Well time sure flies when you’re having fun. Cliché sure I know it! But it is true. I’ve been on the ice for 125 days now can you believe it? Tomorrow is my last day here and can I say how excited I am to leave and go to Italy?
Once again I have to somewhat start this blog off with an apology as to how long it has taken me to update you all once again. And quite honestly I don’t have a good excuse other than the truth. Until the last week or so nothing all too new and exciting has occurred.
There was however an event that made international news down here. The event I am speaking of was a Jello Wrestling party in one of the storage warehouses. Unfortunately the day after the event was held a handful of NSF bigwigs were taking a tour of the warehouses and came across the cleaned up venue. There was no Jello still around on the floors or any mess to speak of. What did tip them off was the fact that the mattresses used were strapped to pallets and still in the warehouse along with a food waste bin which was where all of the Jello had been thrown.
What really sucked about the whole situation was that a good friend ended up getting fired over it. In my opinion the only reason he was fired was because the NSF was already in hot water over the fact that numerous high ranking officials had recently been busted for surfing porn on their laptops and were fired for it. With $6 billion recently given to the NSF it would look bad if they allowed things of that nature to occur.
What was really funny about the whole fallout was the fact that the station manager went on to hold town meetings explaining his reasoning. Essentially what that caused were town bitch-fests at upper management. What really pissed a lot of people off down here was the fact that jello wrestling has occurred numerous times with no more than a slap on the wrist as punishment. No station supplies were used and nothing was damaged. So firing the employee for no good reason really pissed off a lot of people down here.
After that happened there was only about a week or so until the Vessel arrived. That was actually a lot of fun. I was moved to nightshift for the offload and we had to work twelve-hour days. The offload went very quickly and definitely helped to speed my time up. Tonight is my last full night of debauchery down here (i.e. drinking lots of beer and whiskey) and I intend to have a blast. It snowed a lot today but the forecast is clear for tomorrow which I’m hopeful it is so I can get out of here on time and spend a few days in Christchurch with Anthony before heading off to Europe!
Some people are able to live this lifestyle, for them it works. For me it’s been a very exciting experiment to say the least. I have definitely valued my time down here and wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything. On that note I know for a fact that I couldn’t do this year after year. One thing that I cherish that is not possible in this life style is that of having a family and seeing your family regularly.
I am so incredibly excited to be going to Italy in less than a week and seeing my family and the love of my life! It’s been great corresponding with all of you back home while I have been down here. I plan to at least blog once from Italy so feel free to send some more emails. I will try to respond to all of your emails as soon as I can. It has been awfully business as of late and I’m sure it will be the same in Italy.
Much Love,
D
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Happy New Year!!!!
Ok ok, so I've dropped the ball a little and it's been like 20 days since I've posted a blog. I'd really like to say that it's been because I've been super busy and done all kinds of crazy things. Well, that's not the case. Life at McMurdo has been pretty much the same over the last few weeks. Things are starting to ramp up a little bit though.
I have 30 days left on ice at this point and as much as I've loved every minute of it I'm getting ready to see nighttime again. Just yesterday the Icebreaker boat finally came into town. What the icebreaker is responsible for doing is well, duh, break up the ice. The reason we have them come is so that a giant vessel can come in with supplies for the next year as well as a fuel tanker. All we really need now for that to go according to plan is for a good windstorm to come and take all of the broken ice out to sea.
The fuel tanker is expected to come in around the 24th of January and the Vessel is to come around the 31st. Once the vessel gets here the entire town pretty much shuts down. I myself will be switching to the night shift and get running a forklift for 12 hours a day until we have unloaded the entire boat. From what I understand it's a lot of fun and it ends rather quickly.
Ok, ok, so on to other business. What craziness have I gotten myself into since we last spoke... Lots! First and foremost, I am no longer on crutches!!!! I actually got off of my crutches a week after Christmas. Just in time for New Years! And may I say it was one of the best parties I've ever been to. Aside from it missing some very important people it was amazing.
Every year down here they hold Icestock... If it sounds like Woodstock that's because it is supposed to. It's a huge outdoor (yes outdoor) music festival. I believe there was about 8 or 9 bands that played and there were all kinds of things to do outside. After the concert was over there was a party held in a secret location, we partied in an old retired fuel tank. Don't worry about fumes it's been fuelless for years. I actually go up there regularly to pull supplies out of it. All in all New Years was awesome!
This last weekend was another awesome weekend. On Saturday night myself and some friends took a hike out to Hut Point to see the Ice Breaker coming in. While we were out there we were accompanied by a Weddell seal out in the water. Pretty soon we should be getting all kinds of wild life out near hut point. Everything from seals, to penguins to big ole orca whales! I can't wait for that to start! After we left we hung out for a little while until we went to another secret party down here! This one was in the Laundry Room! It was pretty fun, the parts of the night I do remember.
On Sunday there was another annual event that I attended down here. That was the annual Rugby match between the Kiwi's and the Americans. It was pretty amazing to see the set up. They actually had goal posts erected and seating for us to all enjoy the game. Unfortunately (not a huge surprise) the American team lost again. They've never actually scored, but this year they did have the ball bounce off the crossbar! They lost 8-0 :(
As my season is coming to a close I am very grateful for everything that I have experienced down here. I definitely wouldn't trade this experience for anything. That's not to say I don't miss everyone back home because lord knows I definitely do! My crazy best friend has decided that he is going to stay down here until Oct. 15th. So he'll be back just in time for the wedding. He of course will be missing the bachelor party but I understand. There are a lot of people down here that are getting a little rough around the edges and can't wait to get off of the ice. I just hope that none of them forget about all of the amazing things they have done down here. I know that I definitely wont. The journey is far from over though!
