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
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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!
Monday, November 3, 2008
So I've got the crud...
Well it's been another crazy week down here in Antarctica! I still haven't gone and done that thing I've been teasing about but I plan to go and do that on Saturday. It'll be really nice to get out of town and go see some really amazing things.
The last week has been full of its ups and downs. Number one Up was Halloween and the big Halloween party down here. So I didn't come prepared for Halloween, that just means I didn't bring a costume. I was definitely prepared to make something work and to have a blast, that should go without saying. So what did I wear you're wondering? Well what would any heterosexual male do in the event he doesn't have a costume to wear for Halloween? You guessed it he goes to Skua (think salvation army except all is free and down in Antarctica). And what does he pick out and wear? Man you are good at this, of course he finds a wig, a skirt, and makes a bra out of cereal bowls and goes in drag!
I do have some pictures from Halloween but not really that many. I'll try to get them up as soon as possible. But my faith in humanity was renewed on Saturday night. We had our huge Halloween party in the big gym down here. It was all decorated for the festivities and we had plenty of music and drinks and costume contests. But that's not really what renewed my faith. I believe in Karma, to a certain extent. My good Karma finally made it's way back to me. Early in the evening I must've have dropped my camera. I don't know how long I had been missing it before I noticed but when I did notice my stomach dropped.
I couldn't believe that I could lose something that was so important to my being down here. The trip would still be amazing but without photos to remember in 50 years the memories would fade. Well much to my amazement someone tracked me down, in the dark drunken party and returned my camera to me. If it had been somebody I knew that'd be one thing, but it was somebody I hadn't even met down here yet. I was so relieved to have it back but scared to lose it again that I really didn't use the camera much after that. I do have some photos of my embarrassing costume and those should be posted in the next few days.
So probably by this point in the blog you're wondering what the hell the title means? Well I have the crud, more accurately I have the McMurdo Crud. Basically what that entails is that I have a cold, but it's much worse than your regular cold because it's really hard to get better when the weather is so cold all of the time and you have so much you have to do on a regular basis. Someone I work with went to the doctor on station and the doc told him he should feel better in about 2 weeks! 2 weeks?!? I sure as hell hope I'm better much before that. I thought I had beaten it in 3 days until I woke up this morning and felt like shit! (pardon my french).
I started feeling sick on Friday, which was fine because I had to work Saturday so I went to bed at like 9:00PM got a great night's rest and woke up on Saturday feeling fine. Went to work and then partied until about 2:00AM I woke up on Monday and felt fantastic. Played volleyball (more about that later) and went to sleep, only to wake up this morning feeling worse than before. So I hope to again find the pillow very early tonight so I can get some rest.
Ok so back to Volleyball, my team won, again! But this time not without some controversy. The team we played comprised of some people that come down on a regular basis and win the league every year. Just beating them was sure to upset some, but the fact that it went three games and there was a call they didn't fully agree with didn't help. The way we play the players are supposed to govern themselves, there was a play where a guy on the other team essentially grabbed the ball and threw it backwards over his head and it hit the ground on our side. We called him for a lift and their team captain was pretty livid. Aside from that it was actually some really fun good volleyball.
So this week has been a lot tougher than weeks past. I've already made some really great friends and there are always people to hang out with and things to do. But life is definitely lonely when you don't have anyone around you that truly knows you. Being that it's been about a month since I've been away from everyone it is really starting to hit me. I can handle it but it is definitely a tough thing to handle. I couldn't imagine being in the military and having to leave your family for 13 months at a time. Talking through the phone and email isn't the same as that human contact that you get from your loved ones on a daily basis. With that I will bid you all farewell for tonight. I need to get some sleep because I AM TIRED!
I miss you all!
Much Love
D
The last week has been full of its ups and downs. Number one Up was Halloween and the big Halloween party down here. So I didn't come prepared for Halloween, that just means I didn't bring a costume. I was definitely prepared to make something work and to have a blast, that should go without saying. So what did I wear you're wondering? Well what would any heterosexual male do in the event he doesn't have a costume to wear for Halloween? You guessed it he goes to Skua (think salvation army except all is free and down in Antarctica). And what does he pick out and wear? Man you are good at this, of course he finds a wig, a skirt, and makes a bra out of cereal bowls and goes in drag!
