The Global Guy

Well, life is starting to settle into some kind of a routine now.  I’m starting to feel pretty comfortable with the way that turnover is going.  There is a huge amount of information to absorb, but luckily my predecessor is staying a few days later than she originally intended.  I’ve pretty much taken over the day to day operation of the network, plus I’m starting on a few projects that should improve communications with the outside.   I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to work in a normal office after this again!

 As a winter over, I’m part of the fire brigade on station.  We have three teams that have different jobs when the fire alarm goes off.  Team one is made up of the first responders.  Their responsibility is to get to the alarm site as quickly as possible with portable fire extinguishers and to try to contain any fire before it spreads any farther.  The second team, which I’m a member of, is supposed to report to the fire site after donning full bunking gear, including breathing gear and air tanks.  We’re supposed to actually go into buildings that may be on fire, or filled with smoke to conduct rescue operations, and extended firefighting with larger chemical extinguishers.  The third team is supposed to keep us supplied with fresh bottles of air, and fresh extinguishers. 

 The day after we officially took over fire duties from the old winter overs, we had our first drill.  Luckily for me, it was under the dome where I live, so it took me about two and a half minutes to get downstairs from my server room, to my dorm upstairs in the same building, to the fire scene right behind my building.  Talk about easy!  Anyway, we had a good drill, and we learned where our weak points lay.  I’ve got to practice with my flame hood, and air mask a little more before I’ll feel 100% ok with using them together in an emergency.

 This morning we had our first real emergency.  During the winter two of the three new generators that were installed last summer failed for reasons unknown.  That’s not a big deal, because we still have one new generator which we’ve been running the station off of, plus the old power plant, and finally the emergency generation out in summer camp.  Well, today the third generator died (just try to get on site warranty service down here!), and we lost power to the entire station for about 30 minutes while the engineers got the old power plant back online.  That made things pretty interesting in my area while I tried shutting down all our systems before my battery backup ran out.  Anyway, we’re still running on the old power plant, until a Cat rep gets down here sometime in the next week.  He was actually scheduled to be here anyway to fix the other two generators, but this just made it even more important. 

 Life here isn’t all disaster planning and recovery though.  There is a tradition on Friday nights where the atmospheric scientists throw a slushie party in the clean air building.  The clean air building is located upwind of the station, so the wind blows all the exhaust and other atmospheric pollution away from this sector.  This leads to the snow being extremely pure and unpolluted.  Slushies are alcoholic snow cones made from the cleanest snow in the world.  The scientists bring in huge buckets of the stuff inside, and we mix it with our choice of alcohol that is donated to the station by the residents.  Yummy!  Walking back to the dome after a couple of those can be quite a challenge!
 Anyway, my predecessor leaves on Thursday, so I’ve got a lot of studying and reading to do before then.  Have a great Halloween back in the states, and I want to see pictures of any embarrassing stuff that happens! 

 

Well, it’s been a long couple of weeks since I’ve last written you guys, but it’s been quite eventful.  I think I last said that I was about to go to the McMurdo station bar, and celebrate my 28th birthday.  Well, I did, and I had a blast!  I’ve known most of these people for only a few days, but that didn’t matter at all. There is a bond between people that’s amazing.  A few of the polies got together to get me a card, and a bunch of little presents that really meant a lot.  Once we were at the bar, and people found out that it was my birthday; shots just started appearing in front of me left and right.  Even in Austin, I don’t think I’ve had that many strangers buy me drinks. 
Surprisingly, I felt awesome the next day, and I ended up taking about a two and a half mile hike to the New Zealand base.  Kat and I got there about 30 minutes after the store there closed, but it was an awesome hike over the sea-ice.  McMurdo is at the base of an active volcano, Mt. Erebus, but there is a hill blocking the view of it until you get right outside of the base.  It was beautiful, with a cloud of steam and smoke rising from the top, blending into the deepest blue sky I’ve ever seen. 

I spent the next few days doing a combination of work and play.  I got to know all the McMurdo IT guys, but they were all so busy doing their own projects that I ended up just getting in their way.  That meant that I had about a week to explore the area.  I went to an outdoor training lecture, got certified in the rock climbing gym, worked out a few times, and took several trips off base.

The most amazing of these trips was going out to see Cape Evans, and the nearby ice caves.  The main attraction of Cape Evans is a 90 year old wooden structure that several of the early polar explorers used as staging camps during the initial exploration of the continent.  The air here is so cold and dry that the huts are exactly the way they were left.  There are even perfectly preserved penguin carcasses, and piles of 90 year old seal blubber that they used for heating and cooking.  After we spent an hour poking around the hut, we went to some ice caves that had formed in a nearby glacier.  I wish I had the soul of a poet so that I could describe just how beautiful the formations were inside.  I’ve got some pictures up on my website, but they really don’t do justice to the place. 

