September
& October 2008
Since
starting to work in the ICECAP project I have been ultra busy. Long days
stretching well into the night preparing boxes and equipment for shipping. I am
amazed at Sharon’s
support of my craziness. She has been helping me at the institute (UTIG, or
Late
October 2008
As
a bonus, the survey
plane came to Austin for the first time. This gave us a chance to work on
the plane’s configuration for a few days on our turf instead of McMurdo. This
was nice but extraordinarily hectic. Several very intense 12 to 14-hour days
including weekend. Fun though: it involves aeroplanes.
07-DEC-2008
Christchurch again.
I
was immediately reminded of how much I would like to move here. The only thing
that keeps me from doing so is the extraordinarily expensive commute to
The
trip this time was a bit different, as part of my mission was to escort a BGM-3
from
A
BGM-3 is a gravimeter, not the kind used for flying aerobatics that most of us
are familiar with, but the kind that resides in nuclear submarines. It comes in
a big box that requires for its transport the use of a wide-body
aircraft (or a nuclear submarine, if one is handy). It also doesn’t like to
get cold (yet it is headed for
It
has taken 3 days, but the thing is now parked and plugged to the wall in a USAP
warehouse in the CHC airport, and appears to be contempt.
Spending
the day loitering around CHC more than makes up for the rigors of the past few
days, although I still had to drop by the airport to check the machine’s vital
signs.
08-DEC-2008
Note to self:
never grow up.
This morning we decided that
the best thing to do, if not the most prudent, was to take a gondola to the top
of a nearby mountain and hurl ourselves back down (off road, naturally) on
rented all-terrain bicycles. Oh what fun! I could see this turning into
another hobby. But no! First I must master my unicycle, which awaits my return
at home.
We also visited a car shop
in town that had, amongst other things, a very sexy 1950’s XJ120 in beautiful
condition.
Upon return to the hotel we
found news that we leave for the Ice tomorrow, and not on the 10th,
as originally planned. I must now reconfigure my luggage. Tomorrow morning we
get clothes and depart. We suspect it will be on a Herc instead of the much
more comfortable and fast C-17.
09-DEC-2008
A
very early wake up today to make it to the CDC and get clothes. This is always
a bit confusing since you need to carefully arrange the contents of each bag in
case the flight has to boomerang (term used for cases when midway through the
flight the weather goes to Hell in MCM and one must return to CHC). In those
cases you only get your carry-on back, not your entire luggage.
On
the bright side, we ended up taking the C-17. On the creepy side, here I am,
sitting in this thing together with 72 55-gallon
drums of jet fuel in front of me. These will be air-dropped later, and are
fitted with parachutes
and crushable landing pads. I’m not sure what kind of canopies they use,
but each set of 4 must weigh at least 2000 lbs.
Of
course, during this leg of the trip I spent some nice quality time in the
plane’s cockpit
talking with the pilots. They showed me the HUD (heads-up display). It
would be so nice to have one of those in my plane…
We
have arrived. With G-meter and all. The place is identical to 4 yrs ago. Some
of the people are too! I even found a nice welcome note from a friend with my
arrival documents.
10-DEC-2008
Note to self:
don’t leave home without the proper pants.
This
morning I did an informal inventory of some of our cargo boxes that have
arrived. I also confirmed the unavailability of field pants, even in the BFC
(affectionately known as the Building Full of Chicks), where they have almost
everything one may need for a successful jaunt in the Ice. That’s too bad, as I
am running around McMurdo wearing my trademark beach
pants which are utterly out of place here. However, with fleece liners
underneath it’s not too bad, and mobility and comfort are unsurpassed.
(Next
time I’ll bring field pants, dammit!)
In
the afternoon we had to attend a refresher course for cold weather survival. It
started boringly enough, but I must admit it proved helpful. I didn’t remember
many things, like the proper way to dig and tie a dead man anchor, or the
proper way to treat frostbite, much less the correct debugging methods for a
Whisperlight stove (that would be the camping stove present in one’s survival
bag.)
Later
Dr D and I went to the runway to survey our digs. We are deciding if we’re
going to stage our stuff in town or by the runway. There we saw the unlucky C-FMKB,
Borek’s other Basler, now restored to pre-“incident” condition. It is an
impressively beautiful aeroplane. We also saw SJB; oh, how nice to see her
again! I cherish so much all the hours I spent flying in it over the dark side
of the moon!
Going
for a walk on the ice shelf is magical. You feel drowned in light. So much
light it is almost overwhelming. The air is so transparent and cool. The sky so
deeply blue. But the most impressive thing is the amount of light.
11-DEC-2008
Note to self: we
have seen the future. And it is inflatable.
Finally
we got some good working space today. I spent a good bit of time chasing after
cargo and figuring out where our stuff is. It turns out that most of it has
already arrived, and it located in only 3 distinct places, 2 of which are
actually convenient.
We
set up shop in the science support building (next best thing to Crary, I
suppose) and got some of our racking stuff delivered there by a monster
forklift.