I do have some pictures from Halloween but not really that many. I'll try to get them up as soon as possible. But my faith in humanity was renewed on Saturday night. We had our huge Halloween party in the big gym down here. It was all decorated for the festivities and we had plenty of music and drinks and costume contests. But that's not really what renewed my faith. I believe in Karma, to a certain extent. My good Karma finally made it's way back to me. Early in the evening I must've have dropped my camera. I don't know how long I had been missing it before I noticed but when I did notice my stomach dropped.
I couldn't believe that I could lose something that was so important to my being down here. The trip would still be amazing but without photos to remember in 50 years the memories would fade. Well much to my amazement someone tracked me down, in the dark drunken party and returned my camera to me. If it had been somebody I knew that'd be one thing, but it was somebody I hadn't even met down here yet. I was so relieved to have it back but scared to lose it again that I really didn't use the camera much after that. I do have some photos of my embarrassing costume and those should be posted in the next few days.
So probably by this point in the blog you're wondering what the hell the title means? Well I have the crud, more accurately I have the McMurdo Crud. Basically what that entails is that I have a cold, but it's much worse than your regular cold because it's really hard to get better when the weather is so cold all of the time and you have so much you have to do on a regular basis. Someone I work with went to the doctor on station and the doc told him he should feel better in about 2 weeks! 2 weeks?!? I sure as hell hope I'm better much before that. I thought I had beaten it in 3 days until I woke up this morning and felt like shit! (pardon my french).
I started feeling sick on Friday, which was fine because I had to work Saturday so I went to bed at like 9:00PM got a great night's rest and woke up on Saturday feeling fine. Went to work and then partied until about 2:00AM I woke up on Monday and felt fantastic. Played volleyball (more about that later) and went to sleep, only to wake up this morning feeling worse than before. So I hope to again find the pillow very early tonight so I can get some rest.
Ok so back to Volleyball, my team won, again! But this time not without some controversy. The team we played comprised of some people that come down on a regular basis and win the league every year. Just beating them was sure to upset some, but the fact that it went three games and there was a call they didn't fully agree with didn't help. The way we play the players are supposed to govern themselves, there was a play where a guy on the other team essentially grabbed the ball and threw it backwards over his head and it hit the ground on our side. We called him for a lift and their team captain was pretty livid. Aside from that it was actually some really fun good volleyball.
So this week has been a lot tougher than weeks past. I've already made some really great friends and there are always people to hang out with and things to do. But life is definitely lonely when you don't have anyone around you that truly knows you. Being that it's been about a month since I've been away from everyone it is really starting to hit me. I can handle it but it is definitely a tough thing to handle. I couldn't imagine being in the military and having to leave your family for 13 months at a time. Talking through the phone and email isn't the same as that human contact that you get from your loved ones on a daily basis. With that I will bid you all farewell for tonight. I need to get some sleep because I AM TIRED!
I miss you all!
Much Love
D
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Journey is now just my own...
So today is the day that my best friend left me all alone at the bottom of the earth! Damn him! Haha. As cool as it has been to experience this together it's probably best for both of our healths that he has gone. We've been going a thousand miles an hour ever since I got here. I am yet to have gotten a good nights sleep in 3 weeks since I've left the states. And let me tell you I am ready to get some sleep!
I am however starting to get into the swing of things. The food has been pretty good as of late. I have been able to get myself into some sort of routine which has been nice. I don't think I'll ever get use to this 6 days a week work thing. Sunday's are a Godsend though.
I just finished playing some volleyball tonight, it was good times. Our league started tonight and my team is undefeated! Go us! I am absolutely ready to take on this continent without the influence of alcohol in my system. Yesterday Anthony, myself and my roommates girlfriend Kim took a hike up Ob Hill (Observation Hill, pictures on shutterfly!). It was an absolutely gorgeous day, I couldn't have asked for better weather to take a hike. There was virtually no wind until we got to the top of the hill. Next time I will definitely get some snow grips for the boots because that was definitely a challenge.
I know I've said it numerous times already but the scenery here is absolutely breathtaking, now it could be the altitude but I think it's more than that. I'm proud of the pictures that I have taken but they honestly do not do this place justice. I'm not turning into a tree hugging hippie by any means but we definitely need to try our best to preserve this world that we live in. There is so much beauty that is out there to be seen and we can't be so selfish to not leave it behind for those that come after us.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my love to ever come down here but I can't wait to see the world with her and to share these beautiful sights with her. It's funny to me to hear some of the people down here talk. We had to watch this God (that better?) awful movie last night at the science lecture called "Ice People." Please do not waste your time watching this or thinking that this is what it's like. They really ignored all of the people who work down here at the bases and focused on about 5 people who are out at a field camp. To get back to my original thought though...
