Antarctica for the summer

Thursday, September 9

2008-10-10T06:02:00.002+13:00

Today's plan:
6 am wake up, catch shuttle at 7 am, training until noon, take the shuttle to the Denver airport, wait for hours, fly to the Los Angeles airport, wait, fly from LA to Auckland NZ, wait, fly from Auckland to Christchurch, pick up our hotel reservation, take shuttle to hotel.

Our itinerary has us arriving in Christchurch on Saturday, October 11 at 10:20 am.

Lucas

Tuesday, October 7th

2008-10-07T15:32:00.000+13:00

Alex and I are at the airport in Dallas, TX. We are both laying on the floor. Alex is reading a national bestseller and I am left attempting to entertain myself. We are on our way to Denver for two days of training before the long flight to New Zealand. We'll spend two days in New Zealand and are set to arrive in Antarctica on the 13th. Our mailing address will be:
PSC 469, Box 700
APO, AP 96599-1035

February 24

2008-02-24T09:47:00.002+13:00

Today is the day. My plane is on it's way. I transport at 12:30 and should be in the air by 2:30p.

I not sure exactly how to end the blog. We danced last night, like so many other evenings in Antarctica. It's a fitting end to this continent. I feel alive and human, I think I might love it here.

I think the blog is such a reflection of my experience. It was fascinating and all-good in the beginning, become mundane, and as I grew more into the community I grew away from the blog.

The penguins, the seals, the whales, the pressure ridges, the pastel colors of the sky, the all-so-pretty mountains and the daily fresh baked bread have all been a blessing, but what has made my Antarctica has to be the dancing, the stories of other travels and lives and how I am surrounded by people that feel human and alive.

February 22

2008-02-22T22:09:00.002+13:00

I am still in Antarctica. My flight has been delayed for two days due to weather. I worked 4 hours today and spent the remaining time entertaining myself with euchre games, a nap, and enjoying other's company.

The weather is nastier this evening than we've seen yet, so I'm not so optimistic about tomorrow's odds.

Alex arrives in New Zealand on Monday, so as long as I'm off the ice by then I won't mind so much. I figure I make at least $50 a day salary and save at least $50 a day by not being in Christchurch.

February 18th

2008-02-18T20:30:00.002+13:00

Tomorrow is my last full day of work in Antarctica. The next day I work two hours and have the rest of the day off to pack for my flight to New Zealand on the 21st.

We are down to less than 8 janitors now. I spent most all day taking out trash and cleaning restrooms. Gone are the days of meditative mopping.

All is well, I spend a lot of time looking forward to seeing Alex again. She arrives in New Zealand on the 25th and has a month away from work. We plan to spend a couple weeks walking and a couple weeks for sightseeing, logistics and such.

February 16

2008-02-17T12:41:00.002+13:00

It is totally feeling like the end. In this town of 1,000 people, nearly 100 folks are leaving every other day. The last flight out is on the 23rd, then one flight in April and the next flight isn't until August. I think it's all so fascinating.

I feel like I've grown into McMurdo, like I've been living this life for years. Eating every meal in the same cafeteria, knowing what to wear for -20 temps as opposed to how to dress for -5. Working 54 hours each week, no trees or children or pets. Dusty roads and big trucks and drunken firefighters wandering the halls. It's all so familiar to me, maybe too familar.

I like to wonder what it will be like to stand on the sidewalk in Christchurch, to see and hear and feel the traffic, the trees, the humid weather, brick buildings and grass. I'm excited.

The day shift has been going fine. I clean the same dormitory each morning and in the afternoon I clean one of the work centers I cleaned on nights. I worked in the warehouse one day and helped move couches another. I appreciate being able to mix it up a little bit and get different assignments. Who knew one could get so excited about moving heavy furniture?

My clustermates have slowly been making their way back to Christchurch, some planning to return to the ice next year and others happy to be finished with Antarctica. Everyone has fantastic post-ice travel plans, many with plans to travel for months and months. I've enjoyed all their company.

February 10

2008-02-11T06:05:00.000+13:00

I start working again tomorrow morning. I've enjoyed the time off, spent much time reading, writing, and taking care of the to do list during my free time. At the beginning of the season, I promised myself I would write everyone that wrote me, so I spent a good bit of Saturday writing short letters. Thanks for all the mail everyone. I think it was good for the body and soul to spend some quality time sitting around.

Went for a hike with a guy who brews his own beer on campus. I suppose it's not everyday one gets to drink a beer made with Antarctic waters. I think it's kind of cool. Saw a whale.

The weather is looking more wintery everyday and I've been told it's only going to get worse.

February 9th

2008-02-09T15:01:00.000+13:00

I've finished nights. I have the next three days off to get my body used to being awake during the daytime.

Last night was the final janitor party. The bought $90 worth of booze with all the change we found laying on the floor while we were cleaning during the season. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

The weather has made a dramatic turn for the worse. It seems at least as bad as when I arrived in October. Winter is on it's way.

Folks are finishing their season and heading home almost everyday now.

I'm not sure why, but I find myself fascinated with the supply vessel and how all of the logistics operate. This huge boat drops off all of next season's supplies and takes home all of this years waste.

February 4th

2008-02-05T20:03:00.000+13:00

I can't believe it's February already. Times seems to be passing by so quickly. Time also seems to be moving so slow these past couple weeks as I think more and more about what I'm going to do after Antarctica.

The vessel, the symbolic and literal end of each summer season, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. Many have transitioned to nights for the around-the-clock offload of the vessel. The vessel essentially brings all of next years supplies and take all of this year's waste back to a landfill in California.

I am scheduled to transition back to days starting this Friday. Only 3 more working Antarctican nights.

Heard of a Russian sailor guy that was here today. He had his appendix removed aboard a ship in the area but then it became infected. So they helicoptered him into McMurdo, cleaned him up and sent him on the next plane to New Zealand.

January 30

2008-01-31T09:08:00.000+13:00

I was walking past a window and saw a whale. Surely the night's highlight. My co-worker left on a morale trip for the south pole. She will be there for an hour before it's time to turn around and come back.

The last day to mail packages from McMurdo is in two days. I sent home many the things (mostly excess clothes) that I won't be needing for my travels in New Zealand.

I've started thinking about post-Antarctic work.

January 29

2008-01-30T20:29:00.001+13:00

It's been a few days since I last posted a blog entry. Campus is packed full these days. There's a bunch of Navy guys and Kiwi military folks that are here to unload the supply vessel when it arrives. About 30 Russian folks on their way home from the Russian base are in town. There are three ships out in the bay: the icebreaker, the research vessel and the fuel tanker. All of their crews take some R&R time on campus. South pole folks are passing through here on their way home. The winter folks are starting to arrive. Most the field camps are closing down and passing through here on their way home. It's kind of exciting and kind of fascinating. Last night we were 10 people below capacity and rumors are that we will be over capacity tonight. I still have an empty bed in my room.
All is well. I am enjoying myself.

January 24th

2008-01-25T19:35:00.000+13:00

All is well in Antarctica. It is now 1 month until I see my girlfriend again and I'm missing her so very much.

The weather has turned super windy, which is nice as it's blowing a lot of the ice (the icebreaker broke up) out of here. Many have told me that more open water = more whales.

Work continues to be routine. I attended open mic night at the bar.

Everyone is talking about their post-Antarctica travel plans. Many have plans to travel for three or more months and to all types of exotic locations.

January 22nd

2008-01-23T09:16:00.001+13:00

This is my 100th post. Makes one realize how long he's been here.

Attended a travelogue of someones travels to the Falkland Islands. She had tons of pictures of birds, including skuas, several types of penguins and these birds with blue eyes. The rockhopper penguins have yellow mohawks and apparently jump vertically and the king penguins have such pretty colors.

Saw a penguin all by its lonesome near the boat dock.

Morning janitor meeting was about avoiding burn-out and coping with irritability.

January 21st

2008-01-22T21:17:00.000+13:00

I attended the "Polar Palooza". It was essentially a series of short documentries about work being done at both the north and south poles. Some guy has a job of driving around on ice that has been there for a super long time and looking for meteoites. There was a short documentry on a guy that I've met that makes a living drilling holes in ice.

I spent hours mopping.

January 20

2008-01-21T21:47:00.000+13:00

I saw another whale. They are called 'minky' whales and are on the small side of whales.

The fuel ship scheduled to arrive here today or tomorrow will be a few days late due to bad weather or something.

My clustermates held a party at the house on campus last night. They mostly made homemade pizzas, visited and listened to a guy play the guitar. It struck me how special of an occasion it was to cook a meal in a house and enjoy each other's company. During the job fair the other day, one of the interviewers told me that "You don't know you want to come back to the ice until your off the ice and you still want to come back."

