the dead guy

Ok, I admit perhaps I'm a bit morbid but really I just call it a dry sense of humor. The trauma team wanted to thank the volunteers and had requested a cake - in the shape of a dead guy with fake blood...if we couldn't do it, they had requested liver and onions tinted red to imitate blood and guts as an appetizer. My 3 other co-workers thought it was disgusting and Jake refused to make it. Me, well I thought it was hilarious and would be really cool to make. So it became my task.

The power went out so I couldn't make a sheet cake but I did happen to have cake rounds on hand... and almost made a pac-man shaped guy. It was a good thing the power went out because I'd never made fondant before or used it on any cake. I didn't know how difficult it would be but still thought it would be fun. With the power outage, we just made sandwiches for dinner for midrats and I had all shift to play with the dead guy.

Since I wanted to use fondant as the frosting, I thought it really would be a waste since normally you do not eat fondant - the designated cake cutter just peels it off and throws it away so you have a buttercream frosted cake underneath the fondant. Anyway, with a bunch of sweet-tooths on station, I wanted them to be able to eat the frosting and made the fondant out of marshmallows.

I filled the middle of the cake with raspberry filling so it was suppose to ooze out when cut to simulate blood. Then I made a side wound on the guy with the raspberry filling bleeding out. He had a scrape on his knee and couple of toes were sticking out of his shoe.

Those cannibals ate the whole guy.

another record

We almost had 2 more record summer days.

The 28th the temperature was -33.4C/ -28.1F which broke the 1999 record of -32.7C/ -26.9F
The 29th almost broke the record but we had a cloud covering all day.

power plant update - SPEEV

The power keeps going out. We have 3 generators and an emergency back up. The generator that we are using now has been long overdue for a over haul - they seem to need one every 500 hours... but this is the only one that works (even though it leaks oil) since generator 2 is the one that had the glycol spill into it and is being repaired and generator 3 is broken. The emergency generator can support some of the vital parts of the station and gets kicked on as generator 1 putters out... yeah, makes you miss that warm fuzzy feeling of reassurance since we're out in the middle of nowhere.

As far as generator 3, McMurdo doesn't have these parts - they are on order or backorder. Hopefully, the part gets in before winter sets in. Some of the winter-overs are nervous. This is the first time for the new elevated station to have such troubles with the generators but then again this is a new facility. The last time there were generator problems was 10 years ago in the dome.

We just got an update on our flight situation. We are 28 flights ahead of schedule which equals to almost 1 million pounds of cargo ahead, and 300,000 lbs of fuel ahead of schedule. (Target for pounds of fuel is 10 million – we have 3.7 million pounds to go.)

But as a record breaking summer, we might be returning State-side sooner than planned. The current temperature is -22.8C/ -9F with a windchill of -31.7C/ -25.1F... so the weather is warming up. We have a few more weeks before the weather starts returning to colder weather. Our departure date depends on how cold it gets and how quickly.

Anyway, to much of the station manager's dislike some pranksters set up a South Pole emergency evacuation vehicle (SPEEV) just in case the generators quit all together.




Laura and I posing next to SPEEV. It's amazing what kind of stuff you find in the dome!












Tools we might need - a broken television dish, badminton racket, hammer, Wilson's cousin (from the movie Castaway - the volleyball), some rope, misc wires, goggles, a bag...









Couple hours later... it looks like the balloon got away. So much for an escape vehicle.

New Year

Happy New Year!

Skiers arrived

I'm really impressed. There seems to be a competition of skiers on who can ski here from the coastline the fastest - the coastline (called Hercules inlet) is 730 miles away. The name of this competition is the Polar Quest challenge. There are 4 British Royal Navy/ Roayl Marines guys that arrived 2 days ago. It took them 46 days to ski here. So far, they are camping out then will head back to the coast. These are the first Navy expedition people to ski to the South Pole since Captain Scott, back in 1912!

