A Midseason Review Part. 1

Well, I'm about midway through my first season in Antarctica, so I've decided to take a little time to review some of the highlights of my season thus far:

Sea Ice Training: For sea ice training we went out in a hagglund, a tracked amphibious vehicle, although the one we were in probably hasn't been able to keep water out for about ten years. The purpose of the training was to teach us how to profile cracks in the ice so that we could tell if they were safe to cross with a vehilce. Using kovack drills, we measured the thickness of the ice, and how wide the crack was. Most of the ice where we were was about six feet deep. At the end of the day we had the treat of being able to go inside an ice cave inside the Eurubus glacier toungh. The ice formations inside were incredibly beutifull.

Happy Camper: Another training. For this one we learned how to construct snow shelters and some basic Antarctic survival skills, then spent the night in tents or snow shelters. I chose to spend the night in a tent, and for the most part had a pretty warm night. Around one a.m. the wind picked up and started shaking the walls of my tent, which we covered in ice from the frozen condensation of my breath, so I got woken up with a nice shower of ice. When I got up in the morning, there was about a -40 degree windchill outside of my tent. We then did radio and whiteout training as I tried to retain feeling in my hands. I had the pleasure of completing my happy camper with two members of the BBC team down here filming a new series, Frozen Planet. The two that I met were Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith. If you watch the special fetures on the "Mountains" episode of Planet Earth, you'll see that they were the ones that filmed the famous snow leppord scene. Overall, it was a great experience.

STOP..... Tanker Time!

Today our crew went to a fuels briefing for Tanker Offload.  I capitalized the event because vessel season (for a couple three weeks starting in mid- to late-January, where various ships come into Winter Quarters Bay and remind us that McMurdo is, indeed, an oceanfront town) is the most exciting time of the season.  It's probably the most stressful time, and it's at the end of the season, so everyone's chomping at the bit to go home.

Tanker Offload is the name we give to the 4 or 5 days of setting up hoses, pipelines, and valves to offload a BUNCH (5 million gallons) of fuel from the fuel tanker ship into our bulk tanks on station.  People are working on offload 24 hours a day from before the boat gets here until after it leaves.  The GA's are, like always, the temp workers, and Alex Morris (the station Fuels Supervisor) will be taking 3 of us for the dayshift and 3 for nights.  They are 12-hr days, beginning at 0545 (that's 5:45am for you civilians) and ending at 1745 (5:45pm).  Read = time of massive exhaustion.  It looks like if I'm here for tanker (and there's a chance that I won't be because I'm going to WAIS divide next week), I may end up on the night shift, which means I get two days off to "transition to nights" and some time to transition back.  We'll see.

The GA's will have 3 jobs during tanker offload: walking the line, dipping tanks, and manning the pier valves.  Walking the line is exactly what it sounds like - we walk alongside the hard fuel lines for about 1.2 miles (each way) from the tanker at the ice pier to the bulk tanks at the top of the hill overlooking town.  And then we walk down again. FOR 12 HOURS.  My iPod will be getting charged a lot if I end up being a linewalker.

Dipping the tank is how we measure how much fuel is in a fuel tank; we use a special tape measure with a weighted bar and thermometer at the bottom, drop it to exactly the bottom of the tank, then read the tape like you'd read an oil dipstick in a car.  This seems simple, but does take some finesse.  Firstly, the tape is flexible, so if you don't pay attention to exactly when the weight just kisses the bottom of the tank (and for a Madagascar 2 reference, "just a little kiss, like you're kissing your sister"), it will fold down and ruin your reading.  And, a fuel-soaked tape and a dry tape look very similar, and if you don't have a guess within a few inches of where the transition from shiny black tape to slightly less shiny black tape is, and you don't have a very clear, sunny day but not too sunny and no wind, it's easy to miss.  We are in Antarctica, so you can imagine the chances of a perfect day.

The last task is manning the pier valves.  There are 6 valves (if I remember correctly) on hard metal fuel lines at the pier.  During tanker, we'll run soft hose from those valves onto the boat.  If you're lucky, you will watch the valves for 12 hours and nothing will happen.  If you're unlucky, something will happen and you will have a spill or leak on your hands.  It's one of those low-probability but high-consequence situations where it really is worth having someone there if something goes awry, because there's about 800 gallons of fuel per minute going through those lines.

Fuel tanker will be exciting, I think, despite the horrendous hours, monotonous tasks, and immense responsibility.  Plus we get to carry radios and say things like "Roger that" and "over."  Isn't that enough?

More ridiculous Antarctic acronyms

For some reason, Antarcticans (or maybe scientists in general?) will go to extreme lengths to make their project into an acronym.  Some are such a stretch that I'm beginning to think they choose the acronym and design the description of their  project around it.  For example, the project that I was working on at Lake Bonney was called ENDURANCE, which stood for "Environmentally Non-Disturbing Underwater Robot in ANtarCtica's Environment."  It was a super sweet project and I loved it, the acronyms around here just make me laugh.