It's fun to wonder if I will see anything in a different light after my time here.

January 19th

2008-01-20T08:35:00.000+13:00

My highlight of the last several days has been whale sightings! Yesterday I went for a walk on the ob hill loop trail and witnessed two whales using a little pond of open water to come up for air. It was the first time I've ever seen a whale in my life. There were seals and penguins as well, so it made for a nice morning.

I'm sure lots of other exciting things have happened as well, but they have all lost significance. My predicted departure date from the ice has been set for February 21. The first sunset on February 20. I was here the first night the sun didn't set. I think it's neat, anyways.

Attended the live music show at the bar last night. One of the bands that was playing was military guys, so lots of the military folks from around campus were at the bar. As were folks from the icebreaker (their all Swedish), so it was a fun mix of people. We all had a good time, lots of dancing.

My friend asked why an icebreaker is here. McMurdo's main source of supplies for the next year is a big boat that arrives near the end of the season each February. The ocean is frozen here, so the icebreaker comes to clear the way for the supply vessel (and for an additional boat that brings all of the fuel we need for the next season).

January 16th

2008-01-17T21:00:00.000+13:00

I attended the 'on ice' job fair this morning. I gave my resume to the guy that hires 'solid waste technicians' and the guy who hires janitors. I gave Alex's resume to the guy who runs the campus store, the person who hires administrative folks and the guy who hires janitors.

Met a lady who works 8 months a year on a ship that drives around Antarctica with scientist.

I met a guy whose made a career of drilling holes in ice. He works here during the Antarctican summer and in Greenland during it's summer. His career started when he was offered a job shoveling snow for an ice drilling team while he was an undergrad.

I shared another penguin sighting experience with the night janitorial team. This time the sighting was from the library window.

Suluay, my co-worker, was super excited because she found out that there's another person from Thailand on campus. Suluay was the second ever person from Thailand to visit Antarctica and he is the sixth. He's in the biology class that's here. The first person from Thailand to visit Antarctica was a princess and she was only here for a couple hours, so really I don't even know if she should really count.

The icebreaker is still going strong and breaking ice.

January 13

2008-01-14T21:28:00.000+13:00

Attended this evening's science lecture. It was about long-term ecological research and how they are monitoring lots of different biological and physical indicators to study change over time. They showed a picture of the longest river in Antarctica and I more imagined myself canoeing down the river instead of listening to the science lecture.

January 12

2008-01-13T07:22:00.000+13:00

Like each Saturday evening, I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock. As Alex pointed out, my day off is the only day I have to set an alarm to wake me. I like attending the ballroom dancing class that starts each Saturday at 6pm.

This evening was the annual art show. It's absolutely amazing how much talent there is crammed into a town of 1,000 folks. After the art show, I enjoyed the company of my clustermates for a while, sent out some e-mails, called the girlfriend and went on a long walk on one of the designated hiking trails. I don't get as excited about the seals as I had when they had first arrived in the area.

The icebreaker boat docked, allowing the crew an evening on land.

January 11

2008-01-12T07:28:00.001+13:00

All of the snow had melted by the time I woke. At the midnight meal, my co-worker and I delivered a fresh salad to her husband who is stuck working at the power plant and unable to leave. He normally works at the water plant but has been moved to the power plant due to staffing issues.

The icebreaker boat is right close, it's scheduled to dock at noon tomorrow. It's fun to watch the boat work. It backs up, gets a running start, skids up onto the ice in front of it and the falls through the ice, breaking it all up as it goes. As I understand, now we wait for the heavy winds to blow the ice outta here. I think it's all kind of fascinating. People boarded this ship somewhere in the northern hemisphere where ice exists that needs broken, drove the thing down and over the equator, all while the seasons were changing. They break up our wee bit of ice then turn around and go back over the equator and to break some ice on the other end of the world. The ship is especially noisy and seems like it would be super crazy bumpy as it breaks up the ice. It would be a hard life breaking up the ice, but maybe the trips back and forth across the equator wouldn't be so bad.

January 10

2008-01-11T19:33:00.000+13:00

Last night held a bit of excitement. During the midnight meal someone told us there were ~30 penguins on campus by the boat dock. We headed that way immediately and spent some time enjoying the penguins. They would walk up a hill only to turn around and slide back down. It didn't take long for a substantial crowd to develop. The penguins were curious and walked right up to the crowd.

McMurdo station made the news for reasons other than our science: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080109/od_nm/christmas_dc;_ylt=AldyT0kYRpzw3AjAHSeXhPms0NUE

During morning janitor meeting, we were told that the flu is going around campus with ~20 cases in the last week.

It's still snowing with at least 6 inches of accumulation and some knee-high drifts.

January 9th

2008-01-10T20:25:00.000+13:00

It's snowing, the most snow I've seen this summer. I spent the evening writing a letter to my girlfriend. Work was uneventful and routine. All is well.

January 8th

2008-01-09T08:05:00.000+13:00

After a pork chop and fruit cobbler breakfast, I went for another walk to check out the icebreaker's progress. It's still out there, presumably slowly working itself this way. I heard a seal come up for air and breathing deeply, but never actually saw it.

Attended a travelogue of someone's travels to Mongolia. My favorite part was probably a picture of a yurt with solar panels and a satellite dish. In Mongolia you can buy a sheep for US$35 or an old horse for as little as $50. Cabbage, carrots and potatoes are the only veggies available outside of the big cities. The mountains were so pretty.

One of my co-workers showed up to work with a her arm in a sling. Apparently, the vacuum got the best of her elbow. The only upside was it gave the rest of us enough work to keep us busy all night.

January 7

2008-01-08T10:25:00.000+13:00

I awoke late due to a 3pm fire alarm (middle of my night's sleep) which involved me standing outside for 20 minutes in my pajamas and big red coat. "Sonic Antarctic" is like a film festival but with just audio recordings; while I thought it sounded like a great idea, most of the recordings were just annoying industrial sounds from around campus and a bunch of scientist's recordings of the ground moving, etc. (equally annoying).

I found this cool looking rock and thought it was petrified wood and I showed it to a scientist and he said it wasn't petrified wood, but I still like my rock even if it isn't as cool as I once presumed.

I finished off the day by going for a walk to check out the progress the icebreaker ship is making. Lots of folks from the icebreaker were helicoptered onto campus, presumably to get a break from the boat. Isn't it kind of funny to think that they are all so happy to get onto campus while we would all be so happy to get to go on the boat?

January 6

2008-01-07T20:45:00.000+13:00

I KNOW! I've been really bad at keeping up with my blog. I don't really have an excuse (plus an ex used to tell me that you shouldn't apologize and give excuses at the same time). I've just been lazy.

Lots of cool things have happened since my last blog. We found a can of bug spray in the lost and found bin (there's not any bugs here). We can see the icebreaker ship off in the distance. Numerous penguin sightings have occured on and around campus. I met a guy that drives a tour bus across America for a living. I played euchre for the first time in months. I watched a hitchhiking documentry about a guy that works here (70,000 miles, 42 countries, 6 continents). My lead was hired to janitor over-winter. There was a travelogue on Pakistan. I was convinced the entire world has pretty mountains. I went to a bluegrass concernt and danced and danced. I wrote letters, received packages and worked on my Spanish lessons.

I was asked which day I wanted to leave Antarctica (February 21st). The first janitors start leaving on February 11. That's less than 5 weeks away. Folks are starting to talk much about their post-Antarctica travel plans. Folks are mentioning that they are ready to go home. There's a mandatory meeting this week that's all about leaving Antarctica. It's an odd feeling, the beginning of the end. I feel like I've just arrived and like I've been here forever.

All is well, I'll do better keeping up with the blog.

December 30

2007-12-31T05:47:00.000+13:00

With the holidays and the morale trip my routine has been thrown out the window. I've started allowing myself the time to sit and enjoy the company of those around. For the most part, the folks here are folks that follow their dreams. The type of people I admire and wish to emulate. Today, a dishwasher was spinning her own yarn for the first time during her 15 minutes break. Yesterday was the annual Icestock music festival where all of the local bands performed at an all-day outdoor venue. There were at least 10 bands, many folks wore costumes, everyone danced. The all female band performed in tank tops (the weather was in the low 20s and snowing). Eight different teams entered the chili cook-off. The carpenters built a coffee house, called it 'Sawbucks' and sold liquor and coffee all day. What other town of 1,000 can compare? I may love it here.

I miss road trips. I miss canoeing. I miss trees and backpacking and dogs and children. I miss the sounds of the woods at night time and I may even miss the rain. I miss stars and campfires and cooking my own food. Still, I may love it here.