Until next time...
Much Love!
D!
I have 30 days left on ice at this point and as much as I've loved every minute of it I'm getting ready to see nighttime again. Just yesterday the Icebreaker boat finally came into town. What the icebreaker is responsible for doing is well, duh, break up the ice. The reason we have them come is so that a giant vessel can come in with supplies for the next year as well as a fuel tanker. All we really need now for that to go according to plan is for a good windstorm to come and take all of the broken ice out to sea.
The fuel tanker is expected to come in around the 24th of January and the Vessel is to come around the 31st. Once the vessel gets here the entire town pretty much shuts down. I myself will be switching to the night shift and get running a forklift for 12 hours a day until we have unloaded the entire boat. From what I understand it's a lot of fun and it ends rather quickly.
Ok, ok, so on to other business. What craziness have I gotten myself into since we last spoke... Lots! First and foremost, I am no longer on crutches!!!! I actually got off of my crutches a week after Christmas. Just in time for New Years! And may I say it was one of the best parties I've ever been to. Aside from it missing some very important people it was amazing.
Every year down here they hold Icestock... If it sounds like Woodstock that's because it is supposed to. It's a huge outdoor (yes outdoor) music festival. I believe there was about 8 or 9 bands that played and there were all kinds of things to do outside. After the concert was over there was a party held in a secret location, we partied in an old retired fuel tank. Don't worry about fumes it's been fuelless for years. I actually go up there regularly to pull supplies out of it. All in all New Years was awesome!
This last weekend was another awesome weekend. On Saturday night myself and some friends took a hike out to Hut Point to see the Ice Breaker coming in. While we were out there we were accompanied by a Weddell seal out in the water. Pretty soon we should be getting all kinds of wild life out near hut point. Everything from seals, to penguins to big ole orca whales! I can't wait for that to start! After we left we hung out for a little while until we went to another secret party down here! This one was in the Laundry Room! It was pretty fun, the parts of the night I do remember.
On Sunday there was another annual event that I attended down here. That was the annual Rugby match between the Kiwi's and the Americans. It was pretty amazing to see the set up. They actually had goal posts erected and seating for us to all enjoy the game. Unfortunately (not a huge surprise) the American team lost again. They've never actually scored, but this year they did have the ball bounce off the crossbar! They lost 8-0 :(
As my season is coming to a close I am very grateful for everything that I have experienced down here. I definitely wouldn't trade this experience for anything. That's not to say I don't miss everyone back home because lord knows I definitely do! My crazy best friend has decided that he is going to stay down here until Oct. 15th. So he'll be back just in time for the wedding. He of course will be missing the bachelor party but I understand. There are a lot of people down here that are getting a little rough around the edges and can't wait to get off of the ice. I just hope that none of them forget about all of the amazing things they have done down here. I know that I definitely wont. The journey is far from over though!
Until next time...
Much Love!
D!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! I know it has been a little while since I last wrote but I've had a good excuse. I've essentially been hobbling around on crutches for about three weeks now. A lot longer than I had anticipated. However, thankfully, I am just about off of them. I am supposed to be weening myself off of the crutches and maybe by weekends end I can return the crutches to medical.
I don't think that it is in God's design for me to have a white Christmas. I've made it all the way down to a continent that is almost entirely covered in snow and ice and yet I walk outside and the whole town is brown.
It's been kind of lax down here lately for me. Really can't get out and do all that much while on crutches but I am really excited to be getting off of them and start hiking again. There was a softball tournament down here last weekend which I missed but that might've been a good thing. Four people that were playing are all being sent home with various injuries. Everything from a separated shoulder to a torn ACL.
Last night was the Christmas party down here, it was also the first night I attempted to be without my crutches. By the time I went to bed my leg was a little tired but not all too bad. So the good news is I'm healing. Aside from the injury I seem to be the luckiest guy on station... At my departments Christmas party I won a free day off (would've actually won three days if that were allowed). We played a couple of games and the prize for each one was a day off. And then last night as I walked into the Christmas party you were supposed to grab a piece of paper out of a sack, most of the papers said naughty and you didn't get a present. Surprise, surprise, mine said nice and I got to go and choose a present from under the tree! It was Jenga a fun game of course!
I really don't have a ton to write right now, I don't know why. It could have a little bit to do with the fact I'm not very motivated. Being injured sucks! It really hasn't even felt like I'm in Antarctica aside from the fact that I am away from everyone I love and hold dear. Luckily there is a good support system down here. There are a lot of great people and I've made a lot of really good friends. Once I get back to my full workload I think the season is going to fly right on by. I can't believe I've been gone for 81 days! And I've only got 50 days left on the ice and 54 days until I'm with the family in Italy.
Sorry for the boring blog, they all can't be winners! I will try better next time. On a closing thought. One thing I do like about spending Christmas down here is the fact that a lot of the fakeness of Christmas from back home is eliminated. I'm so glad to not have had to deal with all of the BS that goes on with the mad dash to find the "perfect" present for everyone. I'm not inundated with commercials about Christmas or complaints that you can't say Merry Christmas. I myself have never had a problem with the meaning of Christmas but I feel a lot of people do. It's turned into this monster that does nothing but stress everyone out.
I definitely don't miss going to the mall and dealing with the million people doing their last minute shopping. Christmas is about family, it's about love and most importantly it's about God. Don't get me wrong, the gifts are a nice thing but it shouldn't be the focus of the day. I love my family and friends and I wish them all a Merry Christmas, not a happy holidays but a Merry Christmas. Because that is what today is, those who don't believe in it don't take it as an insult or an attack, take it as a compliment. Because to me, saying Merry Christmas is like saying I love you, because God loved us enough to save us all by giving us Christ. So enjoy the day, don't be sad it is a day to celebrate!