During
lunch, for whatever reason, a very animated conversation ensued around the
topic of the infamous Possum-fur nipple warmers available in Scott Base as well
as in certain lower-tier service stations in NZ. We reached no conclusions; it
was merely informational.
In
the afternoon we saw this thing that looks like a Jamesway or Winterhaven, but it’s
not. It is a similar structure, but made of air bladders comparable to a Zodiac
boat. The huge difference is that, unlike a Jamesway, it does not need an army
of dedicated carpenters and days of labor to be built, but only 2 persons and
an air-pump and in a short amount of time the thing is standing. They use a
material similar to Kevlar and the version we saw is rated for 100mph winds. That
with a bladder pressure of only 10 psi. This is the same company that is
working on a habitat for the moon and possibly Mars. The moon version is
pressurized on the inside of the habitat (not the bladders) and also to 10 psi
which is equivalent to some 8000 feet.
It
is a very cool tent!
I
went to the bottom of Crary to see what critters were there. They only have a
small tank with a few fish, some anemones, and a nudibranch. Lucky me, Stacey
was there. She is one of the divers whom I met 4 years ago and coincidentally
also had been away from the Ice for some time. She always has cool stuff to
tell. She said that they have been using a remote operated camera to go down to
1000 feet.
The
C-17 got delayed in CHC again, so our teammates are still stranded there.
Perhaps they will arrive tomorrow in the South African Herc. To cure our
sadness we went to the Kiwi base (Scott Base) to play pool in their bar. For me
the main attraction still remains the nearby pressure ridge
and I couldn’t care less for the bar. To their credit, their souvenir shop does
carry the sometimes-necessary Possum-fur accessories mentioned above.
In
the evening, Duncan and I spent some time pre-assembling the racks. I shot some
time-lapse which turned out pretty good.
Must
sleep now.
12-DEC-2008
Warning to the
reader: this essay contains words. (If you feel I just insulted your
intelligence, you’re right!)
Our
rack system (composed of 5 racks this time) is held together by 680 bolts with
their accompanying nuts and washers. That’s six hundred and eighty.
Six-eight-zero. Go ahead, ask me how I know!
I
suppose it is superfluous to say that I spent the entire day putting the racks
together. Of course, there was a short break to go see how Frankenstein, the
Gmeter, is doing. The proper care and feeding of a BMG-3 includes measuring the
voltage across 16 test points and comparing it to pre-established values. There
are also several measurements that involve the state of the auxiliary power
system, and the power consumption of the ovens and the electronics subsystem. I
am happy to report that it is in good health, although I need to pay attention
to one value that is starting to take several seconds to stabilize.
I
also got a chance to mail all my holiday cards after lunch.
Occasionally
it hits me rather hard that we live amongst MORONS!! I am not talking about
McMurdo necessarily. In fact, this is one place where, in my opinion, the
concentration of morons is lower than average. What I’m complaining about is
this society created by imbeciles, for imbeciles. Consider this: I was in the
cafeteria today. Part of the menu included onion rings, and another part included
butter. The onion ring tray had a sign explaining “Onion Rings”. Below it was
another sign proclaiming “Contains onions”. My apologies for screaming but, I
HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT! If you are such a fucking moron that you’re gonna eat
onion rings and be surprised at the fact that they actually contain onion, YOU
DESERVE TO DIE (while eating the onion ring).
The
butter tray also announced “Butter”, with the corresponding admonishment below
“Contains diary”. Eat butter and die.
Now
that my blood pressure has subsided, I can say that altogether it was a good
day. Andy & Dusty are off to cold weather training. If they followed my
instructions (In your freshly made igloo, position two girls in parallel with a
small space between them. Wedge yourself between the girls. Enjoy.) then they
should be having a great time.
Scott,
Jamin, & Isaac arrived today in the South African Herc. There are still a
few bolts missing from the racks, but instrument setup can commence tomorrow.
13-DEC-2008
I
spent the morning on a grand tour of
We
worked all afternoon and most of the night on rack assembly and made great
progress. Most of the racks have instruments on them already. I checked on the
Gmeter and the one test value continues to take seven seconds to stabilize, but
the manual doesn’t mention that to be a bad symptom. I may phone the
headquarters tomorrow to see if they have any additional info.
While
I was on the runway, the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) team was preparing to
launch. This is a large helium balloon that goes up to 100,000 to 150,000 feet
(stratosphere) and rides the circumpolar current all the way around the
continent until it ends up back here. Sometimes it even goes around more than
once. Unfortunately I did not get to see the launch, but I did get to talk to
one of the scientists involved.
After
work (9:30 pm) Isaac and I hiked up Ob Hill. Beautiful lighting, magnificent
views. This was followed by a match of Scrabble in the Coffee House. But
the game sucked. We painted ourselves into a corner and the words we used (at
lease mine) were all at my horrible elementary-school vocabulary level. I hate
playing in English.
14-DEC-2008
Happy
Birthday, Mom! I love you!