December 26

2007-12-27T20:31:00.000+13:00

My off-campus trip for the purpose of morale-building occurred today. My time is sort of off because the trip occured during my normal sleeping hours. The trip was essentially a guided snowmobile tour of the sea ice. We stopped to look at seals a couple of times and our guide taught us much about safety with ice cracks. We periodically stopped to drill into the ice and ensure it was at least 30 inches thick. We crossed a two-foot open water crack and spent some time discussing it's safety. The highlight of the day was the Emperor penguin we saw hanging out all by his lonesome. Though, I'll admit, driving the snowmobile was good fun too.

December 24

2007-12-27T20:15:00.000+13:00

All is well in Antarctica. I celebrated Christmas Eve with another long walk on the designated trails near campus. I took the time to sit down, shut my eyes and enjoy the sun. The trail runs right close to the water's edge and some seals were swimming in the water nearby.

My parent's sent me roasted nuts for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas with a fancy meal at midnight. I had the duck, roasted root vegitables and about a thousand desserts.

December 23

2007-12-24T21:55:00.000+13:00

I awoke for my first of two work-free nights. Attended the campus-wide Christmas party held in the heavy shop's grand ballroom. There was eggnog and cheese plates. The New Zealand folks were grilling sausages for everyone. Santa Claus was drunk and sitting on a snowmobile. You had to wait in line to get your picture taken with drunk Santa.

Later in the night, I went for a long hike on one of the designated trails near campus. I saw a seal climb out of the water and onto the sea ice. I very much enjoyed playing with the new camera and took lots of photos of the local volcano.

December 22

2007-12-24T21:53:00.000+13:00

The Janitor Christmas party had a 'Christmas morning' theme. Which meant everyone attends in pajamas and eats breakfast foods. The party began at 6:30pm, which is about the time I wake. I received two Pez dispensers, a digital birthday candle and a reindeer pen in the gift exchange. The housing department gifted each of us with a stapled-together stocking filled with gummy bears, pretzels, a glow-in-the-dark neon bracelet and a can of applesauce.

Today is our seventh working day in a row (we typically have a day off every six days but the schedule is all out of whack due to Christmas), we were rewarded with an extra 15 minutes during both of our longer breaks.

We spent a good bit of time scrubbing grease from the heavy shop's walls in preparation for the upcoming campus-wide Christmas party.

At the mailroom, I received 4 letters and a package. I received a new camera from Alex and will again be able to photograph and post pictures of my going-ons.

December 21st

2007-12-24T21:49:00.000+13:00

I had good intentions but never made it to acoustic night at the waste barn. Opting instead to take the time to write a letter home before work.

At the end of the night's work, the night janitors had a scheduled morale-building activity. We played cards and few similar games. My co-worker from Thailand taught us how to make flowers out of paper and cooked curry for us.

December 20th

2007-12-24T21:32:00.000+13:00

We had a presentation on nutrition during our morning janitor meeting. Essentially, the presenter spent 20 minutes whining about the food selection on campus.

The new campus hairdresser arrived on the 3am flight from Christchurch and tons of people left on the 4:00am flight back to Christchurch, presumably on their way home for the holidays.

It's been snowing heavily and my off campus work has been cancelled. The snow is so pretty.

December 19th

2007-12-24T21:26:00.000+13:00

I received an email from my boss that I am to attend a trip off-campus tomorrow to help drill some holes in the sea ice.

Many of the janitors celebrated the official "Pirate vs. Ninja throwdown" Thursday by dressing as one and attacking the other throughout the day.

Had a discussion with my co-workers about what's the first thing we want to do when we leave the ice. Three of my co-workers want to go for a long walk by themselves, which they can totally do here, so I don't get it, but I didn't ask. I said I wanted to eat multiple avocados in one sitting.

December 18

2007-12-19T21:21:00.001+13:00

I slept until about 8:30pm. Work starts at 10pm so I didn't get much free time today. In my limited free time I attended a travelogue on someone's river float trip in Madagascar. It wasn't my type of river, but it was fun to learn about Madagascar. I love their trees. The average salary in Madagascar is ~US$200 per year and 70% of Madagascar's plants and animals exist nowhere else in the world.

Work was uneventful, we mopped a little here, scrubbed a few toilets there, swept some dust and took out trash. One of my co-worker's was off sick.

December 17th

2007-12-19T21:17:00.000+13:00

I had to set my alarm to wake up early for Spanish class. We watched a Spanish episode of Seinfeld with English subtitles.

Worked all night and the day ended with the NANA station services Christmas party. They gave us free beer and we played BINGO. I had to watch my two bingo cards plus my co-worker Suluay's two cards (her English is broken so she was struggling to consistently follow what they were calling). It was fun, I won a 'Volunteer for the recreation department' hat.

December 16

2007-12-17T20:30:00.000+13:00

Attended a science lecture on the penguin populations. As the climate warms, the penguin populations of northern colonies are shrinking while the more southern colonies are getting larger. At the end of the science lecture we were shown a NSF DVD on the topic. The DVD is available for the cost of shipping & handling from penguinscience.com.

December 15

2007-12-17T20:26:00.000+13:00

Awoke 5 minutes before ballroom dancing class was scheduled to start but made it to class before they started dancing.

Attended the annual "Celebration of the Women of McMurdo". Women from campus put on a talent show, this year raising money for the Kiwi Family Trust. There was singing, choreographed dancing, stand-up comedy, a belly dancer and some lady who gave a lecture on the history of the tortilla. The event raised over $4,000 in raffle ticket sales.

Ate the midnight meal with a cargo guy brewing his own beer on campus. A chef at the table commented that it was an excellent beer.

As I understand, the permanent ice sheet is constantly growing and where it runs into our island it is forced upward and creates what is locally known as 'pressure ridges'. I joined an organized walking tour of the pressure ridges at 2am. The walk felt Antarctican to me, much more so than the dusty roads and trails I typically walk.

December 14

2007-12-16T01:24:00.000+13:00

I put my laundry in the wash yesterday before my walk and forgot all about them. When I returned to the laundry room ten hours later, my clothes had been washed, dried and were sitting in a pile on top of the dryer with a note that said "you're clothes are done, you suck".

We finished work early tonight for reasons I don't really understand but are directly related to a meeting day janitors attend.

Today's high was 41F.

December 13th

2007-12-14T21:29:00.000+13:00

After work, I walked on the trail with rumored seal sightings. From about 50 yards, I saw two Weddell seals lying on the sea ice. One of the seals scratched it's belly with a flipper and rubbed it's nose with it's tail. A third seal come up for air. It was all very cute. Both seals looked up whenever a helicopter flew overhead. The highlight of the experience was being able to hear the seal's call. It was an amazing sound.

At the morning janitor meeting, they announced which janitors would be heading to the South Pole to help clean things. Six of the ~20 janitors were selected. Sadly, my name was not on the list.

The temperature reached a reported high of 38F today, the warmest I've seen yet.

December 12th

2007-12-14T21:27:00.000+13:00

My co-worker whose been here for 8 seasons had the inside connections to get some fresh Antarctican Cod from one of the scientist, she made us all some fish curry that was oh so yummy.

I enjoyed open mic night at the coffee house/wine bar. Mostly all folk music and some real quality talent for a town of 1000 people. I was reminded of what an amazing place I live.

December 11th

2007-12-12T21:23:00.000+13:00

Attended a travelogue lecture on the presenter's 4 1/2 years spent in Honduras as Peace Corps volunteer. She learned conversational Spanish in 3 months of 4-hours-a-day in the classroom.

At the post office, I received two letters from Alex, which totally made my day.

They sky was a fantastic shade of turquoise tonight.

December 10th

2007-12-12T21:20:00.000+13:00

Attended a 'hitchhiking seminar'. Presented by a fellow McMurdo resident who has hitchhiked about 75,000 miles over the last five years. He gave advice, tips, safety concerns and told stories of his adventures. He has hitchhiked all over the world and even had a documentary made about his travels.

In Spanish lessons we listened to a rock-n-roll song, then read and translated the lyrics and listened to the song again.

Our boss was proud to announce she has applied for an over-winter janitor position.

December 9th

2007-12-12T21:04:00.000+13:00

I had to wake in the middle of my night's sleep to attend the craft fair. Tons of amazing artwork, mostly all done by artistans while on the ice. Lots of photography, paintings and jewelry. I think I may have bought more had I not been so sleepy.

Finished off the day with a morning science lecture on the ANDrill project. By drilling deep into the earth and recovering core samples, scientist can say much about what the climate used to look like in the particular area where they are drilling. They used to study when Antarctica's cold years, but nowadays are all looking at points in time when Antarctica was the warmest.

