Why did I want to come here?

A few people have asked why I wanted to come here. They can't relate or understand why I am here, let alone why I would winter here. I'm not sure they ever will. There is a quote that I first saw on a marathoning shirt, but it applies to anything that someone is passionate about that others might not understand.

"For those who understand no explanation is needed, ...For those who don't none will do". - Julius LaRosa on the Jerry Lewis telethon


Video by Matt Harding.

For those who understand what this video invokes in me, you know. For those of you who don't, I can't explain it. When I see this video, I am inspired by the world we live and want to explore it. I want to see what I haven't seen. I want to experience what I haven't experienced. Learning about the people on this planet is something that I find so enriching. I can't explain why. I just know it is.

Swimming with the fishes

Dave W. swims with the fishes.
In my polar plunge post, I mentioned that some people had great pictures taken with fish near their heads. The video above doesn't show that, but it does show the fish in the hole. Pretty cool.

Quick aside. Apparently, the fish they actually bring in for research in the summer aren't cautious. They haven't been naturally selected for that trait and consequently, they are easy as can be to catch.


Raja hesitates, hesitates, and hesitates some more.
This is one of my favorite clips. Raja has already plunged twice and each time she hesitates. It's wonderful. It's Raja.

My plunge shows just how much on autopilot I was. I just kept telling myself get in fast, get out fast, get to the hottub. I completely forgot about the harness.


My plunge!

Midwinter's Eve

Fine dining at the bottom of the world.
"And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the [McMurdo] dining room proudly presents - your [Midwinter] dinner!" Can you name that song? This past weekend while most of my friends back home were celebrating the longest day of the year with a backyard BBQ, we were celebrating that the days can't get any shorter or darker here. For some people, that meant a quiet night in their room. For others, it meant a hike. For most, it meant the best meal of the season put together by the galley staff.


Lots of people on station donated their time or drinks for the evening.


Katie managed to save some freshies for the feast.


Mark and Shandra volunteer in the kitchen.


Shane and Matt make some yummies.


John, the baker, is the reason so many of us come with a few extra pounds. Hmm, hmm, good!
Midwinter dinner is a huge undertaking for the base. People start planning over a month in advance. There are decorations, planning, entertainment, and who knows what else committees. I'd speculate that one third of the station contributed to pulling the dinner off by donating wine, serving, helping in the kitchen, decorating, making play lists, sewing window treatments, setting up, breaking down, building ice sculptures, and even burning DVDs. Unfortunately, even with all that help the galley staff spends most of the evening working. After the dinner portion of the evening, they get to come out and celebrate too.


Jim and Jeremy made some great ice sculptures.


Jim and Jeremy also made our very own wine refrigerator.


Hors d'oeuvres and wine before the main meal.
During the summer, the holiday meals were great food events. They didn't have the same feel as this celebration though. The decorations, the mood lighting, music, and sculptures were all top notch. It might have also been that all of station was eating at once instead of at three different rushed meals. I felt like I was at a find restaurant at home with 124 of my closest friends. OK, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but it was a special evening.


Kish and B-Nelson provide live entertainment


while Louie serves up some scallops


and Carol dishes out some wonderful bruschetta with fresh tomatoes


while the rest of us mingle and chat.
The evening started out in the pit of the galley. B-Nelson, Kish, and Jen all played music while servers weaved through the crowd refilling glasses and delivering tasty treats. In the background, pictures were shown on the projector to remind us of the people or places we might be missing. It was great to see so many people cleaned up, not in their work clothes, and sometimes, all fancied up.


Giving thanks to the galley staff who made all of this possible.
After that, we moved to the upper area for dinner. I don't even remember everything that I ate. It was a lot. There was gnocchi. It was good. I had a great salad. After speeches and toasts, I took a break to wash dishes. I came back and had some great desert and then finished out the evening back in the pit chatting and dancing. A lot of people filtered out after dinner, but plenty stayed to socialize. Some of the Kiwis that didn't show up for dinner finally came over as well. Good times. Lots of smiles. Tons of laughter.


Peter pitches in to clean up.


Fancied up with William T.

Happy Midwinter 2008

Midwinter's Day or the Winter Solstice, first celebrated in 1898 by the crew of the ice trapped Belgica, might be the most celebrated holiday on the continent. Certainly, more people take part in the summer holiday because they are more here, but I didn't feel the summer holidays were as festive. They weren't intimate and people may have been missing home. This is just my impressions though. I feel like the Midwinter holiday has a special meaning for winterovers. It is the turning point for our revolution around the sun. From here on out, we just get closer to the sun and closer to day light. The sun should rise around August 20th, but we'll get day light on the horizon a few weeks before that.