Love and miss you all,
D
I don't think that it is in God's design for me to have a white Christmas. I've made it all the way down to a continent that is almost entirely covered in snow and ice and yet I walk outside and the whole town is brown.
It's been kind of lax down here lately for me. Really can't get out and do all that much while on crutches but I am really excited to be getting off of them and start hiking again. There was a softball tournament down here last weekend which I missed but that might've been a good thing. Four people that were playing are all being sent home with various injuries. Everything from a separated shoulder to a torn ACL.
Last night was the Christmas party down here, it was also the first night I attempted to be without my crutches. By the time I went to bed my leg was a little tired but not all too bad. So the good news is I'm healing. Aside from the injury I seem to be the luckiest guy on station... At my departments Christmas party I won a free day off (would've actually won three days if that were allowed). We played a couple of games and the prize for each one was a day off. And then last night as I walked into the Christmas party you were supposed to grab a piece of paper out of a sack, most of the papers said naughty and you didn't get a present. Surprise, surprise, mine said nice and I got to go and choose a present from under the tree! It was Jenga a fun game of course!
I really don't have a ton to write right now, I don't know why. It could have a little bit to do with the fact I'm not very motivated. Being injured sucks! It really hasn't even felt like I'm in Antarctica aside from the fact that I am away from everyone I love and hold dear. Luckily there is a good support system down here. There are a lot of great people and I've made a lot of really good friends. Once I get back to my full workload I think the season is going to fly right on by. I can't believe I've been gone for 81 days! And I've only got 50 days left on the ice and 54 days until I'm with the family in Italy.
Sorry for the boring blog, they all can't be winners! I will try better next time. On a closing thought. One thing I do like about spending Christmas down here is the fact that a lot of the fakeness of Christmas from back home is eliminated. I'm so glad to not have had to deal with all of the BS that goes on with the mad dash to find the "perfect" present for everyone. I'm not inundated with commercials about Christmas or complaints that you can't say Merry Christmas. I myself have never had a problem with the meaning of Christmas but I feel a lot of people do. It's turned into this monster that does nothing but stress everyone out.
I definitely don't miss going to the mall and dealing with the million people doing their last minute shopping. Christmas is about family, it's about love and most importantly it's about God. Don't get me wrong, the gifts are a nice thing but it shouldn't be the focus of the day. I love my family and friends and I wish them all a Merry Christmas, not a happy holidays but a Merry Christmas. Because that is what today is, those who don't believe in it don't take it as an insult or an attack, take it as a compliment. Because to me, saying Merry Christmas is like saying I love you, because God loved us enough to save us all by giving us Christ. So enjoy the day, don't be sad it is a day to celebrate!
Love and miss you all,
D
Monday, December 8, 2008
I'm an Antarctic Statistic...
This one will be short, maybe...
Since I'm writing again so quickly since the last one I only have two things to really talk about today. First on the agenda will be something I left out from the last blog, Freezing man... what is it?
As many of you have probably heard of the event called Burning Man that takes place in the dessert that is a start. Freezing man had the same objective as Burning Man. It was an attempt at a mass gathering of people to interact in live art. I'm not an expert on Burning Man but from some documentaries I've watched it appears to be a week long party in the dessert where people get grants and/or build art projects. The art is designed to allow people to become a part of the artwork itself. It has the reputation of being a bunch of hippies running around naked in the dessert taking all kinds of drugs. While that may very well happen the intention behind it all is the celebration of art.
Well Freezing Man was just that (we have a lot of hippies down here) except nobody was naked and there were no drugs. Just lots of beer! The organizers of the event had a lot of stuff mailed down here from all over the world. They went to a lot of Burning Man sites and expressed their desire to put on an event like Burning Man in Antarctica. For some specific reasons we couldn't follow all of the rules of Burning Man so it was somewhat an unofficial off site event.
If you have looked at my pictures from the event I was wearing some clothes that were actually donated from people all over the world. The pants themselves were skin tight purple sequined and the shirt was a baby-doll t-shirt that said drop it like its hot. The party itself was like a big dress up party with music and dancing. I spent a lot of my night making a hoola-hoop and then showcasing my hoola-hoopin abilities. There was also a lot of light dancing as well as a beard making center. The event had a lot of body painting and also a dunk tank out back. Which proved not to be the most intelligent choice for some people. One of my friends got hypothermia and had to been taken away by the fire department and warmed up at the firehouse. All in all though it was a very interesting experience!
Ok, now to make the title of this blog make some sense. I am on crutches right now and probably for at least the next week. It's not anything serious I just have a bone contusion in my right ankle. I was playing indoor soccer on Friday night and I got kicked in the ankle while I was passing the ball. It immediately became swollen, somewhat looked like somebody cut a tennis ball in half and stuffed it under the skin in my ankle. At first I didn't want to go to medical but about an hour later when it really started to hurt and the swelling wasn't going down I finally called medical and the doc came to see me.
I was really nervous because a lot of people have been sent home recently. Some for things less dramatic than a broken ankle so I was pretty sure I was going to be sent home soon. The doctor came and looked at my ankle and from the swelling he thought I could have a broken bone in my ankle but he couldn't tell for sure until he x-rayed it the next day. In the meantime he got me some crutches as well as some pain killers. He didn't really tell me what the pills were but the instructions were on it. 1-2 tablets every 6 hour or as needed. So I took 2 at about 11PM, I woke up and at about 3AM and my ankle was throbbing so I took two more, minor mistake. I woke up the next morning and felt drunk and went to the medical building. As I was waiting for my x-ray to come back I became really sick to my stomach and almost threw up. Came to find out that he had given me percocet. If I had known that I would've only taken one more at 3Am but oh well.