This years core samples showed evidence of swamp land 15-17 million years ago. They learned that rivers used to run in Antarctica (by drilling up the silt that the rivers deposited into the ocean) and when the local volcanos last went crazy (by drilling up volcanic ash). They showed us a picture of a core sample that was layers of deposited silt that had been disturbed by a worm like creature. So what they reckon happened was that the river was running really fast and the poor worm was washed down stream and buried in the silt and then he had to climb his way out.

December 8th

2007-12-12T21:01:00.000+13:00

I had to set the alarm clock last night to wake up early for ballroom dancing lessons, tonight was the first swing dancing class. Having going to bed late yesterday and awoken early this morning, I took a two-hour nap after dancing.

I spent my off night writing a letter and making a long phone call to the States. It's amazing how quickly an entire night (an entire weekend on an Antarctican work schedule) can just fly by. I think I could easily occupy another 20-30 hours of free time a week.

December 7

2007-12-12T20:58:00.000+13:00

I received my mid-season evaluation last night. I am almost exceeding expectations, which better than I expected.

During our morning janitor meeting, our boss told a story of the year the sanitary waste bin (tampons, condoms, band-aids, etc.) was blown over by the wind and all of the Skua birds (scavengers) had a feast.

The day ended with live music at the bar, quite possibly the first-ever 8am (for the night staff) live music event on the continent. Good times.

December 6th

2007-12-12T20:55:00.000+13:00

Work was slow this evening. I learned that while the heavy shop dodgeball team has lost every game, their bowling team is undefeated.

I ate dinner with the wife of a chef, who spent a good part of the meal complaining about how hard the chefs have to work. They apparently have to take a break every 20 minutes while cutting meat and this sucks because they don't have enough time to get all the meat cut if they take a break every 20 minutes.

December 5th

2007-12-06T20:48:00.000+13:00

The hair stylist's injured wrist isn't healing so she is flying home tomorrow. Apparently, there's a chef on staff that is also a licensed hair stylist. She has volunteered to help out and will be cutting hair like one or two days a week. Due to the reduced hours, haircuts are on a lottery system until another full-time hair dresser arrives.

We found two plates, a bowl and a fork in someone's office trash.

Ate breakfast with a heating and air conditioning guy who told stories of his time working in Afghanistan.

One of my roommates leaves today to spend 2-3 weeks at a field camp. He will be sleeping in a tent and doing general labor around camp. Another of my roommates is flying home tomorrow because of injury.

There are now four octopi in the aquarium.

December 4th

2007-12-05T21:08:00.000+13:00

I attended a travelogue about someone's two-week skiing trip in Kashmir. They received 2 meters of snow on the day he arrived.

It snowed off and on all night. The ground is covered with snow but not frozen, which means much dirt is tracked into the buildings. The joys of a janitor's life.

There are now three octopi in the aquarium.

December 3

2007-12-05T21:01:00.000+13:00

I started off the day being awoken by the alarm clock in order to make it to Spanish lessons on time. We practiced conjugating a few verbs.

At the mail room today, I had 3 letters!! I was so excited. One from my girlfriend, one from my parents and one from a dude I met hiking the Appalachian Trail over the summer. While there's typically no more content than an email, there's something extra I enjoy in a hand-written letter.

I went to the ceramics room after work and finished my Christmas surprise for Alex.

December 2

2007-12-05T20:50:00.000+13:00

The buildings are tending to accumulate much more dust as the ground thaws on sunny days. This increases our janitor workload and sometimes one can taste the dust in the back of one's throat. Fortunately most of the buildings I work in have vacuums to suck dust instead of trying to sweep it. Without a vacuum we use a dampened dust mop. It is kind of nice to have enough work to keep us busy all night.

I had breakfast this morning with another dishwasher. She has a job lined up as a field assistant at a volcano in Central America after she leaves Antarctica.

A janitor won the big mountain bike race on campus. We are all very proud of him.

December 1

2007-12-05T20:48:00.000+13:00

Saturday night is my weekly time off work. I'm not sure where the whole night went, but it's over already. I was invited to a rave at the post office cargo bay but declined, choosing instead a phone call to North Carolina. At the midnight meal, I ate with a dishwasher who is also an ecologist and studies owls in the back country of the northwest United States.

I learned that McMurdo sends weather balloons up into the atmosphere twice a day every day. The balloons are made of latex and carry devices that measure many things necessary for weather prediction. The balloons eventually fail and come down in their own time. They aren't recovered, so at least 100 balloons have been scattered about the continent and it's surrounding waters since I arrived. All so I can know what the weather may be (and presumably, the information is necessary for the airplane and helicopter flights).

November 30

2007-12-01T22:50:00.000+13:00

I awoke at 8:00pm. Sleeping a little more than 10 hours. I think I'm sleeping better here than I can recall ever sleeping in the past. Many others complain of having difficulty sleeping.

I got stuck cleaning the bar that allows smoking. It has to be the most disgusting place on the continent. Well, maybe second to where ever all of our human waste goes.

November 29

2007-12-01T22:48:00.000+13:00

All of the freshly-fallen snow melted during the time I slept. The days seem to be getting less cloudy and with the increased sunlight comes warmth. I often see people in t-shirts and others in sandals whenever the temperature reaches the 30Fs.

Over the weekend, they are planning to move the airport off of the sea ice and onto a permanent ice shelf. A good indication the sea ice is melting as summer continues to draw nearer.

November 28

2007-12-01T22:46:00.000+13:00

We learned that we put the octopus home in the wrong aquarium. The aquarium where the ocotopus was staying means that he or she took a 3-4 foot fall last night.

Our supervisor told us she is sending 2-4 janitors to the south pole to get the placed cleaned up before some special senators arrive.

We received about 2 inches of big, fluffy snowflakes over about 3 hours time this morning.

November 27

2007-11-28T21:01:00.000+13:00

My roommate gave a 'travelogue' presentation about his 6-week backpacking trip to Patagonia. The scenery was incredible. Four days of his trip was spent at a youth hostel aboard a cargo ship on a journey up the western coast.

When my night janitor co-worker went into the aquarium to sweep and mop, she found an octopus lying on the floor, presumably having escaped from one of the tanks. She used a fish net and a large pair of tweezers to safely return the octopus to water. The octopus is still alive. We think she is an octopus hero.

November 26

2007-11-28T21:00:00.000+13:00

I went to Spanish lessons. We divided into to groups to work on asking questions and I ended up in a group that was well more advanced than myself. I spent most of the evening saying (in Spanish) I didn't understand what was going on.

My boss was singing "It's raining men" while she mopped in the heavy shop this evening.

November 25

2007-11-28T20:56:00.000+13:00

I watched the movie "Encounter at the End of the World". It is a documentary centered around McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It was filmed here last season. The documentary interviews several people people from around campus and highlights the work of several scientist. By looking at some of the stereotypical people and science at McMurdo the movie gives the viewer a fairly accurate feeling of down here.

Miraculously, the Ipod is working again. All I had to do was reset the Ipod while it was connected to the computer and promise never to let it ever get too cold again. I love haveing computer guys around campus.

We had smoked salmon with our midnight meal.

My roommates mom sent homemade fudge.

November 24

2007-11-25T03:45:00.000+13:00

Last night I joined a few others for a nighttime hike out to 'Castle Rock', the loop trail is ~7 miles. The weather was outstanding and made for an enjoyable hike. 'Castle Rock' itself is a huge rock outcropping. I think I froze my Ipod to death on the long walk.

At 10 am this morning, I ran in the McMurdo Station annual 5k 'Turkey Trot'. My time was ~31 minutes, which I was happy considering: the Antarctic weather, we were running on slick ice, I had already hiked 7 miles and that it was well past my bedtime.

My Thanksgiving meal was served at midnight. The food was fantastic and I enjoyed extra helpings of the pumpkin cheesecake.

November 23

2007-11-25T03:44:00.000+13:00

I mailed off Christmas gifts to my parents, brother and pregnant sister-in-law. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing, but there are not many options when Christmas shopping in Antarctica.

November 20th

2007-11-21T19:39:00.000+13:00

The only barber/hairdresser on campus sprained her wrist the other day. She's out for a few weeks.

I cleaned a lot of bathrooms this evening, 11 to be exact. I cleaned the dive shack and read an article about McMurdo Dive Operations. The water is said to be super clear and 28.5F. Two folks have died diving near here in recent years, one was operator error and the other was drowned by a seal.

I learned my roommate grew up in Wren, Ohio; roughly 20 minutes from where I was raised.

There is an now an Antarctic Octopus in the Aquarium. It's about the size of a large man's hand, all white and doesn't move much. Very cute.

