Sorry no pictures today. Haven't really done anything interesting, though I might have some cool shots of snow sublimating. That's how a lot of the snow/ice melts down here. It is too cold for it to turn into liquid (unless it is on something that is really warm, like a building or a vehicle) but the sun warms things up to the point that the snow or ice skips the liquid phase and goes right to the gaseous state. When that happens down here, you get fog. I tried to get some pictures last night, but I don't know yet how well they turned out.
Anyway, things are buzzing a bit down here because Ann Curry of The Today Show is here with a film crew, doing stuff for a spot on the show next week. I may or may not be in it (so far I have managed to stay out of the way of the film crews) but if anyone is interested in seeing what it is like down here, real time (btw, EST of 8am is approximately 6pm here that day) tape or watch it. November 5 and 6, but I don't know what times.
I actually saw her today, in the station store. She was buying wristlets for her crew so they would stay warmer holding the mike's and the camera's up for so long. They should have all gotten a full complement of ECW gear in ChCh, so I'm not sure why they don't have gloves. Or maybe the gloves are too bulky for them to use with the cameras? Not sure. Everyone I know who's met her says she really nice. Supposedly they were going to South Pole today, but it got canceled. I hear they are going tomorrow. She also said she hates the cold. Wonder how she won this assignment then?
Anyway, that is about all the excitement going on down here. Yesterday I had class all afternoon, after sleeping and doing laundry all morning. Last night I went to the library and took out a couple books. There is also an area where they have books that people just drop off. You can just pick up whatever you want, and it's yours. I picked up The Tao of Physics in the hopes that it will allow me to understand physics a little better. We'll see.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
First ARFF Call!
So today I am back at Station 2. And boy did we earn our money down here today!
Just after lunch we had a visit from the airfield manager, who told us that we were not to do ARFF training this afternoon, since we had a reporter coming down on the C-17 that was due in at 1330 (about 20 minutes from then), and it's never good to remind people in a plane that accidents happen. (ie, ARFF should be invisible to the public). The C-17 was not far out, so we went outside to watch like we normally do. Our captain had just come down (he does the "Follow Me" truck, which is a truck that leads the airplane to where it needs to go, a necessity down here where there are no real defining marks telling you where you are), and we suddenly got a call that the LC-130 that had taken off about 20 minutes ago was inbound again, declaring an in-flight emergency.
We all got in our trucks and went to where we thought we should be. (Where we thought we should be wasn't exactly where we needed to be, but it was ok). The plane landed safely and turned around at the other end of the runway and came back to where we were. They stopped just before getting off the taxiway, so that we could do a visual inspection of the outside of the plane, which revealed nothing. They finally relayed to us what the emergency was...an electrical odor and a light haze of smoke in the cabin. We cleared them to go to the marshalling point, where they stopped and shut down engines, and we set up our 3 trucks just in case. Actually we were a little far out from where we should have been, but no harm done. Our LT and another firefighter went on board to see if they could find the cause, but the smell and smoke had gone away on landing and shutting down engines. They off-loaded the people (all those poor people who have been waiting to go to the South Pole for several days now), and our captain did a little debriefing and told us what to do next time.
Here's a shot of the C-17 passing the other LC-130 on the apron, with our trucks.
We didn't do much in the afternoon, except move trucks around to get the other giant yellow monster (Red 2) down here and plugged in, along with all the other trucks that need to be plugged in too. We finally figured it out, and then found that one of our little red crash trucks (the ones we normally use) had an issue with the power steering. The LT in charge of the trucks came down to look at it after dinner, and discovered a HUGE spill on the ground from Red 1 (the first big yellow monster). We're pretty sure it's foam, and it was about 30 gallons or so. So we plugged up the still spewing leak (well, it wasn't spewing anymore...but pretty heavily dripping) and sent Red 1 up to town to try to figure out why the closed valve was letting foam out, while the rest of us set to scooping up the spill.
Now, if any other department on station has a large spill, they call the firehouse. So do we. That starts the spill team, who is supposed to come out to help us clean up, file the paperwork, and so on.
We called the spill team. We scooped up the liquid stuff (there wasn't much, most of it was frozen), and then spent about an hour and a half chopping up the dirty ice and putting in a barrel. We still have about two 5-gallon buckets full left to pick up, but it's still all frozen and it's not going anywhere. The ice is only slightly discolored now, but it is very bumpy, and not all smooth like the rest of the ice down here.
The spill team never showed up.
Now it's really late, I don't have a bed (the bottom 2 bunks were claimed and I can't climb into the top ones) so I get a sofa tonight. Hopefully we won't have an issue when that LC-130 comes in at about 5am or so.
Just after lunch we had a visit from the airfield manager, who told us that we were not to do ARFF training this afternoon, since we had a reporter coming down on the C-17 that was due in at 1330 (about 20 minutes from then), and it's never good to remind people in a plane that accidents happen. (ie, ARFF should be invisible to the public). The C-17 was not far out, so we went outside to watch like we normally do. Our captain had just come down (he does the "Follow Me" truck, which is a truck that leads the airplane to where it needs to go, a necessity down here where there are no real defining marks telling you where you are), and we suddenly got a call that the LC-130 that had taken off about 20 minutes ago was inbound again, declaring an in-flight emergency.
We all got in our trucks and went to where we thought we should be. (Where we thought we should be wasn't exactly where we needed to be, but it was ok). The plane landed safely and turned around at the other end of the runway and came back to where we were. They stopped just before getting off the taxiway, so that we could do a visual inspection of the outside of the plane, which revealed nothing. They finally relayed to us what the emergency was...an electrical odor and a light haze of smoke in the cabin. We cleared them to go to the marshalling point, where they stopped and shut down engines, and we set up our 3 trucks just in case. Actually we were a little far out from where we should have been, but no harm done. Our LT and another firefighter went on board to see if they could find the cause, but the smell and smoke had gone away on landing and shutting down engines. They off-loaded the people (all those poor people who have been waiting to go to the South Pole for several days now), and our captain did a little debriefing and told us what to do next time.
Here's a shot of the C-17 passing the other LC-130 on the apron, with our trucks.
We didn't do much in the afternoon, except move trucks around to get the other giant yellow monster (Red 2) down here and plugged in, along with all the other trucks that need to be plugged in too. We finally figured it out, and then found that one of our little red crash trucks (the ones we normally use) had an issue with the power steering. The LT in charge of the trucks came down to look at it after dinner, and discovered a HUGE spill on the ground from Red 1 (the first big yellow monster). We're pretty sure it's foam, and it was about 30 gallons or so. So we plugged up the still spewing leak (well, it wasn't spewing anymore...but pretty heavily dripping) and sent Red 1 up to town to try to figure out why the closed valve was letting foam out, while the rest of us set to scooping up the spill.
Now, if any other department on station has a large spill, they call the firehouse. So do we. That starts the spill team, who is supposed to come out to help us clean up, file the paperwork, and so on.
We called the spill team. We scooped up the liquid stuff (there wasn't much, most of it was frozen), and then spent about an hour and a half chopping up the dirty ice and putting in a barrel. We still have about two 5-gallon buckets full left to pick up, but it's still all frozen and it's not going anywhere. The ice is only slightly discolored now, but it is very bumpy, and not all smooth like the rest of the ice down here.
The spill team never showed up.
Now it's really late, I don't have a bed (the bottom 2 bunks were claimed and I can't climb into the top ones) so I get a sofa tonight. Hopefully we won't have an issue when that LC-130 comes in at about 5am or so.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
First Mail!
Yesterday I participated in my first medevac.
No, I am not going into details. I really don't know them anyway, since the call itself was the shift before mine. All I know is that between waiting for medical, and then waiting for the plane (there was a holding call placed just as we were about to move the patient due to some minor maintenance for the aircraft) all told it took about 3 hours. And let me tell you, it was COLD down on that airfield! We've been having some colder weather come through, due to some air movement off the glaciers or some such thing, and it was windy and wicked cold down there. I think half my nose was completely numb by the time we were done. And I and the other 2 crew members on the ambulance got sent home early, since they needed to send a few people home, and we were the only ones who worked yesterday.
At any rate, I got my first piece of mail down here today! It was the envelope from Mom, which included a Halloween card (just in time), some chapstick, and some face lotion. Which is good, since my face was pretty stiff from windburn after just the short time on the airfield yesterday. I'm still waiting on the packages I know have been sent, but then again, so is everyone else. I heard on Saturday that the package (ie, boxed) mail was at 7 pallets, weighing in at about 20,000 pounds. I know that scientific and other equipment gets priority, and that a lot of things have been delayed because of bad weather canceling flights, but still, for morale, I hope they start sending some of that mail soon. A lot of people are getting antsy for the stuff they sent themselves in September.
With today being my day off, I decided to get some errands done. I signed up for the hut guide thing, and exchanged my Big Red with the broken zipper for a Big Red with a working zipper. Much nicer, not having to fight to zip up the coat all the time. I'm going to sign up to work at the library too.
I did get an email back about Burger Bar, but I'm not sure this is going to work. First of all, after I emailed the guy my schedule, including the fact that I had Snow School on November 9th and 10th, I got scheduled on the 9th. Ummm...sorry, can't make it. They are also having the safety class tomorrow night, which is a work night for me. Nope, that won't work either. So, I'm thinking that this won't work. Which is sad, since it would be nice to have some extra cash.
Anyway, time to go do something productive. There is volleyball tonight in the big gym, though I don't know if it's league play or just open. I might pop down there to check it out. I also want to go to the cave and get some bouldering in.
Then again, I might just go take a nap. We'll see how I feel when I get back to my room.
No, I am not going into details. I really don't know them anyway, since the call itself was the shift before mine. All I know is that between waiting for medical, and then waiting for the plane (there was a holding call placed just as we were about to move the patient due to some minor maintenance for the aircraft) all told it took about 3 hours. And let me tell you, it was COLD down on that airfield! We've been having some colder weather come through, due to some air movement off the glaciers or some such thing, and it was windy and wicked cold down there. I think half my nose was completely numb by the time we were done. And I and the other 2 crew members on the ambulance got sent home early, since they needed to send a few people home, and we were the only ones who worked yesterday.
At any rate, I got my first piece of mail down here today! It was the envelope from Mom, which included a Halloween card (just in time), some chapstick, and some face lotion. Which is good, since my face was pretty stiff from windburn after just the short time on the airfield yesterday. I'm still waiting on the packages I know have been sent, but then again, so is everyone else. I heard on Saturday that the package (ie, boxed) mail was at 7 pallets, weighing in at about 20,000 pounds. I know that scientific and other equipment gets priority, and that a lot of things have been delayed because of bad weather canceling flights, but still, for morale, I hope they start sending some of that mail soon. A lot of people are getting antsy for the stuff they sent themselves in September.
With today being my day off, I decided to get some errands done. I signed up for the hut guide thing, and exchanged my Big Red with the broken zipper for a Big Red with a working zipper. Much nicer, not having to fight to zip up the coat all the time. I'm going to sign up to work at the library too.
I did get an email back about Burger Bar, but I'm not sure this is going to work. First of all, after I emailed the guy my schedule, including the fact that I had Snow School on November 9th and 10th, I got scheduled on the 9th. Ummm...sorry, can't make it. They are also having the safety class tomorrow night, which is a work night for me. Nope, that won't work either. So, I'm thinking that this won't work. Which is sad, since it would be nice to have some extra cash.
Anyway, time to go do something productive. There is volleyball tonight in the big gym, though I don't know if it's league play or just open. I might pop down there to check it out. I also want to go to the cave and get some bouldering in.
Then again, I might just go take a nap. We'll see how I feel when I get back to my room.
For future reference
I am posting this bit because it may help someone who is coming down here for the first time in the future. These are things I wish I had thought to either bring more of, or mail myself before I left home.
Extra shampoo, conditioner, soap, because I am likely to run out before I leave, and I'm not the biggest fan of the stuff they have here. Also, I should have sent myself some leave-in condition, since it would have been much easier than rinse out.
Slippers. When I'm at the fire dept at night, it is nice to take your boots off and settle down. But it sucks walking across diamond plating in your socks. Down at Station 2, where you have to go outside to get to the trailer with the bathroom, it sucks having to put your boots back on. It also sucks walking around in the station down there in socks and stepping in puddles of melted snow.
I think that's it. Just some things that I'm finding I wish I had. For anyone who reads this who comes down in the future, these are some things you might think about sending yourself.