I hear people down here talk about how this is just a job. The discussion came up about the movie and somebody tried to say that the movie "sucked" because they didn't show that it's like any other job. To which I basically told him he was retarded. Yes it is a job down here but it is nothing like the regular world back home. There is virtually no privacy or alone time down here unless you hike really far out with nobody else. And it's not like we can pick up and go wherever we want whenever we want. Every time we want to leave we have to check in with the firehouse. Not that that is a bad thing. It's really good because there are no cell phones, if you have an emergency and no one knows where you are you are dead. And that's really the shocking thing about some people's comments down here. I don't think they realize they live on such a harsh continent.
I hope to have some pictures for you within the next couple of weeks that will absolutely blow your mind. They recently have discovered something out here really cool, I'm not going to give away what it is but the pics I've seen from some people who have already gone are amazing... Just something to wet your appetite! Anywho, that's all for now. Hope all is well at home with everyone. Please email me just to fill me in. It's tough to get updates without being close to home and I'd love to know what everyone else is up to as well.
Much Love,
D
I am however starting to get into the swing of things. The food has been pretty good as of late. I have been able to get myself into some sort of routine which has been nice. I don't think I'll ever get use to this 6 days a week work thing. Sunday's are a Godsend though.
I just finished playing some volleyball tonight, it was good times. Our league started tonight and my team is undefeated! Go us! I am absolutely ready to take on this continent without the influence of alcohol in my system. Yesterday Anthony, myself and my roommates girlfriend Kim took a hike up Ob Hill (Observation Hill, pictures on shutterfly!). It was an absolutely gorgeous day, I couldn't have asked for better weather to take a hike. There was virtually no wind until we got to the top of the hill. Next time I will definitely get some snow grips for the boots because that was definitely a challenge.
I know I've said it numerous times already but the scenery here is absolutely breathtaking, now it could be the altitude but I think it's more than that. I'm proud of the pictures that I have taken but they honestly do not do this place justice. I'm not turning into a tree hugging hippie by any means but we definitely need to try our best to preserve this world that we live in. There is so much beauty that is out there to be seen and we can't be so selfish to not leave it behind for those that come after us.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my love to ever come down here but I can't wait to see the world with her and to share these beautiful sights with her. It's funny to me to hear some of the people down here talk. We had to watch this God (that better?) awful movie last night at the science lecture called "Ice People." Please do not waste your time watching this or thinking that this is what it's like. They really ignored all of the people who work down here at the bases and focused on about 5 people who are out at a field camp. To get back to my original thought though...
I hear people down here talk about how this is just a job. The discussion came up about the movie and somebody tried to say that the movie "sucked" because they didn't show that it's like any other job. To which I basically told him he was retarded. Yes it is a job down here but it is nothing like the regular world back home. There is virtually no privacy or alone time down here unless you hike really far out with nobody else. And it's not like we can pick up and go wherever we want whenever we want. Every time we want to leave we have to check in with the firehouse. Not that that is a bad thing. It's really good because there are no cell phones, if you have an emergency and no one knows where you are you are dead. And that's really the shocking thing about some people's comments down here. I don't think they realize they live on such a harsh continent.
I hope to have some pictures for you within the next couple of weeks that will absolutely blow your mind. They recently have discovered something out here really cool, I'm not going to give away what it is but the pics I've seen from some people who have already gone are amazing... Just something to wet your appetite! Anywho, that's all for now. Hope all is well at home with everyone. Please email me just to fill me in. It's tough to get updates without being close to home and I'd love to know what everyone else is up to as well.
Much Love,
D
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sleep Is Overrated!
So I've definitely come to the realization that sleep is definitely an overrated thing when it's daylight nearly 24 hours a day! It's been a crazy first full week down here on the ice. I'm getting into the grove of how things work down here. Unfortunately I haven't spent too much time outside yet (still going through all of the training), yet I'm eating like a pig because there is so much good food! The best of all of the food though are the desserts. Just as an example last night we had Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with marshmellows on top! And about the fourth night here we had smore pie! They are amazing, not as amazing as patricia's ice cream dessert but that's a tough one to top!
So where I was actually going with this tangent about food is the fact that I've been eating so damn much I've already gained like ten pounds and I've only been away from home for two weeks! I really need to exercise more for sure. One thing that has been really great however is there is a good number of half way decent volleyball players down here. One thing I'm really excited to say is there is a good chance I am the best player on an entire continent in the world! If not the best overall easily the best American!
