October 3rd

Awoke at 6am Denver time to catch the 7:00 free shuttle to orientation. We had orientation classes on IT, finance, benefits and like topics.

My two favorite parts of the day included:
1) learning that part of the job description includes being a pleasant member in the community and that people will be kicked off the island if they aren't good community members
2) being handed $440 cash for travel expenses between here and Antarctica.

I learned 70% of my coworkers are returning from previous years, which I think spoke highly of the whole experience. During one orientation we were told of the story of the man who passed out from drinking too much alcohol last summer and was, as a consequence, not permitted to return to the ice this summer. We were Antarctica recycles 65-70% of all waste produced. Not so shabby. They tried to introduce us to some of the lingo, but really I didn't catch on so well. My computer passed the security test and I had a discussion about culinary history with a chef and two dining hall attendants. Good times.

I've met all types of people during orientation today, everyone seems pleasant, well-traveled and intelligent. Many have held other unique jobs and few (no one I've met yet) seem to be too overly Republican. All of the firefighters seem to be good-looking and typically former military guys. The mechanics have their own look. Lots of airport and cargo folks. So far so good. I like the crowd, I like that its a job responsibility to be a good neighbor, and the company seems to have a good HR focus (from what I've seen so far).

The hotel gave us free red wine with the free dinner to finish the evening.