Extra shampoo, conditioner, soap, because I am likely to run out before I leave, and I'm not the biggest fan of the stuff they have here. Also, I should have sent myself some leave-in condition, since it would have been much easier than rinse out.
More T-shirts. It's not that huge a deal, but it would be nice to have more than 4 choices when I have days off.
More pants. One pair of jeans is just not enough. Nor is one pair of flannel pants. I should have gotten more of those.
Dryer sheets and laundry detergent. The stuff they have here is horrendous. Dry powder crap that you have to be careful lest you burn holes in your clothes. The dryer sheets are only slightly better, but combined the smell of the detergent and the dryer sheets is quite headache inducing.
More lotion. I am rapidly running out, though the stuff from Mom I got today should help in that regard.
Shower caddy. The one I have isn't bad, but it's a pain to have to dry your shower stuff before putting it back in your caddy all the time.
Stuff to put on the walls. Just like college, the walls here are vaguely off-white and totally bare. I hate bare walls and am feeling a need for posters or pictures or something. Someone want to send me the calendar under the desk at home? Or any old calendar with pictures of cute or beautiful sights (preferably those of a tropical nature...).
Extra sheets. The sheets here aren't bad, but they aren't good either. I'd be much happier with sheets from home.
Ball cap. I need a hat to wear when I'm off-duty, and can't wear my FD one.
Knit hat. See above reason.
Movies. I haven't really perused the selection here, but it would be nice to be able to watch something that isn't preprogrammed. Or is something I like, as well.
Snacks. For the rare occasion I get hungry at night, miss a meal, or when the meal is just not appetizing at all.
Drink mixes. Water gets old after a while, and the juices down here are way too sweet. The gatorade mix they have isn't bad, though orange gets old after a while. I miss Propel.
Medium weight coat. Some days Big Red is too much, but going out with the fleece only isn't enough. And it's too cold for the windbreaker I brought down, and I forgot to get one of the issued ones when I was in Cheech.
Slippers. When I'm at the fire dept at night, it is nice to take your boots off and settle down. But it sucks walking across diamond plating in your socks. Down at Station 2, where you have to go outside to get to the trailer with the bathroom, it sucks having to put your boots back on. It also sucks walking around in the station down there in socks and stepping in puddles of melted snow.
I think that's it. Just some things that I'm finding I wish I had. For anyone who reads this who comes down in the future, these are some things you might think about sending yourself.
The Halloween Party
So last night was the big Halloween party. Quite likely the biggest party ever held on this base. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the costumes, because some of them were really really good. But it was so crowded, I just couldn't move, so I actually ended up leaving early. The gym was decorated really nicely, and the music was good, so if there were less people, I might have stuck around and hung out. And for the record, I didn't end up getting dressed up.
Here's a shot of the climbing wall, decorated for the evening.
However, here are some of the better costumes of the night (that I can put up on a work safe site. The rest you'll have to wait and see when I get home)
This is the McMurdo Scroll. On a couple of the channels we have scrolls, either the weather, transportation info (for people flying to Pole, field camps, or Cheech), what the movies and dinner is for the day, or just general info. He dressed up like a TV and had the scrolls going across the screen.
Here's a guy dressed as a Maori warrior. The Maori are the 'natives' of New Zealand. They really aren't indigenous, since they arrived on the islands of New Zealand from the Phillipines several hundred (thousand?) years ago (I guess their canoes got caught in some currents). But they settled, and they were there when the Europeans set foot on New Zealand.
This next guy had a really creative costume. He dressed up as the magazine cover that won the photographer a prize for best photo.
Here's Sloth, from The Goonies.
Some of the firefighters and friends dressed up as the cast from Firefly. And a close-up of 3 of the guys.
And here's 3 girls dressed up as Lindsday Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton.
I left right after the costume contest, but it was already about 10 by that time. I was tired, and not feeling very well. Of course, I couldn't get to sleep when I did try to go to bed.
Here's a shot of the climbing wall, decorated for the evening.
However, here are some of the better costumes of the night (that I can put up on a work safe site. The rest you'll have to wait and see when I get home)
This is the McMurdo Scroll. On a couple of the channels we have scrolls, either the weather, transportation info (for people flying to Pole, field camps, or Cheech), what the movies and dinner is for the day, or just general info. He dressed up like a TV and had the scrolls going across the screen.
Here's a guy dressed as a Maori warrior. The Maori are the 'natives' of New Zealand. They really aren't indigenous, since they arrived on the islands of New Zealand from the Phillipines several hundred (thousand?) years ago (I guess their canoes got caught in some currents). But they settled, and they were there when the Europeans set foot on New Zealand.
This next guy had a really creative costume. He dressed up as the magazine cover that won the photographer a prize for best photo.
Here's Sloth, from The Goonies.
Some of the firefighters and friends dressed up as the cast from Firefly. And a close-up of 3 of the guys.
And here's 3 girls dressed up as Lindsday Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton.
I left right after the costume contest, but it was already about 10 by that time. I was tired, and not feeling very well. Of course, I couldn't get to sleep when I did try to go to bed.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hut Point and Arrival Heights
So, with yesterday being my Kelly day, I decided to finally take a trip out to Hut Point and maybe a little bit longer hike. So I got one of the guys from A-shift, Lonnie, and we took a walk.
First we got to Scott's Hut. This thing was built on Hut Point by Capt. Scott, the New Zealand explorer who used it as a base for his trips to the South Pole. He died coming back from one of the trips, and the hut has remained as it was when he left for the past 112 years or so, including the dead seal they had killed for meat and not yet butchered, which is laying on top of a bunch of burlap sacks outside the hut. It is pretty amazing to see that hut, and know that 112 years ago, men used it for storage (they lived on their ship, the Discovery) and if you touch those timbers, you are touching something that was built in 1901. This hut was used by just about every expedition to cross the continent. Both Shackelton and Scott used it. You can't really see inside the windows, but they do sometimes take trips out there. There is one tomorrow, but I won't be able to go, since I'm working. Bummer.
Just for Melissa...a 112 year old seal carcass...
Then we walked out to Vince's Cross. The cross is at the very edge of Hut Point, and was raised by Scott in rememberance of one of his sailors, who slipped off a cliff (pretty damned easy to do, let me tell you) during a blizzard while trying to return to the ship during a blizzard. The inscription on the cross was also engraved by Scott.
Then we walked up to Roll Cage Mary. This is a Virgin Mary statue that is protected (?) by a set of pipes welded together. There are several necklaces, sets of dog-tags, ID badges, etc that people have left there, I guess as a kind of pilgramage or something. She was set up in honor of a SeeBee who died in the 50's when the bulldozer he was operating to off-load a ship (I'm guessing it was moored pretty far out, before the days of ice breakers) fell through the ice into 350 fathoms of water.
The trails around here from what I've seen and heard tend to be rather all the same...slippery and more or less dangerous. They do try to mark them, but people tend to steal the markers to take home, so a lot of the places don't actually have markers with arrows...just rock cairns with bamboo sticks marked in orange at the top where the markers used to be.
Then we did a rock scramble up to Arrival Heights. I don't know how high it actually is, but it's pretty high up from the sea and the path up is not all that steady. A lot of loose, slippery rocks and hard packed snow on the paths, and they are very narrow, almost like goat paths. There are also a lot of neat rocks up there, but they are all volcanic, so some of them are sharp and some are light with lots of holes in them. But they are all loose, so you really have to watch your step.
It took us a while to get up there, between the scrambling and the stopping for small breaks. There were a lot of little 'glaciers' in between the hills, where water had collected at some point and then froze over the winter. In a few months when it warms up, they will all melt back into ponds.
I also got a picture of something called fada morgana. Its basically a mirage, made from the cold ice meeting the (relatively) warm air, kind of like the heat shimmers you get from blacktop or sand on a hot sunny day.. I can't believe I actually got a decent shot of it. It's at the bottom of the mountain in the picture below, and makes it look like there are cliffs all along the base of the mountains.
We got up to the top, and there is a sign there that basically says "End of the Road." There is a radar dome and a clean air monitoring station past that point, so you can't go near them. I did get a good shot of Mt Erebus though. So we turned around and went back.
Going down was much much worse than climbing up. You really had to watch your step, and it was pretty nerve-wracking going down those steep, slippery rocks with nothing but a several hundred foot drop to the ice covered sea on one side, and a slightly shorter drop (but generally much more rocky) down to a small valley on the other. I did slip once, but I stayed on the trail.
We managed to make it back down, stopping for a few good picture along the way. I did take one picture towards the sea, but I don't know that it came out that good. But it was really neat to stand up there and know that if you took away Ice Town and all the associated buildings, you would be looking at the same landscape that Scott and his party (heck, Shackelton too) looked at 112 years ago. I mean, look at this picture, the way the waves have frozen. If Scott or Shackelton, or any of those other guys were standing here in the end of October in 1901, they would have seen pretty much the exact same thing. Kinda trippy, when you really stop and think about it. And it's nice to know that more or less, SOMETHING in this world hasn't changed much in over 100 years. It's rather comforting I think. I also think I've found my new meditation spot.
Here's a shot of McMurdo from just down from Arrival Heights.
I also got a halfway decent shot of Mt Erebus, the volcano. She was smoking pretty good too!
After that is was hightailing it down to get to dinner. I pretty much crashed after that, my legs and back were hurting pretty bad from all the hilly stuff. I got some reading done in my forensics book, and then went to bed but I couldn't fall asleep for a while.
Today was laundry day, since I really needed clean uniforms for this week. I still have one load to put in the dryer, but other than that, everything is done. I'm also trying to decide what to dress-up as for the party tonight. Some of the other FD guys are doing the Firefly cast, and someone suggested I go as Zoe, who is actually a tall, thin, muscular black woman, so you can clearly see the resemblence. I might, depending on if I can figure out something else.
First we got to Scott's Hut. This thing was built on Hut Point by Capt. Scott, the New Zealand explorer who used it as a base for his trips to the South Pole. He died coming back from one of the trips, and the hut has remained as it was when he left for the past 112 years or so, including the dead seal they had killed for meat and not yet butchered, which is laying on top of a bunch of burlap sacks outside the hut. It is pretty amazing to see that hut, and know that 112 years ago, men used it for storage (they lived on their ship, the Discovery) and if you touch those timbers, you are touching something that was built in 1901. This hut was used by just about every expedition to cross the continent. Both Shackelton and Scott used it. You can't really see inside the windows, but they do sometimes take trips out there. There is one tomorrow, but I won't be able to go, since I'm working. Bummer.
Just for Melissa...a 112 year old seal carcass...
Then we walked out to Vince's Cross. The cross is at the very edge of Hut Point, and was raised by Scott in rememberance of one of his sailors, who slipped off a cliff (pretty damned easy to do, let me tell you) during a blizzard while trying to return to the ship during a blizzard. The inscription on the cross was also engraved by Scott.
Then we walked up to Roll Cage Mary. This is a Virgin Mary statue that is protected (?) by a set of pipes welded together. There are several necklaces, sets of dog-tags, ID badges, etc that people have left there, I guess as a kind of pilgramage or something. She was set up in honor of a SeeBee who died in the 50's when the bulldozer he was operating to off-load a ship (I'm guessing it was moored pretty far out, before the days of ice breakers) fell through the ice into 350 fathoms of water.
The trails around here from what I've seen and heard tend to be rather all the same...slippery and more or less dangerous. They do try to mark them, but people tend to steal the markers to take home, so a lot of the places don't actually have markers with arrows...just rock cairns with bamboo sticks marked in orange at the top where the markers used to be.
Then we did a rock scramble up to Arrival Heights. I don't know how high it actually is, but it's pretty high up from the sea and the path up is not all that steady. A lot of loose, slippery rocks and hard packed snow on the paths, and they are very narrow, almost like goat paths. There are also a lot of neat rocks up there, but they are all volcanic, so some of them are sharp and some are light with lots of holes in them. But they are all loose, so you really have to watch your step.
It took us a while to get up there, between the scrambling and the stopping for small breaks. There were a lot of little 'glaciers' in between the hills, where water had collected at some point and then froze over the winter. In a few months when it warms up, they will all melt back into ponds.
I also got a picture of something called fada morgana. Its basically a mirage, made from the cold ice meeting the (relatively) warm air, kind of like the heat shimmers you get from blacktop or sand on a hot sunny day.. I can't believe I actually got a decent shot of it. It's at the bottom of the mountain in the picture below, and makes it look like there are cliffs all along the base of the mountains.