Part of the tradition is for each research station to send a greeting card or invitation to dinner. I don't think anyone has ever been able to accept an invitation though. Below are this year's cards. Some of them look a LOT warmer.


McMurdo Station, Ross Island (United States)


Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Geographic South Pole (United States)


Chilean Antarctica Institute, Various (Chile)


Bird Island (United Kingdom)


Halley Research Station, Brunt Ice Shelf (United Kingdom)


SANAE IV, Fimbul Coastal Ice Shelf in Queen Maud Land (South Africa)


Jubany, King George Island (Argentina)


Scott Base, Ross Island (New Zealand)


Syowa Station, East Ongul Island (Japan)


Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island (United Kingdom)


Neumayer Station, Atka-Bay (Germany)


Palmer Station, Anvers Island (United States)


Midtvinterhilsen-Troll Station, Dronning Maud Land (Norway)


Mawson Station, Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea (Australia)


Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Station, King George Island (Chile)


Davis Station, Princess Elizabeth Island (Australia)


Dumont d'Urville Station, Adelie Land (France)


Concordia Station, Dome C, Antarctic Plateau (France, Italy)


Crozet Island Station (France?)


Casey Station, Vincennes Bay (Australia)


Belgrano II, Coats Land (Argentina)

If you made it this far and think it seems like a lot, don't forget how many bases are down here.

BYO Water Bottle

Raytheon's latest budget cut?
This post will probably only relate to people who have already been down here.

Next year, the United States Antarctic Program will no longer be giving out as much gear as they have in the past. I assume this has to do with budget cuts, but that is speculation. I'm not sure how I really feel about it. Having been down here, I know that you don't use most of the stuff they give you. Lots of people prefer their own gear or their job simply doesn't require as much as they give you.

When I was packing for the first time, I really had no idea what to expect. Knowing that they would provide for me certainly eased my state of mind. On the list above, I use their socks regularly, but only if I am wearing my sandals. I used their sunglasses in the summer and their water bottles after my own disappeared. Of course, that is three out of four items. Who knows. I just wanted to give a heads up to my friends who are coming back down.

Polar Plunge

SPLASH into the Ross Sea of Antarctica!! (Photo by K. Folts)
Once a season, the Kiwis organize a polar plunge for anyone to attend. We aren't allowed to officially hold our own at McMurdo so many of us attend the Kiwi's event. During the summer, a number of people organize their own polar plunges where ever they can make it happen anyway. No matter how you go, the result is the same: splish, splash, EEK!


Waiting for my camera man and getting colder by the second (Photo by K. Barlow)
I used to think that all polar plunges were pretty much the same. That isn't true. In the summer in Antarctica, when you get out and the outside temperature and sun will help warm you up a little bit. In the winter, the water is usually warmer than the ambient temperature so your best bet is to get in the water in a hurry.


EEK! (Photo by K. Folts)
I've had two accidental cold water experiences in my life and neither one of them went well. My lungs felt like they collapsed and I couldn't get a breath. Someone told me that is called Diver's reflex. I don't like it and it made me worry a lot about this polar plunge. I spent most of the day trying not to psyche myself out so that I didn't end up not going. I even told someone making a movie that they could film me (to keep it PG, I kept my clothes on) so that I wouldn't back out.


The newly created 'Get me the hell out of here' swimming stroke (Photo by K. Folts)
When I got to Scott Base, a few of my friends had already plunged. Others were chatty and just slow to get moving. I had set myself on autodrive so I wouldn't start thinking and back out. I just had to strip, put a harness on, jump, and get to the hot tub. The plan worked pretty well, but the camera man had to get a set up so I had some time to sit there half naked and think about what I was doing. Eventually, he said go and in I went. After that, I don't remember much. I can remember looking up to see how deep I was and then swimming to surface, grabbing the ladder, and heading for the hot tub. Two steps towards the hot tub, I was told to hold up because I still had the harness on. It didn't even register to me because I was so much on autopilot. We had to wear shoes when we jumped because apparently your feet will get instant frost bite from walking across the ice if they are wet.


A little praying! (Photo by K. Folts)
Some people, even though they have plunged before, took their time to think about it. Raja got down to the water a couple times before she finally made it in. Kudos to her for making it in. I think if I walked away once, I'd be done. One guy has over 20 jumps though the years. I think it is pretty old hat for him. Louie managed to chug a beer before he got out of the water. A couple people actually got to 'swim with the fishes.' I didn't see the pictures, but I guess an underwater camera captures some fish right near people's heads.


Plunge! (Photo by K. Folts)
When I got to the hot tub, I had so much adrenaline and autopilot that the experience faded kind of quickly. I almost went in for a second time, but thought better of it. I warmed up, got dressed, and headed into the Scott Base bar to drink some Oregon Chai, and watch New Zealand's All Blacks crush England's Roses in rugby. Great night and I think I'll be jumping in again in the future.