You can check out their website at www.thepoles.com

Eleven more people from Indian Navy arrived this yesterday. Their trip is 120 miles. And a woman is showing up today - a loner... she's trying to set the record of skiing from the coast to Pole in 40 days. The previous record held in 2001 at 42 days.

Map

Okay folks, so I finally found an aerial view of the station and mapped out some of the places in this pic... where I live, work, etc... enjoy. (Double click on the picture to enlarge it).

Record breaking summer

This is a record breaking summer! It's suppose to be warming up until the middle of Jauary but being a record breaking summer, the temperature is getting colder and might not reach zero degrees F. The weather has set new records for this past week.

On the 18th the temperature was -32.7C/ -26.9F and broke the 1977 record of -32.2C/ -26F.
The 19th the temperature was -32.7C/ -26.9F and broke the 1983 record of -31.8C/ -25.2F.
The 20th the temperature was -32.2C/ -26F which broke the 1983 record of -31.9C/ -25.4F.

So these 3 days were record breaking days even though it was by some tenth of a degree. If it keeps getting colder, the summer folks might be going home sooner than planned. The airplanes can't fly in weather colder than -50F so with the colder summer, winter season might come in sooner than thought. We'll just have to wait and see how the weather holds out.

It's been a long day

It was just a regular day off even though it was my holiday. Kinda nice... I thought I'd go to bed alittle early since my sleep hours have been offset for the Christmas holiday. I'd been up since 11pm on the 25th... we had our veterans and POW/MIA ceremony to take down the flag at midnight.

I'd been spending the my day off relaxing - reading, updating my blog, etc. Although I did decide to go to bed early - 0730... this is the 26th since I had to work the night. But at 1030, someone started yelling in the Jamesway if anyone was sleeping. There were a few of us that were disgruntled being woken up but the guy said there was as fire in the power plant and that summercamp heat was turned off so if we get cold, go to the main station. That would have been common sense and I would have figured it out sooner or later by waking up freezing to death - it's not the first time the heat has been turned off in summercamp. But not 5 minutes later some other guy started yelling that there was a bad power plant fire and everyone needed to be accounted for in the station galley. So off everyone went. Luckily, I packed my bag with my uniform and extra gear for hanging out in the galley. No sleep for anyone on midrats...

Turns out the power had been out since 830 or so and it was a bad mishap. The exhaust gas heat exchanger on the generator failed and caused the glycol to spill, which in turn the glycol 9 - 55 gallon drums worth poured out onto the generator which then vaporized and turned into bad smoke and fumes.

Glycol is commonly used as antifreeze on vehicles and personal computers because it is a coolant and in WWI was an ingredient in explosives. It has an extremely low freezing point and allows a higher boiling point which in turn lets engines run at a higher temperature.

The emergency generators were turned on but it was not enough to support summercamp and non-vital areas of the station so only critical parts of the station had power. The 2nd generator was turned on in addition to the emergency after the glycol was cleaned up. McMurdo sent out some air tanks for the firefighters and some maintenance personnel to help... but it takes 3 hrs for the flight so by the time they arrived most of the clean up was complete - everyone in the station pitched in to help. They say, nothing like this has ever happened before... but it is a new station and I'm sure the bugs and kinks to all new things have not yet been worked out.

Anyway, since the galley is a non-critial area everyone had sandwiches for lunch, dinner and midrats. We're suppose to find out today if the power plant is fixed and returned to normal but so far they are still trying to figure out how come the generator failed and are fixing it. Until then, we're still on conserving power although the jamesways are heated. The 6 people that went to medical due to the smoke/ fume inhalation are doing well and recovering fine.

I think I'll finally go to bed now that I've been awake for 33 hrs - as with the other midrat crew. Cheers.

It's a white one!

So with many years of avoiding the snow, I'm finally at a place where there is lots - and a white Christmas it was! We had a huge feast on Christmas Eve for most of the population had both these days off and could drink to their content. It was full of Christmas music, movie marathons, rubgy, board games, race around the world and snow sculpting.