It
is Sunday. But we still work. And that’s quite alright. I had to go
“Hardigg-diving” in search of a 400Hz inverter that went rogue back at the
The
racks have instruments! We spent most of the day in the
I
had not poked my head out for a while and suddenly
There
was another science lecture tonight regarding the health of the
I
also got a chance to talk with Stacey after dinner some more about her dives
here. I love this place.
15-DEC-2008
This
morning things were different. In finally began to feel like
One
thing that comes along with serious cold is an atmospheric condition known as
flying ice crystals. I had not seen this since Thwaites, four years ago. When I
saw it this morning, it felt like Thwaites was yesterday. Wonderful!
During
the previous days there were some muddy areas that made navigating around town
on foot a bit treacherous. Today they were all well frozen solid making them
actually less hazardous (they are not icy, but muddy/gravelly).
We
had a meeting that clarified once more the tightness of our schedule. I had to
get some cargo moved from outside the lab to our staging space, and also to the
Science Cargo yard for transportation to the runway. Consequently I spent a
good amount of time outside, directing forklifts and waiting for the various
roundtrips to be completed. It got quite cold after a while; the temp with wind
chill was zero
F, much preferable in any case to the
Next
I had to find numerous test equipment containers, commission the carpenters to
build us a protective box for the G-meter sensor, and procure 220v for our
staging space. Incredibly I got everything done. The 220v is not available
quite yet, but will be by tomorrow. My walkie-talkies have proved rather useful
for communicating between our different workspaces. Whoa, this is becoming
rapidly incoherent. I am extremely tired today.
16-DEC-2008
Note to self:
not all fork lift drivers are created equal.
I
had to chase that 220v plug all over town, but finally got us 220v to run the
remote power units which allow us to simulate an aeroplane (28 VDC) and thus
run some of our tests. Also, the BGM-3 was moved (by an extraordinarily gentle
fork lift driver) from its place behind the post office to our work area. It is
plugged and happy. I spent a while working on some spacers for what has become
my nemesis, Rack 2. Since
17-DEC-2008
It
has been brought to my attention that I still have at least one reader. This
remarkable fact comes after I was pretty sure of thoroughly having offended
everyone by now. Maybe this is like my Jesus t-shirt, which I purchased with
the sole intent of aggravating others, and to my dismay it typically has the
opposite effect. (It says in oversized font “Jesus Loves You”, then in much
smaller font it continues “but everyone else thinks you’re an asshole”.) Keep
reading, gentle reader; I will do my best to offend you sooner or later.
Today
started aptly enough as a Twilight Zone episode. That one in which you get
abandoned in Antarctica and everyone else but you disappears, victim, no doubt,
of some horrible thing, that will soon get you as well (like, say, The Penguin of
Death). I went to breakfast and saw none of my teammates. No reason for
alarm. I ate and proceeded to the Crary office, where I surely expected to find
everyone. When I got there, it was still locked and dark. Mild reason for alarm
and I thought that I had missed a meeting or something, so I headed for the
meeting room upstairs. There was no-one but me. Uncomfortably alarmed I thought
that everyone would be assembled in our workspace contemplating the racks and
wondering of my whereabouts. When I got there I was the only person in the
building. The lights were still off. Fully alarmed now, I carefully retreated,
expecting The Penguin of Death to pounce on me at any moment from behind a
closed door.
It
turns out that everyone (but me) had slept in. I ended up in the Crary library waiting
2 hours for our 10 a.m. meeting, and felt quite relieved when people started
showing up. I had to do a bunch of computer work anyway…
This
morning episode, I must admit, worked extremely favorably for me in unexpected
ways that shall remain un-discussed.
We
had a meeting with our newly arrived bosses. They are now informed of our
progress and appear happy. I went to retrieve their handcarry, which brings
equipment that we need to complete our racks. One of Don’s bags contains 10
pounds of premium coffee (Colombian, I would hope). One of Jack’s bags contained
a whiskey bottle that broke and soaked all the maps we needed for our survey
(plus a bunch of other stuff). So making the most of the situation, you could
sit in the middle and it felt like you were having Irish coffee! Sadly, that
doesn’t change the fact that the maps are ruined.
I’m
tired. So you’ll never know what we did the rest of the day; but it was not all
sniffing coffee and whiskey. There were also excellent McMurdo stories provided
by Don, including an outstanding toilet testing moment that ultimately led to
great loss and tragedy and I shall share another day.
18-DEC-2008
Note to self:
beware of the Destroylet.
It’s
really late, and I’m really exhausted. So all I’m going to say is that I beat
by 2 measly points my Scrabble opponent in the coffee bar tonight despite the
fact that he is a good player, and much more significantly, that we played in
English. A fluke perhaps. We shall see. I did start with the word “quivers”
that netted me 100 points, and must have had an ill-effect on my contender’s
morale.
Tomorrow
or Saturday… the Destroylet story!! (hint: it is a plumbing fixture from Hell)
19-DEC-2008
The
work front is the same. Extremely busy 15-hour days. Today however, I took 2
hours in the evening to go for a walk on the pressure ridge
near Scott
Base. It was a delightful hike. Unfortunately it has to be “guided” so
that I don’t hurt myself too much. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
Incidentally, my favourite picture involves no clouds.