So as it stands right now I'm staying on the ice, but I'm just on light duty until my ankle is completely better. I imagine that if it gets worse or just doesn't get better I could be sent home but that's very unlikely. So for now it's just a pain in the ass being on crutches and trying to get around, Antarctica isn't very handicap accessible. The ADA is not being fully followed down here, shame on the government :P haha but I must say I like the attention!
That's all for now, as promised a little bit shorter than usual!
Much Love,
D
Since I'm writing again so quickly since the last one I only have two things to really talk about today. First on the agenda will be something I left out from the last blog, Freezing man... what is it?
As many of you have probably heard of the event called Burning Man that takes place in the dessert that is a start. Freezing man had the same objective as Burning Man. It was an attempt at a mass gathering of people to interact in live art. I'm not an expert on Burning Man but from some documentaries I've watched it appears to be a week long party in the dessert where people get grants and/or build art projects. The art is designed to allow people to become a part of the artwork itself. It has the reputation of being a bunch of hippies running around naked in the dessert taking all kinds of drugs. While that may very well happen the intention behind it all is the celebration of art.
Well Freezing Man was just that (we have a lot of hippies down here) except nobody was naked and there were no drugs. Just lots of beer! The organizers of the event had a lot of stuff mailed down here from all over the world. They went to a lot of Burning Man sites and expressed their desire to put on an event like Burning Man in Antarctica. For some specific reasons we couldn't follow all of the rules of Burning Man so it was somewhat an unofficial off site event.
If you have looked at my pictures from the event I was wearing some clothes that were actually donated from people all over the world. The pants themselves were skin tight purple sequined and the shirt was a baby-doll t-shirt that said drop it like its hot. The party itself was like a big dress up party with music and dancing. I spent a lot of my night making a hoola-hoop and then showcasing my hoola-hoopin abilities. There was also a lot of light dancing as well as a beard making center. The event had a lot of body painting and also a dunk tank out back. Which proved not to be the most intelligent choice for some people. One of my friends got hypothermia and had to been taken away by the fire department and warmed up at the firehouse. All in all though it was a very interesting experience!
Ok, now to make the title of this blog make some sense. I am on crutches right now and probably for at least the next week. It's not anything serious I just have a bone contusion in my right ankle. I was playing indoor soccer on Friday night and I got kicked in the ankle while I was passing the ball. It immediately became swollen, somewhat looked like somebody cut a tennis ball in half and stuffed it under the skin in my ankle. At first I didn't want to go to medical but about an hour later when it really started to hurt and the swelling wasn't going down I finally called medical and the doc came to see me.
I was really nervous because a lot of people have been sent home recently. Some for things less dramatic than a broken ankle so I was pretty sure I was going to be sent home soon. The doctor came and looked at my ankle and from the swelling he thought I could have a broken bone in my ankle but he couldn't tell for sure until he x-rayed it the next day. In the meantime he got me some crutches as well as some pain killers. He didn't really tell me what the pills were but the instructions were on it. 1-2 tablets every 6 hour or as needed. So I took 2 at about 11PM, I woke up and at about 3AM and my ankle was throbbing so I took two more, minor mistake. I woke up the next morning and felt drunk and went to the medical building. As I was waiting for my x-ray to come back I became really sick to my stomach and almost threw up. Came to find out that he had given me percocet. If I had known that I would've only taken one more at 3Am but oh well.
So as it stands right now I'm staying on the ice, but I'm just on light duty until my ankle is completely better. I imagine that if it gets worse or just doesn't get better I could be sent home but that's very unlikely. So for now it's just a pain in the ass being on crutches and trying to get around, Antarctica isn't very handicap accessible. The ADA is not being fully followed down here, shame on the government :P haha but I must say I like the attention!
That's all for now, as promised a little bit shorter than usual!
Much Love,
D
Thursday, December 4, 2008
They say familiarity breeds contempt....
Well, I don't really buy it. It seems to me that people like what is familiar as opposed to change and what is new. Of course, that can't be said for everyone or everything but for some things I think it holds true. My beard for instance; I've gotten emails from some of your back home about the dislike for the beard or downright hatred (love). So for Thanksgiving I shaved the beard off, just for a little bit of shock factor. Surprise, surprise it shocked some people down here. It was really funny to go down to the galley for dinner and have about half of everyone I see on a daily basis not recognize me. On top of that I've had a good 6 or 7 people flat out tell me I need to grow it back. Not because of what anyone is saying down here, I am. Mainly I'm growing the beard back because, well, I'm in Antarctica for Pete's sake! My face nearly froze off the other day because it was so damn cold and windy. So until I'm in Italy my face will be covered with fur! Anyways, aside from that, let me tell you how the past 10 days have been.
Thanksgiving was great. Did it compare to the feast that I'm use to back home? Absolutely not. It's impossible to duplicate what I get with my nearest and dearest anyplace other than with them. This is the first year I didn't have mashed potatoes (right there with ya Emily), however I wished that I did. I had a baked potato but it's not the same. This is also the first Thanksgiving ever without Gulliver's corn (tear, running down my throat to my cornless belly) as well as none of Noni's magnificent rigatoni and her famous sauce. I definitely missed the normal family drama that occurs, gladly missed the nearly violent karaoke though. Nobody should be forced to listen to some members of the family sing before they get pie, I don't want bloody ears and an upset stomach before dessert! Love ya sis!
