’s fair, and rationally I agree that it is.  

We don’t have a choice about it though, our expectations of privacy down here are much more abstract than they are on US soil.  The psychological impact of that ambiguity and inconsistency is what I think aggravates people, and also gives them freedom.  The policies and enforcement change seasonally depending primarily on what Station and NSF managers are deployed, but also what politics are going on inside the USAP headquarters, NSF Office of Polar Programs, and other factors. 

So we are not really whiners, at least no more than George Washington was about King George IV.  I say that with purpose too.  I’m not saying that we are unfairly tax (although that’s another discussion), but rather that living in Antarctica as a contractor to the US Governement we are not actually on United States soil.  So we don’t live by the same laws that we live by in the US. We live by a mix of rules and policies that are abstract and not always codified in much the same way colonies of Britain lived in the 1700s.  I don’t mean to imply people are thinking revolution, but rather that it’s a frame of reference some of you may more readily identify with.  

As I can I’ll flesh out more on the topic of what things are so different here on the Ice, beyond the obvious environmental differences.

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This week has been all about the sun, the moon, and the stars, well after the unexpected plane that landed here on Monday.  It's been exhausting, but amazingly fun.  Some of you may have read my previous post on the mechanics of final sunset, which was an interesting research project.  Following that post I went out and saw it the next day, taking timelapses of the set, the drive, and other silliness.  It was bloody cold, and I broke the lens on the SLR I'm using.  Inspite of that it was amazing.  I got pictures like what you see below.

I also got this amazing timelapse of the sun rising and setting.  This is an interesting illusion as well.  Although the clouds obscure it quite a bit, you can definately see what is a sunset in this. This sunset is actually about an hour after what offical sunset happened. Conjecture is that we saw a reflection, either off the ice to the clouds, but it's extremely vivid and quite impressive.  I probably won't forget that for a while, as much because my toes won't let me as anything. (I'm kidding, I have all 10 toes and fingers, as well as a shiny red nose). 

This is the youtube for the embeded timelapse below. 

Two days after the final sunset, April 25th at 6am NZDT we had a penumbral lunar eclipse.  I was a bit confused about, as the International date line tends to screw me up, but I did manage to get up early and go view the dimming of the moon.  I also got this timelapse below and I'll quote what I wrote on the youtube notes below.

This is actually a timelapse of the penumbral lunar eclipse that happened on April 25th 2013, however as it's with a Hero 3 it's not really visible. This is an awesome timelapse though, you can see how the moon rather then tracking in an arch like we think of it normally, it's tracking across the earth. Remember the Hero 3 has a 120 degree field of vision, but this couldn't even keep it in view after 11900 pictures and almost 7 hours starting at about 5:30am. It didn't set until almost 4pm in the afternoon (at least). Remember this is after the final winter sunset so although twilight comes up, and it's pointed in generally the right direction, we didn't see the sun all day.

And then I finally managed to get the telescope I found to work with the camera that I sort of broke.  It was just the lens though and not the body thankfully. But I got this other awesome photo on my second try.  I hope to get more as I get better with it and can tune it in better.  Maybe I can even get some star tracks which would be a nice consolation prize. To bad I didn't it figured out before the eclipse, next time though.

All in all, I'm absolutely I amazed I got any real work done this week.  Another week in paradise as we say, and boy did it fly!

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Nope, but Antarctican's won’t see it again for several months, so like a friend who gets lost in the wandering, we tend to forget about them.  Although the sun is a big friend and it’s hard to miss our friend’s effects… so maybe that’s a fib.

Unlike many who’ve been writing and showing sunset here in Antarctica, I thought I’d talk and show the mechanism involved.  Future posts may also have photos showing the beautiful and quick sunset.  It rises tomorrow April 23 2013 at 12:16 PM and sets at 1:27 PM. 

Why though do we get months without sun south of the Antarctic Circle?  It is a question many of you probably know the answer to, but only abstractly.  We all know the earth is tilted and I think most people know that it relates to seasons, which also is the reason we get long periods of darkness in the polar regions.  How exactly they are related is what I believe many get confused on, so in an effort to make it more concrete and show why we only get an hour fifteen minutes of sunlight tomorrow I’ll describe it.