20-DEC-2008
Alright
then. Somewhere someone thought that it would be a great idea to have a toilet that,
when you flushed, it would incinerate whatever you deposited in it. Then
someone else thought that this would be a good device to have in McMurdo, a
place where fires can rage out of control very easily because of the extreme
dryness and wind. Someone else along the way (and this is the only good
decision in the chain) decided that it should be called a Destroylet (instead of toilet),
since effectively it destroyed its contents when called upon by means of a
small conflagration.
Now,
think about the concept. I have to step back for a moment and say that, despite
the fact that I like testing and usually breaking things, I would NOT, under
any circumstances, be the guy testing this product. The previous statement has
nothing to do with the success or lack thereof in testing my experimental spud
guns.
So
they brought a unit to Mactown for evaluation and put it in the metal shop
(what this implies about the metal shop and its occupants is entirely up to
you). I was told that the old metal shop was a maintenance facility of some
sort before, and that consequently some of its beams were well impregnated in
oil. Bad, really bad idea! You don’t need to be a genius to figure this one
out. Apparently at some point an unsuspecting user flushed the device but a malfunction
of some sort occurred. A fire erupted and soon spread throughout the building.
The fire brigade arrived immediately to try to control the inferno. Meanwhile,
our narrator (Don, the most prolific source of Antarctic lore I can think of)
had stepped outside his dorm with his friends and a few beers from the vending
machine (25 cents / each) to watch the commotion. The guys from the metal shop
saw that the firefighters’ efforts were not getting anywhere, yet the embers
were starting to fly all over town, threatening a catastrophe. They took
matters in their hands (in the form of a bulldozer), and leveled the building
into the hill - there was a hill behind the building.
This
is the story of how the Destroylet ruined the metal shop. I imagine that it
must also have left serious psychological scars on the hapless individual that
was minding his own business when he experienced the malfunction.
21-DEC-2008
It never ceases to amaze me the
ease with which our mealtime conversations can go from an entertaining, if not
educative discussion, to the treatment of topics that should best be avoided in
public and in particular during meal times. Of course, I am guilty of “lowering
the bar” too, as the aforementioned Possum-fur nipple warmer debate proves.
However, people’s fascination with the final moments of the gastrointestinal
process continues to elude me.
Being Sunday, I indulged and
got up at 10 am. This was of limited value since I finished work at 2:15am the
next day. A packing marathon to move from SSC to Willy field kept me occupied
with no chance for anything else.
Also being Sunday, the SSC
building was largely deserted except for us, that is, until we heard quite a
commotion outside, and before we realized what was going on, a group of
carolers dressed in varied holiday regalia (mostly pagan) barged in, sang us a
song, wished upon us a Happy Solstice, and disappeared into the sunshine –still
singing– as quickly as they had appeared. I do it rather poor justice in this
account, but it was completely surreal. Much more so when taken in the sleep
depraved, McMurdo context that we were in.
With that, I leave you
today, similarly wishing upon you a Happy Summer Solstice. A nice event based
on factual observation and quite possibly the only legitimate thing to
celebrate this time of the year.
Thus spake The Tooth Fairy.
22-DEC-2008
Some days being on the
ground is more painful than others. Today was such a day. The cap clouds
over Erebus were magnificent; they later extended into a “long white cloud” as
the Kiwis would say denoting outstanding wave in the immediate proximity of
McMurdo. It truly sickens me sometimes to walk outside and see such obvious
evidence of lift and have to stay on the ground like an idiot. Many times you
can see abundant convective activity across the sound over the
23-DEC-2008
Today I finished moving all
the cargo boxes from Mactown to Willy Field. I re-inventoried half of them in
an almost moot effort to keep tabs on the myriad of things that we carry around
with us. When someone demands to know where a paper clip is, or more
importantly, where a spare amplifier for the radar receiver is, I am supposed
to know and direct the enquirer to the appropriate box, or simply produce the
item. Alas, it doesn’t always work quite that way, especially after we went
through those boxes as in a feeding frenzy trying while racking up the
instruments last week. My nemesis was a 400 Hz inverter. Its place has now been
taken by the laser manual, which I personally packed with the primary laser,
yet it has managed to disappear. Root cause: people’s utter inability to leave
things the way they found them. I better not start down this path.
I spent a good part of the
day making cables. These should have been made months ago, but given the timing
of our project’s funding, this was not to be.
Hasta mañana, baby.
24-DEC-2008
For the first time this trip
I voluntarily wore ECW gear today. It was freezing-ass cold and I worked outside
most of the day! I am happy to report that I finished the inventory of our
boxes. Just in time for the next unpacking frenzy. Ugh!!
There are two things that I
wish for very much at this moment. Appropriately for this date, one of them
came true. Hey, 50% is not bad! I went flying. Of course, I was sitting in the
back, but it beats not flying at all. To the naked eye it hasn’t changed since
4 years ago. It is still the most spectacularly beautiful place
I can ever imagine. Earth & Sky… that sticky song again.