Although, I missed Thanksgiving it was still a pretty special treat down here. I had the three o'clock seating for dinner and in the hour and a half I got to eat I ate so much food that I didn't need to eat until 10:30 the next morning. It was quite a feast. The meal consisted of Turkey (duh), beef tenderloin, shrimp (yummy, fresh!), baked potatoes, candied yams, bread, gravy, truffles, pumpkin pie, and about 3 other desserts (I didn't eat them all but they looked great) and some more sides I'm sure. I was fortunate enough to eat at a table with 8 or 9 good friends that I've made down here, it was all by chance because we all signed up to eat at different times.
The rest of the day I pretty much just relaxed and let my food digest. I watched some Californication as well as some more True Blood, I love those shows! I figured that I definitely needed to rest though, it was in fact the only two day weekend I will have the entire time that I am down here. So needless to say I took full advantage of it.
As some of you know I am a compulsive sleep walker. Every place I've ever lived and numerous places I haven't, I have been caught sleep walking. Some of you might know about the time I woke up in a friend's mom's bedroom (I was on the ground) that I had never met before she asked me who the heck I was and what I was doing in her room. Others might remember the story about the time I found my pajamas in the freezer in Connecticut. If you don't know about these stories just email and I'll give you a quick summary on the events at hand.
You might be wondering where all of this is going... Well, be patient I'm getting there. I live in a room with two other guys, Shaun (essentially my best friend down here) and Nate (total frat guy at first impression, good guy though). Well Shaun had been at a field camp for the last two weeks so Nate and I had the room made for 4 all to ourselves. So on Monday night I actually woke up twice in the middle of a sleepwalking episode. The first time I found myself standing up on my bed and lifting one of the ceiling tiles out (think the kind that you throw a pencil into in high school). I have no idea why I was up there but I quickly gathered myself, went to the bathroom and went back to bed.
About two hours later, Shaun returned from the field camp that he was at (WAIS Divide, West Antarctic Ice Sheet kind of like the continental divide in the states). Apparently I had a conversation with him for a few minutes before I woke up. Most of you are about to learn a little nugget of information that I only recently realized. My sleeping walking all has a theme. When Shaun walked in the door apparently I was really happy that he got there just in time and now I wasn't going to lose the game that I had been playing. For the last few years every time I've caught myself sleepwalking or somebody else has it has something to do with this game. My dreams are full of this game and I absolutely have no idea what the rules or objective to it are. If I'm going to do a little dream analyzing I think it has a lot to do with the fact that since high school ended I haven't really engaged in enough competitive sports.
I've done crazier things than that but the point of this rambling is that I think I'm finally becoming comfortable being down here and having roommates. I am essentially sleeping through the night aside from the occasional restroom trip. I feel as though the rest of the season will be pretty easy. Christmas will be difficult and so will missing all 4 of the most important women in my life birthdays but this has been extremely rewarding.
I've learned so much about what it is to be on your own, truly on your own. And I know that no matter what goes on in life I'll be able to handle it. Life is great, you sometimes just have to take step out of your comfort zone to really appreciate it. I've always been a happy person, laid back and easy going. That's not going to change either, I just appreciate this life I lead a little bit more. I'm definitely thankful for all of you that are reading this (thanksgiving theme a little) and I miss you all terribly (N).
What I really like about this online blog thing is I never really have a plan on where it's going to go, it just kind of goes. So if it seems a little scattered and all over the place, that's because it is and that's kind of nice to not have any rules. So at this point I've drawn a blank and to me that means I'm done for the night. I hope you all take one thing out of my blog, if you ever catch me sleeping walking, don't wake me just have some fun and see where you can make the conversation go. If I wake you up it'd be easy to be upset but the point is, don't let my sleepwalking upset you because that's pointless why be mad when you can have fun!
Much love,
D
Thanksgiving was great. Did it compare to the feast that I'm use to back home? Absolutely not. It's impossible to duplicate what I get with my nearest and dearest anyplace other than with them. This is the first year I didn't have mashed potatoes (right there with ya Emily), however I wished that I did. I had a baked potato but it's not the same. This is also the first Thanksgiving ever without Gulliver's corn (tear, running down my throat to my cornless belly) as well as none of Noni's magnificent rigatoni and her famous sauce. I definitely missed the normal family drama that occurs, gladly missed the nearly violent karaoke though. Nobody should be forced to listen to some members of the family sing before they get pie, I don't want bloody ears and an upset stomach before dessert! Love ya sis!
Although, I missed Thanksgiving it was still a pretty special treat down here. I had the three o'clock seating for dinner and in the hour and a half I got to eat I ate so much food that I didn't need to eat until 10:30 the next morning. It was quite a feast. The meal consisted of Turkey (duh), beef tenderloin, shrimp (yummy, fresh!), baked potatoes, candied yams, bread, gravy, truffles, pumpkin pie, and about 3 other desserts (I didn't eat them all but they looked great) and some more sides I'm sure. I was fortunate enough to eat at a table with 8 or 9 good friends that I've made down here, it was all by chance because we all signed up to eat at different times.
The rest of the day I pretty much just relaxed and let my food digest. I watched some Californication as well as some more True Blood, I love those shows! I figured that I definitely needed to rest though, it was in fact the only two day weekend I will have the entire time that I am down here. So needless to say I took full advantage of it.
As some of you know I am a compulsive sleep walker. Every place I've ever lived and numerous places I haven't, I have been caught sleep walking. Some of you might know about the time I woke up in a friend's mom's bedroom (I was on the ground) that I had never met before she asked me who the heck I was and what I was doing in her room. Others might remember the story about the time I found my pajamas in the freezer in Connecticut. If you don't know about these stories just email and I'll give you a quick summary on the events at hand.