It being Monday right now the week just started and I'm ready for it. I caught up on some sleep a little bit yesterday but not too much. Other than playing volleyball on Monday the rest of the week last week was pretty relaxed. It's nice to just get off of work talk to Noelle, go eat dinner and then hang out with friends. There are a lot of truly amazingly interesting people down here. I've learned how much of the world there truly is to see out there and how lucky I am to start my tour of continents off with this one!
It's quite amazing how you can go from pretty chill relaxed nights every night of the week to everyone you work with just going crazy on Saturday nights. People enjoy themselves every night but they really go out of their way to party hard on Saturday's. I stayed up until 4AM on Saturday night just hangning out with friends and enjoying the evening.
Yesterday Anthony, myself and a Kiwi named Neil made our way out to the airfields and my god was it amazing. To experience the extreme weather conditions that we did was awesome! I don't have any great photos of it because my battery in my camera died early but there are some you should check out! Don't worry however because I plan on making many more trips to the outer edges of the continent.
For the most part my blogs have done a lot of narrative of my time and activities here on the ice. I'm going to change that a little bit right now however.
I've read a lot of blogs where people talk about life altering experiences. I am definitely having mine right now! Being so separated from the life I was so use to living I'm able to step back a little bit and I'd like to give a little advice. You should try to always make some time for yourself each day to go and do something. Whether that be going to the movies or reading a book or just a walk. Something that lets your mind just clear. That's one thing that I really love about being down here. Every single day at one time or another I am alone with just my thoughts and the shear beauty of my surroundings. It's a time when I get to think of my friends and family and all of the wonderful things that you mean to my life. I get to just think about how lucky I am for my life to be the way it is. The peace of mind that it gives me is amazing, it makes me think that no matter what problems arise in my life I will be able to conquer them. I have lots of people that I can depend on and that love me. Anytime you are having a rough time just think about the good things. A lot of that I stole from an email I wrote to Noelle but I think it should hold true for everyone. I'm extremely thankful to have found her and to know that we are going to be able to take on this big bad world together.
I couldn't imagine going through the rest of my life without taking the time to appreciate the world that we all live in. Life down here is so simple and uncomplicated. I wish real life were like that but I know that it isn't. (Ok totally just had a Doogie Howser moment!). What I guess I'm trying to say is that make sure to enjoy the simple things in life because when you stop doing that, when you stop loving and you stop laughing you truly stop living... It's not human to be unhappy at times, it's not really normal. But you are cheating yourself if you're not happy most of the time. You're going to miss way too much if you are.
So I know I said in the last blog that this one was going to be shorter and I'm not sure that it really is. But maybe the next one will be a little shorter. In case it's hard to pull out the main point of this all what I'm trying to say is I'm having an amazing time down here. I couldn't be more in love than I am (with Noelle as well as everyone and everything in my life). This so far has been an amazing adventure and I can't wait for it to get even better!
Miss you all and love you all!
Danny!
So where I was actually going with this tangent about food is the fact that I've been eating so damn much I've already gained like ten pounds and I've only been away from home for two weeks! I really need to exercise more for sure. One thing that has been really great however is there is a good number of half way decent volleyball players down here. One thing I'm really excited to say is there is a good chance I am the best player on an entire continent in the world! If not the best overall easily the best American!
It being Monday right now the week just started and I'm ready for it. I caught up on some sleep a little bit yesterday but not too much. Other than playing volleyball on Monday the rest of the week last week was pretty relaxed. It's nice to just get off of work talk to Noelle, go eat dinner and then hang out with friends. There are a lot of truly amazingly interesting people down here. I've learned how much of the world there truly is to see out there and how lucky I am to start my tour of continents off with this one!
It's quite amazing how you can go from pretty chill relaxed nights every night of the week to everyone you work with just going crazy on Saturday nights. People enjoy themselves every night but they really go out of their way to party hard on Saturday's. I stayed up until 4AM on Saturday night just hangning out with friends and enjoying the evening.
Yesterday Anthony, myself and a Kiwi named Neil made our way out to the airfields and my god was it amazing. To experience the extreme weather conditions that we did was awesome! I don't have any great photos of it because my battery in my camera died early but there are some you should check out! Don't worry however because I plan on making many more trips to the outer edges of the continent.