Other beeker project acronyms:

CREAM - The Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) experiment was designed and constructed to measure cosmic ray elemental spectra using a series of ultra long duration balloon (ULDB) flights.  

AMANDA - Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (the forerunner of the IceCube neutrino telescope project at the South Pole)

SuperDARN - Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), a consortium of 9 nations operating 16 identical radars over the Arctic and Antarctica.

NICL - National Ice Core Laboratory

ANSMET - Antarctic Search for Meteorites

Ja-ja-ja-ja-jaded

<

Josh is jaded

Well, I've reached the mid-season, and McMurdo charm is ebbing away like the snowpack in town.  It's great to know my way around the town, but it's really frustrating sometimes to not be in control of your own time whatsoever.  The work weeks is really getting to me... we work 10 hour days, 6 days a week.  By the time Sunday rolls around, I have so much stuff to do that I feel rushed on my day off.  It's not truly a day of rest as I feel like it should be.  Maybe my self-righteousness is due to the fact that this is my first real-world job and have had the luxury of college for the last 4 years, but it's how I feel nonetheless. (I think this picture of Josh pretty accurately represents how I can feel on some days).

I'm certainly doing fine here and am not desperate to come home or anything, but being in one spot without the freedom to go anywhere, with VERY little free time is taking its toll.  I miss my mom, my dog, trees and friends.  I think two months might be enough for me at a time - it would be nice to come down for 6 or 8 weeks as a scientist, live at a remote field camp and go back home.  It's not like "Antarctica" (the concept, the exoticism, the vastness) has itself become stifiling: I don't think that could ever happen on this white block of ice - it's that being a labor worker in McMurdo has become stifiling.  And I'm one of the lucky ones; my job takes me around the continent more than any other first-year job.  I feel very fortunate, comparatively.  If I could come down in an ideal capacity, it would be as a scientist.  I would be down here in a project in which I was emotionally invested, I would see the project through and leave when it was done (as opposed to seeing little bits of projects, working with them in a way that a mercenary fights in a war- not caring about the true meaning or cause, just down to make a buck.  I don't like feeling that way about my job, but it's set up to be that way.  Sorry for the long metaphor.)

There are still fun things that I'm getting to do, though, like working at the BFC (basically a huge Outdoor Program) and possibly (nothing's for sure yet) going to the South Pole for a few weeks.  And the fuel tanker ship and supply vessel offload sound pretty exciting - I love a "final push" mentality about organizations.  Maybe that's why I was so good about procrastinating in college.  My boss is a good and fair boss, but I don't like not being able to budget and allocate my time, or keep my own schedule.  If I could work 10 hours a day on projects, but have a little freedom to push and pull things around in my schedule, I could still get my work done and not feel as much like a piece of equipment and more like a responsible person.

the Ob Hill Uphill

Josh probably won't write about this, so I'm going to do it for him.  Today was the Ob Hill Uphill, a 1-mile scramble of a race to the top of Observation Hill, the highest point around McMurdo Station.  So instead of sleeping in this Sunday, Josh got up and ran straight uphill.  I admire runners....

Just like the Turkey Trot at Thanksgiving, he got 4th place!  Way to go Josh.  Pictures to come.

 

The Stream Team

Today was spent, like many Antarctic days, trying to fit something into an area much too small for it (see "making sleep kits at the BFC").  In this case, it was pounding metal stakes into a rock-solid streambed.  Sounds simple enough, except for here, there is no soil.  We're on an island of volcanic rock, with pulverized volcanic rock (called "fines") as our dirt.  Anything below 4" deep is either permafrost fines or solid rock.  Wonderful :) We needed to anchor these stakes 12" deep into a flowing stream, so they would support a probe that recorded velocity.  We also used the stakes as beginning and end markers for our velocity tests (really high-tech - we floated a pingpong boll down a section of stream and timed it).

Rosa does have extremely cool equipment used for stream profiling.  Her super hi-tech profiling device consists of a wire frame with thin wooden poles that drop down to the bottom of various points in the stream, forming a mirror image of the streambed on the bottom.  We hiked all around the town looking for drainage patterns and mapping them out, and hiked way above the town to the snowfields at the beginning of the drainage basin, in order to identify the source of the streams.  To the left is me holding the stream profiler, which we took pictures of its pattern while in the stream.  The adjacent picture is Rosa looking out over the town.

Rosa is working with CRREL (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab) and the Corps of Engineers' main goal is to assess the erosion patterns of streams and ditches passing through town.  "Soil" is somewhat of a resource here, since the ground on this island is mostly rock or ice.  Rosa and her teams' report will help the NSF make better planning and engineering decisions about how to improve the layout of the base.