You might be wondering where all of this is going... Well, be patient I'm getting there. I live in a room with two other guys, Shaun (essentially my best friend down here) and Nate (total frat guy at first impression, good guy though). Well Shaun had been at a field camp for the last two weeks so Nate and I had the room made for 4 all to ourselves. So on Monday night I actually woke up twice in the middle of a sleepwalking episode. The first time I found myself standing up on my bed and lifting one of the ceiling tiles out (think the kind that you throw a pencil into in high school). I have no idea why I was up there but I quickly gathered myself, went to the bathroom and went back to bed.
About two hours later, Shaun returned from the field camp that he was at (WAIS Divide, West Antarctic Ice Sheet kind of like the continental divide in the states). Apparently I had a conversation with him for a few minutes before I woke up. Most of you are about to learn a little nugget of information that I only recently realized. My sleeping walking all has a theme. When Shaun walked in the door apparently I was really happy that he got there just in time and now I wasn't going to lose the game that I had been playing. For the last few years every time I've caught myself sleepwalking or somebody else has it has something to do with this game. My dreams are full of this game and I absolutely have no idea what the rules or objective to it are. If I'm going to do a little dream analyzing I think it has a lot to do with the fact that since high school ended I haven't really engaged in enough competitive sports.
I've done crazier things than that but the point of this rambling is that I think I'm finally becoming comfortable being down here and having roommates. I am essentially sleeping through the night aside from the occasional restroom trip. I feel as though the rest of the season will be pretty easy. Christmas will be difficult and so will missing all 4 of the most important women in my life birthdays but this has been extremely rewarding.
I've learned so much about what it is to be on your own, truly on your own. And I know that no matter what goes on in life I'll be able to handle it. Life is great, you sometimes just have to take step out of your comfort zone to really appreciate it. I've always been a happy person, laid back and easy going. That's not going to change either, I just appreciate this life I lead a little bit more. I'm definitely thankful for all of you that are reading this (thanksgiving theme a little) and I miss you all terribly (N).
What I really like about this online blog thing is I never really have a plan on where it's going to go, it just kind of goes. So if it seems a little scattered and all over the place, that's because it is and that's kind of nice to not have any rules. So at this point I've drawn a blank and to me that means I'm done for the night. I hope you all take one thing out of my blog, if you ever catch me sleeping walking, don't wake me just have some fun and see where you can make the conversation go. If I wake you up it'd be easy to be upset but the point is, don't let my sleepwalking upset you because that's pointless why be mad when you can have fun!
Much love,
D
Monday, November 24, 2008
Well aren't I a Happy Camper!
Okie dokie, so I missed a week, what's a FNG (Freakin New Guy) supposed to do? I wish I had a good reason as to why I missed a post but I really don't. There just wasn't all too much to report last week. However, a lot did happen in the last 4 or 5 days.
So down here the weeks become really long at times. We work a lot. Monday thru Saturday I work from 7Am - 5PM. And most of the time the work is pretty much the same. I try to mix it up as much as I can and try to see as much as I can but some times it just doesn't work out that way.
Last week was one of those weeks. The week before nothing all too exciting had happened and I was finding that I had a lot of free time on my hands. I've been watching a lot of True Blood (on HBO Awesome Show!) and Californication (Showtime hilarious). Both of which a friend of mine's husband mails them down to her and a big group of us watch. It sounds nice, which it is, but it's also far too normal for my liking. The reason I don't like the normal is because when things are somewhat normal like that I really start to miss all of you guys back home. Then comes Thursday...
Thursday was starting out to be one of those really normal days I was talking about. Then, at around 11:00AM my supervisor says "Hey Danny, I've got a question for you." To which I respond "What's that Gingleho? (her login ID)"
"How would you like to go to Happy Camper tomorrow?" (see what I did there with the title of the blog?)
I was kind of out of it at that point but after about a second or two to sink in I responded, "Absolutely!" and so the craziness of the weekend was underway.
Let me give you a quick run down as to what exactly Happy Camper is. Happy Camper is a trip they take FNG's on. They get a group of about 16-22 people, load them up in a shuttle, drive them out to the middle of the ice-shelf and say "Hey you're going to learn how to survive out here for the night." Now that may sound intimidating but it's not so bad. It was actually a lot of fun!
It all started at 8:30AM on Friday morning. Everyone meets at the Science Support Center and we get a 2 hour briefing on the events that are going to transpire over the next two days. They tell us ways to recognize the onset of hypothermia as well as frostbite. They also give us ways to avoid both of these conditions from occurring. At around 10:30AM they load us on the shuttle and drive us to the I-Hut which stands for Instructors Hut. At that point they show us how to use these little tiny camping stoves to make hot water as well as they fed us lunch.
After that short little education we are drivin out to Snow-School. Once out there we are going to be out in the wild of Antarctica for the next 24 hours. On our way out there we pick up all kinds of supplies, first we picked up our sleep kit which comprised of a sleeping bag, a liner for the inside as well as two insulated mats to put on the ground. After that we loaded up a sled with shovels, saws, tents, and other camping equipment.
The first thing they teach us when we get out there is about the best ways to set up our tents in relation to wind and snow and not getting snowed in. Along with that train of thought we were taught how to construct an ice-block quarry. That way we could build a wall to help and block the wind from getting to the tents and what not.
Continuing after that our instructor taught us good ways to build snowcaves and all about how much room and space we should try and make. And after that we were taught how to build a Quinsy (basically a tent made out of snow). Hopefully I never have to use any of the knowledge that I learned over the weekend but it is definitely a good thing to have learned. I ended up building and sleeping in a hole in the ground. Surprisingly I wasn't very cold at all, my fingers were about the only things to be cold on myself the next morning.
The following morning we had to pack up camp and be ready to go by 8:30AM, which we were and it wasn't a problem. After we packed up camp we headed back to the I-Hut and went through a debriefing as well as some survival scenarios. We finished up the trip by watching some videos on helicopter safety, hopefully I get to use that information sometime soon!