For the most part my blogs have done a lot of narrative of my time and activities here on the ice. I'm going to change that a little bit right now however.
I've read a lot of blogs where people talk about life altering experiences. I am definitely having mine right now! Being so separated from the life I was so use to living I'm able to step back a little bit and I'd like to give a little advice. You should try to always make some time for yourself each day to go and do something. Whether that be going to the movies or reading a book or just a walk. Something that lets your mind just clear. That's one thing that I really love about being down here. Every single day at one time or another I am alone with just my thoughts and the shear beauty of my surroundings. It's a time when I get to think of my friends and family and all of the wonderful things that you mean to my life. I get to just think about how lucky I am for my life to be the way it is. The peace of mind that it gives me is amazing, it makes me think that no matter what problems arise in my life I will be able to conquer them. I have lots of people that I can depend on and that love me. Anytime you are having a rough time just think about the good things. A lot of that I stole from an email I wrote to Noelle but I think it should hold true for everyone. I'm extremely thankful to have found her and to know that we are going to be able to take on this big bad world together.
I couldn't imagine going through the rest of my life without taking the time to appreciate the world that we all live in. Life down here is so simple and uncomplicated. I wish real life were like that but I know that it isn't. (Ok totally just had a Doogie Howser moment!). What I guess I'm trying to say is that make sure to enjoy the simple things in life because when you stop doing that, when you stop loving and you stop laughing you truly stop living... It's not human to be unhappy at times, it's not really normal. But you are cheating yourself if you're not happy most of the time. You're going to miss way too much if you are.
So I know I said in the last blog that this one was going to be shorter and I'm not sure that it really is. But maybe the next one will be a little shorter. In case it's hard to pull out the main point of this all what I'm trying to say is I'm having an amazing time down here. I couldn't be more in love than I am (with Noelle as well as everyone and everything in my life). This so far has been an amazing adventure and I can't wait for it to get even better!
Miss you all and love you all!
Danny!
It's Flippin Cold!
This will probably be the longest blog the whole time I'm here!
So I am officially in Antarctica. The Highest, Driest, Coldest, Windiest place on the planet. And to tell you the truth it's not all that bad. You may think that I am crazy but I'm really not. So far it has been absolutely amazing. I've been here for about 36 hours now and I'm having a blast.
But before I get really deep into life on Antarctica I'm going to finish out the rest of my time in Christchurch. Thursday morning we all got up early and had to be at the CDC. While we were there they told us that we weren't going to leave until Saturday and I thought to myself how great another day in New Zealand! After a quick little orientation everyone went into the dressing rooms and tried on all of the gear that was set aside for them. It somewhat reminded me of Christmas morning with all of the clothes that I got and had to try on. I ended up getting a lot of brand new stuff which was nice, and it is all really warm. So warm in fact that when I'm outside in sub zero temperatures I'm actually sweating!
After we tried everything on and decided what we were going to keep we left and went back to Christchurch. I kind of just enjoyed my time around the city and had a blast. I had a Greek kabob wrap for lunch which was absolutely delicious! At around 3 PM I met up with a couple of other people and we went to the art museum, the museum was a lot of fun there were some pretty cool exhibits. The only downside to the museum was the fact that I found out that we were no longer leaving on Saturday instead we had to leave the next day! :(
After the museum I went and bought some last minute items that I knew I had to have down here on the ice, CHOCOLATE! I went and bought some cadbury chocolate (don't worry it was cleared from having any of that tainted Chinese milk). Then I went back to the hotel and took a quick nap before meeting up with a big group of people and we went and had some Tai food. Which was really tasty!
After the Tai food the evening really kicked into high gear. We left there and went to Bailee's but we weren't really feeling it all too much so we quickly left and went to the bog. That bar was a lot of fun! They had a two man band, one played the fiddle and the other played guitar it was a really interesting mix but sounded pretty good. They played "What do you do with a drunken sailor" for like 20 minutes strait and all of us being drunk had a blast. After about an hour and a half we left to go to Micky Finn's bar. It's surprising how many Irish Pub's there are in New Zealand.
I will say that the band that was playing at Micky Finn's was probably the best cover band I've ever heard. They played what seemed to be a playlist taken strait off of my iPod. I love how much influence the U.S has on New Zealand. All of their television has some relation to it. My favorite part was watching the news and they were doing a special on San Francisco and said how they still have live sex shows in the city. Something I wasn't even aware of!