Some construction people even made a Christmas tree out of various pipes for the outdoor tree by the pole marker.




Our tree in the galley.
















The South Pole tree made of pipes and misc items.

Lion not yet complete

Inside the Dome

I've finally gone inside the dome and took some pics. We currently use the dome (the 2nd South Pole station) as storage although the construction crew is slowly disassembling it. It keeps getting buried every year from the wind and re-located ice crystals and bulldozers have to dig it out.

It was amazing to see there was snow inside the station. I was thinking the snow was there from the snow drifts and wind but from what I hear, the dome was constructed right on top of the snow so it's a constant -50F inside.




After 45 minutes, my eylashes started to frost













Me at the dome entrance

The blue room - I don't know why it's called that since it is not blue but white with frost. This is where the galley keeps most of the baking ingredients - bags of flour, frozen fruit, candy, etc.









Inside the center of the dome, there is an opening with 5 holes. Perhaps it is for air circulation? But you can see the flag flown through the holes.





This is part of the original housing for the people that lived in the dome.










Surplus goods - food and supplies.

Sun dog

A sun dog is the sunlight refracting off the ice crystals in the air... kinda like a rainbow (except rainbows are water molecules). There was a sun dog in the sky a few weeks ago - it usually appears 22 degrees to the left or right of the sun and has a halo around it.

Race around the world

The race around the world is an annual event where you run 3 laps (equivalent to 2 miles)... during this race, you go through all 24 time zones and literally are running around the world. The fastest male and female who race return to McMurdo for another race. This years winners are Curtis (ran in15:14) and Rose (ran in 20:17)...they say it's not the cold that gets you while running - it's the elevation.

We had a weather webcam re-directed to 90 degrees South to record the POW/MIA ceremony as well as the race. The rules were quite easy - you could walk, run, ski, bike, snowmobile, etc... use any means to complete the laps. Some were quite inventive - some of the cargo and electrical people attached couches on sleds to haul people.




Laura and Mandi












Other snow mobilers





Some walked, ran, biked, skiied





















Ice Cube had a shower float












Bob with his Texas flag



Nicole and Chris












Rose - women's 1st place with 20:17





Curtis - men's 1st place with 15:14

POW/MIA

We just completed a ceremony honoring the POW/ MIA and veterans - here on Christmas day. There are 27 of us prior service military here stationed at Pole. That's quite abit since the population is curerntly at 243. We flew both the POW and American flag until midnight on one of the construction cranes. This is the 4th year veterans have done this. Then in the summer some of us will take the flag to Washington DC and fly it by the Veterans memorial... Last year, John McCain signed the flag and it is currently flying at the memorial in DC.




Raising of the flags at 0800 Christmas. Lowering of flags at 0000 Dec 26.

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the summer solstice here in the southern hemisphere.

Air drop

Last night, we had a huge food supply drop. It was 60,000 pounds worth of food which is suppose to carry the winter over folks for 2 winter seasons. They did this early because sometimes, when they wait until January or February, it's already too cold to fly so the wintering over Polies are short on their season food supply.

It normally takes a C-130 plane about 3 hours to fly from McMurdo to South Pole - it's about 730 miles. But the C-17 airplane is bigger and faster - it flies the same route in about 1 1/2 hrs. So the food drop was made by the C-17. There were 8 drops and 4 parachutes per load to land everything.

There were 8 of these loads - that's a lot of food!

Anita

Wow, I didn't realize I was getting behind in my blogs!

So there's this balloon called Anita. I forget what it stands for but its huge. The weather people at McMurdo released Anita on Friday or Saturday and somehow it got off course. It's suppose to be released and circumvent the earth...but something went wrong and it started flying south towards us. So 2 days later, we can see it with our own eyes.

The size is 40,000 square feet - it's so big the this new South Pole station can fit inside it. Anyway, it was 30 miles up in the air when I saw it with my own eyes... then there were a bunch of people looking at it through a telescope so of course, I took some pics.