We got up to the top, and there is a sign there that basically says "End of the Road." There is a radar dome and a clean air monitoring station past that point, so you can't go near them. I did get a good shot of Mt Erebus though. So we turned around and went back.
Going down was much much worse than climbing up. You really had to watch your step, and it was pretty nerve-wracking going down those steep, slippery rocks with nothing but a several hundred foot drop to the ice covered sea on one side, and a slightly shorter drop (but generally much more rocky) down to a small valley on the other. I did slip once, but I stayed on the trail.
We managed to make it back down, stopping for a few good picture along the way. I did take one picture towards the sea, but I don't know that it came out that good. But it was really neat to stand up there and know that if you took away Ice Town and all the associated buildings, you would be looking at the same landscape that Scott and his party (heck, Shackelton too) looked at 112 years ago. I mean, look at this picture, the way the waves have frozen. If Scott or Shackelton, or any of those other guys were standing here in the end of October in 1901, they would have seen pretty much the exact same thing. Kinda trippy, when you really stop and think about it. And it's nice to know that more or less, SOMETHING in this world hasn't changed much in over 100 years. It's rather comforting I think. I also think I've found my new meditation spot.
Here's a shot of McMurdo from just down from Arrival Heights.
I also got a halfway decent shot of Mt Erebus, the volcano. She was smoking pretty good too!
After that is was hightailing it down to get to dinner. I pretty much crashed after that, my legs and back were hurting pretty bad from all the hilly stuff. I got some reading done in my forensics book, and then went to bed but I couldn't fall asleep for a while.
Today was laundry day, since I really needed clean uniforms for this week. I still have one load to put in the dryer, but other than that, everything is done. I'm also trying to decide what to dress-up as for the party tonight. Some of the other FD guys are doing the Firefly cast, and someone suggested I go as Zoe, who is actually a tall, thin, muscular black woman, so you can clearly see the resemblence. I might, depending on if I can figure out something else.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
A bit of randomness
Here's some pictures from the other day when it was Condition 2 in town. I have some video, but the internet is so slow down here I can't upload it, so you'll all have to wait till I get home to see it.
We call the trucks Red (whatever number) because for whatever reason, that is what airport crash trucks are called everywhere (or at least in the US). The military calls their crash trucks 'Blue' and then whatever number. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know. Red 1 is hard to get in and out of, but at least the tracks are wide enough to crawl up on. I just have to be careful swinging in and out of it. I get out the same way I get in...standing on the tracks. The Navy spec'd it out in 1991, so it's really not that old. I get to be a driver because they let me. For these, I don't have to take a class or anything, unlike the trucks in town. We do have spikey things we can strap on our boots. They help give you a little more grip on the ice, but it tends to make getting in and out of the trucks a little harder, because they slip on the metal and plastic runners on the smaller trucks. And we try not to wear them in town cause if you have to go into a building they'll rip up the floors a bit.
It's actually quite warm today. Right now it's up around 2 or 3F, and it's supposed to get up to about 10F or so, but the best part is that there is no wind. When there's no wind, it's actually quite pleasant, and a bit warm if you're standing in the sun.
I'm hoping to find out about Burger Bar soon. I finally returned the email, and told the guy in charge my schedule and stuff, so with luck, I'll be working there soon. It'll probably only be one night a week, if that, and it's only for about 2 or 3 hours a night, so the actually money isn't that great, but I hear the tips can be pretty good, and since you're only working with one other person, it's easy to split. Someone said they got $15 one night, and that was their cut, and it was during WinFly, which has a lot less people than we do now.
I am not at the South Pole. The geographic South Pole is about 850 miles or so from here, towards the middle of the continent of Antarctica. It's much colder there (today it is supposed to be about -50F there), and drier. Yes, in fact, there is an actual pole...it is a candy-striped pole with a big mirror-like ball on top. I hear there is a game where people strip naked and run around the pole, and they have the 300 club (usually in the winter, when it's much colder) where they wait till it is about -100F, and then you sit in a 200F sauna for as long as possible, then run outside and do a few laps around the Pole.
I'm told there are some good parties for the holidays. Halloween is the biggest party around here, and they usually have a good meal for Thanksgiving, though it is normally on the Sunday after, since that is most people's day off. Christmas I think there tends to be smaller parties, with the different departments doing stuff together. I know the fire department does a Secret Santa thing. On New Year's Day, they have a thing called IceStock, which is a big party outside and they set up a stage and all the different bands on station play, like Woodstock. I think that's pretty much the end of the parties, because people start going home after that.
Today is a pretty laid back day. I had a day off yesterday, and last night I went down to Scott Base again, just to get out of town. Then I came back and was pretty much a bum and stayed in my room watching movies. I slept pretty late today, but this afternoon one of the A-shift guys and I are going to take a walk down to Hut Point. I wanted to go up Ob Hill, but last weekend he was coming down from there and someone was above him and accidently kicked a rock down, and it hit him in the head. He didn't go to medical, but I'm pretty sure he had a concussion. So we're taking the easier route today. It'll be neat though, because there actually is a hut out on Hut Point, that the explorer Scott (I think) used as place to stay when he was trying to get to the South Pole, and it still has a seal carcass outside. The thing is over 100 years old, and still has almost all the skin. I'll take lots of pictures.
Tomorrow is the Halloween party, and I'm supposed to help set up for it. I still don't know what I'm going as, but I think a lot of people don't dress up, so I should be ok.
We call the trucks Red (whatever number) because for whatever reason, that is what airport crash trucks are called everywhere (or at least in the US). The military calls their crash trucks 'Blue' and then whatever number. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know. Red 1 is hard to get in and out of, but at least the tracks are wide enough to crawl up on. I just have to be careful swinging in and out of it. I get out the same way I get in...standing on the tracks. The Navy spec'd it out in 1991, so it's really not that old. I get to be a driver because they let me. For these, I don't have to take a class or anything, unlike the trucks in town. We do have spikey things we can strap on our boots. They help give you a little more grip on the ice, but it tends to make getting in and out of the trucks a little harder, because they slip on the metal and plastic runners on the smaller trucks. And we try not to wear them in town cause if you have to go into a building they'll rip up the floors a bit.
It's actually quite warm today. Right now it's up around 2 or 3F, and it's supposed to get up to about 10F or so, but the best part is that there is no wind. When there's no wind, it's actually quite pleasant, and a bit warm if you're standing in the sun.
I'm hoping to find out about Burger Bar soon. I finally returned the email, and told the guy in charge my schedule and stuff, so with luck, I'll be working there soon. It'll probably only be one night a week, if that, and it's only for about 2 or 3 hours a night, so the actually money isn't that great, but I hear the tips can be pretty good, and since you're only working with one other person, it's easy to split. Someone said they got $15 one night, and that was their cut, and it was during WinFly, which has a lot less people than we do now.
I am not at the South Pole. The geographic South Pole is about 850 miles or so from here, towards the middle of the continent of Antarctica. It's much colder there (today it is supposed to be about -50F there), and drier. Yes, in fact, there is an actual pole...it is a candy-striped pole with a big mirror-like ball on top. I hear there is a game where people strip naked and run around the pole, and they have the 300 club (usually in the winter, when it's much colder) where they wait till it is about -100F, and then you sit in a 200F sauna for as long as possible, then run outside and do a few laps around the Pole.
I'm told there are some good parties for the holidays. Halloween is the biggest party around here, and they usually have a good meal for Thanksgiving, though it is normally on the Sunday after, since that is most people's day off. Christmas I think there tends to be smaller parties, with the different departments doing stuff together. I know the fire department does a Secret Santa thing. On New Year's Day, they have a thing called IceStock, which is a big party outside and they set up a stage and all the different bands on station play, like Woodstock. I think that's pretty much the end of the parties, because people start going home after that.
Today is a pretty laid back day. I had a day off yesterday, and last night I went down to Scott Base again, just to get out of town. Then I came back and was pretty much a bum and stayed in my room watching movies. I slept pretty late today, but this afternoon one of the A-shift guys and I are going to take a walk down to Hut Point. I wanted to go up Ob Hill, but last weekend he was coming down from there and someone was above him and accidently kicked a rock down, and it hit him in the head. He didn't go to medical, but I'm pretty sure he had a concussion. So we're taking the easier route today. It'll be neat though, because there actually is a hut out on Hut Point, that the explorer Scott (I think) used as place to stay when he was trying to get to the South Pole, and it still has a seal carcass outside. The thing is over 100 years old, and still has almost all the skin. I'll take lots of pictures.
Tomorrow is the Halloween party, and I'm supposed to help set up for it. I still don't know what I'm going as, but I think a lot of people don't dress up, so I should be ok.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Station 2 Day
Today I am out at Station 2. This time we are actually needed, though not much, since all the planes that were supposed to come down today canceled due to weather. Evidently they are having some bad weather in Christchurch, NZ today. But they did have one come down yesterday (the weather was actually decent yesterday) and it is still on the ground. They were supposed to do some FAA flights, flying around, checking GPS coordinates and stuff, but the weather has taken a turn for the worse again, so I'm not sure if they will be flying today or not. They still have the heaters on the engines, but I don't know if they are actually running (they have to attach heaters to the engines of the C-130's to warm them up before they start, since they are diesel engines, but they can't be plugged in all the time). The one good thing about being out here today is that they opened the galley out here, so we don't have to eat bagged lunches anymore or get coverage from town to go up and eat dinner. It makes it nice, actually.
The weather has gotten really bad, though we did get in some training on pulling the hoseline off the reel in the back of the trucks. It's really tough to pull, and the trucks are hard to get up in because they are so high off the ground due to the tracks. If I'm ever driving the rescue truck (the one that has the most firefighters to go in with the hose and make the attack), I don't know how I'm going to climb up into the back to open the valve to allow agent to flow. The step up is actually UNDER the 'bed' and I had a hard enough time getting in it without turnouts on. I think I need to make myself a little step stool to carry around with me or something. The hose is really hard to pull, cause it is hard rubber, and it's always cold. I do like being one of the drivers though. It means I get to play with the turret gun on the trucks.
I got to drive Red 1 today. I'll post some pictures of it later. It's a beast to drive, and it's relatively useless, except for the amount of agent it holds. Unfortunately, it drives so slow that unless a plane were to crash right outside the station, or come in with an in-flight emergency, it would take too long to even start up to be of any use. But it's kind of neat to drive, with it's steel tracks and stuff. Kinda hard to get in and out of though. I'm supposed to be the driver for Red 5, but it is really low on power steering fluid, so we're not sure if we'll use it or not, since everyone keeps forgetting to bring down the fluid for it, and the heavy shop won't.
Here's a shot of Red 1 (the big yellow beast) and Reds 3, 5, and 6, respectively.
The weather has gotten really bad, though we did get in some training on pulling the hoseline off the reel in the back of the trucks. It's really tough to pull, and the trucks are hard to get up in because they are so high off the ground due to the tracks. If I'm ever driving the rescue truck (the one that has the most firefighters to go in with the hose and make the attack), I don't know how I'm going to climb up into the back to open the valve to allow agent to flow. The step up is actually UNDER the 'bed' and I had a hard enough time getting in it without turnouts on. I think I need to make myself a little step stool to carry around with me or something. The hose is really hard to pull, cause it is hard rubber, and it's always cold. I do like being one of the drivers though. It means I get to play with the turret gun on the trucks.
We didn't actually get dinner tonight, since Ice Town closed down around 4pm, and the galley didn't think it would be sensible to bring dinner all the way out just for 6 people. The captain ended up bringing hot food down for us, but we did have the flight lunches and the frozen pizza (snagged from dinner the other night) just in case.
I did find out that I go for Happy Camper (ie, Snow School) in 2 weeks. The weather should be fairly nice, but I don't really care much about that. This is when they take you out and show you how to survive if you were to get caught out away from town. It's supposedly pretty neat...You have to make some snow shelters and sleep out in them overnight. I can't wait. I still need to sign up to be a Delta driver (Delta's are the big huge trucks that they use to take people to field camps and stuff) and a hut guide. I also have to return the email about Burger Bar. It doesn't pay much ($6.80/hr, I think) but the tips tend to be pretty good.
We had a Firefly marathon tonight too. My roommate has the series and the movie, and got a bunch of the 'B' shift firefighters hooked on it. One of the guys is going to the Pole for a few weeks soon, and he really wants to see the movie before he leaves, so he's been trying to get everyone caught up with the series so we can watch the movie Sunday. He leaves Monday (supposedly). I guess after that we'll have to get a new series to watch. He said he should be back here by Thanksgiving, which means it's only a 3 or 4 week deployment. If that's the case, I might want to go a little more. I do have to put my name in soon though.