Anyways back to the trip, so after a long night of drinking we went back to the hotel and were supposed to be ready to go by 11:20 AM. That wasn't a problem, still a little screwed up with the time change I was wide awake at 8AM. Once I arrived at the CDC it was time to get changed into some ECW and get loaded on the flight. I kept thinking to myself that now this is really getting real! It took about 3 hours for everyone to change and watch some videos about the flight and get loaded onto the plane. We were supposed to take off around 3PM but the plane had some mechanical issues that had to be dealt with.
There was a really unnerving sound when I'm sitting in my seat with myiPod up loud and I hear one of the engines fall off of the plane and smash to the ground, I kept thinking "Oh dear god cancel our flight!" Well they didn't, they actually fixed the engine and we took off, I slept for nearly 3 hours of the 5 hour flight. And can I say that our military has done a great job of training our air force! My god it was probably the smoothest flight I've ever been on. Not the most comfortable considering it was on a huge military cargo plane and I was in a jumper seat! But it was cool.
So we finally landed in Antarctica and my god is it beautiful here. It's cold, but it's a breathtaking sight to see. I will figure out a way to upload a bunch of photos on a website and send the link so that everyone can see how great it is.
After landing we went strait to another orientation (I swear if I wasn't oriented by now there would definitely be something wrong!). By the time the orientation was over with it was time to grab our luggage and bedding and go to sleep, because at 8AM it was time to take a dirt tour around the base. And immediately after that I went to my first day of work!
The dirt tour was kind of pointless because there was about 100 people and it was tough to hear what the tour guide was saying. I then went to meet with my boss, I will be working in the supply warehouse for the VMF department which is the heavy machine shop. It seems like it will be a fast moving job and should be a lot of fun. I'll get to drive all over base picking up and bringing back supplies! My immediate supervisor is really cool and she let me off early considering I had just flown in the night before.
The food down here is actually really good. It's just about brunch time so I'm going to wrap this us pretty soon. After I got off of work I went and showered and got ready for dinner. I had a burrito in Antarctica! Not as good as the ones in SD but that pretty much goes for everywhere. After dinner I took a little nap and then went out for a night of dancing with Anthony and a bunch of other people that I've met down here. The bars are really funny down here, it's great because nobody is really a good dancer at all yet everyone still dances. There doesn't seem to be that shyness that you experience as bars back home. The music isn't the greatest but I am in Antarctica!
It is really dry down here though and my eyes have been feeling the pain! I hit a wall at about 11:30 and went to sleep and I slept strait through until about 9 AM. I went down to the galley and grabbed some hot chocolate and here I have been writing this blog. So far this has been an amazing experience.
Much love to everyone I miss you all!
~Danny
So I am officially in Antarctica. The Highest, Driest, Coldest, Windiest place on the planet. And to tell you the truth it's not all that bad. You may think that I am crazy but I'm really not. So far it has been absolutely amazing. I've been here for about 36 hours now and I'm having a blast.
But before I get really deep into life on Antarctica I'm going to finish out the rest of my time in Christchurch. Thursday morning we all got up early and had to be at the CDC. While we were there they told us that we weren't going to leave until Saturday and I thought to myself how great another day in New Zealand! After a quick little orientation everyone went into the dressing rooms and tried on all of the gear that was set aside for them. It somewhat reminded me of Christmas morning with all of the clothes that I got and had to try on. I ended up getting a lot of brand new stuff which was nice, and it is all really warm. So warm in fact that when I'm outside in sub zero temperatures I'm actually sweating!
After we tried everything on and decided what we were going to keep we left and went back to Christchurch. I kind of just enjoyed my time around the city and had a blast. I had a Greek kabob wrap for lunch which was absolutely delicious! At around 3 PM I met up with a couple of other people and we went to the art museum, the museum was a lot of fun there were some pretty cool exhibits. The only downside to the museum was the fact that I found out that we were no longer leaving on Saturday instead we had to leave the next day! :(
After the museum I went and bought some last minute items that I knew I had to have down here on the ice, CHOCOLATE! I went and bought some cadbury chocolate (don't worry it was cleared from having any of that tainted Chinese milk). Then I went back to the hotel and took a quick nap before meeting up with a big group of people and we went and had some Tai food. Which was really tasty!