What Anita does is look for neutrinos (see Dec 7th blog for neutrino info). It detects radio waves in the earth's crust and finds these neutrinos so the drill team can triangulate the mass of neutrinos, drill holes in the earths crust and insert doms to find out where in space the neutrinos come from...

The telescope inverts is so anita is seen upside-down although the balloon portion really is on top. You can see the wire which is suppose to be red and the little box it is carrying. The box is what detects the radio waves/ neutrinos.

Tuesday's dinner

So this time I was really prepared. Laura (the shift sous chef) claimed her Thanksgiving holiday so she took Tuesday night off work. I made midrats and had lots of fun. I was thinking of Texas, and missing crawfish boils. So that's what I decided to make - except we didn't have crawfish. We had lobster, but I didn't think anyone would mind the change. So for dinner we had a lobster boil with potatoes and carrots, jambalaya, gumbo and black beans with rice. It was an interesting meal and makes me want to get back to Texas as fast as I can for crawfish! Although I think the crawfish season is in March in the Louisiana region.

I think everyone was pretty happy with the meal. Seems like with Christmas coming around, everyone is getting grumpier and grumpier. I don't know if most of them are bah humbug sorts of people or they just miss their family. But there were quite a bit of people laughing and joking around. Isn't that cool how a meal can make someone happy or at least change their attitude for the better? But perhaps it was the spices in the meal - black pepper, cayenne and jalapenos - they can get your mouth breathing fire... maybe the other end too. But the compliments keep coming in so that's mighty nice.

More cold, perhaps ugh!

Well folks, I'm getting ready for my next adventure. Granted it's a bit early but I think having options are always a good thing. My contract for Pole expires in February, but I think I'll go sight-see for a bit and return to the States in March - maybe do a bit more traveling. I'm not sure yet of those plans but summer season starts in May and I have my next destination in mind. A couple destinations...

I've applied for a couple seasonal jobs as well as some permanent ones in Canada, Alaska, Vermont, Washington and of course Texas - and decided to winter-over on the Ice for the rest of the year (so far, I'm an Ice alternate). The offers are slowly coming in even though I won't need a job for a bit. This is kind of a short season but well worth it.

I guess I get a bit nervous when I procrastinate but alot of people want immediate availability so that discounts a few of the jobs I've already applied for. Yeah, can you believe it I was thinking about giving the seasonal trail a breather. But I think as the offers come in, I'm re-evaluating. There's so much of the world yet to see - how can I think about settling down in a crusty ol' job?

It's so inspiring to meet all these different people from all walks of life. I think that's why I liked the military so much - if it weren't for that I would never of met some really neat and interesting people. But like the military, we all start off as strangers and become friends and listen to some amazing stories from each other. Anyway, I think it's great that there are all these people older and younger than me that have the adventureous spirit and desire to see the world.


This is the 2nd year I've applied for Alaska so there must be something there calling my name. I've applied both at Glacier Bay and Denali. I've always wanted to go to Denali - the waterfalls are suppose to be amazing. But Glacier is right on the ocean and there's a lot of sea stuff to do - plus, I'll forgo hot weather for the ocean anyday. Temperatures get around 60F in the summer. That just might be a little tropical compared to -20F! So I'm leaning more towards Glacier - the interview went well and I think I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

Hmmm, incredible! I guess people can actually climatize to the cold. Crazy that I would! Right now it's -26F with a windchill of -37F and it's kind of warm out. Ha! To hear me say that it's warm - perhaps the thin air is getting to my brain?

iPod recharging

Captain D of the Karma Chameleon is totally brilliant! I got my iPod fixed - she just told me how to reset it and it's recharging now. How exciting is that! And here I thought it was broken... technology these days.

Dome complete

I was given the task of making a gingerbread for the holidays. I made the 2nd South Pole station - the dome.

