October 14th

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.