We had a Firefly marathon tonight too. My roommate has the series and the movie, and got a bunch of the 'B' shift firefighters hooked on it. One of the guys is going to the Pole for a few weeks soon, and he really wants to see the movie before he leaves, so he's been trying to get everyone caught up with the series so we can watch the movie Sunday. He leaves Monday (supposedly). I guess after that we'll have to get a new series to watch. He said he should be back here by Thanksgiving, which means it's only a 3 or 4 week deployment. If that's the case, I might want to go a little more. I do have to put my name in soon though.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Answers to questions, part II
So I need to answer some questions people asked. Since I'm at Station 2 for the duration of my shift, here come those answers.
The fish were pretty small, maybe 6-10 inches long? I don't know if they get any bigger than that, though I've seen pictures of some pretty big fish down here. I just don't know if those are the same ones. I have heard though that they are pretty tasty to eat, though I don't think we can just go dig a hole in the ice and go fishing anytime we want. The fish with the google eyes are bottom-feeders, like catfish, but I'm not sure how deep they go. I can find out though...I have some other questions I need to ask that team. I'm pretty sure they are fairly common. There is evidently some kind of fishing industry down here for Antarctica Cod. I think it does tend to be quite dark under the ice, though from what I understand, everything has a blue-ish tint to it, because the ice is blue. The fish I saw in the lab were pretty small, thin really. I know that they have some pretty big fish called toothfish, because I saw a picture of one (being eaten by a seal) in one of the science presentations. The head of the fish was almost as big as the seals head! It seems, though, that a lot of the fish have HUGE heads and skinny bodies, especially if they are from down lower in the water. The fish towards the top seemed to be a lot more streamlined, for zipping in and out of the ice, they said.
The rocks are mostly black and shiny, with some dull brown on it, I guess from the different minerals in the lava. It is very sharp, so sharp I got a couple of splinters in my finger tips from it! I'm not sure about the rain forest, I think it might have been a more temperate warm area, maybe like Florida? I'm not sure, I'll have to check the posters when I go back there.
There are other, smaller science labs at Pole and Palmer Stations, and maybe one at Scott base, but this is the biggest one. There are also mini-labs out at the field camps and stuff, but I think that most of the work comes through the Crary Lab. I have been told that the fire dept has an open invitation to the lab, so I might take someone up on that tomorrow if I have time. Then I can ask all the questions I want, I suppose.
As for the questions about being sent home, it's basically because we don't have enough beds in the fire station to sleep everyone when there isn't a crew down at Station 2. When there is the regular crew of 6 down at Station 2, we actually end up being really short-handed at Station 1. It's kind of strange...we either have too many people, or too few. I don't lose money, because I am salaried...That also means that I can't get overtime if I get called in on my off-day, or take a department related class on my off-days. Which also kind of sucks. Usually when you get sent home, you go to dinner, and cover for the other guys who have to go to dinner, and then you're cut loose. Anyone not sent home has free-time in the station after dinner till whenever they go to bed. The only caveat is that if you are 'dispatch certified' you have to help cover dispatch for mid-rats. Being dispatch certified just means that the dispatchers have taught you how to answer the phones and dispatch a call or something if needed.
I think that answers all the questions to date. Let me know if I didn't answer one of your questions. Anything I didn't know the answer to I'll try to get answers for the next time I see one of the scientists.
The fish were pretty small, maybe 6-10 inches long? I don't know if they get any bigger than that, though I've seen pictures of some pretty big fish down here. I just don't know if those are the same ones. I have heard though that they are pretty tasty to eat, though I don't think we can just go dig a hole in the ice and go fishing anytime we want. The fish with the google eyes are bottom-feeders, like catfish, but I'm not sure how deep they go. I can find out though...I have some other questions I need to ask that team. I'm pretty sure they are fairly common. There is evidently some kind of fishing industry down here for Antarctica Cod. I think it does tend to be quite dark under the ice, though from what I understand, everything has a blue-ish tint to it, because the ice is blue. The fish I saw in the lab were pretty small, thin really. I know that they have some pretty big fish called toothfish, because I saw a picture of one (being eaten by a seal) in one of the science presentations. The head of the fish was almost as big as the seals head! It seems, though, that a lot of the fish have HUGE heads and skinny bodies, especially if they are from down lower in the water. The fish towards the top seemed to be a lot more streamlined, for zipping in and out of the ice, they said.
The rocks are mostly black and shiny, with some dull brown on it, I guess from the different minerals in the lava. It is very sharp, so sharp I got a couple of splinters in my finger tips from it! I'm not sure about the rain forest, I think it might have been a more temperate warm area, maybe like Florida? I'm not sure, I'll have to check the posters when I go back there.
There are other, smaller science labs at Pole and Palmer Stations, and maybe one at Scott base, but this is the biggest one. There are also mini-labs out at the field camps and stuff, but I think that most of the work comes through the Crary Lab. I have been told that the fire dept has an open invitation to the lab, so I might take someone up on that tomorrow if I have time. Then I can ask all the questions I want, I suppose.
As for the questions about being sent home, it's basically because we don't have enough beds in the fire station to sleep everyone when there isn't a crew down at Station 2. When there is the regular crew of 6 down at Station 2, we actually end up being really short-handed at Station 1. It's kind of strange...we either have too many people, or too few. I don't lose money, because I am salaried...That also means that I can't get overtime if I get called in on my off-day, or take a department related class on my off-days. Which also kind of sucks. Usually when you get sent home, you go to dinner, and cover for the other guys who have to go to dinner, and then you're cut loose. Anyone not sent home has free-time in the station after dinner till whenever they go to bed. The only caveat is that if you are 'dispatch certified' you have to help cover dispatch for mid-rats. Being dispatch certified just means that the dispatchers have taught you how to answer the phones and dispatch a call or something if needed.
I think that answers all the questions to date. Let me know if I didn't answer one of your questions. Anything I didn't know the answer to I'll try to get answers for the next time I see one of the scientists.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Condition 2
When I woke up this morning, most of the area was at least under Condition 2. Lots of wind, blowing snow, the whole 9 yards. We had enough time after shift change to go down and pick up one of the crash trucks to bring up to do weekly checks, but then the weather went south in a hurry. They canceled all the flights in and out of town. At one point, a few of us tried to go down to the Ice Runway to pick up the extra trucks that needed to be checked, but visibility was down to about 20 ft, so we had to turn back. It's a good thing we did. Evidently last year a couple of firefighters took a truck down there and visibility was down pretty low, but they kept going. They ended up having to start a SAR team to go pull them out of a snow drift (if you saw the snowdrifts down here you'd understand why they would have to call a SAR team.)
I took some pictures when we came back, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I also took a video but haven't gotten to that one yet either. At any rate, it was windy and snowy. Just before dinner we were able to go down to Station 2 to drop off the truck we had brought up in the morning, and the snow was drifted up against the buildings pretty high. I didn't get any pictures of that, unfortunately. It was still quite snowy down there. I'm told that when we have airfield ops, and there are C-130's or C-17's on the ground, we have to stay down there, even when they evacuate Ice Town. Supposedly there is an emergency food locker in the galley, but considering the galley in town hasn't gotten down there to really put food in there, I'm guessing there isn't much left down there, and what is there was left from last year.
So basically, we didn't do anything today. There was some training on extrication equipment and stuff, but other than that, nothing. We were really looking for something to do. I worked on memorizing the map of town (we have to pass a test of all the buildings and where and what they are). Basically a boring day.
Because we had so many people today, I got sent home again. For the record, being sent home isn't a bad thing. It's just that we have more people than beds, since Station 2 isn't really operational yet. They rotate us around as to who gets sent home. Tonight is my turn, since I stayed the last time.
So yeah. I'm going home, and then I'll upload pictures and put them up tomorrow or Wednesday. The only problem with being on for Station 2 and not going is that it'll be another week or so before I get to go again.
I took some pictures when we came back, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I also took a video but haven't gotten to that one yet either. At any rate, it was windy and snowy. Just before dinner we were able to go down to Station 2 to drop off the truck we had brought up in the morning, and the snow was drifted up against the buildings pretty high. I didn't get any pictures of that, unfortunately. It was still quite snowy down there. I'm told that when we have airfield ops, and there are C-130's or C-17's on the ground, we have to stay down there, even when they evacuate Ice Town. Supposedly there is an emergency food locker in the galley, but considering the galley in town hasn't gotten down there to really put food in there, I'm guessing there isn't much left down there, and what is there was left from last year.
So basically, we didn't do anything today. There was some training on extrication equipment and stuff, but other than that, nothing. We were really looking for something to do. I worked on memorizing the map of town (we have to pass a test of all the buildings and where and what they are). Basically a boring day.
Because we had so many people today, I got sent home again. For the record, being sent home isn't a bad thing. It's just that we have more people than beds, since Station 2 isn't really operational yet. They rotate us around as to who gets sent home. Tonight is my turn, since I stayed the last time.
So yeah. I'm going home, and then I'll upload pictures and put them up tomorrow or Wednesday. The only problem with being on for Station 2 and not going is that it'll be another week or so before I get to go again.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Crary Lab tour
So we did get to sleep in this morning. I was up at about 9am, did some housework, and headed to breakfast. One of the planes must have come in with more freshies this week, because they had slices of watermelon and pineapple for breakfast this morning. Plus there were blueberry muffins and eggs benedict as well. Yum.
After shift, I ran back to throw in some laundry and shower and change, and then went on the Crary Lab tour. I got to hear about some of the projects that are going on. It was a bit disappointing cause I would have liked to see IN the labs, but I can understand not taking a huge group in some of those places.
Some interesting facts I found out today. There is a place down here called the Dry Valleys. These places are drier than the Sahara, and get less than 3 inches of precipitation a year. Evidently, the Dry Valleys are the most basic of ecosystems, with no large predators, so scientists can study an ecosystem at it's most basic level without all the other stuff that large predators and organisms can bring. Anyway, they found a penguin carcass mummified there (anything dead gets mummified because it is so dry), and they carbon-dated it to find out how old it was. Would you believe 50,000 years? I don't blame you if you don't, I hardly did. I wanted to ask if it was a recognizable species, but I didn't get the chance to. I'll ask the next time I go over there.
We also got to talk to one of the guys on the drilling project down here, called ANDRILL. He got us in the lab to show us some of the rock core samples. The ones they were working on when we went in were from about 60-80 meters below the surface of the sea bottom. These are all from glacial movement, so they have a lot of pebbles and granite pieces in them (though one of the other guys in there showed me some pieces of what might be shell or old barnacle), and maybe some fossiles. They are hoping to eventually get deep enough so that they can get stuff like sandstone that might have been around before Antarctica froze.
Because yes, there was a point in time in which Antarctica was a tropical paradise. Of course, that was about 50 million years ago, but still. They have found all kinds of fossiles of tropical kinds of trees and stuff from that time frame. Neat, huh.
Then they did a thing for us with the volcano, Mt Erebus. They have a camera up on the rim of the lava pool, and have some neat video from a few years ago during a couple of small eruptions. Now, when I say eruptions, I don't mean on the scale of Mt St Helens or anything like that. I don't know how big this lava pool is, or how far away it is from the camera, but it looked like it burped and threw up some lava. One of them though, threw a rock up into the snow just in front of the camera, and there was a lot of steam. They had a couple of these 'bombs' as they call them, for show and tell. So I got to hold some Erebus bombs. They were really cool, cause as big as they were, they were so full of air holes (I'm guessing from the rapid cooling from the ice and snow) that they weren't all that heavy. Plus, you could see things that looked like strings, from the lava being liquid and then cooling so fast that the streams got frozen.
Then we went onto the aquarium. They don't have anything bigger than some very young Antarctic Cod, but they were very curious fish. They kept coming up to the surface to see us and blow bubbles at us. The scientists are studying them to find out how they keep from freezing in the sub-freezing water. So far they have found that they have protein anti-freeze with a lot of sugars attached to the protein. It's made in the pancreas, but I didn't hear a lot of what the guy said. Hopefully that group will have a science lecture I can go to soon.
The guy I was talking to at the penguin lecture the other week was there, and I got to see his lab. He's working on deep sea ROV's to go really deep in the water to find old experiments (that were put down there before there were limits on how deep divers could go), and find new sites. It looks like a torpedo, has 2 independent engines (in case one fails), a camera, several LED lights, and a tether with video cord so they can get real-time video from it.