Dry Valleys wrap-up

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396637

Lake Bonney was a blast.  My boss, Barb, informed me that Dry Valleys gigs were really special for GA's, since usually the BFC girls get to go there, not our department.  I do feel very fortunate to get to go on this gig, as I got to spend a week with some great people in a beautiful place, learning lots of new stuff.  For example, I can now drill holes in really deep ice and melt them to a preffered diameter using special equipment.  I can safely drive a 4-wheeler on said ice and remain in control (huzzah!) and carry passengers and cargo.  I can pack and wrap a helicopter slingload using cargo straps and cargo nets.  I can, indeed, sleep in a tent and not shower for a week with little loss of face, seeing as everyone else smells as bad as I do.

To those of you at Lake Bonney, thanks for the great week and letting me be involved in your scientific research, if only in a small, labor-mule type way.  Good luck with the rest of the season!

My life in Mariokart

Nash, Geoff, and BK: this is for you.

For the last few days, my mind has kept going back to Friday nights in college, where all my runner friends had practice the next day and couldn't drink, so we played video games like Donkey Kong and MarioKart.  I have nothing specific to say about Antarctica with respect to DK, but holy shit, I feel like I am in a MarioKart game.  Right now I'm at a field camp next to a frozen lake, the middle of which is very bumpy and hard to walk/ATV across.  However, the edges of the lake melt seasonally and stay completely smooth.  We use ATVs to get around on the lake, and though we have chains on the tires, we fishtail around every corner of the jagged shoreline and spin cookies when we park.  It feels exactly  like a MarioKart racetrack, and you guys would love it.

Our work site is about 2 or 3 miles from camp, and we take the ATV's from camp along the edge of the lake to the site in the middle of the far side of the lake.  I have to go back and forth several times a day, and each time it's like doing my own little virtual reality of those Friday nights at C of I.  When I get back, I'll be able to kick ass at MarioKart!

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396637

Lake Bonney Day 3

Highlights include:

• Dragging some generators back and forth again, due to either mechanical problems or hoses being melted into the ice
• Chipping out hotsy hoses from the ice (in conjunction with turning them back on) to be able to remove them from the ice
• Visiting the Blood Falls camp, where we were informed that there would be extra food and drink we could bring back once they packed up their camp.  Much excitement.
• moving the portable Hotsy (in 3 boxes, plus the generator) from West lobe LTR to East lobe LTR sites. It took a few trips on the 4-wheeler and banana sled.

Also, I've been trying to figure out how to describe what it's like to be surrounded by a bunch of glaciers.  The glaciers in Taylor Valley look like merengue, or semi-molten marshmallows, pouring over the ridges.  Not completely molten, b/c it has crusts and cracks in it, but it looks like it was in the middle3 of being thick slush when it decided to freeze....

Lake Bonney Day 2

Highlights of the day:

• Moved a shit ton of fuel barrels
• Moved a generator from bot hut to the LTR (Long-Term Research) hole in the ice, discovered that the bot hole had frozen up too much to let the bot into the hole, and had to move it back to the bot hut.
• Started drilling at the West lobe LTR site, but did it with a dull drill bit, so it took us 45 minutes to drill about a foot into the ice (we should have been down two feet or so by then).  Then it was suddenly dinner time, and Maciek and Jim went back after dinner to drill out the rest of the hole.

The Dry Valleys

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396638

On Saturday afternoon, just as I was about to finish my afternoon of data entry, my boss Barb called me and asked on short notice if I'd be willing to fly to the Dry Valleys for a week to help out in the Lake Bonney camp.  One of their support staff strained his back and had to fly to McMurdo.  He'll be back in camp while I'm here, but needs to take it easy, so I'll be his workhorse and follow him around to do all the heavy lifting.  So this morning (Monday), I got on a helicopter, flew across McMurdo sound and into the Dry Valley region.  The pilot, Dustin, flew me by the Dailey Islands and pointed out Uberuaga Island, the one named after Jules!  It was really neat to put a face island to the name.

Holy hell, it's so cool here.  I'm in the Taylor Valley, just on the coast of mainland Antarctica. The Taylor Valleys are in the Dry Valley area, so called because they're situated in a way that only the mountains (and glaciers) around us get snow, and the valleys themselves are full of frozen lakes, but they're all just volcanic soil deserts and foothills.  I'm currently sitting in the Jamesway of the Lake Bonney camp, which is a couple of semi-permanent buildings right next to the lake shore, with small mountain tents scattered around the hillside.  The hillside reminds me a little bit of the final scramble up to Mount Dhoom in LOTR, where Frodo and Sam throw a blanket over themselves to hide from the Orc army passing by.  

Aaaaaannnnnywho, nerd parenthesis aside, the Dry Valleys are the shit.  Pictures to come soon, but since I didn't know they have WIRELESS INTERNET (!!!!!) here, I didn't bring my laptop.  The scientists have solar-powered wifi routers that I'm assuming connect to a satellite.  This proves that McMurdo doesn't have to be as lame and internet-retarded as it is, they just choose to have it that way.  