November 19

2007-11-19T21:32:00.000+13:00

During the Monday morning janitor meeting, we were told there are 90 turkeys on their way to Antarctica to help us celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. I attended evening Spanish lessons. We learned about pronouns and their matching 'to be' verbs.

All is well in Antarctica. I get frustrated as I seem to spend much time unsuccessfully messing with my computer/cameras/Ipod. I think I am reminded why I have avoided such things in my life. Time is going by quickly.

November 18

2007-11-19T21:30:00.000+13:00

I went for a walk around town on Sunday evening. Everything was muddy! Enough snow and ice melted while I was sleeping to turn all the town's dirt roads into mud. The streets of mud were frozen again by the time I started work at 10pm.

November 17

2007-11-19T21:25:00.000+13:00

The weekend started Saturday evening started with Cha-cha ballroom dancing lessons in the big gym. Afterwards, the janitors had the monthly gathering/party at the house (designated for such purposes) on campus. We shared a lot of red wine and danced a little bit. I spent the rest of my night off messing with my computer and talking on the phone with Alex.

I've had a string of technological bad luck since my computer died. My computer will no longer recognize when I plug in other cameras or my Ipod. Which essentially means I can't change the music on my Ipod or download any pictures onto my computer.

November 15th

2007-11-16T21:01:00.000+13:00

Washing laundry and purchasing some half-price Antarctic t-shirts for myself were my evening activities. Celebrated Fun Hat Friday by wearing a hat to work. It was a hat like a Genie would wear. The weather was again the warmest I've seen yet this morning.

The big talk on campus is the the truck that caught on fire. From what I understand, all of the transmission fluid leaked out and then the transmission became to hot and that's what started the fire. During dining hall conversations, it was suggested that the truck itself was worth nearly $50,000 and was carrying nearly $25,000 worth of equipment.

November 14th

2007-11-15T20:38:00.000+13:00

I worked with the new staff person for the better part of the evening, I mostly mopped. I saw pictures of a truck that caught on fire and burnt to nothing-but-the-frame out on the sea ice. My roommate is quite proud of himself, having taken a picture of of the truck while it was still out on the sea ice.

I sat with a weather lady at the midnight meal, she says the ice runway is scheduled to shut down in 17 days and the sea ice is already melted just 15 miles away. She had some good stories as she has predicted weather from several warzones.

November 13

2007-11-14T20:30:00.000+13:00

I cleaned the heavy shop for the first time. The new cleaning assignment that came the same day as a new addition to our night crew. I learned that firefighters are referred to as 'fire kids' in the heavy shop and that the heavy shop night crew listens to heavy metal type music while they work.

In the morning janitor meeting I learned that this Friday will be "Fun Hat Friday", that the janitor bowling team is undefeated and that the janitors get to choose all of the movies that will be on one of the TV channels next week. My roommates don't seem to be as excited about Fun Hat Friday as I am.

November 12th

2007-11-13T21:25:00.000+13:00

Any who have been following the blog may have noticed that I've been slacking the last several days. This isn't for any reason other than lack of time. As the season moves on, more opportunities for social activities are presenting themselves and my body continues to demand much sleep. I've stayed busy since my last blog entry.

I went to a ballroom dancing class, attended a science lecture on how glaciers move, made a craft in the craft room, watched a talent show, went on a 6-hour off-campus trip, attended a Spanish class, got a new co-worker, saw 2 seals and some more birds, broke a camera and spent hours upon hours mopping floors in Antarctica.

The 6-hour tour has been my highlight of the past few weeks. We were invited on the trip for 'morale building'. We loaded up in these huge vehicles, known locally as "Deltas" to drive to Cape Evans hut. The hut is about 15 miles away, but takes about an hour and a half to get there. The entire drive is on the sea ice. On the drive to the hut we saw at least two seals and numerous other black dots off in the distance that we were told were seals. One seal was quite close. Inside the hut, everything is frozen just the way it was when the men left the hut for an expedition to the South Pole (they made it to the south pole but everyone died on their way back to the hut). We saw some all-white birds, I was told it was a rare and special to see these birds and I believed.

My camera broke on the 6-hour tour, which is so sad. If anybody has an inside connection with Nikon and can hook me up, please let me know. The camera just blinks "Lens Error" whenever I try to turn it on. My plan is to send Nikon a e-mail and beg, and to get copies of photos from other folks around campus.

Alex sent me another CD of music and a podcast of 'This American Life' for my listening pleasure. The temperature reached 27F yesterday, the hottest we've seen yet.

All is well.

November 8th

2007-11-09T21:41:00.000+13:00

Work was fairly uneventful. I cleaned the dive shack and did a little bit everything while working in the big lab building. I swept, mopped, vacuumed, cleaned toilets and dusted. Excellent life skills, really. My 60 year old boss left work early so she could get some sleep before the Search-and-Rescue tryouts tomorrow.

My Spanish word-of-the-day is 'cansada'.

November 7

2007-11-08T20:53:00.000+13:00

Near 11pm this evening the weather went to "Condition 1", which means one is not permitted to leave the building they are in. Myself and a coworker were cleaning the building where all of the weather people work. Although there's a lot of expensive weather equipment in the building, the weather guy was standing in front of a window, looking out. When the visibility was poor enough that he could not see the next building over, he declared the weather was condition 1. He continued to stand in front of the window and declared the weather was no longer condition 1 when he could again see the building.

I saw a bird yesterday, it's the first wild living thing I've seen since arriving in Antarctica. The bird is known as a Skua and looks amazingly similar to a big seagull. I just saw it from a distance. Apparently the birds migrate here each summer to mate.

I called my coworker a penguin-killer for dumping a high volume of bleach down the drain. She didn't believe me.

November 6

2007-11-08T20:50:00.000+13:00

I had two egg sandwiches and a tri tip steak for breakfast. I spent some time again tonight watching the filming of the Today Show. I stood directly behind somebody who had made a really big sign.

I learned that Ipod headphones can go through the washer and dryer and still work good as new.

And the most recent entry in the janitor haiku competition:

I finish my lunch
writing haiku on the can
life is beautiful.

November 5th

2007-11-06T21:16:00.000+13:00

Because all waste is shipped back to America for disposal, Antarctica is fairly particular about recycling. All trash is separated. We have separate trash bins for plastics, aluminum, food waste, mixed paper, cardboard, non-recyclables, burnables, glass, fabric, re-usable goods, sanitary waste, wood, sharps, light bulbs, construction waste, heavy metals and lab waste. I'm sure there are more but those are the most common. As janitors, we always complain when folks fail to separate their waste and it always gets reported to the offending parties supervisor. Emptying office bins this evening, we found that someone had thrown away 3 dining hall plates, 2 bowls and an assortment of silverware, along with failing to separate anything.

We spent 3 of our working hours this evening watching the filming of the Today Show. The night janitor crew had their picture taken with Ann Curry, a Today Show news lady.

I saw a commercial on the Armed Forces Network that said join the military so you can learn how to kill people using hand-to-hand combat. They showed 30 seconds of people utilizing hand-to-hand combat skills to pretend kill each other.

November 4th

2007-11-05T20:58:00.000+13:00

I attended the Sunday evening science lecture. The lecturer was a biologist that studies seals. He drills a hole in the ice out in the middle of nowhere Antarctica, where there aren't any holes at all. Then he captures some seals and relocates them to his hole. Because it's the only hole around, and the seals only access to and from the ocean (where they do all of their hunting/eating), they have to stay near the hole all season. This way he can study the same seals the whole season without any of them leaving. He showed us video clips from when they glued little video cameras to the seals heads and recorded them swimming around underwater. He also attaches all sorts of monitors to the seals and measures physiological changes when they go for the deep dives. Their heart rate gets down to like two beats a minute when they are super deep.

I spent the better part of the night sweeping.

During our morning janitor meeting we talked about early signs of depression and preventative measures.

All is well.

November 3rd

2007-11-04T08:55:00.001+13:00

Two of my cluster-mates are forest firefighters when they are not in Antarctica. This evening we watched a documentary about forest firefighting and I listened to a conversation about inter-departmental politics of western forest firefighting. I told them I thought it was stupid that they made the forest firefighters do push-ups (saw it in the video), it's really all I could add to the conversation.

There was a '70s vs. '80s dance party at one of the bars on campus. There is little to no hairspray on campus, so it was challenging for many trying to dress 80s style.

With the nasty weather here again on my day off, I spent the night writing letters, emails, postcards and a long phone call with Alex.

Ann Curry from the Today Show is still here. They plan to broadcast live from here (on the Today Show) on November 5th and 6th. And then again on the NBC Nightly news on November 6th.

November 2nd

2007-11-03T22:03:00.000+13:00

This evening was the most extreme weather we've seen yet. The low reached -51F with the windchill.