So now I'm back at the firehouse, which was the only place I could find internet hook-up, since most people have Sunday off, and are using just about every internet jack on station, I think. And soon it's time for dinner.
After shift, I ran back to throw in some laundry and shower and change, and then went on the Crary Lab tour. I got to hear about some of the projects that are going on. It was a bit disappointing cause I would have liked to see IN the labs, but I can understand not taking a huge group in some of those places.
Some interesting facts I found out today. There is a place down here called the Dry Valleys. These places are drier than the Sahara, and get less than 3 inches of precipitation a year. Evidently, the Dry Valleys are the most basic of ecosystems, with no large predators, so scientists can study an ecosystem at it's most basic level without all the other stuff that large predators and organisms can bring. Anyway, they found a penguin carcass mummified there (anything dead gets mummified because it is so dry), and they carbon-dated it to find out how old it was. Would you believe 50,000 years? I don't blame you if you don't, I hardly did. I wanted to ask if it was a recognizable species, but I didn't get the chance to. I'll ask the next time I go over there.
We also got to talk to one of the guys on the drilling project down here, called ANDRILL. He got us in the lab to show us some of the rock core samples. The ones they were working on when we went in were from about 60-80 meters below the surface of the sea bottom. These are all from glacial movement, so they have a lot of pebbles and granite pieces in them (though one of the other guys in there showed me some pieces of what might be shell or old barnacle), and maybe some fossiles. They are hoping to eventually get deep enough so that they can get stuff like sandstone that might have been around before Antarctica froze.
Because yes, there was a point in time in which Antarctica was a tropical paradise. Of course, that was about 50 million years ago, but still. They have found all kinds of fossiles of tropical kinds of trees and stuff from that time frame. Neat, huh.
Then they did a thing for us with the volcano, Mt Erebus. They have a camera up on the rim of the lava pool, and have some neat video from a few years ago during a couple of small eruptions. Now, when I say eruptions, I don't mean on the scale of Mt St Helens or anything like that. I don't know how big this lava pool is, or how far away it is from the camera, but it looked like it burped and threw up some lava. One of them though, threw a rock up into the snow just in front of the camera, and there was a lot of steam. They had a couple of these 'bombs' as they call them, for show and tell. So I got to hold some Erebus bombs. They were really cool, cause as big as they were, they were so full of air holes (I'm guessing from the rapid cooling from the ice and snow) that they weren't all that heavy. Plus, you could see things that looked like strings, from the lava being liquid and then cooling so fast that the streams got frozen.
Then we went onto the aquarium. They don't have anything bigger than some very young Antarctic Cod, but they were very curious fish. They kept coming up to the surface to see us and blow bubbles at us. The scientists are studying them to find out how they keep from freezing in the sub-freezing water. So far they have found that they have protein anti-freeze with a lot of sugars attached to the protein. It's made in the pancreas, but I didn't hear a lot of what the guy said. Hopefully that group will have a science lecture I can go to soon.
The guy I was talking to at the penguin lecture the other week was there, and I got to see his lab. He's working on deep sea ROV's to go really deep in the water to find old experiments (that were put down there before there were limits on how deep divers could go), and find new sites. It looks like a torpedo, has 2 independent engines (in case one fails), a camera, several LED lights, and a tether with video cord so they can get real-time video from it.
So now I'm back at the firehouse, which was the only place I could find internet hook-up, since most people have Sunday off, and are using just about every internet jack on station, I think. And soon it's time for dinner.
Another Day, another dollar
Or at least that's what they tell me.
Here's some pictures from the other day, when we were practicing pumping. The first one is the LT and one of the other guys doing a 'Hero Shot.' The other one is of Tanker, which is what I was riding.
I got sent home after Scott Base, and yesterday I worked out for a while after lunch after a nice, leisurely sleep in till 0900. I didn't do much the rest of the afternoon except work on some pictures, and my roomie and I went to Burger Bar as dinner was not all that appetizing. After that, we both headed in, and went to bed, her cause she's still fighting the Crud, and me cause I had to work today.
Today was a training day. After truck checks, we had to sit through the chief's ARFF class, which was basically an overview of what we did in Salt Lake City. It was good though, to get a refresher, and for the guys who weren't actually in Salt Lake, it was their first real exposure to ARFF tactics beyond what they've been told by those of us who were there. That took us to lunch. After that, we headed back and did EMS training all afternoon...backboarding, KED, scoop, all kinds of spinal immobilization stuff. That took us almost to dinner, and half the shift went to the gym for a bit to work out while the rest of us stayed. I was going to go to the gym, but I forgot gym clothes, plus my legs were still really sore from yesterday's workout. So I stayed.
Because we STILL aren't staffing Station 2 24/7, we sent more people home today. I was supposed to, but I would really like to get into some kind of routine around here, and that's hard when I'm always getting sent home after 5pm. Plus, I got sent home last Sunday, and then again on Thursday. Three times in one week is ubsurd, so I switched with one of the other guys. There was a volleyball game, fire dept vs the Air Force, so he wanted to play. The rest of us ended up going down to watch a bit, and I took some pictures. It ended up being all jumbled, since we had so many people, and AF only had enough for one sub. Still, it was fun to watch, and seemed to be fun for all involved.
Tomorrow is the long morning...From what I hear, we get to sleep in, but I don't know about that. We are on till noon, and I don't know what the drill is for Sundays. From what I hear, they gave a lot of people a Kelly day, and are taking away their K day this week because we will have so many planes coming in. The weather has been bad down at the South Pole lately, so a lot of the flights haven't gone out. I guess they're going to try to cram them all in this week to try to catch up. The firefighters who were supposed to be going down today have to wait till Monday, and hope the weather improves. It sucks, cause they already did their 'bag drag' which is when you take all your luggage to the staging site, and they package it up for transport. It also means that they have to live out of whatever carry-on bag they have here until they leave.
Tomorrow after shift, I'm planning on working out for a bit before I get back online to meet Chris on IM. After dinner, I'm planning on volunteering in the galley for a bit to help out. They are always short-handed, and from what I hear, a bunch of DA's went down with the flu, so now they're even more short-handed.
As for responses to the comments from my last post...It wasn't too cold when the wind wasn't blowing, but the reason my coat was partially open was because my camera had been in the inside pocket (the batteries freeze up if you don't keep them warm) and I had unzipped my coat to get to it. The zipper tends to be sticky so I didn't want to fight with it to get it up, and then have to unzip again to put the camera away.
It was mostly my fault I froze outside that time, because I was wearing only a little knit beanie and my polar fleece jacket and gloves. I hadn't expected to be outside that long, but I didn't realize how hard the wind was blowing, and how tight the parking spot was that the tracked vehicle (which doesn't turn well, and you can't make minor adjustments with it) was in. Normally I'd be wearing big red with the hood up on something like that.
Here's some pictures from the other day, when we were practicing pumping. The first one is the LT and one of the other guys doing a 'Hero Shot.' The other one is of Tanker, which is what I was riding.
I got sent home after Scott Base, and yesterday I worked out for a while after lunch after a nice, leisurely sleep in till 0900. I didn't do much the rest of the afternoon except work on some pictures, and my roomie and I went to Burger Bar as dinner was not all that appetizing. After that, we both headed in, and went to bed, her cause she's still fighting the Crud, and me cause I had to work today.
Today was a training day. After truck checks, we had to sit through the chief's ARFF class, which was basically an overview of what we did in Salt Lake City. It was good though, to get a refresher, and for the guys who weren't actually in Salt Lake, it was their first real exposure to ARFF tactics beyond what they've been told by those of us who were there. That took us to lunch. After that, we headed back and did EMS training all afternoon...backboarding, KED, scoop, all kinds of spinal immobilization stuff. That took us almost to dinner, and half the shift went to the gym for a bit to work out while the rest of us stayed. I was going to go to the gym, but I forgot gym clothes, plus my legs were still really sore from yesterday's workout. So I stayed.
Because we STILL aren't staffing Station 2 24/7, we sent more people home today. I was supposed to, but I would really like to get into some kind of routine around here, and that's hard when I'm always getting sent home after 5pm. Plus, I got sent home last Sunday, and then again on Thursday. Three times in one week is ubsurd, so I switched with one of the other guys. There was a volleyball game, fire dept vs the Air Force, so he wanted to play. The rest of us ended up going down to watch a bit, and I took some pictures. It ended up being all jumbled, since we had so many people, and AF only had enough for one sub. Still, it was fun to watch, and seemed to be fun for all involved.
Tomorrow is the long morning...From what I hear, we get to sleep in, but I don't know about that. We are on till noon, and I don't know what the drill is for Sundays. From what I hear, they gave a lot of people a Kelly day, and are taking away their K day this week because we will have so many planes coming in. The weather has been bad down at the South Pole lately, so a lot of the flights haven't gone out. I guess they're going to try to cram them all in this week to try to catch up. The firefighters who were supposed to be going down today have to wait till Monday, and hope the weather improves. It sucks, cause they already did their 'bag drag' which is when you take all your luggage to the staging site, and they package it up for transport. It also means that they have to live out of whatever carry-on bag they have here until they leave.
Tomorrow after shift, I'm planning on working out for a bit before I get back online to meet Chris on IM. After dinner, I'm planning on volunteering in the galley for a bit to help out. They are always short-handed, and from what I hear, a bunch of DA's went down with the flu, so now they're even more short-handed.
As for responses to the comments from my last post...It wasn't too cold when the wind wasn't blowing, but the reason my coat was partially open was because my camera had been in the inside pocket (the batteries freeze up if you don't keep them warm) and I had unzipped my coat to get to it. The zipper tends to be sticky so I didn't want to fight with it to get it up, and then have to unzip again to put the camera away.
It was mostly my fault I froze outside that time, because I was wearing only a little knit beanie and my polar fleece jacket and gloves. I hadn't expected to be outside that long, but I didn't realize how hard the wind was blowing, and how tight the parking spot was that the tracked vehicle (which doesn't turn well, and you can't make minor adjustments with it) was in. Normally I'd be wearing big red with the hood up on something like that.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Scott Base: A drinking base with a science problem...
Well, today was significantly colder than the past few days, mainly owing to the wind. At one point in time today, I had to back someone up, and it was a tough job backing up this tracked vehicle in such a small space. At any rate, I nearly froze. I was so cold I had to go spend about 5 minutes sitting in the sauna just to get feeling back in my earlobes and nose and finger tips. I was on Tanker today, and we did some practice work for the new drivers in pumping, so we got to flow some water. That was this morning, before the winds picked up. The only problem is that Tanker is a very old truck, and is open back cab, which means it gets very cold and very windy back there. Good thing our turnout gear is relatively warm. Just before lunch, we had a quick class on environmental health and safety (safety is a HUGE thing down here), and then after lunch (which was really good…meatball subs) we had a familiarization class for our SCBA’s, which are a type some of us haven’t used all that much. Then we did a drill on who could mask up and be breathing air the fastest. I wasn’t the fastest, but I certainly wasn’t the slowest either. I was right in with most of the group. Good to know I can still keep up, right? We also did a familiarization on the EMS equipment and how to help out the medics (ie, spike an IV bag, set up the monitor, etc). All stuff I knew, but it was good to get a refresher. Then we did station chores, and I was told to go home, get out of uniform, and be back at the station before 6pm for our trip to Scott Base. 
Scott Base is the New Zealand base that is about 2 miles or so from our station. They are basically on the other side of the ridge from us. There are only about 60 or so people there, so they do really well at cooking. If you get an invitation to go to Scott Base for dinner, you NEVER turn it down. Anyway, we had been given an invitation for about 8 people, and they drew names from a hat, and I got on the list. So I got the night off again. You know, it is really hard to fall into a routine when I am getting sent home every other shift. That should end next week, since we’ll have several planes on the ground and the need to fully staff Station 2 will keep everyone busy.
Anyway, I changed out of my uniform and we headed over at 6pm. First of all, their base is MUCH nicer than ours. When you think of a base in Antarctica, Scott Base is probably what you think of. A bunch of small buildings, all the same color, all interconnected, with lots of snow all over the place. Not at all like the mining town that is McMurdo. Anyway, because they are so small and have so few people, the food is really good. Tonight was corned beef with scalloped potatoes, corn, and some other stuff I wasn’t interested in (cabbage, sweet potato stuff, etc). WOW!! So much better than the stuff we get here. Dessert was good as well, though a bit too sweet for me. Walnut crumble with caramel sauce and ‘hokey pokey’ ice cream. I finally got a straight answer on what ‘hokey pokey’ ice cream was…evidently the hokey pokey part is little toffee pieces. It was good, but very very sweet. After dinner, everyone washes their own plates and stuff, and puts them in a tray to go through the sanitizer (which is basically a giant steamer).