Today I got to assist with a dive into Lake Bonney.  We cut an 8ft diameter hole into the ice (12 ft deep), and Vicky went down in her scuba gear to scope out the hole.  The ultimate plan is to put in the team's huge underwater robot (the same size as the hole), so the robot can scope out the lay of the underwater land.  This AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is a possible first step in making a similar one to go and scout Jupiter's moons for fresh water.


We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Antarctic Acronyms

USAP - U.S. Antarctic Program, the United States' presence in Antarctica; sponsored by the NSF
NSF - National Science Foundation, the U.S. gov't branch sponsoring our program
GA - General Assistant, my job title (Operations GA)
WAIS - Western Antarctic Ice Sheet, 800 miles southwest of McMurdo.  I'll be going there in less than a month for a two-week field camp stint.
BFC - Berg Field Center, the dept that provides all the gear and food for field expeditions (tents, pee bottles, sleeping bags, backpacking food, etc.)  Part of our GA tasking has been to work in the BFC food room, repackaging bulk food for field deployment (trail mix, dehydrated potatoes, etc.)
VMF - Vehicle Maintenance Facility (also known as the Heavy Shop) operates on light vehicles like F-350's (yeah, for us that's a light vehicle) as well as heavy equipment and all the tracked vehicles.
FEMC - Facilities, Equipment, Maintenance and Construction.  Kind of like the Physical Plant, repairs stuff around the station, does long- and short-term projects.  If something in your building breaks, you call FEMC.
MCI - Mass Casualty Incident.  If something explodes and a bunch of people get blown up, or a plane crashes, or various other injurious disasters happen, you've got an MCI. Also, I'm apparently signed up as a volunteer stretcher-bearer in the event of an MCI.
SAR - Search and Rescue.  If you get lost out somewhere or caught in a storm or fall in a crevasse, SAR will come and get you.
SSC - Science Support Center.  In the SSC you'll have the Motor Pool, the science cargo, and field safety training.
POC - Point of Contact; sometimes your supervisor or maybe the comms person in your dept.  They keep you informed of important information, and if you head out of town and check out with MacOps (our station-wide comms center), you have to have a POC that knows what you're up to.
SVB - Survival Basics.  Used if you need to, you know, survive here in a storm or something.
FNG - Fucking New Guy; a newbie to Antarctica.
POG - Passionfruit Orange Guava, a juice mix famous in the galley for its deliciousness.
HW - Human Waste.  Literally, shit.  Gained this vocab in my day working in the Waste Dept.
FW - Food Waste.  Part of our waste management system here.  Everyone sorts their trash into very specific bins. 
PL - "Plastics". Part of Waste Management.
NR - Non-recyclables.  Waste Management.

Happy Camper

For the full photo album of "Happy Camper," go to
 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012034&id=143700020&l=af0a31820f.  

This weekend was my "Happy Camper" course, which is a two-day, one night training out on the Ross Ice Shelf (aka middle of nowhere).  Though we could see the kiwi base, Scott Base, in the distance, there was nothing of civilization but a blue Jamesway called the I-hut, where our instructors slept, a shed that held our tools and sleeping bags, and an outhouse.  Red and green flags circled the Happy Camper area, letting us know that there were no crevasses nearby and it was safe to walk. 

The purpose of Happy Camper is to simulate a survival situation in Antarctic weather conditions, and teach campers how to use survival bags (filled with a tent, shovel, sleeping bag, dehydrated food, stove etc.) and how to build snow shelters to survive for a few hours or a few days.

We rode a Delta (ENORMOUS vehicle to be carrying people in, you have to climb a six foot ladder to get in) out to the Happy Camper site, where they dropped us off to die to practice survival skills.  I promptly fell asleep in the Delta, as I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and was crowded shoulder-to-shoulder with people I didn't know in a rollicking vehicle.  I snuggled down into my coat and got a bit of shut-eye, and was a little disappointed to find that the camp was only 15 minutes away from station, which ended my nap quickly.

After getting to camp, we erected a Scott tent (right) and Megan, one of the instructors, showed us how to anchor it down using Dead Man anchors, which involve burying a short bamboo pole in a notched pit the snow and wrapping string around it, so the string comes back out of the snow and you can hitch it back to itself using a trucker's hitch (which I didn't know how to do before, but is amazingly efficient and awesome.) 

Next we built a Quinzhee, which is a snow shelter/cave shaped like a beaver dam made out of snow.  You stack all your bags in a big pile (for us was 20 huge duffels), cover the bags in snow, then dig out the mound and pull the bags out.  The snow keeps its shape, and you dig from underneath to keep the wind from blowing in.  It's really cool.