We hit rotor shortly after
take off. Wave
everywhere. If they would only let me fly for a bit…
The goal for this flight was
to calibrate the radar over a highly specular target. Thus open water. Funny
thing about these flights over open water: we don’t have flotation devices. We
do carry survival bags that will last us several days, but no flotation
devices. In 27-degree F water you don’t really need them ;)
Due to the holidays, there
were numerous parties around town tonight. My first stop was the coffee house,
a.k.a. the wine-bar. This venue is for the more distinguished clientele. It has
the great benefit that you can have a conversation without using a megaphone.
Equally important is the fact that they serve coffee and that smoking is not
permitted.
The second stop was the
official town party in the big gym. Semi-interesting. Not really my thing,
especially now. Go wonder why.
For the third and last phase
we hit another party and I was conned into playing a game of Foosball. Yes, I
played Foosball for the second or third time in my life tonight. My teammate
was Don, and we managed to eek a narrow win! Just then I was almost conned
again by some girls into a dance party. Ha! Nice try! If it doesn’t involve an
igloo, I ain’t going, honey.
25-DEC-2008
For religious reasons we had
our first “day off” in so long that I don’t even remember. I slept 12 hrs, and
missed brunch. And hated myself for doing so.
We went to the airport to
retrieve some equipment. It is horrible to have half the operation in a
Jamesway at the runway, and the other half at Crary. A logistical nightmare
since a round trip can cost up to 1.5 hrs. assuming you have a vehicle. If you
rely on the shuttle, you have to wait till :00 or :30. After that we
constructed some more cables. A guy walked past our area in Crary and
introduced himself. He had just gotten back from a 2-week trip to the Erebus
rim. I am so jealous! He showed us some infrared video he took of the magma
lake. Too cool! Best of all, without good reason he gave us a small gift:
Erebus crystals, which are reportedly extraordinarily rare. These are chunks of
lava that fly off every time the thing burps. He was there for a few of such
events. Scary stuff… We spoke for a good while since we soon discovered that
each other is a glider pilot, he from
Beware, “We are everywhere”.
I ended up working 10 hours
on our “day off”. Aaargh!
26-DEC-2008
Today is a very sad day.
Unrelated to work, or to this continent for that matter. Just personally very
sad.
27-DEC-2008
Reminder to self: not all fork lift drivers are
created equal.
Our missing cargo has arrived.
Woo-who! Unfortunately that was a short lived joy. The integrity of one of our
cargo boxes was violated by an errant fork lift. Needless to say it was
precisely the box containing the only critical instrument for which we have no
redundancy instead of the box next to it, filled with empty 3-ring binders. The
G-meter platform (a very nice 2-axis gyro stabilized cocoon) got nailed. This
part, with its control electronics module was traveling separately from the
G-meter sensor and its electronics, which the astute reader will recall, were
traveling with me. At this point we don’t know if the platform sustained any
injury. It will undergo tests tomorrow to asses its condition.
We spent most of the day
finishing up the cabling for Racks 2 and 4. The wind was quite strong in the
evening. We took some of the cargo to the runway. Foolishly I missed the chance
to fly my kite. I shall make up for it. I have located a banana sled that
no-one will miss. Waaa-ha-ha!!
28-DEC-2008
Note to self: Beware of the girl with the Flying
Screaming Monkey
Sunday. Another 14-hour work
day. A lot of stuff got accomplished, though. We moved all remaining items (R4
most notably) from Crary to Willy and even loaded the rack into the plane. After
that we went bowling. Not just regular bowling, but “cosmic” bowling. Imagine
that: cosmic bowling in
29-DEC-2008
I was recently complimented
on my social graces. Imagine that!!! This is absolutely hilarious. After I
finished laughing I was actually a bit scared, because the guy who made the
comment is pretty smart.
The day started with
preparations for another flight. For take-off I was authorized by the control
tower to stand near the runway and photograph our plane as it went by. Nice!!
I’d never been buzzed by a DC-3 before…
Later while we were waiting
for the plane to return, Isaac and I were going through some of our cargo boxes
outside when there was some kind of spill from a drum in a pallet headed for
Pole. I recognized the fork lift driver and had to go say hello. Apparently the
drum contained some evil substance that halted the cargo operation and summoned
the haz mat team.
But I must now change the
subject. The other day I was walking out
of the dining hall and a lady sitting at a table said to me “are you really a
glider pilot?” This caught me so much by surprise that it took a moment to
realize that she was looking at my t-shirt (Marfa Gliders) and was wondering
whether it was just a coincidence that I was wearing such a shirt or I was
indeed an aviator. Amused, I told her that I had been known to fly on occasion.
It turns out that she flies out of
30-DEC-2008
I sit here alone. The icy
wind beating on my face. If it weren’t for my highly insulating clothes I would
probably die of exposure in a very short time. The cold hurts the small amount
of uncovered skin on my face. The sea ice shimmers with melt ponds of a
beautiful pastel blue. The light is incredibly strong, yet perfect. It is
midnight at Hut Point and the closest living things to me are 2 large
crab-eater seal bulls that lay on the sea ice maybe 120 meters away. Behind me
is the actual hut, built by R. F. Scott’s crew. I feel humbled in its presence.