I went to the store and got a t-shirt and a patch from Scott Base, and then followed everyone to the lounge, which is basically their bar. They have a nice pool table though, but with all the Americans there, it was kind of crowded. I did meet up with the Kiwi AF girl I met the other day, and asked her about patches. I think she caught on to what I was talking about, so Rachel, send me those patches! She works supply, and so doesn’t have a unit patch, but she said she’d talk to some of the other guys to see if she could trade.
It was getting a bit crowded for me, and as I don’t really drink, I decided to head home. I did see a neat sign I need to get a picture of the next time I’m there. It says “Scott Base…a drinking base with a science problem.” I thought it was really funny. I went outside to wait for the shuttle and took some pictures.
First of all here's a picture of the sunset from the other night. It was about 10pm.
And this is a picture of part of Scott Base, with the NZ flag.
Here is me in front of the Scott Base sign.
This is what it looks like when the annual sea ice, which moves slightly, meets the permanent sea ice, which doesn't move as much. Kind of like tectonic plates in action.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Yet another productive day
Well, the day started off with the plan to be productive. I left work, and went straight to my room, where I called my mom for a bit, and then changed to go out to the gym. I spent about an hour at the gerbil gym, and then came to the galley for email and lunch. After lunch I went back to my room to clean up, with the grand plan of heading out to walk to Hut Point.
Instead I fell asleep.
All afternoon. Till after 5pm.
I guess I needed it, cause I'm feeling much better.
My roommate has a mild version of The Crud, and was sent home from work this morning, so she and I decided to skip the galley meal (BBQ spare ribs and some other stuff that didn't really sound all that appetizing) and wait for Burger Bar. Burger Bar is a little place in Gallagher's Pub (the non-smoking bar on station) that is only open certain days a week, and they make made-to-order burgers. It's not that great, very greasy, but it was probably better than the stuff in the galley. I got a bacon cheeseburger, curly fries, and a Coke for $5. Not too shabby, but I'm not sure my digestive system can handle that much grease on a regular basis. Nor can my wallet. After I ate, I played some pool with one of my shift-mates, and then some foosball. All in all a good evening, but now it's late and I need to go to bed. Supposedly I'm going to Scott Base tomorrow night for dinner. I'll find out tomorrow at work, I suppose.
And now, here's a shot from the second floor of the firehouse last night at 11pm, about as close to sunset as I'm going to get for the next few months.
Instead I fell asleep.
All afternoon. Till after 5pm.
I guess I needed it, cause I'm feeling much better.
My roommate has a mild version of The Crud, and was sent home from work this morning, so she and I decided to skip the galley meal (BBQ spare ribs and some other stuff that didn't really sound all that appetizing) and wait for Burger Bar. Burger Bar is a little place in Gallagher's Pub (the non-smoking bar on station) that is only open certain days a week, and they make made-to-order burgers. It's not that great, very greasy, but it was probably better than the stuff in the galley. I got a bacon cheeseburger, curly fries, and a Coke for $5. Not too shabby, but I'm not sure my digestive system can handle that much grease on a regular basis. Nor can my wallet. After I ate, I played some pool with one of my shift-mates, and then some foosball. All in all a good evening, but now it's late and I need to go to bed. Supposedly I'm going to Scott Base tomorrow night for dinner. I'll find out tomorrow at work, I suppose.
And now, here's a shot from the second floor of the firehouse last night at 11pm, about as close to sunset as I'm going to get for the next few months.
Monday, October 15, 2007
More Answers
OK, so here are some more answers to questions.
The scientists are studying everything you can possibly think of. Global warming, volcanology on Mt Erebus, how penguins can stay underwater for so long with so little oxygen, how the sea life can survive in such low temperatures, weather, how thick the ice was 2 million years ago, etc. Someone told me that a few years ago, someone got a grant from an art foundation to come out with a bunch of big blue balls and put them on the ice and take pictures from a plane. So I guess you can get money to come down here and do pretty much anything.
The permanent ice really is permanent. I had a hard time picturing exactly where I was in the grand scheme of things until I saw a few of those.
This is the best map picture I can get. It's from 2003, and the line coming in is the shipping channel the ice breaker is making so that the supply ships can come in to the pier. You can see where McMurdo is, and the line that goes west from McMurdo is basically the line where the annual sea ice ends, and the permanent sea ice begins. If I had access to photoshop or something, I could draw in where the various runways are, but that's a basic view...Let me know if that helps.
Anyway, McMurdo has about 1200 people in the summer, give or take. It's really a transient population since the beakers are only here for about 6 weeks or so at a time, and they come in and out from the field camps as well. McMurdo itself is about 1.5 square miles. There is only one firehouse in town, and then the one at the airfield. In December, we close the Sea Ice Runway, and open Pegasus Runway, which is on the permanent ice shelf, and Williams Field, which is on snow (and only gets the ski planes). There is also an airfield at the South Pole that has 4 firefighters.
There are 2 and a half seasons down here. Winter, Summer (which we are in now, and is also called Mainbody by some) and Win-Fly. Win-fly is in August, and is the time when they bring in a small amount of people to start learning the jobs from the winter-over people who are leaving. Most people who come in August leave in February at the end of the summer, but several do stay and winter-over, and leave the following October (thus spending 14 months in Antarctica). Some of the summer people also stay for the winter. There usually ends up being about 200 people here over the winter. From what I hear, the sun sets sometime in the end of March, and doesn't rise again until sometime in August. I've heard from a lot of people that winter-overs are slightly crazy by the end of the season. During the winter, regular temperatures can get down around -60F, with windchills around -90F or so. At South Pole, they have what they call the '300 club' which is when you spend as much time in a 200F sauna as possible, then run outside when it is 100F below. Needless to say, there are no planes during this time, so anyone who winters over is pretty much stuck here until August, when the weather breaks enough to start getting planes in and out.
The ice on the annual sea ice runway is currently about 12 feet thick or so (this is over an average of about 1000 ft of 23F ocean). In December and January, the temperatures are at or above freezing, so the top layer of the ice melts and gets very slushy, and it is no longer safe to land multi-ton, multi-million dollar planes on it (I hear that it costs about $2 million for ONE C-17 flight to get here), so we move operations to a place where the ice is about 100 feet thick (it's too far away to be efficient enough to use all the time). The ice melting is helped by the ice breakers. This year they are using a Swedish ice breaker called the Oden, which can break up ice that is about 16 feet thick.
The ice pier isn't made of ice, but it is stuck in the ice until the ice breakers come through.
The scientists are studying everything you can possibly think of. Global warming, volcanology on Mt Erebus, how penguins can stay underwater for so long with so little oxygen, how the sea life can survive in such low temperatures, weather, how thick the ice was 2 million years ago, etc. Someone told me that a few years ago, someone got a grant from an art foundation to come out with a bunch of big blue balls and put them on the ice and take pictures from a plane. So I guess you can get money to come down here and do pretty much anything.
The permanent ice really is permanent. I had a hard time picturing exactly where I was in the grand scheme of things until I saw a few of those.
This is the best map picture I can get. It's from 2003, and the line coming in is the shipping channel the ice breaker is making so that the supply ships can come in to the pier. You can see where McMurdo is, and the line that goes west from McMurdo is basically the line where the annual sea ice ends, and the permanent sea ice begins. If I had access to photoshop or something, I could draw in where the various runways are, but that's a basic view...Let me know if that helps.Anyway, McMurdo has about 1200 people in the summer, give or take. It's really a transient population since the beakers are only here for about 6 weeks or so at a time, and they come in and out from the field camps as well. McMurdo itself is about 1.5 square miles. There is only one firehouse in town, and then the one at the airfield. In December, we close the Sea Ice Runway, and open Pegasus Runway, which is on the permanent ice shelf, and Williams Field, which is on snow (and only gets the ski planes). There is also an airfield at the South Pole that has 4 firefighters.
There are 2 and a half seasons down here. Winter, Summer (which we are in now, and is also called Mainbody by some) and Win-Fly. Win-fly is in August, and is the time when they bring in a small amount of people to start learning the jobs from the winter-over people who are leaving. Most people who come in August leave in February at the end of the summer, but several do stay and winter-over, and leave the following October (thus spending 14 months in Antarctica). Some of the summer people also stay for the winter. There usually ends up being about 200 people here over the winter. From what I hear, the sun sets sometime in the end of March, and doesn't rise again until sometime in August. I've heard from a lot of people that winter-overs are slightly crazy by the end of the season. During the winter, regular temperatures can get down around -60F, with windchills around -90F or so. At South Pole, they have what they call the '300 club' which is when you spend as much time in a 200F sauna as possible, then run outside when it is 100F below. Needless to say, there are no planes during this time, so anyone who winters over is pretty much stuck here until August, when the weather breaks enough to start getting planes in and out.
The ice on the annual sea ice runway is currently about 12 feet thick or so (this is over an average of about 1000 ft of 23F ocean). In December and January, the temperatures are at or above freezing, so the top layer of the ice melts and gets very slushy, and it is no longer safe to land multi-ton, multi-million dollar planes on it (I hear that it costs about $2 million for ONE C-17 flight to get here), so we move operations to a place where the ice is about 100 feet thick (it's too far away to be efficient enough to use all the time). The ice melting is helped by the ice breakers. This year they are using a Swedish ice breaker called the Oden, which can break up ice that is about 16 feet thick.
The ice pier isn't made of ice, but it is stuck in the ice until the ice breakers come through.
First day at Station 2
Well, today was my first day at Station 2, which is the airfield station. It's actually not a bad gig...We come down first thing in the morning to relieve the last shift, and do all the vehicle checks for the trucks down here. Today we had a C-17 coming in, so the 3 of us down here were supplemented by another 3 from the station for the time while it was on the ground. After it left, the other 3 headed back up to Station 1, and the original 3 of us were left here. We have to man this station until the Kiwi (New Zealand) C-130 (Hercules, or Herc) leaves the Ice. Then we can go back up to the station.
The Herc has been here for about 4 or 5 days. They were supposed to leave last week, but as they were getting up to speed to take off, they blew their number 1 engine. Luckily it happened on the ground, and not while they were in the air. So they had to wait till last Friday for parts. Then they had to wait for a C-17 to be available. They can't leave until there is a C-17 available for SAR in case they go down.
So today, they got their aircrew back, and tested the engines. Right now they are moving VERY slowly to the north end of the runway. Normally they take off to the south, so they could just be moving down there to turn around to take off, or they could be doing their test as they move down the runway. I'll say this though...That plane spits out brown smoke like no one's business. If I had batteries for my camera, I'd take a picture of it. It just took off, so it's gone, and in about 15 minutes or so we can head back to Station 1 and get dinner in town.
The Herc has been here for about 4 or 5 days. They were supposed to leave last week, but as they were getting up to speed to take off, they blew their number 1 engine. Luckily it happened on the ground, and not while they were in the air. So they had to wait till last Friday for parts. Then they had to wait for a C-17 to be available. They can't leave until there is a C-17 available for SAR in case they go down.
So today, they got their aircrew back, and tested the engines. Right now they are moving VERY slowly to the north end of the runway. Normally they take off to the south, so they could just be moving down there to turn around to take off, or they could be doing their test as they move down the runway. I'll say this though...That plane spits out brown smoke like no one's business. If I had batteries for my camera, I'd take a picture of it. It just took off, so it's gone, and in about 15 minutes or so we can head back to Station 1 and get dinner in town.
So what do I actually do here?
It has come to my attention that I never actually said what I do down here, and how things work.
By the way, for the record...This blog is public. Anyone and everyone can read what I write, and what other people write in the comments.
So. What exactly goes on down here? Keep in mind, that just about everybody on Antarctica is here for one thing, and one things only...SCIENCE. You are either here doing science, or you are here to support the science in some capacity. I am here to make sure the planes bringing down the scientists, the other people, and the cargo for the science don't burn up too badly if they crash. I am also here to make sure no buildings in town burn up, because there are so few buildings it could make a real hardship if one does. Some of the people we have down here are chefs, dining attendants (DA) who clean the dishes and make sure the food gets out in time (quite likely the hardest job down here), electricians, shuttle drivers, heavy equipment (forklift, bulldozer, etc) operators and the mechanics who work on them, janitors (several years ago, the janitorial staff down here had a higher education level collectively than the scientists!), IT professionals, HR people, finance people...You name it, and we likely have them down here. And the scientists (down here they're called 'beakers'). Basically, everyone is here because of them, but the rest of us get to stay down here longer than they do. Usually, the beakers are here an average of 6 weeks. It's expensive to get down here and they are usually working off grants.
