Laid-back kind of day

Today was a laid-back kind of day. I worked till noon this morning, then headed home, with the idea of taking a shower and heading back out to the Crary for another tour (perhaps this time I could see some different stuff). Instead, I attempted to kill the time between the shower and Crary with reading, and got too absorbed in the book and lost track of time. So no new Crary visit for me. It'll have to wait another 2 weeks.

I attempted rugby practice as well, but once again the book sucked me in, and before I knew it, it was 4pm. Whoops. I fuddled around in my room for a bit (wishing for scissors...they are harder to find around here than anything), then headed out for dinner, after a quick stop at Skua Central.

Skua Central (or just 'Skua') is where things (dry foods, spices, shoes, clothes, games, books, etc) end up when people don't want them anymore. You can find just about anything in Skua, if you look at the right times. Unfortunately, now is not the right time, and there wasn't much in there.

In other news, the first skua (the bird) has been seen around town. I haven't actually seen him on the ground, but I did see him winging around town a bit. They are scavengers, and will eat just about anything. They supposedly sit outside the galley entrances and wait for people to leave and will attack them for their food. They also like to try to get into the food waste bins and stuff. They are also pretty fearless. They will stop a vehicle in its tracks (since we can't hit them, or bother them in any way) and not move till they feel like it. One of the LT's at the fire dept says he saw one sit in front of an ice breaker till the prow of the ship was less than 5' from it, then it hopped about 10' over from the ship. If we are going on an emergency call, and there is one in the road, we have to stop. No blowing horns or anything like that. We just have to sit and wait for it to decide to move.

I have signed up for my hut guide trips. I signed up for 2, so we'll see what happens. We are also trying to get a trip to Cape Royd's for our shift, but that's still up in the air. Friday is my Happy Camper school, so hopefully the weather will be good. It seems that they are getting back rather late, so it's looking like I'll miss D/O class that day. Which gets the instructor mad, but what can I do?

I finally talked to my captain about South Pole, and he said that everyone is on the list, since it would be easier to take people off the list rather than put them back on. Makes sense, at least. The word is currently that the time at Pole will be 2 weeks, which I actually like better than the original 5 week duration...either way, I hope to go.

The reporters haven't gotten out of town (that I know of...they might have gone out to Penguin Ranch) all week. The flights to Pole and WAIS divide (a drilling site) have been canceled due to the bad wind all week long. They were supposed to be broadcasting from tonight, but it doesn't look like that'll be happening. They are allowing people to be in the shots the one night, but it'll be at 2am, and I'll be in bed, sleeping. So sorry, you all won't be seeing a sign from me saying "Hi Everyone!" What is interesting is that the bars close at 2am, so they might be seeing a lot of drunk people. Some of us are betting on the fact that there will be at least one streaker, or at least some naked drunk person in the crowd.

I'm at Station 2 tomorrow, so here's hoping the weather will be good so I can get some video of planes coming in and out.