Being tilted at 23.5 degrees changes how directly overhead the Sun a little bit every day, this is called the angle of incidence.  The equinox days are the points where the sun is directly overhead above the Equator, meaning it is at 90 degree angle of incidence across the middle of the earth.  Similarly solstice days are the points where the sun is at it’s most indirect overhead above the Equator or 66.5 degrees. (90 – 23.5 = 66.5) It’s also the point where the sun will be the most direct and indirect point overhead along the Lines of the Tropics.  For example on June 21th the sun will be at 90 degrees over the Northern Hemisphere Tropic of Cancer, 66.5 degrees over the Equator, and 44.5 degrees over the Southern Hemisphere Tropic of Capricorn. I didn’t make a visual of this, but a youtube video exists here if this requires more explanation.

The Earth has two more circles of note, and also relate to the sun.  You probably can see where this is going by now.  The Arctic and Antarctic circle are the lines where the the sun will–at least for one 24 hour period per year–remain overhead and similarly be missing overhead.  The following is a good chart representation of this as stitched together by Jared Knox last summer. The further south you go the longer the period of darkness, above the Antarctic circle (say in Palmer and Christchurch) it will never actually go away.

This chart lacks geography, so the animated graphic to the right is a visual from space I built with the help of Google Earth and ImageMagick.  It shows the progression at noon Auckland time (same as McMurdo and South Pole) twice a month for the entire year.  In this way you can visualize the changing angle of incidence better.  Note that this is not a sunset and sunrise although it looks sort of like it, this is actually driven by the tilt of the earth and so its progression is slow and easiest to visualize when sped up.  Click on it for a larger slower version.

Indeed the following visual show you even more clearly what’s going on. As you watch this video I’ve spliced together from Celestia and Google Earth, you can see the angle increasing slowly on the left.  This view is as if you are in a parallel orbit with the earth directly below it looking up, as compared to the right which is a stationary view of Antarctica orbiting with earth on the right.  Look again at the chart above before you watch this video, and take a look at how the darkness on the right slowly increases and then looks as if it’s a spinning top about to fall over. 

A few notes about this video, the sync is just a little off I believe, but Celestia doesn’t have a proper satellite image of Antarctica so it’s hard to match up visually.  If it’s not possible to read the dates, they start on January 1st and end on June 24th, i.e. the middle of austral summer to the middle of austral winter.

I hope you’ve learned something about the beautiful final sunsets all my Antarctican friends will be posting in the near future. 

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Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How, although the latter is generally tacked on. I’m the “Who,” and hopefully an older and wiser “Who” then when I started this this written journey.  Having started to write again for my blog, and being more self-aware of time, feelings, motivation, and having the perspective of time, I turned my lens of introspection on to my blog writing.

I want to answer “What” I’m writing as the pieces those which I enjoy the most, particularly those useful articulated descriptive pieces about what is.  Truth or reality as I can describe it, or those posts similar to my last post.  Almost as if I’m writing like the NPR of old, an in depth piece that will make you sit in your driveway while you listen to it.  What’s amazing about this is that as much as I enjoy writing like this, it’s sometimes painful as it is detail work.  It’s basically real journalism.  I like to write the topic, get photos for it–which used to have to be my own, and now I’m okay with creative commons shares–then verify my facts, check sources if I have them (down here that means informal interviews), and if it’s a big enough topic I footnote things as I can.  It should come as no surprise that although the research pieces are a labor of love, many get lost in the process.  I get caught up in my non-digital life, the topic is no longer topical, the writing itself sucks, the research is to detailed/can’t be verified/or is just not going to get finished, etc, etc.   I’m sure I have many old pieces, maybe some are salvageable if I get bored this winter.  This is what I see as the “How,” or an overview of the hours of the “How.”

Of course the “What” and “How” are also blog like this one I’m writing today which doesn’t involve research and is me conveying my process which doesn’t have to be authoritative, it’s dramatically different.  I just have to do my best at wordsmithing, copy-editing, and of course writing. (Not all of which are the best as you may have figured out.) In the past I haven’t self-identified with these as much though.  Writing these in the past felt like cheating, as I didn’t have to put half the work in.  Now I think it’s somewhat cathartic and useful for my readers, most of you have met me and enjoy keeping up on my whole being as much as you enjoy learning about the strange and wonderful vehicles on station.  Not to mention I now more fully understand it’s useful to be engaged in my lower brain as much as my upper brain.

Toward that end, the “When” I write is now also dictated by self-care. I’m not sacrificing enjoyment, self-time, and attempt at being in the moment whilst in Antarctica, or my work for my writing. As it is time seems to get away from me and the weeks fly by, it’s a bit baffling really. I continuously struggle to remember it’s okay to not accomplishing anything and doing nothing once an awhile.  But I do enjoy the act of writing, and as I said, it is a labor of love.  I do it for me as it’s like a sudoku or crossword puzzle.