McMurdo itself was a Navy base until the NSF bought it years ago. Therefore, most things are still talked about in Navy terms (galley, berthing, head, etc). As you can see from most of the pictures, the buildings are mostly pre-fab metal sheeting things that were thrown together. McMurdo is the largest station on this continent. It sits at the edge of the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, on bare volcanic rock, on the Hut Point Peninsula. Just behind the station is Mt Erebus, which is an active volcano on Ross Island that stands approximately 14000ft above sea level. Above the station is Ob Hill, which is a large hill with a cross for the explorer Capt Scott (from New Zealand). From there you can see all of McMurdo. The station I am at today (Station 2) is on the annual sea ice, which starts breaking up in December. Currently we are using the Ice Runway, which can land normal wheeled planes. When this ice starts breaking up, we will move the runway to either Williams Field, which is a skiway they build for ski-equipped LC-130 (military cargo planes) or Twin Otter and Bascher ski planes, which are smaller, 6 person propeller planes, or the runway will go to Pegasus Field, which is on the permanent sea ice (never goes away) about 20 miles or so from McMurdo. That airfield will be turned into one similar to the one I am at today.
I am on 'B' shift. We have 2 shifts, each one working 24 hours on, and 24 hours off. My 'K' day is Friday, which means that even if my shift is working on a Friday, I still have the day off. When we go in in the morning (we have to be there at 0745) we gather in a circle with the off-going shift to find out any news that happened yesterday or anything that the officers need us to know. Then the off-going shift leaves and we do truck checks, making sure everything on the trucks is still working and ok. Then we do stretches and either drill or do inspections. The airfield crews leave to relieve the off-going shift crews out at the airfields. That's the way it goes till lunch, when we go to eat in shifts. After lunch we do other station duties or any other inspections or things that we need to do. Around 1600 or so we go and do PT stuff. Dinner is also done in shifts, and then after dinner is free time until we go to bed. In the morning, we are woken up by the dispatcher playing some song over the in-house radio, and we get up, get back in uniform (out of sweatpants and such), and clean the station (bathrooms, kitchen, etc).
On my off-days, I can pretty much do whatever I want. Last week I just slept most of the time. This week I plan to head to the gerbil gym after shift, then head back to the room to shower and change. By then it should be lunch, and then I'll go bouldering with some of my shift mates, then bum around till dinner. I want to take a hike up Ob Hill, and out to Hut Point as well. And I still need to take my tourist shot in front of the McMurdo Station sign.
Hope that answers any questions you all have.
By the way, for the record...This blog is public. Anyone and everyone can read what I write, and what other people write in the comments.
So. What exactly goes on down here? Keep in mind, that just about everybody on Antarctica is here for one thing, and one things only...SCIENCE. You are either here doing science, or you are here to support the science in some capacity. I am here to make sure the planes bringing down the scientists, the other people, and the cargo for the science don't burn up too badly if they crash. I am also here to make sure no buildings in town burn up, because there are so few buildings it could make a real hardship if one does. Some of the people we have down here are chefs, dining attendants (DA) who clean the dishes and make sure the food gets out in time (quite likely the hardest job down here), electricians, shuttle drivers, heavy equipment (forklift, bulldozer, etc) operators and the mechanics who work on them, janitors (several years ago, the janitorial staff down here had a higher education level collectively than the scientists!), IT professionals, HR people, finance people...You name it, and we likely have them down here. And the scientists (down here they're called 'beakers'). Basically, everyone is here because of them, but the rest of us get to stay down here longer than they do. Usually, the beakers are here an average of 6 weeks. It's expensive to get down here and they are usually working off grants.
McMurdo itself was a Navy base until the NSF bought it years ago. Therefore, most things are still talked about in Navy terms (galley, berthing, head, etc). As you can see from most of the pictures, the buildings are mostly pre-fab metal sheeting things that were thrown together. McMurdo is the largest station on this continent. It sits at the edge of the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, on bare volcanic rock, on the Hut Point Peninsula. Just behind the station is Mt Erebus, which is an active volcano on Ross Island that stands approximately 14000ft above sea level. Above the station is Ob Hill, which is a large hill with a cross for the explorer Capt Scott (from New Zealand). From there you can see all of McMurdo. The station I am at today (Station 2) is on the annual sea ice, which starts breaking up in December. Currently we are using the Ice Runway, which can land normal wheeled planes. When this ice starts breaking up, we will move the runway to either Williams Field, which is a skiway they build for ski-equipped LC-130 (military cargo planes) or Twin Otter and Bascher ski planes, which are smaller, 6 person propeller planes, or the runway will go to Pegasus Field, which is on the permanent sea ice (never goes away) about 20 miles or so from McMurdo. That airfield will be turned into one similar to the one I am at today.
I am on 'B' shift. We have 2 shifts, each one working 24 hours on, and 24 hours off. My 'K' day is Friday, which means that even if my shift is working on a Friday, I still have the day off. When we go in in the morning (we have to be there at 0745) we gather in a circle with the off-going shift to find out any news that happened yesterday or anything that the officers need us to know. Then the off-going shift leaves and we do truck checks, making sure everything on the trucks is still working and ok. Then we do stretches and either drill or do inspections. The airfield crews leave to relieve the off-going shift crews out at the airfields. That's the way it goes till lunch, when we go to eat in shifts. After lunch we do other station duties or any other inspections or things that we need to do. Around 1600 or so we go and do PT stuff. Dinner is also done in shifts, and then after dinner is free time until we go to bed. In the morning, we are woken up by the dispatcher playing some song over the in-house radio, and we get up, get back in uniform (out of sweatpants and such), and clean the station (bathrooms, kitchen, etc).
On my off-days, I can pretty much do whatever I want. Last week I just slept most of the time. This week I plan to head to the gerbil gym after shift, then head back to the room to shower and change. By then it should be lunch, and then I'll go bouldering with some of my shift mates, then bum around till dinner. I want to take a hike up Ob Hill, and out to Hut Point as well. And I still need to take my tourist shot in front of the McMurdo Station sign.
Hope that answers any questions you all have.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Another Day in Paradise
So I didn't actually get to go bouldering last night. When I got to the cave, it was crowded, and since I prefer to do my monkey imitations (badly) alone, I left. I wandered around a bit, heading to Gallagher's (the non-smoking bar) first, since they were supposed to be having bands there. There were about 3 people in there. So I wandered over to the coffee house, figuring I would hook into the internet and upload some pictures. I got over there and met up with a woman who lives on my floor, and she got me involved in a new card game called "Screw Your Neighbor." Dead easy to learn, and while I washed out fairly early, it was fun to hang out with people in general. A bunch of them had been here last year and had some complaints about the fire dept here, and I did my best to promote a more positive view of us.
My plan for an early night was scuttled when I headed back to my dorm at 2100 to do the load of laundry I wanted to get done before today. Instead, I was up till midnight. I did get to watch the one movie I brought down with me, Happy Feet. Cute movie, but the animation wasn't what I would have expected. Still, it passed the time, so I can't complain. I also managed to get a full night's sleep, with no waking up, for 8 hours last night! WooHooo!!!
I didn't have to be in to work until noon today, so I took my time getting my stuff together and straightening up the room a bit. Sunday's they have a brunch, from 1000-1300, so I went over there. Usually, the kitchen staff do a pretty good brunch, (from what I'm told, and from what I've seen so far) and today was no exception. I had a sausage and pepper jack quiche, a piece of turkey sausage, and some watermelon. It wasn't all that sweet, but it was watermelon, so I'm not going to complain. Then it was off to work.
Today we did a drill on stretching hoseline. We have 2 300ft modified minuteman crosslays, so a lot of us haven't ever done it before. So we practiced stretching a line to the second floor of the galley building. I was on ambo 1 today, so I was just the RIT team, but it was good to see it done at least. Next weekend they're talking about another drill, only with water.
As we were leaving the drill, the ambo started making funny noises, and then just quit working. Turns out we were out of fuel in the one tank, and since it's diesel, the pump had to be re-primed. Talk about embarrassing. The driver didn't know we had 2 fuel tanks, and everyone had told him that both fuel gauges didn't work. And no one had filled up the second tank (which is what we were working off of) yesterday. So we had to wait for someone from the heavy shop to come down and show us how to prime the pump, and we were off for the fuel pumps. Still....it kinda sucked.
However, I think dinner tonight made up for it. Prime rib, nice and bloody, with potatoes and salad, and other stuff. So tasty, though as the captain said, it's kind of dumb to have your 2 best meals on the same day.
My hands are so chapped. They were getting better, having not been at work for 3 days, but one day outside not wearing gloves and they are horrible again. It looks like I have diaper rash on my right hand. The left one is slightly better, but not by much. I put some lotion on and it stung until it soaked in the rest of the way. I'm thinking I'll have to put more on in a little bit. At least my chin isn't chapped too badly this time though.
The wind has been howling all day, getting worse by the hour. I'm expecting Condition 2 in town tonight, and Condition 1 on the airfield.
Otherwise, that's been the day. Just general chores and getting stuff cleaned up in the station.
My plan for an early night was scuttled when I headed back to my dorm at 2100 to do the load of laundry I wanted to get done before today. Instead, I was up till midnight. I did get to watch the one movie I brought down with me, Happy Feet. Cute movie, but the animation wasn't what I would have expected. Still, it passed the time, so I can't complain. I also managed to get a full night's sleep, with no waking up, for 8 hours last night! WooHooo!!!
I didn't have to be in to work until noon today, so I took my time getting my stuff together and straightening up the room a bit. Sunday's they have a brunch, from 1000-1300, so I went over there. Usually, the kitchen staff do a pretty good brunch, (from what I'm told, and from what I've seen so far) and today was no exception. I had a sausage and pepper jack quiche, a piece of turkey sausage, and some watermelon. It wasn't all that sweet, but it was watermelon, so I'm not going to complain. Then it was off to work.
Today we did a drill on stretching hoseline. We have 2 300ft modified minuteman crosslays, so a lot of us haven't ever done it before. So we practiced stretching a line to the second floor of the galley building. I was on ambo 1 today, so I was just the RIT team, but it was good to see it done at least. Next weekend they're talking about another drill, only with water.
As we were leaving the drill, the ambo started making funny noises, and then just quit working. Turns out we were out of fuel in the one tank, and since it's diesel, the pump had to be re-primed. Talk about embarrassing. The driver didn't know we had 2 fuel tanks, and everyone had told him that both fuel gauges didn't work. And no one had filled up the second tank (which is what we were working off of) yesterday. So we had to wait for someone from the heavy shop to come down and show us how to prime the pump, and we were off for the fuel pumps. Still....it kinda sucked.
However, I think dinner tonight made up for it. Prime rib, nice and bloody, with potatoes and salad, and other stuff. So tasty, though as the captain said, it's kind of dumb to have your 2 best meals on the same day.
My hands are so chapped. They were getting better, having not been at work for 3 days, but one day outside not wearing gloves and they are horrible again. It looks like I have diaper rash on my right hand. The left one is slightly better, but not by much. I put some lotion on and it stung until it soaked in the rest of the way. I'm thinking I'll have to put more on in a little bit. At least my chin isn't chapped too badly this time though.
The wind has been howling all day, getting worse by the hour. I'm expecting Condition 2 in town tonight, and Condition 1 on the airfield.
Otherwise, that's been the day. Just general chores and getting stuff cleaned up in the station.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sa...Sa...Sa...Saturday night!
I don't know what to do with all these days off in a row. Good thing I go back to work tomorrow. But not till noon.
My roommate (her name is Cayla, by the way) woke me up this morning at about 0700 while she was getting ready for work. I decided to take advantage of the early wake-up to call Mom while she was at work, and thus I could use the 1-800 number. The cool thing is that through some trickiness of phone lines, supposedly our minutes are used as if we are calling from Denver, since that's where the main office is. At least, that's what I think, but I know that people from the Denver area can call home for free.
Anyway, I bummed around for the rest of the morning till it was time to head over for lunch. Lunch was pretty good today...minestrone soup, sloppy joes, and french fries (among other things). I was going to try to go on a hike, but I couldn't find the person I was going to go with, so I went back to my room to chill, and ended up falling asleep all afternoon. I guess I needed it, except that I woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed.