Across the frozen sound rise the majestic
31-DEC-2008
Note to self: Vorfreude ist die beste Freude.
We made some final checks
onboard the plane in Rack 5 and all seems to be well. Even Rack 3.5, where the
G-meter platform/sensor lives has now rid itself from its cold soak. Must have
had something to do with the heater I wrapped around it.
When we returned from the
airfield the town was in full celebration for New Year. The main festivity was
“Icestock ‘09” (like
01-JAN-2009
Note to self: When hijacking a skidoo, indecision is
your worst enemy.
It was not a fluke. We
played again, and I won again, by a wider margin this time. In fact, I even had
the audacity of putting the word “atria” for nothing other than aesthetic
reasons, while I had alternate choices that would have netted me more points.
It is always gratifying to put words that are at a level higher than second or
third grade, and I prefer to do so even at the expense of points.
The other day I was walking
along a hall in Crary lab, arguably the most expensive lab space on Earth, when
as I rounded a corner, a furry thing came flying and screaming at me, missing
not by much, crashing awkwardly against the wall, still screaming. What the
Hell, I thought… But of course, it was a flying screaming monkey, the variety
easily obtained on the internet, which had been launched at me by a naughty
girl who lurks on our floor. I must have one! (This last statement refers to
the monkey. Man, I hate this language.) It works like a slingshot. Its arms are
made of surgical tube and have a pair of mittens which go on the perpetrator’s
fingers. To operate, you grab by the tail, pull, and release. This triggers the
screaming subsystem, no doubt hooked up to a simple accelerometer, as the thing
flings through the air.
Good times, good times!
2-JAN-2009
I would be remiss not to mention
the fact that I have come up with a new-year’s resolution. Unfortunately it
involves the use of extraordinarily expensive clothes. But then, I have always
been a victim of fashion. Perhaps they can be borrowed from a government
agency.
[…]
14-JAN-2009
Note to self: Nacreous clouds denote the presence of
wave activity extending into the stratosphere.
It has been a while now. The
first week of the year was a frenzy of activity to get the plane ready for its
trip to Casey. This was accomplished successfully, at the expense of most
sleep. Timing-wise it worked out perfectly because just hours after the plane
left, the weather went to Hell. And it stayed there, for several days. Not
horrible condition 1, or anything like that, but definitely un-flyable.
The second week I spent
emptying our 0.5 jamesway (the other 0.5 is Borek’s) so that it could be
occupied by new tenants, but more importantly, re-configuring re-inventorying,
and re-packing all of our cargo. At this point it mainly consists of spares.
Everything from a full set of radar antennae, to small electronic components
that could be used to fix our equipment in the event of a failure. These boxes
are now densely packed and ready for a return trip north unless summoned by the
Casey crew. The remaining boxes are mostly empty, ready to be filled with our
primary instruments as soon as the plane gets back from its mission.
I feel quite happy that we
went bowling the other day. Cosmic bowling nonetheless! Since then, the
building that houses the bowling alley has been sealed and possibly condemned
due to structural problems. This does not appear to be related to the fact that
we were there. There are some support beams that have started to buckle making
the entire structure un-sound. This is a sad thing for the community: it is one
of the oldest buildings in MCM, originally erected by the Navy, and one that is
home for well-loved things like the bowling alley, a gym, the ceramics room,
etc.
It is uncertain whether a
fix is possible, or the whole thing has to come down.
Still, buckling beams is a
much more dignified way to go than being incinerated by an out of control
Destroylet on full afterburner.
15-JAN-2009
Word has come from Casey
that the survey flights are going well. They knock out between 2000 km and 2400
km per flight, compared to the 1000 km we used to cover on a Twin Otter flight
during the AGASEA project (of course, we were flying basically ‘round
the clock then, while ICECAP is doing one flight per day). I suppose I should
include the official ICECAP link here for those interested…
During the past week the
weather has been cloudy. We had a number of snowy days with very little wind
and crappy light. This is not good since now I am recovered and have plenty of
free time that should be spent flying a kite, hiking, taking photographs, but
no! I’ve been sitting in the library reading, watching it snow outside. Ugh! At
least there have been some good science lectures.
17-JAN-2009
Today we will play “What
does it look like”, Antarctica-style.
Part 1.
What does McMurdo look like?
What does Taylor Valley look like?
What does a glacier look like?
What do penguins look like?
What does an ice tongue look like?
What do crab eater seals look like?
What does the Science Cargo window look
like?
What does Bertha look like?
Don’t even think we’re gonna
go there.
What does the flying screaming monkey look
like? Notice the cape. Always needed for proper flying.
What does the ICECAP team look like?
What does Ivan the Terra Bus look like?
What do nacreous clouds look like?