After the Tai food the evening really kicked into high gear. We left there and went to Bailee's but we weren't really feeling it all too much so we quickly left and went to the bog. That bar was a lot of fun! They had a two man band, one played the fiddle and the other played guitar it was a really interesting mix but sounded pretty good. They played "What do you do with a drunken sailor" for like 20 minutes strait and all of us being drunk had a blast. After about an hour and a half we left to go to Micky Finn's bar. It's surprising how many Irish Pub's there are in New Zealand.
I will say that the band that was playing at Micky Finn's was probably the best cover band I've ever heard. They played what seemed to be a playlist taken strait off of my iPod. I love how much influence the U.S has on New Zealand. All of their television has some relation to it. My favorite part was watching the news and they were doing a special on San Francisco and said how they still have live sex shows in the city. Something I wasn't even aware of!
Anyways back to the trip, so after a long night of drinking we went back to the hotel and were supposed to be ready to go by 11:20 AM. That wasn't a problem, still a little screwed up with the time change I was wide awake at 8AM. Once I arrived at the CDC it was time to get changed into some ECW and get loaded on the flight. I kept thinking to myself that now this is really getting real! It took about 3 hours for everyone to change and watch some videos about the flight and get loaded onto the plane. We were supposed to take off around 3PM but the plane had some mechanical issues that had to be dealt with.
There was a really unnerving sound when I'm sitting in my seat with myiPod up loud and I hear one of the engines fall off of the plane and smash to the ground, I kept thinking "Oh dear god cancel our flight!" Well they didn't, they actually fixed the engine and we took off, I slept for nearly 3 hours of the 5 hour flight. And can I say that our military has done a great job of training our air force! My god it was probably the smoothest flight I've ever been on. Not the most comfortable considering it was on a huge military cargo plane and I was in a jumper seat! But it was cool.
So we finally landed in Antarctica and my god is it beautiful here. It's cold, but it's a breathtaking sight to see. I will figure out a way to upload a bunch of photos on a website and send the link so that everyone can see how great it is.
After landing we went strait to another orientation (I swear if I wasn't oriented by now there would definitely be something wrong!). By the time the orientation was over with it was time to grab our luggage and bedding and go to sleep, because at 8AM it was time to take a dirt tour around the base. And immediately after that I went to my first day of work!
The dirt tour was kind of pointless because there was about 100 people and it was tough to hear what the tour guide was saying. I then went to meet with my boss, I will be working in the supply warehouse for the VMF department which is the heavy machine shop. It seems like it will be a fast moving job and should be a lot of fun. I'll get to drive all over base picking up and bringing back supplies! My immediate supervisor is really cool and she let me off early considering I had just flown in the night before.
The food down here is actually really good. It's just about brunch time so I'm going to wrap this us pretty soon. After I got off of work I went and showered and got ready for dinner. I had a burrito in Antarctica! Not as good as the ones in SD but that pretty much goes for everywhere. After dinner I took a little nap and then went out for a night of dancing with Anthony and a bunch of other people that I've met down here. The bars are really funny down here, it's great because nobody is really a good dancer at all yet everyone still dances. There doesn't seem to be that shyness that you experience as bars back home. The music isn't the greatest but I am in Antarctica!
It is really dry down here though and my eyes have been feeling the pain! I hit a wall at about 11:30 and went to sleep and I slept strait through until about 9 AM. I went down to the galley and grabbed some hot chocolate and here I have been writing this blog. So far this has been an amazing experience.
Much love to everyone I miss you all!
~Danny
Live From New Zealand!
Hello from Christchurch everyone! Can I just start this blog by saying that I love this country! It is absolutely beautiful here and everyone is very nice and they just seem happy. I'm extremely happy to say that I am getting at least one extra day here before I go down to the ice. The weather at McMurdo Station is has been very unpredictable and has caused many flights in to be canceled and a few have had to "boomerang" back to Christchurch. It has been a very good trip so far. I was able to spend two great days with Noelle in Denver before she went home and I flew to New Zealand.
Surprisingly enough the flight from LAX to Aukland wasn't too bad. I was on a Qantas aircraft and I must say that the experience exceeded my expectations. The crew on the aircraft was very nice and the food wasn't all that bad. We took off at 9:05 PM on Oct. 6 in Los Angeles and landed at 5:45 AM on Oct. 8. It was only a 12 hour flight but like Marty McFly I went Back to the Future! I was able to stay up on the flight just long enough to eat dinner at around 11:30, finished watching "Get Smart" took my sleeping pills and woke up at 4:30 in the morning. From there I took my first trip ever through customs and got my first stamp in my passport! For me it was a very quick and very painless experience. However, there was a kid in our group who was not so lucky. As he was claiming his baggage he was flagged by a drug dog and was taken back and searched for about half an hour. He didn't have anything on him and when the customs agents finally figured that out they told him to get the "fuck out" of their office. Poor kid's only 20 years old.