The boss scheduled a moral builder for the nightcrew. At 6am, we walked nearly a mile to Hut Point to take a tour of the historic hut. The windchill was -45F and it was super windy. We had to lean all the way into the wind and were repeatedly blown a few steps sideways by the wind. Everything inside the hut has been preserved for nearly 100 years. There were lots of wooden boxes, slabs of meat, metal tins, pants hanging on a line and old shoes and such.

November 1st

2007-11-02T20:57:00.000+13:00

The most exciting news on campus is the NBC news show. A newslady named Ann Curry is spending all weekend on campus and is doing a live morning show from McMurdo next week. We were given the link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/ to check out. You have to look around a bit, but you can find some info about 'Ends of the Earth'. They will be broadcasting live from here on November 5th.

Work last evening was fairly mundane. I cleaned multiple different buildings including the dive shack. They have down liners they wear underneath their drysuits, while on the walls they have pictures from decades ago when folks were just diving in wetsuits. There are several fancy looking underwater cameras in the shop.

October 31st

2007-11-02T20:45:00.000+13:00

Attended the Wednesday night science lecture, it was a geologist speaking about glaciers. He seems to believe that in the next 200 hundred years, the climate will change as much as it has changed in the last 18 million years. If everyone started living ultra-green tomorrow, the changes would take 500 years instead of 200 years. He also talked about being able to date rocks based on what they found inside the rocks. He had these pictures of little microscopic things that were only around during certain time periods, so if he finds one in a rock, he knows what era the rock is from. He talked a lot about the ANdrill project. (ANdrill stands for Antarctic drilling, they are drilling out big cores to study and learn about climate history, etc.)

We have this big blue zamboni looking machine that we sometimes use to sweep the floor of hallways, it doesn't work any better than a broom, but they have us use it sometimes nonetheless. A drunken woman jumped onto and rode the machine for a good 30 seconds while I was cleaning the floor this evening. I smiled back.

My boss told the story of how her ex-husband married her brother's ex-wife, which means that her children are step-siblings with their cousins.

And my biggest excitement of the day was seeing a puddle - a puddle of water, melted snow - it was outside, in the sun. Summer is on it's way.

October 30th

2007-11-02T20:44:00.001+13:00

I received to CDs in the mail. They were both mix CDs from Alex. The first was titled "Madness Mopping Mix" and the second "Mellow Mopping Mix". I love listening to JT while I mop. I bet God listens to JT during mopping time.

My newest and final roommate arrived. Sadly, he will be working nights as well and I won't get the whole room to myself anymore. Among other things, he has spent time teaching English in Japan and was a Buddhist priest for a wee bit.

I went on the walking tour of campus today that most folks get when they first arrive. The tour guide gave us insight as to the function of all the buildings around campus and told us some of the history and such as well. The hut with the dead seal was abandoned in like 1915, so the dead seal is much older than I originally gave it credit. There is a volcano we can see from campus, rumored to be the most active campus in the souther hemisphere. The guide talked about how there used to be a nuclear power plant on sight and now the just use a whole load of diesel. I learned its super expensive to make our fresh drinking water out of the ocean. We learned which buildings are about to be torn down and all sorts of similar info.

October 29th

2007-10-30T21:26:00.000+13:00

I ate dinner-breakfast with three strangers. Two of them design, build, fix, etc. the vehicle pictured. They are just in Antarctica for 7 days to service the 10 "Pisten Bullys" on the continent. They were fun to chat with, the one had started his career with a job that was mostly to cause avalanches. The third guy was on about his 20th season in Antarctica, he now works with precision GPS stuff and among other things is measuring how much glaciers travel in a year and how much the rocks near glaciers move, which tells them something about how much of the glacier is being lost every year. I enjoyed the conversations.

From what I understand, the last of the folks that spent all winter at the South Pole are here at the station tonight en route home. There also seems to be a large Asian population that arrived from somewhere and are en route to somewhere else.

After work I went for walk around town, which included a visit to the local greenhouse. They had tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and about 10 different herbs, all growing in water. One of my coworkers kept picking and eating the cherry tomatoes when nobody was looking. I very much enjoyed the greenhouse hammock.

October 28th

2007-10-29T21:29:00.001+13:00

I had homegrown lettuce (from the greenhouse) with the evening meal. The sunday evening science lecture series was about building a road between here and the south pole, I had no interest in sitting through a two hour lecture of some guy bragging about how he can bulldoze Antarctic's natural landscape. Instead, I went to what is locally known as the 'gerbil gym'. It's the gym that has treadmills, stairmasters and the like. It's one of three gyms on campus.

The evening was cold. I've finally learned how to check the local temperature (which is a lot more difficult than one might expect.) It was -23C before the windchill, and it was a windy day. I've noticed that I am now able to tell the varying degrees of coldness. When I first arrived, everyday just felt freaking cold and that was about it. As I've spent more time here, I can tell the difference between a -5 and a -15, whereas before they just both felt extreme.

Myself and a coworker were 15 minutes late for the midnight meal this evening because we wanted to finish cleaning one of the restrooms before the meal. The boss lady insisted that we stay an extra 15 minutes on break to balance the late arrival. I said I would just work really slow for the next 30 minutes, which she thought was an excellent plan.

The Spanish words of the day were for 'pen' and 'pencil'. Another of my coworkers is from Thailand and taught me the Thai word for 'dirty'. I have apparently failed in committing any of these words to long-term memory as I can't recall any at this moment.

The day ended with a long and delightful phone call home.

October 27th

2007-10-28T07:58:00.000+13:00

I went back to gear issue and got a costume that looks like an extra from a Dr. Suess book. Good stuff, at least in my humble opinion.

I enjoyed the halloween party very much. There were at least hundreds of folks, all is costumes, lots in very creative costumes, and everybody was dancing. My personal favorite costume was a shuttle driver who had a tire mark painted down her body from head to toe and went as 'girl who was driven over by a truck'. A group of four dressed as the ghostbusters and used the backpack vacuums as costume accessories. There were a high percentage of mad scientist and more than a handful of people shaved their head for their costume. I love living in a place where the townspeople like wearing costumes on halloween and dance at parties.

As last week, the weather was nasty on my night off. Instead of walking, I spent the evening writing letters and catching up on emails, etc.

October 26th

2007-10-28T07:57:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow is the big Halloween party, I went to gear issue to pick up a costume, but couldn't take one home with me because I didn't bring the necessary $5 refundable deposit.

I used a vacuum that straps to your back like a backpack to clean the post office building tonight. I looked like one of the ghostbusters. In the lab building, we mopped the same floor three times and it's still dirty.

Here are some of my personal favorites from the janitor Haiku competition:

Did anyone take
the yellow extension cord
for the new vac pac?

Innocent mopping
An unwanted intruder
Behold! Dead beetle.

The vomit remains
Poor bastards spew out their brains,
another crime scene.

October 25

2007-10-26T21:25:00.000+13:00

They finally started serving breakfast foods at dinner time. So I was able to eat sausage and eggs immediately after waking. My days are becoming more routine as time goes on. I work from 10pm to 8am, then I call Alex, then I sleep. I awake near 6pm, then I eat dinner-breakfast, then I shower, then I catch up on emails, this blog, Spanish lessons and/or attend an evening activity. I start working again at 10pm. It's funny to think that my life is more mundane and predictable while I live in Antarctica than it has been for the better part of my adult life.

I spent about a half an hour vacuuming a relatively large library in the science lab building, went to check to see if the vacuum bag was full and noticed that I had been vacuuming the entire time without a bag in the vacuum.

"What is the difference between a snowman and a snowwoman?" was written where day janitors are supposed to leave notes for night janitors. The Spanish words of the day were for 'clean' and 'dirty'. Sadly, I don't actually remember their Spanish translations.

October 24

2007-10-25T21:29:00.000+13:00

I overslept, I didn't wake until 7:30pm (I typically rise between 5-6pm). This means I missed dinner and the Wednesday evening science lecture. I was sad and instead ate a bowl of cereal, which is always available, and the homemade granola isn't so bad. Spent the evening hours completing errands (mostly answering emails, Spanish lessons and a postcard to the girlfriend) before work began.

Most all notes on the janitor board are now being written in Haiku, a training we did yesterday morning had a large Haiku component.

Spent a good portion of the night cleaning a section of floor that looked no cleaner at the end of the night then it did at the beginning. Alex pointed out that if this was the worst of my life concerns then I was doing alright, which I think is a good point.

I ran a good 50 yards last night chasing a plastic bag filled with sanitary waste across Antarctica.

This morning's 45 minute safety training could be summarized by saying "Don't get too drunk at the Halloween party this weekend because janitors are easily replaceable."