I was glad to be back so that I could get some sleep. Only to find out that all sorts of parties had been planned for the evening. There was a Prom, a Pajama Jam, a Hut 10 party, as well as HeavyShop Pride Night. And mom, don't worry I didn't go to all four, I missed the Pajama Jam.
The night was crazy and was a ton of fun. I woke up the next morning however with a huge lump on my head from the HeavyShop Pride Night where I got headbutted by a 5' tall garden gnome named Tom. And all day Sunday, like god intended, I had a day of rest. And tonight well of course I played volleyball and of course we are still undefeated. That's it for now, I'm tired of typing and I'm sure you're tired of reading. Blast off everyone! Have a good night and I shall talk to you all soon. Let me know how things are going.
Love and miss you all!
D
So down here the weeks become really long at times. We work a lot. Monday thru Saturday I work from 7Am - 5PM. And most of the time the work is pretty much the same. I try to mix it up as much as I can and try to see as much as I can but some times it just doesn't work out that way.
Last week was one of those weeks. The week before nothing all too exciting had happened and I was finding that I had a lot of free time on my hands. I've been watching a lot of True Blood (on HBO Awesome Show!) and Californication (Showtime hilarious). Both of which a friend of mine's husband mails them down to her and a big group of us watch. It sounds nice, which it is, but it's also far too normal for my liking. The reason I don't like the normal is because when things are somewhat normal like that I really start to miss all of you guys back home. Then comes Thursday...
Thursday was starting out to be one of those really normal days I was talking about. Then, at around 11:00AM my supervisor says "Hey Danny, I've got a question for you." To which I respond "What's that Gingleho? (her login ID)"
"How would you like to go to Happy Camper tomorrow?" (see what I did there with the title of the blog?)
I was kind of out of it at that point but after about a second or two to sink in I responded, "Absolutely!" and so the craziness of the weekend was underway.
Let me give you a quick run down as to what exactly Happy Camper is. Happy Camper is a trip they take FNG's on. They get a group of about 16-22 people, load them up in a shuttle, drive them out to the middle of the ice-shelf and say "Hey you're going to learn how to survive out here for the night." Now that may sound intimidating but it's not so bad. It was actually a lot of fun!
It all started at 8:30AM on Friday morning. Everyone meets at the Science Support Center and we get a 2 hour briefing on the events that are going to transpire over the next two days. They tell us ways to recognize the onset of hypothermia as well as frostbite. They also give us ways to avoid both of these conditions from occurring. At around 10:30AM they load us on the shuttle and drive us to the I-Hut which stands for Instructors Hut. At that point they show us how to use these little tiny camping stoves to make hot water as well as they fed us lunch.
After that short little education we are drivin out to Snow-School. Once out there we are going to be out in the wild of Antarctica for the next 24 hours. On our way out there we pick up all kinds of supplies, first we picked up our sleep kit which comprised of a sleeping bag, a liner for the inside as well as two insulated mats to put on the ground. After that we loaded up a sled with shovels, saws, tents, and other camping equipment.
The first thing they teach us when we get out there is about the best ways to set up our tents in relation to wind and snow and not getting snowed in. Along with that train of thought we were taught how to construct an ice-block quarry. That way we could build a wall to help and block the wind from getting to the tents and what not.
Continuing after that our instructor taught us good ways to build snowcaves and all about how much room and space we should try and make. And after that we were taught how to build a Quinsy (basically a tent made out of snow). Hopefully I never have to use any of the knowledge that I learned over the weekend but it is definitely a good thing to have learned. I ended up building and sleeping in a hole in the ground. Surprisingly I wasn't very cold at all, my fingers were about the only things to be cold on myself the next morning.
The following morning we had to pack up camp and be ready to go by 8:30AM, which we were and it wasn't a problem. After we packed up camp we headed back to the I-Hut and went through a debriefing as well as some survival scenarios. We finished up the trip by watching some videos on helicopter safety, hopefully I get to use that information sometime soon!
I was glad to be back so that I could get some sleep. Only to find out that all sorts of parties had been planned for the evening. There was a Prom, a Pajama Jam, a Hut 10 party, as well as HeavyShop Pride Night. And mom, don't worry I didn't go to all four, I missed the Pajama Jam.
The night was crazy and was a ton of fun. I woke up the next morning however with a huge lump on my head from the HeavyShop Pride Night where I got headbutted by a 5' tall garden gnome named Tom. And all day Sunday, like god intended, I had a day of rest. And tonight well of course I played volleyball and of course we are still undefeated. That's it for now, I'm tired of typing and I'm sure you're tired of reading. Blast off everyone! Have a good night and I shall talk to you all soon. Let me know how things are going.
Love and miss you all!
D
Monday, November 10, 2008
Amazing!
Hello to all of you back in the world of reality. If you don't want to hear my political views skip the first paragraph. Man has a lot happened since I last wrote. We have a new president elect, which I think is amazing. Regardless of your political views you have to admit that the United States electing a Black Man (Even though he is only half black) president is a monumental occasion. I am quite impressed with our country and proud. At the same time I'm a little bit unimpressed with the state of California. It's quite amazing me to me how progressive our state likes to think we are yet we still can't allow people to marry whomever they wish. I understand the argument that marriage is a religious term and that homosexuality is a sin, but if you take emotion out of it and look at it in the sense that our constitution has a stipulation that church and state be separate then outlawing gay marriage based on religious views is wrong. And if we can't separate our religion from the word marriage then the legal title shouldn't be marriage. Anyways I'll get off of my soapbox and get to the stuff that I am really down here to share with you all.