Hot tub!!!!

What do we have here?

Oh what could this be for?

Grumblings

We are in the thick of winter. June and July are supposed to the hardest, most mentally challenging months. Morale can be low. Today's safety topic was Major Depression. Feelings and thoughts that have brimmed below the surface are supposed to finally be released. Just like at home, those releases can take on the civility of British tea time or the ferocity of a Mt. Erebus eruption. Luckily, I haven't seen much of either yet.

Along with the mid-season grumblings, there are the usual grumblings that occur when people work for a large corporation. In some ways they are right, in some things they are wrong. Most of it is just grumbling for the sake of grumbling. It gets old, but there is a current grumble which might have some merit coming up.

We are on our way to the darkest day of the year - June 21. Traditionally, Mid-Winters Day is a holiday for us. However, this year it isn't. Our stateside headquarters, that only works forty hours a week, will go on a company trip to Elitch's amusement park (though it is a Saturday). However, the National Science Foundation is rumored to have dictated that we will treat it as a normal work day so we can finish out our 54 hour work week normally. Read more at Big Dead Place.

Respect gets respect. This decision and numerous others over the past year have people feeling that they are not being respected. I've heard talk about them leaving the program that has sustained them for so many years. I'm not sure how easily the Antarctica program will continue on with that much knowledge considering an exit out the nearest door. I just don't have the experience here to know if people are just grumbling or if they mean it. I do know a few long timers have already left.

My personal grumbles are a toss up between missing John and Cecilia's wedding and that the huge walk in freezers in Crary aren't filled with ice cream, a complete waste of space. Frosty boy just isn't going to cut it for three more months.


Crary walk-in freezer (photo by J. Rhemann)

Who we are by the numbers

At a recent all hands meeting, there was a demographic break down of who the men and women of McMurdo this winter are.
34 Women
91 Men

41 Live in Dorm 155, 43 Live in Dorm 208, 41 Live in Dorm 209

39.13 Average age for Women
39.87 Average age for Men
39.68 Total Average

We are from three Countries:
USA
New Zealand
Canada

Americans are from 32 Different States
26 From Colorado
9 From California
7 From Alaska

Of the 34 Women, 31 different names are represented:
2 Angela
2 Elizabeth
2 Lisa

Of the 91 Men, 61 different names are represented:
7 William
5 David
4 Robert

In February, we recieved 16,500 condoms as reported at MSNBC.
This last one is for Betty who was really concerned about the number of single people available at the beginning of winter. These are based on best guesses and limited knowledge of people:
Sex, Single then (Single now)
Men, 58 (44)
Women, 23 (10)


Step 1 to using up those condoms.

Whistling in the Dark

A fire engine lights the way to the power plant.

On Saturday, I was just looking for a nice mellow evening for the second night of my two day weekend. Instead of heading to the Red Neck party, I settled in to watch Evil Dead 2. About thirty minutes in, as the owners of the cabin in the movie were returning home, the lights and TV went out in Raja's room in 155. I assumed the building had lost power. The wind had been blowing condition 2 all day and I assumed a power line came loose. After a quick look around, I was proved very wrong.


Dark!
The entire base had lost power. The only lights were emergency lights run by generators. The Red Neck party was stopped dead in its tracks as pagers sounded from one end of the hall to the other. Those pages were followed up by ringing phones. Growing up, we just sat tight in a power outage and someone we probably never met before took care of it. Here, someone we know has to go to work.


Hanging out in the not-so-dark.
Luckily, we were hanging out with an electrician. He had a flashlight that worked like a lantern. He grabbed it from his room dropped it off for us on his way to work. I think we were one of those few rooms with a substantial amount of light. We just kept enjoying the evening as usual, but as the power outage continued, my mind began to wonder.


The weather outside during the power outage. June 8, 2008 by K. Barlow.
How long could we last if we didn't have power? The weather had been warm, but incredibly windy all week. I didn't like the idea of suddenly not having heat. Being cold isn't bad when you always have the option of going inside to warm up, being cold all the the time is a different story. Even if we didn't get the power back up, we have enough fuel, supplies, and quality shelter to probably survive for months if not years. It just wouldn't be as cozy without our luxuries like cookie day.


Working in the powerplant to restore power. June 8, 2008 by K. Barlow.
After seventy-five minutes, they got the power up and running again. I don't know the details of what happened except the new power plant's CO2 system discharged and they had to bring the old power plant back online. The responders did a great job and were soon back to making merry at the Red Neck party.


Power starts to come back on.
Current temperature -14.0°C/7F.
June
Outdoor Monthly Average -13.5°C/8°F
Wind Speed Monthly Average 16kts/18mph
Monthly Peak Wind Speed 59kts/68mph