McMurdo of course is the "Where" as well as a good part of the "Why."  Being this far south again, working and enjoying the renewed friendship, working on such a remote & unique place, and finding a need to find that articulated center of my self, it’s fulfilling to write again.  Of course it’s also the Ice folk that reminded me of how much fun it is to write again.  Reading other peoples Facebook posts, blogs, talking to people about there many stories, and catching up on the non-real world–as opposed to the real world populated world–incites a kind of will to re-engage with the writer in me, at least while I’m down here.

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Last time I was down 7 years ago, I wanted to do an inventory of all the strange vehicles on station. I didn’t remember that I wanted to do that until just a few minutes ago when a friend back home asked me about the how a Pisten Bully–hereafter referred to as a PB as we do on station–differs from a Sno-Cat.  Of course the Ice does strange things to your memory, but I’m going to blame this on the intervening years and age.  Now I think I’m going to go over some of my favorite vehicles and add others as I run across them.

To answer his question about the difference between a PB and a Sno-Cat, they are very similar.  The are both built for high grades, snow, can be equipped with a blade, and can carry passengers.  We have several Tucker Sno-Cats here on the base and throughout the continent (image right). We also have a plethora of PBs on station.  

Having now driven a PB (image left), I’m keen to drive a tank.  It would be interesting to compare how similar the tracks are.  Oddly, having also driven my grandfather’s small Cat tracked bulldozer, it’s entirely different than what I expected.  My grandfather’s Cat was steered by foot, the PB is a fairly normal steering wheel.  The PB a bit eccentric though as it’s hydrostatic so there’s gas pedal and an additional dial on the steering wheel that is a gear equivalent. It’s also slooowww… but steady.  I think it’s top speed is 15 mph, if that. 

I’m somewhat split between the PB and the Hagglund though.  We are using both a PB and a Hagglund for Search and Rescue this year, and the Hagglund is our primary vehicle (image right).  More specifically known as a Double Hagglund or a Bandvagn 206, it’s another tracked vehicle that’s very easy to drive as it’s just like normal vehicles.  That’s where the similarities end though, as it too is built for grades and snow.  It’s also designed to move over rough ground though.  Designed in Sweden, it’s also has military variants. It has two cabs and articulates in between the two of them.  Wear your ear protection though as it’s not a peaceful ride.

Of course one of the other vehicles that is beloved by all is Ivan the Terra Bus (image left). Made by Foremost–a Canadian company–it’s most often used for transporting up to 56 passengers to and from one of the three runways near McMurdo.  The use Terra Buses in other Arctic climates as well, but I doubt they are as beloved.  

Especially now that it’s got competition, although we avidly debate the asine background of his competition. I’m relating the story as I understand it, so understand this is from the rumor mill. They were looking to augment and probably replace Ivan so they put a request out and put it through the bidding process.  Kress bid and won the contract on some criteria, perhaps the lowest bidder, and then proceed to create and build a one off articulated vehicle.  From the start it was fubar’ed.  When it was delivered on vessel the tires had to be shaved so it could fit across the bridge from the Ice Pier (just this year we got new ones to replaced the shaved ones). I seem to remember this being followed by major mechanical issues (as this was tested in Kansas, as if that’s similar to Antarctica). Then they realized that even with articulation it was too wide to turn in town, so they had to move power poles (and the power lines on them), to allow it to go through town.  Sometime after that they found out you can’t turn the heater on in the back as it can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, as it’s too air tight. Having ridden in this thing, I can tell you it's a sea sickening ride.  It absolutely feels like they put a box on top of a flatbed truck without air-ride and sold it for several hundred thousand.  All this for an extra 3 passengers, when they should have gone out and bought another Terra Bus.  Nothing we can do about it now, we have two tractors, two flat beds, and a passenger module.  If they retired Ivan though, I think people might revolt.  Oh and it's known as Clifford the Big Red Truck (above image right).

More to come as I get time to research and ask about the different vehicles on station.  We have a new one that’s taking the place of the PB on our Traverses which sounds interesting. I would also like to write about the Deltas, Nodwells, Mattracks, and maybe some of the aircraft we get.   Thanks to Sandwich and Eli for there Creative Commons photos.

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McMurdo is currently going sky crazy. The sun is barely up for 6 hours now, which means we have extend periods of darkness.  (i.e. walking out the door and the sun is down until I'm at work for 3 hours) We also have extend periods of twilight, close to 90 mins or more of the golden hour it seems.  Tis extremely beautiful as I mentioned in my last post.

