Trav's Travels: Elisha (and penguins) arrive on Friday the 13th

10/10/17

The crary lab was invited over to Scott Base for dinner again, which is always excellent. They had some really amazing pork as well as real icecream! While over there we attended a science talk, which was really interesting b/c it was quite similar to the work I had done in Greenland except that of course it was a project done down here and in NZ.

10/13/17

After nearly a week of delayed flights due to stormy weather, Elisha's flight landed in McM! I was there to welcome her with a sign as well as welcome some of the former shuttle family (Jerod, Linnah, Jen, Bob, Shelley, and Dan). And also of course Mitch, who I really enjoy working with b/c he just makes Crary a place where everyone laughs more.

10/14/17

We spotted 4 emperor penguins out on the sea ice. They were quite a distance away, but fun to watch through binoculars. They must have come in with the storm

10/21

We've had a really busy past week. Elisha and I have been arranging and decorating our room in the off-time as well as participatingi n some of the events. Volleyball has started back up, so we have joined the 'advanced' vball group. Basketball has also started up, but I'm waiting until my finger is better before I get involved in a more contact sport. We've been keeping busy after work exercising at the gerbil gym and the weight room as well. Crary has gotten extremely busy with 6 straight flights (a record for flights in a row). So there are lots of scientists here now rearing to go since they were delayed. Also quite a lot of our friends from previous years are back, so it's been great to re-connect with them.

Carolyn and I are each in charge of a certain amount of groups this year. I'm in charge of most of the vertebrate groups (seals, penguins, fish) and Carolyn the invertebrate and prokaryote (bacteria) groups. This means a lot of my focus is on the sea-ice groups while Carolyn's is the dry valleys. One of the groups I'm in charge of is a BBC filming group. They pretty much have the dream job I always wanted. Right now they're filming the next version of BBC's nature series akin to the famous Planet Earth and Frozen Planet series they did. This one will be dealing with how physical processes influence life on the 7 Continents. They are a bunch of really cool guys (most from Bristol, UK where the BBC is headquartered), and I've enjoyed talking with them.

I'm trying to connect and be more chatty with the groups this year because you never know where networking can take you. One of the groups everyone always lists as a problem and difficult group. I remember thinking they weren't so bad the last time I was here. I try to not go with everyone's preconceived ideas of the group b/c I think that colors your interactions with them. To me, thus far, they've been perfectly fine. I think b/c I haven't pre-judged them, I'm more helpful for them. Something that made me feel really good is there head PI, told me "Travis, it's really great that you're back this year". Probably b/c everyone has this certain feeling towards them already, they are less helpful.

Elisha and I climbed ob hill one of the nice days this week. This was the place where we officially became a couple back on October 11th 2012. I wanted to climb up there for our anniversary, but she didn't get here in time for that because of the delays, so we had to make it a bit later.

On the last of the 6 flights, we got several pallets of freshies! So that has been exciting. My first salads and fresh fruits in a long time! Package mail hasn't made it yet, but hopefully soon. We're in the midst of another snowy storm right now, so the next flight has been delayed at least 3 days.

In the afternoon today we took a hike around the hut point ridge loop. The temperature wasn't very cold, but it was rather windy, which made any exposed skin frosty. In the evening we went to the fuelies hut 10 party for some dancing with friends

10/22

We had a fairly laid-back Sunday. Todd has given me a draft of my paper back, so I was working on that, but I did manage to play some volleyball with the crew. Elisha went to the craft room to do crafting with the ladies of Crary.

Brunch was amazing! There was of course the usual yummy brunch foods, but TONS of fresh fruit. Strawberry smoothies, tropical smoothies, mandarins, oranges, bananas, apples, cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapple, red and green grapes, kiwis, strawberries, and best of all mango!