(Note the awesome lenticular below. It went on forever…)
18-JAN-2009
Finally I got a chance to
hike to Castle Rock. Four of us joined forces, since you are not allowed to do
this hike alone. After a quick stop by the fire house to pick up a radio and
formally check out (it is analogous to a flight plan), we started our trip. How
nice that the break in the dreary weather precisely coincided with the Sunday
we had planned to go. It is really a wonderful walk. We did maybe 8 miles all
under great sunshine. Only a shirt needed during the actual hike. After
reaching the top of the rock, when you stop and it is windy, you have to bundle
up. On the way there we encountered one tomato hut (this is one of
the few places on Earth where you can present the choice “Your tomato, or
mine”, and it actually makes sense.) We got back just in time for dinner.
Holy crap, what a lame
journal entry. But trust me, the hike totally rocked. I am tired right now and
writing is difficult.
19-JAN-2009
A few weeks back, before
leaving, Don showed some preoccupation with the fact that I may use my “free”
time in McMurdo for evil and not for good. He explicitly shared this concern
with me. To prove him wrong, I will soon be starting my own radio show in town
called “Late night with El Chupacabras”. If that doesn’t fill you with
confidence, or at least give you a warm and fuzzy, nothing will. What could be
more harmless? <Thoughts of Howard Stern immediately come to mind.
Jello-wrestling in the studio could be a gentle start… I must procure some
Jello and a tub.>
There are two radio stations
here in MCM. Both are part of the Armed Forces Radio & Television Stations.
Most of the time 104.5 FM is basically a repeater for one of the Armed Forces
radio stations. However, one can seize control and override the elevator music
with some Jane’s Addiction, or whatever strikes you fancy at the moment. Think
of it as shock therapy for the McMurdo airwaves. This afternoon I went to the
studio and looked over another DJ’s shoulder to familiarize myself with the
console. I also saw a video that explains the process. Not too complicated.
It’s just a mixer and various inputs. We’ll see how it goes. Stay tuned (pun
intended.)
21-JAN-2009
Here are some excerpts from
an email that the boss sent:
[…] All is going as planned. We have
been up and flying regularly and are on our tenth eight hour flight in the
fourteen days since flight operations started. All systems are working
wonderfully and the radar of the
Glaciologically, the most impressive
result is to be able to track internal layers to within a couple of hundred meters
of the bed even before applying our new focusing algorithms. Given our
calibration to the Epica site at Dome C, the evaluation of "old-ice
sites" will be possible over the entirety of the basin.
We have flown about 22,000 km since
arriving at Casey and have another 10,000 km in the cue.[…] The support at
Casey has been fabulous and we are really looking forward to returning next
year for the follow-up gridded surveys.
All the Best,
Don B
Great success
on what marks Don’s 30th anniversary of visiting
22-JAN-2009
It is my sad
duty to inform you that Building 063, constructed by the Navy in 1958, has been
officially condemned. There will be no more bowling there, cosmic or otherwise.
No more ceramics. No more gym. Sigh!! And worst of all, no more Big Lebowski
parties. This really drives the point home: when given a chance, bowl.
24-JAN-2009
Happy B-day,
little sister :P
25-JAN-2009
Note to self: the roaring silence is
still there.
Several days back
Prince Albert II of
I had a rough
time thinking what should be the first song I play in my DJ career. Zep? No
way, too predictable. Meat Puppets or Presidents? Nah, also too predictable,
for those who know me. Then it became obvious that there was only one choice.
Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl. Then I changed my mind again and stopped agonizing
over the whole thing.
Today we did
Castle Rock again. What fabulous views from up there. They forecasted 17 knot
winds, yet is was completely still. Also, and very strangely, there were a
total of only 2 of us in the entire trail at first. When we got to the top of
the rock it suddenly hit me like a hammer. A feeling that you only get here
when there is absolutely no wind. A silence that is just overpowering. Usually
when you’re outdoors and there is no wind, there will be birds, or insects, or
whatever making at least a small amount of noise. Here it is quiet. Seriously
quiet. Possibly magnified by the grandness of the landscape. I had only
experienced this in Thwaites while away from camp (yes I did such a thing, and
it was surreal).
After a while
2 more people arrived. So much for the silence, but still remarkably empty for
such a sunny and perfect Sunday. Tra-la-la!
28-JAN-2009
Good evening McMurdo. You’re
listening to Late Night with
El Chupacabras on ICE RADIO 104.5
A-F-N, an affiliate of the American Forces Radio and TV Service.
It is 11:30 on this beautiful sunny
Wednesday night and I’m glad you’re with rocking with me.
This is my first night on the job
and the phones are open so feel free to give me a call at 2459.I’ll take
requests and if what you want to hear is in line with the mood of the show,
I’ll work it in. Here’s some Pink.
Rock-on Mactown!!!
Pink Floyd’s Wish you
were here fades in. It is then followed by Neil’s Cinnamon Girl, and
the goddamned CD player starts skipping half way through the song. And I
suddenly don’t know which buttons to push, because half of them have their
indicator lamps blown. Aaaaaaggghhhhh!!!
Sorry about that folks… had a little
problem with the disc there. I’ll make it up to you later. Here’s some music
from
Thank god I had a third one
cued in.
Some of the stuff I played
caused positive comments from the audience, such as my unexpected choice of
Jethro Tull’s Minstrel in the Gallery.