Some people also slept in snow trenches, which they dug out of the ground and covered the openings with slabs of snow. I might add here that the Antarctic snow, at least on the ice shelf, is extremely hard-packed and dry, lending itself perfectly to awesome construction projects.

We also set up 4-season mountaineering tents and build snowblock windbreak walls around them, and dug a kitchen trench and cooking area where we set up our stoves to boil water (to make food out of dehydrated backpacking dinners).  Will, Chris and I (the first 3 GA's to arrive on the Ice out of our 9-person crew) ended up manning the stoves, as many other people were busy building trenches for the night or walking around trying to keep warm.  I chose to sleep in a Scott tent (the tall, pyramid-shaped ones), and our four bodies warmed it to between -10 and 0 degrees F throughout the night (toasty!).  The next morning, I dragged myself out of my tent to go pee, which was good because I don't know if I would have gotten out of my sleeping bag for any other reason.  

After making oatmeal for breakfast, we all met back in the Instructor Hut, a semi-permanent blue Jamesway , that would serve as our classroom.  The instructors talked about minimizing risk when outdoors in Antarctica, and we learned about VHF and HF radios.  VHF is like a normal CB radio that truckers have, or like a handheld walkie talkie radio.  HF radios are for long-term, long-distance camps or like ones you see in war movies where it's a big box and you talk on a telephone handset.  They're both pretty sweet.

Next was the Buckethead drill, where our group put 5 gallon buckets over our heads to simulate a whiteout condition (no visibility and inability to hear much.)  One of the instructors went out in the direction of the outhouse and we had to organize a search party tied to a rope to go rescue him.  We ended up finding him by using a sweeping technique with two people at the end of our rope, but Dylan the instructor said that we got lucky and many groups don't find their lost man in the drill.

Arriving back at McMurdo and climbing into my bed in the heated dorm room felt soooo nice.  The dorm is heated to probably 70 degrees and feels way too hot most of the time, but right then it was very welcome.  Happy Camper was a great experience, and I think the important thing I learned wasn't necessarily how to survive in the cold, but that I should try my best to NOT get stuck out there during a storm!

Cheech

It wasn't until experiencing the Christchurch (Cheech, Chch) Botanic Gardens in their springtime splendor that I undersood where the term "floral print" came from.  The city obviously takes great pains to maintain this beautiful park area, and it is, dare I say, more beautiful than the Boise one.  That may be owing to a high desert climate in Boise, and an English influence here in Chch. 

I found that though the YMCA (my accommodation) is strikingly absent on Ice people, it is literally next door to the Botanic Gardens, Arts Center and the Canterbury Museum (which is free and awesome).  Right below the Y is a care called Robert Harris Coffee Roasters, and is undeniably cool.  It reminds me a little of Flying M back home, but silghtly less indie.  Having a bage and coffee there this morning was quite delightful, as they played both OCMS' "Wagon Wheel" and Josh Ritter's "Harrisburg" I think once Josh and I get back and have a little more time to explore the music scene, we'll find ti quite to our liking.  I also need to get ahold of Piper Trulock, a friend from C of I that promptly moved here after graduation.  She's working at a beer bar! 

Pictures to come.

Toodles,

Lael

Denver...

I don't really know if I could ever live in a bigger city than Boise, at least a bigger American one.  The main reason isn't even because of huge cities, tons of traffic, throngs of people downtown.  More than anything else, is the astonishing amount of urban and suburban sprawl. Our hotels in "Denver" (or is it Littleton, Aurora, Centennial, etc.????) are in the middle of an area that can be best described as the Eagle/Meridian hybrid of franchises and 6-lane streets, like the corner of Chinden and Eagle road multiplied a thousand times.  It's awful.  The hotel rooms are really nice, with their own kitchenette, a couch, full-size desk, and a better continental breakfast than I've ever had at home.

The Denver orientation is going alright.  I know more now about 100% fall protection (full harnesses must be worn at heights, of 4 feet or more) and I know how to safetly erect a scaffolding (theoretically).  Today was the General Deployment orientation, and they ran through some really relevant information, like payroll, insurance, and, most excitingly, TRAVEL!  Lynn Dorman from the Travel dept. started her presentation out by saying "Hey guys, you have the most extreme commute in the world!"  That's true, we do have to travel a few thousand miles...

We had pizza for lunch two days in a row at Orientation (blehhhhh, not good pizza either) and after eating a frozen dinner from the hotel store for dinner last night, my body was hating me.  So I went to "JOY", the Japanese bistro/sushi place next to the hotel and had a couple rolls.  I absolutely hate going out by myself in any fashion, whether it's to a movie, coffee, shopping, and especially out to eat.  So I was delighted when I walked into the sushi place to see another GA on my crew, Chris, eating dinner there with his girlfriend.  She'll be a GA at the South Pole, but doesn't deploy until later in October.  They're bummed that they couldn't both get hired at Pole (Chris is in McMurdo with me) because they might not see each other for about 4 months.  I've only been away from Josh for two weeks and I'm already going crazy!