If I was an ape, I'd probably think the world was ending. During the darkness we keep getting the Auroral Australias and now we have meteor shower over the next few days (the Lyrids).  It's been spectacular!  It's also been hard to get out and go view them at 2am during a work night and get out of town away from the lights. People are getting some photos and even a time-lapse or two so I'll eventually get it up on Facebook.  The long night sky and what fills it is yet another reason I'm willing to spend my winter here in McMurdo. 

Some of you asked what Fast Ice is, and I thought I'd also give a description for non-Ice people.  Feel free to ask about random Ice terms or situations as living within it sometimes framing topics hard.  As it turns out I had the wrong understanding of it too.  A quick geography lesson, McMurdo is the furthest point south you can go with a Boat.  Ross Island is not actually on the Antarctica continent, rather it is an volcanic island a few miles off the continent that lies at the junction between the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea.  The Ross Ice Shelf is a glacier that's several hundred meters thick and we call it permanent ice, even though it moves and isn't really just very thick ice.  The Ross Sea rolls right up to the edge of this Ice Shelf and obviously the water freezes to a depth of up to two meters (which is enough to allow jet aircraft of land on, and we do). This is called Annual Sea Ice for obvious reason, but I referred to it as the Fast Ice.  Fast Ice turns out to be Multi-year Sea Ice "held fast" by the land.  So no it doesn't go speeding away quickly, but it does grip well. 

There's still much going on around me and I contribute to it myself.  I'm teaching yoga again and organizing the previously mentioned Math Club (Saturday night dance).  It's also addicting to sit at the table during Lunch, Dinner or weekend Brunch for hours and listen to the wonderful and silly conversations we have.  It precludes coming and typing on a blog, taking a time-lapse, hiking up Ob-hill, sorting my digital database, or working on one of the several projects (such as consolidating and moving my websites which some of you may have notice).  It's not all going to get done and I'm okay with that as being social for me is much more important to my mental health, especially if it happens to be lying on the ground looking at the stars as auroras form and meteors turn to dust. 

I'll end with a list of things that are coming up in the near and distance future.  Today people were out building igloos on the Ice Shelf, and we have Burger Bar tonight.  This week is the same packed evening schedule, and forgot to mention I have Yoga on Friday.  Last friday it got cancelled as I drove a Piston Bully out to the Kiwi Square Frame, which I'll have to describe at some point.  Saturday is Math Club again.  Next Sunday I've got Hut 10 (the rental house on station) so I can cook my favorite recipes including, Ice Cream, Mexican lasagna, Cinnamon rolls, maybe funnel cakes. Our last sunset is coming up in two weeks or so.  Mid-Winter Dinner is already in the planning stages (it's kind of like christmas dinner for the winter, we celebrate it at the austral winter solstice).  As of yet no jello wrestling events have been scheduled… though I'm sure no one wants to get fired over it so it's not likely to happen.  More will pop up as the week rolls past.

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This is a recent view at about 5:30pm, frankly a stunning view that happens daily.

These last few days have been about as idyllic as McMurdo weather gets. We’ve had sunsets like this at about 5:30pm out my desk window (geting a little less then 8 hours sunlight these days). On Friday evening only about -13F wind chill and was -1F without it which is how calm for winds have been for the last several days. I wish I had the time to get up Ob Hill to take advantage of it, but being near the end of antibiotic has me drained of energy. Although perhaps I was saving it for Math Club (As the guest DJ describes it: “Dance aerobics workout no alcohol allowed”). It was fairly epic, I’m sure a good 10-15% of the station showed up, which is impressive. Our weekends-day (we get weekends once per month, otherwise we get one day off per week on Sunday). Was a nice reprieve from the office, and I finally got my room cleaned. (Not to mention had a chocolate chip waffle, thank you Liz!)

In other news, I should have shared the Fast Ice is finally sticking. I think it’s been there for 2 weeks or so, but I seriously wondered how long we’d have open water around here. Of course if there is another seriously windy storm, it could easily break up and float out again.

We are prepping for our next two day weekend next week, so this will be a nice “short” week. I know it’s monday, but as time does down here, this week is going to fly. As it is, Monday I’m teaching Yoga in the evening (restarted finally), Tuesday is Volleyball, Wednesday is Trivia, Thursday during the day is SAR training (which tends to drain me, though this week it is more indoor medical training) followed by watching Archer, Friday is the only day I don’t think I’ve got something preplanned. Then again as it’s a two day weekend, something will come up. Perhaps it’ll give me something to write about.

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