Decorating the gingerbread dome

Dome complete... ok so it needs more snow.

Revised with original 12 coutry flags - Argentina, Chile, Belgium, France, Australia, UK, US, Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Netherlands and Japan.

The real dome.

It willed it's life away

My iPod died. It played until the battery died and now it won't recharge. No more music... just complete silience. I think the cold may have gotten to it... it just won't work anymore, won't recharge, won't turn on, won't play my music. What a short life it led - it's not even 2 years old. Sad, sad, sad. Oh great! Now I have that song sad, bad terrible day stuck in my head...

So, what's for dinner?

Usually there's the 4 of us working midrats - Laura, Jake, Nicole and I. Saturdays are Laura and Nicole's day off so it's just Jake and I working and Sundays are our day off and they work. Most of the time there's food already prepared - that's what they did last Saturday making extra pizza for the midrats shift. So every other Saturday is pizza night and every other Saturday is pasta night - pizza twice a month as with pasta. Sounds easy enough.

Tonight was pasta night for the regular dinner crowd. I just assumed there was enough made for the midrats shift and I started my to-do list of desserts. My boss, James, came up to me about a 1/2 hr into my shift asking what's for dinner? I think I did a double take to see if he was joking but he was quite serious. So with no advanced notice I was suppose to make dinner for midrats. Ok, so that was a little freaky...panic! Well, I guess you know what happens when you assume things.

It was a really good thing I went to storage last week and took a little inventory of what we have in stock. I recalled seeing some marsala so the light bulb in my brain clicked on. You got it... chicken marsala. It's the easiest thing you can make in a time crunch - pasta, chicken, wine... it's all good!

It turned out alright and it was even ready 5 minutes early. We're suppose to plan for 70 people but it's always difficult to judge how much food to make since some people come up 3 or 4 times and some people don't eat at all. Also, there was a toga party out in summercamp and I didn't know if people were going to come in to eat or stay out there - sometimes non-midrats people sneak in to eat although they are suppose to make reservations in adavnce just so we have a warning and can prepare enough food. Anyway, I made more than enough so that was good. Whenever I cook my only worry is that I don't make enough and run out.

So, I guess all went well. Today was just another crazy shift. And now I know... every other Saturday, I'll be making dinner.

Midrat pondering

I was just thinking - thinking about civilization and the lack of. I like both yet they are such opposites. In the city life, there are so many distractions that can help or hinder your life. There are other people, your job, places to go and see, things to do, new people to meet, etc.

There's a guy I met here that was in Desert Storm/ Desert Shield in the Air Force. We were talking about some stories and how he still has nightmares. Although I was only there for 3 months, it's just different - the feelings, the thoughts that go through your mind. Andy spoke of how he changed - how he was once outgoing and now he doesn't really like people, stays quiet and to himself. He said even though it's been 16 years, it still feels like yesterday in the Gulf and that since he's been here at Pole, he's thought alot about that time.

It's strange because I too have been thinking of the past. I think quite often. Do I miss the military? Sometimes. Really, I do and wish I would have stayed in. Thoughts of re-enlisting are a constant in my mind - especially since there are still things I want to do in the Army. Other times I'm happy to be out... a majority of the time I think I made the right decision and I'm happy to be out. I guess even though it's been over 3 years, I'm still trying to adjust to civilian life. Every once in a while I check out the paramilitary job sites - and debate with myself whether I should try out a semi-military structure. There are quite a few jobs out there. I'm sure you can imagine where since most of these locales are in the news quite often.

So this is what goes on in my mind working mid rats on a mellow night...

The lack of civilization would be an example of where I'm at now. With the local population at 244, there aren't many people - you've met them all and everyone knows each other. It's a really small world. It's kind of nice yet kind of irritating that there's no sense of privacy. There's not a place you can just hangout by yourself... except in your own room.