October 23rd

2007-10-24T21:45:00.000+13:00

I attended a "Live Presentation of the Movie: An Inconvenient Truth". I felt a little sorry for the presenter that had to talk about climate change to a room full of climate experts. The whole point of the presentation was to convince us that global warming was actually happening, which I reckon everyone in the room already agreed upon. Thus, it was a bit lame.

I am starting to notice a habit of myself volunteering for mopping jobs. I think I like mopping. Do you remember in that movie "Bruce Almighty" where God was mopping? I think I feel like God when I mop.

After spending the night mopping, my coworkers and I agreed to go for a hike, as the morning was wind-free and warm (at least 5F). We hiked the Hut Ridge Trail. I enjoyed the hike very much. You really notice the lack of trees and such when you are out hiking. My coworkers seemed to enjoy the hike as well, so I have hopes that this will become more routine.

October 22

2007-10-24T21:43:00.000+13:00

I had to wake at 12 noon (the middle of my nights sleep) to take care of business at the post office, which is closed during my waking hours. The mid-sleep errand led to me sleeping in for a couple extra hours. Learned at work that one of the night janitors quit and was scheduled to be on the next plane outta here. The official word is that her mother is deathly ill, but I think she just doesn't like insomnia and didn't expect Antarctica to be cold.

I talked a fellow janitor into offering a Spanish word of the day. Today's words are "soy amable."

To answer some questions from emails: I applied for this job via the internet. I did a phone interview and that was about it. I had to get a doctor and dentist to say I would be okay to go to Antarctica. There are no indigenous people to this land. I work with several grandmothers and many more folks with adult children my age. The things on the ice in the sunset picture are loaded cargo pallets. I will take a picture of the nasty seal carcass next time I'm out that way. I have no desire to play in the rugby game as there are lots and lots of big, strong men in these parts.

October 21

2007-10-22T21:07:00.000+13:00

After dinner I went for a walk to what is locally known as 'hut point'. There's a hut there that was built ~60+ years ago. It's locked. There was a dead seal laying outside the hut that's been sitting there frozen for about 60+ years as well. It's kind of nasty looking, but sort of exciting to see too. The entire walk is probably not much more than a mile and it was windy and cold. I enjoyed the walk very much so.

Attended the Sunday evening science lecture. The topic was about microbial activity in and about Antarctica. The parts I found most fascinating were 1) that there are these liquid lakes under about 4 km of ice in Antarctica, they call them sub-glacial lakes. The scientist have never been to the lakes, the Russians will drill into one in two years. In theory, there is probably microorganisms in the lake. As the glaciers move, they rub a thin layer of dust off of the bedrock and some of this dust would end up in the underwater lakes. The continuous introduction of new dust is, in theory, enough energy for the microorganisms to thrive. 2) They drill in and take these core samples of ice that has been frozen for like 1/2 a million years, and there's microorganisms living in the ice. Just been living there, doing their own thing. 3) Parts of Antarctica are colder than parts of Mars, so since things can live in the coldest, frozen of here, than they can probably do so in the frozen ice on Mars too.

Spent the better part of the night mopping hallways and scrubbing toilets. There were ~8 pair of women's panties scattered throughout one of the men's restrooms. Different sizes.

I witnessed it snow for the first time in Antarctica over the night. The weather was relatively warm and the snow was so dry and soft. About 4am the wind started up and it switched to condition 2 because of visibility issues.

October 20

2007-10-21T21:33:00.001+13:00

Had a New York Strip Steak for breakfast (rare), along with a baked potato and a slice of key lime pie. Attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival, held in the dining hall. The dining hall staff placed signs on all of the front tables (best seats in the house) that said "Reserved for dining hall staff. Please vacate this table for dining hall staff". I was happy to see the signs were for the most part ignored, often crumpled and tossed on the floor. I enjoyed the film festival. My favorite movie is about this couple that bike through Mongolia, China, Tibet, and India on down to the Ocean. The trip was 6 months and 8000 km. They talk a lot about enjoying the simple things in life.

I ate midnight lunch with this dude's dude, he was mostly just bragging about how long he can stay outside in the cold, and how if your hands start hurting you are fine because its when you can't feel your hands anymore that you have to worry. He didn't understand why people would say they want to go inside because their hands were in pain, because that means your hands are fine. And today some guy was begging to go in but dude wouldn't let him because he was only complaining about parts of his body that were painfully cold, which is fine. I told him I was glad I didn't work with him.

Spent a few hours of my off night sitting in the cluster lounge with a few drunk people, they were talking about God and grace and some firefighter kept talking about how great the fire department is and how they do shots of alcohol together, which is an indicator of good teamwork. I told him I thought it was mean that they make the firehouse dispatcher shave. (The firemen have to shave so they can properly wear the fire mask, but dispatcher dude doesn't ever need to wear a fire mask and his face isn't one that's made for shaving.)

October 19th

2007-10-20T23:27:00.000+13:00

Started the day with lamb chops at the evening meal. Then visited with a clustermate who has been diagnosed with the flu and thus practicing social distancing. She essentially hasn't left her room for the past 3 days. Her food is brought to her. She doesn't even go to the computer room to check email or anything.

A fellow night-shift janitor that arrived here last Friday has slept less than 4 hours every night since her arrival. She was sent home early tonight as the boss lady thought there was too much potential for her to be the cause of an accident. Several people have said it's common to see insomnia-type symptoms around here.

A note left in the janitor closet read "What do you call a line of rabbits jumping backwards?"

It was cold last night, not just cold because of the wind, but cold. Someone said -34C. We only have to be outside for the amount of time it takes to walk between buildings, and the big red parkas are so effective.

October 18th

2007-10-19T20:50:00.000+13:00

Attended open mic night at the wine bar this evening before work. Among other songs, I heard Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" sang in some Eastern European language and a song about Antarctic love and "ice wives". I noticed for the first time that the front doors of the big lab building look amazingly similar to a walk-in freezer doors. I saw a sign on a wooden box that read "Extremely fragile contents. Please do not put anything on this box. This means coats, gloves, etc." My co-worker spent the entire evening thinking of as many things that were 'black and white and red all over' as she could think of. My favorite on her list was a penguin in a blender. My supervisor gave me a hard time at breakfast when I couldn't resist a fresh, homemade Bavarian Creme donut (with homemade Bavarian Creme and all covered in sugar). My newest roommate arrived near 3:00 pm (which is in the middle of the night's sleep, for me). I said hello and went back to sleep and haven't seen him since.

October 17

2007-10-18T19:02:00.002+13:00

My evening activity was a science lecture on global warming stuff, the lecturer talked a lot about isotopes, which I didn't really understand so much. I learned that if all of the ice melts the ocean would be up to the chest of the statue of liberty. He talked a lot about how there used to be forest and plants and just a wee bit of ice in Antarctica. I learned a lot of other stuff too, mostly about how they measure what the world's climate was like millions of years ago. Most of it I've already forgotten or just really never understood from the start.

The lecturer said there is 20% less ice in Antarctica today than there was this month in 2005, 20% less in just two years! He had satellite pictures of the continent that showed a significant, dramatic difference between the years.

Spent the bulk of the night with my supervisor, a buffing/scrubbing type machine, a gallon a degreaser and the mailroom floor. In the end, the industrial-grade floor scrub and subsequent mopping led to dirty mop water the same shade of grey as the floor is painted. Some guy named 'Shuttle Bill' complimented me on how well the 'Movement Control Center' office was cleaned.

Posted in '007' (the big janitor supply closet) was the first entries in the Janitor Haiku Competition.

Urine dripping down
Why is aiming hard for men?
They have peed since birth.

It is not our fault
Doesn't matter where you stand
There's always splash back.

October 16th

2007-10-17T21:17:00.000+13:00

The day began with a dinner conversation on the intensity of the local dodge-ball league. I spent the evening janitoring the mailroom and two office buildings, one of which is named 'Dilbert Zone' because the entire building is filled with little cubicles.

The weather was fantastic over night, the best I've seen down here thus far. I took trash out to the dumpster wearing only a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans. Like yesterday, we had all of the work done before the day ended and were thus forced to clean things that were not necessarily dirty. I spent an hour hand-scrubbing steps that looked no cleaner after I finished. Better than having too much work, I presume.

The Rugby team is starting to recruit heavily for the Antarctic US vs. New Zealand annual rugby game on the ice, the game happens in January. Rumor is New Zealand always wins.

