8-27
We finally got the call to fly and the weather looked good. We left ChristChurch in the afternoon and arrived at Pegasus field in Antarctica around 9pm. The plane had to land using nightvision goggles as it was dark. It was of course cold (about -25F with -50ish windchill) when we landed. I immediately found shuttle Jerod and his Delta and hopped in for the hour + ride to MacTown. One of the bonuses of being an ex shuttle driver is I got to sit up front with Jerod while everyone else was crammed in the back of the uncomfortable and cold delta passenger area where as I had a heater, leg room, and the company of Jerod.
My dear motherly figure Cindy stayed up late to welcome me (and Jeff) back to the Ice. After such a long journey, it was so nice to have her there waiting for us. She had wintered over and sadly is leaving in a couple of days back to Colorado (but she did leave me with some extra soft toilet paper and a reading lamp to which I am very appreciative!
After helping some people carry their heavy luggage and such, I headed to my new dorm. Bc of a change in housing plans, I am in one of the nice dorms and only have one roommate, Jerod. So that is a huge improvement over being in a small dorm with 3 other roommates who I wasn't particularly fond of. We do have one issue right now and that's that our heater is broken, so our room was 42 degrees this morning and if we don't keep the door to our bathroom open, the water in the toilet bowl will freeze over. But it's not a huge deal to me right now as I have my sleeping bag with me and plenty of warm clothes. I would actually rather it be too cold than too hot like my dorm last year. But soon they will fix the heat and I actually heard Jerod got a space heater for us from FEMC today (8-28).
8-28
First day on the job. It was pretty stressful as there is so much to learn, so much to do, and I am the only one without an advanced degree in the office. But I am hoping that I pick things up quickly. This year I am working in the Crary lab, which is the big fancy laboratory here. It's a big change from shuttles and has a lot more responsibility. I have a pager I carry with me 24/7, special access key cards to get me into all the rooms in the lab at all hours, one of the fastest computers on the base, a huge office that my co-worker Abe and I share, my own telephone, and things such as this.
It's been cool seeing Antarctica in darkness. Though for about 6 hours each day, there is a sort of dawn to dusk. The sun doesn't rise this time of year, but it gets close enough to rising that there is some light during the middle of the "day".
We finally got the call to fly and the weather looked good. We left ChristChurch in the afternoon and arrived at Pegasus field in Antarctica around 9pm. The plane had to land using nightvision goggles as it was dark. It was of course cold (about -25F with -50ish windchill) when we landed. I immediately found shuttle Jerod and his Delta and hopped in for the hour + ride to MacTown. One of the bonuses of being an ex shuttle driver is I got to sit up front with Jerod while everyone else was crammed in the back of the uncomfortable and cold delta passenger area where as I had a heater, leg room, and the company of Jerod.
My dear motherly figure Cindy stayed up late to welcome me (and Jeff) back to the Ice. After such a long journey, it was so nice to have her there waiting for us. She had wintered over and sadly is leaving in a couple of days back to Colorado (but she did leave me with some extra soft toilet paper and a reading lamp to which I am very appreciative!
After helping some people carry their heavy luggage and such, I headed to my new dorm. Bc of a change in housing plans, I am in one of the nice dorms and only have one roommate, Jerod. So that is a huge improvement over being in a small dorm with 3 other roommates who I wasn't particularly fond of. We do have one issue right now and that's that our heater is broken, so our room was 42 degrees this morning and if we don't keep the door to our bathroom open, the water in the toilet bowl will freeze over. But it's not a huge deal to me right now as I have my sleeping bag with me and plenty of warm clothes. I would actually rather it be too cold than too hot like my dorm last year. But soon they will fix the heat and I actually heard Jerod got a space heater for us from FEMC today (8-28).
8-28
First day on the job. It was pretty stressful as there is so much to learn, so much to do, and I am the only one without an advanced degree in the office. But I am hoping that I pick things up quickly. This year I am working in the Crary lab, which is the big fancy laboratory here. It's a big change from shuttles and has a lot more responsibility. I have a pager I carry with me 24/7, special access key cards to get me into all the rooms in the lab at all hours, one of the fastest computers on the base, a huge office that my co-worker Abe and I share, my own telephone, and things such as this.
It's been cool seeing Antarctica in darkness. Though for about 6 hours each day, there is a sort of dawn to dusk. The sun doesn't rise this time of year, but it gets close enough to rising that there is some light during the middle of the "day".
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