"I think tomorrow is going to be a hungry day," Chis prophesized, and I think he's gonna be right.  After our morning training, we're dropped off at the Denver airport with our baggage, and get left there until our flight at 4:30.  No lunch provided, and not even the opportunity to go outside of an airport for the next 36 hours or so...so I'm hoping to snag enough hotel breakfast food in Ziploc bags to tide me over in the first airport, at least.  After that, it's airplane food and clif bars for me!  (trying to save my per diem).

The next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in Christchurch!

My Stay in Christchurch

It looks like my long vacation (delay) in Christchurch may be coming to an end. The first group flew out today and if all goes well I will fly out tomorow moring. I've had a great time in chch, and as excited as I am to get down to the Ice I'll be sad to leave. I've eaten some great food and seen some great sights. I'm glad that I had this delay time because it gave me an opportunity to get to know my crew before we start working together. I think that I'm going to have a great season and learn a lot.

  

My Journey Thus Far

I arrived in ChristChurch, New Zealand yesterday around noon local time. Prior to that I spent three days in Denver doing OSHA training and orientation. The training wasn't really all that bad, and it was really nice to meet all of my fuels crew. They seem like a fun and lively bunch. I'm really looking foward to the season on the Ice with these guys. I'll be going over to the CDC today at one to get my ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear, and from there will be exploring the city of ChristChurch. I was scheduled to leave for the Ice tomorow morning, but because of snowstorms in McMurdo I won't be leaving till thursday at the very earliest, and I wouldn't be surprised if I got delayed further.

Predictions

I'm going to go ahead and say that I really don't know what to expect, but from gleaning various Antarctic blogs, websites, books and a few Ice People I know (including my aunt), I hear that McMurdo is just like a small college campus. There's the dorms, the cafeteria, the rec center, the weight room, the coffee house, the bar (if you're a wet campus like C of I), the parties, the gossip, and the copious amounts of licentious sexcapades and binge drinking. Just like college, should be a nice transition for me since I'm a recent college grad and am used to the lifestyle (albeit trying to show restraint with the last three).

I predict Antarctica will be stark and beautiful; the landscape harsh and unapologetic, completely comfortable being the most environmentally hospitable place on earth yet drawing humans to explore its wonders. I predict that it will be unbearably cold, then eternal daylight, then unbearably cold again. I predict that I will work hard, break my back, heal my back, tell myself that labor is character-building and that I'm in the pursuit of science, and bond with my crew. I don't predict that I will "have a great experience and make lifelong friends" because I'd never consciously write something that cliche. There will be stories galore, I hope-- not necessarily all good or all funny, because that's not what life is. I am a memory collector, an experience hoarder, and a skill-seeker. I want those things, and I hope I can draw them out of this cold harsh land.

Gathering of the Fuelies

A word from Alex Morris, head of Fuels and Josh's boss: Greetings one and all. the time draws nigh to a gathering of all Summer 09-10 Fuelies. Just as a quick reminder, all of you should have tickets or be in process of getting ticketed. If not, please call me ASAP! You will be arriving in Denver on Sept. 23^rd for DJ’s 40^th birthday training and deployment. OSHA training will occur the morning of the 24^th at 7:30am. Shuttles will be provided by the hotel and Raytheon. After we all go through LOCK OUT/TAG OUT training, we’ll shuttle back to the hotel for Fuelie Training. The 25^th is another full day of training (ethics, Raytheon’s tactical assault systems, IT INFOSEC completion for those you who haven’t done it yet), and a heap of other stuff. Training on the 24^th and 25th ends at 5:00pm. (There are a few businesses close to the hotel that offer food and beverage service if there is anyone interested in such.) We all return on the 26^th for another morning of fun in the saddle and then we all get on busses and head to DIA for the commencement of our Antarctic adventure! Whooo hoooo! It is this last point that I wish to specifically address. Below is word from the head of the Deployment Specialist Group (DSG) concerning the increase in weight allowances when flying to McMurdo. It has gone from 75 to 150lbs. The international weight limit still remains 140lbs, but if you have a lead ballon collection that you’ve always wanted to bring to McMurdo, this is the year to do it. see you folks soon! alex 720-568-2266

Antarctica Gear!

Just bought a SmartWool crew top! Anti-microbial so it doesn't stink (as bad). Need to get a couple more of those, but I've got a start. Sticking with the SmartWool theme, I bought myself a pair of SmartWool pants to wear under my carhartt's, coveralls, etc.

<

Also bought a couple pairs of mountaineering socks from Cabela's,
And last but not least, my big splurge: a GoLite women's softshell jacket.

div>

One of the things that Antarcticans consistently report regretting not bringing down is their own cold gear (NSF issues you some, but it's, well, borrowed goods.) Almost outfitted; good thing I won't be able to spend my paychecks b/c this gear is costing me a pretty penny.