Coming here, I knew it would be a nice break from the world. Sometimes, it gets to be too much and it's nice just to get away - no cell phones just a slower pace of life. I knew I could be without a cell phone being used to deployments and utilizing calling cards. It was just the internet I was a bit worried about. Once I found out there was internet available, I was content and willing to come here. I'd go anywhere internet is available. I can go without (literally) speaking with people but I like to email people and get information via the internet - just to keep in touch with the world but not really a part of it. Life gets much simpler without all the distractions. I guess sometimes I just like the seclusion.

When we were in Croatia, there were only 28 of us and the other side of camp were the Croatian Army. We didn't intermingle much except for weekend parties. Our platoon rotation was a month - there was no one else that spoke English and we lived in storage containers converted into sleeping quarters - 2 people per room. A lot of the soldiers got cabin fever being pent up in an enclosed camp and not able to leave except on missions. I kinda liked it - the remoteness. When we returned to Hungary, even though the post was small, there were just so many people to get used to again. It was a bit overwhelming.

I'm wondering if maybe there will be consequences in coming to Pole. Surely, it hasn't done anything to my career but I was willing to put that aside just for the experience of saying I've been to the South Pole. In socializing, I find myself becoming more of a recluse the more I travel through seasonal jobs. It's just that you make friends then after a bit, you leave for the next place and start over. So it's similar to the military in a sense that you move around a lot. At least as a civilian, I dictate where I'll be heading off to.

As far as the future, I know I need to focus and I thought by traveling I'd get work experience but it's just not the same quality as working in a fine dining restaurant or hotel. I guess I see others setting personal goals and trying to attain it and my goal thus far has been fairly simple - travel. It seems I'm still having a difficult time trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. There are still so many things I'd like to do. The big debate within is whether to settle or remain a vagabond. So far, the nomadic lifestyle has been the way to go.

Ice cube and Snow stakes

Me in the middle of nowhere...

I went on a sight-seeing tour of couple of places on Monday. Ice cube was the first place I went. It is not far from the main station but we got to ride on a snow mobile - their project is to drill holes in the ice with a firn drill and plant these round balls in the ice... these round things are called doms each worth $5,000 each. The goal this year is to plant 14 of them in the ice about a square by 2 miles deep. The point of this is that the doms look for subatomic particles called neutrinos, which are so tiny, they pass through everything and occasionally collide with a water molecule nucleus and emit a light that the dom senses. With this sensor, scientists can triangulate its trajectory, and find out where in outerspace it came from. Neutrinos are otherwise invisible, and would give these scientists clues to the existence of undetected supernovas, black holes, or other stuff in the universe. Also, because the neutrinos are almost completely massless, they head in a straight line, unhindered by gravity from earth, other planets or galaxies, and give a pretty accurate trajectory. The plan is to see where these neutrinos are coming from and when there are many neutrinos found in a certain area, the scientists can maneuver a telescope into space toward the direction the neutrinos came from.

The mid-rat crew with

firn drill.

Dom

The hole where the dom will go.

There is another project involving the largest telescope in the world. It's taken quite a while to build this - and is still being built. A part of this telescope was on the plane on my return to Pole. Just the nuts and bolts alone weigh 6500 tons. It's a big telescope called the 10 meter. It's main purpose is to discover the beginning of earth - and go back all the way to the big bang.

My other trip was called snow stakes. A little less technical but still interesting. I went out with one of the meteorologists to measure these stakes in the snow - they get checked on annually to see how strong the wind is and to measure the snow drift from the previous year as with the angle of the stake. There were 40 stakes in all that took us roughly 12 miles from the station and about 6 hours to check all of them. It was really great - being that far away, there was nothing in sight except snow and sky. Course, on the way back we played a round of Antarctic golf.

Nothing but snow and sun... Lance and I checking a snow stake.

7 miles from the main station

Me in front of our mode of transportation - a piston bully.

My first attempt at golf.

All of us - Jason, me, Lynette, Lance and Emrys finishing up on golf.

12 miles from station - out of sight except for our vehicle tracks on where we came from.