Saturday night was AMAZING! That secret trip I referred to in my last post took place and can I say how completely mindblowing the entire experience was? I mean, simply put if I got injured and had to go home tomorrow I wouldn't be terribly heartbroken. I don't know how much cooler of an experience I can have down here. So let me start and tell you about it.
The trip that I took went to two different locations down here. It lasted about 6 hours and was by far the best six hours of my entire trip so far. The first location was Cape Evans. If you don't know anything about it from the name a brief history first. When the first, original explorers came to Antarctica and decided to take a trip to the South Pole this is where they set up their base. It's called Scott's Hut at Cape Evans. Essentially visiting Scott's Hut is like going back about 100 years. Because of the cold temperatures down here, nothing has deteriorated all too much at Scott Hut. The original food and bed's and even a dead penguin are pretty much fully in tact. The penguin was being set up to do some sort of an autopsy on it but they never got to it. In fact Scott's group all died, horses dogs and all. Thanks to the Kiwi's (who have a preservation team) we are able to tour the hut and see how things were. The pictures I have posted tell a better story of the hut than what I am able to do. I may even have some info wrong, but if you are interested there are a lot of great books on it as well as stuff online. I was even given a book about the explorers which I intend to read very soon (thanks Aunt Jackie!) But I feel very lucky to have been able to go into this time capsule.
After leaving Cape Evans we were on our way to the ICE CAVES! However on the way to the ice caves we ran into a little Adelie Penguin. He was quite adorable to watch run down the ice road. We actually followed him for a bit until our driver manned-up and gunned it off the beaten road around the penguin. Once we were ahead of him we stopped and we all got out of the Delta (big ass van/truck type thing) and waited for the little guy to come to us. He came within about 10-15 feet it was awesome! I'm glad I don't have to leave the continent having the only penguin I see is one that's been dead for 100 years! It's extremely cool to be that close to the animal in the wild rather than at a zoo with a barricade separating us.
After the penguin siting it was time for me to go into the Ice Caves, breathtaking is all I can say. The natural light in the caves is that blueish hue you see in some of the pictures. Those are the pictures that were taken with the flash turned off. I feel really lucky to be able to see this because it is the first time in about 5 years that they have had them down here. In the past the water wasn't able to get into the glacier's to carve out the caves (which in a very brief way is how it is done). And since it is getting warmer down here, we aren't too sure how long these caves will hold up and how many people are going to be able to go and see them.
Not too sure what it is about tonight but I really don't have as much of a stream of consciousness as I usually do. I apologize! But in case anyone is wondering I no longer have the crud I feel fantastic and aside from a little homesickness I'm having an amazing time. I'm glad not everyone can come down here but I think that everyone should get to experience something like this at least once in their lives. I hope that everyone is having a good start to their week. Hopefully I'll have something new and exciting to chat about next week. If not I'll still blog but it will be a lot shorter.
Love and miss you all!
D!
Saturday night was AMAZING! That secret trip I referred to in my last post took place and can I say how completely mindblowing the entire experience was? I mean, simply put if I got injured and had to go home tomorrow I wouldn't be terribly heartbroken. I don't know how much cooler of an experience I can have down here. So let me start and tell you about it.
The trip that I took went to two different locations down here. It lasted about 6 hours and was by far the best six hours of my entire trip so far. The first location was Cape Evans. If you don't know anything about it from the name a brief history first. When the first, original explorers came to Antarctica and decided to take a trip to the South Pole this is where they set up their base. It's called Scott's Hut at Cape Evans. Essentially visiting Scott's Hut is like going back about 100 years. Because of the cold temperatures down here, nothing has deteriorated all too much at Scott Hut. The original food and bed's and even a dead penguin are pretty much fully in tact. The penguin was being set up to do some sort of an autopsy on it but they never got to it. In fact Scott's group all died, horses dogs and all. Thanks to the Kiwi's (who have a preservation team) we are able to tour the hut and see how things were. The pictures I have posted tell a better story of the hut than what I am able to do. I may even have some info wrong, but if you are interested there are a lot of great books on it as well as stuff online. I was even given a book about the explorers which I intend to read very soon (thanks Aunt Jackie!) But I feel very lucky to have been able to go into this time capsule.
After leaving Cape Evans we were on our way to the ICE CAVES! However on the way to the ice caves we ran into a little Adelie Penguin. He was quite adorable to watch run down the ice road. We actually followed him for a bit until our driver manned-up and gunned it off the beaten road around the penguin. Once we were ahead of him we stopped and we all got out of the Delta (big ass van/truck type thing) and waited for the little guy to come to us. He came within about 10-15 feet it was awesome! I'm glad I don't have to leave the continent having the only penguin I see is one that's been dead for 100 years! It's extremely cool to be that close to the animal in the wild rather than at a zoo with a barricade separating us.
After the penguin siting it was time for me to go into the Ice Caves, breathtaking is all I can say. The natural light in the caves is that blueish hue you see in some of the pictures. Those are the pictures that were taken with the flash turned off. I feel really lucky to be able to see this because it is the first time in about 5 years that they have had them down here. In the past the water wasn't able to get into the glacier's to carve out the caves (which in a very brief way is how it is done). And since it is getting warmer down here, we aren't too sure how long these caves will hold up and how many people are going to be able to go and see them.
Not too sure what it is about tonight but I really don't have as much of a stream of consciousness as I usually do. I apologize! But in case anyone is wondering I no longer have the crud I feel fantastic and aside from a little homesickness I'm having an amazing time. I'm glad not everyone can come down here but I think that everyone should get to experience something like this at least once in their lives. I hope that everyone is having a good start to their week. Hopefully I'll have something new and exciting to chat about next week. If not I'll still blog but it will be a lot shorter.
Love and miss you all!
D!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)