Three Weeks to Deployment

I got my deployment itinnerary a few days ago and will be leaving on Sept. 23 for the Ice. I know that three weeks is going to fly by. It's hard to believe that it will actually be happening. I sometimes have to stop and consider how fortunate I am to have this opportunity. At 19, and with only two years of college credits, I'm very lucky to be going down to the work on the ice.

We're Physically Qualified!

After running back and forth to Boise nearly every weekend this summer, numerous doctor visits, dentist visits, failed faxes, mailed x-rays, and phone calls back and forth to HR for paperwork, Raytheon informed us that we are "Physically Qualified to deploy to McMurdo Station." I thought this day would never come!

Our First Piece of Antarctica Gear!

Today Josh and I found a steal on backcountry.com in their luggage sale section. On sale for half the MSRP, we bought two Patagonia Black Hole duffel bags, each holding 90L of stuff (hence the name "black hole"). It always feels weird to make big purchases online, but the shipping was free and backcountry always has great stuff. It also feels weird to buy the same bag in the same color as my boyfriend which makes me feel like I'm part of this weird cookie cutter couple thing, but whatever, black was the only color in stock. They should be delivered to my Boise house by Tuesday. Then, the packing tests begin!

USAP email: "recent changes"

(edited for length) This e-mail is being sent to all RPSC and NANA employees and alternates deploying to McMurdo and South Pole. SYDNEY You will deploy through Sydney this season instead of Auckland. This is lame for us because it puts our arrival in Christchurch at a much later time, and eats up our free days before heading to the Ice.

• Participants with non-U.S. passports must obtain a transit visa before deploying. Apply online at www.australianvisaonline.com/#australia_transit_visa; there is no charge. If in doubt, contact an Australian Embassy or Consulate.
• Wait until Sydney or Christchurch to purchase duty-free liquids, aerosols or gels (LAGs). LAGs purchased at LAX will be confiscated in Australia. Non-LAG purchases are allowable. Really?! But I wanted to buy my allowable 2 handles of premium Scotch! ;)
• Leaving the terminal is in violation of Australian law. This won't affect us much, as our layover will only be a few hours anyway, not long enough to get out of the airport to see anything.

BAGGAGE ALLOWANCES The NSF increased the baggage allowance on Mainbody flights between Christchurch and Antarctica. This is the combined checked weight of your ECW gear and personal luggage. (Save room for about 5 pounds of ECW gear.) Carry-on allowance is the same as for commercial flights, that is, it must fit inside the test box. Most airlines charge for one or more bags or for bags over 50 lbs (22 kg). Please check your airline’s website for estimated costs and be prepared to pay at the counter. You will be reimbursed for commercial baggage fees from your home to Denver as long as you follow the guidelines below and submit all receipts. (You can do that at Orientation.) RPSC covers baggage costs from Denver to Christchurch as long as you follow the guidelines below.

• • Commercial flights (Home-Denver-Christchurch):
  – up to 2 bags, no more than 70 lbs (32 kg) each, plus carry-on
  • Ice flight (Christchurch-McMurdo):
  – up to 150 lbs (68 kg) of checked luggage, each bag no more than 70 lbs (32 kg), plus carry-on

CURRENCY EXCHANGE Travelex offices at the Auckland airport and in downtown Christchurch (Cathedral Square and Colombo/Armagh Streets) are the only offices that waive currency exchange fees for USAP participants. Present the USAP Travelex letter in your travel folder and your passport. This is pretty neat, considering usually you get screwed as a foreigner with currency exchange. Luckily, as of today the US dollar was worth about 1.48 New Zealand dollars, so I'll have a little more cash with which to purchase schwag and souvenirs. Thank you, Deployment Specialists Group Raytheon Polar Services Company 7400 S. Tucson Way Centennial, CO 80112-3938 1-800-688-8606 prompt 2 303-790-8606 prompt 2 deploy@usap.gov

Wisdom Teeth (Josh's this time)

Yesterday I (Josh) had my wisdom teeth removed at about 8:30 am. The surgery went really well, better than I expected in fact. Fortunately the surgeon who did the extraction was the same dentist that I've been seeing since I was a little kid, so felt pretty comfortable going in. After I got home and my face started to regain feeling, I had quite a bit of pain in my jaw, but the miracles of hydrocodone quickly got rid of that. Today it hardly hurts at all, but I'm still having trouble eating anything but liquid food. I just gummed down a bit of cheese, and although difficult, it didn't hurt at all, so I may try making myself some real food tonight.

My teeth hurt like a biiiiiiiiiiiiitch

I'm popping hydrocodone like Dr. House after he had a fight with Cuddy and some kid took his cane. Well not really, but that's what I feel like. Last night all I dreamed about was all of my current posessions being put in my second grade classroom at Garfield Elementary, and looking for my hydrocodone prescription. It was weird, becuase yesterday I was getting by with just Ibuprofen, but last night I felt like my jaws were in a vice.