October 15th

2007-10-16T19:57:00.000+13:00

Awoke near 5:30pm. My newest roommate is apparently sick and seems to have spent the entire day sitting in front of the television in the lounge. I spent the my evening putting together the blog. They brought the first Andrill core sample into the lab tonight. Apparently the core had tons of volcanic rock, which was mostly totally unexpected. The scientist seemed much more excited about this than I am. We finished the cleaning to do list about halfway through the night and spent the rest of the work shift cleaning things that weren't ever really dirty.

My newest roommate has moved out, opting for a room with his girlfriend instead of me and Richard (my other roommate). Richard is leaving for an overnight camping trip, so I have the room to myself until tomorrow.

October 14th

2007-10-15T20:15:00.000+13:00

Had wonderfully prepared prime rib for breakfast (at dinner time, remember I'm working nights) and then attended a science lecture on "diving a remotely operated vehicle under the sea ice". Basically the lecture was about this little robot they built that can travel under the Antarctic ice and take pictures of everything. The robot is special because it is small enough to fit through the holes they drill in the ice. I think the robots biggest discovery thus far may be that young Antarctic sponges grow much faster than their older counterparts.

Started my first 'real' work shift at 10:00 pm. Spent most of the evening sweeping and mopping. Time went by fairly quickly. My co-worker unclogged a vacumn cleaner four times before realizing she needed to change the bag. Talked to a computer guy working on the Andrill project, which is the big, fancy Antarctic science project of the year. Staring at a stuffed penguin in a sleepy haze at 7am I realized for the first time in my life that penguins actually have quite a tail.

October 13th

2007-10-15T20:11:00.000+13:00

I awoke near 5:30am to realize I had drifted off to sleep in the community lounge. I went for a quick breakfast and headed back to sleep, this time in my bed. I set the alarm for 10:00am to attend an outdoor safety lecture. My just-showered wet hair froze instantly as I walked between buildings on my way to the lecture. By attending the lecture, I am granted permission to hike the trails around campus. The class mostly just told us that we would die if we didn't follow the marked trail and that we have to check out and check back in at the firehouse for certain trails. After lunch and a phone call to Alex, I finally made it back to bed and slept until dinner time.

There was a pig roast, in the evening, at the heavy equipment shop, which I attended. I mostly just stood in the corner talking with other janitors. At 11pm, I did my first hike on the continent, an hour long hike up and back down the "Observation Hill" that borders our campus. I hiked with Talie, the night janitor lead.

The temperature reached a high of 9F. Many folks are walking around in light jackets. I am still wearing the big red parka, but I didn't need to wear a hat or zip up the parka, which made me feel cool.

Bringing laundry back to my room at 3:30 am I walked in on a somebody's-hand-down-somebody-else's-pants situation in the lounge to my room.

Went to bed at 7 am after spending the evening with email, laundry, Spanish lessons and the telephone.

October 12th

2007-10-15T20:09:00.000+13:00

I awoke near 3:30pm as my new roommate was moving in. My roommate, his girlfriend and her two roommates from states all decided to come to Antarctica together. The janitors had a get-together dinner at a nice building on campus which is reserved for such purposes. We served overcooked pasta, deep-fried cheese, raw chocolate-chip cookie dough and a chocolate/chow mein noodle no-cook cookie things. I drank too much wine and spent the night sleeping instead of staying up all night transitioning as I ought of.

October 11th

2007-10-15T20:04:00.001+13:00

The day started with French Toast for breakfast and then the morning janitor meeting, which included a class on the different types of falls: slips, trips, and falls from a distance (presented by whom I later learned was the campus hairdresser). We were told to "practice social distancing" if we believe we may be sick.

They ask again for volunteers to work the night shift, I spent most of the falling class convincing myself the night shift wouldn't be so bad as it is always daylight out, and I will still be off during the hours when all of the social events happen. I volunteered for the night shift. They gladly accepted my offer and gave me a special card which, among other things, allows me to buy alcohol from the bar in the morning.

I will be off work from the end of today until Sunday at 10pm, to "transition" to working night shifts, which mostly means I have to see how late I can stay up the next 3 nights. There is a meal served at midnight, so my goal is to stay up until at least then. Spent the morning cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming a dormitory. In the afternoon, I was taken on a long tour of the big lab on campus, apparently where the night crew spends the bulk of their time. And then I mopped what is locally known as 'Highway 1' (the main hallway in the main building on campus).

Today's weather was rated condition 2. Which means that it's not okay to walk around outside for recreational purposes. The temperature felt the same as yesterday, just a lot more wind.

In an effort to stay up late to transition, a movie date was set for 10pm with my night-shift co-workers (who all happen to be 50+ year old women) who are also trying to transition. The movie chosen for the dinner date was Steel Magnolias. I spent the rest of the night with a long phone call to the girlfriend and another to the parents, some time surfing the internet and a bit of time working on Spanish lessons. I was able to stay up until 6am, late enough to eat breakfast before heading to bed.

October 10th

2007-10-15T20:00:00.000+13:00

My first day janitoring. We worked the morning being taught how to clean a dorm and the afternoon touring campus and cleaning a few building that people work in. The temperature today was -29C (-20F). We walked around outside for a bit and it was much colder than the brief walks from building to building or from plane to van.

I saw funny looking fish in an aquarium in the main science building. The fish apparently have white blood. Met lots of folks with great stories. One of my supervisors has been to 54 countries, another is a traveling nurse, another owned and operated a backpacking guiding company. One of my fellow janitors has been to all seven continents in the last year, another owns a dude ranch outside yellowstone. Lots of great stories, more than I can remember really.

The resident physical therapist/yoga instructor gave us an hour long course in proper stretching techniques, we have a scheduled 15 minutes of stretch time each day.

The evening ended with janitor-sponsored Bingo at the local bar. We decorated the bar with toilet paper and rubber gloves. High-end, 2-ply toilet paper was among prizes distributed.

All-in-all I would say the first full day has flown by. It's already 30 minutes past my pre-set bedtime and I haven't even started on my Spanish lesson yet. All is well.

October 9th

2007-10-15T19:54:00.000+13:00

As I walked a letter to the post office this morning, I saw a midget riding a motorcycle that was much too small for him, he was riding on a busy city road in Christchurch. Enjoyed a final briefing before the flight to Antarctica. They seem to consistently stress the importance of taking it easy the first couple days on the ice and staying hydrated. They keep saying that many people feel overwhelmed their first couple of days on the ice. They keep reviewing the safety rules with us, mostly don't go anywhere you aren't supposed to and don't get dehydrated.

Like most all flights on this trip, the flight was delayed for about an hour. The military plane, a C-17 if I heard correctly, was loud and didn't have any windows. But the seats were plenty comfy and the ride didn't seem too long. I listened to the Ipod for a good part of the trip.

The plane landed on frozen ocean. The landing was smooth. It was kind of scary walking outside into -25C temperature, mostly because I have no idea what -25 feels like. I quickly realized I was overdressed, which made me happy. Vans with monster truck tires picked us up from the ice runway and drove us to the campus building where we had dinner, safety briefings and were given our room assignments. Saw 2 people jogging the McMurdo streets at one point.

I was assigned to a room in the same building as the dining hall, which also happens to be the building where the janitors meet every morning and the main building on campus. Met my roommate who is a firefighter from Northern California but is working here for the summer as a general assistant in the heavy equipment shop, meaning mostly that he moves stuff around and cleans. He seems calm, pleasant and well mannered, which is excellent. I slept better than I would have expected for my first night on the seventh continent.

October 8th

2007-10-15T19:51:00.000+13:00

Started off the day with a stroll through the botanical gardens in the rain. Then received NZ$230 cash from my employer to make up for the fact I had to spend an extra day in New Zealand. Life is hard. Visited the Antarctic Centre (www.iceberg.co.nz) with co-janitor Tiffany. I figured it would be good to learn something about Antarctica before I head there tomorrow. I didn't realize how big penguins grew. It's freaking amazing.

I learned its -25C today at the station I am heading to tomorrow morning. Watched a video of folks skinny dipping in the Antarctic waters in the middle of winter. Enjoyed an expensive meal out with several of my coworkers and went to bed early for the big day tomorrow. I'm anxious to see what this whole Antarctic thing is all about.

October 7th

2007-10-15T19:49:00.000+13:00

Started off the day by walking aimlessly around Christchurch for hours, just to see what the town is all about. We had to pick up all of our issued Antarctica clothing. They call it ECW which stands for extreme cold weather. It was kind of fun trying on the big red down jacket I see in all of the Antarctica pictures. I felt pretty cool. After we tried on all of the clothes to make sure it fit, we were told the flight for tomorrow was canceled. So tomorrow and I get to spend the entire day sightseeing around Christchurch. Pretty exciting. This evening, Jason and I walked to the closest grocery store and bought food to cook up tonight and tomorrow night. We went for veggie stir fry and an assortment of fruits.