After landing in Aukland we took a short flight to Christchurch and got to the hotel at around 11:30 AM NZ time. I am staying at the Camelot Cathedral Hotel in Cathedral Square. It's a huge room, but by no means is it like staying at the marriot. I wasn't able to check into my room right away because the rooms still had people in them that should have been on the ice about 4 days ago. So I went to the library and tried to get on my email which yahoo has seemed to deleted temporarily. still working on getting it fixed. Then i walked around town with some of the great people I have met down here and experienced the beauty of the city. At around 1:30 I went to a bar called the Stock X Change. It's an interesting bar with some really good food. I had Two Bangers and Chunky Fries which were great. I also had a local beer called Tui which is a really great beer.
After lunch I finally got into my room around 2:45 PM and took a quick shower and came to the realization that I was one of the only ones who didn't check into their room and go to sleep for the rest of the day. I was able to find a handful of people at a bar called Dux de Lux which has their own line of beers. For the first time in my life I had a Ginger Beer called Ginger Tom. It sounds odd but it has a really good flavor. And from there the party really started!
Myself and 4 other guys went on a rampage through town. We went from Dux de Lux to Bailees to Sullivans and finished up the evening with from Burger King. What I do find really odd about New Zealand is the fact that the population consists of Whites, Natives and a large population of Asians. But like I said earlier everyone is extremely nice.
This morning I went to the CDC (not the center for disease control, not sure what it stands for but it's where you get your ECW (extreme cold weather) gear.
For now that's about all I think I'm going to write, I will write again to tell everyone about the flight to Antarctica and to hopefully upload some photos for everyone to see!
I miss everyone much love!
Surprisingly enough the flight from LAX to Aukland wasn't too bad. I was on a Qantas aircraft and I must say that the experience exceeded my expectations. The crew on the aircraft was very nice and the food wasn't all that bad. We took off at 9:05 PM on Oct. 6 in Los Angeles and landed at 5:45 AM on Oct. 8. It was only a 12 hour flight but like Marty McFly I went Back to the Future! I was able to stay up on the flight just long enough to eat dinner at around 11:30, finished watching "Get Smart" took my sleeping pills and woke up at 4:30 in the morning. From there I took my first trip ever through customs and got my first stamp in my passport! For me it was a very quick and very painless experience. However, there was a kid in our group who was not so lucky. As he was claiming his baggage he was flagged by a drug dog and was taken back and searched for about half an hour. He didn't have anything on him and when the customs agents finally figured that out they told him to get the "fuck out" of their office. Poor kid's only 20 years old.
After landing in Aukland we took a short flight to Christchurch and got to the hotel at around 11:30 AM NZ time. I am staying at the Camelot Cathedral Hotel in Cathedral Square. It's a huge room, but by no means is it like staying at the marriot. I wasn't able to check into my room right away because the rooms still had people in them that should have been on the ice about 4 days ago. So I went to the library and tried to get on my email which yahoo has seemed to deleted temporarily. still working on getting it fixed. Then i walked around town with some of the great people I have met down here and experienced the beauty of the city. At around 1:30 I went to a bar called the Stock X Change. It's an interesting bar with some really good food. I had Two Bangers and Chunky Fries which were great. I also had a local beer called Tui which is a really great beer.
After lunch I finally got into my room around 2:45 PM and took a quick shower and came to the realization that I was one of the only ones who didn't check into their room and go to sleep for the rest of the day. I was able to find a handful of people at a bar called Dux de Lux which has their own line of beers. For the first time in my life I had a Ginger Beer called Ginger Tom. It sounds odd but it has a really good flavor. And from there the party really started!
Myself and 4 other guys went on a rampage through town. We went from Dux de Lux to Bailees to Sullivans and finished up the evening with from Burger King. What I do find really odd about New Zealand is the fact that the population consists of Whites, Natives and a large population of Asians. But like I said earlier everyone is extremely nice.
This morning I went to the CDC (not the center for disease control, not sure what it stands for but it's where you get your ECW (extreme cold weather) gear.
For now that's about all I think I'm going to write, I will write again to tell everyone about the flight to Antarctica and to hopefully upload some photos for everyone to see!
I miss everyone much love!
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