It is 1:00 am and this is all the
time we have. Thanks for listening to Late Night with El Chupacabras and be
safe out there. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. I’ll leave you with something
sweet…
Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion
fades in, and I fade out. The phones start ringing. I get the Hell out of the
place.
By the way, I did make it up
to them by playing the full length version of Down by the River. Oh
yeah!
29-JAN-2009
Note to self: do not rub on tissue that has been
frostbitten.
A few days back I took the
full Snowcraft I course. Earlier in the trip I had taken a required “refresher”
which does not involve any field work, but since I now have sufficient time,
and the fun part is the field work, I
signed up for the whole thing. The course basically teaches you how to survive
for a few days in cold temperatures with the contents of a typical issue
survival bag and Extreme Cold Weather gear. It is a mandatory course for anyone
leaving the station for a purpose other than returning north. The other class
attendees were a group of biologists studying trace metal presence in the
But I digress.
As part of the field portion
of our class, one is to spend some 24 hrs out on the ice shelf in “survival”
mode. During that period, there are 4 choices for spending the night: mountain
tent, Scott tent, snow trench, and “igloo”. I’m too claustrophobic for the
trench, and have stayed in tents plenty of times before, so I opted for the
igloo. These are not proper igloos we’re talking about. Building such a thing
would take more time and energy than we can devote to it in an emergency
situation. The one we constructed is done by simply piling up snow over a bunch
of items (survival bags, in this case) and then digging said items out by means
of a small hole. Subsequently the living space is dug out some more, the hole
is patched, and a proper downwind entrance with an air trap is constructed.
The overnight temperature inside the igloo remained a
tolerable 20F. I slept quite well. The next morning we had to stage a rescue in
zero-visibility conditions. Jack suggested we use a search technique used by
divers in similar situations. The results were impressive compared to what I
had experienced before.
30-JAN-2009
Today we will play “What
does it look like”, Antarctica-style.
Part 2.
What does an igloo look like?
What does an LC-130 look like?
What does Castle Rock look like?
What does Scott Base look like?
What does a Haggie look like?
What does the DJ room look like?
What does a used neutrino dumpster look
like?
What do McMurdo helicopters look like?
What does the near future look like?
31-JAN-2009
Note to self: the proverbial “different drummer” must
live around here somewhere.
By now I have spent
cumulatively over six months of my life in
My recent socializing has
allowed me access to see the diving gear used in the station. Quite different
from what I’m accustomed to. I feel claustrophobic just looking at those suits;
I’d still love to go for a dip and would not think twice about doing so if
given the chance.
I went to our 0.5 jamesway
to check on the GPS ground station antenna and make sure that things are ready
for the Basler’s arrival in 2 days. We will only have very limited time to
deconfigure the plane, pack and catalogue everything, and enter all our boxes
into the return cargo stream. Due to timing constraints we have 38 hours to do
this (and it is only 3 of us). I am worried because the reverse process took 6
of us about 3 weeks. I will have everything as ready as possible for the
arrival, and I have secured a vehicle for our exclusive use during that period.
1-FEB-2009
I was introduced today to
the delicate art of doing Tim Tam shots. If not done exactly right you
basically end up smearing chocolate all over your face. This, depending on the circumstances,
doesn’t have to be a bad thing. While we are on the food-smearing theme,
despite my comment of a few days back, I promise I did not have anything to do
with this event. Really. Promised. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4840139a11.html
Quickly moving to a
different topic, I was feeling quite lucky when in absolutely beautiful skies I
was allowed near the runway again, this time to photograph an LC-130 taking
off. So there I was, freezing, standing by the taxiway waiting for the thing to
line up on the runway and go. It finally did and I took the pictures I wanted.
Imagine the feeling when the plane actually turned around and did a low pass.
That is when you know your luck has moved to the next level. Or when you fear
what is to come next if, like me, you believe in the law of conservation of
misery. I must be vigilant now.
2-FEB-2009
My alarm rang at 6:30 am.
this morning. Little did I know that it would be 49 hours before I would sleep
again, and then for a very short period.
After breakfast I went to
the airfield to make sure that all our boxes were accessible for the imminent
packing event. Then I waited for the plane to arrive. Until 10 pm. And we
started pulling stuff out of the plane and into boxes like there was no
tomorrow. Incidentally, this last one is a simple concept when you are in a
place where the sun doesn’t set. Two days later, at 7am, I took a 2-hour nap.
Then I met
Normally this is where I
would write what happened to the Gmeter, and how I babysat it back to the
States and all that good stuff. Alas, and to everyone’s great surprise, that
was not to happen. Due to unforeseen behaviour from the airline cargo division,
the Gmeter and I went back north separately. Ironically me in an Airbus A-380
and the Gmeter in a C-17.
Epilogue
[…] You’ve been listening to Late
Night with El Chupacabras on 104.5 FM ICERADIO. This is the end of my show for
now. It’s been more fun than I had anticipated. Thanks for your support and
perhaps I’ll see you in October.
Graham Nash’s Just a Song
Before I Go starts to play.