Later on that week, Kat and I rented cross country skis, and skied the two miles to Scott Base (the NZ base).  Thursday nights they open their bar to Americans, and we took full advantage of this!  Another planeload of polies had just arrived from Christchurch, and a good many of them were there.  Needless to say, we ended up taking the shuttle back, instead of skiing the way we came. 

Daylight is now 24 hours.  It was weird the first couple of days, but you quickly adjust.  In fact, it seems so normal to have the sun shining all the time, that memories of going out at night start to seem strange.  I’ll be curious to see how I feel in six months, when the sun never rises, and we have 24 hour darkness. 

We were supposed to leave for the Pole on the 22nd, but due to weather and mechanical problems, we didn’t actually depart till yesterday, the 24th.  I was lucky enough to be on the first plane down here, and that was quite an experience.  We were the first people that the current winter-over population has seen in nearly 7 months.  They are acting a little odd towards us, but it’s nothing hostile.  It’s got to be weird to have your cozy society disturbed by the arrival of so many people.  With the first three planes, we’ve quadrupled the station population!  I’ll be in their shoes in a year from now, so I can’t be critical at all.  

Adjusting to this environment has been quite a challenge.  When we got off the plane, we immediately went from sea level to 10,000 feet.  We also went from the plane’s temperature of 65 degrees to a -53 degrees!  Trying to drag my luggage about 500 feet from the plane to the entrance of the base felt like I was running a marathon.  Luckily the polies took pity on us, and had motorized sleds to carry our baggage.  They remember what it was like for them a year ago!    Most of us felt lousy all day yesterday.  We had headaches, shortness of breath, and mild to severe nausea.  Today I feel a whole lot better, and they tell us that we’ll be fully acclimated after about 10 days, with about 90% acclimatization happening after 3 or 4. 
 I don’t know how I lucked out here, but I’ve got an awesome room.  Of the station population of about 175, only 27 get to live in the dome.  Since my position involves rapid response in an emergency, I got one of those rooms.  My room is small, but it’s mine.  It’s about 9.5 by 4.5 feet, and one of the previous occupants made a full size bed, instead of the standard twin.  I’ve got posters up, a Texas Tech flag hanging on my wall, and all my books and movies fitting nicely on a shelf.  I even have a phone, and internet connection in the room.   Compare this to the Jamesway’s, which are Korean War era canvas and wood tents out in the snow about 700 feet from the dome.  They’re cold, have no bathrooms, and only canvas curtains for walls.  I really appreciate how this has worked out, and I’m trying not to brag about it too much.

 Speaking of bragging, I’m enclosing a picture with this dispatch.  I know that I’ve been accused of having a big ego by some of you before, but I finally have proof that the world really does revolve around me!

Hey guys, I’ve finally arrived in Antarctica! The plane ride down here was one of the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been on, but it’s all worth it when I look out the windows at the Trans-Antarctic mountains. The weather here is surprisingly warm. In fact yesterday when I went to the storage depot to pick up my luggage I was wearing nothing more than long underwear, jeans and a sweater. This is a huge change from the weather down here a couple of days ago. The day before I arrived, the winds here were so strong that they blew the tail of one of the LC-130 aircraft 30 feet during a refueling operation! 

Winds here make a huge difference in the perceived temperature. When it’s still outside, it’s actually pretty pleasant. In fact, sitting in the galley drinking coffee reminds me of sitting in a ski lodge in the states. The fact that we are wearing huge bunny boots (air insulated rubber boots) just adds to that feeling.

 The guys that are working outside all the time tend to dress warmer than I do, so I’ve taken to wearing just long underwear, jeans, a sweatshirt and my parka with a hat. The parkas are pretty cool. The people at McMurdo are issued red parkas which are older, but the people who are going to the south pole are issued these cool green parkas. They are newer, but some say that they aren’t as warm. So far it’s been plenty to keep me happy. We do have to watch out for them, as I’ve been told that anything associated with the pole station is considered a great souvenir.

 I started my first full day yesterday by taking a walking tour of the station. It’s not nearly as big as I thought, but it’s easy to get dis-oriented because all the buildings tend to look alike from the outside. Later on I met all the McMurdo IT people, and spent some time hanging out with them. Last night I went to the climbing wall with Katrina, and we got certified to climb there. We finished up at around 10 pm, and when we walked outside the sun was still shining brightly. Sunset is around 10:50, and sun rise is about 4:10 am. The times are changing each day about 10 minutes, so it won’t be much longer before we have 24 hour daylight. Tonight I think I’m going to go to Gallagher’s, the non-smoking bar, and celebrate my 28th birthday today!