Dinner was pretty good too. Sausage and peppers, cottage cheese, spaghetti (though I'm not a fan of the sauce) and cupcakes for dessert. I'm thinking I'm going to head over to the bouldering cave for a bit after it all digests a bit more. I need to do some physical activity or something.
Tonight will be an early night, and depending on what time I get up tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll go to the gerbil gym and do some cardio. Heaven knows I need it after this slug-like week.
My roommate (her name is Cayla, by the way) woke me up this morning at about 0700 while she was getting ready for work. I decided to take advantage of the early wake-up to call Mom while she was at work, and thus I could use the 1-800 number. The cool thing is that through some trickiness of phone lines, supposedly our minutes are used as if we are calling from Denver, since that's where the main office is. At least, that's what I think, but I know that people from the Denver area can call home for free.
Anyway, I bummed around for the rest of the morning till it was time to head over for lunch. Lunch was pretty good today...minestrone soup, sloppy joes, and french fries (among other things). I was going to try to go on a hike, but I couldn't find the person I was going to go with, so I went back to my room to chill, and ended up falling asleep all afternoon. I guess I needed it, except that I woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed.
Dinner was pretty good too. Sausage and peppers, cottage cheese, spaghetti (though I'm not a fan of the sauce) and cupcakes for dessert. I'm thinking I'm going to head over to the bouldering cave for a bit after it all digests a bit more. I need to do some physical activity or something.
Tonight will be an early night, and depending on what time I get up tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll go to the gerbil gym and do some cardio. Heaven knows I need it after this slug-like week.
Friday evening...What am I planning?
Well, it's Friday evening, and while I have the day off tomorrow as well, my plans are to go back to my room and sleep some more. Perhaps I'll actually sleep through the night tonight.
My roomie's strep test came back negative, so I feel significantly better about that. I'm feeling better physically too, though the throat still has some bite to it.
In keeping with tradition, the fire department signed up for shifts today to give the dining attendants some extra time off. These guys (DAs) have the hardest job down here. They are the ones who make sure the food gets out to us on time, that the dishes are done, and all the other jobs in the kitchen that aren't the actual cooking ones. So I did a bunch of dishes tonight. A bunch of us worked in the pot room, which is where they wash all the pots. They have a huge sprayer to get all the chunks out, and then 2 giant sinks to scrub the pots down, and rinse them. Then there is a sanitizer, which basically steams the dishes. It was pretty fun. We supposedly do it once a month, and it's nice to give the DA's some extra time off. They don't get much. One of the dispatchers whose husband is a chef here came in a took a pictures of some of us in our yellow rubber aprons and big green rubber gloves. I'll post it when I get it. Even with the gloves though, my hands are all pruny.
So yeah, that was my day. I'm heading back to my room now to chill for a bit before I actually go to sleep. The other girl on my shift who got sent home sick on Wednesday is in quaranteen. They think she has the flu, so we won't be seeing her for another 4 or 5 days. Luckily, she has no roommates right now, so it makes it easy.
Depending on how I feel tomorrow, and the weather, I might make it out to do something for once. Even if it's only to the gym...I'm starting to feel slug-like, though I haven't been eating much. I need to work out, and there's some people I promised to take bouldering.
In response to Aunt Linda's question, there is a lot to do down here for fun. I just haven't done any of it cause I've been sick and tired. Now that I'm feeling better, I plan on doing some of it. Like bowling, or hanging out at the coffee house. There's a bar that a bunch of people go to, but I don't drink much, so if I go it'll just be to hang out and chat. I was invited tonight, but I'm still so tired I think I'm going to skip it.
There's the gyms, and they have pick-up volleyball and dodgeball games all the time. There's a bunch of different hikes to go on and all kinds of excursions that they plan, once the season really gets started (right now we're kind of in transition, with people coming in and people leaving). I plan to volunteer to go out with some of the dive teams on my days off, once I get to where ever I need to go to do that. Every Thursday, weather permitting, they have shuttles out to the Kiwi base to visit. They also do movie nights at the coffee house, and other neat things like that. It's kind of like college...If you get bored, it's your own fault.
The old fire chief described McMurdo like this....It's a cross between a mining town, and a college campus. From what I've seen so far, that's the truth.
My roomie's strep test came back negative, so I feel significantly better about that. I'm feeling better physically too, though the throat still has some bite to it.
In keeping with tradition, the fire department signed up for shifts today to give the dining attendants some extra time off. These guys (DAs) have the hardest job down here. They are the ones who make sure the food gets out to us on time, that the dishes are done, and all the other jobs in the kitchen that aren't the actual cooking ones. So I did a bunch of dishes tonight. A bunch of us worked in the pot room, which is where they wash all the pots. They have a huge sprayer to get all the chunks out, and then 2 giant sinks to scrub the pots down, and rinse them. Then there is a sanitizer, which basically steams the dishes. It was pretty fun. We supposedly do it once a month, and it's nice to give the DA's some extra time off. They don't get much. One of the dispatchers whose husband is a chef here came in a took a pictures of some of us in our yellow rubber aprons and big green rubber gloves. I'll post it when I get it. Even with the gloves though, my hands are all pruny.
So yeah, that was my day. I'm heading back to my room now to chill for a bit before I actually go to sleep. The other girl on my shift who got sent home sick on Wednesday is in quaranteen. They think she has the flu, so we won't be seeing her for another 4 or 5 days. Luckily, she has no roommates right now, so it makes it easy.
Depending on how I feel tomorrow, and the weather, I might make it out to do something for once. Even if it's only to the gym...I'm starting to feel slug-like, though I haven't been eating much. I need to work out, and there's some people I promised to take bouldering.
In response to Aunt Linda's question, there is a lot to do down here for fun. I just haven't done any of it cause I've been sick and tired. Now that I'm feeling better, I plan on doing some of it. Like bowling, or hanging out at the coffee house. There's a bar that a bunch of people go to, but I don't drink much, so if I go it'll just be to hang out and chat. I was invited tonight, but I'm still so tired I think I'm going to skip it.
There's the gyms, and they have pick-up volleyball and dodgeball games all the time. There's a bunch of different hikes to go on and all kinds of excursions that they plan, once the season really gets started (right now we're kind of in transition, with people coming in and people leaving). I plan to volunteer to go out with some of the dive teams on my days off, once I get to where ever I need to go to do that. Every Thursday, weather permitting, they have shuttles out to the Kiwi base to visit. They also do movie nights at the coffee house, and other neat things like that. It's kind of like college...If you get bored, it's your own fault.
The old fire chief described McMurdo like this....It's a cross between a mining town, and a college campus. From what I've seen so far, that's the truth.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I'm getting better!
I slept most of the day away yesterday. As a result, I'm feeling much better today, physically. I feel pretty bad otherwise, since my roomie came in from work saying her throat had been bothering her since yesterday, and that she gets strep really easily. She's going to the doc this afternoon, but I still feel bad that I may have gotten her sick, especially since I didn't go to medical right away, thinking it was just from the allergy attack Saturday night. I cleaned the room today with antibacterial stuff, and am doing laundry, but still, I feel badly.
I'm on my kelly day (day off) today, so I figured it would be a good day to get stuff done. I've done 2 loads of laundry, including putting my suitcase in the wash to clean out the shampoo that spilled. I only have to my lights and the sheets now.
My throat is still a little sore, but nothing like it was yesterday.
As promised, here is a run down of the weather conditions here, and what they mean. I also threw in some of the things there are to do down here after work, just for the heck of it.
Condition 3: Winds less than 48 knots, wind chills warmer than -75F, and visibility greater than .25 miles. This is the normal weather condition around here. You can go hiking and you don’t have to check out with the firehouse when you are driving a vehicle.
Condition 2: One or more of the following conditions. Winds of 48-55 knots, wind chills -75 to -100F or visibility less than .25 miles. You have to check out with the firehouse when you leave town and when you get back.
Condition 1: One or more of the following conditions: winds greater than 55 knots, wind chills colder than -100F, or visibility less than 100 ft. Only ‘mission critical’ travel is permitted and only with approval of the station manager. In a Condition 1, we aren’t allowed out of whatever building we’re in.
We have a lot to do in town when we’re not working. There are 2 bars, Gallagher’s, the non-smoking bar, and Southern Exposure, the smoking bar. Two or three times a week at Gallagher’s, they have what’s called Burger Bar, which is a made-to-order burger joint. Some of the firefighters work there part time. It’s minimum wage, but I hear the tips are pretty good. There’s also the coffee bar, the bowling alley, which is manual and you can get a job as a pinsetter, and the climbing wall, the big gym which has nightly basketball, volleyball, or dodge ball games, the bouldering cave, and there are other activities that the rec center puts on. The weight room is pretty decent, as is the cardio gym. There is also a ceramics room, and a sewing room, which I hear is a hot commodity come Halloween time when people want to make their costumes. There’s also a greenhouse, which I hear has hammocks for napping in.
Here's a picture of my dorm room. Mine is the bed on the right.
And some pics from the fire house (the bunkroom, the sign outside, and the old badge on the door of the engine, respectively).
We have to sort all our trash out so that it can be disposed of properly. Nothing gets left here. Instead, all the trash gets sorted, and then the waste people sort it again, to make sure it's in the right spot. Then it gets packaged up and stored till the ships come in during the January thaw. Then it gets shipped out to New Zealand or Chile for disposal. Skua (which are a kind of bird that are scavengers and will eat anything) is a building where you can go to get quality used stuff. Someone found a pair of boots, some sweatpants, sweatshirts, and all kinds of stuff in there. You can even get old dry food goods that people have sent down, and don't eat. Now is a good time to go to Skua Central, since all of the winter-overs are leaving on today's flight, and they are dumping off the stuff they don't want to take home.
Time to go back and finish my laundry.
I'm on my kelly day (day off) today, so I figured it would be a good day to get stuff done. I've done 2 loads of laundry, including putting my suitcase in the wash to clean out the shampoo that spilled. I only have to my lights and the sheets now.
My throat is still a little sore, but nothing like it was yesterday.
As promised, here is a run down of the weather conditions here, and what they mean. I also threw in some of the things there are to do down here after work, just for the heck of it.
Condition 3: Winds less than 48 knots, wind chills warmer than -75F, and visibility greater than .25 miles. This is the normal weather condition around here. You can go hiking and you don’t have to check out with the firehouse when you are driving a vehicle.
Condition 2: One or more of the following conditions. Winds of 48-55 knots, wind chills -75 to -100F or visibility less than .25 miles. You have to check out with the firehouse when you leave town and when you get back.
Condition 1: One or more of the following conditions: winds greater than 55 knots, wind chills colder than -100F, or visibility less than 100 ft. Only ‘mission critical’ travel is permitted and only with approval of the station manager. In a Condition 1, we aren’t allowed out of whatever building we’re in.
We have a lot to do in town when we’re not working. There are 2 bars, Gallagher’s, the non-smoking bar, and Southern Exposure, the smoking bar. Two or three times a week at Gallagher’s, they have what’s called Burger Bar, which is a made-to-order burger joint. Some of the firefighters work there part time. It’s minimum wage, but I hear the tips are pretty good. There’s also the coffee bar, the bowling alley, which is manual and you can get a job as a pinsetter, and the climbing wall, the big gym which has nightly basketball, volleyball, or dodge ball games, the bouldering cave, and there are other activities that the rec center puts on. The weight room is pretty decent, as is the cardio gym. There is also a ceramics room, and a sewing room, which I hear is a hot commodity come Halloween time when people want to make their costumes. There’s also a greenhouse, which I hear has hammocks for napping in.
Here's a picture of my dorm room. Mine is the bed on the right.
And some pics from the fire house (the bunkroom, the sign outside, and the old badge on the door of the engine, respectively).
We have to sort all our trash out so that it can be disposed of properly. Nothing gets left here. Instead, all the trash gets sorted, and then the waste people sort it again, to make sure it's in the right spot. Then it gets packaged up and stored till the ships come in during the January thaw. Then it gets shipped out to New Zealand or Chile for disposal. Skua (which are a kind of bird that are scavengers and will eat anything) is a building where you can go to get quality used stuff. Someone found a pair of boots, some sweatpants, sweatshirts, and all kinds of stuff in there. You can even get old dry food goods that people have sent down, and don't eat. Now is a good time to go to Skua Central, since all of the winter-overs are leaving on today's flight, and they are dumping off the stuff they don't want to take home.
Time to go back and finish my laundry.
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