PQing

Well today I had my physical and dental exam, and will be getting my wisdom teeth out next week. So far the PQing process hasn't been too hectic, although I did forget to get my TB skin test while at the doctor so I will need to go in and get that done. I will be moving up to Stanley, Idaho for the summer this Saturday so it will become much more difficult to come down for doctors visits after this week, although it will be great living in Stanley.

Not-So-Wise Teeth

If this post sounds rambly, it's because I'm on prescription drugs and it's late at night. As part of the PQ process, I got my wisdom teeth out today. I have what you might not call a "phobia" of needles, because I can get shots without completely flipping out and punching the nurse in the face or rampaging through the clinic (as I've heard from other horror stories) but my brain and needles don't really agree. It's some lingering vestige of childhood, a memory of unpleasant experiences with needles but no concrete reason for fearing the pain. As a result, I was given a Valium to take a half hour before the surgery. I think I was so freaked out that it didn't do much, but the nitrous oxide they gave me right before they put the IV in my arm sure did. The nurses said the actual extraction took only 10 minutes (did I imagine that? 4 wisdom tooth extractions seem like they would take longer than that) and most of the time was spent bringing me out of the anaesthesia. Josh was the best nurse ever, stopping by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up my hydrocodone (which I was told I should be excited about, but it's not that trippy...just takes away the pain) and we stopped at WinCo to get some bottles of Bolthouse Farms smoothie drinks. Knowing that I couldn't eat solid food today of course made me crave it incessantly, but after a fruit smoothie that Josh made and some slightly pureed chicken noodle soup he blended up, I at least had enough food in my stomach to assauge the nausea that hydrocodone causes (p.s. not fair at all.) As a self-evaluation, I feel like I'm healing quite quickly and nicely. The combination of hydrocodone, ice, and ibuprofen has numbed the gaping holes in the back of my mouth to a dull soreness; very manageable for me. I'm also very drowsy, and sleep will aid my healing. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but I think it's going to turn out much better than I had expected.

PQ-ing

We are now working on getting PQ'd (physically qualified) for work in a polar region. It's costly and un-guaranteed to Medevac someone off the Ice, and Raytheon would rather have us be healthy now than try and take care of us once we're in ice-town. The PQ process is a set of stringet physical exams, including a blood test, drug test, Tubercluin skin test, tetanus and flu shots, pap smear/prostate exam, extensive dental exam (and required extraction of wisdom teeth -- damnit) and for certain participants, mammograms, HIV tests, and EKG scans. It's nuts.

About our blog

josh is very exite!

We decided to keep a blog at the request of family and some friends.  Hopefully you enjoy it!  Josh and Lael are a college-age couple off to the barren Southland.  Lael’s aunt Julia Uberuaga has worked as a heavy equipment operator at McMurdo Station in Antartica for over 30 years, and during the last few years Lael has wanated to go, and we’ve finally made the dream a reality.  Josh is taking a semester-and-a-half leave of absence from the College of Idaho (Lael just graduated from there), and will return after we get back in March.

We were both hired by Raytheon, the support company that runs the various stations and research vessles in Antarctica.  They’re basically the infrastructure people that make the Ice habitable for scientists to do research for the NSF (National Science Foundation) research, or research for other types of grants, etc.

Lael is also somewhat excite

We’ll be leaving for the “summer” season on the Ice, from about October to February (what with the Southern Hemisphere thing and all).  We’ll then have a jaunt in New Zealand (where we land after coming back from Antarctica) before returning to the states sometime in March.

About Antarctica

To learn more about the United States’ role in Antarctica, go to the site of the  United States Antarctic Program.

We’ll be stationed on McMurdo Base, a USA base on the Ross Ice Shelf.  On this map, it’s in the lower section of the continent (red dot labeled “McMurdo”).

According to Wikipedia’s Antartica entry, this is where Josh and I are going:

Antarctica ( /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/ (help·info), alternatively /æˈnɑrɾɪkə/) is Earth’s southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by theSouthern Ocean. At 14.0 million km² (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, andSouth America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) in thickness.

Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents.[1]Antarctica is considered a desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 inches) along the coast and far less inland.[2] There are no permanent human residents but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, mosses, lichen, and many types ofalgae.

The name Antarctica is the romanized version of the Greek compound word ανταρκτική (antarktiké), feminine of ανταρκτικός(antarktikos),[3] meaning “opposite to the north”.[4] Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis (”Southern Land”) date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The continent, however, remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of resources, and isolation. The first formal use of the name “Antarctica” as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by twelve countries; to date, forty-six countries have signed the treaty. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, supports scientific research, and protects the continent’s ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists of many nationalities and with different research interests.[5]